ON BL. HELEN WIDOW, OF THE THIRD ORDER OF THE HERMITS OF ST. AUGUSTINE, AT UDINE IN THE DUCHY OF FRIULI.
IN THE YEAR 1458,
PrefaceHelen, of the third Order of the Hermits of Augustine, at Udine in the Duchy of Friuli (Blessed)
D. P.
[1] After Berthold, Patriarch of Aquileia, established his See for himself and his successors at Udine, about the middle of the 13th century; and Raymond, succeeding Berthold after Gregory, collected Italian nobility, driven from the principal cities by popular factions, at the same place; the place grew, not only in resources, frequentation, and glory, but also in the sanctity of religious institutes: of which the Franciscan Order, in the 14th century, had Bl. Odoricus of Pordenone, commemorated on January 14; the Augustinian however, in the following century, had Bl. Helen the widow, whose Life must now be explained by us. She was written about, in a pious and simple style, by the very one to whom the Blessed died, in the year 1458, Br. Simon the Roman, of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, Reader of Sacred Theology, called from Padua to explain her praises in a sermon. That he wrote in Latin is indicated by John Baptist Sartorius, Canon of Udine, when he prefaces that the ancient Italian version is rougher, Life I written in the same year in which she died, than it would be pleasing to this age, refined; and so he says he adorned it in a somewhat tighter style, in 1632, which he dedicated to Eleonora Lauredana, married to the Imperial Lieutenant. This new version is ended, with the promise of a fuller little book, to be published for the greater consolation of pious souls, about the miracles done before and after the death of the Blessed, and with an exhortatory epilogue to the people of Udine, that they may frequently and devoutly venerate the sepulcher, in which her body lies, and likewise unto gratitude to be rendered to God for such a citizen and patroness.
[2] here it is given from the old Italian, We made efforts to obtain the original Latin text through our Fathers in the Gorizia College, whose Rector Francis Baselli in the year 1669 reported, not only that no Latin Life was found, but nor was any ever known to have existed, except that an old Italian Ms. Life belonging to the Reverend Pinzocheras Mantellatas of the Religion and Rule of St. Augustine (as the title shows) in the same title is said to be transcribed from another Legend, existing among the heirs of the late D. John Bapt. Cortana of Udine: whether this was Latin, having been asked by us, we cannot know; for the Italian one, which we have received, bears no trace of a translation made from another language, and has mixed in Latin citations of sacred Text, such as Br. Simon himself would have written from the beginning, likewise another Latin about 20 years later: if he had written in Italian; so that we strongly doubt whether Sartorius had a Latin one, nay whether any such ever existed. Be that as it may, we have thought it better (since from Italian into Latin speech the Life had necessarily to be translated by us) to follow that most ancient composition or version very strictly: and afterwards to give another shorter Life of the same Blessed, arranged by James Philip of Bergamo, a distinguished writer of the same Augustinian Order, and famous in the same age in which the Blessed died, who inserted her in his book on Famous Women, chap. 159, dedicated to Beatrice, in 1477 married to the King of Hungary.
[3] in which she is wrongly said to have died on April 2. But this is wondrous in that later Life, that while in the earlier she is said to have died in the night between Saturday and the fourth Sunday of April in the middle, in the year of the Lord 1458, on April 23; Bergomensis himself says she died on the 4th Nones of April: which day in the aforesaid year was the first Sunday of April, and that Sunday was Paschal. Surely such a circumstance of most sacred time would doubtless have been noted and greatly emphasized by those at whose dictation Br. Simon wrote, if Helen had truly died then, when Christ is commemorated to have risen from the dead. Wherefore it seems to me that Bergomensis, by his own or another's error, read 2 for 23, by the omission of one cipher. Meanwhile those who had not seen the earlier Life have followed him, Herrera in his Augustinian Alphabet page 334 and Arturus of Monasterium in the Sacred Gynaeceum. Herrera cites besides that Life which James Philip wrote, another written by Paul Lulmius of Bergamo, in a peculiar little book, which he consecrated to Paul II, which is preserved in the Vatican library very beautifully written. 3rd Life dedicated to Paul II, We found in the Vatican Library a book on white parchments most elegantly written about this matter, and marked number 1223: but a different author he bears in the title, which is such: "To Paul II Pontiff Maximus, the Life of B. Helen of Udine happily begins by James of Udine." Further, no book in the whole library is about this subject which bears the name of Paul Lulmius: and therefore the book which this Paul wrote concerning the Life and miracles of B. Helen of Udine, as Pamphilus has in his Chronicon page 91 must be believed wholly different. He lived in the same time as Helen and died in his seventies, Prior of the Cremona convent in the year 1494, a Bergamasque by country.
[4] described from the Vatican, Because however Julius II, from 1503 to 1513, held the Pontificate, and so this book was written within fifty years of the Blessed's death; deceived by so specious a title we ordered the whole to be transcribed, with no slight expense because of the enormous prolixity: but we almost grieved that oil and labor had perished, when, re-reading what had been transcribed at leisure, we saw that we had nothing less than the Life of the Blessed, but in its place a most inept farrago or rhapsody about vices and virtues, distributed into various orations, which the author, as he prefaces by a poetic fiction, distributed between Orators and Philosophers, not only Christians, but also pagans, before the divine majesty introduced to praise Helen, namely Aristides, Plato, Demosthenes, Lysias, Aeschines, Hyperides, Nestor, Cicero, Varro, Titus Livius, Cato, Sallust on the one side, here it is omitted. on the other Basil, Chrysostom, Nazianzen, Origen, Cyprian, Ephrem, Lactantius, Hermogenes, Cassian, Leo the Pope, Justinian, Aretinus, Barbarus of Udine, and Spilimbergensis. All of whom with wondrous confusion, with no distinction of ages, mix sacred and profane sentences, furnished especially with Italian flowerets and sentences, read from the Poet Dante, but as for the Life of the Blessed and her actions they touch them very briefly or do not touch them at all. The writer concludes with an oration by God himself congratulating Helen, and the assembly being dissolved he has Cicero deal with Jerome
and Lactantius, that they might intercede with God to end or mitigate their own and their companions' pains. Who gave confidence to such a foolish man, to offer to the Pope a book so ill-compiled yet very thick? Nevertheless the same book has here and there some things which it will not be tedious to record in the Annotations.
[5] Her ancient cult, As regards the public cult of Bl. Helen; since her body was buried in her own oratory, as she had declared she wished, appearing in vision to the Brothers watching at her funeral, immediately, says James of Udine, they made for her a rather ornate chapel, and an altar which now is full of candles, full of images. Then he adds: The joints of iron instruments still show the mortification of her flesh full of gore: hair shirts, the sign of holiness and penance, are present: all the people of Udine ask with tears, individuals ask the altar of Helen. Let widows imitate her, let virgins and married women venerate her: let her brothers, sisters, sons and daughters rejoice that Helen reigns with Christ; whom the Praetor commanded not to change their garments, and whom all were greeting with greater joy than they were greeting them before; nor let them grieve that they have lost such a one, but let them give thanks that they had such a one: whom they cannot hold in body, let them hold in remembrance: with whom they cannot speak, let them not cease to speak about her.
[6] Soon the celebration of her feast began to be treated in the Hermit Order, not only at Udine, but also elsewhere commonly: for in the Missal according to the use of the Roman Church printed at Venice in the year 1487, and the feast on April 27. certainly not a full twenty years after the Blessed's death, the kalendar has thus, on April 27, of Bl. Helen of Udine, of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine. Feast. We are with difficulty persuaded that it was begun altogether without consulting the Apostolic See. Why however the aforesaid feast was deferred from the day on which she died, it is not difficult to give the cause; since it is known that day is most occupied in many churches by the cult of St. George: but one cannot so easily say, why the 27th day was chosen, unless we wish to presume that on such a day she was given over to burial. Certainly such presumption will not lack foundation. For she having died on April 23, as has been said, after the most solemn funeral rites made for her (for the preparation of which one entire day had to be spent) she lay conspicuous for two entire days and nights in the church of St. Lucia: and so it can scarcely be conceived that she was buried before the 27th: and this day thereafter was honored under her name. But how this cult ceased and was obliterated does not appear: such certainly, as we have described, it was in the first half-century from the Blessed's death.
