André Abellon, O.P. (1375 – 15 May 1450) was a

French Catholic The Catholic Church in France, Gallican Church, or French Catholic Church, is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in communion with the Pope in Rome. Established in the 2nd century in unbroken communion with the bishop of Rome, it was sometim ...

priest in the

Order of Preachers The Order of Preachers (, abbreviated OP), commonly known as the Dominican Order, is a Catholic mendicant order of pontifical right that was founded in France by a Castilian priest named Dominic de Guzmán. It was approved by Pope Honorius ...

. He became a Dominican after hearing the preaching of

Vincent Ferrer Vincent Ferrer, Dominican Order, OP ( ; ; ; ; ; ; 23 January 1350 – 5 April 1419) was a Kingdom of Valencia, Valencian Dominican Order, Dominican friar who gained acclaim as a preacher, missionary and logician. After supporting Antipope Benedic ...

and studied art before joining their ranks. Abellon gained fame as a noted preacher and confessor but became a prominent figure after tending to victims of the plague in

Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence, or simply Aix, is a List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, city and Communes of France, commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. A former capital of Provence, it is the Subprefectures in France, s ...

in 1445. He was also a noted artist and painter with some of his works still surviving at present. Abellon's beatification received approval from

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII (; born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2March 181020July 1903) was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 until his death in July 1903. He had the fourth-longest reign of any pope, behind those of Peter the Ap ...

on 19 August 1902.

Life

André Abellon was born in

Provence Provence is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which stretches from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the France–Italy border, Italian border to the east; it is bordered by the Mediterrane ...

in 1375. In his adolescence he had listened to the preaching of

and became resolved to imitate his pious life of apostolic zeal. To that end he joined the

at their

convent A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

in his hometown of Saint-Maximin and was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

as a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

after his solemn profession. Abellon later became the prior of the Saint Mary Magdalene convent in Provence which was a neglected building though a noted pilgrimage site. It was said that Mary Magdalene went there to do penance for her sins and it laid claim to some of her relics. But Abellon also taught

seminarians A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clerg ...

theological studies in

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

as well as in

Avignon Avignon (, , ; or , ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the Communes of France, commune had a ...

and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

for a time. The humble friar supported the work of the missionaries and he often preached missions to the faithful while in 1445 tending to the victims of the plague in Aix which made him a well-known and beloved figure. Abellon was also a noted artist and painter for he had studied these subjects prior to entering the Dominicans. He tended to the spiritual needs of the pilgrims who came to the convent and he desired to establish a permanent foundation for that work at the shrine. To that end he obtained the financial support of the Queen of France who provided him with the funds needed to set up this new building. His artistic and architectural talents helped the project become a great success and restore fame to the pilgrimage site. He also established two mills near the shrine for the local farmers to support their agricultural needs. He died in 1450 and was interred in the convent he served in.

Beatification

His beatification was approved on 19 August 1902 after

signed a decree that recognized the late priest's longstanding and popular "cultus" - or veneration - which acted as a prerequisite for beatification for older causes of sainthood.

References

External links

Saints SQPN

Santi e Beati

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abellon, Andre 1375 births 1450 deaths 14th-century French Roman Catholic priests 14th-century French painters 15th-century French Roman Catholic priests 15th-century French painters Beatifications by Pope Leo XIII Dominican beatified people French beatified people French Dominicans French male painters French male artists Members of the Dominican Order People from Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur