Report documents sexual misconduct at Saint-Maurice Abbey

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• There have been cases of sexual abuse and physical abuse at Saint-Maurice Abbey in Valais since 1960.
• In the fall of 2023, serious allegations of abuse against Augustinian canons at Saint-Maurice Abbey came to light.
• The revelations led to resignations from the abbey management.
• It was only through public pressure that the abbey began to come to terms with the incidents, as an independent investigation report now shows.
• There were few consequences under criminal law, as many cases were time-barred or could not be sufficiently proven.

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The Abbey of Saint-Maurice in Valais says it is keen to learn the lessons from the abuse report by an independent working group. It wants to "listen, repair and reorganize".

This was revealed in a communiqué published on Friday shortly after the start of the working group's media conference in Fribourg. The abbey's action plan contains measures at various levels. The details are to be finalized within one hundred days.

"This plan will never erase the wounds caused", the communiqué stated. "However, it marks a clear commitment to break with the silence of yesterday, to honor the voices of those who have suffered and to deeply reform what needs to be reformed."

For decades, there have been cases of sexual abuse in various forms at the abbey. It was only under pressure from the media and the public that the management became aware of its duties, as the expert report reveals.

The working group investigated the events between 1960 and 2024 on behalf of the abbey. The cases mentioned range from suggestive gestures and seductive behavior in a relationship of authority to exhibitionism and sexual assaults of all kinds. There are also forms of physical abuse.

Many cases dropped

Since 1970, five criminal orders have been issued against three canons and one novice. Many trials were discontinued due to a lack of sufficient charges or the statute of limitations.

The independent working group was tasked with "bringing light into the darkness". It was to shed light on the context in which this violence was committed and how the institution dealt with it, as Neuchâtel's Attorney General Pierre Aubert told the media. He had formed the group around the Department of Contemporary History at the University of Fribourg.