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The great capitals were covered with beautiful sculpture, beggaring
description. Over the large west portal was shown the Martyrdom of St.
Nicaise, and over the whole west wall was a multitude of small statues
in niches ending in a display of the Massacre of the Innocents.
A myriad of these statues filled the whole church. Adoring angels too
adorned the buttresses of the choir chapels. Rich tapestries, fourteen
in number, the gift of Robert de Lénoncourt in 1530, hung on the chapel
walls, and there were two magnificent pieces given by Cardinal Lorraine
in 1570, called the "Tapisseries du fort roi Clovis," and others from
Archbishop Henri de Lorraine in 1633, called the "Perpersack." Some
Gobelins, also, designed in 1848 by Raffaelle, were hung here.
The large organ was dated 1481, and designed by Oudin Hestre, and in
the chapel of St. Jean was the thirteenth century monument of Hugues
Libergier, the architect of St. Nicaise.. (This is buried in the ashes,
and is said to be uninjured.)
The Treasury included many reliquaries and holy objects of priceless
value, such as the reliquary of Sanson (twelfth century); that of SS.
Peter and Paul (fourteenth century); of the Holy Sepulcher (sixteenth
century) which was given by the King, Henry II, at his coronation;
the vessel of St. Ursula, given by Henry III; the Chasuble of Thomas à
Becket; the Chalice of St. Remi; the Reliquary of St. Ampoule, and an
immense quantity of gold and silver objects given by Charles X.
It is said that this treasure was removed to Paris when Rheims was first
threatened with destruction, and that it is therefore intact, for which
we may be thankful, but what of the incomparable shrine which held it?
More than a year and a half (1915) ago the roof was consumed by fire,
and was held by authorities to be irreparable, but since then, perhaps
daily the bombardment has continued mercilessly, simply to destroy what
remains. Even the latest news from the front in France does not claim
that the invader and iconoclast has been driven back fast enough to
ensure safety to Rheims. In one day (April, 1917) the Germans are said
to have poured seventy-five hundred shells into the city. Just how
much of the incomparable fabric of the Cathedral, from which all the
statuary, all the wonderful glass and framework have been pulverized by
the blasts from the great shells, survives, is not known outside of
the town, or is concealed by the authorities; but for one thing we pray
fervently, and that is, that no so-called restoration may be attempted
or allowed. Let no imitations of stone, glass or marble caricature its
vanished glories.... Let it remain, we pray, the living, standing record
of an infamous crime. Consumed by fire, soaked in blood, Rheims,
which crowned and sheltered a hundred kings, has passed; _deleta est
Carthago_.