Saint Emilion

This is the church of Saint Emilion. Inside this magnificent church were many old artifacts, lovely architecture and chapels surrounding the perimenter of the cathedral that were open to exploration. We didn't dare touch anything, and barely had voices for speaking in this hushed and sacred place. Fresh flowers perfumed the air and when a choir wasn't singing, a priest was praying in French (I was disappointed it wasn't Latin - it would have been more historically accurate) over some sort of intercom system. Obviously it was all pre-recorded sounds, but it really added to the atmosphere of this ancient church. People walked around paying homage and I wished that I knew more about catholisicm as there were so many interesting objects in the church that I could not find any explanation for. It was sad to stand in the center of so much beauty and realize how many people over the hundreds of years it has been there have been led into a false and errant theology. The one tragedy in the midst of the beauty...
















St. Emilion is full of narrow, winding and especially steep streets, but this one took the prize when it came to attempting to walk up or down it without slipping on the damp stones and all the time maintaing a balance so that you would not topple over and roll down hill, hence the handrails in the center, which were my lifesaver...










Saint Emilion in bloom












Steps leading down to the catacombs beneath the city. My cousin Laura, Ashley and I took a guided tour of these catacombs, full of intricate paintings and ancient carvings ,and still containing the bones of decomposed saints and citizens long since gone. Most intriguing was the stone over a stream upon which only a very special person could be placed where their body was allowed to decompose and gradually drop into the rushing waters below. Most sad were the tiny holes where the infants were laid to rest. Most funny was the story of how one part of the catacombs were discovered: a local man wishing to enlarge his wine cellar ended up instead with these ancient catacombs! Ah, if only I could enlarge a cellar and come across something so historic instead! We also viewed St. Emilion's hermitage. There was a stone chair, a stream for drinking water , and where he got his food no one was able to tell us, although my cousin's husband says that probably the followers of this legendary hermit would have provided his needs. Anyway, the hermitage was where St. Emilion studied and lived for 17 years. What a lonely, solitary life! What was extremely fascintaing about the city of Saint Emilion was the fact that the church was carved and built from one rock, as was the city, and that some of this rock also went into surrounding villages and even as far as Bordeaux!