Fanjeaux The House of Saint Dominic

From 1206 to 1215 Saint Dominic made Fanjeaux, a hill village of the Lauragais, his base for preaching to the Cathars. Tradition says that one summer evening in 1206 he saw from the edge of the hill a ball of fire fall three times on the chapel of Prouilhe below, and took it as a sign to found his first community there.

The house where he is said to have lived is kept as a chapel, and the place of the sign, the Seignadou, is marked by a cross above the plain. The parish church keeps the memory of a miracle: a book of Dominic’s, thrown into the fire during a debate with the Cathars, leapt out unburned.

• Saint Dominic’s houseNow a chapel, near the church.
• The SeignadouThe cross above the plain of Prouilhe.
• The parish churchThe memory of the miracle of the book.

• August 8Feast of Saint Dominic

• Saint DominicFounder of the Order of Preachers

• Via DominiciThe Way of Saint Dominic, seven daysDay IV, Fanjeaux

About an hour by road from Toulouse, and a few minutes from Prouilhe.

• ProuilheThe Monastery of Notre-Dame de Prouilhe, about 2 miles as the crow flies
• CarcassonneThe Basilica of Saint-Nazaire, about 16 miles as the crow flies
• ToulouseSaint-Sernin and the Jacobins, about 41 miles as the crow flies
• AlbiThe Cathedral of Sainte-Cécile, about 52 miles as the crow flies