Pilgrimage series: Cathedral of Notre Dame

Editor's note: Last in a 20-part series on the sacred places and tombs of saints included in The Compass pilgrimage to Rome and Paris that retired Green Bay Bishop Robert Banks will lead May 3-13. (More information on pilgrimage)

By Tony Staley

	Cathedral of Notre Dame What: World's most famous Gothic cathedral When: Built from 1163 to 1250 Where: Paris Patron: Blessed Virgin Mary

On the fourth day back in France, the pilgrims will visit the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. The church, dedicated to the Blessed Mother, is the world's most famous Gothic Cathedral.

The area long held religious significance before Notre Dame was built. Ancient Celts worshipped there and the Romans had a temple to Jupiter there. The first Christian church dates to the early fourth century. Other cathedrals followed, including the one dedicated to St. Etienne that Bishop Maurice de Sully razed in 1160 to build Notre Dame.

Both Bishop de Sully and Pope Alexander III were there when Notre Dame's cornerstone was laid in 1163. It was 87 years before Notre Dame was completed in 1250. Construction was done in stages and was overseen by various architects, thus leading to differences in styles. Additional interior work followed until about 1345.

Flying buttresses, which had been used in some other churches, apparently were not part of the original plan, but were added for additional support when the thin walls began cracking. What was an innovation at Notre Dame was the combining of triangular ribs and transverse arches, resulting in an open interior.

In 1548, rioting Huguenots damaged parts of the cathedral they considered idolatrous. Major changes - destruction of tombs and stained glass windows (but not the north and south rose windows), addition of a new high altar and whitewashing walls - were made to Notre Dame in the 17th and 18th centuries as part of a move to adapt European cathedrals to the Baroque style.

The cathedral sustained a great deal of damage during the French Revolution, including beheading the statues in the gallery of Jewish kings, which the mob thought were French kings. During the Revolution, Notre Dame was rededicated to the Cult of Reason and later to the Cult of the Supreme Being. It was used mainly for secular gatherings and commemorations and as a food warehouse. In 1804, after an anointing by Pope Pius VII, Napoléon snatched the crown from the pope, then crowned himself and Josephine.

The writer Victor Hugo ignited public support for a full-scale restoration of the battered cathedral with his 1831 novel, "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." The 23-year project began in 1845 under Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc, an authority on medieval building methods, and was faithful to the original plans.

Notre Dame suffered some damage from shells during World War I. The windows were removed in 1939 to protect them from German bombs and were reinstalled after the war. Following the liberation of Paris in 1944, Gen. Charles de Gaulle went to Notre Dame to pray.

Other restorations have taken place in the last 40 years, including modernizing the 7,800-pipe, 109-stop organ, which has five 56-key manuals and a 32-key pedalboard.

Notre Dame has five bells, including one in the south tower that weighs 13 tons and tolls the hours. The bells in the north tower ring for services and festivals.

Figuratively, Notre Dame sits at the center of France because in 1768 geographers decided to measure all distances in France from a point in the square in front of the cathedral.

(Staley is a retired editor of The Compass.)