Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 December 1908 — MOHAMMED’S BLOODY HAND. [ARTICLE]

MOHAMMED’S BLOODY HAND.

History of the Imprint on a Pillar In thfe Church of St. Sophia. In the course of our exploration In Constantinople we visited a lyrilding in an obscure and poor quarter of Stamboul inhabited solely by Mohammedans. It is called the Mosque Kahrie, but it is op was a church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. The beauty of the mosque ceiling and walls not even centuries of neglect have been able to obliterate.

When we returned to the great Church of St. Cophia, now a mosque, and saw again the print of the blood} hand of Mohammed, which is pointed out high up on the wall of that once Christian church, we understand its significance better than we had at first sight. Mohammed 11. after advancing his outposts gradually and stealthily had finally, as if in a night, crossed the Bosporus from Asia and raised his forts on the European side of the stream. Just the day before, on a trip up the Bosporus, we had seen the ruins of those fortifications.

The rulers of the city had protected In vain against this encroachment. When the Moslems finally attacked the city the Christians fl“d in terror to St. Sophia. An ancient legend, firmly believed, promised that this sanctuary was absolutely safe. Mohammed proved the fallacy of their trust by breaking down tne doors, murdering those who had sought safety there, men, women and children —so many of them that flnallv, forcing his horse over the great pile of dead bodies, away up on the side of a pillar he planted his bloody hand on the clear wall in token of his victory over the Christians. That gory hand still overshadows the fairest portion of southeastern Europe.— Rosary Magazine.