t describe
them coherently. After the resurrection it remained in the possession
of the friends of Jesus, but fell twice into the hands of the Jews, and
later was honoured in several different places. I have seen it in a
city of Asia, in the possession of some Christians, who were not
Catholics. I have forgotten the name of the town, which is situated in
a province near the country of the Three Kings.

CHAPTER LII.

The Body of our Lord placed in the Sepulchre.

The men placed the sacred body on a species of leathern hand-barrow,
which they covered wit a brown-coloured cloth, and to which they
fastened two long stakes. This forcibly reminded me of the Ark of the
Covenant. Nicodemus and Joseph bore on their shoulders the front
shafts, while Abenadar and John supported those behind. After them came
the Blessed Virgin, Mary of Heli, her eldest sister, Magdalen and Mary
of Cleophas, and then the group of women who had been sitting at some
distance--Veronica, Johanna Chusa, Mary Salome, Salome of Jerusalem,
Susanna, and Anne the niece of St. Joseph. Cassius and the soldiers
closed the procession. The other women, such as Marone of Naim, Dina the
Samaritaness, and Mara the Suphanitess, were at Bethania, with Martha
and Lazarus. Two soldiers, bearing torches in their hands, walked on
first, that there might be some light in the grotto of the sepulchre;
and the procession continued to advance in this order for about seven
minutes, the holy men and women singing psalms in sweet but melancholy
tones. I saw James the Greater, the brother of John, standing upon a
hill the other side of the valley, to look at them as they passed, and
he returned immediately afterwards, to tell the other disciples what he
had seen.

The procession stopped at the entrance of Joseph's garden, which was
opened by the removal of some stakes, afterwards used as levers to roll
the stone to the door of the sepulchre. When opposite the rock, they
placed the Sacred Body on a long board covered with a sheet. The
grotto, which had been newly excavated, had been latterly cleaned by
the servants of Nicodemus, so that the interior was neat and pleasing
to the eye. The holy women sat down in front of the grotto, while the
four men carried in the body of our Lord, partially filled the hollow
couch destined for its reception with aromatic spices, and spread over
them a cloth, upon which they reverently deposited the sacred body.
After having once more gi