Bishop Aubert of Avranches wished to endow his church at the Mont with relics from the shrine of Saint Michael at Monte Gargano in southern Italy. He then sent three of his chaplains who were well received by the local abbot. The latter presented them with a fragment of the red cloak placed by Saint Michael on the altar of the sanctuary, as well as a fragment of the rock on which the archangel appeared to the monks. These relics have forever united the two Michaelite shrines in a permanent bond of charity. In the 11th century, Mont-Saint-Michel became one of the greatest places of Christian pilgrimage.