was the scene of the famous miracle of Bolsena, when a Bohemian priest, officiating here in 1263, was cured of his sceptical doubts regarding the reality of transubstantiation by the sudden appearance of drops of blood on the Host which he had just consecrated—­an incident which formed the subject of Raphael’s well-known picture in the Vatican, and in connection with which Pope Urban IV. instituted the festival of Corpus Christi.  On the Lucanian coast, near the little fishing town of Agrapoli, not far from Paestum, there is shown on the limestone rock the print of a foot which is said by the inhabitants to have been made by the Apostle Paul, who lingered here on his way to Rome.  In the famous church of Radegonde at Poitiers, dedicated to the queen of Clothaire I.—­who afterwards took the veil, and was distinguished for her piety—­there is shown on a white marble slab a well-defined footmark, which is called “Le pas de Dieu,” and is said to indicate the spot where the Saviour appeared to the tutelary saint of the place.  Near the altar of the church of St. Genaro de Poveri in Naples, Mary’s foot is shown suspended in a glazed frame.  In the middle of the footprint there is an oval figure with the old initials of mother, water, matter.  The footprint of Mary is very common in churches in Italy and Spain, where it is highly venerated.

The significance of these footmarks has been the subject of much controversy.  Some have regarded them as symbols of possession—­the word “possession” being supposed to be etymologically derived from the Latin words pedis positio, and meaning literally the position of the foot.  The adage of the ancient jurists was, “Quicquid pes tuus calcaverit tuum erit.”  The symbol of a foot was carved on the marble slab that closed the loculus or tomb, to indicate that it was the purchased property of the person who reposed in it.  This view, however, has not been generally received with favour by the most competent authorities.  A more plausible theory is that which regards the sepulchral footmarks in the Catacombs as votive offerings of gratitude, ordered by Christians to be made in commemoration of the completion of their earthly pilgrimage.  It was a common pagan custom for persons who had recovered from disease or injury, to hang up as thankofferings in the shrines of the gods who were supposed to have healed them, images or representations, moulded in metal, clay, or wood, of the part that had been affected.  In Italy, votive tablets were dedicated to Iris and Hygiea on which footmarks were engraved; and Hygiea received on one occasion tributes of this kind which recorded the gratitude of some Roman soldiers who escaped the amputation which was inflicted upon their comrades by Hannibal.  This custom survived in the early Christian Church, and is still kept up, as any one who visits a modern shrine of pilgrimage in Roman Catholic countries can testify.  Among such votive offerings, models and carved and painted representations of feet