confirmed the assertion of the Turk[107]. [Sidenote: 3. _Volto Santo_.] 3. As for the _Volto Santo_, or image of our Saviour it was placed in an Oratory of the Vatican Basilica by John VII as long ago as 707, as may be seen in Marlinetti, Dei pregii della Basilica Vat. Who S. Veronica or Berenice was, who is said to have wiped our Saviour's face with the handkerchief is another question, as Benedict XIV observes, to whom and to Marlinetti I shall content myself with referring. It appears that this ancient likeness of our Saviour was afterwards kept at S. Spirito: six Roman noblemen had the care of it; and to each of them was confided on of the six keys, with which it was locked up. They enjoyed various privileges, and among others, says an ancient MS. Chronicle quoted by Cancellieri, "havevano questi sei ogni anno, da Santo Spirito, due vacche in die S. Spiritus le quali se magnavano li con gran festa". In 1410 the _Volto Santo_ was carried back to S. Peter's, where it has ever since remained[108]. [Sidenote: Reflections.] The Council of Trent, in the 25th Session, teaches that veneration and honour are due to relics of the Saints, and that they and other sacred monuments are honoured by the faithful not without utility. We all honour the memorials of the great, of the wise and of the brave; who has not venerated the oak of a Tasso or the house of a Shakespeare? While _We_ revere the relics of a Borromeo at Milan, of a Francois de Sales at Annecy, of a Luigi Gonzaga, a Filippo Neri, a Camillo de Lellis at Rome, others respect the chair and table of Wickliffe at Lutterworth, or the room of Luther at Eisenach. If infidels unite in paying homage to the house of the impious _philosopher_ of Ferney, let all Christians, however they may be otherwise unhappily divided, join in shewing their respect for the image of their Saviour, and for those instruments which touched his sacred body, and were sanctified by his precious blood. O let them gaze with reverential awe on that lance which entering into his adorable side drew from it blood and water, and on that cross to which he was nailed and on which he died for our salvation. The early Christians, our forefathers in the faith, manifested great respect for the bodies and the blood of the martyrs, because they were faithful _followers_ of Christ. Thus, in the letter of the faithful of Smyrna preserved by Eusebius, they mention that they gathered up the bones of their bishop Polycarp, (a disciple of S. John the Apostle) "more precious than pearls, and more tried than gold, and buried them. In this place, God willing", say they "we shall meet and celebrate with joy and gladness the birthday of this martyr". SS. Praxedes and Pudentiana, and many other devout females used to collect the blood of the martyrs with sponges and cloths, as if they feared that one drop of it should be lost. Read the poems of Prudentius, observe the phials of blood[109] placed before the