Église Saint-Vidian, Catholic church in Martres-Tolosane, Haute-Garonne, France

Église Saint-Vidian is a church building in the center of Martres-Tolosane, rising among old houses and cobbled streets. The structure displays a massive form with a characteristic Toulouse-style bell tower, while its facade shows modifications from different centuries and scattered decorative elements from various periods.

A Gallo-Roman complex once stood here, later a paleochristian centre and a funerary basilica with a necropolis dedicated to Saint Mary, as the paleochristian and medieval sarcophagi found on site show. In the 9th century Saint Vidian was martyred and buried here; in the 10th century a priory dependent on the Abbey of Saint-Sernin in Toulouse was founded. Its Romanesque church, in poor condition, was demolished in the 13th century and rebuilt in brick at the end of the 13th and start of the 14th century, consecrated in 1309.

The church is dedicated to Saint Vidian, a knight of Charlemagne martyred near Martres-Tolosane and celebrated on 27 August. His chapel holds a 15th-century Gothic altar, and a 17th-century painting shows him at the battle of Aliscans. The baptismal chapel's Stations of the Cross were made by the Cabaré faience works of Martres-Tolosane.

The church is 50 metres long, 11 wide and 12 high, so allow time to walk the nave and the chapels. Paleochristian sarcophagi are displayed in a fenced space to the left of the building, around a crucifix. Inside, look at the rear for the 1576 recumbent effigy of Roger de Sarrieu and the sixth-century marble sarcophagus.

The 6th-century marble sarcophagus called the sarcophagus of Saint Vidian was used as a baptismal font from 1635 until the Second Empire. Its carvings include an inverted chrismon, with the letters A and W reversed and the omega turned upside down, a detail not rare in Gaulish inscriptions.