Chapelle de Saint-Romain-de-Roche

Pratz (Lavans-lès-Saint-Claude)

At the tip of a rocky spur towering more than 350 metres above the valley of the Bienne, the chapel of Saint-Romain-de-Roche watches over the cradle of Jura monasticism. Romanus, born around 390 at Izernore and trained at the monastery of Ainay in Lyon, plunged around 425 into the wilds of the Jura: the first hermit of these mountains, he lived beneath a great fir tree at Condat, tilling the soil and praying. Joined around 445 by his brother Lupicinus, he founded with him the monasteries of Condat — the future Saint-Claude — and Lauconne, today's Saint-Lupicin. Their sister Yole became abbess of La Balme, on this very promontory: as many as a hundred and five nuns lived there under an austere rule, one of the very first communities of women in Gaul. On his death, on 28 February 460, Romanus was buried at La Balme beside his sister, before his relics were transferred to the abbey of Saint-Claude in the 10th century. On the site of the vanished monastery stands the Romanesque chapel, remodelled in the 13th century, the goal of a pilgrimage that stretches back fifteen centuries. The site, occupied since the remotest antiquity as excavations have shown, offers from its belvederes a breathtaking drop to the Bienne, amid the scent of box. A circular path, the "Chemin du Facteur", goes round the spur and its old marble quarry.

Getting there : 15–20 minutes from Saint-Claude: go to Pratz then follow the D300 and the signs "Site et chapelle Saint-Romain". Large car park at the hamlet of Saint-Romain-de-Roche, then on foot (yellow-waymarked path, +70 m).

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

Ambient sound