[7] Now although neither Mass is said nor Office performed for her, the cult seems greater than before; since (as John Baptist Micoli of Udine of our Society signified to us, who has seen it often) her body is preserved most entire in a marble ark, The present veneration. suspended on the left wall of the temple, in which on the feast day of St. Lucia it is exhibited to be seen by a very great multitude of men, flowing together for this, from every age and sex; where one of the Augustinian Fathers first applies cotton to the holy body, then applies the same cotton to the eyes of those desiring to be signed with a kiss. When or with what solemnity the elevation and translation of the holy body from the earth into that ark was made no one remembers. Perhaps Paul II granted this at the instance of James of Udine: certainly we believe that by no other authority than Papal was this then to be attempted, or that the Blessed would otherwise have permitted her body to be transferred outside her oratory, there by her command buried: for that oratory is between the greater or middle door of the church (for it has three doors on the front) and the left side door; on the other side of that side door, however, is the ark which we mentioned. In the oratory or little chamber aforesaid still there are reverently preserved seats, a wooden bowl, and her other instruments and as it were domestic furniture, together with the hair-shirt and discipline.
[8] Herrera adds that Orozcus and other authors have placed Helen among the illustrious women, with the title of Blessed and a diadem as a sign of sanctity images, crowned, as the common devotion of the faithful has been accustomed to represent her. A similar image, elegantly engraved on copper by Adrian Collartius, came out at Antwerp some time ago; of which an example is preserved with us. Its title simply makes her of the Order of St. Augustine, profession. and the black veil indicates a nun: but in truth she was only a Tertiary, and lived to the end in her sister's house; the first of all at Udine devoted to God under the Rule of St. Augustine, which several others followed and had grown to more than eighty, when Helen's funeral rites were being celebrated, and they had their own Prioress, and perhaps even some of them commonly dwelt together in one house: just as we have seen of the Sisters Tertiaries of the Order of Minors having their own Correctrices in the Life of St. Francis of Paula, on April 2, and we shall see of others of the Order of Preachers at the Life of St. Catherine of Siena on the 30th day: who when they are here and elsewhere called Religious or Nuns, those words are not to be taken most strictly, as if they supposed the solemn vows of Religion, since those which were emitted, and are emitted even today in Italy by those whom they call "Pinzocheras Mantellatas," had only the force of simple vows. They are also called in the masculine "Pinzocheri," of unknown origin and etymology of the word hitherto, and not easily explainable by suitable conjectures.
LIFE
By the Author Br. Simon the Roman
from the Italian MS. of Udine.
Helen, of the third Order of the Hermits of Augustine, at Udine in the Duchy of Friuli (Blessed)
By author Simon FROM MS.
PROLOGUE
The Author about to write this Life, O creatures made by God, hear the wonders, recently wrought by God through his handmaid Bl. Helen, shining today with signs and prodigies to the whole world; and to be expounded by me Br. Simon the Roman, unworthy Reader of Theology in the Padua Studies, and after the death of said Blessed, because of her infinite miracles, called by the Prior of St. Lucia of Udine; who being Venetian by origin, called Br. Francis de Rossis, summoned me to preach the life and virtues wrought through her. Indeed, wishing to approach the narrative to be instituted about this Blessed, and to compose her Legend according to the slenderness of my ability, I recognize myself insufficient; and therefore to the spotless Virgin Mary, he implores the help of God and the Mother of God, my singular Patroness, I have recourse, that before God she may be an intercessor for me, that he may pour out upon me the grace of his Spirit; and that I may be able fittingly to weave this Legend, to the honor of God, the glory of the Blessed, and the exaltation of the faith: but if in anything I should happen to err, I humbly ask pardon and mercy. For as the Apostle Paul writing to the Corinthians says, We are not sufficient, I do not say to say and observe, but neither to think anything of ourselves as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God. 2 Cor. 3:5 and excuses his own slightness. And this is confirmed by St. James the Apostle in his Canonical, saying, Every best gift and every perfect gift is from above, descending from the Father of lights: every grace, I say, every knowledge, every wisdom proceeds from the supreme founder and governor of all things. James 1:17 Because however the defect of suitable order generates confusion, we shall divide this Legend into fifteen chapters: a and so successively progressing, at the end we shall expound the miracles worked after her death by God's operation. Amen.
AnnotatedCHAPTER I.
Widowed of her husband she takes up the habit of St. Augustine, and undertakes a most austere life.
[1] Blessed Helen, daughter and handmaid of God, born from the country and province of Friuli and the noble city of Udine, Nobly born, was begotten by the noble man Lord Valentinus, of the distinguished family of Valentines a of Foro-vetus: her mother, of like nobility venerable, was called Lady Elisabeth of Castrum b Maniacum. c When Helen had reached the 15th year of her age, she was given in marriage to the generous man Antony de Cavalcantibus: d and widowed of her husband, with whom living in chaste matrimony for twenty-seven years, she bore many sons and daughters to God, and brought them up in his holy fear. Her husband dying, she herself cut off her beautiful hair, and together with all the other ornament of her head threw them over the sarcophagus of the deceased, saying: She chooses Christ as Bridegroom: Behold those which for love of you alone I bore, hair and ornaments: take them with you under the earth. You by dying leave me, and I renounce the wifely affection toward you; no longer shall I have a husband, except our Lord Jesus Christ, to serve whom is to reign.
[2] Thus called by God, Bl. Helen, after her husband's death persevered in holy widowhood. having heard in a sermon the privileges, Now it pleased God, that a certain venerable Religious, a Theologian of great sanctity and knowledge, Master Angelus of S. Severinus by name, of the Order of the FF. Hermits of St. Augustine, called to Udine to give sermons in the convent of St. Lucia of his Order, when he wished to make known to the whole city the excellence of his institute and of the Augustinian Rule, and the dignity of the habit, which in honor of continence, observed by the Virgin Mother of God and by St. Monica the mother of D. Augustine, the same Order gives to be worn; he began to expound how many graces and Indulgences those who devoutly receive the said habit may obtain, as is clear from the Bulls of Boniface, Martin, Eugene, Innocent, and the other Roman Pontiffs e: and that those dying under the Eremitic Religion of St. Augustine, of those taking up the habit of St. Augustine, become partakers of all the prayers, alms, disciplines, abstinences, indulgences and good works of the whole Religion, and are absolved from all their sins: that after their death each of our Religious is bound to celebrate three Masses for them: and he set forth many other privileges contained in the said Bulls. Helen hearing these things lifted her eyes to heaven, to give thanks to God; and beholding heaven as it were open before her and the spiritual treasures offered to her, suddenly with tears and sobs threw herself before the feet of the holy Preacher, and begged him that he would be willing to grant her that glorious habit. To whom the holy orator replied: Every one that comes to me I will not cast out. Then, she asks for it, having held counsel with the Religious, she was admitted. When the day came on which Bl. Helen was to receive the habit, calling to herself the venerable matrons, Lady Daniela and Lady Perfecta, her carnal sisters, she prayed them to go with her to the church of St. Lucia, not adding what she was going to do there. Where with the Religious gathered before the altar, and obtains it, and calling upon the grace of the Holy Spirit in singing, through the hand of Master Angelus, Philosopher and Theologian
distinguished, she received that holy habit itself f: and vowing to God poverty, chastity, and perpetual obedience, she was the first of this city to be joined to our Religion, and under it serving God she persevered, with no other end than that some day she might behold God face to face in everlasting glory.
[3] Then, inflamed by the love of God, filled with piety and mercy, Bl. Helen wished to distribute whatever she had possessed in the world to Christ's poor. she gives secular clothes to the church, She gave her clothes made of silken cloths to the church of St. Lucia of the Hermits of St. Augustine, from which were made copes and other vestments for God's worship. The rest of her movable and immovable goods she sold, dispersed, gave to the poor, considering for the love of God that Gospel saying: Matt. 19:21 If you wish to be perfect, go and sell all that you have, and give to the poor, and come follow me. She visited the sick g, consoled the afflicted, she gave herself to alms and pious works: aided the needy h, prayed for the dead, exercised all works of mercy, attending to what was said by Christ in the Gospel, Whatever you did to my least ones, you did to me; and this other, Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Matt. 25:40 & 5:7. Daily in the morning carrying two loaves and a candle to the church, she offered them on the altar: and if she saw anyone erring, she corrected with great mildness; the discordant she took pains to lead back to peace and concord, saying with the Savior: Where charity is, there is God: and, Forgive and it shall be forgiven you.
