ON BLESSED FRANCIS, OF THE ORDER OF FRIARS MINOR, OF FABRIANO IN PICENUM.
IN THE YEAR 1322.
PrefaceFrancis, of the Order of Friars Minor, of Fabriano in Picenum (Blessed)
D. P.
[1] The body of the most holy Patriarch Romuald, translated to the people of Fabriano in the year 1481, gave us occasion on February 7, to treat at length about Fabriano itself. Ancient Legends from MSS. Another illustrious honor of it now comes up to be commemorated on this April 22, namely Blessed Francis of Fabriano, resting within the church specially consecrated to his name, and both now and of old most celebrated for miracles: wherefore justly, if any other, with the highest merit he is inscribed in the Franciscan Martyrology. Of the same Luke Wadding beginning to write in his Annals in the year in which he was born 1251, enumerates writers who committed something to letters about him: and the first of them, he says, was Brother Dominic, son of Bonaventure, Fessus, and Joanna, sister of the same Blessed Francis of Fabriano: the second Brother Dominic Mariani Crissi, Bachelor in Theology (of whom I judge there to be two MS. Legends, often cited in the margin by Wadding), the third Andrea Gillius, Canon of Saint Venantius, J.U.D. Doctor of Both Laws, and Dominic Scevolinus, Theologian of the Order of Preachers, brought together many things on the affairs of Fabriano, in which he embraced the principal deeds of this holy man. But also Blessed Francis himself chronologically noted many things about the affairs of his country, among which in passing he mixed his own matters.
[2] hitherto in vain awaited. Since by so many and so illustrious monuments the illustrious virtues and notable miracles of this man had been attested; it must be imputed to the utterly intolerable negligence of the Franciscans of Fabriano, that Philip Ferrarius, after publishing the Catalogue of Saints of Italy and having passed over Blessed Francis in it, while weaving the general catalogue of those who are not in the Roman Martyrology, or about to publish some other works, no one cared to indicate the name and sanctity of Blessed Francis to him. Let them be somewhat excusable, however, if neither Ferrarius nor anyone else for him asked them: an epitome from Wadding is given in their place. how will they be able to excuse themselves before the Readers of our work, who are going to seek the aforesaid monuments? When by our Loretan Penitentiaries, Hector of Albada the Belgian, and Christopher Grinus the Englishman, accustomed to do strenuous work for us in the parts of Picenum and Umbria, long and much importuned, they have so far neglected, even in part to satisfy our most just vows for their own honor and glory: meanwhile while those ancient MSS. lie hidden in some corner, the prey of worms and moths: because, as they themselves confess and bring this as the cause of the denied transcription, they have no one who can read the character, nor yet do they wish to permit those writings to the hands of others who could read them. Perhaps there will be from their successors some more zealous one, who, having read through this most just complaint, will wipe away the stain contracted by the others, and whatever has been indicated above from Wadding, will transmit for the future supplement of the work: now, while no other is permitted, we give the life collected from Wadding.
[3] Moreover there is no reason why we should regret the labor, spent in vain among the Franciscans of Fabriano: for by this occasion the Most Reverend Lord Silvester Jenantius, The Life of Blessed John of Baculum to be kept for the supplement of March. Abbot General of the Silvestrines, being stirred, sent us the Life of Blessed John of Baculum, copied from the original parchments, together with other documents pertaining to the elevation and cult. Which since they pertain to March 24 already published, and must be kept for the Supplement, not to be finished except after many years of work, it was fitting in this place, where we complain of the slowness of others, to render due thanks to his promptness; and to him who interposed his authority for us with a Prelate most friendly to him, the Most Illustrious and Reverend Lord Antioch Honofrius, Patrician of Osimo, Roman Citizen, J.U.D., Apostolic Protonotary, Canon Dean of the holy Church of Osimo, and Vicar of the sacred Papal Lateran Basilica in the Province of Picenum, once our most loving host. Thanks also are to be given to them, because for those ancient acts of Blessed Francis they still continue to knock. For when the preceding had so far been under the press, letters opportunely arrived from Loreto, by which it is signified, by the repeated efforts of the aforesaid General, and with express orders from the Franciscan Provincial himself, the stubbornness of the Guardian seemed to be breaking; and so it could happen, that the monuments which we desire might be brought to us, to be appended at the end of the volume; meanwhile the Guardian, lest he should seem to deny everything, is sending an Italian account of the Life and miracles of the Blessed man: whose whole substance nearly, since it is contained in the Annals of Wadding, nay is recently excerpted from them; it appears that the good Father is more ignorant of the plan of our work, than denying help.
LIFE
From Volume II and III of the Franciscan Annals.
