Camino Photo of the Day: an Odd Little Church

The interior of the little church of Saint-Georges de Lascabanes is whitewashed, with the same lemon-colored trim I’d seen in any number of village churches in recent days. Taken as a whole, the church is mostly unremarkable, although very homey. There are just a couple of things that strike me as, well, odd. 

First of all, they seem to have set up a sort of temporary altar outside of the sanctuary. This is in addition to an altar actually inside the sanctuary, as well as a high altar. The ambo is a music stand.

And then there are the processional crosses. In a disused storage corner behind a confessional currently being used as a closet, there are two extremely ornate wooden processional crosses (as well as two or three processional banners). In many of the churches I’ve seen in this region, they have put these old processional crosses in the sanctuary. There isn’t actually a crucifix anywhere in the sanctuary, although there is a plain brass cross set over the high altar. 

And in the middle of the south transept, near the altar of Saint Joseph, there’s an ancient harmonium, which appears to be non-functional and taking up a great deal of space in the middle of the church.

Finally, the stained glass. In about half of the stained glass windows, the faces have been eradicated, giving them a kind of spooky phantom vibe.

As I say. Odd. I think the building mostly just needs some TLC, honestly. Given the amount of cobwebs, I guess it hasn’t had a proper sacristan in years.

Date: 05 September 2023
Place: Lascabanes, Lot Département, Region of Occitanie, France

Maps!