France and the Cult of the Sacred Heart: An Epic Tale for Modern Times

Raymond Jonas

University of California Press, Sep 20, 2000 - History - 308 pages

In a richly layered and beautifully illustrated narrative, Raymond Jonas tells the fascinating and surprisingly little-known story of the Sacré-Coeur, or Sacred Heart. The highest point in Paris and a celebrated tourist destination, the white-domed basilica of Sacré-Coeur on Montmartre is a key monument both to French Catholicism and to French national identity. Jonas masterfully reconstructs the history of the devotion responsible for the basilica, beginning with the apparition of the Sacred Heart to Marguerite Marie Alacoque in the seventeenth century, through the French Revolution and its aftermath, to the construction of the monumental church that has loomed over Paris since the end of the nineteenth century.

Jonas focuses on key moments in the development of the cult: the founding apparition, its invocation during the plague of Marseilles, its adaptation as a royalist symbol during the French Revolution, and its elevation to a central position in Catholic devotional and political life in the crisis surrounding the Franco-Prussian War. He draws on a wealth of archival sources to produce a learned yet accessible narrative that encompasses a remarkable sweep of French politics, history, architecture, and art.

Contents

• The effigy of MargueriteMarie Alacoque: 11
• The Sacred Heart appears to MargueriteMarie Alacoque: 15
• Léon Bénouville The Mystical Communion of Saint Catherine of Siena: 20
• MargueriteMarie Alacoque and the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus: 29
• The Hearts of Jesus and Mary Presented to France as Her Supreme Hope: 32
• AnneMadeleine Rémuzat: 38
• NicolasAndré Monsiau The Devotion of Monsignor de Belsunce: 40
• Bishop Belsunce consecrates Marseille to the Sacred Heart: 51
• Bishop Belsunce leads a procession through the streets of Marseille: 52
• A Way to Force Aristocratic Bishops and Curates to Take the Oath: 63
• The Majestic Procession of the Relics of Saint Geneviève to the Church of NotreDame: 71
• The Sequence of the Cortege to Translate the Remains of Voltaire: 74
• Handpainted Sacred Heart emblem: 85
• the sacred heart and the counterrevolution: 91
• Elisabeth de France devotee of the Sacred Heart: 94
• JeanJacques Hauer The Vow of Louis XVI: 98
• Pierre Bouillon The Trial of MarieAntoinette: 101
• PierreNarcisse Guérin Henri de La Rochejaquelein: 108
• in the vendée: 110
• Madame and Mademoiselles de la Billais Martyrs of the Sacred Heart: 116
• the sacred heart and the return of kings: 118
• Robert Lefevre Louis de Lescure: 122
• JeanBaptiste PaulinGuérin FrançoisAthanase de Charette de la Contrie: 123
• Solemn Benediction of a Mission Cross: 127
• Fougea attr Funeral Rites for Marat at the Hall of the Cordeliers: 130
• JeanAugusteDominique Ingres The Vow of Louis XIII: 136
• rome war and the onset of the terrible year: 147
• Souvenir of the 1865 consecration of the diocese of Laval to the SacréCoeur: 152
• François Désiré Edouard Pie bishop of Poitiers from 1849 to 1880: 155
• Athanase de Charette in the uniform of the Papal Zouaves: 159
• A generation remembers the giants of the Vendée: 161
• Beneath the walls of Rome: 162
• The banner of the Sacred Heart at the battle of Loigny: 166
• Alexandre Legentil lay founder of the basilica of the SacréCoeur: 170
• building the church of the national: 177
• Joseph Hippolyte Guibert archbishop of Paris from 1871 to 1886: 179
• An unsuccessful design for the SacréCoeur de Montmartre: 188
• Paul Abadies design for the SacréCoeur de Montmartre: 190
• SaintFront de Périgueux before restoration by Paul Abadie: 193
• SaintFront de Périgueux restored by Paul Abadie: 194
• Cardinal Guibert and the basilica of the SacréCoeur as exvoto: 196
• a modern magdalene seeks forgiveness: 198
• Sacratissimo Cordi Jesu Gallia poenitens ac devota: 199
• Foundations for the SacréCoeur: 202
• Benediction: 203
• The provisional chapel on Montmartre: 205
• The foundations of the SacréCoeur after the completion: 206
• Pilgrimage procession on Montmartre: 208
• thecarte du SacréCoeur: 209
• A profile of the church fills as donations come in: 212
• Lifting stones into place: 213
• Prayers wrapped in stone: 214
• A SacréCoeur souvenir: 217
• a vision captured in mosaic: 224
• The Sacred Heart in triumph: 225
• Belsunce consecrates Marseille to the Sacred Heart: 227
• The vow of Louis XVI: 228
• General de Sonis hero of the battle of Loigny: 232
• bibliography: 277
• index: 303

About the author

Raymond Jonas, Professor of History at the University of Washington, is the author of France and the Cult of the Sacred Heart: An Epic Tale for Modern Times (California, 2000), Industry and Politics in Rural France: Peasants of the Isère, 1870-1914 (1994), and Le Sacré-Coeur; histoire d'une dévotion du XVIe au XXe siècle (2004).

Bibliographic information

• Title: France and the Cult of the Sacred Heart: An Epic Tale for Modern Times; Volume 39 of Studies on the History of Society and Culture
• Author: Raymond Jonas
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: University of California Press, 2000
• ISBN: 0520221362, 9780520221369
• Length: 308 pages
• Subjects: History / Europe / General