ON ST. MUNDUS ABBOT,
IN ARGYLL A PROVINCE OF THE SCOTS.
TENTH CENTURY.
CommentaryMundus, Abbot, in Argyll, a province of the Scots (St.)
G. H.
Argyll, famous for its most noble County, reaches the far end of Loch Fyne toward Ireland in an elongated peninsula, Location of Argyll: and now in the Irish tongue, which is in use throughout this whole district, is called Cantyre, that is "head of the land." In this province St. Mundus lived, and in the Aberdeen Breviary is adorned with this brief notice: Sacred cult of St. Mundus: Of St. Mundus Abbot and Confessor in Argyll, under King Kenneth II, in the year 962, April 15. He could in the said year have been made Abbot, and afterwards, under King Kenneth (whom John Leslie reports to have reigned from the year 978 until the year 1000 of Christ), have ended the last day of this life, and so it is read more correctly in another manuscript Catalogue of the Saints of Scotland on April 15: St. Mundus Abbot and Confessor, lived in Argyll in the year 962. David Chambers in his Scottish Menology celebrates him with a longer encomium. "On the 15th day," he says, "St. Mundus Abbot, famous for sanctity of life and miracles to these our own times, in the province of Argyll: where also many churches dedicated to his name may be found. Churches dedicated to him. This Saint had various disciples in the spiritual life, not unlike their master: to whom he is said very often to have commended that they should keep their heart pure and burning perpetually in sincere love of God. Precepts given to his disciples. Second, that of God and divine things only should they speak with outsiders: for secular men, oppressed by the multitude of miseries of this world, rightly expect this from the religious: but the religious by the nature of their institute owe this very thing to seculars: and since speech reveals what sort of person each is (for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks), such ought the religious to be in life and word as he desires to be esteemed by seculars. Third, that the time and the manner of speech should be determined alike by the very necessity and utility, either one's own or another's, since there is a time to speak and a time to keep silence. Fourth, to do nothing which they would not dare to do before the eyes of the divine gaze and of all men, since God is in place of all a witness and judge, who can neither be deceived nor deceive. Fifth, that this should most of all be at heart, to love one another with sincere, unfeigned love, and to thrust from themselves as quickly as possible those things which would tear them from mutual and brotherly love, ever mindful of the divine precept: 'By this all men shall know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another.' John 13:35 This servant of God raised up very many monasteries in the province of Argyll. He passed from this life about the year 962. Of him Rex in the calendar and others." Thus far Chambers, by whom had the others from whom he drew these admonitions of St. Mundus been named, he would have come into greater favor with us. The same things from Chambers Simon Martin published in French in his Sacred Relics of the Desert, page 298.
[3] Thomas Dempster, citing the same Calendar of Rex, has these things in his Scottish Menology: On April 15, in the Orkneys, of Mundus Abbot, wondrous in sanctity. But he seems to make Mundus one and the same with St. Magnus, the Apostle of the Orkneys, who is venerated on the following day; whom the same Dempster better distinguished in the Ecclesiastical History of the Scottish Nation book 3 chapters 854 and 855, He is confused with St. Magnus. where he treats of each in these words: "St. Mundus, Abbot in Argyll, of a most austere and continent life, is thought to have written many things: among these, a disquisition on the evil eye and sorcery, book 1. These had wondrously harmed the best prince King Duff and had fastened him to his bed. He lived in the year 962, is venerated on April 15, Scottish Breviary." Duff reigned from the year 968 to 972 of that century. Then concerning St. Magnus the same Dempster writes thus: "St. Magnus, by nation a Scot, sent to the Orkney islands … was subjected to martyrdom by wicked pagans … is venerated on April 16. Writings attributed to him." Meanwhile in his Menology he transfers him to September 6. Concerning St. Magnus we give more illustrious monuments on the following day April 16. Ferrari, using Dempster's papers, also on this day places St. Mundus in the Orkneys. Perhaps both thought that Argyll was situated among the Orkneys. His writings which Dempster enumerates we no more believe to have ever existed than the many other books, for which he assigns as authors individual Saints of his nation, and of which we judge that most are neither anywhere to be had nor ever seen by any man. Dempster seems in this to have wanted not so much to obtain for his nation the praise of many authored books, as to seek the first place among fabricators of lies.
ON BLESSED PETER GONZÁLEZ,
commonly called by Spanish sailors Sant'Elmo,
OF THE ORDER OF PREACHERS, AT TUY IN GALICIA.
A.D. 1240.
PRIOR COMMENTARY.
Peter González, called by sailors Sant'Elmo, of the Order of Preachers, at Tuy in Galicia (Bl.)
BY D. P.
§ I. Sacred cult of Bl. Peter on the Monday after the Octave of Easter. Acts of miracles: year and day of death.
Where the river Miño, separating modern Portugal from Galicia, approaches the sea, at the fortieth mile from its mouth the city of Tuy is seen, called by Ptolemy Τοῦδαι, also Episcopal: whose antiquities and Bishops are described by Prudencio Sandoval, himself also Bishop of Tuy. In 1254 he is enrolled among the Blessed, In this city is displayed and venerated with reverence
the chief tomb of Blessed Peter González: concerning whom Abraham Bzovius, under the year 1246 no. 3, writes thus: "Him Innocent IV, Supreme Pontiff, in the year of Christ 1254, the 11th of his pontificate, enrolled among the Blessed, and granted to the Preaching Order that in all Spain, whatever monasteries of the same institute existed, they should celebrate the yearly festival of Blessed Peter in their churches, He is venerated on Monday after the Sunday in Albis. erect altars under his invocation, paint his image, offer the unbloody sacrifice, and show other offices of cult, as though by the solemn rite of the Church he had been enrolled by the Roman Pontiff in the tablets of the Saints." We should have wished to have the Bull itself and to insert it here: meanwhile from Marieta we indicate that, when miracles multiplied at the tomb, the Bishop and Clergy of Tuy ordained that on the Monday after the Sunday Quasimodo (or Sunday in Albis) his festival should be kept throughout the whole Diocese with the office of a Confessor not a Pontiff: namely because his proper day of death was frequently hindered by the offices of Holy Week or of the Paschal Octave.
[2] and his canonization is urged from 1500 onwards. That brightness and frequency of divine benefits obtained by the invocation of Blessed Peter has lasted up to this present century, and preserves to him even today the title of Saint already long since conferred. But his patronage is felt as especially useful to mariners: whence from a certain manuscript of the Victorine Library at Paris, in the Life about to be given, these words are cited: "St. Peter González, patron of the sea of Spain, famous for miracles." There exists, as Jorge Cardoso testifies, the petition of the Portuguese Nautical Order offered to Clement VIII by Dom Miguel de Castro, Archbishop of Lisbon, on August 27, 1592; and another from the Senate of Braga directed to Paul V in 1608, and also a letter of Philip III to the same Pontiff for obtaining solemn canonization; all of which indicating the great esteem for him, would that we had been permitted to have and publish them here, and especially the Acts of his Life, if any exist anywhere in Latin and ancient form. Tamayo de Salazar cites some manuscripts, and from these and others he professes to give what is read in the Spanish Martyrology: but from the very conclusion of his manuscript, which he exhibits entire, and we from him, it appears that that Life was collected almost in this same century. The Lives which appear in all the Spanish Legends of Saints, published by Villegas, Marieta, Ribadeneira, and others, pertain even less to our purpose.
