Annecy, Monastery of
ANNECY, MONASTERY OF
A priory of the Canons Regular of the Holy Sepulchre, founded in the 12th century in the town of Annecy, eastern France. Its members were authorized by Pope Celestine III (1191–98) to beg for their support and that of the pilgrims they received in their hospice; the surplus was to go for the Holy Land. In the 14th century, the monastery had 18 members. About mid-14th century the canons built a Gothic church, which still stands in great part, though invisible under later construction. Bl. Andrew of Antioch was probably prior of the community when the church was built, and his tomb was venerated there until 1792. In 1484 Innocent VIII united the houses of the order in France and elsewhere to the Knights of Malta, but the monastery at Annecy was excluded from the decree. The priory was destroyed by fire in 1590 and was not rebuilt. The canons did not live in community thereafter, and the decline in religious spirit that had preceded this event continued its course and led to their secularization in the 17th century and their suppression in the 18th.
Bibliography: a. gavard, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, ed. a. baudrillart et al. (Paris 1912–) 3:363. g. letonnelier, Annecy au XV eet XVI esiècles (Annecy 1911).
[c. falk]