WATCH Notre Dame Cathedral Paris' Opening Mass with Nearly 170 Bishops and Dignitaries Including France's President Macron - VIDEO + FULL TEXT Homily
Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, celebrated its first solemn Mass with the consecration of it's new bronze altar by Archbishop Laurent Ulrich, with France’s President Emmanuel Macron and his wife in the first row.
Crowds stayed outside Notre Dame Cathedral for its inaugural Mass celebrated December 8th. The cathedral opened its doors to the public for the first time after the devastating fire in 2019. There was a second Mass that Sunday for the local public and tourists.
At the invitation of Mgr Laurent Ulrich, Archbishop of Paris, nearly 170 bishops from France and around the world, as well as a priest from each of the 106 parishes of the diocese of Paris, and a priest from each of the seven Eastern Rite Catholic churches concelebrated this Mass. They were accompanied by the faithful from each of their communities.
FULL TEXT Homily at Bottom of this post:
The bishops wore vestments decorated with golden crosses, created by star French designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, who was inspired by the large golden cross at the back of the cathedral over its Pieta. Castelbajac is known for his friendship with the late Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, longtime archbishop of Paris.
The celebrants took their places in the carved oak stalls of the cathedral’s canons’ choir, whose 18th-century upper panels depict scenes from the life of Virgin Mary. They were placed on either side of the group of children of the Maîtrise Notre Dame de Paris choir, dressed in blue albs.
The cathedral was packed when Archbishop Ulrich sprinkled the crowd with holy water, before blessing the altar, ambo and the lectern from which the texts of the Scripture were read.
As President Emmanuel Macron with his wife, first lady of France Brigitte Macron, sat in the first row with Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg, the cathedral was filled with invited guests, including presidents of French fashion companies and top politicians.
“Do not only remain dazzled by the beauty of the stones found, but let yourselves be led to the greatest joys, to the most beautiful gift that God gives you and gives us of his loving presence, of his closeness to the poorest, of his transforming power in the sacraments,” Archbishop Ulrich said.
At the end of these proclamations, Archbishop Laurent Ulrich of Paris addressed those present by delivering his homily, that is, a commentary on the Word of God that had just been proclaimed, and on the meaning of the day's celebration.
The bishops wore vestments decorated with golden crosses, created by star French designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, who was inspired by the large golden cross at the back of the cathedral over its Pieta. Castelbajac is known for his friendship with the late Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, longtime archbishop of Paris.
The celebrants took their places in the carved oak stalls of the cathedral’s canons’ choir, whose 18th-century upper panels depict scenes from the life of Virgin Mary. They were placed on either side of the group of children of the Maîtrise Notre Dame de Paris choir, dressed in blue albs.
The cathedral was packed when Archbishop Ulrich sprinkled the crowd with holy water, before blessing the altar, ambo and the lectern from which the texts of the Scripture were read.
As President Emmanuel Macron with his wife, first lady of France Brigitte Macron, sat in the first row with Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg, the cathedral was filled with invited guests, including presidents of French fashion companies and top politicians.
“Do not only remain dazzled by the beauty of the stones found, but let yourselves be led to the greatest joys, to the most beautiful gift that God gives you and gives us of his loving presence, of his closeness to the poorest, of his transforming power in the sacraments,” Archbishop Ulrich said.
“This morning, the pain of April 15, 2019, is erased,” he said of the fire, which caused the cathedral’s spire to collapse, leaving Parisians in tears on the streets, praying for firefighters who went to battle the flames. The firefighters were applauded by a standing crowd for five minutes straight, as they walked through Notre Dame between dozens of heads of state, including President-elect Donald Trump, Prince William, Dr. Jill Biden, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, at the reopening ceremonies Dec. 7.
Here are some elements of this mass :Sprinkling of holy water: after greeting the assembly, the archbishop blesses water and sprinkles it over the entire assembly. The archbishop then sprinkles the altar and the ambo, in a sign of purification that shows that these pieces of furniture are not like the others: they are intended for sacred use.
The Liturgy of the Word: the biblical readings proclaimed from the new ambo are the same throughout the Church; they were not chosen for this occasion. In all countries of the world, Catholics hear the same texts, specific to this day of the 2nd Sunday of Advent.At the end of these proclamations, Archbishop Laurent Ulrich of Paris addressed those present by delivering his homily, that is, a commentary on the Word of God that had just been proclaimed, and on the meaning of the day's celebration.
