This week we finish our series on the last chapels in the chevet of Notre Dame de Paris. The chapels of the chevet are a reminder of what the cathedral used to be. The colorful painted walls, ribs and ceilings, stained glass and 19th century sculptures much of which was created by Viollet-le-Duc are still found in the back of the church. Stripped away from the nave by former bishops we can imagine what the entire cathedral once looked like.
The chapel of Saint Guillaume is named for the saint and former archbishop of Bourges and canon of Notre Dame at the end of the 12th century. However, visitors are always drawn to another gentleman within the chapel. On the left wall is a large sculpture by Jean-Baptiste Pigalle in 1776.
Claude Henry Comte d'Harcourt served as a lieutenant general in the army of Louis XV and died on December 5, 1769. On July 1, 1771 the widow Harcourt commissioned Pigalle to create a theatrical piece titled the “Conjugal Reunion”. She had very specific instructions on how it would look that had come to her in a dream. At the end of the sarcophagus will be the guardian angel of the lord. In one hand he holds the torch of their marriage while the other opens the tomb. The count seeing this countess pulls himself from his tomb and reaches for his wife who is on her knees below in prayer. Standing behind is Death holding an hourglass showing that her time has come. The Count also closely resembles the statue of Voltaire that Pigalle created in the Louvre.
During the Revolution the cénotaph was moved to the Museum of French Monuments but not before the bronze elements were stolen. In 1820 it finally returned to the cathedral and was partially restored by Claude André Deseine.
Another cénotaph can be found in the chapel, but sadly did not survive the Revolution as well as old Harcourt. Kneeling in prayer to the right are the statues of Jean Jouvenal des Ursins and his wife Michelle de Vitry. Jean was born in 1360 in Troyes and studied law which lead him to the Parliament of Paris. Michelle and Jean had eleven children who commissioned the tomb for their parents.
Each once stood on their own base engraved with their names with a painting hanging above. The Saved during the Revolution but only after they lost their heads and the bases were destroyed. The family once lived just two blocks from Notre Dame on what is now named the Rue des Ursins.
Hanging against the painted wall of fleur-de-lys that also resemble corn is a large bronze crucifix by Edmond François Lethimonnier in 1850. A gift to Notre Dame at the baptism of the Prince Imperial, son of Napoleon III from Pope Pius IX.
The next chapel is named for Sainte Marie Madeleine and three episodes of her life are painted on the wall by Viollet-le-Duc. On the left she washes the feet of Jesus with her tears and dries them with her hair. On the right is Mary seeing Jesus in the garden just after he has risen and in the center is her death. All of the paintings of the chapels have been beautifully restored over two years.
The cénotaphe of Mgr Marie Dominique Auguste Sibour is one that has always stuck with me from the first time I saw him years ago. Sibour was the archbishop of Paris from 1848 until his tragic death in 1857. Kneeling in prayer with his eyes to the heavens, the marble statue was completed by three successive sculptors. Begun by Jules Dubois it was completed after his death by Joseph Lescombé and Joseph Marius Ramus. Finished in 1868.
Born in France and studied in Rome before returning to Notre Dame to officiate the wedding ceremony of Napoleon III and Eugéne in 1853.
On January 3, 1857, the feast day of Sainte Genevieve, the bishop was performing the ceremonial mass of the patron saint of Paris when a former priest, Jean Louis Verger that had been sanctioned by the diocese lunged onto the altar and stabbed the bishop in his heart, killing him instantly. Verger was tried and killed just 27 days later.
The next chapel isn’t named for a saint but for the Anointing Oils held in the beautiful red cupboard designed by Viollet-le-Duc.
However, don’t skip by this one or you may miss the story of the other patron saint of Paris, Saint Denis. Painted on the wall his life is told by Viollet-le-Duc which may be hard to recognize as Denis still has his head attached. Saint Denis has his own chapel in the south nave but very plain and without his story.
On the left Saint Denis and his fellow priests Saint Rustique and Saint Eleuthere in the moment before they are about to lose their heads. In the center their apotheosis and to the right the order of the saints being sent to Paris to convert people to the church.
The cénotaph of Mgr Dnys Auguste Affre is another with a tragic story. Born in 1793 and named bishop of Paris on August 6, 1840. During the Insurrection of 1848 hoping to calm the crowd the bishop visited the barricades on the Rue Saint Antoine. After successfully calling for a cease fire he climbed the barricades where he was shot. It was June 25 and he was taken to his home on the Ile Saint Louis where he spent 32 horribly painful hours before he died at 4:30 am on June 25.
His cénotaph created by Auguste Hyacinthe Debay in 1860 shows the bishop reaching up and pointing towards a message, “May my blood be the last to be spilt”. The bishop is shown below in relief trying to calm the rioters.
The stained glass by Alfred Gérente from the design of Viollet-le-Duc is topped with the coat of arms of the bishop and a medallion of a pelican, a symbol of the Eucharist.
