Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Church of Saint John Baptist of Benquet, in the Landes, replaces a 9th century primitive church, destroyed during the Wars of Religion in 1572. In 1757, a collateral was added to it with materials from the former church of Saint-Pé-d The Revolution disrupted parish life: the parish priest Pierre de Laborde disappeared in 1792, and his successor, Pierre Tastet, abdicated in 1793 under dechristianizing pressure.

The reconstruction of the present church began in 1879, led by Bishop Delannoy, bishop of Aire. The land and sand quarries are offered by the Countess of Lonjon, born Herminie de Cornulier. Funded by a local subscription, the church was consecrated in 1888, with stained glass windows of Gustave-Pierre Dagrant illustrating the life of Saint John the Baptist. The furniture, including a high relief inspired by Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper, was installed between 1887 and 1893.

The church houses traces of its turbulent history: a tympanum recovered from the old church, initials of donors engraved on the capitals, and holy bells in 1893. The adjacent cemetery preserves the tombs of the Marquis de Cornulier and the family of the Count of Saint-Christau. Renovated between 2019 and 2020, it remains an active place of worship, integrated into the parish of Saint-Martin-du-Marsan since 1996.

The former parish of Saint-Pé-d His cemetery, abandoned around 1750, was still used two generations after its decommissioning. A statue of St Peter in the present church perpetuates the memory of this missing chapel.

The 1887 stained glass windows, produced by Dagrant's Bordeaux workshop, depict six key scenes of John the Baptist's life: his birth, his role as a precursor of Christ, the baptism of Jesus, his denunciation of Herod, his beheading, and the presentation of his head in Herodiad. These works illustrate the iconographic importance of the patron saint in the building.

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