THEY FIND ON THE BODY MAEKS OF MACRINA'S SANCTITY

When we had decided on this, and it was necessary for that sacred body to be robed in linen, we divided the work and applied ourselves to our different tasks. I ordered one of my men to bring the robe. But Vestiana [990C] above-mentioned was decking that holy head with her own hands, when she put her hand on the neck.

"See," she said, looking at me, "what sort of an ornament has hung on the saint's neck!"

As she spoke, she loosened the fastener behind, then stretched out her hand and showed us the representation of a cross of iron and a ring of the same material, both of ^[65] which were fastened by a slender thread and rested continually on the heart.

" Let us share the treasure," I said. " You have the phylactery of the cross, I will be content with inheriting the ring" ----for the cross had been traced on the seal of this too. [990D] Looking at it, the lady said to me again---- "You have made no mistake in choosing this treasure; for the ring is hollow in the hoop, and in it has been hidden a particle of the Cross of Life,⁸ and so the mark on the seal above shows what is hidden below."

But when it was time that the pure body should be wrapped in its robes, the command of the great departed one made it necessary for me to undertake the ministry; but the sister who shared with me that great inheritance was present and joined in the work. ^[66] 

"Do not let the great wonders accomplished by the saint pass by unnoticed,"she remarked, laying bare part of the breast.

"What do you mean? "I said.

[992A] "Do you see,"she said, "this small faint mark below the neck? "It was like a scar made by a small needle. As she spoke she brought the lamp near to the place she was showing me.

"What is there surprising," I said, "if the body has been branded with some faint mark in this place?"

"This," she replied, "has been left on the body as a token of God's powerful help. For there grew once in this place a cruel disease, and there was a danger either that the tumour should require an operation, or that the complaint should become quite incurable, if it should spread to the neighbourhood of the heart. Her mother implored her often and begged her to receive the attention of a doctor, since the medical art, she [992B] said, was sent from God for the saving of men. But she judged it worse than the pain, to uncover any part of the body to a stranger's ^[67] eyes. So when evening came, after waiting on her mother as usual with her own hands, she went inside the sanctuary and besought the God of healing all night long. A stream of tears fell from her eyes on to the ground, and she used the mud made by the tears as a remedy for her ailment. Then when her mother felt despondent and again urged her to allow the doctor to come, she said it would suffice for the cure of her disease if her mother would make the holy seal on the place with her own hand. But when the mother put her hand within her bosom, to make the sign of the cross on the part, the sign worked and the tumour disappeared.

"But this," said she, "is the tiny trace of it; it appeared then in place of the frightful [992C] sore and remained until the end, that it might be, as I imagine, a memorial of the divine visitation, an occasion and reminder of perpetual thanksgiving to God."

When our work came to an end and the body had been decked with the best we had on the spot, the deaconess spoke again, maintaining that it was not fitting that she should be seen ^[68] by the eyes of the virgins robed like a bride. "But I have,"she said, "laid by one of your mother's dark-coloured robes which I think would do well laid over her, that this holy beauty be not decked out with the unnecessary splendour of clothing."

Her counsel prevailed, and the robe was laid upon the body. But she was resplendent [992D] even in the dark robe, divine power having added, as I think, this final grace to the body, so that, as in the vision of my dream, rays actually seemed to shine forth from her beauty.