Paris, France, Apr 16, 2019 / 04:21 pm (CNA).- Following a massive fire that engulfed Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on Monday, the church’s three iconic rose windows were unharmed, French reports have confirmed.
One of the most recognizable imag… […]
Paris, France, Apr 16, 2019 / 12:00 pm (CNA).- Father Pierre Amar was praying in Notre-Dame de Paris at 5 p.m. Monday evening to prepare spiritually for the Easter Triduum; hours later he was ringing the “funeral bells” at his parish to mourn the flames consuming the “mother of all the cathedrals in France.”
Hearing the bells, Amar’s parishioners came to their church in Versailles, to pray the rosary together as Notre-Dame burned.
“The Cathedral of Notre-Dame has a particular place in our hearts and in our history,” Father Amar told CNA April 16. “It is hard to find my words because the emotion is so great.”
“This morning at Mass, we prayed to the Blessed Virgin Mary … ‘Mary, dry our tears’,” he said. “We are so sad; France is mourning its cathedral.”
Father Joseph Koczera was having dinner in Paris with fellow priests when he heard the news.
“We were all in shock,” he said. “We all felt a sense of despair, seeing images of the cathedral in flames and fearing that it would be completely destroyed.”
“I walked down to the Île de la Cité to join the many Parisians who were there watching the cathedral burn. What struck me when I arrived was the atmosphere of prayer and reflection: many were singing the Ave Maria in French, and many were kneeling in prayer,” Koczera, an American priest based in Paris, told CNA.
“Some were crying, but there was a palpable sense of Christian hope, a sense that this beloved church would be saved and would experience a kind of physical resurrection,” he said.
While greatly damaged, the main structure of Notre-Dame, including much of its interior vaulted ceiling remained intact as firefighters worked late into the night to put out the flames.
Father Pierre-Hervé Grosjean of the Archdiocese of Paris shared a photo revealing the extent of the damage to the main alter on Twitter April 16.
“Inside Notre-Dame de Paris, in the midst of rubble, the cross is there. Standing. It seems intact. Painful and luminous at the same time. Victorious over evil. Not far, Mary is there, her statue is always a witness. This image is worth all the homilies,” Grosjean reflected in French.
Another Parisian priest, Father Franck Derville wrote on Twitter, “140 years ago (April 16, 1879) died St. Bernadette of Lourdes, to whom the Virgin – #NotreDame – said: ‘I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the other.’”
Originally built between the twelfth through fourteenth centuries, the landmark cathedral in the French capital is one of the most recognizable churches in the world, receiving more than 12 million visitors each year.
“I think it’s difficult to sum up the importance of Notre-Dame de Paris in just a few words. It’s not just a tourist attraction; it’s a place of prayer, where ordinary people from all walks of life go each day for Mass or confession or simply to pray privately,” Father Koczera explained.
Father Amar summed up its importance, “I can say that Notre-Dame is France, and France is Notre-Dame.”
“The Cathedral of Paris is the witness of our history, not only the history of the Catholic Church in France, but the history of France,” Amar continued.
“For example, at the liberation of Paris in 1944 when the Americans came with the French army in Paris in August 1944, we had the Magnificat sung in the Cathedral of Paris,” he said.
“Notre-Dame is, in a way, the summit of Christendom or at least it symbolizes the 12th century — the century of cathedrals, the century of St. Thomas Aquinas. In a way I think this event, and I pray for this, should help us to become more aware of our Christen heritage and to realize that we all need conversion,” Father Carlos Hamel told CNA.
Father Hamel, who has lived in France for the past nine years, said that he is praying for this tragedy to “reawaken” the faith in France.
“I wouldn’t be surprised, really, that this happening just before the Triduum will cause more people coming to Mass next weekend,” Hamel said.
The Archdiocese of Paris announced April 16 that all of the Holy Week liturgies scheduled to occur Notre-Dame this week will occur in Saint Sulpice, the second largest church in Paris.
