Le Dorat Ostensions in English

12/03/2023

Here is a map of the route for the main processions on Mon 10 April & Sunday 4 June. If you live on these streets, you should be decorating your house with Ostensions flags/banners. If you haven't been contacted by your local representative about what this entails, then please send you email address in a message and you will be sent the contact list (it can't be posted here).

12/03/2023

HERE IS A LIST OF MAJOR OSTENSIONS EVENTS as of 12 March. The 52nd time this has taken place - every 7 years since 1659. Pretty much every French resident of Le Dorat will be involved in this in some way, as well as 19 surrounding local communes, so it would be great to see the British/American/other English speaking residents out in force to support this extremely important cultural event in our adopted home.

Sun 12 March 11h00: Mass & Blessing of the flag COLLEGIALE

12 to 18 March: Presentation of the flag to houses in the centre of town mornings & evening by the Confréres & Muskateers (NB. a donation is usual)

Weds 15 March
- decoration of the main procession route and Ostensions gates begins. (* see separate post for details about this)

- 18h00: Mass followed by the recognition of the Saints' relics by Mon Seigneur Bozo, Bishop of LIMOGES. COLLEGIALE

- 20h00: rehearsal for the choir for the main Ostension Masses on April 10 (10h30) & 4 June (10h30). ESPACE BETHANIE (new singers very welcome - contact Susan Sommerville for more details by sending a message from this page)

Thur 16 Mar 20h00: historical and musical evocation of the lives of St Israël and St Théobald. COLLEGIALE

Sat 18 March 20h00: Raising of the Ostensions flag to the top of the Clocher. COLLEGIALE SQUARE. with Father Jean-Pierre LONGEAT, former Father Abbot of the Abbey of Ligugé. Music by l'Harmonie du Dorat.

Easter Sunday 9 April:
- 10h00 Display by the Guard, Musketeers and Sappers: PLACE CHARLES DE GAULLE

- 11h00 Grand Mass COLLEGIALE, followed by a parade of the Guards in the town.

- 18h00 Ceremony of the retrieval of the Châsses (caskets containing the Saints' relics), with guards and municipal band.

EASTER MONDAY 10 APRIL
SOLEMN OPENING OF THE OSTENSIONS OF ST ISRAEL & ST THEOBALD in the presence of Mon Seigneur Pascal WINTZER, Archbishop of Poitiers & Mon Seigneur Pierre-Antoine BOZO, Bishop of Limoges

- from 09h30: Welcome of the delegations from the surrounding communes et parishes

- around 10h30: GRAND MASS, followed by the Procession of the relics of St Israël & St Théobald through the town. (** see map on separate post for details of the route)

SUNDAY 4 JUNE: FEAST OF THE HOLY TRINITY
SOLEMN CLOSURE OF THE OSTENTIONS OF ST ISRAEL & ST THEOBALD in the presence of His Eminence Cardinal Robert Sarah, PP. Paulze d'Ivoy and de Romanet, canon of St Victor & Mon Seigneur Pierre-Antoine BOZO, Bishop of Limoges

- from 08h30: Welcome of the delegations from the surrounding communes et parishes

- around 10h30: GRAND MASS, followed at around 12h00 by the Procession of the relics of St Israël & St Théobald through the town. (** see map on separate post for details of the route)

- 13h30 Ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe, PLACE CHARLES DE GAULLE

- 18h00: Ceremony to return the Châsses to their chapels COLLEGIALE

15/01/2023

In 2023 the Limousin Ostensions ... What is it? Every seven years, a certain number of Limousin communes remove the relics of their Saints from their shrines and display them to the faithful (and to tourists). These are the "Ostensions Septennales Limousines", listed by UNESCO as an Intangible Heritage of Humanity since 2013. Theoretically born at the end of the 10th century (Council of Limoges in 994, when the "mal des ardents" was rife), these ceremonies really took off at the end of the Middle Ages. They became septennial in 1518 and resumed their processional marches, without interruption, from 1806 onwards and notwithstanding an interruption due to the Revolution.
(Daniel-Odon Hurel and Anne Massoni (eds.), Des reliques et des hommes. Ostensions limousines et fait religieux (XVIe-XXe siècle) / Limoges, Pulim ("Histoire"), 2018).

More information on https://www.limousin-medieval.com/ostensions

Classées à l'UNESCO, les Ostensions témoignent depuis le XVème siècle de la vénération des reliques. Ces traditions, tous les sept ans, sont l'occasion de processions des reliques des saints limousins et d'évènements importants qui fédèrent l'ensemble des cités médiévales héritières ...