FERRIÈRES-EN-GÂTINAIS, ABBEY OF

Former royal Benedictine monastery, in Ferrières, canton Gâtinais, about 40 miles northeast of Orléans, France, in the Diocese of Orléans, ancient Diocese of Sens (patrons, SS. Peter and Paul). About 630 Duke Vandalbert of Étampes installed monks there in a preexisting chapel. But nothing else is known of this monastery before alcuin is noted as its abbot during the carolingian renaissance. The abbey is known to have been rebuilt between 814 and 845. The exact affiliation of the original monks is not known, but the benedictine rule was introduced there in 817, and Ferrières entered its period of splendor, producing men such as aldric of sens, Lupus of Ferrières, and ado of vienne. After a period of decline it was restored both spiritually and temporally by King Louis VII of France in the 12th century. The calamities of the Hundred Years' War almost ruined the monastic life at the abbey. In 1521, despite the opposition of the monks, the contemporary cluniac reform was introduced there, and a certain renewal of religious life resulted. The abbey was sacked by the Calvinists in 1568 to 1569 and had to be restored. It subsequently belonged in some manner to the Reform Congregation of Saint-Vanne (see verdun-sur-meuse) and the so-called "Congregation of Saint Benedict" before passing to the maurists in the mid-17th century (see benedictines). When the monastery was suppressed in 1790 during the French Revolution, only nine monks were in residence. The abbey church (12th century, partially restored after 1864) is preserved as an ancient monument and used as a parish church. The famed chapel of Notre-Dame-de-Bethléem has been restored and still attracts pilgrims. The claustral buildings were demolished.

Bibliography: Gallia Christiana, v.1–13 (Paris 1715–85) 4:370–372. e. martÈne and f. fortet, Histoire de la congrégation de Saint-Maur, ed. g. charvin, 9 v. in 5 (Archives de la France monastique 31–35, 42–43, 46–47; Ligugé 1928–43) 2:286, 3:235. m. aubert, Congrès archéologique de France 93 (1930) 219–232, with bibliog. r. gazeau, Catholicisme. Hier, aujourd'hui et demain, ed. g. jacquemet (Paris 1947–) 4:1204–05.

[l. gaillard]