The Pious and Wealthy of Toulouse

On a bright sunny day, Thursday, April 23 I joined my friend Lisa and her sister on another tour of Toulouse. This tour was on the different monasteries and mansions that once ruled the streets of Toulouse. A long time ago Toulouse was a very Catholic city, it used to have many monasteries that would take up several city blocks. In fact, Place Saint Georges nearly butted up against one of the monasteries. This monastery was the monks of St. Antoine Du T. Their monastery took up at least 4 or 5 blocks, thus nearly colliding with what is now (and was) Place Saint Georges. Monks, like football teams or high school teams had a bit of a rivalry. The St. Antoine Du T monks used to have a regular cross on their robes, but after the Knights of the Templar's came to Toulouse they could no longer have that cross, because the Knights had the same type of cross on their robes as well. So as a group the St. Antoine monks decided to use what our guide said was an Egyptian cross which formed a "T" thus making them St. Antoine Du T monks. The large monastery no longer exists, only a part of it remains. But that part is on the road tributes to the St. Antoine Du T monks. It holds the obvious name of "Rue de St. Antoine Du T" and funnily enough I use that road often to get to Place Wilson. Another interesting apart of that particular road, is that the city of Toulouse has displayed various stone pieces on a building, also attributing to the road's history. These pieces are replicas of what used to be on the monastery as decoration, their originals can be found at the Musee de Augustines.
Speaking of the Musee de Augustines, it is another monastery that held about the same amount of land as the St. Antoine monks. But unlike the St. Antoine monks, the Augustine monks would not go out into the world. They would remain in their monastery, praying, gardening and taking care of the church and cloisters. Later, in the monastery history, they decided that they wanted to get more land, so they asked the Pope if they could buy some more land. The Pope on the other hand would not give them the land unless the Augustine monks would take part in the world outside their monastery. The Augustine monks figured that would be an alright plan and opened their doors to the world. Several years later, due to their new worldliness, the Augustine monks were under scrutiny, the church had found that the Augustine monks were allowing prostitutes into their quarters. It had brought the monastery popularity, but the monks within the walls were no longer pious, their humanity brought their monastery shame. After kicking out some of the devious monks, the Augustine monastery slowly dwindled in numbers and soon was shut down.
On the other side of the spectrum, Toulouse was also home to several different sects of penitents. Penitents are religious men who aren't monks, but ordinary people who do good works for others. They came in many forms and colors, the colors could range from red to black. The color stood for how extreme their beliefs were. The red penitents would flagellate themselves in honor of Jesus' sufferings (as is one example). We only got to see two representations of the penitents that are still around. The blue penitents still have a church next to the department store Monoprix (this is about a 3 block walk from our apartment). The church is called St. Jerome. It has a somewhat unusual interior, having light blue walls and their sculptures being bright white. The inside was quiet and peaceful, a few people were inside, praying as we viewed the church. Just outside the sanctuary of the church our guide said that St. Jerome is usually quite busy, just from the use of the people. She also stated that St. Jerome is a place where people can find peace and meditation during their busy lives. I thought that was rather interesting, that the penitents, who ran the church let it remain open during the weekday to allow people to pop in and find peace in God. Another interesting fact about this church is that King Louis XV, I think, used to give money to this particular church, saying that he would continue to pray and give money to this church until his wife would give birth. As was his goal, his wife soon gave birth and money stopped being given to St. Jerome. Today there are many relics which remain with St. Jerome, these relics were purchased for the church through King Louis XV. It seems the penitents are still very gracious to the former King for all that he did for them. The other color of penitents we saw were the black penitents. Their church was unavailable for viewing because their are very few times throughout the day when it is open. But our guide said it is a very beautiful church that if you caught it open one should peek in.
Besides the Churches, we saw some mansions that were built by two different people. One, though I do not remember the architects name had a beautiful front. The building was red brick and on the second floor was a wonderful glass patio, framed by intricate metal work. The next mansions we saw were built by a different person one for his son and the other for himself. Again, I do not remember his name. The one for this man's son had a very picturesque door, with ornate carvings. They were sadly faded for it takes too much money and time to restore it. The house also had quite an array of vines climbing up it, which must also be apart of the lack of money for restoration. On the other hand, the man's house seemed very well taken care of, it is a unique house because it has a flat front decorated with beautiful Toulousain ironwork.
It was a fascinating journey from the time of the monks to the time of the mansions. The tour guide always seems to have great surprises for anyone who decides to go on her tours. I am very glad I have been able to go on them and learn just a little bit more of the city I have made my home for the past four months.