on the south side of Notre-Dame, is the church of S. Étienne du Mont.
Some few years ago this "mountain" was an interesting hunting ground to
the archæological explorer and the collector of _bric-à-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 titular 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 municipality 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 spacious boulevards, which, beautiful as they are,
do not prevent us from regretting the past.
The convent of S. Geneviève 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.
Étienne. Originally the congregation met and worshipped 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. Étienne, 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. Geneviève. The
reason for changing its name for the third time was probably the
demolition of a church dedicated to S. Stephen to make space 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. Étienne 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. Étienne 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 passed 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 Mégare 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 _jubé_ 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 Sexagesime, 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 God and of the Virgin Mary by the "_révérendissime messire
Jean-François de Gondi_," archbishop of Paris. Another inscription
informs the reader of a wonderful accident which took place on this
occasion:--
"Et pendant les cérimonies de la dédicace, devs filles de la
paroisse tombèrent dv hauvlt des galleries du coevr, avec l'appvy
et devx des ballvstres, qui fvrent miraculeusement préservées,
comme les assistants; ne s'étant rencontré personne sovbs les
rvines, vev l'affluence dv pevple qvi assistaient avs dites
cérimonies."
Before the Revolution the _curé_ was always one of the regular canons of
S. Geneviève. At the end of the 16th century he was assisted 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.
Étienne, 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. Étienne 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 mass of elegant ornamentation, and on the north side, under the
windows, is a passage 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.
[Illustration: SAINT ÉTIENNE AND THE OLD CHURCH OF SAINTE-GENEVIÈVE.]
There is something extremely coquettish and fascinating about the
building, with its high-pitched roof, springing from a Renaissance
façade, and its 15th century tower surmounted by a pepper-box lantern.
The old church of the abbey, which completely joined S. Étienne, has
been entirely swept away to make room for the Rue Clovis; but the
refectory and the tower still form a part of the Lycée Henri IV., a
little turret at the easternmost angle of S. Étienne 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. Étienne and S. Geneviève, 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.
[Illustration: THE SCREEN LOOKING TOWARDS THE CHOIR.]
The interior of S. Étienne 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 passage round the church.
It is arrested at the transepts, but taken up again round the choir. The
passage encircling each pillar is just wide enough to enable a person to
walk. These _tournées_, as the old records call the gallery, and the
splendid _jubé_ form a distinctive feature of the church. On the side of
the nave the _tournée_ has an open pilaster balustrade, and at the
entrance of the choir it joins the _jubé_. On each side of this is a
spiral staircase leading up first to the _jubé_ 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 _jubé_ which has survived the
17th century restorations. It was the work of a celebrated sculptor
named Biart (_père_). 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
manus 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.
[Illustration: DOORWAY OF THE SCREEN.]
The pulpit was designed by Laurent de la Hire, the painter, and
sculptured by Claude Lestocard. It is a mass 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
ass, 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 fashion
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 God,
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 mass of fine carving: S. Stephen stoned;
S. Geneviève and her sheep; the Elders of the Apocalypse; the "Jewish
ladies of the Bible," as a German kindly interpreted, and the Passage 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. Étienne 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 _Pensées_; the Academy sent a deputation, and one of their
members, the Abbé 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 39º, DIE 19ª
AUGUSTI, OPTASSET 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 CUM 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 PRECUM OFFICIA SIBI AC
DEFUNCTO PROFUTURA COHORTARETUR.
Another epitaph in the North aisle of the nave records the virtues and
wisdom of Jacques-Bénigne 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. Étienne. Many other names
adorn the list of those laid to rest in the churches or burial grounds
of the parish: Vigenère, 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-Étienne du
Mont, which was re-named after him.
But it is the glass of S. Étienne 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, François Périez,
Nicolas Desengives, Nicolas Lavasseur, 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, illustrating 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 Classic 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
illustration, 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. Étienne.
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
Célestins; and l'abbé Lebeuf notes a window in S. André 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 à 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. XXX.
