about the year 1258, they set up housekeeping in the street which is now
named after them, the Rue des Blancs-Manteaux. Everyone who has been to
Florence knows the chapel of the Annunziata, where during mass one day,
the general of the Servites, Filippo Benozzi, saw a vision of the Virgin
sitting in a chariot, and heard her voice calling upon him to draw near,
and join himself to her servants, who, some fifteen years earlier, had
banded themselves together. There were seven of them, all of noble
family, and they gained their name from their especial devotion to the
Virgin. As they wandered out to the church of the Annunciation to sing
their _Angelus_, the women and children used to point at them and cry
out, "_Guardate i Servi di Maria_"; and so, when they formed themselves
into a community, they became known as the "Servi" or "Serviti." Benozzi
was a medicine man of benevolent disposition, who, tired of witnessing
suffering (perhaps of operations performed without anæsthetics), gave up
his work, and retired, like another S. Benedict, to Monte Senario. His
power in smoothing down the ruffled-up backs of the Tuscans in their
many family squabbles was so great that he became a renowned moral
healer; and in 1285, when he died, his order was flourishing all over
Italy and France. It was soon after his beatification, about 1671, that
Andrea del Sarto was called upon to decorate part of the cloisters of
the Annunziata; and, as a result, we have the lovely Madonna del Sacco.
At the end of the 13th century the hermits of Saint-Guillaume replaced
the Servites at the monastery of the Blancs-Manteaux, and in 1618 the
house was united to the Reformed Benedictines who erected a new church.
The habit of the monks was then changed to black, but as the name of
Blancs-Manteaux was still retained, the people called the fathers _les
mal nommés_. The conventual buildings are now occupied by the
Mont-de-Piété, another kind of service of the poor, in the shape of
official and honest pawnbroking. If anyone wishes to study character,
let him go into the great hall, and look at those rows and rows of
physiognomies sitting upon the benches awaiting their turn to be served.
Young, old, poor, and, apparently, rich, all go there for loans upon
their goods; and you may pile upon the mountain anything you like, from
a bundle of rags to a diamond butterfly.
NOTRE-DAME DES CHAMPS.
Legendary history records an assemblage of the first Christians of
Lutetia in the fields where now runs the Rue S. Jacques, listening to
the preaching of S. Denis, and strengthening themselves against the
persecution which loomed in the distance. And legend further relates
that a chapel was built upon this spot. But leaving the realms of
tradition, we find an authentic account of a church in the 8th century
which, in the next hundred years, was served by the Benedictine monks of
Marmoutier. This remained the headquarters of a priory for about six
hundred years. In 1604, Cardinal Bérulle introduced the Carmelite order
as reformed by S. Theresa, and the nuns began to rebuild. The church
they left intact with its 13th century porch, and its great statues of
S. Denis, Moses, Aaron, David, and Solomon. This building disappeared,
and a modern one arose in its stead, more to the West; but the crypt is
supposed to be under the level of the street; and according to the abbé
Leboeuf, a second subterraneous burial-ground of Gallo-Roman origin
was discovered still lower down, with fragments of tombstones, slabs,
pottery, and the like. The present church contains a few _débris_ of
its former grandeur, a statue by Sarazin, of Cardinal de Bérulle, being
the principal one.
The monastery was celebrated, during the 17th century, as the asylum of
many distinguished ladies who sought a refuge from their troubles;
amongst others, of the blessed Soeur Louise de la Miséricorde, who
died there in 1710, in the odour of sanctity. In her mundane career this
_Madeleine da la Cour_ was Mdlle. de la Vallière, and she is said to
have posed to Le Brun for his terrible picture of _La Madeleine
pénitente renonce à toutes les vanités de la vie_, which was painted for
M. de Camus as an adornment of this Carmelite church. It is now in the
Louvre, which it in nowise adorns. Lebrun, as a decorative artist,
painting allegories and battles, is bearable; but his religious pictures
are only gross exaggerations of the Italian Eclectics. This Madeleine de
la Vallière is in a tortuous state of agony at the thought of the
vanities she enjoyed. With eyes turned up, with her flowing locks, and
swathed in rich satin garments, which are blown by a gust of wind coming
in at the open casement on the top of a cloud, she looks thunder-struck;
it is astonishment at the discovery of her sinfulness, revealed by the
heavens opening, and the Divine voice addressing her. Surely the
moderns, the Bérauds, the Lhermites, the Dagnan-Bouverets, Uhde,
Hitchcock, Pierce, and their followers, have far more religious feeling,
although they clothe their personages as Parisian workpeople, and paint
their Madeleines, like Henner, in the pastures (apparently) of the Bois
de Boulogne--backgrounds, considering the subject, not altogether
inappropriate.
