Was it a chapel or a royal church? That’s a question many have pondered about the Chapelle Saint-Yves in Paris. Right before you stands the site where this significant historical building once existed.
The Chapelle Saint-Yves was founded in 1348 just one year after Yves Héloiry the blessed Breton advocate for the poor was canonized by Clement VI. He had studied law in Paris. The chapel was built in the Ecoles district between Rue Saint-Jacques and the old Rue des Noyers. French kings protected the chapel and its confraternity. They contributed to its construction endowment and ornamentation. Jean le Bon laid the first stone on May 30 1352. Charles VI gifted a stained-glass window depicting himself his family Jesus Christ and Saint Yves. The still unfinished church was consecrated on September 29 1357 by the bishop of Tréguier.
Measuring about 10-12 meters wide and 38 meters long the chapel was already in poor condition by the mid-18th century. Sadly it was demolished in 1796. Its stones were reused in nearby buildings. A house was built on the site but it too was destroyed in 1855 during the opening of Boulevard Saint-Germain.
While no trace of the Chapelle Saint-Yves remains surveys from the late 17th and 18th centuries reveal its structure and decoration. Gaignières and Millin’s surveys depict the facade. It was likely built between 1406 and 1415. Two pointed turrets with staircases flanked the portal. A statue of Saint Yves adorned the central pillar. Other statues originally in niches had disappeared by then. A large rectangular window with a pediment and Tuscan pilasters was added later.
On either side of the entrance stood statues of a man and a woman. Records show they were carved in 1413. Scholars often identified them as Yves Simon a Breton royal secretary and his wife or Jean le Bon and his wife Jeanne de Boulogne. However the coats of arms suggest they represent Jean V of Brittany and his wife Jeanne de France. The left coat of arms shows the ermine of Brittany while the right shows Brittany and France combined. This was adopted by Jeanne of France after her marriage. The second coat of arms was likely scratched during the Revolution to remove the fleur-de-lis.
The heraldic display documented by Gaignières and Millin was simpler than the original early 15th-century facade. In 1681 work to widen Rue de Noyers damaged the portal requiring repairs and redecoration. A lithograph from before these works shows the original gable richly decorated with scrolls. A statue of the Virgin and Child was on top. Above the scrolls were three coats of arms: France Brittany and France-Brittany. A fourth unidentified coat of arms was on the lintel. The drawing doesn’t show whether the Brittany and France-Brittany arms accompanied the statues from the beginning. They may have come from the gable removed during the late 18th-century works.
The initial facade design prominently featured the king of France the chapel’s main benefactor. His fleur-de-lis crowned the gable’s heraldic display. A foundation stone with an inscription and coat of arms was buried under the portal. It was found in 1929 during metro construction. It states that Jean le Bon founded the chapel and laid the first stone in 1352. The inscription is accompanied by a fleur-de-lis coat of arms of France. The use of three fleur-de-lis by Jean le Bon isn’t documented. It is likely the stone was created in the early 15th century. It reinforces the message of the royal coat of arms on the gable. Many heraldic tombs were inside the chapel.
The memory of the Chapelle Saint-Yves may be gone but its story endures a testament to royal patronage Breton devotion and Parisian history. It reminds us that even the grandest monuments leave behind traces for us to discover.