Cathédrale Saint-Luperc d'Eauze

Eauze

Before being a market town of Armagnac, Eauze was Elusa, metropolis of Novempopulana, and its bishop Mammertinus was already sitting at the Council of Arles in 314. Tradition makes Saint Luperc one of its first bishops: he is said to have been martyred in the 3rd century, under Decius, by the governor Dacian, after his steadfastness had converted several pagans, among them a captain of the guard named Anatole. A 5th-century stele dedicated to him, found in Eauze, is the oldest evidence of his cult. The Viking invasions got the better of the metropolis: in the 9th century the diocese disappeared and its title passed to the Bishop of Auch. There remained a Benedictine monastery, founded after 960 under the dedication of Saints Gervasius and Protasius, dedicated to Saint Luperc when his relics were transferred there in the 11th century, then joined to Cluny in 1088. The present church is the work of Jean Marre, prior of Eauze and vicar general of Auch, who became Bishop of Condom in 1497, and who wanted it as sumptuous as a cathedral; begun in the second half of the 15th century, it is held to be the first Flamboyant Gothic building in Gascony and served as a model for the churches of Armagnac. The masons drew on the ruins of Elusa: most of the rubble stone comes from the ancient city, laid in a masonry of stone and brick. Beneath the single nave of seven bays, flanked by chapels between the buttresses, are carved and painted keystones; in the polygonal choir, stained-glass windows of which some fragments are thought to date from 1520. The title of cathedral was restored to it under the Second Empire: an honorary title for the tourist office, a co-cathedral of the archdiocese of Auch for GCatholic.

Wikipédia — Cathédrale Saint-Luperc d'Eauze ↗

Getting there : Place d'Armagnac, 32800 Eauze; the ‘Eauze – Place Liberté’ coach stop is less than ten minutes' walk away. Open every day, all year round, free entry according to the Armagnac d'Artagnan tourist office (05 62 09 85 62); exact times to be checked.

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

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