NOTRE-DAME DE LORETTE.
An utterly uninteresting exterior encloses some good mural paintings by
Orsel, Périn, and Roger. The church was completed in 1836 by Lebas, and
were the weather always bright, the interior would not fail to impress
the visitor; but it is too dark for a Northern clime, and it is
therefore difficult fully to appreciate the frescoes. That over the
altar is by Picot; the subjects from the life of the Virgin are by
Dubois, Langlois, Vinchon, and Hesse; the choir is the work of Delorme;
_the Presentation in the Temple_, and _Christ disputing with the
Doctors_, are by Heim and Drolling. They are all inspired by a reverent
feeling for the subjects, and are resplendent with gold.
NOTRE-DAME DES VICTOIRES.
Louis XIII. laid the first stone of this church in 1629, and dedicated
it to Our Lady of Victory, in memory of the famous battle of La
Rochelle. It was part of the convent of barefooted Augustins, who were
nicknamed the Little Fathers, by Henri IV., on account of the diminutive
stature of some of the friars, and consequently the church was as often
called Notre-Dame des Petits Pères as Notre-Dame des Victoires. Pierre
Lemut was its original architect; and before it was completed, in 1740,
by Cartaud, two other architects, Libéral Bruant and Gabriel Leduc, lent
their aid. The cupola is decorated with an Assumption; pictures by
Vanloo adorn the choir, and other chapels contain some by Perrault.
Those by Vanloo represent the thanksgiving of the King and the Cardinal
for the mighty victory aforesaid, the taking of La Rochelle. But the
interest of, or the objections to, the church, according to the point of
view from which we start, consists in the innumerable _ex-voto_ tablets
which cover the walls, and proclaim the answers to prayers by mothers,
wives, husbands, sons, fathers, and daughters. They are emblems of the
faith which saves. But would not the same earnest prayers, put up on
other spots, produce the same results? Is it not a narrow notion that we
are more likely to be heard in the Place des Victoires than in the
Halles? Such is not the view of the _dévots_ and _dévotes_, as the
statue of the Virgin proclaims, for it is hung all over with costly
jewels and ornaments; and whatever time of the day we may enter the
church, we find it almost filled with troubled souls who come to gain an
indulgence at its privileged altars, which are to those of a different
sort of mind examples of what to avoid. For those persons having
leanings to superstition, let me commend this church as an antidote; to
others, it is neither æsthetically interesting nor, from a religious
point of view, particularly edifying. To musicians it has one
attraction, as being the burial-place of Jean-Baptiste Lulli, the
charming fiddler, who died in 1687, and whose bronze statue by Cotton is
in the transept.
L'ORATOIRE.
Built for the Oratorians, this elegant circular church is now given
over to Protestant gloom of the least decorative order. It was
constructed by François Mansard, and dedicated to Notre-Dame-des-Anges
in 1634, upon the site, some authorities say, of the Hôtel of Gabrielle
d'Estrèes; it may therefore be said to have passed from the good
Gabrielle, through the better fathers, to the best Protestants; or,
contrariwise, from the bad Demoiselle to the worse Catholics, and, worst
of all, Calvinists. However, now all is calm, and passions have
subsided; and a fine statue of Admiral Coligny is fixed to its wall,
facing the scene of his murder on that fearful feast of bloodshed which
S. Bartholemew must have been scandalized to find attached to his name.
SAINT-PAUL-SAINT-LOUIS.
In the Rue Saint-Antoine is the old church of the Jesuits, gorgeous in
marbles, gilding and stucco, as is the wont of the architects employed
by those wary fathers. It was built from the designs of François Derraud
from 1627-41. The remains of the conventual buildings are now occupied
by the Collège Charlemagne. The expenses of the building were defrayed
by Louis XIII. and Richelieu, who celebrated his maiden mass there. It
was the second cupola erected in Paris, the first being that belonging
to the Carmelite church. It is Italian in style, the _façade_ being very
similar to that of S. Gervais, recalling the Gesu and S. Ignacius at
Rome, and is adorned with statues of S. Louis, by Lequesne; of S.
