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Notre Dame
My father is safe, but he’s been evacuated—indefinitely—so he’s sleeping in my bed. I’m sleeping in the attic. “It’s twenty years, I’ve been looking out on Notre Dame. That building is completely part of my life,” he said, before falling asleep.
It’s devastating. To walk across the Seine and not see the spire is devastating. To some extent, you know the feeling: it’s like seeing the Twin Towers in flames. A sense at once that it cannot be happening, and yet it is. I’ve just heard that the rose windows — built in 1260 — exploded. They are lost I feel a grief I can’t describe: They won’t be there for the next generation. Passed on, and passed on, generation after generation, and now, forevermore, people will see replicas of those windows. Reconstructions. With a plaque that explains there was a fire.
In the crowd, as we watched it burn, someone tried to rally spirits by singing the Marseillaise. I joined him. We got to “L’étendard sanglant est levé,” and someone said, “Bah oui,” and then we both fell silent.
There is some good news: they have saved the structure. The North tower has been saved. There is bad: a fireman has been severely injured. The roof has almost entirely been destroyed. The upper rose windows have melted.
I tried to describe what I was seeing to my father, but couldn’t. “We use the word ‘cathedral’ as a metaphor for everything,” I said. “What metaphor do you use for this?” I pointed at the cathedral in flames.
“It’s not a good omen,” he said.
Published in General
I’ve been looking for the last few minutes for the report I read yesterday about muslims trashing Christian churches in the Carolinas. For some reason, I can’t find it anymore.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/south-carolina-church-vandalized-islam-palm-sunday?fbclid=IwAR35Pg64PDwMVoAOZ93R7IYzJV-KH38syHXdA8Vyer9n0JHS2dZN9S4WgjM
My family and I went to Notre Dame last Christmas Day, and the security there was very heavy–police and troops with body armor and automatic weapons, armored cars, and every approach was controlled by police with pat-downs and bag checks. When we went there two days later, all of that was gone. So the French are aware of the symbolic value of ND to terrorists on one of the two big Christian holidays (or may have had actual intelligence about a possible attack for all I know.)
I don’t think that it is hard to understand at all. It is unpleasant to contemplate.
We have a great many fellow citizens who call good evil and evil good. This spirit of deception has taken over one of our major political parties, most of the academy, and most of the press. Even those of us in opposition often fear the truth about our situation. We fear the backlash, perhaps, but I think that we also fear to face the truth about an ideology of evil and death that has a grip on a multitude, many of whom we love and admire in many ways.
I think that we also fear, correctly in many instances, that speaking the truth will drive the deceived even further into the camp of the only real Enemy. I think that we must be judicious with our words, and wise in choosing when to speak, and when to remain silent.
What they are protecting is their narrative of lies.
Interestingly, my Bible study group on Monday was without a planned study, so I led us to Isaiah 6 and 7. These chapters emphasize the tragic fact that most people do not want to see or hear the truth.
Of course my husband and I are thinking of you, Claire, and the great gift you gave us when you allowed us to dwell in your world (cats and all) for a wonderful week. Notre Dame was so much a part of that—we walked by it every day, attended services, and my husband received communion.
So sad. Bless you and your father.
Claire, I’m very happy to hear that you and your father are safe, if heartbroken.
I was struck by you singing the Marseillaise. I do not know French, and did not know the meaning of the lyrics until your post led me to look them up. It seems quite bloodthirsty and revolutionary, and I cannot help but remember that this was the song of the horrid, atheistic French revolution that banned Catholocism and defiled the very Cathedral that just burned, declaring it a Temple of Reason. It seems to me that the Marseillaise represents the very fire that, metaphorically, has burned down the Faith in France. France, sadly, appears to have led the rest of the West in this regard.
The West. What we used to call Christendom.
Yet, by all appearances, many in France keenly feel the heartbreak of this week’s terrible, tragic, literal fire. It is a bit difficult for me, as a believer, to understand why this would be so, and yet it gives me a sense of hope. Perhaps their affection for this Cathedral is the call to worship the God that they have not wanted to acknowledge. Perhaps this will draw the people of France to Him.
I would not have thought of the Marseillaise — well, obviously, since I don’t even know the words — but I would not have thought of the Star-Spangled Banner, either, if such a tragedy had occurred in the US. I would have been drawn to a song of Faith. Perhaps Amazing Grace, the part that says:
I don’t know if the French have anything like this.
Here.
Re#68
I don’t think Islamists did that fairly easily cleaned up spray paint job in South Carolina, simply because their work is infinitely more vicious than that, usually.
They broke the stained glass windows, too.
Carolina isn’t Paris and there are lines in the South that they aren’t ready to cross. In fairness, there have been fake hate crimes recently, though they usually involve blacks making claims against white Trump supporters.
Re # 70
I should have read the article instead of just looking at the picture. I didn’t know about the windows.
Yeah, that’s possible. And I agree (71) they’d still be more subdued here in the South, for now.
Excellent article from The Front Page Mag, Holy Smoke:
https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/273504/holy-smoke-bruce-bawer
Roger Scruton fired from the beauty commission for telling the truth? Europe is dead. Welcome to Eurabia.
That’s a powerful piece. Thank you.
I am imagining the new version will look something like the I. M. Pei monstrosity in front of the Louvre:
While the Front Page Magazine piece is provocative, in the real world the original cathedral will be painstakingly restored. Instead of wood timbers, which are another conflagration waiting to happen, there will be modern concrete or steel carefully covered/textured to look like the original exposed timbers. The very best of modern media (think Peter Jackson’s WWI masterpiece) will be brought to bear to revive every pane/statue/painting to what it looked like when first installed.
The dispute, if it arises, will be over whether to put back up the very late addition (centuries after the original architecture) 19th Century spire. I bet supporters of the spire win.
Everything else is clickbait.
AND.
It will mean nothing to the spiritual health of France or Europe.
I don’t know if anyone is still reading this thread, but if they are, they might find this description of the firefighting effort yesterday interesting. From today’s WSJ:
It’s a building.
No one was hurt.
You want to save buildings like this? Plan. It’s not like there’s never been an accidental fire in the last 850 years.
Don’t want to plan? Then say goodbye to your building.
A friend of mine died in a fire last year (along with her husband and youngest child). That’s a tragedy.
Everything about this building is known. It can be rebuilt (with proper fire suppression). The oaks of today are just as strong as the oaks of the 12th century.
Those of us who are following this thread get a notification when a new post is added.
Just out of curiosity was there any fire suppression system in the building? Sprinklers? Halon ( or some other gas to deny oxygen)?
I don’t think so. It was not well thought-out. The roof was waterproofed with lead to prevent leaking. While this was effective at stopping the rain from coming in, it also prevented the water cannons from dousing the burning rafters.