[4] Bl. Helen was a mirror of penance: but who can explain in words how great it was, whereas in the whole of sacred Scripture none is read to have been so admirable in this kind: approaching almost the limit of the rigor of penance, You have overcome, O Helen, by the rigor of your penance, all other women: because you have well understood that saying of your Father and ours, the great Aurelius Augustine, most excellent Doctor: i To great rewards one cannot attain except through great labors. Helen contemplated the glorious passion and torments of her sweet and most loving Jesus, endured for wretched sinners: and because she considered that he had been tormented through all his members, but herself in youth and matrimony had been devoted to worldly pomps and vanities, and as it were had offended God through all her members; through all the same she wished to do hard and harsh penance. So over her head day and night she bore a garland or crown armed with iron spikes, that she might always remember the Lord's Passion. her individual bodily members, Hear however a wonderful and stupendous thing, on Fridays she frequently tied to her neck a thick cord, and having her hands bound behind her back, she commanded the maidservant of her Sister to lead her thus bound around; because, she said, my love, my Jesus, thus bound was being led to death on the mount of Calvary; let this be to me for bracelets, with which I adorned my arms; and for the cords, with which the hands of my sweet Jesus were bound, and the nails, with which in the cross they were pierced. On my legs I bear iron circles, to expiate the vanity committed among the dances which I frequented; and because my Jesus had his feet pierced with nails. With a similar circle I am bound at the loins, to expiate the sins of the secular life, because of the girdles worked with gold and silver, with which in the time of my secular life I used to be girded; and for love of those cords, with which my beloved at the column was scourged. I put on a hair shirt, because of the thin linens and precious cloths in which clad I was clothed; and because my love by Herod, despised, was clothed in a white garment. Thirty-three stones I carry within my shoes, beneath the soles of my feet, because manifoldly I offended God by leaping and dancing; and for as many years for my love my Jesus walked this world. With the discipline I scourge my body, because of the impious and carnal pleasures, which I married indulged my body; and likening herself to her Jesus she tortures herself with ingenuity: and in contemplation of my Lord, for me scourged at the column. I sleep on rocks and stones, because I have formerly slept on soft beds; and my bridegroom often wished to take sleep stretched on the ground, and to lie for three days within a stone monument. These things Bl. Helen answered her Confessor asking her. O glorious Blessed, you have expended excellently that saying of St. Jerome in his Epistle to Heliodorus, You are delicate, brother, if you wish both here to rejoice with the world, and afterwards to reign with Christ. Jer. ep. 1 But you have also considered that of the same Jerome from another letter written to Julian: It is difficult, nay impossible, that someone should enjoy both present and future goods; that here should fill his belly, and there his mind; that from delights he should pass to delights, that he should be first in both worlds, that in heaven and on earth he should appear glorious. Ep. 24 You willed therefore, O Blessed, to scourge your body so dreadfully, and to tame the flesh with such rigor, that in paradise you might be able to reign with Jesus, your beloved father and bridegroom.
[5] Abstaining from meats and dairy, The abstinence of this Blessed was so great, that to every hearer it must seem admirable. For eighteen whole years she never tasted meat, nor eggs, nor milk, nor cheese or oil; but fasted daily on bread and water, to which sometimes she added roots of herbs: and if she prepared any cooked food, as she did very rarely, she applied neither salt nor oil for seasoning k. Hear moreover a stupendous thing: to take away delight from taste, bread with ashes, she mixed, in place of aromatic spices with cold water, earth and ash; and as long as being sound she could stand on her feet, she took food only from the bare ground. But who has ever heard what I shall subjoin? Every evening for her little supper having one apple or radish, eating it raw, she drank one little cup mixed with gall and vinegar: she infects drink with gall, On Fridays however even at breakfast she used nothing other than bread and only a drink of gall and vinegar. But asked why she led so harsh a life, she replied: For the delicate foods on which I fed in the world: and because my sweet Jesus, my love, was given gall and vinegar to drink when he hung on the cross hungry, thirsty, and pressed with deadly anguish. O happy! O blessed! Who ever did anything like, so as to have gall and vinegar instead of drink? Absolutely no one. Best therefore, O Blessed, have you kept the command of the holy Father Augustine in the Rule saying: Tame your flesh with fasts and abstinence of food, as much as health permits: and you have heard Jerome in the epistle on preserving widowhood thus speaking to Salvina: Jer. ep. 9 It is much better that your stomach be in pain than your mind, to command your body than to serve it, to stagger in step than in chastity.
[6] in the temple most frequent, This was that woman like Anna the prophetess daughter of Phanuel, who departed not from the temple, serving with fastings and prayers day and night. For she strove always to come first to the church, where enclosed in her oratory she persevered to the end of the divine Office, intent on prayer: and afterwards, an hour's interval having passed, she returned to the same, and again composed herself to prayer, indulging rare rest to her body, according to that Gospel: "Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation": and that: "Pray without ceasing." Matt. 26:41 And here let the spiritual soul consider, she spends a full 9 hours in prayer what were her tears, what were her sighs during those nine hours, which she had allotted to prayer; seven indeed for the seven Canonical Hours, another one for confession and communion to be made; the ninth finally for obtaining for all sinners remission of their faults: in which time of fulfilling, lest she err, she measured it with a sand-glass, l which she had near her. The seven Penitential Psalms, with the Office of the Virgin Mother of God, she knew by heart: and certain pious little books written in the vernacular language, reading them, she held day and night, namely the Mirror of the Cross, and another explaining the Ten Degrees of Humility, and several of similar kind; and to holy reading: observing that of the aforecited Jerome to Salvina: "Let divine reading always be in your hands, and such frequent prayers, that all the arrows of thoughts, with which youth is wont to be struck, may be repelled by this kind of shield." O glorious and blessed Helen, so great was the fervor of your prayer, that inflamed by a certain divine heat you often broke forth into praises and songs of love: on Fridays you sang the praises of the Passion of Christ, so sweetly on Fridays she sings the praises of the Passion: and pleasantly that your companion and other neighbors hearing, seemed to hear an angelic harmony. On that Friday however, which was your last in life, lying in bed, you sang about the mystery of the same Passion, at the end adding: "Come Jesus, most beloved bridegroom of my soul: come from paradise, and show me the way by which I may come to your holy and glorious company."
[7] she confesses and communicates daily: This woman was truly a temple of divinity: since she, expiating herself daily by the sacrament of Penance, was refreshed by the Eucharistic bread; with such an abundance of tears, sighs, and groans, that in the whole temple and even in the street outside they were heard: and this weeping lasted half an hour before the sacred Communion, and for a like space of time afterwards. When she said, "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only speak the word and my soul shall be healed," she struck her breast with a great stone, as much as her hand could grasp, so strongly and hard, that she soaked her whole breast with blood pressed out: and she used the same stone against herself day and night standing before the Crucifix, she tormented her breast striking it with a stone. and beating her breast, and with much weeping recalling her Lord's Passion. Moreover from the reception of the divine Eucharist her soul was so filled with joy, that from the satiety overflowing into the body, often she tasted no other food for two or three days: for she had within herself him who said: He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him. John 5:57
NOTES.
CHAPTER II.
Helen's poverty, taciturnity, patience in adversities.