In order for the Mass to be celebrated, the altar must first be prepared and consecrated by special rites. The rites of consecration of the altar take place in five stages:The deposition of the relics of the saints in the altar. Today, the relics of five saints, three women and two men, whose history is linked to the Church of Paris, were sealed in the altar: Saint Marie Eugénie Milleret, Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat, Saint Catherine Labouré, Saint Charles de Foucauld and Blessed Vladimir Ghika.
The prayer of dedication and the anointing with oil, which is the main rite:
The Incense Offering
The adornment and illumination of the altar.
The entire mass was accompanied by the choirs of the Maîtrise Notre-Dame de Paris. Olivier Latry, Vincent Dubois, Thierry Escaich and Thibault Fajoles are on the grand organ; Yves Castagnet accompanies from the Choir of the cathedral with a replacement instrument (pending the reconstruction of the choir organ). Father Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, rector-archpriest of Notre Dame Cathedral, for the cathedral's inaugural Mass. Father Dumas carried the relics of five Saints and blesseds of Paris that later were put inside the altar at Notre Dame Cathedral, five-and-a-half years after a fire ravaged the Gothic masterpiece, as part of ceremonies to mark the cathedral's reopening after its restoration, in Paris, Dec. 8, 2024.
*********
St. Catherine is known to the world for having received apparitions from the Virgin Mary in 1830 in her convent on rue du Bac, in Paris, after which the religious sister asked, following Mary’s request, that the Miraculous Medal, also known as the Medal of the Immaculate Conception, be struck. The feast of the Immaculate Conception is ordinarily celebrated Dec. 8 on the Roman calendar; this year, however, as it fell on the Second Sunday of Advent, it was moved to Dec. 9.
In a message sent to the archbishop of Paris on Dec. 7, the night of the reopening ceremony, Pope Francis said that soon Notre Dame will “be visited and admired once again” by huge crowds of people from all walks of life.
“May they, lifting their eyes to these vaults that have regained their light, share his invincible hope,” the pope said of 15 million people expected to visit Notre Dame every year from now on.
On Dec. 3, the day the application went live, the 1,500 places on offer for this first Mass had all been reserved within 25 minutes, The Associated Press released.
FULL TEXT - Homily of Mgr Laurent Ulrich – Mass of consecration of the altar of Notre-Dame de Paris
Notre-Dame de Paris – Sunday December 8, 2024
Contrary to what one might spontaneously understand, it is not primarily to recall a story from the past that the author of the Gospel, Saint Luke, situates his story with such historical and geographical precision: "the fifteenth year of the reign of the Emperor Tiberius."
The evangelist even adds more detailed information that can be identified by our modern researchers: archaeologists have identified certain traces of the so-called Pilate that we quote in our Creed, and it is said: "John, son of Zacharias, went through the whole region of the Jordan." If the evangelist chooses to name these details, it is rather to say that what happened there and at such a time is part of a long tradition - and then he takes up the words of the prophet Isaiah: "Voice of one crying in the desert, prepare the way of the Lord."
This tradition has not finished its course and it joins us, us, in our time, and in our place! What happens at the time of the prophet Isaiah, what happens at another time, that of the prophet Baruch of whom we heard a few lines in the first reading, what happens at the time of the last great witness and prophet of the old alliance, John, son of Zechariah,
called John the Baptist, is the constantly renewed experience of the people of God who were able to move away from Him, or who were deported, exiled by neighboring empires, victims of the powerful of this world; but God never abandons this people who thus become a permanent witness of the solicitude with which He surrounds all humanity, humanity in search of justice and peace for all peoples: "You saw them leave on foot, led away by the enemies, and God brings them back to you, carried in triumph, as on a royal throne."
One might fear that this story is naively optimistic! However, generation after generation, believers experience it, the Lord does not abandon his own. And if distress and violence do not cease throughout the history of men, the life of men is so precious in the eyes of God that He raises up, at all times and in all places, witnesses and disciples who feed on his strength to show the way to the victory of life, of trust in Him, of the common construction of the universal brotherhood of the children of God and of the gift of self that leads to it. The task is never easy, but it finds beautiful opportunities to verify itself, to show itself, as the exemplary realization of this project to rebuild Notre-Dame de Paris has provided proof of. "Every ravine will be filled, every mountain and every hill will be made low; the crooked passages will become straight, the rocky paths will be made smooth; and every living being will see the salvation of God."
