Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: Pastor Bonus

There are two products, this small town, near Riom is pretty famous for. There are the black stones from Volvic, used all over the Auvergne. The gothic cathedral in Clermont-Ferrand is built from the black stones, coming from Volvic. The younger product is the "Volvic" mineral water. Zillions of plastic bottles, filled with Volvic-water leave this place every week or month. Long time before Danone (Evian, Badoit, La Salvetat....) entered the stage in Volvic, this place was owned by St. Priest (aka Priest de Clermont, aka Saint Praejectus), bishop of Clermont. St. Priest was stabbed to death here in 676 and immediately was venerated as a martyr. His sucessor Avitor founded an abbey here, that later was depending from Mozac (1169). The capitals in St. Priest do not have the wonderful, sleek elegance of the carvings seen in the former abbey church in Mozac (5kms east) or Notre-Dame-Du-Port in Clermont-Ferrand (15kms south), but they use the same "icons", that are so typical all over the Auvergne: sirens, griffons, eagles.. Another of these familar sights: The shepherds. Probably referring to the "Parable of the Lost Sheep" (Matthew, 18:12-14 / Luke 18:12-14). This shepherd-theme ("Pastor Bonus") can be found all over the Auvergne (Issoire, Biozat, Thuret..). Here are two shepherds, on their knees. The sheep they have on their shoulders are pretty large - and have strange faces. On the very left the head of the demon/wolf can be seen, showing a row of scaring shark-like teeth.

The former church of a priory, built 1150/1170, got remodelled quite often over the centuries. This was done not only by architects, but as well by clerics. The church was dedicated to St. Genesius first, then to St. Limin, followed by Saint-Martin. In the 19th century the dedication changed to Saint-Bonnet and some decades ago to Saint-Bénilde, a saint born in Thuret in 1805 under the name Pierre Romançon. There are interesting carvings here. Ever since the art history discovered them as specific works of art, they have been a subject in the literature. B. Craplet ("Auvergne roman", 1992) describes the carvings just as "unskilled". He in general disagrees with Z. Swiechowski ("Sculpture Romane D'auvergne", 1973), who sees this as the work of "naive folk art". A. Gybal ("L´Auvergne, berceau de l´artroman", 1958) describes a specific "Thuret-style" being a totally simplified work of art. Only to be found here. For him, the simplification is the result of the artists inspiration. He makes totally clear, that this is not "folk art" ("l`art populaire"), but the result of artistic work of very skilled monks ("moines tres cultives"). Just a small detail from on of the many capitals. A shepherd carrying a sheep on his shoulders. Probably referring to the "Parable of the Lost Sheep" (Matthew, 18:12-14 / Luke 18:12-14). This shepherd-theme ("Pastor Bonus") is very typical for the Auvergne (Issoire, Biozat,..), but the style here is pretty different. - Bernard Craplet wrote "Is there a hidden message within the unskilled sculptures? This is probably not the case. Neither here nor somewhere else."