Abbey of Saint-Arnould

The Abbey of Saint-Arnould, St. Arnold,Saint-Arnoult or Abbey of the Holy Apostles is a Benedictine abbey residing in Metz since the 6th century.

The origins of the abbey are a mystery. According to legend, it was founded in the 2nd century by Bishop Patient Metz as the Basilica of St. John Evangelist. Although no historical record exists before the 6th century, it was named the Church of the Holy Apostles in 715. It stood in front of medieval ramparts of the Hôpital Notre Dame de Bon Secours, near the Roman road leading to Toul and Lyon.

According to another source, this was the site of the Church of St. Theresa of the Child Jesus which stood in front of the hospital.

In 717, the Abbey took the name of St. Arnulf, due to the relics of Arnulf of Metz, Bishop of Metz having been interred there in 641.

Charlemagne made this abbey the burial place of his family: his wife Hildegarde, sisters, son, Emperor Louis the Pious and Bishop Drogo were all buried here.

It was destroyed by the Normans in the 9th century when they plundered Metz. However, the abbey was rebuilt in the same location and, in 1049, saw the consecration of a more grandiose church, which suffered a fire in 1097.

In 942, the bishop Adalberon moved the monks from Abbey Gorze to Saint Arnould, under the direction of the abbot Heribert, to establish a Benedictine Abbey. From 996-997, the bishop Adalberon II entrusted William of Volpiano, as abbot, to continue this reform. Around the year 1000 the abbot appointed Guillaume Benoit, who had been his student at the Cathedral Benign Dijon and after his death in 1015, Benoit himself became the abbot of St.Arnould.

In the 9th century, relics of St. Gorgon, a 4th-century Roman martyr, were transferred to the abbey.

The siege of Metz by Charles V in 1552 led to the destruction of the abbey. The abbey was transferred to inside the walls of the Dominican convent of preachers, built in 1221. The church was rebuilt in the 17th century. These buildings, can be seen today, in particular with the cloister, the refectory and the former sacristy.

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Wikipedia