'A.D. 793.] TRANSLATION OF ST. ALBAN. 161 ground the sacred chuneheÉ, slaying the priests, and mercilessly destroying the facci TO the island from one sea to the other. At this time, therefore, the church of the blessed Alban, the first martyr of the English, which is described by Bede in his history of the -English, to have been wonderfully constructed of stone, after the passion of the martyr, was utterly destroyed with the other churches of the country; by which it came to pass that his sepulchre, which, at the time of the arrival of St. Germanus, and before from the time of the martyr's passion unto the desolation of that country, was known to every one, and had in universal veneration for the number of miracles wrought there, was, at the time when it wa3 discovered to king Offa by the ministry of an angel, utterly unknown. After the clergy and people had prayeii with alms-giving and fasting, as we have said, they struck the ground and searched everywhere for the martyr's tomb j nor was it necessary to search long for a place which the divine goodness had vouchsafed to point out by a light from heaven. They found the martyr's body, the most mighty king Offa standing by, in a wooden coffin, in which it had been formerly hidden in the time of danger by Christ's faithful ones from the rage of the barbarians ; and with it the sacred relics of all the apostles and of various martyrs, placed there long before by St. Germanus. As well the clergy as all the people were moved to tears by this discovery, and more especially as it gave them faith in what the holy fathers said touching the relics, which were recorded to have been placed by the body of the martyr, to his great solace. This treasure, which had been hidden so long under the sod, the archbishops with their bishops lifted out of the tomb with holy fear, and in solemn procession, with hymns and thanksgivings, transferred to a certain church which had formerly been consecrated in honour of the blessed martyr outside of the city of Verolamium, and there they laid up the pious pledges of the father in a coffer of gold and silver and precious stones; and to this very day miracles continue to be wrought at that spot; for, in the sight of numbers of witnesses, the deaf there recover their hearing, the lame walk, the blind see, and all who in faith invoke the aid of the blessed martyr obtain of God the wished-for blessing, whether of mind or body. These events took place in the five hundred and VOL. I. M