Chapel of Our Lady of Hope en Charente

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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Notre-Dame-de-l'Espérance chapel is located in the city centre of La Rochelle, between the streets of Augustins and Bazoges. Originally, the building housed the Guillemet baths, transformed in 1855 into a convent by the Sisters of the Holy Family of Bordeaux, thanks to a donation made to Abbé Thibeau, parish priest of Saint Louis Cathedral. The chapel was blessed in 1862 by Bishop Jean-François Landriot, marking his religious assignment for more than a century.

In 1970 the convent was dissolved and the building converted into apartments, while the chapel became the property of a company of HLM. Beginning in 1975, Catholics attached to the tridentin rite gathered together as a Saint-Pie-X association. In 1981, this association became a tenant of the chapel and then acquired it in 1995, before the Priestly Brotherhood of St. Pie-X bought it back in 2010.

Architecturally, the chapel is distinguished by its neo-Gothic style, with a altarpiece decorated with statues of the apostles and a Virgin in a rosette, framed by two angels. In particular, the sculptor Felix-Alexandre Vételet contributed. The tympanum of the portal takes up this pattern, while the walls are decorated with quality woodwork. The building, listed in the historical monuments inventory in 1985, still houses the tridentine rite, under the dependence of the priory Notre-Dame-du-Rosaire.

Today, the chapel belongs to the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X and remains an active place of worship, preserving a remarkable religious and artistic heritage. Its history reflects the social and religious evolutions of La Rochelle, from its foundation as a convent to its present role in traditional liturgical practice.

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