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Origin and history

The convent of Saint Francis, also known as the convent of rue Marie-Rose, was founded by the Franciscans after their return to France after 1918, following their expulsion during the separation of the Church and the State in 1905. Originally set up on Rue des Fourneaux and then on Rue Beaunier, in 1923 they acquired land in the Petit-Montrouge district. The project, entrusted to architects Victor Blavette, Paul Gélis and Louis-Jean Hulot (the latter replacing Blavette after his death), was inspired by the principles of Dom Bellot, a Benedictine pioneer of religious artistic renewal.

The brick construction began in 1934 and ended in 1935, with an inauguration in 1936. The convent became the seat of the Franciscan Province of Paris, welcoming religious dedicated to the apostolate, foreign missions and accommodation of foreign students. Its architecture organizes the spaces around a courtyard garden, with cloistered galleries and a unique nave chapel, flanked by seven side chapels. The glass windows, created between 1936 and 1947 by André Pierre, Pierre Villette and Claude Malespine, make it an exceptional historic place.

During the Second World War, the convent was marked by the assassination of Father Corentin Cloarec, chaplain of the resistors of Denfert-Rochereau, by the Gestapo on 28 June 1944. A nearby street today bears its name. In 2007, the chapel, cloister, vestibule and stairway were listed as historical monuments. Since 2013, the convent has been home to the new Franciscan province, uniting France and French-speaking Belgium, while remaining partially open to the public.

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