About Saint Antoine l’Abbaye, France:
The Abbey here was previously called La-Motte-Saint-Didierit but was renamed after becoming the home of relics of Saint Anthony the Great in the 11th century, and shortly afterwards of the original house of the Hospital Brothers of St. Anthony, founded here in 1095 as the result of miraculous cures from St. Anthony’s Fire ascribed to the relics.
Set up as a Benedictine community, the monks cared for the shrine and the relics, while the Brothers cared for those suffering from the then common malady of St. Anthony’s Fire. In 1297. the Benedictine monks who were in charge of the shrine and it was entrusted to the Antonines. Then in, 1890, the Canons Regular of the Immaculate Conception were given control of the Abbey, which was the mother house of the congregation. It maintained that role from 1890 until 1903, when, following the anti-clerical laws passed by the French government in 1901, the community was transferred to Andora, in the Italian region of Liguria.
The abbey church was erected between the 12th and 15th centuries and is considered one of the most remarkable Gothic achievements of the Dauphiné, responds to the architectural peculiarities of the great pilgrimage churches of the Middle Ages.
About Saint Anthony the Great:
As a hermit, he is regarded as one of the early Desert Fathers and was also known as the Father of All Monks, which is why he earned the title of “Great”.
Note: Before the Congregation for the Causes of Saints was established in 1588, saints were proclaimed through “spontaneous local attribution” or “vox populi”.
We celebrate the Feast of Saint Anthony the Great on January 17.
Traveling to Saint Antoine L’Abbaye, France:
Located in the Isère department, at the gateway to the Drôme, Saint Antoine l”Abbaye is 40 miles west of Grenoble.
Address: 38160 Saint-Antoine-l’Abbaye, France