Obazine Abbey
Encyclopedia
Corrèze
Corrèze is a department in south central France, named after the Corrèze River.The inhabitants of the department are called Corréziens or Corréziennes according to gender.-History:...
in the Limousin
Limousin (province)
Limousin is one of the traditional provinces of France around the city of Limoges. Limousin lies in the foothills of the western edge of the Massif Central, with cold weather in the winter...
in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
History
It was founded in about 1134 by Saint Stephen of ObazineStephen of Obazine
Stephen of Obazine was a priest and hermit, famed for his pious nature, even from a young age.-Religious Life:Stephen began his religious life as a priest in Vielge, France, and was stirred a reputation of holiness, especially when it came to the recitation of the divine office, only interrupting...
, who after his ordination, with another priest, Pierre, began the eremitical life
Hermit
A hermit is a person who lives, to some degree, in seclusion from society.In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Christian who lives the eremitic life out of a religious conviction, namely the Desert Theology of the Old Testament .In the...
. They attracted a number of followers and with the sanction of Eustorge, Bishop of Tulle, built a monastery on a site granted them by the Viscount Archambault.
Before 1142 they had no established rule; however, in this year, St. Stephen was clothed with the regular habit. He had Cistercian monks train his followers in their mode of life, and affiliated his abbey to that of Cîteaux
Cîteaux Abbey
Cîteaux Abbey is a Roman Catholic abbey located in Saint-Nicolas-lès-Cîteaux, south of Dijon, France. Today it belongs to the Trappists, or Cistercians of the Strict Observance . The Cistercian order takes its name from this mother house of Cîteaux, earlier Cisteaux, near Nuits-Saint-Georges...
in 1147. As their number increased, several foundations were made. Before the cistercian affiliation, the Abbey had a feminine monastery in Coyroux with a high closure. In Cîteaux, this organization wasn't common, but it improved the good reputation of Obazine.
The Obazine Abbey had foundations in Limousin and Quercy, as farms all around Rocamadour
Rocamadour
Rocamadour is a commune in the Lot department in south-western France. It lies in the former province of Quercy.Rocamadour has attracted visitors for its setting in a gorge above a tributary of the River Dordogne, and especially for its historical monuments and its sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin...
, a famous sacred place of pilgrimage. These cistercian farms were situated in Alix, Calès, Bonnecoste, Couzou, Carlucet, near Séniergues, and the last la Pannonie
Pannonie
La Pannonie is an old village of the Lot region, between Gramat and Rocamadour, situated since the 19th century in the commune of Couzou. Now, the village is near an old castle built in the 15th century and transformed during the 18th and 19th century....
. That ring of cistercian presence in Quercy could furnish wood and food to pilgrims, to monks of Rocamadour and to Obazine. But they couldn't survive after the Hundred Years War. Part of them became little castles as la Pannonie
Pannonie
La Pannonie is an old village of the Lot region, between Gramat and Rocamadour, situated since the 19th century in the commune of Couzou. Now, the village is near an old castle built in the 15th century and transformed during the 18th and 19th century....
and Bonnecoste. Others disappeared.
Among the most distinguished abbots of Obazine were François d'Escobleau (d. 1628), Archbishop of Bordeaux, and Charles de la Roche-Aymon (d. 1777), Cardinal
Cardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
Archbishop of Reims
Archbishop of Reims
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Reims is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. Erected as a diocese around 250 by St. Sixtus, the diocese was elevated to an archdiocese around 750...
. The abbey was suppressed and its property confiscated by the government during the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
in 1791. The government then converted the abbey into a bordello for the remainder of the decade.