Via Podiensis
Cathédrale Notre Dame du Puy
Cathédrale Notre-Dame du Puy is a Roman Catholic cathedral and a national monument of France. It has been a centre of pilgrimage in its own right since before the time of Charlemagne, as well as forming part of the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela. Since 1998 it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as part of the "Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France".
The cathedral forms the highest point of the city, rising from the foot of the Rocher Corneille, and contains architecture of every period from the 5th to the 15th century , which gives it an individual appearance. The bulk of construction, however, dates from the first half of the 12th century. Formerly, the visitor passed through a porch standing well out from the building and, after descending beneath the pavement, emerged by a stairway in front of the high altar; the principal stairway is now covered by a bold vaulting which serves as base for one half of the church. |
Cathedral façade or west front
| The façade, striped in courses of white sandstone and black volcanic breccia, is reached by a flight of sixty steps, and consists of three orders: the lowest composed of three high arcades opening into the porch, which extends beneath the first bays of the nave; above are three central windows that light the nave; above them are three gables, one the gable-end of the nave, flanked by two openwork screening gables. The south transept doorway is sheltered by a fine Romanesque porch. Behind the choir rises a separate Romanesque bell-tower in seven storeys. |
| In the year 950, Godescalc, the Bishop of Le Puy, undertook a pilgrimage to
Santiago de Compostela, in Galicia, to the tomb of the Apostle James
which had been discovered a century earlier, thus inaugurating the
now famous Camino "Via Podiensis". |
The Saint Anne's altar; the Virgin Mary as a child
| The Virgin Mary is represented as a child with her mother, Saint Anne, shown as an older woman, because she became a mother late in life. The place occupied by Saint Anne dates back to the second century and is mentioned in the apocryphal text of James which relates to Mary's childhood with her parents Anne and Joachim. Worship of Saint Anne was first and foremost the worship of "Saint Anne's conception of Mary". The devotion of Saint Anne began only at the end of the 16th century and it was at this time that she entered the liturgical calendar. The marble altar and statue are the work of Jean-Antione Cubisole. |
| The statue of the Black Virgin (17th century) evokes Mary's joy in presenting her son Jesus. The present-day statue was once worshiped in the Chapel of Saint-Maurice at the Monastery of the Visitation. It was brought to Le Puy at the specific request of the faithful in 1844 and crowned in the name of Pope Pius IX on 8th June 1856. The worship of the old Virgin was transferred to the new one. Testifying to this renewed devotion, the large Marian processions that had been held on August 15th each year were reinstated. On the Feast of Assumption, thousands of the faithful gather in the streets of Le Puy to pray and accompany the statue surrounded by all the bishops present. |
Texting God?
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