[8] Helen was a mirror and norm of poverty, who having voluntarily renounced great wealth, seemed to have impressed deeply on her heart that saying of Jerome to Rusticus the monk, Stripped of all things she lives by begging, if you have substance, sell it and give to the poor: if you have not, you are freed from a great burden. Jer. ep. 4 Naked follow the naked Christ. Hard, great, difficult: but great are the rewards. Meditating these things as has been said in no. 3, she sold all that she had, and gave to the poor, so stripping herself, that she had to live on pure and simple alms. Whatever bread she or her companion had acquired for herself by begging, she kept nothing of it for the morrow: but whatever was left over from the slender meal she dismissed to the poor, not anxious whence on the next day she should eat. For she said: You, my sweet Lord Jesus, are the provider of my body and soul. O glorious Helen, truly you were one of those, about whom the Savior preached: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. One tunic and one cloak she had for her own use; despising all other pomp and vanity of the world for love of Christ, whom, she said, I saw, whom I loved, in whom I believed, in whom I have placed all my hope. Matt. 5:3
[9] When a Chapter of our Order was being celebrated at Udine, glorious Helen desiring to serve God as perfectly as possible, went with other women of our Rule to the a Provincial. He, because he knew her excellent life, she asks that perpetual silence be enjoined upon her, and loved her devoutly, addressed her thus: Dearest daughter, ask whatever grace you wish from the Order, certain that nothing shall be denied you. The Blessed answered: Father, I ask no other grace, except that the precept of observing silence perpetually be imposed on me, so that I may not be allowed to speak with anyone except at the command of my Confessor. This obtained, she so kept the law of silence prescribed for herself, that not only did she not speak with strangers, and she most holily observes it, but not with her friends and relatives; nay not even with her own sons or daughters, except on the night of the Lord's Nativity, when by the will b of her Confessor, having admitted them to brief and spiritual conversation, she imparted her blessing; always keeping in mind that of James: He who does not offend in word, is a perfect man: and that of the Psalm, I have set a guard on my mouth, that I may not sin in my tongue. James 3:2, Ps. 38:2
Moreover she led a life so solitary, that she never went out of her little cell, except to the church of St. Lucia: almost always solitary, where enclosed within her oratory, she spoke to no one at all, according to the precept of the Rule, in which it is said: In the oratory let no one do anything other than that for which it was made, and from which it receives its name, the Savior saying, My house shall be called the house of prayer. Matt. 21:13
On the way her wondrous honesty shone conjoined with humility, she who walked always with eyes cast down to the ground, never seemed to raise them, as if by the Prophet's example she said: Turn away my eyes that they see not vanity: and if anyone greeted her, she answered nothing but, Praised be my sweet Jesus. Most removed from every vice of hypocrisy and desire of human praise, she manifested to no one her penances, abstinences, and good works; and most fleeing from human praise. but tried to have them hidden from all: therefore she used garments not too vile, but of moderate condition, observing in it the Rule, which says: Let your habit not be notable: nor strive to please by garments but by morals. O Bl. Helen, how well have you observed what Jerome wrote to Eustochium: When you fast, let your face be cheerful: let your garment be neither too clean, nor dirty, and notable by no difference; lest as you go along the passing crowd stop to meet you, and you be pointed at with the finger. Jer. ep. 22 Nor do you wish to appear such a religious, nor more humble; lest fleeing vainglory, you seek it. c
[10] Since God corrects whomever he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives; The Devil having gained power to afflict her, he also willed to prove how strong and constant Helen was in his service; and so he gave the devil power over her flesh, as is read about the most patient Job. And indeed rightly observes Jerome writing to Eustochium, that the devil does not seek unfaithful men, not those who are outside, and whose flesh the Assyrian King kindled in the pot: he hastens to seize from the church of Christ: his food according to Habakkuk is choice; he desires to overthrow Job, and having devoured Judas he seeks power to sift the Apostles; to make them lose faith in Christ at the time of his passion, as Christ himself had foretold them, Behold Satan has asked for you, to sift as wheat. Hab. 1, Luke 22:31
But the more one is a servant of Christ, the more violently does the devil rise up to tempt him. So also seeing Bl. Helen so fervent in the love of God, he too asked her to be tempted, and was divinely permitted to prove the same in various visible and invisible ways, of which eight only for brevity's sake I shall expound here.
I. When Helen was once about the third hour of the night set in prayer, fills her cell with a huge noise when she was praying, she heard demons over the roof of her house, and likewise within her cell, raise so great a noise in both places, that all things seemed to fall to the earth. So Helen called her sister Lady Perfecta, and with her searched the whole house: but then she could find nothing from which that noise proceeded: nor did they recognize in the morning examining the roof of the house any movement in that place. d This happened not only once, but often, so that by the said Lady Perfecta and several household this noise was heard: by which indeed the devil intended to interrupt the course of her prayers, and to lead her away from the study of virtue she had begun; but she unmoved feared nothing and said: The Lord is my helper, I will not fear what Satan the enemy of human nature may do to me.
II. Lactantius well notes in the book "De opificio Dei" chap. 20, that as victory cannot stand without contest, he cruelly beats her, so neither can virtue itself without an enemy. Therefore, since God gave virtue to man, he set for him on the contrary an enemy, lest virtue, growing dull with idleness, should lose its nature: whose whole rationale is in this, that being shaken and undermined it may be strengthened; nor can it otherwise come to the highest peak, unless it, agitated always by a prudent hand, has always stirred itself to its own salvation by the duration of fighting: for God did not wish man to come to that immortal beatitude by a delicate path: and Narrow is the way that leads to life, says our holy Father Augustine. So God willed that Bl. Helen also be exercised by visible agitation of the demon, he terrifies and wearies her with spectres, that as victress she might merit to obtain eternal glory. And he indeed, when the Blessed was at prayer entering her cell visibly, now filled it with great terror, now beat her cruelly; but she running around through the same little cell, and fleeing the pursuing demon, sometimes was so wearied, that with strength failing she fell on the ground before the Crucifix, and said, O sweet Jesus, my love, aid me I pray and help me: for I can do nothing more. Then indeed divine help was at once present, and Satan put to flight departed: as she, when she was sick, in secret revealed to Lady Antonia, Prioress of the religious Sisters of St. Monica, and to her companion Sister Dominica of Spilimbergo.
III. The enemy of the human race once tempted this Blessed when sick and vehemently distressed, he urges her to take her own life, strongly pushing her, that she should throw herself down from a certain balcony, which she, having made the sign of the holy Cross, repelled. At another time exhorting her to strangle herself, and offering a rope and teaching her how she ought to do it, she repelled and pushed him back with a similar weapon, as she confessed to her Sister Lady Perfecta.
he solicits her to self-display, IV. That ancient serpent, who by the suggestion of vainglory supplanted our first parents Adam and Eve, about to attack the Blessed with a similar temptation, transformed himself into an angel of light, and appearing to her said: O my Helen, why do you not go through the world manifesting your good works to all, that men hearing of your great penance and your blameless life, may be converted to the Lord. Do you not know what the Savior commanded, saying: Thus let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works? Matt. 5:15 To him the Blessed replied: But you, most worthy of all confusion, do not know that it has been said by the same Savior, Let not your left hand know what your right hand does. Matt. 6:3 Get thee hence, Satan. So he disappeared.
he casts her from the bridge into the water, V. Seeing however that he could not overcome Bl. Helen with words and threats, he passed to deeds: and when in winter time at dawn, as was her custom, she was going out from the house to the church of St. Lucia, and was crossing a bridge laid over a certain little stream, called Roia, he lifted her up and cast her into the water. But she, the name of God being called upon, came out all wet indeed, but unharmed, saying: You shall not prevail, enemy, to hinder me today, that I may not go hear Mass and receive the sacred Body of my Lord. And so she did not return home
to change her clothes, but went to the temple as she was, wet, and there remained as her custom was until the end of the divine Office. O extraordinary fortitude! Truly you observed, Blessed, what the Church in the name of the Savior commends to her sons e: Be strong in battle, and fight with the ancient serpent, and you shall receive the eternal kingdom.
VI. But who, O glorious one, can explain how many beatings, how many scourges you endured from the demons, he beats her cruelly, striking you day and night? When they did this she invoked divine help, and asked that Sister Dominica her companion be present: for at her presence sometimes the demons fled; sometimes however they remitted nothing of their rage, but Dominica heard the sound of the blows inflicted, not without great terror to herself, as after the death of the Blessed she reported.
VII. At another time the demons allowed her to fall from on high to the ground, and bruises her, so that her legs and feet were twisted: and so lying they struck her with kicks and fists, until Sister Dominica, running up, found Bl. Helen half dead and all bruised, and placed her on the bed: but she said nothing else to her, than, Blessed be the name of the Lord.
VIII. Lastly the demons broke her shin bone in the middle, and twice breaks her leg, for consolidating which the Prior of St. Anthony, skilled in surgery, was called: who when he had joined the parts of the broken bone to each other, and the demons again on the following night had broken the same shin, she would not have the cure applied to her again, saying: If it has so pleased God, I acquiesce in the divine will concerning me. And this was the last scourge, which she manifested in confession to the Prior of St. Lucia, Br. Anthony. Such and many other things she bore from the demons, constant and patient unto death: because not he who has begun, but he who has persevered to the end, he shall be saved.
