recorded in hagiology. Although it is impossible to give more than a few examples from very many, it may be mentioned that in the case of S. Edward the Confessor, who died 5 January, 1066, when the body was examined in 1102, it was found to be incorrupt, the limbs flexible, and the cerements fresh and clean; whilst two years after canonization (1161) the body, still incorrupt, was translated to a tomb of the greatest magnificence. When eighty years after the first deposition the body of S. Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln, who died 1200 and was buried in Lincoln Cathedral, was taken up to be translated to a richer shrine it was found to be wholly intact. Perhaps one of the most remarkable instances of the mortal remains of a Saint which are yet supernaturally preserved is that of the Poor Clare, S. Catherine of Bologna, who died 9 March, 1463 and whose body is venerated in a small yet exquisitely elegant sanctuary attached to the convent of Corpus Domini at Bologna. It is a remarkable circumstance that here it is not preserved under crystal or glass but is seated, dressed in sumptuous brocades, jewelled and crowned, in an embroidered chair in the centre of the room. The body is desiccated, but in no sense decayed. In the Carmelite Convent of the Piazza Savonarola at Florence is the body of S. Maria Madalena de’Pazzi who died 25 May, 1607. This was exhumed in 1608, on account of the damp, when it was found to be entire and flexible, and it was officially certified to be intact in 1639 and again in 1663. It is still perfect and whole where it reposes in an elaborate shrine of crystal and gold. In the same Church is the incorrupt body of Maria Bartolomea Bagnesi, a Dominican Tertiary, whose death took place on Whit-Tuesday 1577. The body of another great Saint of Florence, S. Antoninus, which was unburied for eight days, remained flexible. This great Archbishop died 2 May, 1459, and in 1589, when his tomb was examined the holy remains were found to be still intact.
In Montefalco, high among the Umbrian uplands, lies the body of the Augustinian S. Clare, one of the glories of that ancient Order so rich in hallowed and venerable names, and one of the most marvellous ecstaticas of all time. Born about 1275, perhaps a few years earlier, she became Abbess of the Convent of Montefalco and seemed to dwell more in Heaven than on earth. Gifted with the spirit of prophecy
