01x01 - Crown of Thorns

[bunniefuu]

[Frédéric Ferlicot in French]

I had a meeting in Montmartre.

A friend who works near the cathedral

sent me photos.

I was amazed.

I couldn't believe it.

So I went to Sacré-Coeur

where you can see all of Paris.

I felt like I was in a movie.

A disaster movie, an American movie.

I was filled with tears, shivers.

There was something very violent about it.

The Crown of Thorns

is the first thing we thought of.

It really is the treasure of Notre-Dame.

It touched Christ.

It was thrust onto his head.

It bears the prayers of all the people

who have come for 2,000 years

to encounter this crown.

It was essential to save it.

[narrator in English]

For thousands of years,

people of many faiths

have worshipped relics.

But for Catholics,

they have a unique resonance.

And millions of believers

pin their hopes and prayers

on these mysterious objects.

Why are they so powerful?

[man 1] A relic is like a rocket.

It's a heart opening.

Suddenly you float,

and then you're taken to God.

[narrator] Can these fragments

from the distant past perform miracles?

[woman in Italian] Being close to death,

being here and talking about it, is a lot.

[narrator in English]

The history of relics has, for millennia,

been shrouded in mystery.

But now, for the first time,

the Vatican has granted us access

to tell their stories.

What can they reveal

about the power of belief?

[man 2] It's as if the Holy Spirit

came down and touched you.

It changed my life.

[Hubert in French]

I think that it is indeed a grace

to be present,

to be there to protect,

because you never know what could happen.

We are the guardians.

We are ready to do what is necessary

to protect this priceless relic.

[narrator in English]

Away from the busy city streets,

hundreds of faithful

wait in reverent silence

for a rare and remarkable moment.

[gongs sounding]

Brought out from its secret vault

is the most iconic relic of all.

The Crown of Thorns.

[Oliver Dumas in French] It is one

of the most important relics of Christ.

It's one of the relics of the Passion,

so it's something magnificent.

It's extremely important

for the history of the church,

for the history of our country

and for popular devotion.

[narrator in English]

Believed to retain miraculous powers,

perhaps the greatest miracle of all

is the Crown of Thorns'

own story of survival.

For thousands of years,

this precious relic

has been fiercely protected

by emperors, kings,

and now, the faithful of the world.

[in French] We are the safe keepers

of this very profound testimony of love.

It is priceless.

[narrator in English]

The crown is so valuable

that when in public,

it's guarded at all times

by security agents

and 12 knights

from an ancient, noble order.

[Hubert in French]

The knights of the Equestrian Order

of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem

are men and women who have decided

to help ensure the protection

of the holy relics

and in France, take part in the guarding

of the Holy Crown of Thorns.

My father, my grandfather,

my great-grandfather

were knights themselves.

The Crown of Thorns is the symbol

of this king

who gave up everything for us.

It's absolutely overwhelming.

You can only be touched

to the core of yourself.

God saved us.

Amen.

[narrator in English]

The story of this relic

begins 2,000 years ago

on a hill outside Jerusalem.

Roman soldiers twist together thorny twigs

into the shape of a crown.

They roughly press it

onto the head of their prisoner,

calling him King of the Jews.

They force him to the top of a hill,

nail him to a wooden cross,

and leave the condemned man,

Jesus Christ, to die.

What happened that day

and in the days that followed,

changed the course of history.

But it's not just the story of that day

that has endured.

Passion relics are objects associated

with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

They are the relics that give you

a direct line to that sacrifice

that people believe

that he made for their sins.

When you're in close proximity

to one of these relics,

there is a sense, as close as you can,

you are connecting in person to Jesus.

So this could be the shroud

that he was wrapped in,

or it could be the Holy Grail,

or it could be the Crown of Thorns.

[Dr. Robert Cargill] The Crown of Thorns

was used to humiliate Jesus.

It was an impromptu creation

by the Romans,

used to mock Jesus.

And so, to preserve that

and turn it into something

that's used to honor Christ,

those are the kind of symbols that last.

