Basilica Notre-Dame-de-Pitié de la Chapelle-Saint-Laurent-Wikipedia
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The Basilica Notre-Dame-de-Pitié de la Chapelle-Saint-Laurent is a sanctuary and a place of pilgrimage located in the commune of La Chapelle-Saint-Laurent, in the Deux-Sèvres department and the New Aquitaine region.
Built from 1891 on a dominant height of the Bressuirai bocage, it shelters a statue of “Notre-Dame de Pitié” venerated from the XVI It is century.
The origins of the pilgrimage to Notre-Dame-de-Pity remain relatively obscure and merge with local legends. Certain oral traditions thus evoke the discovery towards the XVI It is century of a statue of the Virgin by a cultivator of the parish. Lying in some grove in order to rest for a moment, it would have discovered the statue in a niche spared in a half-rolled wall, possible vestige of an oratory destroyed during the Franco-English wars . Carrying the statue to the parish church in order to put it in safety, it was amazed to find it at its original location the next day. The phenomenon would have taken place at least three times, which determined the construction of a new chapel on the set.
A few decades later, while the country is plagued by religious disorders between Catholics and reformed, the region is the victim of a band of looters claiming to be reform. Having at their head an old monk, they engage in the worst excesses and destroy, in addition to the parish church, the small chapel of the hamlet of Pitié. Rebuilt at the end of hostilities, the new chapel is inaugurated by the bishop of Poitiers, Geoffroy de Saint-Belin, the . The displacement of a prelate of this importance in such a remote place alone testifies to the existence of a pilgrimage from that time, about which testimonies are however still still lacking.
The sanctuary takes on its importance at the time of the Vendée wars, Notre-Dame de Pitié being considered by the insurgents as one of their protectors. For this reason, the Republicans repeatedly try to burn the oratory, without nevertheless achieving their ends [ first ] .
In the first half of the XIX It is A century, the chapel, however, appeared as a relatively dilapidated building and unsuitable for religious celebrations. The new parish priest, Father Laurentin, projects nothing less than replacing the modest sanctuary with a large church of pilgrimage. The plans are drawn and the funds gathered in the dropper. In 1891, the foundation stone of the new building was nevertheless laid.
Arrested at the time of the First World War, the work was finally resumed in 1920, while a committee for the completion of the basilica was set up. THE , the sanctuary is raised to the rank of minor basilica by a brief apostolic of the Pope Paul WE [ first ] .
The basilica forms a monumental set typical of neo-Gothic architecture, a very fashionable style in the second half of XIX It is century. Based on a Latin cross -shaped plane, it consists of a large nave of four spans lined with collaterals, a protruding transept and an apse surrounded by radiant chapels.
The central vessel is lit by large, three-launchers’ ogival berries, while the walls of the aisles are pierced with narrow groan bays. The entire building is covered with crusaders of quadripartite (nave) or sexpartite (cross) warheads.
The monumentality of the building is still accentuated by its unfinished character: indeed, the 80 -meter arrow which was to rise on the facade has never been built, for lack of sufficient credits.
The sanctuary houses a pietà dating from the end of XV It is century. Located on a pedestal, to the right of the choir, it replaced the original statue which we lose track of the XVI It is century. Mutilated by republican soldiers during the Vendée wars, the statue is repaired as best they can. It was not until 2001 that it was fully restored [ 2 ] .
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