François Villon

The Descent from the Cross

by Nicolas Coustou (1723) in the choir. © NDP

Born in Paris in 1431, he was received as Master of Arts at the Faculty of Paris in 1452. During his tumultuous life, he composed the prayer to the Lady of the Heavens, to whom the capital’s cathedral is dedicated, for his mother.

Virgin, you bore,
O High Princess,
Issue, whose kingdom is endless,
Lord,
who took on a littleness like ours,
to save us left the sky,
Offering his lovely youth to death:
Now, such is our Lord: such we confess:
In this faith let me live and die.