Out and About!

View from my room of City Hall Square, Poitiers.  People lining up to get married.

My Scottish friend Father Gerry used to make fun of my trips while a student in Rome as "ABC Tours" - Another Bloody Church Tour!  Well, I can't help that I want to soak up as much of Christian Europe as possible.  Whether it be as a seminarian in Rome or on sabbatical now, I realize that this is privileged time and I want to use it wisely.

I visited another saint in Poitiers.  The capital of the region and similar to LeMans and Tours, Poitiers is the home of St. Hilary of Poitiers, Bishop of Poitiers, a contemporary of St. Martin, Doctor of the Church, Council Father and exile.  Not a bad curriculum vitae if I do say so myself.  I concelebrated anticipated Mass St. Hillary's Basilica Saturday night.  It was very similar to a parish Mass in the States, though not that well attended- maybe 125.

Unfortunately, Poitiers train station is in the valley and the town is up the hill; a very large hill.  The city/town/village was alive with people as it was a Saturday.  Many just coming for a day trip to admire the town and its buildings.

Original Apse of St. Hillary Basilica

As you have gathered from reading this blog, the history of the Church in France is both storied and turbulent.  That goes for Poitiers as well.  The Barbarian invasions and viking raids disrupted much of the infant Church.  St. Joan of Arc was interrogated here before she was sent to her death.  The Religious Wars with the Huguenots, the revolution and the republics.  The Basilica of St. Hillary was sack and sacked and sacked again before its stone was used for other projects.  The relics were barely protected and the apse of the church was only spared because of its antiquity and architectural merit.
Where I had the Mass was reconstructed around 1900.

Fortified entrance to the city port of LaRochelle

On Sunday, I visited La Rochelle.  La Rochelle is on the Atlantic Coast and is another city burdened by religious conflict through the centuries   It's very much a tourist haven now with its harbors and old city.  It was packed on a very beautiful Sunday when I arrived.  The only thing I knew about LaRochelle is that some of its folk settled in New Rochelle, NY.

The Cathedral of St. Louis is unfortunately under scaffolding.  But it's impressive on the inside.  Much to my friend, Fr. Gerry's surprise it will be the only church I visit here.