Celebrating… All Saints’ Day… in Paris…
“Toussaint… à Paris”…
Today… we celebrated…
All… Saints’ Day…
Also… known as…
“All Hallows”… or “Hallowmas”…
All Saints… was originally celebrated on the first Sunday after the “Pentecost”… in honour of all saints…
The feast was later moved by Pope Grogory III (731-741) from the 13th of May to the 1st of November… It is the day after Halloween… and is a national day in mainly Catholic countries…
In Western Christian theology this holy day commemorates… “all those who have attained the beatific vision in Heaven“.
The feast of all All Saints… achieved greater acclaim in the 9th century during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Leo VI “The Wise” (886-911)… who dedicated this day to his devout wife Empress Theophano after her death… by building a church in her name…
However having been forbidden to do so… he decided to dedicate it to “All Saints” in the hope that… given his wife was a righteous woman… she too would be honoured whenever the feast was celebrated…
Touchingly… beautiful…
A… beautiful love…
Heading out to our church in Saint-Germain-des-Prés… during a hailstorm… (which so reminded us of the horrific… Hurricane Sandy… that has been heartbreakingly brutal to the City of New York… New Jersey… and to a lesser degree the lovely neighbouring States of… Connecticut and Massachusetts and others… a beautiful coastline we are familiar with and are very fond of)… we entered our beloved church where we lit candles and sent a little prayer… for the devastated people who have lost so much and suffered…
We also prayed for… the “Holy Martyrs”…
Feeling… blessed…
We… headed…
To our… local brasserie…
Where… we toasted…
The hallowed… feast of
“Toussant“…
With our… Gallic…
Red… red… wine…
a.