ABSTRACT
Rheims owes the distinction of being the first town in the world with a ‘cancer hospital’ to the compassion of a Jansenist Canon. But, little realising the future historical interest of the project, the majority of the inhabitants tried to oppose it. They even went so far as to send a petition to the king for the institution to be set up elsewhere. The intendant of Champagne responsible for sorting out the matter dismissed the complainants and the hospital was able to open its doors in 1742: it was to operate in this way for a century, and then lose its specific nature and become a hospice annex for incurable patients of all types.
