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opened it, and found that it was clean blotted out: whereupon he cried with a loud voice unto the woman, and said, 'O woman, there is nothing written herein! Why dost thou consume thyself with so much labour and sorrow, not knowing the great things of God unto thee ward, and his inscrutable mercies?' Then the multitude of the people, seeing this glorious and great miracle, glorified God, who hath such power, that he remitteth the sins of all who are living, and giveth grace to his servants, that after their decease they should heal all sickness and all infirmity: and hath given unto them power for remitting all sins to those who preserve a right faith in the Lord, continuing in good works, and glorifying God and our Lord and Saviour.". Vita Patrum, pp. 159, 160.

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"In the days of the blessed Theodemir, Bishop of Com postella, there was a certain Italian, who had hardly dared confess to his own Priest and Bishop a certain enormous crime which he had formerly committed. His Bishop having heard the confession, and being struck with astonishment and horror at so great an offence, dared not appoint what penance he should perform. Nevertheless, being moved with compassion, he sent the sinner with a schedule, in which the offence was written, to the Church of Santiago at Compostella, enjoining him that he should, with his whole heart, implore the aid of the blessed Apostle, and submit himself to the sentence of the Bishop of that Apostolical Church. He therefore without delay went to Santiago in Galicia, and there placed the schedule, which contained the statement of his crime, upon the venerable altar, repenting that he had committed so great a sin, and intreating forgiveness, with tears and sobs, from God and the Apostle. This was on Santiago's Day, being the eighth of the Kalends of August, and at the first hour.

"When the blessed Theodemir, Bishop of the See of Compostella, came attired in his pontificals to sing mass at the altar that day at the third hour, he found the schedule under the covering of the altar, and demanded forthwith, wherefore, and by whom it had been placed there. The Penitent upon this

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came forward, and on his knees declared, with many tears, before all the people, the crime which he had committed, and the injunctions which had been laid on him by his own Bishop. The holy Bishop then opened the schedule, and found nothing written therein; it appeared as if no letters had ever been inscribed there. A marvellous thing, and an exceeding joy, for which great praise and glory were incontinently rendered to God and the Apostle, the people all singing, this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes!' The holy Bishop then of a truth believing, that the penitent had obtained forgiveness with God through the merits of the Apostle, would impose upon him no other penance for the crime which he had committed, except that of keeping Friday as a fast from that time forth, and having absolved him from all his other sins, he dismissed him to his own country. Hence it may be inferred, that if any one shall truly repent, and, going from distant countries to Galicia, shall there, with his whole heart, intreat pardon from God, and pray for the aid of the blessed Santiago, the record of his misdeeds shall, without all doubt, be blotted out for ever.' Acta SS. Jul. t. vi. p. 48.

There is a miracle of the same kind related of St. Antonio,..

and probably many other examples might be found.

THE

239

PILGRIM TO COMPOSTELLA:

BEING

THE LEGEND OF A COCK AND A HEN,

TO THE HONOUR AND GLORY OF

SANTIAGO.

A CHRISTMAS TALE.

"Res similis fictæ ; sed quid mihi fingere prodest."

OVID, Met. xiii. v. 935.

"Hear also no lean story of theirs!". LIGHTFOOT.

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THE PILGRIM TO COMPOSTELLA.

THE Legend, (for a genuine Legend it is,) which has been made the subject of the ensuing Ballad, is related by Bishop Patrick in his Parable of the Pilgrim. (ch. xxxv. pp. 430 -434.) Udal ap Rhys relates it in his Tour through Spain and Portugal. (pp. 35—38.) Both these writers refer to Lucius Marineus Siculus as their authority. And it is told also in the Journal du Voyage d'Espagne, (Paris, 1669,) by a Conseiller who was attached to the French Embassy in that country. (p. 18.)

The story may likewise be found in the Acta Sanctorum.

A

duplicate of the principal miracle occurs in the third volume, for the month of May, (die 12a, p. 171.), and is there ascribed to S. Domingo de la Calzada, the author, Luiz de la Vega, contending, that both relations are to be received as true, the Bollandist (Henschenius) contrariwise opining that they are distinct miracles, but leaving the reader nevertheless to determine freely for himself utrum id malit, an vero credere velit, unicum dumtaxat esse quod sub quadam circumstantiarum varietate refertur ut geminum.

In the sixth volume of the same work, for the month of July, (die 254,) the legend of the Pilgrim is twice told, once (p. 45) as occurring to a native of Utrecht, (Cæsarius Heisterbachensis is the authority,) once as having befallen a German at Thoulouse (p. 50.); the latter story is in the collection of Santiago's miracles, which Pope Calixtus II. is said to have compiled. The extract from Lucius Marineus Siculus may also be seen there. It is here annexed as it

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