ON ST. WILLIAM OF POLIZZI,
HERMIT NEAR CASTELBUONO IN SICILY.
IN THE YEAR 1317, OR 1318
PrefaceWilliam of Polizzi, hermit near Castelbuono, in Sicily (St.)
BY G. H.
The noble city of Polizzi of the diocese of Cefalù, situated between two sources of the river Himera on a high hill, was the homeland of St. William, born there of the Gnoffio family: hence he is surnamed Gnoffius and Polizzensis. There is preserved in the mother church the thumb of this Saint, given by the Marquis of Hieracium, He is venerated at Polizzi in his homeland on account of some Relics. and enclosed in a wooden statue skillfully made; whose feast of translation is celebrated on the third day of Easter; as Roccho Pyrrus attests in volume 2 of Sicilia Sacra page 477. The same says on page 481, that there at Polizzi, in the church of S. Maria de Partu, an image of the same St. William is venerated. Finally, in the hermitage near Castelbuono (where in the last years of his life he dwelt longest, and built the church under the similar title of St. Mary de Partu) his body is preserved with great veneration, in a chapel, which was once his cell: The Body is in the church of St. Mary de Partu near Castelbuono. and there are still seen, as Octavius Cajetanus attests, hairs adhering to the head of a golden color, and a hair shirt affixed to the flesh: and a most sweet odor breathes from the holy body. The very town of Castelbuono, after the Episcopal See which had been at Troina was extinguished, is under the Archbishop of Messina: and its Patron is held to be St. William by ancient custom, and his Natal day with public cult and solemn procession is celebrated on this 16th of April: Memory in Martyrologies. on which day Francis Maurolycus the Abbot of Messina inscribed him in his Martyrology with these words: "In Sicily, near Castelbuono, under Mount Marone and the Gemelli hills, in the Monastery of St. Mary de Partu, the deposition of Blessed William Confessor." Maurolycus was followed by Felicius, Molanus, Galesinius, Ferrarius in both his Catalogs, and Octavius Cajetanus in his Sicilian Martyrology.
[2] We give a double Life of this Saint, both extracted from longer Acts: the first we found at Naples in the Collections of Antonius Caracciolus, Cleric Regular, a man well deserving of the Neapolitan Church, We give a Life whose sacred monuments he published. Of this Life, which was in volume 2 of the Lives of the Holy Confessors, the title is of this kind: "Life of St. William the Sicilian Hermit, taken from ancient monuments of Sicily, described from Sicilian monuments and narrated by the Reverend Father Angelo Sangrino, Cassinese Monk and Abbot of St. Nicholas of Arenis." The said place is near Mount Etna, whose fires in the year 1669 overturned it, the monastery already before being transferred to the city of Catania. There was once preserved in the said monastery a nail, by which Christ was said to have been affixed to the cross: whose memory is celebrated by Octavius Cajetanus in volume 2 of the Lives of the Sicilian Saints page 250 and following, where he narrates the miracle of a woman possessed by an evil spirit and freed in the year 1549 with the cooperation of the said Angelus then Abbot there. by Angelo Sangrino,
[3] The other Life we give, published by the said Cajetanus, who observes these things: "The proper Office of Blessed William, composed from ancient times by an uncertain author, is preserved in the chest with the same relics. In it the Life of Blessed William is distributed into lessons, another taken from the Proper Office published by Cajetanus. from which we, the one we give, have composed in a more polished style." Thus Cajetanus. Concerning this Life to be sent in style, our Ludovico Sportelli wrote to us from Palermo, and asserts this is its beginning: "In the time of King Frederick II 1340, William was born in the town of Polizzi to honest parents of the Gnoffio family." But the end of the same Life is indicated thus: "His relics are daily illustrated by many miracles, by the grant of the Lord etc." These are the same things that are in this Life, with the exception of the first words about King Frederick and the year of Christ. Moreover there are lacking in this Life the things which are in chapter one of the prior Life, and some things which are narrated at number 16: and the rest are much more exactly recounted here: and therefore we necessarily give both: for the ancient monuments cited by Angelo Sangrino, and the Proper Office used by Cajetanus, which we would rather have had than both Lives, we have not yet been able to obtain; because Ludovico Sportelli died, before the letters, suppressed I do not know where for five years, came into our hands; and those which we caused to be destined to Palermo more than once, lacked the desired success. If however late they are sent to us what we seek, there will be their place in the Supplement, to be made after all the months are completed.
[4] Authors vary about the year of death: Abbot Maurolycus in book 1 of Rerum Sicanicarum asserts that he passed to a better life in the year of salvation 1317. In the prior Acts it is reported that he expired in the year of the Lord 1331, in the latter in the year 1321. year of death 1317. But if the days of the sickness and death are more accurately considered, with Maurolycus the year 1317 can be established, which we so gather from the Acts: in the days of the greater week (Holy Week) he began to lie sick, then Easter in the said year was celebrated on April 3, with lunar cycle 7, solar 10, Dominical letter B. But on the sixth feria from Easter, that is, April 8, he foretold, that on the ninth day from then he would send forth his spirit to the calling God, and then is said to have expired
on the 16th day of April, a Saturday, all of which concur in the said year 1317. Which same can be said of the year 1328, or 1328 which Cajetanus noted.
[5] Wion, Dorganius, Menardus, Bucelinus ascribe St. William to the Benedictine Order. But Cajetanus reports that Wion is false, because long after the death of St. William the church of St. Mary de Partu which had been built by him was erected into a monastery of the Order of St. Benedict by Francis Junior Count of Hieracium in the year 1366. Whether he was of the order of St. Benedict? That Wion adds in the Notes, that the Monastery of St. Mary de Partu is otherwise called St. Mary de Burdunari, is noted to err more: because the said Monastery of St. Mary de Burdunari is situated near Messina, founded in the year 1170. "Moreover," says Cajetanus, "that Blessed William was a secular hermit is also taught by an ancient painting: his painting. for on the left side as you enter the church of St. Mary de Partu is seen an ancient image of Blessed William, by which he is clothed with a tunic without a girdle, with a cloak thrown over: a covering of the head down, tunic, cloak, and head-covering of white color; barefoot; he carries a staff in one hand, in the other the beaded oraries. In the likeness of this ancient image, Blessed William is painted in another tablet, which is in the same church, in the year 1502." These things Cajetanus says, which I know not how prove him a secular hermit, that is (as far as I can grasp) not bound by solemn religious vows. The author of the prior Life both asserts that he lived in a monastery under obedience at number 5, and at number 17 introduces him arguing with the Brothers, and inculcating the vow of poverty which they had made: from which it is gathered that he was a hermit both he himself and his disciples so, that they were truly religious, although we cannot say of what Order or institute.
LIFE
Collected from ancient Sicilian monuments by Angelo Sangrino, Benedictine Abbot.
William of Polizzi, hermit near Castelbuono, in Sicily (St.)
