This sizeable French Romanesque church, dating from the late 11th century, was a regular stop on one of the pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. In this week's reading from John 9, Jesus refers to himself as "the light of the world." One of the important French theologians of the 12th century, Hugh of St. Victor, speaks about the importance of light in the understanding of God and in the understanding of its presence in the new building style that bathed church interiors with light:

"Gazing upon the beauty of the Father we are refashioned, that is, reformed again, that is, converted to it by being led back...into the simplicity of its ray. For this reason the one light pours itself out to many lights, in order that, having been illuminated, the many lights might be reformed according to that one light, so that the many...might all appear as one in its form." [Coolman, 90]

Donated by James T. Womack and Anne Richardson, Nashville, TN.