Hauts Lieux›The great stories

The springs that heal: Saint Clair, Saint Odile and the waters of the saints

14 min read

From the council of Arles (c. 451-452) to the chapel of the lac de la Maix (1866): the council of Tours (567), Gregory of Tours's lake in the Gévaudan (c. 588), the Lives of Odile (c. 950) and Méen (c. 1084), the pilgrimage of the mad to Larchant (1324), the pilgrims of Saint-Méen (1650-1651), the closing of the répit of la Maix (after 1758), the Société royale de médecine (1778)

From antiquity to the 19th century, people came to springs in search of healing: for the eyes, to Saint Clair, Saint Odile and Saint Léger; for the skin, to Saint Méen; for fevers, hernias, children who could not walk, and the madness that was brought to Saint Mathurin. The Church condemned the cult of springs in its councils, then covered it with a chapel and a saint; physicians analysed the water, folklorists described the gestures. The route links thirty-one places across the whole of France, most of them with no other story, and untangles two received ideas: Celtic survival and saints chosen for their names.