Bede's Ecclesiastical History of EnglandBede, the Venerable, Saint
History
Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England
Bede, the Venerable, Saint
England -- Church history -- 449-1066
Concerning the place of our Lord’s Ascension, the aforesaid author writes
thus. “The Mount of Olives is equal in height to Mount Sion, but exceeds
it in breadth and length; it bears few trees besides vines and olives, and
is fruitful in wheat and barley, for the nature of that soil is not such
as to yield thickets,(864) but grass and flowers. On the very top of it,
where our Lord ascended into heaven, is a large round church,(865) having
round about it three chapels with vaulted roofs. For the inner building
could not be vaulted and roofed, by reason of the passage of our Lord’s
Body; but it has an altar on the east side, sheltered by a narrow roof. In
the midst of it are to be seen the last Footprints of our Lord, the place
where He ascended being open to the sky; and though the earth is daily
carried away by believers, yet still it remains, and retains the same
appearance, being marked by the impression of the Feet. Round about these
lies a brazen wheel, as high as a man’s neck, having an entrance from the
west, with a great lamp hanging above it on a pulley and burning night and
day. In the western part of the same church are eight windows; and as many
lamps, hanging opposite to them by cords, shine through the glass as far
as Jerusalem; and the light thereof is said to thrill the hearts of the
beholders with a certain zeal and compunction. Every year, on the day of
the Ascension of our Lord, when Mass is ended, a strong blast of wind is
wont to come down, and to cast to the ground all that are in the church.”
Of the situation of Hebron, and the tombs of the fathers,(866) he writes
thus. “Hebron, once a habitation and the chief city of David’s kingdom,
now only showing by its ruins what it then was, has, one furlong to the
east of it, a double cave in the valley, where the sepulchres of the
patriarchs are encompassed with a wall four-square, their heads lying to
the north. Each of the tombs is covered with a single stone, hewn like the
stones of a church, and of a white colour, for the three patriarchs.
Adam’s is of meaner and poorer workmanship, and he lies not far from them
at the farthest end of the northern part of that wall. There are also some
poorer and smaller monuments of the three women. The hill Mamre is a mile
from these tombs, and is covered with grass and flowers, having a level
plain on the top. In the northern part of it, the trunk of Abraham’s oak,
being twice as high as a man, is enclosed in a church.”
Thus much, gathered from the works of the aforesaid writer, according to
the sense of his words, but more briefly and in fewer words, we have
thought fit to insert in our History for the profit of readers. Whosoever
desires to know more of the contents of that book, may seek it either in
the book itself, or in that abridgement which we have lately made from it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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