Église Saint-Théodore, Baroque Catholic church in 1st arrondissement, Marseille, France.
Église Saint-Théodore is a 17th-century Baroque church at 3 rue des Dominicaines in Marseille. Its facade has four pilasters, a triangular pediment, and three statues from 1857: the Virgin Mary above the main door, Saint Louis with the crown of thorns on the right, and Saint Theodore on the left. The interior has a five-bay nave with side aisles and an elliptical dome over the third bay from the apse, lit by eight windows.
Recollet friars settled around 1633 on the Coulet de Saint-Jérôme, outside the medieval walls, and built one of their order's largest convents. The church, then dedicated to Saint Louis and Saint Anthony of Padua, was consecrated on 21 October 1648 by Bishop Étienne de Puget. During the Revolution the cloister became a national guard arsenal; on 28 April 1792, guards playing jeu provençal with cannonballs sparked an explosion that killed 38 people. The convent was sold in 1792, and the church became a parish church in 1802.
The church is dedicated to Saint Theodore, bishop of Marseille from 582 to 591, and was renamed for him when it became a parish church in 1802. Inside, the organ casing depicts Christophe Andrault de Langeron, supervisor of galleys during the Great Plague, and the vault paintings by Antoine Sublet recall the 1829 theft of the ciborium. The high altar is polychrome marble with the Paschal lamb at its centre.
The church is located on Rue des Dominicaines in the historic center and welcomes visitors during regular opening hours. Regular concerts are held here to support the building's upkeep and maintenance.
The pipe organ installation here required special permission through a papal bull from Pope Benedict XIV. This exception bypassed the strict rules that typically governed the Recollets community.
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