Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Church of Passy

In 1666, Claude Chahu, lord of Passy, had the first chapel built at his own expense, which cost him nineteen thousand eight hundred livres. In 1672, after his death, his widow, born Christine de Heurles, obtained the elevation of the Passy chapel to a parish, which until then had been dependent on Notre-Dame d'Auteuil. She donated eight thousand livres for the construction of the presbytery and endowed the dependent school with an annuity. She died on November 19, 1683. Her portrait in widow's attire is in the sacristy of the church. The church, initially called Notre-Dame de l'Annonciation, became Notre-Dame-de-Grâce de Passy. At that time, it only had one nave and a side chapel dedicated to the Virgin.

In 1672, the financier François Berthelot, owner of a nearby mansion, obtained burial rights in the Passy church, rights that were passed on to the owners of the mansion until the Revolution.

In February 1790, during the Revolution, after the decision to create a municipality in each parish, Louis-Guillaume Le Veillard was elected mayor of Passy. The vote took place in the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce church, the only room large enough to accommodate the voters.

Outside, the church has a porch with columns whose tympanum is decorated with a stone bas-relief by Gumery in 1859: The Annunciation of Gumery, and above, a 17th-century stone statue representing the Virgin and Child.

From the Restoration period, the need to expand the building became apparent, but financial constraints postponed the project. The church's enlargement took place several decades later, in stages, under the direction of the architect Eugène Debressenne (1813-1893), first from 1846 to 1849 and then from 1856 to 1859. The first stone was laid on November 3, 1846. From the original church, little more than the pillars of the nave were preserved. A small bell tower, built in 1846, houses a bell dating from 1763. This bell was blessed by the Bishop of Noyon, La Cropte de Bourzac, and Cardinal Potier de Gesvres. The bell came from the Ourscamp Abbey in the diocese of Noyon. Widow Chahu indeed had close ties with this abbey, founded in the 13th century. The work in the 1850s included the construction of the Sacred Heart and Holy Virgin chapels. The sacristy was also enlarged in 1872. Other works took place in 1892. Since then, the church can accommodate 600 people.

The old church, which was gradually deteriorating, has more recently undergone renovation work. Reopened for Christmas 1996, it was inaugurated on February 22, 1997, by Cardinal Lustiger, Archbishop of Paris.

Above the door opening onto Jean-Bologne Street, there is a large stained glass window depicting the Coronation of the Virgin. Murals describe the dedication of the parish to the Sacred Heart Eucharistic of Jesus in 1897. Overlooking the marble altar is the gilded bronze cross of the old high altar. The center of the chapel is occupied by the new baptistery, consisting of a basin and bronze sculptures, the work of Colette Bosquet.

This chapel houses several interesting paintings.

The Annunciation by Nicolas Delobel (1693-1763): In the 1748 salon catalog, there is mention of a curved painting 9 feet high and 8 feet wide depicting the Annunciation for the royal and parish church of Passy by Delobel. Commissioned by the King and Madame de Pompadour, who often stayed at the nearby Château de la Muette and attended mass at Passy. This painting adorned the main altar until 1847 before being placed in the Chapel of the Holy Virgin.

The Crowning with Thorns by Luca Giordano: It was featured at the exhibition of masterpieces from the churches of Paris in 1946.

A copy of The Entombment of Christ by Titian (1488-1576), whose original is in the Louvre Museum, was placed in the chapel in 1864.

A copy of The Rapture of Saint Paul by Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665), whose original is in the Louvre Museum, was placed in the chapel in 1876.

A copy of The Apotheosis of Saint Augustine by Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, known as Il Guercino, a painter from the Bolognese school, was placed in the chapel in 1875.

The interior of the church consists of three aisles, with the two side aisles extending around the choir and joining at the apse in front of an apsidal chapel. Instead of a vaulted ceiling, there is a simple one. The choir's decoration was entrusted to Gabriel Bouret, who painted it in oil on the wall between 1847 and 1850. This artwork was contemporary with Camille Corot's paintings at Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet and Paul Flandrin's at Saint-Séverin. Camille Corot visited the parish several times. The iconography of the complex program was designed by Abbé Corbière, the parish priest from 1846 to 1852. Depicted from left to right facing and above the choir are:

• The prophecy of Isaiah
• Adam and Eve expelled from paradise
• The Annunciation;
• The sacrifice of Isaac
• The exit from the Ark (the prophet Daniel in the vision of the evening sacrifice)

At the top of each scene, within the decorative frame, are symbols of the Virgin's purity: the mystic rose, the ivory tower (an image of Solomon's throne), the Ark of the Covenant, the Tower of David, and Aaron's rod. These scenes and symbols are set within wide decorative borders, where against backgrounds of pink, red, or brown, intricate patterns, palmettes, gold-highlighted letters, and angel figures holding inscribed cartouches unfold.

In the choir, there is a marble altar from the era of Charles X and a statue of Our Lady of Grace of Passy. A carved wooden lectern, originally belonging to the pulpit, is also present.

Around the choir, statues of Our Lady of Lourdes, the Curé of Ars, Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, Saint Anthony of Padua, and Saint Vincent de Paul (made of larch wood) can be seen. A painting listing the names and dates of all the pastors of Passy is located to the right of the choir.

It was built by the Merklin workshops in 1905. It is placed on the gallery at the west of the church. It was raised and modernized several times, notably in 1923, by the Abbey house, which carried out a first overhaul, and in 1930, by the Convers-Pleyel company, which electrified the note controls. As for the organ case, made of painted wood, it is built in two symmetrical parts on either side of the window. Each is openworked and has a central flat face in a semi-circular arch of 5 shielded pipes in a sabot, framed by two flat faces of 9 shielded pipes in an ogival shape. The upper part is also made of cut wood. The titular organist is Marc Pinardel.

It was built from 1956 to 1961, according to the plans of the architects Hulot and Alipée, to the right of the old church, which is joined by the sacristy. Cardinal Feltin consecrated it in 1959. The vast nave, of a single span, is 50 meters by 19 meters and can accommodate 1200 faithful. The choir is topped with a large stained glass window and houses the black marble high altar, flanked by statues of the twelve apostles. A monolithic block of black slate presents a slender Christ, forming the T of the word S.I.T.I.O. ("I thirst"). At the bottom of the choir, there is a statue of the Virgin. The choir is bordered on each side by large organs. At the back of the church, a large fresco by Mr. Joos represents the Last Judgment.

In the place of the new church, there was once a garden of flowers and fruits where processions took place. A small part of it remains, where the buildings of the seventeenth-century presbytery and the nineteenth-century Notre-Dame de Bon-Secours chapel are located.