Fabiola : or, The church of the catacombs - Digital Repository Services

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out it, font with tenfold vividness and beauty. Life seemed to
have I'.'rn l>mituod into every thing. Even the material oruatheir
forms as
. of
the roof and -walls, though retaining
s and bosses, and letters and monograms,
THE VISION OF OLD ANDREW THE WEAVER.
most unac-
couutably to Andrew, all seemed to live. The very colors
glowed with a warmth and significance, as if they, too, were
emanations of living spirits. Above, the ceiling was spread out
like a sea of azure, full of motion, yet at rest it was ; transparent,
too, so that the eye could penetrate far, far into its in-
most depths yet beyond it nothing could be seen, save only a
deeper, and deeper, and brighter, and more dazzling blue.
The gaze seemed lost in its interminableness, but not fatigued ;
same time they pointed towards the high
instantly on his knees, and looked in the direction indicated
altar. He sank down
by the gesture, but it was some minutes before he could com-
prehend what he saw.
The altar was prepared as he thought for Mass, yet it seemod
to him that some church office had just been concluded, of
which the " Amen" that he had heard was probably the close.
The candles were all lighted, the Missal lay open on the epistle
side, and it was evident the saintly congregation were awaiting
the approach of the ministers. Andrew understood also at
for
once that the Mass about to commence was for the dead ;
before the altar was a frontal of black velvet embroidered in
for it had, as it were, a voice that penetrated through the eyes
even into the heart, to whisper there of a repose eternal, undisturbed.
The golden stars scattered through the expanse,
which, strangely, seemed to be the firmament, yet all the while
bore the form of the old chancel roof, showed like eyes of celestial
all
spirits, bright and joyous. But if Andrew looked
more intently on any one of them, it was still a star. So was
it with every ornament the bosses and the roses all around
;
seemed to him to be cherub faces smiling on him, but if he
fixed his eyes on any one amongst them, it was a carved flower
still and so on ; every side and in every direction, these beings
of a higher sphere, brilliant yet undefined, were swarming ;
they seemed to hang in groups and clusters amid the tracery of
the roof to run like twinkling ; meteors along the beams and
rafters, to sparkle amid the letters and emblems on the walls,
to circle in glowing wreaths around the names of Jesus and
Mary, and to be entwined together in the crowns above them
ill, all was life. They mingled in the radiance of the golden
coronas, and flitted hither and thither in the air like fire-flies
in the dark of a quiet evening.
On either side of the chancel, carved stalls of ebony, and
gold, and ivory, were ranged gold, and richly brocaded curtains of the same color and material
hung
row beyond row, each upheld by
on either side. Behind it, covering the reredos
and the great east window up to the very roof was suspended a
pall, likewise of black velvet, with a huge crimson cross upon
it inscribed in golden letters, with verses from the " De frofundia,"
and other prayers for the dead.
But what puzzled Andrew was, that those sombre ornaments
though they covered, did not conceal the glories of the altar,
or of the reredos, or of the gorgeous window behind, for they
seemed in some strange manner to be transparent, BO that
through them the sculptured and jewelled altar front, and the
canopied reredos blazing with precious stones, sho-wed forth
in all their magnificence and ; though the light within the
chancel was brighter than a summer day, there seemed to be a
yet more intense light without, for the tracery and the colors
of the window, .notwithstanding the sable veil before it, were
as distinct and vivid as if the morning sun had just cast its first
beams upon it.
But Andrew had not the time, even had he been able, to unravel
this mystery ; for a door, now for the first time observed
by him, was opened towards the middle of the sanctuary, and
forth there came a procession of sainted men, if possible more
angelic forms, rejoicing as it seemed, in the "ask assigned to
them. But what a company occupied those radiant thrones !
Were they men and women who had ever trod this earth ? Is
it possible
that this gross flesh of ours can shine so bright, can
put on such majestic beauty ? They stood not, but floated softly
just raised above the ground, each in his appointed place.
Their robes, though made after the fashion of this earth, such,
in fact, as they might be supposed to have worn in life, yet
seemed worthy of kings and queens, yes, far richer and more
graceful than had ever adorned king or queen on earth. Their
countenances cast forth a radiance too dazzling for human eyes
to look upon, unless preserved from blindness by some supernatural
power, and a halo of golden amber played around their
heads. Their bodies seemed to have lost all weight and substance,
and all the grosser attributes of matter, for though
every lineament of their faces, and every fold of their garments,
and the colors and patterns woven into them were clear and
distinct, yet withal they were quite transparent, so that through
them the tracery of their stalls and all the beauties of each
receding range of saintly figures were perfectly
visible. Yet
was there no confusion, no mingling of objects into each other,
but the eye without difficulty separated them and gave to each
one his place and attribute. Above them, poised in air, were
angels clothed in flowing robes of the purest white, supporting
over their heads what at one moment appeared to be fretted
canopies of burnished gold, and the next crowns in which were
combined the tints and all the brilliancy of the pearl, and the
emerald, and the ruby, and the sapphire, and the diamond.
As soon as the first surprise occasioned by the burst of this
nnlooked-for vision had a little subsided, Andrew turned to
look for the old verger, but he found that the mist which had
hitherto obstructed his view of the sanctuary was now behind
him hiding from his sight the nave and its congregation. And
he now also for the first time perceived two angelic figures, one
on each side of the chancel door, who stood with swords of
flame in their hands, as if to guard the entrance.
They smiled benignly on him when they saw that he had
observed them and motioned to him that he must advance no
further, but kneel down there upon the threshold, lovely
and at the
to look upon, than those who occupied the ivory stalls.
First came the thurifer, followed by the candle bearers and
a long train of acolytes, all youthful forms, who seemed to
have been conveyed to heaven, whilst their souls, unsoiled by
earthly contaminations, were pure and spotless as the white
surplices they wore; then sub-deacon and deacon, and one
wearing a gorgeous cope, and last the priest, a venerable and
stately old man, with looks of unconquered meekness, and his
silvery hair glittering in the nimbus of glory around his hea