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Miracles of the Hand of St James Sweet are the uses of diversity! Intrigued by Tom Izbicki's reference to reading Shakespeare in the original German, I was looking in unfrequented nooks and crannies for my copy of the German translation. I did not find it, but - mirabile dictu! - I did find my long-lost copy of the Miracles of the Hand of Saint James, by Brian Kemp, which I see is a reprint from the Berkshire Archaeological Journal, Vol. 65, pages 1-19. After an introduction discussing how the Hand (one of the innumerable Hands of St James) came to Reading, Kemp gives a translation of the miracles associated with the hand, of which I presume to quote a couple: Miracle II (c. 1155) At about the same time a certain woman in the village of Earley became swollen with the disease of dropsy. Believing that the blessed James would help her, she came to Reading on the eve of his nativity to call in her affliction upon God and the blessed apostle. At about the first vigil of the night, just as the monks were beginning Matins, the aforesaid woman threw herself on the pavement of the presbytery and began to writhe and to have her inside stirred up from the very marrow for the sake of her health. Indeed her very bowels were stirred up. She had passed some part of the night in this agony, when suddenly the pits of her stomach burst forth and the flood-gates of her bowels were opened. Again and again, she vomited up the poison which she had built up over a long period and cleared out all the filth of harmful fluid. Before daybreak, before the night had run its full course, the mercy of the blessed James had been so efficacious that, when the woman's stomach was measured, to people's amazement it was found to be four handbreaths narrower than her own girdle. And so, restored to perfect health, she was eager to give thanks . . . Miracle XXIV A certain knight named Robert of Stanford was overtaken and long afflicted by a very severe fever. He therefore came to Reading to pray for a cure and plead with the blessed apostle. And after prayer he asked that water of blessed James by given to him to drink for a little while. No sooner had he tasted it than it brought about a cure within him. He proceeded to vomit again and again until the harmful fluid was brought up and the feverish heat was reduced by the vomiting. Full of joy and praise he returned home cured. Miracle XXVI (1154-89) A certain brother of the venerable house of canons at Merton, named Roger Hosatus . . . sought and obtained the health-giving water. When he had tasted a drop of it, his insides were stirred up and set in motion. He immediately vomited up the poison which had settled in a lump on his chest and heart and as soon as these organs were relieved he ate and drank, as he had not done for a long time previously . . . Oriens. ____________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.co.uk address at http://mail.yahoo.co.uk or your free @yahoo.ie address at http://mail.yahoo.ie %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%