Yes, the ravines that separate men from each other can be filled, the mountains of pride can be planed down, the tortuous lies can give way to the joy of truth, the obstacles placed on the path can be replaced by the mutual admiration of those who compete honestly: we can rejoice without ulterior motive in the success of others which increases shared esteem. We can desire this and contribute to it; in any case it is God's very intention to achieve it with our help.
And it is a way already of glimpsing the salvation that He offers us and the path that He Himself shows us to walk towards Him, to join Him since He calls us there.
This morning, the pain of April 15, 2019 is erased. In a way, and even if the shock caused by the fire may have been lasting, the pain was already overcome when prayer rose from the banks of the Seine and from hundreds of millions of hearts around the world.
Prayer was already the sign of a hope still astonished by itself, but real. The immense people of those who seek God could already sing: "take off your robe of sadness and misery, and put on the finery of the glory of God forever, wrap yourself in the mantle of God's justice...".
And here we are around this altar that, in a few moments, I will consecrate before you so that it may be the table of Christ's sacrifice, the place where He gives His life for all. The material chosen by the artist, bronze, enters into a frank dialogue with the stone building; this is the first shock that grips us. And this block of the altar, as if born of the earth for the sacrifice, is prepared as a fraternal table for the Lord's meal. It forms with the ambo, in an exchange without confusion, the table of the Word and that of the Eucharist. As for the lines of both pieces of this furniture, their purity, their simplicity, are extremely accessible, even welcoming; a power of life, a peaceful force emanate from this very simplicity, responding to the Church's request that the components of the liturgy be all marked by noble simplicity.
It is Christ himself whom we place here at the centre of our Eucharist, at the centre of our assembly; Saint John-Henry Newman designated the altar as this centre towards which all our gazes, our gazes as believers, converge.
With what love we will surround this altar! It is certainly not a magic object, but it is an instrument by which we learn to see Christ in our midst, as the solid rock on which our faith rests, as the Calvary where we discover how far self-giving and total love go, and as the table around which Christ forms his disciples.
With what tenderness we will surround him by calling upon our assembly the power of holiness of the immense cohort of the blessed of heaven and earth! Among them, there will be five who have come from several provinces of France and even from Romania and who have a strong link with Paris, of whom a relic – a sign of their believing existence – will be placed inside: Saint Catherine Labouré, Saint Madeleine-Sophie Barat, Saint Marie-Eugénie Milleret, Saint Charles de Foucauld and Blessed Vladimir Ghika; then invoking the Spirit of God who transforms all things into instruments of peace and joy; by spreading upon him the oil of good odor which attracts every man to the virtuous paths of disinterested love!
With what admiration we will surround him when the smoke of incense rises with all our prayers for the most evident intentions of peace and justice for all men and also for the most hidden intentions in the secret of all our hearts, and when, clothed in the white garment of baptism, he shines with the light of heaven.
Finally, what recognition, what thanksgiving we will be able to raise up to the Father and the Son by celebrating for the first time here the Eucharist which builds the Body of Christ, the Temple of the Spirit, the People of God who offer themselves with their Lord!
Brothers and sisters who are specially invited on this day, do not be content to simply enjoy the pleasure of being here on such a special day when the cathedral of Paris regains its splendor, such as no one has ever known it before: whether you are believers or not, you are welcome to participate in the joy of the believers here who give glory to God for having found their mother church.
And you, bishops, priests and deacons, faithful of Christ, baptized, consecrated, servants of the gospel according to your condition and your particular mission, beloved Parisian brothers and sisters, do not only remain dazzled by the beauty of the stones found, but let yourselves be led to the greatest joys, to the most beautiful gift that God gives you and gives us of his loving presence, of his closeness to the poorest, of his transforming power in the sacraments.
Like our sister Madeleine Delbrêl – a humble believer who attended this church, a servant of the poor in our neighborhoods and those of the Paris region – let yourselves, like her, be “dazzled by God”! She was twenty years old when this flash of lightning struck her, and it was exactly one hundred years ago. God is freedom itself, freedom that surrenders itself, that gives itself; He reveals Himself to us on this altar; we await His coming in our flesh, at Christmas which is approaching.
We rejoice in what we see, we savor this moment that we are given to live, we love this gathering where we are united, and we dream that it can be like this in our society so worried.
