Margaret

ON BLESSED MARGARET, VIRGIN OF THE THIRD ORDER OF ST. DOMINIC.

AT TIFERNUM OR CITTÀ DI CASTELLO, IN UMBRIA.

IN THE YEAR 1320

Margaret the Virgin, of the Third Order of St. Dominic, at Tifernum or Città di Castello in Umbria (B.)

D. P.

Among the Umbrians there is a double Tifernum, one the Metaurine, which is now called St. Angelo in Vado; sacred cult: the other, the Tiberine, called by some Castellum Sanctae Felicitatis, but today known only by the name Città di Castello, commonly Citta di Castello: on the borders of Umbria and Tuscany, so that it is also attributed to the latter by St. Antoninus and Platina; but now more rightly to this, since it is a city of the Pontifical dominion, as is the whole neighboring Duchy of Urbino. But take care not to call her Civitas Castellana: for the city of that name is an Episcopal one in the Sabine country, attributed to suburbicarian Tuscany, and distant only 20 Roman miles from Rome, whence Città di Castello is about 80 Roman miles distant. Here, deprived of the use of bodily light, Blessed Margaret lived with eyes blinded; she herself the greatest light of her fatherland, on account of her notable holiness, attested by the integrity of her incorrupt body and by the frequency of miracles by which she deserved to be honored with ecclesiastical Office and Mass throughout that whole County, and also through the whole Order of Preachers, with whom she wished to be buried, inasmuch as she was numbered among the Sisters of the same, called of the Penance of St. Dominic. Concerning their origin, rule, and privileges, Br. Ambrose Taegius treats at length in his Manuscripts preserved at Milan, in volume 3 of De insignis Ordinis Praedicatorum, Distinction 7 §17, and enumerates some especial ones who illustrated the same state with their holiness: and after he has spoken of Blessed Joanna of Orvieto, whose Life, taken from the same volume of his, we shall give on July 23, he says thus: "In the city of Castello was another Sister, Blessed Margaret by name, who both in life and after death shone with wondrous and unusual miracles: a eulogy from Taegius, whose incorrupt body is openly shown to all who wish to see in the same city, at the place of the Friars Preachers: and her memory, although she has not been canonized, is celebrated festively and solemnly in her own manner by her fellow citizens. We shall place her life, full of virtues, below."

Thus he: but either prevented by death or otherwise hindered, he did not do what he promised: and so he greatly whetted our appetite — and quite bitterly — after the fruitless labor of investigating the hope of finding the said Life followed.

[2] For with all that effort little was accomplished, except that we became certain that still at the beginning of this century there was kept and read at Tifernum the original history of her life and miracles, Life and miracles authentically written, written within the nearest three years from her death, together with notarial instruments making credence of the truth of the individual benefits ascribed to her merits; not only in those first years, but also in the year 1348, and the year 1588; when, as it were the piety of the Tifernates toward this blessed Virgin blooming afresh, miracles again began to be multiplied. All these, but especially the aforesaid History — although written in a more uncultivated and half-barbaric style — Seraphinus and Silvanus Raizzi used, but above all R. P. Br. Jerome Pollini: who from the ancient and modern writings of the Convent, rejecting all that he could have had from mere hearsay, wove most faithfully in the Italian tongue a Life, and published it in Venice in the year 1602, and long preserved are now wanted: often appealing to membrane-leaved

codices: which, preserved by so great a care of our forebears in the midst of foreign and civil tumults, we lament to have perished in these most peaceful times of Italy, or to be so neglected, that those who now live in that convent, Fathers, know not where they and the aforementioned notarial instruments are hidden. For having appealed to them for a description of these through our P. Caesar Nicoluccius, the reply was given that nothing else survives but a certain authentic Compendium of the Life and miracles; which, because it was placed within the very ark of the sacred body, was scarcely obtained to be transcribed after the long and frequent solicitation of two years; so difficult is it to persuade certain men that their affair and that of their Saints is being handled more than ours, when such things are asked to be described: but the patient diligence of the said Father, insisting in season and out of season, conquered all obstacles.

[3] for these an authentic compendium from MS. is given Therefore, the only thing that remains in the lack of the original writings, we give: and we collect the acts of the Blessed one in such a way that the first two chapters constitute that authentic Latin Compendium, faithfully drawn in the year 1588 from an old membrane-leaved codex, by the Most Reverend D. Julius Daddeus, Subdeacon, Apostolic Referendary of both Signatures, and Governor of Città di Castello, as the title of the Manuscript bears. The other chapters we took from the Italian of the said Pollinus, who protested that he had clung tightly to the substance of the ancient words. Wherefore, since he adds nothing beyond the miracles to those things read in the Compendium, we persuade ourselves that Daddeus, in those things which pertain to the history of her life, changed the style indeed, but acted as an abbreviator only in the miracles, that from this chapter the damage of the ancient codex may be borne more lightly. Yet if it shall still be found, and miracles from the Italian. or the public writings of which we have made mention above; we exhort and beseech that they not be withdrawn from common light, but submitted to us, to serve as a supplement to this work, and to be substituted in the place of those which we now give. The decree on the Mass and office, with which we close this treatise, was furnished by the Excellent Father Master Gaspar Dinghens, Doctor of sacred Theology; whom, because in the Treatise on the Life of Fr. Bolland number 147 we called Francis, it was a slip of memory, suggesting the name of his brother instead of his, namely the formerly Most Ample Dean in the Antwerp Cathedral Church, Francis Dinghens. The same decree is inserted in the book On the Certainty of the Glory of the Canonized Saints, page 148, composed by Luca Castellinus, and printed at Rome in the year 1628.

[4] The Martyrology, which, according to the rite of the sacred Order of Preachers, was printed at Venice in the year 1582 and at Rome in 1616, Name inscribed in private Fasti in the Index of the Blessed of the same Order appended at the end, among the blessed Sisters names in the fourth place Margaret the Virgin of the Third Order, who flourished renowned for the gravity of her morals at Tifernum or Città di Castello: whose body is still shown intact, and is daily illuminated by many miracles. Philip Ferrari, in his General Catalogue of Saints who are not in the Roman Martyrology, thus mentions her: "At Medula of Blessed Margaret, Tertiary of the Order of Preachers." He could have attributed her to Metula, because she was born there: but since this town is within the diocese of Castello, only 12 Roman miles distant from Tifernum, as the Lives written by those of the place testify, it is wonderful that it happened to Ferrari to say in the Annotations that it was Mutilum of Aemilia, named by Ptolemy, very far distant from Tifernum. Afterwards in his Geographical Lexicon he said that Mutilum was what is now called Mutigliana, Modigliana, or Modiana. But the Blessed Margaret's homeland is constantly written by Italians as Medola.

