omb. Pilate listened
to his words with secret terror, but only told him in reply that his
superstition amounted to madness.
Joseph and Nicodemus met Peter and the two Jameses in the town. They
all shed many tears, but Peter was perfectly overwhelmed by the
violence of this grief. He embraced them, reproached himself for not
having been present at the death of our Saviour, and thanked them for
having bestowed the rites of sepulture upon his sacred body. It was
agreed that the door of the supper-room should be opened to them
whenever they knocked, and then they went away to seek some other
disciples who were dispersed in various directions. Later I saw the
Blessed Virgin and her companions enter the upper-room; Abenadar next
came and was admitted; and by degrees the greatest part of the Apostles
and disciples assembled there. The holy women retired to that part of
the building where the Blessed Virgin was living. They took some food,
and spent a few minutes more in tears, and in relating to one another
what each had seen. Then men changed their dresses, and I saw them
standing under the lamp, and keeping the Sabbath. They ate some lambs
in the supper-room, but without observing any ceremony, for they had
eaten the Paschal lamb the evening before. They were all perturbed in
spirit, and filled with grief. The holy women also passed their time in
praying with the Blessed Virgin under the lamp. Later, when night had
quite fallen, Lazarus, the widow of Naim, Dina the Samaritan woman, and
Mara of Suphan, came from Bethania, and then, once more, descriptions
were given of all that had taken place, and many tears shed.
[According to the visions of Sister Emmerich, the three women named
in the text had been living for some time at Bethania, in a sort of
community established by Martha for the purpose of providing for the
maintenance of the disciples when our Lord was moving about, and for
the division and distribution of the alms which were collected. The
widow of Naim, whose son Martial was raised from the dead by Jesus,
according to Sister Emmerich, on the 28th Marcheswan (the 18th of
November), was named Maroni. She was the daughter of an uncle, on the
father's side, of St. Peter. Her first husband was the son of a sister of
Elizabeth, who herself was the daughter of a sister of the mother of
St. Anne. Maroni's first husband having died without children, she had
married Elind, a relation of St. Anne, and had left Chasal
|