How Catholic France can recapture its brilliance
One of the luxuries of my holiday in Normandy was fresh bread for breakfast. There is a simple joy in making the journey to the quiet village early in the morning for bread, still warm, from the spotless bakery on the village square. Opposite stands the church, and on a third side the arcades of a medieval market hall. The church is a neo-classical building dating from the early 19th century dedicated to a local saint, the beautifully named St Opportune, a medieval abbess who educated the poor. Unusually for rural France, the church is open, and even more unusually the Blessed Sacrament is reserved on the high altar, the Real Presence indicated by a real sanctuary lamp.
