The calvary is a tribute to the resistance and death of André Ripoche, a winegrower and winemaker who, in 1794, refused to cut down the cross in the face of the Republic's "Colonnes Infernales".
At Le Landreau, the calvary at Bas Briacé, also known as the "André Ripoche" cross, evokes the period of the Vendée Wars.
In 1794, during the Vendée Wars, the lads from Le Loroux tried to oppose the invasion of their country by Cordelier's Colonnes Infernales, but there weren't enough of them to put up any serious resistance; most of the able-bodied men were with Charrette. Those who remained, like Ripoche, were forced to disperse and hide.
Furious at finding no one when he entered Le Loroux, Cordellier took his revenge by setting fire to the houses and the church. He organised a "brigand hunt" (massacre of 800 people: the elderly, the infirm, children and women).
André Ripoche was denounced to Cordellier by the Pataud du Pays. Cordellier sent a detachment to Bas-Briacé to search all the houses, assisted by a pack of dogs trained to hunt down the Vendéens. All the prisoners were rounded up near an old wooden cross, but Ripoche was not there. The Blue commander continued his search and one of the dogs finally found him in a thicket. The man came out of the thicket and proudly stepped forward, saying "This is the man you're looking for, I'm Ripoche". The Blues beat him to a pulp. The leader of the Blues then had a satanic inspiration, he made Ripoche come forward and offered to buy his life back if he would take down the cross with an axe. Ripoche accepted. He was released. He took the axe, but twirled it to make the Blues move back and he shouted: "Death to the one who insults the cross of Jesus Christ". I will defend it to my last breath". The Bleus bayoneted him. Ripoche fell to the ground with his 2 arms around the cross. The murderers left their victim and pulled down the cross. They tied him to the tail of a horse and dragged him, panting and dying, to Pouyer, a village near La Chapelle Heulin. When the soldiers finally realised that he was really dead, one of them discharged his rifle into Ripoche's ear. Ripoche had finally reached the end of his ordeal, having undergone, like the Victim of Golgotha, the trials of the Way of the Cross...
That night, the pious women of the village came in secret, having dug a grave at the foot of the Calvary, where they laid the Christian soldier and covered him with the bloody pieces of the cross.
In 1794, during the Vendée Wars, the lads from Le Loroux tried to oppose the invasion of their country by Cordelier's Colonnes Infernales, but there weren't enough of them to put up any serious resistance; most of the able-bodied men were with Charrette. Those who remained, like Ripoche, were forced to disperse and hide.
Furious at finding no one when he entered Le Loroux, Cordellier took his revenge by setting fire to the houses and the church. He organised a "brigand hunt" (massacre of 800 people: the elderly, the infirm, children and women).
André Ripoche was denounced to Cordellier by the Pataud du Pays. Cordellier sent a detachment to Bas-Briacé to search all the houses, assisted by a pack of dogs trained to hunt down the Vendéens. All the prisoners were rounded up near an old wooden cross, but Ripoche was not there. The Blue commander continued his search and one of the dogs finally found him in a thicket. The man came out of the thicket and proudly stepped forward, saying "This is the man you're looking for, I'm Ripoche". The Blues beat him to a pulp. The leader of the Blues then had a satanic inspiration, he made Ripoche come forward and offered to buy his life back if he would take down the cross with an axe. Ripoche accepted. He was released. He took the axe, but twirled it to make the Blues move back and he shouted: "Death to the one who insults the cross of Jesus Christ". I will defend it to my last breath". The Bleus bayoneted him. Ripoche fell to the ground with his 2 arms around the cross. The murderers left their victim and pulled down the cross. They tied him to the tail of a horse and dragged him, panting and dying, to Pouyer, a village near La Chapelle Heulin. When the soldiers finally realised that he was really dead, one of them discharged his rifle into Ripoche's ear. Ripoche had finally reached the end of his ordeal, having undergone, like the Victim of Golgotha, the trials of the Way of the Cross...
That night, the pious women of the village came in secret, having dug a grave at the foot of the Calvary, where they laid the Christian soldier and covered him with the bloody pieces of the cross.
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