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 but not  all. Yet even  the  unwritten  teaching  has  come  down  to us,  and  is  called  tradition.

All the  apostles,  with  one  exception,  sealed  with  their  blood the Gospel  which  they  announced  to  the  world. In the  year  of our  Lord  67,  Paul  returned  to  Rome,  where  he  and  Peter  gloriously suffered martyrdom  under  Nero. Paul, being  a Roman  citizen, was beheaded;  Peter  died  on  a cross,  with  his  head  downwards. James the  Greater  suffered  under  Herod,  about  the  year  42  of the  Christian  era.

John, the  beloved  disciple,  who  had  been  thrown  into  a caldron  of  boiling  oil  and  been  miraculously  preserved,  was  the only one  who  died  a natural  death,  which  event  took  place  about the year  100.

Mary, the  Mother  of  our  Lord,  died  at  Jerusalem  in  the  year  47, and was,  according  to  ancient  tradition,  assumed  into  heaven  with  her body as  well  as  her  soul. The Church  historian,  Nicephorus,  thus  describes her Assumption:  “When  the  time  came  for  Mary  to  die,  the  apostles who were  scattered  in  different  lands  came  to  Jerusalem. But her  Divine Son came  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  at  her  death,  and  took  her  soul  to heaven. Her holy  body  was  laid  in  a sepulchre  near  Gethsemane  (Fig.  98, p.  802),  amid  the  songs  of  angels  and  apostles. But when,  on  the  third day, the  grave  was  opened,  they  found  that  the  sacred  body  was  no  longer there; only  her  grave-clothes  were  left,  which  emitted  an  indescribably