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Origin and history

The former presbytery of Montourtier, located in the department of Mayenne, was built at the end of the 15th or early 16th century by the Montecler family, lords of Bourgon. Designed to serve as a hunting or falconary relay, the building features architectural elements related to hunting, such as animal sculptures (dog, boar, weasel) and bolt holes for pigeons. These details suggest its initial use before its transformation into clerical housing.

In 1508 Jean de Montecler, owner of the premises, offered the building to the parish of Montourtier to house his relative, François de Bellée, appointed parish priest. The coat of arms of the Montecler and Bellée families, on the façade and the skylight, testify to this transition. François de Bellée, canon and then parish priest, marked his passage by founding the chapel of Sainte-Barbe in the local church (1554) and erecting a calvary near Bourgon Castle, adorned with family coats of arms.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the presbytery will house parish priests on an unusual path, such as Brandelis de Valory, a former bride who returned to the priesthood, or Father Pierre Reverdy, passionate about hunting and forced to an episcopal absolution in 1700. Under Louis XV, partial demolitions were allowed to reduce maintenance costs, followed by restorations by parish priest Joseph Thoumin of Vauxpont. The Revolution turned the presbytery into a barracks and then into a debauchery, before its return to religious use under the Concordat.

In the 19th century, the chestnuts of Bourgon (Le Nicolais de Clinchamp family) financed important works, rebuilding part of the house and raising the former bakery. The presbytery served until 1977, when it was sold by the commune. Ranked a historic monument in 1927, it illustrates the evolution of a cynegetic building as a symbol of Mayan religious and seigneurial heritage.

The architecture of the presbytery combines traces of its primary vocation (elements of falconry) with additions related to its ecclesiastical function. The blazons of the Montecler and Bellée, still visible, recall the links between local nobility and clergy, while the successive modifications reflect the changing needs of the parish, from the Wars of Religion to the Revolution.

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