The Churches of Paris, from Clovis to Charles XBeale, Sophia
History
The Churches of Paris, from Clovis to Charles X
Beale, Sophia
Church buildings -- France -- Paris; Paris (France) -- Buildings, structures, etc.
Under the Roman dominion, Paris was comprised in the fourth Lyonnaise
division, of which Sens was the metropolis. Hence the bishops of Paris
acknowledged the archbishop of Sens as their primate, until 1622, when,
at the request of Louis XIII., Pope Gregory XV. raised the see to an
archbishopric. The succession has consisted of one hundred and nine
bishops and fifteen archbishops, eight of whom have been raised to the
dignity of Cardinal. Besides S. Denis, six have been venerated as
Saints: Marcel, in the 5th century; Germain, in the 6th century; Céran,
Landry, and Agilbert in the 7th, and Hugues in the 8th century. No less
Saints, although uncanonized, are the three martyrs of our own
time--Sibour, who was stabbed by a discontented priest in the church of
S. Étienne-du-Mont; Affre, who was shot upon a barricade in 1848, while
negotiating with the insurgents, and whose last words pronounced him a
true follower of his Master: "Puisse mon sang être le dernier versé!"
and Darboy, the liberal-minded and large-hearted, who was shot as a
hostage by the fanatics of his own party. In former times the entry of
the new bishop into his episcopal city was accompanied by much gorgeous
ceremonial. All the municipal officers, mounted on horses, went to meet
him at the Abbey of S. Victor. Thence they processioned, accompanied by
the bishop, seated on a white palfrey, to the church of S. Geneviève,
from which he was chaired by his vassals to the Rue Neuve-Notre-Dame,
where he was met by the dean and canons of the cathedral, and after
taking an oath upon the Gospels to uphold the privileges of the church,
and to observe the engagements entered into by his predecessors, he was
installed, and received the homage of the chapter. Mass was then said,
and at the conclusion, the prelate was conducted to his palace, where he
gave a sumptuous entertainment to all who had assisted at the
ceremonies.
In 1674 Louis XIV. conferred the lands of S. Cloud, Creteil,
d'Ozouer-la-Ferrière, and d'Armentières upon the archbishopric, a
donation which was valued in the last century at a revenue of 140,000
_livres_. The old episcopal palace was situated between the cathedral
and the river, and the whole must have been an imposing mass of
buildings; but what remained of it twenty years ago was mostly
18th-century work, with the exception of a fragment of the chapel which
was consecrated by bishop Maurice de Sully at the end of the 12th
century.
The chapter of Notre-Dame was one of the most important in the Kingdom.
Its revenue amounted to 180,000 _livres_, and its jurisdiction extended
beyond its own clergy and officers, to the Hôtel-Dieu, and the churches
which were called _les filles de Notre-Dame_. These were the collegiate
bodies of S. Merry, the Holy Sepulchre, S. Benoit, and S.
Étienne-des-Grès. Four other colleges, S. Marcel, S. Honoré, and S.
Opportune, bore the title of _filles de l'Archevêque_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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