There were two famous places of pilgrimage in North Syria in Crusading times. One of these was Tortosa, on the sea-coast, which the good Joynville visited, and where was one of the pictures of the Virgin painted by St. Luke. At that time it appears that the Mother of God was absent in Egypt helping St. Louis (who sadly needed help), a fact which the pious knight states to have been immediately reported to the Legate.
The other shrine was that of Notre Dame de la Roche at Sardenay--the present Jacobite convent of Saidnaiya (“Our Lady”), north of Damascus. This was venerated by Christians and Moslems alike. The Jacobites were friendly to the Normans, and were then more numerous than they now are. They preserved the old rite of circumcision, which they received from the early Ebionite Christians, who dwelt in the Hauran in the second century A.D. They preserved also the old Syriac language--almost the same spoken in Palestine in the time of Christ--and their old alphabet, a late form of the Palmyrene. In our own time the Maronite churches of Lebanon still contain curious pictures dating back to the Middle Ages, with Syriac inscriptions; but the Syriac language is said only to survive in three villages not far from Saidnaiya.
The miraculous image at this place had a long legendary history. It was said to be partly of wood, partly of flesh, and from its breasts distilled a sacred oil which was used to light the lamps in the church, and carried away to France, where it was treasured in many abbeys. In the present age the image is not shown to the faithful, as it is said that any who look upon it would be struck dead; but the saint is still believed to be able to grant offspring to her adorers, and it is reported that her chapel is filled with indecent pictures. She is, in short, a Lucina, who no doubt traces her descent from the old Ashtoreth of Syria, adored by Hittites and Phœnicians alike.
It might be thought that miraculous pictures and images had ceased to work wonders in the nineteenth century, but the Roman sect has no monopoly of such marvels, nor is human credulity limited to any period of time. Colonel Churchill, in 1853, was still able to report the existence of a miraculous sweating picture of St. George in the Maronite church at Heitât, producing a liquid eagerly purchased by Christians; and many a survival of early Paganism may yet be traced among the priest-ridden peasantry of the Lebanon.