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The Bishop of Ardfert, in Ireland, gave to St. Alban's Abbey, amongst other things, "a stone of a light airy colour, marked with white spots, called the 'Serpent's Stone,' thought to be very efficacious against lunacy. It was square in form and encompassed with silver."
We read that when Geoffrey, the sixteenth Abbot of St. Alban's, was completing the shrine of the patron saint, for which the treasury of the church was employed, a precious stone was brought, so large that a man could not grasp it in his hand, said to help women in childbirth, and therefore it was not fixed to the shrine because it might be serviceable to save women's lives. On it was carved an image, as of one in ragged clothes, holding a spear in one hand, with a snake winding itself up it, and in the other hand a boy bearing a buckler. At the feet of the image was an eagle with wings expanded, and lifted up. This stone was the gift of King Ethelred. |
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Precious Stones Vol 11
>> About Precious Stones and Ireland
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