The Martyrs of Lyon: THE INSPIRATION FOR OUR TOURS - Early C

Founder of the Institute of the Prado 

A humble priest born in Lyon, Antoine Chevrier dedicated his life to serving the city’s poorest families and abandoned children. After a profound spiritual awakening on Christmas Eve in 1856, he transformed a disreputable ballroom — Le Prado — into a refuge of faith, education, and hope. His mission was simple yet radical: to know Jesus Christ and to make Him known among the poor. Beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1986, Blessed Antoine Chevrier remains a luminous figure of compassion, humility, and Gospel living in the heart of Lyon.

Let's dig deeper into this inspiration 20th century inspriging man. 

He was born into one of the many families who came to Lyon to work in the silk industry. His father worked as a customs officer, and his mother wove silk at home.

Ordained a priest in 1850, he was sent to a newly created parish on the left bank of the Rhône: Saint-André de la Guillotière.

At that time, Lyon was marked by deep social unrest — the Canut uprisings of 1831 and 1834, followed by the Revolution of 1848. The district of La Guillotière, then an independent commune, was home to the city’s growing industrial working class. It was known for its poverty, political unrest, and its left-wing municipal government.

The poverty he encountered profoundly affected him and he preached passionately against social injustice

Chevrier visited families in their modest homes, saw children leaving the factories exhausted, and comforted those living in destitution. The devastating floods of 1856 brought him even closer to the suffering of his parishioners.

On Christmas Eve 1856, while praying before the Nativity scene, Father Chevrier experienced what he would later call his conversion.

Meditating on the words of the Gospel of Saint John —

“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us,”

— he was overcome by a new understanding of Christ’s incarnation. He later wrote:

“The Word made flesh is the principle of all things. He is the foundation on which everything must rest, the root from which we must draw the sap that must give us life, the centre toward which everything must converge, the end toward which everything must lead. He is the resurrection and the life. This is Jesus Christ!”

Inspired by his Christmas revelation, Father Chevrier rented — and later bought — a former disreputable ballroom known as “Le Prado” in 1860. There, he created a place of refuge for the most vulnerable.

He converted the dance hall into a chapel and a home for:

“young, wandering and abandoned adolescents of both sexes whose age and ignorance excluded them from participating in school lessons and those of the parish.”

(Report of the Academy of Lyon, 1861)

Unlike most institutions of the time, Father Chevrier refused to allow the children he welcomed to work. He lived by faith, relying entirely on Divine Providence and the generosity of the poor themselves.

While major repairs were sometimes supported by wealthy donors, it was the local working people — silk weavers, mothers, and factory women — who kept the Prado alive. Many saved a coin or two from their wages and brought them to Father Chevrier each Sunday.

Founding of the Prado Priests: 

In 1866, Father Chevrier opened a clerical school at Le Prado to

“create a nursery for priests who would be raised with my children, so that they would understand them well.”

From this grew the Association of Prado Priests, which, at his death in 1879, counted four priests and a few sisters.

Today, however, the Prado Family serves in over forty countries, including priests, sisters, consecrated laypeople, permanent deacons, and lay associates — all committed to Father Chevrier’s mission of living the Gospel among the poor.

Despite his influence, he remained profoundly humble:

“And on the other hand, I feel so much my powerlessness, my inadequacy, that I often say to my God: My God, have you not made a mistake in placing at the head of a great Work a poor being as frail as myself?”

He died at the age of 53, and was buried in the chapel on the street that now bears his name. His funeral drew 50,000 people from across Lyon.

Father Chevrier devoted his life to studying and teaching the Gospel. His writings reveal a man whose only desire was to draw closer to Jesus Christ and help others do the same:

“Knowing Jesus Christ is the only true science. Loving Him is the deepest happiness. The more we know Jesus Christ — His beauty, His splendour, His riches — the more our love for Him grows.”

