veneration which they had felt for their Saviour during his life. The
eyes of each were fixed upon the adorable body, and followed all its
movements; and they were continually uplifting their hands towards
Heaven, shedding tears, and expressing in every possible way the excess
of their grief and anguish. Yet they all remained perfectly calm, and
even those who were so busily occupied about the sacred body broke
silence but seldom, and, when obliged to make some necessary remark,
did so in a low voice. During the time that the nails were being
forcible removed by blows of the hammer, the Blessed Virgin, Magdalen;
and all those who had been present at the Crucifixion, felt each blow
transfix their hearts. The sound recalled to their minds all the
sufferings of Jesus, and they could not control their trembling fear,
lest they should again hear his piercing cry of suffering; although, at
the same time they grieved at the silence of his blessed lips, which
proved, alas too surely, that he was really dead. When the body was
taken down it was wrapped in linen from the knees to the waist, and
then placed in the arms of the Blessed Virgin, who, overwhelmed with
sorrow and love, stretched them forth to receive their precious burden.




CHAPTER LI.

The Embalming of the Body of Jesus.



The Blessed Virgin seated herself upon a large cloth spread on the
ground, with her right knee, which was slightly raised, and her back