3. Mauges-sur-Loire to Saint-Florent-le-Vieil

Saint-Martin church was built from 1864 to 1867, outside the old town in the presbyteral enclosure on the site of the former parish church.
In the shape of a Latin cross, in the ogival style with its three naves and two transepts, each decorated with a large rosette, built in tufa, it is difficult to resist the ravages of time.

In 1846, under the direction of Father Pineau, parish priest of Mesnil-en-Vallée, a wooden mission cross was erected. In 1880 a chapel replaced the mission cross.
In neo-gothic style, the chapel dominates the town, it was the place of pilgrimage during the feast of God.
Later a Calvary was erected next to the chapel.
The Chapel of the Angels with its canopy is leaning against the wall of the nearby cemetery.

The parish of Saint Laurent du Mottay depended on the territory of the Abbey of Saint Florent le Vieil and was, moreover, the seat of the Provost of the Abbey. The Provost held regular meetings in his provostal hotel. He was in charge of the administration of the fiefdoms belonging to the monks of Saint Florent. The Provost was the Lord of the parish.
Saint-Laurent-du-Mottay had General de Gaulle as its honorary citizen. The commune shares this privilege with two major French cities: Paris and Strasbourg.

His real name Louis Poirier, his literary pseudonym owes much to his fascination for the hero of Stendhal's "Le Rouge et Le Noir" and his admiration for the Gracques in Roman history. He decided to take a literary pseudonym, in order to clearly separate his activity as a teacher from his activity as a writer.
If "Au château d'Argol" (1938), his first novel, strongly influenced by Black Romanticism and Surrealism, had attracted the attention of André Breton, it was with "Le Rivage des Syrtes" (1951), and especially the spectacular refusal of its author to receive the Goncourt prize in 1951, that Julien Gracq made himself known to the public.
He donated his house to the Maison Julien Cracq association to welcome writers. The association made this house a place of memory and literary life as the writer had wished.
To visit the Maison Julien Cracq, please visit the website " Maison Julien Cracq ".

The chapel is closed and awaits restoration.
The chapel represents one of the first expressions of the neo-Plantagenet style. It was built, between 1856 and 1858, by Count Théodore de Quatrebarbes, in order to receive the burials of Cathelineau, generalissimo of the armies of the Vendée, who died in Le Pin en Mauges in 1793, and of his son who died in 1832. The chapel was consecrated in 1858 by Mgr de Dreux-Brézé and became the property of the Sisters of Saint-Charles in 1861 before being acquired by the commune.
A plaque indicates the chapel of Monmoutier and Demontifroy -1660- the name of the previous chapel?

The abbey of Saint-Florent dates from the 7th century, built on the site of the Saint's burial place. The presence of pilgrims justifies this construction to welcome them.
Charlemagne had the monastery rebuilt, endowing it with "marble and admirable architecture". He also gave the monastery a vase known as the Holy Grail. Louis the Pious brought monks back from Italy and installed them in the monastery to establish the Benedictine rule.
During the Middle Ages, invasions brought destruction and looting. The monks fled to Tournus (Saône et Loire) then returned to settle in Saumur under the shelter of the castle and founded the abbey Saint-Florent de Saumur or Saint-Florent-le-Jeune to differentiate themselves from Saint-Florent-le-Vieux.
In the 17th century, the abbey came under the control of the Congregation of Saint-Maur which rebuilt the entire monastery and part of the abbey church.
The crypt is rebuilt in the 19th century.

Saint-Florent
According to legend, it is said that Saint Florian was the brother of Saint Florent, and that they grew up together on the banks of the Danube. Roman soldiers, they were condemned to death by the Aquilian prefect, after being tortured for refusing to sacrifice to the idols. The death chosen for them was drowning in the Enns, with a stone around their necks. But on the way, an angel appears to Florent and asks him to join Saint Martin in Tours, which he does, leaving his brother to the torments of martyrdom. Saint Martin, warned by an angel, ordains him a priest on his arrival.
Saint Florent must then go to Mont-Glonne, to rid the region of the snakes it was infested with, and to evangelize it.
Thereafter, he will travel a lot and perform many miracles. Among the most notorious, in Candes, he saved a child from drowning. He died, according to legend, on September 31, 390, near Mont-Glonne, at a very advanced age.