Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1870-12-01
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The sepulchre OF the French Kings

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perience the horrors of war is St. Denis,
suburb of Paris one might say, a con-
siderble town, fer it contains nearly 80,
600 inhabitants. 1t is famed for its
Abby, from the top of whose square and
lofty tower beautiful panorama is to be
seen. The venerable edifce itself is an
object of much attraction for its splendid
architecture and its Imposing Appearance
but above all for its having been the
burial place of the monarchs of France
from the days of Dagobert | CA. D. 628-
639) to Revolution of 1889 The town
is protected by a fort on the southeast,
but it is scarcely susceptible Of a long
defence. being open on all sides aud
situated on plain. The famous Abbey
is kind of Meca's shrine to France. 1t
was there that Joan of Arc raioed the
Orifiamme, the 6 'otious standard beneath
whose folds she achieved the deliverence
of Orleans and Paris There are erected
columns to The memory IT Henry III, who
was assassnated in 1889, and to Francis
Ii, the husband of Mary Queen of Scots,
and efiges to the great Cons:abr Dugue-
scln and Marshal Turenne, whose body
was exhumed from the vaults OF the
Abby and placed in glass case and ex-
hibited
For more than 1900 years has the
Abbey of st. DENIS been consecrated to
the worship ofGOd, with the exception of
the Brief period of insanity, during the
great revolution of 1789~~'93. When the
Parisians declared there was,no God, and
installed the personi6caton Of Reason ia
the churches. When Robespierre declar-
ed that tie new Republic recognized God
the votaries of the shrine ofSt Dionysius
resumed their worship in the Abbey
dedicated to him. The building, how
ever, had been terribly desecrated by the
Partisan mob. in the excess of their fury
against the kings and aristocrats. In
1898, in the course of three days, fifty
one tombs were rifed, and the ashes Of
kings aud queens aud marshals were torn
UP; after being subjected to every indigi-
ty, they were thrown in a heap into two
trenches, hastily dug outside the walls of
the Abbey.
1t is related that a soldier with his
sabre cut the beard from the chin Of
Henry of Navarro, and that the body of
Turenne was SO little injured that the
likeness was still recognized, although he
had been dead l18 years 1t was, as has
alread y been stated, exhibited in glass
case. The edifce was seriously damaged
aud its roof was torn off. 1t remained in
this deplorable condition for twelve years
Then the first Napoleon restored the bull
ding to itspristine splepdor. He repair
ed The desecrated sepulchraf vaults of the
Bourbon kings. and fitted them up as
mausoleum for himself and his descend,
ants. To the vaults beneith the high
alter the burned remains Of Louis XVI
and Marie Antoinette. and those Of such
members of the late royal family as could
be recovered, were carried. Of course,
none of the Bonapartes were placed in the
sacred precints. But Louis XVIII and
some Of his relatives were, especially the
last Prince of Condo, the father of the
unfortunate Duke D'Enghieb, who was
shot at Vincennes by order of Napoleon,
dark transaction, which elected from
Talleyrand the memorable remark, 1T is
worse than crime !: it is a blunder. -
Napoleon restored the damaged transept
and crypt, and Louis XVIII aud Charles
X restored the long range Of royal tombs,
although the ashes of their former occu-
pants had been scattered or buried in the
trenches. Ehigies were erected to them
and to the entire line of the Meroving ian
and Carlovingian kings, beginning with
Clovis and his queen Clotilda.
Between the years 1906, and 1847
more than 81 600 600 were expended on
the restoration of the Abbey Of St. Denis,
and it is still one Of the lions of Paris
1t will be very lamentable affair if ii
should sustain damage from Partisan
shells. Yet the memories Of the past are
not easily obliterated and while history
endures the record will be preserved. Iu
this materialistic age we can i'll spare any
of those Monuments o the past which recall
theschitalry of our ancestors. We need
to be reminded Occasionally that there is
something else besides money to live for.
and but few subjects so soon lift US out of
ourselves for the moment as the contem-
plation of the noble European Cathedrals
and sepulchral monuments Of the Middle
Ages. - Phila. Ledger.
What rife makes the worst scores p