ON SAINT CASILDA THE VIRGIN,
AT BURGOS IN SPAIN.
11TH CENTURY
CommentaryCasilda, Virgin, at Burgos in Spain (St)
BY D. P.
CHAPTER I.
The Acts and Age of the Holy Virgin.
"Above the city of Burgos, about twenty thousand paces distant, At the lakes of Saint Vincent in the diocese of Burgos, toward the east, there is a village, by name Boëtius, placed under a very high rock; from which a little fountain flowing, descends near the aforesaid village, and enters two lakes, into which it pours so great a force of healthfulness and virtue that all suffering from a flow of blood are, as soon as they are washed with this water, immediately freed. But on the ridge of the mountain whence the little fountain rises, there is a sacred chapel dedicated to Saint Casilda." So Marineo Siculo, On the affairs of Spain, book 1, under the title On fountains, somewhat exaggerating the benefit, and attributing to the fountain what others refer to the invocation of the Saint, who make no mention of the washing to be done there, except that Casilda, washing there by heavenly admonition, recovered her health, and has thereafter been the perpetual Patroness of those suffering from a flow of blood. These same writers by common consent hand down Church of Saint Casilda, that not the village (which is held to be called Briviesca) but the fountain had the name of Boëtius, to which afterwards a more sacred appellation, from Saint Vincent, was added: whether because of some relics of his formerly honored there, or for another cause, we do not define; but much less do we believe that the body of Saint Vincent himself was carried there by two Christian priests, fleeing from the hands of the Moors occupying Valencia, as is said in the Spanish Life of Saint Casilda, to be cited below: since the things which we have given concerning the translation of Saint Vincent from more certain and more ancient monuments on January 22 are far different.
[2] Her Acts from the Breviary of Burgos. The Acts of the aforesaid Saint Casilda, indeed not the most ancient, but far preferable to the other narrations of her by Spanish writers, the Church of Burgos has preserved, in whose Breviary (which we have abridged, examined, and most clearly corrected by the Most Reverend Dom Pascasius, Bishop of Burgos, and printed by his order in 1502) part of the same Acts, divided into nine lessons, is thus set forth: "Therefore, when, our parents' sins requiring it, an innumerable multitude of Agarenes occupied not small regions of Spain both on this side and beyond the ports, The daughter of a Saracen King of Toledo, at that time the King of Toledo, in great years, was named Cano, a man very mighty and strenuous in arms, who had long been accustomed to lead armies in war against the Christians, and had inflicted innumerable losses on the orthodox faith, and kept very many Christian captives in his kingdom. This so strong enemy of the Christian faith, by divine dispensation, had one only daughter, Casilla by name: that so wicked a stock might bring forth a flower of wonderful whiteness, and one upon whom the Spirit of the Lord should rest.
[3] For the royal virgin had so grown up from her infancy to the height of virtues, and piety (which, according to the Apostle, avails for all things) had so filled her heart in a wondrous manner, and had penetrated her inmost parts as a two-edged sword, that she seemed to have claimed the whole handmaid of God for her dominion. 1 Tim. 4, 8 For in a stupendous and unspeakable manner, that deifying Spirit bore her upward to God through the ardor of devotion; transformed her into Christ through the softness of compassion; inclined her to her neighbor through the love of condescension. Accustomed to refresh captive Christians, For she was held by a fervid affection from the years of her tender age, so that she felt for the afflicted, and especially for Christians—although she was born of Saracen stock—with the tenderness of the most intense compassion; and if she saw any need or want in anyone, she watered him with tears of the sweetness of a pious heart. Truly she had an inborn clemency, which God's love, poured in over it, doubled: and so her love flowed out to the captive poor, so that to those to whom she could not show a hand, she showed affection.
[4] Her custom was, every day infallibly, unless some impediment occurred, for love of the Heart of Christ, out of reverence for the all-powerful Jesus, to visit the poor Christian captives with her so grateful presence, and to extend to them helping hands through the bestowal of largesse, bearing in the scrutiny of her breast inscribed in golden letters the saying of David which thundered forth: 'Blessed is he that understandeth concerning the needy and the poor: the Lord will deliver him in the evil day.' From those things which were destined for her own sustenance, But this she had learned not from a mortal, but from an immortal master: whence, content with only the third part of what was given by her father for her own and her household's sustenance, she gave the other two parts to the Christian captives. Psal. 34, 10 A wondrous and unusual thing! Cut off from the natural wild olive, against the nature of her kind, she passed into the good olive, that she might be able to bring forth good fruit. Whence could so unfruitful a tree bring forth so rich a branch? Surely because the immense Goodness had foreseen that it should come to pass from the eternal purpose of his will."
