Paris comprises the Department of the Seine. It was re-established by
the Concordat of 1802 with much narrower limits than it had prior to
the Revolution, when, besides the city of Paris and its suburbs, it
comprised the archdeanery of Josas (including the deaneries of
Châteaufort and Montlhéry) and the archdeanery of Brie
(including the deaneries of Lagny and Vieux-Corbeil). The deanery of
Champeaux, enclosed within the territory of the Diocese of Sens, was
also dependent on the Archdiocese of Paris, which had then 492
parishes. The Concordat gave to the dioceses of Versailles and Meaux
the archdeaneries of Josas and Brie, which had nearly 350 parishes, and
reduced the Archdiocese of Paris to 42 urban and 76 suburban parishes.
According to the Concordat it had eight suffragans: Amiens, Arras,
Cambrai, Orléans, Meaux, Soissons, Troyes and Versailles. The
re-establishment under the Restoration of the Archdioceses of Reims and
Sens removed the Dioceses of Troyes, Amiens, and Soissons from the
jurisdiction of Paris, but the Dioceses of Blois and Chartres, created
in 1882, were attached to the Province of Paris. In 1841 Cambrai,
having become a metropolitan see, ceased to be a suffragan of Paris,
Arras being made its suffragan.
THE ROMAN LUTETIA
The Gaul Camulogenus burnt Lutetia in 52 B. C., while defending against
Cæsar the tribe of the Parisii, whose capital it was. The Romans
erected a new city on the left slope of Mt. Lucotilius (later Mont
Ste-Geneviève). That the Romanization of Paris was very quickly
accomplished is proved:
by the altar (discovered in 1710 under the choir of Notre-Dame)
raised to Jupiter under Tiberius by the Nautœ Parisiaci, on which are
represented several deities borrowed from the Roman pantheon;
by the remains of a pedestal (found in 1871 on the site of the old
Hôtel-Dieu), which doubtless supported a statue of Germanicus,
and on which is represented Janus Quadrifrons, the Roman symbol of
peace.
At the end of the third century Lutetia was destroyed by the
barbarians, but an important military camp was at once installed in
this district. Cæsar Julian, later emperor and known as Julian
the Apostate, defended Lutetia against fresh invasions from the north
over the road from Senlis to Orléans. There, in 360, he was
proclaimed Augustus by his soldiers, and Valentian I also sojourned
there. The ruins found in the garden of the Musée de Cluny have,
since the twelfth century, been regarded as the ruins of the Thermœ,
but in 1903-04 other thermœ were discovered a little distance away,
which must be either those of the palace of Julian the Apostate, or,
according to M. Julian, those of the communal house of the Nautœ
Parisiaci. Ruins have also been discovered of an arena capable of
holding from 8000 to 9000 persons.
BEGINNINGS OF CHRISTIANITY AT PARIS
Paris was a Christian centre at an early date, its first apostles being
St. Denis and his companions, Sts. Rusticus and Eleutherius. Until the
Revolution the ancient tradition of the Parisian Church commemorated
the seven stations of St. Denis, the stages of his apostolate and
martyrdom:
the ancient monastery of Notre-Dame-des-Champs of which the
crypt, it was said, had been dedicated to the Blessed Virgin by
St. Denis on his arrival in Paris;
the Church of St-Etienne-des-Grès (now disappeared), which stood
on the site of an oratory erected by St. Denis to St. Stephen;
the Church of St-Benoît (disappeared), where St. Denis had
erected an oratory to the Trinity (Deus Benedictus);
the chapel of St-Denis-du-Pas near Notre-Dame (disappeared), on the
site of the tribunal of the prefect Sicinnius, who tried St. Denis;
the Church of St-Denis-de-la-Châtre, the crypt of which was
regarded as the saint's cell (now vanished);
Mont-martre, where, according to the chronicle written in 836 by Abbot
Hilduin, St. Denis was executed;
the basilica of St-Denis.
The memorials of the saint's activity in Paris have thus survived, but
even the date of his apostolate is a matter of controversy. The legend
stating St. Denis came to Gaul in the time of St. Clement, dates only
from the end of the eighth century. It is found in the "Passio
Dionisii", written about 800, and in the "Gesta Dagoberti", written at
the Abbey of St-Denis at the beginning of the ninth century. Still
later than the formation of this legend Abbot Hilduin identified St.
Denis of Paris with Denis the Areopagite (see DIONYSIUS THE
PSEUDO-AREOPAGITE), but this identification is no longer admitted, and
history is inclined to accept the opinion of St. Gregory of Tours, who
declares St. Denis one of the seven bishops sent by Pope Fabian about
250. It is certain that the Christian community of Paris was of some
importance in the third century. Recent discoveries seem to prove that
the catacombs of the Gobelins and of St. Marcellus on the left bank
were the oldest necropolis of Paris; here have been found nearly 500
tombs, of which the oldest date from the end of the third century.
Doubtless in this quarter was situated the church spoken of by St.
Gregory of Tours as the oldest in the city; here was the sarcophagus of
the virgin Crescentia, granted that our hypothesis agrees with a legend
referring to this region the foundation of the chapel under the
patronage of Pope St. Clement, in which Bishop St. Marcellus was buried
in the fifth century. This bishop, who was a native of Paris, governed
the Church of Paris about 430; he is celebrated in popular tradition
for his victory over a dragon, and his life was written by Fortunatus.
MEROVINGIAN PARIS
Paris was preserved from the invasion of Attila through the prayers and
activity of St. Genevieve, who prevailed on the Parisians not to
abandon their city. Clovis, King of the Franks, was received there in
497 after his conversion to Christianity, and made it his capital. The
coming of the Franks brought about its great religious development. At
the summit of the hill on the left bank Clovis founded, in honour of
the Apostles Peter and Paul, a basilica to which the tomb of St.
Genevieve drew numbers of the faithful, and in which St. Clotilde, who
died at Tours, was buried. On the right bank were built as early as the
fifth century two churches consecrated to St. Martin of Tours — one
near the present Notre-Dame, the other further in the country, in the
place where the Church of St-Martin-des-Champs now stands. Childebert
(died 558), son of Clovis, having become King of Paris in 511, added to
the religious prestige of the city. After his campaign in Spain, he
made peace with the inhabitants of Saragossa on condition that they
would deliver to him the sacred vessels and the stole of St. Vincent,
and on his return, at the instance of St. Germain (q. v.), built a
church in honour of St. Vincent, which later took the name of Germain
himself. The present church of St-Germain-des-Prés still
preserves some columns from the triforium, which must date from the
first building. After the death of Caribert, son of Clotaire I (567),
Paris was not divided among the other sons of Clotaire, but formed a
sort of municipal republic under the direction of St. Germain. Owing to
this exceptional situation Paris escaped almost entirely the
consequences of the civil wars with which the sons of Clotaire, and
later Fredegunde and Brunhilde, disturbed Merovingian France. Mgr
Duchesne concedes a certain authority to an ancient catalogue of the
bishops of Paris, preserved in a sacramentary dating from the end of
the ninth or the beginning of the tenth century. After St. Germain
other bishops of the Merovingian period were: St. Céran
(Ceraunus, 606-21), who collected and compiled the Acts of the Martyrs,
and during whose episcopate a council of seventy-nine bishops (the
first national council of France) was held at the basilica of Sts.
