Fontaine de dévotion Saint-Mathurin de Moncontour

Moncontour

In Moncontour, a medieval town in the Côtes-d'Armor, the devotional fountain beside the church of Saint-Mathurin keeps alive the memory of a pilgrimage founded in 1223, when Guillaume Pinchon, Bishop of Saint-Brieuc, instituted the saint's feast and dedicated a sanctuary to him. Mathurin of Larchant, a 3rd-century priest renowned for his gifts as an exorcist — he is said to have delivered from the devil Theodora, a kinswoman of the Emperor Maximian Herculius — became one of the most invoked healing saints of western France, protector of "innocents" and of those afflicted with mental troubles. Pilgrims came from ten to fifteen leagues around to kiss the silver bust reliquary, go round the church on their knees and leave with little lead figurines in the saint's likeness, believed to ward off evil. Some even led sick animals to the sanctuary, tying their horns to the bell rope to implore their cure. The great pardon, the Breton pilgrimage festival, is still held on Whit Sunday, perpetuating a tradition that in the 19th century drew considerable crowds, reduced today to around a thousand faithful. The church, listed as a monument historique for its remarkable 16th-century stained glass, and its adjoining fountain bear witness, in stone as in water, to the persistence of an ancient healing cult, today more a matter of heritage than of strict devotion.

Getting there : In the heart of the medieval town of Moncontour, 25 km north-west of Saint-Brieuc; church open to visitors, fountain nearby.

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

Ambient sound