In 1216, the Dominican brethren, also known as the Order of Preachers or the Jacobins, was established in Toulouse, France by Saint Dominic. In 1230, the friars began the work of constructing a church, a project which took a little more than one hundred years to complete. In 1234, Pope Gregory IX appointed one of the friars to be Inquisitor and this man was joined by four other Dominican brothers to do the acts for which the Inquisition is known. The townspeople of Toulouse cast the Dominican brethren out in 1235 only to allow them to return in 1236.
The carved stone palm ceiling was erected in 1292 and the bell tower followed in 1298. In 1385, the earthly remains of Saint Thomas Aquinas by direction of Pope Urban V was given to the Jacobin brethren to inter in the church. During the time of the French Revolution around 1794, the church was utilized as a storage place for weapons. For several years because of extensive damage to the church, the Couvent des Jacobins did not serve as a religious gathering place. In 1873, parishioners were allowed to worship in the church once more. The cloister was razed in the nineteenth century and reconstructed from local materials from 1965 to 1970.
This holy site is the resting place of St. Thomas Aquinas, one of the major Dominican teachers of the Middle Ages and thought of as one of Christianity's greatest theologians. His remains are interred under the altar in the approximate center of the church. The Couvent des Jacobins is a good example of the Gothic architecture of the Languedoc region of France.
Tours are conducted through the chapel, monastery and cloister of the Couvent des Jacobins from Monday to Sunday. Various exhibitions and cultural events have been held within its walls.
The Couvent des Jacobins may be visited at 69 rue Pargaminieres in Toulouse, France.
The monastery and cloister are constructed of brick. One of the distinguishing features of the apse is a vaulted ceiling composed of carved stone which looks like palm fronds overhead. One of the columns has a carved bull's head, a reminder of the martyrdom of Saint Saturnin. The chapel also has a black marble floor. The Chapelle Saint Antonin has a high vaulted ceiling and rose windows and cathedral windows of stained glass set high in its walls.
The refectory of the monastery measures sixty meters or about sixty-five and a half yards. The columns in the nave supporting the vaulted ceiling are twenty-two meters or a little over twenty-four yards tall. Other sections of the monastery include a chapter house, sacristy, refectory, and the Chapelle Saint Antonin.
