St Paul + St Louis Church Paris

Nous Emmener à l’Église

In the very heart of the village of St Paul in the very heart of the quartier of Le Marais in the very heart of the 4th Arrondisement in the very heart of Paris is St Paul and St Louis Church. There is nowhere more atmospheric to be on a late Saturday afternoon in the depths of winter than this candlelit thin place resonating to the thrilling grandeur of organ playing.

• 2019: Lavender’s Blue descend on St Paul and St Louis Church.
• 2015: The façade and lantern tower are restored.
• 1871: The church is pillaged by the Paris Commune.
• 1831: The church is pillaged during the Three Day Revolution.
• 1810s: Victor Baltard restores the building. The architect would later collaborate with his fellow Lutheran Georges-Eugène Haussmann on the masterplanning of Paris.
• 1802: St Louis Church is also dedicated to St Paul and the bell and façade clock of the demolished church are reinstated in the newly doubly dedicated church.
• 1798: St Paul Church is sold and demolished.
• 1789: The Bastille is destroyed and St Louis Church is used as storage space for art and books.
• 1641: Cardinal de Richelieu celebrates the first mass in St Louis Church.
• 1627: Louis XIII lays down the first stone of St Louis Church as it exists today.
• 1430s: St Paul Church is rebuilt.
• 1358: Charles V sets up his royal palace in Hôtel St Pol on Rue St Paul.
• 1125: A church replaces the chapel and is upgraded to become the Parish of St Paul the Apostle.
• 632: St Paul in the Fields Cemetery Chapel is constructed and dedicated to St Paul the Hermit.

Someone, somewhere, recently asked us what the sign INRI means above a crucifix. The acronym stands for the Latin phrase ‘Jesus Nazarenus Rex Judaeorum’. John 19:19 explains, “Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: ‘Jesus of Nazareth, The King of the Jews’.”