The following text, written by Noguette, originally published in St. Malo in 1919, was republished with notes on the weblog of Bruno Montpied, le Poignard Subtil of September 24, 2009. So, the original french text can be read here.

Noguette was the nom de plume used by Eugène Herpin (1850-1942), a lawyer and historian at Saint Malo, who wrote about local history. He is said to have coined the expression Cote d'Éméraude.

I was very charmed by this text. It gives information on life and works of abbé Fouré, in the somewhat old-fashioned language of the beginning of the 20th century, by a contemporary who respects Fouré and his creations. So, here is a translation.

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La Vie de l'Ermite de Rothéneuf

(L'Abbé Fouré)

The life of the hermit of Rothéneuf (l’Abbé Fouré)

I

Abbé Fouré - called the hermit of Rothéneuf - was born in Saint-Thual, Canton Tinténiac, on March 7, 1839 (note 1). William, his grandfather from father’s side was a tenant of Stephen Augustus Baude Vieuville, the Marquis de Châteauneuf, who was guillotined at the age of eighty-two, on the Place du Champ de Mars, Rennes, May 4, 1793.

This William had married Françoise Laisné, from the community of Dol (whose brother Francis Henry, who entered into a spiritual order, was economist at the Seminar of the community of Dol at the time of the Revolution, and emigrated to Jersey, where he died May 3, 1795).

From the marriage of William Fouré with Francoise Laisné, two children were born, Albert and Adolphe, who were raised by their uncle.

Adolphe became the servant of monseigneur Urbain René de Hercé, the last bishop of Dol, and went with him to England during the revolutionary times. His brother Albert followed.

Having come back in France, after two years of exile, he (=Adolphe, hve) settled in St. Thual. In 1796 he was appointed mayor of this town and became its benefactor.

Monseigneur Urbain Hercé was appointed grand-chaplain of the catholic and royal army, by pope Pius VI. His faithful servant Adolphe accompanied him in the unfortunate expedition to Quiberon and was fusillated with his master on the Garenne, at Vannes, July 29, 1795.

An uncle from mother’s side of our good hermit, Jean Astruc, from Saint-Solen, was a skipper. During the raid on Quiberon he was sailing the boat in which were General Sombreuil and Count Bozon de Perigord, his aide. A bullet struck Jean Astruc, in the heart, when he would approach the shore, and his blood spattered the uniform of his famous passengers.We see that Abbé Fouré had Chouan blood in the veins (note 2).

His childhood, rocked in memories of the Revolution, passed amid the countryside of peaceful St. Thual: here was born in his soul of a Breton peasant, the desire for solitude and daydreaming. The rector of the parish, having noticed his piety, taught him the rudiments of Latin. As a young man he was sent to the Petit-Séminaire of Saint-Meen, from where he entered the Grand-Seminaire of Rennes. Ordained in 1863, he served his first priestly ministry as a vicar in several parishes of the diocese. Then he was appointed rector of Paimpont.

From this period of his life he retained an unfailing memory. He was a great fisherman, an intrepid hunter and he loved the contemplative life. And he loved his dear church, whose steeple is reflected in the pond, on which glide, in their robes of mist, the mysterious "white ladies". He loved getting lost in the mysteries of this strange Brocéliande Forest, where according to the folklorist, legends are as many as the leaves. In the worlds of Merlin the Magician, the fairy Vivianne and of Val-sans-Retour, in this breton paradise of fairies, knights of the Round Table, King Arthur ... the future sculptor of Rothéneuf found his mindset and inspiration for his future works.

When abbé Fouré was rector of Paimpont, the forges, now dormant, were in full operation. They were the richness, the soul and the glory of the parish. In the year 1866, a rumor spread in the community that they would be closed. The princes of Orleans, who had left for London, were then the owners of both the forest and the furnaces. At this news, the charitable rector departed for England. In front ofhe the princes, he pleaded with his whole soul the cause of his parishioners and their furnaces. He lost the case: the decision was irrevocable. Deeply saddened, he returned to his flock. Shortly after, he was appointed to be the rector of the parish of Retiers, and after this of the parish of Langouet, Canton Hede.

Meanwhile old age was coming. The rector had become deaf. After this he got paralysis of speech. He was thinking of retirement: where to go? He asked advice from the rector of Rothéneuf. This rector described his parish, bounded by the sea and the wild rocks. Abbé Fouré resigned as a rector, and went to Rothéneuf, where he rented a small apartment. That was in October 1893 (note 3).

II

Now, it is no longer the vision of the legendary Brocéliande forest, or the green and quiet countryside of Langouet; it will be the sight of the sea that alone will charm the dreaming soul of the old Breton priest.

What emotion, when for the first time, at one of those famous sunsets, which are one of the charms of the Côte dÉmeraude, he looked at the admirable site that dominates the Pointe de La Haie. Nearby, the island Bénétin keeping in its granite pincers, the moving skeleton of a shipwrecked schooner. Farther left, carving their silhouettes in shades of purple in the orange sunset, (the isles of, hve) Grand and Petit-Chevret. In the foreground, le Gouffre, whose black rocks extend down to the sea their gaping pits.

And as evening fell, he noticed that the rocks, as they faded, took strange forms. One became a fabulous monster, the other a fantastic reptile. During his walks in the woods and along hollow roads, he already had the same observation, amusing himself to suspect a whole mysterious world in the silhouettes of trees and the folds of their ancient roots, writhing like snakes on the side of the ditches. Making use of the contours of the rock and bends of a limb, or giving a boost to let arise from granite or oak the work begun by nature: this was the world of the hermit of Rothéneuf.

