"The interior of the building consists of a nave and aisles, formed by four piers that support the roof. The whole of the interior is covered with paintings and tapestry representing scenes in the Saviour's life, and there is a fine organ and an altar dedicated to the angel Gabriel. We did not spend much time over this part of the church, as we were all impatient to descend to the Grotto of the Annunciation, which is below the floor.
"There is a stairway of fifteen marble steps between the first two columns as you enter the church, and down this stairway we went, after a brief inspection of the decorations of the walls and a glance at the high altar.
THE ANNUNCIATION.
"At the foot of the steps we entered the so-called 'Chapel of the Angels,' which contains shrines dedicated to St. Joachim and the angel Gabriel. Beyond the shrines is an opening or passage leading to the Chapel of the Annunciation, which is an apartment fifteen feet by ten, as near as we could judge, and has a marble altar showing the spot where Mary stood during the Annunciation. A column near the entrance marks the position of the angel, and a little distance from it is a fragment of a column hanging from the roof, and said to be suspended by miraculous power. We wanted to examine it closely, but the monk in charge of the place hurried us on, and evidently did not wish a careful inspection of the hanging column.
"Beyond the Chapel of the Annunciation is the Chapel of Joseph, and farther on is a small cavern hewn from the solid rock, and said to have been the kitchen of Mary.
"The general arrangement of the altars, lamps, and decorations was a constant reminder of Bethlehem, and when the monks began their service we found it was very nearly the same. As soon as the ceremony was over in the grotto it was announced that the hour for service in the church had arrived, and we all went to attend it. The congregation numbered two or three hundred persons, including the twenty-five or thirty Italian and Spanish monks in charge of the convent, and perhaps fifty pilgrims, while the balance was made up of our party and the Latin Christians living at Nazareth. The notes of the organ sounded finely through the old church, and when we remembered that we were on the spot where the Christian world believes the coming of our Saviour was announced to his mother, we were deeply impressed with the solemnity of the occasion.
"Let me tell you here the story of the Santa Casa, or Holy House, as we heard it from the monks, and as it is told in the history of the Catholic Church since the fifteenth century:
"'The house in which Mary lived was carried away by angels, who lifted it from its foundations and bore it away when the infidels conquered the country and began the expulsion of the Christians. They carried it, in a.d. 1291, to the heights overlooking Finme, in Hungary. It rested there about three years, and was then transported to the coast of Italy, where it remained five or six months. A third and last removal occurred in the year 1294 or 1295 to the place where it now stands in the town of Loretto, twelve miles south of Ancona, and three miles from the sea-shore.' Great numbers of pilgrims are said to go there every year to see it, and the building is carefully preserved from injury. The Latin monks believe the story implicitly, and they point out the exact position which the house formerly occupied.