An Édition Art carte postale that was published by Perrochet-Matile, S.A. of Lausanne. The card was posted in Grand St. Bernard on Tuesday the 6th. August 1935. It was sent to:
The pencilled message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"Grand St. Bernard. I am writing this up at the Grand St. Bernard - we have been over the Hospice where the monks live and seen the chapel. The drive was marvellous. Many thanks for your letter. Best love, Bar."
The Hospice and the Dogs
A hospice for travellers was founded in 1049 by Saint Bernard of Menthon, and came to be named after him in the 16th. century, along with the Pass.
It was not the first hospice in the Pass. Buildings were probably there since Roman times, but the region was not secure, and they were destroyed many times.
The first concern of the founder of the current monastery was to clear the region of bandits, and to keep the pass safe for travellers, with the role of rescuers developing naturally.
The hospice later became famous for its use of St. Bernard dogs in rescue operations. Pope Pius XI confirmed Bernard as patron saint of the Alps in 1923.
The hospice straddles the highest point of the road, which is in Switzerland. Today the modern road for through-traffic has been routed around the outside of the monastery buildings. The old road may still be seen, above the paved road.
The hospice occupies two buildings, built in 1560 and 1898. The Congregation of Canons of the Great Saint Bernard (the monks) also owns the Hôtel de l'Hospice du Grand-St.-Bernard, a four-storey building made of grey stone (built in 1899) on the Italian side, which it leases to a private entrepreneur for the provision of hotel services.
The St. Bernards were bred large enough to traverse deep snow and to find lost persons by scent. The first evidence that the dogs were in use at the monastery is two paintings dating to 1690 by Salvator Rosa. It is often said that they carried small casks of brandy around their necks (although this is only legend), in the belief that the liquor had medicinal properties.
A description of an overnight stay at the monastery in 1857 was given by Theodore Nielsen, a Danish kleinsmith journeyman, in his memoirs:
"In the evening we reached the monastery of St. Bernard on the top of the mountain. Enormous sums of money were expended to build these cloisters that were made of stonework and were placed there to give sustenance to travellers on the Alps between Italy and Switzerland. We came into a large hall where several other wanderers were seated. The monks came to shake hands with us and bid us welcome. A doctor – also a monk – asked if we had suffered any mishap coming up. The ones that had gotten hurt were treated and taken care of. They had an apothecary there also to administer to any one needing such. Another monk gave us a bowl with hot bouillon mixed with wine to warm us. We sat on wooden benches and talked with the rest of the people. There was a large stove and the place was lovely and warm. Some of the large St. Bernard dogs were about, and when we sat down came over to give our hands a lick just as if they wanted to say Hello too. At dinnertime we were given a piece of meat on a wooden trivet, bread and wine. The bread was so hard that it seemed we tried to bite into a piece of wood. Later we were shown into a room with good beds already made up. As we came from the warmth of the hall into the cold room we started to shiver and just couldn't get warm, so we didn't get much sleep. My turtle was cold, too, so I took it to bed with me to try to warm it a bit. We arose at five the next morning and were given a very good and generous breakfast before we started our descent of the mountain. The clouds were threatening, black and so heavy that we could see nothing, and wished earnestly that we were back onto the green earth once more. It was hard work going up the mountain, but worse going down. We sank into the snow, several times so deep that we had all we could do to get up again. I had expected to see some of the dogs, but we were following the wooden markers, and the dogs are trained to go afield and search for the ones that missed the markers. It is impossible to find the way over the mountain without help. The large dogs searched in pairs - one has a wooden keg fastened under his chin. When they locate a victim he is offered the wine to keep him alive while the other dog runs back to the monastery to lead the monks who transport the lost back. Sometimes the lost are no longer alive."
Today the tunnel and modern technology have made rescue operations at the pass mainly unnecessary. The dogs were put up for sale in 2004 because of the high cost of maintenance, and were promptly bought by two foundations created for the purpose: Fondation Barry du Grand Saint Bernard and Fondation Bernard et Caroline de Watteville.
Barry bought the kennels and the facilities in Martigny and continues to support and breed the dogs (three or four dozen). One condition of the sale is that they be brought to the monastery for the summer. Travellers are likely to see them romping around the slopes.
The de Watteville Foundation keeps several dogs in kennels adjunct to its Musée. Both have agreed to work together and others have joined the partnership.
The monastery currently houses a handful of monks on a permanent basis, and serves as a spiritual centre for others on retreat.
Rioting in France
So what else happened on the day that the card was posted?
Well, on the 6th. August 1935, riots broke out in the French cities of Paris, Le Havre and Brest in protest against government economic measures.
Jewish Suppression in Germany
Also on that day, the mayor of the German spa town of Bad Tölz ordered all Jews to leave within 24 hours.
Also a Jewish owned-hotel was closed by police in order to "protect it".
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