The best traffic-free bike rides around Saint-Vincent-Des-Prés

This magnificent church in Neuchâtel is dedicated to the patronage of "Saint-ETIENNE". He is one of the first seven deacons of the early Jerusalem community and, according to the biblical accounts in the "New Testament", the first martyr (witness by blood) of early Christianity. The church commemorates his death on the second day of Christmas, December 26th. As the Acts of the Apostles reports: When Stephen loudly proclaimed his vision of the open sky "But he, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God" (Chapter 7, Verse 55), the people were so outraged that they drove him out of the city and stoned him.

11th Century Church Worship was abolished in the parish of Chevain. The church was sold for 31,700 livres to the citizen of Villeray on 6 Vendémiaire, Year VII (September 27, 1799). The Chevain church, having been donated by Madame du Hameau de Villeray to the commune by notarial deed dated April 16, 1827, was restored to worship there on January 15, 1827. The parish was established as a branch parish.

The place that gives its name to the surrounding forest. An abbey founded in 1145 by monks from the Abbey of Citeaux in search of silence and isolation. Now, only a ruined section remains, visible through the foliage from the road. Note that these ruins are located on the grounds of the oldest summer camp still in operation in France.

The church of St Pierre des Ormes holds an important place in the heart of the village, surrounded by its pretty flowerbeds. Dating from the 11th and 12th centuries, it has retained its Romanesque portal. After crossing it, you cross the narthex to reach a second door which opens onto the main nave of the building. The wooden vault is barrel-vaulted. An extension was made in the 16th century by adding a side aisle, with two windows which would become dormers. The small door with Renaissance decoration opened onto the cemetery, then adjoining. The current choir was built in the 19th century. The altar is made with two hemp braies supporting a beautiful wooden board. Note, on each side of the choir, wooden niches, one of which houses a statue of St John (with an eagle). A pilgrimage was organized every September 8th to Saint Gourgon, because the fountain was reputed to cure eye diseases. Very popular until the beginning of the 20th century, it was gradually abandoned. The fountain, now filled in, was located in the cellar of a house near the current town hall.

Saint-Rémy Church from the 11th and 16th centuries. Stained glass windows from the 20th century. Altarpiece of the Saint-Julien chapel from the 17th century.

The church of Commerveil is built on a simple plan with a single nave and a straight chevet. According to the town hall's research, this small church dates from the 11th, 12th and 17th centuries. Its small spire can be seen from afar and its ogival windows match its size. Inside, the altarpiece dates from the middle of the 18th century. Behind the wooden tabernacle, we discover a painting representing the Assumption of the Virgin. To the right of the large marble altar, is the statue of Saint Anne and to the left that of the Holy Virgin. On the side aisles, to the right above the altarpiece of the Sacred Heart, we see in a niche the statue of Saint John the Baptist with a sheep. To the left, above the altarpiece of the Virgin with the Sorrowful Heart, is in a niche a statue of Saint Magdeleine. These two altarpieces, in marble and sculpted stone and partly gilded, date from the 17th and 18th centuries and have been listed as historical monuments since 1982. At the top of the nave, there is a Christ on the cross, probably made of wood. A statue of St. Gilles, placed on a wooden base, is located on the back wall of the church. Note a painted paneled vault that dates from the 19th century. The restoration of the church was carried out in the early 1980s.

The Church of Saint-Rémy appears on the cartulary of the Abbey of Saint-Vincent du Mans, however, as usual, it was the Bishop of Le Mans who had the collation of the priest. Rectangular in plan, it has a single nave and a straight chevet lit by a triplet, which was hidden by the installation of a high altar. The church was enlarged in the 15th and 16th centuries by two chapels, placed to the north and south of the nave. The church has some remarkable pieces of furniture: a Christ on the cross and a Saint Anne, in stone, from the 16th century; the tympanum of a stained glass window, open in the south wall, depicting the angels carrying the Instruments of the Passion (16th century); a Pietà in stone from the 16th or 17th century; a Charity of Saint Martin, in stone (15th century). two wooden statues from the 18th century, Saint Leo Fort, pope, and Saint James (mistakenly identified as Saint Martin). Benefiting from a policy of the General Council of Sarthe in favor of contemporary artists, eight bays in this church were entrusted to Michel Madore (Montreal, 1949- ). The work focused on the restoration of the roof and the framework of two bays of the nave. The entire ridge was refinished in lead, including the simple finial, thus replacing the glazed tiles and the terracotta finial.

The Church of Saint Pierre and Saint Paul in Ancinnes is in its original part from the 11th and 12th centuries. It was modified in the middle of the 19th century by the addition of a transept which gives it the shape of a Latin cross. ​ The Organ of the Church of Saint Pierre and Saint Paul in Ancinnes was built by the Damiens brothers in the middle of the 19th century (1863) following the late 18th century. It was the work of Abbé Dubois, priest of Ancinnes from 1843 to 1865. This organ, built by the brothers Louis and Robert Damiens, organ builders in Gaillon (Eure) remains, today, one of the only survivors in the region in working order. It is a unique instrument due to its size, which can be heard as the Damiens brothers would have wished. They built 85 instruments, including 3 in Sarthe. The others were abandoned, looted or burned. Previously the Damiens brothers were wheelwrights, which explains the robustness and solidity of their organs. These organs were built to last. The Ancinnes Organ has about fifteen stops divided between two manual keyboards and a pedal keyboard of 13 notes and 850 pipes. The 12th century openings of the nave, alternating limestone and roussard, remain in the state of vestiges being walled up or enlarged in the 19th century. In the 12th/14th century, a door was opened in the gable while the bell tower and the choir rose, which retain pointed arches and trefoil tracery. Boucher built the North chapel in 1854. Chadaigne, from Alençon, repainted the entire interior around 1860 representing the Eucharist and the story of Saint Peter. A staircase tower was built against the bell tower in 1895.