La Lucerne d'Outremer Abbey

The first Premonstratensian abbey, and not the last to rise again.

Did you know? A door opens at each of the four cardinal points of a Premonstratensian abbey. Wherever they come from, visitors are welcome.
Founded in 1143, the first house the order established in Normandy was not to deviate from the rule.
The West Gatehouse invites you to cross its threshold. Do not be offended that it was once dedicated to the poor, subject to the alms of bread: Before God, there is neither rich nor destitute. There are only human beings. There is an abbey, built in the 12th century, which rose again in the 15th century, after the ravages of the Hundred Years' War; then in the 17th and 18th centuries after the Wars of Religion; and finally in the 20th century following the post-revolutionary upheavals. Today, behold the church with its triumphant Romanesque portal, Gothic windows, and imposing Anglo-Norman tower. Nearby, a jewel of classicism, the abbot's residence is reflected in a pool of water... La Lucerne unites all these eras, harmonized by the granite.

It is a testament to the faith and perseverance of Abbot Lelégard who, captivated by the ruined enclosure in 1954, undertook to restore the abbey to its architectural beauty, its religious life... its original grandeur.