In Notre-Dame for the first time in more than 200 years, there was no midnight mass

Paris – For the first time in over two hundred years, there was no Christmas midnight mass held this year at the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. The cathedral burned down in mid-April this year and has since remained closed to the public. A substitute mass was held at the church of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois near the Louvre, but the Archbishop of Paris conducted the mass under a circus tent, BFMTV reported today.

The Paris Cathedral caught fire on the evening of April 15 this year. Before firefighters extinguished it the next morning, the fire destroyed the roof, the framework, and the spire from the 19th century, known as the "sanktusník." The devastating fire was likely caused by an electrical short circuit or a poorly extinguished cigarette butt. According to investigators, the cathedral was not deliberately set on fire. French President Emmanuel Macron promised shortly after the fire that the cathedral would be restored within five years. In October, the French Ministry of Culture announced that nearly one billion euros (25.5 billion CZK) had already been pledged for the reconstruction.

The festive mass on the eve of Christmas had not taken place at Notre-Dame for the first time since 1803. The alternative ceremony for local believers and visitors to the French capital was held at the church of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois, which is located near the Louvre Museum in central Paris.

"I am going to the mass to pray for Notre-Dame," said one believer, Jean Gillies, who traveled from Britain. "We have been crying since April 15 and today we will cry even more," said Danielle, a Parisian, at the Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois church, who attended the midnight mass at Notre-Dame last year. "It's still a Christmas mass, but it's different," stated 16-year-old Juliette, who also attended last year's midnight mass at the Paris cathedral.

"Notre-Dame is here today," said priest Jean-Philippe Fabre to the three hundred believers gathered for the evening mass intended for families. The midnight service at the church near the Louvre was also attended by the administrator of Notre-Dame Cathedral, Patrick Chauvet.

Archbishop Michel Aupetit of Paris, meanwhile, celebrated mass in the western part of the French capital. However, he chose not to hold it in any of the local churches but rather under the circus tent of the Alexis Gruss company, which is located in the Boulogne Woods. According to BMFTV, nearly 3000 people attended the mass. The archbishop referred to them as "living stones of the cathedral." Celebrating mass in a circus tent, where the smell of horse sweat remained from the previous performance, is not unusual, according to the head of the Paris Archdiocese. "Jesus was born in a stable," Aupetit explained.