Chapter 12
Of light sent from heaven.
WHEN then in the beginning there was built in the aforesaid place an oratory of the blessed apostle, many and innumerable tokens of miracles were performed, but on account of their abundance they were neglected and were handed down to memory by scarcely anyone. Wherefore but a few, of those which have been performed in these latter days and have been made known to us by sight rather than by hearing, we will faithfully describe as they occur to our memory.
And so at the beginning of the erection of the fabric our elders say that as a certain day was drawing towards evening, when the darkness of night was already at hand, a light sent from heaven gleamed over the church and remained over it for the space of an hour, and was seen by them and many others. Which afterwards, returning on high, thenceforth appeared to none, and in a moment vanished from the eyes of the beholders. Moreover, of how great love, pity, and heavenly grace this was a token was manifestly showed to all by the multitude of signs which afterwards appeared there.
The Book of the Foundation of St. Bartholomew's, Smithfield Rendered into Modern English from the original Latin version preserved in the British Museum, numbered Vespasian B. IX, by Mr. Humphrey H. King and Mr. William Barnard for use in the Records of St. Bartholomew's Priory by E.A. Webb. |
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