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Origin and history

The chapel-hermitage Sainte-Anne d'Aillant-sur-Tholon, located in the Yonne department in Burgundy-Franche-Comté, is a religious building mainly built in the seventeenth century. Consecrated to Saint Anne, mother of the Virgin Mary, it replaces a first chapel attested from the ninth century. This place of worship, formerly dependent on the Chartreuse de Valprofonde in the 14th and 15th centuries, was surrounded by fortifications and served as a hermitage until the 19th century. Its architecture bears the traces of successive reconstructions after conflicts such as the Hundred Years' War or the Wars of Religion.

Sold as a national good during the French Revolution, the chapel was bought by a resident of Aillant-sur-Tholon, who restored it to worship after the Terror. It housed hermits until the last one died in 1865. In the 20th century, Abbé Camille Pautrat undertook his restoration before it became communal property in 1905. Threatened by ruin, it was saved from 1975 by a local association led by Abbé Louis Junot, leading to its inscription in historical monuments in 1978.

Today, Sainte-Anne's chapel-hermitage hosts two annual Masses, linked to the feasts of Saint Anne (26 July) and the Nativity of the Virgin Mary (8 September). It also serves as a framework for celebrations such as weddings or baptisms, as well as cultural events organized by the safeguard association. Its history reflects both the religious and political upheavals of France, and the local attachment to this spiritual and architectural heritage.

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