Chapelle de la Madeleine

Mellac

Far from the village of Mellac, in the hamlet of La Madeleine, the chapel stands beside the old route of the Tro Breiz, the pilgrimage of the seven founding saints of Brittany. Its name tells of its original purpose: it served as a maladrerie, or leper house, for the town of Quimperlé, and the sick kept apart from the town had their sanctuary here. The building, eighteen metres long, consists of a nave and a larger chancel, separated by a diaphragm arch and flanked to the south by an aisle; the nave dates from the late 15th century, the chancel from the 16th, the bell turret from the 19th. On a north buttress, a lion holds the arms of the Kermorial family. An old description, taken up by InfoBretagne, recorded there statues of Saint Mary Magdalene with her perfume jar, of the Virgin Mother, of Saint Sylvester, of Saint Margaret trampling the dragon, of an abbot in a chasuble, and of Saint Roch, accompanied by an angel bearing a box of ointment: a saint of the sick, very much at home here. It is not known what remains of it, for the chapel, abandoned in the 20th century, was no more than a ruin before being saved by a long restoration, from 1979 to 1999. The cemetery, the fountain and the cross of 1815 were moved at that time. The commune holds the link with the leper house to be established; other accounts call it merely probable. The pardon takes place on the Sunday following the feast of Sainte-Madeleine.

Mairie de Mellac — Lieux à découvrir ↗

Getting there : At the place called La Madeleine, alongside the RD 22 between Quimperlé and Le Trévoux, around six kilometres from the village of Mellac. The surroundings are open access; the interior opens during the pardon and the Journées du patrimoine (to be checked). The pardon takes place on the Sunday following Sainte-Madeleine, at the end of July (to be checked).

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

Ambient sound