[narrator] But how did this thorny crown

that might once have pierced Jesus' head

come to be displayed 2,000 years later

and 2,000 miles away in Paris?

The last known reference

to the Crown of Thorns being worshipped

or venerated in Jerusalem

actually dates to around 870.

But then the record goes dark.

The next reference to the Crown of Thorns

appears in the 10th century

in Constantinople,

which, of course, today is Istanbul,

in the private chapel of the emperor.

[narrator] The treasured crown

is kept locked away.

But every Easter,

it is put on display for the public.

Pilgrims who have journeyed

hundreds of miles

just to gaze upon the crown of Jesus

are astonished to see

the precious relic wither, die,

and then come back to life

in front of their eyes.

They return home with their tale

of the miraculous crown,

which died and was resurrected like Jesus.

Relics are like beacons for pilgrimages.

They are sacred spots and dots

that call to people,

that were so powerful,

it was thought that they had

a kind of radioactivity.

[Dr. Emma] The attraction of relics

for a lot of pilgrims is that

you can get, basically,

a quick access to God.

If you are suffering,

if you have something

that you desperately need,

even if you have a question,

going to a relic will channel

that divine power into you.

[Dr. Anthea] Millions of people

go on pilgrimages

in order to venerate these relics,

because they believe

that their lives will be changed.

This is why pilgrimages have been

happening for thousands of years

and still continue to happen today.

[woman in Spanish] What a view.

- [man] The scenery changes all the time.

- [woman] Yes.

[in English] The pilgrimage is a journey

with intention, with purpose.

There are different kinds of pilgrims.

There are the people who just want

a new kind of travel experience,

and then there's those times in life

when you come to a crossroads,

you don't know which way to turn,

you want to find a new inner direction.

And those are the moments

when people make long pilgrimages.

[narrator] Pilgrims from

all over the world

are drawn to Spain each year,

traveling 300 miles across the country,

from the Pyrenean mountains in the north

to the Mediterranean city of Valencia,

retracing what they believe

to be the route traveled

by the most contentious

and coveted relic of all

The Holy Grail.

[Alejandro Martinez in Spanish]

The part that I like most about this

is the part of following something

that happened more than 2,000 years ago.

And that the possibility

of following that route exists,

it seems incredible to me.

[in English]

Pilgrimage, for a lot of people,

is a once-in-a-lifetime experience,

and for other people, it is a regular part

of their practice as believers.

This is my third pilgrimage,

but not the last one.

I'm doing the pilgrimage

of the Santo Grial,

first of all, to help myself

to grow as a person.

You get into a quiet space,

very close to the meditation.

Living here and now,

which is very difficult in normal life.

Second, and no less important,

when you discover the power

of the Holy Grail,

which is the most wanted in the history,

it's like, "Wow."

The Holy Grail is so important

to so many believers.

It is the most direct connection to Jesus.

[Dr. Anthea] It is believed to be

the cup that Jesus

used at the Last Supper,

but it holds this very important place,

and not just Christian theology,

but in Christian lore and storytelling.

And that has imbued it

with a certain kind of power.

[in Spanish] We are at an iconic point

on the The Path of the Holy Grail

at the Castle of Loarre.

And why is it important, this point?

Because here it is said

that there were warrior monks

who protected the Grail for a long time.

Let's go.

Wow.

[in English] In the medieval times,

some people thought that

the Grail was the source of youth

and the eternal life.

But I think the Grail means love.

This was the cup that Jesus Christ

had in his hand in the Last Supper

with the beautiful message

of "love each other as yourself."

Alex? Are you seeing a grail there?

[Alejandro in Spanish] Yes, yes.

[in English] Totally.

[in Spanish] And these must be the monks

protecting the Grail.

[Cristina] This is amazing.

[Alejandro] It's a great indication

that the chalice was here

and they've made a carving

to just leave a footprint.

Wow. [chuckles]

I'm really excited.

It just makes my hair stand on end.

Yes.

I've had a disappointment with my faith,

and I don't believe

a lot of what is said by the church.

