MOBILE TOUR GUIDE
SAINT-JOSEPH CHAPEL
This chapel was built in 1871 (medallion on the right wall).
It celebrates Joseph, husband of the Virgin Mary and adoptive father of Jesus and Abbé Lecoutre essentially follows the story told by Saint-Mathieu.
The base of the altar includes 3 sculptures from the life of Saint Joseph: his marriage to the Virgin Mary in a representation close to that of Raphael's painting (see below painting currently saved in Milan), his death in the arms of the Virgin Mary and her son Jesus, and the fled to Egypt on a donkey with his wife and son.
The altarpiece presents the announcement made to Joseph in a dream by an angel who orders him to go to Egypt to flee the massacre of Jewish newborns ordered by King Herod.
In the center of the altarpiece is a representation of Christ with the lamb and the thorns of his Passion.
The stained glass windows illustrate episodes in the life of Saint Joseph, in particular the crossing of the desert and the episode of the palm tree which bows at the request of the Child Jesus to pick his dates.
At the bottom of the ceiling are inscribed “St Joseph” and “Pray for us”
On the ceiling of the chapel is reproduced in Latin the text of the Vespers hymn of March 19, the date of Saint Joseph in the Roman Breviary.
