Sept-Fons (-Fonds), Abbey of
SEPT-FONS (-FONDS), ABBEY OF
cistercian abbey, Bourbonnais, France, in the former Diocese of Autun (present-day Moulins diocese). It was founded in 1132 under the name of Notre-Dame de Saint-Lieu Sept-Fons as a daughter-abbey of Fontenay, of the filiation of clairvaux. After the troubles and disasters of a century of war, Abbot Jean de Ramilly (1487–1512) reestablished the regular monastic life there; Abbot Eustache de Beaufort (1663–1700) reformed the monastery and revived the ancient customs; and Abbot Dorothée Jalloutz (1757–78) rebuilt the buildings. In 1759, the priory of Val-des-Choux, in the Diocese of Langres, was united to Sept-Fons. After the French Revolution, the abbey church was demolished except for the 18th-century façade. In 1845 the abbey was restored by trappists from the Abbey of Le Gard under the direction of Abbot Stanislas Lapierre. Today the abbey has four daughter abbeys.
Bibliography: l. janauschek, Origines Cistercienses, v.1 (Vienna 1877). l. h. cottineau, Répertoire topobibliographique des abbayes et prieurés, 2 v. (Mâcon 1935–39) 2:3010–11. f. lamy and e. beaumont, Histoire de N. -D. de Saint-Lieu Sept-Fons, 2v. (Moulins 1937–38).
[m. a. dimier]