École Saint-Joseph () is a French

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

school ruled by the Ministry of National Education and based in Solesmes, Nord department, within the

Hauts-de-France Hauts-de-France (; ; ), also referred to in English as Upper France, is the northernmost region of France, created by the territorial reform of French regions in 2014, from a merger of Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy. Its prefecture is Lille. ...

bordering Belgium. It was founded in 1892 by the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cambrai The Archdiocese of Cambrai (; French language, French: ''Archidiocèse de Cambrai'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France, comprising the arrondissements of Avesnes-sur-Helpe, Cambrai, Dou ...

(French: ''Archidiocèse de Cambrai'') of the

Latin Church The Latin Church () is the largest autonomous () particular church within the Catholic Church, whose members constitute the vast majority of the 1.3 billion Catholics. The Latin Church is one of 24 Catholic particular churches and liturgical ...

and is attached to the

Cambrai Cambrai (, ; ; ), formerly Cambray and historically in English Camerick or Camericke, is a city in the Nord department and in the Hauts-de-France region of France on the Scheldt river, which is known locally as the Escaut river. A sub-pref ...

- Le Cateau-Cambrésis educational district contractually regulated by

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

. It is part of the ''Saint-Pierre

consortium A consortium () is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations, or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a ...

'' comprising schools in three other cities ( Le Cateau, Caudry and Le Quesnoy). The manor is a regional landmark due to its typical

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

. As of September 2018, it has more than three hundred pupils supervised by a staff of around forty agents.

History

The École Saint-Joseph is the merger of two

schools fusioned to create

mixed-sex education Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

: * The Saint-Joseph school for girls was already run before 1900 by the Canonesses of Saint-Augustin of the Notre-Dame Congregation, a female teaching

religious congregation A religious congregation is a type of Religious institute (Catholic), religious institute in the Catholic Church. They are legally distinguished from Religious order (Catholic), religious orders – the other major type of religious institute – i ...

pontifical right In Catholicism, "of pontifical right" is the term given to ecclesiastical institutions (religious and secular institutes, societies of apostolic life) either created by the Holy See, or approved by it with the formal decree known by the Latin na ...

founded by Peter Fourier (1565–1640) but their building located 'du Pontceau' street was subsequently taken over to become the 'Hospice de Solesmes'. The nuns then abandoned teaching and a new 'Saint-Joseph school' was officially inaugurated on 3 October 1904 at '18-50 Rue de l'Abbaye ' with civilian teachers in a large building ceded by

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

Marie-Alphonse Sonnois (1893–1913) transferred from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint-Dié. The school will remain there until the start of the 1961 academic year, when it relocated to a

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...

with typical

of the canton located on Place

Jean Jaurès Auguste Marie Joseph Jean Léon Jaurès (3 September 185931 July 1914), commonly referred to as Jean Jaurès (; ), was a French socialist leader. Initially a Moderate Republican, he later became a social democrat and one of the first possibi ...

, made available to it by the "Maison des Œuvres" and managed by the Sisters of the Precious Blood (Monza) recognized by diocesan right on 17 May 1876 by the senator of the

Kingdom of Sardinia The Kingdom of Sardinia, also referred to as the Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica among other names, was a State (polity), country in Southern Europe from the late 13th until the mid-19th century, and from 1297 to 1768 for the Corsican part of ...

and Archbishop of Milan Luigi Nazari di Calabiana and pontifical on 10 July 1934. They are not to be confused with Sisters Adorers of the Precious Blood. The sisters will manage the school from 1961 to 1980. * The Sainte-Marie boys school was established in 1892 in a building built for the teaching brothers of the Christian schools that run it. After the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, these brothers not having returned to Solesmes, the school building was ceded to the

Archdiocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...

which enlarged it and made it its "minor

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

" which currently constitutes the central building of the

Institution Saint-Michel Institution Saint Michael in the Catholic Church, Saint Michel: Collège and Lycée () is a Catholic Church, Catholic secondary school with Boarding school, boarding facilities located in Solesmes, Nord, Solesmes (Picard language, Picard: ''Solinm ...

