The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-03-20
THE VIRGINS HOME,
Ruins Discovered at Ephes-
us by the Fathers of
the Order of
Lazarus.
BUILT ON THE ROMAN SCHEME.
Simplicity Its Distinguishing Fea-
ture-Father Mackel to Lee
ture at All Saints.
BUILT ON THE ROMAN SCHEME.

~
The house in which the Virgin Mary liv-
ed after the death Of Christ has been
| found, says the Philadelphia Enquirer.
Its discovery was not unexpected; for at
| intervals since its disappearance six Gem
turtles ago 1T had been Thought that trace
had been made to dt. The house is in
ruins, but there is enough of it left to
| show the rooms occupied by h Virgin
and to Indicate what must have been the
daily home routine
The Roman Catholic University here at
Washington has received news of it from
the Fathers of the Order of Lazarus, to
whom belongs the credit of finding 1T.
1t is known that the Virgin Mary after
| the death of Christ, went with St John,
s'ths Disciple whom Jesus Loved to
| Ephesus am there dwelt for the remain
der of her life. A anouse was built for her
and she supported it, it is believed, by
followers of her religion, who r~everenced
her as the then living head of their be-
liefs.
For 500 years after her death there were
well-kept records OF her doings in Ephe-
| s1s. Such literature as there was abound
| ed with reference to her and her ways.
| She was called 1.-THE Good Lady and
1.-THE Divine.'' And that she devoted her
self ito good deeds there was abundant
proof until her death.
In this literature there was, unfortu-
| nately. no record of her house. All men
ton of its location was destroyed by a
curious fatality of accident. One writer,
D~agliomene, who acted as the posthu-
! NOUS b~iographer of the Virgin, went to
| the trouble of describing the house ac-
curately. He told each door and window
and made a word picture of the oratory
where h prayed every hour in the day
At one place the manuscript OF Dag
iomene wa torn off, and only loose
| scraps Of it remained from what must
| nave been several hundred pages, When
| the story Is again taken up 1t is engaged
in a description of the garden OF the Vir-
| gin, in which grew figs. and olives, sur
| founded by a all border or hedge of
| laurels. The torn off places would have
located the house, but, alas! they were
\ gone!
Last September one of this Lazarist
| fathers discovered an old book which gave
| the location Of the house of the Virgin
more closely than any other. The good
\ father resolved to investigate, and, tax
ing with him i've scientific men, started
| from the ruined city of Ephesus to hunt
| down the location of the house.
After a search it was found. 1t is sit
uated upon a thickly wooded plateau, the
| hill of the nightingales, about eight miles
from any village, and so well isolated
| through these years that the people who
| live in the town beyond know not OF It.
| The hill covers a territory of ten square
| miles, and the w-oodSpeople, although
they knew from generation TO genera
| ton that the house was reverenced, nave
| kept 1t a secret. 1t is said they feared
the establishment of a shrine and the
taking AWAY Of trnir wrodla~7-.
To the surprise of the Lazarist fathers
it was founu THAT tbs peopie " tnS iAlli
have the frmest belief in the house OF
| tba Vfrpip
The house is bull upon the Roman
scheme of three subdivisions. A room
is in the middle and. one at each side ;oI
The MIDDLE section Is again divided !.
making it three rooms deep. The first IS
Sled. Here it is thought the Apostles
and prayer. The second room answered
Of settles around the wall. In the mid
die IS a large round basin, which must
have been a fountain. and heresthe weary
Of the times. They rested. bathed their
feet and partcok of olives, figs and wine.
third room is the most interesting
Virgin. It now stands the best pre-
served of any of the house. The people
passing it pause to reverence It, and It
has become a shrine that is perpetually
worshipped. Nothing remains IN the
ruins except a standing cross ande brok-
en- bench. Ihe mouse was lfgnteu. from
the top. 1t was only one story high.
The sleeping room Of the Virgin was
severe simplicity itself. There was a
long. low bed. This. still stands in place
It was a stone. shelf on one side of the
rooom. Opposite 1t there was a stone
settle, and at one end a rude table might
lhave been a place of worship.
The room on the left Of the house was
what we would call the kitchen. Here
the Virgin lived unattended save by those
whom She befriended: and here She
| cooked her simple meals and administered
to such of her daily wants as were abso-
lutte necessities. THE tales Of her, drawn
reluctantly from the country folk, as told
to them generation after generation. say
that she often had large GATHERINGS Of
persons, most of whom were needy. All
followers of the faith gathered there on
her birthday. THIS is still observed by
the country folk, who make the VIRGINS
birthday their principal midsummer holt
day.
The cooking utensils of the Virgin were
found in the ruins of the kitchen. They
consisted of two large fiat stones, a lug,
large mugs of a peculiar reddish cofnpo-
sition, and Nat plate that resembles our
composition of tin. They were stronger
however. and were neither brittle nor
flexible. A followed out stone, Stained
with a dark substance, must have been
| fha II ANN nSad i'm d1aacp$dave