Francis, of the Order of Friars Minor, of Fabriano in Picenum (Blessed)
BY WADDING
CHAPTER I.
Divinely called to Religion, in it Francis makes excellent progress.
[1] Born of most pious parents, In the year 1251 on September 2 was born Blessed Francis of Fabriano, surnamed "della Libra," of honest and pious parents, Compagno de Venimbene, a physician, and Margaret, of Fabriano. Those who have written about Blessed Francis greatly praise their life, for their charity toward their neighbors, for their piety toward the poor, for their frequenting of the sacred mysteries, for their vigils and penances, for their sanctity. Truly a good tree produced a good fruit: whose future sanctity soon had its beginning from his tender infancy; and clearly, but miraculously, was indicated within the very cloisters of nature. For neither did the pious mother feel the weight of her womb; from the womb he gives presages of sanctity: nor did the fetus, growing with silent increases, bring the pains or troubles familiar to pregnant women: by which it was designated, that he would be a burden to no one, troublesome to no one. When his mother was about to go to the church to pray, it seemed to her that she had felt the little infant rejoicing, showing himself placid and sweet to her lingering in the church itself, but somewhat heavier as she was withdrawing; as if at the very beginning of life he would show how assiduous vigils he was to hold in the church.
[2] Brought forth from the womb into the light, he sent forth not tears, but laughter: he did not weep in the manner of other children, but in a singular way rejoiced; as one who, the servitude of the defiled race and the chains of sin being soon cast off, he is born seeing: was to be reborn to the dignity of grace and Christian liberty. Or was it not for this reason perhaps, coming into the world, that he laughed; because whatever was in the world he mocked, and folly
he foresaw was in it? His boyhood and adolescence were not unlike his wondrous birth and infancy: which he passed placidly, modestly, and piously, learning the humane letters fully before his tenth year, diligently intent on sacred matters. He is predicted to his mother as a future Minorite: The boy being ill unto death, his mother vowed that she would bring him to visit the tomb of Saint Francis: while she was doing this a, Blessed b Angelo Tancredi, once a familiar companion of Saint Francis, met her; who, after narrating to Margaret very many wonderful works of the same holy Founder, attentively contemplating the noble look of the little boy, asserted confidently that he would be his fellow-associate: which nothing more pleasant could be told to the genetrix, who with her husband cared for nothing so much, as that the young boy, nourished according to the laws of God, should be bound to the service of God: to this all efforts, to this the frequent and repeated prayers of the mother tended, until she saw in work completed what the Angel had predicted.
[3] This happened in the year 1267, when admonished by a heavenly oracle Blessed Francis took up the life of the Friars Minor. For when alone in his room he was seriously studying the lessons of natural philosophy received from his master; this voice was made to him on the 3rd day before the Kalends of September: "Francis, arise, seek Brother Gratia c of the Order of Friars Minor: and whatever he shall prescribe for you, do it at once." Looking around, whether there was anyone there who was uttering these words, to which he is divinely called, he saw no one: but as he again was intent on his studies, for the second and third time the same heavenly voice itself thundered. Prudently he judged that one should not kick against the goad, but should obey divine admonitions: wherefore he at once went to the aforesaid Gratia, then Guardian of the Friars Minor, to whom he sincerely opened the whole matter, and narrated the whole series of his life. That man, forewarned from heaven of the coming young man, kindly received him: he exhorted him diligently to serve God under the institute of the Minorites; and piously counseled him to run alertly in the service of God the way of his commandments. Following exactly the counsels of his instructor, divinely appointed for him, he bade farewell to his parents, being initiated by the Provincial Minister Brother Monaldus of Saint Elpidius: and being admitted, he himself left it written thus in his Chronicles of Fabriano under these words: "In the year of the Lord 1267 I Brother Francis came to the Order, received by Brother Monaldus of Saint Elpidius, by the virtue and efficacy of the prayer of my mother, by the merits of my mother, and by the insistence of the prayers of the same."
[4] he excels in progress, He had as masters in his novitiate Brother Gratia himself and Raynerius, the old d Plebanus, a disciple of Saint Francis. He also learned many increments of virtue at the very beginning from Saint Silvester e of Osimo, primicerius of the Silvestrine congregation so called from his name, then among the people of Fabriano celebrated for sanctity, who in this very year exchanged earth for heaven. In the year of his novitiate he was sent to Assisi to gain the celebrated Indulgence of the Portiuncula: where he had a familiar conversation with Blessed Leo, f companion, confessor, and secretary of Saint Francis, about the stigmata of the same holy man and the manner of this Indulgence being obtained: of which he himself gives testimony in a little book written by himself, g "On the truth and excellence of this sacred Indulgence." Afterwards having professed this life and institute, he was assigned by the Superiors to the studies of sacred Theology: in which he so wonderfully profited, also in letters. that he became a famous preacher, very profitable for souls, and for that reason commended by our writers. Pisanus thus praises him: "The Custody of Iesi has the place of Fabriano, in which lies the devout preacher Francis, famous for miracles." And Mark of Lisbon calls him a most learned man and a great preacher.
