Saint Lucien Church

The Saint-Lucien de Montmille church is a Catholic parish church located in the hamlet of Montmille, in Fouquenies, France. Located at the top of a hill overlooking the Thérain valley, the Mont Mille, it perpetuates the memory of the martyrdom of Saint Lucien, patron saint of the Beauvaisis region, who was tortured by Roman soldiers near the present church because he would not deny his God. Previously, his two disciples, Saint Maxian and Saint Julian, had been decapitated at the site of the church crypt, and they were buried there, before later joining Saint Lucian's tomb at the Abbey of Saint-Lucien in Beauvais. Nevertheless, some relics remained in Montmille, and a Benedictine priory was founded at the beginning of the 10th century at the latest. In fact, the parish of Fouquenies is attested since 922, and the prior appoints to the parish, which proves the anteriority of the priory. This one as well as the church of Montmille are under the title of Saint-Maxien, and it is only in the XXth century that this title is erased in favor of Saint Lucien. The present church, which should have succeeded a first chapel, is related to the Carolingian architecture, and is generally dated from the 11th century. The nave, which was originally flanked by aisles, had narrow, large, perfectly bare semicircular arches and larger side windows than in the Romanesque period, located at the very top of the walls. These typically Carolingian characteristics make it possible to consider it as the oldest part of the church, and make it plausible that it was built at the end of the tenth century. The transept and the choir are slightly more recent, less high and less wide, but the choir benefits primitively from a groin vaulting, as does the crypt which is located immediately below. This crypt is remarkable for its age, the rarity of constructions of this type in the department, and its authentic character: all the rest of the church was indeed deeply transformed in the middle of the 19th century. It is at the same time a spiritual place of high importance, as is the whole church, which motivated the re-establishment of the pilgrimage in 1847, and the erection of Montmille as a parish. The church was classified as a historical monument by decree of November 28, 1913.