Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume

Coordinates: 43°27′12″N 5°51′41″E / 43.4532°N 5.8614°E / 43.4532; 5.8614
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume
Commune
Basilica of Mary Magdalene, begun 1295.
Basilica of Mary Magdalene, begun 1295.
Coat of arms of Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume
Coat of arms
Location of Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume
Map
Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume is located in France
Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume
Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume
Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume is located in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume
Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume
Coordinates: 43°27′12″N 5°51′41″E / 43.4532°N 5.8614°E / 43.4532; 5.8614
CountryFrance
RegionProvence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
DepartmentVar
ArrondissementBrignoles
CantonSaint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume
IntercommunalityCA Provence Verte
Government
 • Mayor (2020–2026) Alain Decanis[1]
Area
1
64.13 km2 (24.76 sq mi)
Population
 (2021)[2]
17,631
 • Density270/km2 (710/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code
83116 /83470
Elevation261–778 m (856–2,552 ft)
(avg. 520 m or 1,710 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume (French pronunciation: [sɛ̃ maksimɛ̃ la sɛ̃t bom]; Occitan: Sant Maissemin de la Santa Bauma) is a commune in the southeastern French department of Var, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Located 40 km (25 mi) east of Aix-en-Provence, the town lies at the foot of the Sainte-Baume mountains. Baume or bama is the Provençal equivalent of cave. The town's basilica is dedicated to Mary Magdalene.

History

The Roman Villa Lata, remains of which have been identified beneath Place Malherbe in the centre of the town, was one among numerous agricultural working Roman villas in the plain that was traversed by the via Aurelia. The Abbey of Saint Victor at Marseille had dependencies in the neighborhood: Saint-Maximin, Saint-Jean, Saint-Mitre, Sainte-Marie. The Romanesque parish church dedicated to Saint Maximin of Trier was demolished in the final stages of constructing the basilica.

In the 12th century,

Charles d'Anjou, brother of Louis IX of France and sometime king of Sicily. The tenuous Anjou presence at Saint-Maximin was fiercely contested by the seigneurs of Baux
among other local leaders.

The French baritone Louis Gassier (1820–1871) was born in Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume.

The cultus of Mary Magdalene

The little town was transformed by the well-published discovery on 12 December 1279, in the crypt of Saint-Maximin, of a sarcophagus that was proclaimed to be the tomb of Mary Magdalene, signaled by miracles

Boniface VIII, who placed it under the new teaching order of Dominicans
.

The founding tradition held that relics of Mary Magdalene were preserved here, and not at

Seventy Disciples
.

After landing in the Camargue, Mary Magdalene came to

Gallo-Roman crypt under the basilica. Sarcophagi are shown, of St Maximin, Ste. Marcella, Ste. Suzanne and St. Sidoine (Sidonius) as well as the reliquary, which is said to hold the remains of Mary Magdalene. Genetic testing of some of the hairs in the reliquary confirmed that it was the hair of a woman of possible Jewish ancestry, but do not confirm the identity of the source of the hair.[6]

Construction of the basilica began in 1295. The crypt was complete when the church was consecrated in 1316. In it were installed a fourth-century

Gallo-Roman
funerary monument and four marble sarcophagi, whose bas-reliefs permit a Christian identification.

The Black Death in 1348, which killed half the local population, interrupted the building campaign. It was not taken up again until 1404, and the sixth bay of the nave complete by 1412. Work continued until 1532, when it was decided to leave the basilica without a finished west front or portal or bell towers, features that it lacks to this day. The plan has a main apse flanked by two subsidiary apses. Its great aisled nave is without transept. The nave is flanked by sixteen chapels in the side-aisles.

Geography

Climate

Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume has a

hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification
Csa). The average annual temperature in Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume is 13.7 °C (56.7 °F). The average annual rainfall is 765.3 mm (30.13 in) with November as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in July, at around 23.0 °C (73.4 °F), and lowest in January, at around 5.9 °C (42.6 °F). The highest temperature ever recorded in Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume was 42.5 °C (108.5 °F) on 28 June 2019; the coldest temperature ever recorded was −15.2 °C (4.6 °F) on 12 February 2012.

