American Cathedral in Paris

Consecrated on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1886, The American Cathedral in Paris (formally known as the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity) is the gathering church for the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe. The American Cathedral is part of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church is located in central Paris between the Champs-Elysées and the River Seine on avenue George V in the 8th arrondissement.

The American Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, America's Episcopal/Anglican church in Paris, has served the American community since the 1830s when services were organized in the garden pavillion of the Hôtel de Matignon, the home of Colonel Herman Thorn, (now the official residence of the French Prime Minister). A parish was formally established in 1859 and the first church building consecrated in 1864 on Rue Bayard.

The cathedral appears in the painting Après l'Office à l'Église de la Sainte-Trinité, Noël 1890 ("After the Service at Holy Trinity Church, Christmas 1890") by Jean Béraud. The original painting is on loan to the Musée Carnavalet in the 3d arrondissement of Paris.

The American Cathedral is a large urban parish with an active, committed and diverse congregation.

The ministries of the church include Parish Life, Christian Education, Development, Finance, Mission & Outreach, Community Outreach, Stewardship, 20s and 30s group and Music. The building hosts a bilingual Montessori school, recovery groups such as AA, weekly free concert series at noon sponsored by Les Arts George V, and many more community-based services.

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Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre

Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre, in full Église Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre (French for Church of Saint Julian the Poor), is a Melkite Greek Catholic parish church in Paris, France, and one of the city's oldest religious buildings. Built in Gothic style during the 13th century, it is situated in the 5th arrondissement, on the Left Bank of the Seine River, about 500 meters away from the Musée de Cluny and in the proximity of the Maubert-Mutualité Paris Métro station. It shares a city block with the Square René Viviani.

Originally a Roman Catholic place of worship, Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre was built in stages from the 12th to the 19th century, and granted to Eastern Catholic Melkite community in 1889. Its original design was modified several times, and the resulting church is significantly smaller in size than originally planned.

The church was dedicated to two medieval French saints of the same name: Julian of Le Mans and a figure from the region of Dauphiné. "The poor" is said to originate from Julian of Le Mans, whose dedication to the cause of the poor was considered exemplary.

Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre replaced a Merovingian refuge for pilgrims, or an older church dating back to the 6th century. The earliest mention of such a site was found in texts authored by Gregory, bishop of Tours, who resided there during the rule of Chilperic I, king of Neustria. A synagogue serving the Jewish residents, probably the oldest in the city, was located in its environs.

The new building, inspired by either the Notre Dame Cathedral or the Saint Pierre de Montmartre church, was begun ca. 1165-1170. The building effort was supported by the Clunaic monastic community of Longpont, and their enterprise resulted in the completion of the choir and, most likely, the nave (ca. 1210-1220). According to 16th century chronicler Étienne Pasquier, the site was connected with the University of Paris foundation, serving as a site for its School of Theology and Arts, and, after the resulting split between the faculties, only as the School of Arts.

All early construction seems to have stopped ca. 1250. In 1651, following several centuries of neglect, two of the original bays in the nave were demolished, and a northwestern facade was added; the northern aisle was preserved, and two of its bays serves as a sacristy. After more than a century, during the French Revolution, the building was listed for demolition, and suffered more damage as a result. Before the second half of the 19th century, Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre underwent restoration under the direction of architect Franz Christian Gau.

In 1889, under the Third French Republic, the church was awarded to the Melkite (Arab and Middle Eastern) community in Paris. In preparation for this, significant restoration was again carried out. The arrangement was criticized by writer Joris-Karl Huysmans, who objected to introducing non-traditional forms to an old scenery: "This intrusion of the Levant into Saint-Séverin parish is [...] in absolute disagreement with the surroundings."

Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre was designed in the conservative tradition prevalent during the rule of King Louis the Younger. The only one of the city's twelfth-century parish churches to have endured, it was never completed in its original design: the choir area was intended to be three stories high, and the clerestory is an incomplete triforium; the nave was supposed to be covered by sexpartite vaults, which were replaced by a wooden roof and, after the 17th century, by a new system of vaults; and, of a tower meant to stand on the church's southern side, only the staircase was begun. The eastern apses use material from an older building.

