Saint-Chaffre du Monastier

About

L'abbatiale Saint-Chaffre du Monastier-sur-Gazeille is an abbey located in Monastier-sur-Gazeille in the Haute-Loire department. The ancient abbey church is classified as historical monuments by the list of 1840.

History: In the 6th century, a Gallo-Roman lord named Calminius (Calmin) — hence the name of Calminiacum (Calminiac or Calmel) originally given to the Monastier — came to live as a hermit at the place called "the Villars", according to the principles inspired by Saint Martin de Tours "to seek solitude". He probably formed a small community around him, which may have lived for some time in caves above the present town. In the 7th century, under the influence of Saint Eudes, then his nephew Théofrède, who became Saint Chaffre, the community turned to the Provencal monasticism of the Lérins islands in the Mediterranean. The monastery only adopted the Benedictine rule in 817. In two centuries, three churches were built, which collapsed because of the instability of the land, including Abbé Vulfade's "great church" of which only a few remains. The present church was built from 1074 under Father William III...