Notre Dame chief architect reveals ‘particular devotion’ to Our Lady

CNA Staff, Dec 11, 2024 / 14:35 pm (CNA).

The chief architect of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris shared in an interview with EWTN that he felt Our Lady guided the restoration of the 861-year-old cathedral following the fire that ravaged the building in April 2019.

In an interview with Colm Flynn on “EWTN News In Depth,” architect Philippe Villeneuve said that he was a believer with a “particular devotion to Mary.”

When asked if he was “a man of faith,” Villeneuve explained that he had kept this private during the rebuilding, but now he is ready to reveal it.

“I spent five years saying nothing about this because I’m a civil servant in a secular republic, and therefore, I couldn’t say something like this,” Villeneuve told Flynn. “But now, I have to reveal that yes.”

“I have a particular devotion to the Virgin Mary, and at the risk of sounding totally crazy — or like Joan of Arc — I never stopped feeling support coming from up there,” he said. 

The architect shared that without Mary’s guidance, he didn’t think the restoration of Notre-Dame de Paris would have been possible. 

The reconstruction of Notre Dame was no small undertaking. A team of more than 2,000 people worked on the 800 million euro (about $840 million) restoration. The original building had taken nearly 200 years to build, but Villeneuve had only five years to restore it. 

“I don’t think this project would’ve been possible otherwise, and I think that’s what gave me the strength and determination to move forward because I knew I was supported from up there,” Villeneuve said.

The fire had destroyed the cathedral’s roof, spire, and three sections of the vault — but the organ, paintings, stained glass, and furniture were intact. 

With pressure from the French government and the 340,000 private donors from around the world, Villeneuve had to ensure that original techniques and materials were used as much as possible. 

“It was an enormous amount of work,” he continued. “I realize it now looking at where we came from. I’m really amazed by the beauty — amazed by the work, by the quality of work.”

Villeneuve has long had a love for the historic cathedral. 

“I’ve been madly in love with Notre Dame de Paris since I was little,” he said. “Growing up, it was inside the cathedral where I felt good.” 

Villeneuve shared that he had made a model of the cathedral when he was 16 years old.

“I was really captivated by it, moved by it,” he said. “And little did I know as a kid when I was building the cathedral out of card and paper that one day I would be working on the real cathedral.”

The doors of the newly restored cathedral were officially reopened to the public Saturday evening, Dec. 7, just over five years after a blaze ravaged the iconic structure’s roof, frame, and spire. More than 1,500 people attended the opening ceremony, including about 40 world leaders such as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as well as 170 bishops. The archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich, celebrated the first Mass and consecrated the altar on Dec. 8, the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. 

“When I laid the last stone of the vault in the north transept, it brought me back,” the architect recalled. “And I saw myself as a kid again building this vault with paper and cardboard.” 

The cathedral has a deeper spiritual meaning, not just for its architect, but for those across France and even around the world.   

Monsignor Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, the rector and archpriest of Notre Dame Cathedral, called the building “the soul of France.” 

“Because this cathedral is something of the soul of France, the history of our country is intimately linked with the history of the cathedral,” Dumas told Flynn.

But its “influence extends far beyond France,” the rector noted. 

“The cathedral does not belong to Parisians, nor to Catholics, nor to the French, but it is the common good of all humanity,” Dumas continued. “And its stones speak of God because they have been animated by prayer for more than 800 years.”