Saint-Mihiel Abbey is an ancient Benedictine abbey situated in the town of
Saint-Mihiel
Saint-Mihiel () is a commune in the Meuse department in Grand Est in north-eastern France.
Geography
Saint-Mihiel lies on the banks of the river Meuse.
History
A Benedictine abbey was established here in 708 or 709 by Count Wulfoalde and his wif ...
, near
Verdun
Verdun (, , , ; official name before 1970 ''Verdun-sur-Meuse'') is a large city in the Meuse department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department.
Verdun is the biggest city in Meuse, although the capital ...
in the
Meuse
The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a t ...
department
Department may refer to:
* Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility
Government and military
*Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
in
Lorraine
Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gr ...
in north-eastern
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
.
The benedictine abbey was built in 708 or 709 by a Count Wulfoalde and his wife Adalsinde, probably to house the relics that Wulfoalde had brought back from Italy.
It was dedicated to
Saint Michael the Archangel
Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), a ...
, a popular saint at the time, as can be testified by the establishment of the abbeys of
Mont St Michel in Normandy and the
Abbey of Honau
The Abbey of Honau was a monastic foundation in Northern Alsace which flourished from the 8th century until 1290, when it succumbed to the flood-waters of the Rhine.
The Abbey was founded by Irish and Scottish monks at the beginning of the 8th cen ...
in
Alsace
Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...
in the same period.
In 1734 the tombs of both Wulfoalde and Adalsinde were discovered in the abbey.
The abbey was placed under the authority of
Fulrad
Saint Fulrad (french: Fulrade; la, Fulradus) was born in 710 into a wealthy family, and died on July 16, 784 as the Abbot of Saint-DenisBunson and Bunson 2003, pp.345. He was the counselor of both Pippin and Charlemagne. Historians see Fulrad a ...
of
St Denis, chaplain to
Charlemagne
Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...
.
In 755 a mayor Wulfoald, probably a relative of the founder of the abbey, was accused of high treason and plotting against
Pepin the Short
the Short (french: Pépin le Bref; – 24 September 768), also called the Younger (german: Pippin der Jüngere), was King of the Franks from 751 until his death in 768. He was the first Carolingian to become king.
The younger was the son of ...
, was condemned to death. When
Fulrad
Saint Fulrad (french: Fulrade; la, Fulradus) was born in 710 into a wealthy family, and died on July 16, 784 as the Abbot of Saint-DenisBunson and Bunson 2003, pp.345. He was the counselor of both Pippin and Charlemagne. Historians see Fulrad a ...
intervened to save his life, Wulfoald expressed his gratitude by giving
King Childéric II his possessions, including the Abbey.
The Abbey is best known for its abbot
Smaragdus
Smaragdus ( grc-gre, Σμαράγδος, Smarágdos) was Exarch of Ravenna from 585 to 589 and again from 603 to 611.
During his first tenure, Smaragdus made an alliance with the Franks and Avars against the perennial foes of the Exarchate, the ...
, who moved there around the year 814 with his monks from the monastery on Mt. Castellion.
Some time between 816 and 826 Smaragdus obtained royal protection for the abbey from
Louis the Pious
Louis the Pious (german: Ludwig der Fromme; french: Louis le Pieux; 16 April 778 – 20 June 840), also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was King of the Franks and co-emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813. He was also King of Aqui ...
, ensuring that wagons, pack-horses and ships would be exempt from customs taxes on goods transported between the monastery and its lands.
Smaragdus achieved fame as a writer of homilies, and for his writings on the
Rule of St Benedict
The ''Rule of Saint Benedict'' ( la, Regula Sancti Benedicti) is a book of precepts written in Latin in 516 by St Benedict of Nursia ( AD 480–550) for monks living communally under the authority of an abbot.
The spirit of Saint Benedict's R ...
.
Smaragdus, who died around 840, was succeeded as Abbott by Hadegaudus, who was probably elected by the monks themselves.
