Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Feuillantines convent was founded in 1622 rue du Faubourg-Saint-Jacques in Paris, at the initiative of Anne of Austria and Anne Gobelin, wife of Charles of Estournel. This Cistercian monastery welcomed six nuns from Toulouse on an estate of six and a half hectares, including houses. The first stone was laid in 1626 by François II of Bassompierre, as evidenced by a plaque preserved at the Musée Carnavalet. The church, designed by architect Jean Marot, was completed around 1672, while additional buildings were inaugurated in 1631 to house the 33 nuns present at the time.

The convent also served as a board for the ladies of the Parisian aristocracy, offering a spiritual and bucolic setting. In 1685 Mademoiselle de la Kite, cousin of Madame de Sévigné, died there. At its peak in 1695, there were 65 nuns, 25 converses and 106 residents. The Feuillantines wore a white wool robe and a black veil, and the inmates were buried in religious clothes. However, the convent declined in the 18th century, with only 20 nuns and 10 converses in 1790.

Closed in 1792 during the Revolution, the convent was sold as a national good and transformed into housing. Victor Hugo lived there a part of his childhood between 1808 and 1813, in an apartment surrounded by ruins and the wild garden. General de la Horie briefly hid in 1812 after the failure of General Malet's plot. The Rue des Feuillantines, opened in 1805, led to the destruction of the church, located at the site of the current No. 11. The last remains were razed in 1864 to pierce Gay-Lussac Street, leaving only a house annexed from the 17th century to the 10th, whose facade and stairwell, classified in 1989, still remain.

Among the notable figures, Anne de Roquelaure (Ms. de Roquelaure) became abbess in 1629 as Saint Catherine of Jesus. Henriette d'Espinay-Saint-Luc, daughter of Timoleon d'Espinay, assumed this role in 1664 before giving his place to his sister to direct the Feuillantines, then the monastery of Etival-en-Charnie. These abbesses, appointed by the king after the Bologna Concordat, embodied the temporal and spiritual authority of the convent until its suppression.

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