notre dame basilica and then there was light

#NOTRE DAME BASILICA AND THEN THERE WAS LIGHT WINDOWS#

Notre-Dame de Fourvière Basilica / Our Lady of Lyons, France (1643) – 19 April: Died in the year 250 in prison in Carthage, North Africa (modern Tunis, Tunisia). We know little more than the names – Aristo, Basso, Credula, Donato, Ereda, Eremio, Fermo, Fortunata, Fortunio, Frutto, Julia, Mappalicus, Martial, Paul, Venusto, Victorinus and Victor. Martyrs of Carthage – 17 saints: A group of Christians martyred in the persecutions of Decius. St Alphege of Winchester (c 953–1012) ArchBishop and Martyrīlessed Conrad of Ascoli OFM (1234-1289) Friar Missionaryīlessed James Duckett (Died 1602) Layman Martyr Nazaire, was completely destroyed in 1884. The crypt of Saint Pothinus, under the choir of the Church of St. Their pause and inexplicable retreat were attributed by the Church to the intercession of the Virgin Mary.Īfter the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, a vast Basilica to Our Lady was built next to the old Shrine, which remained almost untouched. During the Franco-Prussian War, Prussian forces, having taken Paris, were progressing south toward Lyon. The Virgin is also credited with saving the City from a Cholera epidemic in 1832 and from Prussian invasion in 1870.

#NOTRE DAME BASILICA AND THEN THERE WAS LIGHT WINDOWS#

On this day, the faithful put candles or lanterns in their windows and make the pilgrimage up the hill to the Basilica by candlelight or flashlight, called the Fête des Lumieres, or the “festival of lights.”

This episode is the origin of the street illuminations now observed on 8 December and has become part of the annual tradition. The citizens of Lyons, undismayed, put lanterns on their windowsills as a sign of their devotion. Even then, the festivities and fireworks planned for the celebration had to be cancelled due to heavy rains. The inauguration of the renovated Church and Tower was scheduled for 8 September 1852 but the date was moved to 8 December because of heavy flooding. The Marshall was given the order to demolish the Shrine but he refused to do so.īecause the City was spared many vicissitudes during the revolutions of 18, the people of Lyons decided to show their gratitude by adding a tall Tower to the Church surmounted by a great bronze figure of Our Lady.

Shortly before the battle of Waterloo, the Shrine was threatened with destruction when Napoleon wanted the hillside fortified.

In 1805, Pope Pius VII himself presided at the opening or re-opening of the Shrine. Sometimes pilgrims would still come to visit the Shrine at night under peril of their lives. Already, vast pilgrimages came to seek Mary’s aid, especially in time of famine and plague.ĭuring the years of the French Revolution the Sanctuary was profaned and the Church used as a warehouse. In the year 1638, King Louis XIII consecrated France to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

In 1466 King Louis XI founded a daily Mass in perpetuity, to be followed always by the Salve Regina, solemnly sung. In thanksgiving for the cure of his son by this Saint, King Louis VII of France made a pilgrimage to Lyons, where he had an ex-veto tablet set up before the Shrine of Our Lady. In 1168 the Canons of the Cathedral started building a larger Church over the Shrine. The Church takes its name from Nicetius of Lyon, who was the 28th Bishop there in the 6th century, due to the numerous miracles that occurred there after his burial. Later, in the 5th century, a Basilica was built on the site and the remains of many Christian martyrs from that persecution were buried there, as well as the Bishops of Lyon. In about the year 150 Saint Pothinus, the Apostle of Gaul and first Bishop of Lyon, is said to have enshrined a picture of Our Lady in an underground chapel which is now beneath the Church of Saint Nazaire, or Nizier, in Lyons where many Christians suffered death in the Old Forum on the Hill of Blood.Īccording to tradition, there was once a temple to Attis on the site, whose followers precipitated a persecution against the Christians in about the year 177.

Notre dame basilica and then there was light