Five years after having escaped the fire at Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, the famous statue of the Virgin and Child found ‘its home’ on Friday accompanied at nightfall by hundreds of faithful in procession, in the heart of the French capital.
The Virgin of Notre-Dame finds her home. She precedes us, as she precedes us in our march,’ said the Archbishop of Paris Laurent Ulrich to the crowd gathered on the square in front of the Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois church, where the statue had found refuge since the fire on April 15, 2019 of one of the most visited monuments in Europe.
Found intact, the ‘Virgin and Child’, often also called ‘Virgin of the Pillar’, had been installed in this church located a stone’s throw from the majestic cathedral, a masterpiece of 12th century Gothic art including the destruction by the flames had raised a wave of global emotion.
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 didn’t burn shows that miracles exist,’ enthuses Tiphaine Latrouite, 25 years old.
‘There is something special about this statue. We have the impression that she listens, 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 French 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’s put back in place,” rejoices Carine, 56 years old.
‘It’s historic, it’s wonderful. “Life is starting again,” 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 the heart of Paris. 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 about everything that has happened around this cathedral over the past five years,’ underlined Mgr Ulrich.
“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.
/ATS
