Wounded soldiers in the courtyard with Sisters, undated; soldiers performing in a show, undated.
Source: MM, 3S 2-2

Because of the 1901 anticlerical law in France, the Lyon community were forced to leave the Fourvière house. A friend was installed there as the manager of a boarding house, assisted by several sisters.

When war was declared in 1914, the boarding house emptied. For several months, the headquarters of a territorial regiment occupied the house. Then, in September, at the request of the city government, a military hospital was established in part of the property, at No. 3 Montée de Fourvière. The building was quickly organized, with dormitories, a treatment room, and a laundry. As for the staff, a Sister of Bon Secours served as head nurse, while a Sister of St. Philomena was responsible for the laundry, and a Jesuit priest served as chaplain.

Caring for the soldiers did not prevent the Cenacle Sisters from making their spiritual retreats or from occasionally welcoming groups of retreatants. The wounded, for their part, willingly took part in religious ceremonies, and several of them were baptized or received their First Communion during their stay at Fourvière. In February 1915, the military hospital increased its capacity to 40 beds, and the house also welcomed families who came to visit relatives being treated in hospitals throughout the city. Then, in February 1916, many refugees from Arras also took shelter at the field hospital.

The atmosphere was calm, and periods of recreation helped break the monotony of medical care. Thus, in January 1915, the soldiers put on a performance.

Despite an attempt by the Germans to close the facility in October 1916 because they considered it too clerical, the military hospital remained open throughout the war and had relatively few deaths among the wounded.