Page:The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous substances 2.djvu/439

 which we find in the Chronicon Casinense of Leo Ostiensis, L. ii. c. 33.

His diebus Monachi quidam ab Jerusolymis venientes particulam lintei, cum quo pedes discipulorum Salvator extersit, secum detulerunt, et ob reverentiam sancti hujus loci devotissimè hic obtulerunt, sexto scilicet Idus Decembris; sed, cum a plurimis super hoc nulla fides adhiberetur, illi fide fidentes protinus prædictam particulam in accensi turibuli igne desuper posuerunt, quæ mox quidem in ignis colorem conversa, post paululùm vero, amotis carbonibus, ad pristinam speciem mirabiliter est reversa. Cumque excogitarent qualiter, vel quanam in parte pignora tanta locarent, contigit, dispositione divinâ, ut eodem ipso die, transmissus sit in hunc locum loculus ille mirificus, ubi nunc recondita est ipsa lintei sancti particula, argento et auro gemmisque Anglico opere subtiliter ac pulcherrimè decoratus. Ibi ergò christallo superposito venerabiliter satis est collocata: morisque est singulis annis, ipso die Cœnæ Dominicæ ad mandatum Fratrum eam a Mansionariis deferri et in medium poni, duoque candelabra ante illam accendi et indesinenter per totum mandati spatium ab Acolito incensari. Demum verò juxta finem mandati a singulis per ordinem fratribus flexis genibus devotissimè adorari et reverentèr exosculari.

There is no good reason to doubt the truth of this narrative so far as respects the veracity and credit of the historian. Leo Ostiensis became an inmate of the Abbey of Monte Casino a few years after the event is said to have happened, and could scarcely be misinformed respecting the circumstances, more especially as he held during the latter part of his abode there the office of Librarian. There is nothing improbable in the story. Asbestine cloth, as we have learnt from Marco Polo, was manufactured in Asia during the middle ages, and the reputed relic was obtained at Jerusalem. That the pilgrims, who visited Jerusalem, should be imposed upon in this manner, is in the highest degree probable, since we are informed, that the very same substance in its natural state was often sold to devotees AS THE WOOD OF THE TRUE CROSS, and its incombustibility was exhibited as the proof of its genuineness. This we learn in the following passage from Tilingius, who wrote "De lino vivo aut asbestino et incombustibili."

Antonius Musa Brassavolus Ferrariensis tradit, impostores lapidem Amiantum simplicibus mulierculis ostendere vendereque sæpenumero pro ligno crusis Servatoris nostri. Id quod facile credunt, cùm igne non comburatur, quodque ligni modo plurimis constet lineis intercur santibus.—Miscellanea Curiosa Naturæ Curiosorum, Decuriæ ii. Ann. ii. p. 111. Norembergæ, 1684.