Many excused their misfortune by declaring that it was an epidemic proceeding from a certain malignity in the constitution of the air, but in truth its spread was due to a certain infirmity in the constitution of man--an infirmity which had not been removed by the spiritual guidance under which he had been living.
To the medical efficacy of shrines must be added that of special relics.
These were sometimes of the most extraordinary kind.

There were several abbeys that possessed our Savior's crown of thorns.

Eleven had the lance that had pierced his side.

If any person was adventurous enough to suggest that these could not all be authentic, he would have been denounced as an atheist.

During the holy wars the Templar-Knights had driven a profitable commerce by bringing from Jerusalem to the Crusading armies bottles of the milk of the Blessed Virgin, which they sold for enormous sums; these bottles were preserved with pious care in many of the great religious establishments.