Curiosities of Christian History

EDGE ABOUT TH

apart, and showed him an altar; and above the altar, in the opening heavens, and in a glory of light, he beheld a beautiful Virgin, holding an Infant in her arms; and at the same time a voice was heard saying, "This is the altar of the Son of the Living God." Whereupon Augustus

ggested the "Pollio" of Virgil, which suggested the "Messiah" of Pope. It is mentioned by writers of the third and fourth centuries, and our own divines

UT SIMEON'

ptures translated into Greek, for the purpose of placing them in his far-famed library, he despatched messengers to Eleazar, th

n, "Behold, a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son," he began to misdoubt in his own mind how this could be possible; and after long meditation, fearing to give scandal and offence to the Greeks, he rendered the Hebrew word Virgin by a Greek word which signifies merely a young woman. But when he had written it down, behold, an angel effaced it, and substituted the right word. Thereupon h

He was led by the Spirit to the Temple on the very day when Mary came there to present her Son and to make her offering; and imm

OF THE V

"She was of middle stature; her face oval; her eyes brilliant and of an olive tint; her eyebrows arched and black; her hair was of a pale brown; her complexion fair as wheat. She spoke li

di San Sista," in the Dresden Gallery, c

TRAIT OF THE

e gave the commission to Juanes, who, appreciating the honour, devoutly set himself to work, and put forth all his skill on the composition. The first sketch did not please Alberto; but the Father assisted the artist so effectually with his prayers, that at last the artist's pencil seemed to succeed at every stroke; and in the end the Father, taking credit himself for much of the work, was highly pleased with the happy result. During the work Juanes was one day seated on his scaffold finishing the upper parts of the pi

F JOSEPH AND T

the husband of Mary.' And Zacharias did as the angel commanded, and made proclamation accordingly. And Joseph the carpenter, a righteous man, throwing down his axe and taking his staff in his hand, ran out with the rest. When he appeared before the priest and presented his rod, lo! a dove issued out of it-a dove dazzling white as the snow-and after settling on his head, flew towards heaven. Then the high priest said to him, 'Thou art the person

RE OF THE

xiv. 3, swelled the number to one hundred and forty-four thousand. The former, at least, was the common belief of the Church, though even in the English Liturgy the latter has in some degree been sanctioned by retaining the chapter of Revelation in the "epistle for the day." Even Jeremy Tay

IDING THE VI

andscape have painters delighted to place some of the scenes of the flight into Egypt. On another occasion, they entered a thick forest, a wilderness of trees, in which they must have lost their way had they not been guided by an angel. As the Holy Family entered this forest, all the trees bowed themselves down in reverence to the Infa

G OF THE FLI

ave passed this way, ye shall answer, "Such persons passed this way when I was sowing this corn."' For the Holy Virgin was too wise and too good to save her Son by instructing the man to tell a falsehood. But, behold, a miracle! For, by the power of the Infant Saviour, in the space of a single night the seed sprang up into stalk, blade, and ear, fit for the sickle. And next mo

EE AND THE

n its branches to shade and refresh His mother; hence, in the scene of the flight, a palm tree became a usual accessory. In a picture by

ew before the gates of the city, and was regarded with great veneration as the seat of a god, bowed down its branches at the approach of the Infant Christ. L

AND THE WILD BEA

ound them, she was at first exceedingly afraid; and Jesus, with a glad countenance, looking into her face, said, 'Fear not, mother, because they come not to thy hurt, but they hasten to come to thy service and Mine.' By these sayings He removed fear from her heart. Now, the lions walked along with them, and with the oxen and asses and the beasts of burden which carried necessaries for them, and hurt no one, although they remained with them; but they

AMILY LEAV

ed their timely and just dissolution and dishonour, according to the prophecy of Isaiah: 'Behold, the Lord shall come into Egypt, and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at His presence.' And in the life of the prophet Jeremy, written by Epiphanius, it is reported that 'he told the Egyptian priests that then their idols should be broken in pieces when a Holy Virgin with her Chi

RIST ON LE

, not suffering them to go on any farther, when one of the wealthiest of them called the Child Jesus, and in compassion to the poverty of His parents bestowed a few pence upon Him; and the rest of the company, after the example of the first, did the same. Compassionate here the confusion of the Divine Child, who, blushing, holds His little hands out to receive what the love of poverty has reduced Him to want. Pity likewise His holy parents, who share with Him His confusio

ION OF THE

. The practice of praying to her has been traced as far back as the second century. In the fourth century a sect called the adversaries of Mary rose up and

OF THE V

ed of the Virgin and singing hymns of joy. Jesus presented a crown to His mother; and as the angels sang and rejoiced, her soul left her body, and was received into the arms of her Son, and they ascended into heaven. The Apostles looked up, beseeching her to remember them when she came to glory. The body of the Virgin remained on earth; and when three of the virgins washed and clothed it in a shroud, such a glory of light surrounded it that though they touched they could not see it, and no human eye beheld those sacred limbs unclothed. The Apostles took up the body reverently, and placed it on a bier. John carried the celestial palm before the procession, and Peter sang the 114th Psalm, in which the angels joined. Her soul then rejoined the body, and she ascended to heaven as the angels were blowing their silver trumpets, singing as they touched their golden lutes, and rejoicing as she rose. One disciple, Thomas, was absent; and when he arrived soon after, he would not believe in the resurrection of the Virgin, as he would not formerly b

