Notre-Dame Cathedral roof burns, spire falls

[Barbara]

Maria was RIGHT ! The new interior of Notre Dame will have the look and feel of 100% Vatican II.
Here is an excerpt from a conservative Catholic article expressing deep dismay - and undisguised revulsion - at the planned transformation :

Upon first examining the plans for the cathedral, some may be relieved. As opposed to the more outrageous proposals put forth in 2019 (such as the swimming pool roof and the greenhouse roof plan), this version leaves the building’s structure largely unchanged. Notwithstanding, its spirit has changed and the newly designed interior has become almost unrecognizable. Proposals for a swimming pool on the roof &, below, strange new spires,

were rejected, but the interior was completely changed.

The stone columns, once majestic and solemn, now appear cold. Likewise, the high ceilings, instead of inspiring contemplation of God’s grandeur, make the church seem hollow. There is also a conspicuous absence of crucifixes and statues of Saints.

The minimalist pulpit compared with the traditional gothic

The bare plain altar [above] is unsettling [ and unrecognizable ! ]

Whereas the magnificent Notre Dame of old reflected perennial Catholic doctrines, the redesigned interior of the cathedral will be based upon the principles of Vatican II. Designer Guillame Bardet, famous for his “minimalist” style, seems to adhere to the
Bardet notes in an interview that his intention is to “remove everything that is not necessary, and to arrive at the essential, and so the essential is that it is poor.” In the same interview, the rector of the cathedral admits that this idea is based on the Council document Sacrosanctum Concilium, which states: “The rites should be distinguished by a noble simplicity; they should be short, clear, and unencumbered by useless repetitions.” 

Bardet’s design is also influenced by Vatican II ecumenism. He boldly states that, “With this work, I am addressing Catholics first, but I also seek to speak to others. To make it clear that we are talking here about religion and, more broadly, spirituality.”

The reliquary to hold the Crown of Thorns looks like
a target practice at a shooting range
 
 Source : The Revolutionary New Interior of Notre Dame by Rita A. Stewart
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

[SavaBeljovic]

Having escaped Novus Ordo Vat. II lunacy, and having respect at least for the traditions they had before Vat. II due to going through SSPX and Sedevacantism, seeing what they want to do with the Notre Dame breaks my heart, I realize they're heretics, but as my Vladyka and Archbishop Leonity of blessed memory both state: "they wished to destroy even what little they had that in someway connected them to the ancient Church and practices of the West before the schism". Lord have mercy on them and may He guide these people to the Truth.

I believe it was St. Ilarion Troitsky who wrote of certain church buildings in France and described their beauty... Of course they did preach the wrong faith, so it's merely externals that are being destroyed.

[Barbara]

Thanks for responding, Sava, with such excellent remarks ! It's such a tragedy that it's hard to even take in all of this.
Notre Dame was one of the great world monuments, and to decimate the holiness that was present in it is of course the work of Masons and this type of enemy of both Orthodox and Catholics. By the way, I don't think I ever heard of Masons seeking the downfall of protestant denominations...

Did you say that you knew Bishop Leonty of Chile ???

 
 
 

[SavaBeljovic]

Thanks for responding, Sava, with such excellent remarks ! It's such a tragedy that it's hard to even take in all of this.
Notre Dame was one of the great world monuments, and to decimate the holiness that was present in it is of course the work of Masons and this type of enemy of both Orthodox and Catholics. By the way, I don't think I ever heard of Masons seeking the downfall of protestant denominations...

Did you say that you knew Bishop Leonty of Chile ???

 
 
 

 

I did know Archbishop Leonity, he reposed long before I was even born. But I have read some of his letters.
 

[Barbara]

Do you happen to recall, Reader Sava, what French buildings St Hilarion Troitsky praised ?

[Barbara]

Meanwhile here is a French writer on the reopening of Notre Dame :

Common experience dictates beyond doubt that France is the jewel of Western Civilization. For centuries the world has looked to France for the final say on culture, architecture, cuisine, fashion and ideals. From the humblest Breton cottage to the wonders of the Louvre the French express a nobility and élan that has been the envy of the world. Tourists flock from around the globe to wonder at the monuments of France.

