Saint-Calais 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 Sarthe

Sarthe

Sarthe is a French department, named after the Sarthe River.- History :The department was created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790, pursuant to the law of December 22, 1789, starting from a part of the province of Maine which was divided into two departments, Sarthe to the east and...

 department in the region

Régions of France

France is divided into 27 administrative regions , 22 of which are in Metropolitan France, and five of which are overseas. Corsica is a territorial collectivity , but is considered a region in mainstream usage, and is even shown as such on the INSEE website...

 of Pays-de-la-Loire in north-western 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...

.

Prior to the French Revolution

French Revolution

The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

 it was known for its Benedictine abbey named after the Anisola stream (modern Aniole, a tributary of the Braye

Braye

Braye can refer to:* Braye , a river in France* Braye Harbour, the main port of Alderney, in the Channel Islands.Braye is also the name or part of the name of several communes in France:* Braye, Aisne, in the Aisne département...

). Saint-Calais is a later name coming from one of the local saints of the Perche area. William of St. Calais, a product of this monastery, was a post-conquest bishop of Durham. There are no remains of the Abbey, which was a principal land-owner in the vicinity. The existing parish church has a fine Renaissance facade. The Aniole was dammed by the monks, thereby retaining a significant lake area.

Reaction against monastic landowners and the relative proximity to Paris (under twenty-four hours by stage-coach) conditioned the nineteenth century politics of the town. The coming of the railways and more recently of the motorway favoured neighbouring La Ferté-Bernard

La Ferté-Bernard

La Ferté-Bernard is a commune in the Sarthe department in the Pays de la Loire region in north-western France.-Twin towns:It is twinned with Louth in Lincolnshire and also Laufen, Germany.-Local folklore:...

 which has grown at the expense of Saint-Calais, which has a population under 4000 and which lost its sous-préfecture status in 1926. The town however retains certain services appropriate to that level, e.g. hospital facilities.

People

Famous persons from the town include Cardinal Louis-Ernest Dubois

Louis-Ernest Dubois

Louis-Ernest Dubois was a Roman Catholic Cardinal and Archbishop of Paris. He played a leading role in the period of adjustment to the separation of Church and State in France.-Early life:...

, archbishop of Rouen

Archbishop of Rouen

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rouen is an Archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. As one of the fifteen Archbishops of France, the ecclesiastical province of the archdiocese comprises the majority of Normandy....

 and subsequently archbishop of Paris

Archbishop of Paris

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Paris is one of twenty-three archdioceses of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The original diocese is traditionally thought to have been created in the 3rd century by St. Denis and corresponded with the Civitas Parisiorum; it was elevated to an archdiocese on...

in the early twentieth century.