The
French Oratory was founded in 1611 by Cardinal
Pierre de Bérulle, as the first Paris church of the
Oratory of Jesus, an order of Catholic priests and brothers who lived together in a religious community without taking formal vows. In 1612 the French Regent,
Marie de Medicis, officially recognized the Oratory.
Pope Paul V recognized the Oratory in 1613. The Oratory grew until it had some sixty churches in France. The first Paris church of the Oratory was in the Faubourg Saint-Jacques, close to the future
Val de Grace church. As the congregation grew, De de Bérulle began the search for a larger home for the Oratory. In 1616 Beruille bought a large former mansion on Rue de Marengo, near the
Louvre and dedicated a chapel there. The new chapel attracted a large following, and Beruille began planning for an even larger church. In 1619 he bought several houses and parcels of land, and in 1620 bought large parcel of land at what is the present site, on the present Rue de l'Oratoire, next to the Louvre. At the end of 1620 he commissioned the royal architect
Clément Métezeau to design the new church.
Revolutionary meeting hall and Bank of France (1792 to 1811) In 1792, during the
French Revolution, the Revolutionary government formally abolished all religious orders, including the congregation of the Oratory. the church was closed, and was turned into a meeting place the for the national academy of medicine, and also to store sets for the Paris Opera and the Comedie-Francaise. In 1793, as the Revolution became more radical and anti-clerical, the church was ransacked, the statues and architecture mutilated, and the chapels emptied of their art. Fortunately twenty-nine paintings from the church were sent for safekeeping to the
Museum of French Monuments. As the Revolution came to an end, in 1800 the newly-created
Bank of France was installed in the empty church building.
Protestant Temple (1811 to present) In 1811,
Napoleon gave the building to the
Protestant congregation of
Saint-Louis-du-Louvre whose own church building was demolished to make way for the expansion of the Louvre. Between 1820 and 1828, the church was restored and modified by architect to adapt to Protestant services. A sacristy was created, An organ was installed, and tribunes were added in the chapels. In 1853, to make room for the
Rue de Rivoli, one of the new streets cut through the center of the city by Baron Haussman, the convent of the old church was demolished. A statue and monument of Admiral
Gaspard de Coligny, the prominent
Huguenot leader of the 16th century, was raised on the rue de Rivoli end of the church in 1889. The title "Oratory" of the Catholic was preserved in the Protestant church. August Decoppet, the pastor of the church from 1878 to 1906 explained, "Our church bears the most beautiful name that can be given to a church, that of "oratory", which signifies a house of prayer, a place where the human soul and God can come together." == 20th and 21st century ==