It is related of St. Conrad, a devout bishop who died in 976, that he was celebrating the Mass on Easter Day, when a great spider dropped into the chalice. The insect might have been taken out and then decently burnt, but out of devotion and respect for the holy mysteries the bishop swallowed the spider, which he vomited up some hours after without receiving any harm.
THE PIPER OF HAMELN AND THE RATS.
The town of Hameln was infested with rats, which swarmed everywhere and drove the people mad. One day a stranger came saying he was a ratcatcher, and offered to rid the place of the vermin for a sum of money. This was agreed to, and the piper began to pipe, and the rats with a mighty rumbling noise came out of their holes and followed him. The townspeople, on seeing the rats leaving them, repented of the bargain, and refused to pay the money, on the ground of the piper being a sorcerer. The piper then waxed wroth and threatened revenge, and soon after he came again into the town and blew his pipe, whereon all the children rushed out and followed him towards a side of the mountain, when they all vanished through an opening, and none of them were ever seen again. There were one hundred and thirty children. The street through which the poor children were decoyed is called the Bungen Strasse, and to this day no music is ever tolerated in it.
LADY GODIVA RELIEVING COVENTRY.
It is related by Matthew of Westminster that Count Leofric, who died in 1057, and his noble and pious wife Godiva, had founded a monastery in Coventry, had established monks in it, and endowed it so abundantly with estates and treasures of various kinds that there was not found such a quantity of gold, silver, and precious stones in any monastery in all England as there was at that time in that monastery. The countess had on an occasion wished in a most pious spirit to deliver the city of Coventry from a burdensome and shameful slavery, and often entreated the count her husband with earnest prayers to deliver the town from that slavery. And when the count reproached her for persevering in asking to no purpose for a thing which he disliked, he at last charged her never for the future to mention this subject to him. She, however, prompted by female persistence, continued her entreaties, till her husband was provoked, and then taunted her thus: “Mount then your horse naked and ride through the market of the town from end to end, and when you return you shall succeed in your request.” The countess replied, “I am willing even to do that if you will give me your permission.” And he gave it. Then the countess, beloved of God, on a set day mounted her horse naked, letting her tresses of hair fall, which covered her whole body except her beautiful legs; and when she had finished her journey without being seen by any one, she returned to her husband with joy. He looked on this as a miracle, released the city from slavery, and confirmed the charter with his own seal.
THE SACRED FIRE IN THE GREEK CHURCH.
A ceremony was long prevalent among the Greek Christians at Jerusalem which resembled the carnival in Rome. On Easter Eve it was pretended that fire descended from heaven into the sacred sepulchre. In order to keep up this illusion, all the lamps were extinguished. The crowd then collected round the sepulchre, some crying “Eleison” and jumping on each other’s backs, and throwing dirt about like people at a fair. Some held up their wax tapers, as if imploring the Almighty to send the fire. Then people marched round the sepulchre, some personating the archbishops and bishops. At last one entered the sepulchre and pretended his taper had caught fire. The crowd then pressed round to light their tapers at that which first took fire. Great rioting and tomfoolery then succeeded. Some ascribe the origin of this superstition to a real miracle of the same kind which once happened, and it is added that God Almighty being provoked at the irregularities of the Christian Crusaders refused to work the miracle, but at last vouchsafed to do so after fervent supplications. It was said the fire had never descended since the beginning of the twelfth century. Part of the above ceremony consisted in the crowd bringing pieces of linen cloth, said to be marked with a cross by the tapers kindled at the sacred fire; and these cloths were preserved as winding-sheets and sacred relics.
SOME SUPERSTITIONS OF THE GREEK CHURCH.
The Greeks of the Holy Land all believed as an unquestionable fact that the birds which fly about Jerusalem never sing during Passion Week, but stand motionless and confounded, as if in sorrow. Pilgrims to Jerusalem got certain marks imprinted on their arms with indelible characters, and which they afterwards produced as certificates of their pilgrimage. The Grecian populace ascribed to the waters of the Jordan the supernatural virtue of healing several distempers. The plant known as the rose of Jericho was in their opinion a sure defence against thunder and lightning. They also believed that on Easter Day the lands all round Cairo and the Nile throw up their dead and continue to do so till Ascension Day.