If France is the crown of Western Civilization, the jewel in that crown is none other than the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

So it was that on April 15, 2019, when a fire tore through the ancient Gothic monument, the world stood dumbstruck. The tragedy was not just a loss to France, but a blow to all civilization. The shining jewel of the West became disfigured, losing its whole roof with the symbolic coq de France at the tip of its spire.

Now, five years after the tragedy, a restored Notre Dame opens its doors once more.

The good

The reopening ceremony was fittingly inaugurated by Laurent Ulrich, Archbishop of Paris, who knocked ceremoniously on the great Cathedral doors. Politicans and leaders around the world thronged to the opening in the hopes that some small glimmer of Notre Dame’s glory might rub off on them and their careers.

Secularists, atheists, protestants, and even at least one Muslim prince all converged to be a part of this historic moment. There could hardly be a greater testament to the grandeur of the ancient Catholic Religion than the masses of world leaders jockeying for position within the halls of this singular monument.


Top pic : BEFORE ; Bottom pic : AFTER restoration

The restoration itself was handled with a seriousness and attention to detail befitting the sublime monument. Master carpenters and artisans from around the world were brought to France to undertake the once in a millennia mission.

Century old French oaks from formerly royal forests were felled for the timber. Carpenters with medieval style hand tools worked the wood to replicate even the finely varied surface texture of the original beams. By order of President Macron the restoration of the structure would strictly replicate the original down to the most to minute detail.

Centuries of dust are now cleansed from the walls. Interior pillars stand in their original brilliant white glowing stone. This, combined with increased lighting, has brought a new aura of luminosity to the most august Cathedral: a fitting atmosphere for the worship of the Light of the lights.

The massive bronze bells, saved from the fire, tolled for the first time in five years. The statue of Our Lady of Paris, incredibly preserved from the flames, was also returned and installed in its proper place during a solemn procession.

The bad

While one can only admire the state-ordered attention to detail in the structural restoration of this monument of Western Civilization, the furniture was disastrously left in the hands of the progressivist clergy to gut and deform as they saw fit. The wayward religious authority has spared no opportunity to vent its hatred of all things beautiful in the name of “innovation.”

We now see the Altar, the very heart of the greatest Cathedral in the world, reduced to a bizarre bronze half-egg. The Bishop's seat and those of his auxiliars have been replaced by amorphous masses of slick wood vaguely resembling their intended function as chairs.

Even in the opening ceremony Arch. Ulrich chose to dress in colors more appropriate to a clown than a cleric; his garb suspiciously mimicking the colors of Masonic Order of the Eastern Star. The Archbishop’s chosen crosier, with a bizarre luminous blue glass inlaid at the head of the staff, was a comical innovation more befitting a Disneyland wizard's performance than the most solemn ceremony of the Archbishop's career.

Those attending the ceremony had short wooden chairs to use rather than solid pews. Attendees had the additional suffering of enduring a series of cacophonous organ “improvisations” that seems more befitting background for a horror story; some suspect it may have been emblematic of the occult. Indeed, a friend who is an expert in music recognized in some stances of those performances the presence of tri-tones, which in the medieval music were considered the “Devil’s intervals.” Such jarring sounds do not spread the peace and beauty of harmony, but rather the wrenching anguish of cacophony.


Archbishop Ulrich
Colored Arch. Ulrich with a glass inlaid crosier; in the insert, the Masonic Order of the Eastern Star's logo

As a last insult to History the golden rooster reliquary that for centuries looked down upon Paris from atop Notre Dame’s spire has been replaced by a pagan phoenix.

It is a twist of wry irony that the secular State prevented the Church Hierarchy from imposing more destructive innovations than what they managed to make. We can at least be relieved that the proposal to turn Notre Dame into a public swimming pool was soundly rejected. At least the modern French still have some sense of grandeur left in them.

.

[Barbara]

The reopening ceremony was Saturday, December 7 2024. That's strange by itself ; it should surely have been Sunday, December 8, the Catholic Feast of the Immaculate Conception, which has many historical connections for France.

But perhaps the world leaders and celebrities would have been too busy at their secular activities that Sunday to attend...

Here is a not very good France 24 [English language channel] video.
It does show the opening of the massive doors and a few highlights of that day with a pretty scene of Notre Dame's facade toward the end :

https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/peoplea ... ngNewsSerp