To alleviate such destitution, in 1652 the Company of the Blessed Sacrament, an active French Catholic secret society, started relief efforts centered around the development of a charitable storehouse. However, after the wars' conclusion, the company decided to advocate for a policy of confinement, a more long-term solution to the city's poverty and mendicancy. The company had taken an interest in confining the Parisian poor ever since 1633, impressed by apparent successes of the first General Hospital in Lyon. However, this proposed solution also had precedents within the city itself. For instance, from 1612 to 1618, the Hôpital des Pauvres Enfermés—an early attempt at building a Parisian general hospital—locked up local beggars and subjected them to a system of forced labor. However, this effort was short-lived due to financial difficulties, political conflicts, and a sharp increase in the refugee population, among other challenges. Later on, in 1632, the Parliament of Paris again began to apprehend beggars, this time using them as forced laborers for the city sewers.