Peter and Paul; St. Landry (650-6), who founded under the patronage of
St. Christopher the first charity hospital (Hôtel-Dieu) of Paris,
and who caused the monk Marculf to compile, under the name of "Recueil
de Formules", the first French and Parisian code, which is a real
monument of the legislation of the seventh century; St. Agilbert
(666-80), who was the brother of St. Theodechilde, first Abbess of
Jouarre, and who had, during his youth in England, instructed in
Christianity the King of the Saxons; St. Hugues (722-30), nephew of
Charles Martel, previously Archbishop of Rouen and Abbot of Fontenelle.
PARIS UNDER THE CARLOVINGIANS
The Carlovingian period opened with the episcopate of Déodefroi
(757-75), who received Pope Stephen at Paris. Special mention must be
made of Æneas (appointed bishop in 853 or 858; died 870), who
wrote against Photius, under the title "Libellus adversus
Græcos", a collection of texts from the Fathers on the Holy
Ghost, fasting, and the Roman primacy. As the Carlovingians most
frequently resided on the banks of the Meuse or the Rhine, the bishops
of Paris greatly increased their political influence, though confronted
by counts who represented the absent sovereigns. The bishops were
masters of most of the Ile de la Cité and of a considerable
portion of the right bank, near St-Germain-l'Auxerrois. As early as the
ninth century the property of the chapter of Notre-Dame, established
(775-95) by Bishop Erchenrade, was distinct from that of the diocese,
while the cloister and the residences of the canons were quite
independent of the royal power. Notre-Dame and the Abbey of
St-Germain-des-Prés were then two great economic powers which
sent through the kingdom their agents (missi negociantes), charged with
making purchases. When the Normans entered Paris in 845 or 846, the
body of St. Germain was hurriedly removed. They established themselves
in the abbey, but left on payment of 7000 livres, whereupon the saint's
body was brought back with great pomp. Another Norman invasion in 850
or 856 again occasioned the removal of St. Germain's body, which was
restored in 863. Other alarms came in 865 and 876, but the worst attack
took place on 24 Nov., 885, when Paris was defended by its bishop, the
celebrated Gozlin, a Benedictine and former Abbot of
St-Germain-des-Prés, and by Count Eudes of Paris, later King of
France. The siege lasted a year, of which an account in Latin verse was
written by the monk Abbo Cernuus. Gozlin died in the breach on 16
April, 886. His nephew Ebles, Abbot of St-Germain, was also among the
valiant defenders of the city. The Parisians called upon Emperor
Charles the Fat to assist them, and he paid the Normans a ransom, and
even gave them permission to ascend the Seine through the city to
pillage Burgundy; the Parisians refused to let them pass, however, and
the Normans had to drag their boats around the walls. After the
deposition of Charles the Fat, Eudes, who had defended Paris against
the Normans, became king, and repelled another Norman attack, assisted
by Gozlin's successor, Bishop Anscheric (886-91). After the death of
Eudes the Parisians recognized his brother Robert, Count of Paris and
Duke of France, and then Hugh the Great. Hugh Capet, son of Hugh the
Great, prevented Paris from falling into the hands of the troops of
Emperor Otto II in 978; in 987 he founded the Capetian dynasty.
PARIS UNDER THE CAPETIANS
"To form a conception of Paris in the tenth and eleventh centuries",
writes M. Marcel Poète, "we must picture to ourselves a network
of churches and monasteries surrounded by cultivated farm-lands on the
present site of Paris." Take, for example, the monastery of St.
Martin-des-Champs, which in 1079 was attached to the Order of Cluny;
about this monastery and its hospice was grouped a real agricultural
colony, while all trades were practised in the monastic school. The
same was true of the monastery of Sts. Barthélemy and Magloire,
which was celebrated at the beginning of the Capetian period, and was
dependent on the Abbey of Marmoutiers (see TOURS). But a still more
famous monastic establishment was the Abbey of
St-Germain-des-Prés. Its estates of Issy and of Celle-St-Cloud
were vast possessions, and the polyptych (record of the monastic
possessions), drawn up at the beginning of the ninth century under the
direction of Abbot Irminon, shows how these estates, which extended
into Indre and Normandy, were administered and cultivated. The first
Capetians generally resided at Paris. Louis the Fat quarrelled with
Bishop Etienne de Senlis (1124-42). The bishop placed the royal domain
under interdict, whereupon the king confiscated the temporalities of
the diocese, but the intervention of the pope and of St. Bernard put an
end to the difference, and to seal the reconciliation, the king invited
the bishop to the coronation of his son, Louis VII. The episcopal court
of Peter Lombard (1157 or 1159 to 1160 or 1164) contributed to the
scholarly reputation of the Church of Paris. The University of Paris
did not yet exist, but, from the beginning of the twelfth century, the
monastic schools of Notre-Dame were already famous, and the teaching of
Peter Lombard, known as the Master of the Sentences, added to their
lustre. Louis VI declared in a diploma that he had passed "his
childhood in the schools of Notre-Dame as in the maternal bosom". At
Notre-Dame William of Champeaux (q. v.) had taught dialectics, been a
professor, and become an archdeacon, and had Abelard as a disciple
before he founded the school of St-Victor in 1108. Until about 1127 the
students of Notre-Dame resided within the chapter enclosure. By a
command of Alexander III the principle of gratuitous instruction was
asserted. In a letter written between 1154 and 1182 Philippe de
Harvengt says: "There is at Paris such an assemblage and abundance of
clerics that they threatened to outnumber the laity. Happy city, where
the Holy Books are so assiduously studied and their mysteries so well
expounded, where such diligence reigns among the students, and where
there is such a knowledge of Scripture that it may be called the city
of letters!" At the same period Peter of Blois says that all who wish
the settlement of any question should apply to Paris, where the most
tangled knots are untied. In his letter to Archbishop William of Sens
(1169), St. Thomas à Becket declares himself ready to submit his
difference with the King of England to the judgment of the scholars at
Paris.
The long episcopate of Maurice de Sully (1160-96), the son of a simple
serf, was marked by the consecration of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame
(see below) and the journey to Paris of Pope Alexander III (1163).
Hughes de Monceaux, Abbot of St-Germain, requested the pope to
consecrate the monastery church. Maurice de Sully, Bishop of Paris,
having accompanied the pope to the ceremony, was invited by the abbot
to withdraw, and Alexander III declared in a sermon, afterwards
confirmed by a Bull, thenceforth the Church of
St-Germain-des-Prés was dependent only on the Roman pontiff, and
subsequently conferred on the abbot a number of episcopal prerogatives.
In time the Abbey of St-Germain became the centre of a bourg, the
inhabitants of which were granted municipal freedom by Abbot Hughes de
Monceaux about 1170. Eudes de Sully (1197-1208), the successor of
Maurice, courageously opposed King Philip II, when he wished to
repudiate Ingeburge and wed Agnes de Méran. Philip II was a
benefactor of Paris, and the university was founded during his reign
(1215). (See PARIS, UNIVERSITY OF.) The thirteenth century, and
especially the reign of St. Louis, was a period of great industrial and
commercial prosperity for Paris, as is shown by the "Livre des
Mestiers" of Etienne Boileau and the invectives of Petrarch. Bishop
Guillaume d'Auvergne (1227-49) received from St. Louis the Crown of
Thorns, which was borne in procession to Paris on 18 August, 1239.
