Jerome: Letter 108

I'm currently finishing a reading assignment in early Latin Theology... This quote turned my stomach a little. I think that not everything that was viewed as holy in those days is also veiwed as holy now. I doubt I would lick the place where Jesus was laid in the tomb out of worship to Him!

“Before the Cross she threw herself down in adoration as though she beheld the Lord hanging upon it; and when she entered the tomb which was the scene of the Resurrection, she kissed the stone which the angel had rolled away from the door of the sepulcher. Indeed so ardent was her faith that she even licked with her mouth the very spot on which the Lord’s body had lain, like one athirst for the river which he had longed for.”

[Early Latin Theology Selections from Tertullian, Cyprian, Ambrose and Jerome. Pp. 353, Letter 108. Translated and edited by S. L. Greenslade. The Library of Christian Classics Ichthus Edition. Louisville: The Westminster John Knox Press, 1956.]

I might feel the spot or something else [lay down on the spot, lay my head on the spot]...but like with my mouth. What do you guys think??? Would you kiss the spot where Christ laid...lick the spot...just look at the spot...feel the spot??