Part of a Series on Vincentian Heritage Places

Hospital of La Salpêtrière

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“Louise was also responsible for the Daughters of Charity at the general hospital of La Salpêtrière, which received the influx of poor people whose numbers had multiplied during the Fronde.” (Source: Website of Saint Nicolas des Champs Church)

Hospital of La Pitie-La Salpêtrière (47, boulevard de l’Hôpital, Paris 13)

“To avoid accidental gunpowder explosions, Louis XIII moved the arsenal from inside the city to new buildings in a country area to the southeast. The hospital took its name from the saltpeter used in the manufacture of gunpowder. Later, the buildings were rehabilitated to make room for the crowds of the indigent whom the king had planned to enclose here.

Vincent hesitated in his support but managed to have his friend and biographer, Louis Abelly, appointed the first superintendent of the new General Hospital in 1657, a post he held only from May to October. Louis XIV had the entire complex rebuilt, including the large chapel of Saint Louis, which dates from 1670 to 1679. One of its four naves is now dedicated to Saint Vincent de Paul, as is one of the other buildings.

Daughters of Charity worked here beginning that same year, 1657. The hospital gradually shifted its attention to housing the mentally ill, and the government used its inmates, including prostitutes arrested in the city, to populate its American colonies.”

(Source: In the Footsteps of Vincent de Paul: A Guide to Vincentian France by John E. Rybolt C.M.)

Hospice de la Salpêtrière, Paris, for indigents, after a drawing by Rigaud, 17th century,

Hôpital de la Salpêtrière, Paris: as seen from the river. Credit: Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images images@wellcome.ac.uk http://wellcomeimages.org Engraving by Adam Perelle. Creative Commons Attribution only license CC BY 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

All Vincentian Places in this Series

Red = Vincent de Paul, Blue = Frederic Ozanam, Teal = Elizabeth Seton, Yellow = Louise de Marillac

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