[11] She, by the example of the patient Christ, O glorious Helen, mirror of patience; how great praise are you worthy of, who for three whole years scourged and vexed by the infernal enemies, were never troubled in mind: but always gave praise and glory to God for all that came to you. If anyone urged her to penance, the Blessed replied: How could anything seem to me hard or grave, considering how many more and harder and graver things my love Jesus for my sake bore hanging on the cross. she even offers herself to graver things, Therefore I ask my Lord, that he send me greater infirmity and affliction; because for his love I shall willingly bear anything. And these sweetest words were almost continuously on her lips. It is to be noted however the extreme tenderness of her conscience in these things, whereby it came to pass that if by chance from the vehemence of pains she expressed a single groan, "O me!," believing herself guilty of a great crime, she wept most bitterly, nor could she take any rest, until she had accused herself before the Confessor of that sign of impatience, as she interpreted it. O happy and constant woman, ineffable is the virtue of your patience proved by a three-year infirmity, when fixed to the bed, and able to move neither feet nor legs nor arms, day and night you cried out, Lord have mercy on me: Lord thy will be done. and amidst greatest pains she sings most sweetly, Truly in your patience you possessed paradise, that is, your soul. See however how much she was inflamed with divine love: the Lord scarcely indulged her a little rest, but she broke forth into most sweet songs: and on the penultimate day of her life, that is, on Friday, the Sabbath preceding her expiration, all day and night she sang, modulating these and others like them. O Jesus, Jesus, come my beloved, whom I Helen, greatest sinner, await with great torment. O Jesus, my sweet love, I desire you as ardently as I can. Come Jesus, and do not tarry; visit my soul: the longer it will be here, the worse also will it be. even the day before her death. O Lord, do not forsake me in this my most grave infirmity. Have mercy on me Lord, not because of my merits but because of your passion; and the merits of the blood poured out for me on the cross and for all sinners. O passion of Christ strengthen me: O good Jesus bid me come to you. O good Jesus, have mercy on me. O good Jesus, hear me. Come Jesus, beloved bridegroom of my soul, come from paradise, and show me the way by which I your spouse and handmaid Helen may come to you. Amen. These were the songs which Helen was occupied in singing before she died, as her companion Sister Dominica asserts, and other persons present at her happy passing.
NOTES.
CHAPTER III.
The visions and miracles of Bl. Helen.
[12] Amid tribulations of this kind, such as we have already described, divine consolations and visions, with which she might be strengthened, were not lacking: of which we shall here expound ten only.
Christ appearing to her bids her to build an oratory in the church; I. When Helen desired to know from the Lord, how she could make her prayers more pleasing to him; often Christ appeared to her so praying, and said, Take care that in a corner of the church of St. Lucia, at its entrance, an oratory be constructed for you, in which in morning time closed you may remain, and persevere praying until all the Sacrifices and the whole Office be ended. This vision recurred repeatedly: so at length Helen answered the Savior: But how, thus enclosed, shall I be able to hear Mass, and to see your holy body? Bring it about, said the Lord, that any day having confessed you may communicate: for thus every morning I shall come to you, and you shall see me with the eyes not only of the mind but also of the body. Hearing which, Helen, Christ's bride, took care most exactly and constantly to observe each thing: but she indicated this vision to her sister, named Perfecta.
the same with the Mother of God and SS. Augustine, Nicholas, Monica visit her: II. One evening when the aforesaid Lady Perfecta was bringing to Helen set in prayer, about the second hour of the night, one apple with a cup of gall and vinegar, as she was accustomed daily for her little supper; she found her with face exceedingly cheerful, and Helen said. O dearest sister, I will open to you the secret of my heart, only do not while I live manifest it to anyone, but after my death do as the Lord shall inspire you. Know that this evening and many other times, to me most unworthy sinner my sweet Lord Jesus Christ has deigned to speak and appear, together with his most holy mother my Lady, in whose company were my beloved father St. Augustine, and St. Nicholas, and St. Monica, whose habit I unworthy wear: when however I see them, I am filled with so great a sweetness, as the human tongue cannot explain: so that I should never wish to taste other food.
he exhibits to her a great light, III. Another time when in like manner the aforesaid sister had brought her a little supper, she vehemently exhilarated said, O sister, do you see what I see. What is that? said Perfecta. A splendor, answered Helen, I see a great one before me. Truly, O glorious one, was that splendor our Savior, who standing by you consoled you, that you might persevere in his service: whom the eyes of your sister could not see.
he suffuses her with ineffable joy. IV. Another time Perfecta was carrying a radish with gall to her praying, and Helen said: Know, dearest sister, that I now feel such sweetness and pleasantness in my heart, and such spiritual joy, because of the great vision which I now enjoy, that I cannot explain in words, and I desire that my soul be separated from the body and be with Christ. The sister replied, Tell me I beseech, dear, what you now see. Go, she said, and do not inquire further, or hinder the present joy of my mind. O Blessed, truly you can say with the Apostle: I was caught up into heaven and saw the secrets of God, which it is not possible for a man to speak. 2 Cor. 12:4
Christ visibly enters her breast, V. The Blessed was once in the church of St. Peter Martyr of the Order of Preachers, in the midst of the people, and she saw Christ visibly approaching her from the altar, at which the Priest was then celebrating, and he seemed through her mouth to enter her breast: as she herself revealed to her sister.
he sends to her the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. VI. When Helen was in her oratory in the church of St. Lucia, and the divine Office was being performed, a white dove was seen to fly down from the right arm of the Crucifix, which is in the middle of the church, immediately after the Blessed had received the Lord's Body, and to enter her oratory, and not again to come forth. O glorious Helen, inflamed by the Holy Spirit, truly to signify your supreme purity this was done, so that that Gospel saying might be said of you, The Holy Spirit descended like a dove upon her. Luke 3:22 This dove very many persons present saw.
St. Nicholas lifts Helen into the air, VII. At another time abiding in prayer in the same place, she was as it were rapt out of her senses, until St. Nicholas in the black habit of an Augustinian Hermit, knocking at the door of the oratory, said: Open to me, sister Helen. But before she opened, the door was divinely opened to him, and the Saint entered saying to Helen: The peace of God be with you. Finally embracing her he lifted her above the oratory, and placed her down again saying: So do,
advancing from good to better, sister; for thus you shall be brought into paradise by the Angels. And these things having been said the Saint disappeared: but the Blessed soon ordered a sacred function to be solemnly sung for him, and revealed this vision to her aforenamed sister.
VIII. Helen being once gravely sick from a suffocating catarrh, The two Saints appearing heal the sick one, and placed in present peril, beheld two matrons coming visibly to her, exceedingly glorious and venerable, who pressed her and lifted her with their arms, and she felt herself free from that troublesome catarrh. Who however were these, O Blessed? Assuredly none other than the glorious Virgin Mary and St. Monica: to whom she was most devoted above the other Saints. This vision also Lady Perfecta related, being manifested to her by her.
a long-asked grace is granted to her, IX. When Bl. Helen was returning from the church of St. Lucia to her house, she said to her aforesaid sister: Know, sister, that this morning I have received great consolation, feeling myself heard and certified by the most holy Trinity about a certain grace, which for a long time in my prayers I have asked of God. Perfecta added: What was this grace? Helen answered: Ask nothing further, dearest. But I think this was that you should have been made certain of your eternal salvation, O Blessed.
Christ is shown to her visible under the elevation. X. To many of her spiritual Fathers the Blessed revealed in confession, that as often as she received the Lord's body or the Priest elevated it in the Mass, she saw the Lord himself in the form of human flesh and blood visible, such as on the mount of Calvary he was crucified, not without great mystery. And then she struck her breast as has been said above in no. 7.
[13] I come to the miracles which through the merits of his handmaid yet living the Lord deigned to work. Helen by her prayers heals an epileptic woman, I. A certain Udine woman, Dominica by name, dwelling in the street of St. Lucia, once wife of Hilary the shoemaker, when she was suffering the falling sickness so vehemently, that sometimes eight times in one day she was dashed to the ground; went to a certain witch, by whose incantations she hoped to be helped. But the contrary entirely happened: for whereas she had had it badly until then, from then on she began to have it worse; worst of all after following the counsel of others, she drank water, which as a present remedy for such infirmities she had asked of a certain Master Nicholas of Ser-Fresco. At length God inspired her to commend herself to Bl. Helen, of whose most holy life it was everywhere known, and she sent to her her mother-in-law Catherine, that by invoking the help of her prayers, she might be freed from so grave a sickness. Asked, she kindly answered that she would do what was asked, and would pray for Dominica: which, entering her oratory, she so effectively performed, that from then on Dominica endured no such ailment.
