E06117: Adomnán, in his On the Holy Places, relates a story the Franco-Gallic bishop Arculf heard, during his recent visit to Constantinople, about an image there of *Mary (mother of Christ, S00033), which miraculously exuded oil. Written in Latin at Iona (north-west Britain), possibly 683/9.
Creators: name: Gschenke
Publisher: name: University of Oxford
Year: 2018
Subjects: History

description: Adomnán, On the Holy Places - Book Three<br><br>V. DE IMAGINE SANCTAE MARIAE<br>1. Arculfus sepe memoratus et de sanctae matris Domini Mariae toracida certam nobis relationem, quam in Constantinopolitana urbae ab expertis quibusdam testibus dedicit, indubitanter enarrauit inquiens: 2. In eadem metropolitana ciuitate imago beatae Mariae in breui tabula figurata lignea in pariete cuiusdam domus suspensa pendebat. 3. De qua cum quidam stolidus et duricors homo percunctaretur cuius esset propriae, a quodam respondente dedicit quod esset sanctae Mariae semper uirginis figura faciei. 4. Quod audiens ille Iudeus incredulus diabulo instigante eandem de pariete ualde iratus tulit imaginem et ad uicinam cucurrit domum ubi humana stercora per longarum foramina tabularum egesta supra sedentium uentribus degeri solent (5.) ibidemque ob Christi ex Maria nati dehonorationem imaginem matris eius per foramen super humanum stercus inferius iacens proiecit et ipse supersedens per idem foramen aluum purgans proprii stercus uentris super toracidam beatae Mariae paulo ante inibi depositam dimittens stolidissime agens effudit et post turpissimam illam uentris purgationem ille infelicissimus discessit homo. 6. Quid uero postea gessit aut quo modo uixit uel qualem uitae terminum habuit inconpertum habetur. <br><br>7. Igitur post illius discessum maligni alius de Christianorum plebe superuenit felix homo zelotipus Dominicarum rerum sciens quod factum fuerat, imaginem sanctae Mariae requisiuit et inter human stercora absconditam inueniens subleuauit et diligenter abstergens et lauans aquis emundauit mundissimis secumque in domu honorificae collacatum habuit. 8. Mirum dictu, ex eadem beatae Mariae imaginis tabula uerum ebulliens distillat semper oleum; quod Arculfus, ut referre solet, propriss conspexit oculis. 9. Hoc mirabile oleu honorem protestatur Mariae matris Domini nostri Iesu Christi, de quo pater ait: In oleo sancto meo linui eum. Item psalmigraphus ad ipsum filium Dei loquitur dicens: Uncxit te Deus Deus tuus oleo laetitiae prae participibus tuis [...]<br><br><br>'(5) CONCERNING THE IMAGE OF THE HOLY MARY<br>The oft-mentioned Arculf gave us an accurate rendering also of a true story about a representation of the holy Mary, mother of the Lord, which he learned from some well-informed witnesses in the city of Constantinople. On the wall of the house in the metropolitan city, he said, a picture of the blessed Mary used to hang, painted on a short wooden tablet. A stupid and hardhearted man asked whose picture it was, and was told by someone that it was a likeness of the holy Mary ever virgin. When he heard this that Jewish unbeliever became very angry and, at the instigation of the devil, seized the picture from the wall and ran to a building near by, where it is customary to dispose of human excrement by means of openings in long planks whereupon people sit. There, in order to dishonour Christ, who was born of Mary, he cast the picture of His mother through the opening on the human excrement lying beneath. Then in his stupid folly he sat above himself and evacuated through the opening, pouring out the excrement of his own bowels on the representation of the holy Mary which he had just deposited there. After that disgraceful action the hapless creature went away, and what he did subsequently, how he lived, or what sort of end he had, is unknown.<br><br>After the scoundrel had gone, one of the Christian community came upon the scene, a fortunate man, zealous for the things of the Lord. Knowing what had happened, he searched for the picture of the holy Mary, found it hidden in the human excrement and took it up. He wiped it carefully and cleaned it by washing it in the clearest water, and then set it up in honour by him in his house. Wonderful to relate, there is always an issue of genuine oil from the tablet with the picture of the blessed Mary, which Arculf, as he is wont to tell, saw with his own eyes. This wondrous oil proclaims the honour of Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus of whom the Father says: 'With my oil I have anointed him.' Likewise the psalmist addressed the Son of God himself when he says: 'God thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of joy beyond thy companions' ...' <br><br>Text and translation: Meehan 1958, 118-9, modified.