apse. The buttresses reach to the parapet, and terminate in pinnacles
surrounded by gargoyles ornamented with the most grotesque birds and
beasts. The windows of the nave are divided into four lights, with
foliated circles in the heads very similar to those of the Chapter House
at Salisbury. Several _flèches_ have preceded the present one; the first
fell in the reign of Charles VI., the second was burnt in the great fire
of 16th July, 1630; the third was erected by Louis XIII. in the ogival
style of that period, and remained until the 17th century. When it was
destroyed, in 1791, it contained five bells, which had been cast in
1738; the Dauphin, the Duc d'Orléans, the Duc de Chartres, and the first
President of the Chambre des Comptes being their sponsors. The present
_flèche_ was erected in 1853, and is in the style of the 15th century.
It is of wood, covered with lead, and consists of three octagonal
storeys supporting the spire.
[Illustration]
On the lower storey are colossal statues of the twelve Apostles, most of
them portraits, the S. Thomas being that of the sculptor Lassus. The
gables of the upper storey support Angels with the instruments of the
Passion. The crockets of the spire are _fleurs-de-lys_, and the whole is
resplendent with gilding. The summit of the _chevet_ is surmounted by a
huge Angel, in lead, holding a processional cross. There was an idea,
never carried out, of making this statue turn round mechanically upon a
pivot during the twenty-four hours, that it might present the symbol of
salvation successively to all quarters of the city. The masks upon the
pedestal of this figure are all portraits of the artists and workmen
engaged upon the restoration of the chapel, posing as the Kings of
France. The oratory, erected by Louis XI., between the two buttresses of
the fourth bay, upon the south side, is decorated with niches and
corbels of human heads.
The vaulting of the lower chapel is supported by fourteen single-shaft
pillars, surrounded by foliated capitals of various designs. The walls
are decorated with arcading, terminated at the east end by an apse. The
two columns without capitals were added at the same time as the apsidal
tribune in the upper chapel. The decoration is in imitation of the
original 13th century work, some of which, a fragment of an
_Annunciation_, was discovered in removing the remains of some later
work in a style utterly at variance with the architecture, by Martin
Fréminet, painter to Henri IV. and Louis XIII. In 1691 the tracery of
the windows and the stained glass were destroyed and replaced by white
in order to give extra light. Formerly there were seven altars and a
font in the lower chapel, Boileau, whose father had a house in the court
of the palace, being amongst those who were baptised there.
The upper chapel is one of those buildings which one never tires of
admiring. When we wend our way up the turret stairs, and enter it from
the semi-darkness of the crypt, it strikes us as the most exquisite
scheme of colour imaginable. Add to the beauty of the chapel all the
associations which crowd upon the memory--S. Louis' beautiful faith and
noble life, his enthusiasm for God's work and man's welfare; all the
ceremonies and the processions which have taken place there, with the
lights, the flowers, and the incense, and our imagination forms a
picture that no hand could adequately paint. The chapel is composed of
four bays for the nave, and seven smaller for the apse. The vault is
groined and is supported by clustered columns and capitals ornamented
with foliage. The windows occupy the entire space between the supporting
pillars, and are filled with most beautiful stained glass;[7] while
below is an arcade rising from a stone seat. The capitals of the
columns are most exquisitely carved in imitation of the flora of France,
and the quatrefoils between the arches are filled with a kind of
decoration which is as rare as it is effective. The designs were drawn
upon the stone, and the backgrounds filled in with incrustations of blue
glass and gold, the subjects being taken from the lives of the martyrs.
Most of them have been restored; but, very wisely, two or three have
been left in the state in which they were discovered. Between the arches
of the arcades are Angels with outstretched arms, who seem to be
crowning the martyrs in the quatrefoils. At the third bay of the nave on
each side are recesses which formed reserved places for some privileged
persons during Mass; and it is thought that they were probably occupied
by the king and queen, the former on the Gospel, the latter on the
Epistle side. On the south wall is a slanting recess, which formerly
must have served as a chapel, as there was an altar at the end of it
having a painted reredos representing the interior of the great
_châsse_, with all its contents ranged in proper order, and S. Louis
praying before it. It is supposed that Louis XI. may have used this
niche as a place where he could pray without being seen, but in sight of
the altar and the relics.