Saint Sulpice was also damaged by fire one month ago, a fire that the Vienna-based Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe reported was started deliberately on its large wooden door.
Each of the priests commented that the Notre-Dame fire has encouraged a greater sense of unity throughout the country.
“Notre-Dame de Paris remains a potent national symbol for many French people, whether they are religious believers or not. It is telling that, in the hours after the fire started, political leaders and public figures from left to right and across the ideological spectrum were unanimous in declaring that the cathedral should be rebuilt and that no expense should be spared to make that happen,” Father Koczera commented.
“It seems that Notre-Dame de Paris remains a symbol that the people of France can unite around, regardless of their personal beliefs,” he added.
Father Amar that the event caused fellow countrymen to “discover our unity and human fraternity” at a time when the “climate in France is not so peaceful.”
The French priest said that as he walked along streets in the local Church in his collar Tuesday, many strangers approached him and said things like, “Father, we are with you,” and “I am not Catholic, but we are so touched for you, for France.”
“It gave me a lot of joy,” Amar reflected. “We lost an edifice, but we have discovered, this morning, the unity of our country.”
“Notre-Dame. It means ‘Our Lady,’ not ‘The Lady of France.’ Our Lady is for everybody – Christian people, believers, non-believers — everyone is welcome in the heart of Notre-Dame,” Amar said.
Paris, France, Apr 16, 2019 / 10:06 am (CNA).- As the roof of Notre-Dame de Paris burned Monday evening, young Frenchwoman Julie Brocas wandered the streets of the city – she did not want to go home, but she was too emotionally exhausted to conti… […]
Paris, France, Apr 16, 2019 / 08:47 am (CNA).- Seeing Notre Dame de Paris burning and threatening to collapse was a shock that left everyone voiceless – including President Emmanuel Macron, who canceled a speech dealing with the social unrest in France over the past few months.
The cathedral towering above the island on the Seine that was the cradle of the city is more than a venerable medieval building, more than an exceptionally beautiful architectural masterpiece. It has been for centuries the heart not only of Paris, but of the whole nation, the place where even atheistic presidents and ministers came to pray because they could not think of anything else to do when France was victorious (in 1918), defeated (in 1940) or liberated (in 1944). It was desecrated during the French Revolution and turned into a temple of the goddess Reason, but Napoleon realized he had to give it back to the Church and be crowned there if he was actually to become an Emperor.
It is also a vibrant reminder of the faith of our ancestors, which shaped the monument and inspired every detail as a facet of God’s revelation and gifts as well as the overall design. It was meant and has survived as a representation of the celestial abode that everyone openly hopes for or secretly dreams of. That something so ancient should defy time and remain so mysteriously meaningful is perceived as a miracle that no science can either deny or explain. This is why even non-believers feel affected. The Paris cathedral is the symbol not just of the Catholic faith, but of the fact that all humans have souls.
Rather strangely, non-Catholics lament more noisily than Catholics. They fear the damage is irreversible. Can it be repaired? How much will it cost? Can it be afforded? A fund has already been started to raise the money that is needed. But will this be enough to restore everything as it was? Is it possible to rebuild the roof’s oak framework that had resisted the elements since the 13th century? Will Notre Dame ever be the same again?
The faithful are less pessimistic, though they quite reasonably could be. The late Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger had centered the Paris Archdiocese’s life in and around the cathedral and refashioned the interior with an elegant modern altar in the middle. The loss of all this might seem to be the last blow after all the sex abuse scandals that have hit the Church recently, and all the sociological studies highlighting the plummeting numbers of baptisms, ordinations and religious vocations, or revealing that the younger generations are simply unsure what Christians commemorate at Easter or what a parish is exactly.
On top of it all, this happens just at the beginning of Holy Week, the most sacred time of year for Christians: Where will the Archbishop gather his priests for Chrism Mass? And finally, why did God allow this?
