Saint-Hilaire-la-Croix

What is the parish church of the tiny village of Saint-Hilaire-la-Croix today, was the church of a priory, depending from Mozat around 1165.
In the beginning the priory was named "Saint-Hilaire-lac-rouge", but over the time, the old name got a little "deformed". There is not much known about the priory. In the early years it served the pilgrims on their way - and somehow it was important enough, to built (and finance) such an extraordenary church. Bernard Craplet ("Auvergne romane") dates the building phase from around 1100 to 1200. Later Augustinian Canons and Vincentians lived here. Not a sucess story for the next centuries the buildings were sold already in 1742.

One of capitals at the crossing depicts the two birds and between them the chalice. One of the symmetrical "icons", that can often be seen in the Auvergne. Special here are the two men behind the birds. With stoic faces they are putting /dropping something into the calice. Small round objects. Hosts? How did the sacramental bread look like in the 12th century?

Restoration seems to be on its way here. Two zones have been obviously treated by a chemical (antifungal?) substance. Now the effect is watched. That explains the little stickers.