As wildfires ravage Europe and the western United States, one specific image has taken the internet by storm. In France, photojournalist Patrick Bernard captured a crucifix on his iPhone that was left standing among the ashes of the fires that struck Saumos, a small commune in the Médoc region near Bordeaux. The photo posted to Instagram on Sunday July 26th, quickly went viral.
Bernard has spent four decades as a photojournalist, chronicling stories from the road with a self-imposed rule: every photo, every word, every piece of music he shares is created entirely on his iPhone. When he's not traveling, he calls Bordeaux home.
"The Fire Passed Through Here, and Then Passed Through Again"
Locals call it simply "the Christ" — a mission cross that has stood in Saumos since the late 19th century, marking the site of the town's annual Good Friday procession. André Prouvoyeur knows it well. He's a forester whose land borders the cross, and a technical advisor with France's Forest Fire Defense Service (DFCI).
He described the devastation to Catholic French media outlet, Famille Chrétienne:
"Here we are south of Saumos. The fire passed through here, and then passed through again.
This is the Calvary that people here locally call 'the Christ.' It is originally a mission cross, and this is where the Good Friday procession takes place.
The underbrush was burned, the grass that had been cut was burned—you can see that as well. This small shrub was also burned, and here you can see the scorch marks on the back of the cross. It was slightly burned too."
Even the cross didn't escape entirely unscathed — but it held.
A Water Source and a Well of Faith
During the fires, Prouvoyeur's role extended well beyond watching the flames pass through his land. His property holds a large water reserve that became a critical resource for everyone fighting the blaze:
"I serve with the Forest Fire Defense Service (DFCI), so I am a technical advisor. In addition, because I have a large water reserve on my property, everyone comes to draw water from it. The volunteers, the Forest Fire Defense Service, the firefighters, every water tanker that passes by, the farmers—all the tankers that come through fill up with water at my place.
What keeps me going is my faith. It is faith in my work, but it is also faith in Christ."
More Than a Century of Standing Watch
The crucifix’s endurance is only more striking given its history. Prouvoyeur explained that it was erected during a wave of Catholic missionary work in a part of France that had long resisted religious influence:
"This is a mission cross because here in the Médoc—southern Médoc in particular—it was a very difficult region for religion. It is still a difficult region for religion today. But missionary campaigns were carried out here, and this cross is one of the surviving mission crosses dating from the end of the 19th century."
More than 130 years after it was first raised to bring faith to a resistant region, the Christ of Saumos has captured the attention of the world through a single photograph of what the fire could not take.