The Cathedrals Of Southern France Part 24

CATHeDRALE DE SION

The small city of Sion, the capital of the Valais, looks not unlike the pictures one sees in sixteenth-century historical works.

It is brief, confined, and un.o.btrusive. It was so in feudal times, when most of its architecture partook of the nature of a stronghold. It is so to-day, because little of modernity has come into its life.

The city, town, or finally village--for it is hardly more, from its great lack of activity--lies at the foot of three lofty, isolated eminences. A great conflagration came to Sion early in the nineteenth century which resulted in a new lay-out of the town and one really fine modern thoroughfare, though be it still remarked its life is yet mediaeval.

Upon one of these overshadowing heights is the present episcopal residence, and on another the remains of a fortress--formerly the stronghold of the bishops of Sion. On this height of La Valere stands the very ancient church of Ste. Catherine (with a tenth or eleventh-century choir), occupying, it is said, the site of a Roman temple.

In the mid-nineteenth century the Jesuits gained a considerable influence here and congregated in large numbers.

The city was the ancient Sedanum, and in olden time the bishop bore also the t.i.tle of "Prince of the Holy Empire." The power of this prelate was practically unlimited, and ordinances of state were, as late as the beginning of the nineteenth century, made in his name, and his arms formed the embellishments of the public buildings and boundary posts.

Rudolf III., king of Burgundy, from the year 1000, made them counts of Valais.

St. Theodule was the first bishop of Sion,--in the fourth century,--and is the patron of the diocese.

In 1070 the bishop of Sion came to England as papal legate to consecrate Walkelin to the see of Winchester.

In 1516 Bishop Schinner came to England to procure financial aid from Henry VIII. to carry on war against France.

The cathedral in the lower town is a fifteenth-century work which ought--had the manner of church-building here in this isolated region kept pace with the outside world--to be Renaissance in style. In reality, it suggests nothing but the earliest of Gothic, and, in parts, even Romanesque; therefore it is to be remarked, if not admired.

Near by is the modern episcopal residence.

The records tell of the extraordinary beauty and value of the _tresor_, which formerly belonged to the cathedral: an ivory pyx, a reliquary, and a magnificent ma.n.u.script of the Gospels--given by Charles the Great to St. Maurice, and acquired by the town in the fourteenth century. This must at some former time have been dispersed, as no trace of it is known to-day.

Sion was formerly a suffragan bishopric of Tarantaise, which in turn has become to-day a suffragan of Chambery.

x.x.xII

ST. PAUL TROIS CHaTEAUX

St. Paul Trois Chateaux is a very old settlement. As a bishopric it was known anciently as Tricastin, and dates from the second century. St.

Restuit was its first bishop. It was formerly the seat of the ancient Roman colony of _Augusta Tricastinorum_. Tradition is responsible for the a.s.sertion that St. Paul was the first prelate of the diocese, and being born blind was cured by Jesus Christ. This holy man, after having recovered his sight, took the name of Restuit, under which name he is still locally honoured. One of his successors erected to his honour, in the fourth century, a chapel and an altar. These, of course have disappeared--hence we have only tradition, which, to say the least, and the most, is, in this case, quite legendary.

The city was devastated in the fifth century by the Vandals; in 1736 by the Saracens; and taken and retaken by the Protestants and Catholics in the fourteenth century.

As a bishopric the "Tricastin city" comprised but thirty-six parishes, and in the rearrangement attendant upon the Revolution was suppressed altogether. Ninety-five bishops in all had their seats here up to the time of suppression. Certainly the religious history of this tiny city has been most vigorous and active.

The city conserves to-day somewhat of its ancient birthright, and is a picturesque and romantic spot, in which all may tarry awhile amid its tortuous streets and the splendid remains of its old-time builders. Few do drop off, even, in their annual rush southward, in season or out, and the result is that St. Paul Trois Chateaux is to-day a delightfully "old world" spot in the most significant meaning of the phrase.

Of course the habitant still refers to the seat of the former bishop's throne as a cathedral, and it is with pardonable pride that he does so.

This precious old eleventh and twelfth-century church is possessed of as endearing and interesting an aspect as the city itself. It has been restored in recent times, but is much hidden by the houses which hover around its walls. It has a unique portal which opens between two jutting columns whose shafts uphold nothing--not even capitals.

