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Origin and history

The church of Sainte-Anne de Marcillé-la-Ville comes from a request made in 1851 by the inhabitants of the hamlet of Buleu and the surrounding area. Until then, they had to go to the church of Saint-Martin de Marcillé-la-Ville, located several kilometers away, or to attend the offices in the chapel of Sainte-Anne de Buleu, served irregularly since 1848 by the vicar of Martigné-sur-Mayenne. The chapel, used since the 17th century, welcomed about 200 faithful, but its remoteness and lack of clerical presence prompted the inhabitants to ask Monsignor Bouvier, bishop of Le Mans, to erect Buleu as an independent parish.

The parish of Sainte-Anne was officially established on 27 February 1851, thanks to the episcopal authorization to build a church and a presbytery there. The land was offered in 1852 by Mr.Debrunville, and Abbé Vaugeois, the first parish priest appointed, began work in 1854. The building, financed mainly by the faithful, was consecrated in 1856. Its Latin cross plan and its location in the hamlet of Sainte-Anne, 6 km from the village, made it a central place for the local community. In 1884, the council of the parish made major repairs: walls, roof, bell tower and clock.

The church experienced a decline after the last parish priest left in 1985, resulting in a rapid deterioration of the building. Closed for security reasons in 1998, it was saved by the Association des amis de Sainte-Anne de Marcillé, founded in 2001. Through fund-raising, the association allowed the renovation of the roof in 2005, followed by that of the bell tower, door, vaults and stained glass windows. Today, the church houses a wooden cross path, a high altar and statues, while an old stele and a calvary mark its entrance.

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