Saint-Vincent de Paul
Whether we consider this church from the architectural or the decorative point of view, it is quite worthy of its titular Saint, and is one of the grandest of modern churches to be seen anywhere. It is built on the plan of the early Roman basilicas. Begun by Lepère in 1824, it was finished from designs by Hittorf. The situation is fine, and the step and slopes leading up to it are at once grand and original. The subject in the tympanum is by Nanteuil, representing S. Vincent de Paul surrounded by Sisters of Charity and Angels.
S. Vincent de Paul was the founder of the picturesque grey Sisters we all know so well by their pretty flapping headgear, and of foundling hospitals in France. He was born in 1576 at Puy in Gascony, and being of a contemplative disposition, full of piety and sweetness, was fitted, his father thought, for the religious life; and so he was sent to a convent of the Cordeliers near by, and assumed the Franciscan frock at the age of twenty. For ten years he studied, and then an incident occurred which settled his destiny. Going to Marseilles to transact some business, and returning by sea, the bark was attacked by African pirates, and S. Vincent, with the others on board, was bound and sent into slavery at Tunis. Vincent spent two years in captivity, passing from one owner to another, when, one day, being asked by his master’s wife to sing to her, he burst into tears, chanting, “By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept,” and “Salve Regina.” But the songs or the preaching converted the woman, and then her husband; which being so, they all escaped and landed at Aiguesmortes. Vincent went to Rome, and then to Paris, where he pleaded the cause of the wretched galley-slaves of Marseilles. We all remember the grand picture by Bonnat, of S. Vincent taking the place of a slave and having the fetters put upon him. I forget its exact name; it was exhibited, in London some years ago, and is now in one of the churches. The Saint began his good work by visiting the prisons or dépôts, whence the criminals were forwarded to the galleys. There he saw “des malheureux renfermés dans de profondes et obscures cavernes, mangés de vermines, atténués de langueur et de pauvreté, et entièrement negligés pour le corps et pour l’âme.” S. Vincent then took up the cause of the street girls, and finally he instituted the Order of Sisters of Charity, nuns “qui n’ont point de monastères que les maisons des malades, pour cellules qu’une chambre de louage, pour chapelle que l’église de leur paroisse, pour cloître que les rues de la ville et les salles des hôspitaux, pour clôture que l’obéissance, pour grille que la crainte de Dieu, et pour voile qu’une Sainte et exacte modestie, et cependant elles se préservent de la contagion du vice, elles font germer partout sur leurs pas la vertu.” Such was S. Vincent’s idea when founding the Sisterhood, and such the Sisters are to this day, eminently practical, whether in their work or their quaint costume, which is short enough to clear the muddy street pavements, a model to most nurses in or out of hospital. They move with the world, but are not of it.
S. Vincent is generally represented carrying one babe and holding another by the hand, typical of his founding la Maison des Enfants Trouvés, which was the outcome of his first plan of gathering up children in the streets and placing them with his Sisters. Such an accumulation of little outcasts did he obtain that a special house had soon to be founded.
Nor was S. Vincent out of his element at Court, for he was friendly with Cardinal Richelieu, and attended Louis XIII. in his last moments. He died, in 1660, at S. Lazare, and was canonized in 1747; but, in the words of the people, he was “l’Intendant de la Providence et Père des Pauvres.” When the fine new church, dedicated to S. Vincent de Paul, was built, Hippolyte Flandrin was at the height of his reputation. He had decorated S. Germain-des-Prés with exquisite pictures, telling the whole story of the Redemption from the Old and New Testament; the churches of S. Paul at Nismes and S. Martin of Lyons were no less great successes. But the frescoes of S. Vincent were to be the painter’s crowning work. The church has a feature in common with S. Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, namely, a long flat wall space on each side of the nave and the west end, supported by pillars, and, in the case of the Paris church, forming a gallery. This it was that Flandrin was commissioned to cover with frescoes; and just as he had gone to the Roman catacombs for his inspiration for the Romanesque church at Lyons, so he looked to Ravenna for his designs for the Paris basilica. There is great similarity of idea in the two processions, and if S. Apollinare carries off the palm for its gorgeous mosaic, it must give way to S. Vincent in beauty of form and spirituality of design. Few, if any, churches can show pictures so full of beauty as this procession to Paradise (the “Christian Panathenæa” it has been called), a magnificent army of sufferers who have gained the crown. There they walk with stately steps, a hundred and fifty men and women, carrying their emblems and their palms; and yet there is no repetition; each one has his own individuality, his own idiosyncrasy.
