Statues of Liberty

As a tribute to the French people in light of the terrorist attack in Paris on November 13th, 2015, we are re-posting the two pieces Bob wrote about our trips to Paris. Click here to read Bob's second post entitled, Trust in the Power of Prayer.

Statue of Liberty on Island of Swans in Paris France

Pat and I were travelling by boat through the middle of Paris along the River Seine in 1982. As our boat approached a bridge called Pont de Grenelle, a familiar figure came into view. We knew that woman well, even though we had never met her before. She stood on Ile aux Cygnes (Island of Swans), a man made island in mid river adjacent to the bridge. She is a bronze replica of the Statue of Liberty, which stands in New York Harbor. This lady in Paris is much smaller than the American original, given by France to the United States in 1880 to mark the centenary of US independence. She was given to France a few years later by Americans living in Paris in appreciation of France’s larger gift. Who is the lady in both statues? Apparently, she’s something of a mixture. The sculptor, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi (1834 – 1904), is said to have used the face of his mother and the body of his wife. He clearly was fearful of omitting either mother or wife from his creation. Until 1937, the smaller statue faced east. This avoided her offending the locals by turning her back on the President of France in the Elysee Palace. Yet she should really have been facing west and looking towards the new world. This she has been allowed to do for the past 75 years.

Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island - 2 minute HD tour

We did not meet the American original until another boat trip, which Pat and I were taking around New York Harbor in the summer of 2011. The lady there is made of copper and is 151 feet tall, if one measures to the top of the torch that she holds aloft in her right hand. She stands on a pedestal on what is now called Liberty Island and the top of that torch is over 300 feet above the waters in the harbor. She dwarfs the little lady that we met in Paris in 1982.

Our ferry circled Liberty Island letting us view the large lady from every angle. The ferry had sailed out of a terminal in Battery Park, which is on the very southern tip of Manhattan Island. It also sailed around a famous adjacent island – Ellis Island. Although we approached these islands from New York, whose pride in these matters extends even to displaying an image of the statue on its auto license plates, these islands are not even located in New York. They are located in the adjoining state of New Jersey, even though New York has sometimes disputed this. However, there’s not much doubt about the issue. The border between the two states runs down the middle of the Hudson River and the islands are clearly closer to the New Jersey shore.

Statue of Liberty faces burning World Trade Center on 9/11

Viewing the American original aroused in us all kinds of emotions that were absent during our peaceful cruise along the Seine nearly thirty years earlier. We gazed towards the solid phalanx of skyscrapers, rising behind the Battery Park terminal on the New York side of the river, as we reflected on how that vista was dramatically changed by the attacks on the twin towers of The World Trade Center on September 11 2001. We remembered the thousands of innocents who died on that day, sometimes sacrificing their own lives in circumstances of great bravery.



Ellis Island

We then turned and looked at Ellis Island, once the nation’s busiest immigrant inspection station. There’s a fine museum there now. Here began the American odyssey of millions of souls. Encouraged by the great statue on nearby Liberty Island, they entered the bare processing sheds on Ellis Island anxious not to be sent back across the ocean on health grounds or because of some other bureaucratic decision. Most carried their few possessions in one battered suitcase. Many did not speak English. The American dream for so many newcomers began on this tiny island. They went on from here to build the families and the careers that have helped to make the country great.

No immigrant to the United States (such as I) can fail to be moved by the story of Ellis Island, even if it was not one’s own point of entry. During the past year we have traveled widely, but Pat and I have based ourselves for part of that time on the border between Arizona and Mexico. We are therefore very much aware of the recent entry across that border of many millions of illegal Mexican immigrants. We understand the harm to society that arises from illegal entry on such a scale. What follows is in no way an attempt to excuse those who break into someone else’s country. Yet these Mexicans face huge dangers when attempting to cross the deserts and mountains at this point of entry. Many have died in the attempt. Entry through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1954 may have been tough. Yet many would surely prefer an opportunity today to enter there, under the benevolent eye of that famous statue, instead of the possibility of death in the desert.

This story, written by Bob, was originally posted on our website March 6, 2012.

Paris France - Trust in the Power of Prayer

In 1980, when Pat and I entered a building in a back street near the center of Paris, we saw the corpse at once. Displayed in an illuminated glass coffin was the body of an elderly lady dressed in the black robes of a French nun. The body had not deteriorated in any way. Indeed, she was so lifelike that she could have been in the middle of a peaceful sleep. The building that we had entered was the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, which is located at 140 Rue du Bac in Paris, France.

