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Sancta Sophia was the place appointed for the services, and Constantine had published his intention to be present. He had donned the Basilean robes; his litter was at the door of the palace; his guard of horse and foot was formed, when the officer on duty at the gate down by the Port of Blacherne arrived with a startling report.
The prayer, 'Sancta Maria et omnes sancti' forms a natural conclusion, to the reading of the Martyrology, The 'Deus in adjutorium, the 'Pater Noster' with accompanying versicles, and the collect, are the prayers before manual labour: 'Respice, etc., Look, O Lord, upon Thy servants and upon Thy works... and direct Thou the work of our hands.
Hill, who so gravely asserts, that he saw in Sancta Sophia a sweating pillar, very balsamic for disordered heads. There is not the least tradition of any such matter; and I suppose it was revealed to him in a vision during his wonderful stay in the Egyptian catacombs; for I am sure he never heard of any such miracle here.
The rejoicings of the people speeded her; the bells of all the campanili of Venice came echoing to the shores of the Lido; a tumult of voices the voices of the popolazzo, shrill and jubilant, called down the blessings of all the saints upon her of Santa Caterina her own name-saint, fair patron of Betrothals; of charming San Luigi the blessed guardian of love; of San Nicolò, Saint of the Sea; of Messer San Marco and San Tadoro; and shrilly, above them all, rose the babel of women's voices, invoking the Madonna, "Star of the Sea, Sancta Maria!"
"Thou knowest not all my sin," she answered, "nor dare I trust it to the air, lest my own words should strike me dead. Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis!" When the Knight left the room, she fell upon her knees before the crucifix and buried her face in her hands.
From the Very High Residence he visited the gates, and was partially successful in arresting the desertions actually in progress. Finally, all other duties done, his mind turning once more to God, he rode to Sancta Sophia, heard mass, partook of the Communion, and received absolution according to Latin rite; after which the morrow could hold no surprise for him.
Chanting was heard in the church, muffled at first and then loud, as the door was thrown open: "Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis." The two sufferers appeared.
The words of adoration, "Sancta Maria, Sancta Dei Genetrix, Sancta Virgo virginum," were uttered evenly on notes that admitted of the tenderest expression, while the supplication, the "Ora pro nobis," rose to the full compass of the singer's voice, and was delivered in tones of passionate entreaty.
An architect might detect a sequence between the Church of St. Peter's at Rome, the Amiens Cathedral, the Duomo at Pisa, San Marco at Venice, Sancta Sofia at Constantinople and the churches at Ravenna. All the historian dares affirm is that a sequence is manifestly there, and he has a right to carry back his ratio, to represent the fact, without assuming its numerical correctness.
'And I owe ye both one, said Saxon, who had scrambled down from his place of refuge. 'I pay my debts, too, whether for good or evil. I might have stayed up there until I had eaten my jack-boots, for all the chance I had of ever getting down again. Sancta Maria! but that was a shrewd blow of yours, Clarke! The brute's head flew in halves like a rotten pumpkin.
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