Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-05-07
YOUNG LOUIS AND HIS MOTHER, BLANCHE OF CASTILLO

HER, BLANCHE OF CASTILLO.
Uses to be peaceful, Louis insisted on doing
something for the Holy Land He passed
Latin populations of Asia to repair their
strong places, like st. Jean dAcre and
JANA. When he returned to France he
learned that he had almost lost his king
dom by means of that strange craze called
the crusade of the Pastoreaux, or Shep-
herds crusade I'm which the farm hands,
pig-boys and goose-girls of all France came
near being led to destruction by a mys-
FERROUS Hungarian.
Returned to Paris with great public re-
Joicings. st. Louis devoted the next ten
years to the interior administration Of his
country and earned the great reputation
and love of all Frenchmen, which still en-
dures to his memory
He was great builder and endower of
religious institutions and seats of learning
and charity. The University of Paris and
the College of the Sorbonne really exist as
powerful corporations only from his time
He gathered together the physicians Of
Paris into the first county medical society.
He founded the first blind asyluno tbs,
Quinze-Vingts, which has a continuous ex-
lstence as blind asylum to the present
day
The farmers of Languedoc complaining
that the crown officers hampered the sell
Ing of their grain, ST. Louis passed a his
toric ordinance. 1t gave permission to all
farmers to sell their produce where thew
pleased, yet it, in time of war such sales
night be dangerous to the public welfare
the local governor was authorized 70 sum.
mon council Of prelates mobiles and good
ciuzens of towns fbourgeois1 to deliberate
This is the first time that plain citizens
the third estate'-were ever Summoned to
temperate regularly with mobiles and clergy
A Church Builder.
He was great builder of churches. the
foundations and historic names of many
OF which remain to the present day How
he built the Sainte-Chapeiie, still visited as
a Gothic Jewel by every tourist to Paris.
every French child knows
The Emperor Baudouin of Constantinople
was having a bad time, harassed by his
Latin enemies Needing cash. he pawned
with venetian bank one of his greatest
treasures, the crown of thorns of our Sa-
ylor Tor the sum of ID, 1874 hyperperes say
Ses.cOo. He could not pay the interest
81. Louis heard Of the operation. He OBJ
tanned the ticket from Baudouin and re-
deemed the crown of thorns. 1t came to
france In state in three boxes, one inside
the other, one wood. one lead. and the other
siVer. Later Baudouin had to make
another raise. He robbed his imperial chs mel
OF piece of the true cross the largest
known, thought to be the piece brought IN
Constantinople by the Empress Helena and
oathS of office.
King Louis took the piece of the true
cross out of pawn, too. And 1t was to
worthily house these priceless relics that he
built the Sainte-Chapelle.
st. Louis deserves to be celebrated for
the great reforms made by him i'm the adj
mfnistration of justice The courage and
nrmness with which he punished Enguer-
tano oe Couey, one OF his most powerful
barons, for murder, when de Coucy was
backed UP by nine-tenths of his peers. has
always been historical After his sentence
another baron, Jean &c Thorote grumbIed.
Now there is nothing to prevent tba
king from hanging US all!''
king ouis called him up and said: Jean.
1 do not hang my barons; but If Won don't
Keep a respectful tongue in your head vo,,
VIII go TO jail like common citizen.'
Codified the Laws.
He codified the laws of France in the COL
lection which after his death bore the name
OF Les Establishments de Saint-I,ouis
But of all his reforms the most str;,sinp
Tor his time was his abolition of judicial
combats and appeals to heaven.
In those days. IL you or / had a lawsuit
over piece of ground, we could fight n
out in the ring, and God would be asked 70
give victory to the honest cause TTo tast
the honest faith of an accused nersor az
even OF witness, he would be made tn nnt
ms ioot on red-hot iron. If he was not
burned oadiy his testimony was good
OF. LOUIS, though the most pious of KINGS
aboiished all this In France
30 wisely did he govern his land that bv
the year 1850 France was so nrosnero,,s
that he felt he could go crusading again
Few of his mobiles or cousin kineIefs wsnta.i
TO 60 Yet he persuaded them ON March
IA, l21O., he made his will and received In
the Church Of st. Denis the Insignia az q
pilgrim, being the only one willing tn do
the ceremony barefooted in sign Of bn.
mility. "o
st. Louis second crusade was more dis
astrous even than his first. 1t landed on
the Tunis coast of Africa, to '.uproot.o as
was said, that bad root of Tunis that had
so often aided the Saracens of Egynt'',
Instead of conquering. the whole army of
crusaders took the dysentery On july "a
st. Louis himself was struck down with
the disease. He felt that he was diving
lie called his two sons. Philippe and Pierre,
to him, and exhorted them, a pious king
and saint to the last. His last words
were rnumbled prayers for the conversion
of the heather.
And now we come to the box of olive
wood covered with blue silk dotted win
white stars. WIN
st. Louis expired August %, 1910. Ar the
very moment he died the fleet of his
brother Charles of Anjou. entered the port
of Tunis, bringing aid to the sick cru
saders. He. with the young son ana heir
of Louis philippe the Bold. at once oct
about preserving the body
They cut 1t In several pieces, and boiled
them in a mixture of wine and water ,,rfil
the flesh could be easily separated from The
bones The body of st. Louis was thus
divided into two parts. the hard parts
(bones) and the soft parts (the resD. phil
ippe the Bold then washed his fathers
bones with the greatest care, enyeloped
them in silk, and deposited them, amid
perfumes, In box for burial in the Church
of ST. Denis, at Paris.
With Sweet Perfumes.
Charles of Anjou. King of Naples and