Sculpture, Ritual, and Episcopal Identity in the Saints Portal at Reims Cathedral

The central portal of the north transept façade of Reims Cathedral (Plate 5, Figure 7.1) recounts moments from the vitae of the diocese’s early Christian bishop-saints. Select scenes from the life and miracles of St. Remi, celebrated for baptizing Clovis as the first Christian king of the Franks, and the martyrdom of St. Nicaise, the legendary founder of the cathedral of Reims, fill the lintel and tympanum. Framing the doorways, over-life-sized representations of Sts. Remi and Nicaise occupy the jambs. A host of enthroned bishops and popes line the archivolts (Figure 6.1). The so-called Saints Portal is the only monumental representation of the life of St. Nicaise in medieval art. Likewise, only rarely was the life of St. Remi depicted in monumental form, most notably in the thirteenth-century stained glass of Chartres Cathedral. The Saints Portal at Reims is the only instance of this bishop-saint’s vita presented in stone. ¹