Patrick Comerford
During our visit to Paris last week, as I walked from Notre Dame to Marais, I strolled through Île Saint-Louis, one of two natural islands in the River Seine – the other natural island is the Île de la Cité, on which Notre-Dame de Paris is built.
Île Saint-Louis is in the 4th arrondissement and is 11 ha (27 acres) in size with a population of 4,453, making it one of the smallest parishes in Paris. It is connected to the rest of Paris by four bridges to both banks of the river and to the Île de la Cité by the Pont Saint-Louis.
I was there to see the house on rue Saint Louis-en-l’Île that had been home in the 1940s and 1850s of the exiled Russian theologian, Nicholas Lossky, discussed in my reflections in my prayer diary on this blog this morning (13 February 2024). On the same street, I also visited the Church of Saint Louis-en-l’Île (Saint Louis on the Island), built between 1647 and 1725 and is dedicated to King Louis IX of France, or Saint Louis.
The island was originally owned by the chapter of Notre-Dame Cathedral, and Louis IX (1226-1270) would come and pray on the island, which was uninhabited at the time.
Although Louis is revered as a saint, he is remembered for overseeing the Disputation of Paris in 1240, when the Jewish leaders in Paris were imprisoned and forced to admit to anti-Christian passages in the Talmud. As a result, Pope Gregory IX declared that all copies of the Talmud to be seized and destroyed. Louis ordered the burning of 12,000 Talmudim in 1242, along with other important Jewish books and manuscripts. The edict against the Talmud was eventually overturned by Gregory IX’s successor, Innocent IV.
It is said Louis IX proclaimed the Eighth Crusade from Île Saint-Louis in 1267. He died in 1270 and was canonised by Pope Boniface VIII in 1297, the only king of France to be proclaimed a saint.
The Church of Saint Louis-en-l’Île dates from 1623, and was dedicated to Saint Louis in 1634. The island of Île Saint-Louis had remained uninhabited until the early 17th century. In 1614, Christophé Marie, the general contractor of the bridges of France, was asked by the king to build a bridge and to subdivide into lots the Ile Notre-Dame that had been connected to the Ile aux Vaches.
When the first houses were built on the island, a parish was created and the first chapel was built in 1623. That first chapel was named Our Lady of the Island, was dedicated to Saint Louis in 1634.
Several famous priests preached in the church, including Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622), and Saint Vincent de Paul (1581-1660), who founded the first house of the Daughters of Charity nearby in rue Poulletier in 1632.
As the population of the island grew, a larger church was needed. The new church was designed by the architect François Le Vau (1613-1636), younger brother and assistant of the more famous royal architect Louis Le Vau, the architect of Versailles, the Louvre and the Institut de France. The church was the only building François Le Vau built without his brother.
The plans for the new and well-lit church reflected the spirit of the Counter-Reformation, and it was originally built in the French baroque style of the 17th century.
Work began in 1647, but was delayed due to problems with the foundation, and the first stone was not laid by the Archbishop of Paris until 1 October 1664. The choir and altar were consecrated in 1664, but the old chapel was still used as the nave as work was delayed again due to a shortage of funds and other mishaps: the architect died soon after the project began, and was replaced by Gabriel Le Duc, and then by two more architects in succession, Pierre Bullet and Jacques Doucet; then, in 1701, a hurricane destroyed the new roof, killing many parishioners.
Builders and developers took advantage of these long delays, and houses were built next to the church, taking the space originally intended for the traditional west front, which had to be relocated. A royal lottery was organised to raise the money needed to complete the church. But it was not completed until 1725, and the church was consecrated in 1726, almost 80 years after work first began on the site.
The original bell tower was destroyed by lightning in 1740, and was replaced by a new openwork tower in the shape of a pyramid that allowed the strong winds on the island to pass through. Another unusual feature of the tower is the clock hanging over the street like a shop sign.
During the French Revolution, the church was closed in 1791, looted and stripped of its decorations. The only statues that remained were a statue of the Virgin Mary and a statue of Saint Genevieve by François Ladatte (1741). A sculpture depicting two angels holding the royal coat of arms was smashed during the Revolution.
