Once again searching in my vault of picture found me an older cd rom with pics not yet in my blog and they should be. I have heard of this basilica but always a bit off the way to other places and never passed by it. Finally, there was the opportunity and as everything else in my belle France, it is magical. I have another post on it and this is the continuation, Therefore, let me tell you a bit more on the Basilica Notre Dame de L’Epine, part II !!! Hope you enjoy the post as I.
The small town of L’Épine, in the Marne dept 51 , region of Grand Est, near Châlons-en-Champagne, towards Verdun, and in my belle France. We drive all over our beloved France and into Europe, we come across some interesting towns, we stop see, sometimes eat and then move on. The trip in the Marne department 51 are always welcome, this is the heart of Champagne. My wife’s side and she came here early to work in the vineyards and earned their first money. The town of L’Epine or Thorn belongs to the metro or agglo area of Châlons-en-Champagne The next biggest town is you guessed it Châlons-en-Champagne and is located 8 km west. The main thing or only thing to come here is to see the wonderful Basilica of Notre-Dame de l’Epine, whose construction began in 1405 and finished by 1527 , and where we can see a Santiago de Compostela statue in wood from the 16C.
Inside, there is a statue of the Virgin holding the Child Jesus was discovered in the Middle Ages according to legend in a bush of thorns on fire and from this comes the name of the town and devotion to the Virgin. The Church received Basilica status in 1914. The Basilica has dimensions like a Cathedral and done in the Gothic style. The façade has three portals on two arrows, the one on the right has 55 meters high and on the left demolished in 1798 to put a telegraph was rebuilt in 1868. There are gargantuas figures outside like at Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris.
Inside there is,also, a robe in stone with 3 arcades from the 15C where the Virgin is held. You can admire a rood screen from the end of the 15C, the right arch of which houses the statue of the Virgin at the origin of the fame of the basilica. Several statues such as the Venerated Virgin (circa 1300); Seated Virgin (15C), Saint Jacques in wood (16C); Remarkable Entombment of the Trojan school, early 16C; Altars dated 1542; 16C beam of glory; Tribune and organ case (16C); the gallery adorned with eight apostles and seven pagan gods ; Choir organ from the Merklin house installed in 1889; Stained glass windows from the 19-20C.
Since the 4C, the liturgy of January 1 (in the East as in the West) associates the image of the burning bush contemplated by Moses at the virginal maternity of the Virgin Mary. From the 12C, the canons of the Abbey of Saint Victor in Paris compose hymns associating Marie with the metaphor of the Buisson de Moïse by bringing her closer to the other metaphor, that of “lily between the thorns”. On the 12C, iconography begins to associate the Virgin with the bush by juxtaposing them. In the Cathédral Notre Dame de l’Épine , the stained glass window of the axial chapel, from the 15C until around 1840, represented the Virgin Mary sitting as on a throne in a bush of hawthorn with light foliage, overlooked with a luminous star, and surrounded by sheep and lambs, and shepherds in worship. Was it the representation of the discovery of the miraculous statue by the shepherds, or the representation of the burning bush serving as a throne to the Virgin and Child, with Moses Berger becoming unleashed, as on the altarpiece of Aix? The elements described on this stained glass window were preserved in the current stained glass window of the Saint John Baptist Chapel, with the details of the owl (symbol of the people of the first alliance pending the Messiah: “The people who walked in darkness saw a great light get up “, and the star (antiphon of the lauds of the solemnity of Mary Mother of God:” The stem of Jesse has flourished, a star came out of Jacob, the Virgin has given birth to the Savior.
The Chalons Catholic site on the history and leyend of the Epine : https://chalons.catholique.fr/lepine/histoire-et-decouverte/la-legende-de-lepine/
The city of L’Epine on the basilica history: http://www.mairie-lepine51.fr/basilique/histoire/
The Châlons-en-Champagne tourist office on the basilica: https://www.chalons-tourisme.com/mon-sejour/patrimoine-visites-et-culture/basilique-notre-dame-de-lepine-l-epine-fr-3091646/
There you go folks, a nice off the beaten path monument of my belle France. You will not run out of them for sure! Again, hope you enjoy the post on the Basilica Notre Dame de L’Epine, part II !!! as I.
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 