Famous and Not So Famous Cathedrals

My posting this evening will include three locations. Lille, a lively university city in the north of France not far from the Belgian border; Amiens, a medieval city with rich history; and Lisieux, site of the new basilica in honor of St. Therese of Lisieux.

I took myself to Lille because of the things I heard and read. The churches are rather average considering the others in France. It sustained huge damage in WW II and so most of the pre-war buildings are gone. The churches, those that survived the French Revolution, sustained some damage, but none that required building new structures.

Here is the view from my hotel room, the Citadine Apart'hotel chain. I have come to really enjoy these places which includes a full kitchen in every unit. Very nice for breakfast and late night snack. The silver dome in the foreground is a large mall which includes the big flat roof below my window. The hotel is connected to that along with about 6 other hotels and a huge parking area. The building with the steep sloped roof with two rows of gables to the middle left is a medieval guild hall, one of the few 12th century buildings to survive. The tall tower in the center is the Hotel de Ville, or City Hall. The square dome is the Lille OPera house.

The main square of Lille. The blue glow of dusk oer the building shows how late it gets dark at this northern latitude. This picture was taken at 11:00pm. Its nearly two weeks away from the longest day of the year. The 45th parallel, the point on the earth that is halfway between the north pole and the equator is roughly the border between northern Vermont and Canada. The 45th parallel is nearly 250 miles south of me here.

I visited the Musee des Beaux Arts in Lille. There was a special exhibit called "L'art de la Pensee". or The Art of Thinking". It was a series of paintings from Madrid, Utrecht, and Naples, by artists who painted the portraits of some of the great thinkers of the world - starting with the ancient Greek philosophers, Saints, like Paul and Jerome, and then into the Middle ages with Thomas Aquinas, Dominic, and many more. The exhibit was beautifully done. At first glance, one is looking at a collection of portraits. But the trained art observer will see much more. And the genius of these artists is the ability to convey the philosophy, theology, and ideas of great writers and thinkers with subtleties of color, light, texture and subject. It was a real education in my appreciation of art and art exhibits.

After my visit to the art museum, I attended the Saturday Vigil Mass at the church of St. Etienne. This renaissance style church was originally the chapel of the Jesuit University in Lille. The original St. Etienne was destroyed by the French Revolution. They never attempted to rebuild and simply started to use the Jesuit Chapel which was actually next door the original parish church. Like most of the other Masses I have ever attended in France, 15 to 20 minutes before the Mass begins, a few parishioners who look like the run the place are frantically running around recruiting lectors, collectors, Eucharistic minister, and tonight 12 people to form a procession to retire the Paschal candle from the sanctuary to the baptistry with the end of the Easter season. So I accepted the invitation to do that. It seemed like an interesting idea. I know need to do some research in the instructions of the Roman Missal to seed if there any reference to this ritual. It just made a great deal of sense to me: We process solemnly with the Paschal candle into the Easter Vigil; why not solemnly process out with it to the place where it will be used in baptisms? We'll see.  Good ideas are to be found everywhere.

The busy streets of the Uniersity City of Lille.

Sunday the 12th was a long day of driving - about 4.5 hours. But I decided that I would make the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Amiens my major stop of the day. I left the hotel about 10 am and arrived in Amiens about noon. I knew a few things about this wonderful cathedral. One fact is that its gothic nave is the highest in all Europe.

Approaching the Cathedral of Amiens. Amiens was another city that sustained a great deal of damage in WW II. But here the bombing was done by the Allies, therefore the great churches and monuments were spared.

This cathedral's facade is known for its great symmetry until you get to the height of the towers.

The arched "porches" are deeper than most of the other gothic cathedrals and allow for greater detail and storytelling in the design. One of the commentaries I read about this church inludes a reference to Marcel Proust writing about a journal by John Ruskin. Ruskin was an architect, furniture designer, publisher, artist, social philosopher, and atheist, who spent a great deal of time studying this cathedral. He called it, "the Bible in Stone". I have read some Ruskin in the past and now I have to research this particular reference. "The Bible in Stone" is an appropriate way to describe all these places.

The angels and saints greet you as you enter the central door of the Cathedral.

The nave looking back towards the central door of the facade.

The angel crowning the top of the high pulpit holds an open book and points to the words, (in Latin), "Do this and you will live". The platform of the pulpit is supported by the figures of Moses, Isaiah, and St. Paul.

