The Churches of Paris, from Clovis to Charles X. Beale Sophia
comme ils firent en tant d'autres par la France." It was supposed that the "Prince de Condé, leur chef," was not present at these little pastimes of his valiant soldiers, for when he heard what had been done "il fit pendre vne douzaine, pour monstrer comment il detestoit leur sacrilege: mais pour cela les pertes ne furent pas reconnettes."
In a History of the Royal Abbaye of Saint Denis, published in London in 1795, we have some curious details connected with the church. "Every Sunday and Holy Day at mass, the Deacons and Sub-deacons, after having received the 'precious body of Our Lord,' repaired to a side altar to suck up through a reed, enclosed in a tube of enamelled gold, the 'precious blood,' according to a very ancient custom adopted in the church of S. Denis, which is retained without any variation to this day." Whether this was so, or whether it was the result of the anonymous writer's imagination, I cannot say, as I find nothing about it in other books that I have studied.
The same author speaks of the "miraculous silver keys of S. Denis which they apply to the faces of those persons who have been so unfortunate as to be bitten by mad dogs, and who receive a certain and immediate relief by only touching them." Alas, that these keys should have been melted up; for here was a cure for hydrophobia without any of the vicarious suffering which M. Pasteur's discovery has caused.
The legend of S. Denis, the patron of France, is exceedingly picturesque. By some ecclesiastical authorities he is said to have lived in the 1st century, by others in the 2nd or 4th, but by most he is one and the same person as Dionysius the Areopagite. Hilduin, abbot of S. Denis at the beginning of the 9th century, seems to have had no doubt upon the subject, and in art the Saint and the disciple of S. Paul have always been looked upon as the self-same personage, although tradition records the existence of another S. Denis, a bishop of Paris, in the 3rd century. Dionysius was an Athenian philosopher named Theosophus. Travelling in Egypt to study astrology with a companion named Apollophanes, they were surprised by a strange darkness that came over the heavens, and were naturally much troubled thereby. Returning to Athens, Dionysius heard S. Paul preach, and thereupon being converted to Christianity, he understood that the darkness which he had seen at Heliopolis was none other than that which fell upon the earth for the space of three hours when the Blessed Redeemer was crucified. Baptised and ordained priest, Dionysius subsequently became bishop of Athens; and in some of the writings attributed to him he relates that he travelled to Jerusalem to see the Blessed Virgin, whom he found continually surrounded by a dazzling light, and attended by a company of Angels. He also gives an account of her death at which he was present with certain of the Apostles. After this, he returned to Athens and was subsequently present at S. Paul's martyrdom in Rome. Thence he was sent by S. Clement to preach the Gospel, together with a priest named Rusticus, and a deacon Eleutherius. Arrived at Paris, an exceeding great city full of people and provided with all the good things of the earth, they found it so attractive that it seemed to them another Athens, and so they sojourned there, teaching the people, who were learned in all things but the way of truth. S. Denis then sent missionaries into other parts of Gaul, and into Germany. But these successes were not pleasing unto Satan, and so he stirred up the nobles against the good bishop, who was accused before the Emperor Trajan. Some say it was Domitian, but in either case the result was the despatch of one Frescennius, a pro-consul, from Rome, with orders to throw Denis and his companions into prison. This was done, and finding that they would not retract, they were put to death upon the Hill of Mercury (who was so much honoured by the Gauls), and which was subsequently called Montmartre (Mons Martyrum).
"Le Saint evêque Denis, et ses deux compagnons, le prêtre Rustique et le diacre Eleuthère, souffrirent leur mémorable et très-glorieuse passion, à la vue de la cité des Parisiens, sur la colline qui se nommait auparavant Mont de Mercure, parce que cette idole y était particulièrement honorée de Gaulois, et qu'on appelle aujourd'hui le Mont des Martyrs en mémoire des saints du Seigneur qui accomplirent en ce lieu même leur martyre triomphal."11
Then a stupendous miracle took place. S. Denis not desiring, or not being permitted, to become food for wolves, took up his decapitated head in his hands, and walked for the space of two miles, Angels singing by the way. Accompanied by this celestial body-guard, the Saint marched over the plains beyond the city, and signified, in some way unrecorded, that he desired burial where now stands the church dedicated to his memory. This was accomplished by a pious woman named Catulla, who had ministered unto the three blessed martyrs in their prison, and who now laid their mutilated remains in her own field.
