The origin of Notre-Dame is enveloped in mystery. Whether its first bishop, S. Denis, or Dyonesius, was the Areopagite converted by S. Paul's preaching at Athens, and sent by S. Clement to preach the Gospel to the Parisians, or whether he was another personage of the same name who was sent into Gaul in the 3rd century and martyred during the persecutions under Decius, it is impossible to say, as there is no evidence of any value. Certain it is, however, that the first bishop of Paris bore the name of Denis, and that he suffered martyrdom with his two companions Rusticus and Eleutherius, on the summit of the hill now called Montmartre. Tradition went so far as to point out the spot where they first gathered their followers together—the crypt of Notre-Dame des Champs; also the prison where Our Lord appeared to them and strengthened them with His Holy Body and Blood, at S. Denis de la Chartre; the place, at S. Denis du Pas, where they suffered their first tortures; and, lastly, Montmartre, where they were beheaded. But, with the exception of the latter, all these holy spots have disappeared. So, too, have the crosses which marked the route taken by the Saint, when he carried his head to the place chosen for his burial, at S. Denis. An ancient church covered the remains of the three Saints until the present splendid building was erected in the reign of Dagobert I.
Under the Roman dominion, Paris was comprised in the fourth Lyonnaise division, of which Sens was the metropolis. Hence the bishops of Paris acknowledged the archbishop of Sens as their primate, until 1622, when, at the request of Louis XIII., Pope Gregory XV. raised the see to an archbishopric. The succession has consisted of one hundred and nine bishops and fifteen archbishops, eight of whom have been raised to the dignity of Cardinal. Besides S. Denis, six have been venerated as Saints: Marcel, in the 5th century; Germain, in the 6th century; Céran, Landry, and Agilbert in the 7th, and Hugues in the 8th century. No less Saints, although uncanonized, are the three martyrs of our own time—Sibour, who was stabbed by a discontented priest in the church of S. Étienne-du-Mont; Affre, who was shot upon a barricade in 1848, while negotiating with the insurgents, and whose last words pronounced him a true follower of his Master: "Puisse mon sang être le dernier versé!" and Darboy, the liberal-minded and large-hearted, who was shot as a hostage by the fanatics of his own party. In former times the entry of the new bishop into his episcopal city was accompanied by much gorgeous ceremonial. All the municipal officers, mounted on horses, went to meet him at the Abbey of S. Victor. Thence they processioned, accompanied by the bishop, seated on a white palfrey, to the church of S. Geneviève, from which he was chaired by his vassals to the Rue Neuve-Notre-Dame, where he was met by the dean and canons of the cathedral, and after taking an oath upon the Gospels to uphold the privileges of the church, and to observe the engagements entered into by his predecessors, he was installed, and received the homage of the chapter. Mass was then said, and at the conclusion, the prelate was conducted to his palace, where he gave a sumptuous entertainment to all who had assisted at the ceremonies.
In 1674 Louis XIV. conferred the lands of S. Cloud, Creteil, d'Ozouer-la-Ferrière, and d'Armentières upon the archbishopric, a donation which was valued in the last century at a revenue of 140,000 livres. The old episcopal palace was situated between the cathedral and the river, and the whole must have been an imposing mass of buildings; but what remained of it twenty years ago was mostly 18th-century work, with the exception of a fragment of the chapel which was consecrated by bishop Maurice de Sully at the end of the 12th century.
The chapter of Notre-Dame was one of the most important in the Kingdom. Its revenue amounted to 180,000 livres, and its jurisdiction extended beyond its own clergy and officers, to the Hôtel-Dieu, and the churches which were called les filles de Notre-Dame. These were the collegiate bodies of S. Merry, the Holy Sepulchre, S. Benoit, and S. Étienne-des-Grès. Four other colleges, S. Marcel, S. Honoré, and S. Opportune, bore the title of filles de l'Archevêque.
Of the cloisters not the slightest vestige remains to determine their position or size. What was latterly termed the cloître was only a collection of narrow tortuous streets, with two or three houses and doorways which may have dated from the 15th century. One of these houses bore the reputation of having been the abode of Canon Fulbert, the uncle of Héloïse; but it could only have been built upon the site of the original one, which may possibly have existed in the 12th century, as some Roman foundations were discovered when it was demolished a few years ago. The enceinte of the cathedral enclosed two churches, S. Aignan and S. Jean-le-Rond, and a garden at the eastern end of the church, which the chapter called Le terrain, but to which the people, in their original lingo, gave the name of Motte aux Papelards.
The cathedral is now open on all sides, and the coup-d'œil is fine when seen from the Place du Parvis-[106] Notre-Dame, or from the garden at the east end; but to obtain these fine views many buildings of interest have been sacrificed,—the cloisters, the churches of S. Jean-le-Rond and S. Christophe, the episcopal palace, the oldest parts of the hospitals of the Hôtel-Dieu and Les Enfants-Trouvés, and the chapel constructed in the 14th century by Oudart de Mocreux.
