Abbey of La Clarté-Dieu, Saint-Paterne-Racan

The Abbey of La Clarté-Dieu was a Cistercian monastery located in Saint-Paterne-Racan, France. The abbey was founded in 1239 by the executors of Peter des Roches, Bishop of Winchester, as one of a pair, the other being Netley Abbey in Hampshire, England. The bishop had conceived the idea of founding a pair of monasteries some years before and had begun collecting the necessary endowments for them, but his death in 1238 prevented him from completing the project. The first monks arrived at the site in 1240. ()