Ste Enimie, in the Lozere department, has been named one of les plus beaux villages de France; with a spectacular site surrounded by a rugged rocky landscape and dropping down to the green waters of the river Tarn it is easy to see why.
Ste Enimie herself was a princess, daughter of the king of the Franks; when pressed to marry she prayed to God and found herself saved from the marriage - she contracted leprosy, and nobody wanted to marry her any more. Then an angel appeared to her, telling her to go and bathe in the spring waters of a remote part of the Gevaudan area. She did this, was miraculously healed and decided to spend the rest of her life at this wild spot, dedicated to God.
A monastery was established in the saint’s honour, and although it is now partially ruined, you can still walk the path from there up into the hills to visit the sacred spring with its hermitage and chapel.
In the village, tiny medieval streets lead between fascinating buildings, and there is still a particularly religious flavour to life here as the village is a stop on the pilgrims’ route to Santiago de Compostella. There is also a procession of pilgrims up the path to the spring every year on the first Sunday in October.
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