Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The church of Saint-François-d This first place of worship, built by the Cardinal's Buildings on a land bequeathed by Canon Adam (completed by a nearby house becoming the cure), was initially managed by priests of the parish of Saint Saturnin. The chapel, administered successively by Abbé Brunet (1934-1942), Met (1942-1951) and Hervé Dizes (1951-1954), became an autonomous parish in 1951 under the name "Sainte-Odile-Croix-de-Berny", in response to the population growth of the neighbourhood after the Second World War.

In the 1960s, the influx of faithful made the Church of St. Odile insufficient. A new church project, dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi, is launched on a plot near the departmental road 920, in the subdivision "Les Sports". Funded by the Cardinal's Buildings (partly through the sale of the former presbytery), it is designed by architect Paul Henry, brother of the first parish priest, Marcel Henry. The building, characterized by its rectangular reinforced concrete structure and its colourful stained windows, was inaugurated in October 1972 by Bishop Jacques Delarue, first bishop of Nanterre. The ground floor initially housed houses for priests and parish halls, subsequently renovated.

Since 2006, the parish of Saint-François-d The church, the parish's only place of worship, perpetuates traditions such as the annual blessing of animals on October 4, the close date of the feast of Saint Francis. In 2018, work was carried out to improve accessibility (PMR) under the aegis of the Cardinal's Buildings. Its sober and functional architecture reflects the liturgical and community needs of the post-war period, while marking the growing urbanization of the Hauts-de-Seine.

External links