Chemin de l’église, 14340 Saint-Ouen-Le-pin
This charming small country church features a Romanesque facade, a porch with a 16th-century wooden panelling and a bell tower dating back to 1761.
Stepping inside, you’ll be pleasantly surprised : Take a moment to admire the ceiling, adorned with a splendid merrain vault which creates a warm atmosphere. Merrain (traditionally oak or chestnut wood) is commonly used in cooperage. This vault was entirely renovated in 1885 by a local joiner-carpenter.
In the nave, the wooden benches are each adorned with a small copper plate inscribed with a family name. At the front, a bench is dedicated to the parish priest, bearing the plaque « M. le curé. »
The church is surrounded by a cemetery containing the funerary monument of the Guizot-Schlumberger family, which includes François Guizot*, the French Minister of Education from 1832 to 1837. Guizot purchased the ruins of the Abbey of Val Richer, transforming it into a magnificent château which is now a private property not open to the public.
* Who was François Guizot ?
François Guizot was responsible for the law of June 28th, 1833 which established and organized public primary education in France. This legislation, known as the « Guizot law, » mandated that towns with more than 500 inhabitants must have a boys’ school.
You will discover :
1- Manoir Gosset where Thérèse of Lisieux spent her holidays
2- Church of Saint-Ouen
3- Chateau of Val Richer (a former abbey and then property of the Guizot-Schlumberger family)
4- The Artlette fountain
Thérèse came to Saint-Ouen-le-Pin in 1884 and 1885, first to treat her whooping cough, then on vacation with her sisters and cousins.
MANOIR GOSSET
The house welcomed Thérèse and her sisters, sometimes for holidays, sometimes just for a day to spend time with their cousins.
The house of Saint-Ouen-Le-Pin was above all a place of both moral and physical healing for little Thérèse, who went there in convalescence throughout the summer of 1884 following a whooping cough. She stayed there again the following year.
According to the written testimonies of the family, the stays at the Manoir Gosset were parentheses of happiness and lightness in the life of a child already inhabited by her future religious commitments and already very scrupulous.
Here, everything was just a pretext for walks in the surrounding countryside, including the way to the morning mass. The gathering of flowers, the milking of cows, the collective drawing sessions outside (Thérèse drew the neighbouring farm in August 1884), the strolls at the ponds and the games at the small stream of the farm, in particular.
Built in the 19th century, it is surrounded by a cemetery with the funeral monument of the Guizot-Schlumberger family.
THE FORMER ABBEY OF VAL RICHER
It was founded in 1167 by Philippe d’Harcourt, bishop of Bayeux and was one of the few Cistercian settlements in Normandy.
During the French Revolution, the monks were expelled from the abbey, many buildings were destroyed and the estate was dismantled.
In 1836, the abandoned buildings were bought by the politician François Guizot who restored the estate for 10 years.
Then two grand daughters of Guizot married two Schlumberger brothers.
Conrad and Marcel Schlumberger*, the two scientists who invented the electric process of oil prospecting (tried for the first time in Val Richer) were Guizot’s great grandchildren.
This is how the Val Richer became the property of the Guizot-Schlumberger family and this explains why the members of these two families are buried in the small cemetery of Saint-Ouen-le-Pin.
*Conrad and Marcel Schlumberger : a museum retracing their work can be visited at the castle of Crèvecoeur-en-Auge.
