The Host
is changed into living food, sacred Christian images shed drops of
blood, sticks set upright in the ground blossom into flower, springs
of pure water appear in dry places, warm loaves of bread multiply
themselves at the feet of the needy, a tree bows down before some holy
person, and so on. Then, again, decapitated heads speak, broken chalices
mend themselves, the rain turns aside from a church to submerge a
neighbouring palace, the robes of hermits never wear out, but renew
themselves at each season like the skin of a beast. In Armenia at one
time the persecutors threw into the sea the leaden coffins of five
martyrs, and the one containing the body of Saint Bartholomew the
Apostle took the lead, and the four others accompanied it as a guard of
honour. So, all together, in regular order, like a fine squadron, they
floated slowly along, urged by the breeze, through the whole length of
the sea, until they reached the shores of Sicily.
Angelique was a firm believer in miracles. In her ignorance she lived
surrounded by wonders. The rising of the stars, or the opening of a
violet; each fact was a surprise to her. It would have appeared to her
simply ridiculous to have imagined the world so mechanical as to
be governed by fixed laws.
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