The brief narrative had reference to a very large and very valuable oval gem enclosed in the substance of a golden chalice, which chalice, in the monastery of St. Edmundsbury, had once lain centuries long within the loculus, or inmost coffin, wherein reposed the body of St. Edmund.
"Prince Zaleski"
M.P. Shiel
Now, the chalice with the stone was taken from this loculus; and is it possible not to believe that some knight, to whom it had been presented by one of Saladin's men, had in turn presented it to the monastery, first scratching uncouthly on its surface the name of Hasn to mark its semi-sacred origin, or perhaps bidding the monks to do so?
"Prince Zaleski"
M.P. Shiel
In passing from the vestibule into the catacomb, we recognise the transition from the use of the sarcophagus to that of the common loculus; for the first two or three graves on either side, though really mere shelves in the wall, are so disguised by painting on the outside as to present to passers-by the complete outward appearance of a sarcophagus.
"Walks in Rome"
Augustus J.C. Hare