Abbatiale de Saint-Florent-le-Vieil et tombeau de Bonchamps

Saint-Florent-le-Vieil (Mauges-sur-Loire)

At Saint-Florent-le-Vieil, an abbey church preserves the memory of the Benedictine abbey and of the Vendée war. According to tradition, the hermit Saint Florentius settled here in the 4th century at the request of Saint Martin of Tours; the page consulted specifies that this cannot be proved. A charter of 717–718 attests the foundation of a Benedictine abbey. Destroyed during the Wars of Religion, it was rebuilt from 1637 by the Maurists. In the 19th century the architect Alfred Tessier, of Beaupréau, designed the neo-Gothic choir, raised above a crypt. On 17 October 1793, after the battle of Cholet, the Vendean general Bonchamps, wounded, withdrew to Saint-Florent-le-Vieil. The abbey held about 5,000 Republican prisoners. Dying, Bonchamps ordered that they be pardoned, against the wishes of his troops: “Mercy for the prisoners, Bonchamps wills it, Bonchamps commands it”, according to the formula reported by the page consulted. The sculptor David d'Angers, whose father was among those pardoned, made his tomb, inaugurated on 19 July 1825 in the presence of the artist, the general's widow and daughter. The monument was first placed in the choir; it is now in a side chapel of the church.

Getting there: In the town of Saint-Florent-le-Vieil; opening hours to be checked. Coordinates: OpenStreetMap (Nominatim) (abbey church of Saint-Florent).

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

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