G THE LETTERS

ccheus, and the schoolmaster wrote out the alphabet for Him, and began with the first Hebrew letter, saying, "Aleph." And Jesus pronounced after him "Aleph." Then the master went on to the second letter, saying, "Beth"; but Jesus said, "Tell me first what means this letter 'Aleph,' and then afterwards I will say 'Beth.'" But the schoolmaster could

RAISED A B

n saw it, they all fled; but Jesus remained on the housetop. And when the parents of the boy that was dead had come, they said to Jesus, 'Truly thou didst make him fall.' And they laid wait for Him. But Jesus, going down from the housetop, stood over the de

JESUS AS

that on each side it was two spans shorter than the proper measure. On seeing this the king was angry with Joseph; and Joseph being greatly afraid of the king, passed the night supperless, and tasted nothing whatever. Then he was asked by the Lord Jesus why he was afraid. 'Because,' said Joseph, 'I have lost all that I have done for two years.' The Lord Jesus said to him, 'Fear not, nor lose heart; but take thou one side of the thr

RAYER AT H

may be accomplished. And as John was the last of the legal priests, so am I the first of the evangelical. Thou therefore, O Father, by the meditation of My prayer, open the heavens, and from thence send Thy Holy Spirit upon this womb of baptism; that as He did untie the womb of the Virgin and thence form Me, so also He would loose this baptismal womb, and so sanctify it unto men, that from thence new men may be begotten, who may become Thy sons, and My brethren, and heirs of Thy kingdom. And what the priests under th

that Catena reported to have been made by our Blessed Saviour immediately before the opening of the heavens at His baptism,

ITS OF

authenticity. It was preserved, and first came to light among the writings of Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, who lived in the eleventh century. Another description is contained in the writings of St. John of Damascus, who flourished in the eighth century, and he professes to have known from earlier writers that Jesus had "eyebrows that joined together, beautiful eyes, curly hair, black beard, a yellow complexion, and long fingers like His mother." Others say that St. Luke was a painter, and Nicodemus was a sculptor, and thus that some portraits must have exi

N OF CHRIST'S PE

ner of diseases. This man is of noble and well-proportioned stature, with a face full of kindness and yet firmness, so that the beholders both love Him and fear Him. His hair is the colour of wine, and golden at the root-straight and without lustre-but from the level of the ears curling and glossy, and divided down the centre, after the fashion of the Nazarites. His forehead is even and smooth; His face without blemish, and enhanced by a comely red; His countenance ingenuous

WRITING A LET

er is known, except that St. John of Damascus, writing in the eighth century, alluding to the story, says that Agbarus also requested Christ's picture as a means of cure. Others say Agbarus sent a painter to take the likeness, but he found an insurmountable difficulty in the light which beamed from the Lord's countenance. Christ, knowing the thoughts of the messenger, took His robe, and, pressing it to His countenance, a perfect portrait was left upon it; and this was sent to K

VEL STYLE O

Being in a place where they had a wide prospect of cultivated land, He bade them observe how God caused the sun to shine and the rain to descend upon the fields and gardens, even of the wicked and ungrateful. And He continued to convey His doctrine to them under rural images, speaking of good trees and corrupt trees-of wolves in sheep's clothing-of grapes not growing upon thorns, nor figs on thistles-of the folly of casting precious things to dogs and swine-of good measure pressed down, and shaken together and running over. Speaking at the same time to the people, many of whom were fishermen and lived upon fish, He says, 'What man of you will give his son a serpent, if he ask a fish?' Therefore, when He said in the same discourse to His di

TENCE O

is neck; and in memory of that the priests for many ages wore a stole about theirs. But th

ified; and therefore it was in some old figures we see our Blessed Lord described with a table appendent to the fringe of His garment, set full of nails and pointed iron, for so sometimes they affl

PPEARING

out of report; for there is nothing of it in our Greek copies. The words are these: "When the Lord had given the linen in which He was wrapped to the servant of the high priest, He went and appeared unto James. For James had vowed, after he received the Lord

ion of it by St. Paul puts it between the appearance which He made to the fi

US FORMS

ame to be held in high honour. The precise figure of the cross, however, is somewhat doubtful, and various forms have b

nger than the other three. The Cross of the Baptist has also a smaller scroll attached in like manner. The Patriarchal Cross, or Cross of the Holy Sepulchre, was a Greek Cross brought from the East by the Crusaders, also called the Archbishop's Cross and the Cross of Lorraine, and it has two transverse bars, one shorter and above the other. The Papal Cross is like the last, but has three transverse bars. The Greek Cr

ERY OF THE

ses, and also the nails used and the label or superscription. A difficulty then arose as to which of the three was the cross on which the Saviour was hung. To solve this doubt, Bishop Macarius suggested that the three crosses should be carried and shown to a sick and dying lady. Two of the crosses having produced no effect, the third, on being touched by her, cured the patient at once. St. Helena on this was delighted, and built a church on the spot where the cross was found, and she carried part of the cross to Constantinople to her son Constantine: another part was sent to the church

LS OF T

with other nails, and so giving a kind of sanctity to those. St. Gregory the Great and other popes sent raspings of the chains of St. Peter as relics in the same way. As to the true nails of the cross, it was said St. Helena threw one into the Adriatic Sea to allay a violent stor

T THE CRU

them; and one of these would have maltreated and plundered them, but his comrade interfered and said, "Suffer them, I beseech thee, to go in peace, and I will give thee forty groats, and likewise my girdle," which offer being a

adise. The scene of this encounter with the robbers, near Ramla, is still pointed out to travellers, and still in evil repute as the haunt of banditti. The crusaders visited th

O PIERCED THE

rs had been weak, was healed. He repented, was baptised, and was for twenty-eight years an ardent missionary. He was then ordered to sacrifice to the false gods, and on refusal said he longed to become a martyr, and told the governor, who was blind, that he would recover his sight only after putting him to death. Accordingly, L

ND OF TH

b. He had not courage to remember his message; but the angel read his thoughts, and told him that the time of pardon had not yet come, and that four thousand years must roll on before the Redeemer would open the gate to Adam. Nevertheless, as a token of future pardon, he allowed Seth a glimpse of the interior of Paradise, and of the mighty tree on which redemption was to be won. The cherub gave Seth three seeds of this tree, which were to be placed in the mou

IONS OF

of Albert Dürer, to execute seven sculptures for stone pillars to be erected in the city of Nuremberg. The fourteen stations afterwards came to be entitled as follows: (1) Jesus is condemned; (2) Jesus takes the cross; (3) Jesus falls for the first time; (4) Jesus meets His blessed mother; (5) Simon the Cyrenian appe

ORNS, THE SPONG

family, and prelates and princes, met the holy treasure five leagues beyond Sens. The king and his brother were barefoot and in their shirts, and were bathed in tears, and a great procession followed them. It was ultimately lodged in La Sainte Chapelle, the exquisite Holy Chapel at Paris, built for the purpose of receiving it. A part of the cross was also afterwards received and added to the deposit there. The holy sponge used at the Crucifixion was shown at Rome in the church of St. John Lateran tinged with blood. The holy lance was kept at Jerusalem

THE CROWN OF TH

ire could not redeem the crown, Baldwin was anxious to snatch the prize from the Venetians, and to vest it with more honour and emolument in the hands of the most Christian king, Louis IX. of France. The king's ambassadors, two Dominicans, were despatched to Venice to redeem and receive the holy crown, which had escaped the dangers of the sea and the galleys of Vataces. On opening a wooden box, they recognised the seals of the Doge and barons, which were applied on a shrine of silver, and within this shrine the monument of the Passion was enclosed in a golden vase. The reluctant Venetians yielded to justice and power. The Emperor Frederick granted a free passage

CRYPHAL

Milman says these legends can still be traced in some of our Christmas carols. One of these apocryphal gospels is called the "Protevangelion, or Gospel of James," who was one of the sons of Joseph the carpenter, and it records incidents of the childhood of Jesus. The existence of this gospel is traced to the fourth century. Another is the "Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, or of the Infancy of Mary and of Jesus," supposed to be written in the fifth century. Another is the "Gospel of the Nativity of Mary." This was fathered upon Jerome, and supposed to be written in the fifth century, and it was much read in the Middle Ages. Another is the "History of Joseph the Carpenter," supposed to belong to the fourth century. Another is the "Gospel of Thomas

STS IN DIF

Dunaan; one Julian in 529; one Mohammed in 571; another, a Syrian, in 721. In 1138 another in France; in 1157 another in Spain; in 1167 another in Fez. In Arabia, in 1167, another appeared, and was brought before the king, who asked the pretender what sign or miracle he could show in attestation of his power. The man replied, "Cut off my head, and I will return to life again." The king took him at his word, and the head was cut off, but it never was put on again nor li

T BIBLE AND N

high priest at Jerusalem to select skilful elders to make the translation, and a copy was to be deposited in the library at Alexandria. Some think the word "Septuagint" implied that there were seventy translators; others that it only meant that the work was approved by the Alexandrine Sanhedrim. The translation is said to be defective in several passages. The Septuagint came soon to be the standard version, as Hebrew had become almost an unknown language even to the Jews of Palestine. The dates and order of the Gospels have also given ri

RSIONS OF

1300. The first entire Bible in English was the work of Nicholas de Hereford and John Wycliffe, about 1380. Tyndale's New Testament was printed in English about 1525, and he died in 1537. Coverdale's Bible in the English language was published in 1535. The Genevan Version, published in English at Geneva in 1560, by its singular rendering of