[5] The Life published in various languages, The same Blessed woman Arthur enrolled in his Gynaeceum sacrum, weaving a long series of authors who treat of her in the Notes: but passing over those who ought to have been the chief ones — Julius Daddeus, Jerome Pollinus, and Fr. Angelus Conti, who in the Flores sanctorum civitatis Castellanae, published in 1627, also wove the Life of Margaret, and added that her feast is celebrated not only on April 13, but also on May 1 by a most frequent people. Perhaps on the occasion of the Translation from the old church to the new, in the year 1424; of which Translation also Pollinus makes mention, asserting the old church to have been in the place which in his time the Society of Charity held: which was the first place granted to the Order of St. Dominic by the Tifernates, up to the walls of the city. But Fr. Angelus adds, speaking on page 153 about the new church, that with him writing the cloister with the porticoes was being renovated: in whose circuit the life of Blessed Margaret can be seen painted in parts. Besides the eulogies, to be found in Michael Pius in Italian, Francis Laherius in the Menologium Virginum in French, and other authors in various other languages, most carefully about Margaret wrote John of St. Mary, among the Lives of the Holy and Blessed Women of the Order of St. Dominic, vol. 2, but in French; and in Belgian or German, Eduard Bilius, Cantor of the Antwerp convent, in his work on the Tertiary Sisters of the same Order. Also the elegant Italian verses of various poets of Tifernum about this their Patroness are displayed in the little book of the aforementioned Pollinus, which those may consult who are delighted by variety of languages and style.

ACTS

From a Latin MS. and from the Italian Life.

Margaret the Virgin, of the Third Order of St. Dominic, at Tifernum or Città di Castello in Umbria (B.)

BY JULIUS DADDEUS FROM THE MS.

CHAPTER I.

Compendium of the Life from the MS. of Julius Daddeus, Governor of Tifernum.

[1] The homeland of Blessed Margaret the Virgin was Metula, a fortress of Massa Trebaria, From her first years given to penitence, twelve thousand paces distant from Tifernum; her parents were honorable, her body small, her eyes blind, but her piety and vigor of mind were so great, that from her first years she began to chastise her little body, which had offended by no fault, with fastings and a rough garment; so that with an inner undershirt frequently hidden, she deceived even her mother who had compassion on the girl's age. Become older, she kept the fast from the feast of the Cross to holy Easter every year, though blind, abstaining from the eating of flesh, content with bread and water alone on the sixth day. There had grown great at that time the fame of miracles and sanctity of Fr. James, of the Order of Minors, in the city of Castello, at whose sepulcher many flocked together from all sides, obtaining benefits of health, and for obtained favors paying their thanks and vows. Thither her parents led Margaret, she is brought to Tifernum, because they had vowed for the recovery of her eyes: but having obtained their wish, God so disposing, by no means made, they leave the virgin in the monastery of St. Margaret.

[2] But when she so gave herself to sanctity of morals, to contemplation, and to prayers, that for the rest of the services, on account of her blindness of her eyes, she seemed more unfit; she is dismissed by the nuns, and received in the house by a certain Lord Venturinus, and Lady Grigia his wife, pious citizens. she receives the habit, In whose house, as she was always intent on works of piety and religion, and continually, as long as it was permitted, frequented the church of St. Dominic, there she also devoutly received the holy habit, which is called of Penance; accustomed daily to purify her soul by sacramental confession, though not sinning. She also learned and retained the Office of the Blessed Virgin and of the Cross, although blind, in such a way that she not only recited them daily, but also interpreted the Psalter in a concise and elegant manner, as if she had professed theology; and examined and corrected the sons of her host Venturinus, returning from grammar school; all marveling at her knowledge of letters, which she had not learned. illumined with infused knowledge, So great was the elevation of her mind, that when she could not see the sacred Host with bodily eyes in the celebration of the Mass, yet she affirmed to the Friars that she openly saw the incarnate Word of God, and in that vision was chiefly refreshed by this contemplation, that she meditated on the nativity of Christ and the services of St. Joseph toward the mother and son: of which things she also spoke with the Friars.

[3] These pursuits of her piety, how acceptable they were to God, was shown also by outward signs: for when a certain fire broke out in the house of the Preachers, and also the lower part of the dwellings was burning, Margaret was called for with loud voices, who then was staying in the upper dining-room intent on prayer. She, moved by the danger of the fire as well as by the voices of her hosts, with her garment she extinguishes the fire, brought forth the stole with which she was clothed to Grigia, to be thrown into the flames; with great confidence bidding her not to fear: which done, the fire was at once extinguished, with the multitude marveling. In the same days a certain religious woman, Venturella by name, labored so in one eye that there was despair of its healing, nor could she, on account of her poverty, pay the sought-for reward of one florin to the son of Master Imbertus, a physician, for an uncertain and doubtful cure: she was therefore complaining familiarly with Margaret, bewailing her poverty as well as the peril of her eye. To whose calamity Margaret, compassionating, touched her eye only with her thumb, sighing: which, with the swelling vanishing, without delay recovered.

[4] with Ss. John the Evangelist and Fortunatus acting more familiarly But when a sick girl lay, the grandchild of Lady Grigia, whom Margaret had raised from the sacred font, and already almost giving up the ghost, when on the feast day of St. Fortunatus many of the kinswomen and neighbors had come, and on that night were watching over the laboring girl, among whom also the Virgin herself stood: with the rest sleeping, two of the kinswomen themselves feigned also to be sleeping, silently watching what Margaret was doing: and they saw, now deep in the night, a certain youth standing by the praying Virgin and saying: "Margaret, what do you wish us to do?" To whom she, "That you may free," she said, she preserves the life of the dying girl, "this my daughter, you and St. Fortunatus, who will be here shortly." And straightway they saw the same youth and another Saint, who represented the well-known effigies of Blessed John the Evangelist and Blessed Fortunatus, signing the girl with the sign of the Cross and departing. Then the girl rising, "I am," she said, "perfectly cured by the prayers of my mother Margaret": and the following morning she rose so sound, as if she had never lain down.

[5] she foretells future things, Also foreseeing certain future things by the purity of her mind, she showed herself partaker of the prophetic spirit by certain signs. For when a certain citizen, Offreducius, and Bice his wife, were eager to join their only daughter, Cecha by name, in marriage, and the negotiations, which they held frequently, did not obtain any effect; "Permit," said Margaret, who was familiar with the parents and the daughter, "that Cecha take the habit of St. Dominic, and live in virginity." To whom they, somewhat angered, "Cease," they said, "to persuade such things: for our daughter shall never bear a religious habit." Then Margaret addressing the mother of the girl said, "Nay, your daughter and you also shall assume the habit of Religion not many days hence, and shall wear it until death." Which was confirmed by the outcome: for they, either by vow or by whatever spirit led, put on the Holy habit, and wore it all their life. Also a day had been appointed by the Judge for the son of the same Offreducius, and the parents therefore feared the penalty of some graver fine of judicial punishment. About which matter, when Margaret saw the mother of the young man very anxious and solicitous; "Do not fear," she said, "Bice, for on account of this you will not pay even a denarius,

nor will your husband or son suffer anything." Afterwards, within a few days, the absolution by the Judge that followed confirmed the event of Blessed Margaret's prediction.

