Bruges and West Flanders | Page 8

he saw a man hiding

something in a wood, and, following him, discovered that it was a box,
which he suspected might contain something valuable. Mijnheer
Schoutteeten appropriated the box, and carried it home from Syria to
Dordrecht, where a series of miracles began to occur of such a nature as
to make it practically certain that the box (or some wood which it
contained, for on this point the legend is vague) was a part of the true
Cross! In course of time Schoutteeten died in the odour of sanctity,
having on his death-bed expressed a wish that the wood which he had
brought from the East should be given to the Church of Notre Dame at
Bruges. His widow consoled herself by taking a second husband, who,
Uutenhove by name, fulfilled the pious request of his predecessor, and
thus another relic was added to the large collection which is preserved
in the various churches and religious houses of Bruges. It was brought
to Flanders in the year 1473, and must have been a source of
considerable revenue to the Church since then.
The buildings of Notre Dame, with the well-known Gruthuise Mansion
which adjoins them, and the singularly graceful spire, higher than the
Belfry tower, rising from the exquisite portico called 'Het Paradijs,'
form a very beautiful group; but, with this exception, there is nothing
remarkable about the churches of Bruges. One of them, however, has a
peculiar interest--the Chapelle du Saint-Sang, which stands in the Place
du Bourg in the corner next to the Hôtel de Ville. It is built in two
stories. The lower, a dark, solemn chapel, like a crypt, was dedicated to
St. Basil at an early period, and is one of the oldest buildings in Bruges.
The greater part of the upper story does not date further back than the
fifteenth century. But it is not the fabric itself, venerable though that is,
but what it contains, that makes this place the Holy of Holies in the
religious life of Bruges; for here, in a costly shrine of gold and silver
adorned with precious stones, they guard the wonderful relic which was
brought from Palestine in the time of the Crusaders by Thierry d'Alsace,
Count of Flanders, and which is still worshipped by thousands of
devout believers every year.
Thierry d'Alsace, the old chroniclers tell us, visited the Holy Land four
times, and was the leader of the Flemish warriors who, roused by the
eloquence of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, joined the second Crusade in the

summer of 1147. He had married Sybilla, sister of Baldwin, King of
Jerusalem; and when the time came for his return to Europe, his
brother-in-law and the Patriarch of Jerusalem resolved to reward his
services by giving him a part of the most valuable relic which the
Church in Palestine possessed, which was a small quantity of a red
liquid, said to be blood and water, which, according to immemorial
tradition, Joseph of Arimathæa had preserved after he had washed the
dead body of Jesus.
The earlier history of this relic is unknown, and is as obscure as that of
the other 'Relics of the Holy Blood' which are to be found in various
places. But there can be no doubt whatever that in the twelfth century
the Christians at Jerusalem believed that it had been in existence since
the day of the Crucifixion. It was, therefore, presented to Thierry with
great solemnity in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre during the
Christmas festivals of 1148. The Patriarch, having displayed the vessel
which contained it to the people, divided the contents into two portions,
one of which he poured into a small vial, the mouth of which was
carefully sealed up and secured with gold wire. This vessel was next
enclosed in a crystal tube, shut at the ends with golden stoppers, to
which ax chain of silver was attached. Then the Patriarch gave the tube
to Baldwin, from whose hands Thierry, kneeling on the steps of the
altar, received it with profound emotion.[*]
[Footnote *: Canon van Haecke, Le Précieux Sang à Bruges (fourth
edition), pp. 95, 96.]
The Count, however, did not think his hands, which had shed so much
human blood, worthy to convey the relic home; and he entrusted it to
Leonius, chaplain of the Flemish Army, who hung it round his neck,
and so carried it to Bruges, where he arrived in May, 1150, along with
Thierry, who, mounted on a white horse led by two barefooted monks,
and holding the relic in his hand, was conducted in state to the Bourg,
where he deposited the precious object in the Chapel of St. Basil, which
is commonly known as the Chapel of the Holy Blood.
After some time the relic was found to be