Les titulatures d'oratoires dans le département du Var

Overview & Synopsis

Oratory titles in the Var department. The ranking of favorite saints of the Var — determined according to the patron saints of the oratories in the department — reveals something of the regional cultural identity : the Virgin Mary is first, followed in variable order by John the Baptist, Joseph, Magdalene, Ann, Peter, and Mark. Adding dates to this corpus enriches the rank observations, and modifies somewhat their analysis. Comparing the oratories erected before and after 1955, we note an increase in favor of the Virgin, accompanied by a decrease in the pantheon of intercessors. However, this decrease is only apparent, since the oratories recently dedicated to Mary show the intention of the founders to make Mother of Christ their Our Lady, by the great variety of the personalized titles of the oratories. The rise of the cuit of the Virgin thus masks the continuity of a devotion marked by the diversity of intercessors. But beyond this continuity, the recent titles also reveal a personalization and a secularization of the monuments. Recent names have a frankly private intent, and the functionalism and estheticism of the new edifices suggest an alteration of the founders' religious motivations. This last observation opens onto the more general question of relations between cuit of saints and quest for identity. Whether old or new, oratory names operate as identity markers, but on différent levels — collective or private — without it being possible to dissociate them entirely.