Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité

During the French Revolution, the people called for liberté, égalité, fraternité ! Liberty, equality, fraternity! While I don't agree with their methods (really, the guillotine?), those are important qualities and things we all need to fight for. We all need to be free, equal, and brothers and sisters.

Just 12 years after the US declared independence, French people stormed the Bastille fortress in Paris on July 14, 1789, starting the process of their own declaration of independence from the crown.

Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité
Steven Sauke
Illustration

In 1790, people began to chant and sing, "Ça ira! Ça ira! Ça ira!" (literally, "That will go!", or "It will be fine!") They looked forward to throwing off aristocracy and oppression, and they were optimistic about the outcome, though, again, I disagree with their methods.

In 1792, Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle wrote a war song in the city of Strasbourg called Chant de guerre pour l'Armée du Rhin (War Song for the Army of the Rhine). It called on French patriots to rise up and defeat the oppressors who were causing bloodshed, death and destruction. Volunteers from Marseille sang it as they marched to Paris, thus inspiring the name it has today: La Marseillaise (The Marseillaise/from Marseille). It was adopted as the French Republic's anthem in 1795.

I made the above graphic a few years ago in commemoration of Bastille Day, or le 14 juillet (July 14). It depicts the French flag, along with their slogan Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité, and the fleur-de-lys. Happy Independence Day to France!

Unknown

When I visited Normandy, France in 1999, we spent a day going to several beaches where the Allied Forces landed on D-Day, June 6, 1944. That day in 1999 we visited Omaha Beach, Pointe du Hoc and Arromanches. Omaha Beach was featured in Saving Private Ryan (which we would watch a few days later). Pointe du Hoc is at the top of cliffs (pictures at the bottom of this post), and Allied Forces were able to scale the cliffs under the cover of fog and defeat the Germans waiting at the top. There are iconic pictures of the artificial port at Arromanches used for getting heavy equipment off the boats, which is still there.

The American Cemetery at Omaha Beach had row upon row of crosses and Stars of David. It was very solemn, beautiful and moving. For me, the most moving crosses read:

HERE RESTS IN HONORED GLORY

A COMRADE IN ARMS

KNOWN BUT TO GOD

I wrote this poem January 18, 2006 after attending a David Harsh concert where he sang a song on the same subject. It made me think back to my visit to Omaha Beach where I saw these crosses.

Photo by Mika167
CC BY-SA 3.0 license

A white cross stands in a cemetery
In a land far away
A lasting monument to an unknown soldier
Known but to God

What happened to this unknown soldier?
God alone saw him pierced by countless bullets
Tossed by bombs and grenades
Shattered by shrapnel exploding all around

A family waited and worried at home
Counting the days until their daddy
Would step off the airplane
And run into their welcoming embrace

Did they get a knock on the door
And learn that he was MIA?
Did they wait happily on the tarmac
For their daddy, who would never step off the plane?

Did they know a cross would mark
The place where his shattered remains lay?
A beloved husband and daddy
Ever in a land far away

A young wife wondered and prayed
What became of the love of her life?
The children worried and cried
Would they ever see their daddy's beaming face?

A wife never again got to kiss her husband's lips
A son never got to wrestle with his dad
And a daughter never got to dance in her daddy's loving gaze
He wasn't there to see his son graduate
Couldn't give his daughter away

His grandchildren never got to sit on the lap
Of the grandpa they never knew
Hearing stories of long ago
When he was their age

A young man kneels before a white marble cross
Moved to tears by the inscription to the unknown soldier.
Who lies beneath this cross in honored glory?
Could it be the bones of the grandfather he never knew?

The answer is known but to God.

Omaha Beach

Omaha Beach

The cliffs of Pointe du Hoc

Craters at Pointe du Hoc created
by massive cannonballs

Pointe du Hoc

A Professor's Generosity

Hérouville Saint-Clair, Normandy, France (near Caen), August 1999. My study abroad program was going great! I was with a group of students from Seattle Pacific University and Wheaton College, with professors from both schools, in conjunction with the Jacques Lefêvre Institute in France. Our fearless leader was the head of the political science department at SPU, who taught a course in "Modern French Thought." The French classes were split between a teacher from Wheaton and a local teacher who was studying at the Sorbonne in Paris (which has a long history going back to the time of Thomas Aquinas).

Église Saint-Étienne
Caen, France

I was in the advanced French class taught by the excellent Dr. Grosh from Wheaton. This is not about my classes, but that is important.