[5] To her father, searching what she was carrying in her bosom, Thus far the Breviary: lest the rest be wholly wanting, the transcript of the same Acts, abridged or changed in a few words, sent from Burgos to Cardinal Baronius by those who grieved that this holy virgin had not been inserted in the tables of the Roman Martyrology—which we found in the Vallicelliana library volume CD—supplies. The history therefore continues thus: "The King, being made more certain of his daughter's piety toward the Christians, when he was observing her, at last caught her going to the Christians: he asks what she is carrying in her gathered bosom. 'Roses,' she said. He thrust in his hand, and found roses. The father believed that his daughter was falsely accused, and dismissed her. But she went to the Christians none the less, and unfolding the bosom, brought out the food: for what seemed roses in her parent's hand, the hungry Christians experienced to be bread and meat. At last, when the virgin Casilla was suffering from an incurable disease, and the physicians gave no hope of her health to the King, she was divinely admonished that she could in no way be healed except in the lakes of Saint Vincent, in the territory of Burgos, where the Christian affairs then flourished. She begs the King to dismiss her there. The King referred it to his Council. It seemed good to all that provision should be made for the health of the royal virgin. She went, therefore, with God showing the way, and being restored to her former health, At the side of Saint Vincent, having been healed, she remains there. she spent the rest of her life near the same lakes, on the ridge of the steep mountain, with frequent miracles
she completed." These things are in that manuscript, and almost word for word in the original context itself, and no more, we are persuaded by Tamayo Salazar, who uses almost the same words, except that at the beginning and end he mingles some of the fictions to be refuted below.
[6] The Spanish Life adds, that not only in the bosom of Saint Casilda herself, but also in the baskets which her maids were carrying, roses were found: that the virgin's disease was a flow of blood; that safety of passage had been asked by legates from a Christian King; Other things added in the Spanish Life, that all the Christian captives had been given their freedom; that on the crossing of a certain bridge a demon met her in a horrible form, to cast her down into the river by frightening her horse and drown her; but that he was restrained and put to flight by an angel appearing on the other side; that the virgin was baptized in the church of Saint Vincent adjoining the lakes; that all her company gave their names to the Christian faith, and remained among the Christians; that she herself kept with her for her service two maids and a few ministers; that she wished a house and an oratory to be built for her near the said lakes, but whatever had been built there by day was by night carried by angelic hands to the summit of the mountain, and so the work was ordered to be done there; finally, that foreknowing by angelic admonition of her coming death, she asked from God health, especially from flow of blood, for all who should invoke her, and exhaled her soul before the altar of Saint Vincent; then of their own accord the bells of that church rang, and the Christian King, moved by the frequency of miracles multiplying at her body, entrusted her custody to the Dean and Chapter of the Church of Burgos. Whether the author drew these things from his own genius, or from old monuments, we leave undetermined.
[7] Others wrongly assign her to April 15. Tamayo Salazar, in his Spanish Martyrology on April 15, in his usual way mingling ancient and new things, after the Acts compiled by him, raises various questions about this same Saint, and decides them all either from pseudepigraphic Chronicles of Julian of Toledo or from the conjectures of more recent authors, which there is no need here to examine. For April 15, on which she is said to have died, he also cites an epigram of Aulus Halus, of doubtful faith, as is the case with other things of this kind. Died about the middle of the 11th century Most assign her year of death to 1047 or 1050, but produce no author. Tamayo thinks they are evidently refuted by the testimony of an irrefragable witness, because the Saint was dying in his lifetime—when at these words of the chronicle: "Saint Casilda, Virgin of Toledo, consecrated to God, more than a hundred years old, dies at Briviesca (this town is neighbor to the village named above), April 15," I say, at the said words, there is noted in the margin the year 1126. But there is no authority, as we said, for these trifles with us; and below it will appear that before that year miracles worked at the invocation of Saint Casilda are reported.