M. Ingres was the first artist invited to undertake the work, then Delaroche; but happily, both of them declined, and Picot accepted the commission. The 1848 Revolution broke out and interrupted the work; then the new administration, struck with the beauty of the frescoes of S. Germain, wished to give over the decoration of S. Vincent to Flandrin. Naturally this great artist did not relish ousting a brother brush, and so a compromise was arranged; Picot chose the choir, and the frieze of the nave was left for Flandrin.
The procession of men is on one side, that of women upon the other, both being marshalled into Paradise by Angels bearing crowns for the elect. These stand on each side of the sanctuary, symbolic of Heaven: “Beati misericordis, Beati qui persecutionem patientur propter justitiam.”
Beginning with the Apostles, we see SS. Peter and Paul as the pillars of the Church and the two great preachers of Christianity. S. Matthew and S. John follow, accompanied by the rest of the twelve. Then come the Holy Martyrs, beginning with S. Stephen looking up at the “Son of Man seated on the right hand of God.” S. Pothinus and S. Eustace lead the group of soldier martyrs, ended by S. Christopher bearing the Infant Christ upon his shoulders. Then follow the doctors of the Church: S. John Chrysostom, “the golden mouthed”; S. Jerome; S. Augustin, of Hippo; and S. Leo, said to be a portrait of M. Ingres. Of these I give slight sketches, as they seem to be peculiarly fine in expression.
The Bishops and Confessors follow, a notable figure for refinement and dignity being S. Nicholas with his three little chubby boys; S. Joseph bears the carpenter’s rule instead of the palm, and a lily, emblem of chastity. Charlemagne, sainted, and S. Clodoald, his kingly robes being covered by the monk’s habit, are followed by S. Roch, S. Francis of Assisi, S. Dominic, and a crowd of others it is impossible to mention.
Turning round we see first the Virgin-Martyrs, S. Cecilia bearing her harp, S. Ursula and her friends, S. Agnes, S. Geneviève, and S. Zita bearing her pitcher, one of the most beautiful of Flandrin’s women. Interspersed, after the manner of the Ravenna mosaic, are palm trees dividing the groups. After the Virgins the Holy Women march along: S. Felicitas with her six little children is a charming group; S. Anne, old and feeble, walks with S. Elizabeth leaning on the boy S. John Baptist; S. Monica is alone, her son being amongst the doctors; S. Helena rests upon the cross, and is followed by the gentle Elizabeth of Hungary carrying bread, and S. Clotilde resting upon the shoulder of the young S. Clodoald.
The penitents follow: S. Mary Magdalen leading the group, S. Mary of Egypt, S. Thais burning her rich garments, and S. Pelagia trampling upon her worldly goods. The Holy Households follow: S. Eustache, S. Julian, and other heads of families who were converted by their wives, and whose children they dedicated to God.
Below the organ is the “Mission of the Church.” S. Peter and S. Paul are teaching the nations. In the centre is an altar with the sacred monogram and a nimbed cross; S. Peter is on the left, holding the keys and preaching to the Western nations. A father and mother kneel at his feet and present their children that they, too, may be converted.
On the right is S. Paul, clasping his sword and announcing the glad tidings to the Eastern nations: Jews, Persians, Greeks, Arabians, and an African bearing his war arrows.
For beauty of form, purity of sentiment and spirituality, untainted by the least spark of sentimentality, which is the bane of most modern religious painting, this work of Flandrin’s may be classed as the finest of our time. It is treated in the conventional manner; there is no intense realism such as we find in the work of Laurens, Lhermitte or Hitchcock, but neither is it inane, effeminate, or affected, as are the pictures of Ary Scheffer, Hesse, and a crowd of disciples of Overbeck and Cornelius. The latter called the frieze an example of a true Renaissance, and M. Ingres, who had helped his favourite pupil in analysing the details, looked upon it as a revival of true religious art, a vivification of the Old Masters. “Do you suppose it is to make copyists of you that I send you to copy the great masters? I wish you to get the juice of the plant and to plunder the bee.” This Flandrin did. He studied the art of Memlinc and Van Eyck, of Fra Angelico and of Raffaello, but the feeling was his own. He went on his way calmly, thoughtfully working out his ideas in faith and prayer, scorning the world and indifferent to its inhabitants, and thus his painting is as instinct in religious sentiment as that of Angelico, while his mastery of drapery and his management of its folds are not surpassed by the Greeks themselves; indeed, he united Greek beauty of form with Mediæval purity of sentiment.
