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Origin and history

The chapel of the former major seminary of Meaux was built as part of a project to expand the seminary in 1936. It is part of the buildings of the former Notre-Dame de Chaage Abbey, founded in the Middle Ages and transformed in 1135 into a regular canon establishment. After the destruction of the Hundred Years' War and the Wars of Religion, the abbey was rebuilt and its church consecrated in 1616. During the Revolution, the buildings were sold as national goods and fragmented.

In 1907, the Major Seminary of Meaux settled in the premises, and in 1936, architect Henri Faucheur, inspired by Dom Bellot, erected the reinforced concrete chapel. His decoration was entrusted to renowned artists: George Desvallières for the murals of the choir, and Louis Barillet's workshop (in collaboration with Jacques Le Chevallier and Théodore Hanssen) for the stained glass windows. The furniture, designed under the direction of Faucher, was made by local artisans, including the Boulanger workshops for stalls and Lelu marbleware for altar.

The chapel, consecrated in 1937, illustrates the religious art of the 1930s by its stylistic unity and decorative richness. After the departure of the seminary in 1960, it was converted into a diocesan library, while adjacent spaces became classrooms for the Lycée Sainte-Marie. Today, his return to a cult vocation could highlight this exceptional architectural and artistic ensemble, still preserved in its entirety.

The abbey of Chaage, whose medieval origins are still not well known, has been profoundly redesigned over the centuries. In the 19th century, the Visitandines added a chapel (1846) and convent wings, before leaving the site in 1902. Today, only the chapel of the Rosary remains, transformed into orangery and then into a classroom, and part of the cloister dating from the 16th century, re-dressed in the 17th and 19th centuries.

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