Saint Denis

 Today we rode the Metro about as far as it goes out to the town of St. Denis to see the cathedral there. St. Denis is one of the most important cathedrals in France for two reasons. The first is that it was the birthplace of the Gothic style. The man who pioneered it was Suger, abbot of the St. Denis monastery from 1123-1151, and friend and confidante of the French kings. It was his idea to remodel the abbey church in a grand style, fitting for the burial place of St. Denis, the apostle to the Gauls and the patron saint of France. Suger was enamored with the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, a sixth century philosopher who blended pagan philosophy with Christianity and took the pseudonym Dionysius, claiming to the be the Athenian convert of Paul the Apostle mentioned in Acts  17:34. As if this wasn't confusing enough, Suger was under the impression that the real author of Dionysius' writings was St. Denis himself (he wasn't). Nevertheless, Suger dug his philosophy, especially passages like the one I saw posted in St. Denis's crypt: "For whosoever exercises his powers of reflection, manifestations of beauty become the figures of an invisible harmony." Dionysius, and Suger, believed that beautiful things were signs from God that led humans toward a communion with deity. "This stone or that piece of wood," Dionysius wrote, "is a light to me," because all visible things are "material lights" reflecting the infinite light of God. For Suger, this was a justification for his love of ornamentation and richness, for beautifully worked metal and stone and glass.

Suger worked closely with his architects to create a space that captured the grand counterpoint between gravity and aspiration. His cathedral would be made of stone, yet it would aspire to the heavens. Both the narthex (entrance) and the chevet (the area around the altar) were completed under Suger's watchful eye. Here we see the Gothic arch used consistently for the first time to create a dizzying ribbed vault. All round the altar is a string of chapels, which in Suger's words "shine with the wonderful and uninterrupted light of most luminous windows, pervading the interior beauty."

The second reason St. Denis is so important is because it is the burial place of most of the French kings. While there we visited the tombs of Dagobert and Charles Martel, of Louis XIV the Roi du Soleil, of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette and their children. I was especially moved by the tomb of Francis I, the king who brought Leonardo to France. Unlike most of the tombs which feature formal effigies, Francis's tomb has life-like carvings of  him and his queen lying nude on a slab, a fitting monument for a humanist king.

I was also touched by the praying statues of Louis and Marie Antoinette, commissioned by Louis XVIII, Louis XVI's brother and the king of France, restored after Napoleon's exile. After Louis's and Marie's beheading their bodies were dumped into a mass grave outside the Church of the Madeleine. Twenty-five years later Louis XVIII had their graves opened. A few remains were identified and deposited in the church along with their children that died before and during the Revolution.

Of course St. Denis is there, or rather he isn't. According to legend this 3rd century missionary was beheaded on Montmartre hill, then walked seven miles, carrying his head and preaching all the way. He finally collapsed on the present site of St. Denis cathedral, indicating the spot he wished to be buried. According to a slightly more credible account he was buried here by Dagobert, a seventh century Merovingian king who built the first chapel in St. Denis over his remains. Archeological digs under the church has revealed a burial pit with animal remains, but nothing human yet. They venerate him here all the same, and a projector casts an eerie image of St. Denis lying in his grave, his head firmly attached to his shoulders.