Benoît Haffreingue

Haffreingue was the principal of a private Jesuit boarding school for boys (now known as "Le collège Haffreingue-Chanclaire") in the town which included among its former students the New Zealand architect Francis Petre.

In 1820, Haffreingue was walking past the derelict ruins of the old cathedral, destroyed during the French Revolution, close to the school, when he believed he received a call from God to rebuild the edifice.

Acting on the call with money given by the families of his pupils, he bought the ground and the remains of the cathedral and built a small chapel for the college.

The donations continued to pour in: the Emperor Napoleon III gave a gift of 1,000 francs, and also bestowed on Haffreingue the Legion of Honour.

Remaining all his life a modest man, he erected a plaque above the gate to the cathedral reading "A Domino factum est" (tr.