Nihil sub sole novum

Introductory Notes: Last year we read Le Tour de France de Camille et Paul, which was great, but a little challenging, so we are now reading the book that originated this particularly French genre of children traveling around France, Le Tour de la France par deux enfants. There are three abridged versions for French language learners available in the public domain, but only one does not abridge expressions of Catholic faith, that edited by C. Fontaine (see the 1904 French edition for comparison). There is, however, freely available, an audio recording of the French edition, which may make the French edition worth the extra time and effort.

Chapters I to V – André et Julien begin in the province of the Lorraine, in the département of the Moselle, in the in the town of Phalsbourg. The Moselle TV Youtube Channel has a thirty-minute show, Rendez-vous au pays de Phalsbourg.

Joseph-Porphyre Pinchon’s 1929 illustrated map of Lorraine – Phalsbourg is close to the Alsace border, east of the town of Sarrebourg, which is on Pinchon’s map, in the département of the Moselle, in today’s région of the Grand-Est, but from 1871 until 1919 in German hands. Of the Porte de France, through which the boys pass, I assume that its fate is the same as that of the fortifications –

The famous French military engineer Vauban reconstructed the town’s fortifications in 1680. The town was of military importance as commanding one of the passes of the Vosges. The fortifications of Phalsbourg resisted the Allies in 1814 and 1815, and the Germans for four months under the commander Taillant in 1870, but they were taken on 12 December of that year, and have since been razed. The town was German again from 1871 to 1918, under its old name of Pfalzburg.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phalsbourg

You can find the Porte de France on this ca. 1695 Plan of the Fortifications of Phalsbourg.

The Moselle River (source in the Vosges mountains, tributary of the Rhine) gives its name to the département, and the main city in the Moselle is Metz. On the Pinchon map, you can see the triumphal return of the French into Metz in 1918. The Moselle TV Youtube Channel again comes through with high quality videos about Metz – Exploration Urbaine à Metz and Metz, d’un siècle à l’autre, among several.

Chapters VI to XI – The boys cross the Vosges Mountains. France 24’s Video has a video, À la découverte du massif des Vosges. See also Le Massif des Vosges from Échappées belles

Other Moselle locations on Pinchon’s Map

Sarreguemines – France 3 Grande Est’s video – La faïencerie de Sarreguemines

Thionville – Midi en France’s video – Thionville, une cité riche de son histoire

And two videos on the Lorraine more generally – Lorraine, région de cœur and Lorraine, du grand spectacle, both from Echappées belles.

Catholic Metz

Saint Livier de Marsal

Picture Study & Liturgical Living Synchronization – September

Here is simply the barest outline of what I hope eventually to develop into a study guide for a course of Picture Study that accompanies the Sanctorale, the calendar of saint’s feast days. For each saint, I also provide one or two modern hagiographical works, usually written for children, about that saint. As with everything on this site, it follows the Traditional Catholic calendar. One day, I plan to prepare a single PDF file for each work of art, containing an image for printing, a story of the depicted saint found in the public domain, and art historical background. In the meantime, you can download the picture files and PDF files directly from their sources. As a rule, the later the work, the more accessible it is, especially for the younger student. Sometimes you can relate the picture directly to a text. Sometimes a picture tells its own story.

1 September – Saint Giles

16C Mass of Saint Giles and Saint Giles and the Deer

The Book of Saints and Friendly Beasts by Abbie Farwell Brown.

In God’s Garden: Stories of the Saints for Little Children by Amy Steedman.

4 September – Saint Rosalia of Palermo

Series of Painting by Anthony Van Dyck – 1624 Palermo, 1624 New York, 1625 London, 1625 Houston, 1625 Madrid, 1629 Vienna, 1629 Puerto Rico, 1629 Vienna

Stories of the Saints Fifth Series by Mary Seymour.

5 September – Saint Bertin

15C The Soul of Saint Bertin carried up to God by Simon Marmion

Lives of the Saints by Sabine Baring-Gould.

8 September – Nativity of the Virgin

14C Nativity of the Virgin by Giotto