One of the most beautiful was evolved at Rome. On the border of the mediæval city stands the church of "Domine quo vadis"; it was erected in honor of a stone, which is still preserved, bearing a mark resembling a human footprint—perhaps the bed of a fossil.
Out of this a pious legend grew as naturally as a wild rose in a prairie. According to this story, in one of the first great persecutions the heart of St. Peter failed him, and he attempted to flee from the city; arriving outside the walls he was suddenly confronted by the Master, whereupon Peter in amazement asked, "Lord, where goest thou?" (Domine quo vadis?); to which the Master answered, "To Rome, to be crucified again." The apostle, thus rebuked, returned to martyrdom; the Master vanished, but left, as a perpetual memorial, his footprint in the solid rock.
Still another legend accounts for a curious mark in a stone at Jerusalem. According to this, St. Thomas, after the ascension of the Lord, was again troubled with doubts, whereupon the Virgin Mother threw down her girdle, which left its imprint upon the rock, and thus converted the doubter fully and finally.
And still another example is seen at the very opposite extreme of Europe, in the legend of the priestess of Hertha in the island of Rugen. She had been unfaithful to her vows, and the gods furnished a proof of her guilt by causing her and her child to sink into the rock on which she stood.[1]
- ↑ For myths and legends crystallizing about bowlders and other stones curiously shaped or marked, see, on the general subject, in addition to works already cited, Des Brosses, "Les Dieux Fétiches," 1760, passim, but especially pp. 166, 167; and for a condensed statement as to worship paid them, see Gerard de Rialle, "Mythologie comparée," vol. vi, chapter ii. For imprints of Buddha's feet, see Tylor, "Researches into the Early History of Mankind," London, 1878, pp. 115 et seq.; also Coleman, p. 203, and Charton, "Voyageurs anciens et modernes," pp. 365, 366, where engravings of one of the imprints, and of the temple above another, are seen. There are five which are considered authentic by the Siamese, and a multitude of others more or less strongly insisted upon. For the imprint of Moses' body, see travelers from Sir John Maundeville down. For the mark of Neptune's trident, see last edition of Murray's "Handbook of Greece," vol. i, p. 322; and Burnouf, "La Légende Athénienne," p. 153. For imprint of the feet of Christ, and the Virgin's girdle and tears, see many of the older travelers in Palestine, as Arculf, Bouchard, Roger, and especially Bertrandon de la Brocquière in Wright's "Collection," pp. 339, 340; also Maundrell's "Travels" and Maundeville. For the curious legend regarding the imprint of Abraham's foot, see Weil,"Biblische Legenden der Muselmänner," pp. 91 et seq. For many additional examples in Palestine, particularly the imprints of the bodies of three apostles on stones in the Garden of Gethsemane and of St. Jerome's body in the desert, see Beauvau, "Rélation du Voyage du Levant," Nancy, 1615, passim. For the various imprints made by Satan and giants in Scandinavia and Germany, see Thorpe, ii, 85; Friedrichs, pp. 126 and passim. For a very rich collection of such explanatory legends regarding stones and marks in Germany, see Karl Bartsch, "Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche aus Mecklenburg," Wien, 1880, vol. ii, pp. 420 et seq. For a woodcut representing the imprint of St. Agatha's feet at Catania, see Charton, "Voyageurs anciens et modernes," vol. ii, p. 75. For a woodcut representing the imprint of Christ's feet on the stone from which he ascended to heaven, see woodcut in Maundeville, edition of 1484, in the White Library,
