St. Theresa LIFE TEEN - WYD 2000

August 8, 2000, Day 2

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Travel log

We arrived in Paris around 12pm Paris time (3 am Phoenix time) on Tuesday. We went easily through customs, met up with our tour guide Emmanuele and headed to the hotel. After checking in, we all received Metro (subway) passes and all of us hopped on the train and headed to the Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal where we heard Mass in French. At the appropriate time, the priest had us lead the church in the Our Father in English. After Mass we heard a description of the Church by one of the sisters. At that church in 1830, the Blessed Virgin appeared to Sister Catherine Laboure. Four months later, the Blessed Virgin appeared again to Sister Catherine with a small globe in her hands and standing on the serpent. She then moved her hands and rays fell from her hands downward representing the graces that Mary showers on those who ask her for them. Mary gave Sister Catherine a design that she wanted made into a medal, and thus came the name from the church. Sister Catherine died in 1876 and 54 years later her body was unburied and found to be undecaying. She is now St. Catherine and her incorruptible body was next to the altar where Mass was served. We could see her body through the glass, although she had a special mask over her face to shield her from the light that always shines on her. The sister giving us the information said that in the seventies, they removed a piece from her hip to do tests and her skin was so fresh that it stained the cloth holding it.

After Mass we went to eat dinner at a restaurant called Bistro Romain. They served us some kind of croissant, then chicken and french fries for a main course. Then we had some chocolate no-flour cake (really good!). After dinner half of the group heading straight back to the hotel while the rest of the group hung out in Paris for a while, walking the streets.

Travel diary from Michelle Duncan

Well, the first day or I guess the first two days of our trip have been an experience! The everlasting plane ride was full of laughing, repetitive movies and very little sleep. We checked into our hotel, which suprising was very nice and headed to Mass at the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. The entire Mass was in French until they honored us by letting us say the Our Father in English. We went on to eat dinner at some restaurant as a group where they served us french fries and soemthing that looked like turkey. We got to see a bit of Paris life and streets, but we're all too exhausted to do too much. Half of the group went home to get some sleep, and some of us stayed to go shopping and to go to a cafe. However, when we left the train to head to the hotel, it started pouring, so we had to sprint home a mile in the rain. We're all excited to finally get some rest. We're looking forward to going to Normandy tomorrow. See ya, Michelle

Video clip of Michelle (783 kB, MPEG)

More Pictures

Wax body of St. Louise de Marillac
Farther away shot of St. Louise
Another shot of St. Louise
Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal
Chapel (2)
Fr. Jim incognito in Paris
Fr. Jim and the girls
The group at the hotel
A group in the subway
Group shot in Paris
Stacy on the street
Taking the Metro
Fr. Jim in Paris
In front of the Hard Rock Cafe in Paris
In the Paris streets

Note: in the Chapel were St. Catherine and St. Louise. St. Louise is the co-founder of the Company of the Daughters of Charity with St. Vincent de Paul. In the chapel we visited were the wax body of St. Louise (with bones buried underneath) and the incorruptible body of St. Catherine (right side of altar). Apparantly no pictures were taken of St. Catherine. However, we are returning to the chapel for Mass on the last day of the trip and we will definitely take pictures then. :)