The Stone of Blood (20 page)

“Yep.” Colby replied. “It also sounds boring. How about we go bike ridin’ first?” Colby suggested.

Well, it was summertime after all. And we
were
kids, and we’d just finished breakfast for goodness sakes! So we decided to close the books up and straighten em’ up so Mama would let us use em’ again and then go outside and ride bikes!

Colby managed to keep me pretty much occupied throughout the rest of the mornin’ and into the afternoon with things, even right up and until his mom and dad had come by to pick him up.

It wasn’t until then that I realized that he had left me to do all the book learnin’ by myself.

But I guessed I really didn’t mind since it was really up to me anyways, cause I lived there and I guess that I had more skin in the game. And plus, they
were
my mama’s books.

After Colby left and we had eaten supper, I excused myself to my room and I spread the encyclopedias out all along the whole floor by my bed. I grabbed one of em’ then, and I lay down and I began to read.

I always liked the feel of a book in my hands; it made me feel like I was smarter than I thought I was. Books also had a good smell to em’ too, leather bindin’s, old paper and ink.

I turned the pages and skimmed through a bunch of subjects, but I wasn’t findin’ much of nothin’. At least nothin’ that would have to do with real life, or the life here in Bardstown, so I began to focus more on what I knew about, like I had told Colby; stuff like “My Old Kentucky Home”, “The Talbott Tavern”, “St Joe’s Church”, Stephen Foster and John Fitch.

“
Wait a minute!
” I thought. “
Lystre, I’ll look up Lystre!
”

I picked up the volume marked L-M and thumbed through the pages to Lystre!
“
Lystre
: a French translation of Lystra (Ancient Greek)
the present name is ‘Klistra’.
The city of
Lystra
was o
ne of beauty and culture;
sited along the
Persian Royal Road
, where a large cross now marks the wall of an early Christian church. Ruins of the ancient city are located over the top of a hill, where according to local legends; the city was hidden as defense from its enemies. The Apostle Paul once preached the Gospel in Lystra after persecution drove him from Iconium, but unlike other cities that Paul had visited, Lystra had no Jewish synagogue. Paul had reached the Gentile race without approaching them through Judaism, perhaps for the first time. Situated in the country of
Laconia
, (modern day
Turkey
) it was the land from which the legend of the werewolf began and from where the term lycanthropy is derived.
In the middle ages the church condemned lycanthropy as a form of sorcery and often punished the supposed offenders ruthlessly.”

“Wow!” I said out loud.

Lystre
was
a ‘
real life
’ city and the spellin’ of its name was in
French
! The ancient city was located ‘
over the top of a hill
’, which is exactly the way the old rock quarry is positioned now! Just over the top of a hill! The city was located in an area from where the legend of the ‘
werewolf
’ began! And the Grand Hall within the cavern closely resembled that of a
Christian church
!

“
Okay!
” I thought as I found myself getting overly excited. “
If the
Grand Hall has been there for…let’s say, a hundred years...
” I thought further. “…
that would mean it was there at the time of the Civil War and perhaps even further …considerin’ our connections to
France
by way of Father Flaget!”

I picked up volume E-F and looked up Father Joseph Flaget. “
Benedict Joseph Flaget
(1763–1850) was a
U.S.
bishop. He served as the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bardstown between 1808 and 1839, then as bishop of the Diocese of Louisville between 1839 and 1850 when the See was transferred to Louisville in 1839. At the age of seventeen Flaget entered The Society of Saint-Sulpice, at
Clermont-Ferrand
,
France
. He was ordained a priest June 1, 1788. Flaget taught theology for two years at
Nantes
, and later was chairman of the seminary at
Angers
until the institution was closed by the French Revolution in seventeen hundred ninety-three.”

Blah …blah …blah …and I yawned.

“Flaget left
Baltimore
in 1798 bound for
Cuba
with other Sulpicians. They were not permitted to celebrate Mass in
Havana
. He contracted yellow fever and was left behind when the other Sulpicians returned to
America
. He recovered and acted as a tutor to the son of a wealthy Spaniard. Later he was permitted to celebrate Mass at the church of the Capuchin friars. While in
Cuba
, Louis Phillippe of
France
and his two brothers had made their way to
Havana
as part of their exile journey. The exiles were befriended by their fellow Frenchman, Flaget, in 1799. He returned to
Baltimore
in November 1801.”

