Historical
The Vâtre Chapel, now privately owned, officially dates from the 12th century; but the site was probably in activity several centuries earlier. The chapel was renovated in the 17th century and again in 1942.
It is said that each year on June 25, a pilgrimmage to Saint-Jean-de-Vâtre was made by children with respiratory ailments. It is also said in the annals of Saint-Paul, the parish church of Jullié, that one would go on « viage » (the Anglo-Norman word for trip) to the chapel for children with convulsions. (M.Violet relates this in an article on superstitions and beliefs published in 1940 in a journal for friends of Tournus: « Bulletin des Amis de Tournus ».)
Legendary
A spring lay nearby where one would gather to invoke the Nymph who made the place her dwelling. Gradually the forests made way for vineyards and the waters lost, little by little, their faithful following. In our days the taste for waters has been utterly replaced by that for wines.
