Читать книгу All That Glitters - Martine Desjardins - Страница 16

X

HE WHO WOULD SEEK to formulate a scientific theory of chance would do well to admit, as a first postulate, that coincidences may be predicted, and that they never occur singly.

So it was that the “red cross” whose name this tiny hamlet bore stood not only as the symbol adopted by all humanitarian societies since the adoption of the first Geneva Convention in 1864. All good Catholics know it is emblazoned on the shield of Saint George, patron of soldiers, and on the banner of Saint Ursula, protectress of textile workers. One legend holds that the Merovingian kings, from Clovis to Childeric, were born with a birthmark in the shape of a cross on their left shoulder. The distinctive mark may have been transmitted to their most illustrious descendant, Godefroy de Bouillon, the great hero of the First Crusade. Pilgrims, crusaders and the Hospitallers of Saint John—all adopted the red cross as a distinguishing mark, but none wore it quite so fervently as the Knights Templar. The Templar cross-crosslets were sewn upon their white cloaks, their tunics, their coats of arms, and were embroidered upon their every undergarment.