Trinité Abbey of Vendôme

Geoffrey II also endowed the monastery with numerous properties and rights and donated the precious relic known as the Holy Tear, which became one of the community's principal objects of veneration. When he restored the County of Vendôme to Foulques (†1066) in 1056, he nevertheless retained his rights over the abbey. In 1061 Pope Nicholas II (1059–1061) confirmed the foundation and its possessions, and in 1097 or 1098 Pope Urban II (1088–1099) granted the abbey exemption, placing it directly under the authority of the Holy See. Geoffroi de Vendôme (c. 1070–1132) served as abbot from 1093 until his death in 1132. He was an influential figure with close ties to Pope Urban II and was the author of several religious works.

The church is essentially Gothic but still preserves elements from the original Romanesque building, notably the eleventh-century transept. It has three aisles and eight bays, built between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, extending westwards from the transept. The façade dates from the early sixteenth century. The eastern end is complex, with a fourteenth-century chancel surrounded by an ambulatory and several thirteenth-century radiating chapels. The bell tower is also an important early structure, dating from the twelfth century. Other noteworthy remains include the original foundation chapel, much altered over time, and the chapter house, which preserves twelfth-century wall paintings.

Despite this tradition, the relic is not documented until the late twelfth century, when it was associated with a miraculous event. It consisted of a rock crystal vessel containing a drop of water, to which various ornamental elements were later added. The relic appears in the abbey inventory drawn up during the Revolution (1790), although in 1793 it lost its precious goldsmith's work. In 1803 it was in the possession of the Bishop of Orleans, after which it disappeared.