Notre-Dame de Rumengol

Le Faou (Rumengol)

Rumengol is not a village, it is a sanctuary with a few houses around it. A chapel dependent on the abbey of Daoulas is mentioned there from the 12th century; tradition goes back further and brings in King Gradlon, who is said to have seen from the Ménez-Hom the fires of the pagans and to have founded a church here to convert them. The old stained glass shows him in the company of Saint Corentin and Saint Guénolé, which says clearly enough that the legend was already established when they were set in place. The present building was raised again in kersanton stone from 1536 and reworked until the 18th century; the parish was created only at the end of the 17th. What has made the reputation of the place are its two pardons — Trinity Sunday, by far the more widely attended, and 15 August — and the Breton hymn Itron Varia Rumengol, which hails the Virgin as the one "of all remedies", of the body and of the soul. People came in their thousands, on foot, often by night, and the singers had their part in it: Anatole Le Braz drew from it the "pardon of the singers", one of the four accounts in Au pays des pardons (1894). The Virgin of Rumengol was crowned in 1858.

Wikipédia — Rumengol ↗

Getting there : By the N 165 (Le Faou exit), then the D 42 towards Sizun, three minutes by car; parking on the placître. The church is open during the day; the fountain is at the bottom of the enclosure, freely accessible. Two pardons in the year: Trinity Sunday, the more frequented, and 15 August.

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

Ambient sound