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Dec. 31, 2024 - Human Events Daily - Jack Posobiec
48:02
The Chronicles of the Christians - Part IV: Notre Dame

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Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini, Welcome to CBS This Morning.
We're talking about one of the great symbols of Paris and all of Western civilization.
It is still standing this morning after a fire that nearly destroyed it.
Flames brought down the spire and much of the roof at Notre Dame Cathedral yesterday.
And think about this.
It's the start of Holy Week.
Five years after a fire caused major damage, the Notre Dame Cathedral is back open again.
On Sunday, the cathedral held its first mass since the fire.
President-elect Donald Trump joining 35 heads of state for a reopening ceremony on Saturday.
The First Lady, Jill Biden, and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky also attended.
Now, this was Trump's first foreign trip since winning the race for the White House.
Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard.
And welcome to what has been just such an enlightening journey through history, faith, the human spirit.
This is the Chronicles of the Christians.
I'm Jack Posobiec, and we've reached the last episode of our series with an episode that's close to many hearts, titled, The Truth About Notre Dame.
Today, we are not just looking at a cathedral.
We're peering into the soul of Western civilization itself.
The Notre Dame Cathedral isn't just a cathedral, it's a living, breathing symbol of faith, resilience, and cultural identity.
From its beginning in the 12th century under King Louis VII, to the attacks on it in the French Revolution, to its restoration by Napoleon and the people of Paris, To the devastating fire in 2019, Notre Dame's story is one of human aspiration, reaching towards the divine.
So let's embark on this journey back to 1163, when the first stone was laid.
Imagine the medieval world, where the construction of such a cathedral was not just an architectural feat, but a political statement, a testament to the power of both church and crown.
Over the centuries, this cathedral has been more than a place of worship.
It's been the backdrop to revolutions, coronations, and the daily life of Parisians.
But our story takes a dramatic turn on April 15, 2019. The suspicious fire that engulfed Notre Dame at a time when many churches were facing arson attacks across France.
And this wasn't just a physical event, it was a heart-wrenching moment for millions who watched their history in a place of spiritual worship.
Burn.
And from those ashes, we've seen an extraordinary response, a global call to restore, rebuild, remember.
And in this final episode, we will delve into the origins of Notre Dame, its political history, the devastating fire, and we'll talk about what may have caused that devastating fire, and of course, the ongoing restoration.
We'll explore why this cathedral is not just a symbol of Christendom, but also a beacon of Western civilization's enduring spirit.
So join me and my special guest, my brother, Kevin Posobiec, as we understand and uncover the truth about Notre Dame.
Understanding how this glorious edifice has been shaped and has shaped the tides of history, of art, of faith.
We're going to reflect on what it means for us today in an era where the past and future intersect in every single stone of this magnificent cathedral.
You know, I remember visiting it for the first time with my two boys just about a year ago.
And standing there with the two of them and they asked, Daddy, can we go inside?
I said, we can't go inside because there was a terrible fire.
And that's something that we have to understand and can never allow to happen again.
So get ready for a journey that transcends time, where every arch and every stained glass window tells a story of humanity's quest for something greater.
This is Chronicles of the Christians, the truth about Notre Dame, and we're about to witness history, faith, and the undying human spirit.
Stay with us.
All right, Jack Posobiec, Jack Posobiec, we are back.
The Chronicles of the Christians, the truth about Notre Dame.
And so I wanted to bring Kevin Posobiec in here.
Kevin, how's it going, man?
Doing very well.
Good to be here with you, Jack.
Blessed day.
Kevin, tell people your background a little bit and explain to people why I thought it would be a great idea to have you on on this program.
Well, as you know, but many may not know, that other than this, part of my bread and butter is being a carpenter, woodworker, craftsman, all of the above.
And I studied it briefly in Philadelphia and the surrounding area.
And we have some family members in the trade.
It's kind of in our blood, really.
And took a lot of pride in that.
For several years now.
I've been involved since around 2007, 2008, I want to say, off and on.
