C.J. Adrien in the Crypt of Saint Philbert

Above is author C.J. Adrien examining one of the holy relics of the order of Saint Philbert on the island of Noirmoutier. Inside the chest is a vertebrae of the saint who originally founded the monastery of Saint Philbert in the 7th century. During the Viking Age, the monastery was pillaged repeatedly until it was definitively abandoned in the 830′s despite efforts in the 820′s to restore a stable place of worship. The relics were several times thought lost, but eventually recovered and preserved. Some parts still reside in the crypt of the monastery Saint Philbert de Grand Lieu where the monks retreated during the viking age. During the middle ages several institutions carried the name of Saint Philbert, and the relics were divided equally among them, hence why the church on the island only has a vertebrae. The order of Saint Philbert at the beginning of the Viking Age is a significant player in C.J. Adrien’s novel, “The Line of His People”.