The Abbey of St Genevieve (Abbaye-Sainte-Geneviève) was a monastery in Paris, suppressed at the time of the French Revolution.
The Abbey, close to the Église Saint-Étienne-du-Mont and the present Panthéon (its rebuilt abbey church), was said to have been founded in 502 by King Clovis I and his queen, Clotilde, in the name of the Holy Apostles, jointly dedicated to Peter and Paul. Later Saint Geneviève was in the habit of coming to pray, taking a route commemorated by the name rue de la Montagne-Sainte-Geneviève. At her death in 512, her remains were interred at the abbey church, near the tomb of Clovis.
In 1147 secular canons officiated in the church. King Louis VII of France and Pope Eugene III, having witnessed some disorders, determined to restore discipline. At the request of Suger and Bernard of Clairvaux, Gildwin, the first Abbot of St-Victor, sent Odo, the prior of his abbey. There were difficulties, but order finally prevailed and some of the canons joined the reform, the Abbey becoming a house of Canons Regular.
Among these was the young William of Paris. At the request of Absalon, Bishop of Roskilde in Denmark, who when a student at Ste-Geneviève's had known him, William was sent to that country to reform Eskilsø Abbey, a monastery of canons in the Isle of Eskil. He founded another monastery, which he dedicated to the Holy Paraclete. He died in 1206, and was canonized by Pope Honorius III. It was natural that close relations should exist between Ste-Geneviève and its foundations in Denmark. Peter Sunesen, a young man who made his profession at the abbey, became Bishop of Roskilde; Valdemar, brother of Cnut the Great, died at Ste-Geneviève; and Abbot Stephen of Tournai wrote to William and his friends to obtain lead for the roof of his abbey.