But this morning, the source of our joy is even deeper and more lasting: it comes from God himself. He is the cause of our joy: let us not hesitate to repeat at all times with the psalmist: "What a marvel the Lord did for us, we were in great celebration!"
Mgr Laurent Ulrich,
Archbishop of Paris
The prayer of dedication and the anointing with oil, which is the main rite:
The Incense Offering
The adornment and illumination of the altar.
The entire mass was accompanied by the choirs of the Maîtrise Notre-Dame de Paris. Olivier Latry, Vincent Dubois, Thierry Escaich and Thibault Fajoles are on the grand organ; Yves Castagnet accompanies from the Choir of the cathedral with a replacement instrument (pending the reconstruction of the choir organ). Father Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, rector-archpriest of Notre Dame Cathedral, for the cathedral's inaugural Mass. Father Dumas carried the relics of five Saints and blesseds of Paris that later were put inside the altar at Notre Dame Cathedral, five-and-a-half years after a fire ravaged the Gothic masterpiece, as part of ceremonies to mark the cathedral's reopening after its restoration, in Paris, Dec. 8, 2024.
*********
St. Catherine is known to the world for having received apparitions from the Virgin Mary in 1830 in her convent on rue du Bac, in Paris, after which the religious sister asked, following Mary’s request, that the Miraculous Medal, also known as the Medal of the Immaculate Conception, be struck. The feast of the Immaculate Conception is ordinarily celebrated Dec. 8 on the Roman calendar; this year, however, as it fell on the Second Sunday of Advent, it was moved to Dec. 9.
In a message sent to the archbishop of Paris on Dec. 7, the night of the reopening ceremony, Pope Francis said that soon Notre Dame will “be visited and admired once again” by huge crowds of people from all walks of life.
“May they, lifting their eyes to these vaults that have regained their light, share his invincible hope,” the pope said of 15 million people expected to visit Notre Dame every year from now on.
On Dec. 3, the day the application went live, the 1,500 places on offer for this first Mass had all been reserved within 25 minutes, The Associated Press released.
FULL TEXT - Homily of Mgr Laurent Ulrich – Mass of consecration of the altar of Notre-Dame de Paris
Notre-Dame de Paris – Sunday December 8, 2024
Contrary to what one might spontaneously understand, it is not primarily to recall a story from the past that the author of the Gospel, Saint Luke, situates his story with such historical and geographical precision: "the fifteenth year of the reign of the Emperor Tiberius."
The evangelist even adds more detailed information that can be identified by our modern researchers: archaeologists have identified certain traces of the so-called Pilate that we quote in our Creed, and it is said: "John, son of Zacharias, went through the whole region of the Jordan." If the evangelist chooses to name these details, it is rather to say that what happened there and at such a time is part of a long tradition - and then he takes up the words of the prophet Isaiah: "Voice of one crying in the desert, prepare the way of the Lord."
This tradition has not finished its course and it joins us, us, in our time, and in our place! What happens at the time of the prophet Isaiah, what happens at another time, that of the prophet Baruch of whom we heard a few lines in the first reading, what happens at the time of the last great witness and prophet of the old alliance, John, son of Zechariah,
called John the Baptist, is the constantly renewed experience of the people of God who were able to move away from Him, or who were deported, exiled by neighboring empires, victims of the powerful of this world; but God never abandons this people who thus become a permanent witness of the solicitude with which He surrounds all humanity, humanity in search of justice and peace for all peoples: "You saw them leave on foot, led away by the enemies, and God brings them back to you, carried in triumph, as on a royal throne."
One might fear that this story is naively optimistic! However, generation after generation, believers experience it, the Lord does not abandon his own. And if distress and violence do not cease throughout the history of men, the life of men is so precious in the eyes of God that He raises up, at all times and in all places, witnesses and disciples who feed on his strength to show the way to the victory of life, of trust in Him, of the common construction of the universal brotherhood of the children of God and of the gift of self that leads to it. The task is never easy, but it finds beautiful opportunities to verify itself, to show itself, as the exemplary realization of this project to rebuild Notre-Dame de Paris has provided proof of. "Every ravine will be filled, every mountain and every hill will be made low; the crooked passages will become straight, the rocky paths will be made smooth; and every living being will see the salvation of God."
Yes, the ravines that separate men from each other can be filled, the mountains of pride can be planed down, the tortuous lies can give way to the joy of truth, the obstacles placed on the path can be replaced by the mutual admiration of those who compete honestly: we can rejoice without ulterior motive in the success of others which increases shared esteem. We can desire this and contribute to it; in any case it is God's very intention to achieve it with our help.
