Lace has always seemed so extraordinary to those who discovered and wore it that they sought to give its existence a divine origin. Legends transmitted in Alençon and elsewhere (Le Puy or Bruges) tell that the Virgin appeared in a dream to the workers in charge of dressing her statue. She revealed to them the secret of a new fabric, later baptized lace, made of crossed and intertwined threads to form networks and ornaments. The lacemakers have never forgotten this holy patronage, making lace the way they said their prayers, in the cult of the one who was reputed to have inspired it. Many convents have also become important lace-making centers contributing to giving the manufacture of lace its religious and sacred aspect.