Souvigny The Priory of Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul

Souvigny was one of the great priories of Cluny. Saint Mayeul, fourth abbot of Cluny, died there in 994, and Saint Odilo, his successor, in 1049. Their tombs drew pilgrims, and the priory church grew into one of the largest in the Bourbonnais.

The tomb of the two abbots, found in 2001, stands in the nave. The church also holds the tombs of the dukes of Bourbon, and the museum of the priory keeps a twelfth-century column carved with the months, the signs of the zodiac and the strange peoples of the edges of the world.

Further reading: Romanesque France: Cluny and the Churches of the Pilgrim Roads.

• The tomb of Saints Mayeul and OdiloIn the nave of the priory church.
• The chapels of the dukes of BourbonWith their tombs of the fifteenth century.
• The zodiac columnCarved in the twelfth century, in the museum of the priory.

• May 11 for Saint Mayeul and January 1 for Saint Odilo, in the Roman MartyrologyFeast of Saints Mayeul and Odilo

• Saints Mayeul and OdiloFourth and fifth abbots of Cluny

• Via RomanicaThe Romanesque Way, seven daysDay V, Paray-le-Monial to Orcival

About twenty minutes by road from Moulins.

• NeversThe Convent of Saint-Gildard, about 32 miles as the crow flies
• Paray-le-MonialThe Shrine of the Sacred Heart, about 45 miles as the crow flies
• Clermont-FerrandNotre-Dame-du-Port, about 52 miles as the crow flies
• AutunThe Cathedral of Saint-Lazare, about 60 miles as the crow flies