The common Saint-Michel-de-Rieufret is in a picturesque landscape of forests, lakes, valleys, offering the visitor a suite of sites bucolic and rustic, constantly renewed.
The oldest documents which reads the name of Saint-Michel-de-Rieufret date from the late 12th century.
In the Middle Ages, to get to Saint Jacques de Compostela, many pilgrims borrowed the old Roman road or path Gallien. They halted in the church of Saint-Michel, of Romanesque origin but rebuilt in the late 16th century. Its grandiose appearance is evidence of the importance the pilgrimage to Saint Michel.
The Compostela pilgrims who followed the path opened by St. Gerard on the end of the 11th century "The Sauve, Portets, Captieux, etc. were" a station in the sanctuary before crossing adventurous Landes.
Until the 16th century, the extension of the pilgrimage to St. Michael the Archangel was required on several occasions, the expansion of the church, because it could be traced back pilgrimages to Saint Michel parties of 8 May and 29 September large crowds that gathered in the 12th century.
Most arrived by Landais Guillos and the route they followed invariably became the inhabitants of Saint Michel a sacred way: they named "Path Aroumieu" ie the Pilgrims. Pilgrims from Rome were called Roumieux and people eventually designate the name of the pilgrims from any other place.
Celebrating the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel, in this village, an ancient tradition. Each year to celebrate the Saint-Michel, a procession takes place on a circuit of 5 to 6 km in the forest return the pilgrims path Roumieu said.
