Sint-Truiden Abbey

Sint-Truiden Abbey or St Trudo's Abbey is a former Benedictine monastery in Sint-Truiden named after Saint Trudo in the province of Limburg Belgium. The abbey was founded in the 7th century and was one of the oldest and most powerful in the Low Countries. The town of Sint-Truiden grew up around it. The great Romanesque abbey church, dedicated to Saint Remaclus and Saint Quintin, was demolished in 1798, four years after the suppression of the abbey. The monastery was founded by Saint Trudo in about 655, on a spot known as Sarchinium Zerkingen. After his death and canonisation the monastery became a place of pilgrimage.

Other early members of the community were also d saints, among them Eucherius of Orléans and Libert of Saint-Trond. In the 9th century, probably soon after 817, the monastery adopted the Rule of St. Benedict. In 883 it was laid waste by the Normans. The first monastery probably comprised a stone church and wooden conventual buildings. In about 950 Bishop Adalbero I of Metz, who was also abbot of Sint-Truiden, ordered the construction of a new three-aisled church 50 metres long and 24 metres wide, which for the time was enormous.