resisted, almost alone, the consent of the Christian
world. A superstitious age was prepared to reverence, as the testimony
of _Heaven_, the preternatural cures, which were performed by the skill
or virtue of the Catholic clergy; the baptismal fonts of Osset in Btica,
which were spontaneously replenished every year, on the vigil of Easter;
and the miraculous shrine of St. Martin of Tours, which had already
converted the Suevic prince and people of Gallicia. The Catholic king
encountered some difficulties on this important change of the national
religion. A conspiracy, secretly fomented by the queen-dowager, was
formed against his life; and two counts excited a dangerous revolt in
the Narbonnese Gaul. But Recared disarmed the conspirators, defeated the
rebels, and executed severe justice; which the Arians, in their turn,
might brand with the reproach of persecution. Eight bishops, whose names
betray their Barbaric origin, abjured their errors; and all the books of
Arian theology were reduced to ashes, with the house in which they had
been purposely collected. The whole body of the Visigoths and Suevi were
allured or driven into the pale of the Catholic communion; the faith, at
least of the rising generation, was fervent and sincere: and the devout
liberality of the Barbarians enriched the churches and monasteries of
Spain. Seventy bishops, assembled in the council of Toledo, received the
submission of their conquerors; and the zeal of the Spaniards improved
the Nicene creed, by declaring the procession of the Holy Ghost from
the Son, as well as from the Father; a weighty point of doctrine, which
produced, long afterwards, the schism of the Greek and Latin churches.
The royal proselyte immediately saluted and consulted Pope Gregory,
surnamed the Great, a learned and holy prelate, whose reign was
distinguished by the conversion of heretics and infidels. The
ambassadors of Recared respectfully offered on the threshold of
the Vatican his rich presents of gold and gems; they accepted, as a
lucrative exchange, the hairs of St. John the Baptist; a cross, which
enclosed a small piece of the true wood; and a key, that contained some
particles of iron which had been scraped from the chains of St. Peter.

The same Gregory, the spiritual conqueror of Britain, encouraged the
pious Theodelinda, queen of the Lombards, to propagate the Nicene faith
among the victorious savages, whose recent Christianity was polluted by
the Arian heresy.