Flandrin’s only weak point was his colour, but in the frieze it is sufficiently harmonious, owing to the flat gold backgrounds. In drawing he was perfect, never hesitating, never altering; beginning as he meant to finish, without any experiments, or changes in the designs he had sketched out.
Nor must Picot’s part in the decoration of S. Vincent de Paul be overlooked. His Christ sur un trône, with the patron Saint at His feet adoring, is quite in keeping with the frieze, by the younger painter.
The wood-work of the church is finely carved, and, indeed, all the details of the building are magnificent, making it a glorious example of the perfect unity of the allied arts—architecture, painting, and sculpture; an example that is almost unique in modern times.
Footnotes
1 I suppose no apology is needed for giving my quotations in the original language. Now that everyone is a good French scholar, it is obviously unnecessary to spoil good work by translations.
2 Histoire de la Sainte-Chapelle. Morand, canon of the chapel.
3 The bust was given to the chapel by Philippe le Bel in 1304. Another, of silver-gilt, containing the upper part of the head, used to be at the Abbey of Poissy. The little church of la Montjoie rejoices in a portion of the sainted king’s hand, enclosed in a 14th century reliquary; and the cathedral of Meaux possesses a chalice said to have belonged to him.
4 The enfants de chœur of the S. Chapelle seem to have been employed in singing elsewhere for the divertissement of the King: “Les Enfans de Chœur de la Sainte-Chapelle illec disoient de beaux virelets, Chansons et autres Bergerettes, moult mélodieusement.”
5 The Chevecier, or Chefcier, was the official who had charge of the altar, the linen, the vases, the ornaments, &c., and who took care of the sacristy and its contents. The treasurer usually held the two offices.
6 It has also been designated as Titus, and Constantine the Great. It is without doubt of the 4th century (Chabouillet).
7 “Vin de la couleur des vitres de la Sainte-Chapelle.”—(Old proverb.)
8 Pour deniers paiés à Jehan de Lille, orfèvre, pour j siège qu’il fist du commandement du Roy pour séoir de lez les saintes reliques en la Saincte Chapelle de Paris-iiij escus. (Comptes royaux.)
9 Religious, Benedictine of the convent (congregation) of S. Maur, Order of S. Benedict.
10 All the river Seine from the ru de Séve (Sèvres) near S. Cloud, to S. Germain-en-Laye.
11 Hulduin, abbot of S. Denis, commencement of 9th century, who took possession the same day as that upon which Charlemagne died.—Les Areopagitiques.
12 See the Inventory of the Treasury of Laon, from which we cull the following: In 1523, when François I. wanted money to carry on his war against Charles V. and Henry VIII., we read in Journal d’un Bourgeois de Paris, his manner of getting it. “Le roy envoya aussi quérir trois ou quatre appostres d’or qui estoient ès-reliques en l’église épiscopale à Laon, en Picardie, dont il y en avoit douze, mais les aultres n’estoient que d’argent, parquoy furent délaissez; et valloient iceux III. ou IIII. appostres environ quatre mille escus; et fit ce le roy pour subvenir et ayder en ses guerres de Picardie qu’il avoit contres les Anglais.” Louis XIV. also, when his star had paled a little, put various cathedral chapters under contribution; the church of Notre-Dame de Liesse sending silver to the royal treasury to the amount of 28,600 livres.
13 See pages 18, 19.
14 Musée des Monuments Français.
15 It seems that one object in electing the king as abbot was to have some lay element in the chapter, and thus disarm the enemies of the Church. Charles le Chauve was abbot for about sixteen years; he chose his provost, treasurer, and dean, and gave into their keeping all the working of the monastery, with the exception of the military contingent, which was given over to the maire or avoué. Adjoining the abbey was a palace for the use of the kings.
16 The oriflamme, or enseigne derived its name from being made of scarlet silk, and covered with flames of gold. When it was to be taken from its depository, the king and princes first went to Notre-Dame and offered up some prayers to the Blessed Virgin; then they proceeded to the abbey, where, after being solemnly received by the religious, they descended (“sans chaperon et sans ceinture”) into the crypt, where the bodies of the holy martyrs lay, and where the oriflamme was kept. The abbot then delivered the flag into the king’s own hands, and the king presented it to the Count de Vesin, who carried it to the altar. The standard-bearer was always a Chevalier of undoubted loyalty, courage, and piety. Previously to receiving the charge, he confessed his sins, obtained absolution, received the Holy Eucharist, and took a solemn oath to be faithful to his trust, and never to suffer the flag to be torn from his hands, except at the cost of his life. But at the battle of Rosbec it mysteriously disappeared. And to think that the red flag is now the emblem of all that is Revolutionary, Communistic, and Anarchist! Perhaps if the Government gave it the old name, we might see it burnt in the Place de la République.
