The holy places of France · Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Saint-Nectaire The Church of Saint-Nectaire
Puy-de-Dôme, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
- Getting there
- About forty minutes by road from Clermont-Ferrand.
- On our way
- Via Romanica
History
According to legend, Saint Nectarius came to these mountains with Saint Austremonius, first bishop of Clermont, and the church on the hill above the village keeps his memory. It was built in the twelfth century, in the volcanic stone of the Auvergne.
It has more than a hundred carved capitals, still painted in places, many of them with scenes: the life of Christ, the Apocalypse and the miracles of Saint Nectarius. Its treasury keeps a twelfth-century reliquary bust of Saint Baudime, of gilded copper.
Further reading: Romanesque France: Cluny and the Churches of the Pilgrim Roads.
To see and to pray
- The capitals of the choirThe life of Christ and the miracles of Saint Nectarius.
- The bust of Saint BaudimeGilded copper over wood, twelfth century.
- Notre-Dame du Mont-CornadoreA statue of the Virgin, in the treasury.
On our way
Getting there
About forty minutes by road from Clermont-Ferrand.
Nearby
- OrcivalThe Basilica of Notre-Dame of Orcival, about 10 miles as the crow flies
- Clermont-FerrandNotre-Dame-du-Port, about 14 miles as the crow flies
- Le Puy-en-VelayThe Cathedral of Notre-Dame du Puy, about 57 miles as the crow flies
- SouvignyThe Priory of Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul, about 66 miles as the crow flies