[3] Mention of his frequent miracles is made in the book entitled Lives of the Brethren, The frequency of his miracles is commended in the Lives of the Brethren, which Humbert, elected Master General of the Order in 1254, had compiled by Fr. Gerald of Limoges, Provincial of the Province, with documents gathered from every quarter by decree of the Paris Chapter; and the same Humbert handed it over to the Order to be read, within the first twenty years after the death of Blessed Peter. There in part 5 chapter 9 it treats of those who shone by miracles after death, and in no. 5 these things are found: "In the province of Spain there was Friar Peter González, who is honorably buried in the church of Tuy: where at his invocation many miracles are performed: whence also the venerable Bishop of that same city transmitted under his seal to the General Chapter which was held at Toulouse in 1258 more than one hundred and eighty miracles, examined by strict and trustworthy men and sworn by witnesses, among which miracles are recorded five lepers cleansed, nine demoniacs liberated, and many of the blind, dumb, deaf, those with fistulas, goitrous, contracted, and sufferers from various fevers healed." There are then added in particular some, more conveniently to be given in the Life, which were authentically recorded in 1258. which, however, we would prefer to give from the original Process: but the people of Tuy, whom we asked, being deaf to our often repeated prayers, we could not wait for it longer. Yet lest anything be left untried, we obtained from the Superior of our Residence at St. Felix that he should send one of his diligent and industrious men to Tuy, to deal more effectively with the Bishop and his Chapter, that from the parchment Legendary of that church he might transcribe those authentic Acts, and diligently sought by us. to be given at the end of this volume if they should be brought in time. Meanwhile we earnestly ask the Fathers Preachers of those parts that for the honor of the Saints of their fatherland and religion they should be willing more promptly to bring aid to us laboring. Concerning St. Gonsalus of Amarante, whose memory returns on January 10, we gave what alone we could then have from printed authors: but afterwards, taking occasion of the presence of our Belgians in Lusitania, for the spiritual assistance of the merchants of that area, for a future Supplement of the work we asked for those whole books of miracles to be transcribed, which we had heard from Ferdinand del Castillo to exist. Nor was one of the said Fathers reluctant to transfer himself to the monastery of Amarante, and to set forth our desires to the Prior; but with no effect at all. Which we wished to indicate here in passing, that the zeal of others more fervent in that same monastery may be stirred to abolish the mark of such torpor: and that the whole Order may know that it does not stand by us that we should not bring forth everything concerning their Saints that can prove their virtue and augment their cult.
[4] The aforecited testimony concerning the Sanctity and miracles of Blessed Peter, in nearly the same words but much more concisely, He is not shown on April 14, 1246, St. Antoninus copied in part 3 of his Histories title 23 chapter 10 §5. The same did Leander Alberti in the work on the Illustrious Lives of the Order of Preachers book 5 page 192 of the Bologna edition of 1517. Other authors, domestic and foreign, everywhere followed. Then the authors of the Spanish and Portuguese Martyrologies on April 14, when Philippe Ferrari also inscribed him in the General Catalogue of Saints in these words: "At Tuy in Galicia, of Blessed Peter Telmus of the Order of Preachers," and added in his Annotations: "He is venerated by the people of Tuy as Patron: and his festival is kept on Monday after the Sunday in Albis. He died about the year 1246." Cardoso defines this same year precisely: as do Castillo, Maluenda, and Tamayo: but Marieta and Cardoso, when they add that he died on Sunday in Albis itself, are proven to have erred, because Easter then was April 8, and therefore the 14th fell not on that Sunday but on the preceding Saturday. More correctly Castillo and Marieta say he died between Easter and Easter: which however Maluenda and Tamayo less correctly render, "between Easter and Pentecost." For although the Spaniards equally with the Italians are accustomed to call all major feasts "Paschs," yet not without a qualifier, when they wish some other than the Pasch of the Resurrection to be indicated; but to have died in 1240 on the 15th day. whose octave day, namely Sunday in Albis, also goes by the name of Pasch, and is called by the Germans "Pascha conclusum." We also could, following not so much the better as the greater part, refer the death of this Saint to April 14: but since his festival is not kept on such a day, but on the Monday after the Sunday in Albis, as we saw above; and we see no cause for which the aforesaid authors should have departed from the more ancient writers of the life, Diego del Rosario and Esteban de Sampayo, who assert the Blessed died in the year 1240, on the Sunday of the Resurrection itself, and that day was then April 15; we have judged ourselves free to follow the more probable opinion: especially since also in the year 1246 the Sunday in Albis, on which some wrote that the Blessed died, was likewise celebrated on the 15th of the month.
[5] The body of the Blessed man was placed by Lucas, Bishop of Tuy, in an elegant tomb in the Cathedral church, between the choir and the main door of the sacred edifice, as Tamayo de Salazar writes after Marieta and others: then in his Annotations, His body translated in 1529. following the same authors, he adds that Dom Diego de Avellaneda, Bishop of Tuy, in 1529 took care to transfer the holy body of Blessed Peter to another place: because the monument in which he was first buried, and where the throng of people coming rested according to their vow, was blocking the passage of the processions which on Sundays and festivals were made by the Chapter; and therefore he solemnly exhumed the sacred relics of the most blessed Father, newly placed them, and beside the northern door of that same church, in a magnificent chapel built for the purpose, in a silver chest wonderfully wrought, processionally placed them. At length Dom Diego de Torquemada, his successor in the See, about the year 1567 enlarged the said Chapel, polished it, and placed the reliquary in a loftier place, where it is seen by all and ardently fulfills the vows of the people.
§ II. Patronage of sailors; the name Sant'Elmo.
[6] The same Tamayo, concerning the help shown to the shipwrecked, and the name usually invoked by sailors, adds that at the end of his manuscript Codex these express words are found: "Since that Saint is a universal intercessor for all, His image is painted as that of the patron of sailors, that the mercy of God may shield us from all evils; especially does Blessed Peter come to the aid of sailors in shipwreck; and therefore, when often invoked by them, immediately on the mast of the ship, or at the yard-arm, a bluish lamp appears, after the manner of sulphurous fire: seeing which, they confess themselves liberated from peril with great acclamations and thanksgivings. From which the picture of St. Telmo took origin, commonly made by sailors, where St. Peter is seen in the Dominican habit, and in his right hand carrying a lighted blue candle, and in nearly all the maritime towns of Spain, and especially in the town of Noya, all the torches, lamps, and candles of the Confraternity of St. Telmo are painted with a blue color; among whose town's inhabitants this song in the native tongue is diligently repeated, handed down from ancient ages:
Señor San Pedro González, Pilot of sailors; Deliver us from earthquake, And defend us from evils.
Which song I found written beside the image of St. Telmo painted at the foot of a certain diploma of the Most Reverend Dom Miguel Muñoz, Bishop of Tuy, in which were contained the Indulgences and privileges granted by him to all Christ's faithful who should bestow their alms for the construction of the image of the main altar of that same Church of Tuy."
[7] Thus far Tamayo's Codex, indeed not ancient: since Miguel, whose diploma is here cited, by whom he is commonly named Santelmo, from 1543 to 1547 ruled the Church of Tuy, whence he was translated to the Bishopric of Cuenca. The still greater novelty of the said Codex would be proved by the name of St. Telmo attributed to Blessed Peter, if it were there: because I am firmly persuaded that it only began to be used at the end of the preceding century, on account of the silence of all preceding writers concerning him, who name him no otherwise than Peter González; as is done also in that very ancient verse. In 1585, by the command of the Archbishop of Braga, Friar Diego del Rosario of the Order of St. Dominic published in the Portuguese tongue the histories of distinguished Saints, by which name only more recent writers use, and
on page 161, citing the Chronicles of his order, confesses that from them he took the Life which he presents: which plainly seems taken from the monuments of the Church of Tuy. In this Life there is not even the slightest mention of that appellation: nor in the one which in the year immediately following Fr. Esteban de Sampayo of the same Order published in Latin at Paris, in his Secret Treasury embracing the deeds of various Portuguese Preachers. This one, as the most ancient of all published in Latin, we give, omitting the one which in 1596 Marieta made public, or that which Tomás de Maluenda transferred to his Annals from the Spanish Chronicle of the Order by Fernando del Castillo, and in transferring he partly condensed, partly interpolated: and also that one which Tamayo de Salazar received almost from Maluenda (without mentioning his name) and inserted into his Martyrology, turgid with a certain affectation of loftier Latinity, and yet not purged of solecisms. And they think the flames appearing in a storm
[8] Tomás de Maluenda in his Annals, in transferring the Life as I said from Fernando, preferred to abstain from the pre-noted appellation; and afterwards inquired why this blessed man, by the common name of sailors and almost all (in this age, namely), is called St. Telmo: "And indeed," he says, "it is established that sailors are accustomed to call St. Telmo certain fires and lights appearing after sea-storms on the sails and masts of ships, or on the prows, which they judge to be the surest sign of a storm now subsiding. (Pagan antiquity used the names of Pollux and Castor for these.) Moreover, these same fires some call St. Hermias, others St. Hermes, some St. Thermus, nor are there wanting those who call them St. Anselmus (namely, various people variously interpret the name); and we suppose this done for no other reason than that sailors by Christian rite, when in danger, were accustomed to invoke one of these Saints, whom they piously and holily believe to come to the aid of those perishing at sea; and when the storm had been driven off, seeing those lights they suppose them to be either the presence or the most certain aid of the Saints whom they had implored." that from him also they took the name, Then touching upon the miracles wrought in this kind by Blessed Peter; and what Castillo says, that at San Sebastián, the famous naval town of Guipúzcoa, there is a monastery of the Order of Preachers, dedicated under the name of St. Telmo; because by that title the ancient church where the monastery was built was anciently marked: touching on these things, I say, he inserts at length this conclusion in these words: "Howsoever the case may be, I should in no way doubt that those fires, heralds of a broken storm, are called by sailors San-Telmo for no other cause than from our blessed Peter González Telmo, whose patronage and aid they have often experienced, and think, when those fires are seen, that the holy man comes to their aid."
