Worn-out dukes and
duchesses of the Faubourg Saint-Germain united in this
enterprise of pious reaction with the frivolous youngsters, the
_petits creves_, who haunt the purlieus of Notre Dame de Lorette.
The great church of the monastery was handsomely rebuilt and a
multitude of altars erected; and beautiful frescoes and stained
windows came from the leaders of the reaction. The whole effect
was, perhaps, somewhat theatrical and thin, but it showed none
the less earnestness in making the old "Isle of Saints" a
protest against the hated modern world.
As if to bid defiance still further to modern liberalism, great
store of relics was sent in; among these, pieces of the true
cross, of the white and purple robes, of the crown of thorns,
sponge, lance, and winding-sheet of Christ,--the hair, robe,
veil, and girdle of the Blessed Virgin; relics of St. John the
Baptist, St. Joseph, St. Mary Magdalene, St. Paul, St. Barnabas,
the four evangelists, and a multitude of other saints: so many
that the bare mention of these treasures requires twenty-four
distinct heads in the official catalogue recently published at
the monastery.
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