The History of The Little Chapel
In 1680 Jean-Baptiste de la Salle founded ‘The Brothers of the Christian Schools’, a religious fraternity devoted to education. The order flourished and by the early 20th century more than six thousand brothers were teaching in France but in 1904 the French government passed anti-religious laws and thousands of religious left France to continue their work of vocation in exile. Thus it was that a group of de la Salle brothers arrived in Guernsey in June 1904 and acquired Les Vauxbelets (=the pretty little valleys).
In December 1913 Brother Deodat (=given to God) arrived at Les Vauxbelets. When he saw the woody slope of land facing the valley he formed the idea of building a grotto like that at Lourdes in France. In March 1914 he built a tiny chapel, 9 feet long by 4.5 feet wide but it was not well received so Brother Deodat spent the following night demolishing the building. Thus ended the first chapel.
Brother soon set to work again and in July 1914 the grotto was completed and officially blessed. Not long afterwards he built another little chapel which measured 9 feet by 6 feet. This survived until September 1923; Brother Deodat demolished it in that month because the Bishop of Portsmouth had not been able to pass through the doorway. Thus ended the second chapel.
Brother Deodat soon set about the construction of a third chapel – the one that we see today. The building operation proved laborious. Day after day he collected pebbles and broken china to decorate the shrine. Then suddenly the Little Chapel became famous, thanks to an illustrated article in the Daily Mirror. Islanders brought coloured china to Les Vauxbelets; the Lieutenant-Governor offered a remarkable mother-of-pearl; presents poured in from around the world.
In 1939 Brother Deodat returned to France because of ill health. After his departure the care of the Little Chapel was entrusted to Brother Cephas, who continued to decorate the building until his retirement in 1965. The building lacked necessary maintenance for several years until, in 1977, a committee was established to restore the chapel. The foundations were stabilised and the roof renovated.
Les Vauxbelets was home to several different schools during the course of the 20th century. Initially the brothers ran an agricultural college, in conjunction with their farm, where they taught crafts and skills for use on the land as well as academic subjects. Either side of World War Two this evolved into a successful boys’ college and when that had to close the buildings were used as a language school which received groups of students from the continent.
In 1999 Brother Christantian, who was by then in the 86th and final year of his life and who was faced with the prospect of having to sell the site, had the vision and inspiration to offer it to Blanchelande College on a long term lease. He firmly believed that this was God’s will and it provided Blanchelande with the permanent home it had been seeking.
To celebrate the Jubilee Year in A.D. 2000, as well as the life of Brother Christantian (Gaston Rabet 1913-1999), members of the local Catenian Association and Knights of St Columba built a Way of the Cross around the Chapel. This was a miniature version of the way at Lourdes and the link with Lourdes is continued on 15 August (the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady) when a torchlight procession is held through the grounds of Les Vauxbelets.
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