Longpré-the-Body-Saint

Longpré-the-Body-Saint is a common French, located in the department of the Somme and the area Picardy.

Its inhabitants is the Longiprates .

Geography

The commune (located in the middle of the peat bogs, with the confluence of Airaines and the Somme, on left bank of this one and downstream from Amiens) is halfway between Abbeville, with the West, and Picquigny, in the East.

Administration

Demography

Intercommunalité

The village depends on the Canton of Hallencourt and the Communauté of communes of the Area of Hallencourt

History

Holy Bodies (relics acquired by the lord left to the Crusades)

The Maïeur of Abbeville, Aléaume de Fontaines, lord and knight of famous house (related with the counts de Ponthieu), founded a Collégiale in Longpré. The first Emolument date of 1190. The constitutive instrument mentions the Tourbe S of a marsh from which the canon will have the use. This document attests thus that at that time moved back, one exploited already the peat bogs which contributed to the richness of the valley of the Sum.

Aléaume, left in crusade to accompany Philippe Auguste, was led valiantly to St-Jean-in Acre, and remained in the East after the departure of the king. After having joined with Constantinople the army ordered by Villehardouin, this good knight of Christ regained Jerusalem, when after sixteen last years in Ground-Holy, it died of the Peste.

The bishop of Amiens, Richard de Gerberoy, prevented arrival of Constantinople of a messenger of the late lord Picardy, carrying invaluable Relics, came solemnly to his meeting. August 4th, 1205, Vibert, arrived at Longpré to equip, in the name of Aléaume de Fontaines, the collegial one of some of the priceless relics which the cross dignitaries had shared. The year 1205 is thus capital in the history of Longpré, whose reputation increased since the Moyen-âge. The collegial one profited from many other donations, several popes and in particular Innocent III and Gregoire IX granted their protection to him. Enthusiasm attracted crowd in the sanctuary of the become parish, thanks to its relics, “Longpré- the-Body-Saint ”.

Thus, nowadays still, some relics, having been able to escape the revolution and ravages of time, are walked each year, on September 8th, in procession in the borough.

The initial collegiate church thus dates the last years from XIIe century, and undoubtedly was not completely completed with not died of Aléaume, of which the widow, Laurette of St-Valéry, and the son, Hughes, created new emoluments. Laurette gave up in Hughes the Long castle of , to reside with its two girls with Longpré, close to the church sheltering the invaluable relics. Very pious, according to the Ignace father, it shared from now on his time between the maintenance of the church and the visit of the patients, studying even medicine in order to better relieve them.

Development related to the devotion

The count de Ponthieu, wishing to have one of the relics of Longpré and being able to offer in exchange only one coast of Holy Vulfran, gratifia of an emolument the collegial one instituted there is little. The church then counted soon 12 canons, to which joined 5 chaplains initially, then 2 holders with the cures of Longpré and Wanel (Those fascinating places in the chorus with the canons and reciting with them the Canonical hours). Consequently, 19 ecclesiastics officiated near the holy relics.

The church, only collegial in the beginning, therefore reserved for the capitulary offices, saw its nave open to the exercise of the worship of the parish, following an agreement made in 1365 front the official of Amiens between the parishioners and the chapter. The old parish church, Saint Martin's day , consequently were forsaken little by little: one did not officiate there more than twice a year, on July 4th and on November 11th. Of this church Saint Martin's day, remains today, only the toponymic traces: the street Saint Martin's day and the Voyeul Saint Martin's day . The chapter had fourteen houses. Thirteen of them, grouped around the church, gave their name to current the street of the Cloisters .

Disturbed periods

In XIVe century, the borough of Longpré was burnt twice by the English during the Guerre One hundred Year old, the first time before the Bataille of Crécy, the second time before that of Azincourt.

Its church, having cruelly suffered, threatened ruin when the Pope Eugene IV was informed and granted by it, in 1437, of many Indulgences with faithful which would make alms for the repair and the maintenance of the building.

After mutilatebeing extremely mutilated, the collegial one thus had to be altered. It is probably to crown important work of them that the Bishop of Amiens made some in 1505 a solemn dedication.

