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.
The church contains no furniture of any value artistically, except
perhaps, the organ and wrought-iron gallery, erected in 1747 to replace
an earlier instrument of 1512; the original organ, given in 1358 by
Maître Regnaud de Douy, the master of the parish schools, is described
as _une bones orgues et bien ordenées_.
A good deal of the stained glass is of the 15th and 16th centuries, and
bears the figures and arms of the donors (some of whom appear by their
long robes to have been magistrates), accompanied by their wives and
families. The subjects are the usual ones taken from the New Testament,
or from the lives of the Saints; but a few are somewhat out of the
beaten track, as for instance: Two families of numerous members
accompanied by, or superintended by S. Peter and S. Andrew; S. Michael
clad as a warrior bearing a shield upon which are emblazoned the arms of
France; S. Geneviève holding her demon-extinguished taper which an Angel
relights; S. Anthony with his staff and bell, and holy fire under his
feet, which is in dangerous proximity to his faithful porkling; and
lastly, S. Thomas of Canterbury celebrating mass, while his murderers
fall upon him with their swords. One of the chapels of S. Séverin was
dedicated to the memory of the martyred archbishop.
[Illustration]
Several modern artists have decorated the side-chapels--Alexandre Hesse,
Cornu and Flandrin; but the student of the latter painter must go to S.
Vincent-de-Paul and S. Germain-des-Prés to fully appreciate this great
master of religious art.
The symbols upon the slab mentioned above are very similar to those
found in the cemetery of S. Marcel which occupied the site of the abbey
of S. Geneviève. In the Breviary of Paris we read, in the office for the
Translation of S. Marcel, that his body was put in a chapel, _aedicula_,
named after S. Clement, and from which the Saint had driven out an
enormous serpent. Coming from a neighbouring wood the monster had seized
upon the remains of a rich woman who had been a great sinner, and was
regaling himself therewith, when Marcel came to the rescue, and chasing
him away three miles, forbade him ever to return. This miracle was
popular upon the churches of Paris, and is still to be seen on the
centre pier of the Porte S. Anne of Notre-Dame and in the _voussure_ of
the Porte Rouge.
On the slab at S. Séverin are the doves with olive branches and the
sacred monogram. Below, the Lamb is standing upon the earth, from which
flow the rivers of Paradise, Pison, Gihon, Hiddekel, and Euphrates,
typical, according to S. Ambrose, of the Cardinal Virtues, Prudence,
Strength, Courage, and Temperance. The epitaph is written between the
doves and the Lamb.
LA SORBONNE.
[Illustration: TOMB OF CARDINAL RICHELIEU.]
[Illustration: THE OLD SORBONNE.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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