Normandy, Day 3 -4, Sunday Oct 31 - All Saints Day

No trick-or-treating or All Saints Parties for us this year. Being that we were staying very close to Bayeux, we went to Mass at the Cathedral of Bayeux and then made our way to Mont Saint Michel.

This first group of pictures is from the Cathedral of Bayeux:

Now, that's what I call an ambo!!

Preach! Actually a very good reminder for all of us:

"Notice to Tourists and Visitors:

This chapel is that of the Blessed Sacrament. Here, resides Jesus Christ present in the Eucharist. Christians, don't pass by here without praying, at least for a few moments. 

And you who are indifferent, that just visiting the cathedral would bring you here, understand nevertheless that this chapel is for us Christians, the most important and holy place in this church, and from now on pass by it with silence and respect."

This was a highly anticipated day for me. We were on our way to Mont Saint Michel! But before arriving there, we made a stop in Avranches to see the relic of the skull of Bishop Aubert. For those of you reading this who are familiar with TAN's Story of Civilization series, they tell the story of Bishop Aubert and how St. Michael exhorted him to build a church on top of that rock we now know so well today. And according to the story, Bishop Aubert did not heed Saint Michael right away, and Saint Michael reappeared to him and finally placed his finger in his head to make sure he didn't fail in his assignment again! 

I never knew that story before coming across it a few years ago as part of our homeschool curriculum. But now that I knew it, I had to make sure we stopped in Avranches to see it! Avranches is only about half an hour from MSM and pretty much on the way.

Relic of the skull of Bishop Saint Aubert, in Avranches.

Here is a relief sculpture of St. Michael placing his finger in St Aubert's head which is found at the abbey of Mont Saint Michel.

So I had been dreaming of coming back to Mont Saint Michel ever since I started hatching a plan to take my kids to France some three or four years ago. Exactly 20 years ago, I was at Mont Saint Michel for the feast of All Saints with my mom, grandmother, and aunt. My Aunt, who had planned that Normandy trip, told me subsequently that it was just chance that we ended up at MSM that day. Anyways, it is one of my best travel memories of my life. I remember approaching towards sunset and spotting the silhouette of the island and abbey off in the distance. The town is made up of only a few narrow cobble-stone streets and the whole place emanates a certain medieval charm. We spent the night there (because I remember my aunt saying that that had been a dream of hers) and the next day was All Saints Day. That day, swarms of pilgrims (mostly scouts, as I recall), descended upon Mont Saint Michel and a huge throng of people made their way up the hundreds of steps for the celebration of Mass. Once inside the abbey church, I was awed by its beauty, which while it is architecturally similar to other gothic churches, it has its own very special atmosphere. There aren't really any stained glass windows, so the light is pure and white and somehow magnifies the stature of the interior space.  

So many things are different now than they were 20 years ago, but my dream did come true and the All Saints Mass was beautiful. The abbey church was as beautiful as I remembered it. The music sung by the monks and nuns (the Monastic Fraternities of Jerusalem) was sublime. I was really overcome with emotion during the Mass and shed tears of joy and gratitude for God being so generous as to make it possible for me to return and have another beautiful experience there. 

There are a LOT of stairs to climb up to the abbey church!

Inside the abbey church.

In our overall visit to the abbey, there was a special temporary exhibit on treasures of the church. They had many examples of elaborate, precious, bejeweled articles such as monstrances, reliquaries, regalia for a statue of St. Michael, chalices, vestments, etc.

Good Bye, Mont Saint Michel. Maybe I'll be back in another 20 years!