The three saints Mary Magdalene, Mary Salome and Mary Jacobe, whose relics
are the focus of the devotions of pilgrims, are believed to be the women who
were the first witnesses to the empty tomb at the resurrection of Jesus. After
the Crucifixion of Jesus, Mary Salome, Mary Jacobe, and Mary Magdalene were
said to set sail from Alexandria, Egypt with their uncle Joseph of Arimathea.
According to a longstanding French legend, they either sailed to or were cast
adrift - arriving off the coast of what is now France, at "a sort of
fortress named Oppidum-Râ". The location became known as
Nôtre-Dame-de-Ratis (Our Lady of
