SAINT-VINCENT DE CORNEILLAN CHURCH

On the road to Santiago de Compostela, a few kilometres from the centre of Montreal, the hamlet of Corneillan is home to a charming country church surrounded by regular rows of Armagnac and Côtes-de-Gascogne vines. The church of Saint-Vincent seems to date from the 14th-15th centuries, but the parish of the place is mentioned in 1255 in the founding charter of the bastide of Montréal-du-Gers. A part of the chapel (lower part of the chevet) would be earlier than this date. It is therefore assumed that the current church was built on the site of an existing building. The roof was redone in 1868, which allowed the church, which had only a few openings, to survive. The chapel has nevertheless deteriorated considerably over the last few decades and emergency work has been undertaken by the Association for the Safeguarding of the Church of Saint Vincent de Corneillan. It would be a shame to lose this typical religious complex with its canopy of canal tiles protecting the side entrance, its small cemetery hidden behind a low stone wall. The interior of the church still has many frescoes, as well as a large painting representing the Assumption of the Virgin above the village of Corneillan. The marble stoup comes from the Gallo-Roman villa of Gée-Rivière. This visit is part of the "7 churches of Montréal-du-Gers" tour, an important project led by the Montréal municipality. You can support it by leaving a donation to the association.