The small chapel called Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix is hidden away from the clamor of the city. It dates from 1640 and is a place of quiet contemplation and memories. It is part of a large cemetery complex with gardens, green lawns, and a graveyard with tombs. Today, we see it as a place of peace, but there are dark and somber memories that linger.
Here, you will find the final resting place of martyrs of the Revolution. During the Reign of Terror, 1,306 victims were executed and buried near this site. These victims, most of them Catholic, were buried daily and by the cover of darkness for two months. To this day, the entrance door can be seen along the wall in the back where the carts entered carrying the bodies that were stripped for burial.
The side transept of the chapel holds a small 15th-century sculpture of the Vierge de la Paix, reputed to have cured King Louis XIV of a serious illness in 1658. The wooden statue was given to a Parisian Capuchin monastery at the end of the Sixteenth Century by a widower who desired to spend his remaining days among the monks. The statue was so revered that the chapel housing it was expanded.
The statue is small in size. Mary is dressed in a Greek tunic. She holds an olive branch in her right hand. The sculpture’s reputation for healing and its association with the cemetery make it a place of profound meaning.
It is a reminder of the resilience of the human spirit, as its serene form, which was saved from revolutionaries who sought to destroy it, stands as a beacon of peace and hope amidst the chilling reminders of the past. The chapel is a quiet enclave of faith and remembrance, where history and faith intertwine.