Saint-Antoine-l'Abbaye

Saint-Antoine-l'Abbaye
Abbey church
Coat of arms
Saint-Antoine-l'Abbaye
Location within Rhône-Alpes region Saint-Antoine-l'Abbaye
Coordinates:
Country	France
Region	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Department	Isère
Arrondissement	Grenoble
Canton	Le Sud Grésivaudan
Intercommunality	Pays de Saint-Marcellin
Government
• Mayor (2014–2020)	Marie-Chantal Jolland
Area1	36.22 km2 (13.98 sq mi)
Population (2013)2	1,172
• Density	32/km2 (84/sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	38359 / 38160
Elevation	274–578 m (899–1,896 ft) (avg. 365 m or 1,198 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Saint-Antoine-l'Abbaye, also Saint-Antoine-en-Viennois, is a commune in the Isère department in southeastern France. On 31 December 2015, the former commune of Dionay was merged into Saint-Antoine-l'Abbaye.

Formerly known as La-Motte-Saint-Didier, it was renamed after becoming the home of purported relics of Saint Anthony the Great in the 11th century, and shortly afterwards of the original house of the Hospital Brothers of St. Anthony, founded here in 1095 as the result of miraculous cures from St. Anthony's Fire ascribed to the relics.

It was set up as a Benedictine community, whose monks cared for the shrine and the relics, while the Brothers cared for those suffering from the then common malady of St. Anthony's Fire. Over the course of the next two centuries, disputes between the Antonines and the Benedictines arose repeatedly. Finally, the Antonines were formed into an Order of canons regular in 1297. At that time the Benedictine monks were removed from the shrine, which was entrusted to the Antonines.

Population

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1793	1,620	—
1806	1,731	+6.9%
1821	1,713	−1.0%
1831	2,007	+17.2%
1841	2,020	+0.6%
1851	1,880	−6.9%
1861	1,909	+1.5%
1872	1,814	−5.0%
1881	1,624	−10.5%
1891	1,621	−0.2%
1901	1,659	+2.3%
1911	1,520	−8.4%
1921	1,252	−17.6%
1931	1,226	−2.1%
1946	1,035	−15.6%
1954	1,013	−2.1%
1962	913	−9.9%
1968	840	−8.0%
1975	766	−8.8%
1982	779	+1.7%
1990	873	+12.1%
1999	910	+4.2%
2006	959	+5.4%
2011	1,032	+7.6%

Twin towns

Saint-Antoine-l'Abbaye is twinned with:

• Sermoneta, Italy, since 2007

See also

• Communes of the Isère department

References

• INSEE statistics