Church of Saint-Séverin

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Église Saint-Séverin (Church of Saint-Séverin)
Rue des Prêtres Saint-Séverin
Quartier de la Sorbonne, 5th arrondissement
Paris, July 2002

“The Church of Saint-Séverin (Église Saint-Séverin) is a Catholic church in the 5th arrondissement, or Latin Quarter, of Paris, on the lively tourist street Rue Saint-Séverin. It was constructed beginning in 1230, then, after a fire, rebuilt and enlarged in the 15th to 17th centuries in the Flamboyant Gothic style. It was the parish church for students at the University of Paris, and is one of the oldest churches that remains standing on the Left Bank. The church took its name from Saint Séverin of Paris, a devout hermit who lived at the site in the 6th century, and died in about 540. One of his pupils was Clodoald or Saint Cloud, a Merovingian prince who quit the royal family to himself become a monk and hermit, who also later became a Saint. After the death of Severin, a chapel was erected on the site of his cell, believed to be near the oratory of Saint Martin in the present church. This chapel was destroyed during the Norman invasions in the 9th century, then rebuilt in the Romanesque style in the 11th century. Several Sarcophogi from a cemetery of the Merovingian dynasty were discovered during rebuilding on the site in the 19th century.” (Saint-Séverin, Wikipedia)