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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The abbey of the Roë, located in the southwest of the Mayenne in the Pays de la Loire, was founded at the end of the 11th century by Robert d'Arbrissel, a hermit who became a religious reformer. Set in a swampy, woody area called Ecclesia de Bosco, it became an Augustine monastery under the name of Our Lady and Saint John the Evangelist. Consecrated in 1098 by Bishop Geoffroy of Mayenne, the abbey developed thanks to the gifts of local lords, such as Renaud de Craon, and became an influential spiritual centre in Anjou and Brittany.

In the 12th century, the abbey experienced an architectural boom with the construction of a Romanesque church, whose facade and nave still remain. The regular canons, led by abbots like Guy Le Clerc, extended their authority over some sixty priories and parishes. However, conflicts with local foresters and the ravages of the Hundred Years' War (including English looting) weakened the monastery. Bertrand Du Guesclin intervened in 1372 to assist in his restoration after destruction.

The wars of Religion in the 16th century caused irreparable damage: in 1562 and 1572, the Huguenots destroyed the abbey, destroying books, altars and the tomb of Guy Le Clerc. The beginning, introduced in the sixteenth century, accelerated its spiritual decline, despite attempts to reform in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The canons of the Congregation of France restored the claustral buildings at the beginning of the 18th century, but the French Revolution dispersed the religious and sold the goods.

Ranked a historic monument in 1846, the abbey was partially restored in the 19th and 20th centuries. Today, it preserves Romanesque (nef, facade) and Gothic (chœur en ruin), as well as 18th century liturgical furniture. A walking trail allows you to discover the moat and remains, while traditional Masses have been celebrated there since 2007.

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