The community was founded on All Saints' Day 1975, in the Paris church of St. Gervais, from a desire on the part of the then-archbishop of Paris, Cardinal François Marty and a proposal by Father Pierre-Marie Delfieux, chaplain at Paris' Sorbonne University and the community's founder. 

With foundations in Paris, Vézelay, Strasbourg, Mont-Saint-Michel, Brussels, Florence, Montreal and Rome

- as well as two guest and retreat houses in Magdala in France's Sologne region and Gamogna in the Tuscan countryside of Italy - the multi-faceted Jerusalem community lives out the common calling of fraternal life, prayer, work and welcoming others "in the heart of the city", while striving to dwell always "in the heart of God". 

Particular importance is given to the beauty of the liturgy, an oasis for all to draw from morning, noon or evening, respite from the hectic pace of city life in the heart of God.