And we've had the privilege of, like I said, having a family member who has, like, the old school wood shop.
And, you know, with all the machines, the joiners, the planers, the clamps, like, the saws, everything.
Yeah, it's been great to learn and apprentice under someone like that.
And yeah, it reminds me of like how guilds used to be before unions.
And so yeah, I've done that for several, several years now, over a decade about.
And you know, it's something that Rewarding to me.
I love studying architecture.
I studied historical preservation as well.
And I've worked with various Philadelphia craftsmen and furniture makers over the years.
We did a lot of Hardwood tables, credenzas, and custom cabinetry, doors, flooring, beams, you name it.
I've worked in all various aspects of the woodworking field, and yeah, it's kind of a quick, quick resume.
Maybe I'll put this on my LinkedIn.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
So when all of this went down, actually, one of the first conversations and obviously with the fire in 2019, I remember having a conversation with you and I didn't realize how much you just knew about the general construction of Notre Dame and of the architecture.
And, you know, I can tell you, like, the basic political facts, the, you know, okay, 1163, and it was, you know, Louis VII, and the final stone, you know, of the main structure was laid by Louis IX, and we actually just talked about him in a couple recent episodes having been a crusader king, Louis IX, also St. Louis.
He is the king that St. Louis is named for, Louisiana is named for.
But a lot of people don't realize some of the structural innovations and architectural innovations that were done into this.
And just take us back to literally the Middle Ages, 1100 A.D. What were some of the things that when they decided to build Notre Dame that went into it?
Well so some of the some of the aspects to look at from kind of the bigger picture looking in down to a more detailed view is that you know this was a massive structure and you would need like a lot of community support to get this done and their plans were devised drawn up but then they had to make a commitment to a multi-generational structure so this thing was built over I believe it was 170 odd
years and so imagine being a master builder and not living to see like the fulfillment of your project but they made that commitment anyway and that's just like a sacrifice that is uncommon these days and just the commitment that these people had and the passion for religion itself that defined their nation and You know so it came from that it's it's a giant structure and uh as
far as innovation goes um you know growing up one of the things that caught my eye uh or ear i should say is like the flying buttresses and we used to joke about that in in grade school like oh i said what you know and um but either way it just like struck my interest So the flying buttresses, they're the, you know, for me, who's a total layman in this stuff, this was, they're sort of part of the roof structure, but they're actually made of stone, is that correctly?
And those are the pieces on the side that sort of hold it up, they're on like, they're on like an angle, almost like a J-angle?
Yes, that's what looks like the wings.
It's like a wing, like an L-shape almost.
So that's what they're called flying.
Okay.
And it almost looks like it's part of another building because you don't see that much anywhere else.
And so usually, and this is definitive of Gothic architecture, which went on to influence much more of Europe after Notre Dame was completed.
So you had traditional structures, I mean columns, I should say columns, and then a vaulted ceiling.
But one of the main features of Gothic architecture is stained glass.
And that was the innovative mark Hallmark feature of Notre Dame is these massive, very tall stained glass windows.
And when you have that and no stone, that means the wall is going to be very weak.
So how could you hold up the ceiling, which is, mind you, like tons and tons and tons of lumber and then lumber wrapped in lead.
Like, how would you hold that up?
So they devised this thing called a flying buttress to support the vaulted roof Above to take the weight off of the roof and then divide it down diagonally and then vertically again back to the ground through these buttresses and that would allow internally to have, it's almost like a floating roof, if you will.
I'm sure the stained glass itself holds some of the weight of the roof, but it definitely alleviates a lot of it.
And the point being is like, well, why would you want to have just large windows anyway?
But they believed in Christ saying, like, I'm the light of the world, you know.
So the more light comes in.
And keep in mind, this is a time when there weren't Bibles either.
Innovative techniques were more spiritual, really.
Like, they had hand tools.
Everything was done by hand.
And, you know, there was also, to correlate with that, just no Bibles aside from which the clergy had at that time.
