The Vow of Louis XIII & Notre Dame de Paris

On February 10, 1638,  Louis XIII officially proclaimed the Virgin as the “special protector of the kingdom of France”. After 23 years of marriage, Queen Anne d’Autriche was finally pregnant, and Louis XIII vowed his kingdom to the Virgin Mary and to Notre Dame de Paris. 

Louis XIII wanted a “great altar of the Cathedral church of Paris built with an image of the Virgin and her son,” and at her feet, the king offering his crown.  These things take time, and Louis XIII died in 1643 and would never see it started. His son, Louis XIV, took on the project in 1699, 61 years after the “vow,” and the statue's creation finally began. 

In this week's episode, we share the story of the Vow and the creation of the beautiful statues held in Notre Dame de Paris. 

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Bonjour, bonjour, and welcome to another episode of Paris in Blue Blanc Rouge with Claudine Hemingway. That is me. And today I'm going to share a story with you that has to do with one of my other favorite places, the Cathedral of Notre Dame du Paris. It was almost two years ago that the cathedral had reopened once more to the faithful. The devastating fire of April 15th, 2019, damaged much more than just the roof and spire. It also broke the hearts of people around the world. Under the 12th and 13th century roof, once known as the forest, inside the stone walls held countless historic pieces of art, stained glass, and statuary. Within the choir, a set of three statues mark a historic moment in French history dating back to the 17th century that is still remembered every year to this day. Louis XIII was a son of Hotlegs Henry IV and Marie de Medicine and was hoisted to the throne on May 14, 1610, after the death of his father. His mother would step in as regent until he came of age, well, plus another three years. After the death of Henry IV, in an effort to repair the fractured relationship between France and Spain, Marie de Medicine orchestrated the exchange of the princesses. In March 1612, her daughter, Elizabeth de France, was betrothed to Prince Philippe IV of Spain and his sister Anne d'Autriche to the Dauphin Louis XIII. The big exchange would occur three years later on November 9, 1615, on the Ile des Fuson between France and Spain and captured in Rubin's Medici cycle of the Louvre. Married by proxy on October 18th, they would finally meet face to face at their wedding reception on November 21, 1615 in Bordeaux. Anne and Louis were both born in September 1601, five days apart, and barely 14 years old the evening of their nuptials. Marie de Medici and the other officials stood in the royal bedroom waiting for the young couple to consummate the marriage. Unsure of what to do, the night was a disaster, and depending on the account you read, it's unsure if it was even a success. Either way, it left the future king and queen of France traumatized and took at least four years before they shared a bed again. The new princess had little interest in anything French. She surrounded herself with her Spanish ladies in waiting, asked for Spanish foods, and dressed in Spanish clothes. Mommy dearest Marie de Medici eventually put a stop to that and expelled anything anyone's Spanish from the Palais de Louvre. An heir to the throne was needed, and now it involved the many advisors of the king. Without an heir to the throne, other family members could have their own dreams of royalty, and the clock was ticking. Anne did become pregnant a few times and all ended in miscarriages. For her part, Anne, who was very pious, had many abbeys, monasteries, and churches built, including Saint Supice and Val de Cross, in hopes that God would bestow a child onto her, and he may have done just that. On October 27, 1637, Brother Fiacre de Saint Marguerite at the Bassadic Notre Dame de Victoire in Paris had a vision of the Virgin for four days. Mary told the friar that God was going to give France a son and that he needed to tell Queen Anne, who had now been married for twenty three years, and that she would need to visit three specific churches to pray. At each the Notre Dame de Paris, Notre Dame de Victoire in Paris, and Notre Dame de Grasse in Cottignac, she would pray and ask for Nirvana of the Rosary. From November 8th to December 5th, 1637, Louis XIII and Anne traveled to the three churches, doing just as she was told. A month later, Anne discovered she was pregnant. Today they believe that December 5th was a day of conception. However, there are two alternate versions of this miraculous moment, both of which might not even be true, but both are pretty great. True love between kings and queens was a rarity. Marriages were about property, money, or power, and never love. The relationship between Louis XIII and Anne was no different. If the two slept together, it was out of obligation, but they always had separate bedrooms. On December 5th, 1637, the king had left his small hunting lodge at Versailles to head to the Chateau de Saint Moore on the eastern side of Paris. As Louis passed through Paris, a storm rolled in, flooding the streets. His carriages headed back to the Louvre to stay the night and ride out the storm. Then in the sultry candlelight of the stone walls of the Louvre, well, you know what happens