Pontoise The Carmel of Pontoise

Barbe Acarie, a Paris wife and the mother of six, brought the reformed Carmel of Saint Teresa of Ávila to France in 1604. Her house was a meeting place for the devout of the city, Francis de Sales and Pierre de Bérulle among them. After her husband’s death she entered the Carmel herself, as a lay sister, with the name Marie of the Incarnation.

She died at the Carmel of Pontoise on April 18, 1618, and was beatified in 1791. The Carmelite nuns of Pontoise still keep her tomb, and pilgrims come to pray to her in their chapel. The Gothic church of Saint-Maclou in the town has been a cathedral since 1966.

• The tomb of Blessed Marie of the IncarnationIn the chapel of the Carmel.
• The cathedral of Saint-MaclouGothic and Renaissance, at the top of the old town.

• April 18, in the Diocese of Paris and among the Discalced CarmelitesFeast of Blessed Marie of the Incarnation

• Blessed Marie of the IncarnationMadame Acarie, who brought the Carmel of Saint Teresa to France

• Via IncarnationisThe Way of the Incarnation, seven daysDay II, Issy-les-Moulineaux and Pontoise

About forty minutes by train from the Gare Saint-Lazare or the Gare du Nord in Paris.

• Saint-DenisThe Basilica of Saint-Denis, about 14 miles as the crow flies
• Issy-les-MoulineauxThe Seminary of Saint-Sulpice, about 17 miles as the crow flies
• Ivry-sur-SeineThe House of Madeleine Delbrêl, about 21 miles as the crow flies
• Noisy-le-GrandNotre-Dame-des-Sans-Logis, about 25 miles as the crow flies