WFW - Saint Louis

If you say to an American, ‘Take me to Saint Louis, Louis’, you’ll either get a blank
stare, or a smile that takes them back to a show tune from a century ago. Heck,
they may even come back with a tune to go with the lyrics.

Ask a Parisien the same question, and they may just walk you to Sainte Chapelle,
on the Ile de France in Paris, just a few blocks from Notre Dame.

Saint Louis … King Louis IX, or Le Roi Saint Louis is memorialized with a statue on
the main floor of Sainte Chapelle. His bones are buried elsewhere, but this is
where his statue sits, surrounded by beauty.

At one time, Sainte Chapelle was said to hold an item considered priceless to
Medieval Christians; in fact, it was built expressly to hold it. Louis spent his life
fighting wars, leading Crusades, concluding peace, uniting and expanding his
kingdom … basically kingly-type stuff. But he did one thing that no other French
king, before or since, has done.

Louis purchased the crown of thorns from the Byzantine Emperor. It is said that
Louis paid a quarter of France’s annual national income for the crown of thorns;
so you know it has to be the real Crown o’ Thorns, because … you know … who in
his right mind would pay that much for a knock-off? He built Sainte Chapelle
primarily for this relic. It’s incredible when you think of it, that one of the most
magnificent buildings in Paris was built for this, and actually cost only a fraction of
what was paid for the Crown of Thorns.

Every year on Good Friday, the Crown of Thorns would be taken from its safe
storage, and presented to the congregation at Sainte Chapelle. It was moved
during the French Revolution, and I think is now at Notre Dame.