Jesus Christ

Saint Thomas Saint Thomas Saint cited as an example of resistance to temptation. explains this whole mystery very learnedly. The first reason he gives for it is the one we have mentioned. "Our Lord," he says, "had predicted to his disciples the insults and pains he was to endure in the course of his Passion, and had encouraged them to walk in his footsteps and to carry their cross every day in his wake. This was the path he had taught them to arrive at the participation of his glory; for, as Saint Paul later said: 'If we suffer with him, we shall reign with him, and if we share in the pains and bitterness of his death, we shall share in the fullness of his happiness.' Now, in order for a person to pursue the means courageously, they must have knowledge of the end; so that the greatness of the good they hope for and the reward they expect may soften the pains encountered in the use of these means, which is especially necessary when they are extremely difficult and combat the inclinations of nature."

It was only through many tribulations that the Apostles and all Christians were to enter the kingdom of God, just as Our Lord only entered into the enjoyment of his own kingdom through his cross and his death: it was therefore appropriate that they should see, in this world, some image and representation of this kingdom; so that, as the Venerable Bede says on Saint Matthew, the contemplation of this glory which will never end might make them endure with more constancy, during the moments of their pilgrimage, the adversities they were necessarily to endure there. It is therefore for this reason that Our Lord, like a Master full of wisdom and goodness, was transfigured in their presence, showing them by his own glory a sample of that which was prepared for them in heaven. Saint Leo, Pope, and Saint John Damascene, in the discourses they have made on our mystery, bring forward the same reason: the form er says excellen Saint Léon, pape Pope whose body was transferred by Sergius to a new mausoleum. tly that, "by the Transfiguration of Our Lord, the hope of the Church was founded; because the whole body must recognize in the glory of its head that which is destined for it, and from there move with courage to suffer like him the opprobrium and adversities of this life."

Then, according to the same doctors, Jesus Christ wished, by this mystery, to confirm the Apostles in the faith of his divinity, which they had just recognized and confessed; to prevent the scandal they might feel in seeing him die in such a tragic and ignominious manner on the cross; to show the truth of what he said, that no one was capable of taking his life from him against his will, but that he would give it of his own free will and without being forced to give it; finally, that glory belonged to him by right, and that, if he was not clothed in it, it was only by a loving condescension to our needs, and in order to be in a position to instruct us by his word, to edify us by his example, and to redeem us by his death.

Let us add that Our Lord also willed to be transfigured, so that the new law would not be given with less brilliance and splendor than the ancient law, and that it would at the same time be authorized by the Eternal Father, who commands us to listen to His Son, and by Moses and Elijah, the former of whom received the ancient law amidst lightning, and the latter of whom upheld its observance with fiery zeal, and both of whom came to pay their homage to the sole Lawgiver of the human race. But one must note three differences between the splendor that appeared at the time of the publication of the ancient law and that which appears at the Transfiguration, where the new law is published, differences which sovereignly elevate the latter above the former.

The radiance that appeared when the ancient law was given was foreign to Moses and did not come from his own essence, whereas the glory that appears at the Transfiguration is a reflection of that with which the Savior's soul has always been imbued. At the time of the publication of the ancient law, the light was accompanied by great noise from the thunderbolts and thunder that rumbled over Mount Sinai. But there is nothing so calm and so tranquil as the splendor of the Transfiguration: there is no thunder, there is no smoke on Mount Tabor, and if the Apostles are terrified, it is not by any impetuous noise that they hear, but by the greatness of the majesty that presents itself to their eyes. Not only were the Jews unable to ascend the mountain where the Tables of the Law were given; but they could not even look upon the face of Moses in the radiance he had received from his conversation with God, to show that they were still in the time of shadows and figures. But the Apostles ascend the mountain and contemplate openly the admirable splendors of their Master's glory, even though it is much more radiant than that of Moses, to signify that the Christians, whom they represented, would be in the time of truth and light.

After these excellent reasons for the Transfiguration, one must consider, with the same Angelic Doctor, its nature, properties, and circumstances.

