Lérins
St. Honoratus founded the monastery of Lérins c. 410 on a small island off the coast of Cannes, an island that now bears his name. Lérins was one of the first monasteries in Europe and was a center of culture and education in the Middle Ages. Among its students were St. Hilary of Arles, St. Augustine of Canterbury, St. Lupus, and St. Vincent of Lérins. St. Patrick of Ireland may also have been a monk there. Until the VII Century, the monks were solitaries, although they followed the rule of Lérins, which may have influenced the rule of St. Benedict. The monks adopted the Benedictine rule in 660. Saracens sacked the monastery c. 732, and monks from Cluny restored monasticism to the island in 795. Lérins reached its peak in the XI Century and went into a decline after 1464. The French government secularized the monastery in 1788, and the Cistercians established a convent on the island in 1871.
Karen Rae Keck
including the header and this copyright remain intact.