Église Saint-Léonard de Châtillon-sur-Seiche

Noyal-Châtillon-sur-Seiche

The église Saint-Léonard occupies a mound above the Seiche, probably the site of the old castellum that gave Châtillon its name. Beneath the old apse lies its treasure: a semicircular Romanesque crypt, dated to the 11th century by the historic monuments record, to the 11th or 12th by the commune, and given by InfoBretagne as the oldest in the département. It is entered by a door opening onto the cemetery, or by a stair coming down from the chancel; two Romanesque loopholes light it, and the altar is a slab set on a single column. The church, first dedicated to Saint Melaine, belonged to the abbaye Saint-Melaine de Rennes from the 12th century until the Revolution; it is said to have been its Benedictine monks who introduced the cult of Saint Léonard, patron of prisoners. A local tradition attributes the altar and the statue in the crypt to a lord of Chambières delivered from captivity after a vow to the saint. In the 19th century, the Pouillé de Rennes counted more than ten thousand pilgrims a year: they went down into the crypt, kissed the chains laid at the foot of the statue, and wrapped themselves in them before coming back up through the chancel. The pilgrimage took place in September, around the Exaltation of the Cross, rather than on the saint's feast day, 6 November; the author saw in this the trace of an older devotion to a relic of the True Cross. The bell-tower porch dates from 1870. Behind the church survives the fontaine Saint-Léonard, built of schist and closed off with a grille.

Mairie de Noyal-Châtillon-sur-Seiche — Patrimoine ↗

Getting there : In the centre of the village of Châtillon-sur-Seiche, in the commune of Noyal-Châtillon-sur-Seiche, south of Rennes. The surroundings and cemetery are open access; opening of the church and crypt (to be checked). The fontaine Saint-Léonard is behind the church, on the other side of the road to Saint-Erblon.

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

Ambient sound