17 The Chapter formerly consisted of a Primicier, Chanoines évêques, non-resident; and Canons residentiary. The office of Primicier was, I think, abolished only a few years ago, and now the chapter simply consists of canons in residence.
18 How fine the effect must have been when the great cross of S. Eloy stood upon the grille, shutting off the nave from the choir! It was of gold, enriched with precious stones and pearls.
19 This custom of dividing bodies is of very ancient date, and was sanctioned by the church in order that the remains might benefit, by their miraculous powers, as many places as possible. Sometimes the superiors of divers monasteries agreed to exchange “a rib of one saint for a cubit bone of another, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, &c.” At other times these fragments had to be purchased for very considerable sums.—History of St. Denis.
20 The original urn was cast in bronze by Benoist Boucher from the design of Domenico da Firenze, who also designed the relief on the pedestal.
21 Some of its sculptures are now in the Renaissance Museum of the Louvre. The recumbent alabaster statue of Philippe de Chabot, by Jean Cousin; a white marble column and three Genii, by Etienne Lehongre, from the tomb of Louis de Cossé, duc de Brissac, and of his brother, J. A. de Cossé; a column with allegorical statues, &c., in bas relief, by Prieur Barthélemy, from the monument erected for the reception of the heart of Anne de Montmorency; sepulchral Genii, by Jean Cousin, from the tomb of Philippe de Chabot; a Fortune, by the same sculptor and from the same tomb; sepulchral monument of the Ducs de Longueville, by François Anguier; and the recumbent statue of Anne de Bourgogne, daughter of Jean-sans-Peur, wife of the Duke of Bedford. In the same museum of the Louvre is a bas-relief from S. Denis of the 14th century with traces of colour, the subject being the three martyrs, SS. Denis, Rusticus, and Eleutherius.
22 Henri IV. also abjured “his accursed heresy” at S. Denis.
23 That Louis XVI. was not simple weak-minded and vacillating, but treacherous and double-faced, there can be little doubt. A print exhibited at the Exposition Historique de la Révolution, held in the Salle des Etats of the Tuileries in 1889, represents the opening of an iron closet after the slaughter of the 10th of August, and the display of numberless documents—letters to Pitt, asking for help to reinstate the monarchy; plans and projects for a counter-revolution; and correspondence to and from the emigrés and foreign princes.
24 The procès verbal of these villainies, giving the most hideous and disgusting details, and the names of the distinguished persons who were present at the entertainments, were to be seen and read in the prison department of the Centenary Exhibition of 1889, together with accounts of some of the doings within the walls of the Bastille in the happy days when lettres de cachet were kept ready signed for distribution.
25 See note, page 52.
26 Bossuet’s panegyric upon the queen reads like a satiric ode: “Elle va descendre à ces sombres lieux, à ces demeures souterraines pour y dormir dans la poussière avec les grands de la terre, comme parle Job; avec ces rois et ces princes anéantis, parmi lesquels à peine peut on la placer, tant les rangs y sont pressés, tant la mort est prompte à remplir ces places.”
27 Alexandre Lenoir made a coloured drawing of the body at the time, representing the entire skeleton wrapped up in white stuff embroidered in gold.
28 Philippe de Commynes.
29 Guilhermy.
30 G. Millet.
31 In the Cathedral of Dol the remains of a monument by Juste are signed: Magister Johannes cujus cognomen est Justus et Florentinus, possibly indicating that the Justes were of Italian origin (Giusto).
32 Through the flames of purgatory, we attain the crown. See page 62.
33 Unfortunately, this being metal, was melted up in 1793.
34 This still exists.
35 This is curious as showing the antiquity of the fashion of plaiting surplices which is customary in France.
36 Dom Millet.
37 “Ensépouturé fut en l’église Saint-Denis en France à cui il avoit donnez maint biau don, mis fu en costé le mestre autel en un riche sarcu d’alebastre.” (Chronicle of S. Denis.) And yet, soon after Charles’s death, S. Eucher is supposed to have seen, by revelation, the sufferings of the Maire du Palais in Hell, where for his sins he was precipitated before the Day of Judgment. The tomb was opened in the presence of Bishop Eucher, Boniface the legate, and Fulrad, abbot of S. Denis, when behold! a great dragon jumped out, and the coffin had the appearance of having been burned.