[8] A similar argument is drawn by him, that Alcmaeon (whom the aforementioned Aulus Halus fabricates to have been the father of Casilda) only in 1053 made a treaty with Ferdinand the Great, King of Castile, nor does it seem credible, She is feigned to have died at 100 in 1126 that while wars were still blazing the royal daughter would have been dismissed to the regions of the Christians. Then that the same Alcmaeon was still living in 1075, and consequently would have outlived by so long a time his daughter, who was more than a hundred years old, that she must have passed the age of 143 years. But all these things fall through, if, from the more faithful testimony of the church of Burgos, you keep the true father of Saint Casilda as Cano, who reigned before Alcmaeon, and the daughter of Alcmaeon, and reckon that great age of the Virgin among fictions to be proved by no authority. But we prefer to assert nothing about the time when the Saint lived or died. Basil de Arce in the History of Our Lady of Sopetran, printed at Madrid in 1615, chapter 5, relates the Life of this Saint, as one who was sister by father Alcmaeon to Prince Petranus, and sister of Petranus. who before Casilda was miraculously converted to the faith of Christ, and was baptized by the Blessed Virgin herself, giving origin and name to that place, where afterwards about the year 1372 a Benedictine monastery was founded. But whatever concerns that Petranus, we consider this his brotherhood with Saint Casilda as gratuitously fabricated.
CHAPTER II.
Miracles and cult of Saint Casilda.
[9] The Very Reverend Lord Alfonso Diez de Lerma, Apostolic Protonotary, Miracles from the Spanish Life. Treasurer and Canon of the holy Church of Burgos, Archpriest of Roja, and, on behalf of the Dean and Chapter of Burgos, Rector of the Church of Saint Casilda, in 1553 caused the Life and miracles of this holy Virgin, composed by him in the Castilian language and approved by the Inquisitors, to be printed, and dedicated it to Don Pedro Fernández de Velasco, Constable of Castile, Duke of Frías, Count of Haro, etc. He, after narrating the life we have set down above (which also Trujillo, Marieta, and Ribadeneira report, differing only in this, that they write "Aldemon" for "Cano") testifies that there are very many miracles of Saint Casilda, of which, to avoid prolixity, he wished to report only a few and those more worthy of memory, which we give from him, rendered into Latin.
[10] The oppressor of the poor is punished in the year 1121, "A certain noble of Briviesca was burdening his subjects with excessive exactions, and those who could not pay were ordered to walk barefoot on thorns. The wives grieving, therefore, over the fate of their husbands, having taken counsel, gathered to keep a vigil at Saint Casilda's; and on that very night that noble burst open, and the oppression of his subjects ceased, in the year 1121.
[11] A girl of Burgos, accused by her betrothed of adultery, having taken an oath at the sepulchre of Saint Casilda concerning her integrity, falsely accused, she is freed in 1146. when she could not even so obtain credit, driven to despair, in the sight of all threw herself down from a very high rock; but she was found on a certain stone unharmed, plaiting a garland from the roses she had found there, saying that she had been held up by Saint Casilda, that she might not be dashed against that stone, in the year 1146.
[12] a fatal wound is healed, Diego de Rojas, Lord of Poza, in the war of Granada mortally wounded in the neck, commended himself to Saint Casilda, vowing a novena: which done, he escaped the danger of death indeed, but kept his neck twisted from the wound inflicted, until he came to fulfill his vow; and earning entire health, in pledge of gratitude he offered a silver chalice.
[13] and various from flow of blood, A certain matron of Valladolid, weakened by a grave flow of blood, ordered herself to be carried to the church of Saint Casilda in a carriage, to fulfill a novena by vow: when behold, the carriage overturned among the rocks and began to roll headlong. In this peril the woman, turning to pray the Saint, had her appear to her, and suddenly saw herself whole and the carriage intact.
[14] A man from Roja feared he would die from blood flowing copiously through his nostrils, and when he had invoked the help of Saint Casilda, that dangerous flow was so restrained that he came entirely whole to the church; and he declared that he had spent a great part of his substance on physicians, and had traveled through various holy places in vain, and had at last obtained a remedy for an inveterate disease from Saint Casilda.
[15] A matron of Bilbao, given up by physicians because of a flow of blood, to whom, as if about to expire shortly, a blessed candle was already held in her hand, was commended to Saint Casilda by the relatives standing around, with a vow that they would bring her to her church for a nine-day office: which they did, sudden health being obtained for the woman.