[5] He collects an abundance of books: Beyond piety and prayer, he also applied himself to the study of humane and divine letters, to unfold mysteries, to explain things learnedly and deeply. Nor was his heap of books small; indeed among the monuments which remained at his death, h and are preserved among the Franciscans of Fabriano, there is also a little index of the books which he caused to be bought with the money bequeathed by his father in his last will for this purpose. He had the more serious ones from the holy Fathers, all the first and more known Masters of Theology, expositors of both Testaments, several philosophers and mathematicians, and the best preachers of his age. i … Beyond his sermons, by teaching and lecturing, he was a splendor to his institute and to his native city. He prays more earnestly for the dead: He attained all virtues by continuous effort, and in the ministry of the Altar he spent great devotion and care. When on a certain occasion he was celebrating a Mass for the dead more affectionately, and was vehemently sympathizing with the souls suffering hard torments, and at the end was closing the sacred mystery with that little prayer, "May they rest in peace"; the voice of many was heard alertly answering, "Amen": whom we may judge to be either angels ministering to the one sacrificing, or souls freed by the prayers of the holy man from the prison of purgatory.
[6] By his notable example of virtues he drew to his fellowship two nephews, He brings three nephews to the Order: Antonius and Dominic, the sons of Bonaventure de Festo and of Joanna his sister: a third Petruccius, son of Frederic his brother. They imitated the footsteps of their uncle, living holily and humbly in the Order: Dominic more celebrated than the rest, indeed who is commonly numbered among the writers of the Order. Moreover, with the reputation and reverence of Blessed Francis growing daily, the townsmen, having taken counsel and with the matter being furthered by Lord Mazzocchi, a noble Pisan, then Podestà of the town, decided now k for the second time to transfer the church of the Minorites to a more capacious and suitable place, next to the forum and the public palace, He receives a new Convent: and from the public treasury they paid in the year 1282 on May 20, to Tursellus, son of the late Bonacursus de Rembaldo, one thousand liras of the old Ravennese coin, for a certain house, tower, and garden adjoining; the same Tursellus remitting, "for the love," he says, "of Saint Francis and his Brothers," another thousand liras, to which the price was estimated to have risen. On the next following Sunday, with a numerous procession instituted, the Brothers were led to those buildings, and with the solemn sacred rites sung in the adjoining chapel, Blessed Francis preached to the surrounding people, and gave thanks for such a great benefit.
[7] He stocks a library: His father having died, the means left to his discretion he piously distributed to the poor: for whom he took care to have food bought daily: he himself prepared it in the kitchen, and with his own hands distributed it to a huge multitude. He stocked the library with books, saying that it was the best workshop of the whole house; in which idleness, the enemy of the mind, was repelled by honest and useful exercise; and arms were ready at hand against the insults of heretics, and a storehouse was at hand, from which could be drawn salutary documents for instructing the peoples. He lives austerely. He forbade himself not only the taste, but even the use of food and drink altogether, only once a day admitting bread diluted with cold water; sometimes for the consolation of the poor whom he served, eating with them. With a single and that rough and hairy tunic, not unlike a hair-shirt, he covered his flesh. On a hard bed he slept a few hours, the rest being consumed in divine praise and contemplation. With most frequent scourgings he inflicted punishment on himself: besides the three in each week according to the custom of his institute, he took other secret disciplines even to the shedding of blood. So severely did he deal with himself, and so with blows he scourged his body, that he surpassed the common faith of men, and a certain companion of his, Brother Nicholas of Roccacontrada, doubted what was narrated about these things. But when he made an experiment, secretly hiding himself in a corner, Francis was delayed longer in taking the blows, than he could be in counting or hearing them.
ANNOTATIONS.
CHAPTER II.
Miracles which Francis living performed: his pious death.
