The Chapel of St Clement

The Chapel of St Clement

St Clement, 3^rd successor of St Peter, was pope around 91-100 AD. The chapel built at the end of the Middle Ages was for a long time a unique site of worship.  During the 15^th and 16^th Centuries when the inhabitants progressively settled at the site of the present village, a small church was built and dedicated to St Clement.

It was extended in the middle of the 18^th Century and officially opened in 1789. The worship to St Clement did not weaken yet and the “Gardois” (inhabitants of La Garde-Freinet) celebrated their Patron Saint every year. They organized a big “bravade”.  The bust of St Clement was carried in procession from the chapel to the church in the middle of a cloud of gunpowder and lots of people.

The chapel was abandoned some time afterwards (during the period of the separation of the Church and the State). It was renovated between 1962 and 1967 by the Italian sculptor Di Teana.

Nowadays the “Gardois” and the soldiers of the “Bravades” celebrate and go with St Clement every year around the 1^st May from the church to the chapel during the day of the Cross.