Under St. Louis the Parliament was permanently established at Paris and
the Bishop of Paris declared a conseiller-né. Under Philip the
Fair occurred at Paris the trial of the Templars (q. v.) which ended
(1314) with the execution of Jacques de Molai (q. v.).
PARIS UNDER THE VALOIS
The troubles of the Hundred Years' War throw into relief the character
of Pierre de la Forest, Bishop of Paris (1350-2), later Archbishop of
Rouen and cardinal. After the Battle of Poitiers (1356), at which John
II was taken prisoner, the dauphin Charles (afterwards Charles V)
convoked at Paris the States General of 1356, 1357, and 1358. At these
assemblies the provost of merchants, Etienne Marcel, and Robert Le Coq,
Bishop of Laon, were the leaders of a violent opposition to the royal
party. The result of the assassination of Etienne Marcel was the
dauphin's victory. Having become king as Charles V, the latter made
himself a magnificent residence at the Hôtel St-Paul, rebuilt the
Louvre, and began the construction of the Bastille. During his reign
the cardinalitial purple was first given to the bishops of Paris.
Etienne de Paris (1363-8) and Aimeri de Maignac (1368-84) received it
in turn. The revolt of the Maillotins (1381) and the wars between the
Burgundians and Armagnacs during the first twenty years of the
fifteenth century filled Paris with blood. After the Treaty of Troyes
(1420) Paris received an English garrison. Because of his sympathy with
Charles VI, John Courtecuisse, a theologian of Gallican tendencies who
became bishop in 1420, was compelled to go into exile at Geneva, where
he died in 1423. The attack of Joan of Arc on Paris in 1430 was
unsuccessful. The Treaty of Arras between Philip the Good, Duke of
Burgundy, and Charles VII, restored Paris under the dominion of the
kings of France. Louis XI (q. v.), successor of Charles VII, was much
beloved by the citizens of Paris. The poet Jean du Bellay, friend of
Francis I and several times ambassador, was Bishop of Paris from 1532
to 1551, and was made cardinal in 1535. With him the Renaissance was
established in the diocese, and it was at his persuasion that Francis I
founded for the teaching of languages and philology the Collège
Royal, which later became the Collège de France (1529). In 1533
du Ballay negotiated between Henry VIII and Clement VII in an attempt
to prevent England's break with the Holy See, and, when in 1536 the
troops of Charles V threatened Picardy and Champagne, he received from
Francis I the title of Lieutenant-General of the Kingdom and placed
Paris in a state of defence. Du Bellay was a typical prelate of the
Renaissance, and was celebrated for his three books of Latin poetry and
his magnificent Latin discourses. For a time he had for his secretary,
Rabelais, whom he is said to have inspired to write "Pantagruel". He
was disgraced under Henry II, resigned his bishopric in 1551, and went
to Rome, where he died. The consequences of the rise of Protestantism
and of the wars of religion in regard to Paris are treated under SAINT
BARTHOLOMEW'S DAY; LEAGUE.
PARIS UNDER THE BOURBONS
With Cardinal Pierre de Gondi (died 1598), who occupied the See of
Paris from 1568, began the Gondi dynasty which occupied the see for a
century. As ambassador to Pius V, Gregory XIII, and Sixtus V, Pierre de
Gondi always opposed the League and favoured the accession of Henry of
Navarre. After the episcopate of his nephew Cardinal Henri de Gondi
(1598-1622), Paris became an archiepiscopal see, and was given to Jean
François de Gondi. As early as 1376 Charles V had sought the
erection of Paris to archiepiscopal rank, but, out of regard for the
archbishops of Sens, the Holy See had then refused to grant the
petition. Louis XIII was more successful, and by a Bull of October,
1622, Paris was made a metropolitan see with Chartres, Meaux, and
Orléans as suffragans. Jean François de Gondi did much to
further the development of religious congregations (see BÉRULLE,
PIERRE DE; ORATORY, FRENCH CONGREGATION OF THE; OLIER, JEAN-JACQUES;
ST-SULPICE, SOCIETY OF; VINCENT DE PAUL, SAINT), and, during the civil
disturbances of the Fronde, laboured for the relief of the suffering
populace, whose tireless benefactor was St. Vincent de Paul. The
archbishop's coadjutor was his nephew Jean François Paul de
Gondi, Cardinal de Retz (q. v.), who often played the part of a
political conspirator. In 1662 the See of Paris was for a very brief
period occupied by the Gallican canonist Pierre de Marca, earlier
Archbishop of Toulouse. He was succeeded by Hardouin de
Péréfixe de Beaumont (1662-71), during whose episcopate
began the sharp conflicts evoked by Jansenism. He had been tutor to
Louis XIV and was the biographer of Henry IV. Harlay de Champvallon
(1671-95) is the subject of a separate article. Louis Antoine de
Noailles (1695-1729), made cardinal in 1700, played an important part
in the disputes concerning Quietism and Jansenism. After an attempt to
reconcile Bossuet and Fénelon he took sides against the latter,
successively approved and condemned Quesnel's book, and did not
subscribe to the Bull "Unigenitus" until 1728. In the eighteenth
century the See of Paris was made illustrious by Christophe de Beaumont
(1746-81), earlier Bishop of Bayonne and Archbishop of Vienne, who
succeeded in putting an end to the opposition lingering among some of
the clergy to the Bull "Unigenitus". The parliamentarians protested
against the denial of the sacraments to impenitent Jansenists, and
Louis XV, after having at first forbidden the Parliament to concern
itself with this question, turned against the archbishop, exiled him,
and then endeavoured to secure his resignation by offering him tempting
dignities. But it was especially against the philosophes that this
prelate waged war; pamphlets were written against him, among them the
"Lettre de Jean Jacques Rousseau à monseigneur
l'archévêque de Paris". Antoine Le Clerc de Juigné
(died 1811), who succeeded Beaumont in 1781, was president of the
clergy at the States General of 1789. He went into exile during the
Revolution, and at the Concordat resigned his see at the pope's request.
PARIS DURING THE REVOLUTION
Within the present boundaries of the archdiocese the number of priests
forming the active clergy at the time of the Revolution was about 1000,
of whom 600 were in Parisian parishes, 150 in those of the suburbs, and
250 were chaplains. There were 921 religious, belonging to 21 religious
families divided among 38 convents. Immediately after the adoption of
the Civil Constitution of the clergy 8 new parishes were created in
Paris and 27 were suppressed. Out of 50 Parisian pastors 26 refused to
take the oath; out of 69 first or second curates 36 refused; of the 399
other priests haying spiritual powers, 216 refused. On the other hand
among the priests who, not exercising parochial duties, were not called
upon to swear, 196 declared that they would take the oath and 14
refused. On 13 March 1791, Gobel (born 1727), Bishop of Lydda,
Coadjutor Bishop of Basle, and a member of the Constitutional Assembly,
was elected bishop by 500 votes. Loménie de Brienne, Archbishop
of Sens, and Jarente, Bishop of Orléans, though both had
accepted the civil constitution of the clergy, refused to give Gobel
canonical institution, and he received it from the famous Talleyrand,
Bishop of Autun. Gobel surrounded himself with married clerics such as
Louis de Saint Martin, Colombart, and Aubert, and through the Marquis
of Spinola, Minister of the Republic of Genoa, endeavoured to obtain
from the Holy See a sum of money in exchange for his submission. At the
beginning of 1793 he was at the head of about 600 "sworn" priests,
about 500 of whom were employed in parishes. On 7 November, 1793, he
solemnly declared before the Convention that his subordinates and he
renounced the duties of ministers of Catholic worship, whereupon the
Convention congratulated him on having "sacrificed the grotesque
baubles of superstition". On the same day Notre-Dame was dedicated to
the worship of Reason, Citizeness Aubry, a comédienne,
impersonating that goddess and Gobel presiding at the ceremony.
