December 8 is a Christian holy day commemorating the conception of Mary, the mother of Jesus. (Her birthday is celebrated on the 7th of September.) The Immaculate Conception is the patron saint for a number of nations, including the United States. The National Shrine, a basilica in Washington, D.C., is a Catholic pilgrimage site I visited and included in Volume I. (The cathedral in the District of Columbia is the Cathedral of St Matthew the Apostle.)
Today is also the date of the first Mass to be said in the newly reopened Basilique-Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, which had been severely damaged by fire in April 2019. For more detail of the repair process and the festivities of the weekend, I can recommend these two articles:
In the Post article, near midway, is a graphic of the cathedral, which opens an intriguing presentation showing the stages of the restoration. You will have to scroll through and over too much advertising, but I feel it was well done.
I visited Paris again (I've been to Paris nearly a dozen times since my first visit in 1977) in April 2023, while these efforts to repair Notre-Dame were underway. I should point out that to be correct, one should refer to the cathedral in Paris as Notre-Dame de Paris, as there are perhaps nearly 50 cathedrals and former cathedrals just in France dedicated to Notre-Dame, including Amiens, Chartres, Rouen, Reims (the national shrine), Strasbourg - all included in Volumes I and III of my photobooks Cathedrals to the Glory of God. After my last visit in 2023, I included my photos of this cathedral in my blog Notre-Dame de Paris. I look forward to revisiting this French National Monument.
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