Journal in France in 1845 and 1848 with Letters from Italy in 1847: Of Things and Persons Concerning the Church and EducationAllies, T. W. (Thomas William)
Religion
Journal in France in 1845 and 1848 with Letters from Italy in 1847: Of Things and Persons Concerning the Church and Education
Allies, T. W. (Thomas William)
France -- Church history -- 19th century; Italy -- Church history -- 19th century
_Yesterday, June 29. Sunday, St. Peter's day._--We went to high mass
in the cathedral at ten, but though we had looked out the service as
well as we could, and were just on the outside of the higher gate of
the choir, we could not in general follow; only at the Gospel and the
Creed we regained our footing. Certainly the words of the
service, incomparably beautiful as they are, must be in the main lost.
We could not, even by observing the gestures, with the book before us,
follow them; the priest's voice is hardly ever heard. A poor woman
beside me chaunted through the Nicene Creed in Latin, and at vespers
at St. Ouen many female voices were doing the same with the Psalms.
The really edifying thing is the devotion of the people, who look upon
it as a sacrifice, and do not seem to require that perpetual
stimulating of the _understanding_ as among us. For there was no
sermon either at the cathedral or St. Ouen, save after the Gospel a
very short address, as it seemed, in the nave, but nobody moved from
the choir. This service lasted an hour and a half; then we had our own
service in private. We next went to the Musée d'Antiquités, where
there is a small series of stained glass windows, some very good. We
had a fine view of Rouen, north of the Boulevard. At 3 o'clock vespers
at St. Ouen, chanting of Psalms, followed by the exposition of the H.
Sacrament. A good many people, chiefly women. They took part
generally. Here again some Psalms we could find in the Paroissien, and
others not. This too lasted an hour and a half; the singing was very
good, and the organ came in with great effect. The whole tone of this
service, as simply devotional and thanksgiving, without instruction or
exhortation, struck us much. After this, dinner at five at the
table d'hôte. We have frequent occasion to think with approbation of
the Emperor of Russia's edict, "It is forbidden to wear a beard after
the manner of ourang outangs, Jews, and Frenchmen." After dinner we
walked to the top of St. Catherine's, and enjoyed the beautiful view
over Rouen, and also went on to Notre Dame de bon Secours. This is a
new church, of the style of the 13th century, of extraordinary purity
and grace; the eastern end already finished, and full of stained glass
windows. It has ten bays, and three windows in the apse. It quite
surpasses any modern church I have seen in beauty. All the vaulting,
both of nave and aisles, is in stone or brick. It has many
ex-votos,--plain slabs let into the wall: I copied some.
J'ai prié
la Sainte Vierge,
et elle a guéri ma fille.
1837.
Gage de ma reconnaissance.
J'ai prié la Sainte Vierge,
et elle m'a exaucée,
en protégeant ma fille.
Elbœuf le 3 Oct., 1838.
A. G.
A la T. S. Vierge,
le 7 Août, 1821,
Aux pieds de cet autel
J'ai obtenu la guérison
d'une maladie de 20 ans.
A. B.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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