Oratory of Saint Cénéré

The oratory takes its name from Saint Céneré (or Cerenico[1]), a Benedictine monk born in Spoleto in the 7th century; he was sent by pope Martin I to preach in Merovingian Gaul with his brother, Serenicus, and with him he arrived in the diocese of Le Mans, in Saulges, around 649-650. He founded a Christian community which built the Saint Peter's Church, Saulges.

The cave served as a hermitage for the monk. The oratory, located 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) from the town, was built in 1849 to protect the statue of the saint.[2]

The access to the oratory is allowed by two stairs leaning against the hill; the nave that extends the chapel is covered by a roof terrace. The interior of the chapel is decorated with a painting attributed to Adeline Neveu, which depicts Céneré healing the blind and paralyzed; four stained glass windows from the end of the 19th century came from the dismantling of the Plessis chapel and represent the Sacred Heart, the Virgin, Saint Joseph and Saint Alexander. They were made by the Carmel workshop in Le Mans.[3]

In the cave below, the 18th century statue of Saint Cénéré in polychrome wood, restored in 2005, surmounts the spring described by Grosse Dupéron. This continuous stream of water has given saint Cèneré the nickname "saint who pees".[4]

• 
  The spring as seen by visitors
• 
  Other side of the spring.

• Angot, Alphonse-Victor; Gaugain, Ferdinand, eds. (1900–1910). Oratoire de Saint-Céneré. Dictionnaire historique, topographique et biographique de la Mayenne (in French). OCLC 461464331.
• Dom, Piolin (1992). Vie de St Céneré et Pèlerinages de Saulges (in French). les Amis de Saint-Séréné.
• Amand, Dagnet (1907). À travers les Coëvrons (in French). Livre d'histoire-Lorisse. ISBN 9782758601975.
• Foisneau, Nicolas; Davy, Christian (2006). Chapelle, dite ermitage Saint-Céneré. Patrimoine pays de la loire (in French).

• Media related to Oratoire de Saint-Céneré at Wikimedia Commons