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Origin and history

The church of Saint-Sixte, located in Lamothe-Fénelon (formerly Lamothe-Massat) in the Lot, is a non-conventual priory dependent on the Abbey of Souillac from the twelfth century. Its Romanesque apse, dated from the second half of the 12th century despite a plan evoking the High Middle Ages, contrasts with the nave enlarged in the 14th century and the western facade rebuilt at the same time. Lateral chapels, including that of Notre-Dame-de-Pitié financed by Jean de Salignac around 1490, illustrate late Gothic additions.

The 2011 excavations in the northern chapel revealed earlier masonries probably forming a primitive transept with the southern chapel, while the nave was vaulted between the late 15th and early 16th century. Mural paintings discovered in 1976 (Annunciation, Christ in Majesty) adorn the apse, their "crust" style suggesting a realization prior to the vaulting of the nave. The building, classified as a historic monument in 1913, also retains defensive elements such as the mâchicoulis of the façade.

The history of the church is marked by its link with the local lords: Jean de Salignac founded his grave there in 1497, and Géraud de Marssault, monk of Souillac, was its prior in 1253. The restorations of the 19th and 20th centuries (1863, post-1913) preserved this architectural testimony combining Romanesque and Gothic, reflecting the evolution of a rural priory from Lotais over nearly five centuries.

The interior decor includes carved bow keys and fallout, while the exterior is distinguished by a five-arch campanile and a polygonal staircase turret. The irregularity of the plan, with a sloping south wall and a trapezoidal nave, reveals the successive adaptations. The paintings, although partially erased, offer a rare example of medieval wall art in Quercy.

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