BY ANGELO SANGRINO FROM A MANUSCRIPT.
CHAPTER I.
Birth, adolescence in the hermitage of Galeato, then at the little church of S. Maria de Alto, and in the Monastery of Tragudo.
[1] Since the yearly sacred rites of our most blessed Confessor William occur today, most dear Brothers, to be celebrated; I have thought we should briefly recount his wondrous life from his cradle, the more tenaciously that we may commend to memory and be more ardently kindled for his imitation. William, in the distinguished kingdom of Trinacria, born of the town of Polizzi, Born at Polizzi in Sicily although he drew his line from a humble stock, yet had parents as pious in their honesty as they were honest in their piety. He when he was in his fourth year began to experience both the envy and the savagery of demons. For the sorry parents often saw, not without tears, the wild troops of the infernal under various forms of beasts gnashing at the infant with their teeth, tearing at him with their claws, fascinating him with illusions, terrifying him with roarings, and driving him with blows. Having often marveled at this, distrustful of human help, as a four-year-old he is vexed by demons and hoping for divine assistance, they went to a certain man of God, told the matter in order, demanded care by prayer; asked what finally needed to be consulted, and what should more exactly be done. Which the holy man having received, conceiving in his lofty mind something great and divine from these preludes, foretold by oracle that the boy, if he should live out his life, would be one of great stature: whom finally to be nourished with diligent care, and at the proper time to be imbued with divine sanctions, he with what zeal he could advised the parents.
[2] The little child being somewhat freed from such illusions, when he had come to the Pythagorean crossroads, as a youth devoted to piety and had reached that difficult fourth thing which Solomon did not know; scorning the petulance of adolescence, the enticements of the flesh, and the pomps of the world, pure, simple and upright, he either at home was busily hiding, devoted and eager in his studies, or zealously and devoutly was wearing the thresholds of churches, as grateful to heaven as beloved by the world. For made more mature he was extinguishing the flames of his flesh by the cold of fasting to the marrow: for on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, refreshed only with bread and water, and often on these days without supper, he most strictly observed the three Lents of the year; in which he tasted food rather than took a meal. All vigilant in prayer, strenuous in labor, he leads a very austere life. he was covered with the vilest garment. Using always a very little sleep, he lay either on the ground or on a bare board: sometimes passing the whole night sleepless, he kept awake wholly in prayers. Sometimes applying whips, he subjected the wanton flesh to the spirit, as the rebel Hagar under the hand of Sarah. He conversed among adolescents, and was a mature old man; with the chiefs of the world, as an anchorite crucified to the world: to all a courteous and frugal youth, to all things becoming all, so by humility he made the exalted subject to him, and by kindness he bound all. Cheerful in aspect, white with grace, grave in gait, common to all, singular only to God, he neither followed superstition, nor labored with hypocrisy: as most eager for virtues as he was most indifferent toward honors. I would call happy such an adolescent, most happy the homeland, to whom such and so great an example of manners and model of virtues is given from heaven to be imitated.
[3] Illustrious in these disciplines of the Angelic life, the adolescent William, considering the vanity of the world and of life the purer he was diligent in divine institutions, the more prudently did he observe how vain, how fleeting and of no worth are the things which the deceitful world greatly esteems: how briefly any man lives, and how quickly one may die, he had so firmly persuaded himself, that he was not ignorant it is true, that all human things hang by a slender and tow-like thread, and that man is a bubble, smoke, and shadow. Finally, illumined by supercelestial light, he sees on every side throughout the world extended snares, and likewise rocks which he must traverse in the vast gulf. On which account placing his foot on the earth, he turns his back on the world; and where he may live more quietly, he betakes himself to the hermitage and die more safely, exploring the place, on the solemnity of the great Anthony, the prince of hermits, taking up the cowl, as a new recruit he enters the valley of the hermitage of Galeato. Here he strove with all his sinews to cleave to God, and to be made one spirit with him. He also claimed as his strong patroness, after Christ Jesus, the Virgin Mary with great devotion, his, I say, refuge, his only mother.
[4] Warned by the Mother of God One night, as his limbs were fatigued by vigil, a voice from heaven grew strong upon him: "William, know, I wish, that you shall hereafter serve the Lord in my house." With this oracle given, balanced between joy and fear, he rejoiced greatly at the promise of the voice. But no less did he dread the ambushes of wily Satan: for he knew it to be often figured as an Angel of light. Then perceiving on the second and third nights the same voice, he betakes himself to her chapel: and thinking that this was an invitation from his Lady, as afterwards it was shown by the outcome, he joyfully went to a small chapel called "de Alto" and dedicated to the Virgin: where enduring many inconveniences of life, he offered himself for a whole year as a not-unworthy holocaust to God most good and great and to the undefiled Virgin Mother.
[5] Observing sometimes that because of the roughness of the place and the great severity of snow, he could associate with no one as a companion; and recalling what is written, "Woe to the one alone, for if he falls, he has none to lift him up"; he decided to go to Tragudo, then entering the monastery of Tragudo; where he had perceived the rigor of observance was flourishing, and there under the banner of obedience to fight for the Lord: which that he might the sooner accomplish, the voice again coming he is admonished. Eccl. 4:10 The man of God William therefore rising excited, and having obtained the Prelate's permission, voluntarily casts himself into the cloisters of Tragudo. Here about to handle stronger arms, he so surpassed all in humility, that in strictness of observance he rendered himself second to none. He changed the place of fighting, but did not change the envy of the opponent. For as he was chanting psalms, there he experiences demons hostile to him. at untimely night, the crafty demon stood by in a thousand ways, and envious extinguished his candle: which relit, as he was more eagerly chanting the psalms, behold a thousand thousand monsters of beasts unexpectedly burst out, surround the chanting youth raging, savagely attacking him, biting at him with their jaws, striking at him with hoofs, thrusting him with horns, tearing with claws, roaring, resounding, and tumultuously for an hour: to whom the vigilant psalmist and devoted soldier of Christ, by the striking of his breast and the sign of the Cross opposed, immediately turned them to flight.
[6] When one time having finished collecting alms he was leaving Polizzi, about to return to his cell, uncertain on the way such a storm of rain rushed in, and so much snow fell, that with torrents overflowing everywhere, the ways chiefly blocked, and the journey intercepted, he thought he would be buried rather than hope to be able to return to the Brothers. He stood, as they say, between a rock and a hard place, anguished on every side, and did not know what to choose. The inclemency of the weather demanded a place to protect him; the zeal of setting out cramped him, which he had in his love for the Brothers. Where he should turn, he receives counsel from above. what to do while pondering, soon a matron stood by him, much more august than human appearance, and said: "Friend, rise, and safely hasten your journey: for the Brothers in the monastery are consumed by hunger, and a sick companion is in peril at home by grave disease. Arise: the Lord shall be with you in this way in which you shall walk." Who rising from his tracks, immediately betook himself safely to Tragudo. As the Brothers receive him, hearing what had befallen him, they give thanks to God and the inviolate Virgin, who do not abandon those hoping in them.
