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Origin and history

The chapel of the Penitents, originally Saint-Dominic Church, was founded in the early 14th century under the impulse of the bishop of Lodève, Jacques de Cabrerets (1318–1322), a former Dominican sacred by Pope John XXII. The latter had created twenty convents of the order of the Preachers by a bubble of 1317, including that of Clermont-l-Herault. Baron Béranger VI of Guilhem offered the land bordering the Rhônel stream, and the first stone was laid in April 1321. Donations, such as those of Arnaud de Lauzières, allowed a rapid construction: the abside and four spans of the nave were completed as early as 1356. The tensions between the barons of Clermont (supporting the convent) and the consuls (supporting the collegiate Saint Paul) may explain the scale of the project, designed to attract the faithful away from the rival collegiate.

Facing the looting of the Big Companies and the Black Prince around 1360, the church was fortified with two turrets surrounding the west facade. The two western spans were vaulted only at the end of the 14th century, followed by the addition of lateral chapels in the 15th and 16th centuries. The west gate, with a fog, and a rose (unrealized) date from this period. The convent, including garden, orchard and oil mill, was devastated during the Wars of Religion: burned by Protestants in 1568, then demolished in 1588. The church, less damaged, survived. In 1594, Dominican reformer Sébastien Michaëlis restored monastic life there, rebuilding the convent and consolidating the vaults (circa 1665–66). The Dominicans played a key role in the local Catholic reconquest, preaching and administering the sacraments in a predominantly Huguenote city.

At the time of the Revolution, the convent was sold as a national good (1791) and transformed into a political hall and then a saltpeter shop. Having become a communal property, the church will house a brotherhood of Blue Penitents from 1808 to 1905, lastingly marking the local memory to the point of eclipse its Dominican origin. Used as a market during the Second World War, and then as a municipal garage (loss of the fog gate), it was restored to become a versatile space. Joined the Historical Monuments in 1939, its traditional southern plan includes a single nave of six spans, a seven-sided apse, and side chapels. Its dimensions (50.46 m long, 1,300 m2) bear witness to its past ambition.

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