RELICS AND SHRINES
"A fouth o' auld knick-knackets,
Rusty airn caps and jinglin' jackets,
Wad haud the Lothians three, in tackets,
A towmond guid;
An' parritch pats, and auld saut backets,
Afore the flood."--BURNS.
"For to that holy wood is consecrate
A virtuous well, about whose flowery banks
The nimble-footed fairies dance their rounds
By the pale moonshine, dipping oftentimes
Their stolen children, so to make them free
From dying flesh and dull mortality."--FLETCHER.
"Ne was ther such another pardoner,
For in his male he hadde a pilwebeer,
Which that he saide was oure lady veyl;
He seide, he hadde a gobet of the seyl
That seynt Peter hadde, whan that he wente
Uppon the see, til Jhesu Crist him pente.
He hadde a cros of latoun ful of stones,
And in a glas he hadde pigges bones.
But with these reliques, whanne that he fond
A poure persoun dwelling uppon lond,
Upon a day he gat him more moneye
Than that the persoun gat in monthes tweye.
And thus with feyned flaterie and japes,
He made the persoun and the people his apes."--CHAUCER.
A wide-spread movement developed in the early church as a result of
which innumerable miracles of healing were credited to the power of
saints, indirectly through the medium of streams and pools of water
which were reputed to have some connection with a particular saint,
or through the efficacy still clinging to the relics of holy persons.
On account of the growth of the belief in demonism in the Christian
church, and the need of supernatural means to counteract diabolic
diseases, saintly relics came into common use for this purpose, and
afterward when demonism was not so thoroughly credited as the cause of
diseases, relics were still considered to hold their power over
physical infirmities. In addition to this, the missionary efforts and
successes of the church had some influence in establishing and
continuing cures by relics and similar means. The missionaries found
that their converts had formerly employed various amulets and charms
for the healing of diseases, and that they continued to have great
faith in them for that purpose. To wean them from their heathen
customs, Christian amulets and charms had to be substituted, or, as
was sometimes the case, the heathen fetich was continued, but with a
Christian significance.
The early Scandinavians carried effigies carved out of gold or silver
as safeguards against disease, or applied those made out of certain
other materials, as the mandragora root or linen or wood, to the
diseased part as a cure of physical infirmities. Some of these images
were carried over into Christianity, for in Charlemagne's time,
headache was frequently cured by following the saintly recommendation
to shape the figure of a head and place it on a cross. Fort tells us
that "The introduction of Christianity among the Teutonic races
offered no hindrance to a perpetuation, under new forms, of those
social observances with which Norse temple idolatry was so intimately
associated. Offering to proselytes an unlimited number of demoniacal
aeons, similar in individuality and prowess to those peopling the
invisible universe, Northern mythology readily united with Christian
demonology."[21]
The relics of the saints came to be the favorite substitute for the
heathen charms. With the acceptance of the demoniacal cause of
disease, exorcism by relics gradually grew in importance until it was
firmly established and a preferred form in the sixth and subsequent
centuries. Down to this time there still existed a feeble recognition
of a possible system adapted to the cure of maladies, so far, perhaps,
as the practice was restricted to municipalities. The rapid
advancement of saintly remedies, consecrated oils, and other puissant
articles of ecclesiastical appliance, enabled and encouraged numerous
churchmen to exercise the AEsculapian art; this, together with the ban
put upon physicians and scientific means, soon gave the church the
monopoly of healing. Perhaps the most thorough attestation of the
contempt into which physicians had fallen, compared with saintly
medicists, is the fact that cures were invariably attempted after
earthly medicine had been exhausted.[22]
Islam, Buddhism, and other religions have their shrines where some
pilgrims are undoubtedly cured, but Christianity seems to have had the
most varied and numerous collection. As early as the latter part of
the fourth century miraculous powers were ascribed to the images of
Jesus and the saints which adorned the walls of most of the churches
of the time, and tales of wonderful cures were related of them. The
intercessions of saints were invoked, and their relics began to work
miracles.[23]
St. Cyril, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and others of the early church
fathers of note maintained that the relics of the saints had great
efficacy in the cure of diseases. St. Augustine tells us: "Besides
many other miracles, that Gamaliel in a dream revealed to a priest
named Lacianus the place where the bones of St. Stephen were buried;
that those bones being thus discovered, were brought to Hippo, the
diocese of which St. Augustine was bishop; that they raised five
persons to life; and that, although only a portion of the miraculous
cures they effected had been registered, the certificates drawn up in
two years in the diocese, and by the orders of the saint, were nearly
seventy. In the adjoining diocese of Calama they were incomparably
more numerous."[24] This great and intellectual man also mentions and
evidently credits the story that some innkeeper of his time put a drug
into cheese which changed travellers who partook of it into domestic
animals, and he further asserts after a personal test that peacock's
flesh will not decay.
St. Ambrose declared that "the precepts of medicine are contrary to
celestial science, watching, and prayer." When the conflict between
St. Ambrose and the Arian Empress Justina was at its height, the
former declared that it had been revealed to him that relics were
buried in a certain spot which he indicated. When the earth was
removed, there was exposed a tomb filled with blood, and containing
two gigantic skeletons with their heads severed from their bodies.
These were pronounced to be the remains of St. Gervasius and St.
Protasius, two martyrs of gigantic physical proportions, who were said
to have been beheaded about three centuries before. To prove beyond
doubt the genuineness of these relics, a blind man was restored to
sight by coming in contact with them, and demoniacs were also cured
thereby. Before being exorcised, however, the demons, who were
supposed to have supernatural and indubitable knowledge, declared that
the relics were genuine; that St. Ambrose was the deadly enemy of
hell; that the doctrine of the Trinity was true; and that those who
rejected it would certainly be damned. To be sure that the testimony
of the demons should have its proper weight in the controversy, on the
following day St. Ambrose delivered an invective against all who
questioned the miracle.[25]
Late researches concerning the Catacombs of Rome have thrown much
light upon the early use of relics. The former opinion of the
Catacombs was that they were used for secret worship by the persecuted
Christians, but now we know that they were burial-places under the
protection of Roman law, with entrances opening on the public roads.
Their chapels and altars were for memorial and communion services.
Great reverence was felt for the bodies of all Christians, so that for
the first seven centuries the bodies were not disturbed, and relics,
in the modern sense of the word, were unknown. People prayed at the
tombs, or if they wished to take something away, they touched the tomb
with a handkerchief, or else they took some oil from the lamps which
marked the tombs. These mementos were regarded as true relics, so that
when the Lombard Queen, Theodelinda, sent the abbot John for relics to
put in her cathedral at Monza, he came back with over seventy little
vials of oil, each with the name of the saint from whose tomb the oil
was procured, and many of them are still preserved.
The oil from altar lamps was of therapeutic value, as St. Chrysostom
tells us in speaking of the superiority of the church over ordinary
houses. "For what is here," he asks, "that is not great and awful?
Thus both this Table [the altar] is far more precious and delightful
than that [any table at home], and this lamp than that; and this they
know, as many as have put away diseases by anointing themselves with
oil in faith and due season." If the body of a saint lay beneath the
altar, the oil was then known as the "Oil of the Saints," and was even
more efficacious for healing. Notice the following quotations on the
subject taken from Dearmer's work.
"Far more common are stories of healing by oil from a
lamp burnt in honor of Christ or the saints. The
following examples are from the East. The wounded hand
of a Saracen was healed by oil from a lamp before the
icon of St. George."
