Talking of Piazzas—the one which immediately conducted to that of St. Peter’s has always been called “Piazza Scossa Cavalli,” the place of the “shock of horses,” and this is the story of how it obtained the name. Constantine’s mother, Helena, was, like her son, somewhat tardy in openly professing Christianity, but her whole life after her baptism was devoted to the service of God, particularly in the direction of preserving and beautifying the holy places sanctified by the life and sufferings of the Redeemer. To her we owe the finding of the True Cross, the Crown of Thorns, and other instruments of the Passion; it was she who built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the one on Mount Calvary, spots which the pagans had marked for future identification and veneration by setting up idols to keep the Christians from praying there! Among other things she found on Mount Moriah the stone, scrupulously preserved by the ancestor-loving Jews, on which Abraham was preparing to sacrifice Isaac—the type of Christ—when the Angel staid his arm and told him that the Lord would prove his faith no further. This stone Helena conveyed to Rome, intending to place it in St. Peter’s; but when the horses dragging the wagon which contained it reached this spot, still quite distant from the Basilica, they “jibbed,” as we should say, and no power on earth could induce them to go a step further. The Empress, her counsellors, and all the people took this as a sign that Heaven destined the consecrated stone to remain in that place, and a church, “San Giacomo a Scossa Cavalli,” was built and still stands there to shelter Abraham’s Altar.