And it is a way already of glimpsing the salvation that He offers us and the path that He Himself shows us to walk towards Him, to join Him since He calls us there.
This morning, the pain of April 15, 2019 is erased. In a way, and even if the shock caused by the fire may have been lasting, the pain was already overcome when prayer rose from the banks of the Seine and from hundreds of millions of hearts around the world.
Prayer was already the sign of a hope still astonished by itself, but real. The immense people of those who seek God could already sing: "take off your robe of sadness and misery, and put on the finery of the glory of God forever, wrap yourself in the mantle of God's justice...".
And here we are around this altar that, in a few moments, I will consecrate before you so that it may be the table of Christ's sacrifice, the place where He gives His life for all. The material chosen by the artist, bronze, enters into a frank dialogue with the stone building; this is the first shock that grips us. And this block of the altar, as if born of the earth for the sacrifice, is prepared as a fraternal table for the Lord's meal. It forms with the ambo, in an exchange without confusion, the table of the Word and that of the Eucharist. As for the lines of both pieces of this furniture, their purity, their simplicity, are extremely accessible, even welcoming; a power of life, a peaceful force emanate from this very simplicity, responding to the Church's request that the components of the liturgy be all marked by noble simplicity.
It is Christ himself whom we place here at the centre of our Eucharist, at the centre of our assembly; Saint John-Henry Newman designated the altar as this centre towards which all our gazes, our gazes as believers, converge.
With what love we will surround this altar! It is certainly not a magic object, but it is an instrument by which we learn to see Christ in our midst, as the solid rock on which our faith rests, as the Calvary where we discover how far self-giving and total love go, and as the table around which Christ forms his disciples.
With what tenderness we will surround him by calling upon our assembly the power of holiness of the immense cohort of the blessed of heaven and earth! Among them, there will be five who have come from several provinces of France and even from Romania and who have a strong link with Paris, of whom a relic – a sign of their believing existence – will be placed inside: Saint Catherine Labouré, Saint Madeleine-Sophie Barat, Saint Marie-Eugénie Milleret, Saint Charles de Foucauld and Blessed Vladimir Ghika; then invoking the Spirit of God who transforms all things into instruments of peace and joy; by spreading upon him the oil of good odor which attracts every man to the virtuous paths of disinterested love!
With what admiration we will surround him when the smoke of incense rises with all our prayers for the most evident intentions of peace and justice for all men and also for the most hidden intentions in the secret of all our hearts, and when, clothed in the white garment of baptism, he shines with the light of heaven.
Finally, what recognition, what thanksgiving we will be able to raise up to the Father and the Son by celebrating for the first time here the Eucharist which builds the Body of Christ, the Temple of the Spirit, the People of God who offer themselves with their Lord!
Brothers and sisters who are specially invited on this day, do not be content to simply enjoy the pleasure of being here on such a special day when the cathedral of Paris regains its splendor, such as no one has ever known it before: whether you are believers or not, you are welcome to participate in the joy of the believers here who give glory to God for having found their mother church.
And you, bishops, priests and deacons, faithful of Christ, baptized, consecrated, servants of the gospel according to your condition and your particular mission, beloved Parisian brothers and sisters, do not only remain dazzled by the beauty of the stones found, but let yourselves be led to the greatest joys, to the most beautiful gift that God gives you and gives us of his loving presence, of his closeness to the poorest, of his transforming power in the sacraments.
Like our sister Madeleine Delbrêl – a humble believer who attended this church, a servant of the poor in our neighborhoods and those of the Paris region – let yourselves, like her, be “dazzled by God”! She was twenty years old when this flash of lightning struck her, and it was exactly one hundred years ago. God is freedom itself, freedom that surrenders itself, that gives itself; He reveals Himself to us on this altar; we await His coming in our flesh, at Christmas which is approaching.
We rejoice in what we see, we savor this moment that we are given to live, we love this gathering where we are united, and we dream that it can be like this in our society so worried.
But this morning, the source of our joy is even deeper and more lasting: it comes from God himself. He is the cause of our joy: let us not hesitate to repeat at all times with the psalmist: "What a marvel the Lord did for us, we were in great celebration!"
Mgr Laurent Ulrich,
Archbishop of Paris
https://dioceseparis.fr/messe-de-consecration-de-l-autel.html
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