Chapel and Church of Our Lady of La Salette in Paris, France

Window in La Salette Chapel in parish in Paris, in honor of St. Philomena, Patroness of French National Pilgrimage to Holy Mountain, 1871-1872Although a native citizen of Paris, and one who from his childhood had been in touch with the religious life of that great metropolis, I must confess it was many years before I had occasion to become really acquainted with La Salette and its salutary influence, from the earliest times after the apparition, upon the Catholic history of our city.

This remarkable and lasting contribution can best be seen in the several sanctuaries and centers of devotion which, with the approval of the Archbishops of Paris, were erected and dedicated to Our Lady of La Salette. We will content ourselves here with tracing the interesting, and even dramatic, annals of the most illustrious shrine of La Salette in Paris, built and dedicated as far back as 1858, and located at 27 Rue de Dantzig in that district of the French capital known as Vaugirard.

I well recall the impressions of my first visit to that chapel in 1922. A friend of mine who lived in the Vaugirard section invited me to accompany him on a visit to “the chapel of St. Philomena,” as it was more commonly known, at 27 Dantzig Street, where he often went to pray. It was located in a rather shabby and depressing neighborhood; the lodging houses on each side of the street looked old and dilapidated, and the uneven cobblestone alley was lined with blighted and stunted shrubs.

The early Chapel of Our Lady of La Salette in Paris was built in 1858

Apparition scene over the main altar in the La Salette Chapel in ParisArriving at a certain door, we entered and found ourselves in a large, plain chapel, undistinguished by either architectural or decorative beauty, having only an altar at the further end. Passing through, we ascended two or three steps and opened another door which led into a second and smaller chapel. This latter was, on the contrary, richly decorated with painted gothic arches. An atmosphere of recollection and piety prevailed; a few women, kneeling motionless, continued their prayers undistracted by the new arrivals. Above the altar, lighted from above by a bay-window, there was enthroned a statue of Our Lady of La Salette shown conversing with the two children.

To the left, near an altar dedicated to St. Philomena, there was a glass reliquary containing a strikingly life-like wax mask of the features of Saint John Marie Vianney. I was impressed by the fact that, as the very existence of this public chapel proved, the devotion of La Salette had the full approval of the ecclesiastical authorities, and later was to learn how much the devotion to Saint Philomena in Paris, as popular then as it is now, and the career of the Curé of Ars were linked with the devotion to the weeping Mother of La Salette.

Note: The first chapel was built by the Brethren of Saint Vincent de Paul in 1858. The Catholic congregation founded in 1845 by Jean-Léon Le Prévost, Clement Myionnet (1812-1886) and Maurice Maignen (1822-1890) , had established an orphanage in this area. 

A La Salette Devotee Founds the Brothers of St. Vincent de Paul

Nor did I as yet know that Father Henri Planchat, who died a martyr in the streets of Paris during the riots of 1871, and the Venerable Fr. Jean-Léon Le Prevost  (1803-1874), were interred in this chapel on Rue de Dantzig. This latter priest, illustrious founder of the religious Institute known as "The Brothers of Saint Vincent de Paul," was first and foremost among the apostles of Our Lady of La Salette in Paris, the founder also of the La Salette Chapel at Vaugirard, and his spiritual sons have ever been, and are today, the faithful heirs of both the Shrine and the devotion to Our Lady of La Salette. But let us consider a little more in detail this remarkable phase in the Catholic history of Paris less than a century ago.

Jean-Léon Le Prevost was born and reared in Normandie, and later settled in Paris. Before entering the religious life he had held important government posts, and was an intimate acquaintance of such illustrious contemporary men of letters as Montalembert, Victor Hugo and Sainte-Beuve. But inspired and urged on by an overwhelming pity and love for the countless poor of Paris, and especially the children, so much abandoned and miserable, coming from the Paris suburbs, he decided to dedicate himself entirely to providing for them, and to that end established a congregation of Religious to be known as the Brothers of Saint Vincent de Paul.

One of the first companions of Frederick Ozanam

Blessed Antoine-Frédéric Ozanam (1813-1853), founder of Society of Saint Vincent de Paul; engraving by Antoine MaurinAs a layman he had previously been one of the first companions of Frederick Ozanam, who also had founded a society of laymen to aid poor families in and around Paris, and it was from this association that M. Le Prevost conceived the idea of a religious Institute for the care of abandoned orphans.