We read first, in the text of the Gospel, that the Son of God took with him three of his Apostles, Peter, James, and John. He took them and led them with him, because if Our Lord had not taken our nature and raised our weakness, and if he did not strengthen us by his example and his grace, none of us could ascend into heaven. He did not take all his disciples: firstly, because many are called, but few are chosen, and above all there are few people in this life who arrive at the sublime states of contemplation and familiar communication with God; secondly, because, according to the wise disposition he wished to establish in his Church, the highest mysteries were not to be manifested to the common faithful except through the organ and ministry of a small number of ecclesiastical superiors, so that in this mystical body there might be a perfect order through the influence of superiors upon their inferiors and through the subordination of inferiors to their superiors.

He took no more than three disciples, because, in actions that are striking and that may attract admiration and praise, one must be extremely reserved in performing them before men, and only reveal them as much as charity and necessity oblige us. He did not, however, take fewer than three; whether, as Saint Damascene says, to honor the mystery of the Trinity; or to show that the descendants of the three children of Noah, that is to say all the nations of the earth, were called to eternal happiness; or finally because it is written that all things shall be judged on the testimony of two or three witnesses. He took Peter, James, and John in preference to the other Apostles: Peter, for the solidity of his faith and the fervor of his love; James, for the promptness of his preaching and the primacy of his martyrdom; John, for the candor of his virginity and the innocence of his life, which rendered him worthy of being the beloved disciple and the repository of his Master's secrets.

Our Lord, having taken these three Apostles without telling them anything of his design, led them to a high mountain apart. The Gospel does not say which mountain this was; but it is held, by tradition, that it was Mount Tabo r. This is mont Thabor Mountain in Galilee identified as the site of the Transfiguration. also the sentiment of Saint Cyril, Eusebius, Saint Jerome, the Venerable Bede, Saint John Damascene, and all the interpreters, who say that it was in the mystery of the Transfiguration that these words of the King-Prophet were fulfilled: Thabor et Hermon in nomine tuo exultabunt; "Mount Tabor and Mount Hermon shall rejoice in your name." — "Hermon," says Saint Damascene, "rejoiced at the baptism of the Son of God, because the voice of the eternal Father resounded there. But Tabor rejoiced at his Transfiguration, because the Savior appeared there in the splendor of his glory and majesty, and received there a new testimony from the sacred mouth of his Father.

This mountain is near the city of Nazareth, in Galilee, in the great plain that the holy Scriptures call Esdraelon, and it is said to be one of the highest mountains in Palestine. It was there that the captain Barak and Deborah the prophetess won over Sisera, general of the army of Jabin, king of Canaan, that signal victory of which mention is made in the book of Judges, chapter IV. It was there that Our Lord pronounced that admirable sermon which we call the Sermon on the Mount, and which contains all the principles of the sublime morality of Christianity. It was there that, since his resurrection, he showed himself to nearly five hundred of his disciples, just as he had promised several times, both before his Passion and after he had risen.

It was fitting that he should be transfigured and declared the sovereign Legislator of the new law on a high mountain: 1st, so that, being separated from the tumult of men, he would not be interrupted in this action, and that only the Disciples he had chosen would have a share in the vision of his beauty and glory; 2nd, so that the new law would yield in nothing to the old law which had been given to Moses on the mountain of Sinai, and that the three Apostles would better know its height and excellence; 3rd, to teach us that, to pray holily, to make oneself worthy of the visits of heaven, to change one's life and morals, and to be transformed into other men, one must seek retreat and solitude, detach oneself from the commerce of the world, rise above the inclinations of the flesh and of corrupted nature, and pass from the region of the senses to that of the spirit and of grace. Let us add that, as the Transfiguration was the image of the eternal happiness that is prepared for us in heaven, it had to take place apart, to show us that then we shall be entirely separated from all that can defile and molest us, and that we shall no longer have cause to fear hunger, nor thirst, nor pain, nor misery, nor sin, nor anything that is contrary to our innocence and our felicity.

