From our special correspondent in Arras,
The funeral of Dominique Bernard was celebrated this Thursday morning at Arras Cathedral, in Pas-de-Calais. Inside the building were the family, relatives, teachers and officials, including the head of state, Emmanuel Macron, and his wife Brigitte. Outside, a few hundred meters away, the anonymous people. On the Place des Héros, the entrance to which was strictly filtered, there are still few people treading the century-old paving stones an hour before the start of mass. Then the place fills up with dozens, hundreds of people. Alone, in couples, in groups, everyone gathers in front of the giant screen, installed in front of the facade of the belfry, under the now famous photo of Dominique Bernard on vacation.
Anne-Marie and Jean-Noël are among these anonymous people who wanted to be present, “to pay tribute”. Residents of a village near Arras, they did not imagine that Islamist terrorism could strike so close to their door: “We realize that it can happen anywhere, it’s terrible,” says Anne- Married. And if the couple wants to remain optimistic, the retiree still wonders about the direction the world is taking: “we wonder where we are going with all these conflicts, it has to stop,” she sighs.
“Here you are elevated to the rank of martyrs, you discreet man”
Meanwhile, the screen broadcasts images of white roses, the same ones that many onlookers brought. The speakers broadcast a melancholy guitar melody while on a street corner, the hearse appears carrying the remains of Dominique Bernard, preceded by police bikers. The funeral team passes in slow motion past the silent crowd and heads towards the cathedral. The rain begins to fall, the umbrellas open and the ceremony begins.
“We are gathered today, affected in our faith in man and in society,” says Mgr Olivier Leborgne, the Bishop of Arras. In Heroes’ Square, it is now no longer the rain that wets the cheeks of anonymous people, but the immense emotion that the words of the wife, a daughter and the sister of the professor give rise to. The giant screen suffered from the downpour, then the speakers. But the public still receives, like so many arrows, the poignant messages delivered during the service. “Here you are elevated to the rank of martyrs, you discreet man”, declares a colleague of Dominique Bernard, “what a loss for the world”. And as if responding to him, the bishop assures “those who hunger and thirst for justice” that they “will be satisfied”.
At the blessing of the coffin, the miraculously resurrected speakers broadcast a final song. The ceremony is coming to an end and the professor is preparing to go to his final resting place. In the first rows, facing the screen, a woman’s eyes were red from crying throughout the mass. “I needed to break down, have a good cry, because I’m holding myself back at home,” explains Valérie, 46 years old. This tragedy touched Valérie’s family through her daughter, a student of Dominique Bernard: “She was there, she saw things she should never have seen, and finding the words to speak to her is difficult », she regrets. The place empties and the mother’s tears subside. She places her white rose at the foot of the belfry and returns to her daughter. “We’re going to move on, we have to move on,” she convinces herself.