a procession in honor of the statue of “the Virgin of the Pillar”, back in the cathedral

The famous statue of the Virgin and Child will return to Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral this Friday, at the end of the day, during a torchlight procession which will wind through the streets of the capital. This is this statue, survivor of the fire on April 15, 2019.

She will return to her setting. Symbolically this Friday, a procession will transport the statue known as “the Virgin of the Pillar”, to the heart of the nave of Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral. It is this work from the Middle Ages which sat in the middle of the cathedral after the fire: surrounded by ashes, but intact, a survivor of this tragic event. The diocese would like to point out that it has since become “a sign of consolation and hope” for the faithful.

To preserve it during the phase of work on Notre-Dame, it was sheltered in the Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois church, in the 1^is district of Paris.

This sculpture, which dates from the middle of the 14th century, comes from the Saint-Aignan chapel, located in the former canons' cloister, on the Île de la Cité. It was in 1818 that she was transferred to Notre-Dame. But it was not until 1855 that it was finally attached to the southeast pillar of the cathedral's transept. Hence her name “Virgin of the Pillar”. This move was at the time on the initiative of Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, architect who restored the cathedral.

In order to symbolically accompany the famous statue to Notre-Dame, the public is invited to go at 6 p.m. to the square in front of the Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois church in the 1st arrondissement.

A torchlight procession will take the quays of the Ile de la Cité, then wind through the streets of Pairs, until reaching Notre-Dame Cathedral around 7 p.m.

The statue used on the journey will however be a replica: “it is not possible – to preserve the work, which has also been weakened by the centuries – to make the procession with this statue, but we will witness its departure by truck, then set off towards the square in front of Notre-Dame”Stéphane-Paul Bentz, chaplain of Notre-Dame, explained to AFP.

At 7 p.m., she will be blessed by the Archbishop of Paris. Then a vigil of praise and prayer will begin.

Also read: CALENDAR. Notre-Dame de Paris: dates, times, reservations… Everything you need to know about the reopening of the cathedral

A few musical notes will punctuate the procession. “On the square, we will be welcomed by the Notre-Dame master and by the original statue, which we will be able to see, because the doors of the truck and its body will have been opened beforehand”, then the truck will cross the fences of the square, explains Stéphane-Paul Bentz.

Before this ceremony, the replica of the statue traveled for a little over a week through several parishes, sanctuaries and hospitals in the capital.

With this return, the famous statue finally finds its place near the pillar in front of which the writer Paul Claudel was converted on Christmas Day 1886. This is the “last major event before the reopening of the cathedral on December 7 and 8”, underlines the diocese.