The first tanks of the French Army have crossed the Seine and are in the heart of Paris, these were the memorable words spoken by the future President of France, Georges Bidault on the morning of the 24th of August 1944.
For the first time since June 14th 1940, the words of the Marseille rang out over the city. On French radio, Pierre Schaeffer urged people to rejoice with the words; Redevenez la grande Paris, Become great again Paris. There was a spontaneous reaction from the citizens of Paris, they threw their windows and doors open, turned up the volume on their radios as the anthem of freedom reverberated out over a city that had experienced over 1,532 days of German occupation.
And, in one unforgettable moment, the 14 ton bell of the South Tower of the Cathedral of Notre Dame rang out joyously, it was followed by the bells of Sacre Coeur, then by the tiny Church of Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre and the oldest Church in Paris, Saint-Germain-des-Pres. All the Church bells of Paris were ringing, all except one, the Church of Saint-Philippe du Roul just off the Champs-Elysees.
The Parish Priest of the Church, Canon Jean Muller was inundated with calls from his parishioners, all wanting to know why their bells were not ringing. The good Canon held his fire until the following Sunday at the Mass of Liberation, he addressed his flock; My dear parishioners, I want to thank all of you who rang me to ask me to ring the bells of Saint-Philippe-des-Pres to announce the arrival of the Allies in Paris. I would like to remind you of something you all forgot in your excitement, there are no bells in the belfry of our Church.
There was a stunned silence in the Church, Canon Muller had the full attention of his congregation, he took full advantage of it and continued; nothing seems more appropriate therefore than at this Mass of Liberation we should take up a collection to purchase a set of bells for the belfry of Saint-Philippe. The bells were duly purchased, last September, with our family we attended Mass there, it was a joy to hear the bells of Saint-Philippe ringing out over the roof-tops of Paris at noon, a very special memory.
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