[6] and she dies holy in the year 1320. In her morals especially the virtues of obedience, charity, piety, and devotion were eminent. Bearing the loss of her eyes with cheerful patience, she always showed forth a certain joyousness of countenance joined with extraordinary modesty and honor, foremost in all things in pious humility. While she lives by these on earth, she bore her soul to heaven, in the year of the Lord 1320, on the 13th day of the month of April, in the house of the said Venturinus and Grigia his wife, with the Brothers first called, and the Sacraments of the Church piously received. Her body is carried to the church of the Friars Preachers, as she had commanded: and while there the common burial in the cloister is prepared, the multitude of the people rose up, the body is exposed to public veneration. who had come to the funeral and the church, and the work is hindered, with all saying, that the holy Virgin ought to be buried in the church, not in the cloister or cemetery. Therefore the body, placed in a wooden chest, is set before the altar: at which time a certain girl, mute and with contracted limbs, was by her parents placed near the chest, with the hope of health, ordered to remain there: and it seemed to the girl that she was raised by the Virgin's extended hand: and straightway springing up straight and healed, she began to cry out among the standing people, "Blessed Margaret has cured me"; and at once took the habit of St. Dominic.

[7] she brings her arms around to cover her nakedness, While the concourse of the people increased at the church, and various benefits of health were obtained there, the Friars who had thought of embalming the body, and therefore had received money from the city magistrate for balsam and aromatics, having summoned experts — Master Manno of Gubbio, and Master Vitalis of Castello, and many other religious and seculars — place the holy corpse to be disemboweled before the altar, with hands and arms extended. Without delay, with all looking on, the extended arms of their own force bent back upon the body, and both hands, folded in the manner of a cross, covered the secrets of nature. And while, with the thigh cut, the inner parts are drawn out, by a sudden earthquake the church and convent are shaken, and an abundance of oil like balsam flowed from the body, of which also several ampulae were filled. Some days afterwards, some of the brothers, in her heart three little stones are found. remembering Blessed Margaret, when she was among men, to have been wont very often to repeat with her own household, that she was carrying a precious treasure in her heart; seized with a desire of inspecting the heart, and led by a certain penitence that they had not inspected it before, seek back the buried entrails: and seeking the heart among the buried viscera, they cut the intestine from which the heart itself hangs; and at once three stones, as if carved globes, of the size of medlars, marvelously break forth: in which little images were seen, representing the nativity of Christ with the blessed Virgin and the manger, and also St. Joseph with a white dove.

NOTES.

p Offredutius is a diminutive from the name Gothofredus, truncated in its first part: as also Cecha for Francesca (for so the Italians pronounce it, not Francisca) and Bice for Beatrice.

q Perhaps more closely to the faith of the old MS. Pollinus makes this girl the daughter of Isaacia, married to a certain Maccettus, then perhaps staying with the aforesaid Offreducius and Bice together with her daughter; with whom Margaret also was staying, and had marvelously won to herself the affection of the girl, instructing her in every kind of piety, and teaching her the Marian Office and part of the Psalter namely.

r Fr. Angelus adds that the very arm can even now be seen raised in the air: and he cites his own eyes as witnesses, for the year 1626 in which he was writing.

s Mannus is shortened from Hermannus or another of similar ending.

t Some of which are today shown, preserved in memory of the miracle, says Pollinus.

u The same Pollinus names Fr. Nicholas John of the Saints of Tifernum and Fr. James Cresci or Crescenti of Borgo San Sepolcro, a lay-brother.

x Pollinus describes those stones thus: that the first broken out had the image of the Virgin crowned; the second, a boy in the middle of the manger between two animals; the third, a man venerable with baldness and a white beard, clothed with a golden cloak folded over his shoulder, before whom was the image of a young woman kneeling with hands joined, clothed with the habit of Penitence: on the back part of the same stone could be seen the likeness of a dove: which all refer to her meditations at the time of the Mass, of which above no. 5. Moreover, those little stones, with the heart, having long been simply preserved in the sacristy, John Chrysostom, Prior, soon to be named, in the year 1599 commanded to be made a suitable reliquary of gilded bronze.

CHAPTER II.

Compendium of the miracles from the MS. of the same Julius Daddeus.

[8] With the body put to rest, from all sides people flocked in great numbers to the church of St. Dominic; vows, offerings, pilgrimages, and other religious offices were increased daily, to the honor of the holy relics; and stupendous and marvelous cures were obtained from God the best and greatest by the intercession of the holy Virgin: a paralytic is healed, of which we shall describe some, as they themselves related, who, made masters of their vows, publicly celebrated the merits and praises of the Virgin. Frederick Binoli of the village of St. Cecilia, in the curia of Castro-Durante, paralyzed, and so laboring with joint disease, that he could neither walk nor use the service of his arms; with prayers poured from the heart to Blessed Margaret, he recovered the health of which he scarcely retained memory: which Orlandus Francisci the Notary consigned to public letters, in the year of the Lord 1320, on May 19. From similar and other diseases of various kind, desperate and incurable, by vow and prayers alone were freed: Lady Alda, wife of Angelus Lilius of Perugia; Venturuccius Aldobrandini of Città di Castello; Salvutius Michaelis of Monte-longo of the State of Florence; John Cambi of Varciano of Monte Santa Maria; Nannes of Paterno; Cecolus Mutii of Scalocchio; many other sick are cured, Orlandus Fidantiae of Arezzo; Bina, daughter of James Cotii, of the Abbey of Tedaldi of Massa Trebaria; Cola of Città di Castello; and Petra, wife of Andreuccius, and Lady Druda of Montone, and others: who, paying the vows for their marvellously recovered health, professed them; with the public documents being taken by Ser-John Cambii, Ser-Julius Francisci, Ser-Ranuccius Guidi, Ser-James Benedicti, Goro and Blasius of Città di Castello, and Ser-Mutius Johannis of Montone, Notaries. But the names of those who, vexed by evil spirits, were freed at the sepulcher of Blessed Margaret, are kept silent on account of the multitude.

[9] But the signs which follow surpass the miracles of the other cures; and the more marvelous they are, the dearer they show the Virgin to have been to God; who, piously invoked, herself also invoked the Bridegroom and the Bridegroom's Virgin Mother for the aid of mortals, and restored to many either a spirit already slipped away, or at least held back one slipping away. For a certain rustic, from the borders of Castri-cardae, while cutting wood in the forest, many bears rushed upon him, a dead man is raised, and left him torn with their claws. Whom when neighbors passing by had seen him lying lifeless and torn, and had recognized him, they carry him, placed upon poles, to his house. Which being seen by his wife and children, with cries raised up to heaven, the aid of the Virgin Margaret is invoked: and straightway the rustic, who was being mourned as dead, rose up alive, and coming afterwards to the sepulcher of the Virgin with his wife and children and neighbors, made public to all the benefits of the help invoked, with the scars of the wounds inflicted by the beasts giving credit to his words.

