Fonds JM-CPN - Archives from the Pater Noster Carmelite convent in Jerusalem

The Church of the Pater Noster is a Roman Catholic church located on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. It is part of a Carmelite monastery, also known as the Sanctuary of the Eleona (French: Domaine de l'Eleona). The Church of the Pater Noster stands right next to the ruins of the 4th-century Byzantine Church of Eleona.

The Carmelite convent of Pater Noster was founded in 1875. It originated from a meeting between Princess Aurelia Bossi de la Tour d'Auvergne (1809-1889), and Sister Xavier du Coeur de Jésus, a professed nun from Lisieux (France) Carmelite convent, who had spent nine years in Saigon Carmelite convent.
After some years of service in Saigon, Mother Xavier of the Heart of Jesus returned to France but her missionary spirit and certainly the Holy Spirit inspired her to visit the holy sites in Jerusalem. She traveled to Jerusalem where she met the Princess of la Tour d'Auvergne who had used her wealth to revitalize the cave of the Pater Noster, a chapel, and the first cloistered monastery of Pater and was looking to entrust it to a religious community.
The princess and the Carmelite nun reached an agreement very quickly. Mother Xavier visited the site that seemed to her ideal for a Carmelite convent: "What a magnificent view! On one side the whole city of Jerusalem; on the other side the Dead Sea, the road to Bethany and Bethphage. Close by on the right, the place of the Ascension; and on the left, the cave where Jesus taught, known as the Pater. At the foot of the mountain, the cave of the Agony, the garden of Gethsemane, the brook of Kedron, and the Siloam fountain. It would be very fortunate for us to be able to build a Carmelite convent here."
Mother Xavier returned to France in order to help bring together the founding sisters of the Carmelite convent of the Pater Noster. The Monastery of Carpentras provided the first group of Carmelite nuns.
The Carmelite convent of the Pater Noster was officially inaugurated in 1874.