[7] Then next the Brothers revering the man of God William and approaching him as father, Elected Prior, with counsel taken by equal vow they claim him for Prior. Which the humble and meek Father perceiving, with his characteristic courtesy struggled all the more, judging it better for himself to be under one than to preside over many. He was indeed striving to follow him, who being King of Angels emptied himself; and taking the form of a servant, came not to be served but to serve. At a certain time the kind Brothers most kindly receive some guests who entered Tragudo: where because of the intemperance of the air and the accumulation of snows on the next day they were also lodged. But when there was nothing in the house which could worthily be supplied to those about to dine; the Father with that humility in which he excelled, for the refreshment of guests as if another Esau the hunter, takes his bow, and girt with a quiver enters the woods, about to explore the hunt. Behold at the first, O wondrous thing! entrance, two huge boars run up of themselves, which, directed from heaven, attacking with a single arrow he laid low on the ground. Thence cheered the Father returns to the monastery; the matter being explained to the Brothers, he catches two boars. he orders the boars to be brought home, and brought to be served as food to the strangers. O infallible faith of untiring charity! Richer than the quail's food once in the desert, more welcome than the manna of the murmuring, is the food of those who fear the Lord.
NOTES.
CHAPTER II.
Exercise at Gonato for 11 years: conflict with a harlot and with demons.
[8] At length fearing the frequenting of men, the beloved servant of God, not ignorant that he is deprived of the company of Angels who delights in that of men, Erects a new monastery at Gonato. sought to leave Tragudo, which he had inhabited for four years; and to go to Gonato, prepared for him from heaven. When he accomplished this, he erected there a most beautiful chapel, and dedicated it to his Patroness the Virgin; and with some cells quickly built, he gathered in the house many Brothers, with whom he most joyfully bore the cross of the Lord, as clearly knowing that the enemy plotted against him with impunity. It sometimes happened to the servant of God William to ascend to the upper Petralia, for the sake of collecting alms: where a shameless and brazen woman seeing him begging village by village and door to door, Invited at Petralia by a woman into her house under the guise of piety invited him home: as he entered she prepared a table: refreshed him with bread and water, the delights of hermits: and then opened a place of rest when he had dined. The evil woman took a soft couch, not about to sleep: William however after pouring out tears in prayers, about to close his eyes fell on the hard pavement: an unequal couch, an unequal intent to rest. For she while she proceeds to wantonness, struck with the dart of desire, with forehead rubbed, with face like flint and a harlot, the mask laid aside, with the posts of the little hut broken, she invades our chaste Joseph just as the Egyptian mistress did, caresses him, provokes him to nefarious intercourse: a foul hyena tries to defile a pure unicorn, and solicited to the crime, a sow to defile an ermine. Whom like a venomous asp the prudent enchanter resisting, said: "Go out, filth, head of sin: depart, food of death, weapon of the devil, plague of youth, gall of old men, sharp milk, bitter honey: flee from here, brevity of life, gate of hell, enemy of chastity, poison of modesty, thief of virginity. Does it escape you, you drunken one, that grief and pleasure succeed each other in turn, but pleasure is shorter? If the argumentative bee makes combs, yet the wicked one has her sting to keep: where udder, there swelling: where honey, there gall." At last with these and longer words the three times repelling him, he put to flight the harlot. he drives the temptress away from himself: Then with the triple beast wounded by the sharp sword of the word of God, at dawn the victor fleeing went into the cloisters: where with the Brothers surrounding him, narrating in order what ruin he had escaped, how evil and dangerous it is to wander outside the cell, how best to flee the face of a woman, what disgrace to cohabit with her, as much as is possible he more plainly reveals by word and example.
[9] Moreover, it is wondrous what I think must be attached, I judge it worth hearing and consulting. Slippery sometimes is the path we run, but, as human weakness is, and our treasures are in earthen vessels: all things are full of snares; the streams are stagnant with sticky bird-lime: nowhere safe access: he who stands, let him see that he does not fall: everywhere pits, everywhere fire placed under deceitful ash, a work full of dangerous chance: death in no place ceases to rage cruelly, nor does Satan sleep, when like a roaring lion he seeks whom he may devour: the twisted Leviathan lies in wait for the innocent; creeping through hiding places, everywhere he pours out poison. To what end these so long repeated synonyms? The special reason is what follows. With the memory of the woman's repulse recurring When the devoted William, once having gone out of the cave against his custom, was somewhere engaged in the melody of psalms, the spirit of fornication was present, and so tenaciously and to the marrow impressed the memory of that woman on his mind, that neither by prayer nor by fasting nor by any scourging, for many months, could he drive her from his mind. At last the soldier, vanquished, so long besieged, surrendered. Alas grief and groaning! Whom does not the form of a woman conquer? Whom does not her aspect drive to madness? For who is stronger in fortitude than Samson? Who more excellent in wisdom than Solomon? Who ever surpassed David in sanctity? Who finally more constant than our William until now? Yet all these infatuated by the love of women, no one will deny. Behold, first having scattered the poor furniture, with bundles gathered, the wretched one fascinated by the image of the woman, maddened by the projection of her form, leaves the cave, takes the road to Polizzi, conquered he yields, and leaving the hermitage about to cure the frenzy by which he was raving. O wretched condition of men! A fragile and earthy lot! Every creature is subject to vanity against its will: his life is a warfare upon earth, a dice game, a wheel of temptations dashing against the wheel of dangers: since, as is Paul's saying, we have a law in our members fighting against the law of our mind, and taking us captive to the law of sin, so that a man does not the good he wishes, but the evil he hates. Rom. 7:23 A cruel war, where the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. An intolerable battle, where a man's enemy is his own household. An unhappy kingdom, where there are two heads, whose rule is discordant: because every kingdom divided against itself shall be desolated. O how blush-worthy is it, what I admire! how to be feared, what from afar I behold! May I not confess the truth, that seven times are changed upon a man? So with a soft hand the cedar is pulled from Lebanon; thus with a thin breath of air the palm falls in Cades: at a slight push the leafy cypress falls on Mount Zion: the strongest Samson is captured by Delila the harlot: dragged to the mill by the Philistines: with eyes put out he is made a laughingstock: at last he is conquered by the infernal actors, our poor William. William, I say, the one whom a little before neither the bodily presence of a wanton woman allured, nor her tender hand bent, nor her sweet tongue ever bent down, to permit the smallest robbery of modesty for a moment.
[10] But shall the just man, if he falls, be crushed? No indeed. For although he fall seven times a day, he shall rise: since the Lord puts his hand under him: and as he rises not crushed, terrified by the sight of demons insulting him: so rising he does not lose the name and glory of a just man. Therefore as the just William of God sets out, a pleasant and delightful place of rest smiles not far off: where soon deceived and weighed down by heavy sleep, countless troops of demons, under the shapeless forms of beasts, surround him, press upon him, leap on him: all with united forces and equal spirits, around the almost-dead man tumulting with howling, savaging with assaults, they try to devour the captured prey. The most wretched William, immediately awakened, hesitated as to what the captive soldier should do, what the nearly lifeless image should attempt: where the unhappy one should turn, he did not see; amid sharp horns, because of the sparkling eyes, amid the venomous throats, under the rapacious claws, against the trampling feet of the monsters. There was a wild madness common to all, and to mind brought to despair, a discordant barking, a distinct deformity of bodies, an equal vengeance of spirit. But what has the lamb with the bear? what the sheep with the lion? what the simple dove with the harpies? what finally the unarmed and lone youth with so many monsters of demons? One thing only in such a grave contest occurred to him, which came to his mind from on high, "That my help is from the Lord": and another, which was much in his heart, "You shall call upon me and I will hear you; I am with him in tribulation, I will deliver him and glorify him." And immediately raising his eyes to heaven: "Help me," he said, "Lord, set in such great anguish: save me O God, for the waters have come in even to my soul: I am stuck in deep mire, and a pit presses its mouth over me: I am become a prey of hell, food of death, a show and sport of demons: the satellites of darkness have surrounded me, and the butchers of the infernal regions strive to destroy my soul, which you have fashioned to your image, and redeemed by the poured-out blood of your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ, at last to enjoy the glory of the Angels, for which from eternity you created it."
[11] and returning to his cell, he does penance. These things being said, continuously, like a thin shadow, all the illusions of those monsters vanished: but William exulting in the Lord his Savior, having resumed strength, returned as quickly as he could to his little cell: where that whole day with scourges he admonished his body as if dead, so that he might thrust forth to the marrow the stings of fires by the stings of scourges: for two years moreover he so devoted himself to fasting, that he tasted nothing cooked, nor even a little of dairy.
[12] Other demons bringing him to despair Once entering a certain cave, he beheld two most foul Ethiopians inside, who had eyes sparkling, hands twisted behind their backs. One of them said to William, who was gazing more keenly: "Why are you here? most foolish of men, head worthy of all mockery. Your tears which you pour out everywhere will not help you. Does it escape you, foolish one, that God does not hear sinners? For you have drawn the lot of your inheritance with us, and will pay the penalties of your crimes in Gehenna." These things scarcely finished, the other redoubles: "Return," he says, "return, wretch, to your ancestral home, lest you bring upon yourself a bloody death in the solitude. Why have you here so boldly intruded, casting yourself into the prepared jaws of death?" Then the untiring athlete of Christ, impressing the sign of the Cross, "Make me a sign for good, by the sign of the Cross he drives them away. Lord, that those who hate me may see and be confounded." And immediately like thunder vanishing they fled from the cave.
[13] Once entering another little cave, so eager was he in meditation that he added the following day also to prayer: meanwhile so much snow fell, hungry he is miraculously helped. that when on the third day he strove to come forth, with the heap thickened on all sides, he found no opening for exit. Thence consumed with hunger, a certain traveler passing by the door, unloading his beast, kindly supplied him with bread: which gratefully received, the traveler quickly vanished.
NOTES.
CHAPTER III.
Exercise at the church of St. Mary de Partu: other churches built. Sickness: happy death.
[14] The servant of God William having dwelt for almost eleven years in the monastery of Gonato, By order of the Mother of God he leaves Gonato a matron appeared more beautiful than any beauty, and more bright than any brightness; and as he prayed she thus began: "William, rise, and go to that place which embraces the foot of Mount Mydonia, and which commonly by all the dwellers is called Fabaria. There upon your arrival, build a temple for me according to the example which you see." The follower of the Virgin rises from his tracks, and quickly leaving Gonato, began to look around where he should found the requested little church. Behold not far off, a wondrous thing to see! he beholds a most beautiful and huge hall; toward which he sees from the East an innumerable line of boys welling up, whom clothed in white stoles and distinguished with gemmed scarves, he beholds gathering through the air, and at last rejoicing enter. Delighted by such a procession of those entering, and according to the vision shown on Mydon how devoutly he began to sing, "Salve Regina." But those shining boys, having glorified there a while, ascended into the upper air. Then the hymn being said, the skillful architect of the Blessed Virgin hastens to the place: and foreseeing that it would be where he should erect a chapel to the inviolate Mother, with knees bent to the ground and hands raised to the stars, he gives thanks to God. And as he is busy in prayers, behold with the door of the twofold heaven opened, he beholds the Lord, sitting on a high and elevated throne; and the matron so often seen by him, shining forth on the right, and discovering on the left an old man venerable with whiteness and distinguished for beauty, whom from the painting he represents as like the great Anthony. Finally a voice from on high was uttered to him: "Here you shall dwell, Mydon." Whence he knew, that there he was to found a church pleasing to the Virgin: which indeed continuously, there he erects a monastery, with the illustrious and pious Alduino Count of Hieracium supplying part of the expense, he built by rule and wondrously together with several cells; and gathering there not a few Brothers in a short time, he composed his life, like a lamp placed on a mountain; being made not only the salt and light of the world, but also of the hermitage.
[15] Meanwhile he built another church, which is called S. Felix, likewise the church of S. Felix, and dedicated it to the Virgin. When he could not endure the frequent crowd of men, he decided to prepare another little cell for himself, where more remote from men he might stay; and to give up entirely the place of Partu because of the multitude of those resorting to it. Striving to accomplish this, he undertook a journey toward a mountain, called Monacus: but when he was doing the middle of the journey, he was seized with grave rupture and more grievous anguish of the bowels: whence looking back at the former place of Partu, he returned there as a sick man as he could, seeking pardon for his imprudence, with tears poured forth went to the altars of the Virgin; where prostrate, he obtained indulgence for the error together with complete restoration of health: and S. Mary of Mercy. by which gift of health he then erected another church, which he instituted to be called S. Mary of Mercy.
[16] Sometimes about to escape the cunning wiles of demons, he would climb a tall tree at twilight, where leaning on a cord of tow he passed the night. he is illustrated by divine favors. One day leaving his cell, and finding a secret place of mourning fit for meditation, he was giving himself to supercelestial contemplation. And behold unexpectedly a lofty tree was offered to his eyes, in whose leafy top he beheld three most bright thrones: in the middle two, and one fixed to the root. As he examined the mystery of this tree, a voice sent forth from the tree resounded: "In the midst between the two middle ones you shall rest." When he had heard this all that vision at once slipped from his eyes. A certain anchorite named Peter, coming from Provence, brought to the man of God a branch of sage, blooming with five green leaves: which, as he prayed, he said had been given him by a matron, of most noble face and adorned in royal dress; who had ordered him to give it to him in her name.
