There were two saints of this name; one, the founder of the Abbey of Châteaulandon, who miraculously cured Clovis I. of some sickness by placing his chasuble upon him; and the other, the patron of this church, a monk, or rather a hermit, who lived during the reign of Childebert I., in a cell near Paris, and was of course much given to prayer and supplications, and other pious exercises. Considering the brutal manners and customs of the early sovereigns and their companions, it is a blessed sign that human nature, even in those dark ages, was not completely diabolical; and to find that some men and women cared for other matters than fire and sword and pillage. S. Séverin was one of these more peaceful souls; and so well did he preach his pacific faith, that S. Cloud, or Clodoaldus, the grandson of Queen Clotilde, became one of his disciples, and received the religious habit of the Benedictine order from him. S. Cloud was the youngest of the sons of Chlodomir, one of three brothers who suffered from the murderous inclinations of wicked uncles. What brigands they all were! Imagine a woman being asked in all seriousness whether she preferred death or the tonsure for her grandchildren. No wonder monasteries and convents flourished, for where else was there any culture, enlightenment, civilization, or even safety to life and limb? And yet Clotilde must have had some reason for her passionate answer, "Better they were dead than shaven monks!" for she must have foreseen that such an exclamation could only lead to assassination, and thus we find that S. Cloud alone of the brothers escaped death, and became a shaven Benedictine.
S. Séverin was probably buried near the oratory, and what would be more natural than that the disciple should consecrate the spot to the memory of his master? In 1050 Henri I. gave the patronage, which had been up to his reign in the hands of the kings, to the then Bishop of Paris, Imbert. At the end of the 11th century, it became an enormous parish, extending almost over the whole of the southern part of the city. It is now the centre of the Italian legion, models, organ-grinders, white-mice men, and plaster-image vendors; and it is a pretty sight on Sundays and fête days to see the church packed with emigrants from the sunny South decked out in all the splendour of their holiday attire. How a group of people can alter the whole aspect of a building, was once demonstrated to me in S. Paul's cathedral. Walking down that dismal and gloomy nave upon an afternoon to which the same adjectives might be appropriately applied, it seemed suddenly to become bright and light by the entrance of a group of three or four Italian women with their children, dressed in the familiar, and upon any other human beings, hideously crude violet, emerald-green, and raw-blue coloured garments; colours which are totally wanting in beauty and harmony of themselves, but allied to the snow-white chemises and trimmed with gold braid, and partially covered with silver ornaments, they seemed to drop into harmony with the church, and to completely change the general appearance of the melancholy background, as even a ray of sunshine fails to do completely. S. Paul's is so essentially Italian that its usual congregations, clad in blacks and browns, form an utterly inharmonious foreground to the architecture, and give one the idea that the building is dépaysé.
The present church of S. Séverin was re-built in the 13th century, in great part by money obtained by indulgences, which Clement VI. in 1347 accorded to the generously inclined among the faithful. In the next century this system was revived, and the churchwardens, with shrewd foresight, bought up more ground, with a view to the enlargement of the building. The first stone of the new part was laid in 1489, the chapel of S. Sebastian being built three years later. In 1490 the chapel of the Conception, which was situated near the east end, was demolished to make way for the lengthening of the north aisle. Five years later, Jean Simon, Bishop of Paris, consecrated the new portions of the church, including the high altar, and several of the chapels of the chevet. In 1498 the chapels on the south side were commenced by Micheaul le Gros; the sacristy and treasury being added in 1540, and the chapel of the Communion in 1673, to make an entrance to which the chapel of S. Sebastian had to be destroyed. Thus for four hundred years, more or less, the church was undergoing constant change and development. Then began the downward path, commencing with the destruction of the jubé and the "ornamentation" of the sanctuary to suit the taste of the devotees of Classic art. Originally, many of the Paris churches had jubés (rood-screens), but the only one now remaining is that of S. Étienne du Mont. A brass attached to one of the pillars gives the names of the donors of the screen, Antoine de Compaigne (illuminator) and his wife Oudette.
Were it not for the elegant little tower and spire, few persons would know of the existence of S. Séverin. It is out of the beaten track, beyond Notre-Dame and the "monuments" of the Faubourg S. Germain. It has to be hunted up; but it is well worth the trouble, and any one visiting the remains of the Roman amphitheatre of Lutetia, in the Rue Monge (now laid out as a public garden) can see S. Séverin at the same time.
The portal is profusely carved and bears an inscription upon the stylobate (the letters of which are of the 13th century), giving the various duties of the grave-diggers, amongst others the cleansing of the vaults of the roof as well as the lower part of the church on the feast of S. Martin, in order to be tidy for the dedication festival which fell two days later. As in many other churches, there are two lions on each side of the arch, probably the supports formerly of some heraldic shields. This, no doubt, is the origin of the formula, which terminates certain ecclesiastical judgments pronounced at the threshold of the temple, Datum inter duos leones. The tympanum bas-relief has been restored. It represents the charity of S. Martin, who is one of the patrons of the church, and whose mutilated mantle, or a portion of it, has been one of the cherished relics of S. Séverin since the 14th century. There is also a chapel dedicated to the venerable bishop of Tours, which was formerly completely covered with ex voto horse-shoes, the gifts of thankful travellers; for S. Martin having been on horseback when he divided his cloak, became the patron of the travelling community. The western façade is composed of portions of the portal of S. Pierre-aux-Bœufs in the Cité, which was demolished in 1837, and is, the little which has been left unrestored, of the 13th century. S. Pierre was situated in the Rue d'Arcole; the only fragment remaining being a bas-relief fixed against the wall of the house which occupies the site of the church, representing an Ecce Homo surrounded with the emblems of the Passion. Above the porch of S. Séverin are an open work gallery, a rose window and a cornice upon which a party of little animals are playing among some foliage, all in Flamboyant style. The statue of the Virgin is quite modern. The whole of the chapels, as well as the greater part of the nave, are of the 15th and 16th centuries; but the first three bays of the nave are of a totally different style; the form of the arches and of the windows shows the craftsmanship of the 13th century artists. Birds and beasts, natural and grotesque, form gargoyles, shooting the rainwater from their open mouths. At the north-west end of the chapels, an elegantly carved canopied niche encloses the patron Saint, and near him is an inscription inviting the passers-by to pray for the souls of the departed
Bonnes gens qui p cy passes
Pries Dieu pour les trespasses.
The last word has been mutilated.
The interior consists of a nave and double aisles. The triforium is very similar to that of Westminster Abbey church; but at the commencement of the apse, the 13th century arches were filled in with round-headed ones, Cupid-like Cherubs being placed between the two to "ornament" the intervening space, and the pillars converted into marbled pilasters.
Some of the capitals and corbels of the south aisle are most droll—prophets, flying Angels, and divers kinds of animals, all more or less grotesque, after the manner of the miserere seats at Wells cathedral. During the reign of Henri IV. Sibyls, and Prophets, Patriarchs and Apostles, were painted by one Jacques Bunel on a gold ground above the arches of the nave; but happily they have disappeared. It was Mlle. de Montpensier who caused the marbling of the choir to be undertaken in 1684, and who also bore the expense of the baldachino of the altar, employing the sculptor Tubi to carry out the designs of Lebrun.