Civaux - Saint Gervais et Saint Protais

Civaux, a village with a population of about 1000, has a history rooting very deep. Humans populated the area already, when stepp bisons and mammoths were hunted. Many "pre-historic" artefacts have been excavated in and around Civaux, proving that this place was inhabited over tens of thousands of years.

A settlement stood on the site of the village in Gallo-Roman times, and there are still traces of Roman temples. Excavations have revealed the sites of a theater (capacity 3000), a fortified camp, and the foundations of many villas.

This has been a place of very early christianisation. The funeral stele, seen here, has been found , a pagan temple and a very early baptisterium were excavated next to the church. A polygonal pse was probably built as will around 400, what actually means that this church, dedicated to Saint Gervais and Saint Protais is one of the oldest in France.

At that time a kind of pilgrimage must have developed. The relics of Saint Gervais and Saint Protais had been miraculously discovered by Saint Ambrose in Milan in 386, so the saints got very popular in Merovingian times, but that does not explain the enigma of Civaux. The village stands in the center of a huge merovingian necropolis.

As the many sarcophagi were sold as water basins or troughs in later time, the exact number of graves is unknown. Serious estimations are between 15.000 and 20.000 graves.

There are parallels to nearby Saint Pierre in Cauvigny (16 kms north). The same colours as in Chauvigny were used here during the restauration of the interior.

This stele was found here and is now mounted into the wall of the apse.
It is dated to the end of the 4th century and is probably one of the oldest traces of Christianity in the Poitou.

The inscription below the Chi-Rho symbol reads
AETERNALIS ET SERVILLA VIVATIS IN DEO

Aeternatis and Servilla lived in God.