Churches and shrines: La Magdeleine

This chapel dating from 1739 and created thanks to the will of Anna Maria Vittaz Dujany, isdedicated to Our Lady of the Snow.
Built on a rather sloped land, often requires maintenance work to raise the structure. We recommend a stop at the old churchyard surrounded by stone walls, all lying in the shadow of leafy trees. Access is via a steep, stone stairway that has become worn over time: the panorama before your eyes is splendid both in terms of beauty and serenity.
The fairly bare inside is decorated with a piece depicting the Virgin Mary with Child with a saint and Saint Gratus at her feet.
A few meters away, on the mule track leading to Antey-Saint-André through Herin, one can admire the oratory dedicated to Notre Dame de Tout Pouvoir, built where the plague of 1630 stopped, thereby saving the “magdeleins”.

La Magdeleine was part of the parish of Antey-Saint-André up to 1789. However, as early as 1774 the parish church was erected and dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene, which also inspired the name of the municipality.
Already in 1795 the parish priest Joseph Grange had an embankment built around the church to treat the humidity that crawled along the walls. In 1816 the floor were raised by 1.80 metres and resulted in the construction of a 12 step entrance.
Other transformations took place, from the visit of the appointee to Mons. Duc, F. Marco Benchod, who mentioned the restoration work and an extension facing the mountain. In fact, the choir was moved to the east and the nave became more spacious. The work was carried out in 1886, while the current portico dates from a few years ago.

It is the oldest chapel of the village, dedicated to Saint Rocco. Notary documents date its foundation back to the 7th June 1672 on an initiative by Michele Messelod. The building is fairly small in size.
The external facade has three paintings: on the left Saint Rocco with the dog which, according to legend, gives him bread, in the middle Jesus on the Cross and on the rightside Saint Sebastian pierced with arrows. Over these, the symbol of the Divine Trinity and the inscription “year 1827” (an age corresponding to significant restoration works).
Inside, there is an altar piece dated 1673 depicting the Virgin Mary with Saints Rocco and Sebastian to the sides. A large, wooden crucifix is located right in the centre of the chapel, supported by a chain from a beam, in which Jesus is bleeding over his entire body, in line with the usual devotions of that time. Two small wooden and partially gilded statues representing unidentifiable saints complete the sacred furnishing of the chapel.