Fleury Abbey(Floriacum) inSaint-Benoît-sur-Loire,Loiret,France, founded in about 640,[1]is one of the most celebratedBenedictinemonasteriesof Western Europe, and possesses the relics of St.Benedict of Nursia.Its site on the banks of theLoirehas always made it easily accessible fromOrléans,a center of culture unbroken since Roman times.[2]In 2010, the abbey had over forty monks led by the abbot Etienne Ricaud.[3]
Abbo of Fleury(died 1004) a monk and abbot of Fleury was a theologian of wide-ranging intellect; his life was written by the chroniclerAimoin,also a monk of Fleury.Andrew of Fleury(writingc.1043) wroteMiracula sancti Benedicti.Hugh of Fleury(died after 1118) was a monk of Fleury known for his chronicles and other writings.
Churches
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Anscar Vonier,writing in theCatholic Encyclopediasays that "from the very start the abbey boasted of two churches, one in honour of St. Peter and the other in honour of the Blessed Virgin."[4]The church of St Peter was demolished in the eighteenth century; the existing church dedicated to the Virgin pre-existed the founding of the monastery. After the ravages of theNormans,who penetrated via the Loire and burned the monastery buildings, which suffered a catastrophic fire in 1026, this became the great late eleventh-centuryRomanesquebasilica, which occasioned the erection of a great tower, that was intended as the west front of the abbey church, which was completed in 1218. It was here that theFleury Playbookwas compiled, perhaps in dedication to the new church. The tower of Abbot Gauzlin,[5]resting on fifty columns, forms a unique porch. TheCarolingian stylechurch is about three hundred feet long, itstranseptone hundred and forty feet. The choir of the church contains the tomb of a French monarch,Philip I of France,buried there in 1108. Of the mediaeval abbey's buildings, only this basilica survives in the modern monastery.
Medieval history
editThe seventeenth-century Benedictine scholarJean Mabillonaccepted the traditional founding of Fleury as by Leodebaldus, abbot of St-Aignan (Orléans) about 640, in the existingGallo-RomanvillaofFloriacum,in theVallis Aurea,the "Golden Valley". This was the spot selected by the Abbot of St-Aignan for his Benedictine foundation. Rigomarus was its first abbot.
The most famous of theMerovingianabbots wasSt. Mommolus,who effected the translation of the relics there ofBenedict of Nursia.[6] Pepin of Herstal,having considerably augmented the abbey, committed it to the direction ofSaint Bainin 706.[7] The monastery underwent a season of reform in its monastic life, about 930, along the lines first laid out atCluny.The monastery enjoyed the patronage of theCarolingian dynastyfor generations; it was also central to the political ambitions of theRobertianhouse descended fromRobert I of France,several of whom had held the titleDuke of the Franks.The monk of Fleury namedHelgaud(died ca 1068), was chaplain to KingRobert IIand wrote a briefEpitoma vitae Roberti regis.Fleury had particular significance in lending legitimacy to its patrons. Although royal and ducal patronage had material advantages, there was also a price to be paid in terms of monastic autonomy when the ducal candidate conflicted with the choice of the monastic community.
Theodulphus,bishop of Orléansestablished at Fleury a school for young noblemen recommended there byCharlemagne.By the mid-ninth century its library was one of the most comprehensive ever assembled in the West, and scholars such asLupus of Ferrières(d. 862) traveled there to consult its texts. Later under St.Abbo of Fleury(abbot 988-1004), head of the reformed abbey school, Fleury enjoyed a second golden age; it kept up close relations with abbeys in England. Later, among the non-resident abbotsin commendamwere CardinalsOdet de ColignyandAntoine Sanguinin the reign ofFrançois IandCardinal Richelieu.
Modern history
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Like all Benedictine monasteries in France, the community was scattered by theFrench Revolution.Nevertheless, a Benedictine presence remained continually: the parish was held by a monk disguised as a secular priest, and there were numerous attempts to restore the monastery throughout the 19th century.[8] Finally, in 1944, the community (which had been resident at Pierre-qui-Vire) was restored to the abbey, which was rebuilt as a member of theSubiaco Congregation.[9] The monastery is remembered each day atevensonginWinchester Cathedralwith an additional short said prayer at the conclusion of the responses – theFleury Prayer.[10]
Benedict of Nursia's relics
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Fleury is reputed to contain the relics of St.Benedict of Nursia,the father of Western monasticism. Mommolus, the second Abbot of Fleury, is said to have effected their transfer when that abbey fell into decay after the ravages of theLombardsin the sixth century. Benedict's relics, and theMiracula S. Benedicti[clarification needed]developed over three centuries by five monks of Fleury, includingAndreas of Fleury(c. 1043),[11]attracted pilgrims, bringing wealth and fame.
Monks of the Italian monasteryMonte Cassino,which was founded by Benedict himself, disputed this story. They claimed that Monte Cassino possesses the remains of the body of St. Benedict, but have never shown relics as proof.
See also
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Notes
edit- ^Butler, Alban (1845).The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints, Volume 3.Dublin. p. 218.
- ^The abbey is about 35 km southeast of Orléans.
- ^"Abbaye de Fleury".Archived fromthe originalon 2010-08-16.Retrieved2010-06-19.
- ^Vonier, Anscar. "Abbey of Fleury." The Catholic EncyclopediaVol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 26 June 2019
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.
- ^His biography by André de Fleury,Vie de Gauzlin, abbé de Fleury: Vita Gauzlini abbatis Floriacensis monasteriiedited by R. H. Bautier and G. Labory, was published in 1969 (Paris: C.N.R.S.); it is a major source for the early eleventh century
- ^The chronicler Aldrevald of Fleury first reported the transfer, in the ninth century.
- ^Butler, Alban (1799),The Lives of the Primitive Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints,J. Moir, p. 277,retrieved2021-09-06
- ^"Abbaye de Fleury".Archived fromthe originalon 2010-08-16.Retrieved2010-06-19.
- ^"Subiaco Congregation of the Order of St. Benedict".subiacocongregation.Archived fromthe originalon 23 June 2010.Retrieved22 May2022.
- ^"Christian Links".Archived fromthe originalon 2014-11-25.Retrieved2012-09-09.
- ^Alexandre Vidier,L'Historiographie à Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire et les miracles de Saint Benoît(Paris: Picard) 1965.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Abbey of Fleury".Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.
References
edit- Elizabeth Dachowski, "Edmund of East Anglia: Life of Abbo of Fleury":an introduction to the political background.
- (Dewey Library, University of Pennsylvania) Boethius,In Librum Aristotelis de Interpretatione:Manuscript probably produced at Fleury, mid-ninth century
Further reading
edit- Anselme Davril, editor, 1990.The Monastic Ritual of Fleury.A twelfth-century ritual, Orléans, Bibliothèque Municipale MS 123 [101]ISBN978-0-9501009-9-9
- Chenesseau, Georges.L'abbaye de Fleury à Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire(Paris: van Oest) 1933.