The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1880-02-04
On the Constructing of Relics.

Saturday, March Is, I854-Circourt
st. Hllalre, and Culpepper breakfasted
with us. We talked of relics. Senior
Are they still venerated in France !?
Clrcourt-You shall Judge by what |
am going to tell. NJ De -, son of the
Marshal, had been an unsuccessful can
dldate for his department in -. He
is man OF talent, but of bad temper and
character He was advised to 90 TO
Rome to try to fatter the clergy by i'm
porting from thence a new saint. The
bones of a child of about three years old
had Just been found in a new excavation
OF the Catacombs. One of the vertebre
OF the neck was injured, an it was as
sumed that the death had been violent
lie persuaded Gregory XVI. to make
hlm present of the bones with certifi-
cate recognizing them as those of mar
tyr, and giving to the young Christian
the name Of Santa Prima. He put Santa
Pnma into shrine, brought her in great
pomP to his department, where he was
met by the Bishop and the clergy built
little chapel in her honor, in which she
Is now actively performing miracles, and
at the next election the priests brought
HIM In for his department with large
majority. Senior thought that the
making saint was a long and expensive
process. Circourt-So it Is, if the pro
posed saint be not a martyr. A Fran
cl$can priest was qutte-ing from me the
other day. | reminded him, that I had
made him donation to his convent last
year. All, p" he answered, "but since
then we have madea saint, and you have
no idea how much that costs r. But if
the candidate be martyr, he is admitted
cheaply and expeditiously. Now all
bones toundd6n the Catacombs are as
sumed to be Christian, and are admit
ted on slight presumption to be those of
martyrs. A few years ago the bodies of
two young women were found there.
They had been pushed into a hole, APP
parently without collins or clothes, and
the opening closed by tile. On that
tile was cut Philomena Virgo Christiana
and Deodata Virgo Christiana. From
their mode OF lnterment they probably
were slaves. Good Judges of bones pro
nounced that they found marks of VIC
lence, and they were canonized as mar
tyrs Saint Deodata never reached much
notorlety, but Saint Philomena, know
not why, obtained great success in France.
There are some hundreds of chapels
erected to her, she performs miracles,
and her photography has been published,
showing that she was the daughter of
king OF Paphlagonia; that Diocletian fell
in love with her; that she refused to
marry Pagan, and was duly MARTYR
lzed. We found, however, in Algiers. an
lndlsputable martyr We know from
contemporary historians that Moor. who
had been converted and served under
Charles ", was taken prisoner by Hus-
sem, the celebrated Dey of Algiers; that
ne refused to save his life by returning
to Mohammedanism was put into a cof2
I'm full OF mortar and built into one of
the bashons of the fort called Des "a
Heures, which Hussein was then erect
ing. The fort has been DESTROYED. as
interfering with the new Notifications
In the bastion were found the coffin. the
bones, and the impression of the face on
the mortar. l have seen it; the features
were those of handsome Moor. We
Immediately got him made saint. and
the circumstance is said to have much
affected the Algerines. 1t seems to them
a sort Of PRISE de possession by the God of
the Chrlstiana.-IHe late ". ". Senior
m Eortnightly RevieaO.