ma (St. Peter of Osma?), was praying
before the effigy of San Antolin when the lights went out. The pious
yet doubting prelate prayed to God to give him a proof of the relic's
authenticity by lighting the candles. To his surprise (?) and glee, the
candles lit by themselves!

* * * * *

Let us approach the city by rail. The train leaves Venta de Banos, a
junction station with a village about two miles away possessing a
seventh-century Visigothic church which offers the great peculiarity of
horseshoe arches in its structure, dating from before the Arab invasion.

Immediately upon emerging from the station, the train enters an immense
rolling plain of a ruddy, sandy appearance, with here and there an
isolated sand-hill crowned by the forgotten ruins of a mediaeval castle.

The capital of this region is Palencia.

The erection of the cathedral church of the town was begun in 1321; it
was dedicated to the Mother and Child, and to San Antolin, whose chapel,
devoid of all artistic merit, is still to be seen beneath the choir.

This edifice was finished toward 1550. The same division as has been
observed in the history of the city can be applied to the temple: at
first it was intended to construct a modest Gothic church of red
sandstone; the apse with its five chapels and traditional ambulatory was
erected, as well as the transept and the high altar terminating the
central nave. Then, after about a hundred years had passed away, the
original plan was altered by lengthening the body of the building.
Consequently the chapel of the high altar was too small in comparison
with the enlarged proportions, and it was transformed into a parish
chapel. Opposite it, and to the west of the old transept, another high
altar was constructed in the central nave, and a second transept
separated it from the choir which followed.

In other words, and looking at this curious monument as it stands
to-day, the central nave is surmounted by an ogival vaulting of a series
of ten vaults. The first transept cuts the nave beneath the sixth, and
the second beneath the ninth vault. (Vault No. 1 is at the western end
of the church.) Both transepts protrude literally beyond the general
width of the building. The choir stands beneath the fourth and fifth
vaults, and the high altar between the two transepts, occupying the
seventh and eighth space. Beneath the tenth stands the parish chapel or
ex-high altar, behind which run