Ermitage Saint-Privat du mont Mimat

Mende

In the 3rd century, according to the tradition recorded by Gregory of Tours, the Alamanni of King Chrocus swept over the land of the Gabali. While the population took refuge in the fortress of Grèzes, Privat, bishop of the Gévaudan, withdrew to pray and fast in a cave on the mountain overlooking the future site of Mende. Discovered by the invaders and ordered to hand over his people, he refused: the barbarians beat him savagely and left him for dead — he died a few days later, around 255–260, a martyr to his faithfulness to his flock. On the north face of Mont Mimat, the two caves where tradition places his retreat and his torment became a place of pilgrimage as early as the Middle Ages; hermits and colleges of priests succeeded one another there to guard the holy site. The present chapel was built in 1850, and Brother Joseph Laget then laid out the site in the 1870s and 1880s, having the fourteen-station Way of the Cross rebuilt in 1881; it still climbs from the Place du Foirail, through the pines, up to the hermitage. From the forecourt, the view plunges down to Mende, its cathedral — which houses the saint's tomb — and the hills of the Margeride. Saint Privat remains the patron of the diocese, celebrated every year, and his hermitage, currently being restored with the Fondation du patrimoine, is still one of the great places of Christian memory in the Gévaudan.

Getting there : From Mende, a 14-station Way of the Cross starting from the Place du Foirail (climb on foot), or by the road over the Causse de Mende; site freely accessible at all times, chapel open on afternoons in July and August, guided tours through the parish. Coordinates given for the site.

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

Ambient sound