Our itinerary

The next day, I would drag Felix up the hill to visit the church once more. This time, it was open and we could enter. We looked a little bit around, wondered about what we saw, enjoyed the good weather before going back to the boat. We then set sail and continued to steam up the river. Near Soing, we saw the Mascot, the nicer and newer sister ship of the Maeva, moored to the river bank. Écluse n°8 de Rupt-sur-Saône was a little bit tricky, as the lever to initiate the locking process was bent and hard to move. I succeeded anyways. The night we would spend in Port-sur-Saône (the town with the fantastic bakeries as we found out a couple of years ago). Arriving there, we executed a perfect docking maneuver. We then met 4 guys from Hessen, we would met a couple of times again later on. They were doing the first mooring  maneuver which was a bit chaotic. We tried to help as best as we could and eventually, the boat was parked and the engine ceased. 

The Church of Saint Pancrase

Saint-Pancrace was built in the 13th century. Originally, its floor plan was cruciform. In 1341 Guy de Ray  founded the chapter of six canons and thereby transformed Saint-Pancrace into a collegiate church. The lateral chapels were added around this time.

A collegiate church was often founded and endowed by a secular patron, such as a local lord, duke, or king, while remaining under the authority of the Catholic Church. The six canons were highly educated priests who devoted much of their time to the celebration of the liturgy and prayer, but they also took care of the administration of the church and the lands that Guy de Ray had placed at their disposal. Establishing a chapter enhanced the prestige and social standing of the founding family.

The church contains many depictions of clergy engaged in writing. I initially thought that these represent the copying and transmission of religious texts to spread the word of God thereby underlying the importance of this church. Researching, I found out that it is a reoccuring motive showing the evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. In is no coincidence that they are shown on the pulpit as it symbolizes the place where the written word is spoken. It underlines that the speaker on the pulpit is not making something up but directly delivering in speech what these evangelists wrote down. And the evangelists represent the fundation for the church and symbolically carry the priest on the pulpit.

The bell tower was rebuilt in its present form in 1768. The stained-glass windows followed in 1868, and much of the church furniture dates from the 18th century.

Notable Inscriptions

Pierre Vernot

In the southern aisle, the tombstone of Pierre Vernot, one of the canons of the chapter, can be seen. He died in 1543. Little is known about his life beyond that he served as a priest of the chapter. The fact that he was buried inside the church reflects his elevated status within the religious community of Ray-sur-Saône.

The inscription of the tombstone is in middle French spoken from about 1340 to 1600. I can’t really read it but google LLM claims, it can ( from a picture I uploaded): „Cy gist honnorable homme messire Pierre Vernot…“ ..en son vivant chanoine de Ray.. „…qui trespassa l’an MCCCCLIII. Priez Dieu pour son ame.“.

This would translate to “Here lies the honorable Sire Pierre Vernot, who in his lifetime was a canon of Ray, and who passed away in the year 1453. Pray to God for his soul.”.

Phillippe-Gabriel de Marmier

Hanging on a wall, there is an epitaph for Philippe-Gabriel de Marmier whose family owned the castle overlooking the church and the village. Here the inscription — punctuation was not applied to monumental inscriptions in France of the 18th and 19th century:

And here the translation: