History

Saint Thomas Aquinas Priory in Toulouse. The successor to the first community of friars established there by Saint Dominic in 1215. This community was settled initially in the house of the Seilhan’s family built against the rampart of the city of Toulouse. But its rapid growth led to the foundation of the Couvent des Jacobins. The Couvent church and monastery stand today among the finest witnesses of French mediaeval architecture. Banned during the French Revolution, the Dominicans managed to establish again in Toulouse during the nineteenth century. They built the current priory in the 1950s.

Mission

About fifty friars are gathered there today. They are carrying on the mission assigned by Saint Dominic to the Order of Preachers and they extend their activity in many areas. The priory hosts the superior of the Province of Toulouse, the oldest province of the Order. It provides monastic and theological formation to young friars before their ordination as priests, runs a parish attached to the priory, spreads the devotion of the Rosary through many groups and a pilgrimage to Lourdes.

The priory is home to several professors in theology and philosophy, to a renowned academic Journal devoted to the teaching of Saint Thomas Aquinas (the Revue thomiste). It has a Thomistic Institute which delivers Masters and Doctorates in theology. The Priory supports a library opened to friars and researchers. It maintains the memory of the Order In many places of foundation around Toulouse (Fanjeaux, Prouilhe, the Seilhan house, the Jacobins). Through an important archival fund, organizes lectures. It provides chaplains to students, hospitals and prisons, or preachers for spiritual retreats and groups of prayer, or spiritual counselors for anyone who asks.

Help us support this project

We participate to the creation inside the priory of medicalized rooms dedicated to the elderly friars. This is carried out in order to enable them to stay within the community as long as possible. We also participate to the renewal of part of the roofs and the renovation of 40 rooms for the brothers of the community.