Prayer Commemorating the Desecrations of 1793, Cardinal François Richard

Cardinal François-Marie-Benjamin Richard was Archbishop of Paris from 1886 until his death in 1908. During his episcopate, he actively defended religious congregations. He also faced anticlerical offensives and the separation of Church and State in 1905. He was finally expelled from his archbishopric on December 17, 1906. In 1893, Cardinal Richard prayed to Our Lady of Paris during ceremonies commemorating the desecrations suffered by the Cathedral in 1793.

Text of the prayer by Cardinal François-Marie-Benjamin Richard during ceremonies commemorating the desecrations of 1793

 

Prostrate at the foot of your ancient statue, Immaculate Mother of God, we are pleased to greet you by the name of Notre-Dame of Paris.

It is in this venerable basilica that, for long centuries, our fathers have invoked you; the Saints of France, and the most illustrious Saints from other lands, have knelt here; it is here that France was solemnly consecrated to you by one of its sovereigns.

This church has been associated with all the joys and sorrows of our nation: our most glorious triumphs have been celebrated here, and our disasters have been mourned here. In the days of our most grievous wanderings, a sacrilegious cult replaced the adoration of your Son Jesus; and when you obtained mercy for us, your people came again to place themselves at your feet and acknowledge you as their Mother and Queen.

O Our Lady of Paris, in the name of all these great memories, in the name of the maternal love you have always had for Paris and for France, we beseech you to keep in our souls the love of Jesus Christ and his Church! Defend us from the contagion of impiety and vice; make us always children who love you! Give us Saints who restore the faith and virtues of former days.

O Queen, O Mother, kneeling before your image, in the very place where the Saints, our fathers, and the protectors of our France have so often invoked you, we want to pray like them and, above all, live and die like them. Hear us! Amen.

August 15, 1893

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