The Cathedrals Of Southern France Part 26

One might say with the Abbe Boura.s.se,--who wrote of St. Louis de Versailles,--"It is cold, unfeeling, and without life;" or he might dismiss it with a few words of lukewarm praise, which would be even less satisfying.

More specifically the observation might be pa.s.sed that the lover of churches will hardly find enough to warrant even pa.s.sing consideration _on the entire Riviera_.

This last is in a great measure true, though much of the incident of history and romance is woven about what--so far as the church-lover is concerned--may be termed mere "tourist points."

At all events, he who makes the round, from Ma.r.s.eilles to San Remo in Italy, must to no small extent subordinate his love of ecclesiastical art and--as do the majority of visitors--plunge into a whirl of gaiety (_sic_) as conventional and unsatisfying as are most fulsome, fleeting pleasures.

The sensation is agreeable enough to most of us, for a time at least, but the forced and artificial gaiety soon palls, and he who puts it all behind him, and strikes inland to Aix and Embrun and the romantically disposed little cathedral towns of the valley of the Durance, will come once again into an architectural zone more in comport with the subject suggested by the t.i.tle of this book.

It is curious to note that, with the exception of Ma.r.s.eilles and Aix, scarce one of the suffragan dioceses of the ancient ecclesiastical province of Aix, Arles, and Embrun is possessed of a cathedral of the magnitude which we are wont to a.s.sociate with the churchly dignity of a bishop.

St. Reparata de Nice is dismissed as above; that of Antibes was early transferred or combined with that of Gra.s.se; Gra.s.se itself endured for a time--from 1245 onward--but was suppressed in 1790; Glandeve, Senez, and Riez were combined with Digne; while Frejus has become subordinate to Toulon, though it shares episcopal dignity with that city.

In spite of these changes and the apparently inexplicable tangle of the limits of jurisdiction which has spread over this entire region, religion has, as might be inferred from a study of the movement of early Christianity in Gaul, ever been prominent in the life of the people, and furthermore is of very long standing.

The first bishop of Nice was Amantius, who came in the fourth century.

With what effect he laboured and with what real effect his labours resulted, history does not state with minutiae. The name first given to the diocese was _Cemenelium_.

In 1802 the diocese of Nice was allied with that of Aix, but in the final readjustment its individuality became its own possession once more, and it is now a bishopric, a suffragan of Ma.r.s.eilles.

As to architectural splendour, or even worth, St. Reparata de Nice has none. It is a poor, mean fabric in the Italian style; quite unsuitable in its dimensions to even the proper exploitation of any beauties that the style of the Renaissance may otherwise possess.

The general impression that it makes upon one is that it is but a makes.h.i.+ft or subst.i.tute for something more pretentious which is to come.

The church dates from 1650 only, and is entirely unworthy as an expression of religious art or architecture. The structure itself is bare throughout, and what decorative embellishments there are--though numerous--are gaudy, after the manner of stage tinsel.

IV

STE. MARIE MAJEURE DE TOULON

The episcopal dignity of Toulon is to-day shared with Frejus, whereas, at the founding of the diocese, Toulon stood alone as a bishopric in the ecclesiastical province of Arles. This was in the fifth century. When the readjustment came, after the Revolution, the honour was divided with the neighbouring coast town of Frejus.

In spite of the fact that the cathedral here is of exceeding interest, Toulon is most often thought of as the chief naval station of France in the Mediterranean. From this fact signs of the workaday world are for ever thrusting themselves before one.

As a seaport, Toulon is admirably situated and planned, but the contrast between the new and old quarters of the town and the frowning fortifications, docks, and storehouses is a jumble of utilitarian accessories which does not make for the slightest artistic or aesthetic interest.

Ste. Marie Majeure is a Romanesque edifice of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Its facade is an added member of the seventeenth century, and the belfry of the century following. The church to-day is of some considerable magnitude, as the work of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries comprehended extensive enlargements.

As to its specific style, it has been called Provencal as well as Romanesque. It is hardly one or the other, as the pure types known elsewhere are considered, but rather a blend or transition between the two.

The edifice underwent a twelfth-century restoration, which doubtless was the opportunity for incorporating with the Romanesque fabric certain details which we have come since to know as Provencal.

During the Revolution the cathedral suffered much despoliation, as was usual, and only came through the trial in a somewhat imperfect and poverty-stricken condition. Still, it presents to-day some considerable splendour, if not actual magnificence.