"St. Cyrus and St. John appeared to a person suffering
from gout, and bade him take a little oil in a small
ampulla from the lamp that burnt before the image of
the Saviour, in the great tetrapyle at Alexandria, and
anoint his feet with it."
"Similar stories are found in Western writers. Thus
Nicetius of Lyons, by means of the oil of the lamp
which burnt daily at his sepulchre, restored sight to
the blind, drove demons from bodies possessed, restored
soundness to shrunken limbs," etc.
"An epileptic was cured by oil from the lamp that burnt
night and day at the tomb of St. Severin."
"It was revealed to a blind woman, that oil from the
lamp of St. Genevieve would restore her sight, if the
warden of the church were to anoint her with it. A week
after she brought a blind man, who was healed in the
same manner."[26]
At the time of Gregory of Tours, application was made of sainted
reliquaries as a remedy against the devil and his demons. Gregory
narrates the miraculous efficacy of a small pellet of wax, taken from
the tomb of St. Martin, in extinguishing an incendiary fire started by
his Satanic majesty, which was instigated by malicious envy, because
this omnipotent talisman was in the custody of an ecclesiastic! This
Turonese bishop records many instances of cures being effected at
Martin's tomb. He himself was relieved of severe pains in the head by
touching the disordered spot with the sombre pall of St. Martin's
sepulchre. This remedy was applied on three different occasions with
equal success. Once he was cured of an attack of mortal dysentery by
simply dissolving into a glass of water a pinch of dust scraped from
the tomb of St. Martin and drinking the strange concoction. At another
time, his tongue having become swollen and tumefied, it was restored
to its natural size and condition by licking the railing of the tomb
of this saint. He knew of others who had been equally successful. An
archdeacon, named Leonastes had sight restored to his blind eyes at
the tomb of St. Martin, but unfortunately the fact that he later
applied to an Israelitish physician caused his infirmity to return.
Even a toothache was cured by St. Martin's relics.
The following is an apostrophe to the relics of St. Martin by Bishop
Gregory: "Oh ineffable theriac! ineffable pigment! admirable antidote!
celestial purge! superior to all drugs of the faculty! sweeter than
aromatics! stronger than unguents together; thou cleanest the stomach
like scammony, the lungs like hyssop, thou purgest the head like
pyre-thrig!"[27]
From the end of the fifth century the exercise of the medical art was
almost exclusively appropriated by cloisters and monasteries, whose
occupants boldly vended the miraculous remedial properties of relics,
chrism, baptismal fluids, holy oil, rosy crosses, etc., as of
unquestioned virtue. In these early days living saints seem to have
rivalled dead ones in their power over diseases, but of these we shall
speak in a later chapter.
A renewed interest sprang up when pilgrims began to return from their
journeys to Palestine, bringing with them, as was natural, some
souvenirs of their sojourn. A most interesting quotation from Mackay
reveals the condition of these times. "The first pilgrims to the Holy
Land brought back to Europe thousands of apocryphal relics, in the
purchase of which they had expended all their store. The greatest
favorite was the wood of the true cross, which, like the oil of the
widow, never diminished. It is generally asserted, in the traditions
of the Romish Church, that the Empress Helen, the mother of
Constantine the Great, first discovered the veritable '_true cross_'
in her pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The Emperor Theodosius made a present
of the greater part of it to St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, by whom it
was studded with precious stones and deposited in the principal church
of that city. It was carried away by the Huns, by whom it was burnt,
after they had extracted the valuable jewels it contained. Fragments,
purporting to have been cut from it, were, in the eleventh and twelfth
centuries, to be found in almost every church in Europe, and would, if
collected together in one place, have been almost sufficient to have
built a cathedral. Happy was the sinner who could get a sight of one
of them; happier he who possessed one! To obtain them the greatest
dangers were cheerfully braved. They were thought to preserve from all
evils and to cure the most inveterate diseases. Annual pilgrimages
were made to the shrines that contained them and considerable revenues
collected from the devotees.
"Next in renown were those precious relics, the tears of the Saviour.
By whom and in what manner they were preserved, the pilgrim did not
enquire. Their genuineness was vouched by the Christians of the Holy
Land, and that was sufficient. Tears of the Virgin Mary, and tears of
St. Peter, were also to be had, carefully enclosed in little caskets,
which the pious might wear in their bosoms. After the tears, the next
most precious relics were drops of the blood of Jesus and the martyrs,
and the milk of the Virgin Mary. Hair and toe-nails were also in great
repute, and were sold at extravagant prices. Thousands of pilgrims
annually visited Palestine in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, to
purchase pretended relics for the home market. The majority of them
had no other means of subsistence than the profits thus obtained. Many
a nail, cut from the filthy foot of some unscrupulous ecclesiastic,
was sold at a diamond's price, within six months after its severance
from its parent toe, upon the supposition that it had once belonged to
a saint or an apostle. Peter's toes were uncommonly prolific, for
there were nails enough in Europe, at the time of the Council of
Clermont, to have filled a sack, all of which were devoutly believed
to have grown on the sacred feet of that great apostle. Some of them
are still shown in the cathedral of Aix-la-Chapelle. The pious come
from a distance of a hundred German miles to feast their eyes upon
them."[28]
While some of these relics enumerated by Mackay seem to be such
apparent frauds that none could credit them, they were surpassed in
audacity by one offered for sale at a monastery in Jerusalem. Here
was presented to the prospective buyers one of the fingers of the Holy
Ghost.[29]
In addition to the popular relics already noted, an extensive and
lucrative trade was carried on in iron filings from the chains with
which, it was claimed, Peter and Paul were bound. These filings were
deemed by Pope Gregory I as efficacious in healing as were the bones
of saints or martyrs.[30]
[Illustration: CURE THROUGH THE INTERCESSION OF A HEALING SAINT]
As an example of healing at shrines in early days, I will reproduce
Bede's description of a cure effected at the tomb of St. Cuthbert in
698. "There was in that same monastery a brother whose name was
Bethwegan, who had for a considerable time waited upon the guests of
the house, and is still living, having the testimony of all the
brothers and strangers resorting thither, of being a man of much piety
and religion, and serving the office put upon him only for the sake of
the heavenly reward. This man, having on a certain day washed the
mantels or garments which he used in the hospital, in the sea, was
returning home, when on a sudden about halfway, he was seized with a
sudden distemper in his body, insomuch that he fell down, and having
lain some time, he could scarcely rise again. When at last he got up,
he felt one-half of his body from the head to the foot, struck with
palsy, and with much difficulty he got home with the help of a staff.
The distemper increased by degrees, and as night approached became
still worse, so that when day returned, he could not rise or walk
alone. In this weak condition, a good thought came into his mind,
which was to go to church, the best way he could, to the tomb of the
reverend Father Cuthbert, and there on his knees, to beg of the Divine
Goodness either to be delivered from that disease, if it were for his
good, or if the Divine Providence had ordained him longer to lie under
the same for his punishment, that he might bear the pain with patience
and a composed mind. He did accordingly, and supporting his weak limbs
with a staff, entered the church, and prostrating himself before the
body of the man of God, he with pious earnestness, prayed, that
through his intercession, our Lord might be propitious to him. In the
midst of his prayers he fell as it were, into a stupor, and as he was
afterwards wont to relate, felt a large and broad hand touch his head
where the pain lay, and by that touch all the part of his body which
had been affected with the distemper, was delivered from the weakness,
and restored to health down to his feet. He then awoke, and rose up in
perfect health, and returning thanks to God for his recovery, told the
brothers what had happened to him; and to the joy of them all,
returned the more zealously, as if chastened by his affliction, to
the service which he was wont before so carefully to perform. The very
garments which had been on Cuthbert's body, dedicated to God, either
while living, or after he was dead, were not exempt from the virtue of
performing cures, as may be seen in the book of his life and miracles,
by such as shall read it."[31] It should be noticed that in this
account God alone seemed to have been the healer.
