ROMAINMÔTIER, ABBEY OF

A former Benedictine monastery in the Diocese of Lausanne and the Canton of Vaud, Switzerland (Latin, Monasterium ss. Petri et Pauli Romanense ). The monastery was founded by SS. romanus (d. 463 or 464) and Lupicinus (d. 480) from the motherhouse of Condat c. 450. It was destroyed by the Alamanni in 610–611, but was restored by Duke Ramnelenus (646), who put it under the rule of St. columban with Siagrus as abbot. It was visited by St. wandrille sometime before 650 and by Pope stephen ii, who in 753 consecrated the abbey church to SS. Peter and Paul and granted it autonomy,

directly dependent on the Holy See. Temporarily deserted, it became a royal abbey of the Kingdom of Burgundy in 888 and passed under the rule of cluny in 929 as a donation of Adelaide of Burgundy to Abbot odo of cluny. Its prosperity, begun under Abbot odilo, continued down through the 15th century. When it was suppressed in 1536, the church was taken over by a calvinist congregation and the cloister buildings were secularized. Some monks withdrew to the Franche-Comté, where the community continued until the Revolution under a "prior of Romainmôtier." The abbey church is from the 11th century with 13th-century additions and an ambo dates from the 7th century.

Bibliography: p. ladner, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner, 10 v. (2d, new ed. Freiburg 1957–65) 9:9. l. h. cottineau, Répertoire topobibliographique des abbayes et prieurés, 2 v. (Mâcon 1935–39) 2:2497–98. h. leclercq, Dictionnaire d'archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie, ed. f. cabrol, h. leclercq and h. i. marrou, 15 v. (Paris 1907–53) 5.2:2280 (fig.4650), 2347 (fig. 4681); 6.2:2168–74. j. p. cottier, L'Abbaye royale de Romainmôtier et le droit de sa terre (Lausanne 1948).

[g. e. gingras]