St. Joan of Arc Chapel

This gothic chapel was constructed in France in 1420 and was originally called St. Martin de Seysseul. In the 1920s, Gertrude Hill Gavin acquired and moved the chapel from France to her home in Long Island. 

The chapel was restored and beautiful French-style stained glass windows were installed. Gavin rededicated the building to St. Joan of Arc Chapel and added the “Joan of Arc Stone”  to the wall behind a Gothic altar, which she also purchased for the chapel. 

The stone has an official French endorsement of authenticity and is believed to have a connection to the saint herself. In 1962, Marc Rojtman bought the chapel and gifted it to Marquette University. The move was completed to its Milwaukee home by 1966 where it continues to be used for masses and the university.

If you touch any metal to the stone behind the altar, that metal becomes a third-class relic of St. Joan of Arc. There are other artifacts in the chapel that date as far back as before the Black Death. The chapel is the oldest building in Wisconsin. It’s an amazing piece of medieval European history and Joan of Arc history right in Milwaukee!