Nearly every country had its long list of saints, each with his
special power over some organ or disease. This saintly power, however,
was not applied directly, but through their relics or through shrines
consecrated to them. Melton, in his _Astrologaster_, says: "The saints
of the Romanists have usurped the place of the zodiacal constellations
in their governance of the parts of man's body, and that 'for every
limbe they have a saint.' Thus St. Otilia keepes the head instead of
Aries; St. Blasius is appointed to governe the necke instead of
Taurus; St. Lawrence keepes the backe and shoulders instead of Gemini,
Cancer, and Leo; St. Erasmus rules the belly with the entrayles, in
the place of Libra and Scorpius; in the stead of Sagittarius,
Capricornus, Aquarius, and Pisces, the holy church of Rome hath
elected St. Burgarde, St. Rochus, St. Quirinus, St. John, and many
others, which governe the thighes, feet, shinnes, and knees."
But the influence of the saints is distributed more minutely, as
_e. g._, "_Right Hand_: the top joint of the thumb is dedicated to God,
the second joint to the Virgin; the top joint of the fore-finger to
St. Barnabas, the second joint to St. John, and the third to St. Paul;
the top joint of the second finger to Simon Cleophas, the second joint
to Tathideo, the third to Joseph; the top joint of the third finger to
Zaccheus, the second to Stephen, the third to the evangelist Luke; the
top joint of the little finger to Leatus, the second to Mark, the
third to Nicodemus." Thus the body was cared for.
Pettigrew makes the following enumeration which shows the division of
labor among the saints in the Middle Ages. In this, not the different
portions of the body but the various diseases and infirmities are
distributed.
"The following list, though doubtless very imperfect, will yet serve to
show how general was the appropriation of particular diseases to the
Roman Catholic saints:
St. Agatha, against sore breasts.
St. Agnan and St. Tignan, against scald head.
St. Anthony, against inflammations.
St. Apollonia, against toothache.
St. Avertin, against lunacy.
St. Benedict, against the stone, and also for poisons.
St. Blaise, against the quinsey, bones sticking in the throat, etc.
St. Christopher and St. Mark, against sudden death.
St. Clara, against sore eyes.
St. Erasmus, against the colic.
St. Eutrope, against dropsy.
St. Genow and St. Maur, against the gout.
St. Germanus, against diseases of children.
St. Giles and St. Hyacinth, against sterility.
St. Herbert, against hydrophobia.
St. Job and St. Fiage, against syphilis.
St. John, against epilepsy and poison.
St. Lawrence, against diseases of the back and shoulders.
St. Liberius, against the stone and fistula.
St. Maine, against the scab.
St. Margaret and St. Edine, against danger in parturition.
St. Martin, against the itch.
St. Marus, against palsy and convulsions.
St. Otilia and St. Juliana, against sore eyes and
the headache.
St. Pernel, against the ague.
St. Petronilla, St. Apollonia, and St. Lucy, against the toothache.
----, and St. Genevieve, against fevers.
St. Phaire, against hemorrhoids.
St. Quintan, against coughs.
St. Rochus, and St. Sebastian, against the plague.
St. Romanus, against demoniacal possession.
St. Ruffin, against madness.
St. Sigismund, against fevers and agues.
St. Valentine, against epilepsy.
St. Venise, against chlorosis.
St. Vitus, against madness and poisons.
St. Wallia and St. Wallery, against the stone.
St. Wolfgang, against lameness."[32]
Wax from the tapers illuminating the altar which enclosed St. Gall's
mortal remains was an instantaneous cure for toothache, diseased eyes,
and total deafness; a vase used by the martyred Willabrod for bathing
thrice a year, still holding its partially solidified water by divine
invocation after her death, had great remedial energy in diverse
ailments; the water in which the ring of St. Remigius was immersed
cured certain obstinate fevers; and the wine in which the bones of the
saints were washed restored imbeciles to instant health. In the
thirteenth century, hairs of saints, especially of St. Boniface, were
used as a purge, and a single hair from the beard of St. Vincent,
placed about the neck of an idiot, restored normal mental operations.
With the water in which St. Sulpicius washed her hands aggravated
infirmities were instantly cured; and in the twelfth century, an
invalid being advised in a dream to drink the water in which St.
Bernard washed his hands, the Abbot of Clairvaux went to him, gave him
the wash water, and healed an incurable disease. Flowers reposing on
the tomb of a saint, when steeped in water, were supposed to be
especially efficacious in various diseases, and those blooming in
aromatic beauty at the tomb of St. Bernard instantly cured grievous
sicknesses.[33] The belt of St. Guthlac, and the belt of St. Thomas
of Lancaster, were sovereign remedies for the headache, whilst the
penknife and boots of Archbishop Becket, and a piece of his shirt,
were found most admirably to aid parturition. Fragments of the veil of
the saintess Coleta, and the use of her well-worn cloak, immediately
cured a terrible luxation, and a cataleptic patient was restored to
sanity by drinking from her cup.
To show how thoroughly the idea of the efficacy of these relics must
have been indued in the thought of the times, White quotes the
following: "Two lazy beggars, one blind, the other lame, try to avoid
the relics of St. Martin, borne about in procession, so that they may
not be healed and lose their claim to alms. The blind man takes the
lame man on his shoulders to guide him, but they are caught in the
crowd and healed against their will." He also says: "Even as late as
1784 we find certain authorities in Bavaria ordering that anyone
bitten by a mad dog shall at once put up prayers at the shrine of St.
Hubert, and not waste his time in any attempts at medical or surgical
cure."[34]
In addition to what Dr. White says here about the treatment for
threatened hydrophobia in the eighteenth century, we find a curious
mixture of science and superstition in the nineteenth century in
connection with the same trouble. Early in this century physicians
discovered that the most effectual remedy against the bite of a rabid
animal was the cauterization of the wound with a red-hot iron. In
Tuscany, however, the iron which they heated was one of the nails of
the true cross, and in the French provinces it was the key of St.
Hubert. This, though, was only to be used in the hands of those who
could trace their genealogy to this noble saint. At the abbey of St.
Hubert, in the diocese of Liege, the intercession of the saint still
continued to be sufficient to effect a cure, provided it was seconded
by some religious ceremonies, and a diet which would reassure the
patient.
After the discovery of the "true cross," portions of this relic were
much used for aid in any emergency. In addition to sanitary and
healing powers, fragments suspended to a tree manifested the proper
location of sacred edifices. St. Magnus, who seems to have carried
pieces around with him, completely vanquished demons who frequented a
locality selected for a chapel. Eyesight was restored to a humble
merchant seeking the blood-stained marks upon the chapel of this same
St. Magnus. The blind man was feeling his uncertain way to the place,
where these discolorations reappeared more distinctly after each
washing with heavy layers of lime.
St. Louis, almost in the agonies of earthly dissolution, with rigid
body, rigorous limbs, and fluctuating spirit, was brought to full
health by the application to his moribund body of a piece of the true
cross, about the year 1244; and later in the century miracles took
place at his tomb. M. Littre, in his _Fragment de Medecine
Retrospective_, describes seven miracles which occurred at his tomb,
some of which cures, however, were very gradual. We are also told that
when a humble hunchback bowed the knee in adoration at the tomb of St.
