Saint-Lothain - Saint-Lothain

Saint-Lothain (aka "Lautenus") was a monk in the Abbey "Saint-Symphorien" in Autun, before he settled here in the 5th century to live a pious hermit`s life.

His reputation spread and so he was soon joined by many followers and founded an abbey in 480 on the site of the present church of St. Lothain. When just too many monks had gathered here, a priory was founded nearby. Both monastaries were ruined by Viking invaders around 888.

The monastery here existed upto the French Revolution, when the buildings were sold as national property. The church, erected within the 11th/12th century, but remodeled later, serves the parish since that time. Under the choir is a crypt, that dates to the 9th century and may have existed, when the Vikings raided the area. Kept here is the sarcophagus, that contains the remains of Saint-Lothain.

The plaster of this wall in the crypt must have been fresh mid 19th century, as the oldest dates I found were carved in around 1850.