Pilgrims on the Way

These beautiful medieval frescoes in Le Puy Cathedral were defaced – literally – while the building was occupied by the forces of the Revolution in the late 18th century. When the cathedral was restored, these were deliberately left as they were, I think both as a remembrance and a warning to future generations. Date: 17 August 2023 Place: Le Puy-en-Velay, […]

Unfortunately, I don’t know the name of this bishop, buried here in his cathedral in Le Puy. You see these sculpted tombs in churches throughout Europe, particularly in cathedrals. Sometimes they are of prominent churchmen, as here, but just as often they are nobles or wealthy merchants. I find them fascinating, as this is the closest we’ll come in this […]

Here you can see pilgrims wandering the nave of the cathedral in Le Puy-en-Velay. They are no doubt early for the daily pilgrim Mass and sendoff, which begins in a couple of hours. The cathedral was constructed and re-constructed from the fifth through the fifteenth centuries, though most of what we see dates to the 12th century. It was badly […]

The cathedral in Le Puy-en-Velay has several striking statues, but this is perhaps my favourite. It was only the first of many statues of Saint Jeanne d’Arc I would see in France. In some regions, she is in every village church. Date: 17 August 2023Place: Le Puy-en-Velay, Haute-Loire Département, Region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France Maps!

She sits above the cathedral’s high altar, as she has done for more than fifteen hundred years. The original Black Virgin of Le Puy, carved of ebony and thought variously to date back to anywhere between the third and sixth centuries, was looted and then burned by the revolutionaries in 1794. As it was burning, a hidden drawer popped open […]

Okay, technically he’s known as Saint Jacques in France. This statue faces the cathedral’s apse, and so greets the pilgrim as they come into the church from the side entrance. There’s a lovely little sign near it in French and English inviting visitors to write their prayer petitions on small pieces of paper provided, and pilgrims will carry their petitions […]

The main entrance to Le Puy Cathedral is actually a little tricky to find from the seminary as there are a lot of connected buildings in the way. Fortunately, there’s this door – the first one they actually open in the morning. It’s at the end of short winding street and perhaps a two minute walk from the seminary. If […]

I started my exploration of Le Puy at just after 6:30 in the morning. This is the view from just in front of the old seminary where I was staying. In fact, that bit with the green door on the left is part of the seminary building. The street through the archway leads (eventually) down the steep hill to the […]

By the time I arrived in Le Puy, it was dark. I was staying for two nights in the old seminary there, down the street from the cathedral. Fortunately, a very kind hostess responded to my desperate email from the train and remained at her post until I arrived. The next morning, I stumbled downstairs to the common room for […]

After catching the last train in Lyon, I had to change trains in the town of Saint-Étienne, a place big enough that it had several different train stops. I was a little nervous that I had gotten off at the wrong stop, until the platform started filling up with folks with backpacks. We are waiting for the train to Le […]