621.
A.Maury, _Croyances et legendes du moyen age_, pp.

262 _et seq._] It was even said that a virgin had the power to cure king's evil, by reciting, fasting and naked, certain magic words; but they were not words from the Gospel.[779] [Footnote 779: Leber, _Des ceremonies du sacre_, Paris, 1825, in 8vo, p.

459.] While mystics and visionaries were glorifying virginity, the Church, bent on governing the body as well as the soul, condemned opinions denying the lawfulness of marriage, which she had constituted a sacrament.

Those who would anathematise all works of the flesh she held to be abominable and impious.

A maid deserved praise for preserving her virginity, provided always that her motives were praiseworthy.