The building has piers replicating those found in Notre Dame, and the chapiters are carved with images of leaves and harpies. The choir area is presently covered by an iconostasis.

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Église Saint-Augustin de Paris

The Église Saint-Augustin de Paris (Church of St. Augustine) is a church in the VIIIe arrondissement. Here Charles de Foucauld was converted by its priest, Father Huvelin. During The Prefect of Paris, Baron Haussmann was responsible for much of the design of the layout of Paris's rectilinear avenues, which called for prestigious edifices.

Saint-Augustin was built between 1860-1871 by Victor Baltard (architect of Les Halles) in an eclectic and vaguely Byzantine style. It is almost 100 meters in length, with a dome height of 80 meters, and was one of the first sizable buildings in Paris constructed about a metal frame.

Saint-Augustin's facade features the four evangelists above arcades, and above them the twelve apostles and rosette window. Its stained glass windows depict bishops and martyrs of the first centuries, and cast-iron columns within feature polychrome angels. The church's organ was built by Charles Spackman Barker. One of the earliest organs to employ electricity, it features 54 stops, with 3 keyboards and pedals.

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Saint Pierre de Montrouge

 The church of Saint-Pierre de Montrouge is a church of the Nineteenth century located in the district of Petit-Montrouge , in the 14th arrondissement of Paris .

 It was built as part of Haussmann work , from 1863 , by Joseph Auguste Émile Vaudremer , the architect responsible for the 14th arrondissement.  It occupies a site triangle bordered by the Avenue du Maine and the Avenue du General Leclerc , and its bell tower overlooking the central hub of the neighborhood.

Saint-Gervais-et-St-Protais Church

The Saint-Gervais-et-St-Protais Church of Paris sheltered one of the most famous dynasties of French musicians, the Couperin family, for more than two centuries, beginning in 1653.

On one side of the church, the house of the famous harpsichordists, organists, and composers still stands; a plaque commemorates the Couperins' tenure in this place. The organ used by Louis and François Couperin still exists today inside the church. Built by the most famous organ builders of the time—-François-Henri Clicquot, Louis-Alexandre Clicquot, and Robert Clicquot-—it is a fine example of the French baroque style.

This church is one of the oldest in Paris. Its existence at this place is mentioned as early as the fourth century. Dedicated to Gervasius and Protasius, the church was formerly the seat of the powerful brotherhood of wine merchants. It assumed its present appearance in the 16th century. Its façade was completed much later, however, about 1620.

The present church was begun in the Gothic style in 1494, the chapels of the apse were finished in 1530 and the transept in 1578. The doorway of the church was built in 1616-1620 by Claude Monnard in the classical style. Between 1600 and 1628, a second row of chapels was built on the north side including the golden chapel ornamented with painted woodwork.

The facade presents an exceptionnal feature, with column of the 3 orders : doric at the ground floor, ionic at the second floor, corinthian at the third floor.

The square, Place Saint-Gervais, located at the foot of the steps outside the church, was, for a long time, called the Crossroads of the Elm. Since the Middle Ages, a venerable monarch of an elm, grew at its center. The inhabitants of the neighborhood would exchange money there. Several ancient pictures of this elm still remain, in the stalls of the church, and on some nearby buildings.

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Notre-Dame-des-Blancs-Manteaux  (White Coats)

The church of Notre-Dame-des-Blancs-Manteaux is a religious building in Paris , located in the Marais district , in the 4th arrondissement of Paris .  The present church dates from the late Seventeenth century century and replaced an older church, the church of the monastery of the White Coats , built in the XIII century by the Servants of Mary . .

 The white-coats who founded it in 1258 were the Servants of Mary , a mendicant order, which was designed to honor the mystery of the Annunciation and followed the Rule of Saint Augustine .  They wore their dress a "white coat" (hence the nickname stayed).  Suspended in 1274 , the Servants of Mary in these places were replaced by another mendicant order, the Hermits of the Order of St. William who were dressed in black coats, and that it was commonly called the "Guillemites.  A street in the neighborhood that name  .

