Posted on 04/15/2019 10:33:16 AM PDT by Attention Surplus Disorder
Notre Dame cathedral has caught fire, according to the Parisian fire service and eyewitnesses.
Footage posted online shows a large fire engulfing the upper part of the cathedral, with the flames licking around its two bell towers.
A major operation was under way, the fire department added, while a city hall spokesman said on Twitter that the area was being cleared.
Officials in Paris said the fire could be linked to renovation works being carried out at the cathedral.
It comes after France's Saint Sulpice church , used in the filming of Dan Brown’s ‘Da Vinci Code’ thriller, caught fire in March.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
I’m sad to see this beautiful historical building being destroyed as I am with most churches in ruin. I heard on the news that “hundreds of worshippers” were planning on attending Easter service. Apparently few attend to worship the Christian God, especially in France. I guess God felt it wasn’t needed it any longer.
Well, that has currency as well, no doubt.
A metal roof supported by steel pilllers, sort of a structure within a structure to keep the elements out.
No offense, but the Muslim population in the construction trades over in those countries that allowed them to invade are the same as the Mexican construction workers here. If its unskilled day laborers, grunt workers carrying materials etc, most of them are immigrants - i.e. Muslims
In 1793, during the French Revolution, the cathedral was rededicated to the Cult of Reason, and then to the Cult of the Supreme Being. During this time, many of the treasures of the cathedral were either destroyed or plundered. The 13th century spire was torn down[10] and the statues located at the west facade were beheaded.[11] Many of the heads were found during a 1977 excavation nearby and are on display at the Musée de Cluny. For a time the Goddess of Liberty replaced the Virgin Mary on several altars.[12] The cathedral’s great bells managed to avoid being melted down. The cathedral came to be used as a warehouse for the storage of food.[9]
Under a 1905 law, Notre-Dame de Paris is among seventy churches in Paris built before that year that are owned by the French State. While the building itself is owned by the state, the Catholic Church is the designated beneficiary, having the exclusive right to use it for religious purpose in perpetuity. The archdiocese is responsible for paying the employees, security, heating and cleaning, and assuring that the cathedral is open free to visitors. The archdiocese does not receive subsidies from the French State.
In 1991, a major programme of maintenance and restoration was initiated, which was intended to last ten years, but was still in progress as of 2010,[9] the cleaning and restoration of old sculptures being an exceedingly delicate matter. Circa 2014, much of the lighting was upgraded to LED lighting. -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre-Dame_de_Paris
The French government owns it but the Catholic Church has to maintain it. Sweet deal.
From your descripture it sounds a lot like the Temple of Jerusalem where all sorts of weird altars and stautes to other gods were placed over the centuries until it’s destruction. There is nothing new under the sun. It’s no wonder that God really never requested nor does He encourage these types of structures.
Bernard of Clairvaux spoke out against such gargoyles, which certainly also applies to later grotesque versions:
What are these fantastic monsters doing in the cloisters before the eyes of the brothers as they read? What is the meaning of these unclean monkeys, these strange savage lions, and monsters? To what purpose are here placed these creatures, half beast, half man, or these spotted tigers? I see several bodies with one head and several heads with one body. Here is a quadruped with a serpent's head, there a fish with a quadruped's head, then again an animal half horse, half goat... Surely if we do not blush for such absurdities, we should at least regret what we have spent on them. ("Apologia ad Guillelmum abbatem.")
Gargoyles and other mythical creatures also represented and illustrated evil in the medieval Catholic Church.
Several are not even true gargoyles at all. In fact, the creatures that adorn Notre Dame cathedral are made up of various types of fantastical beasts, including: chimera, which are ornamental only and serve no real function; grotesques, which are carvings that may or may not carry water; a wyvern, which is a small 2-footed dragon; and the Styrga
While the true gargoyles were prone to erosion from the very rainwater they were designed to carry away from the cathedral, many other figures were removed or destroyed in the 17th and 18th centuries, particularly during the French Revolution.
They were later replaced in the Gothic style by the French architect Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc during his 25-year restoration of Notre Dame in the mid-1800s. As was not uncommon among earlier medieval church builders, Viollet-le-Duc added a figure of himself as one of the new gargoyles. - https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/11/24/gargoyles-of-notre-dame/
As far as I know, there is no papal document pertaining to gargoyles, and St. Bernard would be the first Doctor of the Church of whom I am aware that spoke on the issue—thus to the extent that the Catholic Church has an official stance on them, what you quote is it.
The Pope is lucky to get people who mostly agree with him to listen to him. If a Bishop and a Pope and a Parish priest are all in agreement, then things happen that reflect the Papal wishes. If there is some disagreement, the Papal position will in practice prevail only if one of the other two happens to agree with the Pope—and sometimes that won’t be enough.
There is a point in being reminded that evil exists. I’m not in the habit of carving or paying for gargoyles, and if I make the acquaintance of someone who is who values my advice, I’ll try to remember that St. Bernard said something—and may even remember your post.
Thanks for those pictures. Yes, not as bad as what was imagined but still horrible. Breaks my heart. The shining cross is truly something. Wonder what priceless artifacts were in the attic that they won’t tell us about.
I’d just been thinking it was time for something to be attacked what with Holy Week and all.
Rush is on now, going on about how even "conservative" Fox News cut off Donahue and any others who mentioned arson, let alone who might have been responsible if it was. Asking (rhetorically) why is it that no discussion of the actual toll of Christian churches burned in France and indeed in Europe in recent months is allowed? Compare what the coverage of Black churches in the US is when burned, and what would happen if a prominent Black church burned? "White nationalists" (whoever they are) would be blamed with discussion on all media.
Watching Fox and Friends and then Varney and Ainsley this morning - Brian and Stuart all praising Shep's coverage - you'd think it was as brilliant as Cronkite's coverage of the Kennedy assassination. Rush, for one, is telling the real story.
Are you serious? The actual crown of thorns??
If it was, they should try to get some dna off of it!
True. And amusing.
I guess we shouldn't call in to say that on Catholic Radio which has at least a couple of call-in shows I sometimes listen to (as a non Catholic who is just open minded to hear various facts and opinions from many inputs.)
If this was shown to be arson, started by Islamists, then Macron's government would immediately fall.
Therefore, there is NO chance that arson will be entertained as a possibility.
Sure!
Didn’t you read it??
Put in STEEL rafters this time!
Seems to me that a sprinkler system should have been installed LONG ago.
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