Note 39 — Chapter II · Miracles Performed by the Virgin in Response to Prayer

This spider motif is the dominant feature in Nos. 222 and 225. In the former the Capellán of La Señora de Achela was saying mass when just as he raised the sacred cup to his lips he saw a big spider fall into the wine. He hesitated for a moment not knowing what to do for under no circumstances can the ceremony of Mass be interrupted. Only a moment did he pause, then trusting in the Virgin he drank it, spider and all. The prioress learning of it ordered him to be bled. As the surgeon’s lance pierced the arm not blood but the spider, alive, came out and the clergyman was unharmed. No. 225, probably simply a variant, differs in that after drinking it the spider moved about between the skin and the flesh while the poor man implored relief thru divine aid. Finally, one day while in the sun the spider passed from the back and breast to his arm and after much of scratching came out under the nail.