Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 February 1891 — MOUNT ST. MICHAEL. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

MOUNT ST. MICHAEL.

4n Isolated Pyramid ofßociron the FrenchSide of the English Channel. In the little Bay of Avranches, an off-shoot of the Bay of Cancale, which washes a part of “the coasts of both Normandy and Brittany, rises Mount St. Michael, an’ isolated pyramid of rock, whose summit overlooks a great part of the Norman and Breton coasts and in clear commands the cliffs of Jersey. Tradition does not tell when this rock first became the abode of man, but when the Romans came they erected on it a shrine to Jupiter and named it the Mount of Jove. With the advent of Christianity some hermits built cabins and took up their abodes there. In the sixth century these were formed into a brotherhood and in 708 Aubert, Bishop of Avranches, built a church and surrounding cells and dedicated the mount to St. Michael. In 963 the church and other buildings were replaced witl

finer structures and bestowed upon the Benedictines. It rapidly increased in wealth and strength and had grown into an important fortress by the beginning of the eleventh century. In the beginning of the thirteenth century the mountain fell into French hands and has been since a French possession. It sustained several sieges by the English. During the revolution it shared the fate of other religious institutions in France and was converted into a house of correction. A few ecclesiastics now occupy it as an orphan asylum.

MOUNT ST. MICHAEL.