According to later legend, the monastery was founded as a result of a
Marian apparition in 1214 to
Ermesinde, Countess of Luxembourg, on a site where
Bernard of Clairvaux had blessed a spring in 1147. Later historians have argued about whether a 14th-century document purporting to be Ermesinde's will, listing gifts to the monastery, should (in whole or in part) be regarded as a copy of an earlier document, or simply as a forgery. It became a key dynastic location of the
House of Luxembourg, with not only Ermesinde herself buried there, but also Henry, and at least nine other members of the ruling family over the following century. The abbey church was then extensively renovated, and it was thereafter that the legends about Ermesinde's foundation first gained currency. During the
French Revolutionary Wars the abbey was pillaged in 1793 and set on fire in 1794. It was officially suppressed by the victorious French invaders in 1796. The inhabitants of surrounding areas used the stones of the abbey to build their houses. Around 1874 the Jesuits of Arlon acquired the site as a country retreat for their noviciate, carried out archaeological explorations of the old monastic ruins, and had a new chapel constructed. In 1968 the site became the property of a non-profit organisation based in Arlon, which still manages the remains under the name Amanoclair. ==References==