Saint Peter's Church of April dans l'Eure-et-Loir

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Key figures

Origin and history

The church of St Peter of April, mentioned from the 13th century in a stiletto of the diocese of Chartres, was originally a modest parish chapel dedicated to St Peter. It served 56 inhabitants and was surrounded by two other chapels two kilometres apart: that of Clémas (saint Michel) and that of the wood of the Plesse (saint Jean de la Forêt), linked to the neighbouring hamlets and the local castle. His parish priest, appointed by the bishop, received 15 pounds of annual income, reflecting his modest status in a rural area where places of worship were dispersed to meet the needs of small communities.

In 1586, the chapel of Saint Peter was rebuilt or enlarged, as evidenced by the inscriptions on the entrances of the high altar and of Christ, engraved by the parish priest Macé Hurtault and local artisans. Then, in 1771, a nave was added with the help of the remains of the chapel of Clémas, under the direction of the parish priest Paris. These transformations, marked by the names of donors and artisans (such as Rauberd in Putel), illustrate the architectural evolution of the building, passed from a simple chapel to a more spacious church, adapted to a growing population.

The octagonal wooden bell tower, covered in dardoise and surmounted by an iron cross, houses two bells dated 1810, blessed by the parish priest Joseph-Yves Edmond Ollivier. These bells, decorated with images of St Peter and Christ, replaced a bell of 1765 melted during the Revolution. Their inscriptions reveal the names of godparents and benefactors, such as the family of Aligre, local lords, or Louis Fournier, mayor of the time. This bell tower, accessible by an inner scale, symbolizes both community piety and the historical upheavals suffered by the church.

Inside the church, sober in appearance, hides traces of its prestigious past. Under the curtain of the walls, figures of the twelve apostles and the coat of arms of the family of Aligre could be concealed. A tomb in black marble, surmounted by a statue of Renamed and surrounded by an iron gate, honors Stephen d'Aligre (chancellor of France, died in 1635) and his wife Elisabeth the Chapeller. Other burials, such as that of Marie-Madeleine Le Peletier (1702) or Lieutenant-Colonel Claude de Grenet (1707), highlight the role of the church as a necropolis for local elites.

In the 18th century, the church was home to a vicariate financed by the d'Aligre, with housing for the vicar and rents for the poor. These provisions, abolished after the Revolution, were converted into inn. A striking episode of 1793 revealed the tensions of the time: citizens forced the vicar to dance with his maidservant at the employers' feast, pushing him to flee the commune. This event illustrates the conflicts between religious tradition and revolutionary ideals in the Eure-et-Loir countryside.

The atypical dimensions of the church (15 m long by 7.80 m wide, 9,90 m choir) and its ogival wooden vault (up to 11 m high) reflect its successive extensions. Built in stone masonry and covered with tiles, it is distinguished by its seven windows (two ogivals, five in the middle) and its stone entrance drum. Despite its "ungrateful" aspect due to its excessive length, it remains an architectural testimony to the adaptations of a rural place of worship to the changing needs of its community, from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment.

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