Basilique Notre Dame du Roncier

Basilique Notre Dame du Roncier  

Last Saturday I went walking with Skippy around 6pm.   We wandered around for awhile through the narrow streets of Josselin.   Then, the bells of the Basilica began to ring.  Well, I mean, they didn't just ring, they rocked!  It wasn't just the single bell that rings out the time.  It was a joining together of multiple bells of various tones each ringing in its own time.  Maybe some of you have heard this kind of ringing before.  I'm not sure I ever have.   Maybe in a movie.   This was a pealing of the bells.  Loud and constant and crazy.  It filled my head with wild sound.  It made me grin from ear to ear.  I wanted to turn to someone to say "Listen to that!!!"  Wow, I was just blown away by the cacophany of it all.  A full rapture of sound.  I've heard lots of beautiful music in my life.  Hardly anything has moved me quite the way the pealing of the bells of the Basilique Notre Dame du Roncier on Saturday.   Awesome.  

While standing there in my little bell reverie, the people came walking from all directions.  This was the call to worship.   Well, I didn't go in cause I had Skippy.   But I can't wait till this Saturday evening.  Maybe I've just always been in the house before when the bells went crazy.  I can't recall hearing them like that since I've been here.   I hope it wasn't just a one off special occasion, because I am really looking forward to hearing that again.   Up close and personal.  Well, yes, standing right next to the Basilique during the ringing is huge compared to the sound of the bells from say,  a farm a mile out.   They seemed to go on forever.......a good 15 minutes!!! Then gradually they slowed down and dropped off the number of bells ringing until just a single bell rang out a final single tone.  Beautiful.  And total silence.....until the sound of the organ seeped softly out to the street.

There is a story of how this Basilique came to be built.  And its name......such a beautiful sounding name and yet such a small and simple meaning.  Here in Josselin in the 9th century a peasant was said to have found a wooden statue of the Virgin under a bramble bush: "du roncier"  .   So this is Our Lady of the Bramble Bush.   The original church was built on that spot.  The statue was burned during the Revolution but a fragment is preserved here.  In July and August the tower is open to climbers.  September 8 is an annual gathering of thousands for the festival called "The Pardon".   Regular concerts are held throughout the year.   Parts of the Basilique  date from the 12th century.   It is located just a few steps from my door.  I took some of these facts right out of the travel site online.  You can read up about it there.  It's quite a place.  

 

Here I am just in from walking in the cold

Wishing you a Happy Valentine's Day!!!