38 Helgaud, Vie de Robert le Pieux.
39 Idem.
40 Robert was abbot of S. Denis.
41 Suger, Vie de Louis-le-Gros.
42 Adèle ou Alix, daughter of Thibaut le Grand, comte de Champagne, third wife of Louis VII.
43 Near Melun.
44 Mézeray.
45 Vie de Louis-le-Gros.
46 “If zealous love should go in search of virtue,
Where should he find it purer than in Blanche?
.......
Such as she is, in beauty, virtue, birth,
Is the young Dauphin every way complete.”
Shakespeare. King John.
47 Millin, Antiquités Nationales.
48 Le corps de Saint-Louis fut porté une partie du chemin depuis Saint-Denis par Henri III., roi d’Angleterre, et par les barons de France et d’Angleterre sur leurs épaules, cérémonie qui est représentée sur le tombeau, où le prince est couvert d’un drap d’or bordé d’une bande d’étoffe bleue, semée de fleurs de lis d’or, la tête soutenue par le roi saint Louis, et les pieds par le roi d Angleterre.—P. Anselme, Histoire de la Maison de France.
49 This does not quite agree with Dom Millet’s account of the Huguenot depredations already given upon page 33.
50 He could not have found much more rest at S. Denis, for which he had a great respect, although he desired to be buried at Cléry. Many a time this king perambulated from Paris to S. Denis barefooted, for he held the Saint to be the “Holy Protector of his dominions, the Guide of his councils, and the Guardian of his soul.”
51 This was a sort of posthumous decapitation. Cardinal Richelieu’s statue at the Sorbonne was treated in the same way.
52 There is a queer story told by Félibien of Marie’s desire to possess some marbles left at S. Denis, after the building of the Henri II. tomb by Catherine de’ Medici. Marie was about to build her a house, and she demanded of her son permission to carry off the marbles; but the monks objected, and appealed to the Parliament. The king, however, having quarrelled with his mother, was not sorry to make peace at another’s cost, so he commanded the monks to deliver the marbles; but the latter were not to be conquered so easily, and another appeal was made which ended as fruitlessly as the first, and the poor convent eventually lost its marbles.
53 “History and description of the Royal Abbaye of St. Denis, and of the vast riches which have been accumulating for ages in the celebrated abbaye. Extracted from the records of S. Denis,” London, 1795.
54 The holy oil was brought from heaven by a dove, in the very same phial in which it is kept. It has continued unwasted and unimpaired from the time of Clovis, for whose use it was sent, A.D. 500.
55 Viollet le Duc, who attributes the picture to van Eyck, states that the cross was given by Suger (it is engraved in Félibien). In the Dictionnaire raisonné d’Architecture, le Duc has engraved the altar. Dom Doublet also gives a minute description of the gold retable with its ornaments of precious stones. The reliquary behind was destroyed by the Huguenots.
56 See Notice des Émaux et de l’Orfévrerie, by Alfred Darcel. Gemmes et Joyaux, by Barbet de Jouy. Handbook of the Louvre; S. Beale.
57 In the Salle d’Apollon; one of the centre cases.
58 Suger was abbot from 1122 to 1151.
59 Salle d’Apollon, centre case.
60 Catalogue des Camées, by M. Chabouillet.
61 O Christ, Charles III. of the name upon the throne of France consecrates this cup to thee!
62 From a German breviary, printed at Nürnberg, 1515, quoted by Mrs. Jameson: Sacred and Legendary Art.
[63] President of the court of Clermont. He gave up his appointment to devote himself to the education of his son.
64 Sauval professed to see the portraits of Pope Paul III., of Charles V., of François Ier., and of Henry VIII., in some of the numerous worthies.
65 The eight days (octave) devoted to her festival.
66 Thomas Frognall Dibden, F.R.S., S.A.: Picturesque Tour in France and Germany, 1821.
67 This is now in the Renaissance Museum of the Louvre, but it is no longer attributed to D. da Volterra.
68 See page vii.
69 Histoire de Saint-Eustache.
70 An altar erected at various points along the route taken by the procession, at which a pause is made for prayer, and the benediction given.
71 The pew for clergy and officials during sermon.
72 Vol. vii. p. 35.
73 Carlyle, French Revolution, vol. III. p. 194.
74 Hincmar (Archbishop of Reims, 9th century) tells us that S. Remy, who was at Reims at the time, received a spiritual revelation from the Holy Spirit, at the very moment of Clovis’ death.
