Le jongleur de Notre-Dame is a three-act opera (labelled in the programme as Miracle in Three Acts) by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Maurice Léna.

[4] In a centenary survey of the operatic output of Massenet, Rodney Milnes noted that "Le Jongleur is written off by too many because of its sentiment", despite the humorous characterization of the rival monks; the work also has Brother Boniface's Légende de la Sauge which recounts how the sage herb safe-guarded the infant Jesus from the soldiers during the Flight to Egypt.

[4] Massenet inscribed the words Heureux les simples, car ils verront Dieu at the top of the manuscript score; Milnes noted that "simplicity was the guiding light without which this sentimental 'miracle in three acts' could have been a little sticky.

"[6] Despite its setting and cast list, a researcher has commented on the difficulty in pinning down real quotes from liturgical music in the score, although "parts of the opera convey the impression that they use existing material", because of what is described as "Massenet’s technique of approximation and transformation".

Jean's Alléluia du vin in act 1, or the monks' Benedicite are both hard to match with an existing setting, and while they "may sound like real sacred music, it is virtually impossible to verify any specific origin".

[20] A production of Le jongleur de Notre-Dame in Boston in 1961 by the New England Opera Theater featured "singer-actor-juggler-dancer" Tommy Rall; Spiro Malas was Boniface.

[6] The first performances at the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome were in April 2000, conducted by Gianluigi Gelmetti with Cecilia Gasdia and Massimo Giordano sharing the title role, and Massimiliano Gagliardo as Boniface and Nicolai Ghiaurov as Prior.

Befriended by the monastery's cook, Boniface sings him the legend of the sagebush which humbly opened its branches to shelter the Infant Jesus as He slept.

As Jean enters the former hides behind a pillar, and watches as the juggler takes his habit off and puts his old street clothes on, at which the hidden monk goes to warn the prior.

The Légende de la sauge for Boniface has been recorded many times, singers including Paolo Ananian in 1907, Antonio Magini-Coletti in 1909 in Italian, Louis Dupuoy (as Jean Duez) in 1910, Édouard Rouard in 1921, Giuseppe Danise in 1926, Lucien Fugère in 1928, Étienne Billot in 1928, Vanni Marcoux in 1930, Roger Bourdin in 1933 and Michel Dens in 1947.