This little stone chapel on the Marquette University campus is St. Joan of Arc Chapel, a Roman Catholic chapel in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee that began life in France. This little stone building was dedicated to Joan of Arc on 26 May 1966 after it had been moved from its previous location on Long Island, New York. But its story begins far away in the Rhône River Valley in France, where it was originally called Chapelle de St. Martin de Seyssuel and was built over several generations in the village of Chasse-sur-Rhône, south of Lyon, probably around the 15th century.
The chapel was abandoned after the French Revolution and fell into ruin, and according to a sign once at the original site, Joan of Arc may have visited and prayed here on 9 March 1429 after meeting King Charles VII. Legend holds that she prayed to a statue of the Virgin Mary while standing on a flat stone that now sits behind the altar; she is said to have kissed that stone, which has been reported to feel colder than those around it. After World War I the young architect Jacques Couëlle rediscovered the chapel.
Notice the flat stone behind the altar, said to feel colder than the stones around it.