Stone Pine. _Pinus Pinea._
Dedicated to _St. Philogonius_.
~December 21.~
_St. Thomas_, the Apostle. _St. Edburge._
~St. Thomas.~
This apostle is in the church of England calendar and almanacs. He is
affirmed to have travelled and promulgated christianity among the
Parthians, Medes, Persians, and Carmenians, and to have been the apostle
of the Indies; where he effected numerous conversions, and by his
preaching raised the indignation of the Bramins, who instigated the
people against him till they threw stones and darts at him, and ended
his life by running him through the body with a lance.
* * * * *
It is said that the body of the apostle was carried to the city of
Edessa. On the discovery of Malabar, by the Portuguese, they found there
the Nestorian christians of St. Thomas, whom they treated as heretics,
and held a council, which passed decrees for their purgation. Yet many
of the Malabarians still maintain the Nestorian doctrines and
ceremonies, and refuse to acknowledge the authority of the pope.
* * * * *
Ribadeneira pretends that on the eve of Christmas, in the church of St.
Thomas at Malabar, a stone cross commences to shed blood as soon as the
Jesuits begin to say mass, “and not before.” He says, “The holy cross
also begins, by little and little, to change its natural colour, which
is white, turning into yellow, and afterwards into black, and from black
into azure colour, until the sacrifice of the mass being ended, it
returns to its natural colour: and that which augments both admiration
and devotion is, that, as the holy cross changes its colours, it distils
certain little drops of blood, and by little and little they grow
thicker, until they fall in so great abundance that the clothes with
which they wipe it are dyed with the same blood: and if any year this
miracle fail, it is held as a certain sign of great calamity that is to
come upon them, as experience has shown them.” Perhaps it is further
miraculous, that in a country where there is liberty of thought and
speech, and a free press, no stone cross will do the like.