The Calvary at La Cossonnerie

Calvaries, mission crosses and other monuments bear witness to the faith of parishioners. Erected at the various entrances and exits to the village and at village crossroads, they have suffered the ravages of time.
Some of them have been partially restored, mainly by replacing crosses, but some of them looked quite splendid at the time of their sumptuousness. Such was the case with the calvary at La Cossonnerie.

The parish archives state that this calvary was erected in 1875, the year of a jubilee mission, on the initiative of Anne Loquais.
The cross was blessed on 10 August 1875, at the same time as the cross at Grand Cormier and La Sostière. On that day, a solemn procession came to La Cossonnerie from the church and left via La Foucherie and the road to Machecoul.

This was the composition of the Calvary:

Children came here to pray. Every year, the church celebrated the "Month of Mary", and people even came in procession from Fresnay.

Most of the calvaries in the parish are over a hundred years old, but they have suffered the inexorable ravages of time... and faith. This was the case for the calvary at La Cossonnerie, which received far less maintenance after the death of Anne Loquais.

In 1923, with the cross threatening to fall into disrepair, Father Chesneau had it replaced by another wooden cross from the workshops of Théodore Bertreux. It was blessed on 7 October that year.

Sadly, not much remains today of the beautiful Calvary of yesteryear. The cross has disappeared and the Christ has a broken arm.

Owned by the municipality in 2008, the masonry base of the amputated monument was restored by an integration project at the initiative of the municipality.

The Historical Society plans to renovate the calvary.

Sources: The Historical Society