It has always been the custom at the consecration of a church to place a
cross wherever the sign of the cross had been made by the bishop. The
architect of the Sainte-Chapelle conceived the happy idea of placing the
twelve Apostles as pillars of the Church, supporting these crosses,
which are in the form of monstrances. The pedestals on which the figures
stand are affixed to the pillars, and the statues, like the rest of the
church, are painted and gilt, those of the 13th century being marvellous
examples of the sculpture of that period. After the closing of the
chapel these statues were sent to the Musée des Monuments Français; but
when the Museum was suppressed they were dispersed or broken up. S.
Peter was discovered in fragments at S. Denis, another was given to the
church at Creteil, where it passed as S. Louis, and four were given to
the missionaries for their Calvary at Mt. Valerien. The latter were in
perfect preservation, and the colour had not disappeared. They remained
at the entrance of one of the chapels of the Way of the Cross until
1830, when some senseless vandals threw them down and broke them; but
the fragments were preserved, and are now in the garden of the Hôtel
Cluny, a museum of fragments. The rest were replaced in the chapel, and
are the fourth and fifth on each side facing the altar; all the others
are new.
The pavement is modern incised stone, with incrustations of colour,
representing geometrical patterns, animals, and flowers. In the apse are
subjects--the _Four rivers of Paradise_, and the _Seven Sacraments_ in
the form of rivers. The altar is an exact copy of the original one.
Above it is the tribune and canopy where the relics were exposed, with a
spiral staircase leading up to it;[8] the northern one is ancient, and
was found by Alexandre Lenoir, in the Musée des Petits-Augustins, where
for half a century it had been attached to the _façade_ of the Château
de Gaillon, a 16th century work, now in the court of the Ecole des
Beaux-Arts. On one side of the apse is a very beautiful _piscina_. Part
of the _baldachino_ is ancient, and the rest has been restored from old
drawings.
Formerly several statues occupied places in the chapel; one, a
terra-cotta Notre-Dame de Pitié, by Germain Pilon, which is now in the
chapel of the military school of St. Cyr. A 16th century _jubé_, with
altars attached to it, marked the nave from the chancel. The retables of
these altars (now in the Louvre) were in enamel, signed and dated
Léonard Limousin, 1533, and contain portraits of François I. and his
second wife, Eléonore d'Autriche, sister of Charles V. and of Henri II.
and Catherine de'Medici, all kneeling. The choir was filled with carved
stalls of the time of Henri II. At the four corners of the altar
pavement, Henri III. elevated bronze Angels upon black marble pillars.
On the _retro_-altar was a silver-gilt model of the chapel, three or
four feet high, executed in 1631 by Pijard, goldsmith, and guardian of
the relics. This contained some of the treasures, and was considered a
very fine work of art, costing some 13,000 _livres_. There is an
excellent drawing of the original altar in Viollet-le-Duc's dictionary.
Canon Morand tells us, in his history of the chapel, that the
_ciborium_, which is usually placed in the tabernacle, was here
suspended in front of the altar--probably the _retro_-altar, as in the
engraving of the High Altar in the Canon's book, there is no
representation of it. All the old furniture of the church has
disappeared, the carved stalls, the _jubé_, the altars, and the pulpit.
Upon the subject of letting, or taking money for seats or chairs in
church, the Abbé waxes wrathful. Nothing is more "indécent que de vendre
ou de louer des places à l'Eglise. En Angleterre et en Hollande on est
assis dans les Temples sans aucun frais, et sans être interrompu par les
Mandians, par les quêteurs, ou par les loueurs de chaises; en quoi les
non-Catholiques nous donnent un bel exemple à suivre, si nous étions
assez raisonables et assez désinterressés pour cela." This is a proof
that the letting of pews which prevailed in this country some years ago
was a bad departure from the free-and-open seat system of the last
century; and the picture drawn of the restlessness of a French church,
from the incessant perambulating of the _Suisses_, the _quêteurs_, and
the chair-owners, is as true now as it was in the time of Morand.
[Illustration: THE JUBÉ, SIXTEENTH CENTURY.]
