Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume I.djvu/329

317 WIFE OF GAZAN CONDEMNED TO BE BURNT. 317 prey, when the unfortunate princess of Armenia, with tears, besought her royal spouse to grant her one moment to fulfil the last duties of her religion, and to procure the grace of baptism for her poor child, ere she should die with him in the midst of the flames. Gazan, moved with compassion, granted his wife the favour she im- plored ; a minister of the Christian religion presented himself, heard the confession of the mother, and after having fortified her by the reception of the holy via- ticum, administered the sacrament of baptism to the child. But scarcely had the holy water destined to re- generate the soul of that unfortunate creature flowed over his forehead, when a sudden and marvellous change took place in the sight of the multitude, who were anxiously aAvaiting the end of this frightful drama. God had given to the waters of baptism the power of embellishing the body, at the same time that it washed away the original stains from the soul. The child had suddenly become ravishingly beautiful ; the numerous witnesses of the miracle uttered cries of admiration, and Gazan, convinced of the virtue of his wife, led her back in triumph to his palace. From that time, he also determined to worship that God who had wrought such marvels, and he made a public profession of Christianity, along with a considerable number of his subjects. The circumstances of this event are related by St. Antoninus*, as he received them from a Florentine who, of St. Denis" (chap, xxv.) the following words: — "An cest an (1266) le roi des Tartarins Cassahan, qui grant Cham estoit appelle, mer- veilleusement et par miracle, avec grant multitude de ses gens, fut chrestienne et converty par la fille du roi d'Armenie, qui estoit chretienne laquelle il avoit espousee."
 * Chron., p. 3. tit. 20. cap. viii. fol. 82. We find in the " Chronicle