St. Eusebius Discovered Its Origin By Revelation;
And The Store Which He Set By It Is Proved By His Shrinking From No
Discomforts In His Carriage Of It From A Distant Country, And By
His Anxiety To Put It In A Place Of Great Security.
His desire,
indeed, was to keep it in the spot which was most near and dear to
him, so that he might extract from it the higher incitement to
devotion, and more sensible comfort in the midst of his austerities
and apostolic labours.
"This truth is further confirmed by the quality of the wood from
which the statue is carved, which is commonly believed to be cedar;
by the Eastern character of the work; by the resemblance both of
the lineaments and the colour to those of other statues by St.
Luke; by the tradition of the neighbourhood, which extends in an
unbroken and well-assured line to the time of St. Eusebius himself;
by the miracles that have been worked here by its presence, and
elsewhere by its invocation, or even by indirect contact with it;
by the miracles, lastly, which are inherent in the image itself,
{23} and which endure to this day, such as is its immunity from all
worm and from the decay which would naturally have occurred in it
through time and damp - more especially in the feet, through the
rubbing of religious objects against them.
* * *
"The authenticity of this image is so certainly and clearly
established, that all supposition to the contrary becomes
inexplicable and absurd.
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