page_title: Temple du Marais
section_title: Catholic Convent
hierarchical_section_title: Temple du Marais / Catholic Convent
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: de:Johanna Franziska von Chantal, Heilige der Katholischen Kirche English: en:Jane Frances de Chantal, saint of the catholic church Français&#160;: fr:Jeanne de Chantal
context_page_description: The Temple du Marais, sometimes known as the Temple Sainte-Marie, or historically, as the Church of Sainte Marie de la Visitation, is a Protestant church located in the 4th arrondissement of Paris, in the district of Le Marais at 17 Rue Saint-Antoine. It was originally built as a Roman Catholic convent by the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary, whose sisters were commonly called the Visitandines. The church was closed in the French Revolution and later given to a Protestant congregation which continues its ministry to the present. The closest métro station is Bastille
context_section_description: The Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary was founded in 1610 by Saint Francis de Sales and Saint Jane de Chantal in Annecy as a Catholic religious order of nuns. It started a convent in Paris in 1619 which built the current church and the crest of the order still surmounts the rose window above the entrance.  The building was designed by François Mansart in 1632, in the Baroque style.  The church's benefactor, Noël Brûlart de Sillery, an admirer of the Pantheon in Rome, desired a centralized plan.  Mansart, no doubt also influenced by the chapel of the Château d'Anet, delivered a highly original design with eight interconnected subsidiary spaces surrounding the central 13-metre (44-foot) dome including the sanctuary to the south, the vestibule to the north, three chapels, two sacristies, and the nuns' choir to the west.  The design for the exterior was also quite original with the street elevation's three components, the arch with its Michelangelo inspired portal and projecting cross, the toit à l'impèriale with its lantern, and the cross-topped spire, drawing the eye heavenward.  The building's construction was overseen by the master mason contractor Michel Villedo.
  Saint Vincent de Paul served as the spiritual director of the convent for twenty-eight years.  The church crypt, finished in 1665, was the family mausoleum of Nicolas Fouquet, Superintendent of Finances for Louis XIV, whose remains were transferred to Paris a year after his death.  The church is also home to the tomb of Henri, Marquis de Sévigné, husband of noted writer Marie de Rabutin-Chantal.
  In 1790 during the French Revolution the convent was seized, its furniture sold, and the building converted into storage for books seized from immigrants.  In 1792 the sisters were expelled and the Society of Friends of the Law, led by the courtesan Theroigne de Mericourt, used the chapel for meetings.  In 1796 the buildings were sold and all were later demolished apart from the chapel during the creation of the Rue Castex in 1805.  The Revolution left its mark on the chapel in the form of a Phrygian cap above a door.
  After the Revolution the sisters reconstituted their convent as the Monastère de la Visitation at 68 avenue Denfert-Rochereau where it continues to the present day.  The remains of the patron of the convent, Noël Brûlart de Sillery, as well as of Bishop Frémiot (Archbishop of Bourges and brother of Jane de Chantal) were removed to the new location in 1836 rather than leave them in a Protestant church.
caption: Jane Frances de Chantal, the founder of the convent
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