§ 116. EUCHARtSTIC PRACTICE AND SUPERSTITION. 727
might the more easily swallow the sacred body.1 The cus tom of taking a meal immediately after the sacrament, dating back to the fifth century, is also found in this period.2
This treatment of the mediaeval theory of the eucharist would be incomplete without giving some of the marvellous stories which bear witness to the excessive reverence for the sacred host and blood. One of the most famous, the story of the monk, who was cured of doubts by seeing the host exude blood, is told by Alexander of Hales, Bonaventura,3 and others. Cases when real blood was seen in the chalice were not infrequent. The host sometimes remained uninjured amid the ashes of a burnt church.4 Caesar of Heisterbach relates several cases when a snow-white dove was seen sitting near the chalice at the celebration of the mass and a number of cases of the appearance of Christ in visible form in the very hands of the consecrating priest. Thus one of the monks, present when the mass was being said by Herman, abbot of Himmelrode, saw after the conse cration of the host the Christ as a child in the abbot's hands. The child rose to the height of the cross and then was reduced again in size to the dimensions of the host, which was eaten by the abbot.6 The same writer narrates that a certain monk, Adolf, of the Netherlands, after consecrating the host, saw in his hands the virgin carrying the child, Christ, in her arms. Turning the host, he saw on the other side a lamb. Turning it back again, he saw Christ on the cross. Then there was nothing left but the visible form of the bread, which the pious monk ate. The writer goes on to say that Adolf did not feel full joy over this vision, for he kept a concubine.6 A Fleming woman of the town of Thorembais, who had been refused the sacrament by a priest,
1 Vinum purum . . . ut facilius sacrum corpus glutiat. Smend, who gives elaborate details, pp. 43-75.
2 The object was to prevent the loss of any of the sacred element by expectoration or vomiting, per sputum vel vomitum. Chrysostom made a recommendation of this sort, Smend, 44.
* Sent., IV. 11, 2, 2, Peltier's ed., V. 496.
4 Caesar of Heisterb., Dial, IV. 16.
6 Dial, IX. 29, Strange's ed., II. 186. 6 IX. 3.
728 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1049-1294.
was visited the same night by Christ himself, who gave her the host with Ids own hands.1
At a church dedication in Arirode, the invited priests engaged in conviviality and while they were dancing around the altar, the pyx was overthrown and the five hosts it con tained scattered. The music was at once stopped and search was made but without result. The people were then put out of the building and every corner was searched till at last the hosts were found on a ledge in the wall where the angel had placed them.2
Perhaps the most remarkable case related by the chronicler of Heisterbach is that of the bloody host of St. Trond, Bel gium. This he had himself seen, and he speaks of it as a miracle which should be recorded for the benefit of many after generations. In 1223 a woman in Harbais, in the diocese of Liege, kissed her lover with the host in her mouth, in the hope that it would inflame his love for her. She then found she could not swallow the host and carefully wrapped it up in a napkin. In her agony, she finally revealed her experience to a priest who called in the bishop of Livland who happened to be in the town. Together they went to the place where the host was concealed and lo! there were three drops of fresh blood on the cloth. The abbot of Trond was called in and it was then found that half of the host was flesh and half bread. The bishop thought so highly of the relic that he attempted to carry off two of the drops of blood, but sixty armed men inter fered. The sacred blood was then put in a vase and deposited among the relics of the church of St. Trond.3 This case was fully believed by Cyesar, and he expresses no doubt about the many other cases he reports.
Another case related by Etienne of Bourbon4 is of a farmer who, wanting to be rich, followed the advice of a friend and placed the host in one of his beehives. The bees with great reverence made a miniature church, contain-
1 IX. 35, Strange's ed., II. 191. * Dial., IX. 15.
3 See Kaufmann, trans, of Caesar, II. 208-210.
4 De la Marche's ed. , pp. 266 sq.