[17] When a great and bloody war was depopulating almost all Sicily, and much more savagely was raging near the town of Gangis, the Brothers of little faith and thinking of tomorrow, to correct the small faith of his own without the Father's will, secretly and privately laid aside ten measures of flour for the impending famine; and meanwhile with bread failing, swift to the Father they come, and importunately demand that the flour be distributed to each one: he when he sees them marked with the stain of avarice and sprinkled with the mole of propriety, accuses them of distrust; and counseling his community, rejected that this was attempted against the vow of poverty, with such testimony of faith as he could. With the Brothers resisting with all their sinews, the Father at last unwilling divided the flour brought forth, and divided gave each one a portion: but the little portion belonging to him he orders to be preserved in the vessels, to be distributed to the poor in due time. Which when a certain Brother was about to pour into vessels, he miraculously multiplies the flour. he finds all the vessels filled with flour to the top. Which miracle being seen, he called out to the Brothers, and made clear to each the provision which the Lord had prepared for them in the desert. The unbelieving Brothers therefore seeing the gifts of the Lord, repenting, gather the flour divided among each one into one, and at once pricked to the heart bring it to the Father, and humbly preserve it to be expended by his judgment.
[18] suddenly healed invoking the Blessed Virgin. Once being tortured by a certain pain in the knee and in the more secret parts of the body, prostrate before the image of the Virgin, he weeps there long, and then awakened, he rose sound before the Virgin.
[19] Once the man of God oppressed by a deep sleep, dreamed that a goat was coupling with a doe at the hour of night: astonished by the sight of such a nefarious and unequal coupling, warned in sleep he prevents a sin. he heard a voice repeating: "Out with the polluted one, out with the sorceress." Awakened by this warning, he leaps from his bed, explores the cells, finds a certain Brother, named Albert, talking with a woman. Whom when he saw, he most harshly rebuked them: then at last driving the wicked woman far from the sacred dwellings, he bound the Brother, who was to pay penalties for the crime, with the bonds of penance. Again in his sleep the Father saw one of four towers, founded on the summit of the mountain, being torn down and reduced to dust, with a voice thence sounding, "Babylon is fallen." He awakes: he searches the cells of the Brothers: he finds one of the four Brothers, living with him, departed from the Monastery.
[20] When a certain matron was in danger from childbirth, brought almost lifeless before the Father, he helps a woman in peril from childbirth, that she might help the wretched one earnestly begged, he has pity: but, saying that it was not his grace, refused to attempt a miracle. Soon overcome by the prayers of those weeping, he clings to the nearly dead one, he provokes the Virgin his Patroness with pious and humble voice, singing, "Holy Mary, succor the wretched, help the faint-hearted." To whose singing the whole and living fetus was brought forth, and returns the mother who had given birth whole with her pledge to her companions.
[21] strengthened with the last Sacraments Finally shining with these merits, Blessed William claimed the honor and glory not for himself, but for God and the Virgin Mother, becoming the more exalted and more pleasing to those above, the more despised and more humble with himself. When he saw the day of his death was now at hand, both seized with fever, and tormented by anguish of breast, he took to his bed. He orders a Priest to be summoned quickly, from whom having several times obtained indulgence of sins, at last the most sacred Viaticum of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ he receives as devoutly as he had always most faithfully believed and most humbly adored. Then when the day now pressed to the end, which he had foreseen and announced to the Brothers, namely the sixteenth day of April, kissing the wood of the Cross, with arms crossed over his breast, having confessed the Catholic faith by its articles, and commending himself to the choirs of the Saints one by one, to his Patroness and only Mother and special Lady he commended himself the more confidently in death, he dies piously in 1331. as for so many years he had diligently served her in life. Finally, with eyes fixed on heaven, in as small a voice as he could he said: "Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit": and with this said he expired in the year of the Lord one thousand three hundred thirty-one.
[22] The author's epilogue, Behold now, most beloved Brothers, we have touched the life of Blessed William with such brevity as we could. I think it remains to have it ever before the eyes of our heart, not otherwise than as a most shining mirror of heavenly doctrine, by which among other insignia of virtues, we may admire above all the excellence of humility itself, and embrace the solid foundation of the spiritual building. Then with the cunning arts of Satan exposed there, how little we should believe in ourselves and how much we should commit our hope to God and the Virgin Mother, let us confess openly. Finally, from the bright deeds of this life, as from a meadow distinct with various flowers, plucking certain flowers of virtues, let us weave for ourselves, while we live, unfading crowns. So that after fate among the lily-white lines of Angels and Virgins, among the purple roses of Martyrs, with the blooming violets of Confessors, and among the blossoming flowers of all the holy Spirits, crowned, we may forever stand by the Lamb: whom with crowns laid before his throne, the whole heavenly court adores with bent knees, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns as God through all ages of ages. Amen.
NOTES.
ANOTHER LIFE
From a proper Office, but in a more polished diction published by Octavius Cajetanus S.J.
William of Polizzi, hermit near Castelbuono, in Sicily (St.)
BY OCT. CAJETANUS.
CHAPTER I.
Birth, exercise at Gonato, conflicts with a harlot and demons.
[1] William in the town of Polizzi, to honest parents, of the Gnoffio family was born. Born at Polizzi Entering adolescence, kindled with zeal for piety, he betook himself into a certain solitude: where after he had spent four years, with the church of the Blessed Virgin repaired, he is warned by the same Virgin to retire into the hermitage of Gonato. he lives in the hermitage of Gonato, In that place he attached to himself some companions, and exercising himself in virtue, was victor of various temptations.
[2] It happened, that to the town of Petra he once went to beg. He was received in hospitality by a woman, as appeared, in the town of Petra pious, but in truth wicked and criminal. For when William had prayed much of the night, and now weary gave his body rest, lying on the bare ground; behold the woman rising from her chamber, provoked once by a woman, attacks the young man with enticements and caresses. But the servant of God said: "Cease, O unhappy woman, bound by the chains of Satan;
O you of lost mind, shameless and brazen, cease to say such things, which it is nefarious even to think." Terrified and confused by this speech, the woman drew back. Where again kindled by diabolical instigations, she armed herself with greater boldness; and in the silence of untimely night again went forward to the fight, and again he resists: she began shamelessly to touch him sleeping with her hands. When suddenly the man of God felt it: "O you expelled from heaven," he said, "pit of iniquity, root of perdition, O source and origin of destruction and black poison, why do you strive to dissipate the treasure of my Virginity? Come, sign yourself, if you can, sign yourself with the sign of the Cross, and remember your last things, since you are about to die, lest you perish." The wicked woman blushed, and hastened in flight to her couch.
