Sainte-Croix de Quimperlé Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey located in the town of Quimperlé, in the French department of Finistère, within the Brittany region.

According to popular tradition, it was founded in 1029 by Saint Gurloës, thanks to a donation from Alain Canhiart, Count of Cornouaille; in reality, the foundation probably took place between 1040 and 1050. It was one of Brittany's most powerful abbeys, with numerous priories and other outbuildings. Placed under the commende regime in 1553, the abbey declined somewhat, until it was taken over by the Congregation of Saint Maur in 1665.

The abbey was closed during the French Revolution. It had a large library, rich in ancient and precious manuscripts; this literary treasure was then looted and scattered. Only the Sainte-Croix de Quimperlé cartulary was saved from destruction by Le Guillou, a Quimperlé doctor.(fr) Chevalier de Fréminville, Le guide du voyageur dans le département du Finistère, 1844 The abbey church became a parish church, and the conventual buildings were transformed into public buildings, housing the district court and the gendarmerie barracks. The church was listed as a historic monument in 1840, and the cloister in 1926.

However, the bell tower built on top of the rotunda by the Mauristes weakened the latter, and restoration work was unable to prevent its collapse on March 21, 1862, at noon. In its fall, it destroyed most of the church, leaving only the monks' choir and the crypt below intact. The building was rebuilt from 1864 onwards by diocesan architect Joseph Bigot, according to plans by Émile Boeswillwald.

The abbey church, built at the end of the 11th century, is a rare example of a Romanesque church with a centered plan; the only other example in Brittany is the rotunda at Lanleff. These plans were inspired by the rotunda of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. However, the present rotunda is merely a reconstruction of the earlier building. The monks' choir and crypt bear witness to the architectural quality of the original church. The original capitals can still be seen, as can the blind arcatures in the apse.

The church boasts a wealth of furnishings, including numerous objects protected as historic monuments. Some of these, such as the pulpit and high altar, were made for the newly rebuilt church in the second half of the 19th century; others, originating elsewhere, were subsequently installed here; still others remain from the original building, such as the tomb of Saint Gurloës in the crypt, and the furniture and wall decorations in the sacristy.

Location The abbey is located in Quimperlé in the French department of Finistère. It lies at the confluence of the Isole and Ellé rivers, which form the Laïta, navigable to the sea some ten kilometers away. Thanks to the digging of moats that join the Ellé and Isole rivers, its territory is an artificial island, protected from the surrounding land. With the Laïta River serving as a port, and located on the main route between Quimper and Nantes, the religious establishment was at the heart of the development of the town of Quimperlé.Autissier 2009, p. 319.

History

Foundation Legend has it that Quimperlé Abbey is the successor to a pre-existing monastery founded in the 6th century by Gonthiern, an exiled British prince, at a place called Anaurot. This monastery was destroyed by the Normans in 878. The Count of Cornouaille Alain Canhiart (1029-1058), accompanied by his brother Orscand, Bishop of Cornouaille, founded the present abbey. The Quimperlé cartulary states that the abbey was founded on September 14, 1029, the day of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, after an illness of the Count;Autissier 2005, p. 316-317. however, this is probably a falsification in the context of a conflict with the Saint-Sauveur abbey in Redon, and the actual date of foundation is more likely to have been around 1045–1050.Quaghebeur 2002, p. 239-270.

However, it is certain that the church was restored in 1083, when the relics of the first abbot, Gurloes, a former monk of Redon who died in 1057, were raised in the crypt in a vain attempt to promote his cult: Pope Urban II was opposed to this cult, for lack of duly documented miracles.Autissier 2009, p. 319 and 324. The sponsor of this work was undoubtedly Benoît, son of the founder Alain Canhiart, a former Landévennec monk who became abbot of the family foundation. By the end of the 11th century, the abbey had fourteen dependencies between Nantes and Concarneau, as well as possessions on Belle-Île-en-Mer.Autissier 2005, p. 317. These possessions were the subject of a legal dispute with the abbey of Redon in the 1110s. At this time, the abbey of Sainte-Croix de Quimperlé was favored by bishop Robert.Quaghebeur 2002, p. 290-294.

From the end of the 11th century until the 15th century, when an altarpiece was installed in the west entrance, the buildings underwent few changes. The northern chapel was rebuilt in 1476.

From in commendam to Maurist reform

Placed under the commende regime in 1553, the abbey went into relative decline, with less maintenance of the buildings, particularly the church. The treasure disappeared. As for the crypt housing the relics of Saint Gurloës, it became a meeting place.

From 1665, the abbey belonged to the Benedictines of the Saint-Maur congregation, who re-established regular life according to the rule of Saint Benedict. They carried out extensive renovation work on the buildings, particularly the cloister buildings, and added a 56 m-high lantern tower to the church. Stability problems soon arose, and by 1728 the transept pillars supporting the tower had to be reinforced, as their weight had weakened them. A new rectangular porch was added to the west façade in 1730–1733.

