Congregation of France

The congregation was founded by Cardinal de La Rochefoucauld, commendatory abbot of St Genevieve at the behest of Louis XIII to reform the monastic communities in France, starting with those closest to Paris.

Although the motherhouse was St. Genevieve, the congregation held its General Chapter at St. Vincent every three years, to honor its role in the reform of the canonical life in France.

[4] Astronomer and naval geographer, Alexandre Guy Pingré was made librarian of St. Geneviève and built an observatory at the Abbey.

In 1744 King Louis XV vowed that if he recovered from his illness he would replace the dilapidated abbey church of St Genevieve with a building worthy of the patron saint of Paris.

Work proceeded slowly and the re-modelled abbey church of St. Genevieve was finally completed in 1790, shortly after the beginning of the French Revolution, when it became the Panthéon.