Église Saint-Géry, Valenciennes, Catholic church in Valenciennes, France

Église Saint-Géry in Valenciennes is a Catholic church whose stone tower, pale grey and square, carries a clock face and a pointed spire above arched openings. The nave to its right sits under a dark, steeply pitched roof, with tall traceried windows and a large arched entrance framed in lighter stone. Inside, a nave and two side aisles keep twelve blue stone pillars with their capitals, standing for the twelve apostles.

Construction began in the first half of the 13th century at the request of Franciscan monks. The church later became the burial place for the senior line of the Counts of Hainaut.

The church is named after Saint Géry, a seventh-century bishop of Cambrai. The Ursuline martyrs of Valenciennes, executed in 1794 on the Place d'Armes, are honoured in a chapel consecrated to them in 2021, when their reliquary was transferred here by the Ursulines of Saint-Saulve.

The church stands in central Valenciennes, near the Place d'Armes, and is reached on foot. It is an active Catholic parish, so visits are best planned outside Mass times. The 1944 bombing and the rebuilding completed in 1965 mean the interior seen today is largely modern.

In 2021, the bones of Ursuline martyrs from Valenciennes were placed in a chapel within the church. This transfer honors a lesser-known group of women who played a role in the area's religious history.