Église Saint-Victurnien

Saint-Victurnien

The église de Saint-Victurnien was built around a tomb. In the 12th and 13th centuries, the Romanesque building was raised on the spot where the local hermit lay at rest, a man who had come from across the Channel, whose Latin name, Victorinus, was pronounced 'Vartunio' in the local speech. The plan is a double one: two parallel naves of three bays, the north nave dating from the early 14th century, vaulted with ribbed groins and closed by a square apse; against the chevet, the ribs come down onto small carved figures. Behind the altar, the tomb is topped by a masonry altar painted in the 15th century; a half-buried passage leads round to the back, where two openings allowed the faithful, out of devotion, to pass through their head, their hands, or handkerchiefs. People suffering from the head or the mind, it is said, were brought here. The church retains rare furnishings: a painted Passion retable of the late 14th or early 15th century, two Limousin enamelled reliquary caskets, one of the Crucifixion and the other known as that of the Évêché, and a dozen paintings, two of which, from the 17th century, tell the life of the saint. Tradition makes Victurnien a Scottish hermit of noble family who withdrew into a valley so wild that it was called the Vallée ténébreuse; the mules charged with bringing his body home are said to have stopped dead. The town hall points out that no text tells his life story, that the hermit's period varies between the 5th and 7th centuries according to different authors, and that the first liturgical calendar to name him dates from 1100.

Mérimée PA00100492 — Église Saint-Victurnien ↗

Getting there : In the centre of the village of Saint-Victurnien. Parking is possible on the place du Chanoine-Merlin, next to the church (to be checked). The saint's fountain lies around 1.5 km from the village (to be checked for the route).

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

Ambient sound