Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire Abbey

That small rural community underwent a profound transformation with the arrival of the relics of Benedict of Nursia. The saint had died at Monte Cassino in 547 and was buried there beside his sister Scholastica (c. 480–547). In 577, however, the monastery was destroyed and remained abandoned until 720. During that period, an expedition organised by the monastery of Fleury during the abbacy of Mummolus († 663), with the assistance of the bishop of Le Mans, travelled to Monte Cassino and obtained the relics of Saints Benedict and Scholastica. In 655, the relics of the two saints were deposited at Fleury and Le Mans respectively.

Theodulf also built a villa on monastic lands at Germigny-des-Prés (Loiret). This residence included a chapel that still survives, although in a modified form. Later, in the eleventh century, a small community was established there, eventually becoming a priory of Fleury. During the ninth century, the region suffered from the Norman invasions. In 865 Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire was set on fire, and similar attacks followed later. The relics of Saint Benedict were temporarily taken to Orléans for safekeeping, while those of Saint Aigulf (Ayoul) were transferred to Provins, where the Priory of Saint-Ayoul was subsequently established.

In 1108, the remains of Saint Benedict were enshrined in the new church, whose construction was not completed until 1218, when it was dedicated. During the second half of the fourteenth century, the Hundred Years' War severely affected the abbey, which also suffered outbreaks of plague (1338). The commendatory regime, introduced between 1486 and 1525, the Wars of Religion (1562 and 1567), and another fire in 1584 ushered in a new period of decline, reducing the community to only five monks. Nevertheless, monastic life continued. In 1627 the abbey joined the Congregation of Saint-Maur, whose members restored monastic observance and undertook extensive rebuilding works that continued for many years. Finally, in 1790, the abbey was suppressed during the French Revolution.

The monastery's first two churches, Saint Peter and Notre-Dame, have disappeared. The former was replaced by a new building in the eighteenth century. The present Church of Notre-Dame is the successor to the original structure and is essentially Romanesque. It consists of a square porch tower, the oldest part of the complex, dating from the first half of the eleventh century. Attached to it is a three-aisled church followed by a transept with two apsidioles in each arm. The eastern end consists of a spacious chancel that continues the same layout as the nave and terminates in a semicircular apse surrounded by four radial chapels. This phase of construction dates from between the second half of the eleventh century and the beginning of the thirteenth.