The Churches of Paris Part 7

Some few years ago this "mountain" was an interesting hunting ground to the archaeological explorer and the collector of _bric-a-brac_; but it has been so cut through by new streets and boulevards that it has almost been improved out of existence. At the foot of it, in a little street turning on from the Quai de la Tourelle, is all that remains of the famous college of the Bernardins, now used by the _sapeurs-pompiers_.

The college was founded by an Englishman, Stephen of Lexington, Abbot of Clairvaux, in 1244, upon some ground belonging to the rich abbey of S.

Victor; Alphonse, the brother of S. Louis, being the t.i.tular founder and protector of the establishment. The great church, begun in 1338 by Pope Benedict XII. and Cardinal Curti, to replace the one built by Stephen Lexington, was never finished, but was considered, in the 14th century, to be of great beauty. (Pope Benedict, as Jacques Fournier, was professor of theology in the college.) But more fortunate than the church, the refectory has remained intact in all its beauty until our own time, though unfortunately, in 1845, it was sadly mutilated in order to adapt it for use as a barrack. A portion of the cloister may still be seen in the Rue de Poissy, a pointed arch built into the modern wall of a house with square windows in between. It is time the munic.i.p.ality of Paris or the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings bestirred itself to restore the few fragments of old Paris which yet remain. The Revolution did much damage, but often it only put the conventual buildings to secular uses without destroying them, leaving for later governments, and those moreover professedly religious, to utterly demolish the mutilated monasteries and churches, in order to make straight streets and s.p.a.cious boulevards, which, beautiful as they are, do not prevent us from regretting the past.

The convent of S. Genevieve was founded by Clovis, and so extensive were its lands and dependencies that ere long it drew to it a large population of workmen and labourers for the cultivation of its land. A priest, one of the monks of the abbey, was appointed to take spiritual charge of these people; and from this commencement grew the parish of S.

etienne. Originally the congregation met and wors.h.i.+pped in the crypt of the abbey church, which was dedicated to Our Lady; then the chapel was placed under the protection of S. John the Evangelist, and called St.

Jean-du-Mont. But at the beginning of the 13th century the congregation outgrew its chapel, and in 1224 the Bishop of Paris authorised the building of a church by the side of the abbey, to be consecrated to the memory of S. etienne, the proto-martyr. This first church, in fact, was only a part of the abbey; having had no separate entrance of its own, it could only be entered by a doorway from the choir of S. Genevieve. The reason for changing its name for the third time was probably the demolition of a church dedicated to S. Stephen to make s.p.a.ce for Notre-Dame. The memory of the first of martyrs being dear to the citizens, nothing would be more appropriate than the naming of a new church to take the place of the old one, although upon a different site.

The first mention of S. etienne is in the History of Guillaume le Breton, in the year 1221.

This first church lasted three hundred years, and then again, the population having increased enormously, S. etienne was found to be too small for its congregation, and another and finer church was projected.

In 1491 it was deemed better to rebuild than to patch up and enlarge the church; but many years pa.s.sed in projects and delays, and it was only in 1517 that the work was actually commenced. Abbot Philippe Lebel finished the choir in 1537, and in 1541 the Bishop of Megare consecrated the altars in the name of the Bishop of Paris; but that the church was not finished in 1552, or even in 1563, the diocesan permission to apply the Lenten offerings to the work is sufficient proof. The _jube_ was commenced in 1600, the porches nine years later, and the chapel of the Virgin (rebuilt) was only finished in 1661. It was Queen Marguerite de Valois, the lady who so strangely prances about Paris upon a white palfrey at dead of night in the much-admired controversial opera, who laid the first stone of the great portal in 1610; and, moreover, she gave a sum of three thousand _livres_ to aid the work; but what was this when so much was wanted? All was not complete until 1626, and meanwhile the alms during Lent were appropriated to the building fund. However, a glance at a slab of black marble on the north wall of the nave will tell us that on the 25th February, 1626, the Sunday called s.e.xagesime, under the pontificate of Urban VIII., and in the reign of Louis XIII. of gracious memory, the church and the high altar were dedicated to the glory of G.o.d and of the Virgin Mary by the "_reverendissime messire Jean-Francois de Gondi_," archbishop of Paris. Another inscription informs the reader of a wonderful accident which took place on this occasion:--

"Et pendant les cerimonies de la dedicace, devs filles de la paroisse tomberent dv hauvlt des galleries du cvr, avec l'appvy et devx des ballvstres, qui fvrent miraculeus.e.m.e.nt preservees, comme les a.s.sistants; ne s'etant rencontre personne sovbs les rvines, vev l'affluence dv pevple qvi a.s.sistaient avs dites cerimonies."

