Reflections on Notre Dame de Paris

We have all seen the terrible images of yesterday’s tragedy. The destruction of the cathedral played out before the eyes of the whole world. What had seemed eternal and immovable came close to collapsing in a few hours.

Yet, in the face of disaster, emotions and convictions long thought dead in the West reemerged. People gazing upon the awful scene prayed, knelt and chanted. Across the internet flew requests for prayers and solidarity with France. Commentators dwelt on the significance of the cathedral not just a historical monument, an inheritance from a bygone age, but as a still living and irreplaceable part of the nation. The international news media gave great prominence to the rescue from the blaze of the Crown of Thorns – by a “Tradi” priest no less! Suddenly the safety of this long-forgotten relic assumed the greatest importance. ( I have been visiting Note Dame Cathedral off and on since 1967 but had only very recently become aware of the continued presence there of the Crown of Thorns – such was the obscurity that now surrounded this relic, for which St. Louis had erected the jewel box of Sainte Chapelle.)

Yet it seems that, miraculously, the interior and most of the vaulting has survived – just as happened in Chartres and Vierzehnheiligen in the 19th century. If no further structural collapse occurs, the worst has been avoided. Early reports indicate that the organ – dear to the hearts of organists everywhere! – and most of the art has survived, including the incomparable rose windows of the transept:

The two roses are wheels of fire with amethyst hubs; wheels in which the violet of that gem, the symbol of innocence and humility, dominates… it’s enchanting when the sun penetrates… running along the gradually slimming rays of stone, setting alight between them clusters of flames, and dazzling like spectacular fireworks within the circle of the wheel’s rim. (Joris-Karl Huysmans, Le Quartier Notre-Dame, 1895)

That this terrible event “coincidentally” occurred in Holy Week made the greatest impression on observers both Catholic and secular. So many commentators also compared the burning of the cathedral with the ongoing destruction of the Faith in France, Europe and in the entire West. Is it not an obvious divine admonition, a “sign of the times?” Are we not, like the citizens of Nineveh, being given a last chance to repent – before further and even more terrible divine chastisement befalls us? Indeed, Our Lady has sent a more specific message:

Much was saved in the interior too. The cathedral’s high altar, installed in 1989 under Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, was the only major work damaged inside the building, hit when the spire collapsed, said Laurent Prades, heritage director for Notre Dame. 1.)

1. Macron: France to rebuild Notre Dame ‘even more beautifully’