In Christian and Medieval Times 327 



These stories Butler gets from a Latin writer, and in dif- 

 ferent parts of Germany and in neighboring countries are 

 many similar legends of bees building a waxen chapel or a 

 monstrance over a lost or desecrated host. 



When Saint Bonizella died alone, the bees came and 

 formed in the hand of the dead virgin a beautiful waxen 

 communion cup. It is also reported that bees entered the 

 grave and built their combs in the bodies of two holy vir- 

 gins of Verona. 



The bee was considered a servant of God and of the 

 Church because of its power to produce pure wax, and the 

 loss of a swarm of bees was a grave misfortune, portending 

 ill to the house which it deserted. 



There is a Latin adjuration to the bee which may thus 

 be translated : — 



" Ye are the handmaidens of the Lord ; I implore you 

 in the name of the Lord not to flee from the sons of 

 men." 



There was also a remarkable blessing to be pronounced 

 over bees, found upon the cover of a book dated 1570, in 

 a certain library in Germany. Being translated, it reads 

 thus : — • 



" Maria stood upon a very high mountain. She beheld a 

 swarm of bees flying towards her. She raised her benefi- 

 cent hand. She forbade it to depart and made to it prom- 

 ises of happiness. She placed for it a hive that Saint 

 Joseph had made. Into that she bade it enter and there 

 enjoy life, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy 

 Ghost. Amen." 



An exorcism to the queen of the hive is also found in a 

 Latin ecclesiastical work : — 



" I implore thee, mother of the bees, through God the 

 King of Heaven and through the Redeemer the Son of the 

 Lord, that thou fliest not high, nor far, but that rather thou 



