126 THE ORIGINS OF FREEMASONRY FROM ANCIENT TIMES TO THE MIDDLE AGES
of the Passion and other Catholic mystery plays belonged to this group.
At the time of the hospital's reorganization, supported by an act of
Parliament on July 1, 1547, it was decided that children of the poor
would also be raised there and educated in craft techniques by male and
female workers in return for the privilege of obtaining, in six years'
time, recognition as masters in their crafts without the requirement of
any fee or masterpiece. Justification for their status would be provided
by the professional skills of their eventual students, who would them-
selves enjoy the status of the sons of masters.* By a declaration of Henri
II given in Paris on February 2, 1553, craft masters in the city of Paris
could take on a second apprentice only from among the children raised
at Trinity Hospital. Two acts of Parliament, one of December 3, 1672,
and one of August 22, 1798, specifically confirmed "the rule over the
rights and privileges of those who taught the art of craft and masonry
in the hospital of the Trinity and those who have learned it in said hos-
pital."^32
These institutions prove the long existence of social work among
craftsmen, notably masons. Other examples can be found in connection
to Saint Gervais Hospital and a second Trinity Hospital located on the
left bank.
Bordering the Saint Nicolas des Champs and Saint Sauver Parish
were Notre Dame de Bonne Nouvelle on the north and, to the south,
the parishes of Saint Gilles and Saint Loup and Saint Merri, located in
the Templar's domain. The church of Notre Dame de Bonne Nouvelle
is the most recent church, having first been erected from 1624 to 1628.
The masons who lived in neighboring parishes likely came to settle in
this quarter under construction in fairly large numbers. In fact, in 1663
the church became the seat of the Confederation of Stonecutters, insti-
tuted under the name of the Ascension of Our Lord.+
In the proximity of Saint Nicolas des Champs, between the current
rue Saint Denis and boulevard de Sepastopol, is located the very old
+* Abbe Lebeuf's citation of this date as 1545 is an error.^
R. de Lespinasse and Bonnardot, Le Livre des Metiers d'Etienne Boileau (Paris:
Imprimerie Nationale, 1879), 600. A small chapel dedicated to Saint Louis and Saint
Barbe that existed on this site was demolished by the Religious League in 1591. With
the exception of the belltower, which dates to the seventeenth century, the current
church was constructed from 1823 to 1830.