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Semur's crusader and the Virgin Mary's ring

Statue, Notre-Dame de Semur | Christophe.Finot / CC-BY-SA
Collegiate church Crusades Miracle Notre-Dame church in Semur

At the end of the 12th century, a man from Sémur, Gérard le Riche, brought a relic back from Crusades: Virgin Mary’s wedding ring! Whoa, pretty nice relic...

And when he arrived near Sémur entrance gate, after a long, long trip from the Holy Land, Notre-Dame’s bells started to ring, without any bell-ringers!

Gérard didn’t care, and hid the relic inside Saint-Jean church… But this bloody ring didn’t want to stay here.

As soon as he placed it, the ring jumped in his mouth! He thought that it was Mary’s wish: she didn’t want her jewel to stay here. But… where else? Gérard finally decided to put the ring in Notre-Dame church.

Gérard was buried in this church. And people created a strange custom, based on his last remains: every year, they exhumed his bones, washed them and gave bread and wine to 13 poor people in the city. The ring itself disappeared during the French Revolution.

About the the author

Vinaigrette
I'm fond of strolls and History, with juicy and spicy details!