Saint Vincent, the Champagne day!

In Champagne, on January 22 of each year, the Vignerons and the Champagne houses celebrate “the Saint Vincent” to thank their patron for the past harvest and ask for his protection for all the work of the coming year.

The feast of Saint Vincent is a tradition deeply rooted in the world of wine.

The origin of the cults dedicated to the saints who protect the vine is undoubtedly linked to those attributed to Dionysus, the divinity of wine in ancient Greece and to his Roman counterpart, Bacchus.

The history of Saint Vincent dates back to the times of the Roman Empire. Vincent was born in a noble family at the end of the 3rd century in Huesca, a small Spanish town.

He quickly became a clergyman as a deacon. Under the Roman Empire, Christians are persecuted. Vincent was then imprisoned and tortured. He died on January 22, 304, martyred.

Why Saint Vincent as the patron of winemakers?

Vincent, a churchman and martyr, was immediately beatified after his death. To glorify the tunic of Saint Vincent and a golden cross of Toledo, relics brought back from Zaragoza following an expedition in 542, King Childebert I, son of Clovis, had an abbey built in Paris, Sainte-Croix-Saint -Vincent (today Saint-Germain-des-Près). Like many abbeys, it had a vineyard and its monks are said to have invoked Saint Vincent as the protector of their vines and their production. Saint-Vincent would later become the protector of the winegrowers of the Parisian region.

Other hypotheses have been trying to explain why he became the patron of winemakers: January 22nd falls on an ideal date for winemakers, between vinification and pruning, when the vine is at rest, as a deacon, he poured wine into the chalice for the mass, and his name can be understood as «Vin» «Sang» (Wine and Blood) for homophony ...

Whichever version is right, Saint-Vincent has always been the subject of festivities by the Vignerons since the Middle Ages.

In this period the Confraternities of Saint Vincent were born.

Winemakers, like other professions, feel the need to unite for social as well as religious reasons.

Abandoned during the Revolution, the cult of the Saint nevertheless remains alive in Champagne, favored by the Church. In January 1874 we read that the Confraternities had resumed their activity in Cumières and Verzenay.

Since the 1930s, with an eclipse due to the Second World War, there has been a renewal of such magnitude that in 1970 the Confraternities of Saint-Vincent covered all the wine-growing Champagne.

These Confraternities, which have mutual aid as their primary objective, organize and animate the Feast of Saint Vincent within the local wine community. 

The typical program of the Feast of Saint Vincent

The Brotherhood goes in procession to the church. The parade opens with a band that precedes the "stick" of Saint-Vincent. Behind come the children dressed in costumes. In the procession, the young people, in blue blouses, white aprons and cellarman's hats, take their places, carrying on two chairs decorated with flowers, foliage, tools for winemaking, the barrel of new wine that will be offered to the parish priest as wine for mass and the pyramid of brioches which, after being blessed, will be cut and distributed to the assistants during the celebration.

The procession goes to the church for mass, with the blessing of new wine and brioches. Then heads to the “Salle des fêtes” (party room) where the president of the Brotherhood talks about the situation of the Champagne market.

The day ends with a banquet, dances and various parties and the Champagne flows freely.

This year, due to the health situation, the feast of Saint-Vincent was not as usual. However, each Brotherhood did their best and celebrated this day by thanking their Patron Saint for the magnificent 2020 harvest and asking for his protection for that of 2021.

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Cin cin et à your santé!!!