MONTMAJOUR. – Benedictine abbey situated on the island of St-Pierre of M., northeast of Arles, surrounded by ponds which gave it in Provençal the designation of St-Pierre « de la Sagno ».
The abbey originated with some hermits who undertook to dig the tombs and guard the cemetery established there under the patronage of St Peter. The monastery first appears in the mid-10th century as dependent on the Chapter of St Trofime, the cathedral of Arles, from which it was acquired on 7 October 949 by a pious religious woman named Teucinda, who died in 977, as is read on her tombstone. In 960 its first abbot was Mauring; it then received gifts and privileges and became directly dependent on the Holy See. Clement IV (1265–68) designated the abbot from among the Benedictines, and in the 14th century it became a benefice whose collation was reserved to the Holy See. In the 16th and 17th centuries it became a benefice of the d'Ornano family; several priories scattered throughout Provence depended on the abbey. The double abbey church dedicated to St Peter, on the southern flank of the mountain, was erected in the 10th century and comprised two naves, one of them carved into the rock; the other consists of a nave with three bays. On the opposite side of the mountain, Abbot Archinrico began on 30 May 1016 a new church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and All the Saints, which was completed under Abbot Rolando (1059–72). In 1030 the crypt of the Holy Cross was consecrated there. The two churches were demolished during the works of the 12th century, when, about 1150, construction began on the present church of Notre-Dame, completed about 1153; it consists of a nave with two bays and a transept, a semicircular apse inside and polygonal outside, two lateral apses, and a crypt carved into the rock, with an ambulatory opening onto five small apses. In the transept, a chapel was added to the north by Abbot Bertrando de Maussang (1298–1316); while to the east, in the second half of the 12th century, the terracotta chapel of the Holy Cross was erected. Beside the church, the cloister was built, which presents similarities with that of St Trofime of Arles; it was restored several times, as during the time of Abbots Pons de l'Orme (1368–80) and Cardinal Pietro De Foix (1450–1462); the capitals depict historical scenes or chimeras. From the end of the 16th century, the abbey, given in commendam, had fallen into such decline that the archbishop of Arles, Mons. J. Jaubert de Barroult, entrusted it in 1639 to the Benedictines of St Maur, who renovated the buildings, later damaged by a fire in 1726; a new project was approved in 1755. The abbey was secularized by the Revolution in 1790. After some parts had been saved by a private individual, following the Restoration the city of Arles began to redeem it, and restoration work commenced in 1872. On 19 April 1030, under Abbot Ramberto Pons de Marignane, archbishop of Arles, the « Pardon de M. » was instituted on the occasion of the construction of the crypt dedicated to the Most Holy Cross in the basilica of Notre-Dame, for all the faithful who had contributed to its construction. The indulgence was extended to the following years for the pilgrimage held on 3 May, the Finding of the Most Holy Cross; it subsequently continued as well; Pope Julius II (bull of 6 February 1504) granted a plenary indulgence whenever 3 May fell on a Friday. Pius IX (bull of 14 July 1851) restored the pilgrimage, which had been suspended since the time of the French Revolution. At present, by decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, the indulgence has been transferred to the church of St Anthony in Arles.