OUR LADY OF PARIS, FRANCE

Feast Day: February 15

The information available about Our Lady of Paris is not much; it is an ancient title, and can be traced well back to the 12th Century, when the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris (Our Lady of Paris) begun. Some authorities say that the veneration of the Blessed Virgin in Paris can be traced to the first apostles of the city. Since Saint Paul was in Gaul (France) during his travels, it may be assumed that this veneration dates to the first century of the Christian era. And if Mary was venerated in Paris at that early date, it is possible that she was, even then, known as Our Lady of Paris. Briefly, as long as Christian minds can be remembered, Paris was consecrated to the Virgin Mary, whom the inhabitants always venerate.

Cathedral of Our Lady of Paris

This church was first built by King Childebert in the year 522. Around 1257, King Louis IX assisted in building a larger church on the same spot, the foundations which King Philip Augustus had laid in the year 1191. The older church built by King Childebert, which had been dedicated to Our Lady, had became too ruinous to be repaired, so Maurice, Bishop of Paris, decided to rebuild it and at the same time adorn Paris with a Cathedral that would outshine all those which had hitherto been built anywhere.

It is home to a reliquary which contains Christ’s Crown of Thorn, fragment of the true cross and one of the Holy Nails.

By the beginning of the fourteenth century, perhaps 1345, the cathedral was finished, virtually as it stands today. Some time during the building of the Cathedral, a statue of Our Lady was fashioned and installed in place.

As was typical, the cathedral was desecrated during the French Revolution, and many of the religious artifacts were lost to future generations, although the incredible stained glass windows were not destroyed, including the spectacular “rose window” that can still be seen today.