Petit monastère Lumière de l'Immaculée - Petites sœurs de l'Agneau

Petit monastère Lumière de l'Immaculée is the small monastery of the Little Sisters of the Lamb (Petites sœurs de l'Agneau), tucked into the Croix-Rousse hill in Lyon, on rue Jacques-Louis Hénon. Built on land that once held the presbytery of the Sainte-Élisabeth church, the monastery has housed a small contemplative community since 2019, one that lives on alms and stays in close, everyday contact with its neighbors.

Where exactly is the monastery?

The monastery sits in Lyon's 4th arrondissement, on Croix-Rousse — a hill famous for its silk-weaving past and steep, winding streets. The 1,100-square-meter plot on which it was built was made available to the sisters on the former grounds of the Sainte-Élisabeth parish presbytery. It's a quiet residential corner of the city, away from the usual sightseeing circuit, which fits a community that deliberately keeps things modest and stays close to the people who live around it.

Who are the Little Sisters of the Lamb?

The community belongs to the wider Dominican family and blends a contemplative rule of life with an active presence among ordinary people. As a mendicant order, the sisters have no fixed income or salary: they live entirely on what is given to them, asking for it in person by knocking on doors or hitchhiking between visits. This daily begging round is not only how they get food — it's also how they end up in conversation with residents of whatever city they settle in. The community itself began in Vézelay in 1974 and was formally established in 1981; today it counts roughly 160 sisters and about thirty brothers, spread across Europe and the Americas.

How did the Lyon monastery come about?

The sisters arrived in Lyon in 2013, invited by then-Archbishop Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, who wanted their habit to be a visible presence on the city's streets. The cornerstone of the future monastery's chapel was blessed by Cardinal Barbarin on 21 October 2018. Construction was made possible by numerous donors, and the sisters moved into the finished building in 2019.

What's inside, and what does community life look like?

The building contains a chapel, a cloister, a refectory, individual cells, a library, and an oratory — the standard set of spaces for a small contemplative house. One distinctive feature of life here is the Saturday "open table": the sisters prepare a shared meal from whatever food has been donated to them and welcome neighbors and people in need to eat together. Since the new building was completed, the monastery can seat up to 50 people at that table.

Frequently asked questions

Can visitors tour the monastery?

The building is first and foremost a place of prayer and religious life rather than a conventional tourist attraction. Visitors are more likely to encounter the sisters out in the Croix-Rousse neighborhood during their daily rounds asking for alms than inside the monastery itself.

Why do the sisters ask for food on the street?

It follows directly from their mendicant rule: the sisters give up any guaranteed income or provision on purpose, choosing instead to depend on the generosity of others, and they treat the daily begging round as a core part of their calling rather than a fallback.

Since when has the community been in this building?

The sisters have been present in Lyon since 2013. The building on Croix-Rousse where they now live was completed in 2019, following the blessing of the chapel's cornerstone in October 2018.

What religious family do the Little Sisters of the Lamb belong to?

They belong to the broader Dominican family, combining a contemplative tradition with an active, visible presence among the residents of the cities where they establish themselves.