He summarized his mission in one simple truth:

“Are we not here for this alone: to know Jesus Christ and his Father and to make Him known to others?” (L, 181)

Antoine Chevrier was beatified in Lyon by Pope John Paul II on October 4, 1986, before a crowd of 350,000 people — a moving tribute to his life’s work.

Today, Le Prado continues his mission, standing as a living witness to his conviction that the Gospel must be lived among the poor, with simplicity, humility, and love.

🔗 Learn more: https://leprado.net/

 Jean-Claude Colin (1790–1875), founder of the Marist Fathers, was born on August 7, 1790, in Saint-Bonnet-le-Troncy, in France’s Beaujolais region. Growing up during the upheaval of the French Revolution, he witnessed persecution of the Church; his father had been imprisoned for his faith, and both parents died when he was only two. Despite these early hardships, Colin felt a deep calling to the priesthood.

During his seminary studies in Lyon, Colin and a small group of like-minded seminarians, including his brother Pierre Colin and Saint Marcellin Champagnat (canonized April 18, 1999), gathered at the chapel of Our Lady of Fourvière. On July 23, 1816,  they made a solemn vow to dedicate themselves to Mary and to establish a Society of Mary. This moment planted the seed of a religious family that would grow into priests, brothers, sisters, and lay collaborators, all united by a Marian mission.

Ordained later that year, Colin began his ministry in Cerdon, gradually attracting followers and drafting plans for the Society of Mary. By 1824, he and a small group were authorized by their bishop to preach missions as the Marist Fathers, while parallel foundations of the Marist Sisters, Marist Brothers under Saint Marcellin Champagnat, and Marist Laity also developed.

In 1836, Rome formally approved the Society of Mary, and Colin was elected its first Superior General, sending the first missionaries to Oceania. Retiring in 1854 to La Neylière, he dedicated his final years to shaping the Constitutions of the Marist Fathers. He died on November 15, 1875, leaving a worldwide legacy of Marian service. His cause for beatification was reopened in 2017.

Though often associated with Paris, where he founded the Society of St Vincent de Paul and is buried, Frédéric Ozanam was truly formed in Lyon, the city of his youth. It was here that he consecrated his life to God and service at the Basilica of St Bonaventure at age 17. Lyon was also central to his personal life: he married his great love, Amélie Soulacroix, at the Church of St Nizier, and often mentions praying at the Chapel of the Virgin in Fourvière. His parish church, Saint Pierre, now part of the Fine Arts Museum, nurtured his early faith.

Born in Milan on April 23, 1813, Ozanam returned to Lyon at three years of age. He excelled academically at the Royal College of Lyon, where he met Abbé Noirot, his teacher, mentor, and lifelong spiritual guide. With Noirot’s guidance, Ozanam navigated a teenage crisis of doubt and deepened his Christian commitment. At eighteen, he moved to Paris to begin his law studies at the Sorbonne.

In 1833, Frédéric in response to criticisms of Catholicism, asking, “What is the Church doing for the poor today?”  founded the Society of St Vincent de Paul, starting with small groups of students visiting Parisian families in need, receiving guidance  from Sister Rosalie Rendu (Daughter of Charity).

Frédéric married Amélie in 1841, and their life together was marked by love, devotion, and one daughter, Marie. Despite fragile health, he balanced family, scholarship, and service until his death, aged just 40,  in Marseille on September 8, 1853. He was buried in Paris at the Church of St Joseph des Carmes, remembered as a man of intellect, faith, and enduring charity.  

By the time of Frédéric’s death, the Society had spread internationally, Today it is present in 150+ countries with 800,000 members serving the poor.  

 Claudine Thévenet was a French Catholic religious sister, a woman of deep faith and resilience, and a devoted educator who founded the Congregation of the Religious of Jesus and Mary, dedicating her life to the care and formation of children, especially the poor.

Born into a family of silk merchants in Lyon on 30th March 1774, the second of a family of seven children, Claudine was affectionately known as "Glady".

