Île de Saint-Honorat

The Île Saint-Honorat is the second largest of the Lérins Islands, about a mile off shore from the French Riviera town of Cannes. The island is approximately 1.5 kilometers in length (East to West) and 400 meters wide.

Since the fifth century, the island has been home to a community of monks.

The island, known to the Romans as Lerina, was uninhabited until Saint Honoratus founded a monastery on it at some time around the year 410. According to tradition, Honoratus made his home on the island intending to live as a hermit, but found himself joined by disciples (including Saint Caprais (Caprasius) who formed a monastic community around him. This had become "an immense monastery" by 427, according to the contemporary writings of John Cassian. Reputedly, Saint Patrick, patron of Ireland, studied at the monastery in the fifth century.

Over the following centuries, monastic life on the island was interrupted on several occasions by raids, mostly attributable to Saracens. Around 732, many of the community, including the abbot, Saint Porcarius, were massacred on the island by invaders. According to myth, many of the monks escaped, because Porcarius had been warned of the attack by an angel and had sent them to safety.

In medieval times, the island became a very popular place of pilgrimage. This was encouraged by the writings of Raymond Féraud, a monk who composed a mythological life of Honoratus.

In 1635, the island was captured by the Spanish, and the monks were expelled. They returned from exile in Vallauris two years later when the island was retaken by the French.

The monastery continued to suffer from Spanish and Genoese attacks. The number of monks dwindled to four and, in the proto-revolutionary climate of the time, the monastery was disestablished in 1787. Under the Revolution, the island became the property of the state, and was sold to a wealthy actress, Mademoiselle de Sainval, who lived there for twenty years.

...
Wikipedia