From yesteryear to the present

The parish and castellany of La Séguinière have been known since 1000. Situated strategically on the river Moine, the village is a boundary between the historical provinces of Anjou and Poitou. It is probably the reason why La Séguinière draws its name from the latin « sequinaria », which means frontier. Until the end of the 19th century, the population lived on agriculture and livestock farming. In the early 20^th century, the development of the textile industry in Cholet and of shoe-making in La Séguinière created new jobs. At their peak, these industries employed 300 people from La Séguinière, until they started declining from the late 1950’s.

Religious tradition has left a deep imprint in the village’s heritage. The famous statue of the Virgin « Notre-Dame de Toute-Patience » ( ND of all Patience), which can be seen in the Chapel of the same name, is supposed to be the work of Father Grignion-de-Montfort, an apostolic  missionary, who came to La Séguinière between 1713 and 1715. Tradition has it that he carved it out of a pear tree from a garden in the village. The Montfortain friars, missionaries of the Holy Spirit, still take their vows before the statue.