Notre Dame on fire and perhaps unusable for months if not years is undoubtedly a trial. But faith does not allow to see this as a punishment or the confirmation of a decline and fall. There is some comfort to be found in the massive sense of affliction and solidarity of non-believers, since it proves that for them, however irreligious they are, the visible Church is not a mere remnant of the past, but a vital part of the scenery, without which they themselves miss something. Yet, in the end, this support does not make that much of a difference.
What is decisive is the knowledge that Jesus Christ the Groom will never abandon his bride the Church – which does not mean that her faithfulness will never be tested. The Temple on Mount Zion was destroyed, rebuilt and destroyed again. St. Peter’s in Rome was plundered several times. The crusaders lost Jerusalem. What ultimately matters is not the signifier (the cathedral), but the signified (God’s glory) which remains forever fertile and will forever inspire those who long for it.
A note from Archbishop Charles Chaput, OFM Cap:
M. Jean Duchesne cofounded the French edition of the Communio international theological journal and served as special assistant to the late Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger of Paris for more than 25 years. The author of numerous books and articles on the faith, active in Jewish-Catholic dialogues, and a consultant to Lustiger’s successors, he has been a friend to the Church in the United States for decades. He and his family live in Paris. I’m grateful for his willingness to offer his thoughts below on the Paris Holy Week fire.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Notre Dame de Paris is a symbol of faith that belongs to Catholics around the world. Many of our parishes will be conducting a Second Collection on Easter Sunday to help repair and rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral. Please be as generous as your means allow.
Please pray for the Catholic community in France, and may God bless all of us with a holy Triduum and joyful Easter.
+Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap.
Archbishop of Philadelphia
First commissioned by King Louis VII in 1163, the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris took nearly 200 years to build. Since its completion in 1345, it has stood as a monument to the glory of French, […]
Paris, France, Apr 15, 2019 / 05:14 pm (CNA).- Shortly after midnight Tuesday, firefighters said the main structure of Notre-Dame de Paris, the city’s cathedral, had been preserved from collapse.
“We now believe that the two towers of Notre-Dame have been saved,” Jean-Claude Gallet, Paris’ fire chief, said April 16. “We now consider that the main structure of Notre-Dame has been saved and preserved.”
Archbishop Michel Aupetit of Paris Tweeted: “As I speak, it seems that the towers of the facade of Notre-Dame are saved. The whole diocese prayed, and I joined the young people who were praying at Fontaine Saint-Michel. Let us remain united more than ever, in Hope.”
Emmanuel Macron, the French president, said that “we will rebuild” the cathedral, and shared his relief that “the worst had been avoided,” while adding, “the next hours will be difficult.”
A fire broke out in the cathedral shortly before 7 pm April 15. The roof and the spire, which dated to the 19th century, were destroyed.
Some 400 firefighters worked to put out the blaze, and Reuters reported one firefighter has been seriously injured.
Firefighters will continue working overnight to prevent interior structures from collapsing.
Paris’ prosecutor has said it is inquiring into “accidental destruction by fire.”
Reports indicate that the major religious and artistic treasures of the cathedral were removed as the fire began, including a relic of the crown of thorns.
Etienne Loraillère, an editor at France’s KTO Catholic Television, reported that “Fr. Fournier, chaplain of the Paris Firefighters, went with the firefighters into Notre-Dame cathedral to save the crown of thorns and the Blessed Sacrament.”
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”fr” dir=”ltr”>Le père Fournier, aumônier des <a href=”https://twitter.com/PompiersParis?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@PompiersParis</a>, est allé avec des pompiers dans la cathédrale <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/NotreDame?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#NotreDame</a> pour sauver la couronne d’épines et le Saint-Sacrement… <a href=”https://t.co/4IoLVdoJZW”>pic.twitter.com/4IoLVdoJZW</a></p>— Etienne Loraillère ن (@Eloraillere) <a href=”https://twitter.com/Eloraillere/status/1117900607329714177?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>April 15, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Originally built between the twelfth through fourteenth centuries, the landmark cathedral in the French capital is one of the most recognizable churches in the world, receiving more than 12 million visitors each year.
