Basilica of St. Donatian and St. Rogatian (french: Basilique Saint-Donatien-et-Saint-Rogatien) is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

minor basilica In the Catholic Church, a basilica is a designation given by the Pope to a church building. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectural sense (a rectangular ...

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. The church was built in the late 19th century and is dedicated to saints Donatian and Rogatian. It was elevated to the rank of minor basilica in 1889.

History

Roman era

The

church building A church, church building or church house is a building used for Christian worship services and other Christian religious activities. The earliest identified Christian church is a house church founded between 233 and 256. From the 11th thro ...

stands on the site of an ancient Gallo-Roman

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...

. Excavations in 1873 brought to light an ancient pagan cemetery, a pit in the center of the apse containing 27 nails assigned to the coffins of the two

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

s and reveal that four church buildings were successively below the basilica. The promulgation of the Edict of Constantine, nine years after the death of the martyrs, sees developing a cult around the bodies of two brothers as martyrs, first dislocated on the rack, whipped and driven out of the city not far from the current basilica, at the No. 63 rue Dufour, where an executioner speared them in the throat and then beheaded them.Rodolphe Delaroque, « Sur la pas des Enfants nantais », Nantes au quotidien, no 136, juin 2003, p. 31. According to tradition, their bodies are placed, 21 years after their death, in a gray marble sarcophagus, measuring 2.25 meters long and 75 centimeters wide. The relics then attract

pilgrim A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) who is on Pilgrimage, a journey to a holy place. Typically, this is a physical journey (often on foot) to some place of special significance to the a ...

s, requiring the creation of a "guard of honor" consists of the monks of St. Martin. The parish was then considered by Nantais as a "holy land" . The first church was built in the tradition of family ownership of Nantes saints to 490.

Middle Ages

The Norman invasions destroyed the first building, but once peace returned, a new church building was built around the year 980. However, according Dubuisson-Aubenay, the primitive sanctuary remnants still exist in the 17th century, including an ancient

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...

Revolutionary era

16 March 1739, the foundation stone of the reconstruction is by Jean-Marie de Trevelec, adviser to the Parliament of Brittany and his wife Françoise Charrette. Transformed into a

hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...

during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

, it was sold in 1796. Once the church returned to use for worship in 1802, the missing parts were reconstructed from 1804, giving birth to a larger church of cruciform shape, consecrated by Bishop Duvoisin 28 March 1806.

Current Basilica

The current building dates from the 19th century. It is dedicated to St. Donatian and St. Rogatian. It was elevated to the rank of

on 14 March 1889.

2015 Fire

On 15 June 2015 a major fire occurred at the basilica. The fire started at around 8.30 GMT, during morning Mass, in the roof of the building. The back and roof of the basilica were severely damaged. According to the local director of public safety, the disaster happened accidentally while two roofers working on the refurbishment of the building, repairing a lead gutter with a chalumeau. The cost is set at two million euros. The basilica is prohibited for the moment the public, this ban will be lifted after the first phase of mid-December. On 20 October 2015, repair work began on the Basilica. The work will be divided into three phases and should be completed by 2019. In March 2019 it was expected that the restoration works would be completed in Spring 2021, and the basilica opened on 29 August 2021.

References

{{Reflist, 40em, refs= {{cite news , url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-33134463 , title=France basilica fire: Saint-Donatien in Nantes in ruins , publisher=BBC News , date=15 June 2015 , accessdate=15 June 2015 Roman Catholic churches in Nantes

Roman Catholic churches completed in 1889 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in France