CHEVETOGNE, MONASTERY OF

Benedictine foundation outside Rochefort, Diocese of Namur, southeast Belgium; dedicated to the exaltation of the Holy Cross. Founded in 1925 at Amay-sur-Meuse (Diocese of Liège) by Lambert beauduin in response to Pius XI's Equidem verba (1924) inviting Benedictines to work for Christian unity, it became a priory (1928) and moved to Chevetogne (1939). It seeks to establish a rapprochement between Rome and other Eastern Christian churches, especially Russian and other Orthodox churches, working for corporate reconciliation rather than for individual conversions. The community celebrates divine services in the Latin and Byzantine (Greek and Slavonic) liturgical rites and pursues studies in the history, theology, and spirituality of non-Catholic groups. The "irenic" method has been presented in the review Irénikon since 1926. Works on history, ecclesiology, the liturgy, and comparative theology and spirituality appear in Editions de Chevetogne. Byzantine and Russian religious art are reproduced. Annual conferences have been held since 1942. The monastery, which has directed the Pontifical Greek College in Rome since 1956, depends on the Congregation for the eastern churches. The monastery church (1957) is in Byzantine style. A center for ecumenical training was established in 1964.

Bibliography: Le Monastère de Chevetogne: Notice historique (Chevetogne 1962). l. bouyer, Dom Lambert Beauduin, un homme d'Église (Paris 1964). g. curtis, Paul Couturier and Unity in Christ (Westminster, Md. 1964). r. gazeau, Catholicisme. Hier, aujourd'hui et demain, ed. g. jacquemet (Paris 1947–) 1:406–407. n. egender, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner, 10 v. (2d, new ed. Freiburg 1957–65) 1:421. o. l. kapsner, A Benedictine Bibliography: An Author-Subject Union List, 2 v. (2d ed. Collegeville, Minn. 1962): v. 1, author part;v. 2, subject part, 2:196–197.

[n. egender]