Notre-Dame de l'Assomption (
French for Our Lady of Assumption) is a Roman
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
of the
Îles des Saintes
The Îles des Saintes (; "Islands of the Female Saints"), also known as Les Saintes, is a group of small islands in the archipelago of Guadeloupe, an overseas department of France. It is part of the Canton of Trois-Rivières and is divided in ...
, an island in the archipelago of the French
Overseas department of
Guadeloupe. It is located in ''rue Jean Calot'' in
Fond-du-Curé, a ''quartier'' (locality) of
Terre-de-Haut Island. It is
Latin Rite
Latin liturgical rites, or Western liturgical rites, are Catholic rites of public worship employed by the Latin Church, the largest particular church '' sui iuris'' of the Catholic Church, that originated in Europe where the Latin language once ...
parish which is included in the
diocese of Guadeloupe ( la, Dioecesis Imae Telluris et Petrirostrensis), a suffragan of the
Archdiocese of Fort-de-France, and a member of the
Antilles Episcopal Conference. It is registered on the
National Heritage Site
A national heritage site is a heritage site having a value that has been registered by a governmental agency as being of national importance to the cultural heritage or history of that country. Usually such sites are listed in a heritage registe ...
of
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 ...
(
Monument historique
''Monument historique'' () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which National Heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a coll ...
) by
ministerial decree
A ministerial decree or ministerial order is a decree by a ministry. With a ministerial decree the administrative department is delegated the task to impose a formal judgement or mandate. Ministerial decrees are usually imposed under the authority ...
of 31 December 1979.
Origin
The parish was dedicated to the Virgin of the Assumption in honour of the French victory of 15 August 1666, against the English troops. Sir. du Lion established the cult and the feast day on the island in remembrance.
Notre-Dame de l'Assomption became from then on the
Patron saint
A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...
of
Terre-de-Haut
Terre-de-Haut (; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Tèdého) is a commune in the French overseas department of Guadeloupe, including Terre-de-Haut Island and a few other small uninhabited islands of the archipelago (''les Roches Percées''; ''Îlet ...
.
Bell tower
Four bells compose the bell tower of the church: the first one is a bell dated since 10 April 1820 which results from foundries ''Villain'', caster in
le Havre
Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very ...
. The second is a bell offered by M. Lasserre, commissioner of ''Marie Maria Victoria'' (a monastery), melted by Astier in
Nantes in 1884. The third bell was melted for the parish under Charles FOY's mandature, Mayor of Terre-de-Haut and
Abbé (
Abbot
Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The fem ...
) Ruffin, Priest of the parish. it was melted by ''Ferdinand Farnier'', in
Robecourt (
Vosges
The Vosges ( , ; german: Vogesen ; Franconian and gsw, Vogese) are a range of low mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single ...
) and baptized ''Maria Antonia''. The fourth and last bell was installed on 23 April 2006 and baptized by
Ernest Cabo
Ernest Mesmin Lucien Cabo (15 December 1932 in Sainte-Rose, Guadeloupe – 28 November 2019 in Basse-Terre) was the Roman Catholic bishop of the Diocese of Basse-Terre in Guadeloupe from 1984 to 2008.
Cabo was ordained a priest in 1964 and on 2 J ...
,
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
of Guadeloupe. It was offered by the municipality at the end of the rebuilding of the bell tower destroyed by the
2004 Les Saintes earthquake.
See also
*
Roman Catholic Marian churches
Catholic Marian churches are religious buildings dedicated to the veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary. These churches were built throughout the history of the Catholic Church, and today they can be found on every continent including Antarctica. ...
*
Assumption of Mary
The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it in 1950 in his apostolic constitution '' Munificentissimus Deus'' as follows:
We proclaim and define it to be a dogma revealed by ...
*
History of les Saintes
References
{{Reflist
Roman Catholic church buildings in Îles des Saintes
Monuments historiques of Guadeloupe