This chapel is situated to the south-east of the village. It has been listed on the Inventaire Supplémentaire des Monuments Historiques since 18 September 1926.
History of the Suxy farm. (or Sussy, from "subsidium": help).
The farm belongs to the Saint Broingt - Les Fosses area, and is located to the south-east of the commune, close to Route Nationale 74, 2 kilometres south of Prauthoy. It was a former sick-bay or hospital house, intended to accommodate the many pilgrims on their way to Rome, Jerusalem and Santiago de Compostela. Pierre Herlingue in "Sur les pas des anciens pèlerins" (Bull. de la Soc. Hist. et Arch. de Langres, N° 191, Tome XIV, page 363. Map page 357) cites in the list of former Hospitaller houses on the roads of the present Diocese of Langres, under the heading "Hospices de chemins": Saint Broingt-les-Fosses: Sussy, N.-D et S. Sulpice (1141), abolished in 1697. Built on the main road to Lyon, Suxy was, according to some historians, located on the site of an ancient Roman settlement that was destroyed when the Barbarians invaded Gaul.
It was established in 1141, when Eudes de Saint Broingt and his sons Maurice and Barthélémy donated part of their estates. At that time, Suxy was simply an asylum for the many pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem or Santiago de Compostela. In 1204, Vallo, Sire of St Beroingt, granted Soucy XIV deniers of cens. In addition to the Sires de Saint Broingt, the main founders of Suxy included Odon or Eudes de Balesmes, Henry de Rochetaillée, his son Dreux, Hugues de Rouvres, Ulric de Sacquenay, Alerme d'Isômes, his son Albert de Montsaugeon and Eudes de Marey. In 1498, the Suxy hospice was half destroyed by bands of "Routiers" and "Ecumeurs de routes". This hospice, which later became a priory, was granted a charter by the bishop of Langres, Geoffroy de Rochetaillée, former prior of Clairvaux and a relative of St Bernard, who reluctantly parted with it when he became bishop. St Bernard liked to call him "his right arm, the light of his eyes and his staff of old age" (St Bernard founded Clairvaux in 1114, with the help of the Count of Champagne. ) Suxy was established as a priory, and retained its title and revenues until 1697, when its tithes, cens and revenues were transferred to the Hospital de la Charité in Langres, which still owns and manages the farm today.
The Hôpital de la Charité was founded by Bishop Sébastien Zamet in 1638 - 1640, on the site of the town's old college, which had by then been abandoned.
The priory at Suxy was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, with Saint Sulpice as its secondary patron saint. The church consisted of a huge nave with two transverse wings, several altars and several bells. The entrance to the choir was enclosed by a balustrade and a wrought-iron partition, and in 1675 the old choir stalls remained, where the nuns would sit to celebrate services. Adjoining the church was the sick room, where an official visit in 1545 found seven beds and as many sick people and pilgrims. When the hospital ceased to operate, the directors, who bore the name of "Maistre", took on the title of prior, the house having become a sort of priory. The "Maistre" or prior of Suxy, who had the collation of the cures of Vaillant and Saint Broingt - Les Fosses, was himself appointed by the bishop of Langres in his capacity as Lord of Saint - Broingt.
As the benefice of Suxy had been placed in command, i.e. entrusted to laymen or priests who only had the costume of this dignity, the prior was obliged to appoint a resident priest to say masses to pay for the foundations. Thus, in 1584, we find Jehan Laurent, a priest serving the priory in place of the real prior, who perhaps never visited Suxy. All that remains of this complex is an ancient chapel, listed as a historic monument by a decree dated 16 June 1926 (dating from the 12th or 13th century).
This chapel, which is perfectly oriented, represents half of one of the lower sides, that of the choir - the other half having been demolished. Access to the first great nave to its right was through a wide opening that is still visible but has been bricked up. The same applies to access to the second nave to the left. The building is both robust and graceful, in the early ogival style, but still dependent on the Romanesque, as can be seen from the modillions on the outside and inside, the narrowness of the benches, the arched shape of the pool and the sober Cistercian decoration of the two frustrating capitals, still left and geometric. Their foliage appears to bear the letter S, also reproduced at the bottom of a pillar: an allusion no doubt to the first letter of Suxy (called Succiacum in 1291) or to the name of the incumbent of the church, which was dedicated to Saint Sulpice. The remains of tombs have been found around the chapel. Numerous bones have been found in this place, and at certain times, plague victims and perhaps even lepers were treated here, according to local tradition, which places a leper cemetery in Suxy.
At the Château de Saint Michel, belonging to the Grouchy family, there is a large stone plaque with a long inscription engraved in fine characters. It was apparently erected on the initiative of the illustrious mayor of Langres, Jean Roussat, in 1604, in memory of five of his relatives, all successive canons of Langres. One of them was Richard Roussat, author of the oldest anatomy book written in French and other curious and extremely rare works in which scientific and medical data are combined with astrological ramblings.
The text refers to the travellers to whom he himself and another Richard, his nephew, who died prematurely, extended a welcome in those days of unsafe and impassable roads. Was this plaque in a church in Langres? A word in the inscription leads us to believe so. But, on the other hand, we are inclined to place it in Suxy, especially as the person who erected it and engraved it in his own hand was Joseph Boillot, controller of the Montsaugeon salt store.
Credit: Jean Rigollot, my late father André Rigollot (his handwritten notes), and Robert Fourot (son of the farmer of the Suxy farm).
Chapelle de Suxy de Saint-Broingt-les-Fosses
