Paris je t’aime
The Miraculous Medal chapel, Rue du Bac, St Thérèse in Lisieux, and the deep consolation of Paris as a city of saints. (6 min read)
I love Paris! From the moment my feet touch the ground l’m filled with joy… and every pastry amplifies this. So much sweet deliciousness and beauty on every street. I have a history here that goes beyond this lifetime… and things are light and easy for me.
I lived here almost 20 years ago when I was at the American University of Paris for a summer. I was a young man of 28. Walking the streets of Paris makes me feel 20 years younger. I notice some differences; fewer people smoking and not so many little white dogs; more Africans. But apart from ubiquitous mobile phones and internet, and the much smaller print on the metro maps, it could be 1993. I even have the same haircut.
My accommodation is the same standard as 1993. But instead of the student digs in the maid’s room of a grand Parisian building, I’m staying in a monastery near the Arc de Triomphe. The rooms are dormitory style and very basic but there is a nice energy and the location is superb.
Paris is the icing on the cake of this trip. What may appear to be a pastry binge is actually an extension of last year’s pilgrimage to the holy places connected with some of my favourite saints.
St Jehanne d’Arc
I’m writing this entry from the train on the way to Rouen, where Jehanne d’Arc was burnt at the stake. I’m pleased to be starting the pilgrimage with the iconic French saint. I saw her in Notre Dame yesterday but, believe it or not, she was wearing a dress and heels and obviously had her hair done. This surprised me greatly as her penchant for pantaloons and her boyish haircut got a lot of attention during her trial. More about her in the Rouen entry.
St Therese of Lisieux
Notre Dame doesn’t have much charge for me, despite its history and all the reliquaries in the Treasury. It is very crowded and it feels more like a tatty museum than a holy place. In the Treasury the emphasis is upon the reliquaries – who made them and what they are made of – rather than the relics themselves. Sometimes the relevant saint is not even identified.
There is a special little exhibition about St Therese at Notre Dame at the moment. Reproductions of photos, paintings, holy cards are used to share some of the story of her life. Perfect, given I’m meeting her in Lisieux for dinner tonight.
St Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdelene is a bit deal in France. It seems like every town has a church dedicated to her and the one in Paris is grand but not beautiful. It has a much stronger energy than Notre Dame and feels like a place where people actually go to pray.
St Catherine Laboure
St Catherine Laboure was canonised in 1947 and is known as the “Saint of Silence”.
In 1830, as a novice in the Daughters of Charity, Catherine was awoken in the middle of the night by a vision that commanded her to go to the chapel where the Virgin Mary was waiting for her. This was indeed the case and the visit lasted 2 hours. Mary promised graces on those who ask for them at the altar in the chapel and made various predictions, including the establishment of the order of the “The Children of Mary”. Catherine shared this with her confessor who doubted her and told her to keep quiet.
This was not the first or last of Catherine’s mystical experiences. At the age of 19 she was visited, in a dream, by an unknown priest (the founder of the Sisters of Charity, St Vincent de Paul).
Mary visited Catherine four months later and she was told to have a medal struck on the model of the apparition, with the people who wear it receiving great graces. Again the confessor doubted Catherine but the local Archbishop ordered the medal struck. Shortly after, miracles were attributed to the medal, healings witnessed and conversions made. It became known as “The Miraculous Medal” and over 1 billion medals were distributed by the end of Catherine’s life in 1876.
Catherine’s role in receiving the transmission from Mary remained secret until the final year of her life. She passed quietly at the age of 70 and was buried for 56 years in Reuilly. However, in 1933 she was beatified and her incorrupt body was moved to the Chapel of the Miraculous Medal in the 6eme in Paris.
Nameste.
© Paul McCarthy & Iluminar.au
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