A priest and a nun were stabbed Sunday morning in the Saint-Pierre d'Arène church in Nice, just before mass.
A mass was celebrated on this occasion on Monday evening.
The ceremony was centered around hope, resistance and trust.
It was barely 6 p.m. on Monday evening when the bells of the Saint-Pierre d'Arène church rang out in the rue de France district of Nice.
A mass was held the day after the attack on Father Krzysztof Rudzinski, who received around twenty stab wounds, and Sister Marie-Claude, who was injured in the hand while intervening to stop the madman.
Operated in the morning, her arm slung over her shoulder, this nun "for 72 years" wanted to be present in this moment of meditation.
It was installed not far from several elected officials, Christian Estrosi and Eric Ciotti at the head, to whom the first row of the nave was reserved.
Father Gil Florini, parish priest, who led the ceremony, from the introduction, asked to address the prayers "to the victims still alive" of this aggression by reassuring on the state of health of the father, always to the hospital.
He also insisted on the mercy to have for the "madman".
“Whatever happens, we must not be afraid,” he exclaimed from the altar.
"Jesus Christ said to him 'shut your mouth'"
His words resonated in the religious building, up to Jeansen, 10, present with his little brother Michel, 8.
The children who have been doing catechism for three years “were scared” when they entered the church today.
Their parents, Michel and Maysoun, then took the time to reassure them.
“It was important to come.
We live right next door.
When we learned that, it necessarily shocked us, they confide.
But as it was said tonight, it encourages us to come to church more and to resist”.
The act of resistance is Father Yves-Marie Lequin who evoked it by associating it with hope during a speech before the Eucharist.
"Hope does not go by itself," he began, recalling that this church had already suffered the evening of the July 14 attack.
It comes with two things: resistance and trust.
The artists' chaplain imagined Sister Marie-Claude's act of resistance by the strength of Jesus Christ when he had overcome the storm by telling her "shut your mouth", according to his translation of the Gospel.
For trust, he referred to the "risk of welcoming" the church but which "will remain open" to "leave the light on".
He refers at that time to Kévin, the "frenzied", who was "a regular" of the place.
“The church will remain a beacon of security,” he assures.
“She is our saviour”
Finally, this is what Odile, a faithful who has been attending this church for a year, felt.
She was present during the events on Sunday but did not hesitate to return Monday evening for the ceremony.
She also wanted to thank the sister before leaving.
"She's our saviour," she says.
After the mass, a dozen people surround him.
They applaud him.
“She has always had incredible fishing, always voluntary with exceptional energy, assures Lydiane, another regular in this parish.
It doesn't surprise me about her.
She's a heroine.
»
To people who ask her, the sister then explains that “it was not [her] hand but that of the Lord” who wanted to stop the madman who then stopped.
“I give thanks to God because if it hadn't been for this extraordinary, divine intervention, neither Father Krzysztof nor I would be here.
He could have cut my carotid artery.
“She “only has a plastered thumb” with all the same “a cut muscle”, she specifies.
Emotionally, she "has a little tear from time to time", but is "not psychologically shaken".
One of her prayers was for “this young man” aged 31 whom she “knew by sight” and for whom she has “no desire for revenge, no hatred.
"He's the one who's hurt more than us," she concludes.
The troubled speech of the man who attacked a priest with a knife in Nice
The man who stabbed a priest in Nice was hospitalized
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