It was therefore on a high mountain, and on Mount Tabor, which from then on became the figure of heaven, that Our Lord willed to be transfigured. It would be a very gross error to imagine that he really lost his body to take on another, either spiritual or composed of several parts of air. It is not even true that he left the disposition and state of a mortal body to take on the qualities of an immortal body, nor that he changed the very figure and lineaments of his face; but his Transfiguration consists only in the fact that he clothed himself with one of the dowries or qualities of glorious bodies, clarity, by making his face shine like the sun, through a transfusion and a radiance of the glory with which his soul was filled. To understand this truth well, one must remember that Our Lord being God, and his soul enjoying from the moment of its formation the splendors of the beatific vision, his sacred body, by a natural consequence, should from then on have been glorious and possessed the four qualities which he now enjoys in heaven: impassibility, subtlety, agility, and clarity. However, as he could not, with these qualities, perform the functions of Mediator and Savior, he voluntarily deprived himself of them until the moment of the Resurrection, taking only a passible, earthly body, subject to the distances of places and obscure like other bodies, and suspending, by a miracle and by a conduct of providence, which the holy Fathers call management and dispensation, these glorious qualities which were to spread from the soul to the body. But as, on other occasions, he had taken for a moment something of the first three—of impassibility, by passing through the midst of the Jews who were throwing stones at him, without being seen or hurt; of subtlety, by coming out of his mother's womb without breaking the seal of her virginity; of agility, by walking on the waves of the sea without sinking—so, in the Transfiguration, he willed to take for a time the fourth of these qualities through an admirable glory that he communicated to his body and which made it shine more than all the stars of the sky.

Thus, the glory with which he clothed himself did not come from the outside, but from the clarity of his soul, just as that which he possesses at present, and which he has possessed since his Resurrection, comes only from the fullness of the happiness with which his soul is filled and happily penetrated. And, from there, we must conclude two things with the Angel of the School: the first, that the clarity which appeared on the face of Our Lord, in his Transfiguration, was the same in essence as the clarity of glory, but that it was different as to the manner. It was the same in essence, because it was born from the same principle, namely, from his divinity united to his body, and from the consumed happiness of his holy soul; but it was different as to the manner, because the clarity of glory is a stable and permanent quality, which is attached to the glorious body as to its own subject; whereas the Transfiguration was only a passing quality, and which was not even proportioned to the state in which the Savior's body was, since, as we have said, it did not cease to be mortal. The second thing is that the Transfiguration was at the same time a miracle and a cessation of a miracle; it was a cessation of a miracle, since it was only by miracle that Our Lord suspended the glory of his soul and prevented it from spreading to his body: which he ceased to do in part, when he permitted this precious outflow. It was nevertheless a miracle, just as it was a miracle in him, either to pass through the crowd without being seen, or to come out of his mother's womb without making a breach, or to walk on the waves of the sea without sinking; because it was not natural for the body of Our Lord, in the state in which it was, to have these prerogatives, and since glorious qualities being naturally inseparable, one can only by miracle possess one without enjoying all the others at the same time.

Furthermore, although the Evangelists speak only of the splendor that appeared on the Savior's face, it is nevertheless very probable that his whole body, and especially his feet and hands, which appeared to the eyes of those present, were clothed with a similar clarity. This is the sentiment of Saint Jerome in letter LXI to Pammachius; of Saint Ephrem, in a discourse on the Transfiguration, and of Cardinal Cajetan, in his Commentary on Saint Thomas. It is more difficult to say if this admirable clarity was only on the outer surface of the Savior's body, or if it was solid, that is to say, if it penetrated the entire thickness of his limbs, as is commonly believed of the clarity of glorious bodies. Some Doctors estimate that it was solid, because Saint John Chrysostom and other holy Fathers, explaining our mystery, say that Our Lord had there the same clarity that he will have on the day of the last judgment: now, on this great day and in all eternity, he will have his body all filled and penetrated with light; there is therefore much appearance that it was the same in his Transfiguration. However, the sentiment of Saint Thomas is that this marvelous clarity was only on the outer surface, because the sacred text tells us nothing else about it, and because that sufficed for the end that Our Lord intended in this mystery, that is to say, to manifest his glory and give a sample of that which he has prepared for his elect. If the holy Fathers say that it was the same as that which he will have at the last judgment, this must be understood as the same in substance, and not the same in extent, as we have already explained.

Not only was the adorable body of the Son of God clothed with a celestial light, but, moreover, his clothes became white as snow, the whitest thing that falls under our senses. Saint Mark and Saint Luke add that they also received an extraordinary brightness, which undoubtedly came from the fact that this luminous body pushed its rays through their fabric, as the author of the book of the *Wonders of Holy Scripture*, attributed to Saint Augustine, remarked: *Caro illuminata*, he says, *per vestimenta radiabat*. It was a symbol of the innocence and incomparable beauty of the Church, figured by the Savior's garments, and a mark that she would be clothed with glory, but that she would receive it only from his liberality, and by a participation and an outflow of his own.

