Durango semi-weekly herald., 1902-01-23

lights are always burning and crowds
OF sinful mortals are always bowed
in prayer. Is miracle-workinK Dor
trait of the Mother of Jesus, said to
have~been painted by st. Luke, the
evangelist. 1t was brought from Con-
stantinople by the Doge Dandolo
when he captured that city. He
was the greatest of the doges and Is
buried in st. Marks. His palace on
the Grand Canal near the Rialto
bridge. built in the eleventh century.
still stands as secure as the pyra-
mids, but is desecrated by a common
cafe upon the first floor and the up
per rooms are leased as tenements
to the commonest kind of people.
This portrait of the Holy Virgin is
one of three which the Catholic
church recognizes as genuine works
of the artist apostle. told you
about another that hangs in the
Church Of the Assumption in the
Kremlin at Moscow, where the czars
of Russia are crowned, and there is
another down in Greece. The body
of st. Luke. as / told you the other
day. is supposed to be buried in the
Church of st. Giustina at Padua, ad-
Joining the prison in which that saint
suffered martyrdom during the reign
of Nero. People who have an appe-
tite for horrors can be gratified there
by seeing where more than 1900
Christians gave up their lives in tes-
timony of their faith. ST. Matthew
is also supposed to be buried there,
| ta1thnnuh plo Tot, r..
his cemetery. The strongest claim
is advanced by the Cathedral at
Traves. where the holy coat of
Christ is kept. 1t is said that st.
Mathew once lived and preached and
taught there.
| Around the altar Of St. Lukes Vir-
gin in st. Marks are offerings of all
kinds, jewels and other objects. CIV
en- in gratitude and in performance
of VOWS. This picture is very rich,
because it has been here SO many
centuries and received the adora-
tion of SO many devotees.
The body of St. Mark. the apostle,
is supposed to lie in marble sar-
cophagus under the high altar, where
it was placed in the year 829, having
been brought from Alexandria, where
it was originally buried in a little
chapel built by the evangelist him
self. There had been church on
the site of this cathedral as early as
the $50, dedicated to St. Theordore,
the first patron of the Venetian re-
public. but when the remains of the
|apostle were brought to Venice St
Theodore was set aside and this
marvellous monument was erected in
honor of Christ's disciple. There
is curious tradition that st. Marks
remains were brought to Venice by
two Hebrew merchants who obtained
them from the Turks in exchange for
a lot of arms and provisions.
| 1t is an interesting fact that there
is more costly material in the COM
position of st. Marks than was ever
expended In any other building
500 columns of marble from the quar-
ries of Asia and Africa as well as It.
ally, and not less than $500 squares
feet of mosaic work, nearly all glass
and gliding. More money has been
expended upon 1t than upon St
Peters at Rome. and probably more
than upon any other church or any
other structure in the world. Some
of the columns came from the heath
en- temples of Greece. some from
churches erected by the crusaders in
the holy land and four columns of
alabaster. nine feet high and eight
inches in diameter, SO translucent
that the flame of a candle can be
seen through them, support canopy
over an altar. The traditions say
that they were originally in the hol-
lest of holies of the Temple Of Solo
mon. They were brought from Jer-
usalem In the ninth century. There
are several pillars from Tyre. The
stone of the altar in the baptistry Is
believed to be that upon which Christ
stood at the TRANSPORTATION. 1t
was brought from Mount Tabor at a
very early date. One Of the bronze
doors of st. Marks used to hang in
the mosque of st. Sofia at CONSTANT
nople, and a famous golden altar
piece, called Lapala d'Oro. made of
heavy plates of gold thickly studded
with pearls. dimonds and other prec-
ious stones, was also brought from
Constantinople by one of the doges
in 1905.
The treasury is not so rich as 1t
was before Napoleon came In 1897
and during the Austrian invasion u
great many sacred relics disappear
ed, but there are still several objects
of great interest. including a chair
which st. Mark Is said to have used
at Alexandria, silver candelabra of
simple form, but artistic workman
ship. which were used in the church
he built; several drops OF the blood
that flowed from the Savior's side on
Calvary. a portion of the skull of St.
John and the inevitable piece Of the
true cross. In the baptistry is a
block of granite which the guide books
catalogue as the stone upon which
John the Baptist was beheaded. but
when l questioned the sacristan who
was showing us about as to the eyi.