Catherine, by Auguste Préault; and of S. Anne, by Etex. Bourdaloue and
archbishop Huet of Avranches are buried there, and in a crypt below lie
the Jesuits who have died in the convent from its foundation until the
suppression of the order. The numerous monuments were swept away at the
Revolution: a rich sculptured coffer for the heart of Louis XIII., and
another by Coustou le jeune, containing Louis XIV.'s heart. The
tabernacle was of silver gilt, but it is no more. The only contents now
of any interest are a picture representing the abbey of Longchamps,
attributed to Philippe de Champaigne, and a fine work by Delacroix,
_Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane_. Although his first known picture,
it is an example of his splendid colouring and grand composition. Victor
Hugo's first child was born in the parish, and baptized at S. Paul's,
and to commemorate the event the poet presented two holy-water stoops,
in the shape of shells, very beautiful in design.
SAINT-PHILIPPE DU ROULE.
"This church presents you with a single insulated row of fluted Ionic
pillars, on each side of the nave; very airy, yet consequential, and
even imposing. It is much to my taste, and I wish such a plan were more
generally adopted in the interiors of Grecian-constructed churches. The
choir, the altar ... the whole is extremely simple and elegant. Nor must
the roof be omitted to be particularly mentioned. It is an arch
constructed of wood, upon a plan originally invented by Philibert
Delorme--so well known in the annals of art in the sixteenth century.
The whole is painted in stone-colour, and may deceive the most
experienced eye. This beautiful church was built after the designs of
Chalgrin, about the year 1700, and is considered to be a purer
resemblance of the antique than any other in Paris. Perhaps the
principal front may be thought to be too close or servile a copy. It was
erected upon the site of an ancient Gothic chapel, of which latter the
author of the three quarto volumes of Parisian topography has given a
vignette from the only known design of it, in aquatint, but very
indifferent. This church, well worth your examination, is situated in a
quarter rarely visited by our countrymen, in the Rue du Faubourg du
Roule, not far from the barriers."[118]
I give this criticism of S. Philippe because it shows how taste has
changed in architecture, as indeed in all else. From most persons' point
of view the church is quite uninteresting; indeed the only object in
going there is, except to a certain number of fashionables, to hear some
celebrated preacher. It was from the pulpit of S. Philippe that Père
Didon poured forth those eloquent and learned discourses, stocked with
liberal ideas, which brought him into disgrace and forced retirement,
until quite recently.
It is curious, too, that the quarter should have so changed. It is now
the centre of the English and American colonists, and withal well filled
with persons who delight in the one o'clock mass. It is so convenient;
they can saunter in after _déjeuner_, say a few prayers, step into their
carriages again, and go straight off to the races. Perhaps S. Augustin
has bereft S. Philippe of some of its fashion; but it has still plenty
to spare; it may be said to swarm with elegant _toilettes_, and not much
else in the way of beauty. Let us walk on.
SAINT-PIERRE DE CHAILLOT.
"Chaillot, très ancien village de la banlieue de Paris érigé en
faubourg, sous le nom de la Conférence, par arrêté du conceil du mois de
Juillet 1659. Le nom de ce faubourg lui fut donné à cause de la porte de
la Conférence, située sur la rive droite de la Seine, vers l'extrémité
de la terrasse du jardin des Tuileries."
The apse of this church is the only part that is old; the rest is
Italian, and very poor of its kind, which makes the groined vault of the
apse all the pleasanter to contemplate. Lately a new chapel has been
added on in the Avenue Marceau, something between a Swiss _châlet_ and a
_café_, all ablaze with gilding and tawdry decoration.
The abbey of Sainte-Perrine de Chaillot was founded by Philippe le Bel
about 1300, in the forest of Compiègne for the canonesses of the order
of S. Augustin; and in 1646 it was transferred to La Villette. Later,
the monastery was united to another community of the same order which
was established at Chaillot in 1659. In 1760 the abbey ceased to exist,
and the buildings gradually disappeared, with the exception of a few
fragments belonging to some school buildings. Augustin's sisters may
still be seen at Chaillot, working in the parish of S. Pierre, and
observable by their quaint head-gear and their quainter clogs worn over
spotless white stockings. By the way, why do Anglican sisters and nurses
wear long gowns trailing about the wards of our hospitals? Are they not
possibly receptacles for the germ and microbe population?
SAINT-PIERRE DE MONTMARTRE.
The first church of S. Peter is said to have been founded by Louis VI.
and Alix de Savoie his wife, upon the site of a still older edifice; and
its most remarkable event in those early days was the presence of S.
Bernard at its consecration. Little remains earlier than the 15th
century, except two _verd antique_ columns and some of the pillars of
the choir. Upon a slab may be read an inscription bearing upon the
martyrdom of S. Denis and his companions, who suffered here upon the
mountain; and in the open ground outside is a Calvary to which the pious
world resorts. A splendid new church dedicated to the Sacré Coeur is
being built hard by, to which a vast number of processions and
pilgrimages now industriously and toilfully wend their way.
