We left behind the rolling hills of the Rhine valley for the towering mountains of Switzerland. Although most of July 12 was taken up by the journey from Heiligenstein, France, to Geneva, we made a stop in the town of Avenches.
Although it’s now a small community surrounded by farms, Avenches was once the site of a Roman city (then called Aventicum). It was the capital of Rome’s Swiss province, and the fields are still dotted with ruins. We ate our lunch in an amphitheatre, which is currently set up for a production of La Boheme. Above it looms a tower built by residents in the Middle Ages to help defend their town from marauding bands.
We visited the local Reformed church, which is still known to locals by its Catholic name, St. Mary Magdalene or “La Madeleine.” One section of the structure dates from the 11th century, although the church was enlarged in the 15th century and renovated again in the 18th.
During the renovations, a saint was discovered hiding behind the stucco on one of the church’s walls. The image was likely covered when it transitioned from a Catholic church to a Reformed church and all iconography and religious imagery was removed. The painting probably dates from the 13th century, and the scene is one that we heard about in Meaux, albeit in a different context. It depicts the torture of a female saint; her tongue is being cut out so she cannot preach.
Today the church is served by a female deacon. And it has preserved its historical name and associations with Mary Magdalene; the stained glass in the oldest part of the church was created by Eric de Saussure, a brother of the Taize community. All the images include Mary or stories associated with Mary in the Catholic tradition.