Finally, the Commune of Paris decided that all churches should be
closed, and that whosoever requested that they be reopened should be
regarded as a suspect. In March, 1794, Gobel was condemned to death as
an atheist by the followers of Robespierre, and was executed after
lengthy spiritual interviews with the Sulpician Emery and after he had
addressed to Abbé Lothringer a letter in which he declared his
repentance. In the absence of Juigné, the legitimate bishop, the
Catholic faithful continued to obey a council formed of the
Abbés de Malaret, Emery, and Espinasse, under the leadership of
the former vicar-general, Charles Henri du Valk de Dampierre, who was
in hiding. Public worship was restored by the Law of Ventose, Year III,
and by the law of 2 Prairial, Year III (30 March, 1795), fifteen
churches were reopened. As early as 1796 about fifty places of worship
had been reopened in Paris; sixteen or seventeen, of which eleven were
parochial churches, were administered by priests who had accepted the
Constitution. More than thirty others of which three were parochial
churches, were administered by priests who were in secret obedience to
the legitimate archbishop, and the number of Constitutional priests had
fallen from 600 to 150.
PARIS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
The Archdiocese of Paris became more and more important in France
during the nineteenth century. Jean Baptiste de Belloy, former Bishop
of Marseilles, who was appointed archbishop in 1802, was then
ninety-three years old. On 18 April, 1802, he presided at Notre-Dame
over the ceremony at which the Concordat was solemnly published.
Despite his great age he reorganized worship in Paris, and
re-established religious life in its forty-two parishes. In a
conciliatory spirit he appointed to about twelve of these parishes
priests who had taken the oath during the Revolution. He became
cardinal in 1803 and died in 1808. The conflict between Napoleon and
Pius VII was then at its height. Napoleon attempted to make Fesch
accept the See of Paris, while the latter wished to retain that of
Lyons. Cardinal Maury (1746-1817), formerly a royalist deputy to the
Constitutional Assembly, also ambassador to the Holy See from the Count
of Provence, but who went over to the Empire in 1800 and in 1810 became
chaplain to King Jerome, was named Archbishop of Paris by Napoleon on
14 Oct., 1810. The chapter at once conferred on him the powers of
vicar-capitular, until he should be preconized by the pope, but, when
it became known that Pius VII, by a Brief of 5 November, 1810, refused
to recognize the nomination, Maury was actively opposed by a section of
the chapter and the clergy. The emperor took his revenge by striking at
the vicar-capitular, Astros. At the fall of Napoleon, despite his zeal
in persuading it to adhere to the deposition of the emperor, Maury was
deprived of his faculties by the chapter. In agreement with Rome, Louis
XVIII named as Archbishop of Paris (1 Aug., 1817) Alexandre
Angélique de Talleyrand-Périgord (1736-1821), who,
despite the Concordat, chose to retain his title of Archbishop of Reims
until 1816 and who was created cardinal on 28 July, 1817.
Talleyrand-Périgord did not take possession of his see until
Oct., 1819. He divided the diocese into three arch-deaneries, which
division is still in force.
On the death of Talleyrand-Périgord in 1821, his coadjutor
Hyacinthe Louis de Quélen (1778-1840), court chaplain, succeeded
him. A member of the Chamber of Peers under the Restoration,
Quélen, as president of the commission for the investigation of
the school situation, vainly endeavoured to prevent the promulgation of
the Martignac ordinances against the Jesuits in June, 1828. His
friendly relations with Louis XVIII and Charles X drew upon him in 1830
the hostility of the populace; his palace was twice sacked, and the
Monarchy of July regarded him with suspicion, but the devotion he
showed during a terrible cholera epidemic won many hearts to him.
Assisted by Dupanloup he converted the famous Talleyrand, nephew of his
predecessor, on his death-bed in 1838. Quélen died 8 Jan., 1840,
and was succeeded by Denis-Auguste Affre, (q. v., 1793-1848), who was
slain at the barricades in 1848. Marie-Dominique-Auguste Sibour
(1792-1862), formerly Bishop of Digne, succeeded Affre; among the
prelates consulted by Pius IX with regard to the opportuneness of
defining the Immaculate Conception, he was one of the few who opposed
it. He was killed in the church of St-Etienne-du-Mont on 3 Jan., 1857,
by a suspended priest. After the short episcopate of Cardinal Morlot
(1857-62) the see was occupied from 1862 to 1872 by Georges Darboy (q.
v.), who was slain during the Commune. Joseph-Hippolyte Guibert
(1802-86), previously Bishop of Viviers and Archbishop of Tours, became
Archbishop of Paris on 27 Oct., 1871. His episcopate was made notable
by the erection of the basilica of Montmartre (see below), and the
creation of the Catholic University, at the head of which he placed Mgr
d'Hulst. His successor was François-Marie-Benjamin Richard
(1819-1907), former Bishop of Belley, who had been coadjutor of Paris
since July, 1875, became cardinal 24 May, 1889, and was active in the
defence of the religious congregations. Mgr Léon Amette (born at
Douville, in the Diocese of Evreux, 1850), coadjutor to Cardinal
Richard since February, 1906, succeeded him in the See of Paris, on 28
Jan., 1908.
NOTRE-DAME-DE-PARIS
On the site now occupied by the courtyards of Notre-Dame de Paris there
was as early as the sixth century a church of Notre-Dame, which had as
patrons the Blessed Virgin, St. Stephen, and St. Germain. It was built
by Childebert about 528, and on the site of the present sacristy there
was also a church dedicated to St. Stephen. The Norman invasions
destroyed Notre-Dame, but St-Etienne remained standing, and for a time
served as the cathedral. At the end of the ninth century Notre-Dame was
rebuilt, and the two churches continued to exist side by side until the
eleventh century when St-Etienne fell to ruin. Maurice de Sully
resolved to erect a magnificent cathedral on the ruins of St-Etienne
and the site of Notre-Dame. Surrounded by twelve cardinals, Alexander
III, who sojourned at Paris from 24 March to 25 April, 1163, laid the
corner-stone. Henri de Château-Marçay, papal legate,
consecrated the high altar in 1182; Hierarchus, Patriarch of Jerusalem,
officiated in 1185 in the completed choir; the façade was
finished in 1218, the towers in 1235. Jean and Pierre de Chelles
completed the work, and, at the beginning of the fourteenth century,
the cathedral was as it is now. The following are among the noteworthy
events which took place at Notre-Dame: the depositing by St. Louis (10
Aug., 1239) of the Crown of Thorns, a portion of the True Cross, and a
nail of the Passion; the obsequies of St. Louis (21 May, 1271); the
assembling of the first States-General (10 April, 1302); the coronation
of Henry VI of England as King of France (17 Nov., 1431); the
coronation of Mary Stuart (4 April, 1560); the funeral oration of the
Duc de Mercœur by St. Francis de Sales (27 April, 1602); the vow of
Louis XIII, making the Assumption a feast of the kingdom (10 Feb.,
1638); the abjuration of the Maréchal de Turenne (23 Oct.,
1668); the funeral oration of the Prince de Condé by Bossuet (10
March, 1687).
