crossed the sacred stiffened arms on the chest, and bound the large white sheet round the body as high as the chest, in the same manner as if they had been swaddling a child.  Then, having fastened the end of a large band beneath the armpits, they rolled it round the head and the whole body.  Finally, they placed our Divine Lord on the large sheet, six yards in length, which Joseph of Arimathea had bought, and wrapped him in it.  He was lying diagonally upon it, and one corner of the sheet was raised from the feet to the chest, the other drawn over the head and shoulders, while the remaining two ends were doubled round the body.

The Blessed Virgin, the holy women, the men—­all were kneeling round the body of Jesus to take their farewell of it, when a most touching miracle took place before them.  The sacred body of Jesus, with all its wounds, appeared imprinted upon the cloth which covered it, as though he had been pleased to reward their care and their love, and leave them a portrait of himself through all the veils with which he was enwrapped.  With tears they embraced the adorable body, and then reverently kissed the wonderful impression which it had left.  Their astonishment increased when, on lifting up the sheet, they saw that all the bands which surrounded the body had remained white as before, and that the upper cloth alone had been marked in this wonderful manner.  It was not a mark made by the bleeding wounds, since the whole body was wrapped up and covered with sweet spices, but it was a supernatural portrait, bearing testimony to the divine creative power ever abiding in the body of Jesus.  I have seen many things relative to the subsequent history of this piece of linen, but I could not describe them coherently.  After the resurrection it remained in the possession of the friends of Jesus, but fell twice into the hands of the Jews, and later was honoured in several different places.  I have seen it in a city of Asia, in the possession of some Christians, who were not Catholics.  I have forgotten the name of the town, which is situated in a province near the country of the Three Kings.

CHAPTER LII.

The Body of our Lord placed in the Sepulchre.

The men placed the sacred body on a species of leathern hand-barrow, which they covered wit a brown-coloured cloth, and to which they fastened two long stakes.  This forcibly reminded me of the Ark of the Covenant.  Nicodemus and Joseph bore on their shoulders the front shafts, while Abenadar and John supported those behind.  After them came the Blessed Virgin, Mary of Heli, her eldest sister, Magdalen and Mary of Cleophas, and then the group of women who had been sitting at some distance—­Veronica, Johanna Chusa, Mary Salome, Salome of Jerusalem, Susanna, and Anne the niece of St. Joseph.  Cassius and the soldiers closed the procession.  The other women, such as Marone of Naim, Dina the Samaritaness, and Mara the