Maria knew the church. Santa Croce in Gerusalemme was one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome, famous for its passion relics, among them the panel with the inscription »INRI,« which had hung on Christ's Cross. It was said that Saint Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine, had brought it from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 326 AD, together with small wooden pieces and nails from the True Cross. During the Late Middle Ages, the place was considered so holy that women were forbidden access to the church. Maria entered the Chapel of St. Helena, to which the church owed its name, since it was said that the floor of this chapel had once been covered with soil from Jerusalem. She seemed to be alone. Maria heard neither footsteps nor voices. Slowly and carefully, as if she were walking on thin ice, she crossed the nave, praying a silent Hail Mary to calm her nerves. »You are late, Sister Maria.« Maria was startled to death and spun around. In the shadow of one of the pillars, she perceived a figure clad like a Capuchin Monk, with the hood pulled low down over his face.