 The monastery of the White Coats contained significant buildings, a chapel and gardens.  In the Seventeenth century , it housed the Benedictines .

 The church itself was rebuilt from 1685 to 1690 , is all that remains of the old convent.  A century later, exactly, when installed in the neighborhood, the pawnshop annexed part of the convent buildings.  And the rest was sold during the Revolution .  The ancient fountain of the monastery (1719) was reassembled in 1929 against the east wall of the church  .

 The facade, added by Victor Baltard in 1863 , from the church of Saint-Eloi des Barnabites demolished by the piercing of the Boulevard du Palais on the Ile de la Cité , in the work of Haussmann , whose portal had built in 1705 by Jean-Sylvain Cartaud .

 In the church we admire a painting by German painter Joachim von Sandrart Flemish and pulpit from 1749 decorated with biblical scenes inlaid wood, pewter and ivory.

 wore their dress a "white coat" (hence the nickname stayed).  Suspended in 1274 , the Servants of Mary in these places were replaced by another mendicant order, the Hermits of the Order of St. William who were dressed in black coats, and that it was commonly called the "Guillemites.  A street in the neighborhood that name  .

 The monastery of the White Coats contained significant buildings, a chapel and gardens.  In the SEVENTEENTH century , it housed the Benedictines .

 The church itself was rebuilt from 1685 to 1690 , is all that remains of the old convent.  A century later, exactly, when installed in the neighborhood, the pawnshop annexed part of the convent buildings.  And the rest was sold during the Revolution .  The ancient fountain of the monastery (1719) was reassembled in 1929 against the east wall of the church  .

 The facade, added by Victor Baltard in 1863 , from the church of Saint-Eloi des Barnabites demolished by the piercing of the Boulevard du Palais on the Ile de la Cité , in the work of Haussmann , whose portal had built in 1705 by Jean-Sylvain Cartaud .

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Saint Etienne du Mont - The Only Remaining Rood Screen in Paris

The church of Saint Etienne du Mont, located on the Place Sainte Geneviève, just opposite the Panthéon, is one of the jewels of Paris Churches. It is also one of the more unusual churches in the city.  This particular spot has a rich and long history that reaches back to the very early days of Paris.

In 508 A.D., Clovis I, at the request of his wife and of Geneviève (who was later to be canonized "Saint") began a church in honor of Saints Peter and Paul. Clovis died in 511. Geneviève died the following year. Her relics were enshrined in the church and it soon came to be known by her name.

The church of Sainte Geneviève became the center of a great monastic abbey and the surrounding area swelled with laborers and craftsman who worked in and around the compound. The Abbey and the cult of Sainte Geneviève grew in popularity until the area became a main pilgrimage center.

To accommodate the growing crowds, and to keep them out of the Abbey proper, a new parish church was begun along the north wall of the Abbey.

It was at that time that the Archbishop de Sully decided that the Ile de la Cité was the appropriate place for the royalty to have their services. It was no longer to be Saint Etienne du Mont but the Notre Dame de Paris.

Saint Etienne's relics were given to the Abbey, giving Saint Etienne du Mont its name.

By 1328, the surrounding parish had outgrown its church and a rebuilding project began in which the original structure was enlarged.

In 1491, the Abbey donated land on the adjoining wall for the rebuilding of the church and the present building was begun. With many a start and stop, it took nearly 130 years for the present church to reach completion.

The successive stages of construction are evident in the mixture of Renaissance and Gothic architectural styles in this most unusual of Paris Churches.

The vaults of the apse were built in 1491, the chancel in 1537, the gallery in 1545 and the vaults of the nave and the transept were finished in 1580. The portal was built in 1610 and the bell tower in 1624.

Looking at the church of Saint Etienne du Mont from the Panthéon, one needs to remember that St. Etienne's stood very near the Abbey church of Ste. Geneviève for over two hundred years and its look was balanced by that of the larger, more imposing church.

The interior of the church is 223 feet long. The nave contains five bays containing dedicated chapels.The chancel is surrounded by an ambulatory. The pillars dividing the nave from the aisles are encircled halfway up by a stone railing. The one from the chancel connects to a Rood Screen.