So we didn't have any cell phones, any resources to have one, each person, each individual walking around with your own Bible, you know.
Seeing that you could maybe interpret it however you want, but that's a tangent.
So, let's get back to that roof a little bit.
And of course, the roof is what burned.
Tell me about the roof.
What was so special about it?
Well, to me, also, as an adult, growing up, it was like, oh, flying buttresses.
But when I heard it was on fire, it really hit me in the chest, because that's made of Masterpieces of timber framing interlocking giant pieces of wood that are also of old growth and you know I didn't realize that at first I thought for sure it was a roof made out of stone but I think the reasoning behind it was that it would be lighter
and also able to hold the flying buttresses which is why they why they use the wood in the first place but yes And it's even referred to as the forest because there was literally almost a whole entire forest used in this construction of the roof.
And, you know, if you don't know what old growth is, like old growth is when the tree rings, okay, like the tree rings are very tight together.
This creates denser, stronger trees.
And generally they're over a century year old and they're not from like a managed forest.
That's why it's in You know, high demand today because there's not much more of it.
And you'll see, like, memes online saying, like, this is a two by four then, this is a two by four now.
And back then, most of it was literally two inches by four inches.
But now it's inch and a half, three and a half.
But the ring's on it.
So when you have new growth, it's typically weaker wood.
And so the roof was made out of old growth timbers.
Very strong, like, comparable to which these master builders decided to use it anyway, and a lot of it was chosen because of its strength.
I mean, nobody would really see it.
I believe it was mostly oak and just a very strong species to use.
You will see that in churches as well.
Most pews are made out of it, structural pieces.
yeah so the roof was made out of that but also which is why it would be a bit of a target because wood burns easily much more easily than like solid marble uh nonetheless though being that it was old growth it probably burnt slower but yeah it's interesting you know well hey why did the roof catch on fire like why are these organs uh church organs being lit on fire because they're made of wood That's
fascinating and I remember you telling me that for the first time a while back when this all happened and I didn't even realize that and there was a whole thing and we'll talk about it in a little bit going forward here but there was a whole Worry early on that perhaps they wouldn't even have the wood to be able to replace the forest because those types of trees just don't exist anywhere in Europe anymore.
There's parts of Poland, Bialystok Forest, which are preserved and Other areas that are still medieval prehistoric forests, but those types of old growth trees, you just can't find them anywhere else.
And so the loss of that was a true loss to the world.
And so this is the information that we need to understand when going into the truth about Notre Dame.
Notre Dame So we are back.
The Chronicles of the Christians, the truth about Notre Dame.
So just a couple of points that I wanted to get into some more about Notre Dame.
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Spelled MOINCbox.com slash POSO. That's MOINCbox.com slash POSO. Kevin, so I wanted to ask you about a, you know, an anecdote or a story, I guess, that you were telling me about the woodworkers and specifically about those beams that people didn't even realize this, but all the way up in the highest parts of the rafters, there were designs carved on the beams themselves.
Isn't that right?
Yes, that's right.
You'll see nowadays people will just like sign your signature on like a 2x4 stud or something and put it in a wall but back then yeah so there was carvings in the beams in the rafters and what we've seen is that People would question, well, this is just a catwalk.
You can barely get through here in candlelight.
Why would anybody do that?
Why would anybody continue to do that?
As long as you can see the facade.
It's replicated in more and more open timber framing in other churches, but upon further inspection, when you look at it, on the top, which faces the ceiling, more carvings would be revealed and found.
You know, why would somebody do that without being seen by, you know, the parish assembly below?
And it's because, you know, the carvers would say, like, well, even if If anybody else doesn't see it, God still sees it, and God still hears my prayers.
And I've...
Wait, that's great.
That's great.
So even though the carver said, the carver said, why would you carve the top?
And they said, because God sees it.
When I think about the...
just deconstruction of Notre Dame, and we've talked about this throughout the series, but...
These were people who very seriously believed in God, they very seriously believed in their faith, they believed in Christ, and they believed they were making these great works for the glorification of God.
