“He was born the Divine child. Play oboe, sound musettes! The Divine child was born, let us all sing of his advent.” This Wednesday December 25the traditional Christmas masshas Senliswas given in the cathedral. Which, on this Christmas Day 2024, constitutes a small event. Last year, masses were in fact given in the Saint-Pierre space, the cathedral being closed to the public.
On Sunday December 17, 2023, late in the afternoon, a fire broke out in a technical cabinet at Senlis Cathedral. “The security systems were triggered and the emergency services intervened very quickly to control the outbreak of the fire,” said Pascale Loiseleur, the mayor of Senlis, at the time. However, it was necessary to find a fallback solution for the Christmas masses. And it is theSaint-Pierre space who was chosen. “Even if the Saint-Pierre space is now a village hall, it remains a church,” underlined Father Séraphin Yanogo, the priest of the Saint-Rieul parish in Senlis, a year ago.
The Christmas sermon of Father Pierre Le
This Wednesday, at 11:00 a.m., Father Pierre Le, one of the vicars of the parish, officiated. He delivered his sermon to a packed cathedral. “This return to the cathedral feels good,” confides a faithful. In fact, this is not the first time that Notre-Dames de Senlis has received the public this year. On November 9, a concert was given there. Under the leadership of the brilliant Roberto Benzithe Budapest Symphony Orchestra then enchanted the audience.
That Saturday, Pascale Loisleur did not hide her joy. “My pleasure is also due to the fact that almost a year ago the cathedral in which we are located suffered a fire which led to its closure for several months,” she recalled at the time. The restoration of the site required significant electrical work, as well as decontamination of the walls, the paintings but also the large organ, the complete restoration of which we inaugurated two years ago, on December 10, 2022.
Perfect acoustics inside the building
As during this famous concert, we were able to verify on this Christmas Day how perfect the acoustics were inside this building. “It’s still something different than the Saint-Pierre space,” smiled Franck, who came from Nogent-sur-Oise with his wife and children to attend this mass that they wouldn’t miss for anything in the world…
Another Christmas mass will be given this Wednesday, December 25 at 6:00 p.m. in Senlis Cathedral.
