The First Places of Worship
Beyond the Île de la Cité, the cradle of Paris, Protestant Paris extended to the north in the Louvre quarter, to the east in the Marais, and to the south across the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève and the Latin Quarter. The city, however, spread beyond its gates into the faubourgs. To the south-west, outside the walls, lay the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, in front of which the Pré-aux-Clercs extends to the Seine.
It was from the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés that a movement for the reform of the Church arose, under the abbacy of Guillaume Briçonnet, appointed in 1507, together with Lefèvre d’Étaples. In 1518, Briçonnet was appointed Bishop of Meaux, where he summoned his disciples Budé and Farel and established the “Cénacle of Meaux.”
The earliest Reformed believers gathered upon the Pré-aux-Clercs and sang psalms that could be heard from the Louvre.
The Rue Visconti, then known as the Rue des Marais, was called “Little Geneva.” Its houses were interconnected by their cellars, and one of them, at No. 4, the inn known as “Le Vicomte” had two exits, which facilitated escape.
In 1555, the first Reformed baptism took place in this house, conducted by Jean le Maçon, known as La Rivière, who had been appointed minister by the Church for the occasion.
In 1559, the first National Synod of the Reformed Churches of France was held clandestinely at the inn “Le Vicomte,” under the presidency of François de Morel.
