Letters From Chevreuse & Chartres: A French Countryside Fairytale, With The Veil of The Virgin Mary
*Cue The "Beauty And The Beast" Soundtrack*
Tale as old as time….true as it can be…
*Cue The Beauty And The Beast Soundtrack* because that’s what I was singing when I went to these two cute little French fairytale towns!
Chevreuse, France :
A quaint little town with a medieval chateau, some pretty flowers, a sweet little church. Simple beauty of the French countryside. A repose from the bustling streets of Paris. Wandered along by the lily pads, and watched people pass by riding their bicycles with baguettes hanging out of their front baskets; in true French fashion. You have to walk to the top of the hill to get to the medieval chateau, and there is a beautiful view of the town once you get to the top.
Chateau de la Madeleine
The name comes from the castle chapel, dedicated to Sainte Marie-Madeleine.
Cute Little Church : Église Saint-Martin de Chevreuse
Chartres, France :
A fairytale French town that possesses the veil of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Chartres is soooo “Beauty and The Beast” I felt like I was in a Disney princess movie! I shopped for pretty Paris-made skirts, peered in chocolatiers…got caught in some sweet summer rain…Chartres was lovely!
I’ve been to many beautiful churches, and I have to say the “Chartres Cathedral” which contains the veil of The Virgin Mary, has got to be in my top five favorite Churches I’ve traveled to. There’s one area with a ton of chandeliers and they look like crowns, it was gorgeous.
The Chartres Cathedral “Our Lady of Chartres Cathedral” is a Marian pilgrimage sanctuary. It’s a 12th and 13th-century masterpiece of sacred art and is internationally famous for its 176 stained-glass windows and 9 sculpted portals. It was the first Cathedral in France to be inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list (1979).” - Source : www.cathedrale-chartres.org
The Veil of The Blessed Virgin Mary, in the Chartres Cathedral
What a most precious relic this is! This veil of The Blessed Virgin Mary is said to be the one She wore during the Annunciation ( When The Angel Gabriel appeared to Her and told Her that She was to be The Mother of God ) and or the veil She wore during the birth of Jesus!
The veil was transferred in the early years of The Church from Jerusalem, to Constantinople.
“Offered to Chartres in 876 by the king of France, the Veil of the Virgin comes from Constantinople. Considered one of the major relics of Christ, since it would have touched Him on the day of his birth, one of the most precious objects in the West was for centuries locked inside a casket covered with gold and jewels. It was only later that it was discovered that it was a long-head garment – not a ‘shirt’ as it appeared on the seal of the cathedral chapter. Although it was torn apart during the Terror (1793), several fragments – including one particularly important one – were returned to the cathedral in the following decades. Its monstrance reliquary, made by the goldsmith Poussielgue-Rusand, dates from the millennium – 1876.”
“Chartres thus became the place among all to pray to the Incarnation – the coming of God to Earth. Great saints have come here, among the crowd of anonymous people: St. Vincent de Paul, St. Francis de Sales, the parents of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, St. John Paul II…” - Source: https://www.cathedrale-chartres.org/en/cathedrale/pilgrimages/
“Scientific studies have shown that it is of Syrian design, of fine quality, and can be traced to the first century” (with pollen found on it from first-century Palestine.)
Every year on 15th August, the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady, the Veil is processed through the town of Chartres.” - Source: https://immaculate.one/mary-of-the-day-august-18-our-ladys-veil-sancta-camisia/
Acts 19:11-12 discusses the use of relics. "And God did extraordinary miracles by the hands of [the apostle] Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were carried away from his body to the sick, and diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them." There are many holy and precious relics in Christendom such as The Crown of Thorns, True Pieces of The Cross, Nails from The Passion of Christ etc. The Veil of The Virgin Mary, is a precious and holy relic that you can see in The Chartres Cathedral in France!
Serviam
Next, I’ll take you through my travels in England! Stay tuned for “Letters From London” Xo
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