This is surely the epilogue of an affair which lasted almost two years. The statue of the Archangel Saint-Michel in Sables-d’Olonne (Vendée), of which the Council of State had requested the removal from public space, was moved “a few meters” this Thursday. It was relocated on a private plot, recently sold to the parish by the town hall. “The ayatollahs of secularism will have pushed back our statue (…), but they will have advanced our desire to defend our culture and our art of living,” declared the various right-wing mayor, Yannick Moreau, at the end of August.
Until then installed on public land, in front of the square of the Saint-Michel church, the statue has therefore joined its new base on a plot of 53m2 alongside the building. Land sold for “around 3,000 euros” to the parish by the municipality, on which an access ramp for people with reduced mobility must also be installed. The senior priest of Sables-d’Olonne, Father Antoine Nouwavi, welcomed the adoption of a solution putting “an end to the controversy”.
The statue remains “on site, legally”
In December 2021, the Nantes administrative court ruled in favor of the La Libre Pension association which asked the municipality that this statue be moved out of public space. The decision was confirmed by the administrative court of appeal in September 2022 then by the Council of State in April 2023. “The handful of radical secularists will have their debunking but the will of the Sablais is respected because the Saint-Michel statue will remain on its place, completely legally”, affirmed Yannick Moreau, pointing the finger at the “storm of cancel culture”.
A consultation was organized in March 2022 on the fate of the statue, during which 94% of the 4,593 participants (for 45,000 inhabitants) voted for keeping the statue in public space. Present in the city between 1935 and 2017 in the grounds of a private school, the statue was moved in October 2018 and installed on the new square in front of the Saint-Michel church.