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Origin and history

The chapel Saint-Charles, located on Rue Saint-Charles in Avignon (Vaucluse), was built between 1749 and 1757 by architect François Franque, as part of the Collège Saint-Charles-de-la-Croix. The latter, founded at the beginning of the eighteenth century, was originally a place for studying the holy scriptures for young people attracted by religious vocation. In 1702, Archbishop Lorenzo Fieschi formalized the community under the authority of the priest Francis of Varia, before the college became a seminary in 1705, inspired by the principles of the Council of Trent.

The first stone of the chapel was laid on 2 February 1753 by Paul-François-Toussaint of Georges de Cabanis, vicar general, and the building was consecrated on 14 May 1758 by Archbishop François-Marie de Manzi. Dedicated to Jesus presented to the Temple, the Virgin Mary and St Charles, it adopts a rectangular plan with a nave with four spans and a choir decorated with a baldachin carved by the Mazetti brothers. The vaults, with double edges, and ground ceilings reflect the Baroque style of the time.

The seminary, transformed into a barracks during the Revolution in 1792, suffered degradations during the Austrian occupation in 1815. Restored as a diocesan seminary from 1824 to 1901, its buildings were largely destroyed in 1955. The chapel, classified as a historical monument in 1965, served as a warehouse for archaeological excavations until 1999. Today it bears witness to the religious and architectural heritage of Avignon, while the preserved remains house the departmental archaeology service.

The architecture of the chapel is partly inspired by the novitiate of the Jesuits, with a layout reminiscent of the buildings built a century earlier. The north side, two-storey, and the west podium add to its singularity. The materials used, such as the marble of the Mazetti brothers, underline the fascist of the 18th century provençal seminaries, marked by the influence of the priests trained at the seminary of Saint Sulpice.

The Collège Saint-Charles-de-la-Croix, born from the merger in 1704 with the Collège de la Croix (founded in 1500), became a teaching centre for theology, philosophy and plain-chant. His evolution in seminary reflects the post-tridentine reforms and the importance of the clerical formation in Comtat Venaissin, then under pontifical influence. The chapel, the last major vestige of this ensemble, embodies this dual educational and spiritual vocation.

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