 The French Revolution broke out when she was fifteen. In 1793, aged 19, she experienced the tragic siege of Lyon by the government army and she witnessed the execution in revenge of her two brothers after the city fell in January 1794. Their last words to her, printed on a little slip of paper passed to her as they were marched to the guillotine was, "Forgive, Glady, as we forgive".  In accord with her brothers’ instruction, Claudine crossed her hands over her heart and prayed, “My God, forgive these murderers. They do not know what they are doing.” She was so traumatized by the sight of her brothers’ execution that, for the rest of her life, she suffered from shortness of breath and spasms of head tremors. However their words remained deep in her heart and her mind and were to change the course of her life.

Witnessing the aftermath of the Revolution, she became increasingly aware that the deepest poverty was not only material, but also spiritual. Moved by this profound suffering, and by a strong desire to make God known—especially to children and young people, whom she saw as most in need of hope and formation—Claudine devoted herself to charitable works in Lyon, particularly among the many orphaned and abandoned children of the time, an acute consequence of the city’s growing industrial character. The destitution she encountered was both widespread and severe. 

Her mission took clearer shape through her providential encounter with Father André Coindre, a priest deeply engaged in responding to the needs of abandoned children in Lyon. 

In 1815, her growing commitment to abandoned children led to the establishment of the “Providence” of Saint Bruno in Lyon. Shortly afterwards, companions joined her, forming the Association of the Sacred Heart, of which she was elected president. 

Eventually and with Father Coindre's guidance and support the Congregation of the Religious of Jesus and Mary was officially founded in 1818. 

 The original mission of the Institute was the reception, care, and education of poor girls until adulthood. Claudine soon broadened this vision with the opening of a boarding school, welcoming girls from all backgrounds and affirming her conviction that Christian education should be offered to all, with a special concern for the poorest.

The Congregation developed amid significant trials, yet Claudine Thévenet remained steadfast and resilient throughout. Her spiritual life was marked by a constant desire “to do everything to please God,” seeking to discern and respond to God’s will with clarity and courage. Deeply Eucharistic and contemplative, she lived with an abiding awareness of God’s presence in all things.

Her spirituality was characterised by gratitude and praise, expressed in her final words: “How good God is,” revealing her unwavering trust in God’s goodness even in suffering.

As a leader, she combined strong organisational ability with deep maternal compassion, urging her sisters to care for the children as true mothers, attentive to both their material and spiritual needs. She also emphasised a preferential love for the poorest and most difficult children.

Her legacy quickly extended beyond France. Within a few years of her death on 3 February 1837, her daughters began missionary expansion to India (1842), Spain (1850), and Canada (1855). Today, the Congregation of the Religious of Jesus and Mary continues her mission across the world in education and service.

Beatified in 1981 and canonised in 1993, Saint Claudine Thévenet is remembered as a woman of deep faith, courageous charity, and enduring hope, whose life continues to inspire the Church and her Congregation.

 Born in Lyon in 1787, André Coindre was a French Catholic priest, renowned as a brilliant preacher and tireless missionary, and founder of the Congregation of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart. 

He studied at the Grand Séminaire of Place Croix-Paquet in Lyon,  alongside future leading figures of the French Church, including Marcellin Champagnat, Jean-Marie Vianney, and Jean-Claude Colin. Ordained in 1812, he quickly gained recognition for his exceptional preaching ability, to the extent that, at only 26 years of age, he was asked to deliver the eulogy of Napoleon at the Cathedral of Saint-Jean.

His formative years were marked by the devastating aftermath of the French Revolution, a period that had profoundly disrupted social structures, family and religious life. In Lyon, heavily involved in the silk industry, poverty was widespread and the abandonment of children acute. The city was even referred to as “the capital of abandoned children,” with institutions such as the l’Hôpital de la Charité receiving as many as 5,000 children. Many others were placed in prisons under the pretext of educating them, where they were often held alongside adult criminals in extremely harsh conditions. This experience of social disintegration and its impact on young people became the driving force of Coindre’s vocation.

