PONTIGNY, ABBEY OF

Second daughter abbey of cÎteaux (Lat., Pontiniacum ), founded in 1114 in France in the former Diocese of Auxerre (the present Diocese of Sens). The first abbot, Hugh of Mâcon, entered Cîteaux with St. bernard and later became bishop of Auxerre (1136). The second abbot, Guichard, was archbishop of Lyons in 1165. William, archbishop of Bourges in 1199, had been a monk at Pontigny. Between 1160 and 1240, three archbishops from Canterbury in conflict with the English king found refuge at Pontigny: thomas becket (1164), stephen langton (1207), and edmund of abingdon (1240); the last-named was buried at Pontigny and his grave became the object of pilgrimage. As a result of war, the abbey experienced serious financial difficulties. Conditions had begun to improve under the last abbot when the French Revolution broke out. The buildings were sold, the abbey church became a parish church, and the cult of St. Edmund was reestablished. The buildings were occupied for a time by the Fathers of the Society of Saint Edmond; later (1910–39) Paul Desjardins bought and restored the buildings for his Union pour la verité, a moral, areligious movement that inspired especially the Nouvelle revue française. Then, after having sheltered a Franco-American college, they became in 1952 the seat of a prelate nullius of the Mission de France.

Bibliography: "Historia Pontiniacensis monasterii," e. martÈne and u. durand, Thesaurus novus anecdotorum, 5 v. (Paris 1717) 3:1221–66. c. É. chaillou des barres, L'Abbaye de Pontigny (Paris 1844). g. fontaine, Pontigny, abbaye cistercienne (Paris 1928). a. moreau, Pontigny, de l'abbaye cistercienne au collége franco-américain (Paris 1950). a. a. king, Cîteaux and Her Elder Daughters (London 1954) 148–206.

[m. a. dimier]