"The apostles and first bishops were the natural guides of those who were appointed to build the basilicas in which the faithful met for worship. When at a later stage they carried the faith to distant provinces of the empire, they alone were able to indicate or to mark out with their own hands the lines on which buildings fitted for the new worship should be raised.... St. Martin superintended the construction of the oratory of one of the first Gallic monasteries at Ligujé, and later of that of Marmoutier, near Tours, on the banks of the Loire. In the reign of Childebert, St. Germain directed the building of the Abbey of St. Vincent--afterwards re-named St. Germain-des-Près--in Paris. St. Benedict soon added to his _Rule_ a decree providing for the teaching and study of architecture, painting, mosaic, sculpture, and all branches of art; and it became one of the most important duties of abbots, priors, and deans to make designs for the churches and auxiliary buildings of the communities they ruled. From the early centuries of the Christian era down to the thirteenth century, therefore, architecture was practised only by the clergy, and came to be regarded as a sacred science. The most ancient plans now extant--those of St. Gall and of Canterbury--were traced by the monks Eigenhard and Edwin.... During the eleventh and twelfth centuries there rose throughout Christendom admirable buildings due to the art and industry of the monks, who, bringing to bear upon the work their own researches, and the experience of past generations, received a fresh stimulus to exertion in this age of universal regeneration, by the enthusiasm with which their kings inspired them for the vast ruins of the ninth century."[45] [45] Albert Lenoir, _L'Architecture Monastique_; Paris, 1856. From the earliest centuries of the Christian era communities both male and female had been formed with the object of living together under a religious rule; but it seems evident that the greater number of monasteries owed their fame and wealth, if not their actual origin, to the reputation of their relics. These attracted the multitude. Pilgrimages became so frequent, and pilgrims so numerous, that it was found necessary to build hospices, or night-refuges, in various towns on their routes. A confraternity of the _Pilgrims of St. Michael_ was formed in the beginning of the thirteenth century in Paris, where the confraternity of _St. James of Pilgrims_ had already built its chapel and hospital in the Rue St. Denis, near the city gate.