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rome’s holy child ii
little gold-shod foot that had reached out and kicked
on the door!
The porter straightway took the holy child in his
arms. Then he saw that it had tears in its eyes.
Alas! the poor holy child had wandered through the
city in the night! What must it not have seen ? So
much poverty and want, so much vice and so many
crimes ! It was dreadful to think of all that it must
have gone through.
The porter went immediately to the prior and
showed him the image. And they wondered how it
had got out in the night.
But the prior gave orders to strike the church bell
and call the monks to service. And all the monks of
Aracoeli marched into the great dimly-lighted basilica
to replace the image in all solemnity.
Worn and suffering they walked along, shivering
in their heavy gowns of wadmal. Several of them
wept, as though they had escaped a deadly peril.
" What would have become of us," they said, " if our
only comfort had been taken from us ? Is it not
Antichrist who has enticed Rome’s holy child out of
the sheltering sanctuary ? "
But when they were about to put back the
Christ-child into the shrine of the chapel, they found there
the other child, the one that bore on its crown the
inscription, "My kingdom is only of this world."
And upon examining the image more closely, they
found the inscription.
Then the prior turned to the monks and spoke to
them :
" Brothers, we will sing the Te Deum and cover
the pillars of the church with satin, and light all the
2
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