Description of the attraction
The Saint-Medard church, the only medieval church in the Saint-Marseille quarter, was built on the site of the Saint-Medard chapel that existed here in the 9th century. The chapel was named after Saint Medard, bishop of Nuayon during the time of King Clotar I. As follows from the chronicles, the bishop was a strong and independent man: in about 550 he ordained deaconess the Frankish queen Radegunda, who fled from her unloved husband, Clotar.
Over time, on the site of the chapel, the first Parisian bishopric was built, destroyed by the Vikings in the 7th century. The bull of Pope Alexander III (1163) mentions the second church of Saint-Medard, built on the same site and included in the abbey of St. Genevieve. The building on the current street Muftar is already, thus, the third church dedicated to St. Medaru.
The construction of the existing temple began in the 15th century - this process, interrupted by religious wars, continued until the 18th century. In 1561, the Huguenots burned down the church after clashing with Catholic parishioners. This fire gave a signal for a half-century armed confrontation between Catholics and Protestants, the culmination of which was St. Bartholomew's Night.
In the second half of the 17th century, the church was chosen by the Jansenists - adherents of the heretical doctrine, condemned by the bull of Pope Innocent X (1653). The Jansenists gradually degenerated into a sect with their own superstitions. In the cemetery of the Church of Saint-Medard, a prominent supporter of the doctrine, Deacon François Paris, is buried. The so-called convulsionists began to gather at his grave, experiencing ecstasy and believing that the hopelessly sick were being healed here. Upon learning of this, King Louis XV ordered the cemetery to be locked up and to stop all miracles in this place. After that, the inscription “The King forbids God to work miracles here” appeared on the gate.
The church is located on Rue Mouffetard - narrow, curved, preserved from the times of medieval Paris, not demolished by Baron Haussmann. Many houses on the street belong to the 17th century. Old trade signs still hang on them, by which the Parisians determined the address before Napoleon (it was the emperor who introduced the numbering of houses). Pascal, Descartes, Diderot, Emile Zola, Prosper Mérimée lived here.
A characteristic feature of the street is a huge street food market stretching right in front of the church with mountains of fruits and other food.
