Note 88 — Chapter VII · 1541-1774. MISSIONS.

For nearly two centuries, miracles and saints rarely occurred. It seems as if they were in a state of embryo, slumbering until an opportune season for their appearance should arrive. After the Reformation, however, it was deemed expedient that some new miracles and saints should come forth to prove the truth and the superiority of the Roman Catholic religion over the Protestant, which cannot boast of such testimonials. It was then that the images of the Virgin Mary again began to speak, laugh, weep—that the hair of the images on the crucifix grew—that they shed blood from their wooden sides—that the relics of saints acted as a charm to keep away diseases and misfortunes—and that new saints sprang into existence like mushrooms.