Fleury

Fleury (Lat. Floriacum), a French town, famous for its Benedictine abbey, was situated in the department of Loiret-on-the-Loire, not far from Sully. The abbey was founded about the year 640, and, after the bones of St. Benedict were transported there in 653, it became very famous. The school founded there by St. Odo was soon known as a seat of learning. The monastery, with. its library, was destroyed in 1652 by the Calvinists. See Rocher, L'Histoire de Abbaye Royale de St.-Benoit-sur-Loire (Orleans, 1865); herger, in Lichtenberger's Encyclop. des Sciences Religieuses, s.v. (B.P.)