Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Collège Saint-Félix de Saint-Félix-Lauragais, located in Haute-Garonne (Occitanie), was built in 1303 by an agreement between the local communities of Saint-Félix, Cadenac, Saint-Crapasi and Graissens. A papal bubble of John XXII in 1317 formalized the foundation of a chapter of canons, accelerating the work. The church, of southern Gothic style, has a unique nave extended by a seven-sided polygonal bedside, typical of the fourteenth century. Its imposing bell tower (42 m), flanked by four bell tower towers, was completed later, with an arrow covered with Saïx stones in 1841.

In the 15th century, the canons installed a choir organ there, replaced in the 17th century by a stand organ built between 1779 and 1781 by Gregory Rabiny and Honoré Grinda, the latter having worked on the cathedral of Albi. The nave, destroyed by a fire at the end of the sixteenth century, was covered by a wooden panel in 1603, while the southern chapels were rebuilt in the next century. The choir, rebuilt in 1742 by Bishop Charles de La Roche-Aymon, houses a marble master altar made in 1748 by Étienne Rossat, author of the basilica Saint-Sernin in Toulouse.

The interior preserves remarkable elements: two bronze bells (1523 and 1760), paintings by Jean Artigue and Lambert-François Cammas (XVIII century), as well as an anonymous painted decoration of the 19th century, offered in exchange for the lodging and the covered. Ranked a historic monument in 1920, the college illustrates the architectural and artistic evolution of Lauragais, mixing southern Gothic, Renaissance additions and Baroque embellishments.

The chapter, dissolved at the Revolution, deeply marked local life: the canons, major actors in religious and cultural life, commanded organs, altars and paintings. Their presence explains the progressive enrichment of the building, as evidenced by the transformations of the 17th and 18th centuries. Today, a communal property, the collegiate church remains a symbol of the Lauragese heritage, open to visits and cultural events.

External links