Church of the Poor Clares of Troyes

The Poor Clares take their name from Saint Clare of Assisi ( 1193-1253). Conquered by the ideal of poverty preached by Francis of Assisi , Clare of Assisi founded this order in 1212 , at his request. At the age of 18, after making her profession of faith before him, she cut off her long blond hair and donned the habit. She drew up the rule of her order: cloistered nuns, contemplative, without individual or collective property. This new order developed rapidly and Pope Innocent IV approved the rule in 1253.

Count Thibaud V of Champagne married a daughter of Saint-Louis, Isabelle of France. Her aunt, also called Isabelle, sister of Saint Louis, founded a Poor Clare convent at Longchamp in 1255.

On 22 June 1264, these nuns received their definitive rule from Pope Urban IV (1261-1264) of Troyes, hence the name Urbanistes, which they bore together with Cordelières and Petites Cordelières. The Pope of Troy softened the original rule and allowed the order to receive donations and to own property and income.

In 1289 the nuns returned to Paris. Disappointed by the relaxation of the rule by Urban IV, Saint Clare brought the order back to strictness and was confirmed in this mission by Popes Martin V (1431) and Benedict XIII (1730).

The first monastery of the Franciscan Sisters of Troyes was founded by Abbé Jean-Baptiste Heurlaut (1816-1887), parish priest of Maizières-les-Brienne, originally from Ville-sur-Terre, who had studied at the Grand Séminaire de Troyes. He planned to establish a small community of nuns in his parish. He realised this plan with the help of a young girl whose secret aspirations for monastic life and ardent love for the Holy Eucharist he knew: Joséphine Bouillevaux, born in Maizières on 1 June 1820, died in Troyes on 8 August 1871. After studying at the Visitation in Troyes, she founded a girls' school in her parish.

In 1846, Abbé Heurlaut transformed the management of the school into a community: "The Sisters of the Immaculate Conception" . One after the other, founders and founderesses donned the Franciscan habit. In 1851, Abbé Heurlaut took the name Père Bonaventure and a year later Joséphine Bouillevaux became Sister Marie de Sainte Claire, because of her admiration for Saint Clare and Saint Francis of Assisi. On 8 January 1854, the small community moved to the rue d'Enfer in Paris.

On December 15, 1854, Father Bonaventure made the first vestments. On May 24, 1856, they became Franciscan Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and were given the long-awaited privilege of perpetual adoration, day and night.

On 15 July, the sisters left Paris for Troyes, where they took up residence in a house on the rue du Cloître Saint-Pierre, now the rue Mitantier. The main building dates from the 12th and 14th centuries, as it was once a canon's house. Their chapel was housed in a dormitory. The Franciscan nuns had the Blessed Sacrament permanently in view, day and night. In 1872, the order was confined, in accordance with the wishes of Mother Marie de Sainte-Claire.

On June 10, 1969, with the permission of the Holy See, the sisters adopted the Rule of Saint Clare of Assisi, hence the change of name to Poor Clares.

In order to raise money for the construction of a chapel, Monseigneur Cortet, Bishop of Troyes, had a picture printed which sold at the time for 1 Franc. On 17 September 1875, the first stone of the chapel was laid and in July 1879 it was consecrated by Mgr. Cortet, who brought the relics of SS. Calixte, Eugène and the martyrs Sabin. The chapel is dedicated to Our Lady of the Angels, like the chapel in Assisi where Francis began the foundation of the Franciscan Order and where Clare took the habit and made her profession.

The chapel is made of stone, with panelled vaults . The tympanum is pierced by a triplet. Partially destroyed during the war, it was rebuilt in 1945 in an identical manner. It measures 17 m by 6.20 m and is 9 m high in the nave and 12 m in the sanctuary. It can accommodate 120 people. On the ogive of the choir is the motto of the Clarisse sisters: "Let us thank God through Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament" . The Blessed Sacrament is permanently exhibited.

Mother Marie de Sainte Claire is buried in the walls of the monastery of Troyes. Father Bonaventure is buried in the cemetery of Nogent sur Aube.

On 10 December 2011, a new altar was consecrated in the renovated chapel by Mgr. Marc Stenger, Bishop of Troyes. This altar contains the relics of the holy martyrs Callixtus, Eugene and Sabine from the previous altar, but also those of Saints Agathe and Apolline, Bernard of Clairvaux, Frobert, Saint Exupérance, a fragment of the alb of Father Bonaventura Heurlaut, founder of the Order, and a piece of the habit of Mother Marie de Sainte Claire Bouillevaux, foundress of the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration.

Willem Vandenameele