The hero of the fire of Notre Dame said: "When entering the cathedral, I had a vision of what the hell could be"

When asked if he is a hero, he shrugs. The international press praised his courage for save the treasures of Notre Dame during the fire, but the chaplain of Paris firefighters Jean-Marc Fournier He thinks he's just doing his homework.

The ashes of the Parisian cathedral continued to smoke when media around the world catapulted this chaplain of Paris firefighters to the rank of "hero", attributing to him the ransom of the Holy Crown, which, according to Catholic tradition, Jesus Christ bore on his head shortly before his crucifixion.

"The crown had already been sheltered before my arrival", corrects the calm of the Catholic priest of 53. His rescue is the result of a" team "that" divided their efforts, "he says.

With his round glbades, like his face, and his beautiful appearance, Fournier recounts the intervention with the same tone with which he lives his life, with simplicity and spiritualitybetween two inhalations of powdered tobacco.

When he entered Our Lady, caught in the flames, accompanied by a small team of Paris firefighters tasked with saving relics, Notre Dame's Needle came into action. had already collapsed because of the fire that devoured part of the roof of the temple.

"It's not natural to enter a building on fire that threatens to collapse", admits. But he does not like that he is told that he is putting his life in danger. The movements of the team were "calculated, measured and produced from the training".

This is not the first time that this chaplain is living a national tragedy. In November 2015, he was one of the first to arrive in the Bataclan concert hall to help survivors of the worst attack in the recent history of France. EIn Bataclan, 90 people were murdered.

He was also at the beginning In the same year, attacks against Charlie Hebdo magazine and the kosher supermarket in eastern Paris took place. In each of these tragedies, he tried to provide psychological care to the survivors quickly, "to prevent mental injuries from being installed".

Upon entering Notre Dame, he realized that he had "a vision of what could be hell", with "falling fire cascades" cracks in the vaults.

His priority was save two "important relics", the holy crown and the "holy sacrament", the consecrated armiespreserved in a ciborium (a sacred cup), which Catholics regard as the body of Christ. With this mission in mind, the team was split in two.

While firefighters try to open the locket, The chaplain and a lieutenant-colonel seek the code to open the chest inside which is stored the famous crown of thorns. They ask the staff of the cathedral, in vain.

Upon their return, a group of soldiers, accompanied by an employee wearing the codes, had already managed to open the chest. The Holy Crown was removed from the temple "under the protection of the police".

Fournier then attaches himself to saving "our Lord Jesus Christ" (the hosts). I could not imagine that the Son of God "disappears in a fire," he jokes.

With the ciborium in hand, the chaplain turned a blind eye for a moment and asked Jesus to "help us save his house, so that he always has a roof over his head".

Have you heard This fervent Catholic is sure that yes, "Since the flames that devoured the Belfry of the North Tower have stopped". Otherwise, the whole cathedral would have collapsed.

With these two great treasures safe, Fournier then participated in a human chain to evacuate the works of art of the cathedral.

A task which, even more than the flames, it made him "sweat", he admits. In a clumsy gesture, "he pierced a precious painting," he admits.

But Monday, He left the "fire of the century" with the soul in peace. The incident, which mobilized 600 firefighters, did not cause any casualties.

Romain Fonsegrives for AFP