This French beauty gets better with age
Published: August 28, 2011


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Yesterday I paid a visit to one of the most beautiful women in France.
She is not young, nor is she fashionably dressed, but her eyes remain bright and her skin glowing, despite her age. True, she has benefited from some cosmetic surgery, but her beauty is timeless and many would consider her one of the true icons of France.

If some readers imagine I dropped in on Catherine Deneuve, born in 1943, they're wrong. Nor was I able to get behind the walls of "la Madrague," the Saint-Tropez hideaway of Brigitte Bardot, born in 1934. Which leaves Jeanne Moreau, born in 1928, one of the most talented French actresses and singers of the past century, best known for her role in the 1961 movie "Jules and Jim," where, after having invited her two lovers to join her for a ride, she drives them off a bridge and all three of them drown.

Those three women are youngsters compared to the woman I was with. Not yet as old as Methuselah, who lived to the ripe old age of 969, she has nonetheless entered her ninth century. Her name is Mary, and her title is Notre Dame de la Belle Verrière, Our Lady of the Beautiful Window. Her home is the cathedral of Chartres, the most important shrine to the Virgin Mary in all of France.

I am writing this on Aug. 15, the Feast of the Assumption, the beginning of Mary's heavenly life, and a public holiday in France. For many, like Labor Day in the United States, it marks the end of summer vacation. For the city of Chartres, dominated by its cathedral which can be seen for miles around, it is one of the most important days of the year. Last evening, a prayer vigil held in the cathedral began at sunset and continued throughout the night, followed by an early morning Gregorian Mass and High Mass later in the morning.

After lunch - no matter what the event, the French always take time to sit down for a meal - which will be more like Sunday dinner, begins what may be the most important event of the day. Throughout the town, there will be a procession dedicated to the Virgin Mary, which will end inside the cathedral with the veneration of the Virgin's veil, a gift of the Frankish Emperor Charles the Bald in the ninth century.

In 1927, it was determined the fabric was probably woven in Syria some time in the eighth century, but that knowledge has in no way dampened the fervor of the many pilgrims who travel to Chartres to worship in its presence, as the faithful have been doing for more than 1,000 years.

Already in 743, there was a church dedicated to the Virgin on the site of the cathedral. In 911, during a siege of the city by the Normans, enemies of the Franks, the bishop solemnly carried the Virgin's veil to the ramparts and, according to legend, the Norman warriors turned on their heels and ran. Since those early days, deep in the church's crypt, a chapel was reserved for another relic, a wooden statue of the Virgin known as Our Lady of the Underworld (Notre Dame de sous-terre). Believed to possess magical powers rooted in druidic mysteries of pre-Christian times, she survived three devastating fires and after each, inspired the people of Chartres to build bigger and higher than before. In 1793, during the Terror of the French Revolution, a period when many churches were sacked, Our Lady of the Underworld met her end.

Our Lady of the Beautiful Window has also encountered many dangers in her life and she, too, is the survivor of a major conflagration which, in 1194, destroyed all but the cathedral's crypt, its western facade and her image in stained glass, most likely located near the altar where the Virgin's veil was kept. Created around 1180, she is, along with the stained windows of the western facade, devoted to the life of the Virgin and of Christ and is among the oldest existing stained glass windows of France. These works of art in dominant tones of red and the famous "blue of Chartres," which has never been equalled in beauty, have earned for the cathedral a place on the prestigious list of UNESCO's world heritage sites.

During the rebuilding of the cathedral at the beginning of the 13th century, its nave was raised to a height of 120 feet (the nave of Notre Dame de Paris is 102 feet) and, thanks to the use of flying buttresses, the upper walls were opened to the light. Stained glass windows filled the upper reaches of the church, and as light poured through the colored glass, it was as if the supernatural presence of God had become visible. Those windows, together with the sculpture that covered the church's exterior, created a Bible in luminous, vibrant pictures at a time when very few people could read.

Today, seen from afar, Notre Dame de Chartres, the queen of the Gothic cathedrals of France, is an imposing and austere monument in stone. In 1260, the year of its dedication, the church shimmered with all the colors of the rainbow, for each of its statues was painted in the greatest detail, with gold leaf used for highlights. And when the faithful crossed the threshold, they truly imagined they were entering paradise. Sparkling, multicolored light showered down from above, and the cathedral's 176 stained-glass windows glowed. Bible stories, told in colored images, preached louder than words.

Reigning over them all, seated on a throne, the Virgin looks down. On her lap, she holds the Christ child, who blesses with his right hand, and in his left holds an open book with the words of a hymn to the Virgin sung at Chartres in the 12th century. Dressed in heavenly blue, with a pearled blue halo encircling her head, she is the crowned sovereign of Notre Dame de Chartres.

Regal, kind, gently smiling, yet sad, The Virgin of the Beautiful Window is a French beauty worth getting to know. Created from sand and ash, iron and lead, she is more than the materials that made her, thanks to the artisans who created her with love.

If you would like to learn more about this beautiful lady and the cathedral she inspired, read Universe in Stone, a "biography" of the cathedral of Notre Dames de Chartres by Philip Ball, published in 2008, available through PA Access at the Pottsville Free Public Library.

(Honicker can be reached at honicker.republicanherald @gmail.com)