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Showing posts with label Vezalay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vezalay. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 18, 2018

Touring Sainte-Madeleine Basilica in Vezalay: Visiting Burgundy's Church Celebrating Foreign-Language Study with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Touring Sainte-Madeleine Basilica in Vézalay:  Visiting Burgundy’s Church Celebrating Foreign-Language Study with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget


On a cool spring day, my husband Laurent and I went on a weekend road trip to Burgundy to visit the Sainte Madeleine Basilica in Vézalay.

When we arrived, we parked at the bottom of the hill leading up to the Basilica and began our climb.  The street leading up to the Basilica was lined with souvenir shops, art galleries, and wine cellars selling Vézalay wine.

I bought a French-language book on heraldry, family crests that were used on armor.  Obviously, French heraldry differs from English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and German heraldry, because their armies faced each other on battlefields.

The Michelin green touring guide for Burgundy explained the significance of the Basilica Sainte Madeleine.  A church and abbey have always stood on the Basilica’s site since the 9th century when it was founded by Girart de Rousillón.

The Basilica is famous for several reasons:

-Saint Bernard called for the Second Crusade from the Basilica’s pulpit on March 31, 1146

-The relics of Mary Magdalen were housed in the Basilica, which made it a pilgrimage site.  However, other relics of Mary Magdalen were found at Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume in southeastern France close to Aix-en-Provence.

-Vézalay is also the starting point for one of France’s four pilgrimage routes that lead to Saint Jean Pied-de-Port in the Pyrénées and eventually Saint Jacques de Compostela.

-Finally, during the Third Crusade, Richard the Lionheart, and Philip Augustus met at Vézalay on their way to the Holy Land.

The Basilica at Vézalay still attracts hordes of visitors thanks to its restoration by Viollet-le-Duc, who also restored Nôtre Dame in Paris.  The Basilica was fully restored in 1859.

Visitors have always come to the Basilica at Vézalay to admire its tympanum, the half-circle arch over the main church entranceway, which portrays Christ giving his apostles the Gift of Tongues to speak foreign languages.

The Gift of Tongues is celebrated during the Catholic Feast of Pentecost.  Ridged rays shoot out from Christ’s hands to show him giving his apostles the Gift of Speech, or ability to speak foreign languages, to spread his gospel.

The tops of the columns inside the Basilica all had elaborate foliage and fantastic beasts on them.  The lateral aisles around the main pews perfectly show that the Basilica was built to accommodate circulating crowds of pilgrims.

After visiting Vézalay, we went to Dijon and walked around town for an hour.  I just wanted to look at the rooftops with their diamond-shaped rooftops.

We did not have rooftops like that in Paris.  The diversity of just architectural styles in France never ceased to amaze me.  This diversity revealed different climactic patterns, building materials, and different cultural living patterns.  I still love driving around the French countryside for this reason.

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France


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Ruth Paget Selfie