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Origin and history

Saint Francis de Paule Chapel is a Catholic chapel in Fréjus (Var), built in 1560 by the Order of Minimes. Arrived around 1522, these religious settled in the West suburb, outside the medieval enclosure, and built this place of worship dedicated to Saint Francis of Paul. According to a local tradition, this saint would have healed the city of plague during its passage in 1481-1482, thus inspiring the foundation of the chapel. The building, in Gothic style with Renaissance elements, is distinguished by its broad and low nave, its simple bell tower and its contemporary stained glass windows replacing the old ones during the 1993 restoration.

The chapel has been classified as historical monuments since 30 July 1987. Its construction uses rubble, partly recovered from local Roman ruins, combining regular sittings and blocking. The façade has a broken arched door surmounted by a niche and a rose, while the bedside, supported by five foothills, is pierced with high reamped windows. The bell tower, with four irregular levels, dominates the whole. Originally, the chapel was part of a convent of the Minimes, of which only this building remains today, the rest having been destroyed during the Revolution.

The organ of the chapel comes from the Saint-Léonce Cathedral of Fréjus, which used it temporarily during the reconstruction of its great organs. This furniture, as well as the hybrid architecture (Gothic and Renaissance), reflects the artistic and religious evolutions of the region between the 15th and 16th centuries. The chapel remains a major testimony of local history, linked both to the popular devotion to St Francis of Paul and to the establishment of the Minimes in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.

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