An History of the
Royal Society of the Blue Penitents of Toulouse
Roman Catholic Brotherhood established in France on 29 September 1575 - closed on 6 May 1858
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Founded
September 29, 1575 in Toulouse, France, the Royal Society of St
Jerome's Blue Penitents of Toulouse was created "to ask God for the extirpation of
heresy, the conservation of the King of France's sacred person and for the success of his
arms" by Mgr Georges d'Armagnac (1501-1585), archbishop
of Toulouse from 1562 to 1582 (picture on the left)
and Jean-Etienne de Duranti (1534 - 1589), First President of the
Parliament of Toulouse (picture on the right). Its
statutes have been written by Reverend Edmond Auger (1530-1591), from
the Society of Jesus, and approved by His Holiness Pope Gregory XIII
on December 5, 1578 as the St Jerome's Blue Penitents of Toulouse
Brotherhood. The Brotherhood became archiconfrery in 1588 by the
creation of the Brotherhood of Cahors, incorporated under the model of
Toulouse, then by that of
fifty others that followed until 1879. A
second version of the statutes of the Brotherhood, which was no longer named
Royal Society, was written March 20, 1603 and approved by His Holiness
Pope Paul V on September 24th, 1606 under the name Blue Penitents of
Toulouse Brotherhood.
The
chapel of the Brotherhood was built street Lieutenant-Colonel
Pelissier in Toulouse (formerly Duranti Street), opposite the Duranti Hotel,
from 1622 to 1625. It was solemnly blessed March 25, 1625 under the name of St. Jerome's Chapel. During the
French Revolution, the Brotherhood was dissolved. In 1792,
the chapel became a temple dedicated to decadal celebrations of the Supreme
Being, then a parish church in 1801 under the name of St Jerome, which it
still is today. The photo on the left depicts a procession of Penitents
going to their chapel for Eucharistic adoration. At the Restoration, the
activities of the Brotherhood took up somehow, until its final dissolution
in 1858.
Founder Kit in English | site en français |contact
