The Holy Fire miracle apparently antedates the "destruction" of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre by Al-Hakim in 1009. See N. Canard, “La destruction de l’Église de la Rėsurrection par la caliphe al Hakim et l’histoire de la descente de feu sacrė,” Byzantion 35 (1965) 16-43, esp. 27-41.
Rodulfus Glaber knew of the miracle. His source was Bishop Ulric of Orlėans, whose mission to the east presumably took place between 1025 and 1028. See John France, Rodulfus Glaber, The Five Books of the Histories (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989), pp. xlviii and 302-03, re Histories IV xix.
A clear description is contained in the account of Urban II’s speech at Clermont in 1095 by Balderic of Dol.
It might not be unrelated that the miraculous lighting of candles was part of the lore of Western saints in this period. Amoin of Fleury describes how, around the year 1000, processional candles extinguished by the rain were miraculously relit when a procession entered the church. See Amoinus, Miracula Benedicti (BHL 1125) III xv, ed. Eugène de Certain, Les miracles de Saint Benoît, Société de l'histoire de France, 96 (Paris: Mme. Ve. Jules Renouard, 1858), p. 162. At Sainte-Foy, ca. 1020, the saint would keep relighting her candle, toying with the guardian of the shrine. See Bernard of Chartres, Miracula.Fidis I xxvi, ed. Auguste Bouillet, Liber Miraculorum Sancte Fidis, Collection des texts pour servir a l’ėtude et l’enseignement de l’histoire (Paris: Alphonse Picard et Fils, 1897), pp. 69-70; trans Pamela Sheingorn, as The Book of Sainte Foy (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995), p.96.
--John Howe, Texas Tech
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