Andreas, his irresistible faith instantly released him from his
unnatural rotundity. In 1243 a Ferrara writer was at Padua, and while
attending vespers at the tomb where the sainted body of the Minorite
Anthony reposed, he affirms that he saw a person who had been mute
from his birth recover his voice and speak audibly.
Saintly remedies were used to cure hemorrhages, readjust luxations,
unite fractures, remove calculi, moderate the agonizing pangs of
parturition, restore vision to the blind, and hearing to the deaf--in
fact, in an endeavor to perform cures which modern medicine and
surgery are counting among their greatest and most recent triumphs.
Some things even more strange were attempted: paradoxical as it may
seem, they were used to cover up crime. Fort tells us that among nuns
and consecrated women in convents, some erring sisters applied the
preventive talismanic influence of a sacred shirt or girdle to
suppress the manifestation of conventual irregularities of a sexual
character. Animals as well as human beings were treated for sickness,
and relics were used to free captive birds and animals. At a banquet,
a costly urn was shattered by ecclesiastics, and through the power of
Odilo it was restored to its original integrity. At the tombs of both
St. Severin and St. Gall, when the light had been quenched, miraculous
fire burst forth to renew the splendor.[35]
The allotment of certain diseases to certain saints did not end with
the Middle Ages. I have in my hand a little manual entitled: _De
l'Invocation miraculeuse des Saints dans les maladies et les besoins
particuliers, par Mme. la Baronne d'Avout_, published in 1884. An
invocation is given for every day in the year to some particular
saint, who is thought to be especially efficacious in the cure of some
specific disease. I shall quote but one for illustration.
"30 MAI
S. HUBERT DE BRETIGNY
Pres Noyons (Oise).
Honore au diocese de Beauvais.
"L'illustre saint Hubert, apotre des Ardennes, fut son
protecteur et lui donna son nom. Il lui obtint les plus
heureuses dispositions pour la vertu. Lui aussi herita
du pouvoir de guerir de la rage.
"Les habitants de Noyon et des environs n'ont pas cesse
de recourir a son intercession. Les personnes qui
touchent ses reliques ou portent sur elles son nom beni
esperent echapper pendant leur vie aux atteintes des
demons, de la rage et du tonnerre.
"A Aire, diocese de Frejus, on invoque aussi sainte
Quitere contre la rage.
INVOCATION
"Dieu tout-puissant, qui avez forme le coeur de vos
saints avec une admirable bonte, afin qu'ils deviennent
pour nous une source de bienfaits et de consolation;
assistez-nous dans le pressant besoin ou nous nous
trouvons et sauvez-nous de la mort, par les prieres at
les merites de saint Hubert de Bretigny, afin que nous
puissions vous louer et vous benir. Par N.-S. J.-C.
Ainsi soit-il.
"_Saint Hubert, qui preservez de la morsure des betes
enragees, ou qui guerissez leur morsures mortelles,
priez pour tous les affliges qui vous invoquent._"
While there was probably some advance when the saints of the church
took the place of the zodiacal constellations in the government of the
human body, the church prevented the development along scientific
lines, although there were many ramifications of saintly influence.
Not the least among these was the healing efficacy of holy wells,
pools, and streams, which had been empowered in some way by the
saints. In some cases the bones of holy men have been buried in
different parts of the continent, and after a certain lapse of time,
water was said to have oozed from them, which soon formed a spring and
cured all the diseases of the faithful.
Perhaps the cure of leprous Naaman by bathing in the Jordan, and the
restoration of the sight of the blind man by washing in the Pool of
Siloam may have served as examples which the credulous were only too
ready to follow. We must also note, however, as a reason for their
use, that in classical times the greater number of thermal waters,
more frequently used then than in the present day, remained
consecrated to the gods, to Apollo, to AEsculapius, and, above all, to
Hercules, who was named Iatricos, or the able physician. At any rate,
many wells and fountains were dedicated to different saints, and
various rites were performed there at Easter and other particular
days, where offerings were also made to the saints.
In Ireland, many such sacred places have been visited by the sick for
centuries, and England and Scotland have them also. Not only in the
British Isles, but in all parts of Europe they were much frequented in
the Middle Ages, and they are not without their visitors to-day. As
late as 1805 the eminent Roman Catholic prelate, Dr. John Milner, gave
a detailed account of a miraculous cure performed at a sacred well in
Flintshire. Gregory of Tours was one of the first to notice the
healing power of springs in connection with the saints. He asserted
that the diseases of the sick and infirm were banished upon the
contact of a few drops of water drawn from a spring dug by St.
Martin's own hands.
From Fosbrooke's _British Monachism_ we learn that "on a spot called
Nell's Point, is a fine well, to which great numbers of women resort
on Holy Thursday, and, having washed their eyes in the spring, they
drop a pin into it. Once a year, at St. Mardrin's well, also, lame
persons went on Corpus Christi evening, to lay some small offering on
the altar, there to lie on the ground all night, drink of the water
there, and on the next morning to take a good draught more of it, and
carry away some of the water each in a bottle at their departure. At
Muswell Hill was formerly a chapel, called our Lady of Muswell, from a
well there, near which was her image; this well was continually
resorted to by way of pilgrimage. At Walsingham, a fine green road was
made for the pilgrims, and there was a holy well and cross adjacent,
at which pilgrims used to kneel while drinking the water. It is
remarkable that the Anglo-Saxon laws had proscribed this as
idolatrous. Such springs were consecrated upon the discovery of cures
effected by them. In fact," Fosbrooke adds, "these consecrated wells
merely imply a knowledge of the properties of mineral waters, but,
through ignorance, a religious appropriation of their properties was
made to supernatural causes."
"Holywell, in the county of Flint," we are informed by Salverte,
"derives its name from the Holy Well of St. Winifred, over which a
chapel was erected by the Stanley family, in the reign of Henry VII.
The well was formerly in high repute as a medicinal spring. Pennant
says that, in his time, Lancashire pilgrims were to be seen in deep
devotion, standing in the waters up to the chin for hours, sending up
prayers, and making a prescribed number of turnings; and this excess
of piety was carried so far, as in several instances to cost the
devotees their lives."[36]
Pennant also tells us of a small spring outside the bathing well at
Whiteford, which was once famed for the cure of weak eyes. The patient
made an offering of a crooked pin, and at the same time repeated some
words. The well still remains, but the efficacy of its waters is lost.
In recounting his tour of Wales, the same author describes the church
of St. Tecla, virgin and martyr, at Llandegla. He says: "About two
hundred yards from the church, in a Quillet called Gwern Degla, rises
a small spring. The water is under the tutelage of the Saint, and to
this day held to be extremely beneficial in the falling sickness. The
patient washes his limbs in the well; makes an offering into it of
four-pence; walks round it three times; and thrice repeats the Lord's
Prayer. These ceremonies are never begun till after sun-set, in order
to inspire the votaries with greater awe. If the afflicted be of the
male sex, like Socrates, he makes an offering of a cock to his
AEsculapius, or rather to Tecla Hygeia; if of the fair sex, a hen. The
fowl is carried in a basket, first round the well; after that into the
church-yard; when the same orisons and the same circum-ambulations are
performed round the church. The votary then enters the church; gets
under the communion table; lies down with the Bible under his or her
head; is covered with the carpet or cloth, and rests there till break
of day; departing after offering sixpence, and leaving the fowl in the
church. If the bird dies, the cure is supposed to have been effected,
and the disease transferred to the devoted victim."[37]
"At Withersden," says Hasted, "is a well, which was once famous, being
called St. Eustache's well, taking its name from Eustachius, Abbot of
Flai, who is mentioned by Matt. Paris, An. 1200, to have been a man of
learning and sanctity, and to have come and preached at Wye, and to
have blessed a fountain there, so that afterwards its waters were
endowed by such miraculous power, that by it all diseases were
cured."[38] Unfortunately, wells do not always benefit the bathers.
