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.
Formerly several statues occupied places in the chapel; one, a
terra-cotta Notre-Dame de Pitié, by Germain Pilon, which is now in the
chapel of the military school of St. Cyr. A 16th century _jubé_, with
altars attached to it, marked the nave from the chancel. The retables of
these altars (now in the Louvre) were in enamel, signed and dated
Léonard Limousin, 1533, and contain portraits of François I. and his
second wife, Eléonore d'Autriche, sister of Charles V. and of Henri II.
and Catherine de'Medici, all kneeling. The choir was filled with carved
stalls of the time of Henri II. At the four corners of the altar
pavement, Henri III. elevated bronze Angels upon black marble pillars.
On the _retro_-altar was a silver-gilt model of the chapel, three or
four feet high, executed in 1631 by Pijard, goldsmith, and guardian of
the relics. This contained some of the treasures, and was considered a
very fine work of art, costing some 13,000 _livres_. There is an
excellent drawing of the original altar in Viollet-le-Duc's dictionary.
Canon Morand tells us, in his history of the chapel, that the
_ciborium_, which is usually placed in the tabernacle, was here
suspended in front of the altar--probably the _retro_-altar, as in the
engraving of the High Altar in the Canon's book, there is no
representation of it. All the old furniture of the church has
disappeared, the carved stalls, the _jubé_, the altars, and the pulpit.
Upon the subject of letting, or taking money for seats or chairs in
church, the Abbé waxes wrathful. Nothing is more "indécent que de vendre
ou de louer des places à l'Eglise. En Angleterre et en Hollande on est
assis dans les Temples sans aucun frais, et sans être interrompu par les
Mandians, par les quêteurs, ou par les loueurs de chaises; en quoi les
non-Catholiques nous donnent un bel exemple à suivre, si nous étions
assez raisonables et assez désinterressés pour cela." This is a proof
that the letting of pews which prevailed in this country some years ago
was a bad departure from the free-and-open seat system of the last
century; and the picture drawn of the restlessness of a French church,
from the incessant perambulating of the _Suisses_, the _quêteurs_, and
the chair-owners, is as true now as it was in the time of Morand.
[Illustration: THE JUBÉ, SIXTEENTH CENTURY.]
The Canon then goes on to record the want of reverence of the
congregation, how they just _half_ kneel when the bell rings; how they
must needs sit, and even gossip, during the short quarter of an hour
occupied by a low mass; how they take snuff and bear themselves
generally, and then go out and stand about for the greater part of the
day at their business.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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