The Abbey of Saint-Cyran-en-Brenne, also known since 1975 as the Abbey of Saint-Michel-en-Brenne, and originally as Saint-Pierre de Longoret, is an abbey in the town of Saint-Michel-en-Brenne in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, previously in the province of Berry and now in the department of Indre.

History

Sigiran(d) or Sigiramnus, later known as Saint Cyran, founded a monastery at Longoret around 632 CE on land offered to him by

Dagobert I Dagobert I ( la, Dagobertus; 605/603 – 19 January 639 AD) was the king of Austrasia (623–634), king of all the Franks (629–634), and king of Neustria and Burgundy (629–639). He has been described as the last king of the Merovingian dyna ...

for that purpose. Dagobert frequently visited the monastery to hunt. The monastery, originally named Saint-Pierre de Longoret, later became an abbey and a royal foundation named after Saint Cyran. It kept Saint Cyran's relics, as well as those of saints Génitour, Sylvain and Fructueux, all of which were later re-housed in 1860 in a bronze reliquary. In 1620 Jean Duvergier de Hauranne, who introduced

Jansenism Jansenism was an early modern theological movement within Catholicism, primarily active in the Kingdom of France, that emphasized original sin, human depravity, the necessity of divine grace, and predestination. It was declared a heresy by th ...

into France, became the abbey's commendatory abbot. Opposed to the

Jesuits , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...

, he fell into disgrace under Cardinal Richelieu and was imprisoned. The abbey suffered from its association with his fall. It was officially suppressed in 1712 and destroyed on the orders of the

archbishop of Bourges In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdioc ...

. The abbey's monks scattered and its goods were sold in 1739. The buildings were sold as state property in 1790, and all that remains of the main abbey buildings is the 15th-century ''chambre des hôtes''. Some of its granges, stables and mills also survive. A few decades after 1790 Moulins de Paris bought it and later turned it into holiday homes for its employees. The abbey was converted to have a more varied frontage. In June 1975 it was bought by

Marcel Lefebvre Marcel François Marie Joseph Lefebvre (; 29 November 1905 – 25 March 1991) was a French Catholic archbishop who greatly influenced modern traditional Catholicism. In 1970, he founded the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), a community to tra ...

's sister, who renamed it Saint-Michel Abbey and used it to house the sisters of the Society of St. Pius X. It protected

Paul Touvier Paul Claude Marie Touvier (3 April 1915 – 17 July 1996) was a French Nazi collaborator during World War II in Occupied France. In 1994, he became the first Frenchman ever convicted of crimes against humanity, for his participation in the Ho ...

, fleeing from charges of crimes against humanity, until the police seized his baggage there on May 21, 1989.Renaud Thomazo: ''Les grands scandales de l'histoire de France'', éditions Larousse, 2013, p. 104.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Cyran en Brenne Buildings and structures of the Society of Saint Pius X Benedictine monasteries in France Buildings and structures in Indre Churches completed in 632 7th-century churches in France