Gabriel revives a medieval tradition

Before talking about your new activity (the manufacture of pilgrimage signs), can you tell us what your background and your profession are?

I started with studies in tourism (BTS, license and master), with a specialization in heritage promotion. At the end of my studies, I also obtained my guide-lecturer card. I then worked as a guide and reception agent in historical sites.

Subsequently, I returned to work in my family’s souvenir shops, where I took care of administration, notably orders, research for new products, as well as procedures related to renovation work – often complex in a protected site like Mont-Saint-Michel.

At the same time, I am developing an activity as an independent guide-lecturer, to show people around the village and the abbey, highlighting in particular the living aspect of the site: of course the spiritual aspect, but also the history of the families who live there. I am also president of the village association Le Mont-Saint-Michel, which aims to promote and bring to life the Mont as a village and place to live.

Your first name, which is that of one of the three archangels, suggests that you are from Mount… Or is it a coincidence that your parents gave you that name?

My family has been based on the Mont for six generations, and this origin has indeed influenced the choice of my first name, in reference to the archangel, but also to one of the towers of Mont-Saint-Michel which also bears the name of Gabriel. I am therefore one of the 23 permanent residents (for around 90 people registered on the electoral lists) of the commune of Mont-Saint-Michel.

How and when did you get the idea of ​​creating signs, and why did you choose the shell?

As a history buff, I wanted to offer objects in my stores that had meaning in relation to the place. I had also, for a long time, wanted to bring back to life my great-grandfather’s workshop, located under the Bastion boutique, where he manufactured various objects then sold in the boutique.

The idea of ​​the signs therefore came to me quite naturally, because I knew that many molds had been discovered on the Mont during archaeological excavations. These objects are also attested in several written sources, both at Mont-Saint-Michel and in other places of pilgrimage of the time.

Concerning the shell, we know that from the 10th century, the people of Montois collected shells in the bay on which they painted representations of Saint Michael, then offered to pilgrims. The shell is therefore an ancient symbol of the Mount, as much as of the pilgrimage process. It therefore seemed logical to me to choose this pattern.

After research based on photos of signs discovered during excavations, I came across a model representing a Saint Michael on a shell, which I chose for my production. However, there are a multitude of other designs, and if this first model is successful, I will make others.

How did you get the mold?

This is what was the most complicated, because this know-how is very rare. So I searched for quite a long time, until I came across an article mentioning an association founded by an enthusiast, who was self-taught in sculpting stone molds, and shares his passion during medieval fairs.

So I contacted him to ask if he could make me a mold. He then came to the Mont to teach me how to use it, and I was able to start production.

Are you the first, in modern times, to make signs at Mont-Saint-Michel?

The jewelry workshop of Monique and Jean Laurette, in Ardevon, uses certain sign motifs for its jewelry. But on Mont-Saint-Michel itself, and with the methods of the Middle Ages, I am the only one today to make them.

What were these signs used for, and can you summarize their history for us?

There was a great diversity of brands. Some were secular, linked to political affiliation or superstitions, but the majority had a spiritual vocation. They allowed the pilgrim to “bring back” with him the protection of the saint he had come to venerate – protection reinforced by the contact of the sign with the relics.

The sign was often sewn onto the hats of pilgrims, which also facilitated their identification, but it could also be kept at home. Another practice was to throw the sign into a river when returning from the pilgrimage, which explains why many were found during the cleaning of waterways.

Generally speaking, the history of the brands is very little known. Often, it is after a guided tour evoking their meaning that visitors come to obtain them. I also try to enhance them by displaying them with a small explanatory sign, and by adapting them to modern practices: as we no longer sew objects on our clothes, I add a bail which allows them to be worn as a pendant, or a ring to use them as a key ring.

Where are you based in Mont, and what is the history of this place? Is this where we can get your signs?

I live in the Dauphin house, one of my family’s two houses. Like most houses in Mons since the Middle Ages, they consist of a business on the ground floor and a dwelling upstairs. The second house, that of the Bastion, also has a workshop in the basement, where I make the signs.

Concerning their history, a house is mentioned at the location of the Dauphin as early as the 15th century. In the 17th century, people spoke of the “former hostellerie du Dauphin”, which shows that it already had a reception vocation. There is no written source explaining the origin of this name, but it can be assumed that it refers to the son of a French king rather than the animal. Perhaps he stayed there or financed its construction? The house later served as a store, and in 1909 it was largely rebuilt into what it is today, later taken over by my great-grandparents.

As for the Bastion house, it dates back to my great-great-great-grandfather, Noël Pitois, a stonemason who arrived at the Mont in the 19th century to participate in the restoration of the abbey. With his wife, they built a small brick house. In 1941, this was replaced by a stone and half-timbered house, more in harmony with the place. The name of “Bastion» comes from the Boucle Tower bastion, located next door.

The brands are available in both stores.

You live near the Saint-Pierre church and the Pilgrim’s House. Has it ever occurred to you to take the road, too, to reach Mont-Saint-Michel on foot?

Indeed, I am a neighbor of the sanctuary, with which I interact regularly, and I am also close to the monastic fraternities present at the abbey. I have already participated in processions in the rue du Mont, during Saint-Michel; and with several people from Mont, we will soon make a pilgrimage to Mont-Gargan, in Italy, the first sanctuary dedicated to Saint Michael.

As for the bay, I visit it regularly and have crossed it many times, but not yet as part of a pilgrimage.

Who is Saint Michael to you? And Mont-Saint-Michel?

As a Montois, I naturally feel close to Saint Michael. My personal history, and certain trials that I have gone through, make me particularly sensitive to his role as protector against evil.

As for Mont-Saint-Michel, beyond its spiritual aspect, it is also a place of roaming, with a tradition of welcome and openness to the world, perpetuated both by religious people and by the people of Montois. A culture passed down from generation to generation – sometimes for 18 generations, for the oldest family in the village.

Do you think that this tradition of signs could be brought up to date among pilgrims, as with the Rocamadour sportelle?

Yes. Even if this tradition is somewhat forgotten by the general public, it deserves to be brought back into the spotlight – both for pilgrims and for tourists who do not necessarily have a religious approach, but who are in search of meaning in relation to the place they are visiting.

As you also tour the Mount, do you have any advice to give to the pilgrim who arrives there on foot?

I would recommend discovering the Mount in the morning or evening, which are the times when you can enjoy it the most. And, above all, don’t hesitate to come and talk with the Mont’s traders who, during calmer periods, are always delighted to share their story.