The Abbaye de la Déserte or Abbaye Notre-Dame de la Déserte ("Our Lady of the Wasteland") was a nunnery in Lyon, France. Founded in 1303 by Louis de Villars, Archbishop of Lyon, and Blanche de Chalon (Lady of Belleville), who was also the first abbess, it housed the Poor Clares from 1304 till 1503, and then Benedictine nuns from 1503 to the French Revolution, when it was dissolved. It was demolished in 1814.musée du diocèse de lyon
History The abbey was founded in the parish of La Platière in an area that was then a wasteland on the southern slopes of the Croix-Rousse. Originally a house of the Poor Clares, it adopted the Rule of St. Benedict in 1503. The abbess was appointed by the King but proofs of nobility were not mandatory for the appointment of the nuns.
In the early 17th century adherence to the Benedictine rule grew lax and Abbess Marguerite de Guibly (the first of the name) applied severe reform in 1620 before instituting the Benedictine rule in the Priory of Our Lady of Bourbon in Auzon with five nuns from La Déserte.Auzon: ville royale fortifiée: une des treize "bonnes villes" d'Auvergne, Pierre Cubizolles.
Abbesses Blanche de Chalon, founder Dame Jeanne Dupuy, 1304 Mathive de Durchia, 1310 Aignette de Dreux... Jeanne de Durchia... Jacquette de Latra... Jeanne Humili, 1315 Jacquette de Lacre, 1331 Catherine de Vassalieu, 1351 Tichette de Varey, 1359 Isabeau d'Huys, 1371 Isabelle de Joffrey, 1382 Étiennette de Chalentin, 1406 Amphélise Burle, 1406 Bernarde Barrai, 1413 Beatrice Thimote, 1425 Catherine Carronnier, 1436 Antoinette de Turnaire, 1480 Antoinette de Lupercieu, 1481 Marguerite de Varey, 1484 Catherine Garin, 1493 Catherine de Vaillieu, 1501 Pernette de la Poype, 1507 Jeanne de Grammont, 1513 Catherine de Grammont, 1514 Antoinette de Saint Amour, 1521 Claudine de Clérat, 1545 Louise Dumas, 1566 Laurence Bernard, 1585 Guyonne de Chaponay, 1589 Marguerite de Guibly I, 1618 Marguerite de Guibly II, 1675 Antoinette de Châtillon, 1732 Marie de Foudras, 1715 Claudine Constance de Moyria de Châtillon, 1732 Jeanne-Marie-Alexandrine de Montjouvent, 1758Le livre d'or du Lyonnais, du Forez et du Beaujolais, Jean-Baptiste Monfalcon, p. 340
References