Welcome to Saint Laurent Church
723 - Historical notes on St. Lawrence Church and description
Extracts and adaptations of the following documents:
Historical Notes on the Bessin
Notice "Le Bessin, churches in the Heart" from Editions ADTLB
Heritage of the Communes of Calvados
Map of 1675 (by Jean Petite) with the words "Saint Laurent sur la mer" and the acronym "A" which means that the "patron" is the abbey of Cerisy. 
(details)list of parish "patrons", excerpt from Jean Petite's map, from 1675
The Commune of St-Laurent-sur-Mer has a church that dates from the 13th century (nave and choir) and 14th century (bell tower), remodeled several times, including between 1897 and 1899 by two architects from Caen, Messrs. Baumier and Nicolas.
Seriously damaged in 1944, the upper part of the bell tower, like the entire nave, was redone in 1950 after the war.
(Details)
The church
Damaged in 1944
(Details) a wedding in 1960, the bell is still on a frame on the ground
The church was founded in 1065 under the invocation of Saint Laurent by the local lord, Auvray the Giant. The right to present the parish priest was given to theAbbey of Cerisy by Auvray the Giant before 1066, in the presence of the Duke of Normandy William, the future conqueror of England. The Abbé de Cerisy therefore named the cure and received the Tithes.
Auvray de Saint-Laurent, who had been the comrade-in-arms of Robert the Magnificent (the father of William the Conqueror), benefactor of the abbey of Cerisy, endowed the same abbey, for the soul of William, son of Robert, as for his soul and for those of his children. Later, he took the monastic habit in Cerisy, leaving the castle of Saint-Laurent to his son Guillaume de Saint-Laurent, a knight of the late 11th century.
The religious of Cerisy were therefore in charge of the choir of the church, they contributed to the maintenance of worship, school and the poor. These were assisted, especially in the 17th century by the commanding abbot, Germain Habert, a member of the French Academy. We read, in the registers of Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer, on the date of May 10, 1654:
"The said day, at the abbey of Cerisy, Mr. Habert, abbot of the said place, died to the great regret of many honest people and even more of the poor of his parishes, because he was a charitable prelate and true father of the poor, healthy and sick... "
One of his successors, Bishop d'Albert de Luvnes, was presented on January 13, 1734 with the report of the work he had authorized the previous year at the churches of Saint-Laurent, Formigny, Surrain, Saonnet and other parishes.
In 1782, Dom Villeroy, a former religious of Fécamp, who became Prior of Cerisy, came, as Grand Vicar of the Abbot, to visit the parishes of Saint-Laurent and Deux-Jumeaux, accompanied by Dom Fournier, his secretary...
The Revolution sold to its benefit the abbey of Cerisy, the church and the presbytery of Saint-Laurent as well as those of the other parishes belonging to the monks. But the Marquis de la Londe, very distant successor of Auvray the Giant, bought the presbytery and the church of Saint-Laurent to give them back to the Commune during the Restoration. On October 8, 1820, this donation was accepted by the Municipal Council, which at the same time decided to distract from the communal property, called the Vigney, six hectares whose income would be used to pay for the repairs of the church and the presbytery. Later, the municipality of Saint-Laurent renewed the expression of its gratitude for the donations received from the Marquis de la Londe, then mayor of Versailles.
Visit from the inside of the church
Above you, see the vault of the bell tower (1) reinforced by octagonal arches supporting the weight of the tower. The central hatch allows the installation and maintenance of the bells in the belfry, the two small orifices are used for the passage of the ropes.
The nave, (2) rebuilt from 1897 to 1899 by the Caen architects Baumier and Nicolas, has four bays covered by a broken barrel vault on a cross of warheads.
Above the stables with mercies (2) of the 19th century, the polychrome statue of St. Joseph bearing the lilies of the Trinity (the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit - 20th century) was placed. Next to it, Saint Thérèse de Lisieux and her roses rest on a console composed of a massive marquee with acanth leaves placed on a short column.
A Notre-Dame chapel (4), Paved with white slabs, has been covered with paneling (fir) since 1826. It replaces the end of a missing collateral or aisle. One Confessional In oak (19Eme Century) has a clear with wooden bars. The Baptismal fonts Are placed on a limestone column. A Stained glass Of 1961, signed Decomble - master glassmaker in Bayeux - commemorates June 6, 1944 (paratroopers, tanks and barbed wire). The tomb altar In limestone, bought in 1839, bears a Maltese cross. On top, placed on two stands, rises the niche altarpiece crowned with two ionic columns (with volutes) and crowned with a pediment adorned with glory. A Group of carved wooden statues Represents the appearance of Notre-Dame to two young shepherds from La Salette in Isère, a place of pilgrimage since 1846. There are still two large wooden statues from the 17th and 18thEme Centuries bearing the palm of the martyrs and the dalmatic, the liturgical garment of the deacons. They are Saint Laurent, on the left, and Saint Etienne wearing stones.
Follows a second statue of Saint Lawrence (5) holding the Bible, another common attribute of deacons. Martyr burned on a grill, Saint Laurent is invoked to treat burns and skin infections such as shingles.
