in prayer and meditation in the mortuary chamber
of Saint Vincent de Paul, now transformed into an oratory for their use.
There is also a chapel for the use of the inmates, as well as a
Protestant oratory and a synagogue.

The historical interest attaching to the buildings of this institution
is very considerable. As far back as the time of Clovis, there was a
hunting-lodge on this site; this was transformed, under the
Carlovingians, into a debtors' prison. About the commencement of the
twelfth century, this collection of ancient buildings was used as a
hospital for lepers, under the appellation of Saint-Ladre [Saint Leper],
standing near the road from Paris to Saint-Denis. In the year 1147,
Louis VII, setting an example followed nearly a century later by
Saint-Louis, visited this lazaretto, before setting out for the
Crusades. "This was an action praiseworthy and very little imitated,"
says the chronicler. The hospital counted among its revenues the profits
arising from an annual fair, known as that of Saint-Ladre;
Philippe-Auguste, in 1183, annexed the proceeds of this fair to the
royal revenues, and transferred it to the interior of Paris, where it
became famous under the name of Saint-Laurent. In return, he provided
the hospital with an annual revenue. Among the buildings attached to the
hospital was one known as the _Logis du Roi_, where the sovereigns were
in the habit of halting to receive the oath of fidelity from their good
citizens of Paris before making their solemn entry into the capital.
This was also the principal halting-place for the royal funeral
corteges on their way from Paris to Saint-Denis; and as late as 1793,
when it was demolished by the all-demolishing Revolution, a Gothic tower
standing here perpetuated the first rest made by Philippe le Hardi in
his pious transportation on his shoulders of his father's coffin to its
final resting-place.

In 1515 the canons of Saint-Victor established themselves at
Saint-Lazare, and for more than a century here maintained a rich abbey,
flourishing at the expense of the hospital. By 1623 their abuses had
become too flagrant, and the direction of the institution was confided
to Vincent de Paul, already renowned for his virtue. After having
re-established order and discipline, he here installed the headquarters
of his congregation of the _Missions_, created in 1624, and which became
more generally known as the _Congregation des Lazaristes_. The authority
of the