Not the least famous, not the least fascinating of these innumerable
Madonnas, though candles are no longer burnt to her as they were of
yore, is the window--the second in the south aisle of the choir after
leaving the transept--which is known as the Notre-Dame de la belle
Verrière. She is clad in bright vestments of azure, and, like the Virgin
who appeared to the peasant girl at Lourdes, she has about her head an
aureole of blue. Deep tones of red and brown form the background of the
window from which the figure of the Madonna stands out, so that you
might almost believe that she is about to step through into the dark
aisles of the Cathedral that is hers.
This window belongs to the thirteenth century, but it is probably
modelled on an earlier one of which there is mention. Like the three
twelfth-century windows of the west, and especially the southernmost of
these three, it is strikingly Byzantine in character. The Miracle at the
Marriage of Cana and the Temptations of Christ fill the lower part of
the light.
In the case of the remaining windows the evidence of design is less
obvious than in that of the groups with which we have dealt. Much was
evidently left to the caprice of the donors, who usually chose to
represent the lives, the struggles or the martyrdoms of their patron
saints. Thus the episodes of the life of a local priest, S. Laumer, are
recorded in a series of medallions, just as one of his miracles is
related in stone in the south porch. The storied window suggests at once
practically all that we know of him. Some time in the seventh century,
it is said, he kept his father’s sheep near Chartres, but afterwards,
having learned his letters, he was ordained priest and entered a
monastery. But he longed for a life of prayer and solitude, and fled to
the forest where he hoped none would follow him. It was vain; disciples,
hearing of his sanctity and the miracles he wrought, flocked to him.
Again he fled and settled in the woods near Dreux. But his cell of green
leaves and wattles soon became the centre of a colony of monks, so that
he was fain to recognise the call of God and to build a monastery there.
Of the miracles recorded as wrought by him there is one characteristic
of his gentle individuality. During the night some robbers stole a cow
belonging to the monks. The brethren were in despair. The robbers,
however, lost their way in the tangled forest. They wandered all night
and all next day, unable to discover the road. At last, as evening
settled in, they saw the darkness of the forest lighten, and, still
driving the cow, they came out upon the clearing of the monastery. S.
Laumer himself stood before them. They fell at his feet, asking his
pardon and imploring him to direct them aright. He raised them and said,
‘I thank you, kind friends, for finding and bringing back to me my
strayed cow. You must be very tired and hungry. Follow me.’ They
followed him into his hut and he set before them such food and drink as
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