In fact, the general plan of the cathedral follows that of the Latin cross, though in this instance it is of rather robust proportions. The transepts, which are neither deep nor wide, are terminated with an apse, as is also the choir, which depends, for its embellishments, upon the decorative effect produced by eight Corinthian columns.

The interior, the nave in particular, is of unusual height for a not very grand structure; perhaps eighty feet. Its length is hardly greater.

The orders of columns rise vaultwards, surmounted by a simple entablature. These are perhaps not of the species that has come to be regarded as good form in Christian architecture, but which, for many reasons, have found their way into church-building, both before and since the rise of Gothic.

Under a triforium, in blind, is a sculptured drapery; again a feature more pagan than Christian, but which is here more pleasing than when usually found in such a false relation.

Both these details are in imitation of the antique, and, since they date from long before the simulating of pseudo-cla.s.sical details became a mere fad, are the more interesting and valuable as an art-expression of the time.

For the rest, this one-time cathedral is uncommon and most singular in all its parts, though nowhere of very great inherent beauty.

An ancient gateway bears a statue of the Virgin. It was the gift of a former Archbishop of Paris to the town of his birth.

An ancient Dominican convent is now the _ecole Normale des Pet.i.ts Freres de Marie_. Within its wall have recently been discovered a valuable mosaic work, and a table or altar of carved stone.

In the suburbs of the town have also recently been found much beautiful Roman work of a decorative nature; a geometric parchment in mosaic; a superb lamp, in worked bronze; a head of Mercury (now in the Louvre), and much treasure which would make any antiquarian literally leap for joy, were he but present when they were unearthed.

Altogether the brief resume should make for a desire to know more of this ancient city whose name, even, is scarcely known to those much-travelled persons who cross and recross France in pursuit of the pleasures of convention alone.

_PART IV_

_The Mediterranean Coast_

I

INTRODUCTORY

The Mediterranean sh.o.r.e of the south of France, that delectable land which fringes the great tideless sea, bespeaks the very spirit of history and romance, of Christian fervour, and of profane riot and bloodshed.

Its ancient provinces,--Lower Languedoc, the Narbonensis of Gaul; Provence, the most glorious and golden of all that went to make up modern France,--the mediaeval capital of King Rene, Aix-en-Provence, and the commercial capital of the Phoceans (559 B. C.), Ma.s.silia, all combine in a wealth of storied lore which is inexhaustible.

The tide of latter-day travel descends the Rhone to Ma.r.s.eilles, turns eastward to the conventional pleasures of the Riviera, and utterly neglects the charms of La Crau, St. Remy, Martiques, and Aigues-Mortes; or the more progressive, though still ancient cathedral cities of Montpellier, Beziers, Narbonne, or Perpignan.

There is no question but that the French Riviera is, in winter, a land of suns.h.i.+ny days, cool nights, and the more or the less rapid life of fas.h.i.+on. Which of these attractions induces the droves of personally-, semi-, and non-conducted tourists to journey thither, with the first advent of northern rigour, is doubtful; it is probably, however, a combination of all three.

It is a beautiful strip of coast-line from Ma.r.s.eilles to Mentone, and its towns and cities are most attractively placed. But a sojourn there "in the season," amid the luxury of a "palace-hotel," or the bareness of a mediocre _pension_, is a thing to be dreaded. Seekers after health and pleasure are supposed to be wonderfully recouped by the process; but this is more than doubtful. Vice is rarely attractive, but it is always made attractive, and weak tea and _pain de menage_ in a Riviera boarding-house are no more stimulating than elsewhere; hence the many virtues of this sunlit land are greatly nullified.

"A peculiarity of the Riviera is that each of the prominent watering-places possesses a tutelary deity of our own. (Modest this!) Thus, for instance, no visitor to Cannes is allowed to forget the name of Lord Brougham, while the interest at Beaulieu and Cap Martin centres around another great English statesman, Lord Salisbury. Cap d'Antibes has (or had) for its _genius loci_ Grant Allen, and Valescure is chiefly concerned with Mrs. Humphry Ward and Mrs. Oliphant."

This quotation is, perhaps, enough to make the writer's point here: Why go to the Riviera to think of Lord Brougham, long since dead and gone, any more than to Monte Carlo to be reminded of the unfortunate end which happened to the great system for "breaking the bank" of Lord----, a nineteenth-century n.o.bleman of notoriety--if not of fame?