A Sainte-Geneviève chapel, under the authority of the abbey of the same name, was attested in the 9th century. It was mentioned as a proper parish from 1128, which makes it the oldest attested parish of La Cité quarter.[2]
The church was re-built in the 15th, in part thanks to the donations of bookseller Nicolas Flamel. Flamel was represented in a niche next to the portal.[3] Theologian and casuist Jean Pontas [fr] became the vicar of the church in 1666.[4]
The Sainte-Geneviève and Saint-Christophe parishes, both situated at present-day Parvis Notre-Dame – Place Jean-Paul-II, were suppressed in 1747 and merged with the parish of Sainte-Madeleine. The church of Sainte-Geneviève-des-Ardents was destroyed in January 1747 to enable the extension works of the Hôpital des Enfants-Trouvés.[2] The walls of the church were excavated when the archaeological crypt was built. Now, the outline of the former building is shown by a lighter tiling on Parvis Notre-Dame.[5]
^Lécuy (1863). "Jean Pontas". Biographie universelle ancienne et moderne: ou histoire, par ordre alphabétique, de la vie publique et privée de tous les hommes qui se sont fait remarquer par leurs écrits, leurs talents, leurs vertus ou leurs crimes. Pom – Quo (in French). Desplaces. p. 73. Retrieved April 30, 2019.