To occupy his solitude and idleness, he began to work, digging rock and granite with his chissel. He never had any lessons or got advice, and his instruments were rudimentary.

Here are les Rochers Sculptés. Topics rush, settle down, scramble. There it is, splashed by the spray and tossed by the waves, a primitive artwork, strange, that reminds of grimacing silhouettes of medieval gargoyles. Dominating the whole, a high Calvaire blesses this stunning stone museum.

Not far from this stone museum, note especially the fountain Jacques-Cartier, located at the end of country road, at the place called “les Bas-Chemins”. At this fountain, that is inexhaustible, according to popular tradition, Jacques Cartier was to draw his water supply just before sailing with the “Grande Hermine” to discover Canada.

The hermit liked to sit at the foot of the fountain, which stones he had carved with a special charm.

But let us especially visit the ermitage. Above the crenellated wall which serves as a fence, grinning and naive heads emerge, enlivened by green eyes, gaping mouths and shiny colored hair. They seem to watch the visitor ironically. They are called: Enguerrand de Val, Pia de Kerlamar, Marc de Langrais, Yvonne du Minihic, Perrine des Falaises, Adolphe de la Haye, Cyr de Hindlé, Jeanne de Lavarde, Karl de la Ville-au-Roux, Gilette du Havre and Benoît de la Roche.

In the interior the basic workbench on which the roots of oak turned into snakes, owls and dragons. On this bench, his latest work rests unfinished. Here is his portrait, with a natural grandeur. Here is the bench where he painted his works, and the chair, decorated with devices, in which so often he sat down to give graciously thousands and thousands of autographs for countless visitors.

Of course, I can not describe all the works of the hermit, whether they are arranged in galleries by the owner of this curious museum, or are grouped in the garden and in different parts of the beautiful manor.

Let us note, however, mr and mrs de Rothéneuf. The husband is a sailor and his fellow country woman with the headdress of former days, holds a parrot that her man has brought from overseas. Also, the group representing the Nations at the foot of the Virgin, the Indian Hunter and Ranavalo, perched on a monster swimming across a river. And I mention especially those trunks of oak that the chisel of the hermit turned into Gargantua. Numerous flowers, endless heads complete this curious work, for which, at different times, the hermit refused large sums.

Oh! He was not interested, the good hermit. Upon entering the museum, there was a trunk. Give who wanted so! And if the takings at the end of the season, surpassed his modest needs, he gave the rest to the poor.

The hermit had a curious album, on which were the most diverse autographs. I posted these two stanzas:

Here, the art, in its turn, embellishes nature

In these blocks, the chisel of a sculptor

Clever has given traits, a figure,

Here riders, further on a magician,

Winged dragons, snakes, fantastic chimeras,

Terrifying monsters, mythical creatures,

Invoking of the past legends and mysteries,

Heroes and saints appear to our eyes.

Having carved wood and granite for twenty years and having made the fortune of Rothéneuf with his primitive art, Abbé Fouré - the last of the hermits of France - died piously in his small manor house, surrounded by oak statues. It was February 10, 1910.

On 29 July, friends put a memorial on his house with in golden letters this inscription:

A TRIBUTE TO THE ABBÉ ADOLPH FOURÉ

The Hermit of Rothéneuf

Born in Saint-Thual (I-et-V.) March 7, 1839 (note 4)

Died in this house, February 10, 1910.

In sculpting, he was the benefactor of this country.

Two days after this memorial was put in place, the bizarre sculptures were auctioned.

Mr. Galland, owner of the house, had the happy idea to buy the largest number. To favor him, all the other sculptures that filled the garden, en bloc were added. Thus, the work of Abbé Fouré has been preserved, and it always attracts the attention of tourists who do not visit Rothéneuf without visiting the Museum of the Hermit (note 5)

NOGUETTE

(Printed by Bazin, 1919, Saint-Malo)

(added to OEE-texts 2009)

Notes (by Bruno Montpied)

1. This date does not match the one at the birth certificate. See below

.2. Note that Noguette forgets to tell us clearly who were the parents of the abbé. The birth certificate issued by Frederick Altmann in 1985 (see below for exact references to his work) identifies them with the names of Francis Fouéré and Anne Redoute. The spelling "Fouéré" appears only in public records. The abbé signed the postcards of the rocks with an autograph that says "Abbé Fouré”. I personally keep the spelling consistent with the practice of the abbé..

(my addendum -hve) The author talks about Chouan blood; this refers to people living in the Vendee-area in France who resisted to the 1793 revolution; more information on the (royalist) resistance movement and the Quiberon invasion of 1795, here on Wikipedia

3. Here we have the exact date of arrival of the abbé at Rothéneuf, and therefore the date of the start of his work too.

4. This date does not correspond with the one that is on the birth certificate of the abbé, i.e. September 4, 1839.The act which was republished in Frédéric Altmann, L'Ermite de Rothéneuf, le sculpteur des rochers -0de Rothéneuf, 1839-1910, AM, Nice,1985.

5. Alas, this museum has disappeared today, nobody knows exactly when. According to rumors the destruction occurred during the war, during which civilians who lived in Rothéneuf were evacuated. The only sculptured objects that reappear at exhibitions in galleries (such as the Galerie de Messine in Paris, or the gallery of the association ABCD in Montreuil) are furniture, tabernacles, commode or bedstead. This makes sense because one knows that the auction of the assets of the Abbé was mostly about furniture of the hermitage. People bought useful things at that time. The carvings were probably either laughed at or reserved for the owner of the Hermitage who actually bought the majority. This paradoxically caused their loss, since they disappeared with the hermitage that was supposed to protect them..