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Tironesians, or Congregation of Tiron

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This order of monks was founded at Tiron, near Poitiers, in 1109, by Bernard d'Abbeville. (See BERNARD OF TIRON). The first monastery was abandoned in 1114, and another built on the river Tiron. It was soon filled with monks, and before long the order had under its control sixty-five abbeys and priories and eleven parishes. Bernard required the strictest observance of the Benedictine rule; and so great was the self-denial of the monks that at times they were hardly supplied with the necessaries of life, one loaf of bread being deemed sufficient for the daily portion of four men. Notwithstanding these austerities, the number increased in three years to five hundred, and the fame of Bernard's sanctity had spread to foreign countries. Henry I of England sent the monastery an annuity of fifteen marks of silver in perpetuity, besides 560 marks yearly during his life, and built a magnificent dormitory. Tile king of France gave to it all the territory of Savigny. Thibaud de Blois presented it with two priories, and built for it an infirmary. Money and other valuable gifts were offered at its shrine. and: at the death of its founder, in: 1116, it was in a most flourishing condition. At the time of its greatest prosperity there were under its control eleven abbeys, forty-four priories, and twenty-nine parishes, scattered over France, England, and Scotland. In 1629 the Abbey of Tiron was added to the possessions of the Congregation of St. Maur, and from that time the Tironesians ceased to exist as a separate organization. See Helyot, Ordres Religieix, 3, 674.