Saint Céneri and his superpowers

In my lil’ small valley

First let’s meet the man who gave his name to this small chapel… Céneri!

An Italian saint who first turned up in Mayenne with his brother Cénéré, in the middle of the 7th century.

Céneri made big plans: he wanted to evangelize the pagan people from the area, for instance.

But the evangelization was pretty boring. So Céneri went all alone of the banks of river Sarthe, to settle in a quiet small valley.

But before, he had to cross the river Sarthe, a naughty impetuous stream.

But there wasn’t a bridge, not a single ford! The legend says he made a sign of the cross upon the water, so suddenly the aforesaid water split up (like Moses and the Red Sea) and let a dry passage for Céneri...

Bees and panic-stricken horses

When he get in his valley, Céneri founded a monastery and a church. Then he died lonely in a cave, in 667: lots of pilgrimages started on his grave… and lots of miracles too!

Hey, this is the first one: while Charles Martel’s troops were rushing into the Maine and soldiers were plundering everything on their way (including the chapel), a bee swarm suddenly swoop down on the troops: because they damaged the little chapel, so there!

Blind, stung, harassed by the little striped army, henchmen ran away. Ouch! They dived in the river Sarthe! Nice idea… but some of them drowned themselves.

Another story says two men let their horses grazing just in front of the chapel. As a punishment for, the creatures became completely mad, broke their reins and jumped into the river, from the top of a high rock…

But super saint Céneri kept his weather eye on them: he brought them safe and sound on the other bank!