Eglise Saint-Merri
The Church of Saint-Merry (or Saint-Merri or Saint-Médéric), commonly known as Saint-Merry, is a Catholic church located on what is now Rue Saint Martin at 78 (the old north-south Roman road) and on Rue de la Verrerie, with the parish headquarters at 76, in the 4th arrondissement of Paris, near the Centre Georges-Pompidou.
The name Saint-Merry comes from the abbot Saint Médéric, who died in 700, was canonized and later renamed Saint-Merri by contraction. The remains of this saint still rest in the church's crypt.
The Church of Saint-Merry is considered one of the "four daughters" of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. Built between 1500 and 1565, during the Renaissance period, it is nevertheless of flamboyant Gothic style architecture and due to its similar architecture to that of the cathedral, it also bears the nickname of "Notre-Dame la petite". The church has one of the most prestigious organs in Paris as well as a large collection of paintings from the 17th and 19th centuries.
History of the Church
The Saint-Merri mound on which the church stands is, along with the Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois mound, the Saint-Gervais mound, and the Saint-Jacques mound, one of the mounds closest to the Seine and the Île de la Cité. It is surrounded by marshy land (hence the name "Marais") flooded by the river. This area was the site of the first settlements on the right bank of Paris during the Early Middle Ages. Tradition
Tradition tells us that Mederic (Medericus)[4], abbot of the Abbey of Saint-Martin d'Autun, came to live as a hermit with his disciple Saint Frou in a hermitage near the "Saint-Pierre-des-Bois" oratory, which stood on this site. After two years and nine months, he died on August 29, 700, the "4th of the Kalends of September," and was buried there. The oratory was transformed into a chapel, still under the name of Saint-Pierre-des-Bois or simply Saint-Pierre, but increasingly becoming the chapel of the holy man of God.
His tomb, being the object of true veneration due to numerous miracles, in 884 the priest Théodelbert asked the Bishop of Paris, Gozlin, to have his body exhumed and the remains of Saint Mederic, who would become Saint Merri, now considered relics, enshrined. It was at this time, also during the last siege of Paris by the Normans, that Saint Mederic was chosen to become the patron saint of the Right Bank. The chapel then took the name of Saint Mederic Chapel, or Saint Merri Chapel.
The 9th-Century Church
The cult of the holy abbot led to the construction of a new church of Saint-Pierre-Saint-Merri, initiated by a royal officer, Eudes Le Fauconnier, in the 10th century. Although the exact date of construction remains uncertain, we know that Eudes Le Fauconnier did indeed exist, since during the reconstruction of the church in the 16th century, the skeleton of a warrior wearing gilded leather boots was discovered in the old cemetery, bearing the inscription:
"Hic jacet vir bonæ memoriæ Odo Falconarius fundator hujus ecclesiæ"
"Here lies a man of good reputation, Odo Falconarius, founder of this church."
The new building benefited from several donations, including those of a certain Count Adalard, supported by Kings Eudes and Carloman, and confirmed by a charter of Louis d'Outremer, given in Laon on February 1, 936.
Around 1010, the Bishop of Paris, Renaud de Vendôme, donated it to the Chapter of Notre-Dame. Having become a collegiate church, it was then served by a community of seven canons from the chapter. In 1200, the church built in its place was elevated to a parish under the name of Saint-Merry[5]. It is thus one of the four "daughters of Notre-Dame"[6] and the last remaining one today. However, the demographic growth of the Halles and Beau-Bourg districts necessitated a new construction. Jean Beaupère, one of Joan of Arc's judges, was parish priest at this time. The church also hosted the Italian writer and poet Boccaccio, and Saint Edmund, the future Archbishop of Canterbury, both parishioners of Saint-Merry.
The church from the 16th century to the present day
The current building was built between 1500 and 1565 (the nave between 1500 and 1515, the transept between 1525 and 1535, the choir between 1535 and 1565)[8].
In 1612, the bell tower was raised by one story.
The 18th century was a period of renovation for the church: the rood screen from 1558 was destroyed in 1709; the architect Germain Boffrand built the Communion Chapel to the south in 1743. In 1759, the Slodtz brothers were commissioned to remodel the choir, whose pointed arches were curved and covered, like the pillars, with marble and stucco veneer. The floor was covered with marble paving, the furnishings were renewed, and the stained-glass windows were partially replaced with clear glass.
Closed in 1793 due to the Revolution, the church became a saltpeter factory. From 1797 to 1801, theophilanthropists turned it into a "Temple of Commerce." It was returned to Catholic worship in 1803. On 6 Ventôse, Year XIII (February 25, 1805), Pope Pius VII visited the Church of Saint-Merry and celebrated the Holy Mysteries there.