At the same time, Moses and Elijah appeared on the mountain to pay him homage for all that was rare and excellent in them while they were in the miseries of this life, and to adore him under the august qualities of Messiah, Shepherd, Leader, King, Prince of Peace, and perfect Redeemer of the human race. The *Gloss* on Saint Luke says that these were not the true persons of Moses and Elijah, but angels clothed in an appearance that represented them. This opinion, however, is not sustainable; and the sacred Text names Moses and Elijah too expressly to doubt that it was not they themselves in person. The greatest difficulty is knowing whether Moses, who was dead and whose soul rested in Limbo, was resurrected and appeared in his own body, or if he appeared only in a borrowed body formed by the hands of Angels. The Angelic Doctor is of the latter sentiment, and he proves it because God performs no miracles without necessity. Now, there was no necessity, for the accomplishment of the mystery of the Transfiguration, that Moses appear in his own body; which would have required a very great miracle, and that itself would have obliged him to die a second time; it is therefore believable that he appeared only in a borrowed body. However, many theologians grant him on Tabor the same body he had while on earth: they say that this is more in conformity with the words of Scripture, because it does not say that the soul of this Prophet appeared; but it says expressly that Moses, as well as Elijah, who was alive, appeared. Be that as it may, Our Lord wished to show, by this apparition, that his power extended over the living and the dead; that his Gospel was the end and fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets; and that he himself was the way that these great men had sought, the truth they had announced, and the life they had hoped for.

His conversation with them was admirable, and our minds are too weak to form a just idea of it. However, the Gospel tells us nothing else about it, except that they spoke of the manner in which he was to die in Jerusalem. These Prophets already knew it, since they had predicted it when they lived on earth; but they undoubtedly received on this occasion a clearer and more distinct knowledge of it; either before appearing, so that they might approach the Savior with a more tender and grateful love; or from the very mouth of this divine Master, who had the kindness to reveal to them what he was to endure, so that Moses might share it with the holy Fathers in Limbo, and that Elijah might make it his continuous meditation with Enoch, in the place of their sojourn, until the end of time. But who could express their thoughts, their feelings, and their words when they saw, on one side, the ineffable beauty and infinite merits of the God-Man, and, on the other, the opprobrium with which he was to be satiated, the blows and wounds he was to receive, and the cruel and ignominious death to which he was to be condemned! There is undoubtedly no affection that such a touching object would not excite in their hearts, and they had thereby a higher idea of the divine goodness and perfections than by all their prophetic lights and all the revelations they had received from heaven. Furthermore, Our Lord wished to speak of his sufferings at the very time of his triumph, to show us that he esteemed them infinitely, that he had an extreme desire for them, and that he preferred them to all the glory of his body; and also to teach us that, in the sweetest visits of heaven, we must maintain an inclination for the cross, and never forget, in our greatest elevations, what may serve to humble us.

During this marvelous conversation, the Apostles, who had fallen asleep because it was late and the length of the journey had extremely fatigued them, awoke and perceived their Master in the brilliance of this extraordinary glory, with the blessed Prophets, who also participated in His splendor. This is how it happens to the just at the end of their lives: they fall asleep through death; but at the same moment they awaken, and their soul enters into the eternal contemplation of the greatness and beauties of Jesus Christ. What do I say? Into contemplation, they even enter into the enjoyment of His glory and into the happy participation of His happiness, and it is said to them: "Rest after so many crosses and labors, and taste at leisure the joy of your sovereign Lord."

Saint Peter, enraptured by a spectacle so beautiful and so charming, and fearing that it might cease too soon, cried out: "Lord, it is good for us to be here; let us make three tents, one for you, another for Moses, and a third for Elijah."

It was the abundance of his joy, the depth of his respect, and the fervor of his love that made him speak in this way; for he esteemed his Master infinitely and loved Him above all things: conceiving of no greater glory than that with which he saw Him clothed, he wished for its perpetuity. Moreover, he dreaded the moment when his Master, following His prediction, would be seized by the Jews and delivered to the Gentiles to be put to death, and he saw no better way to make Him avoid this death than to keep Him on Tabor with Moses and Elijah, separated from the commerce of men.

