MONTMARTRE (PARIS), ABBEY OF

Former Benedictine monastery for women in Paris on Montmartre, the original Mons Mercurii, later called the Mons martyrum, a cemetery and place of execution, where denis of paris and others may have been martyred. Very early oratories had been built there. One of these, the Sanctum martyrium, became a priory of monks in 1098; the oratories of Notre Dame, Saint-Denys, and Saint-Pierre were united into a church (one of the first Gothic churches) consecrated by Pope Eugene III (1147) for the Benedictine nuns who were established there in 1134. Under Bishop Poncher (d. 1519) the convent was reformed and strict enclosure, the common life, episcopal visitation, and a three-year term for the abbess were insisted upon. St. Ignatius and his followers took their vows there (Aug. 15, 1535). In 1560, however, the kings began to appoint lifetime abbesses of noble birth. One of these, Marie de Bauvillier (1601), initiated a mystical revival that influenced people even outside the abbey, e.g., Marie Granger (devotion to the Sacred Heart), Marguerite de Bac (Benedictines of the Bl. Sacrament), and Jeanne Marie de la Motte guyon. The abbey was suppressed during the French Revolution and the abbess was murdered; the abbey church became a parish church. To the basilica of Sacré Coeur, erected close by in 1875, are associated (1899) the Benedictine Nuns of the Adoration of the Sacred Heart of Montmartre.

Bibliography: l. h. cottineau, Répertoire topobibliographique des abbayes et prieurés, 2 v. (Mâcon 1935–39) 2:2197–99. Gallia Christiana, v. 1–13 (Paris 1715–85), v. 14–16 (Paris 1856–65) 7:612–623. h. leclercq, Dictionnaire d'archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie, ed. f. cabrol, h. leclercq, and h. i. marrou, 15 v. (Paris 1907–53) 11.2:2673–91. p. schmitz, Histoire de l'ordre de saint Benoît, 7 v. (Maredsous 1942–56).

[p. delhaye]