The Basilique Notre Dame du Bon Secours, Marie Auxiliatrice (English: The Basilica of Our Lady of Refuge of Mary, the Help of Christians) is a Roman Catholic minor basilica in Bonsecours near Rouen, Seine—Maritime, France. It is the first church in France to be built in the Gothic Revival style. The basilica is highly ornately decorated with windows, sculptures and other elements often carrying the name or coat of arms of a patronal donor.
The original shrine was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Help of Christians dating back to the thirteenth century. It was reconstructed and enlarged in 1840.
Pope Pius IX granted the decree of pontifical coronation to the venerated Marian image enshrined within on 15 July 1870. The Archbishop of Rouen, Cardinal Henri-Marie-Gaston Boisnormand de Bonnechose executed the rite of coronation on 24 May 1880.
Pope Benedict XV raised the Marian shrine to the status of Minor Basilica by Pontifical decree Illustriores Inter Sacras on 27 March 1919.
Design
The basilica's design and construction were carefully supervised by the Abbé Victor Godefroy (1799–1868), the Bonsecours parish priest, who chose the Gothic style and raised the funds. Godefroy and the donors may have been drawn to this style from the time of King Louis IX of France (1226—1270) because it represented a society they thought was organized on a Christian basis.
Godefroy had been a textile manufacturer before becoming an ordained Catholic priest, and had experience with other building projects. His fund raising efforts were helped by his close friendship with the future Archbishop of Rouen, Cardinal Gustave Maximilien Juste de Croÿ-Solre.
The architect Jacques-Eugène Barthélémy(fr) may have had a background in engineering. He had worked on partial reconstructions, but this was the first new church he had built. It is not known who trained Barthélemy as an architect, but he had sketched churches around France, including Reims Cathedral. He did not obtain approval for his design from the government's Conseil des batiments civils, which rejected Gothic designs for other proposed churches at the time. He made his design before Eugène Viollet-le-Duc first published his Gothic architectural theories in 1844, and before the Corps des architectes diocésains was established in 1848.
History
The Basilique Notre-Dame de Bonsecours is located in Bonsecours, to the southeast of the center of Rouen, on a site that commands a view over the Seine river. It was built between 1840 and 1844, the first Catholic parish church built in Gothic Revival style. The first stone was laid in a ceremony on 4 May 1840. The first mass was celebrated on 15 August 1842 by 20,000 worshippers from the 14 parishes of Rouen. The building was completed in 1844.
Pope Pius IX — granted the decree of pontifical coronation to the venerated Marian image enshrined within on 15 July 1870. The Archbishop of Rouen, Cardinal Henri-Marie-Gaston Boisnormand de Bonnechose executed the rite of coronation on 24 May 1880. Pope Benedict XV — raised the church to the status of a minor basilica on 12 February 1919.
In 1977, the basilica was inscribed in the inventory of historical monuments. On 24 August 2004 it was classified as a monument historique.
Style
Godefroy called the basilica's style "early Gothic with lancets, the purest period of the thirteenth century". Unlike medieval church buildings that were built over a period of many years, the basilica has a consistent style throughout. 13th century features include flying buttresses, paired lancet windows, pinnacles, the bell tower, a gallery of statues and rose windows in the facade. There are features drawn from the Sainte-Chapelle of Paris, built in the 1240s, which was being restored in the 1840s. The plan of the church is akin to parish churches in Rouen of the 15th and 16th centuries, with the addition of a sacristy at the east end. It has a nave and two wide aisles, but unlike 13th century churches it does not have a transept or an ambulatory.
The Anti-Catholic Englishman John Ruskin heavily criticized its highly ornate design and described the church as: