Saint-Quentin collegiate church

Basilica of Saint-Quentin
Basilique de Saint-Quentin
The basilica from the south in 2011
Shown within France
Basic information
Location	Saint-Quentin, Aisne, France
Geographic coordinates	49°50′52″N 3°17′24″E / 49.847792°N 3.289917°E / 49.847792; 3.289917Coordinates: 49°50′52″N 3°17′24″E / 49.847792°N 3.289917°E / 49.847792; 3.289917
Affiliation	Roman Catholic
District	Diocese of Soissons
State	France
Country	France
Heritage designation	Monument historique (1840)
Architectural description
Architectural style	Gothic
Completed	12th – 16th century
Specifications
Length	133 metres (436 ft)
Width (nave)	42 metres (138 ft)
Spire height	82 metres (269 ft)

The Basilica of Saint-Quentin (French: Basilique de Saint-Quentin), formerly the Collegiate Church of Saint-Quentin (French: Collégiale Saint-Quentin) is a Catholic church in the town of Saint-Quentin, Aisne, France. There have been religious buildings on the site since the 4th century AD, which were repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt during the Early Middle Ages. The present basilica was constructed in stages between the 12th and 15th centuries. It was severely damaged in World War I (1914–18), and was only reopened in 1956 after extensive reconstruction.

The town of Saint-Quentin has been identified with the Roman city of Augusta Veromandurorum, a commercial center at an important crossroads. It takes its present name from the Christian missionary Saint Caius Quintinus, who was beheaded there in 287 AD. Legend says the body was found many years later in the nearby marches of the River Somme by a Roman widow named Eusebia. She reburied the remains at the top of the hill at the center of the present town and built a small shrine to the martyr. Excavations round the crypt of the present church have indeed found traces of a building from this date.

Some sources say the town became the seat of a bishopric around 365, but after barbarians destroyed it in 531 the bishop moved to Noyon. The chapel is listed as a pilgrimage destination by Gregory of Tours (c. 538–594). Saint Eligius (c. 588–660), Bishop of Noyon and counselor to Dagobert I, Merovingian king of France, rediscovered the tomb in the 7th century "under the pavement of the basilica". There are records of Saint Eligius having enlarged the building. Remains of a floor from this period have been found near the crypt. A large fragment of mosaic has been preserved.

The first community of monks was established in or around Saint-Quentin by the mid-7th century, probably by Irish monks with the backing of the bishops of Noyon. The bishops claimed ecclesiastic jurisdiction over most of Vermandois, including Saint-Quentin. The church was rebuilt with the assistance of Charlemagne (c. 747–814), and consecrated by Pope Stephen IV (r. 816–817). There may have been two churches in the early Middle Ages, one dedicated to Saint Quentin and the other to the Virgin Mary. Archaeologists have found the remains of walls from the Carolingian period, when the location was a flourishing monastery and pilgrimage site. Limited archaeological investigations indicate that the crypt in the section of the nave between the two transepts may have replaced a Carolingian crypt with a circular corridor.