Before the Revolution the _cure_ was always one of the regular canons of S. Genevieve. At the end of the 16th century he was a.s.sisted in his duties by a community consisting of twenty-four priests. In 1791, when the parishes of the city were reorganized, it was determined to remove the relics, the ornaments, and the monuments of the abbey church to S.

etienne, and to re-name the latter after the maid of Nanterre; but the decree was never carried out. Reforms and resolutions followed each other so rapidly that there was no time to put them into execution.

S. etienne is a cruciform building, very much leaning to the right (as is so common in old churches), with a nave, two aisles, and nineteen chapels. The transepts scarcely project beyond the nave. The exterior is a ma.s.s of elegant ornamentation, and on the north side, under the windows, is a pa.s.sage which connects the porch of the second bay with the _charnier_, a sort of cloister, built at the end of the Lady Chapel, exterior to the church. The enclosure within this cloister was formerly the little burial ground; the great cemetery being situated in the square which fronts the church.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SAINT eTIENNE AND THE OLD CHURCH OF SAINTE-GENEVIeVE.]

There is something extremely coquettish and fascinating about the building, with its high-pitched roof, springing from a Renaissance facade, and its 15th century tower surmounted by a pepper-box lantern.

The old church of the abbey, which completely joined S. etienne, has been entirely swept away to make room for the Rue Clovis; but the refectory and the tower still form a part of the Lycee Henri IV., a little turret at the easternmost angle of S. etienne indicating the extremity of the monastery's domains.

Above the great doorway is a bas-relief of the stoning of S. Stephen and the legend: _Lapis templum Domini destruit, lapis astruit_. Right and left are statues of S. etienne and S. Genevieve, the two patrons; above are Angels bearing torches. Upon the pediment is the Resurrection, and under the lintel we read: _Stephano archimartyro sacrum_. Two Angels above the great rose window bear the arms of Marguerite de Valois, and at the summit are the statues of S. Hilary and S. Benedict, patrons of two churches in the parish, now demolished.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE SCREEN LOOKING TOWARDS THE CHOIR.]

The interior of S. etienne is no less singular than the exterior. The side aisles are nearly as high as the nave, and have enormous windows.

The shafts which support the vault of the nave are of great height, and the bays are of the same elevation as the side aisles. Above these bays is a clerestory, the windows of which are as broad as they are high, with depressed pointed arches. In order to diminish the enormous height of the bays, the architect conceived a curious device. At about one-third of the height of the shafts he has thrown a depressed arch from pillar to pillar, which forms an elevated pa.s.sage round the church.

It is arrested at the transepts, but taken up again round the choir. The pa.s.sage encircling each pillar is just wide enough to enable a person to walk. These _tournees_, as the old records call the gallery, and the splendid _jube_ form a distinctive feature of the church. On the side of the nave the _tournee_ has an open pilaster bal.u.s.trade, and at the entrance of the choir it joins the _jube_. On each side of this is a spiral staircase leading up first to the _jube_ and then, a second flight to the choir gallery, the former being formed of a single flying-arch supported by two pilasters. The whole screen is ornamented with rich carving; an Angel with palm leaves is in each spandrel, and above all is a huge crucifix, completing this beautiful and original specimen of French Renaissance, the only _jube_ which has survived the 17th century restorations. It was the work of a celebrated sculptor named Biart (_pere_). Upon each side of it is a doorway, surmounted by a sitting figure, listening to the chanting of the Gospel. _Ascende qui evangelizas Sion. Audiam quid loquatur Dominus meus_, are the words upon the right. At the left: _Quam dulcia faucibus meis eloquia tua. Levavi ma.n.u.s meas ad mandata tua._

The pendant bosses of the nave and crossing are exceedingly rich in ornament--garlands of flowers, Angels' heads, the Symbols of the Evangelists, rosettes, and armorial bearings. The central boss of the transept falls 18ft., and has for ornament Angels playing instruments, the emblems of the Four Evangelists, and a Lamb encircled with thorns and bearing a crown.

[Ill.u.s.tration: DOORWAY OF THE SCREEN.]

