Port of Salvation

The abbey of ND du Port du Salut (commune of Entrammes) was the first to be restored in France after the fall of Napoleon.
In the thirteenth century, the lord of Mayenne built a small church dedicated to the Virgin Mary and to Saint Nicolas, at a place called "Le port-Ringeard." This is still the church of the abbey.
On May 10, 1790 the canons were expelled, the land was sold and the buildings were abandoned, until they were taken over in 1815 by the Cistercians.
The abbey of ND du Port du Salut (commune of Entrammes) was the first to be restored in France after the fall of Napoleon.
When the revolution abolished monastic vows and suppressed religious orders, several monks and nuns, headed by Dom Augustin de Lestrange, master of novices at La Trappe, chose exile to remain faithful to their religious life. He first took refuge in Switzerland at La Valsainte, founding a very rigorous living community there. La Valsainte founded several monasteries, including that of Darfeld in Germany.
After the fall of Napoleon, it was possible to think about the reestablishment of the monks in France. Port-Ringeard was the first French site to receive a community. In 1814, a monk from Darfeld and a former monk from Morimond (near Langres) received authorization from Louis XVIII to found a Trappist monastery.
In Darfeld the monastery had welcomed an inhabitant of Laval who had also fled flee the Revolution, Jean-Baptiste le Clerc de la Roussière. Returning to France after the turmoil, he acquired the priory of Port-Ringeard and offered it to Dom Bernard de Girmont, sent to rebuild a Trappist monastery. It was the first monastery revived in France.