In 1628, when Cardinal de La Rochefoucault began to restore the church, he covered the crypt with costly marbles. In the centre was the stone coffin of the Saint raised upon a few steps, enclosed by four columns and an iron grille. Right and left were the tombs of S. Prudence and S. Céran.
At the Revolution all was dispersed or destroyed, the châsse was turned into coin, the Saint's bones were burnt on the Place de Grève, and the tomb broken; but in 1802, when Amable de Voisins became curé of S. Étienne, he obtained permission from the archbishop, M. de Belloy, to translate the fragments of the stone coffin to S. Étienne, and to hold the festivals in the Saint's honour in that church.
During the Neuvaine thousands of persons crowd into the church to visit the shrine, a few in honour, many more in the dishonour of mere curiosity; and all round the church are to be seen the same class of itinerant vendors of goods as at the various fêtes and fairs. At some, they sell gingerbread, pop-guns, and penny trumpets; at others, and particularly at S. Étienne, their merchandise consists of rosaries, pious books, medals, and the like; it is a curious combination of the world and heaven—the flesh in the way of comfits, vin ordinaire and the devil—religious exercises and le bon Dieu. "Vous avez reçu le bon Dieu, Madame?" "Mais oui, Mademoiselle; et après, nous sommes allés, mon fils et moi, déjeûner au restaurant Voltaire," is the edifying conversation one hears in the omnibus. It is all on a par with the midnight mass and the Réveillon; Salvation Army drills, Mr. Howler's tabernacle, and the popular preacher over the wine vaults. Extremes meet, and people are much the same all the world over; for one earnest man or woman, you get a crowd of curiositymongers, whether the excitement be in Paris, or London, or Trèves, or Ober-Ammergau; unfortunately, there is not much salt in the earth, either Protestant, Catholic, or Agnostic. But if the salt is wanting, the waxen arms and legs and crutches are numerous enough. If you glance at S. Geneviève's shrine you will see bundles and bundles; and then we scoff. Are not they evidence that there is some faith left in the world, real earnest, trustful faith which believes all things, and hopes all things. And why not? Can anyone say whether it be more silly to take a journey, long or short, say some prayers, set up some tapers, present some flowers and a few pence, than to pin your faith upon pills and potions? In the one case the power of healing is believed to be in the hands of an all-merciful God who has promised to answer our prayers when so doing will be good for us; and in the other, it is thought to reside in pills which are worth twenty times their price, in nostrums which cure and prevent all the ills to which man is subjected, and in belts and bands and other such contrivances. The intercession of those who have gone before is asked by one set of believers; while the others pray Dr. Faith-Healer to cure them by letter, or Dr. Bread-and-Senna by his precious compound pills.
But how can S. Geneviève's bones be at S. Étienne when we know they were burnt on the Place de Grève? is a question answered by the Moniteur of 3 and 4 Frimaire, in the year II. (23rd and 24th November, 1793), which declares that the body was not entire; and we further know that previously, in olden time, relics of the Saint were distributed to many churches, the abbey of Chelles amongst others.
The ordinary offices at S. Étienne are in no way remarkable for splendour of ritual or of music, but one is worthy of notice—the Washing of the Feet in Holy Week. In spite of so-called uniformity, certain functions have a totally different aspect at the various churches. Take, for instance, the ceremonies of Holy Thursday, the Washing of the Feet, and the Distribution of the Bread and Wine. At many churches the priest who performs this function generally passes down in front of an array of old men and women; each receives a loaf and a bottle of wine, and that is all. But at S. Étienne it is a very quaint affair. A square portion of the nave is railed off; within sit the boys whose feet are to be washed, and upon a table are rows of loaves and bottles of wine. Then comes the curé, a tall, elegant-mannered man, and kneeling to each, he washes and wipes their feet, and then distributes the wine and bread. It is a very curious function; seeing all those boys taking off their boots in the middle of a church is most extraordinary; and then the quaint expressions, the keen curiosity or stupid dull gaze, the costumes and the surrounding audience, form a picture which is eminently quaint and queer.
SAINT-EUSTACHE.
S. Eustache, often called by the ancestors of les dames de la Halle Notre-Dame des Halles, though by no means one of the oldest of Parisian churches, is, after the cathedral, the largest. In plan and arrangement it is Gothic, while its decorations and details are in the Renaissance style. It has double aisles, octagonal shafts, round-headed arches, and curvilinear tracery. It was finished in 1641, having been more than a century in building; but in spite of this, the original plan was carried out, and few churches that were so long in course of construction present so harmonious an appearance. Unfortunately, the west end, the towers of which were left unfinished, was sacrificed to the stupid taste of the 18th century; Mansard de Jouy and Moreau being allowed to replace what an old print shows to have been an interesting façade, in keeping with the rest of the church, by the heavy structure we all know, because, forsooth, the artistic gentlemen of the day found the original to be in a "goût barbare qui choquait les yeux!"
Père Du Breul (one of the Benedictines of S. Germain des Près), writing in 1612 in his Théâtre des Antiquités de Paris, speaks of the church as follows: "Ce sera un des plus beaux bâtiments de l'Europe, s'il peut être parfait comme il a été commencé; car rien n'y manque pour ce qui est de la perfection de l'architecture, soit pour le haut exhaussement, les fenêtres et ouvertures, et aussi l'enrichissement des diverses frises et moulures de toutes sortes et façons. Toutefois, pour la grande dépense qu'il y conviendrait faire, il est demeuré imparfait jusques à présent." To meet this grande dépense, the chancellor Séquier, and the Surintendant de finance, Claude de Bullion, supplied a considerable sum.
But a church existed upon the same site long before the foundation stone of the present building was laid by Jean de La Barre in 1532. Whether there is any truth in the tradition that the Romans erected a temple dedicated to Cybele upon the spot during the reign of Julian the Apostate, based probably upon the discovery of a large bronze head of the goddess at the entrance to the Rue Coquillière, there is no doubt that a chapel under the patronage of S. Agnes was built in the early ages of Christianity, for an account of its foundation is given by Gilles Corrozet, the first of the historians of Paris. It appears that a certain citizen named Jean Alais, in consideration of his help in financial matters, obtained from the king the right to levy a tax of a penny upon every basket of fish sold in the market. Remorse overtaking this modern publican, he begged his sovereign to revoke the tax; but the victims gained nothing by the repentance, as the privilege was accorded to another citizen, with an augmentation of the tax. Thereupon Alais, dying of remorse, was buried near the chapel he had founded in expiation of his sins, at the spot where a stream passed through the market. A large stone was placed hard by, which served as a bridge in time of rain and flood—hence, Pont Alais.