SAINT-SULPICE-DE-FAVIÈRES
. saint-sulpice (Essonne) is a pilgrimage church located in a small village south of Paris.
Large in relation to the community around it, the church was built to honor the relics of
St. Sulpice, bishop of Bourges (d. ca. 647), who resuscitated a young child of the region.
His feast is celebrated the first Sunday in September. When the chapel commemorating
the saint became too small, a new sanctuary was constructed beginning ca. 1180. Parts of
this structure, which survive as the “Chapelle des Miracles” off the north side of the
present church, preserve an ancient well, perhaps of pre-Christian origins, the sinopia for
wall paintings of the 14th century, and niches that may originally have contained relics.
A new church was begun at the site ca. 1245–50. Consisting of six bays and a
polygonal apse, the new building was designed in the fashionable Rayonnant style that
prevailed in Paris under Louis IX. The elevation has three stories, with passageways at
the triforium level and on the exterior of the clerestory. Characterized by superimposed
screens of wall penetrated by the wall passages, the tracery is cut in thin elements, thus
giving the chevet the brittle grace and delicacy typical of Rayonnant style. Certain
elements recall the Rayonnant parts of Meaux cathedral, as well as the Sainte-Chapelle in
Paris and Saint-Denis.
The church retains some of its medieval decoration. Most striking are the 13th-century
windows in the chapel at the east end of the south aisle and a battered but handsome
Gothic portal with St. Sulpice on the trumeau.
Caroline A.Bruzelius
[See also: GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE]
Branner, Robert. Saint Louis and the Court Style in Gothic Architecture. London: Zwemmer, 1965,
pp. 74–75.
Sjöberg, Yves. “Saint-Sulpice-de-Favières.” Congrès archéologique (Île-de-France)
103(1944):246–64.
SAINT-THIBAULT-EN-AUXOIS
. Site of an ancient priory, the little town of Saint-Thibault (Côte-d’Or) boasts one of the
most graceful examples of Burgundian Gothic architecture. Built through the generosity
of Duke Robert II and his wife, Agnès de France, daughter of Louis IX, to house the
relics of St. Thibault, who died here in 1247, the church was begun in 1297. The nave
crumbled in the 17th century, but the surviving choir, apsidal chapel, and sculpted portal
are of rare beauty. The tympanum is dedicated to the Virgin, surrounded in the arches by
the Wise and Foolish Virgins. Five full-sized statues in the portal, remarkable for their
expression, represent St. Thibault, Duke Robert II, his son Hugues V, the duchess Agnès,
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