Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The church Our Lady of Staules finds its origins before the year thousand, when a chapel named Our Lady of Paradise was built on an island of the marshes, called Paradise, by sailors rescued from a shipwreck. This place became a Cluny-dependent priory and a pilgrimage site, attracting personalities wishing to be buried there. Excavations confirmed the presence of ancient graves on the ruins of this first church.

During the religious wars, the church was damaged by the Huguenots and then devastated by a fire in the 18th century. In 1722, Jacques Easme de la Croix obtained the authorization and grants of Louis XV to rebuild the building in the centre of Staules, reusing stones from the ruins of the old church. The work was completed in 1723, marking the birth of the present church.

The building underwent several modifications: renamed Notre-Dame-de-la-Nativity in 1855, it was enlarged in 1878 and equipped with stained glass windows representing the life of the Virgin in 1882, made by master glassmaker Dagrand. Damaged by the 1945 bombings, it benefited from reconstructions in the 1950s, including a revised nave and facade, as well as ten new stained glass windows created in 1963 by Henri Guérin.

Among the remarkable elements are a carved oak pulpit, a statue of Our Lady of Isle d'Etaules, and a painting by the Annunciation (1957-58) painted by Louis Berthommé Saint-André. These works bear witness to the artistic and historical richness of the site, linked to both maritime devotion and the upheavals of regional history.

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