Let me bring you and me back to Saint Cloud, a place that I have been several times but when living in Versailles. I used to go to get my wines and business meetings there, However, took time to walk a bit and saw a nice church, After looking into it realised is a very historical Church Saint Clodoald. I had an older post that will update with new pictures found in my cd rom vault that should be in my blog for you and me. The City of Saint Cloud is in dept 92 of Hauts de Seine, in the Île de France region of my belle France. It is only 10 km from Notre-Dame Cathedral of Paris point zero. Therefore, here is my take on the Church Saint Clodoald of Saint Cloud !!! Hope you enjoy the post as I.
The current Church Saint Clodoald built in the Romanesque-Gothic style. The pulpit was built in 1899. The gallery organ is a Cavaillé-Coll from 1854. In addition to the relics of Saint Clodoald, the interior features 19C stained-glass windows of a classical style, and beautiful paintings in the choir. But the artistic interest lies above all in the splendid oak pulpit by Ernest Guilbert, dating from 1899 and awarded a prize at the 1900 World’s Fair. The three sculpted figures below the pulpit are: – in the center and standing, Saint Peter, in the guise of Pope Leo XIII; on the left, Saint John, seated, writing: “And the Word was made flesh.” The apostle was modeled after the sculptor Ernest Guilbert himself. On the right, Saint Clodoald in a monk’s robe. The sculptor gave him the features of Edouard Delfaux, who was parish priest from 1889 to 1902. The saint offers his scepter and crown (the latter has disappeared). The Chapel of the Virgin, having been completely redone in a Byzantine style in 1929,
A bit of history I like tell us that around 550, during the Merovingian period, what was there during the lifetime of Clodoald, Clovis’s grandson, in the place now called Saint-Cloud? Nothing is certain. Perhaps a chapel, then a church built by the future saint and his companions? Indeed, to avoid angering his power-hungry uncles, Clodoald chose to renounce his rights to the crown, cut his long hair, and enter a monastery. Fortunately, Queen Marie-Antoinette was interested in the small town of Saint-Cloud, which housed, in its park, a substantial château that burned down in 1871 during the commune uprisings in Paris. Under her authority, a hospital and chapel were built in 1787. And the following year, the queen laid the foundation stone of the future church. The church would be consecrated in 1791 by a constitutional priest. Under the First Empire and until the early years of the Second, the parish of Saint-Cloud no longer had a church. It was Napoleon III who completed the project in 1860. The church, opened for worship in 1863, was consecrated in 1878 by Pierre-Antoine Goux, Bishop of Versailles.
Saint-Cloud owes its name to Clodoald, grandson of Clovis; threatened by his uncles, Clodoald moves away from power disputes and settles in Novigentum, a hamlet of loggers and fishermen where he builds a moustier or monastery of which there is still a wall. The town takes the name of “Sanctus Clodoaldus”. From then on, the town will often be at the heart of History. Saint-Cloud bears witness to a rich and prestigious past indeed, This neo-medieval Church Saint Clodoald dominates the center of the old town. It was rebuilt in place of the old collegiate church which housed the crypt containing the tomb apocryphal of Saint Clodoald. Inside the church, under the altar of the chapel dedicated to Saint Cloud, a shrine contains his relics. It seems that there was already a chapel around 550, when Saint Clodoald arrived, It was rebuilt at the end of the 18C, the old church from the 10-11C, already enlarged and modified many times over the centuries, was rebuilt again. The current church is in Romanesque-Gothic style with the pulpit, built in 1899 , and the gallery organ is from 1854.
A bit more of the history I like, as the castle had a monumental esplanade up to the Seine, it was planned that the same would apply to the church. A model near the choir depicts the queen offering the model of the church, When the French revolution broke out, the foundations were completed and the walls had already risen a few meters. But everything stops. The renovation work continuous carried out in two phases: from January to August 2025. In a second phase, from September 2025 to summer 2026, it will be the turn of the stained glass windows, the bell tower roof and the ancillary premises, notably the dome of the catechism room, to be restored.
The City of Saint Cloud on the church : https://www.saintcloud.fr/recherche?keys=%C3%A9glise%20saint%20Clodoald&page=1
The official Imperial cities on Saint Cloud: https://www.ville-imperiale.com/villes/saint-cloud/
There you go folks, one more spot of my belle France that is worth the detour, me think. Always good memories of Saint Cloud for us and glad some is part of my blog. Again ,hope you enjoy this post on the Church Saint Clodoald of Saint Cloud !!! as I.
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 