Les Misérables Volume 2, Chapter 10 Summary

Summary

The chapter shifts from describing the austere parlor of a convent to the more open, airy salon of the Temple convent, noting its white muslin curtains, varied pictures, and a celebrated chestnut-tree in its garden. Hugo emphasizes that this convent belongs to the Benedictines of the Perpetual Adoration, an order distinct from the Cistercian Benedictines and other female communities in Paris. He situates the reader in the Rue du Temple and contrasts the Temple convent's domestic features with the more sepulchral interiors of other cloisters.

Hugo then recounts the historical origins of the Perpetual Adoration order. He links its founding to two sacrileges in 1649—profane acts against the Eucharist at Saint-Sulpice and Saint-Jean en Grève—that deeply shocked Parisian religious sensibilities. Two pious women, Madame Courtin (Marquise de Boucs) and the Comtesse de Châteauvieux, respond by funding a monastery devoted to perpetual worship of the sacrament. Mother Catherine de Bar, “of the Holy Sacrament,” receives donations and seeks official permission; M. de Metz, Abbé of Saint-Germain, grants the first permission with conditions about dowries and income. Royal letters-patent and confirmations from the Chamber of Accounts and Parliament follow, and the new convent in Rue Cassette becomes the legal basis for the Benedictines of the Perpetual Adoration. Hugo closes by clarifying distinctions among several female religious communities—Perpetual Adoration Benedictines, Bernardines of Petit-Picpus, and others—despite occasional overlaps in practice such as perpetual adoration authorized by Pope Alexander VII.

Key events

1. Description of the Temple convent's lighter, salon-like parlor and famous chestnut-tree
2. Identification of the convent as belonging to Benedictines of the Perpetual Adoration
3. Recital of two 1649 sacrileges at Saint-Sulpice and Saint-Jean en Grève
4. Madame Courtin and the Comtesse de Châteauvieux fund a monastery for perpetual adoration
5. Mother Catherine de Bar obtains permission from M. de Metz with financial conditions
6. Royal letters-patent and parliamentary/Chamber confirmations establish the order legally
7. Clarification of differences between Perpetual Adoration Benedictines and other orders

Analysis

This chapter functions as a focused historical and institutional digression typical of Hugo’s narrative method: he pauses the novel’s immediate plot to provide cultural, liturgical, and legal background that deepens the reader’s understanding of the setting. By tracing the order’s origin to a specific scandal—the profanation of the sacrament—Hugo links religious practice to social reaction and female patronage, showing how devotional institutions can be born from collective trauma and private piety. The attention to legal steps (abbatial permission, letters-patent, Chamber of Accounts, Parliament) emphasizes the modern, bureaucratic embedding of religious life in state structures, a recurring theme in Hugo’s interest in institutions.

The chapter also refines character of place: the Temple convent’s less severe decor and its celebrated chestnut-tree make it feel more human and lived-in, preparing the reader for events and characters who will inhabit this space. Hugo’s precise distinctions among religious orders prevent conflation and demonstrate his broader project of cataloguing French society. Techniques include vivid domestic description, a concise historical narrative, and naming of patrons and officials, which together ground the religious devotion in concrete social actors. The chapter foreshadows tensions between institutional religion and individual lives by showing how external events (sacrilege, donations, royal decrees) shape interior religious practice.

Important quotes

“This outrage committed on “the most holy sacrament of the altar,” though but temporary, would not depart from these holy souls, and it seemed to them that it could only be extenuated by a “Perpetual Adoration” in some female monastery.”

NarratorExplains the motive behind founding the Perpetual Adoration: a moral and devotional response to profanation.

“Their first convent was “a new building” in the Rue Cassette, out of the contributions of Mesdames de Boucs and de Châteauvieux.”

NarratorDescribes the tangible outcome of patronage—the new convent founded through the two women’s donations.

Characters in Volume 2, Chapter 10

• Mother Catherine de Bar
• Madame Courtin, Marquise de Boucs
• Comtesse de Châteauvieux
• M. the Prior and Vicar-General of Saint-Germain des Prés
• M. de Metz, Abbé of Saint-Germain
• Pope Alexander VII.