Advertisement

The unlikely hero who saved the treasures of Notre Dame

A Paris chaplain who cared for victims of the city’s 2015 Bataclan terror attack has again emerged as a hero, after he ran into the blazing Notre Dame cathedral to help authorities rescue priceless relics.

Jean-Marc Fournier, a Paris fire brigade chaplain, headed into the cathedral with firefighters and police officers to save the threatened artefacts, some purportedly dating back to Jesus Christ’s final moments.

Father Fournier, who had keys and codes for the cathedral, helped officials get into rooms where the treasures were held as sections of the historic church’s roof smoked around them.

The group managed to save several priceless relics, including the revered Crown of Thorns.

The chaplain – who has also reportedly served as a spiritual guide to French forces in Afghanistan – was also called a hero following the 2015 Paris attacks. He led prayers and helped victims after terrorists killed 130 people across the city.

“The police took the Crown and I took the holy sacrament [the wafers, or body of Christ],” Father Fournier said of his emergency dash into Notre Dame.

Among those to thank Father Fournier for his efforts was Etienne Loraillère, the director of the French Catholic television network KTO. He tweeted a picture of the priest and commended him for his bravery.

Many of the treasures rescued as Notre Dame burned have been given temporary homes in Paris’s City Hall and The Louvre.

The magic 20 minutes that saved Notre Dame

France’s deputy interior minister Laurent Nunez said the cathedral’s structure was now safe, following intense work within a crucial 20-minute window by 400 firefighters.

Mr Nunez said authorities had identified “weaknesses” in the centuries-old building but overall it was “holding up OK”, despite its steeple having collapsed in the flames.

The blaze was tackled from all sides, except overhead, contrary to Donald Trump’s Twitter proposal for local fire authorities.

Securite Civile, a French government civil defence agency, rebuked the US President’s claims by responding, in English, that waterbombing could lead to the structure’s collapse.

What was saved

Some of the cathedral’s most cherished relics were recovered during the desperate rescue operation.

Most notably, the Crown of Thorns, said to have been placed on the head of Jesus Christ in the moments before his crucifixion, was among the artefacts whisked away to a “secret location.”

The cathedral’s mammoth organ, which dates back to the 1730s and has an estimated 8000 pipes, remains intact. Authorities are yet to establish whether it sustained heat or water damage.

The fate of a 24-centimetre piece of wood and nine-centimetre-long nail purportedly from Jesus Christ’s crucifixion cross remains unknown.

Experts have grimmer fears for the integrity of the cathedral roof. They  have said there are no longer trees in France big enough to replicate the lattice structure that was constructed in the 12th and 13th centuries.

However, 16 three-metre-tall copper statues representing the 12 apostles and four evangelists, which were normally housed on top of Notre Dame, survived.

They had been removed from the cathedral’s monumental spire last week for the first time in over a century, for cleaning.

Stay informed, daily
A FREE subscription to The New Daily arrives every morning and evening.
The New Daily is a trusted source of national news and information and is provided free for all Australians. Read our editorial charter
Copyright © 2024 The New Daily.
All rights reserved.