Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The church of Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption de Longpré-les-Corps-Saints has its origin in the crusades, especially the fourth (1202-1204). In 1205 Vibert, chaplain of Aléaume de Fontaines, brought back from Constantinople relics which gave the village its name as "Bass-Saints". A collegiate church was founded to house them, bringing together twelve canons, five chaplains and two priests. Popes Innocent III and Gregory IX granted him their protection, making him an important medieval pilgrimage site.

The college suffered major damage during the Hundred Years War (1437), requiring reparations financed by alms encouraged by Pope Eugene IV. Restored in 1505, his influence gradually declined until his canonial chapter was abolished during the French Revolution. The present church, the third building on the site, replaces that of the seventeenth century, destroyed by a fire in May 1940 during the Second World War. Only the Gothic gate and the bell tower, classified in 1908, remain of the medieval building.

The Romanesque crypt (1190) preserves relics, a 16th-century Tomblay and the tombstone of Aléaume de Fontaine, founder of the college. The church treasure houses classified objects, such as a reliquary of the four doctors of the Church (XIII century) or a statuette of Saint Christophe (XVI century). These elements bear witness to his religious and artistic past, despite the destruction suffered in the twentieth century.

External links