Fire Brigade Chaplain Rescued Crown of Thorns and Blessed Sacrament From Notre Dame Fire

The irreplaceable relic and the Blessed Sacrament was saved on Monday evening by the firefighters’ chaplain, Jean-Marc Fournier during the burning of the cathedral - the chaplain charged into the burning cathedral

Paris (kath.net/KAP) As the broadcaster KTO reported on Tuesday, the saving of the crown of thorns and the Blessed Sacrament was by the valor of the fire department's chaplain Jean-Marc Fournier. The chaplain of the Paris Fire Brigade went on Monday evening with a group of firefighters into the burning Notre-Dame Cathedral and had opened the tabernacle, as well as the reliquary in which the crown of thorns reposed. Fournier then hurried out of the cathedral with the monstrance. It was feared that the religious treasures would be lost by the fire. "Father Fournier is an absolute hero," KTO quoted a member of the emergency services: "He showed no fear at all, as he went straight to the relics in the cathedral and made sure that they were saved."

In 2015, the Parisian priest had comforted the wounded after the Bataclan massacre, the worst terrorist attack in Paris in this century. [One of the worst since Muslims invaded France in the 8th century] He has become the "hero of the Notre-Dame-fire,” said a paramedic: "He deals with life and death every day, and he shows no fear."

Trans Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG

Thorn of Christ's Crown Given to Orthodox in France

Editor: earlier this month, it was reported that the lance that pierced Christ's side was found.  Now, we find his crown, a thorn with a precious reliquary, being part of an ecumenical gesture in France.


The Society  of the Helpers of the Holy Souls consigned the Seminary of the Russian Orthodox Diocese for France a priceless reliquary which contained the thorn from the crown of Jesus.

Paris - Vienna (kath.net/PEW) Cardinal Franz König's traces arrive now in France as the gesture of an ecumenical friendship between the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Church:  The Society of helpers [A Religious Society founded in 1856 in France] consigned the Russian Orthodox Seminar for the Diocese of France Epinay-sous-Senart a priceless reliquary,  which according to Tradition contained a thorn from the crown of Jesus.  The massive silver reliquary holds a quartz crystal with the thorn.  During the French Revolution the reliquary was sent next to Prague and later to Vienna.  Cardinal Franz König gave the reliquary in 1960 to the Society of the Helpers.

The consignment to the Russian Orthodox Seminary took place as part of a liturgy celebrating a feast.  At the end of the liturgy Sr. Genevieve Medevielle, the Household General of the French Province of the Helpers gave the priceless reliquary to Bishop Nestor of Cherson (the Diocese of the Moscow Patriarchat for France which doesn't carry this name officially any more fro the old early Russian Eparchie).  The Parisian Auxiliary Bishoperic de Moulins-Beaufort was present at the gift of the reliquary.