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Origin and history

The Priory Notre-Dame-et-Saint-Jean-Porte-Latine of Badenix, located in Saint-Estèphe, Dordogne, was founded in the second half of the 12th century by an unknown donor. Affiliated to the order of Grandmont, he was dedicated to Notre-Dame and Saint John de la Porte-Latine. In 1295, four clerks lived there. The priory was united with Ravaud's in 1317 by Pope John XXII, as part of a central reform of order.

In the 17th century, the monks of Ravaud, whose buildings fell into ruins, retreated to Badeix, better preserved. Despite Charles Frémon's reforms in 1625 to restore discipline, the beginning weakened order. In 1716 René-François de La Guérinière, Prior of Badenix, became Abbé General of Grandmont. The last prior, Dom Gaspard-Thyrse Mathieu de La Gorce, left in 1776, and the priory was sold as a national good in 1791.

The church, with a single nave, served as a barn after the Revolution. His choir preserves a triplet of walled lancettes and two swimming pools typical of Grandmontan architecture. The capitular hall, vaulted by two columns, houses a polychrome fresco called "to birds". The site, now privately owned, was listed as historical monuments in 1938. Only partial remains remain, including the mill that was established in 1785.

The order of Grandmont was abolished in 1781, and his property united to the bishopric of Limoges. The priory, transformed into a farm, divided into three private properties. Later excavations and studies (XXth to XXIst centuries) documented its original plan: a cloister in frame surrounded by buildings, with an oriental gallery giving access to the chapel, the capitular room and the dormitory of the monks.

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