Histoire

The monastery of the Immaculate Conception in Laval comes from La Val-Sainte. After their journey following Dom Augustine de Lestrange, our mothers sojourned at Darfeld in Westphal until 1812. They were then transfered to the castle of Borsut near Liège where they stayed for four years. April 16, 1816 they set out for Laval where they arrived on 6 June 1816. The ancient monastery of St Catherine, once occupied by the canons of St Genevieve, was not ready to receive them, so they retired to a private property to wait until they could take possession of their monastery on 18 November 1816. They had at their head R. M. Elisabeth Piette who was named superior by Dom Eugène de Laprade, the abbot of Darfeld in 1812. She was elected prioress of St Catherine on 4 February 1819. When on 14 April 1826 the monastery was erected as an abbey by pope Leo XII, R.M. Elisabeth was elected abbess for life on April 27, 1827. She received the abbatial blessing on 24 August 1827, with all the ceremonies prescribed in  the Roman Pontifical, with the right to use the abbatial cross.
Beginning on 17 December 1818, the Holy See allowed the religious of St Catherine to make solemn profession of vows. When were they suppressed? We don’t know; surely at the same time as our fathers in 1837? Our mothers still kept following the same usages of strict enclosure and the recitation of the Divine Office, even outside of choir. They were partly able to return to solemn vows when on 6 February 1924 the Holy See allowed it to the nuns who wanted it. On 15 August 1928, seventy-one religious pronounced the formula of their solemn vows in the presence of Dom Berchmans Daveau, abbot of Port-du-Salut.
When railway tracks cut through the property of St Catherine, the community had to transfer to the other side of the town, to a place called La Coudre. This transfer happened April 26, 1859. The new monastery was placed under the title of the Immaculate Conception.
The church was consecrated on 17 April 1901 by Mgr Geay, bishop of Laval.

Between 1902 and 1937 M. Lutgarde sent 8 sisters to reinforce Tenshien (Japan). Additional sisters were sent to Japan later: in 1937 (2 sisters), 1951 (1) and 1956 (1).