Monastery of the Immaculate Conception of Rouen

Mother Catherine Mectilde of the Blessed Sacrament de Bar, foundress of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in 1653 in Paris, came herself to establish this new monastery of her Institute in 1677. She had purchased the Hôtel de Mathan, built on the site of the former castle of Philip Augustus, where another woman from Lorraine, Joan of Arc, had suffered a little more than two hundred years earlier. It was the Revolution that drove the nuns away; they nonetheless continued their monastic life and their work of adoration clandestinely before regrouping, in 1802, in the former convent of the Minims, who had themselves fallen victim to the same violence.

Heir to both the Benedictine spirituality and the Eucharistic charism of Mother Mectilde, the Monastery of the Immaculate Conception of Rouen stands firmly on both feet, enriched also by the treasury of prayer accumulated by the Minim brothers who preceded us in this place. The heart of the activities that make up our "labora" is a modest biscuit workshop whose products need no advertising. Adoration holds an essential place throughout the days, which are marked by the offices (Morning Praise at 7:15 a.m., Eucharist with integrated Terce at 9:30 a.m., Sext at 12:30 p.m., None at 2:30 p.m., Vespers at 6:00 p.m.).

Our monastic spirituality is deeply nourished by Eucharistic and Marian life, since the Virgin Mary is the Abbess of each of the monasteries of the Institute. Two hundred years before Thérèse of the Child Jesus, our foundress offered to all who wished it her "little way" of trusting humility; her insistence on the baptismal foundation of all Christian and religious life has a very contemporary resonance. An undeniable mystic, she is a mystic for here and now, so that, through the mystery of the unceasing offering united to the Body and Blood of the Lord, nothing of the timeless present of humanity may be lost.

Monastère de l'Immaculée Conception
14 rue Bourg L'Abbé
76 000 ROUEN