magnificently situated. I guessed it to be a monastery, and I made my way
towards it.

The church door was open, and I went in and was amazed at the rich
marbles and the beauty of the altars; and, after hearing the last mass, I
went to the sacristy and found myself in a crowd of Benedictines.

The abbot, whom I recognized by his cross, came towards me and asked if I
wished to see the church and monastery. I replied that I should be
delighted, and he, with two other brethren, offered to shew me all. I saw
their rich ornaments, chasubles embroidered with gold and pearls, the
sacred vessels adorned with diamonds and other precious stones, a rich
balustrade, etc.

As I understood German very imperfectly and the Swiss dialect (which is
hard to acquire and bears the same relation to German that Genoese has to
Italian) not at all, I began to speak Latin, and asked the abbot if the
church had been built for long. Thereupon the very reverend father
entered into a long history, which would have made me repent my
inquisitiveness if he had not finished by saying that the church was
consecrated by Jesus Christ Himself. This was carrying its foundation
rather far back, and no doubt my face expressed some surprise, for to
convince me of the truth of the story the abbot bade me follow him into
the church, and there on a piece of marble pavement he shewed me the
imprint of the foot of Jesus, which He had left there at the moment of
the consecration, to convince the infidels and to save the bishop the
trouble of consecrating the church.

The abbot had had this divinely revealed to him in a dream, and going
into the church to verify the vision he saw the print of the Divine Foot,