[10] a boy twice almost drowned is saved. Viola also, daughter of Bonavitus of the village of St. Justin, wife of Gilius Joannis, in a certain estate of hers by the river Vertula, was attending to the country business; and having heard the wail of her infant son, whom, playing near the bank of the said river, incautiously she had left, she ran anxiously; and no longer seeing her son, she broke forth into these suppliant words: "Alas! Virgin Margaret, I have lost my son. Give him back to me, I pray, blessed Virgin." And looking around, she saw the feet of the boy, who had fallen into the river, rising above the surface of the waters: which having seized, she drew out the boy alive, whom naturally the waters ought to have drowned. The same

infant, by a similar chance, fifteen days afterward having fallen into the same river, while the mother, having climbed an almond tree, was gathering the fruit, the same Virgin, again invoked by the mother, freed him: when, with the delay of descending and the distance, the mother had lifted the lifeless boy from the waters. Carrying him alive and unharmed to the sepulcher of the Virgin, she published to all the life twice received, with Jacob of St. Benedict the Notary describing the credit of the miracles in public monuments, in the year of the Lord 1320, on May 19.

[11] Likewise at another time fallen from a window. Agnes also, or Nesa, of the Abbey of Marzanus, saw her son Justolus, fallen from a high window, and picked up as dead, not breathing, nor showing any sense of life, unharmed, as soon as she commended him to Blessed Margaret with a vow. The testimony of this matter was received in public letters by the Lord Paul Jacobi the Notary. Many marvelous cures are omitted, not only for men, but also for horses, oxen, and other brute animals, obtained by the prayers and vows of those professing them from Blessed Margaret, by whose intercession the Lord saved men and beasts.

[12] The credit of this compendium I, Brother John Chrysostom of Perugia, faithfully derived this Compendium from its own original. For I received it from the aforesaid Most Reverend Governor, who was greatly devoted to this Virgin, and as a sign of love and gratitude made this Compendium, and also in the Tuscan idiom, and in poetry, and placed those verses at the feet of the same Blessed Woman, where they still remain; he caused a silver lily to be made, and placed it in the hand of the Blessed Margaret: he also adorned the heart of the Blessed Woman herself, causing it to be bound in silver, as is seen in the sacristy; he also gave as alms six silver scudi.

[13] And I, Thomas son of Lord Vincent de Beriolis, of Città di Castello, public Notary by apostolic authority and Scribe of the Episcopal Curia; since I have, in the collation by one Notary and examination of the above Compendium made word for word with the original, and copied respectively by the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Julius Daddeus of Monte-regali, Referendary of both Signatures of our most holy Lord the Pope and Apostolic Subdeacon, from an old book of parchment paper, the substance of the fact not changed, though with some words changed, under the care and custody of the Rev. Father Prior and the Brothers of St. Dominic, found it to agree with the proper original, and together with Lord Jo. Bapt. Panullius, public Notary of Città di Castello, I was present; therefore I have subscribed thus, and affixed my sign, asked and required, to the praise of God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and Blessed Margaret, on this day, December 1, 1549.

[14] And I, John Baptist, son of the late magnificent Doctor of both laws Lord Octavian de Panulliis, of Città di Castello, and the other approved. public Notary by apostolic authority and active Notary of the Curia of the Most Illustrious Lord Governor and of the rectifying Lord Judge of the same City, since I have collated, examined, and in all things and through all found to agree the above transcript or Compendium with its own original, made and extracted by the Most Illustrious and Reverend Father D. Julius Daddeus of Monte-regali, Doctor of both laws and Referendary of both signatures of Our Lord the Pope, and then Governor of the said city of Castello, from a certain book of old membrane paper, with the substance of the fact not however changed, though with some words changed into a more elegant style, together with the above Lord Thomas Beriolo; therefore for greater faith and testimony I have here subscribed with my usual sign &c., requested by the Reverend Father Fr. John Chrysostom of Perugia, at present Prior of the Brothers and Convent of St. Dominic of the said city &c. to the praise, glory, and honor of almighty God, and of the most blessed and most glorious Virgin Mother Mary, and of all the Saints, and especially of the most blessed Margaret: on this day, December 1, 1589.

NOTES.

"Laden with fever and extreme sorrow,

I had recourse to your favor, to your aid,

Virgin Margaret."

CHAPTER III.

Miracles, indicated above only briefly, more fully explained in the Italian of Jerome Pollinus.

FROM ITAL. HIERON. POLLINI.

[15] A woman with her arm afflicted is healed, Alda, wife of Angelus son of the late Lilius of Perugia, swore before Francis Cambri, public Notary, and witnesses called for this, that for three continuous months she had been so hindered in the use of her left arm, that not only was she prevented from her usual occupations, but she could not even move or extend the arm at all. There was then still recent the memory of Blessed Margaret, whose sanctity recalling to her mind, she decided to visit her sepulcher for the sake of health: which, when she had vowed in the evening, the following morning she found her arm loosed for any uses, and moved without trouble as much as the right arm.

[16] Venturuccius Aldobrandini from the gate of St. Mary, as he asserted under his oath before Ser-Blasius the Notary and witnesses, having one foot enormously contracted, with contracted foot, was so maimed, that he could not walk by himself, but needed another's help as often as there was need to move even for a short space: but through the merits of this venerable handmaid of God, to whom he had commended himself, he recovered his health.

[17] grievously suffering from hernia; Salvutius Michaelis of Monte-longo of the County of Florence testified before Ser-Julius Francisci and the witnesses, that he had suffered a swelling or rupture in his groin, so grave that he not only could not cough, but could scarcely even breathe: when however he had heard told the very many miracles which happened at the sepulcher of the Blessed one, drinking thence a feeling of devotion and confidence toward her, he vowed to come to her body, and straightway felt himself free from every evil, as if he had never suffered any. Wherefore from Borgo San Sepolcro, where the matter had happened, to the city of Castello, as he had promised, he came.

[18] John Cambii of Varciano from the district of Monte Santa Maria swore before Ser-Goro the Notary and witnesses, that from the month of September until the following May, having suffered troubling and continual fevers, continual fever, he also had his neck so stiff, that unless he turned his whole body, he could in no way move it. When one of his friends came to him on business, returned from Tifernum, and was telling many things about the miracles heard there; he began to exhort the sick man that, with human remedies failing, he should have recourse to imploring divine aid through the merits of Blessed Margaret. By which he being not difficultly persuaded, with the friend gone from him, made a vow, and suddenly and sweetly fell asleep: but awakened he found himself perfectly healed.

[19] incurable fistula, A certain woman of Paterno affirmed, being sworn before Ser-Rinerius, son of the late Ser-Guidus, that Nannes her son, for a long time suffering an incurable fistula on his shoulder, and by the fame of the miracles multiplying, brought by her before the sepulcher of the Blessed one, there recovered perfect health, which no remedies of the art had been able to give, with the devoted prayers of the afflicted mother obtaining this — whom solid faith had made capable of obtaining grace.

[20] A certain Mutius of Scalocchio, under the religion of an oath said to Ser-Mutius Johannis of Montone, that his little son of five years, named Cecculus, suffering contraction of the body, contracted in his whole body, had been placed by the physicians out of hope of obtaining health; when the weakness of his age made him unequal to those remedies which are usually applied in such an evil. Therefore the father, full of faith and devotion toward the Blessed one, no less than of love for his son, brought the little one to the sepulcher; where as soon as he made a vow for him, he saw the boy perfectly healed.