Climate data for Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume (1991−2020 normals, extremes 2006−present)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 23.1
(73.6) 		22.6
(72.7) 		25.6
(78.1) 		29.4
(84.9) 		33.5
(92.3) 		42.5
(108.5) 		39.6
(103.3) 		40.0
(104.0) 		33.7
(92.7) 		31.0
(87.8) 		22.6
(72.7) 		23.2
(73.8) 		42.5
(108.5)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 11.3
(52.3) 		12.4
(54.3) 		15.8
(60.4) 		19.5
(67.1) 		23.2
(73.8) 		28.2
(82.8) 		31.6
(88.9) 		31.0
(87.8) 		26.4
(79.5) 		21.1
(70.0) 		15.2
(59.4) 		11.9
(53.4) 		20.6
(69.1)
Daily mean °C (°F) 5.9
(42.6) 		6.3
(43.3) 		9.1
(48.4) 		12.4
(54.3) 		15.9
(60.6) 		20.2
(68.4) 		23.0
(73.4) 		22.3
(72.1) 		18.6
(65.5) 		14.5
(58.1) 		9.7
(49.5) 		6.4
(43.5) 		13.7
(56.7)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) 0.4
(32.7) 		0.2
(32.4) 		2.4
(36.3) 		5.2
(41.4) 		8.6
(47.5) 		12.2
(54.0) 		14.4
(57.9) 		13.7
(56.7) 		10.8
(51.4) 		7.9
(46.2) 		4.2
(39.6) 		0.9
(33.6) 		6.7
(44.1)
Record low °C (°F) −10.4
(13.3) 		−15.2
(4.6) 		−7.6
(18.3) 		−7.0
(19.4) 		−0.7
(30.7) 		3.4
(38.1) 		6.6
(43.9) 		5.0
(41.0) 		0.9
(33.6) 		−3.9
(25.0) 		−8.6
(16.5) 		−9.7
(14.5) 		−15.2
(4.6)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 62.3
(2.45) 		49.6
(1.95) 		57.7
(2.27) 		66.5
(2.62) 		70.8
(2.79) 		47.8
(1.88) 		21.5
(0.85) 		28.8
(1.13) 		59.5
(2.34) 		101.0
(3.98) 		130.6
(5.14) 		69.2
(2.72) 		765.3
(30.13)
Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) 6.4 6.7 6.4 7.7 6.9 4.7 2.5 2.7 4.2 6.1 8.0 6.5 68.7
Source: Météo-France[7]

Gallery

  • Basilica: interior
    Basilica: interior
  • Basilica: altar
    Basilica: altar
  • Basilica: organ
    Basilica: organ
  • Basilica: Sarcophagus of the Holy Innocents (4th century)
    Basilica: Sarcophagus of the Holy Innocents (4th century)

Population

Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
1968 3,180—    
1975 4,013+3.38%
1982 5,511+4.64%
1990 9,594+7.18%
1999 12,402+2.89%
2007 14,142+1.65%
2012 14,734+0.82%
2017 16,433+2.21%
Source: INSEE[8]

Administration

List of mayors of Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume (partial):

2020-present: Alain Decanis
2017-2020: Horace Lanfranchi
2014-2017: Christine Lanfranchi-Dorgal (UMP)
2008-2014: Alain Penal (UMP)
2001-2008: Gabriel Rinaudo (RPR)
1995-2001: Horace Lanfranchi (RPR)

References

  1. ^ "Répertoire national des élus: les maires" (in French). data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. 13 September 2022.
  2. ^ "Populations légales 2021". The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
  3. ^ The Dominican Bernard Gui, claimed in his chronicle, written early in the following century, that a sweet spicy fragrance emanated from the sarcophagus' contents, and that a green shoot was found to be growing from the Magdalen's tongue. (Jansen 2000)
  4. ^ Other alleged burial places are at Ephesus (now in Turkey) and the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, whence, it is said, her remains were later removed to Europe.
  5. Kentigern, all instanced by Hares-Stryker, 1993. Celidoine is set adrift in a rudderless boat in the Estoire de Saint Graal. The translation of Saint James the Great
    in a rudderless boat to Hispania might be added. See Stith Thompson, Motif-index of folk-literature; a classification of narrative elements in folktales, ballads, myths, fables, mediaeval romances, exempla, fabliaux, jest-books, and local legends. Rev. ed.. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press) 1955-58
  6. ISSN 2305-3925
    .
  7. ^ "Fiche Climatologique Statistiques 1991-2020 et records" (PDF) (in French). Météo-France. Retrieved September 14, 2022.
  8. ^ Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE

Further reading

  • Katherine Ludwig Jansen, The Making of the Magdalen: Preaching and Popular Devotion in the Later Middle Ages (Princeton University Press) 2000.
  • Hares-Stryker, Carolyn, 1993. "Adrift on the seven seas: the medieval topos of exile at sea", Florilegium 12 (on-line text; pdf file)

External links

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