Note 41 — Chapter II · THE FOUNDATION AND EARLY HISTORY OF THE CITY (656-1204)

Serafino Razzi, in his Storia di Raugia, gives a long account of this miracle (cap. x.). The Venetian fleet designed to capture Ragusa by treachery, but the plot was revealed to a priest, who thus relates his vision: “I was in the church of St. Stephen about midnight, at prayer, when methinks I saw the whole fane filled with armed men. And in the midst I saw an old man with a long white beard holding a staff in his hand. Having called me aside, he told me that he was San Biagio, and had been sent by Heaven to defend this city. He told me further that the Venetians had come up to the walls to scale them, using the masts of their ships as ladders, but he, with a company of heavenly soldiers, had driven back the enemy; but he desired that in future the Ragusans should defend themselves, and never trust armed neighbours.” Ragnina dates the event 971.