OUR LADY

Many people go to the City of Lights for food, fun, shopping.

ME, I'm on a mission -

FINDING FORGOTTEN WOMEN OF FRANCE

Who (and what) did I find this trip?

A woman who is not forgotten - she's everywhere, in plain sight - but do we really notice her?

THE VIRGIN MARY

Mary and Jesus. No, her face isn't stained glass - one of the hazards of cell phone photography!

Did you know the entire country of

FRANCE

IS CONSECRATED TO THE VIRGIN

MARY?

I didn't.

I also didn't realize that all those cathedrals named "Notre-Dame" - that that "Dame" is the Virgin Mary.

DUH

I'm a Lutheran from the Middle West.

Plus, as a Midwesterner, when I hear Notre-Dame, I think of the university in Indiana.

My pal Gemini tells me there are probably THOUSANDS of churches in France named Notre-Dame de Quelquechose.

There are about 75 biggies dedicated to the VM. Most of those "stars" - like Notre-Dame de Paris - were built during and after the 1100's.

But the history of Marian worship goes back way earlier - to the 4th-5th century.

I actually visited one of her first cathedrals this summer. Legend has it that Mary appeared on the site of what is now the Notre-Dame Cathedral of Le Puy in the 5th century.

Le Puy-en-Velay - Cath de Notre-Dame. Annual sound and light show. FUN FACT: Cathedrals used to be painted!

In Le Puy-en-Velay, she gets a big statue, too. Very narrow staircase up through her head to the crown. I opted out.

Then there's Notre-Dame de Reims, where Clovis I, the first king of the Franks, was baptized in 496 AD after winning a battle he was losing.

The real reason he converted? His wife, Clotilde, was Catholic and relentlessly tried to get him to believe in her God.

So it's because of CLOTILDE that France is Catholic. And most people have never heard of her! And she is pissed (at least, that's what I imagine in this monologue.

click here to watch

In the 11th-13th, the Virgin's cult exploded - as I'm discovering in my musical, Four Queens.

The Catholic Church realizes it has gotten way too cruel and stern. People aren't going to church, aren't going to confession, monks and priests are breaking their vows of celibacy.

The Pope decides it needs a make-over, a softer face.

Mary it is.

She intercedes for mercy, gives people some hope.

By the 13th century, the era of my four sisters from Provence who all become queens, all the noble women take on that role.

This is one of the major sources of a woman's power -

Saving People.

Like Marguerite tries with a woman in the Holy Land. Her husband does show mercy: rather than decapitating her, she is burned at the stake. Nice.

Notre-Dame de Paris is begun in 1163 - 70 years before Marguérite arrives in Paris.

In 1239, Louis buys the Crown of Thorns. Brings it to ND for blessing before taking it to its new home at Sainte-Chapelle.

The Crown comes back to ND for safe-keeping after Sainte-Chapelle is attacked during the Revolution.

In November, 2025 - I finally get to kiss it!

CROWN OF THORNS REDUX

Last month, I went to La Cathédrale de Notre-Dame in Paris, hoping to find traces of Marguérite de Provence, one of the queens in my Four Queens musical.

I found no traces - nor did I get to kiss the Crown of Thorns, which you get to do between 3-5pm on the first Friday of the month. If you get there on time. Which I did not.

ARGH.

THIS TRIP - I was determined to get in. And guess what?

You don't kiss the thorns - they're protected by a cage of crystal and gold. The 2 euros I paid for this postcard to go "Christians in the Holy Land." Holy Moly. That crusading spirit never stops!

I did get to kiss it!

After waiting an hour with hundreds of others who got to smooch before I did, I strategically put my lips way upper left on the crystal frame - at about 8 l'clock - thinking most folks opt for the middle.

Yes, I actually put my lips on the crystal. It was surprisingly COLD.

The post-kiss wipe-down by one of the priests is very cursory. Having witnessed this on my previous first-Friday visit (when I got there too late to make the cut), I planned ahead:

I GOT both my vaccine boosters (Covid/flu) beforehand.

We waited over an hour for a half-second kiss. Reminds me of prom.

Mass of the Veneration of the Holy Crown. Lots of pretty singing.

ANOTHER SURPRISE?

HOW MOVED I WAS.

I am not a big "believer." But I believe in our need for awe, for something greater than us. For beauty. For meaning.

There was a young couple sitting in a pew after their crown experience. The woman was crying.

I suddenly saw my queen, Marguérite,

going to church after church,

praying for the miracle

of pregnancy...

so her husband wouldn't give in to his mother

 and put her aside for another bride.

After six long years, Marguérite did conceive. And went on to have 11 children.

Whatever was upsetting that woman in Notre-Dame, I hope her experience there that day helped answer her prayers.

I've been looking for reminders of Marguérite -

PERHAPS I HAVE FINALLY FOUND IT -

A WOMAN TODAY, LOOKING FOR PEACE

IN THE CHURCH

AS MARGUÉRITE DID...