The cathedral was undergoing some restorative work at the time the fire broke out, though it is unknown if the fire originated in the area of the work.
Officials had been in the process of a massive fundraising effort to renovate the cathedral against centuries of decay, pollution, and an inundation of visitors. French conservationists and the archdiocese announced in 2017 that the renovations needed for the building’s structural integrity could cost as much as $112 million to complete.
The Holy See press office stated that it has received the news of the fire “with shock and sadness,” calling Notre-Dame de Paris “a symbol of Christianity in France and in the world.”
“We express closeness to the Catholics of France and to the population of Paris and assure them of our prayers for the firemen and those doing everything possible in the face of this dramatic situation.”
Paris, France, Apr 15, 2019 / 02:57 pm (CNA).- Catholics around the world watched with horror as the roof of Cathedrale Notre-Dame was engulfed with flames on Monday afternoon. The blaze began shortly after the church closed for visitors, and everyone … […]
Paris, France, Apr 15, 2019 / 02:23 pm (CNA).- Both the Holy See and the Archbishop of Paris have encouraged prayer while firefighters in the French capital battle a blaze on the roof of Notre-Dame de Paris.
“To all the priests of Paris: The firefighters are still fighting to save the towers of Notre-Dame de Paris. The frame, the roof, and the spire are consumed. Let us pray. If you wish, you may ring the bells of your churches as an invitation to prayer,” Archbishop Michel Aupetit Tweeted April 15.
The Holy See press office stated that it has received the news of the fire “with shock and sadness,” calling Notre-Dame de Paris “a symbol of Christianity in France and in the world.”
“We express closeness to the Catholics of France and to the population of Paris and assure them of our prayers for the firemen and those doing everything possible in the face of this dramatic situation.”
Firefighters responded to an alarm rasied shortly before 7pm, April 15. The spire of the cathedral, which stood 226 feet tall, collapsed shortly before 8pm.
The fire continues to burn within the main structure.
Construction on the Gothic-style cathedral began over 850 years ago and took nearly 200 years to fully complete. Its foundation stone was laid in 1162, and the high altar was consecrated 26 years later.
The 223 foot-high towers were built between 1210 and 1250, and the church was officially completed in 1345. The central spire— the epicenter of Monday’s fire— was added during a 19th century renovation.
Relics in the cathedral include Christ’s crown of thorns, and a fragment of the true Cross. Initial reports say these relics were spared from damage during the fire.
Officials had been in the process of a massive fundraising effort to renovate the cathedral against centuries of decay, pollution, and a flow of 13 million visitors annually. French conservationists and the archdiocese announced in 2017 that the renovations needed for the building’s structural integrity could cost as much as $112 million to complete.
A major campaign of cleaning and restoration was carried out from 1991–2000.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”><a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/BREAKING?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#BREAKING</a> Notre-Dame's main structure is "saved and preserved" after fire, says Paris fire official <a href=”https://t.co/IC8fT7s593″>pic.twitter.com/IC8fT7s593</a></p>— AFP news agency (@AFP) <a href=”https://twitter.com/AFP/status/1117894472002490368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>April 15, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Rome, Italy, Apr 15, 2019 / 12:29 pm (CNA).- Oscar-winning composer Ennio Morricone was awarded the Gold Medal of the Pontificate Monday for his artistic accomplishments.
The Vatican told the National Catholic Register that Pope Francis awarded the 90… […]
Paris, France, Apr 15, 2019 / 11:33 am (CNA).- The Cathedrale Notre-Dame is on fire, according to the Paris fire department. Multiple eyewitnesses shared photos and videos of the cathedral with visible plumes of smoke and flames across the cathedral&rs… […]
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