Today we're used to preaching being something that happens mostly indoors in the context of the Mass or perhaps a retreat or novena. Especially in countries with a greater separation of church and state, religious speech and religious activity in general tends to happen in the private confines of a church or retreat center. Processions during Holy Week and on feast days are the exception.
It hasn't always been this way! Throughout Europe, the great preachers of the Middle Ages preached outdoors in the public squares of the towns they passed through. Roger Grand is the leading historian on the subject. We’ve borrowed some information from his article published in 1924 in the Bulletin Monumental on outdoor pulpits, specifically in France, a country renowned for its beautiful churches, and nowadays for the aggressive secularism of the government.
In the 15th century, there were still no fixed pulpits inside churches. Priests preached from the ambo or rood screen, which was accessible by a staircase. Protected by a waist-high balustrade, the preacher thus towered over his audience. After the Council of Trent and the widespread destruction of rood screens, pulpits took their place in the naves.
Where can you see pulpits outside churches?
Victor Hugo described the beautiful outdoor pulpit of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Saint-Lô (Manche). Located on the north side of the apse, it dates from the 15th century. The pulpit is polygonal. A carved canopy acts as a sounding board.
However, outdoor pulpits attached to churches are mainly found in Brittany. The south facade of the Notre-Dame de Vitré church (Ille-et-Vilaine), built between 1480 and 1540, has seven gables separated by buttresses, one of which is decorated with a pulpit. History says that this was to publicly oppose the Calvinists.
In Loire-Atlantique, in Guérande and Nantes, the pulpit also overlooks a public square. The most moving outdoor pulpit is undoubtedly the one in the church of Le Guerno (Morbihan), placed in 1575 against the south facade, with benches, two of which are rustic stalls. Guerno has a relic of the True Cross, which attracted many pilgrims on Good Friday for the Passion service. The pulpit in the ossuary chapel in Guimiliau (Finistère) is similar.
There are also a number of “Calvary pulpits”—pulpits integrated into sculptural representations of Christ’s crucifixion—in cemeteries. The 15th-century Calvary pulpit in Pleubian (Côtes-d'Armor) is particularly elegant. Opposite the church, a staircase leads to the pulpit, in the center of which stands a crucifix.
Others worth mentioning are those in Runan (Côtes-d'Armor), La Forêt-Fouesnant, and Plougasnou (Finistère).
Finally, important pilgrimage sites have pulpits accessible via a scala sancta (holy staircase) with double flights of steps, such as at the Marian shrine of Quelven au Guern and Sainte-Anne-d'Auray (Morbihan).
Why these outdoor pulpits?
It’s not always a lack of space inside the church that explains the presence of these outdoor pulpits in Brittany. Nor is it the good weather—Brittany is typically cloudy, and often windy and rainy!
Rather, they illustrate the tradition of large gatherings of the faithful in cemeteries around the church (the living in communion with their dead) during missionary sermons, pilgrimages, votive festivals, pardons, processions, mysteries, and so on. Monumental cemetery gates, parish enclosures, crucifixes, ossuaries, altars, crosses—everything is located outdoors. This has been seen as a remnant of Celtic worship, which always took place in the open air.
