Hôpital de la Charité (, "Charity Hospital") was a hospital in Paris founded by the Brothers Hospitallers of St. John of God in the 17th century. In 1935, it was closed and demolished to make way for the new faculty of medicine. Located at 45, rue des Saints-Pères, the premises currently house the Centre Universitaire des Saints-Pères, one of the sites of the University of Paris-Descartes (Paris V). History In 1601, Marie de Médicis, second wife of King Henry IV of France, invited the Brothers Hospitallers of St. John of God – commonly called "Brothers of Charity" – to come to France to care for the sick indigents. They were, by their order's rule, doctors and pharmacists who cared for the sick. They first occupied a house located rue de la Petite Seine (current locations of numbers 2-4 rue Bonaparte and 9 quai Malaquais). A few years later, the Brothers had to move because, Marguerite de Valois, the first wife of Henri IV, had decided in 1607 to establish a convent there (future convent of the Petits-Augustins, established within the perimeter of the current National School of Fine Arts or Beaux-Arts de Paris). In exchange, she offered them the hôtel de Sansac, located near the chapel of Saint-Pierre (or Saints-Pères), which formed the original core of what was to become the hôpital de la Charité. The hospital was re-established there in 1608. It opened under the name of Saint Jean Baptiste de la Charité and was available only to male patients who did not suffer from incurable or venereal diseases. From 1613 onwards, the Brothers engaged in a major construction project, which created several important hospital structures. They received from the abbot of Saint-Germain-des-Prés the use of the small Saint-Père chapel. The Brothers repaired the chapel and, ultimately, received it outright as a gift along with the small cemetery that was associated with it. The old chapel was demolished and a new one was consecrated in July 1621 by the Archbishop of Embrun. It was refurbished in the middle of the 17th century and, in 1732, a portal by the architect Robert de Cotte was added. The chapel still stands at the corner of the boulevard Saint-Germain and the rue des Saints-Pères. From 1652, the Brothers of Charity also acquired – thanks to an anonymous donation – a house on rue du Bac, which was initially equipped with eight beds