[8] To helping his neighbors he gave himself entirely, especially in those things which pertained to the progress of the soul, Intent on works of both mercies, drawing all by example, exhorting by word, instructing in various ways: untiring in the pulpit, assiduous in hearing sacred confessions; with indescribable ardor leading back the erring sheep to the true shepherd: nor did he pass over anything arduous or laborious, which could conduce to the salvation of souls. He also exercised the corporal works of mercy with the highest charity: especially he willingly visited the sick, to move them to true penance; and he friendly assisted the dying, that he might send them ahead to glory. This charity and holy assistance of his, God commended with many miracles. For an honest woman, he heals a mute, by name Nuta, who was ill and had become mute for eight days, when he deigned to come by his presence, and placed his hand upon her mouth, suddenly the bond of her tongue was loosed, and she entirely recovered. Another, named Divitia, from the villa of Mascani a of the district of Fabriano, burdened by many evils, especially the disease of a certain dangerous tumor, asked that Blessed Francis would come to see her. He came: a dangerous tumor, but at his very entrance the sick woman felt such a wonderful and sweet odor, that beyond measure
she was refreshed. He absolved her confessing her guilt, and by the imposition of hands freed her from all infirmity.
[9] The wife of Cassidonius of Fabriano, laboring with a foul and dangerous abscess, a foul abscess, ordered physicians to be called from the nearby cities of Perugia and Gubbio; who together with those of Fabriano said that the evil was now incurable, and returning to their own places, admonished her to set her affairs in order, because she would soon die. But she, seeing that human remedies had failed, turned to divine, and sent someone to summon Blessed Francis. Before he had spoken, he anticipated the messenger, saying that he knew very well in what state his mistress was laboring, and that he had therefore been sent to summon him: and added: "Return home, and tell your mistress to be of good cheer, because from this disease she will not die. Go before: I shall follow immediately." Without any delay he went: and to her rejoicing at the good news, with his hands placed in the form of the Cross, he signed her on the head: and immediately the ulcer burst open, and she, rejoicing, leapt from her bed.
[10] paralysis, A young man suffering on one side, lacking motion and feeling of his members, he suddenly healed with the sign of the Cross. When he withdrew, his parents, with a great people accompanying and glorifying God, led him to the church of Saint Francis, to give thanks to God and Brother Francis the author of health. But he fled farther off, and did not wish for many days to come forth in public, fleeing popular favor, and ascribing the miracle to God the author of all good things. scrofulas, Mita, daughter of Gilliolus Benevenistus of Fabriano, brought to the same her little son, who was ill in the throat, his neck swelling with scrofula and glands: whom, while he blessed and touched the injured part with his fingers, the swelling receded, and within three days was restored to entire health. Conradutius of Conradus of Fabriano presented to him his three-year-old son, by name Georgius, a hernia, suffering from a hernia, in his mother's arms. The man of God, with his eyes raised to heaven, prayed, groaned, signed with the Cross, and sent him away healed. Likewise another boy, affected with the same evil, by name Thomasuccius, by the sign of the Crucifix, taken from the altar and placed on the boy, blessed, he restored unharmed to his mother.
[11] The wife of the aforesaid Conradutius, Salvitia, having borne a daughter Oradia, and a trembling of the head, suffering from continuous trembling of the head, was greatly grieving. She summoned from everywhere whom she could, experts of the medical art, and profited nothing. At length she ran back to the piety of the kindly Father, three months before he departed from this life, and prayed that he would strengthen the wretchedly trembling neck. He prayed a little, and with the sign of the Cross drawn over the head, made her healed. Marcutius the son of Marcatutius took Nuta as wife, whom after some months he began to hate, and was thinking to repudiate. She went to the holy man, expressed her grief, declared the wretched state in which she would remain, rejected by her husband, and with the highest prayers asked that he would interpose his prayers with God, He predicts the restoration of the husband's love. lest she be deprived of the fellowship of her husband. He hesitated a little, with his eyes raised to heaven; which being modestly lowered, he gently consoled the mourning woman, and bade her to be of good cheer, predicting that two months hence a beautiful little boy would be born from her, by whose sight and love the eyes of the father would be so captured, that he would afterwards love his bride with intense affection. So it happened; she bore a beautiful infant, the pledge of mutual love: through whom the father's mind was so changed, that from that time on he followed his wife with due love.
[12] He imposes silence on the swallows: Assiduous in prayer, he was borne with the most intense affection toward God, and contemplated the Passion of Christ with wonderful sweetness; sometimes giving immense thanks, because of the immense benefits which came from it to the Christian people; sometimes with supreme tenderness weeping together, because of the pains of Christ, and the unworthy causes of so many punishments, the sins of ungrateful men. But when once he was meditating these things in the church, the swallows with their much chattering disturbed the quiet of his mind: he ordered them to fly away, and no longer to enter the church or that house: obedient to the command, as rational creatures, they immediately departed, nor did they return through the whole year.
