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Key figures

Origin and history

The church Saint-Aubin, located in the eponymous village of the Aube department, is a religious building built mainly in the 16th century. Of cruciform shape (32 m long, 21 m wide), it consists of a nave covered with a floor, two side chapels simply ceilinged, and a vaulted choir. The arch keys of the transept bear the dates of 1545 and 1547, while an armory shield carved in the absidial vault probably evokes the local lord of the time. The windows, of various styles and sizes, include elements of the 12th century, as well as the lower sides of the choir. Originally designed for three naves, the church remained unfinished due to lack of financial resources, a fate common to many monuments of this period.

The once imposing bell tower was partially destroyed by a storm in 1861, reducing its height by half. It originally stood at the end of the nave, near the transept. The church houses a Saint Vincent chapel, bearing witness to the past activity of a local brotherhood that brought together up to 60 partners to honor their patron saint. A reliquary of 1864, in the shape of a hand, contains a bone of Saint Aubin, placed to the right of the grid. The cemetery surrounding the building was moved in 1907, marking an evolution in the use of sacred space.

The history of the church bells is well documented: in 1662 two bells were baptized with the Marquis de Pont, seigneur of Saint-Aubin, as godmother Gabrielle Marie de la Rochefoucauld, abbesse du Paraclete. After the Revolution, two new bells were blessed in 1823. One of them, broken, was recast in 1846 and replaced in 1923 as Charlotte, thanks to Mrs.Freez-Gueniot. His "sister", the bell Marie-Louise, also dates from this period. These sound elements illustrate the continuity of worship and community life around the building.

At the heart of the choir, a 13th century tumular stone (2.50 m x 1.20 m) represents a warrior in mesh armor, identified as Guillaume de Saint-Aubin, squire and seigneur of Marville, who died in 1298. The sculpture, of a refined Gothic style, shows the character standing, the feet laid on a doggy style, surrounded by angels today erased. This stone, among the oldest in the department, offers a rare testimony of the medieval local aristocracy. Although this Guillaume remains mysterious, he could descend from the lineage of the Saint-Aubin mentioned in the cartular of the Paraclete in the thirteenth century.

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