The morning sun was tempting the photographer in me. So I went for a stroll through Asquins, the little village close to Vezelay where we are staying. Had a nice chat with a man with an enviable walking pole. Agreeing on the lovely weather I asked him if he knew when the church was opened. No, he had no idea. I had to go and ask Madame Dizien, he said on a tone like everybody in the whole world would know who Madame Dizien is. Where does she live, I asked, trying to lengthen the conversation and get a little more information. We were standing on the hill where the church was built, looking down on the village, an undescribable mishmash of rooftops. He had a good peak at them, and then said: there it is, that roof. I thanked him very much for his clear information and was certain there was no way I would ever be able to detect the roof from whichever street I had to be in.
Oh, it is a beautiful church, he continued now. Which I imagine to be true, being built from the second half of the 12th century. Did I know that this square in front of the church was the meeting point from all kinds of pelgrims on their way to Santiago? I told him I thaught they all met in Vezelay. Hmpf, was his disgusted answer, those arrogant people from Vezelay, who think they can claim anything. Non, non, it was here. This is the church of Saint Jacques, I would have to go and see his beautiful buste in the church. He pointed his finger again and showed the route the pelgrims were following, starting here and then going to damned Vezelay.
He gruntled a little more, about certain personnes in the village, and about the internet, which he didn’t like, and then wished me a ‘bon continuation’.
Come to find out that not only the claim from Vezelay as being the starting point of one of the four French pelgrim routes to Santiago is wrong. It was also here in the quant village of Asquins, that Bernard of Clairvaux proclaimed the glorious Second Crusade, and not in Vezelay where even in the official guide book of La Madeleine it claims that Bernard held his sermon in the Narthex. He might have held the same sermon twice, I figure now, but the original was here in Asquins, I am certain now.
Oh, I forgot to tell about me visiting the crypt in La Madeleine to see some relics of the sister of Maria. In front of the little altar was a piece of white cloth, that would move now and then. Come to find out it was a nun who was on her knees, her head in her hands, completely bend over, praying some beautiful praises, I am sure. This peaceful setting was interrupted each time one of the visitors would come a little bit too close to the altar. She would sit up, throw her cape back in a real Miss Piggy like way and persist that this was not a tourist attraction, but a place of silence and prayer. The harsh lines of her face would transcend into some holy expression again, after which she would get back in praying mode. Till she would here a sound again, or sense a shadow, when the angry anti-visitor mode would be turned on again. I have to say, as much as I like relics, this was far more entertaining, so I watched this Good Nun, Bad Nun episode for a good five minutes, till the nun realised I was watching her, when her anger got directed to me. I should not take photographs. Which I was not, but I certainly wished I would have made a little video of it. I am sure it would have gone viral on Youtube. I should only have asked 0,01 cent for people to watch it, and it would have paid for our trip. I am no businessman, which I already knew, so I just happily share this entertainment with you gratuite.
Which leaves me with the question why Bernard, this ascetic monk who would survive on a meal of cooked beach leaves, became so convinced that wars were necessary to solve the worlds problems, or just to get Jerusalem back into the Christian camp. I have no real clue and will tackle that crucial question – for understanding the 12th century – another time.
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