The Maison Coignard was a prison hospital () opened during the French Revolution to house wealthy prisoners from the various prisons opened during the

Reign of Terror The Reign of Terror (French: ''La Terreur'', literally "The Terror") was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the French First Republic, First Republic, a series of massacres and Capital punishment in France, nu ...

then underway.

History

The location was originally a community of

canonesses regular A canoness is a member of a religious community of women, historically a stable community dedicated to the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours in a particular church. The name corresponds to a canon, the male equivalent, and both roles share a ...

founded in 1640 by King

Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown. ...

, named the Priory of

Our Lady of Victory Our Lady of the Rosary (), also known as Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, is a Marian title. The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, formerly known as Feast of Our Lady of Victory and Feast of the Holy Rosary is celebrated on 7 October in the General ...

of Lepanto, in commemoration of the Christian victory over Ottoman forces in the

Battle of Lepanto The Battle of Lepanto was a naval warfare, naval engagement that took place on 7 October 1571 when a fleet of the Holy League (1571), Holy League, a coalition of Catholic states arranged by Pope Pius V, inflicted a major defeat on the fleet of t ...

in 1571. Its site is on the corner of what is now Boulevard Diderot with Rue de Picpus. In 1792 the building was confiscated by the French government and the canonesses were forced to disband. In late 1793 the complex was leased by Eugène Coignard and converted into a 150-bed private prison hospital for those prisoners of the Terror who were able to pay for a more comfortable confinement. The majority of the people held there escaped execution. The most notorious prisoner at the Maison Coignard was the

Marquis de Sade Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade ( ; ; 2 June 1740 – 2 December 1814) was a French writer, libertine, political activist and nobleman best known for his libertine novels and imprisonment for sex crimes, blasphemy and pornography ...

. The former convent gardens were seized by the city and used to bury the bodies of those executed at a

guillotine A guillotine ( ) is an apparatus designed for effectively carrying out executions by Decapitation, beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secur ...

set up in the nearby Place du Trône. The site was later purchased by surviving family members of the aristocracy who were buried in the common graves of the site. Today the cemetery is the

Picpus Cemetery Picpus Cemetery (, ) is the largest private cemetery in Paris, France, and is located in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, 12th arrondissement. It was created from land seized from the Coignard, convent of the Chanoinesses de St-Augustin, during ...

. A new community of canonesses, belonging to the Congrégation des Sacrés Coeurs de Marie et de Jésus de l'Adoration Perpétuelle, was established, and continues, in the old buildings with the intention of commemorating the dead in perpetuity.Base Mérimée: Cimetière de Picpus et ancien couvent des chanoinesses de Picpus
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References

Christian monasteries established in the 17th century Hospitals established in the 1790s Hospitals in Paris Monasteries of Canonesses Regular Augustinian monasteries in France Monasteries destroyed during the French Revolution Defunct prisons in Paris Defunct hospitals in France 12th arrondissement of Paris Monasteries used as prisons {{Prison-stub