Ourscamp Abbey

According to tradition, St. Eloi, bishop of Noyon after having been the goldsmith of the Merovingian kings, laid the first stone of an oratory.

Legend tells of a bear that came out of the woods and attacked the ox harnessed to a cart carrying the stones for the oratory's construction. As the bear was about to devour its prey, St. Eloi tamed the beast in three words and harnessed it in the ox's place until the construction of the chapel was completed.

At the request of the bishop of Noyon, Simon de Vermandois, monks from the abbey of Clairvaux, under the leadership of Waleran de Baudemont, moved to Ourscamp in place of a monastery of regular canons.

Consecration of the first abbey church by the Archbishop of Rheims.

The abbey expanded toward Beauprè.

The abbey of Ourscamp took under its guardianship the abbey of Mortemer, in the Eure.

The abbey is expanding to Froidmont.

The General Chapter of the Cistercian order allowed the burial of kings, queens, and bishops in abbey churches. That of Ourscamp would become the necropolis of the bishops of Noyon.

The first abbey church having become too small, the monks began the reconstruction of a larger one that communicated with the first church through the north transept crossing.

His construction was made possible by a gift from Ode de Roye.

The General Chapter authorized the burial of the founders in the abbey.

The new abbey church was consecrated by the bishop of Noyon.

Construction of the infirmary.

The flat chevet is replaced by an apse with ambulatory and radiating chapels on the model of the cathedral of Noyon.

The abbey suffers severe damage during a jacquerie. The abbey is looted, partially burned, and monks are killed.

The community gradually recovers from this destruction.

The abbey received the relic of the head of St. Anne brought back from Hungary by Matthieu du Plessis de Roye after the defeat at Nicopolis.

Prince Louis of Lorraine, commendatory abbot, had the conventual buildings rebuilt to the south of the church in place of the converse wing.

A Doric colonnade is built at the front of the church to hide the Gothic facade of the abbey.

The Cardinal de Gesvres, commendatory abbot, had the abbey dwelling rebuilt to the north.

Installation of a wrought iron gate at the entrance to the abbey's main courtyard.

The community is driven out of the abbey.

The abbey became national property and served as a military hospital.

The abbey is sold to Radix de Sainte-Foy who makes it a residence. Its two churches are destroyed. Remains of the chancel are preserved for use as a romantic setting.

The abbey became the property of industrialists who set up a factory there. Weaving looms occupied the buildings.

At the beginning of World War I, the abbey was occupied by the German army.

The abbey was bombed by French artillery causing a fire that lasted three days.

The Apostolic Congregation of the Servants of Jesus and Mary moves into the abbey.

The infirmary becomes the chapel of the Congregation. The wing built by Cardinal de Gesvres to the north served as housing for the religious. The wing built by Louis de Lorraine was not restored after the destruction of 1915.