Architect
Free thinker
If Pierre-Marie Bossan had not one day met the Curé of Ars, his life would certainly have been different, and the appearance of the small village of Dombes too…
Born in 1814 from a modest family, he turned very early towards architecture at the School of Fine Arts in Lyon. A student of Labrousse, official architect of the archbishopric of Lyon, he began carrying out numerous commissions. Full of ambition, then a free-thinker far from the faith, he embarked on a career which promised to be flourishing. In 1845, he left for Italy and Sicily. There he discovered the splendor of Roman basilicas and the beauty of Byzantine art. Conquered, he will seek to draw inspiration from all his discoveries to “unite the grandeur of Catholicism with ancient elegance”.
Domestic conversion in Ars
It was in 1849 that the famous architect came to Ars, troubled by his trip to Italy, by the religious vocations of his two sisters of whom he was the guardian, and by personal trials. This meeting with the Curé of Ars will lead to a true interior conversion. Throughout his life, he remained deeply grateful to Jean-Marie Vianney: “Ars, by giving me faith, gave me freedom”.
His work then becomes inhabited and the expression of his faith. Through a “Greco-Roman-Gothic” style inspired by the East and Italy, he seeks to create “something” new, alive and free from archeology or the simple copying of ancient styles. Surrounded by artists (sculptors, colorists, painters, designers, etc.) he formed a real school which would spread and construct numerous buildings throughout the Lyon region (Ars, Fourvière, La Louvesc, Lyon, the Abbaye des Dombes, etc.). In 1850, he won the Grand Prix de Rome for architecture.
A project for the Basilica of Ars
It was in 1856 that he drew up the outline of what would become the Basilica of Ars. It is for him a sort of Ex-Voto which will also be a gift made to the Curé of Ars in thanksgiving. He will specify that this “beautiful church” in honor of Saint Philomena, desired by the Saint Curé, had received enthusiastic approval from him. Of his first project, only the choir and the transept will ultimately remain. The long nave and the high facade with two towers (like that of Fourvière) will never see the light of day; the population of Ars did not want to see disappear what would become “the church of the Saint”, so rich in memories, and which should have been destroyed in the Bossan project. Work did not begin until 1862, after the death of the Saint Curé.
Our Lady of Fourvière
When the decision was made in 1871 to build the Notre-Dame de Fourvière basilica, following the preservation of the city of Lyon from the Prussian invasion, Bossan was chosen. It will perhaps be his masterpiece, and for him it is as much an expression of his faith as an architectural feat. It was his deputy, Sainte-Marie Perrin, who completed the building, like that of Ars. He spent his last years in La Ciotat, in a retreat of prayer and silence, and died in 1888 at the age of 74.
Extract from the Annales d’Ars n° 321[juillet-août 2009] .
