Saint Louis' Relics and Posthumous Miracles: Key Takeaways

Louis IX of France, often referred to as Saint Louis, meticulously cultivated an image of saintliness throughout his life. His actions and words were consistently interpreted as demonstrations of piety, devotion, courage, and self-sacrifice. It is widely believed that Louis's greatest aspiration was to achieve sainthood. He was an avid collector of relics, but merely possessing fragments of saints was not enough for him; he sought to bridge the gap between himself and the saints, between sacred history and his own contemporary existence. He desired a fusion with these holy objects, ultimately wishing to become a relic himself.

This desire was realized after his death. Louis's internal organs were removed and transported to Sicily by his brother Charles. His flesh was boiled off his bones, which were then transferred to Saint-Denis, where they remained alongside his heart. In 1306, his head and some of his bones were moved to the Sainte-Chapelle, and at least his jawbone eventually found its way to the treasury of Notre Dame in Paris.

Posthumous Miracles and Canonization

Soon after his death, Louis's body began to be associated with miracles, each recounting a cure or a life saved. These accounts, detailed in William of Saint-Pathus's "Life of Saint Louis," served as crucial evidence for his canonization.

The Case of Emilo of Chaumont

Emilo, a 28-year-old woman, arrived in Saint-Denis with two companions. After performing daily chores on Monday, she was suddenly afflicted on Tuesday night by an ailment that paralyzed her right thigh, leg, and foot, preventing her from walking. Her companions and host, Emeline, observed that the affected leg was redder than the other and lacked sensation. Attempts to test for sensation, such as poking with a needle or placing her foot in a fireplace, yielded no response.

Emilo, invoking the help of Saint Louis, vowed to undertake a pilgrimage and eat only once a day if cured. Her friends carried her on a stretcher to Saint Louis's tomb. She returned to her lodging on crutches, dragging her leg. Emilo continued to visit the tomb until, on a Holy Sunday of the Passion, she was finally cured. In fulfillment of her vow, she made a pilgrimage to Bologna, then returned to Saint-Denis, where she worked as a domestic servant until her death.

The Healing of Jenny, Daughter of Alice

Jenny, the three-year-old daughter of Alice, living in Paris, was a healthy child until a swelling the size of a hen's egg appeared on the right side of her cheek, below her ear. The swelling spread under her chin and to the other ear, eventually encompassing her entire neck, making it as large as her head and purple up to her collar. The skin in the affected area was irritated, hard, and white. Due to the swelling, she could not turn her neck without moving her shoulders and head, and consequently, she could not hear.

Her mother, Alice, took Jenny to see the king in Paris, hoping for a cure through the king's touch, a common belief at the time. However, the king's touch did not alleviate the affliction, which persisted for another year. Having heard of miracles at Saint Louis's tomb in Saint-Denis, Jenny's parents vowed to take her there. They left her with a nurse who brought her to visit Saint Louis's bones daily. One Tuesday, while in front of the tomb, the child's left side burst open, expelling a significant amount of "filth." The following Wednesday, when Alice arrived in Saint-Denis to see her daughter, she found Jenny in front of the tomb, and was informed that the wound had burst.

Inquisitors and notaries examined Jenny and confirmed her cure. They noted five fully healed scar traces extending from one ear to the other, appearing as signs of an old sickness.

The Recovery of Gil of Saint-Denis

Gil of Saint-Denis, daughter of Girard Dlu, a butcher, married Esten Phipe at the age of 15. Shortly after, she became pregnant and gave birth to a stillborn daughter. During labor, Gil felt weakness in her knees. Neighbors observed that her feet were black and blue, lifeless, and she could not stand. She had lost all sensation below her navel. Attempts to test for sensation, such as pulling her toenails, holding candles, or burning coal to her feet, yielded no response.

Gil remained incapacitated for a year and a half. One day, when the bones of Saint Louis were carried to the church of Saint-Denis, she heard that those with scrofula were cured by touching the holy box, and a man born blind had recovered his sight. Gil vowed that if Saint Louis cured her, she would attend mass on his birthday every year, doing nothing else on that day, and would become his pilgrim.

Gil visited Louis's tomb, touched it with her paralyzed limbs, kissed the holy box and tomb, lay before it for many days, and prayed. After ten days, she felt strength returning to her legs and was able to stand. For three days, she walked with a crutch, and on the fourth, she walked unaided. William of Saint-Pathus recorded that she was still walking when the inquest into this miracle was conducted in May 1282.

The Significance of the Miracles

These 65 documented miracles, though sharing a similar narrative structure, were not merely legends or fairy tales to the people of 13th-century France. They were the subject of serious canonical and judicial inquiry and were widely believed to be true and real by the vast majority of the population. This belief imbued the saint's bones with an aura that, during the Renaissance, with its decline in faith and rise of rationalism, would be absorbed into works of art. These artistic representations, found in manuscripts, architecture, sculpture, stained glass, and paintings of the Sainte-Chapelle, preserved the essence of these miraculous narratives.

The eventual loss of faith in miracles culminated in the democratic revolutions of the 18th century, during which cathedrals were pillaged, and their relics and statues were either destroyed or scattered. The subsequent restoration of these cathedrals after the damage of the revolution and decades of neglect in the first half of the 19th century marks a contemporary age of cathedrals, bringing them to the state in which they can still be seen today.