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Origin and history

The church of Saint-Blaise de Gourby, located in the Landes, is a 13th century medieval vestige, the last witness of the Benedictine priory founded by the monks of the Abbey of Cagnotte. This priory, born from a donation of the Viscount of Aspremont to the bishop of Dax Arnauld (former Abbé de Cagnotte) around 1170, was part of the development of monastic foundations in the country of Orthe. The Benedictines, known as clearingmen and millers, chose this site at the confluence of two streams to establish a mill and a monastery, taking advantage of the abundant water resources.

The chapel, sober and without ornamentation, reflects the austere life of the monks. The priory prospered until the wars of Religion (16th century), where the mother abbey of Cagnotte, destroyed by the Huguenots in 1566, led to its decline. In 1740 Gourby lost his status as a priory to become a parish annex, first attached to Magescq or Rivière-Saas-et-Gourby, then served by the parish priests of Rivière from 1882. Despite the vicissitudes, the chapel was restored in 1975 and 2006, preserving its heritage.

The site is marked by the ancestral cult of Saint Blaise, invoked every 3 February to protect the sick (especially from sore throats), children, and crops. A local tradition combines the chapel with a miraculous fountain and a waterfall once exploited by the monks for their mill. The venerated statue, although representing Saint Benedict (founder of the Benedictine order), was attributed to Saint Blaise by popular devotion, strengthening the link between the place and this saint "auxiliary".

The origin of the toponym Gourby remains debated: some see it as a legacy of the Sarrazins (gourbi, "desert camp"), others as a Latin root (corvus, "country of crows"). The priory, a relay for the pilgrims of Compostela, illustrates the influence of the Dutch abbeys such as Cagnotte or Saint-Sever, rivals in spiritual and economic influence until the Middle Ages.

Today, the church and its natural environment (31.63 ha registered in 1984) bear witness to this monastic past. The choir houses a carved altar, a painting by Saint Blaise, and a Virgin with the Polychrome Child, while the ruins of the mill and the sulfurous fountain recall the ingenuity of the monks. The recent restoration has saved this fragile heritage, a place of pilgrimage and collective memory.

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