Motherhouse of the Congregation of the Mission (New Saint Lazare)
(95, rue de S6vres, Paris 6)
As far as is known, Saint Vincent do Paul was never in
the present motherhouse of the Congregation of the Mission. He may
have seen it, inasmuch as he worked in the area. This present large
house has sometimes been called the new Saint Lazare. It replaced
the former Saint Lazare, closed after the infamous sack that took
place during the night and early morning of 13 July 1789, the eve
of the taking of the Bastille. During this disaster, the superior
general, Jean Felix Cayla de la Garde (1734-1800), fled for his life
by climbing over the garden wall. He later hid out in France, and
then took refuge in the Palatinate (a region in modern Germany), and
later in Rome, where he died. The revolutionary government then abolished
all religious congregations in France, declared their vows null, and
seized their properties.
A decree from Napoleon, dated 24 May 1804, re-established the Congregation
of the Mission. Dominique Hanon (1757-1816), the French vicar general
from 1807 to his death, had much to suffer, since Napoleon suppressed
the Congregation anew on 26 September 1809. Hanon was imprisoned from
May 1811 until 13 April 1814. The Congregation reúestablished
3 February 1816, had to wait until the election of Charles Verbert
(1752-1819) as vicar general to get a house from the government of
Louis XVIII. As compensation for the loss of the original Saint Lazare,
the Vincentians took possession of the former Hotel (or city residence)
of the duke of Lorges. The state had acquired this house for the Congregation's
use from the hospital across the street, which gained it at the Revolution.
The Congregation became lodgers (the government owned the property,
the Congregation had use of it), and the house opened on 9 November
1817. At the time, the house, 95, rue de Sevres, included: (1)
a three-story main house, with courtyard and garden; (2) a two-story
section looking out on Rue de Sevres joined to the main house by two
side buildings, one story each, used as stables, storehouse, and hay
barn; (3) a one-story wing situated where the present refectory is
located. The community moved in as best it could into cramped
quarters. Jean Baptiste Etienne (1801-1874), a seminarian at the time,
recalled: "It was the stable of Bethlehem." The oldest part
of the building dates from 1685-1688.
On 17 August 1826, the vicar general, Charles Boujard (1752-1831),
laid the cornerstone of the chapel. Previously, there had been only
a tiny an4 unsuitable oratory. To build the chapel, the Congregation
acquired wing of the old Hotel de Lorges and half of the adjoining
house were demolished to make way for the chapel. Then, during the
generalate of Pierre de Wailly (1827-]828), construction on
the chapel continued, and the archbishop of Paris, Hyacinthe de Quelen,
blessed it on 1 November 1827. The chapel itself followed the designs
of the seminary at Arniens. Little by little, the community acquired
important properties. In 1835 it acquired numbers 92, 94, and 96,
rue de Cherche-Midi, located at the back of the present property,
and in 1875, number 90.
Above the chapel were built the rooms in Corridor Saint Matthieu and
the dormitory for the novitiate. Father Etienne, then superior general,
undertook the construction of the present refectory, the prayer hall,
a large number of rooms in Corridor Saint Marc, and an oratory for
the novices. Always careful about the beauty of the chapel, he had
the main altar built, with its two staircases leading up to the casket
of Saint Vincent. Then, in 1857, because of the needs of the ever-increasing
community, he bought the property at 97, rue de Sevres, and built
another wing on that land. Next, in 1864, he constructed the right-hand
wing of the main entry courtyard, and side aisles for the chapel now
grown too small. At that same time, the facade of the central building
was rebuilt, and a bell tower added, to announce the Congregation
to its neighbors. The last section bought was 93, rue de Sevres built
by the zealous superior general as lodgings for retreatants and Vincentians
passing through. In forty years, this new Saint Lazare had become
again a "place of resurrection,” as Saint Vincent described
the original Saint Lazare to his confreres. (Conference 9)
On the occasion of Father Etienne's jubilee, Eugene Vicart,
his first assistant general for many years, could say, with some triumphalism:
"We love to look on you as our second founder, and if this title
is ever questioned, if one day the Company forgets what it owes you,
may the stones themselves cry out and accuse us of ingratitude.
The house contains many souvenirs of Vincent de Paul. The most noteworthy,
of course, is the silver reliquary containing his remains, and placed
over the main altar in a solemn ceremony in 1830. His body is not
incorrupt. Although the skeleton has been hidden or transferred several
times because of wars, revolutions, and religious celebrations (the
latest in 1960), it has been preserved. Wax covers the face and hands.