One of the reasons that they have the high vaulted ceilings in the first place, this is just one little piece that I know, And credit to Tanya Tay for that because she's the one who told me that one of the reasons that they have the arched ceilings is that when you walk in, it makes you look up.
So you're looking up to God.
You're looking up above.
And, you know, the idea that it was made so many years ago, instituted by The Bishop of Paris at the time he went over and of course got royal support but also a lot of people just from the Parisians.
The Parisians went in on this and they viewed it as a worthy work and something that a lot of people don't realize Kev is that You know, they talk about the fact that it took many years to build, but you've talked to me about the concept of multi-generational construction.
How did that play out and what does that mean?
Well, it played out over a series of bishops and You know, bishops would clearly oversee the construction because they were, you know, any bishop is in control of the finances of any kind of diocese.
But yeah, aside from that, very different architects over the years, famous Frenchmen, began with Bishop Maurice Dessouli for the first 90 odd years.
I mean, and then Jean Deschel, second Pierre Du Montreux Pierre Deschel, Jean Ravi Pierre Des Montreux as well.
So of all these, again, it's just those were, you know, off and on.
They all didn't have like a specific time frame to be there working on the project, but Each one was credited with at least getting like one level.
I believe there's like four different sections and one builder was in charge of like the columns and then the first floor and then a lot of them did do work on the nave actually that is like the roof and the arch at the top up until around the the French Revolution when it started to become A little decrepit and forgotten about, and the upkeep generally wasn't that great.
But yeah, the multigenerationalness of it...
I don't know.
Like I said, it's just a giant commitment to...
It's one thing to...
Where's your goal?
Is it based on getting a certain amount done?
In your lifetime, but just even committing your life to the job.
It's just an amazing commitment.
You had people who would come in, people who would come in, who would work their entire life on it, and they themselves knew that it wouldn't even be seen in their lifetime, the end of it, that they would keep going and that eventually it would be passed on to the next generation.
And they talk about how That is a sign of a healthy civilization, a civilization that builds things for the future and for future generations, even when it doesn't directly defend or doesn't directly support them.
In the near term.
And so, you know, when I look at things like that, and yeah, you mentioned the revolution, and people will remember in the Chronicles of the Revolution series last year and in the book Unhumans, Secret History of Communist Revolutions, How to Crush Them, that we talked about how The fire of Notre Dame, and I want to talk about that in the next segment, but the fire of Notre Dame was not the first time that it was destroyed.
And one of the first attacks on the Cathedral of Notre Dame, this predates the Napoleon coronation, this predates the Hunchback of Notre Dame, was actually during the late 1790s, When Notre Dame Cathedral was attacked, the statues of the 12 kings of Israel, which are outside, lining the facade, they were smashed.
A lot of the stained glass was smashed.
But during this time, the relics that were inside one of the main relics, just as What was saved during the fire of 2019 was the Crown of Thorns and it is the Crown of Thorns that is believed to have been saved from the Crusades,
from the Caliphate, from the Hordes that were marching across the Holy Land that they saved it and the Crusader Knights brought it back and put it in Notre Dame for safekeeping which is similar to what we talked about in the previous episode and the Shroud of Turin and its journey across We're good to
anti-priest, it was anti-none, they were executing nuns at one point in Paris, and the Cathedral of Notre Dame was converted from a Christian cathedral at the time to a temple to reason, and where only science and reason could be worshipped.
Kev, does that sound a little similar to anything to you?
only what only science and reason could be used only science and reason yeah right kind of like oh i don't know reddit and the secular left today are the exact same as the secular left of the french revolution there's nothing under the sun and so you gotta you got to understand that this wasn't even the first time and then so napoleon comes back at the end of the revolution He gets in and is able,
Napoleon gets in and is able to completely restore it.
He has it reconsecrated with the church.
He becomes in with the church.
He's coronated there as not just the king, but as the emperor of France.
Of course, people know how that story goes after it.
But then it falls into disrepair yet again, and it's really through the novel.