[21] Orlandus of Fidantia of the County of Arezzo, setting out for the sake of his business to the castle of St. Angelo, likewise injured in the shin, imprudently struck his foot against some stone, and falling to the ground so seriously bruised his calf, that the wound, soon festering, brought him the greatest pains, and took away his ability to walk: and so, remembering Blessed Margaret, he commended himself ardently to her, vowing to offer at her sepulcher a foot and shin of wax, if he might be allowed to complete his journey on foot, and to return home unharmed. Scarcely had he conceived such a vow, when he felt himself healed, and free to accomplish what remained of his journey: whence returning, he asked for an instrument concerning the benefit received, to be signed by the hand of Ser-Johannes, son of the late Franciscus, the public Notary, before witnesses called and asked.

[22] At the same times there was at Tifernum a public Notary, called Ser-Guilielmus Francisci, foully ruptured, and so monstrously ruptured, that he was grievous to himself and wholly useless to others. He himself indeed was not lacking to himself, sparing neither care nor expense; but he was trying various physicians, and by name a certain Master Vitalis praised above the others: but not only did he find no deliverance from the evil, but not even any alleviation of it. And when he could no longer move without great torment, he was at length ordered to bear a binding with a downy cushion, to hold more softly the bursting hernia. The counsel was of help, at least to this, that he could transfer himself to the church of St. Dominic not wholly inconveniently when he wished. Therefore on a certain occasion, fervently praying in the choir of the said church, he felt himself inspired to make a vow to Blessed Margaret. Therefore from the choir he went to the place where he knew the chest guarding the holy body was kept; and there humbly prostrated in prayers, he vowed that, if he should obtain the desired grace, although most unworthy on account of the faults admitted, he would never mortally offend God by any sin of the flesh: and straightway felt himself relieved, and restored to the desired wholeness. But as often as he told of this benefit, and he told it often, abundant tears flowed to him recalling the torments borne by himself, nor did he find words sufficient to explain the magnitude of his feeling: but asked that he confirm the matter by public instrument, he brought as witnesses

Ser-Johannes Ser-Francisci, the Notary himself also.

[23] Dina, daughter of Jacob Coccii, of the Abbey of Tedaldi of Massa Trebaria, by the judgment of all the physicians was suffering an incurable cancer on her face, her face eaten by cancer, and already the ninth month of the disease had passed, and with her eyes consumed, the sick woman had lost her sight. Therefore, with the remedies making no progress, which through desire of recovering her health she most carefully applied, and having heard the fame of the miracles of Blessed Margaret, she vowed that for eight continuous days she would visit her sepulcher unshod in the church of St. Dominic. Without delay, she began to fulfill the vow; but on the eighth day her face appeared so clean and sound, her eyes so clear, as if she had never suffered any evil: wherefore she asked that a writing witnessing this matter be made by the hand of Ser-Jacobus, son of the late Benedictus, the public Notary, to the praise of God and his devoted handmaid Margaret.

[24] paralysis of a side, Nicholas of Tifernum, from the gate of St. Mary, swore before many, that laboring with paralysis of the whole left side, so that it seemed to be carried deprived of all sense, cold as dead flesh; he came to the sepulcher of God's handmaid Margaret, and having poured forth prayers there, he obtained the desired health.

[25] Lady Petra, wife of a certain Andreuccius of the County of Pecchi, a grave catarrh, in the presence of many honorable witnesses swore that for fifty continuous days she had been so weighed down by a catarrh, flowing into one of her hips, that she could neither stand, nor sit, nor lie, unless she was helped by another's hands; but for eating she had need to stand on the one foot which was sound, with her other side leaned on some support; and this not without great torment. Amid these anxieties, she heard the great things which were going around about the miracles of Blessed Margaret, and she vowed to go barefoot to her sepulcher, if she were given to use those things freely. Scarcely had she uttered the vow, when she felt immense relief from the evil: and on the same day she fulfilled the vow, walking most freely and expeditiously.

[26] vigor of her arm. Lady Druda of Montone was wont to relate, before many Fathers Preachers and other secular persons, that her left arm had been so hindered by a malignant flow, that she could not bring her hand to her mouth. She had already passed the sixth month thus, vainly soliciting human remedies: with which at length despaired of, she sought help from Blessed Margaret, vowing a wax candle before her sepulcher: and suddenly healed, she began to use that arm, equally as the other, nor did she feel any remains of the evil.

NOTES.

CHAPTER IV.

Other miracles from the same Italian of Jerome Pollinus.

[27] The miracles cease during the tumults. When all Italy, divided into parts, was burning with the factions of Guelphs and Ghibellines, the small but ancient city of Castello could not avoid the evil common to all principal cities. In this, from the Guelph party, Lord Branca Guelfuccii had seized the tyranny: but when his yoke was intolerable even to the Guelphs themselves, certain of the more noble among them summoned the forces of the Aretine Ghibellines: to whom, with entrance into the city treacherously obtained, not only was the tyrant expelled with his own, but also those very ones who had summoned the Aretines, namely that nothing of the Guelph name should remain at Tifernum. In the third year after the death of the Blessed one began these civil discords: by which, as with immoderate water poured on, the fervor of devotion toward the Blessed one was extinguished, and her miracles ceased. For after the miracles mentioned above, all of which happened very close to her happy passing, until the year 1348 — that is, throughout all the time of the aforesaid tumults — I find nothing noted in the ancient writings that belongs here; and this, as I indeed think, not so much from defect of writing as of material.

[28] Moreover, in that very year which I named as the last, in the city of Verona there was a noble matron, a woman in labor is helped, who for twenty continuous days, among the harsh torments of a difficult childbirth, seeing nothing of help in the comforts and remedies offered by the physicians and her household, and solicitous about the life and salvation of her offspring, at length recalled the miracles of Blessed Margaret, of which she had heard many from those telling them. Therefore she commended herself to her with tears, and vowed if she might alive bring forth a healthy child, to visit the sepulcher of the Blessed one. Shortly the childbirth was released, with no part of it injured; and she, after the usual days of her seclusion, hurried to Tifernum, before the Fathers and many others called, faithfully setting forth how great a grace the Lord had done her through the merits of Blessed Margaret.

[29] At the same time a certain one of the men of Tifernum, Franciscus by name, was staying in the town of St. Miniato called ad Tudescum, so grievously ruptured a grave hernia is healed, that he could not return to Tifernum either on foot or on horse: the physicians called in accomplished nothing by their art. Meanwhile the wretch was burning no less with longing for his fatherland and house left behind than with the recovery of his health: when there came into his mind his fellow citizen Margaret: turning to imploring her help with tears, suddenly, when he vowed to come to visit her sepulcher, he felt himself healed, and returned safely to his own.

[30] A poor little woman was carrying a breast wounded with an incurable abscess and with great pains, a breast abscess, and the more severe because all the physicians judged that it would become a cancer. Seeing it therefore already almost corroded and consumed, and fearing for her own life as the evil slowly crept toward her vitals, she began to look more attentively to Blessed Margaret, often invoked before, and to implore her aid: vowing that, restored to health, she would every year visit her sepulcher, and there offer a wax breast. But the following night the Blessed one appeared to her, and sensibly touched the eaten place of the breast: but the woman, awakened, recognized herself sound.

