Le Cour St.-Benoît at Fontevraud

The buildings that enclose this courtyard outside the southeastern corner of the abbey's cloister date from the seventeenth century. They replaced the original twelfth century buildings that comprised the abbey's infirmary.

The abbey infirmary and the Cour St.-Benoît.

One side of the courtyard (not pictured here) is bordered by the chapel of St.-Benoît. It was in pretty bad shape when we visited, not yet restored. I don't know if it has been restored since, or if there are any plans to restore it at all.

The infirmary, the chapel, and its courtyard are named for Saint-Benoît, who lived at the turn of the sixth century. He was an Italian monk and is credited with the founding of western christian monasticism. The Benedictine Order is named for him; Benedict being the English version of his name. The French name is Benoît, and his Italian name, of course, was Benedetto.

By the way, in French, Joseph Ratzinger is known as Pape Benoît XVI (Pope Benedict the Sixteenth).

Bénédictine, the sweet herb liqueur, is so called because it was invented at the Benedictine Abbey in Normandy in the early sixteenth century.

Curiously, there's no such thing as eggs Benedict (œufs Benoît?) in French cooking, although I did find a reference to œufs bénédictine, a dish of salt cod purée and a poached egg on toast, topped with a hollandaise sauce, of course. Wikipedia says it was likely a dish prepared during Lent (no meat) dating back to the fifteenth century.

I can imagine how content those monks must have been feasting on their poached eggs and fish, then capping off their meal with a little cup of bénédictine!