Saint-Restitut: the Romanesque church and its keep
The Saint-Restitut parish church in the eponymous village (département of Drôme, southeastern France) is quite unique for a Romanesque church, as its nave is attached at its western end to a square, tall and massive Mediæval defense tower... but let’s begin with the dedication and this bizarre “Restitut” saint.
Restitut is, in fact, the blind-born Sidoine mentioned in the Gospel, the one who was miraculously healed by Christ. In memory of the recovery of his eyesight, he changed his name to Restitut: Restitutus est ei visus. After the death of Christ, Restitut traveled with the members of the Bethany family cast away from the Holy Land on a small boat without sail or oar, which came to shore at the Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer in southern France. The small group of disciples, which included Mary Magdalene, dispersed and Restitut headed North along the Rhône to settle and preach in the region which we call today the Drôme Provençale, and more specifically in the low mountains of the Tricastin. Even though, towards the end of his life, Restitut went to Italy where he died, his remains were brought back here.
Strangely and unusually enough, the square tower (which is very old: it was most likely built during the first half of the 11th century) was used as a repository for Restitut’s relics. It may even have been built for that very purpose, when such relics were repatriated from Italy. The fact is that, because of the relics, the village and the church became a noted place of pilgrimage radiating beyond the borders of Provence and the Rhône valley during all of the Middle Ages. The relics were burned and dispersed by the Protestants during the Wars of Religion.
In order to allow the pilgrims to come close to the relics which were kept at the lower level of the square tower, an opening was made into its eastern wall and the church nave, built during the 1100s, was thus attached to it. The entrance into the church was located on the southern side, where the village square was spacious enough for pilgrim circulation.
This photograph will allow us to elucidate the mystery of this very strange church. The decoration here is spectacular for a Romanesque parish church, even with relics: the enormous arc doubleau, slightly pointed, and beyond, the lower level of the square tower, which acts as a semi-crypt where Restitut’s relics were kept enshrined, and above it, the tribune. The sculpted frieze that runs around the four sides of the square tower is spectacular and a treasure of Romanesque art in Provence.
The point is, though, most of that spectacular decoration was behind the congregation, and therefore the faithful could not see it during Mass... unless we admit that the opposite wall of the tower had been open as well (it was clearly rebuilt in the late 1100s), and that a second apse existed to the extreme West of the monument! Double-apsed churches are not unknown; they were even quite the norm at some point and in some areas, and in the Tricastin, we have at least two remaining examples of them in nearby La Garde-Adhémar and Bourg-Saint-Andéol...
This very plausible theory is neatly explained in the Zodiaque book Provence romane I, pp. 123–134. I will build on it to explain the rest of the church in my following captions.
Saint-Restitut: the Romanesque church and its keep
The Saint-Restitut parish church in the eponymous village (département of Drôme, southeastern France) is quite unique for a Romanesque church, as its nave is attached at its western end to a square, tall and massive Mediæval defense tower... but let’s begin with the dedication and this bizarre “Restitut” saint.
Restitut is, in fact, the blind-born Sidoine mentioned in the Gospel, the one who was miraculously healed by Christ. In memory of the recovery of his eyesight, he changed his name to Restitut: Restitutus est ei visus. After the death of Christ, Restitut traveled with the members of the Bethany family cast away from the Holy Land on a small boat without sail or oar, which came to shore at the Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer in southern France. The small group of disciples, which included Mary Magdalene, dispersed and Restitut headed North along the Rhône to settle and preach in the region which we call today the Drôme Provençale, and more specifically in the low mountains of the Tricastin. Even though, towards the end of his life, Restitut went to Italy where he died, his remains were brought back here.
Strangely and unusually enough, the square tower (which is very old: it was most likely built during the first half of the 11th century) was used as a repository for Restitut’s relics. It may even have been built for that very purpose, when such relics were repatriated from Italy. The fact is that, because of the relics, the village and the church became a noted place of pilgrimage radiating beyond the borders of Provence and the Rhône valley during all of the Middle Ages. The relics were burned and dispersed by the Protestants during the Wars of Religion.
In order to allow the pilgrims to come close to the relics which were kept at the lower level of the square tower, an opening was made into its eastern wall and the church nave, built during the 1100s, was thus attached to it. The entrance into the church was located on the southern side, where the village square was spacious enough for pilgrim circulation.
This photograph will allow us to elucidate the mystery of this very strange church. The decoration here is spectacular for a Romanesque parish church, even with relics: the enormous arc doubleau, slightly pointed, and beyond, the lower level of the square tower, which acts as a semi-crypt where Restitut’s relics were kept enshrined, and above it, the tribune. The sculpted frieze that runs around the four sides of the square tower is spectacular and a treasure of Romanesque art in Provence.
The point is, though, most of that spectacular decoration was behind the congregation, and therefore the faithful could not see it during Mass... unless we admit that the opposite wall of the tower had been open as well (it was clearly rebuilt in the late 1100s), and that a second apse existed to the extreme West of the monument! Double-apsed churches are not unknown; they were even quite the norm at some point and in some areas, and in the Tricastin, we have at least two remaining examples of them in nearby La Garde-Adhémar and Bourg-Saint-Andéol...
This very plausible theory is neatly explained in the Zodiaque book Provence romane I, pp. 123–134. I will build on it to explain the rest of the church in my following captions.