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Origin and history

The Carmelite Chapel of Lectoure is a Catholic religious building integrated into a 17th century convent building in the city of Lectoure (Gers). It was built between 1666 and 1677, with a solemn Mass celebrated in 1684, and was one of the first five Carmels established in France. Its modest architecture, marked by a classical portal and a painted ceiling decorated with coats of arms, reflects its spiritual and community role.

The convent was founded in 1623 by Marshal Antoine de Roquelaure, governor of Lectoure and close to Henry IV, who offered the land for its settlement. Eight nuns, led by Sister Mary of the Trinity, the fifth Carmelite of France, settled there in September 1623. In 1632, the convent welcomed Anne of Austria and Cardinal de Richelieu, godfather and godmother of the children of Roquelaure, marking his early prestige.

In the 17th century, the Carmel de Lectoure became a home of Jansenism under the influence of Prioress Sister Thérèse of the Cross and Vicar Louis Paris-Vacquier. The nuns, scattered for their convictions, resist the pressure of Bishop Hertaud of Beaufort. At the Revolution, the convent was confiscated, turned into a prison, and sold as a national property in 1796. The Carmelites did not recover it until 1825, under the Restoration.

The interior of the chapel, sober but elegant, is distinguished by an elevated choir, a stand reserved for nuns, and a 17th century altarpiece representing the Vision of Saint Thérèse. The ceiling, decorated in 1684 and restored in 1889 by Paul Noël Lasseran, has Gothic veins and arms of Carmel and France, offered by Louise de France, daughter of Louis XV. These artistic elements underline its link with the Carmelite chapel of Toulouse, built at the same time.

The convent, lined with walls and organised around a terraced garden, occupies an island between Marès, Soulès and Montebello streets. Its gate, surmounted by a niche housing a statue of the Virgin (XIXth century), and its covered passages (one destroyed at the Revolution) testify to its adaptation to the monastic fence. After partial destruction, the north wing was rebuilt in the 19th century, preserving some original openings.

Classified as a historical monument in 1996, the chapel illustrates the religious and political history of Lectoure, between Carmelite devotion, Jansenist conflicts and revolutionary upheavals. Its decoration, blending 17th century heritage and 19th century restorations, makes it a rare example of the Conventual heritage preserved in Occitanie.

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