[Illustration: 0295]
The Chapel Palatine architecturally, perhaps, does not merit extended
eulogy. Its towers are shot away, and some blackened calcined walls
are all that remain. But the treasures which it contained, now either
destroyed or carried off to Berlin, who shall say if they can ever be
replaced? I am told that the family of Lombartye, and notably its last
representative, who restored it in 1865, was long a resident of Rome,
and being very wealthy had collected a vast store of most valuable
objects of art of all kinds, including statuary and paintings, and these
he had installed not only in the château, but had so enriched the chapel
that it was a veritable storehouse of precious objects--even more than
a museum, because most of them related to the history of the ancient
families who had occupied Gèrbéviller.
Here then in this small chapel was a collection of marvels of decorative
art, tapestries of Arras, examples of the jeweler's craft, illuminations
upon vellum, a hundred or more priceless volumes, and notably a
collection of funerary urns, containing the ashes of most illustrious
personages, including some of the Saints. Among the treasures in this
small chapel was a series of the tapestries of Gobelin, another of
Beauvais, and a third complete pictorial set made in Antwerp after the
cartoons of Nicolas Memling. These last, just before the destruction of
Gèrbéviller, were presented to the Cathedral of Nancy. The others are
among the ashes of the ruins.
The Master altar of the chapel was covered by a magnificent "ciborium,"
raised upon three columns of black marble, ornamented by "tears" of
silver of twelfth century workmanship. The great candelabra, called
"Flambeaux," were of Flemish work, and had twenty-four lusters; these
were destroyed.
There were splendid tombs on all sides; one was a reproduction of that
of Henry I, Count of Champagne, and of St. Etienne of Troyes; the tomb
of Lombartye, of de la Vieufville, of Rochechourt-la-Rochefoucauld, of
du Caylar, of Vieuville, of Gouy d'Arsy, and that of Père Jandel the
Dominican. All these are mutilated and broken. Of the funeral urns,
one contained the ashes of St. Auguste, the martyr; another of what is
called "cipollin," the ashes of Ste Victoire; a red marble one those of
St. Vital; a "chasse" held a portion of the petrified bones of Candide,
presented by the Bishop of Nancy. Another one contained the bones of St.
Felix Romain.
A great tall "ciborium" contained the "relique" of Tarcisius, the young
martyr of the Eucharist. These, contained in a wonderful chest covered
with vermilion enamel, bore an epitaph composed by Pope Damase, and were
brought from Rome by the Dominicans. Overjoyed in the possession of such
a treasure, the Marquis of Lombartye, sought an artist of renown who
could make a fitting monument to contain it. His choice fell upon
Fal-guière the sculptor. He it was who fashioned the exquisite statue in
the Luxembourg. But it is not generally known that this is a replica of
the original which was in the Chapel of Gèrbéviller, and which is now
entirely destroyed.
I understand that in searching the ruins, certain fragments of precious
objects have been found and removed to Paris.
M. Pigot in his report claims that the head of Fal-guière's statue of
St. Tarcisius was found among the ashes, and, placed in a strong oaken
box, has been given into the hands of M. le Sous-Préfet of Lunéville.
But the remarkable paintings which the chapel contained are of course
entirely consumed in the fire caused by the bombs and shells which fell
upon the chapel for days at a time. There was the painting by Lippo
Lippi; a portrait of Prosper Lambartini (Pope Benoit XIV); a triptych by
Fra Angelico; one by Sandro Botticelli; The Virgin, the infant and two
angels; a copy of the "_Femme Adultéré_" by Titian; a Benozzo Gozzoli;
a canvas by a pupil of Ferrare, and various others. There was a splendid
statue of the Virgin in terra cotta of the sixteenth century; a life
size St. Joseph by Lizier-Richie; and two statues of Christ and John the
Baptist in bronze by Dubois. Of these the statue of Christ remains (says
M. Pigot in his report) "unharmed."
The little town of Gèrbéviller itself is entirely destroyed, and the
wretched inhabitants are scattered to the four winds. And for what good
was all this, one asks?
M. Georges Goyan, writing in the _Revue des Deux Mondes_, of the heroic
work performed by the nuns of France, relates a touching story of a
Sister Julia of Gèrbéviller, who, when the village was in flames and
a German officer was about to give the order to burn the Red Cross
pavilion, stepped before the lieutenant and with the most superb courage
defied him to commit the sacrilege. The officer, a Bavarian, taken aback
for the moment, bowed his head, and the pavilion was spared.
Sister Gabriela of the little town of Clermont-en-Ar-gonne was no less
courageous. She advanced to meet the army of the Crown Prince when it
arrived, saying, "We will care for your wounded, if you will spare the
town." She received a promise, which was not kept, however. Again, she
sought the Colonel, and bravely said, "I see now that the word of a
German officer is not to be relied on." Ashamed, he ordered the work of
destruction stopped, and thus the town was spared. Twenty-five wounded
French prisoners owed their lives to this devoted nun, who in April,
1916, received the decoration of the war medal. Goyan quotes verbatim
from the report of the nun, "The Major made his congratulatory speech
while I was completing the bandage of my poor 'poilu,' whose head rested
on my lap."