Notre Dame de Paris - Significant Events

Significant Events

• 1185: Heraclius of Caesarea calls for the Third Crusade from the still-incomplete cathedral.
• 1239: The Crown of Thorns is placed in the cathedral by St. Louis during the construction of the Sainte-Chapelle.
• 1302: Philip the Fair opens the first States-General.
• 16 December 1431: Henry VI of England is crowned King of France.
• 1450: Wolves of Paris are trapped and killed on the parvis of the Cathedral.
• 7 November 1455: Isabelle Romée, the mother of Joan of Arc, petitions a papal delegation to overturn her daughter's conviction for heresy.
• 1 January 1537: James V of Scotland is married to Madeleine of France
• 24 April 1558: Mary, Queen of Scots is married to the Dauphin Francis (later Francis II of France), son of Henry II of France.
• 18 August 1572: Henry of Navarre (later Henry IV of France) marries Margaret of Valois. The marriage takes place not in the cathedral but on the parvis of the cathedral, as Henry IV is Protestant.
• 10 September 1573: The Cathedral was the site of a vow made by Henry of Valois following the interregnum of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that he would both respect traditional liberties and the recently passed religious freedom law.
• 10 November 1793: the Festival of Reason.
• 2 December 1804: the coronation ceremony of Napoleon I and his wife Joséphine, with Pope Pius VII officiating.
• 1831: The Hunchback of Notre-Dame book published by Victor Hugo
• 18 April 1909: Joan of Arc is beatified.
• 16 May 1920: Joan of Arc is canonized.
• 1900: Louis Vierne is appointed organist of Notre-Dame de Paris after a heavy competition (with judges including Charles-Marie Widor) against the 500 most talented organ players of the era. On 2 June 1937 Louis Vierne dies at the cathedral organ (as was his lifelong wish) near the end of his 1750th concert.
• 26 August 1944: The Te Deum Mass takes place in the cathedral to celebrate the liberation of Paris. (According to some accounts the Mass was interrupted by sniper fire from both the internal and external galleries.)
• 12 November 1970: The Requiem Mass of General Charles de Gaulle is held.
• 6 June 1971: Philippe Petit surreptitiously strings a wire between the two towers of Notre Dame and tight-rope walks across it. Petit later performed a similar act between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.
• 31 May 1980: After the Magnificat of this day, Pope John Paul II celebrates Mass on the parvis of the cathedral.
• January 1996: The Requiem Mass of François Mitterrand is held.
• 10 August 2007: The Requiem Mass of Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, former Archbishop of Paris, is held.

The cathedral is renowned for its Lent sermons founded by the famous Dominican Jean-Baptiste Henri Lacordaire in the 1860s. In recent years, however, an increasing number have been given by leading public figures and state employed academics.