LEPERS ON THE TRADE ROUTE

THEY OFFER MERCHANTS AND PILGRIMS PRAYERS IN EXCHANGE FOR ALMS IN CLOS* SAINT-LAZARE

(FROM ABOUT 1150)

*Cultivated land that walls surround

 

Leper, end of the 15th century, source not said / zoom

   Paris in 1530, zoom

The premises's archives were pillaged at the start of the Revolution, so little of its early history is known.

   Anonymous engraving / zoom (includes an account of the Lazarists and the pillaging, in French)

"Some of the armed people went to the Lazarists' establishment to ask for supplies. When refused they broke down the doors, committed various acts of excess, pillaging all they could, and after freeing the prisoners, triumphantly brought a great deal of flour into town."  

The "armed people" are mobilized by the call to arms at Palais-Royal, 

# # #

The disease gradually vanishes: The end of the Crusades removes a source of infection, and tuberculosis that comes with urban growth kills enfeebled lepers.

-- Leprosy's Decline Caused by the Rise of TB (summary)

by John Pickrell, New Scientist, 2005

Catholics' respond to Protestants partly by evangelizing and succoring the poor, and the king cedes the site to a charitable congregation.*

(In 1632) 

*Congregations ressemble monastic orders, but are involved in the life around them. 

Web site of the Françoise Sagan media library

 The Lazarist establishment at the time of the royal cession.

The congregation makes 

Clos Saint-Lazare its headquarters

and takes the name "Lazarist."  

*    *    *

Next,

Catholic nobles become saints and heroes