Sarrance

Title

Sarrance

Also Known As

S. Maria de Saranceo, S. Maria de Sarrancia, S. Maria de Sarransa, S. Maria de Sarranssa, Sarransce, Sarranse, Sarransie, Sarransin, Sarransine, Sarranson, Sarrança

Dates

Founded 1345; sold 1574; repurchased 1605; dissolved 1789; re-established 2011

Dedication

Mary

Affiliation

La Castelle

Medieval Diocese

Oloron

Circary

Gascony

History

A priory dependent on the Premonstratensian abbey of La Castelle. Sarrance was a popular pilgrimage destination because of a miraculous statue of the Virgin Mary. The brothers of Sarrance also ran a hospital. It was burned by Huguenot forces in 1569.

Sarrance was sold in 1574, repurchased by the Premonstratensians in 1605, and suppressed in 1789. A Premonstratensian community was re-established at Sarrance in the 2010s.

Status

Priory, hospital

Archival Sources

Pau, Archives Départementales des Pyrénées Atlantiques

H 159 - H 161 (12th-18th c.)

Bibliography

Breuils, A. “Le culte de Notre-Dame de Sarrance, dans l’ancien diocèse d’Auch.” Études historiques et religieuses du diocèse de Bayonne 2 (1893): 280–82, 290–306, 340–49. https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k34698r/f281.item.

Condou, H. Notre-Dame de Sarrance. Pau, 1948.

Desplat, Christian. Notre-Dame de Sarrance: Église, cloître. Pau: Amis des églises anciennes du Béarn, 1980.

Dubarat, Victor-Marie. “Chroniques de Notre-Dame de Sarrance.” Le Bulletin catholique du diocèse de Bayonne : annales religieuses du Béarn et du Pays basque, 1891.

———. “Documents sur N.-D. de Sarrance (1343 - XIXe siècle).” In Mélanges de bibliographie et d’histoire locale, edited by Victor-Marie Dubarat, 1:161–248. Pau: Vve Léon Ribaut, Éditeur, 1894. https://books.google.com/books?id=FgYeAAAAYAAJ.

Lassalle, F. de. Origine de la dévotion de Notre-Dame de Sarrance. Oloron, 1839. https://books.google.ie/books/about/Origine_de_la_d%C3%A9votion_de_Notre_Dame_de.html?id=uZRLntKmXZ0C&redir_esc=y.

Menjoulet, A. “Chronique de Notre-Dame de Sarrance dans la vallée d’Aspe en Béarn.” La Cour d’honneur de Marie, 1892, 155, 176, 205, 221, 242, 265.

“Monastère de Sarrance,” 2023. https://ndsarrance.fr/.

Image Credit

The belltower of the church of Sarrance, 2007. Wikimedia.

Files

Collection

Gascony

Citation

“Sarrance,” A Premonstratensian Atlas, accessed October 16, 2026, https://yvonneseale.org/atlas/items/show/144.

Geolocation

Item Relations

This Item DependentOn Item: La Castelle
Item: Accous DependentOn This Item