Saint-Charles Church ( French: ''Église Saint-Charles''; Monégasque: ''Ge̍ija de San Carlu'') is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church dedicated to Saint Charles Borromeo, the 16th-century Italian cardinal and archbishop. The church is situated on the Avenue Sainte-Charles in the

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo ( ; ; or colloquially ; , ; ) is an official administrative area of Monaco, specifically the Ward (country subdivision), ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is located. Informally, the name also refers to ...

district of

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

. The church hosts the only

English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

Catholic service on the

French Riviera The French Riviera, known in French as the (; , ; ), is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is considered to be the coastal area of the Alpes-Maritimes department, extending fr ...

, and offers

Catechism A catechism (; from , "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of Catholic theology, doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult co ...

classes in English for children and adults.

History

In 1879, the Monegasque prince Charles III commissioned the construction of a new church to accommodate the growing population of Monte-Carlo. One of the builders was Italian-born Jean-Baptiste Pastor.Philippe Bidalon, Roger-Louis Bianchini, Aline Cochard, Laetizia Dannery, Lea Delpont, Jennifer Schwarz, Pauline Sommelet
Vie économique
''L'Express'', December 11, 2003 The church's dedication to

Charles Borromeo Charles Borromeo (; ; 2 October 1538 – 3 November 1584) was an Catholic Church in Italy, Italian Catholic prelate who served as Archdiocese of Milan, Archbishop of Milan from 1564 to 1584. He was made a Cardinal (Catholicism), cardinal in 156 ...

highlighted the Borromeo family's historic ties to the Grimaldi family, the ruling family of Monaco. Bishop Charles Theuret of Monaco laid Saint-Charles's corner stone on November 11, 1879; it was completed and opened on Easter Monday, March 26, 1883, and subsequently declared a parish church on March 15, 1887. Theuret's successor, Bishop Jean-Charles Arnal of Curel dedicated the church in 1912. The church was restored and its facades renovated in its centenary year of 1983 by Prince Rainier III, he subsequently oversaw exterior renovation work at the church in 2003. The family memorial service for the entertainer

Josephine Baker Freda Josephine Baker (; June 3, 1906 – April 12, 1975), naturalized as Joséphine Baker, was an American and French dancer, singer, and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in France. She was the first Black woman to s ...

took place at Saint-Charles Church in 1975.

References

External links

* 1883 establishments in Monaco Monte Carlo Roman Catholic churches completed in 1883 Roman Catholic churches in Monaco 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings {{monaco-church-stub