On Monday the chaplain of the Paris Fire Brigade did not hesitate and ran into the burning Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris to rescue the holy relics. Moments later Jean-Marc Fournier exited the inferno with Christ’s Crown of Thorns and St. Louis’s tunic.
The chaplain of the Paris Fire Brigade is being lauded as a hero after rushing into the burning Notre Dame Cathedral to rescue holy relics, including a crown of thorns believed to have been worn by Jesus Christ.
Jean-Marc Fournier, who serves as the brigade’s chaplain, reportedly went straight for the ancient relics as the nearly 850-year-old structure burned around him.
“He showed no fear at all as he made straight for the relics inside the cathedral, and made sure they were saved. He deals with life and death every day, and shows no fear,” a source in emergency services told the Daily Mail of Fournier’s heroism.
A French reporter snapped a photo of Fournier, with a caption describing how he saved the crown of thorns from the inferno.
Le père Fournier, aumônier des @PompiersParis, est allé avec des pompiers dans la cathédrale #NotreDame pour sauver la couronne d’épines et le Saint-Sacrement… pic.twitter.com/4IoLVdoJZW
— Etienne Loraillère (@Eloraillere) April 15, 2019
In November 2015 Islamic State terrorists attacked several locations in Paris including the Bataclan concert hall.
The Islamic terrorists murdered 90 people at the hall during a concert and then were either shot by police or committed suicide.
Father Jean-Marc Fournier ran into the Bataclan the night of the shooting to comfort the wounded and pray for the dead. Fournier gave collective absolution to the victims for their sins as is authorized by the church.
This week Jean-Marc Fournier was a hero once again.
Father Fournier told reporters about his rescue of the sacred relics in a Wednesday interview.
Father Fournier (20 Minutes.Fr)
20 Minutes.Fr reported:
Father Fournier set himself two goals: first, “save the crown of thorns and the relics of passion”, then “save Jesus”, by recovering the Blessed Sacrament, that is to say, the consecrated hosts. Very soon, he realizes the difficulty of accessing the crown of thorns that, according to legend, Jesus would have worn before being crucified, and which has been preserved at Notre-Dame since 1806. A code is needed to open a chest under the reliquary. And nobody, at that moment, has this code. With a BSPP colonel, they “desperately” searched for the person who held him. “It took us a while,” he breathes.
Meanwhile, another team of firefighters managed to find a steward in possession of the precious code and put the crown of thorns in a safe place. “They got ahead of us on this matter,” smiles Father Fournier. But there are still many works of art to save. With a representative of the Ministry of Culture and a steward of the cathedral, he lists them. At the top, “a virgin with the child who is in the second chapel on the right.” We must act quickly. In the cathedral, “there was an iridescent rain of melted lead”. “It was clear where the arrow had fallen . ”
This first work recovered, he decides to “structure” the intervention. Chief Warrant Officer Millet accompanying him “is a small team” that Father Fournier will advise to “avoid going out of things that had no interest”. Methodically, they inspect every corner of the monument, determine which works to save as a priority. “Parts that are too large, too heavy or inaccessible” are not part of it. Later, the situation becoming too dangerous, their mission was interrupted. “We finished our journey with a painting depicting the martyrs of Korea, and a very large one from the 16th or 17th. This is the largest room we have released. ”
“I invited Jesus to take care of his own house”
The paintings are “stored in the workers’ living space, under the care of police officers”. But Father Fournier did not forget that he had set himself another mission: to leave the consecrated hosts from Our Lady, representing for the Catholics the body of Jesus Christ. They are in two places, one of which is now inaccessible. Finally, he manages to recover the others who were “in a tabernacle in the chapel of St. George”. The clergyman, alone in the cathedral, surrounded by “fumes of water, falling orange and red rains ,” will then make “a great sign of the cross.”“I invited Jesus to take care of his own house if he did not want to end up on the edge of the Canal Saint-Martin with a tent 3 seconds to finish the night,” he jokes. At the same time, the north tower, threatened by the flames, was in danger of collapsing and thus carrying away its twin sister. But the action of firefighters , he insists, helped avert the disaster. “I want to see also the action of Christ who intervened to say that the joke was enough and that it was necessary to preserve the two towers”. The interview is coming to an end. But Father Fournier has not finished with the media yet. Outside the barracks, a hundred journalists are still waiting to meet the man who saved the treasures of Notre-Dame.