Many early sculptures and frescoes commemorate the life and deeds of Clovis, at Reims, at Rome, and at Siena, but they are all of much later date than the king.
Grégoire of Tours gives a picturesque account of the last days of Clotilde: “La reine Chrotechilde après la mort de son mari, vint à Tours: et là servant Dieu dans la basilique de Saint-Martin, avec une grande chasteté et une extrême bonté, elle demeura en ce lieu tous les jours de sa vie, et visita rarement Paris.... Pleine de jours et riche en bonnes œuvres, elle mourut à Tours du temps de l’évêque Injuriosus. Elle fut transportée à Paris, suivie d’un chœur nombreaux qui chantait des hymnes, et ensevelie par ses fils, les rois Childebert et Clotaire, dans le sanctuaire de la basilique de Saint-Pierre, à côté du roi Clovis. Elle avait construit cette basilique où repose aussi la très bienheureuse Geneviève.”
75 The finding of the statue of Clovis was the reward of well-doing. The Cardinal de la Rochefoucault, desiring to honour the old king and the founder of the abbey, set up a fine marble image in the place of the old stone one “mangé et difformé d’antiquité” This the Revolution destroyed; but the old stone statue, which was shunted to the crypt, was found later on, and sent to S. Denis—an illustration of the exaltation of the humble; in this case, a clumsy gentleman with long hair, with his feet upon a feeble-looking lion. Although not contemporary with Clovis, the work and design prove it to be not later than the 12th century. A Latin epitaph once accompanied the statue in its old resting-place:
HIC EST illustrissimus rex Ludovicus qui et Clodoveus ante
baptismum est dictus
Francorum rex quintus sed verus christianus qui ab Anastasio
imperatore consul et Augustus est creatus
Hunc sanctus Remigius baptisavit et in baptismate ejus angelus
ampullam sacri chrismatis detulit
Vi Aquitania arianos expulit et totam illam terram usque ad
montes Pirenaeos subjugavit
Huic per Viennam fluvium cervus miræ magnitudinis viam
ostendit
Post quem rex ac milites vadum transierunt et in ejus adventu
muri Angolismae civitatis corruerunt
Alamanniam Tornigiam et Burgundiam tributarias fecit et terram
adjacentem transivit
Parisiis sedem regni constituit ecclesiam istam fundavit in
honore apostolorum Petri et Pauli
monitis sanctissimae et non satis commendandae Clotildis uxoris
suae et beatae Genovefae
quam sanctus Remigius dedicavit in qua post laudabilia opera
Rex sepultus est
A quatuor filiis suis regibus Theodorico Clodomiro Childeberto et
Clotario
Anno Domini V. XIII regni sui XXX.
76 Dibden
77 The American in Paris, 1838.
78 Victor Hugo.
79 Of Mr. W. B. Richmond’s work, undertaken since the above was written, it is as yet impossible to form an opinion.
80 Chronicles of the Ancient British Church. James Yeowell.
81 Some of the bas-reliefs by Jean Goujon are now in the Renaissance Museum of the Louvre: a Deposition from the Cross and the four Evangelists, the latter having been discovered in 1850, embedded in the wall of the staircase of No. 4, Rue S. Hyacinthe-S.-Honoré.
82 Dibden.
83 The fine recumbent statues of Louis de Poncher, conseilleur et receveur-trésorier du roi François Ier, and his wife Roberte Legende, now in the Renaissance Museum of the Louvre, were formerly in S. Germain.
84 “Après avoir,” says Grégoire of Tours, “été longtemps malade à Paris, le roi Childebert y mourut et fut enseveli dans la basilique de Saint-Vincent qu’il avait lui-même construite.” The bones of Childebert and of his queen, Ultrogothe, were deposited (in 1656) in the centre of the choir. The religious placed them in a new marble tomb, and surmounted it with the antique one which had been repaired in the 11th century, when the church was restored by abbot Morard and his successors. Ultrogothe was a French S. Elizabeth: “Elle était la mère des orphelins, la consolatrice des pupilles, la bienfaitrice des pauvres et des serviteurs de Dieu, le secours des moines fidèles.”
Another lady much vaunted by Grégoire de Tours was Ingoberge, the widow of Chérebert. She called in the aid of Grégoire in her last moments, and made many donations to churches; and what was better, “elle donna la liberté à beaucoup de personnes.” She was a woman “d’une grande sagesse, vouée à la vie religieuse, assidue aux veilles, aux prières, aux aumônes.”
