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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Sainte-Catherine Abbey of Avignon, founded in 1060 as Benedictine abbey on Montdevergues hill (now Montfavet), was financially supported by Countess Oda and Bishop Rostaing. This isolated site, dedicated to monastic life, marked the beginnings of the community before its transfer to the city.

Around 1150, under the influence of Saint Bernard, the nuns adopted the Cistercian rule, linking the abbey to Notre-Dame de Sénanque. Between 1251 and 1253, Bishop Zoen Tencarari encouraged them to settle in the parish of Saint-Symphorien for security reasons. This move was accompanied by episcopal and pontifical gifts, allowing the rise of the abbey, dedicated to prayer, alms and the foundation of priories, such as that of Gigognan at the end of the thirteenth century.

In 1340 Cardinal Hugues de Saint-Martial financed the construction of the chapel, completed in 1402. This building, characterized by a unique nave, an octagonal apse, a rosace and a stair tower, symbolizes the Avignonese religious architecture. The abbey also founded a branch in Manosque in 1634-1636, headed by Anne de Valavoire, dedicated to the education of poor girls.

The French Revolution led to the closure of the abbey in 1789. Two of his nuns, the sisters Marguerite and Madeleine de Justamond, were guillotined in 1794 among the 32 martyrs of Orange for refusing the oath of freedom and equality. After 1789, the church served as a garage before being classified as a Historic Monument in 1974 (only the chapel) and transformed into a theatre, the Black Oak Theatre.

Today, the former abbey, located 8 bis rue Sainte-Catherine, bears witness to eight centuries of religious and cultural history. Its partial inscription in the Historical Monuments (1974) preserves a heritage linked to the Cistercian order, the Avignon papacy and revolutionary upheavals.

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