During the French Revolution, in the period following 1790, the
treasury was despoiled of many of its precious objects, which were sent
to the mint to be melted down. The Crown of Thorns was taken to the
cabinet of antiquities of the Bibliothèque Nationale and thus
escaped destruction. The statues of the kings, which adorned the porch,
were destroyed in October, 1793, by order of the Paris Commune. The
feast of Reason was celebrated in Notre-Dame in November, 1793; in
December of the same year Saint-Simon, the future founder of the
Saint-Simonian religion, was about to purchase the church and destroy
it. From 1798 it contained the offices of the Constitutional clergy,
and from 5 March to 28 May, 1798, it was also the meeting-place of the
Theophilanthropists. Catholic worship was resumed on 18 April, 1802,
and the coronation of Napoleon took place there on 2 December, 1804. By
the preface of his novel "Notre Dame de Paris" (1832) Victor Hugo
aroused a strong public sentiment in favour of the cathedral. In April,
1844, the Government entrusted Lassus and Viollet le Duc with a
complete restoration, which was completed in 1864. On 31 May, 1864,
Archbishop Darboy dedicated the restored cathedral. The marriage of
Napoleon III (30 January, 1853), the funeral services of President
Carnot (1 July, 1894), the obsequies of President Félix Faure
(23 Feb., 1899), took place at Notre-Dame. Notre-Dame has been a minor
basilica since 27 Feb., 1805. As early as the beginning of the
thirteenth century at least two churches were copied entirely from the
cathedral of Paris, viz, the collegiate church of Mantes
(Seine-et-Oise.) and the cathedral of Nicosia in the Island of Cyprus,
the bishop of which was a brother of the cantor of Notre-Dame. The Ile
de la Cité, where Notre-Dame stands, also contains the
Sainte-Chapelle, in the Palais de la Justice, one of the most beautiful
religious buildings in Paris. It was built (1212-47) under St. Louis by
Pierre de Montereau, with the exception of the spire. Its stained-glass
windows are admirable. In former times the king, from an ogival
baldachin, displayed to the people the relics of the Passion.
PRINCIPAL CHURCHES ON THE RIGHT BANK OF THE SEINE
The Church of St-Germain-l'Auxerrois was built between the thirteenth
and the sixteenth century on the site of a baptistery built by St.
Germain, where baptism was administered on fixed dates. At other times
the piscina was dry, and the catechumens came and seated themselves on
the steps while catechetical classes were held. Three tragic
recollections are connected with this church. On 24 August, 1572, its
bells gave the signal for the Massacre of St. Bartholomew; in 1617, the
body of Concini, Maréchal d'Ancre, which had been buried there,
was disinterred by the mob and mutilated; on 14 Feb., 1831, the people
sacked the church under the pretext that an anniversary Mass was being
celebrated for the soul of the Duc de Berry. The Church of St-Eustache,
built between 1532 and 1637, was the scene of the First Communion of
Louis XIV (1649), the funeral oration of Turenne preached by
Fléchier (1676), and Massillon's sermon on the small number of
the elect (1704). Massillon preached the Lenten sermons in the church
of St-Leu (fourteenth century), and the conspirator Georges Cadoudal
hid in its crypt from the police of Bonaparte. In the Church of
St-Gervais (early sixteenth-century), where the League was established,
Bossuet preached the funeral sermon of Chancellor Michel Le Tellier.
Its doorway, of which Louis XIII laid the first stone in 1616, is a
very beautiful work of Salomon de Brosse. Blessed Marie de
l'Incarnation was baptized at Saint-Merry (1520-1612). In
Saint-Louis-en-l'Ile (rebuilt 1664-1726) St. Vincent de Paul presided
over the meetings at which the charity bureaux were organized. Charles
VI, Charles VII, and Olier were baptized in the Church of St-Paul,
destroyed during the Revolution. The Church of St-Louis
(seventeenth-century), former chapel of the Jesuit professed house,
where Bourdaloue preached the funeral sermon of Condé and where
he was buried, was chosen at the Concordat to replace the parish of
St-Paul, and took the name of St-Paul-St-Louis. The Madeleine (begun
1764 and finished 1824), of which Napoleon I wished to make a Temple of
Glory, had within less than a century two pastors, who were martyred,
Le Ber, butchered in 1792, and Deguerry, shot in 1871. The Church of
St-Lawrence (fifteenth-century) was often visited by St. Vincent de
Paul, who lived in the convent of St-Lazare within the confines of the
parish. Here was buried Venerable Madame Le Gras, foundress of the
Sisters of Charity. During the Revolution it was given to the
Theophilanthropists who made of it the "Temple of Hymen and Fidelity".
With regard to Notre-Dame-des-Victoires see below under FAMOUS
PILGRIMAGES. St-Denys-de-la-Chapelle (thirteenth-century) stands where
St. Genevieve and her companions rested, when they were making a
pilgrimage from Paris to the tomb of St. Denis. Bl. Joan of Arc, who
had come to besiege Paris, stopped here to pray.
PRINCIPAL CHURCHES ON THE LEFT BANK
St-Nicholas-du-Chardonnet (1656-1758) is famous for the seminary which
Bourdoise founded in the vicinity, for the Forty Hours preached there
by St. Francis de Sales, and for the funeral oration of Lamoignon
preached there by Fléchier. St-Sulpice (1646-1745) is famous for
its pastor Olier (q. v.); in 1793 it was a temple of Victory, under the
Directory it was used by the Theophilanthropists, and there Pius VII
consecrated the bishops of La Rochelle and Poitiers. To the
architectural importance of St-Germain-des-Prés was added in the
nineteenth century the attraction of Flandrin's frescoes.
St-Médard (fifteenth-sixteenth-century) became celebrated in the
eighteenth century owing to the sensation caused by the Jansenists with
regard to the wonders wrought at the tomb of the deacon Paris.
St-Séverin (fourteenth-fifteenth-century), one of the most
remarkable Gothic edifices of Paris, replaced an older church in which
Foulques de Neuily preached the Fourth Crusade in 1199; St. Vincent de
Paul, Bossuet, Massillon, Fléchier, Lacordaire, and Ravignan
preached in this church. Originally dedicated to St. Severinus, a
Parisian hermit, who was buried there in 555, it was dedicated to St.
