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  • engraving Solesmes around 1850

History

The history of Saint-Pierre de Solesmes can be divided into two chapters.

The abbey's great age in the 19th and 20th centuries was marked by the remarkable figure of its restorer, Dom Guéranger. The care with which the monks cultivated the liturgy and Gregorian chant extended the abbey's influence beyond Europe.

Before this, the first chapter of Solesmes’ history lasted almost eight centuries. Saint-Pierre de Solesmes was then a modest priory with a dozen or so monks at most.

But both these chapters form a single history of men searching for God under the Rule of St Benedict.