Glanfeuil Abbey

The Abbey of St. Maurus, better known as Glanfeuil Abbey (French: Abbaye de Glanfeuil, Abbaye Saint-Maur de Glanfeuil, Abbaye de Saint-Maur-sur-Loire[lower-alpha 1]) was a French Benedictine monastery in the village of Saint-Maur-sur-Loire, located in what is now the commune of Le Thoureil, Maine-et-Loire, which dated back to the 9th century. It was dissolved in 1908.

History

The monastery was founded by Saint Maurus, one of the first Benedictine monks, according to the legendary account attributed to Abbot Odo of Glanfeuil, or by Benedict of Nursia himself. The modern common view is that the founder, Maurus of Glanfeuil, was a historical person.[1] The site is thought to be that of a Roman villa, and the presence of a monastic community might date back to the 6th century.[2]

Glanfeuil claimed to be the oldest Benedictine foundation in Gaul. Rorgon I of Maine was perhaps the founder or patron, in 824.[3] In 835 its abbot was Ebroin, future Bishop of Poitiers. The abbey was destroyed by the Normans, and in 868, at the invitation of King Charles the Bald, the fugitive monks of Glanfeuil founded a second monastery at Saint-Maur-des-Fossés under the leadership of Odo, taking the relics of their patron saint with them.

The original monastery was rebuilt and flourished. It was suppressed in 1790 in the wake of the French Revolution. Eventually it was refounded in the surviving structures in 1890, by Louis-Charles Couturier, O.S.B., the Abbot of Solesmes Abbey, as part of his program of revival of monasticism in post-revolutionary France.[4]

In 1901, however, the monks were compelled to leave France due to the anti-clerical laws of the Third French Republic. After finding refuge in Baronville, Belgium (now part of the municipality of Beauraing), the monks began to search for a permanent home. After various inquires failed, they finally settled upon Clervaux, Luxembourg. In 1908, a vote was taken by the monastic chapter, which made the decision to dissolve the existing monastery, and to found a new monastery there, dedicated to St. Maurice.[5]

Notes

  1. ↑ not to be confused with the Abbey of Saint-Maur-des-Fossés

References

  1. ↑ Roman Martyrology: "Saint Maurus, Abbot" - Martyrologium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2001 ISBN 88-209-7210-7), on 15 January
  2. ↑ http://membres.lycos.fr/saintmaur/essai_abbaye.html
  3. ↑ Cawley, Charles, Jerusalem, Medieval Lands database, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy,
  4. ↑ Catholic Encyclopedia
  5. ↑ "Histoire". Abbaye Saint-Maurice de Clervaux.(in French)

Coordinates: 47°23′29″N 0°16′58″W / 47.39139°N 0.28278°W / 47.39139; -0.28278

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