(St Paul’s Church)
Corner rue St Paul and Place Gerson, Lyon, France [ Map ]
Église Saint-Paul is an ancient parish church dating back to the late eleventh century. It is built on the site of an earlier church and temple.
Significance
On 25 May 1845, the feast of Corpus Christi, Eymard had a profound experience of Jesus Christ while carrying the Blessed Sacrament during the Eucharistic procession at Église Saint-Paul in Lyon. He became aware of an intense attraction to Christ and to the sacrament of the eucharist. He resolved to ‘bring all the world to the knowledge and love of Our Lord; to preach nothing but Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ Eucharistic’. The grace that Eymard received on this occasion was a spiritual turning point in his life.
Église Saint-Paul is also significant for its association with the French priest-scientist Gabriel Mouton (1618-1694) who is understood to have been attached to this church in Lyon when he wrote Observationes diametrorum solis et lunae apparentium (1670). This work became one of the pioneering texts in the history of the metric system of measurement, and many authorities now credit Mouton as the ‘founding father’ of metrics.
LINKS
St Paul’s Church and Place Gerson in 1867 : photograph by Jules Sylvestre, Bibliothèque municipale de Lyon collection
Eymardian Places 