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Heart and Soul: Glorifying God through wine

Glorifying God Through Wine

17/05/2024 GMT

Glorifying God through wine

BBC World Service - Heart and Soul, Glorifying God through wine

Meet the French Benedictine monks who give glory to God by producing heavenly wine

In the hills of Le Barroux in southern France, a group of Benedictine monks give glory to God by producing heavenly wine.

When Father Père Basile was 12 years of age, he started thinking of a religious life. But it never crossed his mind that he would someday be living in a cloistered abbey in the south of France producing wine. 
 
The monastery is the site of the oldest papal vineyard in the world, dating back to the 14th Century. When Pope Clement V moved the papal capital from Rome to Avignon in France, his palace needed a steady stream of wine and so the vineyard was planted in Le Barroux. 

Abandoned for decades, the monks restarted the vineyard to produce a new wine called Via Caritatis (Through Charity) a number of years ago. They wanted to bring business back to the area where small winemaking families have been struggling to survive. 

Presenter Colm Flynn travels to the south of France to meet Fr Père Basile, and hears his amazing story of growing up as the the son of world-travelling French foreign ministry workers, and turning his back on that to pursue a deeper calling in life.

Producer/presenter: Colm Flynn
Series producer: Rajeev Gupta and Robert Cave 
Editor: Dan Tierney
Production co-ordinator: Mica Nepomuceno

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