{"id":6795,"date":"2026-01-12T17:27:59","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T16:27:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.abbayedesolesmes.fr\/our-history\/the-holy-thorn\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T16:48:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T14:48:19","slug":"the-holy-thorn","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.abbayedesolesmes.fr\/en\/our-history\/the-holy-thorn\/","title":{"rendered":"The Holy Thorn"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-page\" data-elementor-id=\"6795\" class=\"elementor elementor-6795 elementor-3965\" data-elementor-post-type=\"page\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-b0d793f e-con-full e-flex e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"b0d793f\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;gradient&quot;}\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-f3534df e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"f3534df\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4592dac elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"4592dac\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">The Holy Thorn<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-51eacb0 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"51eacb0\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Tradition has it that, on his return from the First Crusade, a certain Raoul (or Rodolphe), of the family of the Lords of Sabl\u00e9, donated to our monastery\u2014founded by his ancestor Geoffroy\u2014a thorn from the crown placed upon Christ\u2019s head at the time of his Passion. This relic, the Holy Thorn, was carefully preserved by the monks over the centuries, and the custom arose of venerating it on Easter Monday. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-efedecb e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"efedecb\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-e0edffe e-con-full e-grid e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"e0edffe\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2574e33 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"2574e33\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>In 1496, the monks decided to erect a monumental ensemble in the south transept of their church depicting the Entombment of Christ, in order to showcase the relic on the day of its solemn display. In modern times, popular devotion to the Holy Thorn has not waned, and people have continued to attribute graces and miracles to it. Thus, when the French Revolution drove out the monks, three faithful parishioners from Solesmes stepped forward to preserve the relic, hide it and entrust it to a clandestine priest.  <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-b3fcb4a elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"b3fcb4a\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"683\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abbayedesolesmes.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sainte-epine-2-solesmes-asps-683x1024.webp\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-6794\" alt=\"Sainte-Epine-2-Solesmes-ASPS\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.abbayedesolesmes.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sainte-epine-2-solesmes-asps-683x1024.webp 683w, https:\/\/www.abbayedesolesmes.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sainte-epine-2-solesmes-asps-200x300.webp 200w, https:\/\/www.abbayedesolesmes.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sainte-epine-2-solesmes-asps-768x1152.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.abbayedesolesmes.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sainte-epine-2-solesmes-asps-1024x1536.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.abbayedesolesmes.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sainte-epine-2-solesmes-asps-1366x2048.webp 1366w, https:\/\/www.abbayedesolesmes.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sainte-epine-2-solesmes-asps-600x900.webp 600w, https:\/\/www.abbayedesolesmes.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sainte-epine-2-solesmes-asps-scaled.webp 1334w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7695647 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"7695647\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-addbd1a e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"addbd1a\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-607c43f e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"607c43f\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1a1872f e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"1a1872f\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-bf3cf83 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"bf3cf83\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-53cb07d e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"53cb07d\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tradition has it that, on his return from the First Crusade, a certain Raoul (or Rodolphe), of the family of the Lords of Sabl\u00e9, donated to our monastery\u2014founded by his ancestor Geoffroy\u2014a thorn from the crown placed upon Christ\u2019s head at the time of his Passion. This relic, the Holy Thorn, was carefully preserved by [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":6789,"menu_order":18,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6795","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Solesmes Holy Thorn relic<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Holy Thorn relic of Solesmes, given by a lord of Sabl\u00e9 on his return from the Crusades, has been venerated on Easter Monday since the Middle Ages.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.abbayedesolesmes.fr\/en\/our-history\/the-holy-thorn\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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