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an old book with two drawings of a building and a clock toweran old drawing of a plan of a building with a lot of roomsan open book with a black and white image of a man on a horsea close up of a piece of paper with writing on ita close up of a piece of paper with a black and white imageseveral old papers are stacked on top of each other on a white surfacean open book with a list of items in it on a white surfacea handwritten letter from a man who is holding a piece of paperan old book opened to a page with a black and white image
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164 - The Cité Saint-Bernard in Paris: an unfinished project for t…
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Estimate €500 - €800
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Description
The Cité Saint-Bernard in Paris: an unfinished project for the benefit of the Jeunesse de France, 1936–1944 Collection of correspondence, documents and photographs 30 letters from the sender and replies, 1941–1944, Fernand Geslin, addressed to René Benjamin, including: Letter from the author, Paris, 15 November 1941 Dear Mr Benjamin (...) I am also sending you a piece of work produced by Mr Drouet in 1936. He is a man of great worth in every respect, and Providence, which brought him into my life, has blessed me by giving me a man capable of translating into stone the mysticism I carry in my soul. He is a very fine soul who dreams of working with those who will help build the city to create a medieval guild adapted to our times. I believe that a great work is taking shape there, both in its physical construction and in its spiritual realisation, and one that is destined to play a leading role in the country’s future. I am also sending you three views of the City to pass on to the Marshal. He was pleased with the view provided in the printed document handed to him by Mr de Châteaubriant (...) At the same time as work begins on completing the guest quarters, we shall finish the part of the communal building intended to accommodate around twelve young people who will be the first disciples. During the first year of working with them, many details of the programme will be finalised on the basis of practical experience. (...) I have begun to draw up a plan for daily life in our Paris residence L.A.S., Paris, 5 August 1943 + 2 invitation cards The purpose of this letter is to invite you to honour us with your presence at the ceremony to be held on 20 August, the feast of St Bernard, at 8 Rue Campagne-Première. The fledgling community is to take up residence in the building with which you are familiar and is beginning to carry out its programme there. Work has been underway for two months; ten cells are being fitted out, three of which will be occupied on the evening of the 20th. They will be blessed by the Most Reverend Cistercian Abbot of Pont-Colbert near Versailles, assisted by the Most Reverend Benedictine Abbot of La Source in Paris, at the same time as our oratory. Present at this ceremony will be Dr Ménétrel, Councillor Féat, Mr Cognacq, (...) I need not tell you how much your presence is desired. No one here is unaware of what the Cité Saint Bernard owes you. Thanks to you, this project has been realised; we have not forgotten that. We had a lengthy meeting with the Marshal on Thursday 15 July: Paul Hibout, Bernard and I, on the one hand, accompanied by the Reverend Father Abbot de Boquen, our spiritual mentor. This meeting with the Marshal, who is the head of the family, did us a world of good. We went to tell him that we were beginning to live on the premises. Mr Cognacq is now fully on our side – I have seen him several times recently. He is our best ambassador; he went to see the Marshal himself on our behalf, and it is not the banker who will be helping us financially but the Secours National through Mr Cognacq (...) The results are exceeding our expectations. God is clearly at work here. I feel confident about all this... + typewritten copies of correspondence sent by Fernand Geslin to Marshal Pétain, to ministerial authorities, to Gabriel Cognacq, etc. 3 autograph letters/signed letters, 1941–1942, Albert Drouet, architect + 5 photographic prints of sections and plans of the proposed and designed housing estate + Cité Saint-Bernard, note on the corporative organisation of the building site, typescript, 5 pp., in-4 The Cité Saint-Bernard, 1936 prospectus, 4 pp., in-4 Notes on the Cité Saint-Bernard, addendum to the 1936 programme, 1 November 1940, typescript, 3 pp., in-4 La Cité Saint-Bernard, draft programme, 6 November 1941, typescript, 4 pp., in-4 Brochure: The Knights of Saint-Bernard/La Cité Saint-Bernard, 8 rue Campagne-Première, 20 August 1943, 22 pp., in-4 The establishment of the Vichy regime in June 1940 profoundly altered the social, political and spiritual structures of occupied France. Under the banner of the ‘National Revolution’, the government of the French State sought to reshape society around corporatist, traditionalist and Catholic values, breaking radically with the secular republican model. As part of this drive for moral regeneration, Fernand Geslin, with the help of René Benjamin and financial backing from the Vichy government, the banker Robert Le Hideux and Gabriel Cognacq, manager of the La Samaritaine department stores, launched a major project: the construction of a complex designed to educate and house an elite group of young men, combining the spirit of chivalry with the monastic ethos. To bring this ambitious programme to life, Fernand Geslin commissioned the architect Albert Drouet. FIND THE FULL AND DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THIS LOT IN OUR ONLINE SALES CATALOGUE
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About the sale René Benjamin, the 20th-century Balzac scholar
Auction location
Auction time 10/06/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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