Severinus of Agaune from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century, and
since 1753 has had both these saints as patrons. Ste-Clotilde (1846-61)
was made a minor basilica on 19 April, 1897, at the time of the
fourteenth centenary of Clovis. St-Lambert-de-Vaugirard had as pastor
Olier, who founded the Society of St-Sulpice, and St. John Baptist de
la Salle opened his first school in this parish; its name of Vaugirard
(Vallis Gerardi) recalls the charitable Abbot of
St-Germain-des-Prés, Gerard de Moret, who built dwellings for
sick religious in the locality. The church of the Sorbonne, where
religious services are no longer held, was begun in 1635, Richelieu
laying its foundation stone, and completed in 1646. Richelieu's tomb in
this church was violated during the Revolution; the cardinal's head,
which was taken away on this occasion, was restored to this church in
1866. The chapel of Val-de-Gârce, a very beautiful specimen of
the Jesuit style and famous for its cupola wherein Mignard has depicted
the glory of the blessed, was built in fulfillment of a vow made by
Anne of Austria. Mansart was its first architect, and the corner-stone
was laid in 1645 by Louis XIV at the age of seven. Here was buried
Henrietta of France, wife of Charles I of England, and here Bossuet
preached the Lenten sermons of 1663. It is now the chapel of the Paris
military hospital. The chapel of St-Louis-des-Invalides contains the
tomb of Napoleon I. In the crypt of the Church of St-Joseph-des-Carmes,
built by the Carmelites between 1613 and 1625 and now the church of the
Institut Catholique, are the tomb of Ozanam and the remains of the 120
priests massacred in this church on 2 Sept., 1792, after fifteen days
of captivity. In this crypt Lacordaire remained attached to a cross for
three hours.
PRINCIPAL ABBEYS
The Benedictine Abbey of St-Germain-des-Prés, the foundation and
medieval splendour of which have been described above, was long famous
for the fair which it held. During the seventeenth century its
important library made it a centre of learning, and Luc
d'Achéry, Mabillon, and Montfaucon rendered it illustrious.
Abbé Prévost, author of the famous romance "Manon
Lescaut", was for a time a Benedictine at St-Germain-des-Prés,
where he worked on "Gallia Christiana". John Casimir, first a Jesuit
and later King of Poland, died as Abbot of St-Germain-des-Prés
in 1672. The abbey prison was the scene of the September massacres in
1792.
The origin of the Abbey of St-Victor was a hermitage, to which William
of Champeaux (q. v.) retired in 1108. The abbey was founded by a royal
charter in 1113, and had as first abbot Gilduin, confessor of Louis the
Fat. The abbey governed the priories of Corbeil, Château-Laudon,
Etampes, Mantes, Poissy, Dreux, and even the cathedral of Séez.
During the first century it was rendered illustrious by Richard of
St-Victor, Hugh of St-Victor, and the liturgical poet, Adam of
St-Victor. Grave abuses having crept into the Congregation of the
Canons of St. Genevieve, Pope Eugenius III and Suger in 1148 introduced
the Canons Regular of St. Augustine from the Abbey of St-Victor. From
the thirteenth to the fifteenth century the abbey passed through a
period of decadence, and in 1498 two strange monks, John Standonck,
rector of the College of Montaigu, and John Monbaer of Windesheim near
Zwolle, spent nine months at the abbey to effect its reform. With the
sixteenth century began a series of commendatory abbots, one of whom,
Antonio Caracciolo, became a Protestant. The canons of St-Victor took a
very important part in the League. The first half of the seventeenth
century was characterized by a conflict between Jean de Toulouse, prior
of St-Victor, and the Genovéfains; a decision of the official
(28 June, 1645) declared St-Victor autonomous. Jansenism found its way
into St-Victor, and was combatted by Simon Gourdan, who was persecuted.
In the eighteenth century its library was celebrated, and was open to
the public three times a week. The librarian Mulot, who was also grand
prior, published a translation of "Daphnis and Chloe". The abbey's end
was sad. When the Revolutionary commissaries questioned the twenty-one
religious present, only one, aged 81, affirmed his desire to remain;
nine did not reply, eleven left the monastery, and the librarian Mulot
became a deputy of the Legislative Assembly. The abbey was destroyed in
November, 1798.
The early history of the Abbey of Saint-Denis, near Paris, is very
obscure. In the second half of the fifth century the clergy of Paris
erected at the instance of St. Genevieve in the village of Catulliacus
where the saint was buried, a basilica, administered by a community of
monks. Pilgrims flocked thither, and, as early as 625, a charter of
Clotaire II authorized the abbot to receive a legacy. Nevertheless,
tradition regards Dagobert I (628-38) as the real founder. According to
Mabillon, Félibien, and M. Léon Levillain, he merely
decorated and embellished the already existing basilica; according to
Julian Havet, this early basilica stood at the place called
Saint-Denis-de-l'Entrée, west of the present church, and between
623 and 625 Dagobert founded the new abbey church, to which the relics
were removed in 626. Whatever the solution of this problem, with which
scholars have occupied themselves since the seventeenth century,
Dagobert was the abbey's signal benefactor: the altar ornaments, the
tomb containing the body of St. Denis, the golden cross set with
precious stones which stood behind the high altar were the work of the
goldsmith, St. Eligius (Eloi), the king's friend. Dagobert himself
desired to be buried at Saint-Denis. At the instance of Abbot Fulrad
(died 784) Pepin the Short had the abbey rebuilt, and here on 28 July,
754, Pope Stephen II solemnly administered the royal anointment to
Pepin, Queen Bertha, and their two sons, and consecrated an altar. The
new edifice was dedicated on 24 Feb., 775, in the presence of
Charlemagne. Hilduin, who became abbot in 814, wrote the life of St.
Denis, and identifies him with St. Denis the Areopagite; During the
ninth century the Normans several times levied tribute on and pillaged
the monastery. During the siege of Paris in 886, the monks sought
refuge with Archbishop Foulques of Reims, taking with them the body of
St. Denis. After these disasters the abbey was restored and perhaps, as
some scholars maintain, entirely rebuilt. St. Gerard, of a noble family
of the Low Countries, was a monk at St-Denis previously to founding the
Abbey of Broglie in 1030. In 1106 Paschal II visited the abbey, and for
a time Abelard was a monk there. Suger, minister of Louis VI and Louis
VII, who became Abbot of St-Denis in 1122, wished to erect a sumptuous
new church; his architectural work is known to us through two of his
writings, the "Book of his Administration" and the "Treatise on the
Consecration of the Church of St. Denis". St-Denis then attracted
numerous pilgrims, whom Suger describes as crowding to the doors,
"squeezed as in a press". By a charter of 15 March, 1125, Suger
released from mortmain the people of St-Denis, who in gratitude gave
him the money for the reconstruction of the church. The work began
doubtless about 1132; the choir was consecrated on 11 June, 1144, in
the presence of Louis VII, five archbishops, and fourteen bishops, and
the translation of the relics took place the same day. The alliance of
the Capetians with the monastery of St. Denis was thenceforth sealed.
Odo of Deuil, Suger's successor as abbot, was chaplain to Louis VII
during the Second Crusade, of which he wrote a chronicle. The Abbey of
St-Denis was the repository of the royal insignia — the crown, sceptre,
main de justice, and the garments and ornaments used at the coronation
of the kings. For each coronation the abbot brought them to Reims. The
oriflamme (q. v.) was also kept there, and thither repaired Bl. Joan of
Arc after the coronation of Charles VII at Reims.
