Unprecedented in recent French history, the archbishop of Toulouse, a big city in the southwest of France, has just decided to dedicate his city to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. At issue is the installation in the streets of the city of a show with satanic symbolism—all financed by public funds.
The city of Toulouse has just welcomed to its city centre a questionable machine, nicknamed Lilith, depicting a disturbing creature that is half-woman, half-scorpion, with spider legs and ram’s horns. The invention was originally developed for the Hellfest festival, held every year in Brittany. This international gathering of metal bands is always the occasion for a debauchery of satanic references and mortifying symbols, even if the organisers insist that it’s simply a question of “culture” and that there’s nothing wrong with these artistic representations of dubious taste.
The Lilith machine, flanked by two others of the same species, is due to parade through the streets of Toulouse from October 25th to 27th, for a major open-air performance with an unambiguous name: “The Gates of Darkness.” This is the second edition of the show, which already attracted nearly 800,000 people in 2018.
The creator of this chimerical character, François Delarozière, is willing to be provocative. According to the Christian newspaper La Croix, Lilith, the ‘guardian of darkness’, is adorned with an earring in the shape of an inverted cross and is there to “symbolise the tensions raised by the show.”
The character of Lilith comes from Mesopotamian mythology, originally depicted as a she-wolf with a scorpion’s tail. She is also to be found in Talmudic tradition, as a female demon who kills newborn babies and seduces men to create other demons. According to the Kabbalah, an esoteric Jewish tradition, Lilith refers to Adam’s first wife, fashioned like him from clay and not from his rib. Hence the infatuation with the character among feminists, who see her as a figure in the struggle against patriarchal omnipotence.
During the parade in Toulouse, Lilith will be accompanied by a cohort of unequivocal symbolism: churches devoured by fire, walking skeletons, a red creature with a calf’s head…
The local Catholic authorities did not take kindly to this conspicuous display of evil symbols before the eyes of the public—including children and families. The Archbishop of Toulouse, Msgr. Guy de Kerimel—usually considered a moderate and not very militant figure—didn’t meet the show’s creator but made an appointment with the mayor of Toulouse to express his concern. He said he wanted to provide a “spiritual response” to this offensive and announced his decision to dedicate “the city and the diocese to the Sacred Heart of Jesus” at a Mass on October 16th, to mark the jubilee of the 350th anniversary of the apparitions of Christ to Sister Marguerite-Marie Alacoque at Paray Le Monial—apparitions that gave rise to the cult of the Sacred Heart in France at the time of Louis XIV.
In an interview with the Christian web magazine Aleteia, he explains the significance of his approach:
This choice of show seems to me to be completely risky, all the more so at a time when French society is fragmenting and trying to find its way, and in an international context that is more than uncertain. We need a culture that gives us a little hope. Today, French society no longer perceives the future or perceives it only with difficulty. There are many signs of despair, and opening up to the light is necessary, not to say vital.
Delarozière took offence at this decision, which he described as “puritanism.” Just like the creators of Hellfest festival in Brittany, he denied any ‘satanic’ intention in his work. The ‘artist’ defended himself by explaining that he is doing “popular theatre,” and condescendingly expressed the wish that the Church “remain open to artistic creation.”
Father Simon d’Artigue, who is very active on social media, is alarmed by the omnipresence of symbols invoking the devil and darkness in the public space. “During these three days, the seal of Lucifer and the cross of Satan will be projected in the streets,” he points out. Where the clergy are concerned about this unhealthy game with the forces of evil, the artists respond with culture and a taste for entertainment. In the words of the poet Charles Baudelaire, “the devil’s greatest trick is to persuade you that he doesn’t exist.” So there is a total lack of understanding between the two parties. The proliferation of Satanic references is obviously fuelled by the advanced de-Christianisation of Western societies. According to Msgr. de Kerimel, “Christ has been withdrawn from the cultural world which, in part, no longer wants anything to do with Christianity.” For the masses of people strolling through the streets of Toulouse, all this is just a harmless game whose ins and outs they don’t understand.
Msgr. de Kerimel compares the show “The Gates of Darkness” with the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris, which so outraged world opinion a few weeks ago. He denounces a general fascination with darkness and morbidity, as demonstrated by the terrible sequence featuring the beheading of Queen Marie-Antoinette on the banks of the Seine.
However, the prelate refuses to suggest that the consecration of the city is a “magical act” to protect us from a spectacle with harmful effects. It’s not a question of replacing one esotericism with another—white magic against black magic. The consecration is there to offer “an alternative vision, a vision of hope in a troubled world.”
While there are some chagrined souls among the flock of the Archdiocese of Toulouse who no doubt deplore the ‘closed-mindedness’ of a clergy insensitive to the ‘artistic sense’ that unfolds through the contortions of the Lilith of the 21st century, the younger generation of churchgoers is delighted with Msgr. de Kerimel’s stance. “When I read the content of the show, I found it rather morbid. On the other hand, dedicating Toulouse to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a demonstration of God’s love,” explained young Marie, a 27-year-old devotee.
We can only salute the courage of the prelate, who in a context of maximum stigmatisation of the Church, has not hesitated to hold the line that gives meaning to his ministry: “to announce the ultimate victory of Christ over death and darkness.”
https://europeanconservative.com/articles/commentary/deserted-altars-satan-in-the-streets/