Saint-Michel at Grandmont Priory
Coordinates: 43°44′2″N 3°22′8″E / 43.73389°N 3.36889°E
Saint-Michel de Grandmont Priory (French: Prieuré Saint-Michel de Grandmont) is a former monastery of Grandmontine in the commune of Saint-Privat, in Hérault, France. The priory is located in a wild area in heart of an oak forest, about 10 km from Lodève.
The Priory is now maintained by “Les Amis du Prieure Saint Michel de Grandmont”, a non profit making association.
This 12th-century priory is one of the best-preserved of the 160 Grandmontine monasteries, a religious order, founded by Étienne of Thiers, son of Viscount of Thiers from the Auvergne). When he was 12, Etienne was taken by his father to Italy, where he studied under Milo, who would later to become Archbishop of Benevento. Here the young Etienne met with the Calabrian monks who practised Byzantine rites, and thus discovered his vocation. Upon his return to France in 1076, Etienne searched for somewhere to practise the Gospel in prayer, and solitude. He chose an isolated location in the forest of Muret (near to Limoges). A hut dwelling community of hermits began to gather around him, and they soon built a church, and living quarters as their numbers grew.
...
Wikipedia