Note 19 — SAINT-DENIS.

This custom of dividing bodies is of very ancient date, and was sanctioned by the church in order that the remains might benefit, by their miraculous powers, as many places as possible. Sometimes the superiors of divers monasteries agreed to exchange "a rib of one saint for a cubit bone of another, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, &c." At other times these fragments had to be purchased for very considerable sums.—History of St. Denis.