medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
> >...When she actually went into labor, every important relic was sent to
> attend the accouchement....And Anne was most grateful. Major gifts went
> to them all.
>
> just curious, does your source happen to mention a relic from Chartres?
>
> the _tunica_ or _camisa_ of the Virgin, thought to be the garment she
> wore at her own birthing day was, among other things, believed to have
> special
> potency for women in labor and, apparently, small replicas were sold to
> expectant mothers from at least the late middle ages.
Dear Christopher,
According to Bulteau's Monographie de la cathedrale de Chartres, vol.
1 (Chartres, 1887), pp. 185-86, Louis XIII and Anne of Austria first
visited Chartres soon after their marriage on 26 Sept. 1619, and they
made several subsequent visits, usually leaving substantial gifts
each time. In 1638, just after the birth of Louis XIV, his father
offered two large, silver candlesticks and an annual rent of 500
livres, to provide candles for the various services that he and his
royal predecessors had instituted in the cathedral. As for Anne of
Austria, according to her notice in the cathedral necrology (hardly
an unbiased source), after 23 years of sterility, she provided Louis
XIII with an heir, quite specifically by her prayers to the Virgin
made at Chartres, and after he was born, she made a pilgrimage of
thanksgiving to Chartres, donating at that time a new reliquary for
the head of St Anne. (Lepinois & Merlet, Cartulaire, vol. III, 1865,
p. 26). Anne returned to Chartres on 24 March 1648 to pray at the
altar of La-Vierge-aux-Miracles with her two sons, Louis XIV and
Philippe d'Orleans, at which time, she made a generous gift that
allowed the decoration of the chapel of Notre-Dame-de-Sous-Terre in
the crypt, as well as that of SS Savinian and Potentien, with new
wall paintings, apparently by distinguished artists. In 1661, Anne
again visited Chartres, together with Louis XIV and his new wife
Maria Theresa. When Louis XIV once more visited Chartres on 22 Sept.
1682, he donated 360 livres to found six solemn masses in the Chapel
of Notre-Dame-de-Sous-Terre for the repose of Anne of Austria's soul.
Cheers,
Jim Bugslag
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