[3] Then the young man, because he had conquered again, believed the fight was over, and that the insults of the enemy so often expelled would cease. a third time importunate So with trembling of mind for a little he had admitted sleep to his eyes, and a third time the woman unexpectedly sprang forth, and "Choose one," she said, "O young man, either to couple with me willingly and silently, or I will proclaim that you wanted to couple with me unwillingly." William grew hot, and with indignation turning to the woman: "Withdraw," he said, "withdraw from me most swiftly, wretched daughter of Babylon, shield of the devil, rescission of the most ancient law, overthrow of the happy state of men; for if I lose my body because of your words, the Lord will double for me the crown of purity. Why, wretched one, by evil trick did you admit me to hospitality? Away, O most unhappy of women, do not drive me further to commit such a great crime, which you will by no means accomplish; for sooner will iron melt than my mind slip to such a vile deed. Think, shameless hostess, how momentary is that which delights; how eternal is that which torments. Remember the day of the fearful judgment, by a severe speech he leads her to penance. on which day you will stand before the most severe Judge Jesus Christ, and shall neither hide nor escape at all. Beat, most wretched, your breast, and draw deeper sighs: and this, which by your shamelessness you have contracted for yourself, most foul crime, wash away by most bitter weeping: I, since I am a sinner, will strive to mitigate the divine goodness toward you. Tomorrow go to the church timely: there behold the face of your Christ: confess the sin to the Priest; then returning home, redeem it by alms." Hearing these things, the miserable woman, prostrate at William's feet, with tears asked pardon for her boldness. To her the young man: "May the Lord spare you, who created you, and grant you space for repentance."
[4] When the sky was now whitening with light, William through the opened door leaped out, and lifting his eyes to heaven, in the morning he flees, giving thanks to God: "Thanks to you," he said, "I give, Lord Jesus, that I passed the filth of this woman with an unpolluted heart: but do not permit me to be separated from you." Returned to Gonato, he announced it to his Brothers, and "Rightly," he said, "you know, and I have experienced it, the struggle of corruptible flesh is continual, but the victory of sound mind is rare: and unless the Lord had helped me, my soul would almost have dwelt in hell."
[5] Many days after, leaving his cell, he was exercising his mind with reciting psalms, as was his custom, conquered by the thought of the said woman, when suddenly the image of the woman of Petra offered itself, and so stuck in his mind, that neither by prolonged fasts nor assiduous prayers could it be torn away. But when for very many months there was no space of rest, no truce from temptations; he whom the woman herself so often attacked had not shaken, was now dejected from his state by the thought of her, and deliberates to return to the world: and selling certain utensils which it was lawful for hermits to use, he was going where blind reason dictated, and was entangling himself in the turnings of this world: but the servant was a care to his Lord.
[6] by a horrible vision he is recalled to the solitude: Weary from the way William sits for a while, and sleep seized him: through sleep he sees himself surrounded by a multitude of beasts, varied and incredible: of which part raged with tooth, part with claw, in cruel manner: he anxious, how to defend his sides, awakened; and "Help me, Lord," crying said, "and I shall be safe: for I know and am certain, that help was sent me from you when I endured the attacks of the shameless woman: now therefore again and again I pray, Lord, that I may not be like those descending into the pit: save my soul from the bites of beasts, and my only one from the mouth of the lion. And if you grant this, from this moment my foot will cleave to your ways, and I will receive you with blessings and praises as long as I live."
[7] and does penance. When he had prayed these things, the whole army of animals vanished. William returning to his cell, struck himself so severely with scourges that whole day and night, that the scourges of torture extinguished every flame of temptation: and for two whole following years he abstained from all food with such vehement fasting, that he tasted nothing cooked, nor of milk or eggs.
[8] During that time it happened, that he entered a certain cave at Gonato to pray. He sees inside two most foul Ethiopians, with flaming eyes, demons with hands tied behind them: that he might distinguish it, when he lifted his eyes, William hears from one of them: "O most vile and foolish of men, very little, or rather nothing, does your prayer help you: for your whole part remains in the infernal regions: nor shall you escape being condemned." urging to despair: He had not yet finished; "Return," takes up the other, "to the world, if you are wise and take counsel, lest you badly perish in this solitude." Terrified, the man of God began to pray: "Make a sign for me unto good, Lord, that those who hate me may see and be confounded." Then he added the sign of the Cross. with the sign of the Cross he puts them to flight: Which being done, the cave thundered terribly, and in a moment the Ethiopians were put to flight.
[9] He entered also another cave at Gonato, and when he had extended his prayer into the following day; in the morning, as he thought to go out, he found the door blocked by snows, and the entrance entirely closed off. There he was nearly tortured by long hunger, had he not come forth at the voice of a certain traveler, who leading a beast laden with bread, hungry he receives bread from one soon vanishing. when he had seen the servant of God, begged that he would accept food from him. William giving thanks, when he entered to place the bread in the cave, then returning immediately, found no one: and knew that God had been the giver. These things afterwards to his companions he himself related. In these places living for eleven years because of the little chapel of the Blessed Virgin repaired by him, he had some companions and disciples of his life, whose excellent virtues also the testimonies of miracles confirmed.
CHAPTER II.
Access to the church of St. Mary de Partu. Other churches built. Duties of hermits.
[10] But while William stays at Gonato, there appeared to him praying a woman in royal attire; who said to him: "Go to the spring of the fountain under the roots of the mount Nebrodes. There, as will be shown to you, build a church. Again by the Blessed Virgin he is ordered to migrate to another place, Eager to obey, he hastens to the place, awaits the sign. As he went this way and that not only with thought but with eyes, there seemed to be, in the place where now the little church of the Virgin is situated, a huge palace, and boys from the rising of the sun approaching him in great number, clothed in snowy stoles, adorned with various decorations and gems. William began to greet the Virgin with reverence, and as he was reciting "Salve Regina," those boys, having lingered a little in the palace, deserted it going to heaven. Then the man of God went to the place, with incredible joy heaped, where in the place the palace and other things he had foreseen; and behold, he says to himself, is the place where a church is to be built to the Virgin. And when he gave thanks to God both for what he had seen and for the area shown, lifting his eyes on high, he saw the Lord in wondrous majesty; but the woman who had before appeared to him, in the same royal ornament, and an old man venerable with whiteness, who seemed like the great Anthony, protecting the sides of the Lord. he builds the church of the Blessed Virgin of Partu. And a voice was sent to him: "Here," saying, "you shall abide." As if he said: "This is the seat so often announced to you, in which as long as you live, in the service and ministry of God you shall persevere." But when no means at all were available for founding and building the structure; the liberality of Aldoino Ventimillius, Count of Hieracium, was at hand, by whose alms aided he finishes the church, and dedicates it in honor of the divine Virgin of Partu.
[11] At S. Felix he erects another church of the Mother of God, But when the excellent man noticed, that there were not many places consecrated to God in that region, and that he sat as almost the only worker of God; far from that seat which he had recently built, he went thirty miles, and in the place which is called of S. Felix, staying for some time, built another church dedicated to the most holy Virgin, and there gathered some, who afterwards shone with sanctity of manners and merits.
