Once upon a time
…there was a priest named Dominic de Guzman, who roamed the area to convert its inhabitants who were followers of Catharism. Established in Fanjeaux to better influence these ‘heretic’ lands, he managed through his many preachings and disputations, to convert nine Cathar women. He didn’t know where to set up these nuns. It was then that, from the heights of Fanjeaux, he saw three fireballs landing on what was at that time a simple hamlet with a chapel. Nonetheless, it was here that the first community founded by Dominic was established, a kind of foreshadowing of the future order of the Dominicans that he founded in 1216.
The small chapel will quickly become a real city … Several times burned down and destroyed, the imposing basilica, rebuilt in the 19th century in a Romano-Byzantine style, welcomes you today to tell its long history.
The Dominican nuns who live here run a shop there with articles from the artisanal production of the sisters and have opened a hostel for pilgrims who walk on the secondary route of the Pyrenean Piedmont or GR78. Further informations on the GR78 way to Saint James of Compostela: Go!
USEFUL INFORMATION
Hotel contacts
Tel : +33 (0)4 68 11 22 66
Further information at www.prouilhe.com
Craft store on site every day.
Opening period, visiting times
Tour of the monastery’s basilica in the company of the sisters outside the daily liturgy hours on request: +33 (0)4 68 11 22 66.
Tel : +33 (0)4 68 11 22 66.
Shop opening times: 10 am to 11.45 am (except Sunday) and 2.30 pm to 5.15 pm T: +33 (0)4 68 24 74 25.
Tel : +33 (0)4 68 24 74 25
Adress :
Monastère de Prouilhe
Moniales Dominicaines
11270 Fanjeaux