Located in the medieval town of Rions, in the French department of Gironde (Nouvelle Aquitaine), the Couvent Saint-Joseph des Carmes du Broussey belongs to the Carmelite order restored after the French Revolution and welcomed its first community on April 8, 1841.
Located on a promontory, the Saint-Joseph Convent overlooks the Mouleyre stream valley. The parish abbot, Father Gesneau, had offered his house so that a Carmelite community could establish itself in Le Broussey (1841).
This location allowed the convent to expand southward, particularly to Agen (1846), Pamiers, Montpellier, and Bagneres-de-Bigorre (1853), and to other regions such as Rennes (1856), Lyon, and Saint-Omer (1859). Le Broussey became a focal point for this order, which successfully reestablished itself in Spain in the following years.
Monastic activity was accompanied by an initial expansion of Father Gesneau’s house, with a first (south) wing and then a chapel. However, anticlerical laws and the separation of church and state (1905) led to the dissolution of the convent.
The convent’s revival took place after the Second World War.
The convent chapel houses the relics of Father Augustin of the Blessed Sacrament, whose canonization has been requested.
How to get to?
From Bordeaux: 48 min (42.6 km) via A62
From Andorra: 4 hr 25 min (398 km) via A62
From Barcelona: 5 hr 54 min (607 km) via A62
From Paris: 5 hr 59 min (618 km) via A10
See here Pyrenees travel guide
See here France travel guide
See here Spain travel guide
See here Andorra travel guide