[16] Of Mary the weaver, an inhabitant of Salinas, the little son, a boy, fallen headlong, is preserved, while his mother was occupied here for the sake of the novena of religion, fell from a rock: John Nonnius de Piernegas, Chaplain of this devout house, ran at the mother's cries, invoking Saint Casilda; and descending with some other men, to bring back the body of the boy and commit it to burial, found him safe and sound.
[17] The Lady Abbess of Medina de Pomar, sister of the Most Illustrious Lord Constable of Castile, several with hemorrhoids are cured, gravely weakened by a flow of blood, after recovering her health by vow, paying her novena duty, gave her garments here in memory of the benefit, and moreover a crimson ornament.
[18] Thomas Ximenes of Nájera, emitting copious blood through mouth and nostrils and given up by physicians, having received health, not only religiously completed the novena, but continued to come every year to visit this church.
[19] A matron of Valencia, of the first nobility, brought beyond hope of life by the disease of hemorrhage, when she had heard of Saint Casilda, conceived a great devotion toward her; and having gained her vow, after a novena devotion offered certain ornaments as alms.
[20] Also Don Henry de Rojas, son of the most illustrious Lord Marquis of Denia and Lerma, being gravely ill from blood flowing through his nostrils, came to Saint Casilda; and on account of the health there restored, left a silk chasuble of brown color.
[21] A matron of Logroño, brought to death by a flow of blood and saved by the intercession of Saint Casilda, fulfilled her novena here and gave a sufficiently good ornament.
[22] The most serene Lady and of glorious memory Empress Isabella, wife of Charles V, the most invincible Emperor, King, and our Lord, among whom the Empress Isabella; not without danger of life laboring under an excessive flow of blood, had notice of Saint Casilda, and with a vow pronounced was suddenly healed: and therefore her royal garment, woven of golden thread, together with five hundred ducats, she caused to be sent here, to make ornaments; and the care of making these ornaments the Most Illustrious Lord Constable took upon himself.
[23] a captive is restored to liberty, A certain man held captive among the Moors directed his vows to Saint Casilda: who, appearing to him with great splendor by night, led the man to a certain ship, in which, free, he crossed over and came to Castile, and having paid his novena devotion, testified that what we write is true.
[24] Lady Mentia Alfonsi of Cacaberos, wife of Hieronymus del Campo, citizen of Palencia, suffering from hemorrhage and suddenly healed at the invocation of Saint Casilda, came to visit her sacred body, and offered a large alms.
[25] She is found safe after falling headlong, In the year 1546, on January 6, a Saturday, Maria de Movilla, daughter of Alfonso, a citizen of Bueza, while intent on cutting some oak branches, fell from this rock: but John de Rota went down to her help, who was then painting some work in the church, and found her whole in all her members.
[26] On July 14, 1547, Dom Alfonso Diez de Lerma, Archpriest of Roja, colic pains are quieted, Canon of Burgos and Rector of this holy house, fearing to die from the most grievous pains of the colic passion which had come upon him that day, commended himself to his Lady Saint Casilda, and was suddenly freed of his vow and paid the alms.
[27] Sebastian de Salinas, a tailor, citizen of Burgos, dwelling in the street of Saint Agatha, on May 4, for a vomit of blood miraculously restrained in the year 1550
in the year 1550, began to emit copious blood through his mouth, until the 16th of the same month, when blood burst forth from him with such vehemence, that the physicians declared his life at an end. In this reduced condition he was visited by the aforementioned painter, John de Rota, who admonished the sick man to place his trust in the patronage of Saint Casilda, and so to escape the danger. The sick man heard the one advising him opportunely, and sent his admonisher to the house of Canon Alfonso Diez de Lerma, Rector of the church of the glorious Saint Casilda, that he might receive something of her relics from him. The Rector sent what was at hand, the key of the chest in which the body of Saint Casilda is preserved. When Sebastian devoutly received it, and, kissed, hung it from his neck; the bloody vomit was suddenly restrained, and gave not even a single drop afterwards. Therefore Sebastian vowed to go to the church of Saint Casilda with a chain on his feet, and to wear an iron bracelet on his arm for one year, in which he would profess himself a slave of Saint Casilda, and he fulfilled the vow as he had vowed. When the fame of this miracle had been reported to the Constable of Castile, A solemn procession is instituted at Burgos and the truth of the matter sufficiently examined, the said Most Illustrious Lord asked the Dean and Chapter of Burgos to have the image of Saint Casilda brought to Burgos and led around in notable pomp in procession: as was done with great splendor and the harmony of musical instruments of every kind, on the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, the Constable himself and his wife, Dame Juliana Angela de Aragon and Uzo, accompanying; who also offered to the same image many silk and golden garments, and other most precious ornaments, with a gilded chalice of very great price, to the glory and honor of God and of his blessed Mother and of this blessed Virgin Casilda.