[2] This conclusion does nothing toward what is being asked, namely, how it comes about that Blessed Peter is called by them St. Telmo rather than by his proper name Peter, or his surname González. For from all those things which he himself deduces, it rather follows that from fires, anciently called by the name Santelmo, and frequently seen to appear at the invocation of Blessed Peter, the surname was adopted for him, as though he were of the family of the Telmi. rather than the other way around: just as the Fathers of our Society among the Spaniards, who once receive names cling to them most tenaciously, are to this day called Fathers Theatines, the denomination borrowed from the Clerics Regular of that name, known in Spain before our Society, on account of some similarity of habit and institute. Tamayo, indeed, cites Dom Francisco de Sandoval, whom we have not yet seen, as though he asserted in the Life of St. Antonino of Palencia, p. 88, that in Frómista, a town of the district of Palencia, the paternal coat of arms of Blessed Peter is still found, descending from a kinsman of the holy man. That some family of Telmi or Santelmi is found in Spain, we do not wonder at more than at the Sampayos, so called from St. Pelagius, commonly Pelayo, and contracted Payo, and many other families of similar name: which more correctly you would refer to places dedicated to those Saints, whence such families derive, than to kinship with such Saints. We think that for the favor of the family claiming Blessed Peter, it was made by Castillo and those following him, that the blessed man, whom more ancient authors made to be of the city of Astorga and nephew of the Bishop of Astorga, and there Canon and Dean, is now said to have been born at Frómista, nephew of the Bishop of Palencia, and enrolled in the Palencian Clergy. But we greatly fear that all these things have been newly introduced without a solid foundation of certain documents, and therefore we judge more weight should be given to the more ancient writers.
[10] But the name Santelmo is much older, And though we were willing freely to grant that the surname Telmus was not recently fastened on the paternal family of Blessed Peter; yet no one would persuade us that sailors alone, if they had not previously been accustomed to that name from another cause, would have used it; since all others for so long have named him only Peter González. Furthermore, we do not doubt at all that the name Santelmo, far and wide known to sailors, either for the Saint to be invoked against storms, or for the fiery exhalation appearing when they cease, is much older than Blessed Peter himself. This is persuaded by that ancient church of that name at San Sebastián, of which Castillo speaks, which preceded the foundation of the Preachers in that city. Likewise the most famous castle of the city of Naples, built by King Charles II about the year 1300, and remarkably restored by the Emperor Charles V, on the brow of the hill, which is also commonly called Castel Sant'Elmo. The author of Neapolitan History, Giovanni Antonio Summonte, in the index of the first volume printed in 1601, calls it Castello di S. Ermo: and on page 66 noted by the index, Sant Eramo; undoubtedly designating St. Erasmus the Bishop and Martyr, and is taken for St. Ermus or Erasmus, whose feast is kept by nearly all churches up to the extreme North on June 2, and whose name is reckoned in the third place after the Mother of God among the fifteen Holy Helpers (of whom we shall treat on April 23, where of St. George): and why should this not be on account of the special aid usually given by him to sailors, since his body is preserved with special honor at Gaeta, which is the principal port of Campania Felix, and one of the most celebrated stations for ships in all the Mediterranean sea? How much more ancient than the castle itself is the appellation of the place, drawn from St. Erasmus, we do not know; that it is more ancient scarcely anyone would doubt, since the Saint suffered under Diocletian, and had churches from the most ancient times, as may be seen in the Annotations of Baronius on the Roman Martyrology.
[11] In vain, therefore, did Maluenda labor, seeking in the Roman and other Martyrologies some St. Telmo, and it ought to be explained Sant-Elmo, not San-Telmo. nowhere to be found. For not understanding the popular name Santelmo, of what it was composed, he fell into the same error in which Ferrari fell on March 23, when he named Otho the Solitary (who is commonly called Santodo) St. Thodus. If Maluenda had known how rightly to divide, and to reduce the name Elmi to its original integrity, he would not with difficulty have come to the knowledge of St. Erasmus, more briefly Erami and Ermi; and finally, through the most frequent conversion of cognate liquids, Elmi; thus Catalina is said for Catharina; Alma by the Spaniards for Anima; and conversely, Guilermus for Guilelmus, and Igreja by the Portuguese for Ecclesia. Furthermore, since the more distinct knowledge of St. Erasmus, to be invoked under the name of Sant-Elmo, did not remain with the Spaniards in the course of time; nothing was more ready than that St. Peter González should come into his place, more notable for recent benefits, and that on account of the little flames, called Sant-Elmo, more frequently appearing at his invocation, the same name should be adapted to him: and so all that ancient veneration of St. Erasmus among Spanish sailors was transferred to him. These things had to be deduced at greater length here, for overturning the errors which at the beginning of this century began to be built up on the false understanding of the name Sant-Elmo, badly divided into San-Telmo; which would not have happened if they had been willing to notice that the same thing happens here as in the name of St. James (Iacobi), which by the Portuguese is usually written and printed San Tiago: and this has so far prevailed that, with the adjective even removed, Iacobus is called Tiago and Diago: and so it came about that Erasmus is pronounced not only Elmo but also Telmo by the common people.
LIFE
By Esteban Sampayo of the Order of Preachers.
Peter González, called by sailors Sant-Elmo, of the Order of Preachers, at Tuy in Galicia (Bl.)
BY ESTEBAN SAMPAYO.
CHAPTER I.
Change of the secular life and the beginnings of the religious life.
[1] About the year after Christ's birth 1190, a while Celestine III presided over the Apostolic See, and Alfonso the Ninth of this name held the scepter of Castile, Born at Astorga the holy Peter González is said to have been born, in a certain city situated on the borders of our Portugal and Tarraconensian province, commonly named Astorga b. This blessed Father obtained parents who shone with an illustrious stemma no less than they abounded in riches of this world. Now his c maternal uncle, at the time when he came to boyhood, was the holy Bishop of Astorga; by whose favor and wholesome admonitions aided, and there a Canon this servant of God, about to be no ordinary man, placed under the discipline of masters, attained the arts which are called liberal. Then after some little interval of time, in the same Episcopal See of the city of Astorga he gladly obtained the place and grade of a Canonicate. The world, smiling on him, did not permit him to stay here, now laden with revenues and honors; but strove to lift him to higher places of ruin, through licit means, however. For since he was daily giving a greater proof of learning and a clearer specimen of honest virtue; by the diplomas of the supreme Pontiff he was promoted to the eminent dignity of Dean d of Astorga.
[2] He was at that time flourishing with youthful age, and outstanding in body, and most conspicuous among all others. And when, newly puffed up with these ensigns of honor, of such a dignity and rank, he could not contain within himself and hide the immoderate joy of his mind; he rashly persuaded himself to blab it out externally and boastfully, while, riding youthfully, he showed himself off, not only in words but also to display it in vain works. And therefore after he received the Apostolic letters by which he was confirmed in the Deanship; moved by a certain youthful vanity, among other signs of his boiling mind, he mounted a most beautiful horse, and, exulting and boasting, galloped through the whole city. They say that on the feast of our Redeemer's Nativity, St. Peter suffered this transport of mind and lapse of reason. But that Creator of heaven and earth, who dwells on high, and from his high-placed throne is wont most tenderly to cast his eyes on these lower things, and to consider individually our works, permitted this rash boasting of the inflated Dean to burst forth, that from the subsequent and unforeseen event the very lover of vanity, coming to his senses and being of sound mind, despising the allurements of this vain world, might safely flee, as to a sacred anchor, to the quiet harbor of the religious Order of the Friars Preachers.
[3] For it happened to him, while through the city, as
we have already said, he was advancing in triumphal pomp, cast into the mire through a certain street in which the people were very numerous, onlookers of the novelty of those passing by or of some ridiculous idleness, that for ostentation's sake, with spurs sharply applied and pressed in, he drove his horse through the public course. But with mourning taking over the extremity of joy, before the victor reached the goal, the horse stumbling on its feet at a certain muddy place or rather puddle, and impatient with shame, he tumbled and fell. And therefore the admiration of the popular onlooking crowd was turned into derision: and the ignoble mob, raised into cackling laughter, began to attack and drive him out with hisses and mockeries. But when the vain youth noticed that he had fallen into the reproach and derision of the abject populace; wholly suffused with shame, unable even to simulate his blushing and the inner pain of his mind, he publicly burst out into these words: "Since," he said, "the world, held in mockery by its own, has thus mocked me, on this very day on which I had more unrestrainedly devoted myself to it; I too, having taken vengeance, will laugh back at it as deceitful, utterly leaving it behind; and that it may not happen to me to be mocked by it a second time, I shall change my life for better fruit." Behold the divine benignity of Almighty God, which, ever joined with the highest wisdom, knows and deigns to draw out good things even from evils, as St. Augustine testifies in his books on the City of God.
[4] the world dismissed From that time, therefore, of the unforeseen fall or ruin, beginning to loathe the deceitful world with all its false delights, with his mind divinely restored to him, he began to vow himself and all that was his to God the most good and greatest. But since, according to the most wholesome counsel of St. Jerome, in the Letter to Heliodorus, those enlightened by a heavenly ray and proposing to renounce this evil world, should not wait long, nor put off their resolve; but, as if they were detained on the greedy and dangerous shore of the harbor, loosing the sails to the winds, they ought rather to cut through than untie the ropes by which they tarry: this new deserter to God, St. Peter, did not long defer the firm decree of his mind concerning the change of his state. he becomes a religious: Nay, after a brief space of time had passed, choosing to pass the mortal and fleeting life of the world under obedience and the burden of poverty for the sake of God, he entered the Order of the Friars Preachers, then in the regions of Spain e most flourishing, and to which his inclined mind was now being carried willingly and devoutly, dismissing the pomps of the world.
[5] Converted therefore to God, whom in the clerical and most holy pristine state he had in some way handed over to oblivion, and excellently he makes progress and changed into another new man; immediately, like a solicitous bee, he labored to store up gathered flowers of every kind of virtues in the hive of his heart. For the propitious and powerful munificence of divine generosity was not failing in his holy purpose in this most humble novice of the holy observance (who not long before had been a puffed-up knight), but rather seemed daily more augmented in him with gifts of graces: accordingly this servant of God, now with heavenly eyes, with all the effort of his mind especially, desiring to have a pure and naked conscience before God, with intent mind was panting wholly after the negotiation of heavenly commerce. But in the same religious house in which he took the habit, the year of probation (as they call it) having passed, and the vow of regular observance being made, dear to all the cenobites, he made great progress in the life of the interior man. The odor of his virtues began to waft so strongly among all, that it was diffused not only in the surrounding places, but also into distant places. For the Brothers, whom, having become religious, he had gained for himself in the Lord, rejoicing supremely at his holy conversation, could by no means impose silence on themselves, and therefore they everywhere preached St. Peter's heavenly life upon earth.
[6] then he studies Theology, After these things, when the servant of God considered that the Order which he had most wisely chosen had been instituted for the salvation of the souls of neighbors; after the liberal arts, which he had acquired in the world, he took care in the religious life to superadd to his mind the habit of sacred Theology, by learning it: and with the license of the Prelates applying himself to the sacred letters, he was affected with such joy of soul and interior gladness, while he was unrolling the sacred books, drawing the saving waters of the heavenly fountain; that not once or twice only, all intent on this study of sacred letters, he would pass sleepless nights. But that he might, by his vigils and studies, be of profit to the salvation of his neighbors, for which he was wholly gaping, and might worthily and abundantly pass on these saving waters of sacred Theology to the worshippers of Christ; he avidly stored up the more select things from those which he read in the hidden places of his breast. This holy Father also was accustomed always to have before his eyes the wonderful conversation of life of his holy Patriarch Dominic, and fervent with zeal for souls his zeal for souls, contempt of the world, voluntary and profound humility, and unspeakable mortification of the body. f Therefore a strenuous zealot for the faith, a lover of frequent prayer, and fittingly adorned with gravity of morals, he showed himself to all as an example of religious life. Instantly also he begged God with assiduous prayers, that he would deign to commit to him the needful talent of a spirit of wisdom and virtue, by which he might be made a worthy minister for disseminating his Evangelical word. Nor did he suffer refusal long in this his most just petition: for after a short space of time (in which still as a novice he was busy in the disciplines of religious observance and in the sacred letters), the Prefects of the Order, considering his sufficiency propped up with holy morals, by which he could already not unfruitfully propose the word of God to his neighbors, to hold discourses, and receive their secret confessions; by the authority which they held, publicly set forth Don Peter González for exercising both offices.
[7] Designated therefore as preacher and confessor, the strenuous servant of Christ and lover of poverty, and for hearing confessions clearly showing to all by word and example the way of heaven, fruitfully administered the Evangelical doctrine. If he ever perceived someone to need the sacramental penance, the spirit of charity in no way let him be idle, nay not even rest, until this sort of sheep — having received its confession and a salutary penance enjoined — he should recall and introduce into the Lord's flock. He was sometimes seen to rise from table, and sometimes to go to remote places, lest the offered opportunity of gaining a neighbor should fly away. Sparing no labor at all, as a true son of his Patriarch Dominic, he most willingly preferred the spiritual salvation of his neighbors to his own bodily life. he spends himself vigorously and usefully. When it was necessary for him to enter some house for hospitality, however great the lodging of some magnate might be, he exhorted with efficacious words both the householder himself and all those who were joined to him, that they should be willing to come to the sacrament of Confession and the antidote of saving penance; and this he most devoutly urged with various examples and authorities. For he was in this also a true imitator of our Standard-bearer, of whom it is reported that while speaking with seculars, he always opportunely inserted some words concerning the things pertaining to the heavenly fatherland. For this cause also St. Peter González privately preached to his hosts, to whom he was turning aside, concerning the damages and dangers of those existing in mortal sin, the eternal damnation of the reprobate, and the happy state of those rising again through penance. Wherefore scarcely ever did he depart from any such lodging, without first having received separately the confession of all who were staying in it, and sending them away changed for penance of the past and for amendment of life. Nor is it wonderful, although great: for his words were proceeding from the Spirit of God, which, with divine grace cooperating, could in no way return empty.
NOTES.
CHAPTER II.
Temptations overcome by Blessed Peter, miracles performed.
[8] Now through nearly all Spain the holy fame of the man of God was shining, and was gaining strength as it went, and was filling the royal court of Ferdinand III of this name of Spain; In the camps of St. Ferdinand the King, fighting against the Moors, when the King himself, now led by no slight suspicion of the sanctity of St. Peter González, desired to have him near himself. This Catholic Prince was then hindered by various expeditions of wars against the Saracens; Spain was still in its principal part occupied by those same impious haters of Christ; and he judged the presence of the holy man to be necessary to himself, that in waging war against those infidels he might be aided by both the prayers of St. Peter and his wholesome counsel. Wherefore the pious King, persuading himself rightly, as a Catholic, that the wars of Christians ought to rely not on chariots or horses only, or on various kinds of weapons, but first upon the divine power; immediately ordered the holy servant of Christ to come to him. How much good the presence of this Apostolic man brought to the camps of the Christian soldiery, usefully present prayers being poured out before God, wholesome counsel being given to his King, and discourses being delivered among the soldiers; the fortunate and happy outcome of affairs sufficiently showed. For after his
assistance in the camps, Ferdinand not only brought back a glorious victory over the Saracens, but also tore that most flourishing city, called Seville, the sole Metropolis of all the province of Baetica, from their hands by force.
[9] These things being not at all weighed by men of sinister disposition, it happened at some time that certain magnates of the court fell into conversation about the life and holy conversation of St. Peter González; and that each of them, torn by divers opinions, Peter suffers reproaches: spoke diversely according to the good or sinister affection of his mind, as also happened to Christ the Lord with the Israelite seed. For to some the frugality of life, the honest conversation, and the Apostolic zeal in rebuking vices, seemed worthy of praise and reverence: but to others affected with a depraved mind (because the holy man reproved their obscene morals with evangelical freedom, especially the unchastity and unbridled lust of the flesh of them all) they judged in mutual altercation that he was bold, rash, and deserving of other opprobrious words of detraction.
[10] While these men were idly discussing this controversy among themselves, a certain lascivious and shameless woman, one of those who follow the camps of Mars for Cupid's sake, whom a certain harlot, wishing to disgrace him, hearing them close at hand, and having perceived the subject and matter of their conversation, thus broke in upon their words: "What reward will you give me, if I so way-lay this monk, that this very thing which he so greatly abhors in us and reprehends with abomination, he himself, captured by love, will most gladly embrace?" Nothing more pleasant, timely, or sweet could be brought to the ears of all the learned men (so to speak) of that profane conventicle than the promise of that lost woman; and they were affected with immoderate joy, hoping that so great and religious a man would be conquered by the allurements of Venus, by which also their worst vices might remain less sordid, less reprobated, and less exposed to the censorious judgments: and that Peter González, by the wickedness of such great scandal committed, would contract the indelible mark of a dishonest religious. Therefore, by the hope of reward, this seine of the devil (in which only the most vile and unclean men were ensnared) taking up new strength, gathered herself with all the effort of her mind to seduce the mind of the holy man.
[11] Not long after that wicked agreement, having hunted out an opportunity for attempting the nefarious crime, she herself chose an unseasonable hour at which she could speak with St. Peter, at leisure from business and the frequent company of men. Approaching then his lodging or tent, and under pretense of making confession through the doorkeeper she insinuated to him that she had a secret and most urgent matter of great weight to treat with him. He, on hearing this message, fearing nothing at all dishonorable, nay rather supposing it to be for God's praise and the salvation of his neighbors, sincerely permitted her to come in to him. She, entering the chamber of the holy man, immediately fell prostrate at his feet with bent knees, suffused with feigned and fraudulent tears, and with earnest prayers asked that he would receive her confession. Now the greater portion of the day had passed, and sunset was impending: wherefore the inconvenience of the time persuaded St. Peter not to make further delay with the woman, but, dismissing her, to command her to return on the following day. Wherefore, turning to her, he said, "Return, daughter, tomorrow; because now, as you see, evening is coming on, and I will then gladly hear your confession." To whom she said: "Holy Father, the fame of your notable virtue is well known everywhere, and I know most certainly that you bear a great solicitude for the salvation of souls, and most of all procure that sinners may come to their senses; for therefore I have dared to come hither: I pray that you will be willing to help me at once in a most urgent trouble: I call God to witness that unless today you hear the confession of my sins, if anything dreadful should happen to me this night, you will render before him an account for my damnation."
[12] admitted into his chamber While St. Peter innocently received these words of the deceitful serpent, touched by the fearful scruple of the adjuration placed upon him, he soon retired to a certain part or corner of his chamber, and, after perhaps admonishing her, fallen upon her knees, to fortify herself with the sign of the Cross before confession, first questioned her concerning that deadly crime which most of all weighed upon her. Not willingly do Satan and his ministers behold or reverence the sign of the Cross; nor did she — herself an advocate of the same Tartarean faction — take care to comply with the holy man in this point (as one may suspect), nor did she, moved by desire of eternal salvation, make mention of any sin. Nay rather, suddenly, desiring to breathe out the poison she had conceived, she boldly addressed the holy servant of God thus: "My brother Peter, the deadly wound which I suffer and which torments my heart above all things, she solicits him to wickedness: I will not fear to disclose to you. Know that I am tortured with the most ardent love of enjoying you; and hold it for certain that, unless you yield to my desire, I shall not live any longer." With these and similar words, as with a sword smeared with honey, this poisonous daughter of sin thought to pierce through the holy and honest servant of God, St. Peter.
[13] By so unusual and impudent an insult and daring of the lost woman, unexpectedly heard from her, he could not wonder enough; yet, being instantly enlightened by the Spirit of God, and desiring also to make honeycombs from poisonous herbs, and to snatch the prey from the jaws of the lion; with gentle words, wholly free from all indignation of mind, he took care to apply by a certain prodigy a saving medicine to the deadly wound. "Not so, daughter," he said, "may God permit, that I should be or become the cause of your sudden death; do not grieve, because at once you will be free from this peril of life; but here, spreading his cloak over the fire, but it is necessary that you wait a little, until I can decently make up the bed, which I still have unmade." After this, withdrawing into another part of his dwelling, heaping up a great pile of wood, with fire placed beneath, he raised up no small flame: then inviting the woman, full of impudence, to approach the fire, having thrown or spread his own cloak over the flames, he addressed her thus: "Since you burn with such love of possessing me, as your words sound; let us approach together, and let us both lie down in this fiery bed, that I may satisfy your desire." Having said these things, placing himself upon the cape spread upon the pyre and lying down, suffering no harm from the fire, he lies on it unharmed, the cloak also remaining unharmed, he waited or invited there the instigator of venery.
[14] There had come hidden watchers, namely courtiers-soldiers, who had previously been fosterers of that diabolical suggestion, and who were diligently peering through certain cracks of the door to observe the outcome and end of the affair. But when it came to that heavenly prodigy, when the fire, its nature inverted, abstained from the burning of the approaching matter, on seeing so great a miracle with their own wakeful eyes, those depraved plotters began to be pricked with outbursts of tears; and the doors being immediately opened, falling prostrate at the feet of St. Peter González, confessing their malice, they humbly besought pardon from him. But that shameless woman, having seen the miracle, and converts her to penance. from a vessel of reproach converted to God through penance, was transferred into a vessel of total modesty; and her accomplices in the proposed temptation, with a timid mind withdrawing from the face of the man of God with pardon obtained; after the experiment of that deed, came to venerate St. Peter more and more than before they had been accustomed, and took care thereafter to pursue him with due reverence. In the book called Lives of the Brothers, something similar is read to have happened to the holy Father Friar Dominic, b of Cube as I think, who in Lusitania was the founder of the monastery of Santarém, because he had caused all the harlots and mimes to be expelled from the court of the King by his preachings. See the same book, part 4, chapter 4. c
[15] That most famous city of Seville d having now been conquered by the aforesaid Catholic King, as we said; returning into his royal court, he wished to have St. Peter González as a companion of the journey. But after they had come together to the court, In Galicia the holy man, desiring faithfully to fulfill and constantly to pursue the ministry committed to him, outside the crowd of flatterers and scurrilous jesters (not to speak of other monsters of that workshop of vanity) bidding farewell to the King, sought the Province of Compostela, which the ancients called Galicia. Some report that at this time he acted as Prior in the convent of Vimaranum (Guimarães), e in the interamnian Province of Portugal. Afterwards, as though beginning again to serve God, his fervor and spirit being doubled, wholly given to preaching, daily panting for the conversion of sinners, he exercised the evangelical office. But since the excellent man was outstanding in body, elegant in appearance, similarly solicited by his hostess sweet in speech, and even carried virtue in a beautiful body; a certain woman, till then honest, in whose house St. Peter had sometimes been wont to come for lodging, seduced and blinded by the devil, burned with concupiscence for him. What more? She sought and pursued a fitting opportunity for attempting the nefarious deed: but by the grace of God, her malign intention being scented out by him, with material fire (as before) taken up for arms, he wonderfully extinguished and escaped the flames of that satanic fire. In a similar manner he frees himself from her. Seeing the unhoped-for miracle, the dishonest woman, wholly turned to stupor and compunction of heart, did not blush to summon as witnesses of the sanctity of St. Peter all the members of her household: who, seeing the holy servant of God unharmed lying upon the pyre, to the praise of God spread the event everywhere.
