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Origin and history

The Church of Our Lady of the Assumption of Chailland, located in Mayenne, was entirely rebuilt in 1892 on the plans of architect Eugene Hawke, in a 13th century style. It succeeds a Romanesque church whose location, although forced, was retained for practical reasons. The current building is distinguished by its transept and its illuminated choir of high Historiated bays, made by master glassmaker Auguste Alleaume of Laval. The facade has an open portal tower, topped by a zenithal oculus allowing the passage of the bells. Inside, the harmony between the granite of the supports and the white stone of the ornaments, emphasized by Abbé Angot, creates an atmosphere "charming and full of harmony".

The 1906 inventory went unannounced, despite the parish priest's initial protests. The old church, dedicated to the Assumption, had two sides, one of which was rebuilt in 1825 with a chapel by the master mason Jourdin d'Ernée. Among its historical elements are the chapel of Aubert, served at the altar of Sainte-Catherine until the 16th century, and a chapel of the Saint-Sauveur built in 1604 by parish priest Guy Daubert. In 1509, a tax of 15 pounds was raised on the inhabitants to repair a silver cross and a banner, and to buy a missel. On the eve of the Revolution, the church factory had 400 books of annual income (1780).

The stained glass windows of Augustus Alleaume, installed as soon as the reconstruction took place, as well as the architectural traces of the missing chapels (like that of Sainte-Catherine) testify to the religious and artistic evolution of the place. The present building, although neo-Gothic, perpetuates the memory of local cults, such as the Saint-Sauveur, founded in the seventeenth century. The archives also mention tensions related to the management of ecclesiastical property, illustrated by the 1906 inventory or medieval taxes.

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