The streets are roped off and gates & fences have been set up.
A small children's carousel has been brought in and set up in the plaza of our neighborhood.
Convinced that this was going to be a rather grand affair in our part of Paris, I asked the desk clerk at our hotel about all the excitement. And he answered in typical Parisian fashion....
"I have no idea. I haven't noticed anything."
Yesterday we made a decision to walk once again, rather than take the Metro to some major sights along the Champs Elysee. So we walked and looked around.
Along the way we came across a huge building with massive columns around all four sides. Turns out is was a church and instead of it being along the street, this church, Church of the Madeleine....St. Mary Magdalene....was in the center of a plaza. Actually it took up the entire plaza, so there were autos on all four sides of it. Rather like it being in the middle of a Round a bout...the daily traffic whizzed by. Along the streets of the plaza were gourmet shops and a sort of farmers market was wedged in along the side.
Ah, but the church, the church. It looked more like something out of Rome, not like a Gothic Cathedral. The front door was open, we dodged traffic and went up the steps and inside.
Like a scene from Phantom of the Opera, the organ was playing. It seemed to me that the organist was trying out various pipes to see if they were still active. So one would hear a few bars, then a few more, then silence. Then it started over again. No discernable melody, but the massive size of the sanctuary made the sound quite impressive and for the dozen of us to tourists inside, no one seemed to mind. It was like a personal organ recital for us. We went in and sat.
European Cathedrals and churches are not known for their simplicity and timid nature. They were built to honor the Most High God and sing the praises of that God....oh and sometimes to be an in-your-face church building to the neighboring town or nearby parish. Sometimes I really think it was the latter reason rather than the former for which the church aspired.
We do the same with football stadiums or city parks and the like. We build to delight our citizens and be the envy of our sister cities. The Church of the Madelene had a very complex journey to finally getting built and blessed.
No less than King Louis the XVth in person laid the cornerstone in 1763 and after that, the church wandered numerous pathways to its completion. Like everything else in France, the Revolution in the late 1700's slowed building works. Then work on the church stopped. Then Napoleon stepped in an decreed that the church (which was only partially completed) would become a Temple to the French Armies in all their might. Then Napoleon's armies were defeated in battle in 1812 and Napoleon said, "Never mind!"... and the Temple to French Armies thing was shelved. It was decided to keep it a church dedicated to God.
There were thoughts of maybe making it a chapel to King Louis and Marie Antoinette who had recently been beheaded in the Revolution, but that was sidetracked and work on the church stopped again. But then it started in earnest once again and was dedicated to God in 1843. As European churches go...80 years to build a church is pretty fast and if one figures in the momentous events in France at the time, 80 years would probably net the builders a bonus for completing on time or ahead of time. Two hundred years or more is not unusual for massive cathedrals to take for completion.
Like all churches, there were a number of side chapels, statues and eye catching artworks to keep the eyes and senses engaged, but the various dedications intrigues me.
Along the side was a wall plate with a name and in memory of a priest shot in the Paris Commune after the Revolution. Then after that the Archbishop was shot dead. Above the altar in the mosaic relief were the pictures of Christ and great men (men only....but the church is named after Mary Magdelene, remember) and one of them is St. Denis who had his head chopped off. (Go to Notre Dame and his statue is outside with him holding his head. French do not go for subtlety in their depictions. Fish on your dinner plate keep their heads...statues of martyrs lose theirs. And that is not even mentioning the dozens of statues in front of Notre Dame which were beheaded by the mobs in the Revolution and then the heads hidden and dug up a few years back...but I digress)
The Church of Madeleine had a statue of Joan of Arc. Her fate is well known. One of the artists inserted Napoleon himself in the pantheon of the painting above the mosaics above the statue of Mary Magdalene above the altar. Got all that? Christ and Napoleon in the same massive painting. I love this city. That alone was worth the time to stop in.
And if that is not enough, when Chopin died, his funeral mass was in this church.
European Cathedrals and churches were right in the midst of the chain of events of their countries. If times were good, the building went relatively smoothly, if not slowly. When the country was in upheaval, so was the construction process. Maybe and Emporer or two here and there made suggestions as to the course of the construction but if the populace waited it out, the ruler was deposed and they could follow their own course to God and not that of the ruler.
It was also carefully noted that the priests of those days were as liable to meet a violent death as that of any ruler and indeed, priests back them were power players in the events of nations. Some ministers and priests still think that way; that we are power players on the world stage. But most of us don't kid ourselves. Our God will outlast the earthly rulers, we will not.
We are a bit more modest these days. The Church of Madeleine had Louis the 15th and Napoleon and the French Revolution to contend with, back home in Dublin, Ohio we have myself and Lisa and maybe a maybe a congratulatory nod from the Mayor of Dublin occasionally and regular worship and things like Youth Group Pizza parties, a food pantry and parking problems.
Gives one perspective.
Peace, Bob
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