SAINT-BENOÎT-SUR-LOIRE. - The Abbey of St-Benoît-sur-Loire (formerly Fleury, from the ancient name of a town, Floriacum, belonging to a certain Florus or Florius) stands near the town of the same name in the Loire Valley, in the department of Loiret and in the diocese of Orléans.
Its central position at the crossroads of major communication routes made this valley the center of the peoples of ancient Gaul; here stood the omphalos, the sacred navel; periodic assemblies were held here, and expiatory sacrifices were also performed for the entire nation at the time of the god Radiobus, where pilgrims from all parts gathered under the guidance of the druids. This sacred character was preserved even in the Gallo-Roman era, as evidenced by important archaeological remains, and then passed to the Germanic peoples who settled in Gaul.
Christianity encountered difficulty in this pagan center, where it triumphed in the 4th century, perhaps through the work of St. Martin, to whom various churches in the valley are dedicated. Probably at the same time, the first Christian traces at Fleury must be traced back. It is known only that by the mid-6th century an oratory dedicated to the Virgin was annexed to the villa, owned by King Clovis II. The king, who shared with his wife St. Bathild the concern for the propagation of monastic life, ceded the villa, in exchange for another estate, to the abbot of St. Peter of Orléans, Leodebodo. Attracted by the fame of the Rule of St. Benedict, Leodebodo had decided to found a new monastery to introduce its observance. Now he could carry out his plan at Fleury, where soon the villa was transformed into an abbey, which he himself endowed with many goods by an act of June 27, 651. The choice of the site, the concessions of King Clovis, and the intention to transfer the relics of St. Anianus, beloved by the people for having saved Orléans from Attila, reveal the aim of creating in the valley a Christian sacred center, capable of powerful attraction, not inferior to that exerted by the previous pagan center, which was probably not yet entirely extinct. Thus the development of the Abbey of Fleury was rapid: the translation of the body of St. Benedict, which is said to have taken place during the abbacy of Mummolus (658-79), made it even more famous and one of the most visited shrines in France. From this time it was called St-Benoît-sur-Loire. It enjoyed the favor of the Frankish princes, who enriched it with numerous donations. In the Carolingian era it reached a high degree of prosperity under Abbot Theodulf, the true founder of the school that became a very important cultural center; its influence often extended beyond the borders of France. Several times the life of the abbey was disturbed by devastations and other calamities: in the 9th century, on three occasions, the monks were forced to flee because of Norman raids. This was followed by a relaxation in monastic life, which only St. Odo of Cluny, authorized by the Pope, managed to restore after overcoming many difficulties.
After the Cluniac reform, Fleury became a model monastery, from which various colonies were sent to other houses, even outside France. At the same time, the school reached its zenith through the work of Abbot Abbo (v.), who governed the monastery from 998 to 1004. Serious fires that struck the abbey in 974, 1002, and 1026 interrupted the fervor of life and study; that of 1026 destroyed all the buildings. The monks, guided by Abbot Gauzlin (1004-30), soon undertook its reconstruction. However, while the crypts were restored shortly afterward and the altars of the Madonna and St. Benedict along with the two-transept choir were rebuilt, the church, damaged by another fire in 1184, was consecrated only in 1218. During this period and the following century, the artistic activity was as intense as the spiritual life of the monastery, which did not diminish despite material difficulties and the decline of the school. The influx of pilgrims also decreased. This state of affairs lasted for a long time and worsened due to the raids that devastated the area, particularly during the Hundred Years' War; moreover, the tax agents, at the death of individual abbots, attempted to seize the temporal goods of the abbey, which in 1363 was also occupied for two years by a Breton company. Other acts of violence and new intrigues in the abbatial elections led to the governance of the monastery by mostly unworthy individuals, worsening the situation to the point that even Fleury had to submit to commendation (1486). Regular discipline was now in decline; individualism had destroyed communal life, and various attempts to restore observance were of no avail. The commendatory abbot De Coligny, openly declaring himself in favor of Calvinism, completed the impoverishment of the abbey by removing its finest treasures and abandoning it to the plundering of the Huguenots in 1562.
A few years later, Fleury became part of the Gallican Congregation of the Exempt, but only with its annexation to the Congregation of St. Maur in 1627 did it undergo a reform that restored a period of religious and cultural flourishing. However, in the following century a new relaxation is noted. In 1789 the monastery was sold, and in 1806 demolished: only the church remained, which from 1865 was guarded by some monks of St. Mary of La Pierre-qui-Vire. In 1944, with a group that had broken away from the same abbey, the monastic community was reconstituted at Fleury.
The school of Fleury, besides being illuminated by Theodulf, Alcuin’s collaborator in the Carolingian Renaissance, was distinguished by Abbo in the 10th century: the number of his pupils has been estimated at 5,000. From the 9th to the 12th century various authors compiled the *Miracula S. Benedicti*. Worthy of mention are also Aimo, Hugh of St. Mary, Gauzlin, Andrew, Rudolf, and Theodoric. The most cultivated sciences were biblical, historical, and liturgical studies, and patristics, but classical literature also held a prominent place; numerous were the hagiographical works. Particular mention should also be made of the scriptorium, where a type of script known precisely as the Fleury script developed.
Closely linked to the school was the library. Its collections were destroyed or dispersed during the Huguenot wars. A few remains are now in Orléans, Bern, and the Vatican.