But why do Saint Mark and Saint Luke say that he did not know what he was saying? And why does he say it himself through the pen of Saint Mark, who was his interpreter and who undoubtedly wrote it only by his order? Is it not because he spoke of making three pavilions, instead of there being only one, which is the true Church, which is preserved and rendered glorious only by maintaining itself in unity? Is it not because he seems to equate the servants with the Master, by wishing to give Moses and Elijah particular tents as well as Jesus Christ, whereas Moses and Elijah, that is to say, the Law and the Prophets, walked only under the shadow of Jesus Christ? Is it not because he wants Jesus, Moses, and Elijah to remain in a place that is not at all proper for them; since Moses must return to limbo to announce to the holy Fathers what he has seen and to receive soon after the reward of his eternal glory; that Elijah must return to the earthly paradise to be, at the end of the ages, the witness of the truth of Christianity against the impostures of the Antichrist, and that the Savior must be crucified on the mountain of Calvary, to enter, through His sufferings, into the enjoyment of His kingdom? Is it not because he places all felicity in the sight of the body of the Savior, whereas eternal life can consist only in the permanent sight of His divinity?

All these reasons are excellent; but the main one is that, according to Saint Peter's plan, Jesus Christ would not have died, and, not dying, He would not have redeemed the world, He would have left us all in death. Moreover, this Apostle thought only of the present life and did not raise his thought to the happiness of the future life, which is nevertheless that which must occupy all our desires; besides, he thought only of himself and the two companions who were with him, without concerning himself with the other nine Apostles, nor the great number of Disciples, nor the sacred Virgin, nor the whole human race. He did not know, therefore, what he was saying, and his joy or his love intoxicated him so much that he did not reflect on his own words.

While he was forming this wish, a bright cloud surrounded all this illustrious company, from the midst of which was heard the voice of the eternal Father who said: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: listen to him."

As the ancient law had been given in a cloud, it was reasonable that Jesus Christ should also be declared the sovereign Lawgiver of the new law in a cloud. But God had never said of Moses nor even of any Angel, according to the remark of Saint Paul, what He says today of Jesus Christ: "This is my beloved Son." They are all servants of God, but Jesus Christ is the Son, not by grace, by adoption, by privilege, by mission, or by some excellent quality that raises Him above other men; but He is so by nature, as the One whom the Father begets from all eternity, and who is of the same essence and the same substance as He. It is this Son whom He loves uniquely and in whom He places His complacencies, because He finds in Him a goodness proportional to His love, which is an infinite goodness and the very goodness by which He is good. Thus, it is with justice that He proposes Him to His Apostles, and, through them, to all men, as their sovereign Master and as the One whom they must listen to. And He will have reason to condemn all those who have preferred to follow the maxims of the world, the corrupted inclinations of their flesh, and the suggestions of the demon, rather than the sacred rules of morality brought by this divine Lawgiver.

One will find in the Sermons of Saint Leo, Pope, a rich Commentary on these same words. It suffices to remark again here that this submission, which the eternal Father asks of us for the instructions and commandments of His Son, is like the end of the whole mystery of the Transfiguration. For there are three things that lead us to receive with respect and to observe with love the ordinances of a lawgiver: the first is his own merit; the second is the justice and holiness of his law; the third is the greatness of the rewards he promises to those who will keep it faithfully. Now, the whole mystery of the Transfiguration tends only to convince us of these three things with regard to the new law. The word of the eternal Father shows us the infinite merit of Jesus Christ who brings it to us, who is neither an Angel, nor a pure man, but the Creator of Angels and men; the homages of Moses and Elijah bear witness to the holiness of this law, since they recognize therein that the ancient law was only its sketch, and that the prophecies were only predictions and promises. Finally, the glory that appears on the face of the Savior is a pledge of that which is prepared for the faithful observers of the same law; and it is easy, in contemplating this glory, to judge the greatness of the felicity of the blessed: for, if His sight alone was so charming that the Apostles who were favored by it believed they were already in heaven, what will it be to possess it? And what will it be, above this glory, to enjoy the glory of the soul, which is incomparably higher, purer, and more perfect than all bodily glory? And what will it be, finally, with this glory, to have the accomplishment of all one's desires, the fullness of all goods, and the consumption of all happiness? Thus, everything that appears in our mystery presses us and engages us sweetly to receive Jesus Christ as our Master, and to make ourselves faithful observers of His ordinances.

