“The cross is steady while the world turns”

 “The cross is steady while the world turns.”

~ motto since the Middle Ages of the Carthusian monks who make Chartreuse at the Grande Chartreuse monastery in the French Alps

According to legend, in 1605, the order’s monastery near Paris acquired an alchemist’s historical manuscript for a superbly concocted medicinal tonic of about 130 herbs and crops: the “Elixir of Long Life.”

The monks studied and slowly refined the recipe till by 1764 that they had a potent (138-proof) Elixir Végétal. In 1840, they formulated a milder, 55 p.c alcohol model, Green Chartreuse, and a sweeter, 40 p.c Yellow Chartreuse, which have become cocktail components The Elixir continues to be offered medicinally for illnesses akin to indigestion, sore throat and nausea.