The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1909-02-12

missionaries in Gaul.
Lazarus and Trophime followed
the course Of the river and reached
the city of Aries, at that epoch a
great Roman metropolis; Lazarus, af-
ter fearlessly hurting from their ped
estals the statues Of Venus, Bacchus,
and other pagan gods, suffered mar
tyrdom in the Arlesian arena; Trop-
hime, who was no less jealous but
more conservative and intelligent, ev-
entually succeeded in converting the
city to Christianity, anld lived to be-
come a bishop. It seems to me, in
passing, that goth century preachers
and missionaries might draw more
than one useful moral from this little
incident.
As for the Saintes Marie, they
spent their lives in pious pilgrimages
from village to village, from city to
city. throughout all Gaul, spreading
the Gospel, healing the sick, and COM
forting the afflicted. Sarah, the
hand-maiden, was separated from her
companions. and made long journey
into the country Of the Huns (now
Hungarian Bohemia) but later rejoin-
ed the Marys and upon her death was
buried by their side.
| Nearly every province upon the
Mediterranean coast continues, IN its
purely local legends and folklore,
this Odyssey Of the Saintes Marie.
Upon the slope Of gigantic cliff in
the mountains Of the Alphilles, in the
neichborhood Of Les Baux, is an enor-
nous detached block of stone, over
hanging precipice; upon the eastern
face Of this block are craven three
grandiose female figures, objects of
the superstitious veneration Of the
mountaineers. These three figures
(which I examined while visiting Les
Baux. several months ago) are GER
tainly 900 or 1000 years old. Two
distinct legends are woven around the
statues. or. more properly speaking,
the baS reliefs. and both legends con-
meet them with the Saintes Marie.
According to the great Provencal
poet. Frederick Mistral, the three
Maries visited Les Baux and were so
Hospitality received by the inna'. itaats
of the village that Mary Magda]ene
traced with her finger, upon the
mountainside. the portraits OF her.
self and her two companions. in Or
der to render eternal the souvenir Of
their visit. The other Legend, record
ed by jules Canonge. is MT So credl-
table to the hospitality Of the villa
gers. who. according to this second
version, treated the sanity women as
sorceresses and chased them from
the neighborhood with sticks and
stones. Shortly afterward. Les Bank,
until that moment the hea't}I.est spot
imaginable. was afflicted by terri
Bile plague. a species Of cholera,
which threatened to wipe out the VII
lage: sacrifices to the pagan gods and
godesses proving OF no avail. the
priests. remembering that the three
strange women. who had recently Wis
tied the mountain, had claimed to be
the messengers of new and unknown
god. came to the conclusion that this
deity. offended b Y the indie1lities
heaped upon his emmissaries. had sent
the plague as a punishment; conse-
quentlv they decided to erect a shrine
to the three mysterious women. and
carved upon the cliff the three figur-
es. which have remained until this
day.
Unfortunately for those who seek
to discern a shadow of real truth IN
either of these tales, the stone figures
themselves suggest, or rather impose.
third more practical and less poetic
explanation of their origin. Their
style is lndlsputably Roman, ana tbev
were executed by habile workmen.
furthermore, the grouping, drapely
and head-dresses Of the figures leave
little room to question that they were
intended to represent the three
Graces.
But LET us return to the legend. The
three Marys and the servant Sarah,
having converted the Gauls, and hav-
ing grown Old in the long, long course
of their wanderings, returned to the
Camargue to spend their few remain
ing days in peace, and to die here
upon the spot where they had dis
embarked. The fishermen of the
neighborhood, who had known and
honored the holy women during their