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
M. Ratisbonne, seeing we were greatly interested in all he said,
warmed in his manner, and before parting he gave each of us a small
book; mine is a Catechism. I told him how much I had liked his life of
S. Bernard. 'Ah,' he said, 'you have had the patience to read that.' I
begged him to allow me to call on him again before leaving. We then
went to Miss Young's, where I wrote down as much as I could remember
of our conversation, which had greatly moved me. Thence M. Carron took
us to several booksellers; we also called on M. Galais at the
Séminaire S. Sulpice, and delivered our letter; as he had a
class shortly after, we proposed coming again on Thursday. We then
adjourned to the church a short time, to various libraries, and did
not get home till late.
_Wednesday, July 9._--Called on M. Martin Noirlieu, Curé of St.
Jacques; we found him very affable, and desirous to oblige. Talked
about the state of things in England, and said we were most desirous
to see things as they were, and to get rid of all prejudice. I said
the _culte_ of the Blessed Virgin was that which stood most in our
way; and remarked, how in their litanies to her, after a simple
address to the different persons of the Holy Trinity, there followed a
reiterated invocation of her under many various titles, throwing, as
it were, into the shade the Godhead. He excused this, because in those
litanies her intercession was especially requested, and spoke of other
litanies to Jesus, &c. He also said the Church was in no way committed
to those popular devotions of the Archiconfrèrie, &c. He, for example,
had had nothing to do with them at all; but lately he had had occasion
to preach severely against the idea of any virtue being supposed to
reside in images themselves. He strongly recommended Bossuet's
Exposition, as being a faithful account of the Church's doctrines.
There was strict unity as to dogma, but within that limit there were a
vast number of things which might or might not be true. He has been
curé since 1836; about 300 communicants every Sunday in his
parish, which has 15,000 people. Among them are many Jansenists. At
Easter rather less than half the people communicate; he excused there
not being more by their having _severe_ notions on the subject. Spoke
favourably of his people. Walked with us to S. Etienne; a strange
mixture of Gothic and Renaissance, with some fine features; the tomb
of S. Geneviève, which he said was of the fourth century. Thence to
S. Gervais, a fine church of the latest Gothic, the Lady Chapel of
which has been most beautifully restored and decorated; there are five
painted windows, and four very interesting frescoes by Delorme, of
incidents in her life. The whole church is to be done after the same
manner. The government, too, are going to spend 80,000_l_. in
thoroughly restoring Notre Dame: all the windows are to be of painted
glass. There is a curious pendent crown, wrought in stone, in the roof
of this chapel. M.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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