Tradition holds that on this site there once stood an ancient chapel where the relics of Saint Symphorian of Autun, a 2nd-century martyr, were venerated. That earliest and modest church was burned in 532 by Theodoric I and later, in 731, was affected by a Saracen raid. It was subsequently rebuilt and, perhaps at that time, a monastic community settled there. The Gallia Christiana mentions an abbot Josephus around the year 765.
Over time the abbey declined because of deficient governance, until at an unspecified date it was restored by the noblewoman Riclendis and her sons. Soon after, around 1011, in the tenure of Bishop Begó of Clermont (980-1011), Guy of Thiers granted the abbey to Odilo (c. 961-1049), Abbot of Cluny (Saône-et-Loire). Thus the abbey became a dependency of Cluny, where the Rule of Saint Benedict was reimposed according to Cluniac custom, and Peter was appointed as the first abbot of this new phase.
The details of the construction of the current church’s Romanesque portion are not precisely known, though it likely began in that era. In the 15th century modifications were made, and in the 17th century repairs followed after the site was damaged by the Religious Wars in 1568, leaving the abbey for many years in danger of ruin. In 1707 it suffered severe flooding; from then on it entered a phase of decline and its community shrank to almost nothing: by 1767 only two monks remained. Ultimately a papal bull suppressed the abbey in 1782.
After the Revolution, in 1801 the church was converted into a parish church. This building has undergone many changes: in the 19th century restoration works affected part of its structure, while other parts fell into ruin. A new apse was erected in the transept, behind which the remains of the original can still be seen. Beside the church still stands the former abbatial residence.
Remains of the primitive apse
Remains of the primitive apse
Remains of the primitive apse
The church before the 19th century restorations
Illustration from L'ancienne Auvergne et le Velay (1843)
Old postcard, private collection
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- TARDIEU, Ambroise (1877). Grand dictionnaire historique du département du Puy-de-Dôme. Moulins: Desrosiers
The town of Thiers lies to the east of Clermont-Ferrand, in Auvergne