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Origin and history

The Collège Saint-Louis, located in Prudhomat in the Lot, replaces an older church probably dated the 13th century. It was built in 1507 by Jacques de Castelnau in memory of his father, John II de Castelnau-Caylus, chamberlain of Louis XI. The latter had expressed the wish to establish a college before his death in 1505. Pope Julius II erected the church as a collegiate church in 1506, originally dedicated to St John the Baptist, with a chapter of eight canons and a dean. The members of the chapter, appointed by the lord of Castelnau, resided near the church and enjoyed burial rights.

In 1542 Louise de Bretagne-Avaugour, wife of Guy I de Castelnau-Clermont and lady of honour of Catherine de Medici, changed the dedication of the collegiate in honour of Saint Louis, his canonized ancestor. She also offered the reliquary of Saint Louis' arm in the chapter. The church architecture, flamboyant Gothic style, is characterized by a unique nave of four spans, a five-paned choir, and ivy vaults. The arch keys bear the shields of the Castelnau and their allies, while the tympanum of the portal bears their coat of arms.

In the 17th century, Baron Louis de Castelnau de Clermont-Lodève married Anne-Marguerite de Saint-Bussan, and the retable of the major altar, dated 1663, was offered by the Jesuits on this occasion. This retable partially damaged the axial window representing a Crucifixion. The college also housed 26 stalls, probably offered by Jacques de Castelnau and made by Italian artists under the impulse of his nephew, Cardinal François Guillaume de Castelnau. The fragmentary 16th century stained glass windows were restored in the 1990s.

The chapter, reduced in the 18th century for lack of resources, was dissolved in the Revolution. In 1830 the Dukes of Luynes, heirs to the Castelnau, sold the castle and gave the collegiate house to the parish factory of Castelnau, with its furniture and relics. The building was listed as historical monuments on 18 March 1913. Today, the college preserves Gothic architectural elements, ancient stained glass windows, and remarkable liturgical furniture, including the reliquary arm of Saint Louis.

The church, of massive plan with imposing foothills, adapts to the steep terrain. Its polygonal apse, not very prominent, is framed by two lateral chapels. The bell tower, low, overlooks the northern chapel. Inside, the veins of the vaults fall on engaged columns, and a funeral liter is engraved in the stone. The lateral chapels, covered with dogives, housed the burials of the canons and lords of Castelnau.

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