The abbot of St. Saba stood before the sepulchre, while services in Greek and in Latin went on. The Fire was sometimes delayed three days, or appeared in the Temple or in the Hospital. It was believed to fall from heaven through the open roof. On the occasion described a fine rain was falling on the densely packed crowd round the tomb. They sang the Song of Moses, and at length “a small cloud coming suddenly from the East rested over the open dome of the church.... It was at that moment that the Holy Light illuminated the Holy Sepulchre, shining with an awful and splendid brightness. The bishop and four deacons then opened the doors of the tomb, and entered with the taper of Prince Baldwin.” The canons of the Holy Sepulchre were of the Augustinian order. They received from Godfrey twenty-one villages lying near Jerusalem on the north in the royal domain, but other kings and barons added many other lands “for the saving of their souls” till they numbered seventy “casales” in all, besides fishing rights on the Sea of Galilee, and churches at Bari, Brindisi, and in Sicily.[525] Five of the villages were in Lower Galilee, and all the other Palestine property of this church was lost for ever in 1187 A. D. [Sidenote: THE HOSPITAL] South of the cathedral was the large block of buildings belonging to the Knights of St. John. It occupied an area of 500 feet side, or nearly 55 acres. It was bounded by Patriarch Street on the west, Herb Street on the east, Palmer Street on the north, and David Street on the south, while a narrow lane (in which the Latin goldsmiths had shops) ran north and south in the middle of the area. The east half was excavated by the German Government in 1872, and the west half by the Greek patriarch some thirty years later. Thus the whole of the remaining buildings are now visible. In the north wall the fine Norman gateway, with an arch carved with the signs of the twelve months, still remains, and in the north-east corner is the Church of St. Mary Latin, now rebuilt and consecrated as the German cathedral. Under its foundations, rock was found at a level 60 feet lower than that of the Calvary rock, showing how steeply the north bank of the Tyropœon Valley here falls south. The cloisters of the Benedictine monastery, with their fine west window, are to the south of this church, and in the south-east part of the area was the Benedictine nunnery, under which is a great tank, the rock floor in the bed of the valley being more than 70 feet lower than Calvary. In the west half of the area the remains of a larger church--St. Mary Magna--exist, with buildings belonging to the Hospital proper. The Chapel of St. John Baptist[526] is in the south-west part of the block, close to Patriarch Street and David Street. It is a basilica, with a narthex on the west, an apse on the east, and two other apses facing north and south respectively. The stone altar is still _in situ_, and the building forms the crypt of the later Greek church of St.