Fleury Abbey
Fleury Abbey (Floriacum) in
Abbo of Fleury (died 1004) a monk and abbot of Fleury was a theologian of wide-ranging intellect; his life was written by the chronicler Aimoin, also a monk of Fleury. Andrew of Fleury (writing c. 1043) wrote Miracula sancti Benedicti. Hugh of Fleury (died after 1118) was a monk of Fleury known for his chronicles and other writings.
Churches
Anscar Vonier, writing in the Catholic Encyclopedia says 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 the Normans, who penetrated via the Loire and burned the monastery buildings, which suffered a catastrophic fire in 1026, this became the great late eleventh-century Romanesque basilica, 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 the Fleury Playbook was compiled, perhaps in dedication to the new church. The tower of Abbot Gauzlin,[5] resting on fifty columns, forms a unique porch. The Carolingian style church is about three hundred feet long, its transept one 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
The seventeenth-century Benedictine scholar
The most famous of the
Modern history
Like all Benedictine monasteries in France, the community was scattered by the French 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 the
Benedict of Nursia's relics
Fleury is reputed to contain the relics of St.
Monks of the Italian monastery Monte 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
- List of Carolingian monasteries
- Carolingian architecture
- Carolingian art
- Regional characteristics of Romanesque architecture
- Codex Floriacensis
Notes
- ^ 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 from the original on 2010-08-16. Retrieved 2010-06-19.
- ^ Vonier, Anscar. "Abbey of Fleury." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 26 June 2019 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ His biography by André de Fleury, Vie de Gauzlin, abbé de Fleury: Vita Gauzlini abbatis Floriacensis monasterii edited 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, retrieved 2021-09-06
- ^ "Abbaye de Fleury". Archived from the original on 2010-08-16. Retrieved 2010-06-19.
- ^ "Subiaco Congregation of the Order of St. Benedict". www.subiacocongregation.com. Archived from the original on 23 June 2010. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
- ^ "Christian Links". Archived from the original on 2014-11-25. Retrieved 2012-09-09.
- ^ 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 the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Abbey of Fleury". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
References
- 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
- Anselme Davril, editor, 1990. The Monastic Ritual of Fleury. A twelfth-century ritual, Orléans, Bibliothèque Municipale MS 123 [101] ISBN 978-0-9501009-9-9
- Chenesseau, Georges. L'abbaye de Fleury à Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire (Paris: van Oest) 1933.