From the _Chronicle_ of Hugo of Flavigny (_c._ 1096) we learn that it was customary for the monks at the convent to take turns in ascending the mountain on the sabbath, in order to celebrate mass at the shrine of St. Katherine and collect the oil that flowed from the bones.[234] This shows that the body of the saint at this time lay enshrined on a mountain which was probably the Gebel Musa itself. For an ancient prayer contains the words “Lord, who didst give the Law to Moses on the summit of Mount Sinai, and who, on the same spot, didst deposit, through thy holy angels, the body of the blessed Katherine, virgin and martyr.”[235] At a later date we hear of bodies of saints lying enshrined in the small church that stood on the summit of the Gebel Musa. The fact that oil flowed from the bones is told of many saints. Contrary to the usually accepted belief, the scientific explanation is probably as follows. The body lay in a coffin of cedar wood or other wood that is naturally charged with oil. If the heat generated in the coffin is great, it would cause the oil to ooze and collect on the bones or any other cold substance, forming into drops. The monk Simeon was serving his turn at the shrine, and drawing off the oil that had collected into a glass phial, when three small (finger) bones of the saint came loose and were carried down with it. Simeon took charge of them as a priceless treasure. As an envoy was needed to go to Normandy to collect the usual alms, he started, carrying the relics with him. He travelled by way of Egypt, but the Italian galley in which he sailed was seized by pirates. He escaped by jumping overboard and eventually reached Antioch, where he fell in with a band of pilgrims, with whom he journeyed to Normandy by way of Belgrad and Rome. In the meantime, Duke Richard III, duke of Normandy (993-1026), had died, but an abbey was in course of construction near Rouen, and Simeon deposited the relics with the abbot Isambert before he left for Verdun and for Trèves. The relics worked wonders. Isambert suffered from toothache and was divinely directed to the oil which brought him relief. Other miraculous cures followed. And the Abbey of the Trinity near Rouen gained such renown that it came to be known as the Abbey of St. Katherine.[236] [Illustration: [_Photo: Exclusive News Agency._ Fig. 17.—Chapel on Gebel Musa.]