It's through Victor Hugo's great novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Many years later, Victor Hugo, of course, also wrote Les Mis, depicting France during the time of Napoleonic Wars.
That really after the Hunchback of Notre Dame comes out, that's when Notre Dame takes on its character as this beloved national symbol.
By the way, Notre Dame isn't even the largest cathedral in Paris.
It's certainly not the largest one.
In France, but there's something about it being at the heart, at the central beating heart of France, which makes it at the central beating heart of Western civilization.
Of course, World War II also happened.
Charles de Gaulle was almost...
By the way, when the French liberated Paris after the Nazi occupation, Charles de Gaulle was almost assassinated there by Nazi sharpshooters, but he said, I am going to Mass at the Cathedral de Notre-Dame de Paris.
And he demanded that he would go to Mass even as there were still German sharpshooters in the city.
And a couple of them almost actually killed Charles de Gaulle as he was going to the Notre-Dame for Mass.
And so you just look at so many of the pieces of Western civilization, Western history, Christendom, Christian history that are all directly tied up with the cathedral, the Notre Dame.
All right.
- Jack Posobiec back here.
The Chronicles of the Christians, the truth about Notre Dame.
Kev, I'm thinking we need to actually get into the fire.
Do you think it's time to jump in the fire?
Yeah, I know that song.
I think this is big.
And so, look, I'm just going to say it right out.
I don't buy the official story.
I don't buy the official story at all.
I think it's a joke.
I think it's hilarious.
I remember one of the first things they said was, oh, this was definitely not arson.
This was definitely not terrorism.
But they said that before they conducted it.
actual explanation or any investigation.
They didn't dig into anything.
They just right away said, oh, there's no arson, whatever.
And so I've got a list.
I'm going to go through this list right now.
2019, the Saint Jacques Church in Grenoble, France in January 2019 was the site of attempted In February 2019, the St. Alain Cathedral in Lavore was the target of an arson attack where the altar cloth was burned and crosses and statues were smashed.
The Saint-Sulpice Church in Paris.
In Paris in March 2019, another significant church in Paris was set on fire.
The incident was confirmed to be arson, with the fire starting from a pile of clothes outside the church.
And then even as recent as September 2024, the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Saint-Omer, France, a historic church, was completely destroyed by an arson attack.
The suspect in that, Joel Vigoro, known for similar acts, was arrested following the incident.
Look, we know that throughout France and throughout Paris, there have been church burnings that have gone on specifically in 2019 and 2020, many of which were targeted and linked directly to We're good to
show us that and they say, oh, there were some repairs going on and it was probably one of the workers.
It's no big deal.
And yet let's, let's also go back because the timing of this, right?
April.
What was happening in April of 2019?
It was Holy Week.
It was the very start of Holy Week of Easter in 2019. This is the most important week for Christians of the entire year.
And no, I'm sorry, it's not a conspiracy theory.
It is not a wild speculation to talk about this.
We are giving you specifics as to what we're going on.
So Kevin, let me ask you, as someone who, look, you know what you're talking about.
I would go so far as to say you're an expert.
In this field, given everything you said, the old growth lined in lead, do you really think that just some electrical wiring or like a cigarette would be enough to set the entire roof of Notre Dame ablaze?
No, I don't think it would be enough, honestly.
I'm interested to know about any of the scaffolding and safety measures and maybe if there was any treatment of the wood as it was I was on there because if you ever worked with any kind of wood, you would know that many of the finishing chemicals that you use or any stains, they're highly flammable.
So instead of outright pouring gasoline on wood, what's another way to light wood on fire is to put lacquer made for some kind of other stain or protective coating to increase the sustainability over time whatever they might need to use coat the beams with and you know maybe it could just be placed up there for safe
keeping while the reconstruction is happening or I'm sorry while the repairs at the time in 2019 were happening and That's a plausible theory.
I don't know exactly what techniques they were using.
Let me just make sure I understand what you're saying though.
You're saying that some of the materials that could have been up there in use for the actual restoration or some of the repair work that was being done, those materials Could also have been themselves accelerants for the fire.
And again, if someone were there who had ulterior motives, someone who wanted to do something like this, as we saw again, and I just went through the list of so many,
so many churches that were burned and have been burned and are still being burned in France by radical Islamists as well as leftists, That, you know, it really, really, I think, requires just a healthy dose of salt to sit there and say, oh, well, yeah, it's all of the churches but this one.
All of the churches but the biggest one.
I mean, come on.
It's a joke.
I mean, Jack, we're coming around Christmas time here, right?
If you recall, I believe it was the same year, if not 2020, there was a report from New York City, from St. Patrick's Cathedral, where a man was arrested for going into the cathedral with two red gallons of gasoline.
Yeah, the gas cans.
Clearly, he would not need any any reason to do that or ever be in like any public square for that matter with just random gasoline and uh so it's yeah that that it was it was very recently after notre dame so you know and i wanted to make a point too that like if you're up there during the construction and and the scaffolding's there and you're working on the roof sometimes
because i was also doing some work myself With the parish I used to attend outside of Philadelphia, the Latin Mass, and we were getting all like pure slate replacement over the roof.
So one of the requests from the builders was to build catwalks inside.
And anyways, if you're going to replace slate, you have to take off the slate, opening a hole.
And what does fire need to accelerate is more oxygen.
So if the air comes in, you know, That could have been another angle to it.
And also, suspicion leads me to, you know, there was no cameras, really.
Why wouldn't you have cameras in 2019 just around Notre Dame?
You know, there's Again, no documented evidence.
Like, oh, we weren't sure.
There might have been cameras on the scaffolding for the construction safety, but we don't really remember now if Notre Dame ever had its own just security cameras.
Like, it's basically a World Heritage Site, one of the wonders of the world.
To not have its own security cameras or just like a live stream.
Dad will go on live streams of the beach and just watch the waves.
You could watch a live feed off the beach.
And there were some streams that I saw people pulling up from downtown Paris or going to that area and looking at stuff.
And they could see people walking around up there.
Look, it's just something, by the way, Michelle Obama, Michelle Obama going down the river, right?
So going down the Seine right at the same time.
She's got that little champagne flute and she's got her, you know, she's got it up and she's sipping it.
And you feel it looks like you could see the smoke being reflected in the very glass itself.
I'm like, guys, something is suspicious here.
I feel like we know what's going on and I feel, and I'm just going to say it, I feel like whatever was, and I will always believe this and no one will ever be able to change my mind on it, that whoever was the person that started that fire, number one, it was done deliberately and it wasn't just an act of human hands, it was a demonic act.
It was clearly an act Of demons against one of the most central beating hearts of Christendom.
One that has stood for, again, almost a thousand years and they were trying to destroy the entire thing.
That's why Notre Dame is so important.
That's why restoring it is so important.
Because if you understand the big fight that's going on, if you understand the higher level fight, the higher level and the deeper war that are going on, you understand why the reconstruction and the ringing of the bells of Notre Dame.
And they say that the ringing of consecrated bells wards off Demons.
That is why it is so important.
And they first rang the day after President Trump's election in 2024. Kind of interesting.
Kind of interesting.
Don't know what it means.
We'll be right back.
Here we are, Jack Posobiec and Kevin Posobiec, final segment, not just of the truth about Notre Dame, but also the final segment of the Chronicles of the Christians.
And who knows, maybe we'll do some more episodes on this.
There's certainly quite a bit of Christian history, but...
We started with the rise of Christianity, we covered how it spread throughout Europe, and we dispelled a lot of the myths that people were forced to convert to Christianity, that actually it was something that spread organically.
We covered the Crusades and we debunked the myths that the Crusades were an invasion of the Middle East, and in fact it was a response to what was going on.
And it was done at the behest of the Eastern Orthodox Church that was being overrun in Byzantium by the Caliphate and the Muslim hordes, the ones that had been attacking Europe and Christendom all the way back as early as 700 AD in Spain, not to mention sweeping across all of North Africa.
And then we also covered the Shroud of Turin and the new scientific data, the scientific data behind the Shroud of Turin that gives us a lot of information saying that this thing is 2,000 years old and it was dated to the time of the Battle of Masada using a piece of the cloth from the Battle of Masada.
Wrapping it up, we got to the Notre Dame and the importance of the Notre Dame Kevin, you know, just zoom out a little bit here.
Why is it important for Christians to know their history, this history that is totally untold and totally kept hidden from us?
Why is it important for Christians Remembering their history.
I mean, if you don't know where you come from, and you don't know who you are, and if you don't know who you are, how the heck will you know where you're going?
It's important because It's like the commitment to it, to the building, to the faith, you know, that's what Christ himself did for us.
He sacrificed his life.
And, you know, what greater love can you have than to lay down your life for your brother?
And it's important for Christians to realize because that's what connects us.
It's It connects us back to tradition, to family, the nuclear family works, community works, fellowshipping works, you know, fraternity works, men with other men, you know, and women with women.
That's what I see a lot in the traditional Latin mass community today.
And that can go back even to, like, guilds in medieval times.
Like, you did have...
It's basically like unions now.
But back then, you would have stone cutters, stonemasons, basically, like, living together.
And then, you know, how else could you get better at your craft if not just...
Maybe not, like, live together, but live on the same street and hang out together all the time.
Same with many other craftsmen.
You have, like...
Of course, the woodworkers and the stained glass guys, they would just stick together.
And through that, that's like a Christian principle too of commitment and perseverance.
So, it speaks to discipline as well.
You know, go to church every Sunday.
You know, there's repetition in, like, Rosary, for instance.
Like, why do you say so many Hail Marys?
This and that.
But it builds repetition.
It builds routine.
And those are things that are directed towards success and life and prosperity.
And it's worked for hundreds and hundreds of years so far.
So it's something the French clearly believed in.
And they also believe in beauty, really.
So I wanted to talk about earlier with the whole lack of like literacy back then.
One of the things championed was art itself, because even if you couldn't read, you could still admire and cherish really like these fantastic symmetrical patterns of like the rosette windows and the symmetry of the two towers and just the awe-inspiringness of it.
And you know, the The majesty of God himself.
You know, look at this great work.
And that's a great point because the cathedrals are our direct link in so many ways to our history as Christians.
And so, as you're saying, there's a reason that so many people from all around the world go and visit these things Every single year and people who aren't even from the Christian faith, but they recognize it for what it is and to your point,
you know, we don't even as Christians sit and take the time to really appreciate all of the work that went into these and certainly, you know, Notre Dame is just one of many many many cathedrals throughout the world.
It is I would say probably the most iconic Cathedral in the world, you know, you could debate between that one or St. Peter's, but, you know, this is a huge actual part of history predates St. Peter's by like, I think almost 500 years or so.
And, you know, one thing that blew my mind earlier this week, you know, just studying about this was that The Notre Dame predates the Aztec Empire.
It predates so many things around the world, and yet we sit there and act like, oh, these things were taken for granted.
And we as Christians should never take our history for granted.
What do you think, Kev?
Well, I gotta say, I mean, I could give a whole podcast about old growth, but one fun fact is they were old growth at the time.
So 800 years ago, those beams were also hundreds of years old.
So you speak that it's older than the Aztecs.
That wood itself is probably over a thousand years old.
Amen.
Yeah, I just wanted to throw that in there.
Yeah, no, it's amazing.
And again, we could go on and on because, folks, with this series, the Chronicles of the Christians, the goal always was and always was just to give you an understanding that there's such a broad history of the Christians, of the Christian people,
and the Chronicles of the Christians was put together with that in mind to give you the respect and also, by the way, Give you the inspiration of knowing that you stand on the shoulders of so many who came before you, but also you have a duty to preserve this history and to preserve our religion for the next generations of the Christians yet to come.
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