The present Catholic church was dedicated in 1826. The bell tower has 3 bells ("Jeanne Rose" weighing in at 950 kg; "Pierre Marie", a mere 70 kg; and the 3rd is lovingly known as "Christian is my name, Catholic my surname"). The facade was refurbished in the 1990s.
One beautiful window commemorates poor St Joseph Marchand, a lad from Passavant who became a Catholic missionary to Vietnam. Even though he was a missionary, he joined an armed rebellion against the Emperor, somehow hoping to place the Emperor's Catholic relative on the throne. They controlled Saigon for several years before the rebellion was finally quelled. Marchand and friends were punished most horribly. Hot iron tongs were used to pull off his flesh, after which his body were hacked into bits and tossed into the ocean. In 1988, Pope John Paul II canonized Marchand along with other Vietnamese martyrs including French and Spanish missionaries to Vietnam, 37 Vietnamese priests and 59 Catholic laity. Marchand's feast day is November 30th.
We wisely decided to have lunch at Au Relais des Saveurs. The cuisine is very traditional in the local French-Swiss style.
Since the Richards (my wife's ancestors ) used to live near Blamont, we visited the local Catholic cemetery, but Mennonites would not be buried there.
An interesting statue honours a local citizen and politician, Jules Viette (1843-1894). Carvings (on the back, not shown here) depict a montbéliard (a special breed of cow bred by the Grabers, Swiss Anabaptist immigrants in the 1600s, possibly with help from the Lugbills). The cow recalling Viette's service as Minister of Agriculture (1887-1888). There is also a depiction of a locomotive which refers to Viett's brief time as Minister of Public Works, 1892-1893). A sword and pistol recall his feats during the War of 1870. Viette's bust towers over figures depicting a miner with his lantern (industry) and a barefoot peasant holding her sickle while resting on sheaves of wheat (agriculture).
