Abbey of Saint-Gilbert de Neuffonts
Novemfontes / Novem Fontium / Neuffontaines / S Gilberti
(Saint-Didier-la-Forêt, Allier)
After taking part in the Second Crusade, Gilbert of Neuffonts (c. 1100–1152) promoted the creation of two monastic houses. The first, for women, was Sainte-Pétronille d’Aubeterre, founded in 1150 to the southwest of here, on the site of an ancient Benedictine monastery that he restored. His wife, Pétronille, became its first prioress.
The second house was that of Neuffonts, founded in 1151 and affiliated with the Premonstratensian abbey of Notre-Dame de Dilo (Yonne), where Gilbert had professed after a period of eremitic retreat. Alongside the monastery, he also established a hospital, probably run by canonesses of the same order. After the founder’s death — he was the first abbot — his body was buried at Neuffonts. His successor later moved it inside the church, where it became an object of veneration, although Gilbert was not canonised until 1728.
A few years after its foundation, the abbey promoted the creation of other Premonstratensian houses, such as Notre-Dame de Bellevaux (Nièvre) and Saint-André de Clermont (Puy-de-Dôme), which came to depend on it. It was a modest monastery with a small community. By the late fifteenth century it had come under the control of commendatory abbots, external to the community, while remaining under the authority of a prior. In 1612 the church was badly damaged by a lightning strike and remained in ruins for years. Nevertheless, in 1615 the burial of Gilbert was rediscovered, having been lost over time.
The monastery never recovered from that disaster and was suppressed in 1790 during the Revolution; the following year it was sold, and the relics of Saint Gilbert, then transferred, were lost. By the mid-nineteenth century the church was completely demolished. At the end of the twentieth century the surviving parts of the monastery were restored, particularly the chapter house, which still stands along with some secondary buildings.
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- BOUDANT, Abbé (1857). Abbaye de Neufontaines. Bulletin de la Société d’Émulation du Département de l’Allier. Moulins: Desrosiers
- GUÉRIN, Paul (1888). Les Petits Bollandistes. Vies des saints. Vol. 6. París: Bloud et Barral
- SAINT-MAUR, Congregació de (1720). Gallia Christiana in provincias ecclesiasticas distributa. Vol. 2. París: Typographia Regia
- VIPLE, J. (1927). Neuffonts et Aubeterre. Bulletin de la Société d'émulation du Bourbonnais, vol. 30
The Abbey of Neuffonts lies between Saint-Pourçain and Vichy