Lilly[39] relates that in 1635 Sir George Peckham died in St.
Winifred's Well, "having continued so long mumbling his pater nosters
and Sancta Winifreda ora pro me, that the cold struck into his body,
and after his coming forth of that well he never spoke more."
The people of the Highlands of Scotland regarded fountains with
particular veneration. According to the Statistical Account of
Scotland, the minister of Kirkmichael, Banffshire, said: "The sick who
resort to them for health, address their vows to the presiding powers,
and offer presents to conciliate their favor. These presents generally
consist of a small piece of money, or a few fragrant flowers. The same
reverence in ancient times seems to have been entertained by every
people in Europe." Near Kirkmichael there was a fountain dedicated to
St. Michael, and once celebrated for its cures. "Many a patient have
its waters restored to health, and many more have attested the
efficacy of their virtues. But, as the presiding power is sometimes
capricious, and apt to desert his charge, it now lies neglected,
choked with weeds, unhonored and unfrequented."[40]
The most noted well in Perthshire is in Trinity Gask. Again from the
Statistical Account we quote: "Superstition, aided by the interested
artifices of Popish Priests, raised, in times of ignorance and
bigotry, this well to no small degree of celebrity. It was affirmed
that every person who was baptized with the water of this well would
never be seized with the plague. The extraordinary virtue of Trinity
Gask well has perished with the downfall of superstition."[41]
Pinkerton, in speaking of the river Fillan in Scotland, says: "In this
river is a pool consecrated by the ancient superstition of the
inhabitants of this country. The pool is formed by the eddying of the
stream round a rock. Its waves were many years since consecrated by
Fillan, one of the saints who converted the ancient inhabitants of
Caledonia from paganism to the belief of Christianity. It has ever
since been distinguished by his name, and esteemed of sovereign virtue
in curing madness. About two hundred persons afflicted in this way are
annually brought to try the benefits of its salutary influence. These
patients are conducted by their friends, who first perform the
ceremony of passing with them thrice through a neighbouring cairn: on
this cairn they then deposit a simple offering of clothes, or perhaps
a small bunch of heath. More precious offerings used once to be
brought. The patient is then thrice immerged in the sacred pool. After
the immersion, he is bound hand and foot, and left for the night in a
chapel which stands near. If the maniac is found loose in the morning,
good hopes are conceived of his full recovery. If he is still bound,
his cure remains doubtful. It sometimes happens that death relieves
him, during his confinement, from the troubles of life."
Mrs. Macaulay,[42] speaking of a consecrated well in St. Kilda, called
Tobirnimbuadh, or the spring of diverse virtues, says that "near the
fountain stood an altar, on which the distressed votaries laid down
their oblations. Before they could touch sacred water with any
prospect of success, it was their constant practice to address the
genius of the place with supplication and prayer. No one approached
him with empty hands.... Shells and pebbles, rags of linen or stuffs
worn out, pins, needles, or rusty nails were generally all the tribute
that was paid."
Collinson[43] mentions a well in the parish Wembton, called St. John's
Well, to which in 1464 "an immense concourse of people resorted: and
... many who had for years labored under various bodily diseases, and
had found no benefit from physick and physicians, were, by the use of
these waters (after paying their due offerings), restored to their
primitive health."
Brome, in his _Travels_, 1700, observes: "In Lothien, two miles from
Edinburg southward, is a spring called St. Katherine's Well, flowing
continually with a kind of black fatness, or oil, above the water,
proceeding (as it is thought) from the parret coal, which is frequent
in these parts; 'tis of a marvellous nature, for as the coal, whereof
it proceeds, is very apt quickly to kindle into a flame, so is the
oil of a sudden operation to heal all scabs and tumors that trouble
the outward skin, and the head and hands are speedily healed by virtue
of this oil, which retains a very sweet smell; and at Aberdeen is
another well very efficacious to dissolve the stone, to expel sand
from the reins and bladder, being good for the collick and drunk in
July and August, not inferiour, they report, to the Spaw in
Germany."[44]
Grose tells us of a well dedicated to St. Oswald, between the towns of
Alton and Newton. The neighbors have the opinion that a sick person's
shirt thrown into the well will prognosticate the outcome of the
disease; if it floats the sick one will recover, if it sinks he will
die. To reward the saint for the information, they tear a rag off the
shirt and hang it on the briers near by; "where," says the writer, "I
have seen such numbers as might have made a fayre rheme in a
paper-myll." Similar practices are related by other authors. Ireland
formerly had a sanctified well in nearly every parish. They were
marked by rude crosses and surrounded by fragments of cloth left as
memorials. St. Ronague's Well, near Cork, was very popular at one
time. Near Carrick-on-Suir is the holy well of Tubber Quan, the waters
of which are reputed to have performed many miraculous cures. The
well was dedicated to two patron saints, St. Quan and St. Brogawn.
These saints are supposed to exert a special influence the last three
Sundays in June. "It is firmly believed," says Brand, "that at this
period the two saints appear in the well in the shape of two small
fishes, of the trout kind; and if they do not so appear, that no cure
will take place. The penitents attending on these occasions ascend the
hill barefoot, kneel by the stream and repeat a number of paters and
aves, then enter it, go through the stream three times, at a slow
pace, reciting their prayers. They then go on the gravel walk, and
traverse it round three times on their bare knees, often till the
blood starts in the operation, repeat their prayers, then traverse
three times round a tree on their bare knees, but upon the grass.
Having performed these exercises they cut off locks of their hair and
tie them on the branches of the tree as specifics against headache."
After being three times admonished in a dream, a man washed in St.
Madern's Well in Cornwall and was miraculously cured, so say Bishop
Hall and Father Francis. Ranulf Higden, in his _Polychronicon_,
relates the wonderful cures performed at the holy well at Basingwerk.
The red streaks in the stones surrounding it were symbols of the blood
of St. Wenefride, martyred by Carodoc.
The Scotch considered certain wells to have healing properties in the
month of May. In the Sessions Records (June 12, 1628) it is reported
that a number of persons were brought before the Kirk Sessions of
Falkirk, accused of going to Christ's Well on the Sundays of May to
seek their health, and the whole being found guilty were sentenced to
repent "in linens" three several sabbaths. "In 1657 a number of
persons were publicly rebuked for visiting the well at Airth. The
custom was to leave a piece of money and a napkin at the well, from
which they took a can of water, and were not to speak a word either in
going or returning, nor on any account to spill a drop of the water.
Notwithstanding these proceedings, many are known to have lately
travelled many miles into the Highlands, there to obtain water for the
cure of their sick cattle."[45]
To-day, probably the most efficacious waters are to be found at the
sacred fountain at La Salette and at the holy spring at Lourdes.
We have another specific form of healing which should be noticed. It
was especially common in Eastern churches, and was found to some
extent in the West. I refer to Incubation, or "Temple-sleep." This
practice came down through early civilizations and was an adopted
practice among Christians. The patient went to some church well known
for its cures, which was provided with mattresses or low couches, and
attended by priests and assistants. Devotions being finished he lay
down to sleep. Sometimes he slept immediately, at other times sleep
must be wooed by fast and vigil. At any rate, during the sleep he
dreamed that the saint touched him, or prescribed some remedy, and in
the first case he awoke cured, and in the second the prescribed
medicine brought about the relief.
