2-888-690 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Jubilee of St. Sang, at Bruges - the Benediction at the Cathedral, 1850. Religious festival in Belgium to honour of the relic of of the Holy Blood. 'The bells and chimes rang out unceasingly...The people, dressed in their holiday clothes, promenaded the streets...The history of the relic of St. Sang dates from the year 1150...Thierry of Alsace, Count of Flanders, brought from Jerusalem some of the blood of the Saviour, which, according to tradition, had been obtained by Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea...[Pope Clement V asserted that] "This blood becomes liquid every Friday, ordinarily towards six o'clock, whilst, on the other days of the week, the same blood is thick, coagulated, and, as it were, petrified." Unfortunately for the story, this miracle has not been performed in our time; it has ceased since April 13, 1310...'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.