[13] a scorpion drunk from the sacred cup, When on a certain occasion he was performing the divine sacrifice in the church of Saint Francis of Fabriano, and intended to take the Blood; behold he sees a scorpion fallen from elsewhere in the cup. He hesitates a little, considering what to do. He could, according to the rules prescribed in these dangers, have averted the evil: but when he remembered the doctrine of Christ and the faith given to the disciples in those words, "If they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them"; without fear and horror he swallowed the little creature. Mark 16:18 Having completed the sacrifice, he ordered one to be called to him who would cut a vein, a messenger being sent to Andreas of Andreutius Vanni. He came, by name Angelus, and found him in the choir praying and uttering those words, "My help is from the Lord, with a vein opened, he brings it out alive: who made heaven and earth." Withdrawing to his cell, he opened the vein of his right arm, from which marvelously the scorpion came forth alive, without any pain to the holy man. Thus those who care for divine honor are delivered from all dangers: and those who honor what is of God in themselves, being made so by God, shall be honored by God.
[14] He frees a possessed woman: He had no less power over the aerial spirits and the rulers of these darknesses, who torment human bodies, than over the infirm and languid. For a possessed woman, oppressed for ten years, brought from Sassoferrato c to Fabriano, that he might sign her with the Cross, after some days in which he declined to do it, judging himself unworthy one whom the spirits would obey, he consecrated and healed with the sign of the Cross, the malign spirit immediately withdrawing at his command. A stranger to all pomp, pride, and ambition, he shrank from all dignities both within and outside his Order, nor could he be induced because of these to lay down the ministry of preaching the divine word. Made Guardian, It was necessary however to obey his Superiors, in taking up the care of the monastery of his native land, and to act as Custos or Guardian of Fabriano for an entire four years. In which time, beyond the material increase of the house, he performed many offices of a good Superior toward the Religious; giving examples in all things of piety, gentleness, humility, and patience, and renewing the institutions of regular discipline.
[15] In the last year of his Prefecture, which was reckoned the year 1319 of Christian salvation, He receives at Fabriano the Provincial Chapter: he wished the provincial assembly to be celebrated in his own house: for which he abundantly provided in all things, and with the highest affection of charity received those tired from the journey, the old, the languid, or the sick, into hospitality. To his piety and charity were not lacking power and counsel: and the people of Fabriano and the Superiors of other Religious Orders provided him with very many supports, and distributed the most lavish alms. and is chosen Visitor: The Capitular Fathers also, about to give a reward for his labors and industry, established him Visitor of the whole Province: which care he refused to accept, humbly asking the Superiors to confer it on another more worthy, saying that he did not know how he would dare to visit others, who had not first exercised the office of visitation upon himself.
[16] With the end of his pilgrimage approaching, when it pleased the Most High to call his servant to the heavenly country, seized by a slow fever, laid low with a final illness, he lay for some days weighed down with infirmity. All the best nobles, of ecclesiastical and secular state, daily surrounded his little bed, hearing from him admonitions of salvation, grieving that the best master was being snatched from them. There came also the day before he died a young man, named Thomasuccius, who, falling on his knees and kissing his hand, with tears poured forth asked that he would free him from a hidden disease, which he was suffering for some years, by his prayers. Pitying the young man, with his eyes raised to heaven, he prayed a little, he heals a young man from a hidden disease: soon blessed him with the sign of the Cross, and suddenly freed him from all evil. O blessed soul, which, as it hastens to the contest, does good to others; and in the agony of death, repels the diseases of others! That most peaceful soul was caring not so much for his own affairs as for those of others, foreknowing the future passage and the coming glory: for there was found in the holy man's cell a little parchment, in which he had described the revelation made to him some years before, on what day and hour he was to pass from this world to the Father.
[17] The body of the dead man exposed for three days, Therefore with the day April 22 coming, in the year 1322, he peacefully fell asleep in the Lord, being of his age 71 years, 7 months, 20 days, of life passed in Religion 55, with the Brothers and people weeping together. It was necessary for three days to expose the body to the touch and veneration of the faithful, d at which time he performed many miracles, signed by the testimony of public Notaries. After the three days the holy body, his birthday is festively celebrated. seasoned with spices, was buried in the hollow of the wall of the choir, on that side which inclines to the piazza: whence after seventeen years, entire and unharmed, it was translated to an honorable tomb, built in the middle of the church. The people of Fabriano festively celebrate his birthday, and hold his tomb in the highest veneration: to which from many cities people run together, to beseech the holy man in their necessities. The Bishops of Camerino, in whose diocese Fabriano is situated, e granted many Indulgences to those visiting his body, which is still entire and unharmed. His images, as of a holy man, are carried everywhere and held in reverence. The University of Fabriano at his birthdays offers various gifts according to custom, because of many benefits received from God through his merits. f
ANNOTATIONS.