But the fact that

there is something physical

that has survived for 2,000 years,

that has survived intact, undamaged

Yes, it has reconnected me

with the love of Jesus Christ.

This is awesome.

It changes you. It changes your life.

[narrator in English]

The ultimate destination

for the generations of pilgrims

who travel the way of the Holy Grail

is Valencia Cathedral, 250 miles away.

Millions of Catholics believe

this is the final resting place

of the Cup of Christ.

This cup, venerated by Popes,

is kept in an exquisite gilded side chapel

under lock and key.

But today,

this grail that holds the myths,

desires and prayers of over a millennia

will be brought out for the public

under the protection

of its devoted guardian,

Don Álvaro Almenar.

[Almenar in Spanish] I am a priest

of the Cathedral, here in Valencia.

And custodian of The Holy Grail.

I am seeing with my own eyes

the same thing Jesus saw, no?

Every time we take the Holy Grail out,

it's a great responsibility

and that's thrilling, isn't it?

It touches my heart.

It's like it's something

too grandiose to touch

with something so simple

as our poor hands.

[narrator in English] For the Vatican,

these holy objects are so valuable

they are each assigned

a designated custodian.

[Almenar in Spanish]

I could never have imagined

being the custodian of The Holy Grail.

Because when I was little,

I saw the chalice locked in its cabinet,

protected by security,

something that seems impossible to touch.

But now, I see that

the Lord allows me to get close to it.

I'm the one that protects it,

that shows it to pilgrims

when they arrive.

[narrator in English]

For Cristina and Alejandro,

the chance to finally see the Holy Grail

will mark the end

of their life-changing pilgrimage.

[in Spanish] So excited! So excited!

Wow.

So good. I'm so excited, I cannot breathe.

We have arrived.

- Almost there. We're here.

- We have arrived.

Wow.

[priest in Spanish] Dear Brothers,

we have taken out the sacred relic

of the Holy Chalice

to celebrate the annual holy day.

We ask the Lord that

by contemplating this sacred relic,

we can renew our Christian life.

Praise be forever this relic

that must lead us to contemplate

the holy mystery of our Lord.

[Jason in English]

If you go to Valencia,

and you find in front of you

the Holy Chalice,

you feel there, right?

You feel like you're 2,000 years ago.

Your faith is alive,

because this story is alive,

because what you believe to be true

is in front of your eyes.

[Dr. Cynthia Hahn]

It is an important object.

There's no doubt it's an important object.

But whether it's the true chalice

from the Last Supper,

that's something we cannot say.

[Dr. Guy] The Holy Grail is an enigma.

The truth is that

there are several chalices

that claim to be the Cup of Christ.

As with most relics,

the history has become

so intertwined with the legend,

that the truth has become hard to uncover.

And so the search

for The Holy Grail continues.

[narrator] For centuries,

pilgrims have spread stories

of the power and wonder of relics

through their own journeys

of faith and discovery.

But the greatest journeys of all

belong to the relics themselves.

And none more so than

the one and only Crown of Thorns,

whose remarkable story

lies at the heart of a nation.

[Frédéric in French]

We are in front of Notre-Dame de Paris.

This cathedral took

approximately 100 years to build

and has stood here for 860 years.

The first time I went to Notre Dame,

I was 20.

And it is true that

I've held onto that great emotion

because it is the cathedral of Paris,

but also because it is where

the major events in our history

took place,

and above all,

because it contains the Crown of Thorns.

It makes Notre-Dame a significant place

in the whole of Christianity.

[narrator in English]

But how did this fragile relic,

last seen in the private chapel

of a Byzantine emperor,

end up in Paris?

The answer lies just a stone's throw away,

in the Royal Chapel of Sainte-Chapelle.

The Saint-Chapelle is unlike anything

anyone's seen in Europe at the time.

Its walls are comprised mainly of glass.

The interior is covered in gold.

You feel like you're walking in light.

[narrator] Illustrated in

the stained glass windows

is the story of how the crown

arrived here from Constantinople.

