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<CENTER><STRONG><FONT face=Verdana>from:
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<CENTER><B><FONT face=Verdana><FONT size=+2>The Hand of St
James</FONT></FONT></B></CENTER>
<P><FONT face=Georgia>In a glass case at St Peter's Church, Marlow, is a
mummified hand some think is that of the Apostle James. It was found in an old
iron chest by workemn digging at Reading Abbey in 1786. Is it genuine? There is
documentary evidence that, from the 12th century until is dissolution in 1539,
the abbey possessed a relic it believed to be the hand of St James. According to
early records it had been kept in Italy until 1046 when it was brought to
Hamburg by Adalbert, Archbishop of Bremen. In Germany it has been part ofthe
imperial regalia, until it was brough to England by Matilda, daughter of Henry
I, and was given to the Abbey.</FONT><FONT face=Georgia></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Georgia>After its 18th century rediscovery it was displayed in a
museum, but after this closed was acquired by a Mr Scott Murray of Danesfield.
When his private chapel was old in 1896 the hand was given to St Peter's
Church.</FONT><FONT face=Georgia></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Georgia>One way to test its authenticity would be to see if the
apostle was buried with a missing hand. Tradition said his body was buried at St
Iago de Compostella. In 1879 the archbishop authorised a search for the grave.
Sir Thomas Kendrick in his book, <I>St James in Spain,</I> described what
happened after the tomb was found:</FONT><FONT face=Georgia></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Georgia>"It was about three feet long, a foot deep and a foot
wide, and it contained a quantity of very old bones. The party was overwhelmed
by emotion. one workman fainted and remained blind for half an hour after he had
recovered consciousness. The Clerk of the Works was sent to tell the Archbishop,
though the time was 2am, and woke up the place by throwing stones at the
coachman's window."</FONT><FONT face=Georgia></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Georgia>Pope Leo XIII declared the bones those of St James, but it
was unclear whether a hand was missing. Or whether it was far away in the
English town of Marlow.</FONT></P>
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