It may be added, that the functions of a legate do not commence till he is forty miles distant from Rome. The first legate sent into England was John, precentor of St. Paul’s, and abbot of the monastery of St. Martin. He was deputed by Agutho, bishop of Rome, to Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury, in 679. The first legate in Ireland was Gille, or Gillebert, bishop of Limerick early in the twelfth century. The Roman chants were introduced by him into Britain.
It was one of the ecclesiastical privileges of England, from the Norman Conquest, that no foreign legate should be obtruded upon the English, unless the king should desire it, upon some extraordinary emergency, as when a case was too difficult for the English prelates to determine. Hence, in the reign of Henry II., when Cardinal Vivian, who was sent legate into Scotland, Ireland, and Norway, arrived in England on his journey thither, the king sent the bishops of Winchester and Ely to ask him by whose authority he ventured into the kingdom without his leave: nor was he suffered to proceed till he had given an oath not to stretch his commission beyond his Highness’s pleasure in any particular.
LEGENDS. (Legenda.) By this word we are to understand those idle and ridiculous stories which the Romanists tell concerning their saints, and other persons, in order to support the credit of their religion.
The Legend was, originally, a book used in the old Romish churches, containing the lessons that were to be read at Divine service. Hence the lives of saints and martyrs came to be called legends, because chapters were to be read out of them at matins, and in the refectories of the religious houses. The Golden Legend is a collection of the lives of the saints, composed by James de Varase, better known by his Latin name of John de Voragine, or Varagnie, vicar-general of the Dominicans, and afterwards archbishop of Genoa, who died in 1298. It was received in the Church of Rome with great applause, which it maintained for 200 years; but, in truth, it is so full of ridiculous and romantic stories, that the Romanists themselves are ashamed of them.
The Romish Breviaries are full of legendary stories, which are appointed to be read on the saints’ days; which, being almost as numerous as the days in the year, there is hardly a day free from having idle tales mixed in its service. However, there have been considerable reformations made in this matter, several legends having been from time to time retrenched, insomuch that the service of the Church of Rome is much freer from these fooleries than formerly.
But, besides these written legends, there are others which may be called traditionary; by which we mean those idle stories which are delivered by word of mouth, and with which every traveller is entertained in his passage through Popish countries. We will just give the reader a specimen of these legends from Skippon.
At Mentz, in Germany, they relate that a drunken fellow swearing he would kill the first man he met, a crucifix coming by him, he struck at it with his sword, which drew blood from the crucifix, and the fellow immediately sunk up to the knees in the ground, where he stood till the magistrates apprehended him.
At Landsberg, in Bavaria, the Franciscans show a crucifix in their church over the altar, which, they pretend, a fellow spewed upon, and immediately the devil carried him away through the south wall, a round window being made where the hole was.
At Aix-la-Chapelle, in Germany, is a church of our Lady, on the south side of which is a great pair of brass gates, one of which has a crack in the brass, occasioned, as the legend says, thus:—When Charlemagne began the building of this church, the devil came and asked him what he intended; the emperor told him he designed a gaming-house, which the devil being very well satisfied with, went away. The emperor having set up some altar-tables, the devil came again, and inquired what these meant; Charlemagne replied, they were only for gamesters to play on, which encouraged the devil to give his assistance toward the building. Accordingly, he brought a great pair of brass gates on his shoulders; but, seeing a crucifix, he took to his heels, letting the gates fall, one of which in the fall received the crack, which is still shown.
At Milan, they tell you that St. Ambrose, who was bishop of that city, after a fight between the Catholics and the Arians, prayed that it might be revealed how to distinguish the bodies of one party from the other. His request was granted, and he found all the Catholics with their faces upwards, and the Arians with their faces downward.