La Chapelle du Château de Versailles
Consecrated in 1710, this chapel is, like the whole palace, an example of exquisite workmanship. Not a bolt or a hinge but is of the best bronze, exquisitely designed and gilt. We may not admire the style, but all Mansard’s subordinates turned out the best work they could produce. Can anything be more worthy of praise in this respect than the staircases of the palace, resplendent with different coloured marbles, or the magnificent Salle des Glaces? The same may be said of the chapel. As a church it may fail; it certainly inspires no feeling of religion; but as a building it is magnificent.
The Kings sat in the gallery, and in consequence of the holiness of S. Louis, they were allowed a privilege only accorded to ecclesiastics—that of kissing the paten at mass; and when they received the Holy Sacrament, they were presented with as many wafers as there had been Kings in succession to Clovis—a custom which had come down from the time of Louis le Débonnaire, as a safe-guard against poison, Louis having been poisoned by a consecrated wafer.