next. Scenario number two brings in Cardinal Mazarin, the close advisor to Louis XIII, who had become a confidant and friend to the Queen as well. Some thought very close. Many rumored that the Sun King was a result of a close relationship, but Mazarin was in Italy at the time, which would throw a whole Da Vinci Code king into the royal lineage of Louis XIV. Louis XIII first wrote of a vow as early as 1630 and in Latin at that. Seven years later he returned to the vow with the influence of Cardinal Richelieu and Joseph de Tromblay. The long-running French wars of religion had ended after more than 36 years in 1598, but the effects lasted far longer. Richelieu and Tromblay, known as the shadow leaders under Louis XIII, believed a formal decree would help move the church forward. On November 11, 1636, the Spanish and Bavarian troops surrendered to the French at Corby in the midst of the Thirty Year War. A year later, in December 1637, the repeated wars with the House of Habsburg and Ferdinand II led the king and his shadow advisors to bring the vow back to the forefront. And in desperate need for an heir to the throne, it was also around the same time that Anne of Austria was finally with child. On February 10, 1638, in the Chateau de Saint Germain enlais, King Louis XIII signed the decree putting his state, his crown, and his subjects under the protection of the Holy Virgin, with a celebration each year on August 15th, the Assumption of the Virgin. The decree also stated that every Catholic Church of France had to devote the largest chapel sitting behind the choir to the Virgin Mary. The highest honor would go to the Cathedral Notre Dame de Paris, where the choir itself would be transformed and a sculpture to represent the vow would be created. The first ceremony was celebrated on August 15, 1638, in the Mignam Convent Chapel of the Virgin in Abbeville in the north of France. It was followed by a long procession through the streets with Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu leading the way. The same day, Monseigneur de Gondy performed the same consecration in Notre Dame de Paris. On September 5th, the same year, Louis Diodonet was born at the Chateau de Saint-Germain-en-Laye. From his birth, Louis Diodonet, meaning God given, could only be defined and destined to become one thing, the Sun King of France. Louis XIII jumped right into the dedication and immortalizing the vow in art. He commissioned paintings he hoped to place in the notable cathedrals. One of the best representations of the vow is a painting in the first commission of the event from Louis XIII to the painter Philippe de Champigny in 1638, commissioned to be hung on the southwestern transept of Notre Dame. Champigny, the personal painter of the king and Cardinal Richelieu, beautifully links the king to the life of Christ. On the right, Christ lies against the legs of the Virgin with a small angel holding his arm and wipes away a tear. Above, a choir of angels look down with a glowing light behind them. On the left, Louis XIII in full coronation robe kneels before Christ and presents his crown and scepter. It was removed during the Revolution and would be sent to the Musee de Beaux-Arts in Cannes in 1803 after the Consortat. Another version commissioned by the king, painted in 1638 by Simon Vouet and originally placed in the Église Nui Saint Franc. Christ is at the cross and on the lower right, Louis XIII kneeling in devotion. Jean and Marie Magdalene are on the left. The 1638 vow wasn't the first one Louis XIII dedicated. Ten years before, during the Siege of La Rochelle, with Cardinal Richelieu at his side, Louis XIII pledged that if they were successful, he would have a church built and dedicated to the Holy Virgin and be named Notre Dame des Victoir. The same church that the couple would visit in 1637 under the orders of the Virgin herself. Today, in the same church, Notre Dame des Victoires, not far from Palais Royal, in the back of the choir is a painting by Carl van Lowe and commemorates the earlier 1628 vow. Painted under Louis XV in 1746, Louis XIII is on his knees and holds his hands open as the Virgin above holds a pomfronde to give to the king. On his left, Cardinal Richelieu looks back at the military and religious leaders, and on the right of the king, Jean Guiton, the alderman of La Rochelle, presents the keys to the city to the Virgin. Removed during the Revolution, the painting found its way to Versailles, which refused to return it to the church. Napoleon made one call, and the painting returned to the church where it belonged the next day. In the trance up high above the chapel of Saint Augustin, a stained glass marks the importance of the church, now a basilica, on Louis and Anne and the promise of the next king. Louis XIII on the left kneels and presents his crown as scepter, while above him Louis IX presents the ultimate crown, the crown of thorns. The Virgin and Child in the center above the altar and the crest of the King of France is surrounded by the Order of the Saint Esprit insignia. Anne of Austria kneels on the right with Saint Anne, the mother of the Virgin at her side. On the lower left, another scene with Brother Fiacre in prayer as the Virgin and Child comes to him in a vision foretelling the birth of a child to the royal couple. On the