One of the most unusual features of Saint Etienne du Mont and probably its most beautiful element is the Rood Screen.

The Rood Screen is a double-stair arch that separates the choir, where the monks or canons sat, from the body of the church where the parishioners sat.

A reader would mount the screen by way of the intricately carved stone steps to do the readings for the day.

This Rood Screen is the only one left in Paris. It is a tremendous work of craftsmanship which adds a commanding elegance to the interior.

Another great treasure of the church is the wooden pulpit which dates from 1651. It is beautifully carved and has at it's base, holding the pulpit upon his shoulders, a sculpture of Sampson.

Ringing the pulpit are carvings of seven women who symbolize the virtues: Prudence, holding a book; Justice, a sword; Faith, a cross; Hope, an anchor; Temperance, pouring wine from a jug; Fortitude, holding a club and Charity, surrounded by children.

The organ of Saint Etienne du Mont also deserves attention. It dates from 1633 and the casing was built by Jean Buron. It is a masterpiece of carving and an architectural element in its own right.

The organ itself was built by the master organ builder Pierre le Pescheur, completed in 1636. After a fire in 1760, it was rebuilt in 1777.

The organ was last altered and upgraded in 1956 with the addition of the pedal division which is just outside the organ loft and the echo division which is in the stair tower leading to the organ gallery. The organ has a full ninety stops and four keyboards

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Notre-Dame-d'Auteuil

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Saint-Séverin

The Church of Saint-Séverin (French: Église Saint-Séverin) is a church in the Latin Quarter of Paris. It is one of the oldest churches that remains standing on the Left Bank, and it continues in use as a place of worship.

The church is dedicated to Séverin, who is said to have been a hermit who lived there and prayed in a small rudimentary oratory. After Séverin's death, a basilica was constructed on the spot. This was destroyed by the Vikings, and the current church building was started in the 11th century, though its major features are late Gothic and date from the 15th century. Its external features include some fine gargoyles. Its bells include the oldest one remaining in Paris, cast in 1412; their ringing is recalled in a well known poem in praise of Paris by Alan Seeger.

Internal features of the church include both ancient stained glass and a set of seven modern windows by Jean René Bazaine, inspired by the seven sacraments of the Catholic church, around the ambulatory. The deambulatory also includes an unusual pillar in the form of the trunks of a palm tree, that brings to mind the Apprentice Pillar at Rosslyn Chapel. The construction of the marble choir was made possible by donations from Anne, Duchess of Montpensier, a cousin of Louis XIV. The organ is signed Jean Ferrand.

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Eglise Saint-Louis-en-l'Île 

The Eglise of St. Louis-en-l'Île church is located on the Ile Saint-Louis . This building was built in several stages from 1624 to 1726.  Its patron saint is Saint Louis, King of France under the name of Louis IX.

The parish is now one of the smallest in the diocese of Paris, and covers half of the Île de la Cité , Ile Saint-Louis and the former Louviers island (now Boulevard Morland ).

The church is dedicated to Louis IX, who reigned over France from 1226 to 1270 and who came to pray on the island previously known as the Island Cow .  It is on this island, he took the cross in 1269 before leaving the Holy Land with his knights to free Jerusalem .

He bought from the Emperor of Constantinople , Baldwin II , the relic of the crown of thorns of Christ .  The statue under the organ loft shows the king holding his arms that crown.  Louis IX was canonized in 1297 by Pope Boniface VIII in the name of St. Louis of France.

In 1614 , King Louis XIII says Christophe Marie, general contractor bridges of France with the task of servicing the island by building a bridge piers and lotissant lands, hitherto mainly marshes and pasture land for make it habitable.

In 1623 , at the request of the first inhabitants of the island to cows, the cathedral chapter, owner, built a chapel and in July the same year, makes an independent parish.  This church, known as a first step in Notre-Dame Island will be renamed St. Louis in 1634 .  This was his first church choir facing south, and its facade overlooking the main street of the island.  She was surrounded by a cemetery and a market.

