Chapelle romane de Champlieu

About

The church of Notre-Dame-de-la-Nativity and Saint-Jacques de Champlieu is a former parish Catholic church located in Orrouy, France. It is known locally as the Romanesque chapel of Champlieu. The origins of what should be called a church remain in the shadows.

It could accommodate between 620 and 640 faithful, and archaeological excavations have shown that it replaces a building of the Carolingian period at least as large, if not more important: located on one of the roads of Compostela confounding with the Brunehaut road, Champlieu had to have some importance until the abandonment of this road. In the Middle Ages, for a period impossible to specify, the church belongs to the Benedictine abbey Saint-Crespin-le-Grand de Soissons. It is dedicated to Notre-Dame-de-la-Nativity and a priory is associated with it.

By the 16th century at the latest, church and priory depend on the priory of Saint-Thibaut. After several fires, this priory with its dependence on Champlieu were given to the convent of the English Benedictines of Paris around the beginning of the seventeenth century. The English encourage Marian worship, and pilgrimage to Champlieu is gaining some importance...