Fr. Louis Chauvet

Sometime in June of 1694, Father Louis Chauvet arrived in Levesville-la-Chenard, having been appointed as the new parish priest. Levesville is a tiny village about 38 kilometers from the city of Chartres. As Levesville’s parish priest, he became pastor as well to the neighboring hamlets of Abonville and Ensonville. For the next 16 years, Father Louis Chauvet dedicated himself to improve the human and spiritual conditions of his parishioners. He was a spiritual Father to everyone – the poor, the rich, the widow, the children, the peasants, the artisans, the local nobility. He welcomed them in his rectory, instructed many, administered the sacraments, visited them when they were sick, rejoiced with them at weddings and baptisms and accompanied them in their last hour. Thus the drab and ordinary took on a touch of newness with fine quality…given the fresh perspective of the 30 year old priest from Provence. One thing that was true in the late 17th century is still true today that when one gradually discovers the many, previously unnoticed aspects of the person of Father Chauvet, one sees how the light of his attachment to beauty shines through. It is revealed in the transformations that he brought about in Levesville.