Saint-Maur

The Maurist houses

Six provinces, more than a hundred and ninety abbeys and priories.

From 1618 to the Revolution, the Congregation of Saint-Maur gathered more than a hundred and ninety abbeys and priories, divided into six provinces: France, Normandy, Brittany, Burgundy, Chezal-Benoît and Toulouse. The Conservatoire is compiling their record province by province, from the sources: the place and the diocese, the date of union to the congregation, a short notice, the engraved view from the Monasticon Gallicanum where it exists and, once established, the list of priors.

The houses on the map

Mas-GarnierHouses of the province of FranceHouses of the province of NormandyHouses of the province of BrittanyHouses of the province of BurgundyHouses of the province of Chezal-BenoîtHouses of the province of Toulouse

The six provinces

Province of France41 houses Province of Normandy31 houses Province of Brittany41 houses Province of Burgundy23 houses Province of Chezal-Benoît29 houses Province of Toulouse31 houses

The houses in the bibliography

The third book of the Conservatoire’s classified bibliography gathers the repertories of the houses, the studies of Maurist architecture and the monographs on single houses. The sources for each house are given under its entry; those for Mas-Garnier, on its own page.

Repertories of the houses

III.A.1
Monastères de la Congrégation de Saint-Maur – Monasticon gallicanum, bound collection of the plates (1710), Smith-Lesouëf copy – GallicaBibliothèque nationale de France (Smith-Lesouëf collection), c. 1710 see also: gallica.bnf.fr, gallica.bnf.fr
Contemporary collection in two volumes of the engraved views, arranged by provinces of the congregation: vol. 1 (France, Normandy), vol. 2 (Burgundy, Brittany, Chezal-Benoît, Gascony); both volumes, digitised on Gallica, are linked above. It is distinct from the single plates already cited; the BnF also catalogues each engraving separately.
III.A.2
Beaunier-Besse, general introduction (AFM IV, 1906)University of Toronto / Internet Archive, 1906 public domain
An introductory volume presenting the monastic families of the Ancien Régime, the Congregation of Saint-Maur among them, and the vocabulary of abbeys and priories.
III.A.3
Beaunier-Besse, Abbayes et prieurés de l’ancienne France, vol. I : province de Paris (AFM I, 1905)University of Toronto / Internet Archive, 1905 public domain
Reissue by the monks of Ligugé-Chevetogne of Dom Beaunier’s collection (1726), here for the province of Paris; complete series in twelve volumes, published from 1905 to 1941.
III.A.4
Beaunier-Besse, vol. II : Aix, Arles, Avignon, Embrun (AFM VII, 1909)University of Toronto / Internet Archive, 1909 public domain see also: archive.org
The Provence volume of the Beaunier-Besse series; another copy digitised from Princeton.
III.A.5
Beaunier-Besse, vol. III : Auch et Bordeaux (AFM X, 1910)University of Toronto / Internet Archive, 1910 public domain
The volume for the provinces of Auch and Bordeaux, neighbours of Mas-Garnier.
III.A.6
Beaunier-Besse, Abbayes et prieurés de l’ancienne France, vol. IV : provinces d’Albi, Narbonne et Toulouse (Archives de la France monastique XII, 1911)University of Toronto / Internet Archive, 1911 public domain
The volume covering the diocese of Toulouse, and therefore Mas-Garnier and the Maurist houses of the province of Toulouse: historical notices, lists of abbots and bibliography.
III.A.7
Beaunier-Besse, vol. V : Bourges (AFM XIV, 1912)University of Toronto / Internet Archive, 1912 public domain
The volume for the province of Bourges.
III.A.8
Beaunier-Besse, vol. VI : Sens (AFM XV, 1913)University of Toronto / Internet Archive, 1913 public domain
The volume for the province of Sens.
III.A.9
Beaunier-Besse, vol. VII : Rouen (AFM XVII, 1914)University of Toronto / Internet Archive, 1914 public domain
The volume for the province of Rouen, rich in Maurist houses of Normandy (Fécamp, Jumièges, Saint-Wandrille, Le Bec).
III.A.10
Beaunier-Besse, vol. VIII : Tours (AFM XIX, 1920)University of Toronto / Internet Archive, 1920 public domain
The volume for the province of Tours (Marmoutier, Saint-Florent de Saumur, the Breton houses).
III.A.11
Léon Lecestre, Abbayes, prieurés et couvents d’hommes en France : liste générale d’après les papiers de la Commission des réguliers en 1768 (Paris, Picard, 1902)University of Ottawa / Internet Archive, 1902 public domain
A return of all the houses of men in 1768 with their numbers, drawn up for the Commission des réguliers; it allows each Maurist house, Mas-Garnier among them, to be placed on the eve of the suppression.
III.A.12
Cottineau, Répertoire topo-bibliographique des abbayes et prieurés, vol. II (M-Z) (Mâcon, Protat, 1935-1939), copy of the Gallica scanBnF (Gallica bpt6k6551185j) / Internet Archive, 1935-1939 public domain see also: gallica.bnf.fr
The repertory of all the religious houses of France and Europe with their bibliography; volume II contains Mas-Garnier and Saint-Germain-des-Prés. The original digitised by the BnF is on Gallica; volume I (A-L) has not been located in open access.
III.A.13
Wikimedia Commons, category « Monasticon Gallicanum »Wikimedia Commons, 1672-1710 (engravings)
Plates sorted into subcategories by province (Anjou, Aquitaine, Burgundy, Brittany, Languedoc, Normandy…), in high definition. Source and licence vary from file to file.