The new Church of St-Denis has an extreme importance for the history of
medieval architecture. It was the earliest important building in which
the pointed arch (croisée d'ogive) was used in the chapels of
the deambulatory, thus inaugurating this wonderful invention of the
Gothic style. The church exercised also a great influence on the
development of the industrial arts: the products of the goldsmith's and
enameller's art ordered by Suger formed one of the most beautiful
treasures of Christianity, some remnants of which are still preserved
in the Gallery of Apollo at the Louvre. As regards monumental sculpture
M. André Michel, the art historian, writes that "the grand
chantry of St-Denis was the decisive studio in the elaboration and, if
we may so speak, the proclamation of the new style." In 1231 the
religious of St-Denis resolved to reconstruct the basilica, and the
chronicler Guillaume de Nangis, a monk at the abbey, says that St.
Louis, a friend of their abbot Mathieu de Vendôme, advised them
to do so. It may be that portions of the edifice built by Suger had
fallen to ruin, or perhaps St. Louis's plan to erect tombs to his
predecessors was the origin of the plan. Of Suger's building the
western façade, the deambulatory, the chapels of the apse, and
the crypt were retained, the remainder being rebuilt. The work was
directed by the architect Pierre de Montereau, thanks to whose genius
the nave and transept form a glorious example of the splendid Gothic
art of the thirteenth century. St-Denis was the historical laboratory
of the old French monarchy: the abbot selected a religious who followed
the court as historiographer to the king, and, on the death of each
king, the history of his reign, after having been submitted to the
chapter, was incorporated in the "Grandes Chroniques". Especially
important, as historical sources, are the works of the monk Rigord on
Philip Augustus and that of Guillaume de Nangis on St. Louis. On the
invention of printing the "Grandes Chroniques" were put in order by
Jean Chartier, who completed them with the history of Charles VII and
published them in 1476, this being the earliest book known to have been
printed in Paris.
From 1529 St-Denis had commendatory abbots, the first of whom was Louis
Cardinal de Bourbon. The Religious Wars were a disastrous period for
the abbey. In 1562 and 1567 tombs were destroyed, the archives ravaged,
and the reliquaries of the saints stripped of their plates of gold and
silver. Catherine de' Medici planned to erect beside the church a
chapel for Henry II and herself; François Primatice, Jean
Bullant, and Androuet de Cerceau in turn supervised the work on this
great mausoleum, which, owing to the civil disturbances, was never
finished and was demolished in 1719. The troubles of the League brought
about fresh pillages. Here on 25 July, 1593, Renaud de Beaune,
Archbishop of Bourges, received the abjuration of Henry IV. In 1633 the
Benedictines of the Congregation of St. Maur reformed the abbey, and
for a time the celebrated Mabillon (1632-1707) was guardian of the
treasury. In 1686 Louis XIV transferred the abbatial revenues to the
recently founded royal house of St-Cyr. In 1691 the title and dignity
of its abbot were suppressed, and thenceforth the abbey was directed by
grand priors, dependent on the superior-general of the congregation who
resided at the Abbey of St-Germain-des-Prés. These grand priors
were of right vicars-general of the archbishops of Paris. In 1706 the
monk Félibien (1666-1719) published the history of the abbey. In
the eighteenth century the abbey buildings were entirely rebuilt by the
monks, and they were about to change completely the Gothic appearance
of the church itself when the Revolution broke out. St-Denis was then
called Franciade, the church became first a temple of Reason, and then
a market-house. In August, 1793, the Convention, on the recommendation
of Barère, ordered the destruction of the tombs of the kings.
Immediately most of the Gothic tombs were destroyed, and between 14 and
25 Oct., 1793, the ashes of the Bourbons were scattered to the winds.
In 1795 Alexander Lenoir had all the tombs that had been spared removed
to the Museum of French Monuments. Napoleon (20 Feb., 1805) decided
that the church should be restored, re-established worship there, and
decreed that thenceforth St-Denis should be the burial-place of the
emperors. At the Restoration the tombs which had been removed to the
Museum of French Monuments were restored to St-Denis, but in such a
disorderly fashion that Montalembert, in a discourse of 1847, called
the Church of St. Denis "a museum of bric-A-brac". A truly artistic
restoration was accomplished finally (1847-79) by Viollet le Duc.
Of the thirty-two Capetian kings from Hugh Capet to Louis XV only three
were buried elsewhere than in St-Denis. The series of authentic
portraits of the kings of France at St-Denis opens with the sepulchral
statue of Philip III the Bold (died 1285). Until the sixteenth century
the royal tombs at St-Denis maintained modest proportions, but in that
century the church was filled with works of art. The monument of the
Dukes of Orléans, erected by Louis XII, was the work of four
Genoese sculptors; that of Louis XII (died 1515) and Anne of Brittany
(died 1514), is the work of the Juste family, Italian sculptors
residing at Tours; the magnificent monument of Francis I and Claude of
France is the work of the great architect Philibert Delorme and of the
sculptor Pierre Bontemps; that of Henry II and Catherine de' Medici,
executed under the direction of Primatice, is admired for the
sculptures of Germain Pilon. The only monument representing the art of
the seventeenth century is that of Turenne. The episcopal chapter of
St-Denis, created by Napoleon I to care for the basilica, was composed
of ten canons whose head was the grand almoner. The canons had to be
former bishops more than fifty years of age. The Restoration created
canons of a second order, who were not chosen from among the bishops,
and the grand almoner received the title of primicier (dean) of the
chapter. The empire and the Restoration claimed that this chapter,
which Napoleon had created without taking counsel with Rome, should not
be subject to the jurisdiction of the ordinary. This was the cause of
conflict until 1846, when the pope issued a Bull placing the chapter of
St-Germain under the direct supervision of the Holy See; the primate
retained episcopal authority over the church and the house of the
Legion of Honour annexed to the church, and the Archbishop of Paris had
no spiritual jurisdiction over either of these buildings. The budget
for the chapter of St-Denis was suppressed by the State in 1888. The
theologian Maret, famous for his writings against the opportuneness of
the definition of infallibility, was the last primate.
FAMOUS PILGRIMAGES
(1) Tomb of St. Genevieve
St. Genevieve is the patroness of Paris, but after the conversion of
the church into a Pantheon of France's great men the saint had no
church in Paris. Since 1803 her tomb has been at St-Etienne-du-Mont
(built 1517-1620), the burial-place of Racine and Pascal. There Pius
VII went to pray on 10 January, 1805, and it was the scene of the
assassination of Archbishop Sibour on 3 January, 1857. The veneration
of St. Genevieve is expressed in two feasts:
on her feast proper (3 January) and the following eight days a
solemn novena takes place at St-Etienne-du-Mont and at the church of
Nanterre, birthplace of St. Genevieve, whither Clotaire II, St. Louis,
Blanche of Castile, Louis XIII, and Anne of Austria went to venerate
her memory:
on 26 November, anniversary of the miracle whereby, in 1130, a
procession of the relics of St. Genevieve cured many Parisians of the
mal des ardents (Miracle des arderts).
