Even in the midst of two world wars, Christmas was still marked at Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral. But, for the first time in hundreds of years, there will be no Christmas this year.

"This is the first time since the French Revolution that there will be no midnight Mass (at Notre Dame)," cathedral rector Patrick Chauvet says, the Daily Sabah reports.

The historic cathedral was ravaged by fire on April 15, 2019. 

Chauvet says that while Mass will be celebrated outside the church for the first time since 1789, there will be pieces of Notre Dame present at Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois church. That includes a wooden liturgical platform that has been made to resemble Notre Dame's. "The cathedral's iconic Gothic sculpture "The Virgin of Paris," from which some say Notre Dame owes its name, is also on display," the Sabah says.

The statue was made in the 1300s and shows Mary with baby Jesus. It has come to be a symbol of hope for church and city officials as they rebuild the cathedral.

"It's a miraculous virgin. Why? Because at the time of the fire, the vault of the cathedral completely crashed. There were stones everywhere, but she was spared. She could have naturally received the vault on her head and have been completely crushed," Chauvet says.

Chauvet says that as far as he is aware 1789 was the only year in the church's 855-year history that it did not hold Midnight Mass on Christmas.