Bruyère, Jeanne Henriette Cécile

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BRUYÈRE, JEANNE HENRIETTE CÉCILE

First abbess of Sainte-Cécile de Solesmes; b. Paris, Oct. 12, 1845; d. Ryde, Isle of Wight, March 18, 1909. Prepared for her first Communion by Prosper guÉranger, abbot of Solesmes, she remained under his fatherly direction. When he decided to establish Benedictine nuns at Solesmes, he appointed Cécile Bruyère superior of the first group of postulants. After a period of novitiate, they took vows on Aug. 14, 1868. Two years later Bp. Fillion of Le Mans obtained from Pius IX the right of an abbess for the new monastery and conferred the abbatial blessing upon Mother Cécile. Under her long rule of 38 years, two new foundations were made. Exiled by the French anticlerical laws, in 1901 she settled at Ryde on the Isle of Wight. Her book on prayer, written for her daughters in Solesmes, is based on the teaching of Guéranger. Well-known and valued in monasteries in Germany and England, it was printed at Sainte-Pierre de Solesmes in 1899 as La Vie spirituelle et l'oraison d'après la Sainte Écriture et de la tradition.

Bibliography: Dom Guéranger, abbé de Solesmes, 2 v. 2:1819. j. de puniet, Dictionnaire de spiritualité ascétique et mystique (Paris 1932) 1:197274.

[m. m. barry]