Four Figures in the proch of the south transept each hold an item important to the liturgy, from left o right, a scroll for the Old Testament, a book for the New Testament, a ciborium for the Eucharist, and a Thurible, incense signifying our prayers rising up to heaven.

A veiw of the apse and the main altar.

The transepts are extra deep to provide the additional support to the very high central nave. Consequently the crossing of the nave and transepts is much brighter because the additional wall space left more room for windows.  

A view of the north side of the Ameins Cathedral from about 2 blocks away. Not only is it the highest gothic nave in Europe, it also sits on a rise of land that makes it even more dramatic.

Two blocks away from the cathedral, old homes and shops line a system of canals. These are at the back of the buildings. The fronts are on small streets. The canals were used to transport items to the homes and shops from the warehouses on the larger canals and riverfront, thus keeping the streets more passable.

After my visit to Amiens, I continued on the remainder 2.5 hour ride to Caen.

I checked in my hotel and asked about the state archives that I hope to visit on Monday to do some genealogy research. "Oh, they won't be open tomorrow. It's a holiday." I was told. Now I love France and enjoy being here, but there are a few thing that are just hard for me to figure out. Less than 1% of this Catholic country is practicing, a significant percentage claim to be atheists. The feast that closed most of the country on Monday is Pentecost.  GO FIGURE!!!

So the change of agenda for today was to visit Lisieux. If they closed the basilica of St. Therese of Lisieux on Pentecost, we are in trouble.

The Basilica of St. Theresa of Lisieux consecrated in 1954

The interior is draped with the banners of the Vatican colors in honor of Blessed Pope John Paul II, beatified on May 1, 2011. In 2000, Blessed John Paul II declared Therese of Lisieux a doctor of the church along with Theresa of Avila, Catherine of Siena, and Edith Stein.

The interior of the dome and mosaics which cover every flat surface of the building.

The mosaics of the apse.

From the basilica, I walked around the grounds for a while. The Carmelites, the order to which St Theres belonged, have a large convent here and the is located just at the edge of the city. There are beautiful grounds and they are very peaceful for walking, meditation and prayer. I visited the book shop, of course, and I purchased "Les Oeuvres Complete de Therese of Liseux". You may recall the lectures at Rome on the Women Doctors of the Church. I decided then that I will read some of their writings. The book I purchased to today is in French. I took with me out into the basilica gardens and spent some time reading Therese's poetry. It is not complicated French, after all, as the introduction says, she received no formal training in poetry, or writing other than the compositions expected of every shool girl in France at the time. So I enjoyed reading and reflecting on some of them.

After leaving the area of the Basilica, I found my way into the center of town. I wanted to visit the Cathedral of St Peter in Lisieux, and because the road approaching the town today was plastered with posters and signs anouncing a street festival, I had a dual agenda.

I found street parking since after all its Pentecost, a national holiday. The street festival was taking place in the large square right in front on the cathedral. I found a few food booths, and enjoyed some local delicacies sitting on a park bench with local children running all around me. There were small kiddy carnival rides there too.

After a bit of lunch, local Andouillette sausage, delicious regional cheese, bread, and handful of homemade fudge caramels with raisins inside, I headed to the door to the cathedral.

The approach to St. Peter Cathedral in Lisiex. The style is a Norman/gothic style of the 12th century. The architecture of early Normandy is characterizd by lower, more squat rounded arches. They have not yet discovered that rows of higher, narrower, pointed top arches can carry just as much weight as the short fat arches of the older style. This church shows an integration of the two styles as they were learning the techniques.

The nave looking towards the sanctuary and the rear chapel. The windows you see at the back of the church are on the end of another chapel behind the altar that extends about another 100 feet beyond the wall of the apse.

The side of nave shows how the combination of round and only slightly pointed arches indicates a transition from the pure Normand, into the gothic period.

I was driving back to my hotel in Caen, about 45 KM distance from Lisieux. I needed a bit of diversion from Romanesque, Normand, Gothic, High Gothic, Baroque. I decided to stop in LeroyMerlin, France's "Home Depot". I was actually surprised to see that it was open on Pentecost Monday. Anyway, it was fun. Home Depot in the US needs to get a bit a bit more style.

So tomorrow I will spend the day at the "Archives Departementale". After the time there I will drive to a small country hotel about 10 KM from Mont St. Michel. The camera battery is charging as I complete this posting this evening. I am taking no chances. Wait till you see this place.

A demain
Bonne nuit a tous.