I stretched and yawned for about a minute cause it was gettin’ kind of late. And I grabbed a pencil and a small piece of paper and started writin’ down a list of what I had learned. That way I wouldn’t forget about it once I woke up in the mornin’. Now, let me see ...and I yawned again.

1.
     
Lystre was written on the dome of the Grand Hall, it was a French translation of Lystra.

2.
     
There were ruins from an Ancient Christian Church, over the top of a hill.

3.
     
Lystra was located in
Laconia, the land from which the legend of the ‘werewolf’ began.

4.
     
In the middle ages the church condemned lycanthropy as a form of sorcery.

5.
     
Flaget met with the ‘future’ King of
France
while in
Cuba
.

How this all tied together I didn’t know. I also didn’t know why the city had been built in
Kentucky
or by whom. I thumbed through still more pages, and I looked under multiple headings. I found bits and pieces of information regardin’
Bardstown
and I found another listing under the headin’ of ‘
the City
of
Lystra
’ …a
map drawin’ was included, showin’ the city and its dimensions.

“
Plan of
the City of
Lystra
Nelson County
,
Kentucky
1795
Tanner, Henry Schenck, 1786-1858 (Engraver)
Plan developed for the city of
Lystra
on South Creek of Rolling Fork in
Nelson
County
,
Kentucky
, is comprised of perpendicular streets and blocks of uniform size. The lots un-disposed off may be purchased at the Agency-Office. Plans
to build the city of
Lystra
were manufactured in
London
,
England
.
The proposed town was to be located along the Rolling Fork of the Salt River,
37 1/4° north latitude, and 85 1/2° longitude west from
London
. While the location of the city appeared on many maps up until 1817,
the city itself was never built. And its precise location has never been determined.”

“The city was never built. And its precise location has never been determined.”
I whispered as I read those words again.

Perhaps it had been built after all …just
not according to conventional history
.

In my vision within the cave amongst other things, I had heard the words ‘
of faith and chime’
and I had heard and seen an image of a large church bell. The only church that I was aware of that could have come close to havin’ a church bell of
that size
was
St. Joseph
’s Church! So I searched through Mama’s encyclopedias and I picked up the volume labeled S-T.

I thumbed through its pages to find the listin’ for
St. Joseph
’s Cathedral. And I yawned again.

“
Saint Joseph Proto-Cathedral
is a Catholic parish church at 310 West Stephen Foster Avenue in Bardstown,
Kentucky
. It is the former cathedral mother church of the former Roman Catholic Diocese of Bardstown. During its years as a cathedral, the pastor was Benedict Joseph Flaget, the first Bishop of Bardstown. The cornerstone was laid on
July 16, 1816
, with construction beginning thereafter. Materials used for its construction were found in the immediate area. The architect and builder was John Rogers of
Baltimore
. By 1819 it was sufficiently completed for Mass to be held. The interior was fully complete by 1823. Many of the paintings and interior decorations including a large cathedral bell were donated by Pope Leo XII, King Louis-Philippe of
France
(
who desired to acknowledge his sense of obligation for courtesies extended to him by that prelate when he was an exile in the
Island
of
Cuba
.)
The gifts from the King of
France
included a cathedral bell; paintings by Rubens, Murillo, Van Dyke and others. Gifts of royal embroidered vestments: the handwork of the queen and her court.”

“
The church bell was given to us from
France
!
” I whispered to myself. “
It was
given to us by King Louis- Philippe of
France
who met with Father Flaget while in exile in
Cuba
. That was at least the third of forth time that I had found his name mentioned!”

So I searched for a listing for
Louis Philippe.
“
Louis Philippe I
(
6 October 1773
–
26 August 1850
) was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, in what was known as the July Monarchy. The son of a duke who supported the French Revolution but was nevertheless guillotined, Louis Philippe fled France as a young man and spent 21 years in exile, including considerable time in the United States. As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon, he was a prince du sang.
”