The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1837-12-26
vEESCEF4HAN RGOUS.
From the Boston .4tiaS.
LETTER FROM FRANCE-rHE roMBs AT
ST. DENIS.


A leagues walk from the Barrere, between two
rows of trees, brought me within sight Of the
ancient towers OF the church OF ST. Denis. This
church is, in one respecr, the Westminster Abbey
of Francc;-it is the burial place of her Royal
Dead.
Il is 3mQ"G The G 2 h@dnF Is il t he k9SHHm
Christianity was first Introduced in France. In
the year $40, S.. Denis came hither from Rome
to preach the Gospel. He suffered nlartyrdom
by decaptaton. The legend says, that not soon
or was his head cut off, than st. Denis arose, and
Selling upon the detached portion, conveyed ii,
with exceeding gravity, more than league, to
the site Of the present church, while angels chant
ed round him, 'Goria tibi, Domino" Arrived
here, he deposited his head at his feet, and yield
ed up the ghost. A Roman lady, named Catua,
erected tomb over his body in 3l5 This tomb
was soon after enclosed within chapel In 496,
St. Jenoveve re-esablished this chapel on a lar
gar scale In $780, king Chilperc there buried
his young son Dagobert. This was the first royal
Inflammation at the Church of st. Denis. The
chapel was in 629, enlarged and embellished by
king Dagober and the ad accent Abbey of monks
belonging to the order of St. Benot, was enrich
ed. At different periods was the chapel recon
structed and improved, until it took its present
| form in 1873.
The first object which caught my eye on en-
tering, was part OF the stone tomb Of old king
| DagobCrt, IN the wall on the left. Rcmounting,
as it does more than thousand years, | looked
upon it with much interest 1t is in the form OF
a Gothic chapel, and is carved out into bas-re-
Iicts. These bas-relicts quite curious They
represent the dream of Il certain Sicilian hermit.
In the lowest section, you see Dagobert dying,
while St. Denis exhorts him. There also do you
see boat wherein stands Dagobcrt's soul, while
Devils, OF unutterable hideouSness, torment it
In The next section above, the soul or the poor
king is still seen as before, surrounded by dem
ons, but 10! ST. Denis and St. Martin are APP
preaching upon the waves to rescue hum. STILL
higher up, you see the king raised by saints to-
wards heaven in a sheet, and finally in the high
est compartment of all, are ST. Denis and st. Mar
TN kneellng, they pray Abraham TO receive
Dagobert's soul into his bosom.
Leaving this specimen of old art and superst-
ton, L walked to similar object upon the OPP
posite side of the church. This another part
OF the same tomb, broken at the time of the rev.
outiOn, and here was the reclining form in stone,
some thousand years old, of Nanthidis, Dago-
bert's queen.
now walked up the nave, towards the choir
The church arose in the graceful Gothic style
with windows of here and there antique and
modern stained glass. L not particularly
impressed by its architecture. Its interior look
ed cherries and used up, and thought could
still sec marks of its sackings in the days OF Nine
ty-threc. A tomb upon the right caught my at
tention. 1t was the tomb of Francis LIST anC
Claude his queen. A magnificent tomb it was
of white marble, surrounded by sixteen beautiful
Ionic columns, ten twelve feet high. These
columns support an entabulature, or rather roof
wherein are five kneeling forms large as lie, o
Francis and Claude, with their children. BE
meath this marble roof, upon cenetaph, lie thu
statues, side by side, of the king and queen. II
the face of the former, recognized, though il
death, that chivarous expression so illustrative
his character. On the opposite side OF the churct
are two tombs of nearly equal spendor.
The first is of Louis XII, and Anne his vile
1t is some twelve feet high, ten long, and perhap
eight in breadth. 1t is surrounded by small seat
ed figures in marble of the twelve apostles. Ma
ny of these are exquisitely wrought but not on
escaped the vandalism Of the Revolution. Thi
f is fractured in an arm, that in foot and anothe
n lacks portion of garment The adjacent mau