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Though the major branches of the Discalced Augustinian order found in Italy, Spain, and
France shared common goals for reform, they varied considerably. Not only did the fathers
practice different observances, but they lacked a uniform approach to architecture. 15 The
absence of rules governing ecclesiastical architecture meant that the individual congregations
were free to choose the form of their own churches. Aware of the financial contributions the
king had bestowed on the Society of Jesus and hoping to secure their own royal patronage, the
Parisian Augustins Déchaussés chose the architecture of Saint-Louis-des-Jésuites as the model to
follow for their own church.
Although the assertion that Pierre Le Muet based his design of Notre-Dame-des-Victoires
on the Jesuit church remains hypothetical, two other incidents support my argument. One of
these relates to the ceremonial placing of the first stone for the Augustinian church. On 9
December 1629 at a service presided over by the archbishop of Paris, Louis XIII placed the first
stone of the building in a pillar on the left side of the choir. 16 Recorded on a print, the stone
follows a familiar format, consisting of the obverse and reverse of two silver medals surrounding
the dedicatory Latin inscription (fig. 88). 17 Appropriate for an Augustinian church named Notre-
Dame-des-Victoires, the medallic faces in the upper corners depict the Virgin Mary holding the
Christ Child and St. Augustine with a model of the church. The obverse and reverse of the
remaining medal focus on the royal patron, showing a portrait of Louis XIII and the arms of
France and Navarre.
The foundation stone clearly repeats the design used at Saint-Louis-des-Jésuites (begun
1627) and Notre-Dame-de-Pitié (begun 1628), the two most recent churches in Paris to have
benefitted from royal support (figs. 36 and 77). Just as with the two previous examples, a print
commemorating the event features enlarged versions of the medals surrounding a rectangle
representing the foundation stone. While the similarity between the designs of the prints is quite
close, the one for Notre-Dame-des-Victoires differed in one key respect. As recorded in the
order’s archives, the Augustins Déchaussés commissioned the print and presented a copy of it on
white satin to the king. 18 Among the authors recording the ceremony was Piganiol de la Force,
who also described the same event for Saint-Louis-des-Jésuites and Notre-Dame-de-Pitié. 19
Lacking from this or any other record of the ceremonies for the placing of the first stone at the
Jesuit or Religious of St. Elizabeth churches is the suggestion that the monks or nuns were
responsible for making their prints.
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