The pulpit was designed by Laurent de la Hire, the painter, and sculptured by Claude Lestocard. It is a ma.s.s of rich carving. A huge Samson supports the lower part, while upon the canopy are little Angels of the winged-Cupid tribe, and at the summit a draped Angel with a trumpet. Samson is sitting upon the lion he tamed with the jawbone of an a.s.s, and holds the strange weapon in his hand. Sauval remarked that _il la porte bien_ (the pulpit), and certainly he appears to be doing so without much effort. The medallions upon the staircase and round the pulpit represent Evangelists and Doctors, among them Augustin and Jerome, and scenes from the life of S. Stephen, in which he figures as a preacher. The Cardinal Virtues go hand in hand in a becoming fas.h.i.+on with the Theological Ladies: Prudence bearing her mirror, which reflects the wisdom of the serpent hard by; Justice has her sword; Faith a heart as well as her cross; Hope leans upon her anchor; Temperance pours out water from an _amphora_; Courage holds a dangerous weapon of the mallet order; Charity is surrounded by the most charming of children. All these statuettes are exquisitely carved. Behind the preacher the Word of G.o.d, bearing the world, blesses those who preach the Gospel in His name; upon His head the Holy Spirit spreads His wings. Upon the edge of the canopy little Angels are playing with the crowns destined for the elect; and at the summit is a larger Angel bearing a trumpet to awake them from their long sleep. The organ is also a ma.s.s of fine carving: S. Stephen stoned; S. Genevieve and her sheep; the Elders of the Apocalypse; the "Jewish ladies of the Bible," as a German kindly interpreted, and the Pa.s.sage of the Red Sea; above all, our Blessed Lord ascending to Heaven.

When the Abbey of Port-Royal was destroyed in 1710, the body of Racine was transferred to S. etienne and placed in the crypt of the Lady Chapel by the side of Pascal; and in 1808 a Latin epitaph, composed by Boileau, which was discovered in the pavement of the church of Magny-les-Hameaux, was also transferred. Ten years later, on April 21st, 1818, a great function was held in honour of the poet and the author of those much-loved _Pensees_; the Academy sent a deputation, and one of their members, the Abbe Sicard, officiated.

EPITAPH ON PASCAL.

PRO COLUMNA SUPERIORI, SUB TUMULO MARMOREO.

JACET BLASIUS PASCAL CLAROMONTA- NUS STEPHANI PASCAL IN SUPREMA APUD AVERNOS SUBSIDIORUM CURIA PRAESI- DIS[63] FILIUS, POST ALIQUOT ANNOS IN SEVE- RIORI SECESSU ET DIVINAE LEGIS MEDI- TATIONE TRANSACTOS, FAELICITER ET RELIGIOSE IN PACE CHRISTI VITA FUNC- TUS, ANNO 1662, AETATIS 39, DIE 19 AUGUSTI, OPTa.s.sET ILLE QUIDEM PRAE PAUPERTATIS ET HUMILITATIS STUDIO ETIAM HIS SEPULCHRI HONO- RIBUS CARERE, MORTUUSQUE ETIAM- NUM LATERE QUI VIVUS SEMPER LATERE VOLUERAT. VERUM EJUS IN HAC PARTE VOTIS c.u.m CEDERE NON POSSET FLORINUS PERIER IN EADEM SUBSIDIO- RUM CURIA CONSILIARIUS, GILBERTAE PASCAL BLASII PASCAL SORORIS CONJUX AMANTISSIMUS, HANC TABULAM POSUIT QUA ET SUAM IN ILLUM PIETATEM SIGNIFICARET, ET CHRISTIANOS AD CHRISTIANA PREc.u.m OFFICIA SIBI AC DEFUNCTO PROFUTURA COHORTARETUR.

Another epitaph in the North aisle of the nave records the virtues and wisdom of Jacques-Benigne Winslow, the anatomist and member of the Academy of Sciences, brought back from his evil and heretical ways by the preaching of Bossuet. Eustache Lesueur, the somewhat feeble painter of the Life of S. Bruno, was also buried at S. etienne. Many other names adorn the list of those laid to rest in the churches or burial grounds of the parish: Vigenere, secretary to Henri III., 1598; the surgeon, Thognet, 1642; Antoine Lemaistre, and Lemaistre de Sacy, brought from Port Royal in 1710; the botanist, de Tournefort, 1708; Rollin, rector of the University, who died in 1741, in the Rue Neuve de Saint-etienne du Mont, which was re-named after him.