[12] This done, he returned to the church de Partu: where because the people were wont to come with great frequency, and this displeased the friend of solitude; it came into his mind to found another temple in honor of the Mother of God, which should be far from commerce; but utterly to abandon the one built and shown to him by the Virgin herself. And so he was making his way to the mountain, to which the inhabitants gave the name Monacus: another on the mount Monaci of St. Mary, which was not pleasing to the divine Virgin, was thus declared. In the middle of the journey William's bowels were broken, nor was he permitted to go further. Which when he felt happened to him, with the Virgin offended, from his tracks to the place of Partu with tears he returns. Here he prostrates himself before the image of the Virgin, and asking pardon for his deed, he soon feels himself healed. The church however to the most blessed Mother, as in mind he had resolved, he built: and imposed the name of S. Mary of Mercy, because she had obtained mercy for him.
[13] in it he dwells through Lent: In this church during the whole space of the greater Lent, with the greatest abstinence, enclosed in his cell, and vexed by various temptations of demons, he persevered. Thence he made his return to the old church of Partu: the enemies however follow, and continue to infest him with terrors. To avoid their frauds, especially nocturnal, he went by night onto a lofty tree, and there, lest he fall, tied to the branches by ropes, he frequently kept vigil: by day however he so occupied his mind with prayer and other most honest cares, that no access was open to the adversaries to invade.
[14] he knows the place prepared for him by a vision: But wondrous is what happened for him to see one day. Outside his chapel, in a secret part, he was engaged in the contemplation of divine things, and there was offered to the eyes of his mind a tall tree, touching heaven with its whip. While marveling at such great height with his eyes he measures it, he sees three chairs placed at the highest summit, shining with unusual splendor: two in the middle of the tree, one only at the trunk. Therefore he was waiting, who would come to sit on them. While waiting, he heard a voice, coming forth from the tree: "In the middle between the two middle ones you shall rest." At this voice exhausted and weeping he falls; then raising his face, neither the tree nor
anything else did he see. But it moved his mind to a new desire of building still another temple in praise of the Virgin: and with material gathered for the fabric, when it appeared that by that construction harm could be done to his neighbor, he preferred to desist from the undertaken counsel, until a better opportunity should present itself, rather than charity should be diminished even a little.
[15] Having publicly preached he desists: William once ventured, out of the zeal which he felt burning within him for the salvation of souls, to speak publicly in a sermon about divine things; thinking this function permitted to him, such was his goodness of nature. But when he heard that it was permitted to none to preach to others, except those who were sent; he grieved at what he had done, and ceased. Nor on this account, he privately exhorts: if any occasion presented itself, did he let it slip from his hands, to exhort to good works privately. Often also if he found anyone whose errors he had once offended by public preaching, having said something less considerately or truly, in their presence he asked pardon from God for the error, and accused himself. "Nor," he was saying, "is it fitting for hermits to preach; for whom it is enough, if they fear the Lord, shine with charity, he explains what hermits must do. embrace the faith of Christ and his holy Church, revere her ministers, await undaunted the last day of judgment, revere the Sacraments, more often wash away their sins by confession, contemplate and weep over the passion of Christ, glory in narrow places, abstain from secular cares, not dispute about the sacred Scriptures, attend the divine offices, pursue humility, guard integrity of life, always pray, always give thanks, obtain pardon for their errors, finally, after God, deserve the most glorious Virgin by the greatest devotions of which they are capable."
NOTES.
CHAPTER III.
Flour obtained from God. Sickness. Pious death.
[16] He does not fear hell: If any, as often happens, wished for paradise for William, he himself denied to them, that hell was feared by him, with God and the Virgin aiding: although, whether he was worthy of hate or love, he doubted. He indeed said that he was unworthy of paradise, but that he might more quickly go there from death, he would gladly undergo for purgatorial torments, as long as life might be prolonged, In Easter he is terrified by a heavenly voice, the most grave forms of sicknesses and pains. The day was the most celebrated Easter, on which also, as the reckoning of the year bore, the memory of the Virgin Annunciate was celebrated. William was spending so great a day in prayer within the church, it happened, that on the same day, Frederick of Aragon was crowned King of Sicily. he foretells many things about the slaughters of Italy and Sicily: Therefore voices about him were heard from heaven by the servant of God praying: at these William shuddered, and narrated them afterwards to his Brothers. He added also as if with the spirit of prophecy many things about the devastation of Italy, especially Sicily, and the overthrow of other places. Now the war in Sicily was growing; and with the malignity of the harvest, the alms to the support of the Brothers began to fail from the nearby castle of Gangis.
[17] he accuses the brothers of hiding flour, For this reason, against William's will, the rest of the Brothers, moved by human anxiety, lay by ten measures of flour in vessels: and when once in the bread-baskets the bread had failed, they run to him, each trembling for himself, and beg that the flour be distributed individually: and he, "Why did you reserve it?" he said. "Is not charity cut thus? Would it not have been better to nourish the bodies of the needy alive, than to keep it to be corrupted and to breed worms?" But when they pressed importunately; "May the Lord have mercy," he said, "on you, Brothers, and miraculously fills the vessels. who is able to feed you all without harvest or provision." But they at last prevailed: and with portions distributed according to measure, William gives his own to one of the Brothers to be carried back to the vessels, that then it might be distributed to the poor. He went, and when he was about to pour the flour in, he found the vessels filled with flour to the very top, and, "Run," he says shouting, "Brothers, run: the Lord has supplied an abundant harvest for our necessities." They condemned with grief what they had done: and they brought back the parts in common, giving thanks to God.
[18] He is freed from sharp pain by invoking the Mother of God. Once a vehement and bitter pain had invaded William's knee, and the hidden parts of the body; which he with tears setting forth to the image of the Virgin, thus addressed her. "Heal me please, Mother of grace, if it is expedient for my soul, and I shall be healed. But if in your service I have offended even for a moment, mitigate your fury, extinguish your anger, forgive my sin, for my sins deserve and exact things more savage than those I suffer." Sleep occupies him praying and wearied with pain in that very place: awakened, he feels himself to be without any pain.
[19] Warned by a vision he prevents a sin. One night, to him sleeping within the cell, was seen through a dream a doe coupling with a goat. To him astonished at so unlike a union, a heavenly voice warned, "Out with the sorceress, out with the polluted one." He rises at this warning, and searches the cells; and finds one of the Brothers, whose name was Albert, talking with a woman: both William, pricked to the depths of his heart, rebukes according to desert, then drives the woman far off with ignominy, and the other again rebuking warns to wash out by repentance the expiation of such a grave and horrible crime. But in vain: for a few days later, in sleep again William saw, of the four towers, which were placed on the summit of the mountain, one falling, reduced to dust: but he received such a voice: "Babylon has fallen." Immediately interrupting his sleep he knew, that that Albert, who of the older ones was fourth in the company, had basely run away.
