OUR LIFE IN CHALABRE: An American Expat in the South of France

WE HAVE FOUND THE SPEAR OF DESTINY (February 2009) The Spear of Destiny (a.k.a The Holy Spear, Holy Lance, Lance of Longinus, Spear of Longinus or Spear of Christ) is the name given to the lance that pierced Jesus's side in John's account of the crucifixion of Jesus. There have been many relics that are claimed to be the Holy Lance, or parts of it... Wikipedia entry... In 1240, one of the alleged lances (or more accurately its point) was reportedly sold by Baldwin II of Constantinople (as well as the Crown of Thorns and a fragment of the True Cross) for 135,000 livres to Louis IX (aka Saint Louis) of France whose father had headed the crusades against the Cathars in our region in the late 1220s. During the recent conversion of our attic, we found an old lance in the ewes; no one knows what it was doing there. Some folks believe it was used to hunt boars prior to the early 1900s. But we are convinced that it is in fact the Spear of Destiny taken by Louis IX during one of his visits to the region, and mistakenly forgotten in Chalabre. SAints are notoriously forgetful. In any event, we now have our own relic!