In 1889. we restored the choir and the triumphal arch (6) which delimits the nave. The columns were completed and the capitals with acanth leaves resculpted. The crucifix that sums this arcade. recalls the location of a triumphal cross that evokes the Passion of Christ.
The choir is furnished with woodwork and benches reserved for the clergy and members of the factory. There are some historicized stained glass windows.
To the northeast, there are two evangelists (7), Saint Mark (lion) and Saint Matthew man) with a cartouche of the scenes of the Landing: a man digging pits and the assault of the Pointe du Hoc (Decomble ‐Bayeux, 1961).
In the apse (8), Sainte Thérèse and Saint Laurent are represented, signed by the Lecomte de Caen workshop in 1964. To the southeast, a illustration of the artificial port (9) is placed at the feet of Saint John and his eagle. A military doctor takes care of an injured person under Saint Luke himself doctor.( Decomble - 1961)
The choir has a pavement in checkerboard. The blue slabs were extracted at the foot of the cliffs between Port-en-Bessin and Arromanches.
As in the north, the southern end of the nave is devoted to a apparition (10) from the end of the 19th century. Here, the Immaculate Conception is revealed to Bernadette Soubirous.
A golden, red and blue mosaic frames the marble of the memorative monument (11) of the Great War (1922 - Cristofulli de Caen). Below, another plate is dedicated to the victims of the Second World War.
At the bottom of the nave, the Sacred-Coeur (12) overlooks the mercy stalls.
The altar-tomb
Visit from the outside of the church
You come out under the porch bell tower. The portait (13) opens under two broken bow yousures, hollowed out with gorges and sausages. They fall on thin columns with capitals decorated with hooks and acanth leaves. The upper part of the bell tower was redone like the entire nave after the Landing. The bay on the first floor is crowned by a discharge arch. These stones placed vertically, lighten the weight of the wall, The two oculus of the second floor recall the order of the openings of the Colleville-sur-Mer bell tower. The tower is covered with a building (sided hipped roof).
Observe in the elevation of the wall, the differences of masonry (14) which clearly show the recovery of the 20th century. The large spearhead bays and flat buttresses delimit the bays.
The choeur (15) was built in the 13thth century by the monks of the abbey of Cerisy, in charge of worship, school and the poor of Saint-Laurent. The first button bears the trace of a sundial. A murette runs around the choir that reinforces the seat of the walls. The walls are raised in stones and sometimes in rubble which, set up in fish bones or ears, testify to the 13th century. Other rearrangements took place over the centuries as underlined by the trace of the blocked opening.
The sacristy, rebuilt in 1924, leans against the bedside.
North of the choir, (16) we used more rub (hard and brown stones or sandstone) to protect ourselves from moisture. Fish bones appear under the coating.(17)
The chapel, to the North (18), is erected in regular-sized stones mixed with a little rubble.
The revivals are still visible north of the bell tower. See the magnificent copper weather vane with its rooster.(19) It comes from the foundry workshops of Villedieu-les-Poëles in the English Channel and has replaced since the Landing, a cross weather vane bought by the factory in 1863.
The weather vane
The weather vanes
The word weather vane comes from the Latin "gir" which means to turn and from the old Norman "wirewite". It is a sheet of sheet metal, zinc or copper, cut in the shape of a banner or fantastic animal, placed on a rod with a movable pivot and used to indicate the direction of the wind. The weather vane quickly became a sign of power because it was placed on the highest buildings. In 1066, the Bayeux tapestry illustrates the conquest of England by the removal of the rooster that stood at the top of the Westminster Tower. Weather vanes often take the shape of a rooster. The rooster is a so-called solar animal, it is the trumpet of the sun, it is a symbol of vigilance.
The church also gives great importance to the weather vane. In the Bible, the wind, a sign of Yahweh, accompanies all major events. Symbol of the Messiah, the rooster announces the return of hope and recalls the Resurrection by announcing, at dawn, the birth of a new day. In the 9ème century, stands on the bell tower of St. Peter of Rome, a rooster, herald of prayer and daylight. In the 10th century, a papal bull asks that it be placed on all the bell towers in memory of St. Peter. The rooster is of all domestic animals the one whose song has been interpreted most often. In the 17th century, a superstition consisted of eating a rooster on Holy Thursday, in memory of the one who, by singing three times, had reminded Saint Peter of his weakness. A belief has long persisted that the sabbath of the wizards stopped at the first crowing of the rooster. In many tales, he hunts demons (at night)
1961 and 1964
In the choir in the Northeast (7), they feature 2 evangelists Saint Mark (symbolized by the lion) and Saint Matthew (symbolized by man) with in cartouche of the scenes of the Landing. A man digging pits and assaulting the Pointe du Hoc
(Work by Decomble, Bayeux, 1961)
In the apse (8), Saint Teresa and
Saint Laurent are represented, signed
By the Lecomte de Caen workshop in 1964.
To the southeast (9), an illustration of the artificial port is placed at the foot of Saint John and its eagle. A military doctor takes care of an injured person (Decomble - 1961);
Below Saint Luc, who was himself a doctor.