[20] Meanwhile the name of William, because of the sanctity of his life, he frees a woman in labor, was daily becoming more celebrated and more known among all. Therefore a woman was brought to him by her kinsmen, who because of difficult labor, was being tormented with such great pains, that she seemed near death. They beg him to help her with his prayers. He, because he understood himself a sinner, denied this could be accomplished by him. But moved by the perseverance of the woman's relatives, he approaches the woman, and began to recite piously: "Holy Mary, succor the wretched": and as he took up the following words, In the holy week he lies sick: "Help the faint-hearted": in the uttering of these, the woman most easily gave birth to the fetus, and raised herself whole.
[21] But the time was approaching, which the Lord had adjudged opportune for bestowing the wages of labors on his servant, he receives the last Sacraments: in which from the prison of this world to the eternal freedom and the unfading crown of glory, which he had prepared for him, he should happily invite him. Therefore in the days of the greater week (Holy Week) from tightness of chest and fever he lay down: and although from many years back the difficulty of breathing and anguishes of the chest with great spirit he had overcome; yet at that time much more grievously, as he himself was saying, demanding it his sins, on Friday after Easter he refuses better food offered: he bore it most patiently. But when he felt that his body was already to be laid down, although while he lived he confessed twice a month, and if a Confessor was available, even more often; then however he earnestly demanded that a Priest be brought to him: from whom after the confession of sins, with sorrow and groaning, having received absolution, from his hands also the most holy body of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, as the last Viaticum, he received. When on the sixth day after Easter, because of the extreme weakness of the body, a meat broth dipped in saffron was offered him; amazed at the novelty of the color, "This," he said, "Brothers, he foretells the day of death: is very strange to me: take it away please." But overcome by the exhortation of the Brothers, he dipped a little piece of bread, and brought it to his mouth; and felt the burning of sprinkled pepper by the biting of his tongue: to him asking the cause, they explained. And he: "Take it away," he said, "my Brothers, take it away: for I have never used these; on April 16 a Saturday, salt, the friend of savor, has always been the seasoning of my food. This is the sixth day, and perhaps on the ninth day from now I shall send forth my spirit to God calling me." Therefore the foods are taken away.
[22] But as the ninth day which he had designated dawned, which was the sixteenth of April and Saturday, the Brothers prepare legumes for him. To whom he: "Why these," he said, "Brothers? Do not, please, do this. he asserts that he does not fear death. Rather call a Priest, in whose presence, as if it were Christ, I, departing from this world, will enter the way of all flesh." The Priest running up, from the love with which he was borne toward the servant of God, began to weep copiously. To him he: "Friend, why do you weep? have I not lived long in the world? and I, because I am dying, having made Confession again for that reason am not afraid: but because I was younger, and have grown old, and I do not recall that I have done anything worthy in God's sight. But it is time that I commend my body to the earth." Toward the evening of that day, confession being piously finished, and absolution and pardon of all sins obtained, when he had embraced the Cross of Jesus Christ and with great humility of mind adored it, with arms crossed before his breast, that the faith he had kept in life, the same dying he might manifest, he began cheerfully to say: "To God the Father first, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and then especially to the glorious Virgin I commend my soul; next to the glorious companies of Angels, to the most faithful troops of Patriarchs and Prophets, to the distinguished triumphs of the Apostles especially of the chief Peter and Paul, he commends himself to God and the Saints: to the famous victories of the most strong Martyrs, to the brightest virtues of the pious Confessors, to the excellent prayers of the holy Doctors, to the purest choirs of the blessed Virgins, finally to the patronage and prayers of all the just I commend me a sinner; having professed faith, asserting that I hold that faith, which the holy and Roman Church holds, teaches, preaches and confesses." When he had completed this testimony of his faith and soul, again saying, "Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit," he expired in the Lord, in the year from human salvation 1321 on the 16th of the Kalends of May, which day is celebrated as his birthday and feast in Castelbuono, whose Patron he is. His relics are illustrated by many miracles daily, with our Lord Jesus Christ granting it, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns as God forever and ever.
NOTES.
ON VENERABLE JOHN OF CASTROVILLARI OF THE ORDER OF ST. FRANCIS OF OBSERVANCE.
AT COSENZA IN CALABRIA.
AROUND THE YEAR 1533
CommentaryVenerable John of Castrovillari, of the Order of St. Francis of Observance, at Cosenza in Calabria (St.)
D. P.
After in the year 1434 the most ancient convent of St. Francis, built at Cosenza at the very beginnings of the Order, passed over to Professors of more observant discipline; such distinguished sanctity flowered
there, that for the course of a whole century, with no less zeal for study than before, it bore illustrious men for this praise: Antony of Cetraro, Angelus, and Zaccheus, Cosentines, of whom this one on the 16th of February, that one on the 10th of November, the first on the 11th of April by Arturus is named in the Franciscan Martyrology: then Matthew of Cetraro the Priest, also himself counted as Blessed on the 13th of July. All these however since they did not precede by a full hundred years the constitution of Urban VIII, The veneration of the incorrupt body: and of their public veneration nothing has become known to us, they have been or will be placed among the Omitted by us, until we obtain more certain documents. We cannot however pass over in this place Blessed John of Castrovillari (a town of Hither Calabria at the source of the river Cibaris), whose body is kept with the highest veneration in the sacristy of the aforesaid Convent, on account of the enormous miracles, miracles which are produced daily at his invocation: thus on this day in his Annotations Arturus from Gonzaga, Wadding, Barezzo. The Rector of our College at Cosenza, Francis Lubellus, in the year 1666 being asked by us, to investigate the truth and quality of that veneration, responded in these words: "The venerable pledge of this Blessed Deacon is placed in a double chest, one of crystal, the other of wood, and entirely uncorrupt lies with reverence in a certain more prominent place; to which also the people of Cosenza are carried with incredible devotion, because of the relics of so great a Blessed one." The same asking the Fathers of that Convent about the miracles, which the blessed man was said to have worked and to work daily, he received no other answer, than that it was not necessary to describe them, because they were abundantly and faithfully reported by Arturus and Wadding. May God pardon men so supinely negligent, when they recount not even one miracle of him to him, nor even of others, content only with naming them: from which it appears they have not even seen those they cite: and although they might have had a few things succinctly, was it not worth the labor to have the original memorials, if any exist? Whether this day was chosen arbitrarily by Arturus, or whether is kept sacred by peculiar cult to the Convent and people, age, we have not yet ascertained: we believe however that to him who around the year 1533 is still thought to have been alive, such public veneration is not given, except with the consent of the Apostolic See, otherwise it would have been abrogated after Urban's Constitution. If we can obtain the Decrees themselves, the Processes formed, and the relations of miracles, we shall willingly give them hereafter, either in the Appendix, or in the Supplement to be constructed after the completion of the work.
April II: 17. April
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