Saint-Pierre de Montmartre - Paris, France
Posted by: Metro2
N 48° 53.203 E 002° 20.498
31U E 451736 N 5415072
This church is located around the corner from Sacré-Cœur Basilica. It was built 1134-47...and the ruins of The Roman Temple of Mars (for which Montmartre is named) were found by its walls. Vows were exchanged here to form the Society of Jesus.
Waymark Code: WMD6A0
Location: Île-de-France, France
Date Posted: 11/25/2011
Views: 33
Based on its history...all the people who visit Sacré-Cœur Basilica should also make a point to visit here.
Wikipedia (
visit link) informs us:
"The Church of Saint Peter of Montmartre (French: église Saint-Pierre de Montmartre) is the lesser known of the two main churches on Montmartre in Paris, the other being the 19th-century Sacré-Cœur Basilica. Historically, however, it has the greater claim to fame, since, according to the earliest biography of Saint Ignatius Loyola, the church is the location at which the vows were taken that led to the founding of the Society of Jesus.
Though according to its traditional history, it was founded by Saint Denis in the third century, only scattered signs of Gallo-Roman occupation have been detected at the much-disturbed site,[1] where Théodore Vacquier, the first municipal archaeologist of Paris, identified remains of walling as belonging to the Temple of Mars, from which Montmartre took its name.[2] In 1657, the antiquary and local historian Henri Sauval was shown remains in the priory garden that he associated with the templum Martis. The early church[3] that was a stop in the ninth century for pilgrims en route for the Saint Denis Basilica,[4] belonged in 1096 to the comte de Melun. Louis VI purchased it in 1133, in order to establish in it a Benedictine Abbey, and the Merovingian church was rebuilt; it was reconsecrated by Pope Eugenius III in 1147, in a splendid royal ceremony where Bernard of Clairvaux and Peter, Abbot of Cluny acted as acolytes."
This website (
visit link) has additional photos and information:
"The present church was part of a Benedictine nunnery founded by Adelaide de Savioe (d.1154), mother of King Louis VII, in 1134. It was consecrated in a lavish ceremony attended by the king, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, and Peter, Abbot of Cluny, in 1147.
The nunnery moved downhill to a new location in the 1680s. It was closed at the French Revolution and the last abbess was guillotined in 1794. Nothing remains of the convent buildings today.
The church of St-Pierre-de-Montmartre was significantly altered in the 17th to 19th centuries, but it remains one of the oldest churches in Paris. In 1875, its importance was overshadowed when construction began on the great Basilique du Sacré-Coeur next door."
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