martyrs' tombs in the catacombs, and you will not doubt the truth of such assertions[110]. The shadow of Peter, the handkerchiefs which had touched the body of Paul, could cure diseases, as the Scripture witnesseth; but here are the relics of a greater than Paul, of a greater than Peter: O then let us kneel, and love, and venerate them; for they were closely united to Him who is the author and object of our faith, the only foundation of our hope, the centre and the consummation of our love. [Sidenote: Recapitulation.] It does not fall within my plan to speak of the devotion of the three hours of agony, practised on this day in many churches, as at the Gesu, S. Lorenzo in Damaso etc. or of that which is practised after the _Ave Maria_ at S. Marcello, Caravita etc. or of the elegies recited by the Arcadian pastors over their Redeemer. Let us rather briefly recapitulate with Morcelli the principal ceremonies of the day: Station at S. Croce; service in the Sixtine chapel, the veneration of the Cross; the B. Sacrament carried thither in procession from the Pauline chapel, Mass of the Presanctified and Vespers. In the afternoon Tenebrae, and veneration of the relics at S. Peter's. [Footnote 82: See a MS. Apamean Pontifical ap. Marthene T. 3, p. 132, Benedict Canon of S. Peter's in his _Ordo Romanus_, Marangoni, _Istoria dell antichissimo Oratorio o Cappella di S. Lorenzo nel Patriarchio Lateranense_. Roma 1747. S. Louis of France used to walk barefooted on this day to the churches, praying and giving abundant alms, as did also William, king of the Romans. (Chronicon Erphordense ad ann. 1252), S. Elisabeth of Hungary used to devote the day to similar acts of piety, walking barefooted and in the dress of a poor woman to the churches, and there making her humble offerings at the altars, and distributing copious alms. On her practices of piety during holy-week see her life by Le Cte de Montalembert c. 9.] [Footnote 83: The Corporal, which was anciently much longer than at present, was spread in this manner at all masses before the offertory. See Cancellieri, De Secretariis T. I, Fleury, Moeurs des Chretiens.] [Footnote 84: The lessons, the prayer, and the passion are found in the ancient ordo Gelasianus for this day.] [Footnote 85: According to the Gelasian Sacramentary all were to genuflect at the prayer for the Jews, as well as at the other prayers; not so according to the Gregorian Sacramentary.]