85 In 1704, a tomb was found which Montfaucon, a Benedictine of the congregation of S. Maur, considered to be that of Chérebert, but the General of the order would not consent to its being opened. However, in 1799, less reverent hands searched the spot, found the coffin, and opened it, only to discover a skeleton vested in a tunic and mantle, its feet shod in leathern shoes, and by its side the fragments of what may have been a crozier, thus proving the remains to have been those of an abbot rather than of a sovereign, but whether of the 6th or the 9th century it was impossible to decide.
86 “Les tombeaux les plus considérables furent ceux du roy Childéric II., de Bilihilde, son épouse, et du jeune Dagobert, leur fils, qui furent tuez par Baudillon, dans le forêt de Liori. On trouva ces tombeaux dans le chœur.” In cleaning the coffin “Childre rex” was found engraved by the side of the head.
87 “L’on a placé à la porte du réfectoire une statue de pierre qui représente Childebert, laquelle a été faite apparemment sur le modèle d’une autre plus ancienne. Elle est haute de cinq pieds et demi. Childebert a une couronne ornée de trèfles et une sceptre en la main dont l’estrémité d’en haut est cassée. Il a une robe qui descend jusqu’à la cheville du pied; sa ceinture est ornée, d’espace en espace, de petites roses façon d’orfévrerie; son manteau, qui ne le couvre que par derrière, est attaché au devant par un cordon qu’il tient de la main gauche; ses souliers, pointus par le bout, sont échancrés en ovale par le dessus, depuis la moitié du pied jusqu’à la ligature.”
88 The entire epitaph will be found upon page 7.
89 DESCARTES DONT TU VOIS ICY LA SÉPULTURE,
A DESSILLÉ LES YEUX DES AVEUGLES MORTELS,
ET GARDANT LE RESPECT QUE L’ON DOIT AUX AUTELS,
LEUR A DU MONDE ENTIER DÉMONTRÉ LA STRUCTURE.
SON NOM PAR MILLE ESCRITS SE RENDIT GLORIEUX;
SON ESPRIT MESURONT ET LA TERRE ET LES CIEUX,
EN PÉNÈTRA L’ABISME, EN PERÇA LES NUAGES.
CEPENDANT COMME UN AUTRE IL CÈDE AUX LOIS DU SORT,
LUY QUI VIVROIT AUTANT QUE CES DIVINS OUVRAGES,
SI LE SAGE POUVOIT S’AFFRANCHIR DE LA MORT.
90 See Les Lettres et Pensées d’Hippolyte Flandrin, par II. Delaborde.
91 The statues of the four Evangelists were the first important works of Simon Guillain, the sculptor of the fine bronze figures of Louis XIII., Anne d’Autriche, and Louis XIV. as a child, which adorned the Pont au Change, and which are now in the Renaissance Museum of the Louvre.
92 The word is probably derived from créneaux, as the battlements of the Petit-Châtelet abutted upon one side of the street.
93 In the quaint old French of the Légende Dorée of Jacques de Voragine: “Tu me suys, toi qui occiras ton père et ta mère.”
94 “Tout aussitôt, il apprend de sa femme, qui revenait de la messe, qui il a tué.”
“Et quand il ouyt ce, il fut à bien peu demy mort et commenca à plorer très amèrement et à dire:
“‘Las! chétif, que feray-je, car j’ay occis mes très doulx père et mère, et ores est la parole du cerf accomplie.
“‘Adieu, ma très aimée sœur, car je ne reposerai, dores en avant, devant que je sache que Notre-Seigneur aura recue ma pénitence.’ Elle lui répondit: ‘Loin de moi, ô mon très affectionné frère, la pensée de t’abandonner: puisque j’ai partagé tes joies, je partagerai aussi tes souffrances et ta pénitence.’
“Et alors, sa femme et lui s’en allèrent ensemble delez (vers) un moult grand fleuve, où moult de gens périssaient, et firent un hospital en ce désert pour faire pénitence et pour porter oultre tous ceulx qui y voudraient passer, pour recevoir en hospital tous povres.
“Et moult de temps après ce, quant Julien se reposait tout lasse, environ minuyt, que la gelée était griesve, il ouyt une voix qui plorait piteusement, et appelait Julien pour passer, à voix piteuse.
