Jean-Marc Fournier, the chaplain of the Paris Fire Brigade, had been at the Arc de Triomphe for its annual Holy Monday ceremony honoring military chaplains of the past, but the day quickly turned dark when he saw a plume of black smoke rising from the city. He checked his phone, which was filled with dozens of messages telling him Notre Dame was burning, and he immediately rushed to the cathedral to help.
Speaking with the French Catholic magazine Famille Chrétienne, Fournier said when he rushed to Notre Dame and saw the fire raging, “We quickly focused on the priority: the Relics of the Passion and the Blessed Sacrament.” The Crown of Thorns is said to have been worn by Jesus on the cross, and the Blessed Sacrament is the central part of every Catholic Mass. Catholics believe that when the bread is consecrated it becomes what is known as the “real presence” — the actual “body of Christ.”
While other firefighters broke open the case holding the Crown of Thorns and rescued it from the blaze, Fournier made his way to the Altar of St. George to rescue the sacrament from the fire, moving it to a sacristy that was not threatened by the flames. Standing with the rescued sacrament in hand as the fire raged, Fournier said, “I asked Jesus — who I really believe is in these hosts — to fight the flames and preserve the building dedicated to his mother.”
Speaking to the New York Times, the priest joked, “I thought Jesus could help us a little bit and work, too. I invited him to worry about his own house if he didn’t want to finish the night under a tent by the Canal Saint-Martin.”
Fournier said that when he entered the cathedral, the spire had already collapsed and he feared the nave might be about to cave in as well, describing in vivid detail “a rain of fire that was falling without pause from the roof.”
[Read more: Trump says Notre Dame Cathedral fire a ‘terrible sight to behold’]
A coordinated effort was also launched to save as many other treasures as possible. Firefighters rushed throughout the cathedral and up hundreds of stairs to its bell towers. And a human chain was formed to quickly move statues and other works of art away from the blaze. Many of the rescued works have been sent to the Louvre for storage and restoration. Fournier said he led the way through Notre Dame’s chapels and corridors, helping rescuers save as much as they could until they were told the fire was too dangerous to continue.
This isn’t the first time that Fournier has had a brush with danger.
The November 2015 Islamic State terrorist attacks in and around Paris killed 130 people. The deadliest part of the assault happened at the Bataclan music venue during an Eagles of Death Metal concert, where 90 people were killed. Fournier was among the first to rush into the theater, helping evacuate victims, comforting the wounded, and performing last rites for the dying. “I gave collective absolution, as the Catholic Church authorizes me,” the priest said following the attack.
Before that, Fournier served as a military chaplain for years as part of the Diocese of the French Armed Forces, where he deployed to Afghanistan.
In his Easter homily, French Archbishop Michel Aupetit honored Fournier’s heroism and praised the priest for saving the Blessed Sacrament. Crux, a Catholic magazine, quoted the bishop as rhetorically asking worshippers: “What is more precious? The cathedral, the treasure, or the bread crumb?”
“It is for this Body, veiled under the appearance of a crumb of bread, that this cathedral was built,” the archbishop said.
[Also read: Tested by fire: Notre Dame has witnessed a thousand years of history]
