Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Notre-Dame-de-l'Espérance chapel, located in the heart of La Rochelle between the streets of Augustins and Bazoges, was built in the second half of the 19th century. Originally, the site housed the Guillemet baths, transformed in 1855 into a convent for the Sisters of the Holy Family of Bordeaux, thanks to a donation made to Abbé Thibeau, parish priest of Saint Louis Cathedral. The local architect and sculptor Alexander Vetelet designed the chapel in a neo-Gothic style, including a altarpiece decorated with statues of apostles and a rosaceous Virgin surrounded by angels. The blessing took place in 1862 by Bishop Jean-François Landriot, bishop of La Rochelle and Saintes.

The convent functioned more than a century before being dissolved in 1970 and then converted into housing. The chapel, for its part, became the property of a company of HLM before being leased, from 1981 onwards, to the association Saint-Pie-X, bringing together faithful attached to the tridentin rite. Father Ernest Sire, a diocesan priest, served there until 1995, when the chapel was purchased by the association and then bought in 2010 by the Priestly Fraternity of St. Its interior is distinguished by an ogival gated stand, wall woodwork and a tympanum covering the motif of the Virgin with the rosette.

Classified as an additional inventory of historical monuments since 31 December 1985 (including its altarpiece), the chapel illustrates the religious and architectural heritage of La Rochelle. Its history reflects social and cultural changes from the 19th to the 21st century, from a convent dedicated to the education of girls to a traditional place of worship preserved by communities attached to the preconciliar liturgy. Today, it depends on the Priory of Notre-Dame-du-Rosaire de Saint-Germain-de-Prinçay, linked to the Priestly Fraternity of Saint-Pie-X.

External links