steenpoort 3

But how... 

did that particular painting... 

ended up in the widow Moldar's home? 

A couple of months after the judge's unfortunate accident...

on Christmas Eve, the widow Moldar found a gray-haired old man in front of a store nearby the Gate. Dressed only in a light flax [vlas] robe, he was shivering from cold. Katarina was on her way back home from the church of St.Mark, when she felt pity upon the old man, so she invited him inside to warm up. His feet were shod [geschoeid] in wet sandals. 

He drank a glass of wine, dined carp [karper] and looked at the widow with his bright eyes, and the widow felt glad that he was better. Katarina and the old man prayed to God, after all it was Christmas Eve. And the old man then recited St Paul's first letter to the Romans.

In the first hour of Christmas, she made a bed for the old man and set him to sleep. He felt grateful, and fell asleep right away.

-

With the first light of morning... 

Katarina got out of her bed, set ham and cake on the table, and waited for the old man to get up. 

Time passed and around 8 o'clock, she took a peek at his room and was surprised by the scene. On the neat bed, it looked like no one had ever slept there, and instead of the old man, lay a painting of the Virgin Mary with Child. 

She looked stunningly beautiful, in a red dress, Her feet on the moon's crest, young as a girl and gentle as love, with fuzzy [pluizig] brown hair, red lips and a smile in Her eyes. Those were so alive that the widow couldn't look away for hours!

Katarina framed the painting and prayed in front of it... 

every morning end evening.

[bron]