Caunes-Minervois : Notre-Dame du Cros church

At the foot of the Black Mountain, the hamlet of Notre-Dame-du-Cros is 1.5 km northeast of Caunes-Minervois, at the entrance to the narrow gorges of the Cros stream, near a marble career still in activity. Several legends surround the establishment of a place of worship around a miraculous source known to cure fevers. The continuity of worship in Notre-Dame-du-Cros is demonstrated by many processions and a hermitage. The first written mention of a church dates back to 1119 in a bubble of Pope Gélase II addressed to the abbot of Caunes: the "villa" of Cros and his church belong to the abbey of Caunes. This abbey attracted several neighboring habitats, whether grouped or dispersed. The region of Caunes and its religious lordship are part of a broader phenomenon of the grouping of dwellings between the 11th and 13th century, with texts showing seven terroirs associated with churches or habitats, mostly disappeared today. The Cros terroir continued in the form of a chapel dedicated to the Virgin and a specific pilgrimage. D. Baudreu suggested, from old cards, the existence of an old sacred enclosure: "Above the Cros stream, there is a parcel delimitation surrounding the church, evoking an enclosure of approximately 56 m in diameter, similar to the ecclesiastical enclosures established during the peace of God at the end of the 10th century." After being sold as national property, the church and the hermitage are acquired by Antoine Bouclet, brother of the hermit, then restored in 1797 to 300 inhabitants of Caunes, who became owners in joint possession. In 1997, the remaining families yielded their rights to the bishopric, who became the owner through a diocesan association, and an organization called "the friends of Notre-Dame-du-Cros" was founded. In 2001, passionist fathers settled in the fully renovated presbytery. The church of the Cros testifies to the abundance and the richness of its decor and its furniture, a reflection of the extraordinary Marbrière activity which developed in Caunes between the 17th and the 19th century.