L’église Notre-Dame de Sainte-Pazanne

The present-day church of Sainte-Pazanne was built between 1878 and 1898. It is the tallest church in the Pays de Retz, with a steeple 67 metres high.

Poorly understood origins

In the 8th century, Saint Pécinne - who became Saint Pazanne over the centuries - left her native Spain with two companions, Colombe and Macrine, to travel to Aquitaine.
They founded a monastery near Niort.
Unfortunately, they were persecuted by a local lord.

No source mentions the date of construction of the first church of Sancta Picina.

However, information about it can be found in certain texts:

A document describes the damage caused to the church in 1401 by a hurricane that threw the roof to the ground on 3 July of that year.
A document dating from 1680 provides some information about the interior of the church, with its chapels of Saint Sébatien, Saint Yves, Sainte Marguerite and the altar of Saint Jean.
In addition, a visit by an archdeacon from Nantes in 1683 revealed that the church was somewhat dilapidated.
Lastly, the parish registers show that new marble baptismal fonts were blessed on 23 November 1777 and two bells on 26 October 1781.



Sainte-Pazanne church burnt down

The church was accidentally burnt down in September 1793 by a soldier in General Beysser's Republican army.
The Hunaudais market hall became a substitute church: the commune rented it out so that mass could be celebrated there. This remained the case until the opening of a new building.

A new church was built on the site of the first in 1819.
However, it was still too small to accommodate all the parishioners.
The elected representatives therefore decided to build a new church.


One, then two... then three churches

The architect Ménard therefore took charge of building the 3rd church.
Work began on 28 May 1878, and the foundation stone was blessed on 22 September.

The church was built in two stages:


from 1878 to 1881 for the choir, the transept and the three bays of the nave. The whole complex was blessed on 10 May 1881, in the presence of Monseigneur Lecoq, Bishop of Nantes.
and from 1895 to 1898 for the last bay and the bell tower.


Neo-Gothic in style, it is notable for its height and the richness of its ornamentation.
It is built from Saint-Savinien stone, particularly for the porch. The interior columns are in Lavoux stone.


From the church to the covered market

At the same time, the old church was taken out of use and converted into a covered market.
Twenty years later, on 12 May 1901, the town council voted to demolish the old church, which was completed in 1902, so that a modern market hall could be built on its site.


Outstanding features of Notre-Dame de Saint-Pazanne church

The bell tower, built in 1897, is 67 metres high under the cross.
It is topped by a 5-metre cross and a cockerel.
The original cockerel at the top of the tower was knocked down by a storm in 1920. It was replaced in July 2004.

The bell tower houses the four bells of the former church, which were already in use in 1866:


"Maria Auguste" with Marquis Charrette de Boisfoucault, mayor, as godfather and Melle Marie Camille de la Brosse as godmother;
"Louise Angélique" with Hippolyte Baudry du Plessis as godfather and Mme Barbier du Doré as godmother;
"Henriette, Jeanne, Pecinne" with Jean-Marie Prin as godfather and Melle Tessier as godmother;
and "Marie Immaculée Joséphe Thérèse" with Léon Ecomard as godfather and Mme Thérèse Guihal as godmother.




This neo-Gothic rural building was designed by the architects :



René Michel Menard (1843-1895) during the period from 1877 to 1881,
then for the second period from 1895 to 1898, Langarcy and Emile Libaudière (1853-1923), architect and ceramist of the La Cigale brasserie in Nantes.


The church was consecrated on 31 July and 1 August 1898.

Inside, four chapels on either side of the choir are decorated with statues.
The wealth of bas-reliefs is unusual among the churches in the area. There are ten in each chapel, forming a series of small, finely sculpted paintings.

There are also two beautiful rose windows in the west and east transepts. There is also an attractive stained glass window made up of a series of five remarkable windows.
The gargoyles and numerous statues adorning the main porch are the work of Nantes sculptor Joseph Vallet (1841-1920).


"A listed "small cathedral

This church has a very complete architectural and decorative programme (monumental sculpture, stained glass windows).
So it's hardly surprising that Notre-Dame church, nicknamed the "little cathedral of the Pays de Retz", was listed as a Historic Monument by decree on 05 October 2007.

On 03 April 1956, a relic of the saint (the phalanx of a finger) finally arrived in Sainte-Pazanne after a number of ups and downs.

Restoration work is regularly carried out on the church in successive stages. The restoration of Notre-Dame church is continuing.


To consult the mass times for the parish of Sainte Anne - Françoise en Retz: click here

Did you know?
The church of Notre-Dame aroused the curiosity of film-maker Jean-Jacques Annaud in his youth!
When he was a child, his father worked for the SNCF in Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie, where his parents had a house. He used to come on holiday by train and stop off at Sainte-Pazanne station.
The director of "Le nom de la rose" (1986) and "Notre-Dame brûle" (2022) confided to journalists that he had been "crazy about churches" since childhood.
He was 9 years old when he bought a large notebook and decided to start his "general inventory of little-known churches in France".
"I started with the church of Sainte-Pazanne, near Nantes", he explains. On the way here on holiday, he stopped to photograph it. Impressed and admiring, Jean-Jacques Annaud returned regularly to photograph it from every angle. And he went on to take thousands of photos of churches.