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NOTRE-DAME – On Christmas Eve, around a hundred faithful waited on the square. For the first time since the fire of 2019, Notre-Dame de Paris hosted the traditional midnight mass, presided over by the Archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich, until 1 a.m. this Wednesday, December 25.
As you can see in our video at the top of the articlethe event was sold out five and a half years after the tragedy which ravaged the Gothic building. The 1,500 available chairs were occupied and some even sat on the floor, reports The Parisian.
A queue of around an hour
“Joy in heaven, peace on earth, Merry Christmas to all of you who are here in this cathedral to celebrate the feast of Christmas”said Mgr Ulrich to the Catholics gathered on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday in this 12th century Gothic masterpiece.
He had paid tribute earlier in a message to “talents deployed on the restoration site” who allowed “may the pain of the fire and the five years of separation be erased to leave only the joy of reunion, the joy of living together again in this common house, the house of God”.
Since the fire which devastated it on April 15, 2019, the cathedral had no longer hosted these Nativity masses celebrating, for Christians, the birth of Jesus.
Marie-Christine Bascourret, a retiree dressed all in red, was able to attend the 4 p.m. mass on Tuesday. She told AFP she found this ” Magnificent “. She decided at 2 p.m. and waited in line for an hour: “It gave me heart”.
Christmas Day Mass at 11 a.m.
“It’s a special tradition. I came to mass here every year for ten years before the fire”explained for his part Daniel James, a 46-year-old American steward who lives in Seattle. “I'm so happy to come back, it's so magical and special, it's a feeling of hope, of joy. »
“Since 8 a.m. this morning (Tuesday), the line has been continuous”had testified Valentin Lacroix, responsible for controlling entries. “No reservations are possible for Christmas masses” and access to the cathedral is “within the limit of available places”specified the diocese of Paris.
The Notre-Dame website therefore advises arriving 30 minutes before the time of the celebrations, “bearing in mind that queues can be long, with a risk of not being able to access the cathedral”. Access to Notre-Dame remains subject to a strict capacity of 2,700 people.
Archbishop of Paris Laurent Ulrich is still scheduled to preside over Christmas Day mass at Notre-Dame de Paris on Wednesday morning. In addition to this celebration scheduled for 11 a.m. and broadcast on France 2, two other services are planned in the cathedral, at 8:30 a.m. and 6 p.m.
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