This year, on December 24 in the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Paris (12th century), the baby Jesus was born at 3:16 p.m.
It was Father Edouard who, during the first of the seven midnight Masses of the day, installed the swaddled santon in the heart of the manger alongside Joseph, Mary, the donkey, the ox and all the others close to Bethlehem. .
Because in these times of Covid-19 and health restrictions, the clerics of the parish have multiplied the services to be able to accommodate a maximum of flocks: seven instead of three usually.
The faithful were invited to register via the Internet or on an answering machine and to choose a time of celebration.
"Faced with the crowds, 24 hours before, I had to add a seventh mass at 10:30 pm", explains the parish priest, Father Etienne, who had to say two.
“It is a great joy to be able to celebrate despite the context,” he enthuses as a sign announces, at the entrance, that the masses at 5:15 pm and 9 pm are complete.
Vladimir, the young 24-year-old titular organist, offers himself the total.
A keyboard marathon that doesn't scare him.
“Having seven masses is a first for me.
But I rested well, it's still a pleasure and it will leave memories, ”he breathes.
"I was afraid of being turned away by coming later"
During the first service at 3 p.m., assistance follows the sanitary protocol.
About a hundred parishioners take their seats every other row.
Between each of them or each family entity on the benches, there is a good safety distance.
Among the afternoon practitioners, many couples with children ... and strollers, retirees and Laure, 30, accompanied by her son Adam, 3.
“It was in this niche that there were fewer people.
So I took it.
I was afraid of being turned away when I came later, ”she says.
“We don't have the right to be worried and sad today,” Father Edouard recalled./LP/Jean-Baptiste Quentin
Catherine, who is celebrating her 11th birthday on Nativity Thursday, is one of the two assembly maids dressed in a cape.
"It's my first midnight mass so early, but it's better than nothing", comments the young lady.
In this regard, she still has a preference for that of 9 p.m.
"It's more solemn, it reminds me more of the birth of Christ", she confides near a dispenser of hydroalcoholic gel.
"Normally, at that time, I'm in my kitchen"
In his homily, Father Edouard recalls that “we live in a tumultuous and increasingly noisy world”.
"We know that silence is a value to be rediscovered in the mystery of the crib," he preaches.
The coronavirus is invited into his sermon.
"My brothers and sisters, even if the virus continues to circulate around us and changes our way of being, even if this pandemic plunges us into an anxiety-provoking atmosphere, we do not have the right to be worried and sad today" hui ”, he insists.
The celebration ends with the famous Christmas carol "the Angels in our countryside".
Father Etienne, master of the place, invited the assembly to "give way to the next mass" and "to gather quickly in front of the crèche".
Because on the square, a few meters from a police car which protects the premises due to a high risk of attacks in our country, the faithful of the 4 pm service are waiting to be able to celebrate the Nativity.
We meet Denise, 84 years old.
“Usually I go to Christmas mass on December 25th.
But as I cannot receive my children for Christmas Eve because of the pandemic, I am going there this year on the 24th. Normally, at that time, I am in my kitchen, ”launches the retiree.
For once, Liliane, 58, comes out of midnight mass when it is still daylight.
"You know, it doesn't change the faith ..."