[16] When at some time St. Peter was returning from the pulpit, and from the journey was greatly wearied with exhaustion; his companion being also similarly tired, he turned aside to the house of a certain woman, for the sake of quenching his thirst. But the woman, from whom he had asked for water to drink, gave him this answer: "Know, my father, that within this house there is at present nothing that I can offer you, except only a little wine stored in a small flagon, A little wine which the thirsty man had drunk, which a certain f Priest handed over to me to keep, for whom I am servant in ministering food." Then St. Peter said: "God is able to help his ministers, without the liquid of wine being exhausted or any diminution of it being detected by its owner, this Presbyter." By these devout words, the woman being softened and raised to great confidence, trustfully and gladly offered the little portion of wine, stored in the half-empty vessel, to the man of God and his companion. Then St. Peter quenched his laborious thirst, and likewise his companion, without any fear of that same flagon being emptied; and, having taken leave of that pious Samaritan woman, they both departed. After not long an interval of time the aforesaid Presbyter returned, and, receiving back the wine vessel after asking for it, perceived that it was laden with a greater portion of wine than he had left before, and accordingly immediately began to inquire of his maidservant about the novelty of this matter. She, it returns more plentiful and better. the flagon being again weighed and examined, after she evidently perceived that a miracle had been done, with a raised voice, wholly rapt in admiration, took care to warn the Priest to abstain from drinking
the wine most urgently. Then the matter having been made known to him in its bare truth, the Priest immediately in haste seized the way after the footsteps of St. Peter, until he reached him directly; and falling prostrate upon the ground before him, he besought him to deign to return again to his house to take a full refreshment. The holy Father excused himself with words no less adorned with gratitude than with humility, and, the devout Priest having been ordered to return home, urged that glory must be given to God alone; and soon pursued the way he had begun.
[17] When St. Peter was preaching several times in the same region of Galicia near the waters of the Miño, he saw many of the travelers, trying the shallow places of the river, He has a bridge built over the Miño. daily, because they had no easier passage, many times exposing themselves to the peril of death: for that river is of no small depth. Wherefore from alms begged, some sum of money having first been gathered for this matter, he began to build a certain bridge on the bank of the same channel. g Many miracles, God working, are reported to have occurred there at this time, not unlike those we have told when treating of the life of St. Gundisalvus h of Amarante, when he built another similar bridge. In particular it is related to have happened, concerning the multitude of fish offering themselves of their own accord at the bank of the river to St. Peter for the construction of the new bridge. At length the edifice of the work being completed, and the bridge being made passable for those now crossing, betaking himself to the city of Tuy, situated near the same river, he tirelessly preached the word of God to the inhabitants of that territory. Intent on this Apostolic service in this region, he took care to spend the remaining space of his life with great fruit of souls.
[18] When therefore in the same city of Tuy, now already i worn out by old age, he was resting, yet always at leisure for God, some wondrous prodigies the divine majesty wrought at his prayers. Among these, while the servant of God St. Peter was one day sitting at table to take the refreshment of his meal, he learned by a message that a certain honest man, joined to him by a great bond of friendship, in k a distant place had been seized by a grave illness; to his hungry companions, wherefore constrained by the bond of friendship and charity, rising immediately from the table, he set out on the road to visit him. But when, in passing through, he had come to the roots l of a certain mountain, a certain religious young man his companion, not so patient of toil, compelled by hunger, did not fear to mutter somewhat with a certain other adventitious traveling companion. "This Brother Peter," he said, "because he is of more advanced age and therefore uses sparing food, wishes to constrain me, a robust youth, enough affected with natural heat to digest food, within the same measure and parsimony and thinness of diet, and so, being ill-nourished, to waste me away." Although St. Peter went before them at a distance, this muttering of his companion did not escape him, God revealing it; and with fixed step waiting until he should approach, he checked him from similar detraction thereafter by the following miracle. "Climb," he said, "my son, if you are hungry, to the top of that nearby mountain, and there you will find food prepared by which you may both extinguish your hunger and be sufficiently refreshed for now." He obeyed the words, and going thither together with the other accomplice of the muttering, on a certain somewhat prominent place they found two most white loaves of bread placed upon a cloth, he divinely provides refreshment: and a flagon of wine: all of which, brought back, festive and hastening, they immediately offered untouched to the holy man. But he, having invited both companions to take as much as would suffice them, ordered the remainder to be placed in the same spot where they had found that viaticum. And refreshment having then been taken by them, the famished brother and his companion, obeying the command, not a little astonished at this affair, out of curiosity asked him whence or by whom those loaves had been brought to a deserted place? or — what even more had led them into astonishment — who had taken away the leftover fragments and the remainder of the meal placed there? For after some short interval of time, in which they had left the remains of bread and wine with the cloth, they found them in the place where they had previously placed them; and had descended to the common road; coming back again as curious searchers, they did not even find a trace. "It is enough," said he, "that eating and drinking well, you have paid the due of nature; but that which remained over, he took away who before had brought it."
[19] He averts a storm from his audience. In the same maritime province of Galicia this servant of God was one day preaching near the city called Bayona or Vayona, m with a most crowded concourse of people: and behold suddenly there arose a storm: and terrified at the sudden inclemency of the air, the people standing by were thinking only how to depart or flee from there safely. But St. Peter, perceiving and looking into their thoughts, strengthened their wavering minds with this exhortation: "Dearest brothers, do not fear, put away your fear, I pray; for that almighty Lord, to whom all things bow and are obedient, will, before it reaches us, change this impending storm, which you dread, into tranquil serenity of the air." Nor had the servant of God yet finished his words, when already those threatening clouds and whirlwinds of winds, by divine power abstaining from all the place around the pulpit, were attacking all the other surrounding suburbs, which could be seen by the eyes of those standing by, rushing upon them with a terrible-sounding fury.
NOTES.
CHAPTER III.
The death of Blessed Peter and the miracles that followed it.
[20] Therefore, the Most High confirming his Evangelical doctrine by frequent signs, After he had foretold his death to his hearers, and senile age now running on, on a certain Sunday of the Lenten season, dedicated to the blessing of palm branches, when he mounted the pulpit, he openly foretold that his day was now at hand, and that he would no longer come there to preach; accordingly he earnestly and humbly besought all, that when the report and fame of his impending death should come to their ears, they would help him with their prayers before God. "For although," he said further, "by the grace of God my heart reproaches me in nothing, since I renounced the world; yet I do not think I have that purity of conscience which does not much need the suffrages of the faithful." And after bidding farewell to all, falling ill at Tuy, he betook himself to the nearby city of Tuy; in which through the remaining days of that holy week he did not cease to preach; imitating Christ, who even set in the last limits of mortal life, deigned to frequent the temple of Solomon for the sake of preaching. The Paschal festival therefore being at hand,
he was a gravely seized by an illness, b on account of which cause he could not return to the convent assigned to him at Compostela, which he most desired. Afterwards, however, the same disease vexing him more mildly (as it seemed) and in some measure tending toward decline, strength having been somehow resumed and spirit added, he girded himself for the journey; and not able to reach Compostela, in which he might, if it could be, happily close his last day among his Brethren in the convent of Compostela. But when he had scarcely and with difficulty come to a town, commonly called c Santa Columba, the disease again growing worse, and by hours becoming more severe, unable to proceed further, he addressed his companion who was with him thus: "I suppose d it is God's will, my brother, that to the city of Tuy, from which we departed, I should return there to die; therefore I beseech that we hasten back to it at once." Therefore, having returned there again, he turned aside to a certain house of his former lodging, for the Order of the aforesaid Brothers did not yet have among the people of Tuy the convent which it now has.
