his word if he had not given it in writing; and
a churchman who excited what he took to be
devotion by invention of a pious legend or
manufacture of a relic, really believed that he was
farthering the interests of humanity, stirring up
faith, and giving life to the divine graces in
man. Upon this religious conviction rested the
worldly fact, that every such fraud enriched
the Church; and, of course, the meanest and
worst of the clergy were not the least ready to
display their ingenuity in this department of
Church discipline. Sheep-shearing was much
enjoyed by the profligate pope, while to the pious
pope it was a means for the advancement of the
Church itself as a whole, and of each individual
whose spiritual life was awakened by the process.

At the outset, then, we require full allowance
to be made for the change in the ethics of
Europe; and while we talk of the old days of
Roman sheep-shearing, would guard our readers
against attributing to the well-educated Roman
Catholic of our own day, faults that in their
excess were as much faults of a period in the age
of society as of a creed. But superstition
survives not among Roman Catholics alone. Even
otherwise sensible and unprejudiced people
often ascribe power to relics, and believe stories
in confirmation of such faith. A reverence for
relics and belief in amulets exist in all parts of
the world, and may be traced amongst the
followers of all religions.

The first relic mentioned in the Christian
Church is the true cross. The mother of
Constantine, Helena, when visiting Palestine, is
said to have found this cross. No contemporary
author mentions the event, not even the
great story-teller Eusebius, who gives an account
of this journey of the empress. But it is set
down as a fact in the annals of the Church, and
celebrated by a feast-day. But Helena was said
to have found not only the cross of Our Lord;
she found with it those of the two thieves. The
inscription of Pilate was not there, and how
could she know which cross was the true one?
The priests got thus out of the difficulty. They
laid a sick man on one of the crosses, and he
became worse. Therefore that was the cross of
the wicked thief. The sick man was laid on
one of the two other crosses. He became much
better. This was the cross of the repentant
thief. When laid on the third cross, the sick
man jumped up, cured in an instant, and the
true cross was discovered. Soon the graves of
the apostles were discovered also, and their
bones were brought to market. If their burial-
place was not known, some holy father had
a revelation. In this manner the remains of
many saints and martyrs were discovered, and
they all worked wonders. Although only the
priests were generally honoured with such
revelations, lay people might also be so blessed,
with a priest's assistance. A very devoted
woman, at St. Maurin, had taken St. John the
Baptist for her patron saint, and for three years
prayed daily that he would give her only some
little part of his holy body, whichever member
he might choose to part with. The saint being
inexorable, the woman at last grew desperate,
and vowed to cat no food until St. John had
granted her request. After a seven days' fast,
she found a thumb on the altar. Three bishops
wrapped this precious relic with great reverence
in linen, and there fell three drops of blood from
it, one for each bishop.

Considering the trouble we have to discover
the remains of several of our great men, who
died revered amongst their countrymen, where
births and deaths are registered, it is wonderful
to think how the priests found, even after centuries,
not only the bones, but also the clothes of
obscure men, executed as criminals. And it is
yet more wonderful to think how, directed by
revelations, the priests discovered of many saints
such an abundance of bones, that they would be
sufficient for six ordinary sinners. St. Denis,
for instance, exists in two complete skeletons,
one at St. Denis, and the other at St. Emmeran.
There are two more of his spare skulls to be
seen at Prague and at Bamberg, and he has a
hand in Munich. Thus he must have had at
least two bodies, four legs, five hands, and four
heads.

The sale of relics was a very good business.
But, when the bishops of Rome became
popes, they interfered witli the business of all
general dealers in rag and bone, and assumed
the monopoly of this most profitable speculation.
They ordered every relic to be sent to Rome for
examination, and then, if the possessor had
substantial money evidence on its behalf, he got a
bull decisive of its authenticity. A good relic
was a blessing to a church. At the time of the
Crusades, Europe grew rich in precious bones.
When a town was taken, the first search of the
conquerors was for relics, they being more
precious than gold and gems. Louis the Saint,
King of France, undertook two crusades, both
ending ill; but he comforted himself by the
purchase for an enormous sum of some splinters of
the cross, a few nails, the sponge, the purple
robe, and crown of thorns. When these false
memorials arrived, the king and his whole court
walked barefoot as far as Vincennes to meet
them.

Henry the Lion brought back a great many
relics when returning to Brunswick. The gem
amongst them was the thumb of St. Mark, for
which the Venetians offered him, in vain, a
hundred thousand ducats. The whole wardrobe of
the Virgin Mary, of St. Joseph, and of many
other saints, was discovered. There was found
the lance used by the Roman knight Longinus
at the crucifixion; also the handkerchief with
which St. Veronica wiped the face of Our Lord,
and from the quantity of it that has been found,
we are convinced that the saint must have had
an enormous pocket. Her handkerchief was at
least fifty yards square. There was found, also,
the basin of green stone which the Queen of
Sheba gave to Solomon, and out of which the
passover was eaten; also there were found the
pitchers used at the wedding of Cana, with wine
in them which never diminished. Originally,
there were only six pitchers, but they multiplied,