Between 1843 and 1849, great painters decorated the chapels of the ambulatory with frescoes. In 1862, the church was listed as a historic monument[1]. In 1871, a fire destroyed the third floor of the square bell tower, allowing it to return to its original height (two floors).
Stained Glass Windows
The stained glass windows in the upper bays of the nave date from the early 16th century and depict, on the right, the lives of Saint Nicholas of Myra, Saint Agnes, Saint Francis of Assisi, and the Virgin Mary; on the left, the life of Saint Mary Magdalene, the miracles of Christ, and the lives of Saint John the Baptist and Saint Thomas.
The side stained glass windows in the choir are also from the 16th century and illustrate, on the left, The History of the Patriarch Joseph in Egypt; on the right, The Apostleship of Saint Peter. Those in the apse, with The Resurrection of Christ in the center, were created in 1866 from designs by Claudius Lavergne.
Three other 16th-century stained glass windows are set into the chapel to the left of the axial chapel of the Virgin Mary, and depict Saint Martin sharing his cloak with a poor man, a Pietà, and Saint Eligius. Various fragments, also from the 16th century, were reassembled as medallions in the 19th century in the axial chapel of the Virgin.
The stained-glass windows in the transept and choir windows on the north side are attributed to Nicolas Beaurain. Clarifications were provided in 1997 regarding the dating of the stained-glass windows attributed to Jean Chastellain, on the south side, and to Nicolas Pinaigrier[14].
As early as 1733, some of the stained-glass windows in the nave were destroyed and replaced with white ones to facilitate reading during services. Between 1750 and 1754, the stained-glass windows in the ambulatory were also destroyed. Between 1847 and 1865, Prosper Lafaye restored the stained-glass windows in the chevet and choir. Further restorations were undertaken in 1870.
Communion Chapel
The Communion Chapel was built in 1743 by Pierre-Louis Richard, based on plans by Gabriel-Germain Boffrand, who withdrew before the building's completion following a dispute with the churchwardens (he wanted Pigalle to decorate the chapel, while the churchwardens preferred the Slodtz brothers).
This chapel was originally separate from the church, built on a charnel house in 1743, but Pierre-Louis Richard established access between the two buildings in 1760. This chapel is located on the former charnel houses of Pierre II Chambiges, dating from the 16th century.
For the first time, overhead lighting was used (the three glass domes), an innovation that would later be adopted in the Grand Gallery of the Louvre. It is composed of three square bays symbolizing the real world, lit by three oval lanterns, with arcades separated by Corinthian pilasters. The openwork domes symbolize the celestial vault. Bell Tower
The square bell tower, having been given a third story in 1612, has since the fire of 1871 regained its original height (two stories). To the left, one can see an octagonal turret decorated with arcades, surmounted by a campanile housing the oldest bell in Paris (1331).
Crypt
The crypt, completed in 1515 under the fifth chapel to the left of the nave, has housed the shrine containing the relics of Saint Merri since 1884. Square in plan, the vaults of the four bays rest on a massive central pillar whose capital is decorated with bunches of grapes. It also houses the tombstone of Guillaume Le Sueur (died in 1530) and his wife Radegonde Budé (died in 1522).
Saint-Merri in Culture
The writer and art critic Joris-Karl Huysmans devotes the third part of his work Three Churches to a description of the church.[50]
The church of Saint-Merry is mentioned in the poem The Musician of Saint-Merry from the collection Calligrams by Guillaume Apollinaire:
"The women who passed by stopped near him.
They came from all directions.
When suddenly the bells of Saint-Merry began to ring.
The musician stopped playing and drank from the fountain.
Which is located at the corner of Rue Simon-Le-Franc.
Then Saint-Merry fell silent.
The stranger resumed his flute music.
And retracing his steps, he walked to Rue de la Verrerie.
[...]"
The surrealist poet Robert Desnos, as a child, lived in front of Saint-Merry, at the corner of Rue Saint-Martin and Rue des Lombards. He evokes its memory in Confessions of a Child of the Century (1926) and in The Mystery of Jewish Abraham (1929). Louis Aragon mentions Saint-Merry in his Complainte de Robert le Diable, a tribute to Desnos (Les Poètes, 1960), popularized by Jean Ferrat's adaptation in his album Ferrat chante Aragon:
"Standing under a porch with a cone of fries Here you are in bad weather near Saint-Merry Staring at the world with impudence With your gaze like that of Amphitrite."
The church of Saint-Merry is also mentioned by Umberto Eco in his novel Foucault's Pendulum, which notes the unusual presence of a sculpture evoking Baphomet located on the keystone of the main portal.