Notre Dame kept Christmas going even during two world wars — a beacon of hope amid the bloodshed.Yet an accidental fire in peacetime finally stopped the Paris cathedral from celebrating Midnight Mass this yearAs the lights stay dim in the once-invincible 855-year-old landmark, officials are trying hard to focus on the immediate task of keeping burned out Notre Dame ’s spirit alive in exile through service, song and prayer.It has decamped its rector, famed statue, liturgy and Christmas celebrations to a new temporary home pending the restoration works, just under a mile away, at another Gothic church in Paris called Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois.
