89 Agen, France: Cathedral of Saint Caprasius: My money is on Temperance.

-

 89 Agen, France: Cathedral of Saint Caprasius: My money is on Temperance.


The cathedral is dedicated to this guy Caprasius who got in just in time to be a martyr before the Roman Empire decided it was cool with the Christian gig and stopped martyring folk. Only seven years later, it would have been too late. The Roman Empire in crisis, in the form of Constantine, decided that an international literate network of enthusiasts might be useful, and that this new monotheistic thingy might also help unify the empire. It worked for a while, but there were other factors in action.


800 years later, Caprasius was posthumously named bishop of Agen where he had been decapitated (an otherwise lovely town in the South-West of France that my wife comes from).


The cathedral is on the pilgrims’ way to Compostela. It has beautiful painted walls (with captions in Latin) and pillars, a rare kind of pulpit which has a hidden entrance, and a couple of magnificent confessionals. Also you can see a painting of Temperance having defeated Voluptuousness (I think).






























































Posts les plus consultés de ce blog

72 London - Saint Paul's Cathedral: Cool people commemorated, but bloody Empire heroes too.

-
Image
  Saint Paul’s Cathedral London. I seem to be visiting churches a lot faster than I am finding the time to write them up; I have a real backlog.  Anyway it was great to visit Saint Paul’s cathedral, one of the four cathedrals in London if I remember correctly (two for the protestants two for the catholics - but I am probably missing some orthodox cathedral). It was Christopher Wren who was the architect, and it was built as the first Anglican cathedral on the site - previously they had just recycled Catholic hand-me-downs. His advisors, and the committees, wanted him to be sure to make it not too Catholic. So, no stained glass, and no statues, monuments etc. However, in later centuries, once they got less scared of us Catholics, the statues and monuments came by the dozens - and indeed the 20th century high altar looks like it was looted from the Vatican itself. Lots of people got monuments, mainly heroes of the bloody British Empire, like Wellington. He has the biggest monument, with
Read more »

86 Paris, Montmartre, The Basilica of the Sacred Heart. The Gospel is sport!

-
Image
 86 Paris, Montmartre, The Basilica of the Sacred Heart This tremendously famous church, which towers over Montmartre in Paris, is more directly political than most. It is often said to have been built as revenge against the Paris Commune, an insurrection during which the workers controlled Paris for a couple of months and showed the wonderful possibilities of workers’ power before being massacred by the authorities. This is not 100% true, in that the plans to build this church were decided before the Paris Commune. Nevertheless, the right wingers of the time certainly presented the church, and the worship of the sacrament in it as penance for the terrible sin of workers’ insurrection. As a result the church is cordially detested by many left wing activists in France (even more than the significant minority of left activists here who cordially detest any religious building). Shortly after the building of the church, it was the site of the National Vow, which again was a very conser
Read more »

50. Montreal, Basilica of Notre Dame. Coolest Gothic revival pulpit

-
Image
  Montreal, Basilica of Notre Dame. Coolest Gothic revival pulpit   The wikipedia article says that the interior of the church is « one of the most dramatic in the world », and dead Gothic. Gets eleven million visitors a year, and last year I was one of them. My favourite ever pulpit. If you’re gonna preach   Good News About Eternal Life, you might as well do it perched on some decent furniture.   The stained glass windows here don’t bother with Bible stories, but depict scenes from the history of Montreal.   The other major highlight is the extra chapel behind the altar  through a corridor, which is has a modern bronze altar piece which is totally stunning. It represents humanity’s journey towards God, passing through childhood, adulthood and old age. In this chapel, the Stations of the Cross are well worth a look.   Information in French Information in English Information in Armenian  
Read more »