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Key figures

Origin and history

The Church of Our Lady of the Assumption of Mégaudais comes from the will of Bertrand de Mégaudais, lord of Marolles, and his wife Catherine de Langan. In 1600, the latter, noting that the inhabitants of the neighborhood, far from the church of Saint Peter, could not "see Mass or learn the things necessary for salvation", erected a 60-foot-long chapel near the said places Chesnaie and Cavesserie. Their initial plan was to install hermits, but the king's refusal of letters patent blocked this initiative. The bishop had nevertheless issued a favourable decree on 30 October 1600.

Catherine de Langan, who became a widow, finally obtained the erection of the church in the branch under the name of Saint-Martin de Mégaudais by episcopal ordinance of 28 July 1674. Two chapels were founded: Notre-Dame de Bon-Secours and Saint-Joseph. The first baptism recorded in Mégaudais dates from 25 May 1675. In 1780, Pierre-François Davelu described the chapel as "quite pretty", served by two chaplains for 300 communiants. Despite its abolition as a branch in 1803 it was restored by royal ordinance in 1846.

A fire ravaged the sacristy in January 1868, leading to the sale of the surrounding land in 1869. M. de Saint-Cyr then acquired the place and had the church rebuilt between 1875 and 1877, 800 metres from the old one, on the national road from Ernée to Fougères. The 14th century Gothic building was equipped with a slender arrow, stained glass windows from the Carmel du Mans, and stone altars carved by Cottereau. Consecrated on September 3, 1877, it preserves the old cemetery nearby. A botanical peculiarity is associated with it: a juniper-flowered broom, discovered around 1875 by the parish priest André Powery and named Genista Andrea.

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