[21] Therefore, his mortal infirmity growing day by day worse, having caused his host to be summoned to him, he leaves his girdle to his host he spoke these last words to him: "Dearest brother, you should know that our Lord, mindful of my labors, deigns to impose an end upon them. But I have obtained from him by prayer that he would spare this region, upon which a various and bitter scourge, because of the crimes of the inhabitants, was now impending. Next, for the charity of hospitality which you have always used toward me, that most clement Father of lights himself, as I hope, will repay the reward to you. Meanwhile, however, because I have nothing else to present to you, for the sake of gratitude, except this girdle, with which I have hitherto been girded, I pray you to receive it, which I trust will at some time profit you." The pious host religiously received the little gift of the holy man, not much precious according to human wisdom; and wrapped in a most clean cloth, with great hope of some good still to be acquired in time, and faith conceived in mind, placed it in a fitting place. Nor was his faith in vain. For after some little interval, when he wished to divide the aforesaid girdle into two parts, that he might share the other part with a certain intimate friend, e as a most precious thing at least esteemed by the eyes of faith; that iron instrument, with which he was intending to make the incision, whose division is miraculously hindered: leaping from his hands, struck him a rather light blow and left him. Immediately this pious man judged that this had happened to him by the special concourse of the divine power and not by chance, as though God were displeased by the division of that girdle and of the little gift which the holy and Apostolic Father had conferred upon his host as a sign of love and gratitude; and touched with reverence, he handed over not only that intact strap, but also the staff f on which St. Peter, while still living, had leaned as he walked, offering them to the Prefect of the Cathedral church, that they might there be worthily and with due reverence kept.
[22] Afterwards St. Peter, the hour of his passing drawing near, for which he had long since prepared himself, alongside his tomb the tomb of the Bishop of Tuy is placed, on the most holy feast of the Lord's Resurrection, rendered his spirit to his Creator, in the year 1240 from his Incarnation g. His funeral rites and last service the Bishop of Tuy h performed with the greatest veneration, who had always cherished him with such devotion while he lived, that he willed to be buried next to his tomb or sepulcher when he should depart from the living; for he so much confided in his suffrages, that he commanded this vow of his to his legatees in his confirmed testament. And when his last will was fulfilled in this, and his body was buried beside the relics of St. Peter, by God's wonderful disposition, in whose heavenly court star differs from star in brightness; with an imperceptible separation, removed by divine power. after some time had elapsed, the sepulchers of both were seen to be separated far from each other, more than they had been at the beginning.
[23] After the departure of his most holy soul from the prison of the body, our most loving God deigned to show by many miracles, from the same oil sweats forth, to the faithful people the ineffable merits of this holy man. For from his tomb oil is said to have flowed at one time, as we read before to have happened from the monument of that seraphic virgin, Catharine the martyr, in which she was laid up by the Angels on Mount Sinai; and likewise from the mausoleum of St. Nicholas. i In evident testimony of this truth, there is still shown in that same church a certain k glass vessel, in which the Canons, then living, placed a portion of that miraculous liquor. When at one time a certain man, incredulous and of hard neck, l approaching his sepulcher, with many telling him, doubted about this miracle; he further added that no one would ever persuade him of such a thing (namely, that oil had at some time flowed from that stone tomb), unless he first with his own eyes also experienced and felt the miracle. Divine kindness was not lacking to this incredulous man, just as to Thomas doubting of his resurrection: and after he had uttered those words in distrust, behold immediately from the same tomb oil was seen to sweat out, with which that same man filled a certain m vessel with his own hands; and in the sight of many standing by, glorious God was praised in his Saints.
[24] And the tooth of the deceased In the same diocese of Tuy there was a certain illustrious matron, also no less distinguished for virtues, who had at one time entertained St. Peter González, with no less devotion, as is believed, than that widow of Zarephath who formerly received the Prophet Elisha. And when once, while he still enjoyed the ethereal air, she had earnestly besought him that he should leave her some pledge and memorial, to keep for sake of devotion, the servant of God, smiling, answered her thus: "A time will come, at some time, in which, while I am still living or being taken from the living, you will possess something in memory of me." When however the devout woman was made certain about his passing; she recalled into memory, not without grief and sadness, that she had not obtained the promised gift which she had asked of him while he was living. cedes to his pious hostess. Nevertheless, on the following night St. Peter González, mindful of his promise, appearing to her in a dream, said: "Do not grieve, dearest sister; for although, while I was among mortals, I did not satisfy your desire in what you devoutly asked of me; tomorrow proceed to my tomb, and there I will stand by my promises to you." Not forgetful of the nocturnal revelation, the devout matron, as the day dawned, proceeded devoutly to the Cathedral church, in which the holy man's tomb was; and after she had devoutly commended herself a little to his prayers, putting her hand through a certain opening in the same mausoleum for the sake of stirring up devotion, she unknowingly came upon a certain tooth from the holy body of St. Peter; n which she immediately drawing out, with tears suffused, made the sequence of the matter manifest to all standing by, to the glory of God. And they all, unable to wonder enough, burst forth into divine praises: but she bore the treasure divinely granted, no one contradicting, into her home.
[25] A certain Canon, while talking with other Priests about the miracles of St. Peter, a paralytic boy is cured. persisting in doubt concerning the belief in his miracles, said: "Although I cannot without impiety deny that he is a Saint and reigns with God in heaven; yet I will never persuade myself that so frequent miracles, as are daily reported among us, are true; since, after I have dwelt in this city, I have up to now been able to see with my eyes or to know by experience made no such thing." While this Presbyter was rashly boasting these things, behold two men carrying a little paralytic boy, for the sake of visiting the same burial place of St. Peter at Tuy, entered the greater church; and approaching near that holy place, they had not yet finished offering their prayers, when that paralytic infant, standing upright and well, was seen by all joyfully to direct his steps this way and that. Now the miracle was so manifest, that the great crowd which was standing there, turned into astonishment, immediately raised cries of praise to heaven. The people of Tuy ran up, that incredulous Presbyter also ran up: and while he was as it were handling with his own hands the recent miracle, his former doubt being changed into devotion, he decreed thenceforward to praise God wonderful in his saint St. Peter, repenting not a little of his incredulity.
[26] A certain sailor, climbing the mast of a ship, torn from its summit by the force of the winds rushing in, sailors in danger are helped. was once precipitated into the sea. He, immediately remembering St. Peter González, whom many experienced as a propitious Patron in the sea of Spain, began as he flew through the air above the waves to invoke his aid. And behold, the servant of God appearing to him in the habit of a Friar Preacher, said: "I am here, my son, because you have called me; do not fear." And stretching out his hand to him, he placed him back within the ship, free from drowning. o It will not be out of place to insert here what I found some days ago in a certain old manuscript book of the library of St. Victor. For there, having come upon in a certain catalog the Saints of our Order who had become famous for miracles; I also read through the mention of St. Peter González made among the others under these words: "Blessed Peter González, Patron of the sea of Spain, famous for miracles." From which words it is sufficiently established that from an ancient and immemorial age it was customary for St. Peter to aid those perishing in the Ocean strait, nor is it apocryphal or altogether absurd (as some philosophizing irreligiously maintain), that sailors going through the Ocean everywhere proclaim and testify, that St. Peter González was very frequently seen by them, when a storm was impending, at the top of the mast or at the highest parts of the sails, bearing a green lighted candle in his hand, and immediately after this vision, the sea becoming still, the storm ceases.
[27] A certain woman at the city of [p] Scallabis (Santarém) of Lusitania had a son with one foot crushed and bruised, A crushed foot is healed. and grievously suffering; from whom already surgeons had extracted eighteen little bones, nor yet was he healed. She therefore, when she heard of the miracles of this holy man, having made a vow, entreated her son's health from him. Who, soon lending his ears to her prayers, by his intercession with God obtained that that boy should receive the desired health.
