Someone below was talking about cathedrals so I started writing this but put it off, but I’m posting it now. I’m not a religion expert so I might be wrong, bear that in mind when reading.
When you travel around Europe, there are saints you see everywhere. Starting from the Virgin Mary to John the Apostle, Peter, Paul, James, etc. Because basically every church in Europe is named something like St. Mary’s Church, St. John’s Church, St. Paul’s Church. The picture is of Santiago de Compostela, named after James the Apostle.
When it comes to famous saints like those, you think, oh, that’s where they got the name from. But when you travel in France, there are names that pop up constantly yet feel unfamiliar: St. Denis and...
...St. Remigius. Think of them as the representative local saints of France.
Who is St. Denis? If you’ve been to Paris, you probably saw him without even realizing it. Look at the wall of Notre Dame and there’s a stone statue of a saint holding his severed head—that saint is St. Denis. Besides Notre Dame, France has a lot of statues of headless saints, and most of them are this guy.
St. Denis was an early missionary who appeared in France in the 3rd century, back when the Roman Empire hadn't accepted Christianity, and he was the Bishop of Paris.
He was persecuted by the Roman Empire and decapitated on a hill in Paris, where he showed a miracle by walking while carrying his own severed head. He is practically the first saint to show a miracle and a martyr in France, so he’s considered an icon of French Catholicism. And that hill is none other than...
...the Mountain of the Martyr, Montmartre.
The main tourist spot related to St. Denis is the Basilica of St. Denis, near Paris. Not only is the interior gorgeous and religiously significant, but it’s also the burial site of French kings, so history nerds should definitely check it out.
St. Remigius lived much later, during the time the Western Roman Empire fell (5th-6th century). The king of France at the time was Clovis, the first king of the Frankish Kingdom, who dominated Western Europe after Rome disappeared.
At the time, the Franks were following a heretical belief, but St. Remigius converted Clovis and baptized him, turning the Frankish Kingdom into a Christian kingdom.
If you ask the question, 'What is the origin of the nation of France?' many argue that the starting point is Clovis, who established the name France/Franks on French soil and was the first to accept Christianity. St. Remigius is someone who had such a huge impact on the identity of France as a nation. That was even something De Gaulle said.
The most famous tourist spot related to St. Remigius? Reims Cathedral, where St. Remigius baptized Clovis. This tradition must have made a huge impression on the French, because later French kings were crowned in Reims, the site of Clovis’s baptism. This eventually came back as an incredibly important historical event about 1,000 years later...
...which was Joan of Arc's recapture of Reims during the Hundred Years' War. At the time, the French King Charles VII couldn't officially ascend the throne because Reims was occupied by the English and he couldn't hold his coronation. Thanks to Joan of Arc's success, Reims was recaptured, he received his coronation, and formally took the throne as King of France. This shows how St. Remigius's baptism of Clovis and the city of Reims remained a huge cultural tradition deeply ingrained in the nation of France, even 1,000 years later.
Amazingly enough, the village where Joan of Arc was born was also named after St. Remigius—Domremy. Perhaps she was fated to be closely tied to St. Remigius since birth. (La Pucelle means 'the maiden' and was a title added after Joan of Arc’s accomplishments; her original birthplace name was Domremy.) Both the Basilica of St. Denis and Reims Cathedral are near Paris, and St. Denis especially isn't far at all, so if you travel to France, try to remember this post when you visit. They are not just splendid but culturally and historically critical spots. Stop only going to Notre Dame or Sainte-Chapelle all the time!!
"This was a good lesson! Now I know that 'Do-Re-Mi' has deep historical roots in France. But seriously, Sacré-Cœur is pretty based too."
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