SAINT-ROCH.
Built by Jacques Lemercier, after the first-stone-laying by the _Grand
Monarque_, this church became fashionable and much affected by the great
ones of the City. Bossuet lived hard by in the Rue S. Anne, and was
placed in the church he had often preached in, previously to being
removed to his cathedral of Meaux. Another celebrity, Marie Anne de
Bourbon, Princesse de Conti, daughter of Louis and his handmaiden La
Vallière, was buried in the chapel of the Virgin; and the sculptors
François and Michel Anguier also found their rest here.
The portico was commenced in 1736 from the designs of Robert de Cotte.
It is in no wise beautiful; but it is celebrated as having been the
scene of the terrible 13 Vendémiaire An IV. (5 October, 1795). In the
"_cul-de-sac Dauphin_" against the church walls the "young bronze
Artillery Officer" set his guns. "The firing was with sharp and sharpest
shot; to all men it was plain that there was no sport."[119] In a couple
of hours it was all over; insurrection quelled; and the "Whiff of
Grapeshot" proved so successful that it became the active power in
subsequent doings of the dynasty of the "Man of bronze."
S. Roch is a vast edifice mainly conspicuous by its ugliness; but it
contains much furniture that is worth noting. Over the altar is a fine
crucifix by Michel Anguier, formerly in the Sorbonne. The group of the
Nativity brought from Val de Grâce is by François Anguier.
Saint-Jean-en-Grève has contributed the Baptism of Our Lord, by Lemoine;
the Latin Fathers were sculptured for the Dome of the Invalides; the
figure of S. Roch on the right of the choir is by one of the Coustou
brothers; a dying Christ by Falconet. The bust of Lenôtre, by Coyzevox,
was part of a monument; so was the statue of Cardinal Dubois by
Guillaume Coustou. Mignard was buried here and has a memorial bust by
Desjardins. Medallions also abound: the Maréchal d'Asfeld, the Duc de
Lesdignières, the Comte d'Harcourt, and the Duc de Cérqui; also a
monument to Maupertius, l'abbé de l'Epée; and an epitaph to Pierre
Corneille. Madame de Feuquières, in white marble, was treated after the
manner of the kings and queens at S. Denis. Lemoine made her kneeling at
her father, Mignard's feet; some one improved upon this, and turned her
into a Madeleine at the foot of the cross.
[Illustration: A SISTER OF SAINT-ROCH.]
Behind the choir is the chapel of the Virgin, with the Crucifixion
lighted up after the manner of that terrible tomb at Windsor erected to
the memory of the Princess Charlotte; but they vie with each other in
popularity from the many sightseers who pass by. There is also an
entombment which, on Good Friday, is visited by thousands of people; and
in the chapel of the S. Sacrament, a reproduction of the Ark of the
Covenant with the Mercy Seat and the Cherubim--about the most
interesting part of the church; it is I believe, used as the tabernacle.
"S. Roche is doubtless a very fine building, with a well proportioned
front and a noble flight of steps; but the interior is too plain and
severe for my taste. The walls are decorated with unfluted pilasters,
with capitals scarcely conformable to any one order of architecture. The
choir, however, is lofty, and behind it, in Our Lady's chapel, if I
remember accurately, there is a striking piece of sculpture of the
Crucifixion, sunk into a rock, which receives the light from an
invisible aperture, as at S. Sulpice. To the right, or rather behind
this chapel, there is another--called the _Chapel of Calvary_--in which
you observe a celebrated piece of sculpture, of rather colossal
dimensions, of the entombment of Christ. The dead Saviour is borne to
the sepulchre by Joseph of Arimathea, St. John, and the three Maries.
The name of the sculptor is _Deseine_. Certainly you cannot but be
struck with the effect of such representations--which accounts for these
two chapels being a great deal more attended in general than the choir
or the nave of the church. It is, right, however, to add, that the
pictures here are preferable to those of S. Sulpice, and the series of
bas-reliefs, descriptive of the principal events in the life of Christ,
is among the very best specimens of art, of that species, which Paris
can boast of."[120]
The music at S. Roch gained much renown some years ago, and although it
is not now in any way remarkable, its reputation is still great. People
assure you that the best music in Paris is at S. Roch. True, we may hear
the masses of Haydn and Mozart very fairly performed there; but neither
voices nor organ equal the refinement of the Madeleine. In one respect,
however, we may prefer S. Roch. The boys sit upon their little stools in
the choir, and when they have to sing, group themselves with the singing
men round a huge lectern, which stands out in the centre of the chancel.
