SAINT-MAUR-SUR-LOIRE, ABBEY OF

Or Glanfeuil Abbey, former Benedictine monastery in the arrondissement of Saumur, canton of Gennes, commune of Saint-Georges-le-Thoureil (Maine-et-Loire) France, Diocese of Angers (Latin, S. Maurus supra Ligerum or Glanafoliense ). It was founded in the 6th century by a certain Maurus, whom an unlikely tradition has identified with maurus of subiaco. After being plundered, it was restored in 831 by the monks of Saint-Pierre-des-Fossés near Paris, but was abandoned again during the Norman invasions (862), to be restored at the beginning of the 11th century. The abbey church was consecrated in 1036. By 1096 the house had 30 monks and in 1098 it was restored to abbey status. The abbey was sacked during both the Hundred Years' War and the Wars of Religion. In 1668 it was admitted into the Congregation of Saint-Maur (see maurists) but by 1768 only seven monks remained. The abbey was suppressed and the abbey church destroyed during the French Revolution. In 1890 the monks of solesmes reestablished monastic life there, but in 1910 the community finally settled at clervaux, Luxembourg. Today the Saint-Maur buildings house a seminary of the assumptionists.

Bibliography: Sources. Archives of Maine-et-Loire. Chartulary in P. A. Marchegay, ed., Archives d'Anjou, 2 v. (Angers 1843–53) v.1. odo of glanfeuil, De miraculis S. Mauri, Monumenta Germaniae Scriptores (Berlin 1826–) 15.1: 460–472. Literature. Gallia Christiana, v.1–13 (Paris 1715–85), v.14–16 (Paris 1856–65) 14:681–693. h. leclbrcq, Dictionnaire d'archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie, ed. f. cabrol, h. leclercq and h. i. marrou, 15 v. (Paris 1907–53) 6.1:1283–1319. l. h. cottineau, Répertoire topobibliographique des abbayes et prieurés, 2 v. (Mâcon 1935–39) 2:280–203. r. gazeau, Catholicisme 5:44–46.

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