On September 4, 1557, somewhere between 300 and 400 hundred protestants gathered to celebrate the Lord’s Supper in a house located just behind the Sorbonne on the rue St. Jacques in Paris. (It was also on this street in 1218 that the Paris base of the Dominican Order was established. This is why the Dominicans were called Jacobins in Paris.) The worshipers were discovered by some student priests who notified others and soon the house was surrounded by a Catholic crowd. The crowd lit fires along the streets leading away from the house so that no one could escaped unnoticed. Some managed to fight their way out, but about 135 people remained in the house, mostly women, when the soldiers arrived. As the newly taken prisoners were led to jail, the mob gathered around them, hurling not only insults, but stones and excrement at the captives while they ripped off their clothes and beat them without mercy.
La rue Saint-Jacques
The instigators of this persecution were never tried, but between 100 and 120 Protestants were incarcerated and seven were executed by the state, including one noblewoman. Antoine de Chandieu, at that time one of the pastors in Paris said, “On all sides, psalms were being sung and praises to God resounded throughout all the [prison], sufficient evidence of the singular assurance of innocence that they carried in their hearts.”
La rue Saint-Jacques as it is today
No comments:
Post a Comment