But it is the gla.s.s of S. etienne which is perhaps its chief glory.

Although a great deal has been destroyed and patched up, much remains which is quite worthy of study, being, as it is, in the best style of the 16th and 17th centuries, and the work of Jean Cousin, Claude Henriet, d'Enguerrand Leprince, Pinaigrier, Michu, Francois Periez, Nicolas Desengives, Nicolas Lava.s.seur, and Jean Mounier. But, unhappily, mendings and patchings have quite destroyed our power of discovering to which artist the different windows are due. In the _charnier_ there is a very curious composition, ill.u.s.trating the allegory of the wine-press; our Lord lies upon the press in the presence of the Father and the Holy Spirit, bathed in a sea of blood, which flows from His side, His hands, and His feet. Underneath, the blood pours down through an opening into a large cask. Prelates and kings[64] carry to a cellar those barrels which have been filled with the Sacred Blood by the Doctors of the Church; while, from under a rich Cla.s.sic portico, we see the faithful flocking to confess their sins, and to receive the Holy Eucharist. In the distance, the Patriarchs are digging the ground and pruning the vines, while the Apostles gather in the vintage. S. Peter throws the grapes into a vat, and a chariot drawn by the Ox, the Lion, and the Eagle of the Apocalypse, and guided by the Angel of S. Matthew, carries the Divine vintage to the four quarters of the earth. Such is the allegory of the wine-press, the _Pressoir mystique_, the outcome of the verse of Isaiah: "I have trodden the wine-press alone, and of the people there was none with me"; but, unfortunately for the correctness of the ill.u.s.tration, there is, in this window, a large concourse of people, great and small in worldly means and wisdom. The window is attributed to the Pinaigriers. Robert Pinaigrier had painted the subject for the church of S. Hilaire, at Chartres in 1530; and about a century later Nicolas Pinaigrier reproduced his father's design, with some modifications, at S. etienne.

The emblem of the Precious Blood was adopted by many confraternities of wine merchants, which led Levieil to think that this window was given to the church by Jean le Juge, a very rich wine merchant. Sauval speaks of this subject being represented at S. Sauveur, at S. Jacques de la Boucherie, at the hospital of S. Gervais, and in the sacristy of the Celestins; and l'abbe Lebeuf notes a window in S. Andre des Arcs, representing Christ crushed like the grapes in a wine-press. The cathedral of Troyes and the church of S. Foy at Conches still possess windows of the same character.

The following verses describe this subject in quaint old French:--

"Heureux homme Chrestien si fermement tu crois Que Dieu pour te sauuer a souffert a la croix, Et que les Sacrements retenus a l'Eglise.

De Son sang precieux ont eu commencement; Qu'en les bien receuant toute offence est remise, Et qu'on ne peut sans eux auoir son sauuement."

_In te Domine Speravi non confundar in aeternum._--PSAL. x.x.x.

_Non n.o.bis Domine, non n.o.bis sed nomini tuo da gloriam._--PSAL. CXIII.

"Les anciens patriarches Qui le futur ont sceu Pour leur Salut ne fu A cultiuer le Vigne.

"Ce pressoir fut la Venerable croix Ou le sang fut le Nectar de la Vie; Quel sang celuy par qui le roy des Rois Rachepta lhomme et sa race a.s.seruie.

"Tous urais Chrestiens le doiuent receuoir Auec respect des Prebtres de l'Eglise, Mais il conuient premierement auoir L'ame constriste, et la coulpe remise.

"Tous les cantons de ce large Vniuers En ont guste par les Evangelistes Edifies ont este les peruers Laissant d'Adam les anciennes pistes.

"Dans les Vaisseaus en reserue il fut mis.

Par les docteurs de l'Eglise, pour estre Le lauement de nos peches commis, Mesme de ceux qu'on a Venant a naitre.

"Papes, Prelats, Princes, Rois, Empereurs L'ont au cellier mis avec reuerence, Ce Vin de vie efface les erreurs, Et donne a l'Ame une saincte esperance."

This strange design reminds one somewhat of a little chapel near Partenkirchen, Tyrol. Up the hill is a Way of the Cross and at the summit a tiny chapel containing a life-size figure of our Lord, behind a grating. At his feet is a pool of water--I imagine with some miraculous powers; a cup fastened by a chain allows the pa.s.ser-by to drink thereof.