[28] In the book also which is called Lives of the Brothers, which will be judged of the highest authority by those to whom the knowledge of that same author shall come, part five chapter 9, where he treats of those who shone by miracles, concerning Blessed Peter I read this… [q] To a certain man, from the stroke of a bush, two thorns remained in his eyes, Miracles are noted in the Lives of the Brothers. which had entered so deeply that they could in no way be extracted or even seen. He invoked the aid of Friar Peter González, and immediately both [r] thorns of their own accord fell from his eyes into his lap; and he was perfectly cured. Likewise a woman who for seven weeks
had lost her milk, whence she had given her son to another, grieving greatly because she was a poor little woman, after making a prayer at the tomb of Friar Peter, when she returned home, found herself filled with milk, with which she nourished her son. Certain sailors, set in danger at sea, invoked Friar Peter González, who immediately appeared to them saying: "I am here," and comforting them by delivering them from the waves of the storm, led them into harbor. [s] A certain wife in a small boat, while she was crossing a certain deep river, having her little son on her shoulder, shaken with fear, fell, and was five times submerged in the deep; but Blessed Peter being invoked by herself as she fell and by her husband who was standing on the bank, she escaped that peril with her little son. A certain man said under oath, that when for six months he was afflicted with fevers and was very much swollen, so that he could scarcely walk upon a staff; Friar Peter appeared to him, and said: "Come to my tomb, and you will be cured." He came and was cured. These things in the aforementioned book are set down in this style, which together with the aforesaid I do not doubt are viewed by the pious reader with the simple and dove-like eyes of due devotion, to the praise of God: to whom be glory and honor forever, Amen.
NOTES.
p Commonly called Santarém from St. Irene the Martyr, who is venerated on October 20: now it is a city on the river Tagus, 15 leagues above Lisbon.
q I pass over the words, which above in no. 3 are read in the prior Commentary.
r It had been printed "albae," but from the very book which is cited we corrected it, as also several other errors occurring in various places.
s Castillo adds that from this miracle the devotion of sailors toward Blessed Peter seems to have begun.
APPENDIX
Certain extracts from the miracles examined in the year 1258 by the Bishop of Tuy, in Fernando del Castillo's Chronicle, part 1, book 2, chapter 26.
Peter González, called by sailors Sant-Elmo, of the Order of Preachers, at Tuy in Galicia (Bl.)
[29] The Bishop of Tuy, who succeeded Lucas, a noticing the continuous miracles which Blessed Peter was continually working, ordered a public and authentic information, on the faith of sworn witnesses, to be taken with the greatest care and diligence, and, sealed with his seal, sent it to Toulouse to the General Chapter of the Preachers, which was held in that city in the year of the Lord 1258. In it are recorded ninety-seven witnesses, cited and examined, of very many miracles of Blessed Peter, of which we here will describe some. Michael Núñez b de Nigris, of the Diocese of Tuy, when he had remained for a whole year a leper, Two lepers are healed, enclosed in a certain little house, removed from the society of men because of the contagion of the disease; a vow having been made and a small gift hung up at the tomb of the man of God, he returned whole and sound to his own. María Pérez de Varcea, from the town of Mera, when she had suffered leprosy for nine months, and had been blind for fifty days, as soon as she commended herself to the man of God, she recovered her lost sight: and as soon as she reverently visited his tomb, the leprosy departed from her.
[30] eight blind men, Martín Pérez de Cobelo, of the Diocese of Tuy, after a most grievous seventy-day pain of the eyes, wholly lost his sight: but a vow being made to Blessed Peter, suddenly day shone forth for the blind man. Urraca Domínguez, who was living at Bayona, had lost all power of seeing with her other eye, but on making a vow to the holy man, she soon recovered. Pedro Sánchez de Cambeses, of the town of Fragoso, after a three-month blindness, when he had come to the tomb of Father Peter, his sight was restored to him. Pedro Juan de Villa-veteri, for two months saw nothing with his other eye; his wife begged help from the Saint, and together promised that she would bring her husband to his tomb. As soon as they began to set out, he now saw something from the eye: but when he had come to the tomb, after pouring out his prayer, he perfectly received his sight. John c Laurentius, a Canon of the Church of Tuy, being wholly blind in his left eye, when with great devotion he had offered a candle at the tomb of the man of God, was fully cured. Maria d Salvatoris, having suffered two months of blindness, when she had prostrated herself at the tomb of the man of God, having made a vow, received her sight. The very same thing happened to Tomás Martínez, Juan Pérez, and Pedro Pato de Coya, who received back their lost eyes by the aid of the man of God.
[31] suffering in the head, Dominicus Fernández de Salva-terra, afflicted for the space of ten months with intolerable pain of the head, putrid matter flowing copiously from the other ear, made a vow to the holy man, that if within eight days he delivered him, he would yearly visit his tomb with an offering. Wondrous thing! Within three days he was restored to perfect health. Elvira Alfonsi de Salzeda a contracted and mute girl, had a daughter contracted in all her limbs, and to this evil had been added that for twenty-one days she had wholly lost her speech, so that she could not even form a word: being brought to the tomb of Blessed Peter, walking on her own feet, speaking and rejoicing, she returned home. Juan Alfonso de Valladares, in the town of Fragoso, rendered wholly deaf by catarrh, three deaf, having made a vow to the man of God, heard fully. Elvira Pérez of Bayona, for two months deaf in one ear, promised that she would go with bare feet to the tomb of the man of God, if she should recover her health: and by following that example she recovered. Elvira Martini, of Redondela, for her deaf husband sent alms and an offering to the tomb of Blessed Peter; as soon as Pedro of Redondela, e who had brought the vow, returned from the church, he found him fully hearing, as if he had never suffered anything.
[32] María Alegre, from a certain village of the Diocese of Tuy, likewise two mute, brought a little son, two and a half years old, who had not yet been able to speak anything, to the tomb of the man of God with an offering: on the same day, before she went out of the city, the child spoke promptly and clearly. Another boy, seven years old, mute wholly from birth, his parents had brought to the tomb of Blessed Peter; and a prayer being made there, the boy immediately began to speak, and so great a miracle being seen, the Canons decreed a solemn procession to the tomb of the man of God. deaf woman, Urraca Salvatoris de Santa Leocadia had become so deaf for five months that she did not hear even the loudest cries. She made a vow to the man of God; and approaching his tomb, she immediately began to hear the bells, and from then on was very well restored to the use of her ears. Elvira Martini de Santa Cristina, and a paralytic. in the town of Fragoso, for four years having been paralyzed in both hands, could apply them to no work, and moreover was tormented with sharp pain: coming to the tomb of the blessed man, and somehow touching it with her hands, she soon received full health.
[33] Pedro Pérez de Villela, in a certain village f of the Diocese of Compostela, five possessed are freed had a son, possessed by a demon; who for eleven continuous days neither ate, nor drank, nor slept. And when the demon, being adjured by exorcisms, had answered that he would be expelled by no one from there, except by Friar Peter González; the youth was brought to the tomb of the holy Father with bound hands (for otherwise he refused to go), and a prayer being made by those standing around, the demon immediately departed. María González de Valladares, severely vexed by a demon, for four days remained without food or drink, and wholly speechless: when she had been brought to the tomb of the Saint, the demon being expelled, she obtained full health. The daughter of Juan Peláez, in the town of Tobellum, having suffered for two years a demon inhabiting her, and almost daily being tormented, on a vow being made to the man of God, was immediately freed. The wife of Pedro Juan of Paramos, an energumen for two years, and daily two or three or even five times cruelly afflicted, when her domestics had vowed to Blessed Peter, the demon immediately withdrew from her.
[34] María González de San Pedro de Cella, seized by the devil, daily eight or nine times was atrociously tormented: being admonished in sleep to proceed to the tomb of the holy man, she did so: and a girl blind in the waning of the moon. and immediately from the fevers and torment she was free. María Núñez de Ruilla, possessed by a demon, when her husband had made a vow to Blessed Peter, never again felt the demon. Laurentius Martínez de Samnas, in the parish of San Pedro de Cella, had a daughter, who for continuous years each month, while the whole moon was waning, lost the sight of her eyes; but with the moon waxing, gradually the light was returned to her: whom, when they had brought her to the tomb of the holy man, she was fully cured. It would be too long, if we were to weave in here all the things which in the report of the said Bishop of Tuy sent to the General Chapter of Toulouse are contained in entire faith concerning the miracles of St. Peter González. It has been enough to describe these things, that the readers, having obtained some knowledge of the holy man, may adopt him to themselves as intercessor and patron before God.
NOTES.
April II: April 16
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