Egeria, a high-status Roman lady and author, visited Edessa in 384 on her way to Jerusalem; she saw a "martyrium" of Thomas the Apostle and the text of the "Letter of Jesus" inscribed on the city walls, said to protect the city. She saw a longer version of the "Letters" than she was previously familiar with, and was assured that the holy words had repelled a Persian assault on the city. According to the "Chronicle of Edessa", in 394 the relics of Saint Thomas were translated into the great Church of St Thomas and in 442 they were encased in a silver casket. According to the late-6th-century Frankish hagiographer and bishop Gregory of Tours, the relics had themselves been brought from India, while in Edessa an annual fair (and alleviation of customs duties) was held at the church in July in the saint's honour (the feast of St Thomas was observed on 3 July) during which, Gregory alleged, water would appear in shallow wells and flies disappeared. According to Joshua the Stylite, a shrine to some martyred saints was built outside the city walls in 346 or 347.