Chapelle Saint-Pierre et Saint Laurent

On the heights of the Boos plateau, east of Rouen, in the Seine Valley of Seine-Maritime, the Saint-Pierre et Saint-Laurent church in the commune of Celloville hides a renowned history beneath its charm. This 16th-century church in the middle of a 13th-century hamlet was awarded the Label Patrimoine Rural de la Seine-Maritime in 2024. It was first under the patronage of the nuns of Sainte-Catherine de Rouen, then given to the Chartreux Abbey, which kept it until the Revolution. At first glance, the church is original in its simplicity and charm, with its hexagonal, slate-topped bell tower at the entrance and a small cemetery occupying only the forecourt. The church was restored in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. It features a single nave of brick, stone and flint. Inside, the stucco-covered vaults are supported by square pillars with Ionic capitals in the Renaissance-Baroque style of the period. The chevet features an 18th-century altarpiece decorated with Corinthian pilasters and surmounted by a triumphant Virgin and Child. In its center, a painting dedicated to Saint Catherine deserves restoration. Plaster statues occupy side niches, with Saint-Laurent on the left and Saint-Pierre on the right. In the entrance, a 16th-century stone polychrome depicts St. John the Baptist holding his sheep, symbolizing Christians. The history of this small church is surprising, to say the least, as it is linked to the beginnings of medicine in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, as practiced by its parish priests. As early as the end of the 17th century, the commune of Saint-Aubin-la-Campagne had a home for the insane, and in the 18th century it was the parish priest Nicolas Delarue, both doctor and pharmacist, who welcomed many patients to Celloville for cures. However, the reputation of these cures came from his disciple, Abbé Soury, who created the famous "Jouvence de l'Abbé Soury". The graves of two medical priests occupy the small cemetery in front of the church. Today, the church is no longer used for worship. There is an exhibition on the life of Abbé Soury and his rejuvenation, and a reminder of the presence of a sanatorium in Celloville in the 18th century.