In 428, a dispute arose over whether people should address the Virgin Mary as ‘God’s mother’. Bishops gathered at Chalcedon near Constantinople to defend the traditional practice in 451, but could not agree a form of words. So they put two texts into the tomb of the martyr Euphemia, resealed it, and left them there for three days.

When the tomb of St Euphemia (who had been martyred in the last days of pagan Rome, over a century before) was reopened, one of the two texts put there by the bishops appeared to have been chosen by her. This allowed the bishops to agree on the terms in which the traditional message of Christmas would be preached thereafter.

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