[28] A matron of Burgos from the street of Saint Stephen, named Maria Diez de la Hesa, Two matrons are healed of flow of blood, when she saw herself very weak from flow of blood, on December 7, 1551, on the Vigil of the holy Conception of our Lady, asked Canon Alfonso Diez de Lerma, Rector of Saint Casilda, to give her or hang from her neck the aforementioned key: which when she had obtained, and, after a kiss impressed, had hung it from her neck; she suddenly felt herself strengthened, and made a vow to visit the church of Saint Casilda, and to offer alms there.
[29] Lady Maria de Padilla, Countess of Buendía and Dueñas, afflicted with the same disease, when she commended herself to Saint Casilda, was made whole; and came to her to fulfill her novena, bringing as an offering a precious chalice and a sacred ornament.
[30] Various infirmities are cured, Very many men, women, and children, laboring under various infirmities, especially flow of blood, commended themselves to our Lady Saint Casilda: and coming with much devotion to visit her holy body in her church, by the intercession of the same Blessed woman, brought back the health they sought.
[31] Aid is given in public necessities, All the villages and towns of this neighboring region, whenever some public necessity arises, institute devout processions hither, and are wont, with sacrifices and prayers paid by vow, to obtain what they seek—namely rain, health, or peace, as it happens to be desired. But especially on the feast day of Saint Casilda, April 9, and on the days of the Litanies and other festive days, and also on the third day of the solemnity of Easter and Pentecost, a very great multitude of clergy and people flows together here from everywhere, and having completed the sacrifices and prayers with joy, returns home.
[32] Many men, women, children, and animals have fallen from the rock upon which the church of Saint Casilda is built, very rough and rugged and extremely high, which nevertheless out of devotion very many ascend on their knees; Several fallen from the rock or into the lakes without harm, many also have fallen into the lakes of Saint Vincent, near the rock and very deep; yet no one has ever suffered harm, not even the animals themselves having their feet bound. Many other miracles of every kind God and our Lord daily works in the aforesaid church, which, lest the prolixity be troublesome, are omitted in this brief report; but he who has devoutly visited this place will find them very true and very frequent: but these things have been written to the praise and glory of God and of his blessed Mother, and of this most holy Virgin.
[33] Cult of Saint Casilda in the church of Burgos "The memory of Saint Casilda is absent," says Tamayo de Salazar at the place cited, "from the older martyrologies: but in the histories of the Spaniards, in the Sanctorals, and in the Breviaries nothing is so well known as her anamnesis. The metropolitan church for many centuries past has celebrated her commemoration; and indeed with the rite of a Double of four copes, as is noted in the Calendar, with this proper collect: 'Be favorable, we beseech thee, O Lord, to thy servants, by the glorious merits of the holy and glorious Casilla, that by her pious intercession we may always be fortified from all adversities, and be helped in present straits.'" Another collect from ancient Breviaries, and from a certain very old manuscript of his own, Tamayo recites, and elsewhere, perhaps proper to the church of Saint Casilda itself alone, or composed in the church of Toledo after the reception of her relics, in these words: "Receive, we beseech thee, Lord, the vows of thy servants; and by the intercession of thy Blessed Virgin Casilla, with whose relics the present sarcophagus shines, may we who devoutly venerate her, with the bonds of our crimes broken, merit to pass to heavenly joys." The Breviaries of Coria, Ciudad Rodrigo, Relic, Sigüenza, and Palencia the same Tamayo cites; and placing on this day April 9 the feast of Relics resting in the sacristy of the metropolitan Burgense church, and enumerating them in his notes, number 10, he lists the arm and shoulderblade of Saint Casilda the Virgin: but in her elogium on the 15th he says that, in the year of the Lord 1529 on July 30, the holy body was translated from the first to a more elevated sarcophagus: where "1529" we suspect should be read "1629," from the silence of Alfonso above mentioned, who would by no means have passed over so illustrious an action had it happened in his time.