The first thing to do was to discover the actual
remains of St. Alban. The story of the discovery would not be complete
without a vision and a miracle. Accordingly a vision is said to have
appeared to the King at Bath, and a miraculous light to have guided him
to the spot where the coffin was found. This had been purposely removed
from its first resting-place within the walls of the church, for fear of
its being desecrated by the Saxons, who certainly did reduce the
building almost to a ruin. The coffin was found to contain the body of
the martyr, as well as the precious relics which had been placed within
it by the Bishop of Auxerre. Their presence establishes the identity of
the remains. The church was then repaired so as to be able to preserve
safely the reliquary which contained the precious relics "until a more
worthy edifice should be built." Permission to build and endow the
monastery was obtained from Pope Adrian I., the King making a special
journey to Rome in order to procure it. The martyr was canonized at the
same time. At some later time a valuable concession was granted to the
new monastery: the tribute known as Peter's Pence being assigned to it,
while the lands belonging to the Abbey were exempted from the payment.
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