Sainte-Marie-au-Bois is a former abbey of the Premonstratensians order, located in the commune of Vilcey-sur-Trey, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France, built near a spring at the bottom of a small valley where a tributary of the Trey flows.

The valley where the monastery was built, as well as farmland, vineyards, mills and forests, were granted by the opulent Messinian abbeys of Saint-Pierre-aux-Nonnains and Sainte-Glossinde [fr].

[3] A certain mystery surrounds the founding of this abbey: a tradition reported by Dom Calmet[4] and Charles-Louis Hugo[5] makes Sainte-Marie-au-Bois the first foundation of the Prémontré order in Lorraine.

[10] A monastery of nuns was also built close to the abbey, a common feature of Pre-Monstratensian foundations in the 17th century; this establishment subsequently disappeared.

[11] The Premonstratensian fathers of Sainte-Marie-au-Bois, dividing their time between contemplative life and ministry, served the parishes of Vilcey-sur-Trey, Viéville-en-Haye, Pagny-sur-Moselle, Onville and even further afield, Manonville, Hagéville, Bey-sur-Seille and Lanfroicourt.

As early as the end of the 13th century, the abbey suffered damage during the siege of the Prény fortress by Theobald II, Count of Bar.

In 1439, war raged once again: a Gascony party, allied to the Lorrains, which had taken refuge in the abbey, was brutally dislodged by Messins' men-at-arms, and in the same year, the troops of Antoine, Count of Vaudémont, ravaged the region once again.

On December 13, 1473, Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, whose troops occupied the duchies of Lorraine and Bar, was a guest of Abbé Jean de Dieulouard and stayed at the abbey.

In 1504, Abbot Pierre de Prény granted land and forests to enable the repopulation and reconstruction of the village of Viéville-en-Haye, which had been deserted since the wars of the 15th century.

Nicolas Thuillier, who was entrusted with the general vicariate of several circaries, was also appointed State Councillor by Duke Antoine, and became confessor to Duchess Philippe de Gueldre, widow of René II, who had retired to the Poor Clares of Pont-à-Mousson.

In 1608, he transferred the monks to the new abbey of Sainte-Marie-Majeure [fr] in Pont-à-Mousson, to bring them closer to the young, dynamic university administered by the Jesuits.

In 1631, however, the monks returned to the ancient abbey to escape a plague epidemic in Pont-à-Mousson, where Abbot Servais de Lairuelz died on October 18, 1631.

Duke Charles IV of Lorraine, an intriguing and politically awkward young man, lends his support to Duke Gaston d'Orléans, younger brother, heir and opponent of King Louis XIII of France, going so far as to grant the rebellious prince, who has taken refuge in Nancy, the hand of his sister Marguerite of Lorraine.

During the French Revolution, the Prémontré order was stripped of its assets, and the buildings and lands of Sainte-Marie-au-Bois, which had become bien nationaux, were put up for sale on February 14, 1791, to Antoine Willemin, a judge in Pont-à-Mousson, for 15,400 livres.

Here's what Lieutenant Péguy wrote on the back of postcards sent to his family and friends:[16][17] "Everything's going well, admirable health, life in the open air, billeted in a large rectangular farmhouse in the middle of the woods, we've had no news from the world for four days".

Digot, in 1857, refutes the widespread belief that the nave was shortened during the reign of Servais de Lairuelz, when he transferred the monks to Pont-à-Mousson.

Closer to home, Hubert Collin doesn't believe in shortening the nave; he thinks that, for unknown reasons, the monks cut back on a building that was originally designed to be larger.

He bases this on a careful examination of the building, which reveals the presence of three keystones set into the masonry, corresponding to the three bays that were removed, and also on the discovery in the abbey's accounts of major works in 1780 and 1781.

According to this legend, the Virgin Mary appeared to Chevalier Ancelin de Mailly on his way back from the Sixth Crusade, at a place known since then as Le Chêne-à-la-Vierge, and asked him to hurry if he wanted to see his very ill wife again, while she was still alive.