LIGUGÉ, ABBEY OF

In the commune of Ligugé (Vienne), France, three miles south of Poitiers. The present Abbaye Saint-Martin de Ligugé was founded in 360 by St. Martin of Tours, who became bishop of Tours in 370. Archeological excavations since 1953 have unearthed the Gallo-Roman villa, dating from the second or third century, that was the saint's first dwelling; a fourth-century exedra and chapel that testify to his coming to Ligugé; the sixth-century church visited by St. Gregory of Tours; and the structures built by Ursinus, abbot at the end of the seventh century. After being ruined during the Arab invasion (732), the monastery revived at the beginning of the eleventh century with the aid of Aumode, countess of Poitou, as a priory of the Abbey of Maillezais (Vendée). The monks ceded the place to chaplains long before it became the property of the Jesuits from Poitiers. Four monks from solesmes restored Benedictine life to Ligugé (1853). Under Dom Bourigaud, the second abbot (1876–1906), Ligugé revived the monasteries of Sainte-Marie of Paris, fontenelle (Saint-Wandrille) in Normandy, and silos in Spain. Expelled by the law of associations (1901), the community settled at Chevetogne, Belgium, until 1923, when it returned. Since then it has prospered under its abbots, Dom Gaugain, Dom Basset, and Dom Le Maître, and has cooperated with the ecumenical movement. The productions of its workshop in enamels are highly esteemed.

Bibliography: p. monsabert, Le Monastère de Ligugé (Ligugé 1929). j. coquet, L'Abbaye de St. Martin de Ligugé (Ligugé1948); Revue Mabillon 44 (1954) 45–94; 45 (1955) 75–147; 48 (1958) 245–248. h. rochais, ibid. 43 (1953) 138–146, bibliog. l.h. cottineau, Répertoire topo-bibliographique des abbayes et prieurés (Mâcon 1935–39) 1:1613. o. l. kapsner, A Benedictine Bibliography: An Author-Subject Union List (Collegeville, Minn.) 2:224–225.

[h. rochais]