Lobbes Abbey

Benedictine monastery in Lobbes, Hainaut, Belgium founded in 654 by Saint Landelin of Crespin. Lobbes has preserved its ancient annals, so we have a relatively detailed history of the house. By the late 8th century the abbey was so large and influential it was the most important in Belgium. Stemming from a poor choice in leadership, the abbey went into decline from the mid-9th till the mid-10th century but surged back under great leaders. In 1569, Lobbes and several other abbeys were combined to form the Benedictine Congregation of Exempt Monasteries of Flanders (Congregation of Saint Vaast). The community was exiled by anti-Catholic forces of the French Revolution in 1794, and forcibly dissolved by law on 2 September 1796; the remaining 43 monks dispersed to monasteries around Europe, and all the buildings except the church have been destroyed. Profiled saints who lived at the Lobbes Abbey include