172, Paris, St Peter of Montrouge, site of Paris commune battle

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 Nineteenth century neoromanesque church. The architect was Emile Vaudremer and he took general inspiration from Roman basicilas and stuff. He also designed the Lycée Buffon, a Parisian high school.


During the war against Prussia in 1870, part of the church was used as a hospital ward. The following year, during the Paris commune, when the ordinary workers controlled the city, the church was used as a debating chamber. The belltower served as a lookout tower, because the army of reaction was on its way from Versailles.  A canon was set up at the top. On the 23rd May the church was attacked and 37 men were executed by the Versaillais. 


The church has rather gloomy  Stations of the Cross, but an impressive pulpit and altar canopy.

























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This chapel in Bastia, Corsica, is named for the Immaculate Conception. Not to be confused with the virgin birth, the immaculate conception is the idea that the mother of Jesus, since she was to give birth to God, had to be one hell of a lot more virtuous than the rest of us, and so must have been born, unlike every other bugger, without the stain of original sin, inherited from Adam and Eve. This idea was debated for a thousand years or more before being officially approved and   validtaed by the Pope in the mid nineteenth century. Most protestants ain’t having it. The church, built in the sixteenth century, has a great pulpit with hidden staircase, and a lovely gilded baroque ceiling. On the notice board is an advert for the Immaculate Conception gang (or confrerie), which was founded in 1590.
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