THE PLACES

Churches

The chapel where Napoleon was baptized, in a period engraving.

In churches one consumes the great mysteries of the faith, but one also sanctions the most important earthly sequences of events: in churches one prays, especially before objects of special devotion that must be implored or thanked; in churches the Christian life is begun, with the ritual of baptism; in churches that same life is abandoned, celebrating the final farewell and sometimes finding in their consecrated ground a space to welcome the mortal body for eternity.
All of this was also true of the Bonaparte family and for their churches, these being those already found filled with history along the course of their life, being those that they themselves contributed to creating, to offer heaven and themselves new glory.