Sint-Truiden Abbey

Sint-Truiden Abbey or St. Trudo's Abbey (Dutch: Abdij van Sint-Truiden, Abdij van Sint-Trudo) is a former Benedictine monastery in Sint-Truiden (named after Saint Trudo) in the province of Limburg Belgium. The abbey was founded in the 7th century and was one of the oldest and most powerful in the Low Countries. The town of Sint-Truiden grew up around it. The great Romanesque abbey church, dedicated to Saint Remaclus and Saint Quintin, was demolished in 1798, four years after the suppression of the abbey.

The monastery was founded by Saint Trudo in about 655, on a spot known as Sarchinium (Zerkingen). After his death and canonisation the monastery became a place of pilgrimage (the dedication of the abbey to Saint Trudo did not however take place until the 12th century). Other early members of the community were also declared saints, among them Eucherius of Orléans and Libert of Saint-Trond. In the 9th century, probably soon after 817, the monastery adopted the Rule of St. Benedict. In 883 it was laid waste by the Normans.

The first monastery probably comprised a stone church and wooden conventual buildings. In about 950 Bishop Adalbero I of Metz, who was also abbot of Sint-Truiden, ordered the construction of a new three-aisled church 50 metres long and 24 metres wide, which for the time was enormous. Until the 13th century the abbey was subject to interference from the diocese of Metz, which had acquired influence in the region because Trudo had given them Zerkingen (and probably also Webbekom and Zelem) in return for his studies with bishop Chlodulf of Metz.

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