" The masters of
this guild had the extraordinary privilege of being allowed to charge
the expence attendant on the processions and exhibitions, upon any
citizen they might think proper, whether a member or otherwise.
The neighboring church of St. Godard possesses neither architectural
beauty, nor architectural antiquity; for, although it occupies the scite
of an edifice of remote date, yet the present structure is coeval with
St. Patrice. It has been supposed that this church was the primitive
cathedral of the city[101]. One of the proofs of this assertion is found
in a procession which, before the revolution, was annually made hither
by the chapter of the present cathedral, with great ceremony, as if in
recognition of its priority. The church was originally dedicated to the
Virgin; but it changed its advocation in the year 525, when St. Godard,
more properly called St. Gildard, was buried here in a subterranean
chapel; and, for the reasons before noticed, the old tutelary patroness
was compelled to yield to the new visitor.
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