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Origin and history

The church of Saint-Ouen des Ifffs, located in the department of Ille-et-Vilaine in Brittany, is a religious building built from the middle of the 15th century under the impulse of the Counts of Laval, lords of Montmuran. It adopts a characteristic cross plan of Lorraine, with two transepts and a unique nave. The initial works include the construction of a bell tower, the rebuilding of the nave, and the addition of the chapel Saint-Yves south of the choir. The stained glass windows, made in the first half of the 16th century, bear the coat of arms of the Montfort-Laval and illustrate biblical scenes such as the Passion or the Life of the Virgin.

In the 17th century, the church was marked by Counter-Reform and Jansenism. In 1629, a Eucharistic miracle was reported: a peasant would have seen blood spilling out of a scoundrel during the Mass of the Feast of God. Missions preached by the Lazarists (1647) and the Capuchins (1675) reaffirmed Catholic dogmas. Curé Guy Clément, Jansenist appointed in 1721, influenced some of the faithful before resigning in 1736. His successor worked to bring the parish back to Orthodoxy.

The building underwent major changes in the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1867, architect Arthur Regnault replaced the old bell tower with a Gothic bell tower, while the ossuary porch was demolished around 1875. The stained glass windows, degraded in 1843, were restored in stages: the glass mistress by René Échappé (1852-1861), Bay 12 by Lecomte and Colin (1889), and the ensemble by the Tournel workshop (1910-1913). Ranked a historic monument in 1906, the church also retains remarkable furniture, including retables of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and twelve bas-reliefs of the apostles classified in 1966.

The stained glass windows, among the richest in Brittany, date for the most part before 1547 and carry the arms of the Montmorency-Laval. The axis glass, given by Guy XVI of Laval (†1531), represents the Passion and the Last Judgment. The seigneurial chapel (Baies 1 and 3) illustrates the Life of the Virgin, while the chapel of Saint Yves (Baies 2, 4, 6) evokes Saint Yves, the conversion of Saint Paul, and the history of Suzanne. These stained glass windows, stylistically close to those of La Baussaine or Champeaux, testify to the influence of local lords.

The exterior architecture combines granite and limestone, with slate roofs and gargoyles decorated. The flat bedside opens onto a flamboyant glass roof, and the neogothic bell tower (1881), the work of the Mellet brothers after Arthur Regnault, houses five bells, including Marguerite (1596), offered by the widow of Admiral de Coligny. Inside, the nave, vaulted with diagonal veins, houses crows carved of monkey heads. The retables, recomposed in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the bas-reliefs of the apostles (16th century) complete this heritage.

The church remained a place of devotion until the twentieth century, with processions at the Saint-Fiacre fountain still attested in 1983. In 2011, an illumination system showcases stained glass windows, and renovations (clocher in 2016, interior planned for 2017) preserve the building. In October 2025, an attempt to steal the trunk mobilized the gendarmerie, recalling its anchoring in local life.

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