Lavaudieu - Abbaye Saint-André

A settlement named "Comps" was known here since 909. Around 1050 the church and land of Comps were endowed to the Abbaye de la Chaise-Dieu by Raoul de Lugeac. The important Abbaye de la Chaise-Dieu, founded by Saint Robert de Turlande, had about 300 monks at that time. It was decided to found a nunnery here as a priory.

The construction of the cloister and the convent buildings took place between 1052 and 1058, as the nuns moved in already in 1058. In 1487 the name was changed from Comps to Lavaudieu ("Valley of God"), so the nunnery became "Priory Saint-André Lavaudieu". After 1516 the matrons were ordered by the king and were no longer elected by the monastery community, so the strict rules of the order relaxed. In 1718 the former priory became an abbey and at the beginning of the Revolution 13 nuns lived here, all daughters of regional nobles. They were expelled and the abbey was sold. Most of the buildings were used for agriculture, large parts of the convent building were demolished. Meanwhile, the still existing buildings are carefully restored.

When I visited Lavaudieu the first time, church and cloister were locked. This time I had more luck. The church was open, only the cloister was locked!

To find this large painting was a little surprise. It depicts Saint Ursula (of Cologne) and the eleven thousand companions.

The legend tells, that Usrula was a princess who, at the request of her father King Dionotus of Dumnonia, set sail along with 11.000 virginal handmaidens to join her future husband, the pagan governor Conan Meriadoc of Armorica. After a storm brought them over the sea in a single day Ursula declared, that before her marriage she would undertake a pilgrimage. She headed for Rome with her 11.000 maids and persuaded the Pope to join them. In Cologne, which was being besieged by Huns, Ursula and all the virgins were beheaded in a massacre. This legend was the foundation of the thriving relic-business in Cologne.

This legend was very popular. The "Virgin Islands" originally were named "Santa Úrsula y las Once Mil Vírgenes" by Christopher Columbus.