II. A certain Udine citizen Orlandus by name, had a son of most dissolute morals, a young man falsely suspected of theft, who when he was at a certain wedding, a silver belt was taken by theft; and the young man was accused of the theft and cast into prison. The father feared lest the son being subjected to torture should confess the crime, for which he would be deprived of reputation and life: but his wife going the next morning to the temple of St. Lucia, in great tribulation and anguish of mind, dealt with the sister of Bl. Helen, that through her she might obtain the latter's prayers for the son. Nor in vain: going out from her oratory the Blessed learned the cause of the afflicted mother; and again entering the oratory, bade her with her sister to wait in the temple. Meanwhile for the space of one hour she prayed most fervently, then going out said to the mother: Be of good courage and do not wail: because the most holy Trinity does not will, that your son, she predicts his acquittal. not at all guilty of this theft, should perish: therefore be certain that, before the evening hour, safe he shall return to your house. It happened as she had said; the Lieutenant of Friuli examined the cause, and finding the youth innocent, restored him to liberty: who about the hour of None returning home, greeted his father and mother joyfully. O how great was your perfection, Blessed Helen, who in your prayers spoke so familiarly with the most holy Trinity, and received from her the gift of prophecy.
She helps her sick sister, III. Lady Perfecta also, sister of Helen, was once so sickened, that she could walk only with the greatest labor, and that limping: therefore she asked her sister that as a remedy, if indeed it would conduce to the health of her soul, she would pray the Lord. She did as she had been asked, and immediately the sister was restored to health, so complete as if she had never been sick.
Against the sterility of a woman ill-treated by her husband, IV. A certain Udine woman, Benvenuta by name, hated by her husband, because she bore him no offspring, irritated by his frequent injuries and beatings, had departed from him to her parents, and could not be induced by anyone to wish to return to his favor. Helen was therefore asked by certain venerable matrons to interpose herself for restoring concord. She went to the afflicted woman, and persuaded her to return to her husband, and with her honey-sweet exhortations she persuaded her: but on this condition, said Benvenuta, that God may take away the reproach of my sterility, being entreated by your prayers. Helen answered, she promises offspring, go secure: I will pray for you. She prayed: and before nine months passed, the woman bore a daughter, and reported the offspring obtained by the prayers of Bl. Helen.
V. To the end of life, by the violence of disease, the noble Udine citizen Lord Christopher de Susava had been reduced, to the dying she obtains and with all his senses failing he was given up by the physicians: having pity on him a certain matron of the Order of St. Augustine, called D. Antonia Donnae-honestae, sent her nephew to the Blessed, that she might obtain for the said D. Christopher a longer life, if indeed it would conduce to his salvation. Helen undertook to pray for him, and having made prayer she bade Antonia be announced not to be distressed, a longer life. for it was certainly signified to her by the most holy Trinity, that from that disease Christopher should not die: who thereupon was immediately restored to his senses, and a little after was brought back to complete health.
CHAPTER IV.
The blessed death and burial of Helen.
[14] Worn down by a three-year disease, When Almighty God had decided to call his faithful handmaid to himself from this troublesome life, the last three years of which she had lain on her bed, a which were hard stones, covered with a little straw; and these indeed against her will brought at the command of the Prioress, after she could no longer move herself; at length she came to the extreme agony. Religious and honorable matrons came to visit her: to whom consoling and urging that she should place her trust in God, she always replied: The will of the Lord Jesus, my beloved bridegroom, be done: among the Saints appearing to her, I have always acquiesced in this, and shall acquiesce as long as I live. On the last day of her life which was Saturday, her Confessor, after he had heard her confessing her sins, celebrating Mass in her little cell, when he was about to give her the Lord's Body as Viaticum, she began with many tears and sighs to say: Blessed be the most holy Body, she receives the Viaticum, coming to me in the name of my Lord. But I a poor little sinner, how am I worthy of the arrival of such a Lord, and of his bodily sight in the form of human flesh and blood, and in the company of my mother and advocate Mary Virgin, and of all the Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, and holy Virgins, and all the heavenly spirits. and Extreme Unction: Indeed I was always certain, that you would never forsake me, Lord: but now make me worthy of your coming. These things having been said and having received the holy Communion, she asked for the sacrament of Extreme Unction: which being brought processionally by all the Brothers of our Order, as is the custom, and with the penitential psalms being recited by them together with the Blessed reciting alternate verses from memory, she was anointed for the extreme struggle, and prayed the Brothers present and the religious Sisters, and excluding her kinsmen from her, that in the hour of her departure they should not permit access to any of her carnal kin, brothers or sisters, sons or daughters; since she did not wish to be disturbed in that moment by anyone. It was done as she willed; for no one was present to her dying except two of our religious, namely Br. Alexius and Br. Paraclitus, and two venerable matrons, namely D. Antonia Donnae-honestae, Prioress of the Mantellatas of the B. V. Mary and St. Monica, and Sister Dominica, inseparable companion of the Blessed, all of the Augustinian Order. She predicts the hour of her death: Her prophetic spirit was apparent even then, in that at the evening of that last Saturday, on the aforesaid religious coming to her, she asked them not to depart from her that night, for she was certain of her death to be undertaken then. So they remained: and she also admonished them to withdraw into the antechamber for rest, to be called when the last hour should be at hand. But she ordered them to be called by the said Prioress about midnight, and asked that absolution of fault and penalty, the privilege of which she had received from Pope Nicholas, when she went on pilgrimage to Rome, be imparted to her, according to the tenor of the Bull which she produced. This done she said: while the Passion was being read expiring, You see Brothers and Sisters, that my Lord deigns to call me: therefore commend to God the soul about to go out of this little body. Then the Passion began to be read by the Brothers; and when they came to those words, "Father into your hands I commend my spirit," she herself repeated the same words with her arms stretched into a cross: and with the Priest saying, "And bowing his head he gave up his spirit," she keeps her head raised toward the Cross: she raised her head toward the cross and embraced it with her arms: and in that state keeping her head held more than a span above the pillow held up in the air, she most sweetly expired, without any motion or noise. So that blessed soul separated from the body, was borne by Angels and delivered into the hands of her beloved Jesus Christ: and it seemed to all to be a great miracle, that her head lifted toward the Cross as we have said remained without any support. b Pray therefore for us, Blessed, and be our advocate before the most holy Trinity; that with you we may be able to serve her perpetually, and to possess the eternal kingdom. Amen. She died in the night between Saturday and the fourth Sunday of April in the middle, in the year of the Lord 1458, on April 23, in the 62nd year of her life, the 18th of Religion.
[15] When the aforesaid matrons wished to wash the body of the dead woman, and had stripped her of her garments, placed on the bier she again raises her head to the Cross: they saw her shoulders and loins livid from long lying on rocks: c when they had washed and clothed her and placed her on the bier, again the Blessed by an unheard-of miracle raised her head toward the cross, as far as before: and many
women admitted to the spectacle tried in vain to recline it upon the pillow, until she was buried. O glorious woman: who alive had reclined your head only upon stone, nor even dead did you suffer it to rest upon a feather pillow: and this was manifest to all present at her burial. Afterwards our Brothers d obtained that all the bells of the city should be rung: but, with all the bells rung except that of criminals, O again a great miracle! when they wished to ring also that one which is the sign for the taking of criminals to punishment, the hammer, of itself loosed, fell; as if it were by no means fitting, that for her who by her own sins had merited no judgment from God, the same sound should be heard, which is wont to be heard for malefactors. With the other bells sounding however, all the people of Udine of both sexes flowed to Bl. Helen's house, and with eighty-six Priests, religious, and nuns gathered, the sacred body was carried by the Brothers to the convent of St. Lucia, where, it is carried to the church of St. Lucia, after honored funeral rites celebrated according to the custom of the Order, it was placed within the sacristy, and there remained for two days and as many nights. During which time a certain Master John Pelizarius, paralytic in the right arm, coming there, and humbly and on his knees making a vow of a waxen arm to be offered if he should be healed, he heals a paralytic, and devoutly kissing the holy hand of the Blessed; suddenly felt and proclaimed his arm most entirely restored to him. Moreover on the second night, when two Brothers were keeping vigil at the holy body, which on the following day, by command of the Fathers and of the Provincial himself, was to be buried near the high altar, she herself spoke to them saying: Do not bury me by the altar; she bids herself to be buried in her own oratory. for neither if you do so, will I remain there: but bury me in my oratory, which is in the corner of the church: nor keep my body any longer above ground, but what is earthly render to the earth. e So, with the Brothers not daring to transgress the command made to them, the Blessed was buried, in that place where she had ordered f to the praise of Almighty God, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, in persons three, one in essence: by whose cooperating grace this Legend, by me the above-named Br. Simon the Roman, has been compiled.
