Old and New Paris: Its History, Its People, and Its Places, v. 1Edwards, H. Sutherland (Henry Sutherland)
History
Old and New Paris: Its History, Its People, and Its Places, v. 1
Edwards, H. Sutherland (Henry Sutherland)
Paris (France) -- Description and travel; Paris (France) -- History
The Rue Castiglione, which on the other side of the Place Vendôme
continues southward towards the Rue de Rivoli and the Tuileries Gardens
under the name of Rue de la Paix, is crossed, at the point where it
changes its title, by the Rue Saint-Honoré. Here, close to the Place
Vendôme, stands the ancient and interesting Church of Saint-Roch.
The origin of this church was a chapel dedicated to the five wounds of
Jesus, which, in 1577, was rebuilt on a much larger scale under the name
of Saint-Roch, to be made, in 1633, the parochial church of the western
part of Paris. The building in its present form dates from 1653, and it
was not finished until 1736. Right and left of the principal entrance
will be observed two statues, representing the two St. Rochs: one of
them the pilgrim from Languedoc who cured the plague, accompanied by his
legendary dog; the other the Bishop of Autun, mitre on head and staff in
hand.
Saint-Roch has been described as "the first parish church in France."
It contains a number of statues and pictures by famous artists, such as
Falconnet, Pradier, and Constan; Vien, Doyen, Deveria, Boulanger, and
Abel de Pujol; also many interesting tombs, including that of the great
Corneille, who died on the 1st of October, 1684, in the Rue d'Argenteuil
at a house which not long ago was pulled down.
On the 1st of October, 1884, the Curé of Saint-Roch performed a funeral
service to commemorate the two hundredth anniversary of the poet's
death; to which were invited the managers and the whole company of
the Comédie Française. What a change did this mark in the views and
feelings of the French clergy since the time, scarcely more than fifty
years distant, when the Curé of Saint-Roch refused Christian burial to
a celebrated actress who had relinquished her profession, and since her
retirement had made abundant gifts through the clergy of Saint-Roch to
the poor of the parish.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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