Uncorrupted body of Catherine Laboure in glass coffin

In life, this elderly lady had been Catherine Laboure, who was born in the Burgundy region of France in 1806 and who died and was buried in 1876.  Many years later, the Roman Catholic Church was considering conferring sainthood upon her and, in 1933 in relation to that, her body was exhumed.  It was found to be what the Church calls “incorrupt”. In other words, the body was and still is in exactly the same state as at the time of death, despite the fact that no preservatives of any kind had been used. This was the body that we were looking at over a century after her death. The Church considers this to be a miracle. In 1947, it canonized her, not just because of the condition of her body but because of the events in her life that we describe below, and she is now Saint Catherine Laboure.

At the time, Pat and I had needs in our own lives that called for a couple of miracles. We were living in the Marylebone area of London and visited a local church on nine occasions to pray for these miracles to be granted to us. We were undertaking what is known in the Church as a “novena” and selected the Novena of the Miraculous Medal (see below), which brings us back to Saint Catherine Laboure. Her story is that, as a young woman, she became a member of a nursing order founded by St.Vincent de Paul. She was devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary, particularly after the death of her own mother.  On a number of occasions in 1830, when she was 24 years of age, she believes that she was visited by the Blessed Virgin Mary who showed her certain images. Mary told her to take details of these images to her father confessor and to ask him to create medallions containing them. Mary then told her that all who wear the medallion will “receive great graces”.

Miraculous Medal front and back

The father confessor referred the situation to the church hierarchy. Within a few years, after due investigation of Catherine and her story, a Miraculous Medal containing those images was created by the Church and distributed. This was done without any mention of Catherine. Indeed it was not until after her death many years later that her part in the creation of the Miraculous Medal became known. Catherine lived out the rest of her seventy year life as an ordinary nursing sister, humble and well liked, with her peers unaware that they were in the presence of a saint.

Click on player below to see a video of the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal.

While Pat and I were undertaking our novena, we both wore the Miraculous Medal. Then, to give our nine prayer sessions a special emphasis, we visited the little chapel at 140 Rue du Bac and prayed again in front of Saint Catherine Laboure. Shortly afterwards, our prayers were answered and our miracles arrived. Precisely what we asked for is not relevant to this story. Suffice it is to say that what we were asking for certainly needed miracles. Our medallions were not some kind of good luck charm. Instead, they are a testimony to faith and to the power of trusting prayer.

I recall that, many years ago, my dear mother prayed as hard as any human being could for something that she particularly wanted. She was truly a most deserving person. Yet her prayers went unanswered, for the simple reason that she did not believe that they would be answered. So the moral of this story is to trust in the power of prayer !!!

This piece, written by Bob, originally appeared on our website on June 9, 2010.

A Novena is a series of prayers repeated 9 times. Each day for 9 consecutive days or, if you prefer on a specific day each week for 9 weeks, or once an hour for 9 hours. The prayers below were copied directly from the Novena of the Miraculous Medal prayer book.

Novena of the Miraculous Medal

Begin with the Sign of the Cross...

In the name of the Father

and of the Son

and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Come, O Holy Spirit,

fill the hearts of Your faithful,

and kindle in them the fire of Your love.

Send forth Your Spirit,

and they shall be created.

And You shall renew the face of the earth.

O God, who did instruct the hearts

of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit,

grant us in the same Spirit

to be truly wise

and ever to rejoice in His consolation,

through Jesus Christ Our Lord.

Amen.

O Mary, conceived without sin,

pray for us who have recourse to you.

O Mary, conceived without sin,

pray for us who have recourse to you.

O Mary, conceived without sin,

pray for us who have recourse to you.

O Lord Jesus Christ,

who has vouchsafed to glorify

by numberless miracles the Blessed Virgin Mary,

immaculate from the first moment of her conception,

grant that all who

devoutly implore her protection on earth,

may eternally enjoy Your presence in heaven,

who, with the Father and Holy Spirit,

live and reign, God,

for ever and ever.

Amen.

O Lord Jesus Christ,

who for the accomplishment of Your greatest works,

have chosen the weak things of the world,

that no flesh may glory in Your sight;

and who for a better

and more widely diffused belief

in the Immaculate Conception of Your Mother,

have wished that the Miraculous Medal

be manifested to Saint Catherine Labouré,

grant, we beseech You,

that filled with like humility,

we may glorify this mystery by word and work.

 Amen.

Memorare

Remember, O most compassionate Virgin Mary,

that never was it known

that anyone who fled to your protection,

implored your assistance,

or sought your intercession was left unaided.

Inspired with this confidence,

we fly unto you,

O Virgin of Virgins, our Mother;

to you we come;

before you we kneel sinful and sorrowful.

O Mother of the Word Incarnate,

despise not our petitions,

but in your clemency hear and answer them.

Amen.

Novena Prayer

O Immaculate Virgin Mary, 

Mother of Our Lord Jesus and our Mother, 

penetrated with the most lively confidence 

in your all-powerful and never-failing intercession, 

manifested so often through the Miraculous Medal, 

we your loving and trustful children 

implore you to obtain for us the graces 

and favors we ask during this novena, 

if they be beneficial to our immortal souls,

and the souls for whom we pray.