The Canon then goes on to record the want of reverence of the
congregation, how they just _half_ kneel when the bell rings; how they
must needs sit, and even gossip, during the short quarter of an hour
occupied by a low mass; how they take snuff and bear themselves
generally, and then go out and stand about for the greater part of the
day at their business.
S. Louis ordained, in his foundation charters, that the offerings
received by the priests at the altar should be devoted to the reparation
of the glass, and that if it should be insufficient, the necessary funds
should be taken from the Royal Treasury deposited at the Temple. The
restoration of the windows is now complete, this being the work of MM.
Steinheil and Lusson. These artists have done their work so well, and
matched the colours so perfectly, that it is difficult to distinguish
the new from the old. The rose-window is of the 15th century, the others
of the 13th century. The subjects are from the Old and New Testament,
and from the life of S. Louis. Some of these latter are original, and,
as it is probable that the artists assisted at the ceremonies held in
the chapel, it is also probable that the pictures may be true portraits
of the personages represented. The subjects of the rose-window are all
taken from the Apocalypse.
Such is the chapel which was so dear to the King that he felt a
"_malaise_" when he heard divine service elsewhere, and of which the
troubadour Rutebeuf sings the praises in a poem written after the death
of the Saint, entitled, _Les Regrès au roys Loeys_:
Chapèle de Paris! bien ères maintenue
La mort, ce m'est aduis, t'a fet desconvenue
Du miex de tes amys, t'a laissée toute nue
De la mort, sont plaintifs et grant gent et menue."--
(_MS. Bibliothèque Nationale._)
SAINT-DENIS.
Although the Benedictine abbey church of S. Denis is some miles from
Paris, it is so mixed up with the history of the capital that it ought
not to be omitted in a series of "Paris Churches." Moreover, as it is by
far the finest church in, or near, the metropolis, and one of the
grandest examples of French 13th century architecture, no one ought to
grudge the tiresome journey by train or tram in order to see it, even if
his stay in Paris be limited to a few days. The only thing required to
make it perfectly beautiful is new stained glass in the windows of the
clerestory to replace that put up during the early years of this
century, a horrible example of the execrable taste of the period.
[Illustration: THE ABBEY CHURCH FROM THE GRANDE PLACE.]
S. Denis was one of the sacred spots of mediæval Europe--a species of
Christian Mecca. "Si les lieux sont reputez saincts," says one of its
children, Dom Millet,[9] "à cause des choses sainctes faictes ou
aduenuës en iceux, comme ont esté est sont encores, les montagnes de
Thabor et de Caluaire, ou bien à cause des choses sainctes qu'ils
contiennent, comme estoit l'Arche d'Alliance, et le Sancta Sanctorum des
Juifs; je croy qu'il n'y a personne qui n'aduoüe que l'Eglise de S.
Denys en France ne soit vn lieu tres-sainct en toutes ces
considerations, puis qu'elle a esté dediée des propres mains de nostre
Sauueur Jesus-Christ, descendu exprés du Ciel auec vne grande multitude
d'Anges et de Saincts, et qu'elle contient en soy tant des choses
sainctes, et des Reliques si precieuses et rares." It was a poor but
worthy leper who saw this strange vision. He had been left shut up in
the church, when in the dead of night he was startled by a dazzling
light; and then he beheld the Saviour, His Apostles, multitudes of
Angels, and S. Denis and his companions. Our Lord sprinkled the church
with holy water, and S. Denis and his companions served Him; and then He
said to the leper: "_Go and tell le bon roy Dagobort what thou hast
seen._" "_But how can a poor leper penetrate the presence of the King?_"
said he. Then a wondrous miracle was performed; the Saviour touching him
with his finger, made the leper clean. Then he went to the King, and
they all believed.