The church was sold in 1798 and was turned into a storehouse for books. However, the parishioner who bought it returned it to the church in 1805, and the first Mass was celebrated there on 10 March 1805 by Pope Pius VII, who had come to Paris the previous December to crown Napoleon Emperor. The Papal Tiara and Saint Peter’s keys that adorn the original High Altar are reminders of that occasion.
The City of Paris bought the building in 1817 and embellished it with numerous paintings from other churches destroyed during the Revolution. A long campaign to add new murals, paintings, sculpture and windows was led by the Abbot Louis-Auguste Bossuet, the cure of the parish in 1864-1888. He sold the large library of the church and used the proceeds and his own private fortune to buy many works of art that adorn the side chapels and to add a profusion of gilding, murals, sculptures in stucco, and the windows that are seen today.
Auguste Czartoryski (1858-1898), a prince and priest who was a parishioner of the church, was beatified in 2004. His family donated the stained-glass window of the Resurrection in one of the side chapels.
With its rectangular plans and plain exterior, the church is hardly visible from the street. Several entrance projects were thought of but never carried out, and the church has kept its blank west wall.
A clock suspended from the side of the tower indicates the entrance of the church. The portal is decorated with a sculpture depicting two angels with their arms outstretched holding the coat of arms of France. This was a reference to the patron saint, King Louis IX or Saint Louis. The angels are still there, but the coat of arms was smashed during the French Revolution.
The large interior is a tribute to Louis IX, with the French royal coat of arms and the crown of arms in the cupola. The interior is given a more human dimension by the profusion of ornament and gilding, and detail It was decorated following drawings by Jean-Baptiste de Champaigne (1631-1681), a nephew of the famous painter.
The arcades have rounded arches and as pilasters with trompe-l’oeil channelling, joined with columns with Corinthian capitals, carved of travertine stone, and decorated with sculpted foliage and angels. Other decoration includes a variety of sculpted sceptres, the hands of justice and other royal emblems, illustrating the association with Louis IX.
The church, particularly in the choir, the transept and the chapels along the outer aisles, is particularly rich in art and decoration of the French Baroque period in the 18th century, as well as more modern work from the 19th century. The art includes painting, sculpture, and smaller intricate works in alabaster and other rare materials.
The stained glass windows mostly date to the mid 19th century. A major series, illustrating the life of Christ, is by Alfred Gérente.
A series of chapels line the outer aisles of the nave, and are richly decorated with paintings and sculpture.
The Communion Chapel (1715) displays ‘The Pilgrims of Emmaus’ by Charles Coypel (1694-1752) vividly representing a celebration of the Eucharist, crowded with figures and full of movement.
The Chapel of the Compassion has three paintings by the 19th-century French artist Karl-Henri Lehmann (1814-1882): ‘The Annunciation’, ‘The Virgin Presenting Christ to the World’ and ‘The Virgin and the Saints at the Foot of the Cross’. Lehmann was a prominent figure in the school of French Romanticism. ‘The Virgin and the Saints’ painting was presented at the 1848 Paris Salon.
The Chapel of Baptism at the west end has a group of eight small paintings representing scenes from the life of Christ, set into the wood panelling, by 16th century artists. Here too is a work of the French Renaissance painter Jacques Stella (1596-1657), ‘The Baptism of Christ’, inspired by the art of the Italian Renaissance.
The Chapel of Saint Mary Magdalene contains a monument to the 19th century Abbot Bossuet, an important benefactor of the church.
There is no remaining trace of the original 17th century organ. It was replaced in 1744 by a new organ by Lesclop, with a very ornate buffet or case covered with rocaille sculpture. This instrument, like most of the other Paris organs of the period, was destroyed during the French Revolution, in order to recover the lead used in the pipes to make munitions.
A smaller instrument by Merklin was installed on the tribune In the 19th century. But it was of mediocre quality. That organ was replaced in 1923 by a new organ by Charles Mutin, which kept the buffet of the earlier instrument. This organ also was of poor quality and was poorly maintained. A smaller organ was installed in the choir in the 1960s, which served as the church organ for several decades.
The present organ, with 51 stops, was completed in 2005 by Bernard Aubertin with funding from the City of Paris. The organ is in the German style, or Bach type. While the instrument is new, it preserves the original tower sculpture and sculpted angels of the 18th century buffet, and its gilded case adds a contemporary touch to the baroque appearance of the church.
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