Abbey of Saint-Junien de Nouaillé

In 799, the abbot of Saint-Hilaire, Ato —who would later become bishop of Saintes— restored the house and populated it with Benedictine monks; prior to that, it had probably followed the Rule of Saint Columbanus. Shortly afterwards, before 808, several canons from Saint-Hilaire joined the community, also adopting the Rule of Saint Benedict. Until then, the house was dedicated to Saint Hilary, bishop of Poitiers, but in 830 the relics of Saint Junian (6th century), abbot of the nearby monastery of Mairé (Deux-Sèvres), which had fallen into ruin, arrived here.

Nouaillé suffered the consequences of several military events that affected the region: a Norman raid in 863, and later, in 1356, a sacking during the Hundred Years’ War, which left it in ruins for many years, until its restoration in 1473. Finally, the site was set on fire by the Huguenots in 1569, leaving the church almost unusable. Its restoration was slow and only began in earnest when Nouaillé joined the Congregation of Saint-Maur in 1615; the church was not reconsecrated until 1640. Communal life came to an end at the close of the 18th century, with the Revolution, when the abbey’s property was sold and much of its heritage was lost.