CHAPTER III.
Miracles after death and various translations of the body.
[18] Thus far we have said the things which pertain to the life of Blessed Francis, or which he effected while living: now let me add the wonders which the Lord worked after his death, on account of his merits. Dead, he grips a rosary applied to him, While he was lying for those three days on the bier, a pious woman came, to venerate the holy body, and, as is customary, to touch it with her rosary: she lifted the extremity of the rosary clinging to her belt, and placed it upon the hand of the holy man. He took it and grasped her hand, while the woman, gazing at his face, was praying: when she wished to withdraw, she felt herself held, the rosary being seized by the holy man; and suddenly she cried out, with womanly fear becoming afraid at the motion or feeling of the dead man. A frequent multitude of people run up, and saw the palm contracted and the rosary firmly held: he heals a contracted man, which, when she, after some prayers, devoutly asked to be released, with the hand opened he returned it, all amazed at the wondrous motion of the dead corpse: by which he wished to signify and his wife, that the cult of his servants is grateful to God. At the same time Augustinus Aegidius from the region of Saint Venantius came to the bier, suffering for a long time from a contracted arm: and having kissed the hand of the holy man, he moved it to the injured part. At the touch he at once recovered, leapt out, and returned home rejoicing; he told his wife, by name Neta, who had been lying in bed for ten years from a grave infirmity: with the hope of obtaining health she had herself carried into the church, where after many prayers at length she obtained to be admitted to the bier, with much people pressing. Having kissed the hand of the holy man, she returned home: where a little after, with a sudden motion, she rose upright in body, with health restored.
[19] On the very same day on which he died, Joanna of Chiozzano of the county a of Nocera, he frees a possessed woman, possessed by malign spirits for an entire seven years, running with the rest to the church of Saint Francis and touching the body, was perfectly and suddenly freed. Another, the following night, while the Brothers were ringing for Matins, miraculously, after many pains and torments inflicted by malign spirits, came forth unharmed: one of the demons crying out that he was being driven away by Brother Francis, and that he was no longer permitted to return to that lodging. The woman showed herself grateful for such a benefit, for eighteen years continuously visiting the tomb of the holy man, and feeding the lamp hung up with oil. Clarella Circuli, of Assisi, he restores an arm put into boiling water. who was then staying at Fabriano, while she was washing clothes and a little infant was lying near; he put his little arm into a pot of boiling water. The tender flesh being scalded, the mother, seeing the peril of his life or of the arm being amputated was imminent, made a vow that she would visit the tomb of the holy man, and offer a waxen arm. She put him back in his little bed, weeping, and gnashing at the pains; but being overcome by a serene sleep, while a little later she takes him into her arms, she sees him healthy and unharmed, with no trace of the scalding left.
[20] Dica, wife of Palamides of Conerzato, brought her daughter Bisonosa, he heals a foul abscess, deformed in face by an abscess, to the bier of the holy man: having venerated the body, she poured forth prayers, that her daughter might be freed from that ugly evil, promising that she would give a waxen effigy, and for two years would distribute some measures of wheat to the Brothers of that monastery. She returned home, certainly hoping she would obtain what she asked: and so it happened, that when the daughter on the following day rose from her bed, she appeared entirely beautiful and comely. an ill-affected arm, Cecilia Frontonis, of the county of Cagli, for some months suffering in her left arm, so that it could not be moved; praying at the tomb of the holy man, was suddenly made well. Laetitia Petri of Ceneto, having suffered great pains for a year from a peg accidentally inserted into her ear, which could in no way be extracted; commended herself to the merits of the holy man at his tomb: and the next day, awakened, she found upon her pillow the wood rotting and bloody, with all pain taken away and cast far off.
[21] eyes overlaid with scales, Marcutius, son of Guilielmus of Iesi, with a cloud covering his eyes seeing nothing, was offered by his parents to the piety of the holy man, a vow being made of visiting the tomb and offering a waxen image: a little after scales fell from his eyes, a scrofulous throat, and he saw perfectly; and he came to Fabriano with his parents, to fulfill the vow. Similarly cured was John, son of Florutia of the county of Fabriano, with the sight of one eye restored, whose sight he had been grieving over. The son of Joanna, of Conradutius of Ronaldo, suffering from a tight throat and abscess, he healed: whom thereafter, in memory of his benefactor, they called Francis. Philippuccia, daughter of Bonaventura Pomi, weak in legs and feet, so that she could in no way fix her steps, weak feet: at the bier, on which the body was lying, together with her parent Padovesa keeping watch, he so strengthened, that with no one helping she joyfully returned home.
