The Gargoyles of Notre Dame and the Islamic Celebration of Their Destruction
By Julio
Severo
The Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris,
France, has suffered a massive destruction by fire on April 15, 2019.
The European problem is that whenever there
is an Islamic terror attack, European authorities are swift to rule out terror-related
motives.
From a cultural perspective, Notre Dame
was a massive loss to the French civilization.
From a religious perspective, it was a massive
loss to the Catholic Church.
In fact, the massive religious loss has
other meanings too. Because the French have abandoned the Catholic Church in very
large numbers, often there are no members to support old church buildings,
which are eventually demolished or transformed in mosques. The French
government and the Vatican do not want to spend their money to preserve such empty
old buildings.
From a Christian perspective, Notre Dame
represented no loss to real Christianity, because it is a cathedral consecrated
to Notre Dame, a French name whose English meaning is “Our Lady.” The Apostles
of Jesus would have seen as abomination a church dedicated to Mary, the mother
of Jesus. They would have characterized it idolatry.
From a spiritual perspective, a place of
idolatry was destroyed. And the destructive fire not only destroyed the idols
of Mary and other men and women. It destroyed also Gargoyles — statues of
demons. Notre Dames was filled of such demonic images.
 |
| Gargoyle of Notre Dame |
The use of demonic statues in Catholic building
was questioned even by Catholic saints. St. Bernard of Clairvaux was famous for
speaking out against gargoyles carved on the walls of his monastery's cloister:
“What
are these fantastic monsters doing in the cloisters before the eyes of the
brothers as they read? What is the meaning of these unclean monkeys, these
strange savage lions, and monsters? To what purpose are here placed these
creatures, half beast, half man, or these spotted tigers? I see several bodies
with one head and several heads with one body. Here is a quadruped with a
serpent's head, there a fish with a quadruped’s head, then again an animal half
horse, half goat… Surely if we do not blush for such absurdities, we should at
least regret what we have spent on them.”
Not
only Notre Dame celebrated the mother of Jesus, but History shows that after thousands
and thousands of Huguenots — Protestant men, women and children — were massacred
in the infamous St. Bartholomew’s Day (23–24 August 1572), the French king who
ordered their massacre celebrated it in Notre Dame.
 |
| Gargoyles of Notre Dame |
 |
| Gargoyles of Notre Dame |
But the motivation of the Islamic celebration
over the destruction of Notre Dame was not a concern for the spiritual
purification of French Christianity, because most of France wants nothing to do
with Catholicism. Their ambition is to destroy the French civilization.
 |
| Gargoyle of Notre Dame |
Portuguese
version of this article: As gárgulas de Notre Dame e a celebração islâmica de
sua destruição
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