Buildings after the abbey's demolition The abbey became a parish church in 1802 and underwent its first restoration in 1805. By 1840, it had been listed as a historic monument.(fr) "Eglise Sainte-Croix" archive, notice no PA00090381, Mérimée database, ministère français de la Culture. In 1848, the Historical Monuments Commission was alarmed by the state of the building, and Prosper Mérimée declared that the inhabitants of neighboring houses had damaged the supports and buttresses. A restoration project was entrusted to Jean-Baptiste Lassus, inspector of civil buildings, who recommended in 1860 that the tower be removed in order to save the edifice. The project was rejected by the municipality, which owned the building, and by the clergy.Autissier 2005, p. 318.

When this failed, a reinforcement of the supports was undertaken in 1862, but the tower collapsed to the south when the doublets were bent on March 21, 1862, at 12 p.m., killing two people and destroying most of the abbey church. Only the crypt, the lower part of the chevet, and the northern portal remain intact.

After some hesitation as to the advisability of rebuilding the building, the project was entrusted to Émile Boeswillwald for the plans and Joseph Bigot for the execution. The church was rebuilt between 1864 and 1868. What remained of the vaults and the north portal, too weakened by dynamite, had to be demolished first, before construction was resumed from the foundations. Although he respected the original plan and the general lines of the elevation, the architect took considerable liberties, despite the existence of surveys and photographs, notably in the archives of historic monuments, by making "an approximate archaeological restitution".Mussat 1979, p. 25. In particular, he raised the floor of the crossing to give direct access to the crypt, thus concealing the monks' choir from the entrance and considerably disrupting the upward perspective that had existed until then.

The cloister buildings were transformed from the 19th century onwards: in the first half of the century, the pavilion at the southeast corner housed the magistrates' court, before being demolished in the 1970s to build a post office. At the end of the 19th century, the abbey dwelling became the Hôtel du Lion d'or, and an upper floor was added. The cloister was listed as a historic monument on December 2, 1926.(fr) "Abbaye Sainte-Croix" archive, notice no IA29000479, Mérimée database, ministère français de la Culture.

In 1880, a comb bell tower was erected above the gable of the west façade. A separate bell tower, designed by Canon Jean-Marie Abgrall, was built to the east of the chevet in 1903.(fr) "Église paroissiale Sainte-Croix" archive, notice no IA29000480, Mérimée database, ministère français de la Culture.

Abbey life today The former Sainte-Croix abbey church now belongs to the Saint-Colomban parish in the Quimperlé area. Mass is celebrated here every Sunday morning at 11 a.m.(fr) "Orientations pastorales pour les messes dominicales et fêtes" archive, on Doyenné de Quimperlé, May 30th, 2019 (accessed August 16th, 2019)

The abbey's possessions

Founded by the family of the Counts of Cornouaille, which later became a ducal family, Quimperlé Abbey benefited from the generosity of its patrons and, by the 12th century, had built up a particularly rich estate. Its possessions included numerous priories: the priory of Lanchaillou de Nantes, now perhaps Saint-Félix, donated by Bishop Quiriace in 1076;Besse 1920, p. 252. the priory of Saint-Cado de Belz;Besse 1920, p. 330. the priory of Saint-Gérand du Palais,Besse 1920, p. 331. the priory of Sauzon;Besse 1920, p. 333. the priory of Saint-Ronan de Locronan, donated by Duke Pierre de Dreux;Besse 1920, p. 277. the priory of Saint-Laurent de Locamand en Fouesnant, which became the property of the Jesuits of Quimper in the 17th century; the priory of Saint-Guthiern de Doëlan;Besse 1920, p. 276. the priory of Landujen en Duault; the priory of Notre-Dame de Locmaria; the priory of Notre-Dame de Locmariaquer, which later passed into the hands of the abbey of Redon; the priory of Saint-Michel des Montagnes, on the island of Saint-Michel, in Ploemeur;Besse 1920, p. 332. the priory of Saint-Gurthiern on the island of Groix; the priories of Saint-Colomban and Sainte-Catherine in Quimperlé; the priory of Saint-Gilles de Pont-Briant in Guiscriff and the priory of Sainte-Catherine du Grillaud in Chantenay-sur-Loire;Besse 1920, p. 254.

The abbey also possessed several lordships, including that of Belle-Île-en-Mer, which was the subject of a legal dispute with the monks of Redon in the 1110s. This possession was ceded to the de Gondi family between 1570 and 1580, in exchange for lordships in Callac and Houzillé, near Vitré.

Description

The church

The church is built on an original plan, combining a particularly large circular rotunda with an equally large cruciform plan. Around the rotunda, an annular side aisle gives access to the west portal and three chapels to the north, south, and east. The eastern chapel is the largest, housing the monks' choir. The north–south axis reaches 41.20 m and the east–west axis 49.60 m. The dome covering the rotunda is 17.20 m high, and the collateral ring around it is 15.80 m high.Autissier 2009, p. 320.

The crypt

The 11th-century crypt, located beneath the monks' choir, remained intact after the collapse of 1862. Built on a crypt-hall plan, it comprises three vessels and four bays, ending in an apse.Barral i Altet 2005, p. 10-11. Measuring 11.20 m long and 7.80 m wide, it is covered with groin vaults that fall on six cylindrical columns in the center, two supports composed of four engaged columns on a cylindrical core in the east, and engaged columns along the walls.Autissier 2009, p. 321.