Sacré-Coure

So, our site seeing in Paris today was as a foursome. It felt odd. It was, however, much easier to get a table. Yesterday we saw a beautiful building from our perch atop the Ferris Wheel. I thought it might be a Mosque because of the shape of the domes. I actually know very little about Paris. Betsy determined that it was, in fact, The Basilica of Sacré-Coeur. Today we paid this great Church a visit. Montmartre, the hill of martres, overlooks the whole of Paris. The building was begun around 1870 by Parisian Catholics to fulfill a vow made during the terrible Franco-Prusian war. It was completed in 1914 and is another archetectural marvel. More remarkable than the building is the faith of the parisioners. The lay people have been carrying on round the clock prayer, perpetual adoration day and night, for more than 100 years. Prayer continued, unbroken, even during the invasion of 1940, requiring the crossing of military columns. Prayer continued during the bombing of 1944 when the stained glass windows were shattered and the foundation shaken. The faith is alive and well in France.