Saint-Viâtre
Encyclopedia
Saint-Viâtre is a commune
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...

 in the Loir-et-Cher
Loir-et-Cher
Loir-et-Cher is a département in north-central France named after the rivers Loir and Cher.-History:Loir-et-Cher is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Orléanais and...

 département of central France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

History

The village was originally called Tremblevif, from the Latin for "aspen
Aspen
Populus section Populus, of the Populus genus, includes the aspen trees and the white poplar Populus alba. The five typical aspens are all native to cold regions with cool summers, in the north of the Northern Hemisphere, extending south at high altitudes in the mountains. The White Poplar, by...

" and "village", but suggesting in the popular imagination a place prone to swamp fever and trembling limbs. In 1854, worried that outsiders might be put off, the villagers successfully petitioned to change the name to Saint-Viâtre in honour of a hermit, traditionally known as Viâtre, who had lived in the forests of Sologne
Sologne
Sologne , a region of north-central France extending over portions of the départements of Loiret, Loir-et-Cher and Cher...

. His tomb is in the crypt of the village church.
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