And when it had touched the bones of Eliseus, the man came to life
and stood up on his feet," we may not be unwilling to admit the
possibility or probability, that such a miracle may have occurred at
the sepulchre of the God of Eliseus. Besides the authors whom I have
mentioned, this history is attested by S. Ambrose, S. Chrysostom, and
S. Cyril of Jerusalem. This great bishop and Eusebius lived at the
time when the event is said to have happened: the other writers lived
not long after, and Ruffinus and Theodoret passed part of their lives
in Syria. The same historians mention, that S. Helen divided the
Cross into three parts, one she left in Jerusalem, another she sent
to Costantine, according to the author of the life of Pope Sylvester
published by Pope Damasus towards the close of the 6th cent.; and the
third she reserved for herself, to Rome. She placed the last mentioned
piece in the Sessorian Basilica, called also the Basilica of Helen,
because erected by her, in the Horti Variani: hence is derived
its title of S. Croce in Gerusalemme. On this subject additional
information may be found in the work of the late Padre De Corrieris,
De Sessorianis praecipius D.N.J.C. reliquiis, in Trombelli De cultu
SSrum and Ben. XIV. De festis. From Santa Croce a piece of the cross
was taken to S. Peter's, and is one of the relics shewn on good
friday. Even in the fourth century S. Cyril of Jerusalem testifies,
that particles of the true cross had been sent to every Christian
country.
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