It was on the 19th September, 1846, that Our Lady appeared at La Salette, and this date was also memorable in the annals of the Brothers of St. Vincent de Paul, because the first two members of the Congregation, M. Myionnet and M. Maurice Maignen met on that same day in the ancient city of Chartres and began their community life by a visit to its historic cathedral. This always seemed to the Brothers a happy and auspicious coincidence, and future events were to inspire in them an ever closer and lasting attachment to the apparition and devotion of La Salette.

A Healing of Three Orphan Children

Their main house was the orphanage they had established in the Haut-Vaugirard district of Paris, on Moulin Street, which today is Rue de Dantzig. Public prayers were said regularly in honor of the Weeping Mother at this residence, and all were proud to wear her medals. In 1854 and 1855 three children of the orphanage had become so grievously ill that hope was abandoned for their recovery. Fervent recourse was had to Our Lady of La Salette, and through her intercession all three were wonderfully and completely cured. One of these orphans was Alfred Leclerc, who was one day to become the Superior General of the Brothers of St. Vincent de Paul.

Another Wondrous Gift

window in La Salette chapel, Paris showing ordination of Venerable Fr. Jean-Léon Le Prevost (1803-1874)Again, on another occasion, a section of land adjoining the orphanage was put up for sale, and the Brothers had reason to fear that the wrong kind of neighbors would purchase it, to establish there perhaps an inn or dance-hall, thereby rendering difficult the maintenance of their orphanage. Not having the money needed to buy that plot of ground themselves, they made a novena to Our Lady of La Salette, and soon the necessary amount was unexpectedly donated to them. In gratitude M. Le Prevost named this piece of land, the Field of La Salette, and decided to build there a chapel under that title.

He obtained the authorization of Bishop Sibour of Paris, and the Chapel of Our Lady of La Salette, first Parisian sanctuary to bear that name, was blessed on the 18th September, 1858 by Father Olivaint, director of a college in Vaugirard, and later martyr during the bloody "Commune" insurrection of 1871 in Paris. The following day the first public Mass to be said in Paris on the anniversary of the La Salette Apparition was celebrated.

In 1860 M. Le Prevost, now fifty-seven years old, was ordained to the priesthood, which he had refused until then, out of humility, he agreed. By a special privilege, the ordination took place on Dec. 22, 1860 in the Chapel at Rue de Dantzig; and in consequence he was to be known as “the priest of La Salette.” Every Saturday he came there to celebrate Mass in her honor.

In 1868 he established a confraternity of Our Lady Reconciler of La Salette, which in 1870 numbered more than three hundred members; the purpose of this pious association of prayers was to obtain the return of the people to the Faith and the restoration of Christian family life.

The La Salette Chapel — a Place of Refuge

The anniversary of September 19, 1870 was marked by a sermon of Fr. Henry Planchat, who was likewise to be massacred a few months later in the streets of the capital. Crowds came regularly to pray at the sanctuary of Our Lady of La Salette throughout the terrible days of the Siege of Paris and the subsequent "Commune" revolution. The chapel remained intact although shells fell all around that neighborhood.

Following the war of 1870, M. Le Prevost obtained permission from Archbishop Guibert of Paris (who blessed the La Salette Statue on the Holy Mountain) to affiliate his confraternity of La Salette with the central archconfraternity established on the holy mountain itself. The number of visitors to the Shrine increased steadily and in 1874, on the anniversary of the apparition, it was necessary to hold the sermons and devotions in the open courtyard of the orphanage.

Miracles, Conversions and Favors Happened in This Chapel

Soon the Brothers learned of miracles, conversions, and other extraordinary favors obtained in their chapel. In 1885, Fr. Sylvain-Marie Giraud, Superior of the Missionaries of La Salette, sent to Rue de Dantzig an altar-stone made from a piece of rock cut out from the mountain of La Salette. Later an order of sisters, named after Mary Reconciler, came to establish themselves nearby, to consecrate their lives to the religious instruction and guidance of young girls of the working classes of Paris.

The chapel was closed in 1901 because of the religious persecutions, and the Brothers of St. Vincent de Paul were exiled from the city. It was reopened in 1907, as an auxiliary or mission church of the nearby Parish of St. Lambert of Vaugirard. Finally, some years afterwards, the Brothers were able to return to the orphanage and take possession again of the La Salette sanctuary they had established.
La Salette Church in Paris, France; from left: exterior, wooden statue of Weeping Mother, interior