Sophronius, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, wrote about 640 as follows:
"Cyrus appeared to the sick man in the form of a monk, not in a dream,
as he appears to many; but in a waking vision, just as he was and is
represented. He told the patient to rise and to plunge into the warm
water. Zosimos said it was impossible for him to move, but when the
order was repeated, he slid like a snake into the bath. When he got
into the water, he saw the saint at his side, but when he came out,
the vision had vanished." Beside the cure of this paralytic at the
church of Cyrus and John, he mentions the cure of many other diseases
by this method of incubation. Among them are dumbness, blindness,
barrenness, possession, scrofula, dyspepsia, a broken leg, deformities
of limbs, lameness, gout, diseases of the eyes, cataract, ulcer, and
dropsy.
Among the churches of Greece and southern Italy incubation is still
common. The climate may have some effect in limiting the area of this
practice. Miss M. Hamilton furnishes us with some modern examples. In
speaking of a new picture of St. George in the church at Arachova, she
says: "It is a votive offering of a Russian, who came a paralytic to
Arachova in July, 1905. He spent several weeks praying and sleeping in
the church, and departed completely cured. The festival of St. George
is held on April 23rd. They have three days of dancing and feasting,
and at night all suppliants bring their rugs and sleep round the
shrines in the church. Every year many of the sick are found to be
cured when morning comes."
The Church of the Evangelestria, our Lady of the Annunciation, is
visited by about forty-five thousand pilgrims every year. It is
situated at Tenos, and Miss Hamilton tells us what she saw during her
visit there in 1906:
"On the morning before Annunciation Day this year, the
pilgrims could be seen making their way to the church.
Among them were cripples, armless, and legless,
half-rolling up the street; blind people groping their
way along; men and women with deformities of every kind;
one or two showing the pallor of death on their faces
were being carried up on litters. These evidently were
coming to Tenos as a last resource, when doctors were of
no avail. Other pilgrims were ascending after their own
fashion, according to vows they had made. One woman
toiled laboriously along on her knees, kissing the
stones of the way, and clasping a silver Madonna and
Child. Last year her daughter had been seized with
epilepsy, and she vowed to carry in this way this
offering to the Madonna of Tenos if she would cure her
daughter. The girl recovered and the other now with
thankful heart was fulfilling her part of the bargain.
"The eve of Annunciation Day is the time when the
Panagia is believed to descend among the sick and work
miraculous cures among them. Then all the patients are
gathered together in the crypt or in the upper church.
The Chapel of the Well is the popular place for
incubation. There is more chance for miraculous cure
there than in the church. The little crypt can
accommodate only a comparatively small number, but they
are packed together as tightly as possible. From the
entrance up to the altar, they lie in two lines of three
or four deep, with a passage down the middle large
enough for only one person. Down the narrow way two
streams of people press the whole evening. They worship
at the shrines along the wall, purchase holy earth from
the spot where the picture was discovered, drink at the
sacred well, and are blessed by the priest at the altar.
The cripples and the sick desiring healing have been
engaged all day in such acts of worship; they have
received bread and water from the priests in the upper
church, paid homage to the all-powerful picture, offered
their candles to the Madonna, and all the time sought to
endue themselves with her presence. Now at night, still
fixing their thoughts upon her, and permeated by this
spirit of worship, they settle down to sleep in order
that she may appear to them in a dream.
"Disappointment, of course, awaits the vast majority,
but on the evening of the vigil all are filled with
hope. They know the precedents of former years, how such
things have happened to some unfortunate people among
the pilgrims every year. Usually eight or nine miracles
take place, and lists of them are published for
distribution....
"The church records contain accounts of the miracles
which now amount to many hundreds. They are practically
all of the type I have described--cure during a vision
while incubation was being practised. For example, the
case of a man from Moldavia is on record. He had become
paralyzed during a night-watch, and the doctor could
effect no relief. He was taken to the Chapel of the
Well, and when asleep he thought he heard a voice
telling him to arise. He awoke, thought it was a dream,
and fell asleep again. A second time he heard a voice,
and saw a white-robed woman of great beauty entering the
church. In his fear he rose and walked about. His
recovery was so complete that he could walk in the
procession round the town the following day."[46]
The medicinal power imputed to the sainted relics and shrines would
naturally be considered very valuable. So it proved. Wealth flowed to
a conventual treasury or a cathedral chapter where were deposited
fragments of the martyred dead endowed with miraculous puissance. When
the Frankish forces sacked Constantinople at the beginning of the
thirteenth century, the principal object of their ferocious cruelties
and vigilant searches was the acquisition of precious relics.
Concerning these relics Fort gives the following account:
"These relics, captured in Constantinople, were divided
by the troops under Marquis de Montfort, with the same
justice as prevailed in the division of other booty. In
this way the Venetians were enabled to enrich their
metropolis with a piece of the sainted cross, an arm of
St. George, part of the head of St. John the Baptist,
the entire skeleton of St. Luke, that of the prophet St.
Simeon, and a small bottle of Jesus Christ's blood. The
Greek capital from the remotest times appears to have
monopolized this traffic in sacred wares, claiming to
possess a fragment of the stone on which Jacob slept,
and the staff transformed into a serpent by Moses.
"Here also were guarded the Holy Virgin's vestments, her
spindle, drops of her milk, the cradle in which the
Saviour had lain, a tooth from his adolescent jaw, a
hair of his beard, a particle of the bread used in the
Last Supper, and a portion of the royal purple worn by
him before Pilate. Naturally clerical adventurers among
the occidental Crusaders, pending the sacking of the
Byzantine city, sought out most zealously these valuable
remnants of pristine glory, and in obtaining them were
by no means scrupulous with menaces and violence. When
scattered through Western Europe, in the monasteries and
other religious places, their curative properties
increased the pilgrimages thither of the sick and
diseased."[47]
He further gives us more in detail[48] an idea of the continual
accumulation of riches which were derived from the exposure of these
relics to the sick and infirm and the consequent growth in wealth of
the monasteries and cathedrals. The monastic system was probably most
responsible for the change from the simple adoration of the early
Christians to the use of relics as a miraculous means of healing.
Those which were transported with elaborate ceremonies, enclosed in a
magnificent stone sarcophagus, and covered by an edifice of imposing
proportions were almost sure to bring to their custodians great
wealth. It is said that when the body of St. Sebastian, which was
legitimately obtained from Rome, together with the purloined remains
of St. Gregory, reached the cloister of Soissons, so great was the
crowd of invalids who were cured, and so generous were they in their
donations, that the monks actually counted eighty measures of money
and one hundred pounds in coin. The great value of such objects may be
calculated when it is remembered that in the year 1056 securities
amounting to ten thousand solidi were pledged for the production of
the relics of St. Just and St. Pastor, consequent upon the legal
decision of ownership between Berenger, a French ruler, and a
Narbonnese archbishop. The Reichberg annals provide a further example.
They state that the emperor demanded certain hostages, or the holy arm
of St. George, as a suitable guarantee for the institution of a public
mart in Germany.
Venetian merchants were among the first to realize the commercial
value of relics, and enjoyed a lucrative traffic in this holy
merchandise. It was not until the eleventh century, however, that the
government of Venice founded public marts or fairs for the commercial
exchange of saintly relics, although Rome and Pavia had long conducted
such enterprises. These fairs were placed under the tutelary
protection of some patron saint, the Venetians, of course, thus
honoring St. Mark. They were not always particular how these relics
were procured, for it is stated that when negotiations for the
exchange of a well-preserved body of St. Tairise proved unsuccessful,
because the Greek monks who possessed it refused absolutely to sell or
barter, these enterprising traders quietly stole the desired skeleton.
