The property is situated in the eastern suburb of the city. Before the Revolution, the house had belonged to the Mazenod’s; then, it belonged to the Jesuits and to the Oratorians. Bishop Fortuné de Mazenod bought it during the summer of 1824 as a temporary lodging for his seminarians while he built the major seminary on Rouge street. That was the residence for the seminarians from 1824 to 1827.
The novitiate of the Oblates took up residence here from June of 1828 to the month of August 1830, then from mid-June to mid-August, 1834.
In 1834 and 1835, Bishop Fortuné wrote to the Minister of Public Worship that he had bought this property with his own money. He planned to give it to the seminary, but he could sell it and give the money to the poor and charitable works of Marseilles. During the summer of 1837, Father Tempier sold it for the sum of 45,000 francs to the Hospital Sisters of Saint Augustine who used it as their novitiate and a retirement home for their aged and infirm sisters. This house no longer exists.
Yvon Beaudoin, o.m.i.
