With our trip to Lisieux canceled, we headed up to the Montmartre section of Paris to take a walking tour. Montmartre means “hill of martyrs” because it is where many martyrs gave their lives for the faith. The part of Paris is the home of Parisian artists, the red-light district, and the Moulin Rouge. The tour began at the Moulin Rouge and ended at the highest point in Paris, the Basilica of Sacre Coeur (“Sacred Heart’). Our tour guide was Stanislaus is a Montmartre native.
The most fascinating aspect of the tour was learning about St. Denis, one of the patron saints of Paris (the others being St. Genevieve and Saint Marcel). St. Denis was the first Bishop of Paris and was martyred during the Roman persecutions around 250 A.D.
His story is most interesting. Roman soldiers captured him while he was preaching in Northern France. He was tortured and beheaded on Montmartre Hill. After his head was cut off, he picked it up and carried it for six miles while preaching a sermon. It would have been quite a sight hearing a sermon delivered from the mouth of a head in the arms of a body. He carried his head to the place he wanted to be buried, and parishioners immediately did so. You can see statues of St. Denis holding his head all around Paris.
Sacre Coeur Basilica is a gem. It has had perpetual adoration since 1887. Built on Montmartre Hill, it has a spectacular view of the city. The Sacre Coeur is the youngest Catholic church in Paris built between 1875 and 1914. Stanislaus told us that many Parisians come up to Sacre Coeur to enjoy the great view, not so much to worship in the Basilica. While we were inside at adoration and Mass, it seemed that most of the people were tourists. Since adoration is 24 hours, Basilica staff provide an opportunity to spend the night inside.
Later, we took the metro to the Rodin Museum. I didn’t know much about Auguste Rodin, except for the sculpture of the man in the commode position. It is his most famous sculpture, I think. I’m not much of a sculpture person unless we’re talking about Michelangelo. But I must say that Rodin is quite good at sculpting naked people intertwined with each other as if they are playing Twister.
Lastly, we visited Sainte-Chapelle. It was as striking today as when we first saw it. The columns of stained glass that encircle the chapel are a feast for the eyes. The windows in the Gothic style chapel depict 1,113 scenes from the Bible.
King Louis IX (St. Louis) built Sainte Chapelle (“Holy Chapel”) on palace grounds between 1243 and 1248 specifically to house the Holy relics he purchased, in particular the Crown of Thornes.
Turns out, Baldwin II, the emperor of Constantinople in 1239, was broke and needed cash so he sold the Crown to St. King Louis. The Crown stayed there until the French revolution when it was removed for safety. Since then, the Crown resided at Notre Dame Cathedral until it burned in 2019. Fortunately, Father Jean-Marc Fournier, the Paris Fire Department chaplain, rescued it from destruction.
I had an incident trying to get into Sainte Chapelle. I had to put my stuff through an x-ray machine and walk through a metal detector like the airport. I wear this thing called a “neck wallet” which hangs around my neck and under my shirt.
As I tried to take the neck wallet off my body, it somehow got caught around my arm in such a way that I had to take off my shirt completely–all while people were standing in line behind me. The man sitting on the other side of the metal detector seemed perturbed that I was shirtless. Rebecca waited for me patiently.
