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Saint-Avit-Sénieur is a commune in the Dordogne department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.The most notable feature of the village is a massive church from the end of the 11th and 12th century. Next to the church, an abbey has been erected to honour the ermit Avitus, who died in 570. Avitus gave his name to the abbey and the village.The abbey used to house canons, disciples of Augustine of Hippo. It is now mostly in ruins.The size of the church (51 x 23 meters) can be explained by the fame of the village on the Way of St. James: one of the paths starting from Vézelay passes through this place. A first romanesque church was built in the 11th century on Mount Dauriac, at the same place as the current church.Many pilgrims came here because of the notoriety of Avitus and because the village was situated on St James Way. To accommodate all these pilgrims, another, larger church was built to replace the existing one, at the same place, at the end of the 11th and beginning of the 12th century.