Bassac Abbey

Bassac Abbey (French: Abbaye Saint-Étienne de Bassac) is a former Benedictine monastery in Bassac, Charente, France, in the former diocese of Saintes.

Bassac Abbey
Abbaye Saint-Étienne de Bassac
ESE view of the abbey (12th–18th centuries), Bassac, Charente, France
Religion
AffiliationCatholic Church
DistrictCharente
ProvincePoitou-Charentes
Ecclesiastical or organizational statusexisting
Year consecrated1002
Location
LocationBassac, Charente
Geographic coordinates45.661836°N 0.105384°W / 45.661836; -0.105384
Website
abbayebassac.com
The abbey from the Monasticon Gallicanum (17th century)

The abbey was founded in 1002 by Wardrade Lorichès, count of la Marche and first known Lord of Jarnac, and his wife Rixendis on their return from a pilgrimage to Rome. Both were later buried in the abbey church),[1] which was consecrated in around 1015 by Grimoard, Bishop of Angoulême, and his brother Iso, Bishop of Saintes. In 1095 the abbey was made subordinate to the abbey of Saint-Jean-d'Angély by Pope Urban II[2] but regained its independence in 1246.[3] Bassac Abbey was largely reconstructed under Guillaume de Vibrac, abbot from 1247 to 1286.[4][5]

It was suppressed in 1791 during the French Revolution. The buildings were sold off as biens nationaux ("state property") except for the church, which became the parish church.[6]

From 1947 to 2012 the surviving buildings were occupied and partly restored by the Congrégation des frères missionnaires de Sainte-Thérèse de l’Enfant Jésus. The site was sold in 2015 to a trust ("société civile immobilièree") for renovation as a "cultural and spiritual space of international dimensions" ("espace culturel et spirituel de dimension internationale").[7]

See also

Resources
  1. Le château de Jarnac, ses barons et ses comtes, P. Lacroix, Aux Librairies Historiques, Paris, 1875
  2. Jules Denyse, "L'abbaye royale de Saint-Étienne de Bassac," Bulletins et mémoires de la Société archéologique et historique de la Charente 5, no. 3 (1880): 86.
  3. Paul Calendini, "Bassac (Abbaye bénédictine Saint-Étienne de)," in Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, ed. Alfred Baudrillart, Albert de Meyer, and Van Cauwenbergh (Paris: Librairie Letouzey et Ané, 1932), 6:1260–61.
  4. Abbaye Saint-Étienne de Bassac Archived December 24, 2014, at the Wayback Machine virtualtourist.com
  5. French History: The Charente River Archived 2014-12-24 at the Wayback Machine adamandmollygo.com
  6. Base Mérimée, Abbaye ancienne Saint-Etienne, Bassac
  7. Olivier Sarazin, Abbaye de Bassac (16): un ambitieux projet présenté ce soir à Paris, in Sud Ouest, 21 August 2020 (online version)


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.