As we have already noted, it is considered certain that it was on Mount Tabor that Our Lord was transfigured. The apostle Saint Peter calls it the holy mountain; the summit is a plateau half a league in circumference, slightly inclined towards the west, entirely covered with holm oaks, ivy, fragrant groves, ancient ruins, and memories. This famous mountain is known by the Hebrew name of Tabor, by those of Itabyrion and Atabyrion given to it by the Greeks, and by Djebel Nour (mountain of light) and Djebel Tor (the mountain), which the Arabs call it today. Saint Helena came to Tabor, built a church there, and left considerable sums for those who would wish to live there. Saint Paula came there during the fourth century. In the sixth, Saint Antoninus already found three churches there. Adamnanus informs us that, during the seventh century, there was a large convent. During the eighth, Saint Willibald also speaks of a convent, and of a church dedicated to Moses and Elijah. Benedictines from Cluny, who had founded a second convent, were all slaughtered by the Saracens in 1113. John Phocas, who visited Tabor at the end of the same century, found two convents there that had been re-established, one Greek and the other Latin: there was a multitude of religious. The monk Boniface says that a large convent had been built there by the kings of Hungary. Around the year 1209, Malek-Adel had the church and the convents razed, and on their ruins he erected a citadel which was later destroyed by the Saracens themselves. In 1262, Baibars brought death and devastation to the holy mountain, and the pious hermits abandoned forever the ruins of the three tabernacles of Mount Tabor, which are today nothing more than the dwelling of wild beasts. Louis IX climbed this holy mountain several times.

Today the plateau of Mount Tabor is entirely covered with ruins; one finds there large sections of walls that belonged to the last fortress built by the Saracens. One also sees vaults and cisterns; the whole had been very solidly constructed: there are still recognizable remains of the churches and convents. Only rare pilgrims are seen there now. Three altars have been built under small vaults; it is there that, on the day of the Transfiguration, the Catholics of Nazareth come on pilgrimage, and where the Franciscan Fathers celebrate the office. In the sanctuaries of Palestine, one has at all times the privilege of saying the Mass that relates to the place where one is located.

As for the solemnities of the feast of the Transfiguration, the authors who treat of the divine offices say that it was established in the year 1456 by Pope Callixtus III, and that this Pope composed the office for it and granted the same pape Calixte III Pope who ordered the revision of Joan's trial. indulgences as for the feast of the Body of Our Lord. They add that it was in memory of the great victory that the Christians won the same year over the Turks before Belgrade, from which they forced them to lift the siege, and where Meh med II, Belgrade 1456 battle that motivated the institution of the feast by Callixtus III. the terror of the Orient, was wounded. However, it is certain that this feast is much older, as Baronius proves in his Notes, by the testimony of several Latin martyrologies and several Greek menologies, and especially the martyrology of Wandalbert, who lived around the year 850. The ninety-fourth sermon of Saint Leo, which is on the mystery of this feast, proves that it was celebrated in Rome in the middle of the 5th century. One can see, in the Library of Preachers, by the learned Father Combeïls, of the Order of Saint Dominic, the ecclesiastical authors who have written sermons or homilies on this subject.

Although we must always have our heavenly homeland before our eyes and never lose the memory of it, we must nevertheless think of it more particularly on this day, since the Church presents to us therein so precious a pledge and so beautiful an image of the immortal glory that we shall possess there. Moreover, we shall think of it fruitfully if this reflection makes us renounce the pleasures and vanities of the world and embrace the humble and mortified life of Jesus Christ. For we must be persuaded that, although Our Lord ascended the material Tabor before ascending Calvary, nevertheless there is no other path to arrive at the mystical Tabor, which is eternal felicity, than to pass through the crosses and mortifications figured by Calvary. The path is short, and Our Lord has extremely softened it by passing through it first; let us not refuse to enter it: if we suffer a little in this life, we shall rejoice infinitely in the other; and, if we have a share in the bitterness of our Master's chalice, we shall have a share in the fullness of His happiness.

A sculpture on the doors of the church of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, in Rome, offers a beautiful representation of the mystery of the Transfiguration of Our Lord.

To complete Father Giry, we have made use of the *Saints Lieux* [Holy Places], by Mgr Mislin.