The Church of St. Similien, Nantes is an ancient

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

, in the Hauts-Pavés district of

Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. It is dedicated to

Similien of Nantes Similien, or , was a 4th-century, French people, French Bishop and Saint. StSimilien lived in the early fourth century and was the third bishop of Nantes, who, according to St. Gregory of Tours, was given the title of grand confessor. He is recorde ...

and is located on the northwest side of the Place Saint-Similien.

Gallery

File:Église Saint-Similien Nantes3.JPG File:Church of Saint-Similien Nantes stained glass.jpg File:Church of Saint-Similien Nantes nave.jpg File:Church of Saint-Similien Nantes well.jpg File:Church of Saint-Similien Nantes rose window.jpg File:Church of Saint-Similien Nantes columns.jpg

History

After the death of Bishop Similien 17 June 310, his successor, Eumilius, erected over his grave a votive chapel. One hundred years later, the bishop Leo, a Greek (444-458) built a real church 20 meters long and 9 meters wide which is also called "Holy Sambin". It ends east

exedra An exedra (: exedras or exedrae) is a semicircular architecture, architectural recess or platform, sometimes crowned by a semi-dome, and either set into a building's façade or free-standing. The original Greek word ''ἐξέδρα'' ('a seat ou ...

by a narrow

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

of 4 meters in diameter. The building, which then dominates the "Bourgneuf", built in square stones interspersed with brick chaining, will be dedicated on 24 June 419, day of the Nativity of St.

John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...

. It also has the oldest baptismal fonts of Nantes (fifth century). At the end of the fifth century,

Gregory of Tours Gregory of Tours (born ; 30 November – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours during the Merovingian period and is known as the "father of French history". He was a prelate in the Merovingian kingdom, encom ...

designated the church as the , in his De gloria Martyrum saying was dedicated to Saint-Donatien. In 848, Nantes is vandalized during the

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

invasions. If the church is not destroyed, it is nevertheless looted, and the saint's relics deposited at the well (which still exists) disappear at that time. In 958, a procession allows to Gauthier bishop and his canons, to launch a public subscription to undertake the restoration of the building, which will be completed towards 1172, by the Duke Geoffroy II. Following the siege of Nantes by

Louis XI Louis XI (3 July 1423 – 30 August 1483), called "Louis the Prudent" (), was King of France from 1461 to 1483. He succeeded his father, Charles VII. Louis entered into open rebellion against his father in a short-lived revolt known as the ...

in 1487, Bishop

Peter of Chaffault Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

, repaired and enlarged the basilica Building it in the form of a Latin cross. The

Merovingian The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from around the middle of the 5th century until Pepin the Short in 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the ...

but the nave was extended towards the west, and flanked by two crosses. The

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

to the west, raised 1.20 meters above street level measured 32.43 m high and consisted of: a square tower with a height of 17.30 m and an area of 30 m2, supported by buttresses and decorated with narrow basket-handle windows to illuminate the staircase; a wooden belfry in the form of 3,50 m high needle; a pavilion with a height of 6.05 m; a slate arrow of 3.48 meters high topped by a ball and a cross with a height of 2 meters During the French Revolution, the church was closed to worship in 1793 and reopened after the

Concordat of 1802 A concordat () is a convention between the Holy See and a sovereign state that defines the relationship between the Catholic Church and the state in matters that concern both,René Metz, ''What is Canon Law?'' (New York: Hawthorn Books, 1960 ...

. In 1824, the Millennium old building was destroyed and a church with three naves replaced it. The façade and portico were completed in 1835. Fifteen years later, in 1850, the parish priest and the Church Council were considering the construction of a new church. In 1869, an architect, Eugene Boismen was appointed. The plans he offers were a Gothic building, inspired by those of the first half of the thirteenth century. The north-west facing building will include three naves, two ambulatory, bedside with a chapel which will be placed Our Lady of Mercy. The nave of five bays and end with a facade with two arrows. Permission to build the new church in 1872 is given. The Bishop

Félix Fournier Félix Fournier (3 May 1803 - 9 June 1877) was a dignitary of the Catholic Church, a French people, French politician, and Roman Catholic Diocese of Nantes, Bishop of Nantes from 1870 to his death in 1877. Biography Félix Fournier was born on ...

blessed the first stone of the new sanctuary on 5 October 1873. The work was completed in 1894 but as early as 1880, the vaults of the apse, the choir and transept were completed. BOUGOUIN François, who took over from Boismen in 1891. The

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred space, sacred place, such as a shrine, protected by ecclesiastical immunity. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This seconda ...

is accessed by a wide staircase of eight steps overlooking Piazza San Similien. In 1902, a new priest begins façade work that will never be completed. While the church tower was not completed, the twin bells of the old sanctuary, fell down from their tower on 8 July 1894, however since 1820 awaiting a new assignment (the fondue and blessed in 1819 under the invocation of St. Anne, weighs 1 200 kg. The other, Similien weighs 800 kg).L. Clermont, Souvenirs et notes historiques. Paroisse Saint Similien, Nantes, Vincent Forest et Émile Grimaud, 1894, 24 p

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eglise Saint-Similien Roman Catholic churches in Nantes