A Good Friday procession passed people sunbathing beside the Seine.
By James McAuley James McAuley Foreign correspondent focusing on French and European politics and culture Email Bio Follow April 19 at 4:58 PM PARIS — A procession of clergy dressed in white carried a simple black cross through the streets of Île St. Louis on Friday, continuing a Good Friday ritual even while the charred hulk of Notre Dame Cathedral loomed behind them.
The cathedral was visible in the background, across a short foot bridge, on the neighboring Île de la Cité. Because its 19th-century spire and much of its roof were consumed in Monday’s fire, Notre Dame’s flying buttresses now seem to climb to nowhere. But the main structure, the twin bell towers and the stunning stained-glass rose windows remain intact. And most of the art and artifacts survived.
Investigators still privilege the view that the fire was an accident. French media outlets have cited unnamed police officials saying that an electrical short-circuit is the leading hypothesis. But a judicial official from the office of the Paris prosecutor, the body overseeing the investigation, told The Washington Post that “no hypothesis is excluded at this stage.”
Notre Dame Cathedral, of course, is not just a place of worship. It is also a symbol of Paris, the most-visited site in one of the world’s most-visited cities and an inspiration for countless artists, writers and poets.“The collapse of Notre Dame in the literal sense is a sad metaphor for the collapse of French Catholicism in the figurative sense,” said Martel, whose recent book examines the question of closeted homosexuality within the Vatican.
“At the foot of the cross, when everything was over, someone was standing: it was Notre Dame,” he said, referring to the Virgin Mary, the namesake of the cathedral, who was present for her son’s crucifixion. “And on the third day, Christ is risen. From the death of his son, God brought for the good: his resurrection and the salvation of all men.”Some of those who observed the stations of the cross procession mouthed the words to hymns they knew by heart.
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