[31] To another woman both breasts had withered and rotted, nor could any remedy be found for the evil: withered breasts. therefore the health long vainly hoped for from physicians she decided to seek from Blessed Margaret; vowing to offer at her sepulcher, piously to be visited by her, two breasts of wax: having uttered which vow, she immediately began to sleep, and a little afterwards awakened and healed, she fulfilled the vow, giving thanks at the sepulcher of the Blessed one.

[32] incurable throat affliction, To a certain poor man of Tifernum a graver calamity had come upon his poverty, namely an incurable throat affliction, with which when he saw himself worse affected day by day and being led to death, at the counsel of his wife and other members of his household, he implored the help of Blessed Margaret, and pronounced a vow as best he could, for the grave infirmity had now almost taken from him the ability to breathe: when this was done, the tenacious phlegms began to dissolve, and he, expectorating them, daily advanced by great steps to integral health, which, received from the merits of the Blessed one, he gratefully professed.

[33] The fame of these and similar miracles, spread through the city of Gubbio, long-standing blindness, drew from there a certain poor blind man to the city of Castello, with hope of obtaining sight at the sepulcher of Blessed Margaret: where when he had prayed long and much, and did not obtain the hoped-for grace, he was returning in near despair, and sending forth complaining voices about the Blessed one on the road. For which he was rebuked by his companions, and taught to ascribe the lack of the asked-for light not to any lesser power in the Blessed one, but to his own faith; he again conceived a vow to the same, and returning to the church of St. Dominic, with devout heart and mouth said: "O Blessed Margaret, I commend myself to your holiness and grace." But to him saying this, a vehement itching of the eyes came on: and with certain filth like froth wiped off, they were opened to him: and with great joy he began to cry out, he who had been blind, that he was now fully enlightened. And when he came to the sepulcher, with the greatest exultation he related to all those there present, what had happened to him on the way.

[34] paralysis of the right side, There was also at Gubbio a noble matron, who, weakened by long-standing paralysis, had lost the use and feeling of her right side; nor had she any more hope in physicians, whose counsels she had for many years tried in vain. But hearing the miracles of Blessed Margaret preached, by those who were relating with thanksgiving those done upon themselves; she also made a vow, that if she should recover her health, she would go to Tifernum to visit her holy Relics. No long delay intervened, before she obtained the effect of her vow: and so from Gubbio to Tifernum she came, and offering a great wax candle, she wished the grace paid to her to be reported before many witnesses.

[35] At the same time there was at Tifernum a certain young man, beautiful in body and noble in birth, a monstrous rupture; living in that street to which the gate of St. Mary gives its name. This man during the vintage, when there is no one who thinks it below his condition to handle the must-lees; imprudently lifted before his chest a wine cask heavier than his strengths were; and expiated his rash presumption with so grave a rupture, that with his intestines breaking out outside, he could hardly draw breath. Soon a multitude of men and women flowed together, mourning the fall of the unhappy young man: the physicians also came, when summoned; when they said the evil seemed incurable, a certain noble matron, burning with more ardent devotion toward Blessed Margaret, in the hearing of all, implored her aid, then turning to the young man exhorted him to do the same. He, although he formed his voice into words with difficulty, yet with great spirit said: "O Blessed Margaret, do not look upon my sins, but free me from this grave peril, and I, mindful of the benefit all my life, will remain singularly devoted to you." He had spoken, and with his intestines drawn back to their natural state, suddenly he recognized himself healed, with all marveling and praising God.

[36] various animals are also helped, Many other miracles besides are read written in the membrane-leaved codices of the convent of St. Dominic, performed not only on the bodies of men, of the sick, the possessed, or the dead; but also on animals devoid of reason, of which, for the sake of example, to the glory of the Blessed one, it will suffice here to have adduced only one. A certain man of Tifernum had a noble horse, most beautiful and of very great price: which indiscreetly inciting to an immoderate course, he so injured, that no cure could be found among the skilled in such things for the horse, now useless for any work. Therefore, stimulated by grief and by fear of suffering damage, when he had heard much about the miracles of Blessed Margaret, he also prayed that she would be propitious to his horse, vowing for him a wax horse of a certain weight, to be offered at the sepulcher: namely a horse commended to the Blessed one. but the next morning, hastening to the stable, he found the animal having no harm or injury. I could relate very many of this kind, nor of this alone but also of another,

namely done in inanimate things: but fearing lest a lengthier series of similar narrations should move more disgust than piety, I prefer to send the curious reader of such things back to the ancient manuscripts of the Convent; thinking those few which have been gathered in this epitome sufficient, that it may be understood of how great merit with God this his handmaid is, when he deigned to hear those invoking her, not only for themselves personally, but also for animals, cheap indeed, yet necessary, so that here also that saying of the Prophet may be employed: "Men and beasts you shall save, O Lord." Ps. 35:7

CHAPTER V.

Translation of the Body and the miracles that followed, from the same.

[37] A.D. 1588 After the body of Blessed Margaret had remained in the old chest within which it had first been placed, free from all corruption, for two hundred sixty-eight years, until the year of Christ 1588; the Reverend Father Fr. John Chrysostom of Perugia, at that time Prior of the oft-named convent, seeing that chest already failing through decay, and the garments with which the sacred body was clothed beginning to be eaten by moths, about to flow away into dust; and fearing lest the venerable deposit itself should thence draw some harm; for his zeal toward divine things and the honor of Blessed Margaret, decided to transfer it into a new chest and new garments, having asked and obtained the permission of the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Ludovic Bentivoglio, Bishop of Tifernum; and of the Most Reverend Father Provincial of Rome, Fr. Antonino Brancati. Wherefore, having collected an appropriate sum of money for this, with new garments the body is clothed, he had an elegant chest made of seasoned walnut, and excellently adorned with gilded lines. Which being prepared, and new garments being prepared, with which the body was to be clothed; before he publicly celebrated the Translation in a solemn assembly of all the Clergy and people, the old chest with the body was drawn from its place, through the hands of priests, in the presence of some noble seculars, and placed upon the altar. Where having been stripped of its former garments, it was found to be white and at the same time sweet-smelling, yet dry; also the thread of the suture, made in the body after the extraction of the entrails, was found intact: then the new garments were put on, and with them the body was placed inside the old chest.

