Chartres (Eure-et-Loir) - La Cathédrale - Grotte des Druides

            The Postcard

A postally unused carte postale that was published by Neurdein et Cie of Paris. The card has a divided back.

The Legacy of the Druids

On the spot where the Cathedral of Chartres now stands, the Druids raised a statue of a virgin, and called it Virgini Pariturae (virgin who would bear a son).  

The Druids were a fraternity of priests, religious teachers and judges who ruled the Celtic inhabitants of ancient Gaul, Great Britain and Ireland.  They did everything they could to uphold the national cause against the Roman conquerors, and urged the people to rebel.  

Tiberius, Emperor from 14 A.D. to 37 A.D., and Claudius, Emperor from 41 A.D. to 54 A.D., deemed it necessary to officially forbid the practice of the Druid religion.  

At the time Julius Caesar was in Gaul (58-49, B.C.) the Druids had a place of worship at Chartres, and had an altar in a grotto on a hill now occupied by the Cathedral; this altar was dedicated to the virgin who would bring forth a son.

Also in the grotto there was a wooden statue to this (Pagan) virgin.  The shrine of Notre Dame de Sous-Terre, is built on what was probably the oldest dedicated shrine to Our Blessed Lady anywhere in the world. 

In fact the shrine is even ‘pre-Christian’, being as it is the site of an original pagan temple from before the birth of Christ.

It is not known how the Druids acquired the idea of the virgin. They might have learned it from the Jews, who, after the conquests of Alexander scattered widely. They may have been a segment of the Jews themselves who kept their prophecies and traditions with them. 

The Druids may have learned about the virgin from ancient tradition running back to the early patriarchs and prophets. As one old story goes, in the year 50 B.C., the Druids heard of Isaiah’s prophecy: 

“Therefore the Lord himself shall give 
you a sign. Behold a virgin shall conceive, 
and bear a son.” 

The Druids therefore ordered a statue of this unknown virgin and child to be sculpted and placed on the altar.

When Christian missionaries arrived in Chartres, they found the ancient shrine there.  The Christian missionaries converted the shrine into one dedicated to the Virgin Mary, Mother of God.  Through the centuries, through building, fires, and rebuilding, the original Druid grotto was called Our Lady of the Underground, since it was kept in the crypt of the Cathedral of Chartres.  

In 1650, the grotto underground was walled up and, at that time, a small chapel was built close by the crypt, and the statue of Our Lady of the Underground was transferred to it.

In 1793, during the French Revolution, the chapel was badly damaged and the statue burnt. In 1857 the underground shrine was restored, and a new statue carved of stone placed in it.

Taken on: July 6, 2022

Tags:

postcard

old

nostalgia

nostalgic

France

Grotte

Druides

Druids

divided

back

Chartres

Cathedral

Cathédrale

Our

Lady

Underground

legacy

Tiberius

Claudius

33CGD82 « less

Sets appears in: • Chartres • France

Stats: 265 views

go back

close tools panel

Badge creator

Use Flickriver Badge Creator to create a badge linking to your photos, your group or any other Flickriver view.

You can place your badge on your Flickr profile, Blog or Website.

Add to your iGoogle or Netvibes page

Flickriver widget for iGoogle or Netvibes can display almost any Flickriver view - most interesting today, by user, by group, by tag etc. Once added to your personalized homepage, just edit widget settings to select your desired view.

Clickr on one of the buttons below to install:

Embed on your Web site

To embed this view, Copy and Paste the following HTML code:

Black background (preview):

White background (preview):

Firefox and Chrome addons

Adds a 'Flickriver' button to your browser. While viewing any Flickr photos page, click on this button to open the same view on Flickriver.

Install in Firefox
Install in Chrome

Search plugin

Add 'Search on Flickriver' to your browser's search box. Works with Firefox and Internet Explorer. Install search plugin

"View on Flickriver" Greasemonkey script

A Greasemonkey script that adds Flickriver links to various Flickr photo pages - user photos, favorites, pools etc, allowing to quickly open the corresponding Flickriver view.

Also, allows quickly viewing any Flickr photo on black background in large size.

Install "View on Flickriver" script

Bookmarklet

While viewing any Flickr photos page, click on the bookmarklet to open the same view on Flickriver.

To install: drag and drop the following link to your Bookmarks toolbar.
IE users - add the link to your Favorites under the Links folder