On 10 December 1642 , before the rapid increase of population of the island, it was decided to destroy the old church became too small and build up to a larger parish church.  For financial reasons, the first foundation works were not undertaken in 1656 .  The architect Francois Le Vau ( 1,613 - one thousand six hundred and seventy-six ), whose younger brother, Louis Le Vau , is best known for being an architect of Versailles , is responsible for drafting plans for the new church.  This time, the new church will be normally oriented in an easterly direction, thus parallel to the Rue Saint-Louis .  The cemetery and the market should disappear.

The first stone of the chancel is lodged on 1 October 1664 by the Archbishop of Paris , Hardouin de Perefixe , and the altar was opened and consecrated on 20 August 1679 by Francis Harlay .  Le Vau died in 1676 , and the choir will be completed by Gabriel Le Duc , one of the architects of the Val-de-Grace .  Initially, the choir is connected by a transept to the church unfinished to serve as a nave provisional.

On 2 February 1701 , a storm destroyed the roof of the old building, killing several of the faithful.  It is therefore imperative to complete as soon the new church.  The Duke died in 1702. Pierre Bullet Jacques Doucet and later are responsible for further work.  To obtain funds, a royal lottery is organized, allowing the Cardinal de Noailles , in 1702 , laid the foundation stone for the nave.  It was not completed until 1723 , and the transept with the dome in 1725 .  On 14 July 1726 , seventy years after the first foundation work, the church was finally consecrated by the Bishop Grenoble , Jean Collet.

Initially, a bell was the crossing.  It is destroyed by lightning in 1740 , and replaced in 1765 by the current tower, thirty feet high.  It is remarkable for its form of an obelisk and its many openings, to avoid making the wind blowing strongly on the island.

Made a plane gothic, but modern in design with Italian flair, the church is the only church in the SEVENTEENTH century, combining a flat apse with an ambulatory.

The church is 60m long and 30m wide.  His original style has been modified and stripped several times overloaded eighteenth and nineteenth century into the Baroque.

In its initial plans, Le Vau had decided to build a colonnaded main entrance opening into the north transept on the street and a main front in the west.  This could be achieved because of the many existing buildings that should have been destroyed.  The church is thus remained without style with a gable to the west and an entry by the first side chapel.

The interior of the church has been entrusted to Jean-Baptiste de Champaigne ( one thousand six hundred thirty-one - in 1681 ), nephew of the famous painter Philippe de Champaigne .  The decoration was done soberly, in a style close to that of the church of Saint-Jacques du Haut Pas , all current gilding not older than the NINETEENTH century.

In 1744 , an organ was installed in the gallery by François-Henri Lescop.  Like many other furniture, it disappeared during the revolution.

In the church are buried among others, Jean-Baptiste de Champaigne his designer (1681), and the poet Philip Quinault (1688).

During the revolutionary period, the furniture was looted and smashed statues of saints.  The statue of St. Genevieve and the statue of the Virgin Mary , both works of the sculptor Francois Ladatte , located in the transepts, survived by being transformed into a pillar of freedom and rule of equality.  Corentin Coroller, pastor of the parish since 1785 , takes the constitutional oath , which does not prevent the closure of the church in 1791 .

The church is first of all literary deposit, the recoverable metals are sent to the Mint, and 31 July 1798 , the church was sold to a Fountain for the sum of 60,000 francs.  The latter decided to leave the church available to the priest who Coroller can continue to provide worship.  Having retracted his constitutional oath in 1795 , he became a priest in bankruptcy in 1802 and during the visit of Pope Pius VII to Paris for the coronation of Napoleon , it will celebrate a Mass on 10 March 1805 in a church whose walls are for the occasion, and to hide the damage caused by the revolution, covered with Gobelins tapestries . On 15 December 1817 , the city of Paris, bought the church at Fontaine.

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Notre-Dame-des-Victoires

Located at 6, rue Notre-Dame-des-Victoires, in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris, Notre-Dame-des-Victoires is one of ten minor basilicas located in the Île-de-France region of France. The closest Metro station is 'Bourse'.

