Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Maison des Filles de la Charité, located at 136-140 rue du Bac in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, is a convent founded as a "mother house" of the Sisters of Saint Vincent de Paul, also called "the Daughters of Charity". This architectural ensemble, built between the 18th and 19th centuries, is inseparable from the congregation created by Saint Vincent de Paul and Saint Louise de Marillac in 1633. The site is particularly famous for its chapel, dedicated to Notre-Dame-de-la-Médaille-miraculuse, where the Blessed Virgin appeared to Saint Catherine Labouré in 1830, an event at the origin of the so-called miraculous medal.

The convent and its buildings were the subject of successive protections in respect of historical monuments: a first inscription on 25 June 1963 for facades, roofs and interior elements (such as the stairwell and the porch of the former Hotel de la Vallière), followed by a classification of the adjacent park on the same day. The chapel itself was inscribed by an order of 23 December 1976. These measures highlight the heritage value of a religious, historical and architectural place marked by Marian apparitions and an uninterrupted charitable vocation since the 17th century.

The congregation of the Daughters of Charity, always active, perpetuates the heritage of its founders through this emblematic site. The Notre-Dame-de-la-Médaille-miraculuse chapel attracts pilgrims and visitors every year, who come to gather or discover the history of the apparitions of 1830. The ensemble, owned by the commune, remains a major testimony of Parisian religious architecture of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, while embodying a tradition of Marian charity and devotion rooted in the history of France.

External links