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form of a cross beside the main stem. I f the two horizontal arms
were not sufficiently adapted to the figure, they fastened a crossbeam
to it. Then they consecrated it by cutting upon the right
branch the word Hesus, upon the middle stem Taranis, and upon
the left branch Belenus, and over them the word Thau. The tree
thus inscribed was deemed peculiarly sacred, and to it they diredted
their faces when offering prayer.
It was beneath the shade of the Oak that Druidic criminal
trials were held—the judge and jury being seated under the
branches, and the prisoner placed in a circle traced by the wand of
the chief Druid. With the Saxons, the Oak retained its sacred
charadter, and their national meetings were held beneath its shelter.
It was below the Oaks of Dartmoor that they held their conference
with the Britons, whose land they were invading.
In Great Britain, the Oak remained an objedt of veneration
long after the establishment of Christianity. It was under an aged
Oak that St. Brigid of Ireland established her retreat for holy
women, whence called Kildara, or cell of the Oak. Here had been
burning for many centuries the sacred fire of the Druids, but by the
piety of St. Brigid the light of Christianity was henceforth to emit
its fiame from beneath
“ The Oak of St. Bride, which demon nor Dane,
Nor Saxon, nor Dutchman could rend from her fane.”
Many of the Druidical sacred Oaks were utilised by the early
preachers of the Christian faith, who from beneath their boughs
preached the gospel of Christ to the pagan inhabitants. Hence
these trees became noted throughout the country as Gospel Oaks,
a name which still appertains to many ancient trees existing at the
present time in England. It is right to say, however, that other
authorities consider the origin of the name to have been the custom
of reading the Gospel of the day at a certain tree, when the priest
went round the fields to bless the crops.
The Sclavonians worshipped Oaks, which they enclosed in a
consecrated court. This spot was the sandtuary of all the country,
and had its priest, its festivals, and its sacrifices. The inner
saniftuary, where grew the sacred Oak, was reserved especially for
the priests, sacrificers, and people in danger of their life, who had
sought of the priests an asylum. It is said that the ancient
Russians, upon arriving at the Isle of St. George, offered up
sacrifices beneath a great Oak, before which the people and priests
chanted a TeDeum. After the ceremony, the priest distributed the
branches of the Oak among the people.
It is curious to note how the old Grecian belief in the sacred
and supernatural character of the Oak has lingered in Italy. Prof.
de Gubernatis tells us that in the Campagna of Rome, about
seventeen years ago, a young shepherdess, during a storm, sought
shelter under an Oak, and prayed to the Madonna. Whilst she
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prayed, a gracious lady appeared before her, and, thanks to her
intercession, no rain fell on the Oak, and the girl was enabled to
reach home without being wetted by'a single drop. Everyone saw
it was a miracle; the curé examined her, and from his representations
the young girl was received into a convent at Rome, where
she probably is preparing herself for canonisation. Under similar
circumstances, two centuries ago, a Tuscan shepherdess, Giovanna
of Signa, was canonised. In the districit of Signa, near Ginestra,
the villagers still show a sacred Oak, which people kneel to and
■adore. The story runs that one day the shepherdess Giovanna,
surprised by a storm, called around her the shepherds and their flocks,
and stuck her shepherdess’s crook into the ground ; when, wondrous
to relate, at the same instant shot forth an Oak, which sheltered
beneath its branches shepherds and sheep. No one was wetted by
the rain. On account of this miracle, Giovanna was made a saint,
and near the sacred Oak a little chapel was erected to the Virgin.
Strange to say, the tree throws down anyone climbing into its
branches to cut boughs ; but people are permitted to pluck sprays,
which are believed to guard themselves and their houses from the
effects of storms, provided that the names of Jesus and Mary are
invoked with certain ceremonies.
Among the Bolognese, who inhabit a distridt once occupied by
the Celts, and consequently Druidic, the sacred charadter of Oak-
trees was long acknowledged. In the fourteenth century, there
stood in Bologna an ancient Oak, which was regarded with the
greatest reverence, and beneath its boughs all important gatherings
of the people took place. In their religious processions the childrem
still carry garlands of the Oak and Olive, In the country distridts,
images of the Virgin are often suspended from Oak-trees, and
these effigies are called after the trees, the little Madonnas of the
Oak. A legend of Bologna relates that in a chapel an image, of the
Virgin had long been neglected, and overlooked, till, one day, a
pious shepherd took it away, and placed it in the trunk of a Cork,'
tree (a species of Oak, the Quercus Suher). Henceforth he visited it
daily, and to honour the Virgin played on the flute. The thief
having been denounced, the shepherd was seized and condemned
to death; but during the night, through the intervention of the
Madonna, the statue and the shepherd both returned to their
favourite tree, and notwithstanding subsequent efforts, to remove
them, they again took up their place beneath its; boughs. Then
the people recognised a miracle performed by the Virgin, and
falling on their knees before the ©tatué in the Oak^ they asked
pardon of the shepherd.
The time-honoured belief in the sacred and supernatural attributes
of the Oak have doubtless caused it to. be regarded, even at
the present day, as a tree which would vicariously bear the diseases
of men. Thus, in England, Cross Oaks, which were trees planted
at the juncture of cross-roads, were formerly resorted to by people
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