In the North, a treasure hunt in a church

In the city center of Croix (North), we pass it without paying attention. Its brick facade constitutes a familiar presence, anchored in the northern landscape. However, under the spring sun, the Saint-Martin church has a surprise in store. As soon as you cross the threshold, Charles Leroy’s first neo-Gothic creation in the 19th century offers a completely different dimension. The light passes through the stained glass windows and sets the nave ablaze: the reds streak across the pillars, the blues vibrate on the ceiling, the golds are lost in the shadows.

At the heart of this luminous ballet, six children aged 8 to 10 are stamping their feet. “Today, you are here to play, do we agree?” » says Priscilia Semlil, from the pastoral animation team. ” Yes ! » they respond in unison. She whispers: “This place hides secrets… It’s up to you to find them. Each puzzle will give you a key. It will take six to open the mystery chest. »

At his side, Michel Thuillier, 88 years old, finds a second youth. Together, they designed this treasure hunt to introduce young catechism students to the church. At 25, Priscilia made it a field of transmission. “I discovered this place thanks to a university assignment on heritage,” she says. The members of the Friends of the Saint-Martin church association welcomed me with such warmth that I ended up joining them. » Having become a history-geography teacher, she is now president.

An air of Sainte-Chapelle

Guided by arrows on the ground, the children prepare to find the cross plan of the building, before identifying the tabernacle, the ambo, the altar and the credenza. They then go looking for the four evangelists on the stained glass windows. The puzzles keep coming, and so do the laughter.

Then comes the final test, the most awaited, through the following message: “After the First World War, the builders did not plan to decorate the church. But a priest wanted to bring color into it. He was inspired by a large 13th century church: the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. Find similarities and differences. »

This connection has nourished the pride of the inhabitants, and has been doing so since the 1920s. At that time, Father Decock undertook to restore the building damaged by the conflict, taking inspiration from the troubadour decor of the Parisian monument. With its colorful colonnades, heraldic motifs and deep blue vault, the Saint-Martin church is nicknamed “the Holy Chapel of the Cross”. But the ravages of time have worked. A fall of stones in the choir made a restoration campaign necessary, leading to its closure from 2010 to 2015*.

During the construction site, Anne Da Rocha, responsible for sacred art for the diocese of Lille, ensured that Father Decock’s project was respected. When it reopened, she assembled a team of volunteers to welcome visitors. Thus was born the association of Friends of the Saint-Martin Church.

For more than ten years, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to noon, a dozen of them take turns in pairs, relying on six explanatory desks financed by the town hall. Their credo: transmit with passion, without overwhelming. So they talk to architecture students, school groups, nursing home residents or curious people.

The anecdote of the beggar from the 1970s, both tax collector and parishioner, has its effect. “The church is not just its walls; she lives through us,” emphasize the volunteers.

Familiar silhouettes

More than an hour has passed. The six keys have been won, the mystery chest opened, and the children return home with a bag of chocolate eggs. Some are already imagining coming back to show “their” church with a big brother, a classmate.

And Father Régis Devaux, who officiates in Saint-Martin, rejoices: “With children, the effect is immediate: once made aware, they take their parents and transform themselves into little guides. Keeping the church open allows them to become familiar with this magnificent place of evangelization. Something to also nourish their faith. »

The doors close, the volunteers smile: these little silhouettes will reappear. In Saint-Martin, we come to play and we leave with the desire to come back.

* In 2014, the site received the Special Editorial Prize from the Pilgrim, awarded by the Safeguarding of French Art, during the Grand Prix Pèlerin du Patrimoine.