. In return, the

handed over to the school a building at '18 rue de l'Abbaye' where it relocated in 1924 with a

civilian A civilian is a person who is not a member of an armed force. It is war crime, illegal under the law of armed conflict to target civilians with military attacks, along with numerous other considerations for civilians during times of war. If a civi ...

teaching body.

Philanthropy

Since its inception, the school has organised

charity Charity may refer to: Common meanings * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sha ...

fundraisers and

humanitarian Humanitarianism is an ideology centered on the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotiona ...

activities throughout its academic years which include the collect of clothing as well as school supplies and equipment for African schools; the Opération Pièces jaunes to finance the hospitalisation of children; Purina contests for the acquisition of

guide dog Guide dogs (colloquially known in the US as seeing-eye dogs) are assistance dogs trained to lead people who are blind or visually impaired around obstacles. Although dogs can be trained to navigate various obstacles, they are red–green c ...

s for the visually-impaired or its

Christmas market A Christmas market is a street market associated with the celebration of Christmas during the four weeks of Advent. These markets originated in Germany, but are now held in many countries. Some in the U.S. have Phono-semantic matching, adapted ...

. Every year since 2009, sister Monique, a representative from a children's charity in

Cotonou Cotonou (; ) is the largest city in Benin. Its official population count was 679,012 inhabitants in 2012; however, over two million people live in the larger urban area. The urban area continues to expand, notably toward the west. The city lies ...

Republic of Benin Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It was formerly known as Dahomey. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north-west, and Niger to the north-east. The majority of its po ...

visits the school, and pupils donate the proceeds of their

Lent Lent (, 'Fortieth') is the solemn Christianity, Christian religious moveable feast#Lent, observance in the liturgical year in preparation for Easter. It echoes the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring Temptation of Christ, t ...

charity activities. In 2021, the Saint-Joseph and Saint-Michel students joined the '

Origami ) is the Japanese art of paper folding. In modern usage, the word "origami" is often used as an inclusive term for all folding practices, regardless of their culture of origin. The goal is to transform a flat square sheet of paper into a ...

For Life' by the

Engie Engie SA (stylised in all caps as ENGIE) is a French multinational electric utility company, headquartered in La Défense, Courbevoie. Its activities cover electricity generation and distribution, natural gas, nuclear power, renewable energy ...

foundation creating origamis later assembled by Belgian

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exper ...

Charles Kaisin (1972) to create eight trees exhibited at the

KANAL - Centre Pompidou KANAL - Centre Pompidou is a museum for modern and contemporary art located in Brussels, Belgium, near the Brussels–Charleroi Canal, in the former Citroën Garage buildings. The opening is scheduled for 28 November 2026. During the renovat ...

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

and at the

Palais de Tokyo The Palais de Tokyo (''Tokyo Palace'') is a building dedicated to modern and contemporary art, located at 13 avenue du Président-Wilson, facing the Trocadéro, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The eastern wing of the building belongs to ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

which raised 75,000 euros for the

SAMU Social A SAMU Social is a municipal humanitarian emergency service in several cities in France and worldwide whose purpose is to provide care and medical ambulatory aid and nursing to homeless people and people in social distress. This is partially acco ...

, a

municipal A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the gov ...

humanitarian emergency service in France and worldwide whose purpose is to provide

medical care Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is deliver ...

and ambulatory nursing to

homeless Homelessness, also known as houselessness or being unhoused or unsheltered, is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and functional housing. It includes living on the streets, moving between temporary accommodation with family or friends, liv ...

people and people in social distress.

Sports

The school is granted access to Solesmes' swimming pools, the Marie Amélie Le Fur Sports Hall and the Édouard Delberghe building's indoor courts and

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; ...

room, where they practice

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicy ...

disciplines.

References

External links

Ecole Saint-Joseph
Solesmes on education.gouv.fr (

Ministry of National Education (France) The Ministry of National Education and Youth, or simply Ministry of National Education, as the title has changed several times in the course of the French Fifth Republic, Fifth Republic, is the cabinet member in the Government of France who ove ...

's Official Website) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ecole Saint-Joseph Catholic elementary and primary schools in France Education in Hauts-de-France Buildings and structures in Nord (French department) 1892 establishments in France Educational institutions established in 1892

History

Philanthropy

Sports

See also

References

External links