The address is 23 Avenue de Friedland. This pleasant street is one of the twelve avenues that radiates from the famous Parisian monument. A short walk down the street from the Arc leads the visitor to the Chapelle Corpus Christi, a hidden gem built in 1876.
The story begins with St. Peter Julian Eymard (1811-1868), who in 1856 founded what became this community, dedicated to the Blessed Sacrament. It moved several times within the 14th arrondissement of Paris before settling in the 8th arrondissement, in the Etoile district, in April 1876.
The chapel was built according to plans by Alfred Coulomb (1838-1929), one of the great Parisian architects of the Belle Epoque. He designed the church in the Neo-Romanesque style with an elegant stone facade. The inside was a sturdy metal structure with masonry cladding. The finished church was inaugurated on September 29, 1876. As a side note, its front entrance was made intentionally small as this was predominantly a private chapel for a religious congregation and not a parish.
The chapel was remodeled in 1892 with the creation of a clever upper gallery with a large choir loft, taking on the form seen today. The organ is here, by Abbey, dating from 1898.
The exquisite antique stained-glass windows of the chapel also date from this period, the end of the 19th century. They are the work of Georges Lavergne (1847-1923), son of Claudius Lavergne (1815-1887), a master glassworker.
On the right side, four stained glass windows form a group with flowers and biblical quotations. They were probably original to the choir of the chapel. On the facade, the stained-glass window represents the glorification of the Eucharist, with Father Eymard in the center.
The precious Stations of the Cross each hold a small stone fragment from that station on the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem. This reflects a profound connection with the Holy Land, a link to the original walk of the Via Crucis, founded by the Crusaders as a devotion Jerusalem and brought to France by them upon their return.
Since 1877, the body of St. Eymard rests in this chapel. On the occasion of his beatification in 1925, his remains were placed in s special side chapel, on the right side, which was renovated at that time. The altar is surmounted by a gilt bronze chase, with a wax recumbent statue of the saint, the work of Pierre Imans.
In 1970 the chapel was sadly "reorganized," (wreckovated). The main architect of this disastrous change was François Parroco (1924-1990). The high altar was tragically removed along with its monumental display throne that was used for the Blessed Sacrament.
The majestic original altar was replaced with a red marble altar by Philippe Kaeppelin (1918-2011) and behind the altar was installed a hideous steel door by Gérard Lardeur (1931-2002).
Lastly, some of the precious original stained-glass windows were removed at that time and replaced with unfortunate "brutalist" creations by Piaubert of the Ateliers Loire of Chartres. The confessional box was also removed.
The Corpus Christi Chapel was historically a very important sanctuary of perpetual adoration and hopefully it will be restored as such. Today it is in need of new life and an interior makeover. The community is all but dead with a dying religious order. Let us pray the property can possibly be given to a vibrant Latin Mass order that can bring new life to it before it is too late.
One final historical note: from 1880 to 1913, to avoid the spoliation that came with anticlerical laws, the chapel was also the seat of the Spanish-speaking parish of Paris. Hence its name, the Spanish Chapel, which is still found in some older guidebooks.
