Week 16

Tuesday: June 01

Eglise Saint Francois Xavier / Eglise Saint-Vincent-de-Paul / Eglise Saint-Leu-Saint-Gilles / Eglise Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis

Wow; today we visit four churches. One is very old. One is very pretty. One has a very special organ. One...well, you get the picture. There are a lot, and I mean a lot of churches in Paris. We only visit a few of them. When you are here, make a point at visiting the churches...the building are magnificant, the interiors astounding, the history impressive. Take a peek below...Enjoy!

Eglise Saint Francois Xavier

Until the construction of the Hotel des Invalides begun in 1671 on the orders of Louis XIV, the area was a warren belonging to the abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Pres.

In the eighteenth century, following the development of the Boulevard du Midi (now Boulevard des Invalides), numerous houses were built, creating a new neighborhood. The people went to Mass is at Saint-Sulpice or at St. Thomas Aquinas. But these two churches were forced to close during the Revolution.

It was at that time that the parish of Foreign Missions was created, in a totally illegal, rue du Bac, in the "oratory" (lower chapel). It was not until 1802 that the parish of Foreign Missions was officially recognized. The territory of the new parish was too far detached from the church of Saint-Sulpice and forty years later, in 1842, the parish was placed under the patronage of St. Francis Xavier, patron of missions.

However, parishioners and seminarians were beginning to feel cramped in the lower chapel of the Rue du Bac. The people then began steps to build a new church. Construction began in 1861 and were funded by the City of Paris.

The site chosen to build the church was located at the corner of the Boulevard des Invalides and a boulevard project that would break the whole neighborhood in the direction of the Rue des Saints-Peres and join the Seine at the Pont du Carrousel . The Church of St. Francis Xavier was supposed, according to the principle of perspective Haussmann, complete this new avenue. This explains why, today, its implementation seems odd, displaced from the Boulevard and the Hotel des Invalides.

The consecration of the church and the altar was held May 23, 1894, the eve of Corpus Christi. Cardinal Richard, Archbishop of Paris, presided over the ceremony.

Click here to see other pictures.

Click here to see other pictures.

Eglise Saint-Vincent-de-Paul

The Church of St Vincent de Paul (Église Saint-Vincent-de-Paul) is a church dedicated to St Vincent de Paul. It gives its name to the Quartier Saint-Vincent-de-Paul around it.

The church was built during 1824-1844, on the site of the ancient Saint-Lazare enclosure. In that enclosure had been sited the maison saint Lazare, occupied by Saint Vincent de Paul and the Congrégation de la Mission from 1632 to 1793 - it was here that he had lived and worked.

The church's design and the initial phases of its construction were entrusted to Jean-Baptiste Lepère, renowned architect of his era. The first stone was laid in August 1824 in the presence of the préfet de la Seine Gaspard de Chabrol and the archbishop of Paris Mgr de Quélen. Work proceeded slowly, and was repeatedly abandoned, being especially delayed thanks to a lack of credit as a result of the revolution of 1830. Thus it was Lepère's son-in-law, Jacques Hittorff, who finally followed the project through from 1831 to 1844, with the building opening for worship on 25 October 1844. Hittorff massively modified the initial plans (which did not plan for even a single steeple), with his church opening onto the Place Franz-Liszt, giving the building a church square. He also added a system of staircases, laid out today in gardens, to aid access by horse drawn carriages.

The church's basilical plan evokes several grand schemes of religious architecture without specifically copying one in particular. Above the portico (borrowed from those of Greek temples) is a pediment sculpted by Charles-François Lebœuf-Nanteuil on the subject of "The Apotheosis of saint Vincent-de-Paul" - the saint is glorified, surrounded by figures symbolising his saintly actions (eg a missionary, a galley slave, and some Sisters of Charity devoting themselves to children or to healing the sick). Inside, the painted frieze of 1848-53 around the nave (between the two levels of columns) is by Hippolyte Flandrin, and shows 160 male and female saints advancing towards the sanctuary. The decoration of the chapel of the Virgin, in the apse added later at the back, is by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1885-89). The Calvary shown on the main altar is by François Rude.

The building suffered during the Paris Commune, being hit by seven shells, and its stairs, more than twenty, all pulled out to the Père-Lachaise cemetery. It is close to the Eurostar and mainline station Gare du Nord, and so is twinned with St Pancras Old Church (a church in London close to the new St Pancras International station) - this twinning was inaugurated on 11 December 2007 with a bilingual service at St Pancras Old Church.

