Page:The Fall of Constantinople.djvu/386

 36S THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE. and ceremony. Princes attended and took part in the sol- emn procession which met them on their way to the church, where, with solemn rites, they were to be deposited. A ser- mon often followed, relating to the events with which the relic was supposed to be connected. In many instances an annual festival was appointed to celebrate the arrival of the relic, and occasionally the gift was made conditional upon the establishment of such annual festival in its honor. Lessons from the Old or I^ew Testament appropriate to the saint, a relic of whom had been received, were selected for public reading on such festivals. Special services were framed to commemorate the event. Hymns were composed in honor of the relic' In the case of the monastery of Selincourt, where a sacred tear of Christ had been carried, the name was changed, through the reception of this relic, to that of the monastery of the Sacred Tear. A few of the more impor- tant objects of the same kind may be mentioned in order to show both the quantity which were received in the West and the honor with which they were regarded. The Venetians are accused by the author of the " Continuation of William of Tyre " " of having taken an undue share of the spoil and of having concealed it in their ships. Many of the beautiful objects which had adorned the Church of the Divine Wisdom went to decorate St. Mark's. The high-altar of that church, with its columns of marble and its bronze gates, was one of the most valuable acquisitions. The Venetian church ob- tained also many pieces of sculpture, pictures, gold and silver vessels, and a mass of church furniture. The Venetians ob- tained the famous picture of the Virgin which was painted by St. Luke under the direct inspiration of the Holy Ghost.' ' Count Riant has found ciglitj^-five of such feasts of the relics of 1204, seventy-four of which commemorate the reception of the relic. Several of the hymns are curious; a fiivorable specimen is that "In festo suscep- tionis Sanctcc Corona)," p. 47, vol. ii. "Exuviae Sacra^." ^ " Cel qui plus enblerent ce furent li Yenecien qui Femporterent par nuit a Cornes."— " L'Estoire de Eracles :" " Recueil," p. 275. ' Innocent III., apparently, did not believe in the genuineness of this relic. " Opinionem illam, tanquam superstitiosam, minime approbamus." — •' Epist." ix.