2nd Eglise Notre-Dame

► Notre-Dame nowadays

In 1888, Abbe Jenvrin has just died, Abbe Bisson succeeds to him and  just behind the old Eglise Saint Sauveur, in the Monks yard (map1779), is laid the first stone of the present Eglise Notre-Dame de l’Assomption, Church of our Lady of the Assumption. The financing is possible thanks to private donations, the main craftsmen are the architect Frangeul, the entrepreneur Fourcade, the sculptor Marle and the painter/stained glass manufacturer Lavergnes.

The architecture for this Church,of a neo gothic/Gothic revival style, made of granite, limestone and ashlar, is the Latin-cross plan and the Patrimonial Inventory  describes it as follows : "Choir and vaults covered by polygonal hips, aisles covered by sloping roofs, 2 sacristies.

The themes of Representation are :

- The Immaculate Conception,on the western gable,

- The theological virtues (Faith, Hope, Charity) on the 3 tympanum of the western elevation,

- Fabulous animals, on the gargoyles,

- Local flora and apples on the capitals,

- Pope Leon XIII and Monseigneur Tregaro's arms, on the tympanum of the doors of the sacristies.

- The arms of the Jumieges Abbey on the left part.

The church is blessed solemnly in 1896 by Monseigneur Tregaro, Bishop of Sees whereas in 1897, the first Church of Notre-Dame is demolished.

In 1905, the large organ, ordered in 1898 to Aristide Cavaille-Coll/Charles Mutin, is inaugurated. It will be electrified under the responsability of Mr Moulin, curate, and then restored and modified in 1952 by Mr Lambert, organ-builder in Le Mans. Classified as a "French Romantic Organ", with 3 keyboards and 2000 pipes, this organ is the most important one in the departement of Orne.

Neither the parvis nor the stained glasses offered by the Industrialist Monsieur Eugene Laniel and manufactured by the glassmaker, Claudius Lavergne, will withstand the bombardments of June 14th in 1944 ... Then it is the Master glassmaker Gabriel Loire, who will assume this further realization financed by the municipality and the Pilot clubs of Chicago and Philadelphia. Mr Launay is Curate of Vimoutiers. The realization is carried out in the spirit of the Middle Ages and the colourings of the gothic cathedrals : Des ateliers Loire à l'Eglise de Vimoutiers (by pupils of Vimoutiers - in French but many pictures)

Pehaps, some pieces indexed in this Church come from the 1st Church of Notre-Dame such as chalices, ciborium, ostensorium, and furnitures dated from the beginning of the XIXth century. Also in this anteriority, a painting of Sainte Madeleine dated 1665 by the painter Nicolas Chevillard, from Macon, a work influenced by the Bolognese School and of which there is an ancient copy in the Church of Saint Romain in Rouen. It seems that the conditions of its presence in the Church of Notre-Dame remain mysterious.