--Deshays
was a young man of great promise; but the hopes which had been
entertained of him were disappointed by a premature death.
A church like this, so ancient, so renowned, and so holy, could not fail
to enjoy peculiar privileges. The abbot had complete jurisdiction, as
well temporal as spiritual, over the parish of St. Ouen; in the Norman
parliament he took precedence of all other mitred abbots; by a bull of
Pope Alexander IVth, he was allowed to wear the pontifical ornaments,
mitre, ring, gloves, tunic, dalmatic, and sandals; and, what sounds
strange to our Protestant ears, he had the right of preaching in public,
and of causing the conventual bells to be rung whenever he thought
proper. His monks headed the religious processions of the city; and
every new archbishop of the province was not only consecrated in this
church, but slept the evening prior to his installation at the abbey;
whence, on the following day, he was conducted in pomp to the entrance
of the cathedral, by the chapter of St.
Pages:
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276