right, Anne sits on her throne as the Cardinal de la Rochefacco comes to hear the news. Created in 1854, it was commissioned and donated by Satanier de la Rochefacot, the descendant of the Cardinal and his wife, Yolan de Polignac, the daughter of Jules de Polignac, who was involved in the Three Glorious Day Revolution that I shared last week. The church was elevated in 1927 to the title of Basilica and is now home to more than 37,000 ex votos. Located a few blocks in the Palais Royale, it's a must-see in Paris, and I will share more about it soon. Other depictions include a lithograph by Abraham Beauce in 1638 with Louis XIII with his crown and scepter on the left and Anne of Austria on the right, presenting the newborn Louis XIV. Louis XIII had health issues most of his life, chronic stomach issues as well as bouts with tuberculosis ended with his death on May 14, 1643, the same date as his beloved father, Henry IV, in 1610. His wish of having the great choir of Notre Dame would not be fulfilled before his death. Louis XIV hadn't even hit his fifth birthday at the time of his father's passing. On March 25, 1650, at the age of twelve, Louis XIV announced that he would renew his father's wish. Philippe de Champigny painted a second tableau in 1650, marking Louis XIV's renewal and promise of the vow his father had made in 1638. Louis kneels and presents his crown and scepter, just like his father had to the Virgin and Child. Behind him his younger brother Philippe d'Anjou and his mother, Anne of Austria, who is dressed in her morning gown. On february twenty first, sixteen sixty, Louis XIV and his mother returned to the Notre Dame de Grasse in Colignac, praying and thanking the Virgin for his life. On June 7, 1660, in the village of Coltignac in the Varre, Shepherd Gaspard Ricard came across an old man who told him that under a large stone was a water spring. It had been known that the entire area was dry and no source could be found for miles. A large spring began to rise from the earth. It was just three kilometers from his vision. Notre Dame de Grasse, a chapel dating to 1519, became a pilgrimage site for followers, including the king. While Louis XV renewed the vow again on March 25th, 1650, it would take 60 years to once again bring the wish to life. With the assistance and money of Cardinal de Noyer, the project finally began in 1699, 61 years after the vow. On December 7, 1699, following Mass, Cardinal de Noyer laid the first stone of the new altar, marking the beginning of the work on the choir of Notre Dame de Paris. A plaque was added stating Louis Le Grand, wanting to fulfill the vow of the king, his father, and add a mark of his piety, had an altar made in the Cathedral Church of Paris with its ornaments of magnificence above the first project. Gold medallions of the two kings were also added on either side. Work began on the choir under the king's architect, Jules Hardouin Mansart, with a lavish Baroque altar and canopy, much like the one you find in Val de Grasse today. Mansart passed away on May 11, 1708, before the work was complete. His son-in-law, Robert Deco, completed the vision of the entire choir, adding campan, red, and green long duck marble, and Egyptian marble altar. The choir is crowned by three sculptures representing the vow, created by the Cousteau family. Louis XIII had specifically requested that a statue of the Virgin and Christ be added as the central part of the holiest part of the cathedral. The original altar was destroyed in the Revolution and a new one was added by Ville Le Duc in the 19th century. To the right of the altar, Louis XIII, carved by Guillaume Cousteau, kneels and presents his crown and scepter to the Virgin and Christ, using the earlier paintings for reference, although for Notre Dame, Christ appears after his death, not as the young child, also projecting the importance of the vow throughout the years. On the left, Louis XIV, wouldn't it be Louis Diodonne, if he didn't include himself into the scene? On the left, Louis XIV and his trademark curls and his bourbon crown at his side holds his right hand to his chest and extends his left towards the Pietà. Created by Antoine Cosivox, the uncle to the Cousteau brothers. Both kings are complete in 1715 and placed within the choir. The Pietà is a fixture of a Catholic church and often very. Nicola Cousteau, who won the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1682, spent countless hours studying and sketching Michelangelo's Pietà in the Vatican. In his own interpretation, the Virgin Mary gazes towards the heavens with her arms outstretched, reminiscent of the cross, while her son rests against her legs. The two angels flanked them, their eyes turned towards their mother and son. Before the revolution, the Virgin's upward gaze met a sculpted angel and a marble cross rising behind her. The pietat took longer to complete, with Nicolas Cousteau finishing it in place within Notre Dame in 1723. The choir design was finally completed at the same time, 80 years after the death of Louis XIII and eight years after the death of Louis XIV. During the revolution, the two kings were removed and taken to the Petit Augustin by Alexander Lenoir, who single-handedly saved many of the important monuments of France. From there, they were taken to Versailles