St Germain l’Auxerrois in Paris -circa 1910

This postcard photograph, a night view taken more than a hundred years ago, is not the best way to capture this historic church in Paris.

Near the Louvre, this church was the home parish of the royal family through the centuries in which the palace of the Louvre was a residence and not a museum.

The Church was enlarged and rebuilt several times during the twelfth to fifteenth centuries and contains a harmonious mixture of many architectural styles.

(A church existed on this site since the seventh century.)

I attended Mass there on a cool, dreary weekday morning during Lent of 1977.

Convinced, then as now, that the only appropriate way to understand the architecture of historic churches is to attend services in them, I appeared like the most ardent “bon Catholique” by participating in the Mass at St. Eustache, St. Etienne du Mont, Notre Dame, and other churches.

At that time, many Paris churches had signboards announcing the indulgences (some centuries old) that were granted to those who attended Mass or performed other acts of devotion in that Church during Lent.

I kept a little travel notebook that totaled the many years of indulgence that I was granted during that week-long visit to Paris.

Due to its location and connection to the monarchy, the Church was despoiled and used as a granary during the French Revolution.

Some exquisite statuary that once adorned the Church remains in the Louvre Museum.