Thus they stand before the old noted service book, and in their
picturesque costume of red cassocks, white albs, and blue or red sashes,
they form a most picturesque _coup-d'oeil_, very different from the
other churches. At the Madeleine the choir sits behind the altar, and
you hear the singing from invisible voices,--very charming if you did
not see the boys in their _collégien_ uniform pass round before the
commencement of the service; but this gives a somewhat theatrical
effect. At S. Roch the grouping of the men and boys and the double
basses round the lectern gives the whole affair such a delightfully
old-world appearance that it is most refreshing, and the effect of the
huge service-book, with its plain-song notation up above the heads of
the boys, takes one back hundreds of years. That S. Roch was much
esteemed in the early years of the century our American's letter shows.
His criticism of the sermon might apply very well to many a one in this
year of grace, more especially here at home. The French preachers almost
always speak well, and are eloquent, even if their matter be
indifferent, dull, or twaddly. Englishmen unfortunately despise the
manner, and think their hearers ought to be content with good matter
only; and so it comes about that in a life-time only two or three great
preachers stand out in one's memory--a Henry Parry Liddon and a Samuel
Wilberforce. However, the "American," is of a diverse opinion.
"Yesterday, being Sunday, I went to S. Roch's; I had the luck to hit
upon the fashionable church; but the preacher was the _god of dulness_.
The world, he says, is growing worse and worse; our roguish ancestors
begot us bigger rogues, about to produce a worse set of rogues than
ourselves. The Antichrist is already come. If he had said the antichrist
of wit, anybody would have believed him, and yet this is the very pulpit
from which the Bossuets and Bourdaloues used to preach. The church was
filled almost entirely of women; one might think that none go to heaven
in this country but the fair sex" (or perhaps the men require no help,
he might have added). "The worshippers seem intent enough upon their
devotions, but the wide avenues at the sides are filled with a crowd of
idle, curious, and disorderly spectators. Give me a French church; one
walks in here booted and spurred, looks at the pretty women and the
pictures, whistles a tune if one chooses, and then walks out again. They
have not spoilt the architectural beauty (!) of S. Roch's by pews and
galleries. The walls are adorned splendidly with paintings; and here and
there are groups of statuary, and the altar being finely gilt and
illuminated, looks magnificently. When I build a church I shall decorate
it somewhat in this manner. It is good to imitate nature as much as one
can in all things; and she has set us the example in this. She has
adorned her great temple, the world, with green fields, and fragrant
flowers, and its superb dome the firmament with stars."[121] The
trotting about at S. Roch is the same to this day, which makes it the
least restful of churches.
SAINT-SÉVERIN.
The church of S. Séverin is particularly interesting as showing a
gradual development from the 13th to the 16th century. Founded upon the
site of an oratory by Henri I. in 1050, it was first rebuilt at the end
of the 11th century.
[Illustration: SAINT-SÉVERIN FROM THE TOWERS OF NOTRE-DAME.]
There were two saints of this name; one, the founder of the Abbey of
Châteaulandon, who miraculously cured Clovis I. of some sickness by
placing his chasuble upon him; and the other, the patron of this church,
a monk, or rather a hermit, who lived during the reign of Childebert I.,
in a cell near Paris, and was of course much given to prayer and
supplications, and other pious exercises. Considering the brutal
manners and customs of the early sovereigns and their companions, it is
a blessed sign that human nature, even in those dark ages, was not
completely diabolical; and to find that some men and women cared for
other matters than fire and sword and pillage. S. Séverin was one of
these more peaceful souls; and so well did he preach his pacific faith,
that S. Cloud, or Clodoaldus, the grandson of Queen Clotilde, became one
of his disciples, and received the religious habit of the Benedictine
order from him. S. Cloud was the youngest of the sons of Chlodomir, one
of three brothers who suffered from the murderous inclinations of wicked
uncles. What brigands they all were! Imagine a woman being asked in all
seriousness whether she preferred death or the tonsure for her
grandchildren. No wonder monasteries and convents flourished, for where
else was there any culture, enlightenment, civilization, or even safety
to life and limb? And yet Clotilde must have had some reason for her
passionate answer, "Better they were dead than shaven monks!" for she
must have foreseen that such an exclamation could only lead to
assassination, and thus we find that S. Cloud alone of the brothers
escaped death, and became a shaven Benedictine.