From
these and other small beginnings grew, always luxuriant and sometimes
beautiful, the vast mass of legends which we shall see hereafter.
This growth was affectionately garnered by the more zealous
and less critical brethren in Europe until it had become
enormous; but it appears to have been thought of little value by
those best able to judge.
For when, in 1562, Julius Gabriel Eugubinus delivered a
solemn oration on the condition and glory of the Church, before
the papal legates and other fathers assembled at the Council of
Trent, while he alluded to a multitude of things showing the
Divine favour, there was not the remotest allusion to the vast
multitude of miracles which, according to the legends, had been
so profusely lavished on the faithful during many years, and
which, if they had actually occurred, formed an argument of
prodigious value in behalf of the special claims of the Church.
The same complete absence of knowledge of any such favours
vouchsafed to the Church, or at least of any belief in them,
appears in that great Council of Trent among the fathers
themselves.
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