Église de Saint-Lothain

The church of Saint Lothain is a tenth century church dedicated to St. Lothain (hermit monk of the sixth century) in the village of Saint-Lothain, 7 km west of Poligny Franche-Comte. The monk at the Abbey of Saint-Symphorien d'Autun Lothain (Lautein - Lautenus in Latin) (about 477 to Autun - around 518 to St. Lothain) withdrew as a hermit Silèze. Attracted by his presence, many followers came to settle on the site and founded a monastery which has nearly sixty monks. A second monastery, comprising forty monks, in turn, is established in the surrounding Maximiacus (present whereabouts unknown, perhaps in the Doubs Mesmay) After the death of Lautein, about 518, the village was renamed St. Lothain and keeps his relics and his sarcophagus (with the Latin inscription "Hic requiescit Lautenus sanctus abbas" Here lies the holy confessor Lothain ") in the crypt the church that dominates the village (crypt of a Romanesque church that was long primitive). The Priory Silèze is raised in the ninth century by Abbot Berno, first abbot of the Abbey of Cluny. The priory then depends on the abbey of Baume-les-Messieurs.