of St. Denis in 1123.
This was due to his noble character, his genius for diplomacy
and his artistic talent. He was minister to Louis VI., and afterwards
to Louis VII., and during the second Crusade, he was made Regent
for the kingdom. Suger was known, after this, as the Father of his
Country, for he was a courageous counsellor, firm and convincing
in argument, so that the king had really been guided by his advice.
While he was making laws and instigating crusades, he was also
directing craft shops and propagating the arts in connection with
the life of the Church. St. Bernard denounced him, as encouraging
too luxurious a ritual; Suger made a characteristic reply: "If
the ancient law... ordained that vessels and cups of gold should
be used for libations, and to receive the blood of rams,... how
much rather should we devote gold, precious stones, and the rarest
of materials, to those vessels which are destined to contain the
blood of Our Lord."

Suger ordered and himself made most beautiful appointments for the
sanctuary, and when any vessel already owned by the Abbey was of
costly material, and yet unsuitable in style, he had it remodelled.
An interesting instance of this is a certain antique vase of red
porphyry. There was nothing ecclesiastical about this vase; it was
a plain straight Greek jar, with two handles at the sides. Suger
treated it as the body of an eagle, making the head and neck to
surmount it, and the claw feet for it to stand on, together with
its soaring wings, of solid gold, and it thus became transformed
into a magnificent reliquary in the form of the king of birds. The
inscription on this Ampula of Suger is: "As it is our duty to present
unto God oblations of gems and gold, I, Suger, offer this vase unto
the Lord."

Suger stood always for the ideal in art and character. He had the
courage of his convictions in spite of the fulminations of St.
Bernard. Instead of using the enormous sums of money at his disposal
for importing Byzantine workmen, he preferred to use his funds
and his own influence in developing a native French school of
artificers.

It is interesting to discover that Suger, among his many adaptations
and restorations at St. Denis, incorporated some of the works of
St. Eloi into his own compositions. For instance, he took an ivory
pulpit, and remodelled it with the addition of copper animals.
Abbots of St. Denis made beautiful offerings to the church. One of
them, Abbot Matthiew de