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Origin and history

The Saint-Martin church of Leuglay, located in the Gold Coast, is a Romanesque building deeply transformed in the 16th century. Built on a busy spur from the Gallo-Roman era, it overlooks the village, accessible by an imposing staircase. Its term "Saint Martin" and the discovery of a nearby Merovingian necropolis suggest a parish foundation among the oldest in the region, linked to early evangelization of the territory.

The church, originally owned by the Templars, then passed to the Hospitallers and then to the Order of Malta. Rebuilt around 1554 (as attested to a foundation stone found in 1983), it incorporated a closed cemetery and became a place of pilgrimage after the rediscovery in 1728 of the relics of the "Good Saints", martyrs of the Vandals. These relics, preserved under the high altar in a golden shawl, attract the faithful for supposed healings (rhumatism in the 18th century, female sterility in the 19th century), in connection with the Saint-Mammès source of the Chartreuse of Lugny.

The architecture of the church combines elements from the 15th century (bathed vaulted nave, broken arch porch) and the 18th century (transeven supporting a square bell tower). The polygonal choir, higher than the nave and illuminated by large windows in full hangar, contrasts with the local churches of the 12th–13th centuries. The furniture includes Renaissance woodwork, a 1555 washbasin, and works of art from the seventeenth to eighteenth centuries, while the stained glass windows evoke Saint Martin, the Chartreuse of Lugny and the martyrdom of the Good Saints.

The site illustrates the continuity of Christian worship since late antiquity, marked by medieval and then modern pilgrimages. The presence of Templars, then Hospitallers, underscores its role in the religious and military networks of the Middle Ages. Architectural transformations reflect liturgical and devolutional developments, while the relics of the Good Saints testify to the persistence of popular beliefs in Burgundy-Franche-Comté.

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