Chapelle Sainte-Catherine et sa source de Rougemont-le-Château

Rougemont-le-Château

At the foot of the southern Vosges, in the forest that caps the fortified village of Rougemont-le-Château, a small white chapel guards a spring. Tradition credits the water of the Sainte-Catherine spring, which rises beside the sanctuary, with the power to cure diseases of the eyes: generations of pilgrims have climbed the paths to bathe their eyelids there and pray to the saint of Alexandria. The place is ancient: behind the chapel survive the remains of a monk's house mentioned as early as 1441, where hermits succeeded one another over the centuries. Excavations carried out in 1985 brought their daily life to light with moving precision: a brick-paved kitchen with its bread oven, a central room heated by a tiled stove, a cellar. Their fervour can be measured in the archives: in 1727–1728, the parish accounts record offerings at the chapel seventy-five times greater than those at the village church — the sign of a pilgrimage reaching far beyond the valley. Three chapels have succeeded one another on the site; the present one, raised in 1876 on the initiative of the industrialist and mayor Gaston Ehrard, took over from a building of 1650. The pilgrimage remained alive until the end of the 19th century, and the climb up to Sainte-Catherine is still a lovely walk: beneath the beeches, one reaches the spring, the ruined hermitage and, close by, the remains of the 12th-century castle of the lords of Rougemont, with the Alsace valley below.

Getting there : In the forest above the village of Rougemont-le-Château, near the ruins of the feudal castle; access on foot by waymarked paths from the village. Coordinates given at the village centre: approach point, allow for a short climb through the forest.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound