My Fourth and Final French Mass: Saint-Eustache

On Sunday, July 28th, I was able to convince my family to go to Mass at Saint-Eustache. We went to the 11 AM Mass.

We ran into some trouble getting there, as they needed to get metro tickets up the closet metro stop to them didn’t have a proper ticket booth. So, we had to walk a bit to a bigger metro station. Then, I was the navigator (never a good idea) and couldn’t find the proper exit at Les Halles. However, we did manage to get to the church with a few minutes to spare! 

Here’s my thoughts about the Mass:

Size

The church wasn’t completely full, as my mom noticed. It’s wasn’t empty either, though, and filled out a bit over the course of the Mass-many people came in late. Again, that it honestly rather typical. I think it would be more surprising if everyone came on time!

However, there were 6 members of the clergy at this Mass, much more than ant of the others. Saint-Germain-des-Prés and Saint-Sulpice each had 3 while Saint-Séverin only had one. I’m still not sure who was who. I need to study vestments, apparently. On the website, there are 6 deacons and priests mentioned. Maybe that’s who they were? I know that one of them, vicar Father Jean-Marie Martin, gave the homily. Interestingly, looking at the pictures, the presiding priest was actually vicar Father Jacques Merienne (if my memory serves me correctly on what the presiding priest looked like), not one of the men called “priest.” Maybe it has something to do with Notre-Dame, the cathedral of the Diocese, not being able to hold Mass? That was the reasoning my mom had about the multitude of clergymen.

Length

About an hour-typical length of the Ordinary form Mass (the typical, most commonly used form of the Mass) and like the other Parisian Masses I’ve been to

Age of Attendees

Something else my mom noticed was that many of the attendees were elderly/older. I wonder if that means that less younger tourists were at the Mass and more older parishioners were (Mass attendance at parishes tends to run older). After all, this church isn’t in the middle of Paris and Dr. Smith did say that it was underrated or something. It does seem to be a less famous church than others, such as the Notre-Dame, Sacré-Cœur, and maybe also Saint-Sulpice, so maybe it attracts less tourists. It probably doesn’t help that its surrounded by other big buildings, so it can’t be a church looming over all that surrounds it, noticeable and attracting to all.

Kneeling

At the Mass, very few people kneeled. If my hypothesis above is correct, that means my hypothesis last week that “More tourists=less kneeling” is wrong.

What people did, though, which I found interesting, is several times during Mass people bowed their heads when I ordinarily wouldn’t. I also didn’t noticed it at the other churches (Saint-Eustache parish tradition, maybe?) When in Rome, though.

Language and Prayers

Like the other 3 Masses, this Mass was in French. Also like with the other 3 Masses, I knew what was going on, I just didn’t know what the homily was about.

Like at Saint-Sulpice, I did get a pamphlet with the songs and readings. However, unlike at Saint-Sulpice, all of the wording was in French-there was no English pamphlets. That does bolster my theory of more parishioners than tourists, as the parishioners would speak French and with less tourists, the parish wouldn’t feel the need for English pamphlets.

Also, this makes 3/4 weeks were I forgot to read the readings before Mass, so I would at least know what they were about. I was only able to remember last week, but then Saint-Sulpice had the readings in English!

One final thing: we didn’t say the Nicene Creed. That’s not a prayer only said in the US, but all around the world, and I definitively said it (or heard it said and miserably tried to speak it in French) at the other Masses. I’ve been to Masses at the US where the Creed isn’t said, but I didn’t know why then, and I don’t know why now.

Other People

Well, the guy behind me was definitely American, and unlike me had no issue saying the English forms of the prayers when everyone else speaking French.

During Mass, people did walk around looking at the chapels. It was annoying. I didn’t have time before Mass to see if there were any signs telling people not to, like at Saint-Germain and Saint-Sulpice. I guess Parisian churches in general, at least the old ones, have this issue, as evidenced by the signs at those two churches and the actual people at this church and at Saint-Séverin.

Seriously though, people, for Catholics, Mass is our highest form of prayer. It’s so rude to just be wandering around when we’re celebrating the death and resurrection of our Lord. The Eucharist is literally becoming the body and blood of Jesus Christ (that’s what us Catholics believe) and you’re just acting like its OK to be disrespectful. Even if you don’t believe, think about it this way: would you go into a room or building when it is currently being used for something you are choosing not a part of? No! (of course, all are welcome at Mass. I’m saying that these people are not trying to be part of the Mass-they’re just looking then leaving). Mass is only an hour. Just go, get some pastries, and come back. Or even go shopping, if you’re at Saint-Eustache, since you’re right next to Les Halles!

(OK, rant over! Back over to the lovely mass!)

Communion

It was definitely more disorganized than last week. The people behind me were trying to go when I was waiting for the people in front of me to finish leaving. That hurts my hypothesis above, as wouldn’t you think parishioners would be more organized leaving the pews they sit in every week?

Also, there 4 lines at the front of the church-2 clergymen and 2 Eucharistic ministers. I don’t know why the people giving the Eucharistic weren’t only the clergy, as there were enough of them, but again it might have something to do with the fact that I don’t know who they were and what their roles were. In addition the 4 other clergymen may have been giving Communion at other places in the churches at other lines that weren’t for the altar-facing front section (where I was).

The Eucharistic was as thick as the others I’ve had in France (again, thicker than in the US), but was slightly crunchier.

Incense

Before the reading of the Gospel and before/right at the start of the Liturgy of the Eucharist (the second part of the Mass when at the end people go up and receive Communion), incense was used. For the Gospel, incense was swung directly on top of the Gospel. For the beginning of the Liturgy, it was swung all around the altar (the person swung is back and forth as he walked all the way around the altar).

At Saint-Séverin and at Saint-Germain, incense was also used (again, I didn’t see any at Saint-Sulpice, but I might have missed it). However, I feel like it was used the most here. I have also never seen it swung directly over top the Bible like that!

Choir

Like the 3 other churches, there was no “choir” as what we would typically think of-no multi-person group singing the songs. According to the website, the Saint-Eustache Singers were on holiday, which started for them on July 14th and will extend up through September 1st. Maybe the choirs at the other churches went on holiday too.

However, unlike the 3 other churches, there were two cantors, not just one. Both were women, just as the single cantors at the other Masses were women, too. I feel like I heard a male’s voice, too, but I’m not sure whose. I couldn’t see very well, unfortunately, so I can’t tell if a clergyman was singing, if the organist was singing, or if someone else was.

Organ

Speaking of the organ, this church has a theme of going big, apparently, because at this Mass there were also two organs-the choir organ and the grand organ. There was some beautiful organ music before Mass. The choir organ played for most of the Mass. It was lovely, but didn’t compare to the grand organ, which played after Communion and as the processional song as Mass was ending. Wow, it was beautiful and loud! It rivaled Saint-Sulpice’s organ! However, unlike at Saint-Sulpice, it didn’t play much before or after Mass, unfortunately, but what it did play after Mass got applause!

Overall Thoughts

My favorite Mass of the trip. I got to celebrate Mass in this absolutely stunning church-my favorite church of Paris*-with my family.

My mom thought that the church was beautiful, but would have preferred bigger stained glass windows and less stone (she does appreciate the Gothic of it, though, as we both love Gothic architecture). While I do love big stained glass windows, something about this church just speaks to me. This church makes my heart sing. I am so glad that I got to hear it sing to me (its organs, that is) on this trip.

*As of right now, Note-Dame is not included in my rankings of favorite church, as I am not able to see and go inside the interior (due to obvious reasons). Hopefully, one day I’ll be able to go inside the Notre-Dame and my rankings may change. However, since my data for the Notre-Dame is incomplete, it has to be disqualified from this specific ranking. It still holds a special place in my heart, and my heart aches when I look at the Notre-Dame now.