Abbey of the Paraclete

The Abbey of the Paraclete (French: Abbaye du Paraclet) was a Benedictine monastery founded by Peter Abelard in Ferreux-Quincey, France, after he left the Abbey of St. Denis about 1121. Paraclete comes from the Greek word meaning "one who consoles" and is found in the Gospel of John (16:7) as a name for the Holy Spirit.

Former abbey of the Paraclete

In 1125 Abelard was elected by the monks of the Abbey at Saint-Gildas-de-Rhuys, near Vannes, Brittany, to be their abbot. He turned the Paraclete over to the recently displaced Héloïse, his wife, who had been in a nunnery in Argenteuil before its disbandment by Abbot Suger. The Paraclete was rededicated as a nunnery. Heloise became the Paraclete's abbess and spent the rest of her life there.[1]

She and Abelard were buried together there (Abelard c. approximately 1142, Heloise c. approximately 1164) until 1792, when their remains were transferred to the church of Nogent-sur-Seine nearby. In 1817, their bodies were reportedly moved to a new tomb at Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, but whether they are both actually buried there remains a matter of dispute.

A large part of the abbey was demolished in the French Revolution. The remaining buildings are a barn and a dovecote from the early 17th century, and a conventual building from the 18th century. These are listed monuments, as well as the monument to Héloïse and Abélard. A chapel was built in the early 20th century.[2]