Not only was S. Denis specially favoured by this miraculous dedication,
but it was privileged by Charlemagne in a charter, as the chief and
mistress of all the churches in the kingdom; and its abbot as the
Primate of all the prelates of France. This great man was allowed to
have six deacons vested in dalmatics whenever he officiated, an honour
conferred upon him by Pope Stephen III. when he consecrated the High
Altar in 753, and at the same time anointed and crowned King Pépin and
Queen Bertrade, and their two sons Charles and Carloman. People, high
and low, from all the ends of the earth, flocked to the famous abbey as
we now rush to the World's Fairs; and the great ones of the earth,
princes, nobles, and ambassadors, considered that they had seen nought
of the civilised world if they had not paid their respects to the relics
at S. Denis. Some went for love, some out of sheer curiosity to see the
riches of the treasury: divers crosses, reliquaries, statues, vases,
chalices, and other vessels for the altars; S. Denis' mitre, chalice,
and rings; the famous head of solid silver gilt, containing his skull,
and presented to the abbey by Marguerite de France in 1360; a wonderful
golden cup enriched with precious stones which had belonged to King
Solomon, and a rock crystal vase from the Temple of the wise man--both
the gift of Charles the Bald. He, being abbot, made it his custom to
attend "the duties of his station at the Abbaye, on the solemn
festivals, passing the day in pious conversation with the monks and in
religious observances." He also made considerable donations,[10] added
to the many lamps which are kept continually burning before the shrines,
and increased the number of wax tapers employed in the services of the
church. Then further, amongst the curiosities, were the nail of a
griffin upon a silver-gilt animal; a unicorn's horn six feet high, sent
by Aaron King of Persia to Charlemagne; the hunting horn of Roland,
nephew of Charlemagne; and the lantern which was used at the betrayal of
our Lord in the Garden, called the Lantern of Judas. The latter was of
copper, embellished by rock crystal, through which the light shone.
(This was also the gift of Charles the Bald). The mirror of the prince
of poets, Virgil, which was of jet; the sword of the _genereuse Amazone,
Jeanne la Pucelle_. Of the beauty of the croziers and pastoral crosses,
the mitres and episcopal rings, Dom Millet's description leaves no
doubt; and of the magnificence of the abbots, and the splendour of their
monastery, we have more than ample evidence. As an old epigram puts it:
Au tems passé du siècle d'or,
Crosse de _bois_, Evêque d'or,
Maintenant changent les lois,
Crosse d'or, Evêque de _bois_.
The Huguenots destroyed many of the church ornaments, ruined chapels,
and worse still, "ces impies la pillerent (S. Denis) et dissiperent
entierement, sans y laisser aucune chose, sinon ce qu'ils ne voulutent
point. Ils ne pouuoient faire pis, sinon mettre le feu par tout le
Monastere, comme ils firent en tant d'autres par la France." It was
supposed that the "Prince de Condé, leur chef," was not present at these
little pastimes of his valiant soldiers, for when he heard what had been
done "il fit pendre vne douzaine, pour monstrer comment il detestoit
leur sacrilege: mais pour cela les pertes ne furent pas reconnettes."
In a _History of the Royal Abbaye of Saint Denis_, published in London
in 1795, we have some curious details connected with the church. "Every
Sunday and Holy Day at mass, the Deacons and Sub-deacons, after having
received the 'precious body of Our Lord,' repaired to a side altar to
suck up through a reed, enclosed in a tube of enamelled gold, the
'precious blood,' according to a very ancient custom adopted in the
church of S. Denis, which is retained without any variation to this
day." Whether this was so, or whether it was the result of the anonymous
writer's imagination, I cannot say, as I find nothing about it in other
books that I have studied.
The same author speaks of the "miraculous silver keys of S. Denis which
they apply to the faces of those persons who have been so unfortunate as
to be bitten by mad dogs, and who receive a certain and immediate relief
by only touching them." Alas, that these keys should have been melted
up; for here was a cure for hydrophobia without any of the vicarious
suffering which M. Pasteur's discovery has caused.
The legend of S. Denis, the patron of France, is exceedingly
picturesque. By some ecclesiastical authorities he is said to have lived
in the 1st century, by others in the 2nd or 4th, but by most he is one
and the same person as Dionysius the Areopagite. Hilduin, abbot of S.
Denis at the beginning of the 9th century, seems to have had no doubt
upon the subject, and in art the Saint and the disciple of S. Paul have
always been looked upon as the self-same personage, although tradition
records the existence of another S. Denis, a bishop of Paris, in the 3rd
century. Dionysius was an Athenian philosopher named Theosophus.