The church has two organs: a great organ and a nave organ. The church's titular organists have included Louis Braille, better known for the Braille tactile writing system for the blind.

The church's great organ is made up of:4 manual and pedal keyboards, 66 stops and 4,949 pipes. It was made in 1852 by the renowned organ builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, after whom the square behind the church is named. Originally it was only made up of 47 stops over 3 keyboards and 2,669 pipes.

Click here to see other pictures.

Click here to see other pictures.

Eglise Saint-Leu-Saint-Gilles

Saint-Leu-Saint-Gilles church, located in the heart of Paris, dates back to the 13th Century. It is one of the few religious monuments left from that period and was part of the smallest and poorest parish of Paris. When Saint-Gilles chapel became too small in the 14th Century, the current Saint-Leu church was built, which explains the two saints in its name. The building was modified along the centuries which brought the addition of an underground chapel in the 18th Century. Today, it is again possible to admire the Virgin sculpted by Auguste Dumont, dated 1835. While the city of Paris had ordered a Virgin with child, the artist created a Virgin alone, eyes down and hands together..

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Eglise Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis

The church of Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis, located in the district of Marais in Paris , is a religious building built in the seventeenth century by architects Jesuits Martellange Etienne and Francois Derand , by order of Louis XIII . Located on Rue Saint-Antoine , the church alongside the Lycée Charlemagne , also founded by the Jesuits.

The first church built at this location was named St. Paul the Hermit , who had been buried in St. Anthony in the desert of Egypt, as it marked the church of the monastery cimétériale Saint Eloi founded for nuns from St. Eloi and Dagobert . This monastery was located on the forecourt of the current courthouse. From there, we went by boat to the cemetery of the community which was good practice at funerals monastic. Then the monastic cemetery was forgotten but the patronage of St. Paul stood up today by moving to the Apostle of the Gentiles, one of the two princes of the apostles.

The foundation stone of the church was laid by King Louis XIII in 1627 to the Jesuits in the same street that the old church of St. Paul . His first name is "Saint-Louis of the professed house of the Jesuits," in reference to the Professed House of the Jesuits was attached to it.

The first Mass was celebrated by Cardinal Richelieu in May, 1641 . Bossuet be uttered prayers . The famous Jesuit preacher Louis Bourdaloue preached his famous sermons on many occasions during the Lent and the Advent , between 1670 and 1693 . Madame de Sevigne attended all his sermons. Bourdaloue Louis is buried in the crypt of the church .

Between 1688 and 1698 , Marc-Antoine Charpentier was employed by the Jesuits, and was master of music in this church. Other great musicians of the Baroque period were masters of music in this church: Jean-Philippe Rameau , Andre Campra , Louis Marchand .

When the Parliament of Paris suppressed the Society of Jesus in 1762 , he attributed the building to the canons of Sainte-Catherine-du-Val-des-Schoolboys.

On September 2, 1792 , five priests were killed in this church during the September massacres (plaque on the right). The cult of Reason was established in the church at that time. Worship Catholic was restored in 1802 , the year of the Concordat .

The church was called "Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis" in memory of the church St. Paul neighbor, destroyed in 1796 .

This church has both elements inspired by the Italian and French traditions. Indeed, as noted by André Chastel, "the Jesuit order, while recommending certain provisions, was sensitive to local traditions" Thus, one can easily compare it to the Church of the Gesu in Rome , but it is most stretched in height and width. The plan is a compromise between the nave lined with chapels presents the Gesu and the Latin cross in the French tradition, sensitive in the transept stretched. The latter, slightly protruding, and the vestibule short, tall windows allowing abundant light and the dome over the transept, also recall slightly earlier Italian architecture, such as Carlo Maderno . As against the high proportions (the dome is high 55m) would be rather closer to the Gothic French.

The facade is composed as an Italianate exterior, but recalls the Gothic verticality, and its very ornate architecture of the Netherlands . The main source of inspiration might be the facade of the church Saint-Gervais-St.-Protais of Paris , created in 1618 through Salomon de Brosse : we find the same organization in three bays on two levels for the side spans and three for the central span, highlighted by a jump and coupled columns.

Click here to see other pictures.

Click here to see other pictures.