A jewel of twelfth-century Romanesque art, listed as a historic monument in 1994, the church is said to house the relics of Saint-Béat and Saint-Privat received from the emperor Charlemagne. It contains a treasure trove of 80 objects, including reliquaries, monstrances and religious statuary in polychrome wood.
This church, with its basical rectangular plan, is a major example of 12th-century Romanesque art in the Comminge region. Built of Saint-Béat marble, the floor was raised in 1613 due to flooding. It houses the town’s museum of sacred art and its treasury, which after 10 years of restoration was returned to its rightful place in 2023.
This treasure trove is enriched by a number of unique pieces of sacred art, including a 12th-century Virgin in Majesty, a 16th-century polychrome wooden trinity and a processional cross with an embossed gold knot. More specifically, it comprises 80 objects listed as historic monuments, including reliquaries, monstrances and religious statuary in polychrome wood.
Among the highlights are Notre-Dame de l’Espérance, a 16th-century polychrome wooden statue, a 15th-century painted wooden tabernacle and a painting by Jacques Stella (painter to King Louis XIII) depicting Jesus being found in the temple by his parents, owned by the neighbouring commune of Fos.
You can visit the treasury during the summer months on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 4pm to 6.30pm.
Legends of Saint-Privat and Saint-Béat :
Saint-Privat was a Christian in the 3rd century AD, living in a cave on the edge of Mont Mimat in the Gévaudan. He took part in Christian meetings in Mende and was known for his generosity towards the poor. One day, the Alamans (a group of different Germanic populations who were trying to expand their territory by raiding and pillaging) arrived in Gévaudan. They came across Saint-Privat and asked him to hand over the population. Saint-Privat refused and was locked up in a barrel of spiked nails and thrown down the mountain. According to another version, he was burnt. The site of his martyrdom is now a place of pilgrimage.
St-Béat is thought to have been the Asturian monk Béatus de Liebana in Spain, who fought against the Adoptian heresy in the 7th century and is known for his “Commentary on the Apocalypse”, according to the guide to the treasury of the church of St-Béat written by Isabelle Sourroubille, Deputy Curator of Antiquities and Works of Art.
According to the website of the Franciscan monastery of Santo Toribio de Liébana, Beatus [was] a monk from the mid-eighth century who, in 776, wrote a book entitled “Commentary on the Apocalypse” to explain the hermetic text of St John. In doing so, Beatus drew on the works of the Holy Fathers, which testifies to the extensive library that this monastery must have possessed.
It became part of art history because the various copies of this codex made in other monasteries began to include miniatures whose themes and techniques were fundamental to the development of Mozarabic and Romanesque painting and sculpture.
Beatus also composed the hymn “O Dei Verbum” for the feast of Santiago in the Mozarabic liturgy, whose eulogy of the Apostle marked the beginning of the cult of Santiago as the patron saint of Spain and led to the discovery of Santiago’s tomb.
Beatus played a major role in the theological controversies of the 8th century. […] Emperor Charlemagne himself was involved in the process, convening a council in Regensburg at which Beatus’ position on heresy was ratified. He was also an active participant in public life at this time in history, during which the kingdom of the Asturians was formed.”
