Abbey of Saint-Pierre-le-Vif

The Abbey of St. Pierre-le-Vif (Abbaye de Saint-Pierre-le-Vif) was a Roman Catholic monastery in Sens. It was a center of the Archdiocese of Sens. It was founded by Theodechild, daughter of Theuderic I.[1] It was the home of the writer Odorannus.

The first Abbot of St-Pierre le Vif, St. Ebbo, was bishop of Sens before 711. In 731 he led the people of Sens to compel the Saracens to lift their siege of the city.

Before the ninth century there was in the cemetery near the monastery a group of tombs, among which are those of the founders of the diocese and the first bishops, Savinian and Potentian. In 847, the transfer of their remains to the church of St-Pierre le Vif inspired popular devotion towards the duo. In the middle of the 10th century the relics of these two saints were hidden in a subterranean vault of the Abbey of St-Pierre le Vif to escape the pillage of the Hungarians, but in 1031 they were placed in a reliquary established by the writer Odorannus, a monk at Pierre le Vif.