In 1862, at a time when Napoleon III found himself facing anticlerical opposition, the bishop of Chartres sought to bring together Catholics certainly in his cathedral but also in the countryside. He has in his possession a relic of Saint James and decides to offer it to the Saint-Jacques church in Montlandon. Where does he get it from? Is it one of the two relics existing in Chartres before the Revolution, one attested at the Saint-André church in the 15th century, the other at the Hôtel-Dieu in the following century? The mystery remains.
The same year, the parish priest, Father Joly, wrote a 28-page brochure entitled Historical notice on Saint James the Greater, his origin, his vocation, his apostolate, his death, his translation and his miracles followed by some reflections on the founding of a pilgrimage to Montlandon, printed in Chartres by the printer Garnier, which he sold for the benefit of his church, with the approval of his bishop. This attempt to found a pilgrimage was unsuccessful. The reliquary is still at the back of the church but could do with some serious cleaning. The church of Montlandon could today once again become a small local sanctuary, within walking distance of former pilgrims from Compostela or of those who will never go as far as Galicia. The same year, the parish priest, Father Joly, wrote a 28-page brochure entitled Historical notice on Saint James the Greater, his origin, his vocation, his apostolate, his death, his translation and his miracles followed by some reflections on the founding of a pilgrimage to Montlandon, printed in Chartres by the printer Garnier, which he sold for the benefit of his church, with the approval of his bishop. This attempt to found a pilgrimage was unsuccessful. The reliquary is still at the back of the church but could do with some serious cleaning.