An extremely rough month on the family front, and tomorrow I go north for another stint on the far front. (The one at home has been bad enough
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Notre Dame was a living church--that is, unlike many, hadn't been turned into a museum, but was still consecrated.
As it happened, they were just finishing a vigil Mass when the fire broke out.
Also, Notre Dame is the seat of the Archbishop of Paris -- somewhere in the ruins is the cathedra, the bishop's formal chair which makes the church a cathedral. I haven't been able to find any description of it, whether it's of stone or of wood, or where it was placed relative to the damaged areas, to know how likely it is to have been damaged.
I might have even seen it on my tour all those decades again. My memory is mostly of the awe-inspiring vaulting, the hush that is endemic to cathedrals, and the windows.
Given that your trip was some time ago, it's possible that it's been relocated -- Blase Cupich moved the bishop's chair at Holy Name Cathedral to a less central location when he became Archbishop, in line with the tone of servant leadership Pope Francis has been setting. And here in Indianapolis, one of the recent Archbishops swapped the ornate marble cathedra for a simpler one of white oak that was deemed more appropriate to a modern American bishop. So even if the physical chair has been burned or broken beyond repair, especially if it's not a work of art by some famous artist and of considerable historical significance, it can be replaced.
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As it happened, they were just finishing a vigil Mass when the fire broke out.
Also, Notre Dame is the seat of the Archbishop of Paris -- somewhere in the ruins is the cathedra, the bishop's formal chair which makes the church a cathedral. I haven't been able to find any description of it, whether it's of stone or of wood, or where it was placed relative to the damaged areas, to know how likely it is to have been damaged.
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