The Priest and the Archangel

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Father Remi is a priest on a mission. When, in 1999 he took over as the parish priest of Saint Michel des Batignolles in the 17th borough in Paris, he discovered that the local treasure, a statue of the Arch-Angel Michaël by the famous sculptor Frémiet, had been removed from the tower of his church in 1985 after a vicious storm had threatened its lofty position. Frémiet made three editions of his oeuvre. One adorns the spire of the famous Abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel, another is currently on display at the Musée D’Orsay but the third, the statue in question, is currently lying unseen, in a state of disrepair, in a vault of the Paris Town hall.

Our hero, Father Remi, convinced of the importance of restoring the statue to its former glory and position on the tower of his church, now sees this project as an opportunity to give the area and church a new sense of worthwhile also adding greatly to the local surroundings and atmosphere. He has found support in the parishes’ faithful, as well as local residents, Christians, Jews and Muslims, and has contacted the Bishopric, the abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel, the local council and the cultural department of the Paris town hall.