(2) Notre-Dame-des-Victoires
In consequence of the visions granted to Catherine Labouré (who
six months previously had become a member of the Sisters of Charity),
M. Aladel, assistant of the Lazarists, with the approval of Mgr de
Quélen, had struck the "miraculous medal" of Mary Conceived
without Sin, more than 4,000,000 of which were distributed throughout
the world within four years. In 1838 Desgenettes, pastor of
Notre-Dame-des-Victoires, organized in that church the Association in
honour of the Holy and Immaculate Heart of Mary, which Gregory XVI made
a confraternity on 24 April, 1838, and the badge of which was the
miraculous medal. In virtue of another indult of Gregory XVI (7 Dec.,
1838) the Diocese of Paris received the right to transfer to the second
Sunday of Advent the solemnity of the feast of the Immaculate
Conception. On 10 July, 1894, Leo XIII granted to the Lazarists, and to
the dioceses that should request it, the faculty of celebrating yearly
on 27 November the manifestation of the Blessed Virgin through the
miraculous medal. This feast was first celebrated at Paris in the
chapel of Rue du Bac on 25, 26, and 27 November, 1894. On 27 July,
1897, the statue of the Blessed Virgin in this chapel was solemnly
crowned in virtue of a Brief of Leo XIII (2 March, 1897). In 1899 the
number of Masses celebrated by foreign priests at
Notre-Dame-des-Victoires was 3031; the number of Communions, 110,000;
intentions 1,305,980, or an average of 3578 per day.
(3) Montmartre
Prior to the ninth century there were two churches on the hill of
Montmartre — one, half way up, stood on the traditional site of the
martrydom of St. Denis, while the other, on the summit, was said to
replace a temple dedicated to Mars. In 1095 these two churches became
the property of a monastery occupied first (1095-1134) by the monks of
St-Martin-des-Champs, and from 1034 to the Revolution by the
Benedictines. The church on the summit was rebuilt in the twelfth
century, and consecrated on 21 April, 1147, by Pope Eugenius III with
St. Bernard of Clairvaux as deacon, and Peter the Venerable, Abbot of
Cluny, as subdeacon. Alexander III visited it in 1162; St. Thomas
à Becket in 1170; St. Thomas Aquinas, Bl. Joan of Arc, St.
Ignatius, St. Francis Xavier, St. Vincent de Paul, Olier, and Blessed
John Eudes prayed there. During the war of 1870-71 MM. Legentil and
Rohault de Fleury issued from Poitiers an appeal in behalf of the
erection at Paris of a sanctuary to the Sacred Heart to obtain the
release of the pope and the salvation of France. On 23 July, 1873, the
National Assembly passed a law declaring the construction of this
sanctuary a matter of public utility. After a meeting in which seventy
architects took part Abadie was charged with its construction, in
Byzantine style. Cardinal Guibert laid the corner-stone on 16 June,
1875, and said the first Mass in the crypt on 21 April, 1881. Cardinal
Richard blessed the church on 5 June, 1891, and on 17 October 1899,
blessed the cross surmounting the main dome.
SPECIAL FEATURES OF ECCLESIASTICAL PARIS
The feast of the Immaculate Conception was celebrated at Paris as early
as the thirteenth century by the students of the English and Norman
nations in the Church of St-Séverin, and a confraternity was
established there in honour of the Immaculate Conception in the
fourteenth century. Even in the last quarter of the twelfth century the
poet Adam, canon regular of St-Victor, seems to have accepted this
dogma. The University of Paris opposed it until the arrival of Duns
Scotus, who came to debate the question with the Dominican doctors at
Paris. The belief spread during the fourteenth century, and the
Dominican Jean de Montson, having maintained in 1387 that the theory
was contrary to faith, was excommunicated. The doctors of the
university were among those most eager to hasten at the Council of
Basle the investigations preparatory to the definition of the
Immaculate Conception, which this council, in the meantime become
schismatical, promulgated in 1439. At last, on 9 March, 1497, the
university issued a decree obliging all its members to promise on oath
to profess and defend the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, and
declaring the contrary opinion false, impious, and erroneous. In 1575
it took issue with the famous Jesuit Maldonatus, who still regarded it
as an optional opinion, but it refrained from formally branding as
heretics those who did not admit the doctrine, as laid down by Benedict
XIV in his treatise, "De festis". The procession in honour of the
Assumption was inaugurated at Paris in 1638, when Louis XIII placed his
kingdom under the protection of the Blessed Virgin. Devotion to the
departed souls is perhaps the most deeply rooted form of Parisian
piety. Even in the eighteenth century the clocheteurs of the dead
traversed the streets at night, ringing their bells and calling:
Réveillez vous, gens qui dormez,
Priez Dieu pour les
trépassés.
OTHER RELIGIONS
AS early as 1512 Lefèvre d'Etaples, at the Collège du
Cardinal Lemoine, and Briçonnet, Abbot of
St-Germain-des-Prés and shortly afterwards Bishop of Meaux,
spread at Paris certain theological ideas which prepared the way for
Protestantism. In 1521 Luther's book, "The Babylonian Captivity", was
condemned by the Sorbonne. In 1524 Jacques Pavannes (or Pauvert), a
disciple of Lefèvre, underwent capital punishment for having
attacked the veneration of the Blessed Virgin, purgatory, and holy
water; the same penalty was inflicted on Louis de Berquin in 1529.
Until 1555 the Protestants of Paris had no pastor, but in that year
they assembled at the house of one of their number, named La
Ferrière. As he had a child to baptize, the gathering elected as
pastor Jean le Maçon, a young man of twenty-two years, who had
studied law. He exercised his ministry at Paris until 1562, when he
took up his residence as pastor at Angers. The first general synod of
the Reformed Church of France was held at Paris from 26 to 28 May,
1558, and drew up a confession of faith — later called the Confession
of La Rochelle, because it only received its final form at the
eighteenth national synod convened at La Rochelle in 1607. In 1560 a
number of Protestants perished at Paris, among them the magistrate Anne
du Bourg. It is estimated that the Reformed Church of Paris had 40,000
members in 1564. In 1572 took place the massacre of St. Bartholomew.
The Edict of July, 1573, having authorized the Protestants of Paris to
assemble at a distance of two leagues from the city, they held their
meetings at Noisy le Sec. In 1606 Henry IV permitted them to build a
church at Charenton. During the seventeenth century the Reformed Church
of Paris was administered by the pastors Dumoulin, Mestrezat, Durand,
and Montigny. At the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685) Pastor
Claude was compelled to leave Paris; Pastors Malzac, Giraud, and Givry,
who endeavoured despite the revocation to maintain a Protestant church
at Paris, were imprisoned in 1692. During the eighteenth century the
chaplains attached to the embassies of Protestant princes gave
spiritual assistance to the Protestants of the city. Marron, chaplain
at the Dutch embassy, became pastor in Paris when Louis XVI promulgated
the edict of toleration (1787). A decree of 1802 gave over to the
Protestant sect the old church of the Visitandines in the Rue
St-Antoine (built by Mansart); one of 1811 gave them the church of the
Oratorians in the Rue St-Honoré, while the July Monarchy gave
them the old Church of Notre-Dame-de-Pentemont, which under the old
régime had belonged to the Augustinian Sisters of the Incarnate
Word of the Blessed Sacrament. At present the Reformed Church possesses
nineteen places of worship in Paris and seventeen in the suburbs; the
Lutherans, eleven places of worship in Paris and eight in the suburbs;
the Protestant Free Churches, four places of worship; the Baptists,
four churches in Paris and one in the suburbs. The American Episcopal,
Anglican, Scotch, Congregationalist, and Wesleyan Churches conduct
services in English. There are in Paris about 50,000 Jews.