The Bells of Notre-Dame and a World Holding Its Breath

On August 25, 1944, after four years of Nazi occupation, Allied troops rolled into Paris. For years, Parisians had lived under a gray silence —...

This is stories & illustrations, drawing on Luke 2:10-11.

On August 25, 1944, after four years of Nazi occupation, Allied troops rolled into Paris. For years, Parisians had lived under a gray silence — the church bells forbidden to ring, celebrations crushed, fear woven into daily life. Then, as the first American and French soldiers entered the city, something extraordinary happened: the bells of Notre-Dame began to toll. Witnesses described what followed as a kind of collective exhale.…