# Chapter L explained — The Innocents Abroad > Chapter companion for The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain. ## What happens The narrator reflects on the Catholic Church's preservation of holy sites in Nazareth, particularly the Grotto of the Annunciation, and critiques the authenticity of such relics while acknowledging their value for devotion. He describes the Fountain of the Virgin, the local girls, and the pilgrims' obsession with collecting specimens. The chapter also includes a lengthy critique of Wm. C. Grimes's book 'Nomadic Life in Palestine,' highlighting its theatrical and hypocritical tone. ## Themes in this chapter ### Religion and Hypocrisy The narrator critiques the Catholic Church's creation of 'bogus grottoes' and the pilgrims' hypocritical behavior, such as their lust for specimens and Grimes's theatrical piety. ### Satire of Tourism The narrator satirizes the pilgrims' obsession with collecting specimens and the commercialized veneration of relics, as well as Grimes's exaggerated travel narratives. ### The Past vs. the Present The contrast between the sacred past of Nazareth and the mundane, commercialized present, where pilgrims break off specimens and priests charge for viewing relics. ## Character check-ins ### The Narrator Reflects on the authenticity of holy sites and critiques pilgrims' behavior. ### Wm. C. Grimes Author of 'Nomadic Life in Palestine,' criticized for his theatrical and hypocritical descriptions. ### Whitely Mentioned in Grimes's account of the bastinado punishment. ### Young George Implied as part of the pilgrim group, though not directly named in excerpts. ## Key lines > The world owes the Catholics its good will even for the happy rascality of hewing out these bogus grottoes in the rock; for it is infinitely more satisfactory to look at a grotto, where people have faithfully believed for centuries that the Virgin once lived, than to have to imagine a dwelling-place for her somewhere, anywhere, nowhere, loose and at large all over this town of Nazareth. The narrator acknowledges that while the Catholic Church may have fabricated these grottoes, it is still better to have a specific place to focus one's devotion than to have to imagine the Virgin's home without any concrete location. _The narrator defends the Catholic practice of marking holy sites, despite their dubious authenticity._ > Our pilgrims broke off specimens. We visited, also, a new chapel, in the midst of the town, which is built around a boulder some twelve feet long by four feet thick; the priests discovered, a few years ago, that the disciples had sat upon this rock to rest, once, when they had walked up from Capernaum. They hastened to preserve the relic. Relics are very good property. The narrator observes that the pilgrims eagerly break off pieces of holy sites as souvenirs, and that the priests quickly capitalize on any new discovery by turning it into a relic that travelers will pay to see. _Satire of the commercialization of religious relics and the pilgrims' behavior._ > I saw the little recess from which the angel stepped, but could not fill its void. The angels that I know are creatures of unstable fancy—they will not fit in niches of substantial stone. Imagination labors best in distant fields. The narrator finds it difficult to imagine the angelic visitation in the actual physical space of the grotto, as his imagination works better when he is far away from the site. _Reflection on the challenge of reconciling spiritual imagination with physical reality._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_innocents_abroad_se/chapters/l - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_innocents_abroad_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_innocents_abroad_se/chapters