[22] He frees one about to be killed by enemies: Milutius son of Guillelmutius, from Rupe-Fabri of the county of Assisi, fell into the hands of enemies in the territory of Nocera; whom he manfully resisted, until all his companions, leaving him alone, fled. He alone could not sustain the assault of all, but with thirteen wounds received had to succumb. But lest he altogether perish, or come into the power of the enemies, he most earnestly commended himself to the merits of Blessed Francis, and promised to visit his tomb, and to complete the journey with bare feet, and to offer a waxen effigy. Wondrous thing! At once, as he vowed, the enemies laid down their arms, bound his wounds, and with much blood shed carried the languishing man home on their shoulders; nor did they depart, until with the help of the physicians applied he began to feel better. He at length recovered, and fulfilled his vow.
[23] He punishes one detracting from his miracles, In the same year in which the man of God died, John Gutius Bonagara of Fabriano, while he was lying sick in bed, asked his wife to obtain from the Brothers some particle of the tunic of Blessed Francis: she obtained it and placed it on her languishing husband, yet he did not recover, but died from a malign fever. When the feast day of the holy man returned, she went with the rest of the people to the church of the Minorites, where while the others were venerating his tomb, she stood afar off and said that she had experienced nothing because of which she would judge him to have been a Saint. Returning home she began to do servile work, without any observance of the festive day: but suddenly she bore punishment. She fell to the earth as if dead, without any motion or feeling, he heals a penitent: her color changed and face disfigured: yet she understood and felt the straits, and judged that they had been given as punishment for her unbelief. She therefore prayed to the man of God that he would forgive, and vowed that in perpetuity she would festively celebrate his birthday, and give other services in his honor, if he would remit the inflicted penalty. He did, and she fulfilled what she had promised. Under the same time a young man of Fabriano, for many years suffering from a hernia, in the sight of all praying at the tomb, likewise one with a hernia, and displaying the shameful mass, he healed. And Lucia, daughter of Philip Bartolus of Cerqueto, twelve years old, and a lame man, for seven years foully limping, he cured; while she at his tomb swore, that she would celebrate his birthday, and on the vigil would eat only bread and water.
[24] and two dying infants. In the year 1335, on June 1, the following miracle was solemnly examined, approved, and recorded by a public Notary. Francis, son of Agnesuccia Nicolai, was sick unto death, not eating or drinking for three days. Joanna Bartolina, friend and neighbor of the mother, went to the tomb of the holy man: she prayed for the sick one, and promised that the mother would offer a waxen effigy to the measure of the little boy. Having returned home, she told what she had done: the mother approved the deed, confirmed the vow. They approached the bed, they roused the little infant, languishing in the sleep of death; who immediately took food, and a little after entirely recovered. By a similar event was cured the little infant, son of Mita and Ragutius of Apiro, who would admit no food or drink.
[25] In the year 1339 the body is translated: In the year 1339, on April 12, on which day his birthday recurs, from marble stones excellently cut from Assisi and beautiful columns, bought with the common expense of the people of Fabriano, in the seventeenth year from his death, with a magnificent mausoleum prepared in the middle of the church wall, they translated the body of the most holy man from the first tomb, built in the choir (as we have said), and placed it in a marble ark, surrounded by columns and iron grating, adorned with varied and noble work. At the translation were present many Prelates, noblemen, and a huge multitude of men: to whom the sacred pledge was displayed, entirely whole and unharmed. Then also, to commend the sanctity of that best man, the Lord worked miracles, whose memory is lost: through which his fame was more spread abroad.
[26] A pestilential abscess is healed, After this Translation, Bartolina of Bologna, wife of Aldobrandi of Fabriano, with a grave fever and pestilential abscess of the throat brought to the last limit of life, lost her speech. On the vigil of the feast day of Blessed Francis, while for the Vespers to be solemnly sung the bells were ringing in the church of the Minorites, the women surrounding her bed with a loud voice called Bartolina, and said that it was the vigil of Blessed Francis, glorious in miracles: that the bells were now being rung for Vespers, and that it was an opportune time to commend her life and straits to him. She perceived those admonishing, and from her heart asked the man of God to plead her cause in heaven. In the first watch of the night he appeared to her all glorious, and ordered her to open her mouth: and with the Cross which he was carrying in his hand being placed in, the abscess burst forth. She spit out pus and putrid blood, and with a great shout called her household, saying that Blessed Francis had appeared to her and perfectly healed her. They judged that she had been made frantic, and that the shouts had been of an insane woman: but in fact they found that she had escaped free from the perilous disease and from the jaws of death by the merits of the holy man.
