The Stonemason Who Stole the Relics

The nuns then took refuge at the little church of Saint John the Baptist below Petřín. When peace was restored and building began again at the castle, the people told one another that little flames were rising from the burnt ruins of the convent and growing up to the heavens. The nuns heard those tales, went up to the castle and searched diligently for the relics of Saint Ludmila. The German stonemason Wember happily found the coffin with the holy relics undamaged in the rubble — but he secretly stole part of the relics and fled the country. As a punishment he died abroad; the two stonemasons he had put in his place died likewise, and their two successors after them. Only his son, urged by his kinsfolk, went to Bohemia, confided in his uncle, Provost Gervasius, and restored the stolen relics.