Here's a gratuitous shot of Saint-Aignan's church. It's called une collégiale, a church operated by a college of canons. Not being a Catholic, I'm not really sure what that means other than that there's no resident priest in town.
La collégiale de Saint-Aignan.
Our brief spell of mild weather comes to an end this morning. Temperatures should be dropping through the day. There's even a slight chance of some snow, but nothing significant.
And such a beautiful gratuitous shot at that. Stay warm.
ReplyDeleteSame weather coming here, today.
ReplyDeleteno priest in town? This seems a sadness for such as splendid church.
ReplyDeleteWhat is it used for nowadays?
Canons were secular priests (not affiliated with a religious order) assigned to a cathedral church to perform church services. Since there were several and, in some cases, quite a few, some of them eventually decided to form a "community," following a schedule or prayer, work, and ministry, thereby adopting a "rule," similar to those of monastic communities. They became known as "regular canons" (chanoines reguliers). Today, a "chanoine" is sometimes an honorific title, bestowed to a priest who has performed exceptional service to the church. N.D. de Paris, as an example, has several "chanoines" who minister to the needs of the cathedral. A notable example of "canons regular," a religious order of priests, is the Norbertines (chanoines reguliers de Premontre), who call themselves "canons" because they adhere to a rule (in this case the rule of St. Augustine). There are several Norbertine abbeys in France and other parts of the world.
ReplyDeleteDR
mitch, as predicted, it's below zero this morning. Brrr!
ReplyDeletejudy, ugh!
michael, I believe it's used mostly for high holidays and weddings. But there are itinerant priests in the area that rotate among churches. I don't know what the schedule is.
dr, thanks for the info!