[27] the royal disease (scrofula), Ludovicus, son of Cissus Salutius of Fabriano and Lionora, was suffering from the royal disease for one year, eight months: nor by any aid of physicians did he deserve to be cured: but with mother and son praying at the tomb of the holy man, a wound in the eye, he was restored to entire health. A certain man, hurt by an unexpected blow on the eye, with much blood flowing, commended himself to the merits of the holy man: and immediately felt himself gently touched by a hand, and every evil driven away. the curvature of the back, A poor woman brought her little son, broken and bent in the back, to the tomb: and soon led him back home upright and whole. Divitia, daughter of Marcus, from the villa of Mascani, prayed for a friend sick unto death, a dying man. and with a vow made at the tomb of the holy man, returning home found him healed. Bartolus of Ferrus of Fabriano, with his throat rotting from three ulcers, ulcerated throat, in vain with very much care of physicians applied, at length at the tomb of the holy man recovered. Nutia, wife of Marcutius, fallen from a high mulberry tree, with her whole body broken, was in the judgment of the physicians greatly endangered. She prayed to Blessed Francis that he would bring help, crushed by a grave fall: promising
many things for the worship and honor of the holy man. She fell asleep a little after, and saw him standing before her, holding a flask of oil in his hand, untying the bandages in which she was wrapped, and anointing the injured parts: she then heard him saying, that she should rise from her bed, and taking the staff which he himself held out, walk around the chamber. So she seemed to herself to have done: and truly she did. For on waking she found that she was not lying sick in bed; but standing in her chamber and holding the staff, perfectly recovered.
[28] A captive is freed, promising amendment: Francis, son of Anselm, a young man of unrestrained life, because of various crimes often cast into chains, at length bound in a rigorous prison and with iron fetters, abandoned by parents and friends, vowed to God and to Blessed Francis that he would change his life for the better, and venerate the tomb of the holy man, honor it with gifts, and hang up the chains with which he was held, if he might be freed from that prison. Wondrous thing! As he said, the door being unlocked, the way was opened to the outer area. Here he saw another gate still remained: but his bonds being loosed, he again commended himself to Blessed Francis: then with the least trouble he escaped over the walls, soon visited the tomb, and made his manners better.
[29] For the greater commendation and honor of this holy man, the people of Fabriano took care to have consecrated the church of the Friars Minor, in which his sacred remains are preserved. The church is dedicated under the name of Blessed Francis, And so in the year 1398, on the Lord's day before the Nativity of blessed John the Baptist, the church was solemnly consecrated, with an innumerable multitude of men running together, and the Brothers of the whole Marche coming together for the provincial assembly; by three Bishops, John of Offida, Prelate of Nicopolis taken from the Order of Friars Minor; Benedict, from the Order of Hermits of Saint Augustine, b of Ascoli; and… the Bishop c of Saint Natariae. Ample Indulgences for this solemnity gave Nuccius d Bishop of Camerino, the local diocesan, on set days on which the faithful should gain them, with these words added at the end: "These Indulgences, recently granted by our authority, we wish to be posted on the tomb of Blessed Francis of Fabriano, Indulgences are granted: especially to be valid from Septuagesima to the Octave of Easter every year."
[30] Many provincial assemblies were celebrated in this church, because of the greater reverence for the holy body lying there. The University and people of Fabriano, he is invoked in a famine, with a solemn supplication announced, ran back to his tomb, in a certain supreme famine and dearness of grain of all Italy; and bound themselves by a solemn vow for twelve years, on his birthday, to lead a procession of the whole people there and offer gifts. This is peculiar, that on the festivity of this holy man, mothers carry their little infants in the sight of the tomb, that by his merits and the great power which he showed over demons while living, infants are brought to his tomb. they may be freed that year from the incursions and snares of Satan, which he is wont to prepare at that little age. In great veneration is held the hood of the holy man, which they bring to the sick, to those laboring in childbirth, and those oppressed with various calamities, not without the gain of heavenly benefit. With daily favors more bound, the people of Fabriano decreed to build him a notable chapel, and did: The body is translated in the year 1614. into which the Most Reverend Father James Bagna-caballensis, General Master of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual, to whom this convent pertains, wished the body to be translated, while in the year 1614 he was exercising there the office of visitation: and he wished there to be three keys to the ark in which the sacred pledge would be deposited, of which the first the Guardian would hold, the second the Syndic of the convent, the third the Magistrate of Fabriano. Blessed Francis wrote, among other little works, a little treatise "On the office and dignity of the Prelate and Evangelical Priest," which stands in manuscript in the library of Saint Isidore. e