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Presentation of ostensions limousines
The ostensions limousines are a festival of religious (Roman
Catholic) origin that takes place every seven years (ostensions
septennales) in some 20 towns and villages of Limousin, most of them
located in the Department of Haute-Vienne.
The press kit of the 71st ostensions (18 April - 6 October 2009) gives an historical account of the festival and its schedule.
The first ostensions (the name was coined later, from Latin,
ostendere, "to show") were organized on 12 November 994, when
Limousin was scoured by St. Anthony's fire, a gangrenous poisoning -
ergotism, caused by the alkaloids released by the ergot fungus in
wheat and rye and ingested with bread made with contaminated flour.
St. Anthony's fire caused such a panic in Limoges, the capital of
Limousin, that Bishop Hilduin and his brother Geoffrey, Abbot of the
St. Martial abbey, decided to rely on the relics of the famous local
saints. All the local archbishops and bishops gathered in a council in
Limoges; on 12 November 994, following a three-day fast, they placed
the body of St. Martial, the first bishop of Limoges (3rd century) and
the patron saint of the town, on a golden reliquary that was carried
in a procession led by Duke of Aquitaine William IV. The procession
was joined by monks and pilgrims bringing relics from other local
saints; all the relics were presented to the crowd on a small hill
dominating the town. As expected, the epidemics stopped on 4 December
when the saint's body was brought back to his tomb; the chronicles
report that 7,000 were hailed. Short after the miracle, the church and
the Duke of Aquitaine proclaimed the Peace of God, asking the local
warlords to swear to exercize justice and promote peace.
The monks of the St. Martial abbey magnified the miracle in a "report"
written in the early 11th century, several times copied, revised and
embellished. Ostensions were subsequently organized on an irregular
basis, in case of need - war, epidemic, starvation -, or to honor an
important visitor - King St. Louis and his mother Blanche of Castile
in 1244, Pope Clement V in 1307, King Louis XI in 1462 and King Henry
IV in 1605. Inaugurated in 1519, the seven-year schedule has been
strictly followed since 1806.
Paul D'Hollander (Les ostensions en Limousin au XIXe siècle, Revue de l'histoire des religions, 217, 513-516 [2000], text)
gives more details on the ostensions and the evolution of the festival
in the middle 19th century towards the modern ostensions.
Originally, the ostensions followed a basic, immutable time
scheduled. On the third Thursday in Lent (in French, Mi-Carême), a flag was hoisted on the church steeple to announce that the relics
were exposed to veneration. Verified by the church authorities, the
relics were then exposed to the public for the next 50 days. The
festival was closed on Trinity Sunday.
Suppressed in 1799, the festival resumed in 1806, but in much less
places than before the French Revolution, mostly located in the
Department of Haute-Vienne. In the middle of the 19th century, the
bishops of Limoges, His Grace Fruchaud (1859-1871) and His Grace
Duquesnoy (1871-1880) dramatically changed the set up of the
ostensions; once an individual act involving a ritualized kiss of
the relics, the ostensions were transformed into a public
celebration allowing "the saints to visit the faithful" via colorful
processions involving the church and civil authorities, brotherhoods,
schools and music bands. Fruchaud organized the first opening
procession in Limoges in 1862. The aim of the bishops was to struggle
against positivism and raising anticlericalism and to increase the
audience of the festival beyond the strict churchgoers. While the
bishop of Limoges originally presided the ostensions only in the
town of Limoges, Duquesnoy presided festivals in several other places,
inviting the faithful to participate to several ostensions. He also
increased the scope of the festival beyond St. Martial's veneration,
emphasizing a wide array of more or less forgotten local saints. The
boom of the ostensions was also favored by the development of
railway in the region. At the end of the 19th century, the Limoges
ostensions attracted more than 80,000 visitors, while the festivals
of Saint-Junien and Le Dorat already included the costumed parade and
the military parade, respectively, for which they are still highly
prized today.
The modern ostensions, still centered on religious events
(blessings, processions), are in the direct line of the festivals held
at the end of the 19th century. They are now a strong, specific
demonstration of the Limousin identity and unique in France. Sometimes
deemed anachronistic, the ostensions also represent a paradox since
Limousin has a radical, then Communist tradition. Saint-Junien
is still a Communist stronghold, considered as one of the most
dechristianized place in France, which does not prevent the urbanites to
organize what is considered the more elaborated of the ostensions.
The 71th ostensions limousines (2009) were inaugurated in Limoges
on 22 February and ended in the same town on 15 November. The schedule
of the festival in the different towns and villages allows the
brotherhoods to "visit" their neighbors with their relics.
The schedule of an ostension is more or less the same in all places,
usually more elaborated in the big towns, with as the main events:
- a solemn, inauguration mass including the blessing of the
ostension flag, its transport through the streets of the town and
its hoisting over the church steeple; following the original
tradition , the hoisting of the flag indicates that the relics are
offered to veneration;
- in some places (Limoges, Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat),
the "verification" (authentication) of the relics by the parish priest,
the bishop, the mayor, a doctor and the president of the custodian
brotherhood (bayle) (see an impressive film of the "verification" performed during the 1967 ostensions);
- a solemn procession of the relics (ostension stricto sensu),
preceded by a mass and the opening of the reliquaries, including the
blessing of the town;
- the closure of the festival, including the reincorporation of the
relics into the reliquaries and the lowering of the ostension flags.
In the smaller villages, the festival has remained much closer to the
pre-19th century schedule, with a limited number of or even no "non
religious" events.
There are two main image sources for the 2009 ostensions, showing
several flags:
- Capteur 87's blog (photos and videos)
- Henri
Coldebœuf's website (photos).
Ivan Sache, 2 November 2011
Rappelons ces photos
http://hasards.free.fr/an2009/index.htm
déjà pointées sur le blog http://saintyrieixlaperche.wordpress.com/
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