“Et quant il se leva tout esmeu, il trouva icelluy qui mourait de froit, il le porta en sa maison, et alluma du feu, et se estudia à le chauffer, et comme il ne le pouvait eschauffer nullement, il se doubta qu’il ne défaillit par froit, et le porta en son lict, et le couvrit dilligemment. Et, un peu après, celui qui lui était apparu comme malade et lépreux monta très resplendissant ès cieulx et dit à son oste: ‘Julien, Notre-Seigneur m’a envoyé à toi et te mande qu’il a receu ta pénitence, et tous deulx reposerez en Notre-Seigneur dedans un peu de temps.’ Tantost celluy s’évanouit (disparut). Et lors, un peu après, Julien et sa femme, pleins de bonnes œuvres et d’aulmônes, reposèrent en Notre-Seigneur.”—Légende Dorée.
95 L’abbé Guérin: Les Petits Bollandists.
96 So terrible were the Northmen, so outrageous the atrocities which they committed, that the canons of S. Geneviève chanted a line in their Litanies: “A furore Normannorum, libera nos, Domine.”
97 In 1648, there were 50 colleges, 16 hospitals, and 190 churches and convents for the education of a population of 232,030 inhabitants.
98 Nefs or Navettes were vessels in the shape of boats used by the church for incense—hence incense-boat. Later on, they took the form of complete ships, with ropes, yards, &c., often upon wheels, and placed in the centre of the table at banquets. They contained spices, wine, drinking-cups, and spoons, in order to guard the guests against that bugbear of the Middle Ages, poison.
99 There was another Lupus, bishop of Troyes, who accompanied S. Germain of Auxerre to Britain, to confute the Pelagian heretics.
100 A Religious of the abbey of S. Germain des Prés.
101 The summer festival of the Saint, being the day of his ordination, and also of his translation, 4th July.
102 Metrical legend in the Auchinleck MS. quoted by Mrs. Jameson.
103 The American in Paris.
104 De Bellis Parisiacae urbis (M. F. de Guilhermy, Inscriptions).
105 See page 335.
106 From time immemorial, the space to the West of the church was called Parvis paradisus, the terrestrial paradise which led by the celestial Jerusalem.
107 This is the date given by Mézeray. Hénaut gives it as the 17th December.
108 This slab is now in the Renaissance Museum of the Louvre. It is dated 1303, and bears the following inscription: “Maitre Pierre de Fayet, chanoine de Paris, a donné deux cens livres parisis pour aider à faire ces histoires et pour les nouvelles verrières qui sont sur le chœur de céans.” In the account of the church in 1763, the slab is thus described: “Avant la construction du nouveau chœur (par le roi Louis XIV.) on voyait autour de l’ancien chœur et en dedans les histoires de l’Evangile et des Actes des Apôtres en statues de pierre isolées avec des inscriptions au bas, et au-dessous l’histoire de la Génèse en bas-relief. A côté était un chanoine à genoux, dont la mort arriva en 1303, aussi ce bas-relief avait cette inscription derrière lui: ‘Messire Pierre Fayet’.... Mais depuis la construction du nouveau chœur, on a mis sa statue à la porte collaterale, vis-à-vis la porte rouge.”
109 Théâtre des Antiquités de Paris.
110 Carlyle.
111 Exhibited at the Exhibition of Documents relating to the Revolution, held at the Tuileries in 1889.
112 The twelve Virtues, according to Hermas, are Faith, Temperance, Patience, Magnanimity, Simplicity, Innocence, Peace, Charity, Discipline, Chastity, Truth, and Prudence. The counting of twelve Virtues lasted a long time, for we find in 1454 at a fête given at Lille by the Duc de Bourgogne, Philippe le Bon, that twelve Virtues dressed in crimson satin danced at the ball with the many knights who were present. They were the great ladies of the town; and perhaps the knights personated the Vices, as they were not improbably able to do with a considerable amount of truth.
113 Annales archéologiques.
114 For a detailed account of the cathedral see Viollet-le-Duc’s Dictionnaire raisonné d’Architecture.
115 This passed through miraculous adventures at the Revolution and was restored to the cathedral by M. de Quélen.
116 Its preservation is said to have been in this wise. Louis XVI. sent it to S. Denis to be in safe keeping, and in 1793 it was offered by the Convention to the municipality. Thence it passed into the hands of M. Bonvoisin in 1804, and in 1808 it was placed in its present crystal reliquary by Cardinal de Belloy.
117 Jean de Montaigu, beheaded in 1409, was a councillor, grand master of the palace, and brother of Gérard, 95th bishop of Paris.
118 Dibden.
119 Carlyle.
120 Dibden.
121 American in Paris.