The crucifix in his hands is the one he used when assisting King Louis
XIII on his deathbed. This precious souvenir passed down through the
royal family, and then to the archdiocese of Paris. At the time of
the translation of the relics in 1830, the then archbishop of Paris
and his canons gave it to the Congregation to be used as it is today.
Other items of great importance are the tombs of Saint Jean Gabriel
Perboyre (1802-1840), canonized in 1996; Blessed Francis Regis Clet
(1748-1820), like Perboyre a martyr m China; led his and Jean Baptiste
Etienne, superior general from 1843 to 1874. The extraordinary cult
of personality attached to the latter confreres to move his body from
the Montparnasse cemetery to a tomb in the center of the chapel, surrounded
by the remains of the founder and two martyrs, as well as by his confreres
at prayer. The remains of the two martyrs were transferred for safekeeping
to the Vincentian house in Liege, Belgium, from 1907 to 1919, thus
avoiding complications arising from the anti-clerical laws then in
force in France and the first World War.
A major side chapel is dedicated to the Passion of Jesus. Built in
the time of Father Etienne, it commemorates two similar devotions:
the "Scapular of the Passion of Our Lord and of the Sacred Hearts
of Jesus and Mary" (the Red Scapular), and the Archconfraternity
of the Holy Agony of Our Lord. The first developed through the experiences
of Sister Appoline Andriveau (1833-1895), a Daughter of Charity. The
second was popularized through the adjoining property, 5 July 1826.
Next the left devotion of a Vincentian, Antoine Nicolle (1817-1890).
Shrines to honor the suffering of Jesus in the Garden of Olives are
characteristic of many older Vincentian churches.
The tribune of the chapel, reached from inside the building, features
some side altars and confessionals, but the main items of interest
are the eight large canvases painted by Brother Francois Charbonnier
(1787-1873). He was a trained artist at the time of his entry into
the Congregation, having studied at the studio of the painter Ingres.
His paintings are displayed in several other places in the building.
The small organ, built by the renowned Cavaille-Coll, was completed
in 1864, and is a registered historical object. Power used to be supplied
by manual pumping, but the instrument is now electrified.
The Salle des Reliques (Musee Vincentien), displays many items used
by Vincent de Paul, Louise de Marillac, and the saints and some of
the blesseds and other members of the Congregation of the Mission
and the Daughters of Charity. Most noteworthy is a miniature painting
of Saint Vincent, one of the very few authentic likenesses of him
painted during his life. Another original, or perhaps an early copy,
is found in the sacristy of the main chapel. It is the first in a
series of portraits of the superiors general which Brother Charbonnier
painted.
The long narrow building at the back of the property began as the
Seminary of Saint Vincent de Paul, in 1899. Its first superior was
the remarkable Fernand Portal (1855-1926). He bad entered the Vincentians
in Paris, hoping to go to China as a missionary. During his studies,
his health deteriorated, so after his ordination in 1880, his career
turned to seminary teaching. He met Charles Lindley Wood, Lord Halifax
(1839-1934), an Anglican, on the island of Madeira where both had
gone for their health. They worked to increase contact and understanding
between Anglicans and Roman Catholics, and pursued the historical
issues separating them. Portal had to suspend his work, but his interests
continued. He made this seminary a center for contacts among Catholics,
Anglicans and Protestants. He was silenced by Rome in 1908 and left
his post. His interests continued and he and Halifax planned ecumenical
dialogues on a more official level. With Rome's permission, Cardinal
Mercier of Malines, Belgium, sponsored these "Malines Conversations
from 1921 to 1925. Both Portal and the cardinal died in 1926, and
such conversations were put on hold until the era of Vatican II. The
seminary buildings are divided between provincial offices and a hotel.
(88, rue du Cherche-Midi, Paris 6)
Back to Museum
Motherhouse of the Congregation of the Mission (New Saint Lazare)
(95, rue de S6vres, Paris 6)
Motherhouse of the Daughters of Charity (1 801-1815) (II, rue du Vieux
Colombier, Paris 6)
Mottlerhouse of the Daughters of Charity (140, rue du Bac, Paris 7Church
of Saint Etienne du Mont (Place Sainte Genevieve, Paris 5)
Cathedral of Our Lady of Paris (Notre Dame de Paris), H6tel Dieu
Convent of the Visitation (17, rue Saint Antoine, Paris 4)
Church of saint Lawrence (68, boulevard Magenta, and 119, rue du Faubourg
Saint Martin, Paris 10)
Clichy-la-Garonne