By the 13th century,

Constantinople is in rapid decline.

It's still the capital

of the Byzantine Empire,

but it's on its way down

and it's essentially broke.

The city is starving.

People are threatened with invasion.

They're so broke that they start

stripping off the bronze

of beautiful early Christian churches,

melting it down and selling it.

[narrator] The situation in Constantinople

is so desperate

that one day, Emperor Baldwin

discovers his barons have pawned

the priceless Crown of Thorns

to a wealthy Venetian trader.

But Baldwin has a plan,

and pays a visit to his cousin,

King Louis IX of France.

Baldwin turns to King Louis and says,

"Will you help me?"

"Will you save these objects?"

"In fact, what if you paid

for the mortgage?"

"That would make you, worthy cousin,

the new custodian of the Crown of Thorns."

[Dr. Robert] King Louis

has the opportunity

to acquire the Crown of Thorns

for 135,000 livres,

which is just a ridiculous

amount of money.

[Dr. Nicola]

But he's willing to bet it all,

he's willing to put it all out there

in order to have this relic.

That's how important it was for him.

Louis leapt at the opportunity

to become the owner of Christ's crown.

[narrator] But first,

the King must get his hands

on the precious object.

Louis orders two friars,

Jacques and André,

to Constantinople, laden with gold,

to buy the crown back from the Venetian.

But they're too late.

The relic and its new owner

have already left.

The friars must now

pursue the crown to Italy,

battling huge waves,

and chased by bloodthirsty pirates,

determined to steal the king's money.

The two friars make it to Venice,

where they are finally able

to buy the crown for their king.

They then travel the 600 miles

back to France,

where an anxious Louis is waiting.

Barefoot, the King humbly carries

the Crown of Thorns

through the streets of Paris.

So, Louis manages to procure

this Crown of Thorns at great cost.

It just about bankrupts France,

that's how much money it was.

Louis was already incredibly pious,

but he also would have realized

this was an opportunity

to present to the world stage

his superiority,

to strengthen the power

he had across Europe.

Christ crowning the king of France.

[in French] The possession

of the Crown of Thorns

gives the King of France

preeminence over other Kings.

The King of France is the one

who holds the Crown of Thorns,

who is there to defend it.

[narrator in English]

For hundreds of years,

the crown is safely housed

in the Chapel of Saint-Chapelle

as the most treasured,

private possession of France's kings,

until 1789,

when the monarchy and the crown

are threatened by revolution.

[Dr. Emily] There's a great challenge

to the divine right of kings.

The crown as a symbol of the king,

is dangerous then.

[Dr. Emma] During the French Revolution,

there was a profound fear

that the revolutionaries might destroy

the Crown of Thorns.

So, King Louis XVI had the crown

put into hiding to protect it.

[narrator] King Louis XVI would ultimately

lose his head to the revolutionaries,

but thanks to his actions,

like those of his ancestors,

the Crown of Thorns survives.

After 1803,

there was a desire

to salvage these lost objects,

which had been hidden

during the Revolution,

the ones that survived,

and to put them in Notre Dame.

And there they functioned

in a much more kind of civic fashion.

They were no longer the kind of

at the kind of fingertips

of a king or a ruler.

They were for the community.

[choir singing]

[narrator] The lives of the people

who work at Notre Dame

have become inextricably linked

with the story and fate

of the crown that lies at its heart.

[Yves Castagnet in French] It is true.

It's an inanimate object, indeed.

What fascinates me is what's behind it.

I am an organist,

and for almost 35 years now,

I have had the pleasure of being

the organist at Notre-Dame Cathedral.

I was lucky to be often

in very close contact with this relic.

It is a vehicle

that inspires a lot of fervor and faith,

just like music.

[Henri Chalet in French]

Notre Dame is our second home.

That is to say that

we are there every evening,

since we run all the services,

more than a thousand a year.

We have this exhibition

of the Crown of Thorns,

which allows people to go and venerate it.

This exhibition is an absolutely

magical moment to see,

whether we are believers or not.