One of his first and well-documented decisive actions came in 1815, when he discovered two orphaned girls in extreme distress outside the Church of Saint-Nizier. He entrusted them to Claudine Thévenet, and together they established the first Association of the Sacred Heart. This encounter would become foundational for Thévenet’s own mission, which later developed into the Congregation of the Religious of Jesus and Mary.

As a prison chaplain, Coindre became increasingly aware of the plight of young male prisoners, who had little prospect of rehabilitation or support upon release. Deeply moved, he resolved to address not only their material needs but also their moral, intellectual, and spiritual formation. He extended this concern to homeless and abandoned boys more broadly, seeking to restore dignity and hope in the aftermath of revolutionary upheaval.

From this conviction emerged a series of initiatives. In Monistrol-sur-Loire (c. 1815–1816), he opened one of his first educational establishments, a primary school for village children, marking an early stage in his educational apostolate. Around the same period and into the late 1810s, he also developed “Providence” initiatives in both Monistrol and Lyon, particularly focused on boys leaving prison. These works provided shelter, basic education, vocational training, and Christian formation, offering a structured path away from delinquency.

By 1819, this work took a more formal shape with the establishment of an orphanage and trade school near Lyon for homeless boys. There, young people—especially those considered difficult or at risk—were welcomed and formed through vocational training and Christian education. In them, Coindre saw not failure, but the possibility of renewal and grace.

In order to sustain and develop this growing mission, Coindre gathered a group of ten collaborators. On 30 September 1821, they met at the sanctuary of Notre-Dame de Fourvière in Lyon, where they made private vows, formally founding the Brothers of the Sacred Heart (Fratres a Sacratissimo Corde Iesu), dedicated to the Christian education of youth, particularly the most vulnerable.

The evolution of his work thus moved from prison ministry, to early Providences in Monistrol and Lyon, to structured educational foundations, and finally to the establishment of a religious congregation. Each stage reflected a deepening commitment to the restoration of young lives affected by poverty, abandonment, and social rupture.

Father Coindre’s work was cut short by his early death in 1826, at the age of 39. Despite his brief life, his influence proved enduring. The congregation he founded continued to grow and expand internationally, carrying forward his educational vision. Today, more than 900 Brothers serve in 36 countries, continuing his mission.

 Élise Rivet was a French Catholic religious sister of the Congregation of Notre-Dame de la Compassion in Lyon. She is remembered for her courageous witness during the Second World War, when she became actively involved in the French Resistance and in the protection of persecuted people, including Jewish children.

Born in 1890, she entered religious life and later became known in religion as Mother Marie Élisabeth. She eventually served as superior of her congregation in Lyon, where she combined contemplative life with an active commitment to charity and social service.

During the German occupation of France, she used her position and the resources of her community to shelter refugees and those targeted by persecution. She played a discreet but significant role in Resistance networks, helping to provide hiding places and protection, particularly for Jewish children and vulnerable individuals seeking escape from deportation.

Her activities were eventually discovered. She was arrested, denounced for her involvement in Resistance work, and deported to the concentration camp of Ravensbrück concentration camp, where many female political prisoners were held under extremely harsh conditions.

In the final days of her life, she is reported to have offered herself in place of a mother selected for the gas chamber, an act interpreted as a final expression of self-sacrificial love. She died on 30 March 1945 in Ravensbrück, shortly before the end of the war.

Mother Élisabeth Rivet has since been recognised as one of the Righteous Among the Nations, a title awarded to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. 

Her life is currently under consideration for beatification within the Catholic Church, and her cause for sainthood has been formally opened.

She is commemorated today as a figure of spiritual courage, moral conviction, and profound self-giving, whose actions exemplify the intersection of faith and resistance in a time of persecution.