men, and dost rule as God, I
pray Thee, hear the words of my prayer; that whoever has committed or
carried out or consented to that theft, that bread and cheese may not be
able to pass through his throat.

"I exorcize thee, most unclean dragon, ancient serpent, dark night, by
the word of truth, and the sign of light, by our Lord Jesus Christ, the
immaculate Lamb generated by the Most High, conceived of the Holy Ghost,
born of the Virgin Mary--Whose coming Gabriel the archangel did
announce; Whom seeing, John did call out: This is the living and true
Son of God--that in no wise mayest thou permit that man to eat this
bread and cheese, who has committed this theft or consented to it or
advised it. Adjured by Him who is to come to judge the quick and the
dead, so thou close his throat with a band--not, however, unto death."

THE JUDGMENT OF THE PSALTER

Thieves were sometimes tried by means of two pieces of wood and a
psalter. One of the pieces having a button on the top was inserted in
the psalter above the verse: "Thou art just, O Lord, and righteous are
Thy judgments." The book was then closed and pressed firm, and then the
projecting button was placed in a hole made in the other piece of wood,
from which the psalter now hung. The wood was held by two persons on
opposite sides of the psalter, and the accused having been placed before
them, one of them said thrice to the other: "He has the thing" (i.e.,
the stolen article). The other thrice answered: "He has it not."
Thereupon the priest declared: "This He will deign to make manifest unto
us, by Whose judgment are ruled things terrestrial and things celestial.
Thou art just, O Lord, and righteous are Thy judgments. Turn away the
evils of Thy enemies, and destroy them with Thy truth."

The fate of the accused depended on the miraculous turning of the
psalter. If the direction was from left to right he was innocent; if
from right to left, he was guilty. It would appear from the prayer, in
which the priest invoked Divine revelation, that he held the book, and
therefore it is natural to assume that, consciously or unconsciously,
his opinion must have influenced its movement. The prayer ran:

"Omnipotent, everlasting God, who didst create all things from nothing,
and didst form man from the clay of the earth, we pray Thee, as
suppliants by the intercession of Mary the most holy Mother of God ...
that Thou do make trial for us concerning this matter about which we are