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Origin and history

The church Saint-Piat de Seclin, located in the Nord department (Hauts-de-France), is a former collegiate church dating back to the 7th century. According to tradition, Saint Eloi, bishop of Noyon and Tournai, erected a first church on the tomb of Saint Piat, a martyr beheaded in 287. This place became a centre of pilgrimage, especially from the 11th century, with the development of a chapter of canons, a cloister, and a school. The Romanesque crypt, sheltering the sarcophagus of Saint Piat, is the only vestige of this primitive period.

The present church was rebuilt in the 13th century, then renovated in the 15th and 18th centuries. In 1531, a bell tower was added. The monument suffered major destruction during the two world wars: the bell tower was dynamized in 1918 by the Germans, and bombardments in 1940 damaged the building again. Ranked a Historic Monument in 1920, the church was restored in the 1930s, with the addition of a carillon of 42 bells in 1933.

The interior of the church combines Romanesque elements (columns of the transept), Gothic (deambulatory of the 13th century), and Neo-medieval (decades of the 19th century). Among its treasures are the Gallo-Roman sarcophagus of Saint Piat, a 15th century capitular hall, and an 18th century marble master altar. The chapels of the walk-in, which were renovated in the 19th century, house frescoes, Gothic altars, and stained glass windows signed by Louis Koch. The church also preserves reliquaries, including a neogothic chass of 1853 containing a femur of the saint.

The furniture includes oak confessionals of Modeste Verlinden (1840–1909), an Art Deco cross path of 1931, and 18th-century paintings representing Christ and the evangelists. The crypt, accessible to visitors, contains a well with therapeutic virtues according to legend, as well as medieval graffiti. The church remains an active place of worship, marked by a thousand-year history and composite architecture.

Today, the association for the preservation of the collegiate works to preserve this heritage, notably through restoration campaigns like that of the large canvases of the choir. The carillon, always in function, rhythms local life with traditional melodies (Le Petit Quinquin, Le Roi Dagobert).

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