Note 202 — BOOK IV. (continued 2)

In the genealogical history of several houses of Brittany, is the following rather curious passage: “Rion de Loheac acquired in this voyage beautiful and rich spoils from the enemies of Christianity, the Saracens; and above all things he was curious to seek for and collect heaps of the sacred and precious relics which were in those regions, in the number of which was a part and portion of the true cross upon which our Saviour Jesus Christ suffered death for the salvation of the human race, and of the stone of the sepulchre in which the said Saviour was buried. These relics he intended to bring into his own country; but being prevented by a disease of which he died in the said country of Syria, he sent them to his brother Gauthier de Loheac, by his squire called Simon de Ludron, who had accompanied him in this voyage.” We might quote many other similar facts which prove that the Christians of the West set the greatest value upon relics brought from the East.