But the strange part is the supply of water which comes from our Lord's wounds, and fills the pool--symbolic of His being the living water, the well from which whosoever drinketh obtaineth everlasting life. The idea is somewhat materialistic and startling to the mundane dweller in cities, but to the simple-minded inhabitants of Tyrol it is full of poetry.

The oldest gla.s.s in S. etienne is in the upper windows of the apse, representing the apparitions of Christ, to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, to the Magdalen, to S. Peter, and to the three Maries. In the western rose window the Eternal Father is vested in the insignia of the Pope, that common device of 16th century Ultramontanism. Far better is the design of a window on the north side of the nave: the Eternal Father seated in glory, with the book of the seven seals on His knees; the Lamb opens it, the four-and-twenty Elders sit around, and Angels pour the Divine anger from chalices upon the earth. The donors were evidently a large family, for they fill up all the lower part of the window, one behind the other, devoutly kneeling upon their knees. Some little scenes from the legend of S. Claude are charming in colour and design; so, too, are those from the life of the Virgin.

In one of the chapels of the nave we see a family repast, symbolising the wedding feast of the Gospel. The banquet is prepared, but the guests are not ready; one is going to fetch his wife, another takes an excursion to his country house, a third is inspecting a couple of oxen--but all beg to be excused.

The gla.s.s of S. etienne was given by enthusiastic paris.h.i.+oners; indeed, so much rivalry took place amongst them, to fill the church with richly coloured windows, that the authorities were obliged to restrain their eagerness, and to point out that the bells, the porch, and other parts of the building required their aid.

It was at S. etienne that Monseigneur Sibour, archbishop of Paris, was a.s.sa.s.sinated in 1857, during the _neuvaine_[65] of S. Genevieve. The procession had travelled round the church, and was re-entering the nave, when the a.s.sa.s.sin, a discontented priest, rushed at the prelate and stabbed him. He was carried into the presbytery, but died soon after.

The main attraction of S. etienne is the tomb of S. Genevieve. Long before the Pantheon ceased to be the church of the maid of Nanterre, it was to S. etienne that the faithful journeyed to pray for her intercession, and to have their belongings laid upon her coffin. Here, any day, but especially during the octave of her _fete_, you may see people bringing handkerchiefs, rosaries, crosses, towels, etc., to be placed in the shrine, in order to carry the Saint's blessing and help to the sick and the suffering at home. The stone coffin is said to have been found in the crypt of the abbey church during its demolition in 1801, but whether it be the original one in which Saint Genevieve was buried in 511 it is impossible to say, as it is so surrounded by ornamental ironwork that its workmans.h.i.+p cannot be studied; but the effect of the little chapel containing this _tombeau_, with its lights and flowers and stained-gla.s.s, is very charming, and during the _neuvaine_, when the church is ablaze with candles, and hundreds of people _font queue_ to the shrine, it is a sight not easily forgotten.

The history of this _culte_ is elaborately worked out. S. Genevieve was buried, it is a.s.serted upon pretty good authority, in the crypt of the old abbey church of the Holy Apostles.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TOMB OF SAINTE-GENEVIeVE.]

When the Normans overran the country, the monks took up the body of their patroness, and carried it off to distant parts in a wooden box.

Peace being restored, the religious went back to their abbey and repaired the various tombs, among others those of S. Prudence and S.

Ceran, Bishop of Paris; but the remains of S. Genevieve were not replaced in the stone coffin in which they had previously been laid. A splendid _cha.s.se_ was made for their reception, and until the Revolution, upon every occasion that the good citizens of Paris fell into any grievous trouble, the reliquary was carried about, up and down the "mountain," in and out of the tortuous streets, as a means of gaining the intercession of the patron Saint. And no less honoured was the empty tomb; the faithful paid their respects to that, after having visited the _cha.s.se_.

In 1628, when Cardinal de La Rochefoucault began to restore the church, he covered the crypt with costly marbles. In the centre was the stone coffin of the Saint raised upon a few steps, enclosed by four columns and an iron _grille_. Right and left were the tombs of S. Prudence and S. Ceran.

At the Revolution all was dispersed or destroyed, the _cha.s.se_ was turned into coin, the Saint's bones were burnt on the Place de Greve, and the tomb broken; but in 1802, when Amable de Voisins became _cure_ of S. etienne, he obtained permission from the archbishop, M. de Belloy, to translate the fragments of the stone coffin to S. etienne, and to hold the festivals in the Saint's honour in that church.