in 1815 and eventually placed in the Louvre in 1849. Under Ville Le Duc, they returned to the choir of Notre Dame on July 4, 1861. The statues and the cross that once hung over the Pietà were destroyed with the altar in 1790 during the French Revolution. For over two centuries, Notre Dame was without a cross behind the Pietas. That changed in 1994 when Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger commissioned a new one. Created by artist Marc Coutier, the six-meter tall cross of glory gilded in gold leaf was inaugurated on October 16, 1994. Above it floats a delicate white gold-gilded fish symbolizing the soul. On April 16, 2019, the day after the fire when we got our first glimpse inside the cathedral in photos, there she was, the pieta in front of the large gold cross with each king on either sides, rising above the emperors. Surrounding the sacred scenes are six bronze angels holding the instruments of the passion, the lance, the rods of the flagellation, the INRI inscription, the sponge soaked in vinegar, the nails, and the crown of thorns. These were designed by Antoine Vasset and sculpted by several artists, including Claude Caillot, Cornel Vincleve, Poyer, Simon Yetrell, Philippe Monnier, and Ancien Flamin. As for the vow itself, during the Revolution on August 14, 1792, the vow was abolished. In August 1814, Louis XVIII re-established the vow once again within a crumbling Notre Dame de Paris. Louis-Philippe decided to abolish the vow again in August 1831. In 1922, Pope Pius XI announced that France would once again recognize the Holy Virgin as its patron saint and the vow of Louis XIII. For more than 100 years, she has remained the patron saint of France. Former Archbishop Lucy G called for the procession to return to the Assumption of the Virgins celebrated beginning August 15, 1988. Today, this ensemble remains not only a profound artistic and devotional centerpiece, but also one of the few poignant reminders of the 2019 fire. A keen observer might notice, nestled in the right hand of Christ is a small bit of melted lead fallen from the burning roof. It is a subtle yet powerful nod to the tragedy of that night and to the resilience and beauty that rose from its ashes, renewing the vow of Louis XIII once again. The vow is celebrated at Notre Dame each year for the August 15th celebration of the Assumption of the Virgin. The reading of the vow will be done on Saturday, August 14th at the end of Mass for the Assumption in Notre Dame de Paris at 8 15 PM. Cathedrals open for prayer only in the afternoon of the 14th and into the 15th. Today you can see the sculptures through the beautiful iron gates recreated under Violet the Duke. You could enter the choir, but just for prayer and no phones are allowed. On a visit to Paris in 2018, I stayed near Notre Dame so I could visit every single morning when it opened at 7.45. I wanted to research every single into the historic cathedral. It's a good thing I did. Before the fire, the mornings were very quiet. Normally just a few people were cleaning and getting ready for the morning mass. Each day I'd poke my head into the back of the gate of the choir, dying to get a closer look at the statues and decoration. Knowing it was reserved for prayer, I never wanted to disrespect the space. One morning after two weeks of visits, I saw a sweet man cleaning the floors, and we were so familiar that we always had a quick bonjour and a smile and went our separate ways. This one morning my sweet little friend saw me pass by the choir gate. He rested his broom against the column, walked over, and asked if he could take me inside. For a few minutes I stood within the choir in complete silence and looked at the statues created under the wishes of two kings and dedicated to the Queen of the Heavens. It is still a moment I'll never forget and one of my very favorites, and one I think of every single time I'm in Notre Dame. I popped back in there this morning as I wanted to just see the statues again. Now, since it reopened two years ago, they have uh stanchions up, so you can't get as close to the gate as you did could before, but I have taken so many pictures over time. So make sure you check out my website, ClaudineHemingway.com, where I'll have a lot of pictures. And I'll also reshare a video I did of the choir itself, giving you some more details that I did on YouTube after the cathedral opened. But it is still amazing that it is something that is still done today. And it, you know, in this day and age, while you know they got rid of the monarchy in France long ago, it is still something that they recognize here within the church. And August 15th is a holiday, not a holiday because of the vow, but because of the assumption of the virgin. And I just put two and two together recently that that's also the day that my grandfather passed away, my beloved grandfather that I just adored. And he also he passed away on August 15th. So I don't think it's a coincidence. It's just one of those things. So thank you so much for listening today. And make sure check out my website for more information. And if you're coming to Paris, book a walking tour of Paris with me. And if you need some more help planning your time in Paris, reach out and I'd love to assist you. And hopefully, see you soon. Merci and A biento.