Saint Lawrence church origins are about 1040, when a group of priests gathered around Gerardo Caprasio to begin a community life in a place once occupied by a Benedectin monastery depending from Novalesa abbey, destroyed during the Saracen invasions of the 10th century. The official recognition of the institution happened in 1065, and from the 11th to the 18th century it was one the protagonist of the religious political and economical life on the Susa Valley and Dolphinate territory. The area of Saint Lawrence and Saint Peter’ church was destroyed during the 16th century by the Religious Wars between Catholics and Reformers. With the Birague family during the 17th century began the construction of the hospital and the religious life starts again. To testify the activity carried out in the long René de Birague (1658-1681) administration there is still the inscription on the portal of the Priest Palace that says Sub Renato renata (rebirth thanks to Renato). The Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, marked the passage of the High Susa Valley to the Savoy dominium with a weakness of the Priest power, considered too linked to the French crown. The buildings of the Canonical structure, definetly abolished during Napoleon period ,were sold on auction in 1809. It is only in 1886 that it began the construction of the Church of the Sacred Heart -as we see nowadays- consacrated in 1904 ,with three naves that preserves the Chapel of Carmel and the sepulchral monument of the Priest René de Birague dated 1681
Saint Lawrence Church- Abadia