New disasters and devastations did not save the locality at the time of the affontements with Huguenots. With their approach, the inhabitants of Longpré emigrated in mass, the canons took refuge in Abbeville, Saint-Vulfran. The calm one restored, the collegial one of Aléaume found its chapter, but she had lived her best days: its incomes decreased little by little, liberalities became insufficient or ceased, during the time of decline of the faith. The day before the Revolution, it counted nothing any more but ten canons.

War of 1870

December 28th, 1870, the Prussians invested the locality: one then counted 8 killed (combatants or civilians), 15 wounded and an about sixty prisoners on the French side.

Second world war

The borough was destroyed to 90%, the arrow of the church was destroyed.

Places and monuments

Religious heritage

Church : The building lost its Clocher and the sculptures of its gate are very degraded. The Tympan is an illustration of the scenes of died and Assomption of the Virgin. Under the gate are fixed, on both sides, 2 steles with the memory not of ecclesiastics but inhabitants having lived in first half of the XIXe century:

- that of left mentions Henri Cauchy, cartwright, deceased in 1858, at 58 years.

- on that of right-hand side are quoted, under the abbreviation D.O.M. , Philibert Réthoré, deceased in 1827 to 47 years, and Célestine Cauchi, died in 1855 to 69 years.

Description of Pierre Dubois towards 1937:

church:
gate:

If the hammers of revolutionists of 1793 “had so ardently roughed-hew them”, the Trumeau and the tympanum of this gate would be invaluable documents of the sculpture at the beginning of XIIIe century, few years before the frontage of the cathedral of Amiens is undertaken. Leant with the pier, column which separates the 2 doors, the Virgin, which formerly carried the Child, is the hardly elder sister of the Virgin Gilded with the gate of right-hand side of Amiens. In Longpré, the head is modern and bad. Three reliefs cover the tympanum. It evoke, bellow on the left, the death of the Virgin whose Apôtres are the witnesses; on the right, its resurrection: angels are inclined and assist it; in top, the crowning of Marie by her Son: it is the least deteriorated part ''

two cherubs:

2 small witnesses, about saved by the vandals of 1793, prove the technical merits acquired by the sculptors as of time when the Gothic art appeared in Picardy. They are 2 charming cherubs knelt in corner pieces , angels, between the casings of the gate and its lintel. They seem ready to take their rise, to bring of the assistance to the rise of the Virgin, to beat the air of their small wings curiously folded up under a projection of the architecture of their narrow shelter. The faces, framed loops, are not conventional and insipid beauty like much later. These faces are individualized ''

Reliques:

Henri Macqueron had found, in notarial minutes with Abbeville, and published in 1892 two inventories of the relics of Longpré, established in 1667. They mention in particular " a flag (lange) that Our Lord had with the entour kidneys with the Nativity; a fragment of the column of Scourging; a spine of the crown which Jesus carried during walk to the Martyrdom… ". As for the fragment of the Cross or the Hair of the Virgin, there was the scattered one in all Christendom. Here of greater scarcities since they were " parts with conviction" relating to the Old Testament: " branches of the bush that Moïse saw to ignite; stone of the the Sinai where God had sat when it gave to Moïse the Tables of the Law… ". Certain relics exposed to Corbie and in good of other places were not less surprising. The bones of saints, martyrs and confessors filled up in Longpré of the vessels of all matters and forms, of the arms, the chiefs (or heads), of the crescents for the coasts, on the whole, according to the inventories, 51 reliquaries which all almost date only from the XV and XVIe centuries. There remain 7 about it only.

Reliquary of Saint Eloi:

Small mounting of a relic of Saint Eloi. It is a vault tiny, long 10 centimetres, broad 6, high of 10, out of covered money wood. The foot is out of copper. The saint is illustrated on one of the small faces in costume of bishop, its stick is posed behind him and it holds with the hand its long coat of goldsmith.

statuette of Holy Christophe:

