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Saint-Affrique
was named after the Bishop of Comminges,
Affricanus, who was persecuted by the Visigoths
and found refuge here in this "vicaria curiensis"
in about 495. From 1320, the town jointly
belonged to the King of France, the Bishop
of Vabres and the Comte de Caylus.
In 1628, it successfully withstood the siege
by the army of the Prince de Condé.
However, Richelieu ordered its fortifications
to be destroyed in 1632. Indeed,
Saint –Affrique, like Millau, was
one of the rare bastions of the Protestant
faith during the Reformation. At that time,
there was a wave of violence by religious
fanatics in the countryside surrounding
Saint Affrique, and Louis XIII dismantled
the town as a reprisal.
Other
painful episodes in the history of Saint Affrique
include an outbreak of cholera in 1854. The
inhabitants prayed to the Virgin Mary to deliver
them from the illness, and they hollowed out
recesses in the walls of their homes where they
placed votive statuettes of the Virgin. There
are about 60 of these recesses still remaining,
two-thirds of which still have the original
statuette.
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