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on the robe and crown and at the end of the scepter. Together these elements evoke the
authoritative image of a sovereign king in full control of his government and people.
Reinforcing the medal’s significance is the legend encircling the medal: “For his authority, the
earth gave him altars and God gave him heaven.” 66 The text proclaims that in reward for his
sovereign reign, Louis IX received the divine honor of sainthood.
By placing this medal on the same foundation stone with his own profile portrait, Louis
XIII created a typological parallel between himself and the Capetian king, justifying his own
ambitious drive towards an absolutist state. Together with the other medals, each of which was
struck multiple times and circulated, the representation of St. Louis helped to spread Louis XIII’s
desired image of the sovereign ruler of the state. When the medals were combined with the
official ceremony for the placing of the first stone, they became an undeniable message directed
to those French subjects who sought to challenge the absolute authority of the king.
Louis XIII and the Need for an Authoritative Image
In the 1620s abundant opportunities existed for Louis XIII to demonstrate his authority
with the ceremonial placing of the first stone. Apart from royal projects at the Louvre and the
construction of a hunting lodge at Versailles, a number of religious organizations began building
churches in Paris. In addition to two other Jesuit foundations constructing chapels, reformed
orders of the Franciscans, Benedictines, and Augustinians as well as the Oratorians sought to add
new places of worship to their institutions. 67 Yet, Louis XIII chose the church of the Society of
Jesus’s maison professe, the order’s most prestigious place of worship in Paris, as the favored
site at which to demonstrate his authority. I argue that the decision resulted from the king
desiring to assert his divine right over French members of the Society of Jesus and other
conservative religious groups that he suspected of doubting his absolute authority. Since the
Jesuits’ official arrival in the Gallic state in 1562, people had suspected that the order’s loyalties
lay with Rome rather than France, a belief that exploded in 1626 with a publication by Antonio
Santarelli.
Among the primary reasons for French distrust of the Society was a fourth vow taken by
certain members. In addition to the three oaths of poverty, chastity, and obedience taken by all
Jesuits, those fathers having professed their religious vows, known in France as coadjuteurs
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