These are the Life and miracles of Bl. Helen, which in the year 1458 were offered to the Reverend Master Andreas of Ferrara the Provincial, and were approved before witnesses, and written by the hand of the Notary called D. Candidus of Udine.
NOTES.
ANOTHER LIFE.
By the Author James Philip of Bergamo
in the book on illustrious Women chap. 159.
Helen, of the third Order of the Hermits of Augustine, at Udine in the Duchy of Friuli (Blessed)
BHL Number: 3795
Auct. J. P. Bergom.
[1] Helen of Udine, a most religious Sister of our Order of Hermits of D. Augustine of Penance, Nobly born at Udine, in the year from the Christian birth 1458, at the same town of her birth, illustrious with many virtues and miracles, with faith unambiguous departed to heaven, inscribed among the hosts of heavenly spirits. Now that town of Udine, from which this holy woman Helen drew her origin, is very outstanding, very rich, and most frequented in Italy, and in the region of Iapedia or Friuli; which, as is commonly told, was founded by the Dukes of Austria. In this distinguished town therefore this most religious matron Helen, from most noble parents, received both her origin and the sustenance of her whole life, and at last, so to speak, the reward of most blessed life.
[2] Her noble and best parents, namely Valentinus and Elisabeth, piously educated, when they had raised the girl at home with all diligence up to her fifteenth year; and she, as she was of noble soul, had perceived their excellent form and method of living, namely religion, faith, piety, honesty, and all manner of integrity and modesty; and was a girl of well-seen beauty; they married her now mature to a man Antony Cavalcantius, a Udine citizen, a man certainly not unworthy of any virtue or fortune. she is joined to a husband, Whom indeed her husband Antony, this bride Helen, both by goodness and prudence singular, and by excellent morals and innate modesty and especial affability, as long as she lived, drew in a wondrous manner to love her; and to God and all her relatives and friends she was always most loveable and most dear: nor is it known that there were ever any quarrels or discords between them; but the greatest peace and perpetual conjugal love. whom dying, When the Lord had removed him from the midst through death, she so grieved for him with tears and lamentations, that she almost herself died. For she reckoned his loss to be the most bitter of all, and therefore it was to her a most bitter punishment: for it is difficult for women to lose beloved husbands without great grief, and to bear the grief itself, if they do not apply some excellent consolation.
[3] she consecrates herself wholly to God; He being dead therefore, Helen the most worthy consort, proposed and vowed to God, conferring grace upon her, thereafter to lead her life chastely, piously, and holily, and to educate and form her children with all diligence. Finally after some years listening attentively to the holy teachings of preachers, and especially those which are usually used for incitement of Religion, she a woman of ardent faith and devotion, to the same as if pricked and fervid by stings, against all vanity at once rose up, and forthwith firmed herself; girt chiefly by divine virtues, and having tasted a little of the sweetness of Christ and Religion, and having taken up the Augustinian habit, she exulted and rejoiced that she had sent her husband ahead through death. Wherefore with mature deliberation confirmed, she humbly and most religiously received the habit of our Religion in the church of St. Lucia, dedicated in her town to the Order of Hermits of D. Aurelius Augustine.
[4] This having been received, since she excelled in no virtues more than charity and humility, she devotes herself to pious works, the more near to God by the holy habit and good works she came, the farther she reckoned herself from virtues, from merits, from pardon and divine grace. Hence she put herself under the holy Preacher of God Angelus, born from the town of St. Severinus in Picenum, her spiritual father especially and to the other Religious of both sexes; and humbly and suppliantly entreated their prayers; and as much as she could from her resources by alms entreated God's mercy for herself. Wherefore especially all her jewels, in gold and silver, in silken and even golden garments, the free disposal of which was hers, disposing of them, she wondrously adorned the church of her Order. The care of the sick and poor and others oppressed by want next she undertook as her principal care, merciful, and continually supported them according to the greatness of her resources, and served the same when there was need, by preparing little dishes and foods: to all of whom she was always gentle and affable, most accessible and liberal: nor indeed in anything as mistress ever, but as a servant, did she present herself.
[5] In her whole life she always kept such modesty both of mouth and of speech, modest, that she never uttered or sent forth a word imprudently. And although she was always content with small and vile food, after the habit was taken up and the rule of profession uttered, she so chastised herself with incredible abstinence, that for six years continually she abstained from meats, eggs, cheese, wine, oil. abstinent, On many days she fasted, content with bread and water; sometimes she was sustained by roots of herbs. Often also she mixed with her foods either earth, or ash, or at least cold water. and severe toward herself. And when she fasted mostly until evening, at nightfall she ate a raw apple for a dainty food; but she drank vinegar mixed with gall, out of consideration of the drink of Jesus Christ. And when some asked her, why she used such a harsh, not to say cruel manner of life, she is said to have replied that she had entered Religion on the condition, that the sins which she had committed, by penance, fastings, and the giving of alms, continually meditating Christ's Passion, and by continual prayer she might abolish. For the continual memory of Christ's Passion persevered with her: whence instead of necklaces and pectoral bands and the rest of womanly adornment, she did not cease to contemplate the Lord's charity with which he loved us, and his weariness, fasting, calumny, scourging, thorns, and harsh cross: by the memory of which she was impelled, to cruelly strike her body daily with iron disciplines, and at night sometimes to wear on her head a crown made of pins: and lest anything of the Passion should be lacking to her, she commanded her maidservant that, with her hands bound behind her back, and a cord inserted at her neck, she should drag her through the whole house in the manner of the Jews.
[6] Knowing moreover that for the sanctity of life and all other things rightly to be undertaken, much given to prayer, prayer has the greatest power; to the same daily this St. Helen especially and assiduously with tears was attentive: through it she beheld herself, and as in a mirror contemplated: with it she pursued the enemy the devil, and subjected the flesh to the spirit. What power however
her most ardent prayers had, and what praise her great deeds and most renowned miracles declared: for most often the unconquered and all-powerful God allowed himself to be conquered by her. For indeed that excellent virtue of prayer Bl. Helen always had most especially in her bosom: which, withdrawing her as it were from human things, or a spacious one? carried her to heaven, and bore her through every sublime spacious thing: for which very often she enjoyed the greatest joys, and these so ample, that sometimes no senses seemed to be in her. Her bed for the most part was the bare ground. No day ever intervened in which she did not take the Viaticum of salvation, and that always with tears: which having taken she spent one hour as her custom was in lamenting and tears. to holy reading, Knowing also that Bl. Jerome had commanded, let reading succeed prayer, let prayer succeed reading; she indeed used it as daily nourishment of the soul; yet it was not every kind of reading to her, but only that which fed, illuminated, and kindled her soul with spiritual sweetness. The books she read were chiefly two, one which they call the Mirror of the Cross, the other entitled "On Humility." The Gospel of Christ, however, like the Virgin Caecilia, she continually bore in her breast: for which each day she made time for divine colloquies.
[7] Tears were to her, especially from consideration of God's benefits and Christ's passion, as nectar by day and night, while it was said to her, Where is your God? from which indeed there fell upon her the favors? of the Holy Spirit, through whom, as most beloved daughter of adoption, continually she cried, Abba, Father. Finally in all things she greatly loved solitude and secrecy, and wherever she turned alone, there offering the living victim of her heart, she always cried and said, How beloved are your tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord. She was singing in mind, singing also in spirit, and everywhere in her mouth resounded a new song, which it is not lawful to sing, except to those who have been bought from the lands as firstfruits to God and the Lamb.
