The Bread of Charity, ritual of the Consuls

Le partage du Pain de Charité, par les Consuls de Nîmes

Like every year, in Saint-Castor Cathedral, the members of the Docte Collège des Consuls came forward with the Bread of Charity to attend the mass celebrated by the Bishop of Nîmes, Monseigneur Brouwet. Memory of the time when the city of Nîmes made the ordinary distribution of public alms, called the Bread of Charity, with a ceremony regulated by Saint-Louis (1214-1270). That day, the Consuls made a particular generosity to the Abbess of women "sinners", who directed the public place of debauchery, receiving her offering, then distributing alms to the poor.

Today, and for almost twenty years, the Consuls have resumed the ceremony of Shared Bread, of Charity, symbol of fraternal solidarity. At the end of mass, on the square in front of the cathedral, the offering of a purse, then the blessing and sharing of a loaf of bread, to all those who came in large numbers, constitute the ceremonial of public almsgiving. And, above all, the city's chief magistrate, Mayor Jean-Paul Fournier, generously offers an aperitif!

Midi Libre Correspondent: 06 08 35 62 07

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