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Flag of Châteauneuf-du-Faou - Image byArnaud Leroy, 29 June 2005
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The municipality of Châteauneuf-du-Faou (in Breton, Kastell-Nevez-er-Faou;3,677 inhabitants in 2016; 4,258 ha;municipal website) is located in western central Brittany. The town isbuilt on a small hill dominating a large meander of river Aulne, therecanalized as the Canal deNantes àBrest and crossed by the Old King'sBridge, built in 1638 under King Louis XIII.
Châteauneuf-du-Faou (Castellum novum, 12th century; Castrum novum,1217; Castrum novum in fago, c. 1330 and 1368; Chasteauneuf du Faou,1391) was the new fortress (castrum novum) built by the lords of Faou,a branch of the house ofLéon. The Viscounts of Faou claimed to have emerged in the 6th century. The domain of Châteauneuf seceded from the ancient parish of Plouyé. Seized in 1186 by Guihomarchand Hervé de Léon, the fortress belonged to the Viscounts of Léon until confiscated by Duke of BrittanyJean VI in 1420. Ruined in 1440, it was subsequently suppressed to build the Our Ladu of the Gates chapel.
The St. Julian and Our Lady church, rebuilt in 1878 by Jules Boyerexcept the bell tower, erected in 1737, was decorated in 1914-1919 by thepainter Paul Sérusier (1863-1927), who spent 23 years in the town.
Sérusier went to Pont-Aven in 1888 where he met Paul Gauguin, whoconvinced him to make "symbolist and synthetist" paintings. UnderGauguin's guidance, Sérusier painted a landscape calledTalisman onthe cover of a cigare box. Back to Paris, he showed the painting to hisfriends Maurice Denis, Pierre Bonnard, Édouard Vuillard, Paul Ransonand Ker Xavier Roussel; all of them founded the group of Nabis, named for aHebrew word meaning "a prophets". Nicknamed by his friends "theNabi with the rutilant beard", Sérusier became with Maurice Denis thetheoretician of the group. His later painting evolved towards amystical, medieval archaism.
In 1438, a statue of the Blessed Virgin was found in the hollow trunkof an old tree. The miraculous finding was celebrated by the buildingof the Our Lady of the Gates chapel, a very popular place of pilgrimagein Brittany. A church-window of the chapel recalls the murder of apriest by the Royalist warlord Liscoet, who sacked the town in 1593with his 400 men. The chapel was rebuilt in 1892-1893; the bell-towerwas added in 1901-1902. The only remain of the former chapel is theGothic porch built in the 15th century, maybe using stones from theancient castle of Châteauneuf. One of the most famous pardonsof Brittany is celebrated in the chapel at the end of August. Theelders and invalids' pardon takes place on Friday; on Saturday, thestatue of the Blessed Virgin is carried in procession by 50-year oldmen; on Sunday, following a solemn mass, the crowned statue of theBlessed Virgin is carried in procession by 50-year old women dressed intraditional costume.
There is an underground fountain dedicated to St. John the Baptist nearthe church. A statue of the saint holding a lamb under his left arm andtrampling a beast, made in polychrome granit, can be seen near thefountain. St. John the Baptist was invoked to protect water frompollution and to cure eye diseases. Another fountain, dedicated to St.Gouesnou, can be seen in the Kermoal wood. Gouesnou, a Scottishbishop who fled his country occupied by the Saxons, spent 24 yearsin Brittany; he was killed on 25 October 675 with a hammer. Hisfountain was the place of a pardon celebrated on Ascension's Day; hiscult, probably influenced by an older pagan cult, disappeared at theend of the 18th century but was still remembered at the beginning ofthe 20th century.
The Moustoir chapel (16th century), located 3 km of Châteauneuf,is famous for its baptistry and polychrome statues, and for the calvary(15th century) standing in front of the building. The enclosure of thechapel is planted with more than 6,000 flowers and shrubs. The chapelwas dedicated to St. Ruellin, Bishop of Tréguier in the 6th century.Its spire was destroyed by lightning in the 19th century and thechapel was nearly ruined in the 1970s; a horses' pardon was celebratedthere until the beginning of the 20th century. The chapel belonged tothe Rosily-Meros family. Admiral Rosily, the son of the Commander ofthe Navy in Brest, took part to southern exploration and naval actionagainst British vessels. Decorated by King Louis XVI, who erected himRear Admiral, he refused twice the position of Minister of the Navy.Admiral Rosily reorganized the corps of the hydrographer engineers ofthe Navy.
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Ivan Sache, 29 June 2005
The flag of Châteauneuf-du-Faou, as communicated by themunicipal administration, is blue with a white castle with twotowers and four black windows, and a white wave beneath it. The flag is a banner of themunicipal arms, "Azure a castle argent masoned and windows sable in basea fess wavy argent".
Adopted in 1966, these arms superseded the previous ones, which featured a castle with had nine towers and were surmounted by a crown. The nine (French, "neuf") towers made the arms spuriously canting, sinceneuf has to be read here as "new".The fess wavy represents river Aulne.
Arnaud Leroy &Ivan Sache, 29 June 2005