| John neared the coffin of which a part was protruding from the grave and unlacing its ties he opened the lid. When they all approached the coffin they were stunned in amazement: Mary's corpse was not in the shroud. But the shroud had remained intact. After this event the mouth of the cave containing the grave was closed and the house was turned into a chapel."A French clergyman named Gouyet who after reading in 1880 C.Brentano's book " The Life of the Virgin Mary" containing the revelations of Anna Katherina Emmerich tried to prove these by his writings but was not successful. Gouyet dedided to go Ephesus to see whether the house mentioned as beloning to the Virgin Mary fitted the description in the book or not. Monseigneur Timoni, the archbishop of Izmir of the time, supported him in his idea and gave him a helper. After a journey free from problems in contrast to his expectations, Gouyet saw the house, believed that it belonged to the Virgin Mary and sent his related report to Bishopric authorities of Paris and even to Rome, but he did not receive the attention he had expected. |
at this point in her vision St.Thomas coming there after the death of the Virgin Mary cried with sorrow because he had not been able to arrive in time. Whereupon his friends not wanting to hurt his feelings took him to the cave. And she went on:" When they came to the cave they prostrated themselves. Thomas and his friends walked impatiently to the door. St.John followed them. Two of them went inside after removing the bushes at the entrance of the cave and they kneeled down in front of the grave. 
there. She was taken so ill and lost so much weight in Jerusalem that everybody thought she was going to die and they began preparing a grave for her. When the grave was finished the Virgin Mary recovered. She was feeling strong enough to return to Ephesus. After returning to Ephesus the Virgin Mary became very weak and at 64 years of age she died. The saints around her performed a funeral ceremony for her and put the 