To see all the people

who come to venerate it,

it's still quite moving to see all this.

It is wonderful to see

people's reactions to the crown.

There are amazed people

who can't believe their eyes.

There are people who are upset.

There are men and women crying.

The first time I saw the Crown of Thorns

was on a Good Friday,

and there were a lot of people,

a lot of people.

You had to wait a very long time

to be able to approach the crown.

But when you're in front of the crown,

you feel like you're all alone.

We have the impression

that God is looking at us

and that's the feeling I get every time.

And I almost want to cry every time.

[narrator in English] For 300 years,

the faithful flocked to Notre Dame

to worship and pray

before this remarkable relic,

until one fateful day in 2019

when the crown's epic tale of survival

took another dramatic turn.

[Yves in French] It was a spring day.

The weather was good, so I think

I believe I had the windows open.

And I remember I was working at my desk.

And next door, in the next room,

there was a television playing

the news channels continuously.

[woman on TV speaking in French]

After a while, I hear, "Notre Dame"

"Emmanuel Macron," "Notre-Dame"

"Notre-Dame, Notre-Dame."

I end up hearing that,

and then why is he talking

about Notre Dame?

I'm lucky enough to live very, very close

to the Cathedral, 50 meters away.

So I put on a coat, I went downstairs

and then I saw it up close.

[in English] Breaking news crossing

right now at this moment in Paris.

Notre-Dame Cathedral is on fire.

People are lining the pavements

here in Paris,

staring up at the sky

at the plumes of smoke billowing

out of Notre-Dame Cathedral,

visible across Paris.

[Henri in French]

I was at the Ministry of Culture.

The phone kept ringing non-stop.

I got a hundred messages.

The first message I read,

it only said,

"I suppose you know what's going on,"

and I didn't know anything about it.

So I said to myself, "There is a problem.

I'm going to see what's happening."

[Yves] You don't realize,

you say, "No, it's not true."

"It's not reality.

It's not happening, it's not possible."

And from that moment on,

it was stupefying.

[Captain Franck] I always wanted to be

a firefighter since I was a kid.

Saving, helping people,

providing assistance.

[speaking French]

It's more than a job, it's a passion.

From one day to the next,

is never the same.

[Captain Franck]

That day we meet for coffee,

to do a short briefing for the day.

Before checking the equipment

is working in the fire engines,

in the machines, if it is operational.

[Officer Fabrice] I have one of my men

coming into my office and tells me,

"My Chief Warrant Officer,

Notre Dame is on fire."

And then I tell him,

"No, you're kidding, it's not possible."

Notre Dame on fire is something

unimaginable for a Parisian.

Even for a Parisian firefighter.

It is an emblem for the capital itself,

if not the world.

We came out of Les Halles tunnel,

where the exit is right in front

of the cathedral,

and at that moment, I saw that

the spire was completely ablaze,

engulfed by flames,

and it was something quite remarkable.

[in English] Fire crews from across Paris

have come here

to save whatever they possibly can.

And the striking thing,

standing among the crowds

on the banks of the Seine,

is just the silence,

the quiet of people

stunned by the destruction

of not just a great

French cultural artifact,

but of one that belonged to the world.

[Henri in French] It's just a building,

but we were there every night

and so it was our home.

It was hard because we can't do anything.

That's what's hard.

Sorry.

Excuse me.

It's coming back.

I need a breath.

I thought I wouldn't cry anymore over it.

[Captain Franck]

When I got to the tactical command post,

that's when they give me the mission

of saving the artifacts,

and more specifically,

rescuing the Crown of Thorns.

It is a mission that is unusual.

It was something new for me.

[Officer Fabrice] My dad often took me

to visit the Cathedral,

and so, as a young boy,

I had seen paintings, sculptures.

But I had no idea

that it was the Crown of Thorns

preserved in Notre-Dame.

[Hubert] We were extremely afraid

that it would be crushed

that it would disappear in this fire.

So it was a great anguish.

I prayed to the Virgin Mary,

for her to protect this

absolutely priceless relic.