Architecture, decoration and gardens

III.B.1
M. Bugner, Cadre, architecture et vie monastique des Bénédictins de la congrégation de Saint-MaurMonique Bugner / Librairie des arts et métiers, Nogent-le-Roi, 1984
The reference work on the built setting of the Maurist houses, from the plan of the conventual buildings to the organisation of regular life; 260 illustrated pages.
III.B.2
Daniel-Odon Hurel, « L’emplacement des bibliothèques dans les monastères de la congrégation de Saint-Maur », Annales de Bretagne et des pays de l’Ouest, 94-4, 1987, pp. 519-528Daniel-Odon Hurel / Persée, 1987
Study of the place given to the library in the buildings of the Maurist houses; useful for the library page and for reading the views of the Monasticon.
III.B.3
L’architecture et le décor des églises de la congrégation monastique de Saint-Maur : constructions, restaurations, aménagements liturgiques (1618-1790)Pierre-Marie Sallé, supervised by Daniel-Odon Hurel, EPHE-PSL, 2022
Doctoral thesis (available online) on how the Maurists restored and refitted the medieval churches of their some two hundred monasteries; of direct use for reading the church of Mas-Garnier.
III.B.4
Pierre-Marie Sallé, « L’orgue dans les aménagements liturgiques mauristes » (paper)Pierre-Marie Sallé, conference « L’orgue : magnificence des buffets », La Chaise-Dieu, 2023
A paper on the place of the organ in the fitting-out of Maurist churches; HAL record without full text.
III.B.5
Le décor des bâtiments conventuels des abbayes masculines françaises aux XVIIe et XVIIIe sièclesClément Savary, supervised by Sabine Frommel, EPHE-PSL, 2023
A thesis (open access) on the cloisters, staircases, refectories and libraries of the abbeys rebuilt in the early modern period, many Maurist houses among them.

