Father Régis Doumas standing in front of the Altar in the newly restored chapel of the Hotel-Dieu in Orange, FranceTomorrow is D-Day for the Tridentine Mass. By that I mean the Mass in Latin will be celebrated this Sunday at 9 am in the chapel of the Hotel-Dieu, Rue de l'Hôpital in Orange and this will continue to be the case every Sunday morning. The newly renovated chapel was inaugurated on Wednesday by Mayor Jacques Bompard. The Municipality has footed the cost of the renovation.
"At a time when many churches are closed and debased in France,” said the Mayor and General Counsel at the opening of his speech, “we in Orange chose to restore a religious heritage which is inseparable from our identity." The city fully funded the work up to a total of 197,000 €. The project lasted 6 months and was completed in January. A small community of parishioners attended the inauguration and before the unveiling of the plaque they were led in prayer by Father Régis Doumas, pastor of the communal parish of Orange.
"The chapel will be re-fitted with part of its original furniture,” Jacques Bompard announced, “but this will not just be a museum. It will also be a living place of worship." Humble in his role as first citizen of the town, he wished to add that "the work of the community ends here," considering that we were facing a "healthy concept of secularism […]." The mayor also used his speech to pay tribute to the craftsmen who worked on the site: "stained glass suitable for meditation” and “woodworking carried out by the municipal workshops” particularly attracted his attention.
By Rémy Martino in La Provence