Relics provided a suitable method of acquiring ecclesiastical fortunes
for denuded cloisters or impoverished nunneries; and if the old relics
lost their power it was not difficult to procure episcopal assurance
of the miraculous powers of new ones. For the procuring of special
funds the venerated objects were taken from place to place, under
priestly surveillance, presented to the sick and infirm with assurance
of relief, and with the demand for large sums of money.
We can easily understand, then, why such donations were regarded as
most precious presents, and chronicled in the conventual records as
events of high importance. As early as the ninth century, documentary
evidence of authenticity frequently accompanied a gift of relics, and
furnished legal proof of ownership.
The gift of St. Peter's knife to a German monastery by a benevolent
abbot was deemed a most illustrious act. About the same time a noble
pilgrim succeeded, after great importunity and a lavish outlay of
money, in obtaining trifling particles of the relics of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, which he enclosed in a priceless box and donated to
the monastery of St. Gall. This gift was considered the greatest event
of the year, but when it is considered that this and similar presents
insure in the community, where they are deposited uninterrupted peace,
unstinted plenty, absence of catastrophies, and the cure of diseases,
their value is explained.
The commercial aspect of ecclesiastical cures, however, was discovered
by other than priestly or monkish eyes, and different forms began to
be presented. Of these White says: "Very important among these was the
Agnus Dei, or piece of wax from the Paschal candles, stamped with the
figure of a lamb and consecrated by the Pope. In 1471 Pope Paul II
expatiated to the Church on the efficacy of this fetich in preserving
men from fire, shipwreck, tempest, lightning, and hail, as well as in
assisting women in childbirth; and he reserved to himself and his
successors the manufacture of it. Even as late as 1517 Pope Leo X
issued, for a consideration, tickets bearing a cross and the
following inscription: 'This cross measured forty times makes the
height of Christ in his humanity. He who kisses it is preserved for
seven days from falling-sickness, apoplexy, and sudden death.'"[49]
The enormous revenues procured through the means of relics, and the
lack of certain means of identifying them, would naturally encourage
the imposition of fraud. The crime would not appear so great after one
experience, for the perpetrators could readily see that it really made
no difference so far as efficacy in the cure of diseases was
concerned, whether or not the relics were genuine. The history of some
of the relics unfortunately proves them not to be relics at all, or at
least not to be the relics which the faithful supposed them to be.
Notice a few instances. In a magnificent shrine in the cathedral at
Cologne are the skulls of the three kings, or wise men from the East,
who brought gifts to the infant Lord. They have rested here since the
twelfth century and have been the source of enormous wealth and power
to the cathedral chapter. Not to be outdone by the cathedral, for the
church of St. Gereon a cemetery has been depopulated, and the bones
thus procured have been placed upon the walls and are known as the
relics of St. Gereon and his Theband band of martyrs! Further
competition arose in the neighboring church of St. Ursula. Another
cemetery was despoiled and the bones covering the interior of the
walls are known as the relics of St. Ursula and her eleven thousand
virgin martyrs. Anatomists now declare that many of the bones are
those of men, but this made no more difference in their healing
efficacy in the Middle Ages than the fact that the relics of St.
Rosalia at Palermo, famed for their healing power, have lately been
declared by Professor Buckland, the eminent osteologist, to be the
bones of a goat.
Two different investigations have been conducted by the French courts
concerning the fountain of La Salette, and in both cases the miracles
which make the shrine famous were pronounced to be fraudulent. The
recent restoration of the cathedral at Trondhjem has revealed a tube
in the walls, not unlike the apparatus discovered in the Temple of
Isis at Pompeii; the healing power of this sacred spring was augmented
by angelic voices which issued from the supposedly solid walls.[50]
While the golden age of the therapeutic use of relics was from the
sixth to the sixteenth centuries, modern times, with its physicians,
hospitals, and drugs, has not been deprived of this method of cure.
Mackay, writing in the latter half of the past century, touches this
subject.
At Port Royal, in Paris, is kept with great care a thorn, which the
priests of that seminary assert to be one of the identical thorns
that bound the holy head of the Son of God. How it came there, and by
whom it was preserved, has never been explained. This is the famous
thorn which the long dissensions of the Jansenists and the Molenists
have made celebrated, and which worked the miraculous cure upon
Mademoiselle Perier, an account of which is so interesting that I give
it. The cure occurred on March 14, 1646.
"A young pensioner in the monastery, by name Margaret
Perier, who for three years and a half had suffered from
a lachrymal fistula, came up in her turn to kiss it; and
the nun, her mistress, more horrified than ever at the
swelling and deformity of her eye, had a sudden impulse
to touch the sore with the relic, believing that God was
sufficiently able and willing to heal her. She thought
no more of the matter, but the little girl having
retired to her room, perceived a quarter of an hour
after that her disease was cured; and when she told her
companions, it was indeed found that nothing more was to
be seen of it. There was no more tumor; and her eye,
which the swelling (continuous for three years) had
weakened and caused to water, had become as dry, as
healthy, as lively as the other. The spring of the
filthy matter, which every quarter of an hour ran down
from nose, eye, and mouth, and at the very moment before
the miracle had fallen upon her cheek (as she declared
in her deposition), was found to be quite dried up; the
bone, which had been rotted and putrified, was restored
to its former condition; all the stench, proceeding from
it, which had been so insupportable that by order of the
physicians and surgeons she was separated from her
companions, was changed into a breath as sweet as an
infant's; and she recovered at the same moment her sense
of smell....
"Mons. Felix, Chief Surgeon to the King, who had seen
her during the month of April, was curious enough to
return on the 8th of August, and having found the cure
as thorough and marvellous as it had seemed to him at
the time, declared under his hand that 'he was obliged
to confess that God alone had the power to produce an
effect so sudden and extraordinary.'"[51]
Mackay gives the following account of the distribution of relics about
the middle of the nineteenth century: "Europe still swarms with these
religious relics. There is hardly a Roman Catholic Church in Spain,
Portugal, France, or Belgium, without one or more of them. Even the
poorly endowed churches of the villages boast the possession of
miraculous thighbones of the innumerable saints of the Romish
calendar. Aix-la-Chapelle is proud of the veritable _chasse_, or
thighbone of Charlemagne, which cures lameness. Halle has a thighbone
of the Virgin Mary; Spain has seven or eight, all said to be undoubted
relics. Brussels at one time preserved, and perhaps does now, the
teeth of St. Gudule. The faithful who suffered from the toothache, had
only to pray, look at them, and be cured."[52]
The miracles performed at the tomb of the Deacon Paris in the cemetery
of St. Medard are of comparatively recent occurrence, and well
attested. For example, we have the case of "la demoiselle Coirin,"
which, to say the least, is out of the ordinary. "In 1716," says
Dearmer, "this lady, then aged thirty-one, fell from her horse;
paralysis and an ulcer followed; by 1719 the ulcer was in a horrible
condition; in 1720 her mother refused an operation preferring to let
her die in peace. In 1731--after fifteen years of an open breast--she
asked a woman to say a novena at the tomb of Francois de Paris, to
touch the tomb with her shift, and to bring back some earth. This was
done on August 10th; on the 11th she put on the shift and at once felt
improved; on the 12th she touched the wound with the earth and it at
once began to heal. By the end of August the skin was completely
healed up, and on September 24th she went out of doors."[53]
Among the most noted relics at the present time are the Holy Coat of
Treves,[54] the Winding-sheet of Christ at Besancon, and the Santa
Scala at Rome. The last are said to be the steps which Jesus ascended
and descended when he was brought before Pontius Pilate, and are held
in great veneration. It is sacrilegious to walk upon them; the knees
of the faithful alone must touch them, and that only after they have
reverently kissed them. Cures are still performed by all these relics.
