XXIV. So on Thursday, the eighth day of Epiphany, being the thirteenth day of January in the year of our Lord 1541, and at the hour of complines, the Abbot and Convent being assembled, together with serving-men and artificers who were called for this purpose, they made that night wooden biers that the tomb might be moved more easily and reverently, and with less danger. And on the morrow, which was Friday, the fourteenth day of the said month and year, the Convent having said primes, and the mass of Our Lady, according to custom, and the Abbot, Fray Lope de Frias, who was a native of Velorado, having confessed and said mass, the doors of the Church being open, and the altar richly drest, and the bells ringing as they are wont to do upon great festivals, at eight in the morning there assembled in the Church all the brethren of the Monastery, nineteen in number, the other fifteen being absent each in his avocation; and there were present with them Sancho de Ocaña, Merino and Chief Justice of the Monastery; Juan de Rosales, Pedro de Ruseras, and Juan Ruyz, squires of the house; master Ochoa de Artiaga, a mason, with his men; Andres de Carnica, and Domingo de Artiago, master Pablo and master Borgoñon, stone-cutters, with their men; and master Juan, a smith, with his; and all the other workmen and serving-men and traders who were in the house. And the Abbot being clad in rich vestments, and the ministers and acolites with him, with cross, candles, and torches burning, went all in procession to Our Lady's altar, where the sacrament was at that time kept, because of the repairs which were going on in the great Chapel; and all kneeling on their knees, and having recited the Pater-noster and the Ave-maria, the Abbot gave a sign, and the Precentor of the Convent began in plain descant the antiphony _Salvator Mundi_. And when the whole Convent had sung this, the Abbot said the verse _Ostende nobis_, and the verse _Post partum virgo_, and the prayer _Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui es omnium dubitantium certitudo_, and the prayer _Deus qui salutis oeternoe_, demanding the grace and favour of the Lord. When this was done they returned in procession to the great Chapel, before the tomb of the blessed Cid, and then the choir began the anthem _Mirabilis Deus_, saying it to the organ. And while this was singing in great accord, the workmen stood ready with their instruments in hand, to lift off the upper stone of the coffin, because it was well nigh impossible to remove the whole together, and also because the Abbot, Prior, and Convent, had resolved to see that holy body and relicks, by reason of the devotion which they bore to the blessed Cid, and that they might bear testimony in what manner he lay in that tomb, wherein he had been deposited to many years ago, as behoved them for the honour of the Cid and the authority of the Monastery.