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Origin and history

The church Saint-Quentin de Saint-Quentin-sur-Indrois, dedicated to the Catholic cult, is located in the center of the village, bordering the main street linking Chedigny to the road from Bléré to Loches. Its history goes back to a primitive oratory supposedly built on the tomb of Saint Quentin, hermit of the sixth century killed around 575 (or according to some in the seventh or eighth century). This hermit, a disciple of Gontran Boson, was allegedly murdered for having rejected the advances of the mistress of her protector. Local tradition celebrates this martyr every 5 October, although its homonym of the third century, Roman martyr, is more widely known.

In 1084, Archbishop Raoul de Tours linked the church to Marmoutier Abbey, which made it a priory. A wall in small 11th century apparatus still remains at bedside level. The present building, built mainly in the 12th century, underwent renovations in the 16th and 17th centuries, as well as restorations before the French Revolution (1789) and in 1875. Piled by the Huguenots in 1562, the church saw its bell tower, struck by lightning in 1998, partially collapse on the roof. Reconstructed in the early 2000s, it crowned a medieval nave and a vaulted choir, extended by a semicircular apse of the 12th century.

The architecture mixes Romanesque elements (doors in the middle of the hangar, apse in cul-de-four) and Gothic elements (voûts on dogive crosses, 16th century lateral chapel transformed into sacristy). The bell tower, in millstone bells, ends with an octagonal arrow decorated with lanterns. Inside, the coats of arms of the Ruze and Smoke families, local lords from 1488 to 1712, adorn the vault keys and a pillar. A copper plate dated 1500, from the Château des Roches-Saint-Quentin, commemorates Adam Smoke, founder of religious services. Two 18th-century altarpieces and stained glass windows by Louis-Victor Gesta (representing Saint Quentin, Saint Stephen or Jeanne-Marie de Maillé) complete this heritage.

Ranked a historical monument by decree of 28 October 1926, the church illustrates the architectural and religious evolution of the Touraine, between local legends, religious conflicts (wars of Religion) and modern restorations. Its furniture and decorations reflect the influence of noble families and glassmakers, while at the same time testifying to the devotion to Saint Quentin, is both martyred and hermit in the Tourangelle tradition.

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