Six Wonders of the World.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21159, 16 April 1932, Page 4 (Supplement)

Six Wonders of the World.

By ISABEL M. CLUKTT

THE CHURCH OF THE SAILORS No. v.

Among the many interesting churches I visited on my. travels the most interesting and unique was the Sailors' Church at Marseilles, known as Notre Dame do la Garde, for in this church the Virgin Mary, " Our Lady" is supposed to exercise special protection over sailors and to be always " on guard " or looking after their welfare at sea.

The first remarkable thing about this church is its situation many hundreds of feet alnve the busy, bustling town of Marseilles, with its 100,000 inhabitants, perched on a harsh crag of rock and overlooking league upon league of the flashing bluo Mediterranean. An enormous gilt image of the Virgin and Child surmounts the church, and can be seen far out at sea by day or by night, for the powerful light'of a huge lamp shines upon the image all through the hours of darkness. It is not I ) be wondered at that the sailors regard this church with superstitions reverence, seeing that steadfast ray and the glorious figures of the golden Madonna and Iter Divine Babe shining serenely through the wild darkness of driving cloud and storm-tossed sea. But picturesque as its situation is, it is no easy task to reach that lofty-eyrie, though no devout Catholic ever seeks to avoid the long, steep climb, and for those who are infirm and aged or merely indolent there is an easy means of getting to the church grounds. This is by what is known as funicular railway. These little railway cars arc drawn up by hydraulic power as a lift is raised, and tho ascent is as steep and abrupt as if ono were climbing up the face of a precipice. Indeed ono could believe that it was an ordinary lift, as from time to time the car stops at different levels of the ascent, as the lift stops at tho successive floors m a city building In land passengers. The walls of the car, however, are surrounded by thick plate-glass windows, through which one can see tho most entrancing pictures of the city and surrounding country and tho blue sea beyond. At the top one steps out upon a stone platform, and even from hero there seems to be a long climb to tho church doors of the beautiful austere grey church with its gleaming statue of gold. A long broad white road, with a series of shallow stone .steps at- intervals, winds steeply up the mountain-side, through beds of flowers and blossoming shrubs. The wind from the sea blows with such force at this height, that many of the shrubs are beacon flat, and it certainly adds to the toilsomeness of the assent. On the stone, steps of the pathway are many beggars, young and old, and cripples and blind persons, all trying to sell tho passer-by wax candles, to bo lit at some shrine in the church as an offering to the Virgin. At last, breathless and wind-blown one arrives at. the door of the church, and on the wide flight of marble steps one stands for a moment looking down on the magnificent. scene below. Marseilles, a typical French town of the commercial type, is spread out like a map below, streets,

houses, gardens, streams, seeming flattened by distance, and behind the town the. country rises in harsh, grey, outcroppings of rock, where tincyaids seem to cling precariously. Below, far, far down lies the sea, unimaginably blue, laced by long creamy lines of breaking foam, and hern and there a steamer or a brown-sailed fishing-boat move like toy vessels.

Tho architecture of tho Sailors' Church is severely plain, but very beautiful with ils perfect proportions, and, like all the. other Catholic Churches, it. has its many shrines, where stand blue and pink and gold plaster images of the Madonna and statuettes of tho saints, surrounded by offerings of flowers or beads or candles. It, has its golden vessels, its many burning tapers, its over-powering smell of incense, its dark-curtained confessional boxes and its pictures and marble statues. It has, too, one. perfect little puppet show of the Nativity, where Mary and the Babe, tho shepherds and tho oxen are all presented as tiny waxen figures, delicately tinted, tho heads of Mother and Babo encircled by thin gold haloes, while an angel, with a starry wand, hovers over them, and tho Star "of the East shines above tho group. All this is enclosed in a glass box with an open front, and children bring their tiny wax tapers here to burn them before tho shrine.

But, what instantly attracts attention in this church is the extraordinary collection of strange objects suspended from tho dark rafters and shadowy arches. There are hundreds of model sailing ships and tiny wooden boats, miniature aeroplanes, and ordinary toy motor-cars dangling from the roof. If tho surroundings were not so solemn with tho paintings on tho walls and the stained glass windows, representing tho lives of tho saints, one might believe one had into a glorified toy-shop, looking up into the vaulted roof with its rows of dangling toys. But as well as these toys there aro literally hundreds of war-medals on the walls, and stacks of crutches and artificial limbs and surgical boots built up into piles. Tho presonco of these objects so strangely out-of-placo in a church has a special meaning. Tho ships, the aeroplanes, the motorcars are offerings to the Virgin, either in token of thanksgiving at having escaped dangers, or as a prayer for protection from these special dangers, while the artificial limbs and boots and the warmedals are said to have been left in tho church by war-broken men, who have miraculously recovered from their wounds or injuries, through the help of the Blessed Virgin Mary—Xotro Dame do la Garde. The Sailors' Church is indeed a strange church in strange and beautiful surroundings, and night and day tinstrong winds from the, sea. whistle and bluster round ils great, grey towers and arches, and night and day the Golden Virgin stands v.i'h her golden Babe in her arms, looking out to sea, an eternal sign and symbol to the storm-tossed sailor that he is in God's hand on sea or shore.