(State your intention here...)

You know, O Mary, 

how often our souls have been 

the sanctuaries of your Son who hates iniquity. 

Obtain for us then a deep hatred of sin 

and that purity of heart which will attach us to God alone 

so that our every thought, word and deed 

may tend to His greater glory.

Obtain for us also a spirit of prayer and self-denial 

that we may recover by penance 

what we have lost by sin 

and at length attain to that blessed abode 

where you are the Queen of angels and of men.

Amen.

An Act of Consecration to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal

O Virgin Mother of God,

Mary Immaculate,

we dedicate and consecrate ourselves to you

under the title of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal.

May this Medal be for each one of us

a sure sign of your affection for us

and a constant reminder of our duties toward you.

Ever while wearing it,

may we be blessed by your loving protection

and preserved in the grace of your Son.

O most powerful Virgin,

Mother of our Saviour,

keep us close to you every moment of our lives.

Obtain for us, your children,

the grace of a happy death;

so that, in union with you,

we may enjoy the bliss of heaven forever.

Amen.

O Mary, conceived without sin,

pray for us who have recourse to you.

O Mary, conceived without sin,

pray for us who have recourse to you.

O Mary, conceived without sin,
pray for us who have recourse to you.

Burgundry France - Following The Sun

Burgundy wine region of France

Charles the Bold

Louis XI King of France

1477 started badly for Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. On January 5th of that year, he was defeated at the battle of Nancy.  In that battle, Charles was confronted by an army from Switzerland and Lorraine, funded by King Louis XI of France, the sworn enemy of Charles the Bold. The King also objected to a strong independent Burgundy on his eastern border. Three days later, the mutilated body of Charles was found on the battlefield.  His duchy of Burgundy was at once annexed by France, of which it has been a part ever since.

US Army WWII driving the Germans out of France

The opposite of boldness is shyness.  Perhaps, if Burgundy had instead been ruled by Charles the Shy, it might still be independent to this day like the smaller duchy of Luxembourg nearby. There was another famous battle of Nancy in September 1944, when the US Army drove the Germans out of the city during World War Two.

Click on player below to see a video of our time in Vezelay.

Pat and I visited Burgundy in September 2010. We are not oenologists – the fancy name for students of wine.  Indeed, when a waiter asks me to taste a wine before he fills the glass of everyone at the table, I always feel a bit of a fraud when tasting it and then solemnly tell him to proceed.

Nevertheless, we do know the names of the most famous of French wines. When driving through that part of eastern France which contains the region of Burgundy, it was therefore fun to encounter such familiar place names as Chablis, Macon, Beaune and Nuit St George, and so on. The region is also known for the variety of its cheeses and for the making of mustards, as the city of Dijon proves. But, its vineyards are its principal claim to fame.  It was the Romans who first figured out that the climate and soil of Burgundy were perfect for the growing of the best grapes. However, after the departure of the Romans, it was the monks who maintained the region’s tradition of wine making.  Burgundy is still full of their monasteries and abbeys.

Village of Vezelay

Vezelay’s steep narrow streets

Basilica of Mary Magdalene

We drove to the Basilica  of St Mary Magdalene at Vezelay, which is the oldest Romanesque church in France.  It is almost as tall as Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and was consecrated in the year 879 AD.  It is built on a hilltop and we could see the basilica from the distance, long before we arrived in the little town of Vezelay.  The town has been built around the basilica and the buildings of the town spill down the sides of the hill.  Therefore, to reach the basilica on the summit, one must climb up through narrow, steep and picturesque streets.

Mary Magdalene reliquary

Sculptures damaged by Huguenots

It is claimed that the tomb of St Mary Magdalene in the south of France was opened and that her remains were removed to this basilica. This claim was later disputed, but it was largely accepted in medieval times.  As a result, the basilica became a major destination for medieval pilgrimages and was the starting point for crusades.
The basilica later became a target for enemies of the Catholic Church. It was seriously damaged by the Huguenots, as French Protestants were known.  The Huguenots are these days regarded as victims and refugees, having been kicked out of France and having subsequently settled all over the world.  The St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre of 1572 resulted in the murder of tens of thousands of unarmed Huguenots attending a wedding in Paris.  However damage to this basilica by Huguenots suggests that this massacre may not have been entirely unprovoked.

The years following the French Revolution in 1789 saw further damage to the basilica. The revolution was in many ways anti-catholic, since the mob was very suspicious of the wealth of the Church.  Coincidentally, Pat and I expect to be visiting the site of another saint’s day massacre in the next few weeks.  We are planning to visit her aunt in Chicago, which was the site of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in 1929. That was a trivial affair compared to 1572, since it involved the death of only seven gangsters. The alleged instigator of that little massacre, Al Capone, was conveniently absent in Florida at the time. If only Charles the Bold had been so prudent!

