The Great Parish (Cella Sancti German Manea Parochiae) owes its original name to the Christian Latin Cella, which means hermitage and sometimes "small monastery" following groups of hermits from the Carolingian era.
This commune was the favorite villa of the Merovingian leudes and took the name of Villam Cellas, became Cellae then Altare de Cellis in honor of Saint-Germain.
Legend of Saint-Germain of Paris: "Childebert I fell ill in this place and was miraculously cured by the saint whom he had called. In gratitude, he gave him the lands forming today the parishes of Vernou, Machault and La Grande Parish. The Church was dedicated to him. Formerly a Priory".
Great Parish
The first meeting of Louis XV and Marie Leckzinska took place on the territory of the commune, on September 4, 1725. A red marble column was raised to commemorate the event.
At the La Grande Paroisse cemetery, a gate surrounds the grave of Claudie Elie Montain Horeau, doctor to Empress Joséphine and Emperor Napoleon 1st, member of the Academy of Medicine, Knight of the Legion of Honor, died on February 11, 1841.