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Ecclesiastical: Erasmus

When the pilgrims were assembled before the shrine, the prior, or some other great officer of the monastery, came forward, and with a white wand touched the several jewels, naming the giver of each. A list of the precious stones is given in Nichols' "Erasmus," from the inventory of 1315. A golden likeness of the head of this saint was also exhibited, richly studded with jewels. Erasmus, in his "Colloquy upon Pilgrimages," speaks of the famous shrine at Walsingham as "the seat of the gods, so bright and shining as it is all over with jewels, gold, and silver."