_Non nobis Domine, non nobis 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
Où le sang fut le Nectar de la Vie;
Quel sang celuy par qui le roy des Rois
Rachepta lhomme et sa race asseruie.
"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 gusté par les Evangelistes
Edifies ont esté 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 passer-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 glass in S. Étienne is in the upper windows of the apse,
representing the apparitions of Christ, to the disciples on the road to
Emmäus, 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 glass of S. Étienne was given by enthusiastic parishioners; 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. Étienne that Monseigneur Sibour, archbishop of Paris, was
assassinated in 1857, during the _neuvaine_[65] of S. Geneviève. The
procession had travelled round the church, and was re-entering the nave,
when the assassin, 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. Étienne is the tomb of S. Geneviève. Long
before the Panthéon ceased to be the church of the maid of Nanterre, it
was to S. Étienne 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 _fête_, 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 Geneviève was
buried in 511 it is impossible to say, as it is so surrounded by
ornamental ironwork that its workmanship cannot be studied; but the
effect of the little chapel containing this _tombeau_, with its lights
and flowers and stained-glass, 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. Geneviève was
buried, it is asserted upon pretty good authority, in the crypt of the
old abbey church of the Holy Apostles.
[Illustration: TOMB OF SAINTE-GENEVIÈVE.]
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.
Céran, Bishop of Paris; but the remains of S. Geneviève were not
replaced in the stone coffin in which they had previously been laid. A
splendid _châsse_ 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 _châsse_.
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. Céran.
At the Revolution all was dispersed or destroyed, the _châsse_ was
turned into coin, the Saint's bones were burnt on the Place de Grève,
and the tomb broken; but in 1802, when Amable de Voisins became _curé_
of S. Étienne, he obtained permission from the archbishop, M. de Belloy,
to translate the fragments of the stone coffin to S. Étienne, and to
hold the festivals in the Saint's honour in that church.
During the _Neuvaine_ thousands of persons crowd into the church to
visit the shrine, a few in honour, many more in the dishonour of mere
curiosity; and all round the church are to be seen the same class of
itinerant vendors of goods as at the various _fêtes_ and fairs. At some,
they sell gingerbread, pop-guns, and penny trumpets; at others, and
particularly at S. Étienne, their merchandise consists of rosaries,
pious books, medals, and the like; it is a curious combination of the
world and heaven--the flesh in the way of comfits, _vin ordinaire_ and
the devil--religious exercises and _le bon Dieu_. "Vous avez reçu le bon
Dieu, Madame?" "Mais oui, Mademoiselle; et après, nous sommes allés, mon
fils et moi, déjeûner au restaurant Voltaire," is the edifying
conversation one hears in the omnibus. It is all on a par with the
midnight mass and the _Réveillon_; Salvation Army drills, Mr. Howler's
tabernacle, and the popular preacher over the wine vaults. Extremes
meet, and people are much the same all the world over; for one earnest
man or woman, you get a crowd of curiositymongers, whether the
excitement be in Paris, or London, or Trèves, or Ober-Ammergau;
unfortunately, there is not much salt in the earth, either Protestant,
Catholic, or Agnostic. But if the salt is wanting, the waxen arms and
legs and crutches are numerous enough. If you glance at S. Geneviève's
shrine you will see bundles and bundles; and then we scoff. Are not they
evidence that there is some faith left in the world, real earnest,
trustful faith which believes all things, and hopes all things. And why
not? Can anyone say whether it be more silly to take a journey, long or
short, say some prayers, set up some tapers, present some flowers and a
few pence, than to pin your faith upon pills and potions? In the one
case the power of healing is believed to be in the hands of an
all-merciful God who has promised to answer our prayers when so doing
will be good for us; and in the other, it is thought to reside in pills
which are worth twenty times their price, in nostrums which cure and
prevent all the ills to which man is subjected, and in belts and bands
and other such contrivances. The intercession of those who have gone
before is asked by one set of believers; while the others pray Dr.
Faith-Healer to cure them by letter, or Dr. Bread-and-Senna by his
precious compound pills.