Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-05-07
RELICS OF ST. LOUIS
A Crusader and Patron of Law
and Learning.
A KING AND A SAINT
A MODERN ESTIMATE OF A GREAT
CHARACTER.
His Death With Many of His Army
During Second
Crusade.
A KING AND A SAINT
Of The Evening Star.

special Correspondence Of The Evening Star
PARIS. April %. 1901.
There is an extraordinary relic that might
be sent to the exposition Of st. Louis.
1t is extraordinary, for one reason. be-
cause the authorities of the exposition
would not dare ask for it. There is one
person who might make the request. This
is the Catholic archbishop of St Louis
The archbishop of st. Louis would write
to the archbishop of Montreale. in the IS
land of Sicily, requesting that certain
ancient box of olive wood covered with
blue silk dotted with white stars, be loan
ed to the people of st. Louis.
What does the box contain?
The relics of a saint. OF a famous king
and crusader. A great reformer and pro-
gressive man in his day, Louis TX, King OF
France a patron Of law and learning, below
ed of his people in life and in death. the
most-praised and best-reputed of French
kings and a saint of the Roman Catholic
Church
ST Louis. the seat of the present worlds
fair Is named after him. Louisiana, whose
purchase by us from France it commence
rates. bears his name with five other Louis
intervening.
How great a character this old French
king-and-saint remains today in France
may be seen by the tourist visiting the Fan
tEeon in Paris. Beneath its gigantic dome,
between its serene pillars. on its everlasting
walls of stone are painted life-size fres-
Goes of the heroes of old France, and chlel
among them is the tryptic of st. Louis, here
presented to you.
be more touching to the everyday French
heart than the first of these three great
frescoes of St. Louis, showing him as a
young boy of ten or twelve, taught at ms
mothers knee. She was a famous bringer-
up and manager, this mother Oh MS
Blanche of Castillo.
She was a typical French mother, who
fought for her son as child and Dossed
him as a grown man and king. Ii is told
that when she was nursing him as a babe
a lady of the court, seeing him hungry,
started to give him to suck. Then furious,
Blanche of Castillo plucked the future king
and saint from the unfortunate lady's arms,
rammed her finger into his mouth and so
forced him to spit out the foreign milk
1t was she who said of this. her eldest
son: II would rather see him dead than
guilty OF a mortal sin.
Having managed him with an Iron hand
up to his twentieth year-he inherited the
crown at twelve-this capable French
mother told him: Louis, will now choose
YOU WIFE
She Chose Marguerite.
She chose for him Marguerite. daughter
of Raymond Berenger, Count of Provence,
a lovely girl of fifteen years of age. But
after the ceremony she said to them: You
are rather young. both of you. You shall
live apart few years. And they had to!
Later on, when the youn. king was given
his bride for keeps, Blanche of Castillo de-
cided when he should and SHOULD not see
her, until she had made suca miseries
for her tender daughter-in-law," says Geof-
frey of Beaulieu, that all the court was
scandalized. and the tale spread through
out the land amn~g the people,
Once only did e young king dare to face
his mother. 1t was when Marguerite lay
very i'll at Pontoise. after the birth of their
first child. To visit her secretly at night
Louis had instructed his men to beat the
dogs and make them howl when his mother
came. That was his tip to disappear. One
night when he was with his wife they
neglected to kick the dogs. Blanche of
Castillo caught her son at the bedside os
his young wife
Get out!' she exclaimed. You do moth
ing herer' And she forced him bodily from