Mouzay. The unusual church of Saint-Pierre and Saint-Paul de Mouzay

It has an impressive size, a fortified appearance, a massive and defensive structure, a military allure, and an atypical bell tower. It highlights, in one of its stained-glass windows, a dark episode in the history of France that transports us to the time of the Merovingians. It preserves a canopy high altar dating from the 18th century, a remarkable piece of liturgical furniture. Typical of Baroque or Rococo religious art, it symbolizes the divine grandeur and solemnity of the place in a theatrical effect where light competes with gilding to arouse emotion and spiritual elevation. This is the unexpected church of Mouzay.

Originally dedicated to Saint Peter, it was its merger with the annex church in the Charmois outskirts that led to its christening Saint Peter and Saint Paul. The church, built in the 9th century, was rebuilt in a style reminiscent of the Renaissance in 1786. Only the tower remains of its medieval past.

In 1939-1940, carrier pigeons were released from the bell tower to inform the resistance. Father Millier paid with his life.

In 2024, the black marble tombstone of Abbot Jacques Gérardin was found in a storage room of the old transept by Bernard Dieu, deputy mayor (see our article of August 27, 2024). Abbot Gérardin died on October 6, 1707. It is a black marble tombstone that was rediscovered after several decades of oblivion. The abbot is represented in profile, engraved with line, wearing the chasuble, wearing the biretta and carrying the chalice covered by his veil, as if he were ascending the altar.

"This slab," confides Bernard Dieu, "is currently being restored." While the abbot has been forgotten, there is one who has not. It is Dagobert II, a little-known Merovingian king, assassinated in 679 near Mouzay, in the Woëvre forest. The church of Mouzay is one of the rare religious buildings in Lorraine to explicitly evoke this historical figure in its decor. Dagobert II died in obscure circumstances, probably on the orders of the mayor of the palace. He was reportedly struck by a spear in the forest while hunting. This gives Mouzay a special place in the sacred and legendary history of the Merovingians.

Just in front of the church stands a strangely shaped megalith. Some say it is the chair of Saint Dagobert; others say it is the devil's seat, or even the marriage stone...