Abbaye Saint-Mathieu de Fine-Terre

Les ruines de l'abbaye de Saint-Mathieu et le phare

The abbaye Saint-Mathieu-de-Fine-Terre is a Breton abbey, whose ruins are to be found in the territory of what is now the commune of Plougonvelin on pointe Saint-Mathieu (Beg Lokmazhe in Breton), in the département of Finistère. It gives the cape its name.[1] It was dedicated to Matthew the Evangelist, whose skull it contained.


History

The chapelle Notre-Dame des Grâces, near the abbaye de Saint-Mathieu

According to legend the first abbey here was founded in the 6th century by saint Tanguy, chosen as an isolated point on the lands he had inherited, extending from the river of Caprel (haven of Brest) to Penn ar Bed, cut off from the world but close to the sea.

References

  1. Conseil général du Finistère - Les origines administratives du Finistère

Bibliography

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Abbaye_de_Saint-Mathieu_de_Fine-Terre.

All (French) unless otherwise noted.

R. Largillière « Les saints dans l'organisation chrétienne primitive dans l'Armorique bretonne, Crozon, 1995

Coordinates: 48°19′48″N 4°46′17″W / 48.33000°N 4.77139°W