Saint-Gildas-des-Bois - Abbaye

The church, that now serves the parish, once was the abbey church of a large Benedictine abbey. It was founded in the 11th century at wish of the abbot of Saint-Gildas Rhuys (on the coast 60 kms west). Saint Gildas ("Gildas the Wise") was a scottish born, well travelled monk, who had founded the abbey of Saint-Gildas Rhuys within the 6th century.

Relics of Saint Gildas were kept here. These triggered a pilgrimage, that developed so successfully, that the old church could not handle the masses. So the large abbey-church, seen here, got erected during the 12th century.

The Benedictine convent prospered due to the pilgrimage, but declined over the centuries later. The last five monks left after the French Revolution and the abbey got sold as National Property.

Some decades later the crumbling convent buildings were purchased by Père Deshayes, who in 1807 had founded the "Congregation of the Sisters of Christian Instruction" with Michelle Guillaume in 1807 in nearby Beignon. In 1828 the "Congrégation des soeurs de l’Instruction Chrétienne dites de Saint-Gildas" moved into the old buildings. By now this is the "Maison Mere" (mother house) of the congregation.

Standing in the nave of the former abbey-church, facing east to transept and choir.