[Frédéric] Christ's Crown of Thorns

is more important

than Notre Dame Cathedral,

which we can rebuild anyway.

It was essential to save it.

[Captain Franck] I am given a whole list

of artifacts that are inside,

which were located with a map.

On this map, the main one was missing.

The Crown of Thorns.

The idea being that,

since it was so precious,

we don't want to explain where it is,

and so we don't show it in any document.

Without knowing where it is precisely,

we're going to find it.

[Officer Fabrice] It was like

nothing I've ever experienced

in my life as a firefighter.

It was raining ash.

And the smell of burnt wood,

it was as if you were

dealing with a forest fire.

And this roof that could potentially

collapse on us at any moment.

[in English] Firefighters continue

to try and fight the flames,

but their efforts seem

absolutely powerless

in the face of the magnitude of the fire.

[Captain Franck in French]

We needed to act quickly.

We looked under the altars,

we tried to look behind paintings,

chairs and tables.

We didn't know exactly where to look.

[In English] Fire broke out

when the church was closing to visitors.

Flames burst through the roof,

and now, thick, heavy smoke

drifts over the heart of Paris,

as flames ravage the Notre Dame Cathedral.

Countless priceless artifacts and artwork

are threatened.

Notre Dame includes the Crown of Thorns.

Were that to be lost,

that would be devastating

to the Christian world.

[in French] We finally found it

behind a glass frame,

a golden crown made of thorns.

And at that moment, we were able

to remove the Crown of Thorns.

When you fulfil the mission

you've been given,

it's satisfying knowing that

it was really crucial to the operation

to save the treasure.

However, the celebrations

were short-lived.

I came out of the sacristy,

and it was there that I learned

the crown was in fact a display copy.

FIREFIGHTERS

PARIS

It wasn't the real one.

So we had to go on the offensive again

in search of the crown.

The real one.

[President Macron] So it burns.

It is burning and I know this sadness.

This inner trembling

felt by so many of our fellow citizens.

But tonight,

I also want to talk about hope.

Above all, I want to say

a few thoughts and thanks

for the firefighters in Paris.

Nearly 500 of them have been fighting

for several hours

against the flames and are still fighting.

There was a knowledge that there was

something unique in the cathedral

that we could not lose,

that could not burn,

that there are people who,

perhaps at the risk of their lives,

have gone to find that

which needed to be saved.

[Captain Franck]

The cathedral manager arrived.

They told us that it was in a safe.

But he was a little bit shocked

by the situation,

and struggled to explain to us

exactly where this safe was.

I remembered that there was a grey box

that I initially thought

was a transformer.

I said, "Maybe that's it."

[people singing]

[Captain Franck] This safe worked

with a code made on several locks.

I evidently asked the manager

for this code.

It was pretty chaotic at the time,

and he was

unable to remember this infamous code.

We needed to find another way

to open the safe.

[Captain Franck]

I contacted the command post

to ask for machinery

to break open the safe.

But in the meantime,

the manager managed to get the code,

and finally, the safe could be opened

and the Crown of Thorns

was able to be withdrawn,

just as the grinders

were about to make their first cut.

The fire had just been defeated, barely.

The firemen stopped the fire

by taking the most extreme risks.

What we've seen this night in Paris

is the capacity to mobilize,

to unite, so we can overcome.

This fire, I daren't say it,

but such a dramatic event,

such a horrible event,

generates positive things.

The fire at Notre-Dame

allowed the French to realize

how lucky they were to have

the Crown of Thorns in France.

I think so. I think so.

[Olivier] It is indeed another chapter

in this long history.

The firefighters knew they were not

simply saving a building,

but were saving something

from the soul of France

and the soul of Christianity.

[narrator in English]

Next on Mysteries of the Faith

For thousands of years,

relics have been believed

to perform miracles.

[woman 1 in Italian] I don't think

I can explain what happened.

I believe that the Holy Face

saves my life every day.

[woman 2 in English]

What could be more powerful,

a sign that God is at work, than that?