[38] in a most celebrated assembly, On the following day of the month of June, for the solemn act of the Translation there came, invited by the Prior, Lord Abbot Pyrrhus Mazzoni of Anghiari, Vicar of the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Bishop; Lord Lancillottus Montelucci, Apostolic Protonotary and Provost of the Cathedral church, with the College of Canons and the whole clergy of the city; Lord Julius Daddei, Apostolic Referendary of both signatures, Governor of the city; Lord Confalonerius with the whole magistracy; the Most Illustrious Lady Virginia Savelli of the Vitelli, Marchioness of Cetona with Lord Nicholas her son; Lady Pentesilea Montaguti Borboni, it is transferred to the new chest; Lady Francisca Turini Busaloni, Lady Doralice Vitelli Marchesani, with all the nobility of the city of Tifernum. With all these gathered inside the church, the choir of the Fathers, having sung Vespers, proceeded to the chapel of the Marchesani, where for so many years the venerable body had lain; and after its accustomed censing, the Most Reverend, Lord Vicar, Lord Provost, and Father Prior, clothed in stoles, the one in the middle at the loins, the first at the head, the other at the feet, lifted up the very body, and transferred it from the old into the new chest; and placed this in the former place upon the altar of the Marchesani, where also today it is found and honored. Of all which, by the mandate of the Lord Vicar and the Lord Confalonerius, who was then Master John Lucas Laurentii, public instruments were drawn up by notaries.

[39] the Governor does not approve that incense be used, There was present at this action, as we have said, the Governor of the city, Lord Julius Daddei, born of a noble family at Monte-regale, a man of great erudition and rare prudence; who modestly signified that he did not sufficiently approve that incensing should be done before the body of anyone not yet placed in the catalogue of Saints by the Roman Church. To whom the Prior replied, if by the use of the universal Church incensing is done upon the bodies of any of the piously deceased faithful, as of those who had been vessels of the Holy Spirit, honored with the grace of Christ and the Sacraments; with much more right this ceremony ought to be granted to her whom this whole city, the whole Order of Preachers, and especially the Roman Province, acknowledged and named Blessed, on account of the known sanctity of her life and the frequent miracles, in regard of which it had often been treated at Rome, that an Office might be recited about her. The Governor nevertheless persisted in his opinion: but warned by sudden infirmity he repents. but the next night, having fallen into a grave infirmity, so that he seemed to himself to be in peril of his very life, on account of quite unusual symptoms; and suspecting what it was, that his obstinacy of the previous day was thus being chastised; he commended himself wholeheartedly to Blessed Margaret, and having made a vow (as he himself related the next day to the Father Prior) straightway began to have better; and fully restored, he afterwards lived most devoted to Blessed Margaret, and did those things which have been noted above.

[40] The aforesaid Father Prior had provided that of those garments which had once been applied to the Blessed one, either alive or dead, Inquiry is made into miracles some should be preserved, for increasing the piety of the Tifernates and preserving their affection toward her; with the outcome that soon through the whole city a rumor was spread, that through such cloths God was working not few nor common miracles. This fame had its beginning from a linen head-covering, which placed upon the heads of the sick, they were said soon to recover; which is still today preserved in the sacristy of St. Dominic, whence it is continually requested, and is brought by the Fathers to the sick, with signs now almost daily. performed at the Relics of the Blessed one. Yet above all these things I think it must be considered, that that most simple linen, which the Blessed one used for so many years while she lived; even after her death, with so great time passing, remains most intact and most clean. But when such fame had come to the ears of the Most Reverend Lord Pyrrhus, the Episcopal Vicar, wishing to take care lest popular credulity, greedy of novelties, should impose something false upon the Blessed Margaret's so many true and most-attested miracles; wishing to know more diligently concerning these, he appointed an inquiry, which he set up partly in the chapel of the Rosary, with the already-mentioned Prior and Ser-Bartholomew Vincentii of Gubernalis, public Notary, assisting, partly in other places suitable, according to the demands of what miracles were said to have been done: which he found to subsist in truth: concerning which, because there exist authentic processes, I shall here present a brief compendium of some of the chief ones.

[41] by each of its being brought Lady Romana, a noble woman of Tifernum, daughter of the late Lord Francis Burati, and wife of Lord Horatius Brunaccii, in the same year 1588, on the 21st day of June, examined under the religion of an oath, affirmed that her cousin Lady Beatrix, wife of Lord Vincent Guazzalii, with the nine months of her pregnancy completed, throughout all Easter day and the following night had begun to labor, with great and unusual torment. But Lady Romana herself, seeing both mother and fetus in peril — which, lying across in the womb, was now presenting one arm — recalled the Relics which after the said Translation had been placed in the sacristy; she went to the Father Prior, a desperate childbirth is made easy: and indicating to him the most wretched state of her cousin, asked from him that she be lent that leather girdle, plated on both sides, with which the religious persons of this Order then were accustomed to gird themselves, and which the Blessed one herself had used for many years. The Prior did not delay the request of the one asking, and gave it to her wrapped in a veil; with which returning to her cousin's house, and finding her in a greater danger than she had left her; she first signed her most devoutly as she could, then hung the Relic of the Blessed one around her neck, asking her to obtain a happy childbirth for the laboring one. When this was done, the fetus drew itself back to the natural state, and within an hour a sound and whole girl came forth; whose and her mother's life Lady Romana referred as received from the merits of the Blessed one, Andrea the midwife attesting to the same, and two matrons present at the childbirth — namely Lady Julia Gualterotti and Lady Nicolaa the mother of Lady Romana herself — and other co-witnesses, whose names here for the sake of brevity are silenced.

[42] by the touching of a cap The Magnificent Lady Orintia Grasselli, a noble Roman, wife of Master Jacob Albizzini, a noble of Castello, swore before the Lord Vicar, the Notary, and witnesses, that she had her little son Bartholomew, so reduced, that for two whole days not only had he eaten nothing, but had also lost all use of his senses, more like a dead man than a living one. Therefore, when the sad news of the boy's impending death was brought to the Magnificent Lady Julia Albizzina, her kinswoman, on the day before the feast of the venerable Sacrament; and she then chanced to have in her house the aforementioned head-covering, which she had received from the Dominican Fathers a little before for some similar necessity; she hastened to send it to Lady Orintia, through Lady Juliana, wife of the late Julianus of Mount Alvernia, of the County of Florence, who also testified that at that moment of time, at which she brought that linen into the house of Master Jacob Albizzini, a dying boy is helped, the boy was lying like a dead man. Orintia, however, having received the cap of Blessed Margaret, bent the knee, and having recited seven times the Pater and Ave with the Salve Regina, asked life for her little son through the intercession of the Blessed one, and placed the same cap on his head. Scarcely had she remained there a fourth part of an hour, when the boy began to give forth many signs of life, and at length to speak also, and to ask that it be taken away from his head, with which he complained he was too much weighed down. The mother took it away, and offered it to her son to kiss, saying it was Blessed Margaret's, from whom he should hope for life and health; then she placed the linen itself under the head of the lying one, who soon recovering began to eat whatever was first offered, and to this day remains sound.

