Église Saint-Gildas d'Auray, Catholic church in Auray, France

Église Saint-Gildas d'Auray is a Catholic parish church built of light brown masonry, with a massive square bell tower on the west side. The tower is divided by cornices into three storeys, topped by a small octagonal lantern, and its ground-floor porch bears the date 1636. The nave has three aisles under coffered barrel vaults resting on pointed arcades, and a Renaissance portal with a figure of the patron saint stands on the south side.

A Benedictine priory from Saint-Gildas-en-Rhuys was established in Auray in the 12th century, and its church also served as the parish church. That building was demolished in 1620 and replaced on the same site; the new church was consecrated in 1641 by the Bishop of Vannes. Its bell tower, finished in 1663, was rebuilt in 1832.

The church is named for Saint Gildas, the 6th-century British monk and scholar known as Gildas the Wise. In the 1930s the large transept windows received stained glass by the Rault Brothers' workshop of Rennes depicting his life, including his baptism and his fish miracle; four windows of 1874 are by Eugène-Stanislas Oudinot. A Mass is held every Sunday at 11 a.m.

Mass is held every Sunday at 11 a.m., the main occasion to see the interior. The west facade faces the square, with the 1636 porch framed by tall Doric columns; the south side has a second Renaissance portal topped by a figure of Saint Gildas. The building and its altarpiece have been listed as monuments historiques since 17 February 1995.

The high altar was commissioned in 1657 from the Laval architect Olivier Martinet and installed in 1664; Pierre Plessix of Vannes restored and gilded it in 1773. Its central painting shows the Resurrection, with niches for a Madonna and a Saint Anne. It was listed as a monument historique in 1965.