Travelling in Egypt to study astrology with a companion named
Apollophanes, they were surprised by a strange darkness that came over
the heavens, and were naturally much troubled thereby. Returning to
Athens, Dionysius heard S. Paul preach, and thereupon being converted to
Christianity, he understood that the darkness which he had seen at
Heliopolis was none other than that which fell upon the earth for the
space of three hours when the Blessed Redeemer was crucified. Baptised
and ordained priest, Dionysius subsequently became bishop of Athens; and
in some of the writings attributed to him he relates that he travelled
to Jerusalem to see the Blessed Virgin, whom he found continually
surrounded by a dazzling light, and attended by a company of Angels. He
also gives an account of her death at which he was present with certain
of the Apostles. After this, he returned to Athens and was subsequently
present at S. Paul's martyrdom in Rome. Thence he was sent by S. Clement
to preach the Gospel, together with a priest named Rusticus, and a
deacon Eleutherius. Arrived at Paris, an exceeding great city full of
people and provided with all the good things of the earth, they found it
so attractive that it seemed to them another Athens, and so they
sojourned there, teaching the people, who were learned in all things but
the way of truth. S. Denis then sent missionaries into other parts of
Gaul, and into Germany. But these successes were not pleasing unto
Satan, and so he stirred up the nobles against the good bishop, who was
accused before the Emperor Trajan. Some say it was Domitian, but in
either case the result was the despatch of one Frescennius, a
pro-consul, from Rome, with orders to throw Denis and his companions
into prison. This was done, and finding that they would not retract,
they were put to death upon the Hill of Mercury (who was so much
honoured by the Gauls), and which was subsequently called Montmartre
(_Mons Martyrum_).
"Le Saint evêque Denis, et ses deux compagnons, le prêtre Rustique et le
diacre Eleuthère, souffrirent leur mémorable et très-glorieuse passion,
à la vue de la cité des Parisiens, sur la colline qui se nommait
auparavant Mont de Mercure, parce que cette idole y était
particulièrement honorée de Gaulois, et qu'on appelle aujourd'hui le
Mont des Martyrs en mémoire des saints du Seigneur qui accomplirent en
ce lieu même leur martyre triomphal."[11]
Then a stupendous miracle took place. S. Denis not desiring, or not
being permitted, to become food for wolves, took up his decapitated head
in his hands, and walked for the space of two miles, Angels singing by
the way. Accompanied by this celestial body-guard, the Saint marched
over the plains beyond the city, and signified, in some way unrecorded,
that he desired burial where now stands the church dedicated to his
memory. This was accomplished by a pious woman named Catulla, who had
ministered unto the three blessed martyrs in their prison, and who now
laid their mutilated remains in her own field.
Paris formerly, even as late as the last century, contained many spots
sacred to the memory of S. Denis and his three companions. At
Notre-Dame-des-Champs a crypt used to be shown where they preached to
their first disciples. At S. Benoît, now destroyed, there was formerly
an oratory, on the wall of which was an inscription recording that S.
Denis first invoked the name of the Most High on that spot. At S.
Denis-de-la-Chartre was the prison where the martyrs were visited by our
Lord, and where He administered His Blessed Body and Blood to them. At
S. Denis-du-Pas was the ground upon which they suffered their first
tortures; and upon Montmartre the church of S. Pierre records the spot
upon which they were decapitated. The way across the plain from
Montmartre to the place of burial was marked by a succession of crosses,
and the field where the Saint's remains were laid subsequently became
the precincts of the famous abbey.
The first church is said to have been erected before the invasion of the
Franks, but this had fallen into ruins in the 5th century, and it was
through the piety of S. Geneviève and the people of Paris that it was
rebuilt. This Saint, like all good Parisians, held S. Denis in great
esteem; and it was during a visit paid to his shrine that her taper,
maliciously blown out by the arch-enemy, was successfully relighted
through the fervour of her prayers. Gregoire de Tours relates many
wondrous miracles which took place in the new church for the benefit of
the faithful and the chastisement of the wicked.
[Illustration: SILVER STATUETTE FORMERLY IN THE TREASURY.]