Paris formerly, even as late as the last century, contained many spots sacred to the memory of S. Denis and his three companions. At Notre-Dame-des-Champs a crypt used to be shown where they preached to their first disciples. At S. Benoît, now destroyed, there was formerly an oratory, on the wall of which was an inscription recording that S. Denis first invoked the name of the Most High on that spot. At S. Denis-de-la-Chartre was the prison where the martyrs were visited by our Lord, and where He administered His Blessed Body and Blood to them. At S. Denis-du-Pas was the ground upon which they suffered their first tortures; and upon Montmartre the church of S. Pierre records the spot upon which they were decapitated. The way across the plain from Montmartre to the place of burial was marked by a succession of crosses, and the field where the Saint's remains were laid subsequently became the precincts of the famous abbey.
The first church is said to have been erected before the invasion of the Franks, but this had fallen into ruins in the 5th century, and it was through the piety of S. Geneviève and the people of Paris that it was rebuilt. This Saint, like all good Parisians, held S. Denis in great esteem; and it was during a visit paid to his shrine that her taper, maliciously blown out by the arch-enemy, was successfully relighted through the fervour of her prayers. Gregoire de Tours relates many wondrous miracles which took place in the new church for the benefit of the faithful and the chastisement of the wicked.
But the magnificence with which Dagobert rebuilt and endowed S. Denis completely eclipsed the work of the maid of Nanterre; and so effectually was the king looked upon as the founder of the abbey that, up to the dissolution of the monasteries, the monks celebrated his festival upon the 19th of January with great solemnity and splendour. It was about the year 630 that Dagobert undertook the rebuilding of the church, which is said to have been decorated with precious marbles, magnificent bronze doors, and gold and silver vessels enriched with precious stones. These latter, and the shrine of the Saint, as well as the great cross at the entrance of the choir, were the work of the famous artificer in metals, S. Eloy, who was also the maker of the shrines of SS. Martin, Germain, and Geneviève. These, and, in fact, all this great smith's works (as far as is known) have perished; but his memory is still preserved by pictures and sculptures representing some of the legendary incidents of his life. In the Firenze Academy is a picture by Botticelli, and at the church of Or San Michele is a statue and a bas-relief, both of which represent one of the great events of the Saint's life. A horse having been brought to him to be shod, the animal proved restive, and the Saint being exercised in his mind as to how he should keep the beast still, bethought him of an excellent plan. He calmly cut off the leg, and placing it upon his anvil, fastened on the shoe; this done, he replaced the leg upon the horse, to the amazement of the beast and the edification of his owner. Another picture, painted for the Company of the Goldsmiths, represents S. Eloy under the form of Benvenuto Cellini, presenting a shrine to King Dagobert, who figures in the costume of François I^er. In 754, Pépin and his queen Berthe, after being anointed at S. Denis by Pope Stephen II., began the reconstruction of the Merovingian church which Charlemagne finished and dedicated in 775. From that year until the 12th century, little is known of the history of the abbey. Like all churches and monasteries in the north of France, it was probably destroyed, and its lands laid waste by the invasions of the Northmen and the disastrous civil wars which characterised the end of the Carlovingian dynasty, for nothing remains of the magnificence of the churches of Dagobert and of Charlemagne but a few columns and marble capitals in the crypt.
The third and present church was commenced by the great Abbot Suger, and is considered by many French architects to be the earliest example of Pointed architecture. Suger erected the tower, the portals, the nave, and the choir in rapid succession, and subsequently the chevet and chapels; he filled the windows with the most exquisite jewel-like stained glass, and loaded the shrines and altars with precious stones. Some of the sacred vessels formerly belonging to the church are
Hulduin, abbot of S. Denis, commencement of 9th century, who took possession the same day as that upon which Charlemagne died. —