[43] The same Lady Orintia, with similar faith testified, that having carried the aforesaid cap to her younger son, a fever is driven away, then feverish; and with the fever ceasing soon, she had experienced its similar virtue also in this necessity. But she also, who had been the bearer of the sacred token to Lady Orintia, the aforementioned Lady Bartholomea, and who had seen with her own eyes the marvels performed on the half-dead boy at the presence of the cap; when she too was tormented by a great pain of the head, did not bring it back to the Fathers Preachers, as she had been ordered; but carried it to her own house. In the evening, and an inveterate pain of the head. brought back to her chamber, and kneeling before the little altar erected there, she wrapped the said cap in a sudarium, so that with greater decency and caution she might thus place it on her head. When this was done, before she rose from her knees, she felt that pain of the head, inveterate for so many years, taken away: and marveling at herself now so much lighter, she went to bed; and after a most peaceful night passed, at first light in the morning she brought back to the Dominican Fathers what they had lent; at length and faithfully recalling and proclaiming, how great a benefit she had received: and afterwards being sworn, she affirmed all things before the Vicar.

[44] Lady Margaret, wife of the Magnificent Master Jacob

Cordoni of Tifernum, examined on the 21st day of September, they are healed of a pestilential disease in the aforementioned year and manner, concerning two miracles which were said to have happened in her house; first deposed that her little two-year-old daughter had been touched by a pestilential fever, showing itself by livid spots, and within two days given up by the physicians, who dared to apply no remedy to so great an evil at such a tender age. When this had been understood by Lady Julia, mother-in-law of Master Jacob Albizzini and mother of the aforementioned Lady Margaret, who herself also was examined concerning this; she, not yet forgetful of the other miracles, the daughter performed through the invocation of Blessed Margaret, urged her daughter, since no other hope remained, at once to send to the convent of the Preachers, and borrow the cap of the Blessed one. When therefore the Fathers, informed of the peril of the child and the desire of the mothers, had brought it through the Magnificent Caesar Cordoni, whom they had used as an intermediary in common trust of parentage, and had made a brief prayer over the sick one; at the touch of the sacred linen the boy began to improve, and the mother. and within two days fully recovered, to the astonishment of all the physicians. Then the same Lady Margaret, as to her own person, affirmed likewise on oath that she herself had also been touched by the same pestilential fever, with very sharp punctures and vehement pain of the head, and had run to the same remedy; and at that same moment had been freed from every evil.

[45] A nun is freed from a suffocating catarrh, In the venerable monastery of the Walled Nuns of the Order of St. Francis of the Observance at Tifernum, there was a holy nun named Hilaria Baptistae de Riccio, who on July 17, having gone to bed cheerful and sound, around the fourth hour of the night was suddenly and most vehemently seized with rheum; which swelling her face, and descending from the head to the shoulders and arms, and soon occupying the whole body, she was cut off from the use of almost all her members, and at the same time lanced with immense torments, so that she believed death was impending over her. Desiring therefore to be found ready for any outcome, since by her own feet she was unable to approach the Confessor, she ordered herself to be carried to him in the hands of the Sisters. Brought back from there, when she was repeatedly complaining of a grave oppression of the heart, no one could doubt that this was a sign of an evil soon to take away her life. Meanwhile Sister Maria Felix Tartarini (from whose deposition, sworn on September 21, all these things are held) remembering certain particles, through particles of veil and garment. taken from the veil and garment of Blessed Margaret; brought them to the sick one, and offered them to her to kiss. But she, as soon as she touched them, perceived from them a heavenly power: for as they were applied successively to her mouth, head, shoulders, and other members; so she felt every pain depart from them: nor did she finish her devout kisses before she cried out that she was entirely sound. But these things happened within one hour, and the next morning she walked through the monastery as before.

NOTES.

DECREE

Concerning the Mass and Office of Blessed Margaret, for the city of Tifernum and for the whole Order of Preachers.

Margaret the Virgin, of the Third Order of St. Dominic, at Tifernum or Città di Castello in Umbria (B.)

[46] Dominicus, Bishop of Ostia, Dean of the sacred College, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, Pinellus, Prefect of the Congregation of Sacred Rites, to all and each who shall inspect, read, and hear these present, everlasting greetings in the Lord. When, at the instance of the Reverend Father General, and of the whole Order of Preachers of St. Dominic, and of the Most Reverend Lord Bishop and Canons of the Cathedral Church, and of the magistrates, citizens, and inhabitants of the city of Tifernum, repeated prayers were made to our most Holy Lord Pope Paul V, that he would deign to grant and indulge, that in honor of Margaret the Virgin, professed Tertiary of the Order of Preachers of St. Dominic, who in the year of the Lord 1287, born of honorable parents in the town of Metula of Massa Trebaria of the Tifernum diocese, for the three and twenty years in which she lived, always remained in virginity, and cultivated purity, and shone forth with many miracles, both in life and after death; and after her happy falling asleep in the Lord, which was on the 13th day of April in the year of the Lord 1320, her body was buried in the church of St. Dominic, in the same city of Tifernum; and still after nearly three hundred years is preserved intact and uncorrupted, with the greatest concourse and devotion of the people of the same city and the neighboring places, the Office and Mass of the Common of one Virgin, both by the Brothers of the said Religion, as in the said city where her body is buried, as in the whole Religion of Preachers, might and could freely and licitly be recited and celebrated. And when, by the same Most Holy Lord Pope, this business was remitted to the sacred Congregation of Rites, to be examined in it; and by the same sacred Congregation committed to the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Cardinal Bellarmine: who, having once and again diligently seen ancient and modern writings, concerning the integrity of the life and purity of the faith and miracles of the said Blessed Margaret, both in life and after her death, and the continued opinion of holiness and of miracles up to the present day; at length in the same Congregation of Rites, held on the 24th day of August 1609, he reported that from what had been deduced it sufficiently appeared about the holiness and miracles of the Blessed Margaret herself, and thought that the requested favor could be granted to the Brothers of the same Religion, at least in the said city of Castello or Tifernum, where her venerable body is buried. And the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lords Cardinals present in the same Congregation were of the same opinion; namely that it could be granted, if it should please our Most Holy Lord, that in the city of Tifernum only and in the church of St. Dominic, where the body of the said Blessed Margaret is still buried intact and untouched, and with great devotion and concourse of all the people is honored and held in veneration, her feast, on the day of her happy falling asleep in the Lord, with the Office and Mass of the Common of one Virgin, in honor of the same Blessed Margaret, may be celebrated. And our Most Holy Lord, having heard the opinion of the Congregation, by a mature report made to His Holiness on the day written below in secret Consistory, assented and granted, that in the city of Tifernum only and in the church where the body of the said Blessed Margaret is buried, her feast, as of a Blessed woman, with the Office and Mass of the Common of one Virgin, may be celebrated. In faith and testimony of all which things, we have ordered these present letters to be made by the undersigned Secretary of our aforesaid Congregation; we have subscribed with our own hand, and have caused them to be fortified with the impression of our usual seal. Given at Rome in the palace of our usual residence, on the 19th day of the month of October, 1609.

Dominic, Bishop of Ostia, Cardinal Pinellus

J. P. Mucantius, Secretary of the Congregation.

NOTES.

April II: 14. April

Heiligenlexikon

as USB-Stick or as DVD

Support for the Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints

Page optimized for printing

Our travel blog:

Travels to the places where the Saints lived and are venerated.

Send recommendation to friends

Comment on article / Report error

Questions? - our FAQs answer!

Search in the Heiligenlexikon

Imprint - Privacy policy