The two shrines at present best known and which have proved most
efficacious are those of Lourdes in France[55] and St. Anne de Beaupre
in the province of Quebec. Lourdes owes its reputed healing power to a
belief in a vision of the Virgin received there during the last
century. Over 300,000 persons visit there every year, and no small
proportion of them return with health restored as a reward for their
faith. At Lourdes and many other shrines bathing forms a part of the
ceremony, and on account of the unsanitary conditions in the former
place, there is some danger that the French Government will cause its
abandonment. Charcot, who established the Salpetriere hospital where
hypnotism was so successfully used, sent fifty or sixty patients to
Lourdes every year. He was firmly convinced of the healing power of
faith. One commendable feature of the management at Lourdes is the
opportunity given for investigation; in fact, this is courted. Most of
the sick bring medical details of their diseases; an examining
committee of medical men examine them after they arrive there and
after the cure. About two hundred and fifty doctors visit there every
year, and the widest opportunity is given to them for examination of
the cases, regardless of their nationality or religious belief or
scepticism. This attitude might well be assumed by these in control of
other shrines or of healing cults.
In America thousands flock to the shrine of St. Anne de Beaupre
annually. Here are to be found bones, supposed to be the wrist bones
of the holy mother of the Virgin, and many sufferers are able to
testify to their value in the healing of various diseases.
On all parts of the Continent there are shrines of more or less renown
as healing centres. In Normandy the springs of Fecamp or Grand-Andely
are much frequented; in Austria, at Mariazell, Styria, the church is
visited by two hundred thousand pilgrims a year, and has been a centre
of healing since 1157; in Italy, the church of S. Maria dell' Arco,
near Naples, has been a local Lourdes for four hundred years, and
here, as at Amalfi, Palermo, and other places, the ancient practice of
incubation is still prevalent. The adherents of the Eastern Church
also have their shrines, and among the visitors to the shrines of
Greece, many pilgrims are rewarded for their faith by being healed.
It is curious to remark the avidity manifested in all ages, and in all
countries, to obtain possession of some relic of any person who had
been much spoken of, if for nothing more than for his crimes.[56]
Snuff-boxes made from Shakespeare's mulberry-tree, twigs from
Napoleon's willow, or bullets from the field of Waterloo have all been
much sought after. Souvenirs of everything and anything are still much
in demand. It is within the last decade that a foreign war-ship
anchored in New York harbor, and after the officers courteously opened
the ship for the inspection of visitors they found that even their
silver toilet articles and plate had been carried away by the relic
maniacs. A United States admiral, rather more facetiously than
patriotically, remarked that "the American people of to-day would
steal anything but a cellarful of water." I suppose the remark, so far
as it applies to the relic-crazed crowd, would be as applicable to any
other people of any other time.
We have a right to ask, in closing this chapter, how it was possible
for men to believe in the power of relics to cure diseases. The
practice seems to have developed from the reasoning that the saints
who helped men while in the imperfections of the flesh, could be of
even more benefit when they were with God in the perfections of the
spiritual life. St. Augustine (426), for example, speaks of comparing
the wonders performed by pagan "deities with our dead men," and that
the miracles wrought by idols "are in no way comparable to the
wonders wrought by our martyrs." Some might agree with this, and yet
find no warrant for using relics. There was, however, the remembrance
of the dead man who was restored to life by contact with the bones of
Elisha, and of the handkerchiefs and aprons which touched Paul's body
and were thereby filled with healing efficacy. Even to-day we do not
fail to recognize the value of the association of places and objects,
and one finds it difficult to enter Westminster Abbey, for instance,
without feeling a thrill on account of the sacred clay reposing there.
When we remember the beginning of the use of relics in the catacombs
we can better understand the development of the practice.
[21] G. F. Fort, _History of Medical Economy During the Middle Ages_,
p. 201.
[22] _Ibid._, pp. 142 and 156.
[23] G. P. Fisher, _History of the Christian Church_, p. 117.
[24] W. E. H. Lecky, _History of European Morals_, I, pp. 378 f.
[25] _Ibid._, I, p. 379.
[26] P. Dearmer, _Body and Soul_, pp. 268 f.
[27] J. Moses, _Pathological Aspects of Religions_, p. 133.
[28] C. Mackay, _Extraordinary Popular Delusions_, II, pp. 303 f.
[29] J. W. Draper, _History of the Conflict Between Religion and
Science_, p. 270.
[30] J. Moses, _Pathological Aspects of Religions_, pp. 132 f.
[31] Bede, _Ecclesiastical History_, ed. J. A. Giles, bk. IV, chap.
XXXI.
[32] T. J. Pettigrew, _Superstitions Connected with the History and
Practice of Medicine and Surgery_, pp. 55-57.
[33] G. F. Fort, _History of Medical Economy During the Middle Ages_,
pp. 224 f., 273-277, 457.
[34] A. D. White, _History of the Warfare of Science with Theology_,
II, pp. 40 f.
[35] G. F. Fort, _History of Medical Economy During the Middle Ages_,
p. 273.
[36] E. Salverte, _The Philosophy of Magic_ (trans. Thompson), II, p.
93.
[37] _Tour of Wales_, I, p. 405.
[38] Hasted, _Kent_, III, p. 176.
[39] _History of His Life and Times_, p. 32.
[40] _Statistical Account of Scotland_, VII, p. 213, and XII, p. 464.
[41] _Ibid._, XVIII, p. 487.
[42] C. S. Macaulay, _History of St. Kilda_, p. 95.
[43] _Somersetshire_, III, p. 104.
[44] I am much indebted to J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities_, pp. 1-17,
for some of the quotations used in the discussion of this subject.
[45] _Superstitions Connected with ... Medicine and Surgery_, pp.
57-61.
[46] I am indebted to P. Dearmer, _Body and Soul_, pp. 278-281,
314-318, for the material on incubation. For fuller study, see L.
Deubner, _De Incubatione_, and M. Hamilton, _Incubation_.
[47] G. F. Fort, _History of Medical Economy During the Middle Ages_,
p. 227.
[48] _Ibid._, pp. 210-214, 226 f., 278.
[49] A. D. White, _History of the Warfare of Science with Theology_,
II, p. 30.
[50] _Ibid._, II, pp. 21, 29, 43.
[51] P. Dearmer, _Body and Soul_, pp. 374 f.
[52] C. Mackay, _Extraordinary Popular Delusions_, II, p. 304.
[53] P. Dearmer, _Body and Soul_, pp. 105 f.
[54] R. F. Clarke, _The Holy Coat of Treves_.
[55] A. T. Myers and F. W. H. Myers, "Mind Cure, Faith Cure, and the
Miracles at Lourdes," _Proceedings Society Psychical Research_, IX,
pp. 160-409; E. Berdoe, "A Medical View of the Miracles at Lourdes,"
_Nineteenth Century_, October, 1895; J. B. Estrade, _Les apparitions
de Lourdes, Souvenirs intimes d'un temoin_; H. Bernheim, _Suggestive
Therapeutics_, pp. 200-202; A. Imbert-Gourbyzee, _La Stigmatisation,
l'extase divine, et les miracles de Lourdes_, II, chaps. XXI and
XXVII; E. Zola, _Lourdes_.
[56] C. Mackay, _Extraordinary Popular Delusions_, II, p. 306.