La Vraie-Croix (; br, Langroez) is a commune in the

Morbihan Morbihan ( , ; br, Mor-Bihan ) is a department in the administrative region of Brittany, situated in the northwest of France. It is named after the Morbihan (''small sea'' in Breton), the enclosed sea that is the principal feature of the coastli ...

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...

in north-western

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 ...

. Its inhabitants are called ''Langroëziens'' after the Breton name for the commune.

Geography

Located in the countryside at the edge of the Lanvaux heathland, La Vraie-Croix is a hilly area with many footpaths which offer attractive views.

History

The name La Vraie-Croix () comes from a

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

of the Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem who, returning from a crusade, carried with a fragment of the

True Cross The True Cross is the cross upon which Jesus was said to have been crucified, particularly as an object of religious veneration. There are no early accounts that the apostles or early Christians preserved the physical cross themselves, althoug ...

. He stopped in the town during this journey. He returned the next day and saw that the fragment had disappeared. The piece was subsequently found in a crow's nest on top of a hawthorn bush. The townspeople removed it, but the next day the fragment was back in the crow's nest. They saw it was a sign, and the people decided to build a chapel at the site of the tree to house the relic.

Demographics

Sites and monuments

The small village church to this day houses a reliquary which contains a piece of the True Cross.

Green spaces

La Vraie-Croix is renowned for its floral decoration which is organised by the people of the village and which has won numerous awards. Indeed, this county has received a national award several times, as well as a European first prize. For many years the village has achieved a rating of four flowers (the maximum possible) and the grand prize in the '' Concours des villes et villages fleuris'' (Cities and villages in bloom competition).Link to competition website

References

External links

Mayors of Morbihan Association
*
Official page of La Vraie-Croix

Communes of Morbihan {{Morbihan-geo-stub