Abbots in the tenth century included Odon I, followed by Sarovard, followed by Odon II, who died in 995.
Over the years, the abbey proved very popular with royalty, emperors and kings and dukes. In the 11th century, for example, it came under the protection of
Gérard, Duke of Lorraine
Gerard ( – 14 April 1070), also known as Gerard the Wonderful, was a Lotharingian nobleman. He was the count of Metz and Châtenois from 1047 to 1048, when his brother Duke Adalbert resigned them to him upon his becoming the Duke of Upper Lorr ...
.
During the Middle Ages, the Abbey was famous for its relics, not least of which concerned Saint Anatole,
Bishop of Cahors
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Cahors (Latin: ''Dioecesis Cadurcensis''; French: ''Diocèse de Cahors'') is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The diocese comprises the whole of the department of Lot.
In the begi ...
, whose body was reputed to have been transferred to Mihiel in 779.
The Abbey was dissolved during the French revolution.
The Church of Saint Michel
The Abbey Church is known as the Church of Saint Michel. Part of the 11th century porch still remains. The nave was rebuilt in the 16th century and modified in the 17th century.
The Church contains a walnut sculpture of the
swooning of Mary by
Ligier Richier
Ligier Richier (c. 1500–1567) was a French sculptor active in Saint-Mihiel in north-eastern France.
Richier primarily worked in the churches of his native Saint-Mihiel and from 1530 he enjoyed the protection of Duke Antoine of Lorraine, for w ...
dated 1531 (or 1537).
image:Eglise Saint-Michel Saint-Mihiel 271108 03.jpg, Altar of the Abbey church of Saint Michel, Saint-Mihiel.
image:Saint-Mihiel_-_église_abbatiale_(44).JPG, Church of Saint Michel with organ loft.
image:Saint-Mihiel - église abbatiale (26).JPG, Detail of the organ.
image:Saint-Mihiel_-_église_abbatiale_(12).JPG, Apse.
image:Pâmoison_de_la_Vierge_Ligier_Richier_301008_1.jpg, Swoon of the virgin by Richier
The library
Today the Abbey is best known for its library. The library is still on the original site, which it now shares with a school and, since 1978, with the town hall. The collections include 8780 books including 86 incunabula, 74 manuscripts from the ninth to the sixteenth centuries. It is housed in a purpose-built building, constructed in 1775. It is managed as a special collection by the municipal library. A number of the more valuable works are available online in digital form. The most famous of these is a 9th-century manuscript on the Holy Trinity by Pseudo-Athanasius, which was stolen during World War one, but discovered in a Hamburg bookshop in 2007 and reintegrated into the collection.
Cartulary of Saint-Mihiel
A
cartulary
A cartulary or chartulary (; Latin: ''cartularium'' or ''chartularium''), also called ''pancarta'' or ''codex diplomaticus'', is a medieval manuscript volume or roll (''rotulus'') containing transcriptions of original documents relating to the fo ...
of Saint-Mihiel was composed towards the end of the 11th century and is preserved in the Meuse Departmental Archives at
Bar-le-Duc
Bar-le-Duc (), formerly known as Bar, is a commune in the Meuse département, of which it is the capital. The department is in Grand Est in northeastern France.
The lower, more modern and busier part of the town extends along a narrow valley, sh ...
.
External links
Short list of manuscripts in the Benedictine library
References
{{Authority control
Christian monasteries established in the 8th century
Saint-Mihiel
Saint-Mihiel () is a commune in the Meuse department in Grand Est in north-eastern France.
Geography
Saint-Mihiel lies on the banks of the river Meuse.
History
A Benedictine abbey was established here in 708 or 709 by Count Wulfoalde and his wif ...
Buildings and structures in Meuse (department)
History of Catholic monasticism
8th-century establishments in Francia
Churches completed in 710
8th-century churches