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Key figures

Origin and history

The Saint-Blaise church of Angoville-en-Saire, located in the former commune of Angoville-en-Saire (now integrated with Vicq-sur-Mer, Manche), is mentioned for the first time in 1163 in an act of donation by Guillaume de Beaumont to the Abbey of Montebourg. This document, ratified by Henry II, Duke of Normandy and King of England, attests to his seniority and his link with local monastic institutions. Although under the patronage of the Abbés of Montebourg, the tithes returned mostly to the parish priest, illustrating the economic tensions between regular and secular clergy.

In the 18th century, the building showed signs of deterioration: in 1750, the structure, the panelling and the cover of the nave were in poor condition, requiring repairs completed before 1764, when an archdiaconal visit observed its good condition. In 1753, the presbytery was rebuilt by Jacques-Henri d'Osber, as evidenced by the date engraved on a lintel. The Revolution marked a turning point: the parish priest Jean-François Le Choisel took the constitutional oath, while the church's property (presbytery, lands, liturgical objects) was sold. Residents, including the sacristan Bon Delacour, saved part of the furniture (sacred vases, statue of the Virgin, tabernacle) before the looting by revolutionaries of Saint Peter the Church.

In 1794 the presbytery was awarded to Le Choisel (now lay) for 100 pounds, with a portion reserved for the teacher and the municipality. The church, which remained communal property, lost its parish autonomy in 1807 for the benefit of Vrasville, but the inhabitants continued to maintain worship and burial. The cemetery, still dedicated to the building, surrounds a church without a tower, with a bell campanile and a nave accessible by a south side door, marked by traces of enlargements (windows enlarged in 1778).

The interior reveals an ogival arcade separating the nave from the choir, where two eroded statues (holy Barbe and an unidentified saint) remain. The choir, illuminated by four windows, houses a pre-tubernacle niche (XVI century) and a liturgical pool. The furniture includes a high altar and an 18th century altarpiece, representing the Annunciation and housing a statue of Saint Blaise, second patron. A granite funeral plaque (1819) and a sundial recall the past uses of the building, between worship, memory and time measurement.

The history of the church reflects the religious and political upheavals of Normandy, from its attachment to the Abbey of Montebourg to its post-revolutionary survival, carried by the attachment of the Angovians. Its modest architecture, marked by re-employment and repairs, bears witness to a rural community preserving its heritage despite historical hazards.

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