Its nave is for more reasons than one quite remarkable. It has a length of perhaps a hundred and sixty feet, and a width scarcely thirty-five, which gives an astonis.h.i.+ng effect of narrowness, but one which bespeaks a certain grace and lightness nevertheless--or would, were its constructive elements of a little lighter order.

In a chapel to the right of the choir is a fine modern _reredos_, and throughout there are many paintings of acceptable, if not great, worth.

The pulpit, by a native of Toulon, is usually admired, but is a modern work which in no way compares with others of its kind seen along the Rhine, and indeed throughout Germany. One of the princ.i.p.al features which decorate the interior is a tabernacle by Puget; while an admirable sculptured "Jehovah and the Angels" by Veyrier, and a "Virgin" by Canova--which truly is not a great work--complete the list of artistic accessories.

The first bishop of Toulon, in the fifth century, was one Honore.

V

ST. ETIENNE DE FReJUS

The ancient episcopal city of Frejus has perhaps more than a due share of the attractions for the student and lover of the historic past. It is one of the most ancient cities of Provence. Its charm of environment, people, and much else that it offers, on the surface or below, are as irresistible a galaxy as one can find in a small town of scarce three thousand inhabitants. And Frejus is right on the beaten track, too, though it is not apparent that the usual run of pleasure-loving, tennis-playing, and dancing-party species of tourist--at a small sum per head, all included--ever stop here _en route_ to the town's more fas.h.i.+onable Riviera neighbours--at least they do not _en ma.s.se_--as they wing their way to the more delectable pleasures of naughty Nice or precise and proper Mentone.

The establishment of a bishopric here is somewhat doubtfully given by "_La Gallia Christiania_" as having been in the fourth century. Coupled with this statement is the a.s.sertion that the cathedral at Frejus is very ancient, and its foundation very obscure; but that it was probably built up from the remains of a "primitive temple consecrated to an idol." Such, at least, is the information gleaned from a French source, which does not in any way suggest room for doubt.

Formerly the religious administration was divided amongst a provost, an archdeacon, a sacristan, and twelve canons. The diocese was suppressed in 1801 and united with that of Aix, but was reestablished in 1823 by virtue of the Concordat of 1817. To-day the diocese divides the honour of archiepiscopal dignity with that of Toulon.

The foundations of St. Etienne are admittedly those of a pagan temple, but the bulk of the main body of the church is of the eleventh century.

The tower and its spire--not wholly beautiful, nor yet in any way unbeautiful--are of the period of the _ogivale primaire_.

As to style, in so far as St. Etienne differs greatly from the early Gothic of convention, it is generally designated as Provencal-Romanesque. It is, however, strangely akin to what we know elsewhere as primitive Gothic, and as such it is worthy of remark, situated, as it is, here in the land where the pure round-arched style is indigenous.

The portal has a doorway ornamented with some indifferent Renaissance sculptures. To the left of this doorway is a _baptistere_ containing a number of granite columns, which, judging from their crudeness, must be of genuine antiquity.

There is an ancient Gothic cloister, hardly embryotic, but still very rudimentary, because of the lack of piercings of the arches; possibly, though, this is the result of an afterthought, as the arched openings appear likely enough to have been filled up at some time subsequent to the first erection of this feature.

The bishop's palace is of extraordinary magnitude and impressiveness, though of no very great splendour. In its fabric are incorporated a series of Gallo-Roman pilasters, and it has the further added embellishment of a pair of graceful twin _tourelles_.

The Roman remains throughout the city are numerous and splendid, and, as a former seaport, founded by Caesar and enlarged by Augustus, the city was at a former time even more splendid than its fragments might indicate. To-day, owing to the building up of the foresh.o.r.e, and the alluvial deposits washed down by the river Argens, the town is perhaps a mile from the open sea.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Detail of Doorway of the Archibishop's Palace, Frejus_]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

VI

eGLISE DE GRa.s.sE

Gra.s.se is more famed for its picturesque situation and the manufacture of perfumery than it is for its one-time cathedral, which is but a simple and uninteresting twelfth-century church, whose only feature of note is a graceful doorway in the pointed style.

The diocese of Gra.s.se formerly had jurisdiction over Antibes, whose bishop--St. Armentaire--ruled in the fourth century.

The diocese of Gra.s.se--in the province of Embrun--did not come into being, however, until 1245, when Raimond de Villeneuve was made its first bishop. The see was suppressed in 1790.