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Origin and history

The Saint Joseph Chapel was built in 1861 at Beauvais under the leadership of Bishop Joseph-Armand Claverie, chaplain of the boarding school of the Brothers of Christian Schools. It became the seat of St Joseph's Conferrery, founded in 1859 and recognized by Pope Pius IX in 1861. The building, designed by architect Victor Delefortrie, embodies a sober neo-Gothic style, inspired by the 13th century, with a stone facade flanked by turrets and a carved tympanum depicting the Holy Family.

Inside, richly decorated, houses murals made by the Brothers of Christian Schools, including Brother Athanase, as well as stained glass initially created by the Bishop's workshop, restored after the damage of the two world wars. The walls are decorated with coats of arms and marble ex-voto, testimonies of the gifts of the faithful and former students. Partly destroyed in 1944, the chapel was restored between 1946 and 1956, preserving its neo-Gothic furniture, organ and rostrum.

In 1968, the destruction of the Saint Joseph boarding school spared the chapel, the only vestige of the original neighborhood. A member of the Beauvais Diocesan Association in 1981 for a symbolic franc, it was listed as a historical monument in 2022. Its polychrome decoration, coat of arms and commemorative plaques illustrate its central role in the local devotion to St Joseph, as well as its connection to the educational and religious history of Beauvais.

The exterior architecture combines brick and stone, with a rosette illuminating the nave and a statue of Christ dominating the building. Inside, the limestone altar, marble columns and the sculpture of St Joseph and the Child Jesus (1872) highlight the artistic richness of the place. The current stained glass windows, the work of the painter-glass painter Raphaël Lardeur, replace those destroyed during the conflicts, perpetuating the artistic and spiritual tradition of the site.

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