Of the formerly abundant treasure, remains however with the Presbytère a part of high-quality: a statuette-reliquary (0,53 m height) of Saint Christophe carrying Christ child to make him cross a ford of the the Jordan. The good giant measures with his large leafy stick the depth of water. This group of the end of XVe is out of wood covered with money blades. Some parts, like the edge of the coat, are of Vermeil. A punch of the goldsmith who could not be identified is struck 3 times the shoulders of the child and his carrier. The rectangular housing of the relic is welded onto the left knee of the saint. The descriptors which studied this goldsmithery, either in Longpré, or in Paris during great exposures of old art, give him a German origin. Their assumption is founded on frank realism, almost caricatural, of the face, the meticulous indication of the anatomy, muscles and veins of the right leg only visible, the tumult of draperies. The popularity of Saint Christophe was large during the last centuries of the Middle Ages. It is that it was enough to have seen the morning its representation to be guaranteed against any accident until the night. Also one put his great image places from there very visible close to a door inside, as with Saint-Riquier, outside as with the Cathédrale.

Civil inheritance

Monument of 1870 :

Set up in the current cemetery, this monument with the honor of the combatants of December 28th, 1870 recalls that the engagements on the territory of the commune made 8 killed, 15 wounded and more than sixty prisoners taken in the old cemetery where resistance was concentrée.

Inscriptions on the front face: With the memory of the French died for the defense of the fatherland, 28 X^bre 1870, subscription of the young people of Longpré .

On the left face: Mobile Guards of the Pas-de-Calais, 4th B^on, Houssart Corporal, Carpentier Charles, Dedouiges Louis, Dubois Henry, Dufour Zéphir .

On the right face: National Guards Mobilized of North, Delval Baptist, Stake, Saintolie''.
It thus does not act of death common people to the combat.

War memorial 1914-1918 :

Drawing up itself with the North-eastern angle of the church, it is framed, on the right and on the left, of a mortar. Its front face is decorated by the statue life size with a soldier man with a moustache, holding his rifle by the gun, the stick posed on the ground, between its feet.

The newspaper “the Sum” of March 13rd, 1920 wrote: “ There exists in Longpré a memorial, which gives place, each year, with a patriotic demonstration. Also it is not question of raising a second monument. However, to honor the heroes with the Great War, the Municipal council decided to affect a sum of 5.000 F, for the enlarging and the embellishment of the current monument. Plates on which will be registered the names of our glorious there dead will be added and a subscription for residence will supplement the sum necessary. ” the commune thus gave in state the monument known as of the “Mobiles of 1870” " to add a homage to the 42 to it dead war of 1914-1918. Arthur of Saint-Germain, contractor with Hangest-on-Nap, was committed to repair and be moving this shelter all while adding a French Cockerel and marble plates to him bearing the name of the late ones. In December 1920, this repair work was in the course of execution, but, in 1921, a more ambitious project seems to be chosen, that of the architects amiénois Mallet and Carpentier.

Cemetery English 1914-1918 :

In April 1918, with the turning of the German offensive towards Amiens, 12th and 55e of release of accident fought close to Longpré. They opened a cemetery called British cemetery n°1 . Closed at the end of April 1918, it contained 35 tombs. The current cemetery which bore the British name of cemetery n°2 was closed in May 1918. The two cemeteries having been gathered in 1919, the 35 tombs of the cemetery n°1 form lines C and D. Today, the English cemetery has 4 lines, for a total of 79 tombs, 58 English, 20 Australian and 1 French rest there. Each year, a ceremony takes place, followed by the demounting of a spray of flowers.

Monument of the memory of the June 5th and 6th 1940 :

Events from May 28th to June 6th, 1940 having been tragic (the locality was destroyed to 90%), heavy the tribe with the battle of France paid here, and the valiant combatants of the 1 company of the 1st battalion of 53e RICMS who defended the city vis-a-vis the panzer of the general Rommel at the time of their openings of the June 5th and 6th 1940, are mentioned as follows: Epitaph of the souvenir
June 5th and 6th 1940
†
They died so that the men like.

Personalities related to the commune

Economy and trade

It is a small town where all the conveniences are installed there such as bakeries, coffees, grocers, booksellers and other marketing activities related to the needs for the daily newspaper.

Various Companies and companies are also installed there.

Transport

The east city served by the line S.N.C.F. connecting Paris to Boulogne-sur-Mer via Abbeville.

See too

Common of the Sum
List of war memorials French surmounted by a cock
True Croix#Contestations: Exemple of reserves (or doubts) as for the authenticity of reliques

Sources, notes and references

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