(308) Is the Fire and Restoration of the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris Stimulating a Revival of the Faith in France?

 AMDG

The great 13^th Century Cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris (Our Lady of Paris) in flames on April 15, 2019.  Little was left of the roof and spire.

       On the night of April 15, 2019 the world gasped in horror as it watched live on television the magnificent mediviel cathedral in flames……perhaps the most famous cathedral in the world, the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris.  People all over France were praying –many for the first time in years-- that the firefighters save the iconic cathedral, which was close to collapsing.  In fact a spire did collapse before the eyes of the world. 

It is amazing how the people of the 12^th century could build such a magnificent cathedral with their rather primitive tools.  No tourist leaves Paris without visiting this classic cathedral with its Gothic architecture and exquisite stained-glass windows.  Notre-Dane is the most visited site in Paris, far exceeding the Eiffel Tower, with 13 million visitors per year.  

The 12^th Century Cathedral of Notre Dame fully restored in its original splendor, reopened on December 7, 2024, the eve of the great feast of the Immaculate Conception after a devastating fire five years earlier.  It was in 1858 that Mary herself revealed the doctrine to St. Bernadette.  Over 1500 people, including 40 heads of state attended the reopening ceremony.  Once again the huge bells of the jewel of Paris could be heard through much of Paris.  A few weeks earlier on November 15, the 14^th Century statue of Our Lady of the Pillar, miraculously untouched by the flames of April 15, 2019, was brought back in a torchlight procession, partially organized by the Knights of Columbus, through the streets of Paris to her proper place in the cathedral.    

The original construction was a labor of love that gives glory to God.  It took almost a century to build (1163-1260).  While in the Army stationed in Orleans two hours south, I was blessed to visit it more than once in 1962.  Using similar medieval tools and methods, the five year restoration was a painstaking labor of love at a cost of $800 million and a brother knight, a French craftsman and manager, had a significant part.  All of that funding and more was supplied by 340,000 donors from 150 countrues all over the world.  Some 240 companies and hundreds of craftsmen participated.

A view of the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris from the Seine River

       The restoration is rekindling a religious fervor “This moment of joy confirms the vitality of Christianity in old Europe, which is only waiting to follow its Christian vocation more intensely in France and beyond” said Arnaud Bouthéon, territorial deputy of France.  Pope Francis himself called upon “all the baptized who will joyfully enter this cathedral to feel a legitimate pride and reclaim their faith heritage…..May the rebirth of this admirable church be a prophetic sign of the renewal of the Church in France.”  And to think that the faith in secular France had been in decline for the previous 75 years.  

Will this tragic fire and the unifying restoration stimulate a religious revival?  About the same time in 2023, across the ocean, little Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia near Washington D.C. dedicated its magnificent neogothic chapel to Christ the King and renewed its mission to “restore all things in Christ”.  There was a time when the word “Christendom” was almost synonymous with Western Civilization because of the prevailing Christian culture before the Protestant Reformation. 

May the Church in France return to the days when they had a Catholic culture, as during the reign of King St. Louis IX (1226-1270).  It was King St. Louis IX, who placed the precious crown of thorns of Christ in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame.  It survived the persecution and desecration during the French Revolution in 1789.  May France again be faithful to its calling as the eldest daughter of the Church.                                             

One of the many stained-glass windows of the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris

       Jean-Baptiste Bonhoure, a member of Blessed Noël Pinot Council 18406 in Béhuard, France, was present at the restoration inauguration in his capacity as president of Ateliers Perrault, the company entrusted with the reconstruction of the nave, choir, as well as the north and south belfries of the 850-year-old cathedral.  Membership is growing in France to 1250 since the first five French councils of the Knights of Columbus were chartered in 2016. What attracted Bonhoure to join the Order in 2022 was seeing members put their faith into action through service.  “I joined the Knights to help serve the community,” he said, “while strengthening my Catholic faith with a group of men from all generations.”

A view of the Seine River and Paris from the tower of the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris.  Notice the flying buttresses at the bottom of the photo.

      Many see the tragic fire and restoration as an opportunity for the re-evangelization of France and the Knights of Columbus have taken a part in that most noble undertaking.  Observers can see that “From a cultural and existential point of view, people today feel lost, which reinforces the attraction effect toward Notre-Dame.”  According to Fr. Amar, “We can turn every trial into a source of strength.  This is the direction Christ points us in, through his death on the cross and his resurrection in glory.”  The influx of tourists to the restored cathedral must be directed to prayer and reverence in this holy church……not simply herded through a museum.     

      In 2017 and again in 2018 the French knights organized a sound and light show on the façade of the cathedral to commemorate the centenary of Worlld War I under the title, “Queen of Hearts” before thousands of people.  During the Year of St. Joseph in 2021, the knights organized a procession with his statue through Paris, climaxed by a vigil of thanksgiving and Eucharistic Adoration in front of the cathedral. 

Even more ambitious, the Knights organized a 590 mile walking pilgrimage over 70 days from Paris to Southern France.  During the processions the knights distributed images of the statue of St. Joseph and the Christ child.  All of this is an answer to the emptiness of post-modern materialism.  The whole world can adopt this missionary spirit of evangelization.

This is in addition to the annual three day 60 mile walking pilgrimage from Paris to the great medieval cathedral of Chartres to the south.  The 2025 pilgrimage broke a record with some 19,000 participants, mostly youth.

A statue of one of the many saints of France, St. Joan of Arc in the center of Orleans.  She commanded the lifting of the siege of the English on May 7-8 1429.

      In fact there were 10,000 adult Baptisms at Easter 2025, a 45% increase over 2024, in itself a banner year in the French Church.  Perhaps the tragedy of the fire that nearly destroyed on April 19, 2019 and recent restoration is indeed stimulating a revival of the Faith in secular France.  Certainly, the army of saints that France has produced over the centuries are praying for that…..St. Joan of Arc (her feast day was yesterday May 30), St. Margaret Mary, St. Catherine Labore, Saint Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, St. Bernadette, St. Louis IX, St. Louis de Monfort, St. John Vianney, St. Dennis, St. Theresa of Lisieux, and many more.  See

https://www.returntoorder.org/2025/05/the-unexpected-rise-in-adult-baptisms-in-france-should-encourage-and-challenge-all-catholics/.

For more details go to  https://www.kofc.org/en/news-room/columbia/2025/march/resurrection-notre-dame.html