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Since the nave was incomplete, the church lacked a proper façade, resulting in the
finished apsidal end taking on a significant role representing the church in the urban setting (fig.
4). This section of the church has two slender stair towers rising at the juncture of the oval
chapel and the choir, an arrangement that augments the visual presence of this area. 33 The lower
arcading was added in the nineteenth century. The buildup of forms echoes through the rest of
the exterior, which rises in three tiers. The building is relatively plain on its lower levels while
its upper tier, embellished with sweeping volute-shaped buttresses crowned with pots-à-feu, is
topped with a tall, narrow roof typical of the medieval French tradition.
Numerous texts written by Pierre de Bérulle explain the Christ-centered theology
practiced by the French Oratorians. 34 Yet among the extensive documents there are no records
of the congregations’ architectural preferences, making it difficult to determine initially the
influences affecting the design of the church. Furthermore, other than the Oratory’s small
provisionary chapel begun in 1616, there were no immediate architectural precedents on which
to base the design. The completion of the church in 1745 by the architect Pierre Caqué, who
finished the remaining section of the nave and the façade more or less according to the
seventeenth-century plans, is of critical importance in understanding the original intentions of the
Oratorians. 35 By analyzing the architecture as it was conceived in the early 1620s, it can be
demonstrated that the fathers wished to incorporate architectural features associated with
Catholic reform while remaining sensitive to traditional French ecclesiastical styles. The
Oratorians’ dual focus on the Church’s reform efforts and the congregation’s French origins
would bring the religious group to the attention of Louis XIII, who two years after construction
began took an unexpected interest in this place of worship.
The Church as a Symbol of Louis XIII
In December 1623, Louis XIII began supporting the congregation’s church. His
assistance ranged from bestowing honorary titles and gifts of money to the inclusion of royal
symbols on the building, functioning as a means to demonstrate his sovereign will. The king’s
only previous support of a Parisian church had come in February of the same year, at which time
he donated funds to the Feuillants of the rue Saint-Honoré to help with completion of the façade.
This church had been patronized by Henri IV and Maria de’ Medici during the first decade of the
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