La Bénisson-Dieu monastery

Cistercian Abbey of La Bénisson-Dieu
location	France Region Auvergne Rhône-Alpes Loire department
Coordinates:	46 ° 9 '4 "  N , 4 ° 2' 43"  E Coordinates: 46 ° 9 '4 "  N , 4 ° 2' 43"  E
Serial number according to Janauschek	131
founding year	1138
Year of dissolution / annulment	1612, then a nunnery
Mother monastery	Clairvaux Monastery
Primary Abbey	Clairvaux Monastery

View of the church

Portal of the former abbey church

The monastery La Bénisson-Dieu (Benedictio Dei) is a former Cistercian abbey in the commune of La Bénisson-Dieu in the Loire department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region ( France ).

history

According to a chronicle from the 17th century, the abbey was founded on September 29, 1138 by the monk Alberic, a student of Bernhard von Clairvaux . She belonged to the filiation of the Clairvaux Primary Abbey . The original name was Notre Dame de la Bénediction de Dieu and over time it became La Bénisson-Dieu .

The church and the monastery buildings were completed in the 12th century. Under the Abbot Pierre de la Fin in the 15th century major structural changes have been made: The 51 meter high and fortified bell tower was built and the church with colored and glazed tiles covered. Around 1500 the abbey was converted into a commander . After the destruction during the Huguenot Wars , the abbey was converted into a convent on July 3, 1612 by swapping it with the Mègemont Abbey and the first abbess was Françoise de Nérestang , the daughter of Philibert de Nérestang, a colleague of Henry IV.

In the following years the monastery was rebuilt and the addition of a baroque chapel was completed in 1651. During the French Revolution the monastery was abolished and the buildings were sold for demolition. The monastery church was the only building that remained and became the parish church of the village.

literature

• Église Abbatiale - La Bénisson Dieu . Leaflet of the Office de tourisme du Pays de Charlieu (French)

Web links

Commons : La Bénisson-Dieu Monastery  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• La Bénisson-Dieu monastery: Description as Monument historique in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French text)
• Jean Baché: L'Histoire de l'Abbaye de La Bénisson-Dieu. 1880, archived from the original on May 24, 2006 ; Retrieved on July 12, 2010 (French, summary in German. ( Memento of May 24, 2006 in the Internet Archive )). 
• Bénisson-Dieu, la (Loire) . On the website “I Cistercensi O.Cist. / OCSO “of the Florence Charterhouse with photos.