Ligugé Abbey

Abbey of St. Martin of Ligugé

Abbaye Saint-Martin de Ligugé
Location within France
Monastery information
Other names	Ligugé Abbey
Order	Benedictine
Established	361; 1853
Disestablished	1792
Mother house	Solesmes Abbey
Dedicated to	St. Martin of Tours
Diocese	Poitiers
Controlled churches	Saint-Martin en Poitou
People
Founder(s)	St. Martin of Tours; Dom Prosper Guéranger, O.S.B.
Abbot	Dom André-Junien Guérit, O.S.B.
Archbishop	Mgr Pascal Wintzer
Important associated figures	St. Martin of Tours
Architecture
Functional Status	abbey
Site
Location	2 place A. Lambert, 86240 Ligugé, France
Coordinates	46°31′2″N 0°19′52″E / 46.51722°N 0.33111°E / 46.51722; 0.33111Coordinates: 46°31′2″N 0°19′52″E / 46.51722°N 0.33111°E / 46.51722; 0.33111

Ligugé Abbey, formally called the Abbey of St. Martin of Ligugé (French: Abbaye Saint-Martin de Ligugé), is a French Benedictine monastery in the Commune of Ligugé, located in the Department of Vienne. Dating to the 4th century, it is the site of one of the earliest monastic foundations in France. The original abbey having been destroyed during the French Revolution, the current monastic community dates from 1853, and belongs to the Solesmes Congregation.

The original monastery was founded in 361, at a site offered by the bishop Hilary of Poitiers, by Hilary's protegé Martin of Tours, to whom it was later dedicated. The site was described as "deserted" in early writings about the abbey, such as the account of the noted historian, Gregory of Tours, who made a pilgrimage to the abbey in 591 to honor his predecessor in the episcopal see. Modern excavations, however, have identified a Gallo-Roman villa at the site. The reputation of the founder attracted a large number of disciples to the new monastery. The monks initially lived according to the pattern of the Desert Fathers of Egypt, each in his own locaciacum (small hut), this name later evolving to Ligugé. When, however, Martin became Bishop of Tours and established a monastery at Marmoutier a short distance from that city, the fame of Ligugé declined considerably.

Among Martin's successors as Abbots of Ligugé may be mentioned Savin, later honored as a saint, who resigned the post of abbot to become a hermit, and Abbot Ursinus, during whose rule the monk Defensor compiled the well-known "Scintillarum Liber".