Aceldama

ACELDAMA, or rather Chakel-dam Mat. xxvii. 8. Acts i. 19.¹, the inheritance or portion of Blood; by this name was that Field called which the Priests purchased with the thirty pieces of Silver that had been given to Judas Iscariot, as the price of Jesus Christ’s Blood. Judas having brought this Money back into the Temple, and the Priests not thinking it was lawful to make use of it for the service of so holy a Place, because it was the price of Blood, they bought a Potter’s Field with it to be a Burying-place for Strangers. This Field was shewn in St. Jerom’s time South of Jerusalem; and is still at this day shewn to Travellers. The place is very small, and covered with an arched roof, under which the Bodies that are there deposited, are, they say, consumed in less than three or four days. Drutmar, a Monk of Corbie, says, that in his time there was an Hospital in this place for the entertainment of French Pilgrims, in their Journey to the Holy Land.

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