Jacques le Saige, a silk merchant of Douai, came to Cyprus in 1518 on his way to Jerusalem; He looked for the church of Scalzi, which from the reference must be the Augustinian church of the Virgin Mary:
Near the convent is a great space of garden ground watered from a well. A horse turns a big wheel and many earthen pots are bound on this wheel which pour out a wonderful quantity of water and there are many small pipes in the garden by which the water is distributed. There is a great plenty of fruit-bearing trees, mostly pomegranates, and under the trees the ground is all full of gourds, melons cucumbers and other good things. I came to the convent which is small, as well as the church, where we were shown the body, which is still entire, of a saint called Johan de Montifort, which works miracles and cures fevers.
The 'What I saw...' series is made possible with the support of OPAP Cyprus and the Active Citizens Fund.
