How France Built Her Cathedrals: A Study in the Twelfth and Thirteenth CenturiesO'Reilly, Elizabeth Boyle
History
How France Built Her Cathedrals: A Study in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries
O'Reilly, Elizabeth Boyle
Architecture, Gothic; Cathedrals -- France
In his short pontificate, 1262-64, Urban IV, besides creating this
enduring memorial, instituted the feast of Corpus Christi. He requested
a liturgy for his new feast from St. Thomas Aquinas, who composed the
_Pange lingua gloriosi_, the last stanzas of which are sung daily
throughout the Christian world, the familiar _Tantum ergo_. To Aquinas
is ascribed the _Verbum supernum prodiens_ hymn whose ending is the
lovely _O Salutaris Hostia_. Doubt and heresy have always been
instrumental in clarifying doctrine and in enriching the liturgy and
art. So in a later day was made, in reaction against the XVI-century
desecration of the Eucharist, such windows as the Wine Press of Troyes
and that of Conches.
In 1906, soon after St. Urbain's church had celebrated the completion of
its western portal, it became the scene of a conscientious objection on
the part of its parishioners, who protested against the taking of an
inventory, they deeming it an unlawful interference with their private
affairs. They sat in their church till the police broke in the doors;
even then they continued to sing canticles, and were expelled only by
having a hose turned on them. Six centuries earlier, St. Urbain's had
been the scene, on the completion of its choir, of a suffragette-like
demonstration by a community of nuns, who claimed part of the land on
which the church stood. They smashed various things on the premises,
and, it is whispered, even slapped a high dignitary's face. Apparently
St. Urbain's is destined to pass into history under various aspects.
For four hundred years the ancient capital of Champagne was an active
center of the stained-glass industry. Overpowering is the wealth of
storied windows to be found in its churches, the majority being of the
Flamboyant-Renaissance day. In the suburbs, and farther afield in the
hamlets of Champagne, there is the same prodigal display of colored
windows and interesting statues.[148] From father to son, from
generation to generation, was passed on the art skill of this ancient
city on the highway of international trade.
In Troyes there were so many churches that the old saying ran: "You
arrived from Troyes? And what are they doing there?" "_On y sonne._"
Next to St. Urbain's, for its wealth of art treasures, comes the
Madeleine church built about 1175, and reconstructed during the
Flamboyant enthusiasm when this city readorned almost every shrine it
possessed. Contemporary with its noted _jubé_, or rood screen (1508-17),
is the statue of St. Martha, one of the gems of French sculpture,
entirely of the national school, unaffected work as ample and robust as
the best period of the XIII century. St. Martha is represented, in this
church of Troyes dedicated to her sister, with the holy water by which
she exorcised the legendary Tarasque of Tarascon. She was the patroness
of housekeepers, and it is said that the servant maids of Troyes
presented to their church this memorial of the plastic genius of
Champagne.[149]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account