Sunflower fields

Van Gogh’s Sunflowers

My other memory of Burgundy is of many fields full of tall yellow sunflowers.  This flower is native to the Americas and has presumably been imported from there into France.  This must have happened long ago, since sunflowers are prominent in the works of the 19th century French painter, Vincent Van Gogh. There is an increasing demand today for sunflower oil to use in the frying of food, cosmetics, and as a preservative of fish.  Apparently it’s very healthy.  The fields that I saw must have been a commercial operation.

Let me spring another fancy word on you – heliotropism, which means a propensity to follow the sun. A sunflower starts the day looking east and finishes the day looking west. The French, Italian and Spanish words for this flower are far better than the English word “sunflower”, which tells you nothing. The words are “tournesol”, “girasole” and “girasol”, which all literally mean “turn to the sun”.  Surely English speakers could have done better – “sunfollowers” perhaps? This behavior by sunflowers may explain the mental problems of poor Van Gogh and his eventual suicide. There he was trying to paint sunflowers and they just wouldn’t stay still. What painter can cope with a twitchy model?

This piece, written by Bob, was originally posted on our website on September 18, 2010.

Strasbourg France - Home To A Tower of Babel

Kunisthistorisches Museum Vienna Austria

The Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna displays a famous work of art. It is the painting in 1563 by the Flemish artist, Pieter Brueghel the elder, of the Tower of Babel. Although the Bible does not specifically refer to the Tower of Babel as such, Brueghel clearly draws his inspiration from the reference in the Book of Genesis to the enormous tower built in Babylon. God was displeased with its builders, because they had built for the glory of man rather than in worship and praise of God. Accordingly, He came down and confused their languages and scattered the people throughout the earth, which is said to explain the origin of nations and their many languages. Brueghel’s painting depicts the tower as unfinished. There is a present day version of the Tower of Babel. It is also unfinished and is filled with nations using many languages and certainly not on the same wavelength. It is the European Parliament building in Strasbourg, France, which bears a marked resemblance to Brueghel’s painting.

Pat and I visited Strasbourg in October 2009, because I particularly wanted to see the European Parliament building. The decision to locate it in Strasbourg was taken in 1952, right at the start of the move towards a European Union. Now that the Union includes 27 countries, with hundreds of millions of people not to mention its own currency, I anticipated that its Parliament building would be impressive and so it should be. A capital city is defined by its parliament building.

United States Capitol Building

Houses of Parliament and Big Ben London

One cannot look across Washington DC and see the mighty dome of the Capitol without being impressed.

In London, one has a similar sensation when the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben come into view.

Hungarian Parliament in Budapest

One of my favorites is Budapest, where the beautiful Hungarian parliament building sits on the bank of the River Danube in the center of the city.

Click this link Hungarian Parliament   to see a fantastic slide show on the Parliament. You will need to click on each slide to move forward. I don't know who to credit this to, but I didn't make the slide show.

Yet, in this respect, Strasbourg disappoints. The parliament building there is undistinguished. They claim that the building has deliberately been left unfinished to signify that the European Union is a work in progress, but that’s a poor excuse.

Strasbourg Cathedral

Notwithstanding this disappointment, Strasbourg is an interesting city with a fine cathedral. It stands on the French bank of the River Rhine at a point where that river presently forms the border between France and Germany. Its rich history began over 2000 years ago. The Romans chose the city as the site for their military camp on the Rhine, although they referred to it by the Latin name of Argentoratum. In those days, it was on the very frontier of the Roman Empire and played an important part in resisting the Germanic tribes to the north.

Johannes Gutenberg’s movable type printing press

Between 1434 and 1444, Johannes Gutenberg was based in Strasbourg, while perfecting his printing press with moveable metal type. That event changed the world in the same way that the development of the internet has changed it in our own time. Then, in 1681, King Louis XIV of France marched his troops into Strasbourg and made it part of France, which it is today. However, in the interim, there have been two periods of occupation by Germany. It was a German city from 1870, as a consequence of the German victory in the Franco Prussian War, until 1918 when Germany was defeated in World War One. It was also occupied by Germany, during World War Two, from 1940 until 1944. Remarkably, the city was completely empty for nine months prior to that last occupation. When the British and French declared war on Germany on September 3rd 1939, the French immediately evacuated all civilians from the border city of Strasbourg and left just a few troops. However, the Germans did not march into Strasbourg until June 1940 when they invaded the whole of France.  This history has given Strasbourg a combination of French and German architecture and it is interesting to see the two contrasting styles as one moves around the city.

This piece, written by Bob, was originally posted on our website on January 26, 2010.