Villeneuve lez Avignon has many chapels. You can discover them while strolling through the old town.
The oldest dates from the 10th century and was erected on Mount Andaon.
The oldest dates from the 10th century and was erected on Mount Andaon.
The term Chapel applies to religious buildings where Catholic worship can be celebrated. These can be private chapels (high schools, colleges, clinics and hospitals, palaces and castles, etc.) or public chapels, dependent on the parish church.
In Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, the figure of Saint Casarie was buried on Mount Andaon, where she lived. A small chapel was built over her tomb, which was the first Christian building in the city (10th century), and whose tombstone can still be found in the Collegiate Church. The chapel has now been restored. This cult of Saint Casarie gave rise to the Abbey of Saint Andrew.
The Abbey of Saint Andrew also gave two chapels, one dedicated to Saint Martin (11th century) and the other to Saint Andrew (12th century). Both were demolished after the Abbey was sold during the Revolution as national property.
Within the walls of the current Fort Saint-André, a first Romanesque-style parish church was built in the mid-12th century: Notre Dame de Belvezet. Its small size reflects the small number of inhabitants of the town. It is regrettable that the carved wooden statue of the Virgin that was there has disappeared.
The Chapel of the Grey Penitents was built in the 18th century by the Grey Penitents, a brotherhood created following the split of certain brothers with the Black Penitents. Their habit was made of a coarse, unbleached canvas bag, called a cordat, gray in color. They went barefoot in sandals, like the Capuchins. During the Revolution, like the other brotherhoods, they were dissolved, then reconstituted as the "White Penitents" (a merger of the Grey Penitents and the Black Penitents). The Chapel served as a church during the Revolution.
On the north side of the Saint Pons church was the Chapel of the Black Penitents. Almost nothing remains of this chapel, except for a piece of the facade of the Anti-Chapelle, on Rue Francis Pouzol. The rest was demolished and a modern building now houses the municipal archives.
Other chapels were created for a specific purpose, for a particular worship, and are considered pious and mutualist institutions:
This is the case of the chapel of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows, created by the quarrymen's brotherhood in the second half of the 17th century. Established at the end of town, the chapel is located on the old rural road that led north to the Cabrion and Carles quarries, on the road to Pujaut, which were in operation until the 18th century. The chapel allowed the quarrymen to invoke the protection of the Holy Virgin. This building underwent restoration in 2019.
Following the old road that led to Avignon, we cross the "Old Mill" district and arrive at the Saint-Roch chapel, a private chapel dedicated to Saint-Roch, patron saint of the quarrymen (stone, clay, gravel, etc.) who worked in the surrounding area. Built by a former Carthusian monk, it was restored to worship in 1868.
Other private chapels were created with endowments from benefices or rents, such as the Chapel of the Holy Spirit, located today in the northeast corner of the cloister of the Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame, whose foundation dates back to 1540 and which was sold as national property during the Revolution. The Chapel of Saint Mark, patron saint of winegrowers, located at the corner of Rue de la Foire and Rue Fabrigoule, has been well restored. It appears to date from the very beginning of the 18th century and is now converted into a "shop".
On Rue de l'Hôpital, you can discover the old Livery of Cardinal de Canillac, of which a small ogival window remains, which lit the private chapel of Cardinal de Canillac.
Nearby, you can discover the Hospice Chapel. In 1695, the nuns of Saint Elizabeth purchased the residence of the Marquis de Montanégues (formerly the residence of Cardinal de Canillac). It is to these nuns that we owe this Chapel, where one could see the choir, from where, cloistered, they attended services. The magnificent mausoleum, tomb of Pope Innocent VI, was able, after its rescue from the Charterhouse, to be preserved there until its transfer in 1960, to its original place, in the Chapel of the Holy Trinity, in the church of the Charterhouse.
At the end of Rue de l'Hôpital, you can discover the Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame, built on the site of the private chapel of Cardinal Arnaud de Via. Arnaud de Via, nephew of Pope John XXII, later probably Bishop of Avignon, owned a "country house" in Villeneuve, which is called "Livree" or "Cardinal Palace". In 1333 he founded a collegiate chapter, under the name Notre Dame. Until the Revolution, the Collegiate Church was the seat of a collegiate chapter, composed of Canons.
In Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, the figure of Saint Casarie was buried on Mount Andaon, where she lived. A small chapel was built over her tomb, which was the first Christian building in the city (10th century), and whose tombstone can still be found in the Collegiate Church. The chapel has now been restored. This cult of Saint Casarie gave rise to the Abbey of Saint Andrew.
The Abbey of Saint Andrew also gave two chapels, one dedicated to Saint Martin (11th century) and the other to Saint Andrew (12th century). Both were demolished after the Abbey was sold during the Revolution as national property.
Within the walls of the current Fort Saint-André, a first Romanesque-style parish church was built in the mid-12th century: Notre Dame de Belvezet. Its small size reflects the small number of inhabitants of the town. It is regrettable that the carved wooden statue of the Virgin that was there has disappeared.
The Chapel of the Grey Penitents was built in the 18th century by the Grey Penitents, a brotherhood created following the split of certain brothers with the Black Penitents. Their habit was made of a coarse, unbleached canvas bag, called a cordat, gray in color. They went barefoot in sandals, like the Capuchins. During the Revolution, like the other brotherhoods, they were dissolved, then reconstituted as the "White Penitents" (a merger of the Grey Penitents and the Black Penitents). The Chapel served as a church during the Revolution.
On the north side of the Saint Pons church was the Chapel of the Black Penitents. Almost nothing remains of this chapel, except for a piece of the facade of the Anti-Chapelle, on Rue Francis Pouzol. The rest was demolished and a modern building now houses the municipal archives.
Other chapels were created for a specific purpose, for a particular worship, and are considered pious and mutualist institutions:
This is the case of the chapel of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows, created by the quarrymen's brotherhood in the second half of the 17th century. Established at the end of town, the chapel is located on the old rural road that led north to the Cabrion and Carles quarries, on the road to Pujaut, which were in operation until the 18th century. The chapel allowed the quarrymen to invoke the protection of the Holy Virgin. This building underwent restoration in 2019.
Following the old road that led to Avignon, we cross the "Old Mill" district and arrive at the Saint-Roch chapel, a private chapel dedicated to Saint-Roch, patron saint of the quarrymen (stone, clay, gravel, etc.) who worked in the surrounding area. Built by a former Carthusian monk, it was restored to worship in 1868.
Other private chapels were created with endowments from benefices or rents, such as the Chapel of the Holy Spirit, located today in the northeast corner of the cloister of the Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame, whose foundation dates back to 1540 and which was sold as national property during the Revolution. The Chapel of Saint Mark, patron saint of winegrowers, located at the corner of Rue de la Foire and Rue Fabrigoule, has been well restored. It appears to date from the very beginning of the 18th century and is now converted into a "shop".
On Rue de l'Hôpital, you can discover the old Livery of Cardinal de Canillac, of which a small ogival window remains, which lit the private chapel of Cardinal de Canillac.
Nearby, you can discover the Hospice Chapel. In 1695, the nuns of Saint Elizabeth purchased the residence of the Marquis de Montanégues (formerly the residence of Cardinal de Canillac). It is to these nuns that we owe this Chapel, where one could see the choir, from where, cloistered, they attended services. The magnificent mausoleum, tomb of Pope Innocent VI, was able, after its rescue from the Charterhouse, to be preserved there until its transfer in 1960, to its original place, in the Chapel of the Holy Trinity, in the church of the Charterhouse.
At the end of Rue de l'Hôpital, you can discover the Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame, built on the site of the private chapel of Cardinal Arnaud de Via. Arnaud de Via, nephew of Pope John XXII, later probably Bishop of Avignon, owned a "country house" in Villeneuve, which is called "Livree" or "Cardinal Palace". In 1333 he founded a collegiate chapter, under the name Notre Dame. Until the Revolution, the Collegiate Church was the seat of a collegiate chapter, composed of Canons.
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