After an unsuccessful first attempt to establish a charterhouse in this area of the Béol valley, in 1151 Aymon of Faucigny tried again, donating the land for a second foundation. The new community was formed by monks from the Grande-Chartreuse (Isère), led by John of Spain, who became its first prior. The seigneurial house of Faucigny, which would also found the women’s charterhouse of Mélan (Haute-Savoie), continued to protect the monastery until the 14th century. The buildings were rebuilt in the 17th century and again at the beginning of the 18th, after suffering several fires, particularly that of 1705.
In 1792 the charterhouse was closed in the wake of the Revolution; the following year the community dispersed and its properties were subsequently put up for sale. In 1803 a parish was established there. The Carthusians acquired Le Reposoir, restored it, built a new parish church and, in 1860, were able to return. However, this revival was short-lived: in 1901 they were definitively expelled. The monastic house was then transformed into a hotel establishment. Since 1932 Le Reposoir has been occupied by a community of Carmelite nuns.
John of Spain (1123-1160)
John of Spain was originally from the lands of León. At the age of thirteen he moved to Provence and later entered the charterhouse of Montrieux (Var). He adapted the Carthusian customs for the first women’s house of the order, at Prébayon (Vaucluse), which later spread to other monasteries occupied by women. In 1149 he moved to the Grande-Chartreuse, a place he left to take part in the foundation of Le Reposoir, where he died in the odour of sanctity and became an object of veneration. In the mid-17th century his remains were transferred to the interior of the church of the charterhouse.
Mémoires et documents publiés par l'Académie salésienne (1898)
Photo by Renhour48, on Wikimedia
Photo by Renhour48, on Wikimedia
Illustration from Maisons de l'ordre des Chartreux (1913)
Old postcard, private collection
- ANIEL, Jean-Pierre (1983). Les maisons de chartreux des origines à la chartreuse de Pavie. París: Arts et Métiers Graphiques
- BESSON, Joseph-Antoine (1871). Mémoires pour l'histoire ecclesiastique des dioceses de Geneve, Tarantaise, Aoste et Maurienne. Moûtiers: Cane
- BRUNO DE JÉSUS-MARIE (1951). Le Reposoir. Chartreuse, 1151-1901, Carmel, 1922. Lió: Lescuyer
- CARTOIXA DE NOTRE-DAME DES PRÉS (1913). Maisons de l'ordre des Chartreux. Vol. I. Chartreuse de Notre-Dame des Prés (Tournai)
- FALCONNET, Jean (1882). Vie, culte et miracles du bienheureux Jean d'Espagne. Annezy: Burdet
- FALCONNET, Jean (1895). La chartreuse du Reposoir au diocèse d'Annecy. Montreuil-sur-Mer: Notre-Dame des Prés
The former charterhouse lies to the south of the commune of Le Reposoir (Haute-Savoie), to which it belongs, between Geneva and Chamonix