Monographs on houses

Corbie
III.C.1
L’abbaye de Corbie à l’époque moderne : histoire d’une renaissance au temps des MauristesJacqueline Brassart, supervised by Marie-Claude Dinet-Lecomte, Université d’Amiens, 2014
A monograph on a great Maurist abbey: reform, buildings, library and relations with the town.
Saint-Germain-des-Prés
III.C.2
Anger, Les dépendances de l’abbaye de Saint-Germain-des-Prés, 3 vols (AFM III, VI, VIII, 1906-1909)University of Toronto / Internet Archive, 1906-1909 public domain see also: archive.org, archive.org
A historical inventory of the properties of the mother house outside Paris (vols II and III linked above).
III.C.3
Paris Musées (Carnavalet): Abbaye Saint-Germain-des-Prés, drawing by Alfred Bonnardot, 1839 (D.11560)Musée Carnavalet - Histoire de Paris, 1839 public domain
Watercolour view of the remains of the abbey (arcades of the parlour) before Haussmann’s new streets; Carnavalet keeps other views of the abbey under the same licence.
III.C.4
Wikimedia Commons: Historical images of Abbaye de Saint-Germain-des-PrésWikimedia Commons, 16th-19th c.
Some hundred old views and plans: Monasticon, Bouillart’s plans (1723-1724), Dom de la Tremblaye’s scenography, Turgot’s plan, the state in 1790.
III.C.5
Église Saint-Germain-des-Prés (parish)Saint-Germain-des-Prés parish, Paris
The former abbey church, seat of the Maurist superior general, keeps the tomb slabs of Mabillon, Montfaucon and Descartes; the parish offers guided tours and a downloadable visitor’s guide.
Mont-Saint-Michel
III.C.6
Une édition numérique structurée (TEI) des textes montois de dom Thomas Le RoyMarie Bisson, supervised by C. Jacquemard and V. Gazeau, Université de Caen, 2015
A thesis that publishes in digital form the history of Mont-Saint-Michel written by a seventeenth-century Maurist: an example of the electronic edition of a text by a historian of the congregation.
Marmoutier
III.C.7
Daniel-Odon Hurel, « La reconstruction de Marmoutier par les Mauristes (1638-1715) »Daniel-Odon Hurel, Revue d’histoire de l’Église de France, 1987
A case study of the rebuilding of the buildings of a great abbey by the congregation, with its funding and its stages.
Solesmes
III.C.8
Abbaye de Solesmes – Le temps des réformes (Maurist period)Abbaye Saint-Pierre de Solesmes
The abbey’s page on its aggregation to the Congregation of Saint-Maur in 1664 and on the priory building raised by the Maurists in 1723.
Bonne-Nouvelle d’Orléans
III.C.9
Les mauristes à Orléans. Bonne-Nouvelle et l’essor de la bibliothèque publique au XVIIIe siècleDaniel-Odon Hurel, Paradigme (Orléans), 1995
Inventory of the Maurist correspondence kept in Orléans and history of a monastic library that became public.
III.C.10
Daniel-Odon Hurel, « Les mauristes de Bonne-Nouvelle d’Orléans et leur bibliothèque au XVIIIe siècle »Daniel-Odon Hurel, Revue d’histoire de l’Église de France, 1997
A documented example of a Maurist library opened to the public in the eighteenth century; a useful model for presenting the library of an abbey of the congregation.
Pontlevoy
III.C.11
L’École royale militaire de Pontlevoy : Bénédictins de Saint-Maur et boursiers du roi (1776-1793)Daniel Porquet, supervised by Jean-Pierre Chaline, Université Paris-Sorbonne, 2011
A thesis (available online) on one of the military colleges entrusted to the Maurists in 1776, with Sorèze: their teaching and their pupils.

Sources of this pageEngraved views: Monasticon Gallicanum, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Department of Prints and Photographs, public-domain reproductions published by Wikimedia Commons. Lists of priors: after dom G. Charvin, “Contribution à l’étude du personnel de la congrégation de Saint-Maur (1612-1789)”, Revue Mabillon, 1956-1959; for Eysses (province of Toulouse) and Saint-Maixent (province of Chezal-Benoît), after the monographs cited under their lists. Notices: Dom J.-M. Besse and dom Ch. Beaunier, Abbayes et prieurés de l’ancienne France, Archives de la France monastique, 1905-1941; L. Lecestre, Abbayes, prieurés et couvents d’hommes en France, 1902; the Mérimée database of the Plateforme ouverte du patrimoine; BnF authority records; the Inventaire général du patrimoine culturel. The references for each house are given under its entry.

The Congregation of Saint-Maur Maurist Mas-Garnier