Deleted scenes from Bishop Barron's "Heaven in Stone and Glass" documentary on Gothic cathedrals
Behind-the-scenes footage of Bishop Robert Barron filming his documentary on European Gothic cathedrals, including Chartres, Reims, and Notre Dame.
Summary
These deleted scenes capture unscripted moments from the filming of Heaven in Stone and Glass at several major French Gothic cathedrals. He reflects on the theological significance of the cathedrals' architectural details, the relic of the Blessed Mother's garment at Chartres Cathedral, and the symbolic meaning of the royal figures atop Reims Cathedral. The footage also includes candid behind-the-scenes exchanges between him and the film crew — including playful banter in which Bishop Barron jokes about award categories and mentions crew members Devon and Father Steve — offering a glimpse into the making of the documentary.
On the relic at Chartres, he traces its history in detail: it was received by Charlemagne as a gift from the Empress Irene of Byzantium, subsequently passed to his son Charles the Bald, and donated by Charles to Chartres Cathedral around 870. Medieval pilgrims came to Chartres throughout the Middle Ages to commune with the Blessed Mother through this garment, believed to have been worn by her at either the Annunciation or the birth of Jesus. Bishop Barron notes that scientific analysis has dated the fabric to the first century and identified its provenance as Middle Eastern.
Key Takeaways
FULL TRANSCRIPT
On the roof — details no one was meant to see
Bishop Barron: It's incredible. I don't even know how they built this.
Crew member: No, and with the engineering of the 13th century — it's higher than all the other ones.
Bishop Barron: Yeah.
Examining the stone carvings up close
Crew member: So we're up here. There are so many details that no one would see. Can you talk about that?
Bishop Barron: Yeah, we're up here right at the West Rose Window, and I'm way, way, way up high. Unless you climb those 300 stairs, you're not going to get up here. And yet the workers who put this thing together — someone fashioned this beautiful, detailed face. No one from the ground is going to see it. No one inside is ever going to see it. But people did this for the glory of God. Those little details I just find very moving and fascinating.
Crew member: Oh, it's beautiful.
Filming on the roof of Reims Cathedral
Crew member: We're in an extraordinary place here on the roof of Reims Cathedral, and you see around you these extraordinary figures.
Bishop Barron: These were the original kings who were up on the facade, and of course they're way up, so they had to be pretty big to be seen. But it speaks to me of so many things. Reims is the cathedral of the kings — where they were coronated, but more importantly where they were anointed. So Clovis, the first Christian king of what later became France — there's a continuity. They would have seen from these figures to Clovis, back to Jesus, back to the priests and kings of the Old Testament. Thomas Aquinas said there's one great just governor of the universe, namely God, so there should be someone in the image of God who is the one just ruler of a nation. Now, we might say, "Well, wait a minute — one guy running a nation, how do you control that?" But it hadn't fallen apart for the medieval mind. They kept those things together. Think of Louis IX, Saint Louis, whom Thomas Aquinas knew. Thomas would have recognized him as a great, just ruler of France. I see all of that embodied in these great figures.
They might strike us as a bit comical now, but not to the medievals. To me, the main point though is Christ. To be here in a cathedral — the cathedral is all about Jesus — and they recognized him as simultaneously king and high priest. These figures were an image, an icon of Christ who is king and priest.
Behind the scenes — banter with the crew
Crew member: It's foggy. The clouds are coming in. That's cool — very moody.
Bishop Barron: I'm just trying to act up a storm here.
Crew member: You're earning it.
Bishop Barron: Best documentary of the year. You get best director, I get best writer and actor. Devon gets best producer. Father Steve gets best priest.
Crew member: Best priest.
The relic at Chartres Cathedral
Crew member: Bishop, can you speak to where we are and the significance of what's behind you?
Bishop Barron: We're in a very sacred place. We're in the furthest eastern extreme of Chartres Cathedral. And right behind me you can see what goes by different names — the chemise in French, meaning "the shirt," called tunica in Latin, the tunic. It's been called the veil of the Blessed Mother. And it's the reason, really, why there is this great cathedral and why people came here.
This relic we can trace all the way back to Charlemagne himself, who received it as a gift from the Empress Irene of Byzantium. It was then given to his son Charles the Bald, who gave it to Chartres Cathedral in around 870. And it's why people throughout the Middle Ages continued to come. They wanted to commune with the Blessed Mother. They understood this garment to have been something she was wearing either at the time of the Annunciation or at the time of the birth of Jesus. And so the garment she was wearing as she gave birth to the Lord would express so powerfully the particularity of Christianity. All of it was meant to point toward Mary, who in turn points toward Christ in this very specific way. That's what strikes me when I see this humble garment — which, by the way, they've done scientific analysis on, and they've determined it's first century and of Middle Eastern provenance. So make of it what you will, but certainly medieval people believed this to be the garment of the Blessed Mother.
Closing reflection
Bishop Barron: These old buildings still speak to us of God. And we legitimately feared that in losing Notre Dame we would lose something infinitely precious — indeed, something that our souls cannot live without.
So let us learn once again to read the cathedrals and to cherish them.