[8] Concerning her frugality and incredible abstinence of food, and her tolerance of vigils and labors, of the other several divine virtues of her, according to the measure of my ignorance, enough has already been said: now however it is worthwhile to expound her obedience, chiefly she cultivates obedience. which marks the vow of profession of such Religious. In which indeed this blessed woman laid the foundations of all her virtues: for she knew inflamed by the divine spirit, that this is a living and truly worthy victim and sacrifice more precious than any treasure, in which man's very will is offered: and she knew that the Lord Jesus Christ, when he was in the form of God, truly emptied himself, that by his example all Christians, being imitators themselves, fearlessly should do it, namely chastise their souls with joy under the yoke of obedience. This virtue therefore, which we call obedience, the most excellent handmaid of Christ, from the beginning to the end of her life, always as a neophyte of Christ purely and simply observed, by hearing the voice of her spiritual father and of other elders; and making no discrimination between their precepts. Nothing in the things enjoined did she ever consider grave; knowing that if she obeyed the Father set over her, she also obeyed her Savior, who said: He who hears you, hears me; and he who despises you, despises me. Luke 10:10 She indeed reckoned that without obedience the life of Religious and Religion itself is empty: and therefore in all things she always preferred obedience, which she warned and always asked all others to do. She also affirmed this: that whoever should have kept the precepts of his elders exactly and to the letter, he should understand himself not only not able to perish, but no snares of the devil or any weapons should harm him.
[9] she is infested by the devil, Diabolical temptations and innumerable persecutions this holy matron Helen bore to the very end; with which too she most often struggled, and from which she was afflicted by many scourges. For in order that the wily enemy might lead Helen to destruction, when she was once praying in her oratory at night, he ascended the roof of that house with great noise, and uttered so horrible a voice that the roof seemed to collapse: but she was struck by no terror on this account. But when she insistently persisted in her prayers, since he could not inspire her with fear, he beat her very hard with scourges: and it came to pass that Bl. Helen turned herself in flight, and he followed her on her heels. Sometimes also that same ancient enemy began to infest her, so that either she would throw herself headlong from a window, or procure for herself death by a noose: but by the impression of the saving sign she soon turned him to flight. Often too the cunning enemy tried to lead her over to his opinion in the appearance of an Angel. It was the excellent custom of this holy woman, that in the time before dawn she should always set out to the temple of St. Lucia, and she had to cross a certain river, which flows past the town, by a bridge: to which when she had at one time come, she was cast by the evil enemy into the water, and was not far from being swallowed and drawn down by the waters: but by the favor of Christ all soaked she was carried to the bank; and in this way to the very temple, to be present at the solemnities of Masses, she went. How often was she beaten with rods by him, how often dashed by a stone, how often her bones broken, so that at times she could not help herself with any member at all! But Almighty and pious God, for whom she bore these things with unconquered mind, did not pass over any opportunity of aiding her.
[10] Finally, since Paul says, Virtue is made perfect in infirmity, exercised by a three-year illness, that God might make her more blessed through bodily infirmities, and bring help in them to her persevering as to a most beloved daughter, as in the Psalm he promises, I am with him in tribulation, I will deliver him and glorify him; he willed her to be vexed for three years by a most grave illness: which nevertheless St. Helen always bore with a most even mind, following God for this with highest praises: and when many moved by piety strove to console her, she answered that that kind of consolation would be superfluous: for it was resolved for her that those things which Christ willed she should most constantly bear. 2 Cor. 12:9, Ps. 90:15 Now Helen had gained the glorious victory over her adversary and over all evils, so that for her a most ample triumph could be decreed, and by the Lord she was given a most ample gift: namely, that to her persisting in prayer Christ with the most holy Mother Virgin, and Bl. Father Augustine and Nicholas of Tolentino, festive all, presented himself, and conferred on her the greatest and incredible pleasure.
[11] fortified by the last Sacraments, When therefore the Lord had tested her for three years with the great fire and anvil of infirmity, as if she were to become yellow and ruddy like the purest gold, to be formed at length into a heavenly vessel, all rust being expelled; and the very Blessed woman had labored all the time of her life in every good work, and like a good soldier of Christ had constantly held and stoutly conducted the aforesaid deeds, which I have here placed before the eyes of all; her course now completed, that she might come to her triumph, which she always desired; the Prior of the monastery of St. Lucia of her Order being sent for, as one always nurtured and cherished as in the bosom of holy mother Church, that she might testify she was departing in the faith of Christ, the Confession and Viaticum and the rest of the sacred rite, and piously dying, from him she took duly and most religiously with the Brothers standing by as usual, by which she might be armed with safer defenses to emigrate. Finally having passed the 62nd year of her life, lying on the bare ground, on the 4th Nones of April of the year of our salvation 1458, from the present and dying life and from all evils departed, sent her most innocent, comely and pleasing soul, slipped out of the body, as from mortal darkness to him, whom she always honored and loved with faith and charity, our Lord Jesus Christ, where now she truly lives, and shall live forever, with that life which knows no death. So I beseech that Lord Jesus Christ, who has lifted up this blessed matron Helen with such great steps of virtues, that to me also his unworthy servant and sinner he may deign, by her meritorious intercession, to grant that I may be allowed to follow in her last footsteps.
[12] her head is raised toward the cross, Her soul having gone out of her body, when women had taken counsel about washing it, at once they saw it most ulcerated; and that indeed to have happened because she had for so many years lain on the ground. And when they had placed it in the bier according to custom, and had put the Crucifix upon her breast, suddenly Helen raised her head to it, so that thereafter it could never be let down. So if we wished to recount her great virtues, namely prudence, wit, divine erudition, most ready tongue, affability, loveliness, humility, devotion, and taste for divine things, integrity of chastity, exceptional abstinence and self-abjection, we should surely undertake an inextricable business. Invited therefore, nay also received to the nuptials of holy Religion, this our blessed Helen, where the epithalamia of the new bride of the Lamb are daily celebrated, her soul is transferred to the nuptials of the Lamb. namely marked with the nuptial garment, immediately wished to sit in the humbler place, according to the document of our Savior Jesus Christ, who said, When you are invited to a wedding, recline in the lowest place; that he who invited you coming, Friend, may say, Come up higher: and therefore at the end by the master of the feast our Lord Jesus Christ she was bidden to come up higher, where she was made one of those, to whom it is said by the Prophet, Arise after you have sat you that eat the bread of sorrow. Luke 14:8, Ps. 126:2 To us therefore from the example of this holy heroine, it must be thought to have flowed, that oracle of the divine mouth, The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent bear it away. Matt. 11:12 Which that I, who have produced this Life of this Blessed one, may be able to seek with desire and attain in work, by the mercy of God, to the great founder of her kingdom I bend my knees, and to her, who with him now celebrates triumph and reigns and shall reign forever and ever. Amen.
[13] Two miracles of her living. Many are the signs and miracles, both before and after her death which impel me into this opinion, so that I in no way doubt her to be with her bridegroom Christ our Lord and written in the hosts of the Saints: of which I shall include two. For a certain Udine citizen, whose name was Heleno Calceretto, when he was gravely oppressed by falling sickness, she restored to pristine health by her intercessions. A certain Benevenuta of Udine, when for three years she had given no fruit of her marriage, was held in contempt by her husband and beaten: which taking hard she fled to her parents, and to them what the cause subjoined she expounded, saying she had fled from her husband, because by him
she was ill-treated; for after she had married him no happy day had ever been hers, and she was affected by greater grief because she was afflicted and beaten without fault, and she affirmed she would never return to him: wherefore very many most honorable matrons gathered around Benevenuta, admonishing and beseeching that she should take care for herself, and not expose herself to being despised and defamed. When Benevenuta did not admit their counsels, Bl. Helen ordered her to be summoned to her: "No doubt, my daughter," she said, "let hold you, without doubt your husband shall receive children from you: return to favor with him; place in God your hope and faith undoubted: indeed to your desires he shall respond." Scarcely had a year passed when she gave birth to a girl, which was done by Helen's prayers.
Notes* or spacious?
* or favors?
April III: 24. April
Saints' Lexicon as a USB stick or as DVD
Support for the Ecumenical Saints' Lexicon
Page optimized for printing
Our travel blog: Travels to the places where the saints lived and are venerated.
Send recommendation to friends
Comment on article / Report error
Questions? - our FAQs answer!
Search in the Saints' Lexicon
Imprint - Privacy statement