Originally named "Chapelle de St. Martin de Seyssuel", the chapel was built over several generations in the French village of Chasse-sur-Rhône, south of Lyon. It is estimated that it was erected around the 15th century. The building was abandoned after the French Revolution and fell into ruin. After World War I, the young architect Jacques Couëlle rediscovered the chapel and negotiated its transfer to the home of Gertrude Hill Gavin, the daughter of James J. Hill, best known as the founder of the Great Northern Railway, in Brookville, New York. Couëlle went so far as to refer to the chapel as "ce monument absolument unique en son genre". The chapel was shipped to New York in 1927 where it was reconstructed for Gertrude Hill Gavin, the new owner, by John Russell Pope. There it was attached to a French Renaissance chateau. Although the chateau burned down in 1962, the chapel was not damaged. After Gavin died, her estate passed to Marc B. Rojtman and his wife, Lillian. who decided to present the chapel to Marquette University in 1964.
At Marquette University
The transfer of the chapel took more than nine months, and another eight months passed before reconstruction began. Lucien David and Earnest Bonnamy planned the second reconstruction.
Features
When in New York, the famous Joan of Arc Stone was added to the chapel. According to legend, Joan of Arc prayed before a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary that stood on the stone, after which she habitually kissed the stone. Ever since, it is said to be colder than the stones that surround it.
The tomb of Chevalier de Sautereau, a former Chatelain of Chasse and "Compagnon d'Armes" of Bayard, is still located in the floor of the sanctuary.
The chapel features Christian artifacts that predate the original chapel, in some instances by multiple centuries, and which have been collected and displayed in the chapel, including ancient Spanish tapestries, coats of arms, crucifixes, and even a contemporary rooftop. It is one of the few exhibits of items from antiquity which visitors are permitted to handle or touch.
The stained glass windows are not original: Gertrude Hill Gavin, the owner of the chapel in New York, commissioned the windows. Charles J. Connick created and installed them in 1929. Connick modeled the color scheme of the windows on those of the stained glass windows in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City.
