Chapelle Saint-Jean-Baptiste, Medieval commandry chapel in Carentoir, France

Chapelle Saint-Jean-Baptiste stands in the hamlet of Le Temple, 4 km from the bourg of Carentoir. The chapel is built of rough grey and brown stone, with a steep slate gabled roof topped by a stone cross and a slender square bell tower with a tall slate spire at the right rear. A round-arched red double door sits in a projecting stone surround, with one small round-arched window above; flat painted figures of knights are mounted on the wall on either side of the door. Only the Romanesque arch between nave and choir survives from the original building.

The commandry was founded around 1182 on land the Duke of Brittany held at Karantoe, a name from Breton Ker-en-Touer, "village of the roofers", after the local slate quarries. A charter attributed to Conan IV, who died in 1171, is thought to have been drawn up by the Templars in the late 13th century to legitimise their Breton holdings. The Templars built the church and a commandry that has since vanished; only the Romanesque arch between nave and choir survives, the rest was rebuilt over the centuries. It became the leading commandry of Brittany and kept that role under the Hospitallers of Saint-Jean of Jerusalem.

The name Carentoir comes from the Breton Ker-en-Touer, "village of the roofers", after the slate quarries worked in the area. Popular tradition holds that the Templars of the commandry were massacred at the foot of an oak near the Fondelienne chapel, halfway between the commandry and the village, rather than taken prisoner. Inside, a wooden recumbent knight, the "Tombeau du Templier" or "Saint Dormant", is called the only one of its kind in France.

The chapel stands in the hamlet of Le Temple, about 4 km from the village of Carentoir, roughly 60 km from Vannes, Rennes and Saint-Nazaire. It is open to visitors in summer, and the parish priest of Carentoir still occasionally celebrates mass there. Approach by road from Carentoir; the building is unrestored in its setting and its state has deteriorated, so expect basic conditions.

The church keeps a wooden recumbent effigy, called the "Tombeau du Templier" or "Saint Dormant", carved from wood and considered the only one of its kind in France. It shows a Templar or Hospitaller knight in a coat of arms. Popular tradition holds that the commandry's Templars were all killed at the foot of an oak near the Fondelienne chapel when they were arrested, rather than taken prisoner.