IV. ST. MARK’S 75

given by Corner, and believed to this day by the Venetians, of the pretended miracle by which it was concealed.¹

“After the repairs undertaken by the Doge Orseolo, the place in which the body of the holy Evangelist rested had been altogether forgotten; so that the Doge Vital Falier was entirely ignorant of the place of the venerable deposit. This was no light affliction, not only to the pious Doge, but to all the citizens and people; so that at last, moved by confidence in the Divine mercy, they determined to implore, with prayer and fasting, the manifestation of so great a treasure, which did not now depend upon any human effort. A general fast being therefore proclaimed, and a solemn procession appointed for the 25th day of June, while the people assembled in the church interceded with God in fervent prayers for the desired boon, they beheld, with as much amazement as joy, a slight shaking in the marbles of a pillar (near the place where the altar of the Cross is now), which, presently falling to the earth, exposed to the view of the rejoicing people the chest of bronze in which the body of the Evangelist was laid.”

§ 8. Of the main facts of this tale there is no doubt. They were embellished afterwards, as usual, by many fanciful traditions; as, for instance, that, when the sarcophagus was discovered, St. Mark extended his hand out of it, with a gold ring on one of the fingers, which he permitted a noble of the Dolfin family to remove; and a quaint and delightful story was further invented of this ring, which I shall not repeat here,

¹ [The body, or reputed body, of St. Mark has had in all five resting-places in Venice:-(1) in the Ducal Palace, for three years, until the church was ready to receive it; (2) in the crypt of the church, 836-976; (3) a place unknown, during its “concealment,” 976-1094. One reputed place is “the large pilaster that sustains the south-east corner of the central cupola in the south transept. The south side of this pilaster bears a panel of rich mosaic decoration, with a lamp in its centre, which marks the spot from which, tradition says, the body was taken in 1094.” As a matter of fact, the pilaster has never been disturbed since the church was built. The other supposed hiding-place is a column shown in the mosaic described below (§ 8). (4) The new crypt, the present one, into which the body was borne in 1094. A leaden plate states that the sepulture was made “in the year of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, 1094, in the 8th day of the current month October, in the reign of the Doge Vital Falier.” There it remained till (5) it was moved in 1811 to its present resting-place, under the high altar of the chancel. For fuller particulars, see Bible of St. Mark, pp. 68-72.]

[Version 0.04: March 2008]