Partway through my time there, I came down with some serious pain in my feet. It was bad enough that the leaders contacted a doctor who made a house call to the Cité Universitaire (student lodging where we stayed and held classes) for the Université de Caen. We went into a room where the two professors assisted. I was able to describe my situation and symptoms to the doctor in French, and Dr. Grosh helped to translate as needed when the MD asked me questions and gave me the diagnosis, as I wasn't as skilled at medical terminology. Dr. Grosh also assisted when I didn't know a word here or there. The MD prescribed medicine and other things I needed to do. Among those was wearing sandals to allow my feet some air. I hadn't brought any sandals, so we went to the local Carrefour, where I got some very comfortable ones. Carrefour is a chain of shopping malls throughout France, and I believe it's in a few other European countries.

On a boat on the mouth of the Seine
Between Honfleur and Le Havre, France
(I'm on the right)

I give this sculpture in Honfleur
a big thumbs-up!

Due to the issues with my feet, I missed our group's excursion to see the Bayeux Tapestry, but there was still a lot of walking that would be happening, particularly once we got to Mont-Saint-Michel and Paris later in the adventure.

The sandals were a huge help (along with other treatment). As Dr. Grosh and I were talking later, somehow the subject of me not having a lot of money came up. I don't recall how that even came up, and I wasn't asking for anything in mentioning it, but she told me that she and her husband had decided to give me "a small gift" to help with souvenirs in Paris. I was overwhelmed. Their "small gift" involved reimbursing me for the medical expenses and the price of the sandals!

Mont-Saint-Michel
(I need to go back so I can take better pictures)

The trip would have been an amazing adventure and memory whatever happened, but it was so much more amazing that I was able to walk everywhere without so much pain! Mont-Saint-Michel is an absolute must on any visit to France, but it involves a lot of walking, as the streets are narrow and winding, uphill and downhill.

Giverny is another important place to visit. This is me on Claude Monet's bridge that he painted several times.

Paris was very amazing, and it involved a lot of walking. I think the next time I did that much walking around one city was when I went to New York last year.

But it would not have been nearly as enjoyable or inspirational without the unexpected and generous gift from a teacher who continues to inspire me 24 years later.

Next question: How in the world is that 24 years ago this coming August?!

On the towers of Notre Dame
Some nice British tourists took my picture.
It was refreshing to be able to talk to someone in English!
😀

Standing on the Arc de Triomphe
with the Eiffel Tower in the background

Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella

Le nouveau-né (The Newborn)

Georges de la Tour

Oil on canvas

1645-1648

Hey, everyone! Jeanette! Isabella! Come on and visit this new baby in Bethlehem! Spread the news! Since it's dark out, you'll need to bring torches, and remember that Jesus is sleeping. So you need to be quiet so He can sleep. Don't wake Him, but just look at those rosy cheeks! Isn't He the cutest baby you ever did see? Everyone, come look! But shush! He's sleeping!

That's the gist of the 16th century Provençal carol (from Provence, France) Un flambeau, Jeanette, Isabelle. According to Hymns and Carols of Christmas, the song may have been written to evoke the building of a crèche, or glorified nativity scene. (French tradition goes beyond a scene of the stable to include the whole town surrounding the stable.) It is possible that French painter Georges de la Tour was inspired by the song to paint, likely his Le nouveau-né (above). If that is the painting in question, it likely depicts Jeanette and Isabella holding and quietly blessing the baby Jesus. The torch appears to be just out of the picture, as it is clearly dark, but there's light nearby.

It could also evoke the mixture of the Hanukkah and Christmas traditions of processionals with candles and torches, which were common in Provence and Southern Europe.

Who were Jeanette and Isabella? According to the blog Window Toward the World, they were milkmaids who went to the stable to milk cows, but instead found a baby in the manger. When they made this unexpected discovery, they hurried to the town and invited everyone to come see, but were adamant that everyone keep quiet so the baby could sleep. (That blog cites Wikipedia for this, but the Wikipedia article seems to have deleted that story since the blog was published.) In any case, both in that blog and the Wikipedia article, it tells that Provençal children still dress as milkmaids and shepherds and go to Midnight Mass at Christmas while singing this song and carrying torches.

The tune may be from a 14th-century dance for French nobility. The lyrics were first published either in Cantiques de Premiere Avenement de Jesus-Christ ("Songs of the First Coming of Jesus Christ") in 1553 or Noëls français ("French Christmases") in 1901, depending on who you ask. I think the 1553 date is much more likely, as, according to Making Music Fun and Wikipedia, it was translated into English in the 18th century. It's highly unlikely a song that was written in the 20th Century was subsequently translated in the 18th, and a painter was inspired by it to paint in the 17th. Unless it has some connection to PDQ Bach (1807-1742). I have seen no indication of such a connection anywhere. Or maybe The Doctor was involved? That could get a bit "wibbly wobbly timey wimey"... Hmm...


In English:


...and in French: