At nightfall, hundreds of people of all ages, candles in hand, set out in a procession, surrounding the immaculate white statue, placed on a stretcher decorated with flowers and carried by knights of the order of Holy Sepulchre.
Singing the prayers Ave Maria and Our Father, the believers took the quays of the Ile de la Cité behind a replica of the statue, to the square of Notre-Dame Cathedral where the real statue had been installed.
In an atmosphere mixing joy and contemplation, in the presence of numerous media, the bells then began to ring, a first during a religious event since the fire.
– “a page of history” –
“Today is an event not to be missed. Notre-Dame is a page of history. That it did not burn, it shows that miracles exist,” enthuses Tiphaine Latrouite, 25 years old.
“There is something special about this statue. We have the impression that she is listening, that she could answer all the questions, that she is caring,” continues the young woman accompanied by her grandmother.
This procession marks the “last major event” before the reopening of the cathedral on December 7 and 8, according to the diocese.
With this return, the famous statue will find its place near the pillar in front of which the writer Paul Claudel was converted on Christmas Day 1886.
“It’s a new path for the Lord” and “in my heart it’s something that is put back in place,” rejoices Carine, 56 years old.
“It’s historic, it’s wonderful. It’s life returning,” the fifty-year-old still enthuses.
Nadia Bacheler came to “testify that the Virgin is the mother of hope”, while “the world is darkened by numerous conflicts”. “It’s an inner movement of the heart” continues this believer “stunned” by the fire. “It was perhaps a warning, it allowed us to reflect on the place of the Virgin,” she wonders.
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. In 1818, it was transferred to Notre-Dame and, in 1855, it was the architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc who decided to move it to lean against the southeast pillar of the cathedral's transept.
“The virgin stands, although she is filled with pain. (…) We remain joyful at everything that has been experienced around this cathedral for five years”, underlined Mgr Ulrich who had previously read the Gospel according to Saint Luke.
“You were right to come in large numbers this evening, it is an immense joy that we all carry and we will meet again in a few days to open the door which is Christ and which Christ opens for us,” added the prelate in blessing the statue which was to reach the interior of the cathedral in the evening.