In 1619 the Discalced Augustinians (colloquially referred to as the "Petits Pères") established their convent, Notre-Dame-des-Victoires, on three hectares of land they had purchased the Bourse (Market) located at the intersection of the Place des Petits-Pères and Rue de la Banque.

On December 8, 1629 the foundations were blessed by Archbishop Jean-François Gondi. The next day, King Louis XIII himself laid the cornerstone in the presence of the Court's 'seigneurs' and the city's officials.

The construction was funded by King Louis XIII on the condition that it be dedicated to his victory of King Louis XIII over the Protestants at La Rochelle which he attributed to the intercession of the Blessed Mother.

The first church being too small, reconstruction commenced in 1656 according to the plans of Pierre Le Muet. Libéral Bruant, Robert Boudin, and Gabriel Leduc oversaw this work. The new church, not yet completed, was consecrated in 1666.

Work was finalized in 1737 under the supervision of Sylvain Cartaud. He oversaw the expansion of the nave, the construction of the façade as well as the construction of the transept's striking spherical roof.

The sanctuary is graced by several paintings by the French painter Louis-Michel van Loo (1707–1771).

The church was converted into the home of the national lottery and a stock exchange during the Directory, but was returned to the practice of worship under the First Empire.

A large garden and a double-cloister existed at the site until the Revolution. At that time, they were confiscated and fell into disuse. The remnants of the monastery were destroyed in 1858 and a police station as well as an office for the mayor of the arrondissement were constructed in their place.

For much of the middle of the 19th century, Notre Dame des Victoires was the spiritual power-house of Paris. After the Blessed Virgin appeared to the pastor, Fr. Desgenettes in the early 1830s, he consecrated the parish to her, provoking a spontaneous revival of an almost dead parish, and the foundation of the Archconfraternity of Our Lady, Refuge of Sinners. Many of the famous French Catholics of the period maintained a connection to the Church. These included the Ratisbonne brothers, Ven. Francis Libermann and the refounders of the Holy Ghost Fathers and a whole host of Foreign Missions seminarians and priests, including St. Theophane Venard. Venerable John Henry Newman went there to give thanks for his conversion, which had been the subject of prayer there. Later, the young Therese Martin prayed before the same statue for Our Lady's help in realizing her vocation.

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Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevsky in Paris

The cathedral of St. Alexander Nevsky  is a Russian Orthodox church located Paris , Rue Daru ( 8th arrondissement ).

Consecrated in 1861 , it is the first permanent place of worship for the Russian Orthodox community in France  .  It is the seat of the Archdiocese of Russian Orthodox Churches in Western Europe in the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople .

The cathedral, crypt included, is the subject of a classification under the Historic Monuments  since May 11, 1981.

The Russian presence in France dates from the EIGHTEENTH century.  In the NINETEENTH century, about a thousand of Russians residing temporarily or permanently in Paris.  They have no place of worship other than the one at the Russian Embassy in Paris, which is too narrow.

In 1847 , the chaplain of the Russian Embassy, Father Joseph Vasiliev, decided to project the construction of a permanent church.  The inertia of the Russian government and the French administrative delays delay the completion of the project, but Napoleon III finally agree.

Funding for this construction is done primarily by subscription in Russia and in Russian circles around the world.  The Tsar Alexander II gives, from his personal, about 150 000 gold francs.  In France, the interest is strong for this project.  Donations Orthodox flock, but also those of Catholic or Protestant.

The church was consecrated on 11 September 1861 by Archbishop Leontius of Reval , later Metropolitan of Moscow .  It is dedicated to St. Alexander Nevsky , prince of Novgorod , Russia's greatest hero.

The church became a cathedral in 1922 , when Archbishop Euloge actually the capital of his diocese parishes of Russian emigres.

The building is classified as historical monuments since 1981.  Extensive restoration began in 1996.

The architects of the church are Kuzmin and Strohm.  She has a plan in the form of a Greek cross .  Each arm of the cross is finished with a vestibule .  These apses are topped with turrets themselves wearing bulbs.  The five bulbs symbolize Christ accompanied by the four Evangelists . The central arrow has a height of 48 meters.

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