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The cathedral's large doors open to let in the fading light of day. The cross emerges, and behind it, an army of men in great white cloaks, flanked by the Jerusalem cross. The Crown of Thorns is under guard as it returns to its rightful place in the heart of Notre Dame.
Five years ago, the Paris fire department — and in particular its chaplain, Fr. Fournier — extricated it in extremis from its reliquary, just as Notre Dame of Paris was threatening to be utterly destroyed by flames. On Friday, December 13, this precious relic of Christianity was brought back in a solemn procession made up of 80 knights of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. This Vatican institution, whose mission is to support the Catholic Church in the Holy Land, has ensured the security of the Crown of Thorns for a century.
Carried on a cushion of red velvet, the crown, visible through its crystal case set with precious stones, passes through a cloud of incense, amidst the congregation of the faithful. Their heads were bowed, knees bent, telephone cameras focused on the relic.
“We have come to rediscover and venerate the Holy Crown of Thorns, to recognize it as an eminent sign of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ,” declares Archbishop Laurent Ulrich as the crown arrives in the choir. “What brings us together this evening can only be understood in the very history of this weakness, of the derision with which He is burdened, and through which the glory of God is revealed.”
A new reliquary
The Passion of Christ according to St. Luke seems to take on a whole new dimension as the Crown is carried to the middle of the choir, in front of the altar where the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will be renewed every day:
Darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, while the sun’s light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Having said this, he breathed his last.
A long silence fills the cathedral. It seems to want to make itself small. “Kyrie eleison,” “Lord, have mercy”: carried in procession through the ambulatory, surrounded by its red, black, and white guardians, the Holy Crown is placed by Archbisop Ulrich in its new reliquary.
Manufactured by Ateliers Saint-Jacques and Fonderie de Coubertin in Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse, the new reliquary has been placed at the eastern end of the cathedral, in the axial chapel, in accordance with a completely redesigned tour route to introduce pilgrims and visitors to Notre Dame.
The faithful come forward, or rather rush forward, to see the precious relic with their own eyes and venerate it. It will remain in this shrine for perpetuity, but will not always be visible. Outside the times set aside for veneration, the Crown will be kept in a highly secure safe, concealed in the base of the reliquary, which takes the form of a marble “altar tomb.”
It will be taken out for veneration every Friday between January 10 and Good Friday, April 18. During these times the faithful will be able to kiss or touch the relic, held by a canon surrounded by Knights of the Holy Sepulchre at the threshold of the choir.
