ON ST. GUALFARDUS SOLITARY
OF VERONA AND AUGSBURG.
IN THE YEAR 1127
PrefaceGualfardus Solitary, of Verona and Augsburg (S.)
By the author D. P.
[1] The kingdom of Italy, which had passed from the Lombards to the Franks by the virtue of Charlemagne, took under his far lesser-virtued posterity Berengar, a Prince of Italian blood: who, establishing his seat at Verona about the year of the Lord 894, In the church of St. Salvator de Curteregia and adorning it both with a most fortified citadel, and with a stone bridge, and with other great works, had there two successors of equal name and title, his son Berengar II, and his grandson through his daughter, Berengar III, whose varied fortune in the new and violently usurped kingdom the Veronese historians pursue. Which of them built the Royal Court on the bank of the river Adige (for it is probable it was built by someone) I have not ascertained; nor would we know that it was a Court or palace, except that the church of St. Salvator built there preserves the name from that, and is called St. Salvator in Curte-regia. It is the eighth in order among the forty-five parishes of the city of Verona in Ughelli, and has adjoining a monastery of Nuns of the Order of St. Benedict.
[2] the body is of St. Gualfardus, But what makes this church memorable to us in the present work, is the body of St. Gualfardus, born at Augsburg, a saddler by craft; who, about the year 1096, coming from Germany to Verona, after he had lived a whole twenty years as a solitary in a little wood near the city, known to God alone; being drawn back into the city, he lived there ten years near the aforesaid church as a sort of recluse; and dying in the year 1127 on the day before the Kalends of May; and, by miracles which he had begun to be famous for while living, he was made more famous soon after death; and he now has his tomb there and an altar over it with a yearly feast. Francis Corna in a book, once adorning the altar, which he wrote in pedestrian and vernacular speech in the year of salvation 1477, concerning the antiquities of Verona and of the Saints' relics which are found in it, asserts that the bones of St. Gualfardus rest in a sepulchre (that, namely, which we shall soon understand from his Life had been miraculously kept for him) in the wall at the side of the altar: and that there also are an iron haircloth and hood. Thus Augustine Valerius, Bishop of Verona, in the Monuments of the Bishops and Saints of Verona published in the year 1576; and he adds, "But this haircloth and hood the Abbess of the Nuns of the said church of St. Salvator, on the 16th day of February, 1574, affirmed to us that she had seen and touched, which was made of iron chains, and the hood covered with all-silk or velvet, and so great that it could also cover the shoulders: and that these things were thence carried off under John Matthew Gibertus, Bishop of Verona, with his iron tunic and hood, and that she knew not what afterwards became of them. She said also that within the monastery there was an ancient cloth, on which was the image of St. Gualfardus, clothed with a haircloth in the manner of a garment composed of chains."
[3] John Matthew Gibertus sat in the See of Verona from the year 1524 to the end of the year 1543. Mark Corner, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, had preceded him by 21 years, under whose Pontificate the Translation of St. Gualfardus was made, from the old chest to a new one in the altar, then in the year 1507 translated into a new chest to the altar which is now honored there under his name. Of which Translation the memory is contained in a leaden tablet placed within the chest and inscribed with these letters: "In this tomb lies the Most Blessed Gualfardus, from the city of Augsburg: who passed away at Verona in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord 1127, the day before the Kalends of May, and his Translation was on the 7th Kalends of December, 1507, with John of the Abbey, Canon of Verona, present." Below the said chest is read this title sculpted: "Bones of St. Gualfardus": and before the altar on a transverse tablet, another longer is seen in this form: "The bones of St. Gualfardus from the city of Caesar-Augusta rest here." with various inscriptions, Where Valerius in vain, and after him Ferrarius in the Annotations, suspecting an error, warn that the word "Caesarea" should be erased, because St. Gualfardus was a German, not a Spaniard. For it is not plausible that it came into the mind of the authors of that inscription to write anything of the city of Saragossa in Spain: but since in the Subalpine regions there was another Augusta of a most famous name, called by the ancients Augusta Praetoria, metropolis of the Salassi, and called by Solinus the border of Italy, the head of a Duchy of its own name in Piedmont; lest anyone err by the ambiguity of the name, they indicated that "Caesarea," that is, "Imperial" city, was to be understood.
[4] Above the same altar is also seen the image of St. Gualfardus, wooden, carved, clothed with a haircloth of chains, with image and patronage of saddlers, made in the year 1517; which, as also the altar itself, I believe to have been placed by the craftsmen of the Saddlers, who venerate St. Gualfardus as their Patron at Verona; and indeed, as Octavius Ianolinus, Rector of the College of Verona, lately questioned by us, wrote back, on the very day on which he died, on which also by Ferrarius is mentioned in both Catalogues of the Saints, namely on this last day of April. Yet formerly, for the greater convenience, as I believe, of the Saddlers themselves, and for the better drawing of a throng of people running to the Saint, that feast was held on the Kalends of May: for so in the Missal of the church of St. Mary of Frata, from parchments, The feast at Verona on May 1 and the manuscript Life it is found written on the first day of May, "Gualfardus the Confessor rests in St. Salvator": and in the Martyrology among the Nuns of St. Dominic, Kalends of May, "At Verona, St. Gualfardus the Confessor rests in St. Salvario." Thus Augustine Valerius, and he signifies that his Life is held in the said church in manuscript: such as the Capuchin Fathers in the year 1602, with particles taken from the body, received transcribed and brought to Augsburg, as will be said below, and preserve wrapped in green silk, together with the German version printed the same year at Augsburg; whence our own John Gamansius communicated it to us, having received the same. The translator was Cleophas Distelmayr, The same in German in the year 1602 minister of the altar in the Cathedral of Augsburg: who aptly prefixed to his version the words of St. Ambrose on the finding of SS. Gervasius and Protasius: "We have escaped, brethren, no slight burden of shame; for we have found today how we may seem to surpass our elders; we have found the recognition of holy Martyrs, which they had lost."
[5] The same Life was translated into Italian by John Anthony Blanchinus, printed at Verona in the year 1604: and translated into Italian in 1604: and at the care of the Saddlers of the city of Rome, who, by the example of the Veronese, had adopted the Patronage of St. Gualfardus, reprinted at Viterbo in the year 1620, and dedicated to Alexander Cardinal of Montalto. Which version, made from the Veronese original, comparing with the Augsburg copy, we not only learn that this had been faithfully copied from that; but turning our mind thence to these words in n. 4: "Of the … miracles which the most holy man of God Gualfardus … displayed, as from present witnesses, most religious persons still living, whom we shall enumerate in what follows, we have found to be true, we shall endeavor to open to you with good faith"; and yet finding no witnesses anywhere named, we are compelled to believe that the Veronese original itself is not the primitive one, but perhaps after the burning of the city (mention of which is inserted in n. 12) to have been copied, the autograph having perished among the flames; as among them then perished the ex-votos hung around the tomb. which seems to have been written in Latin before the year 1200; For that fire happened only in the year 1230 (so far as can be known from the Veronese history by Jerome della Corte); but the miracles, whose present and still living witnesses the author of the Life promises to name in what follows, even if only those which happened after the Saint's death seem to be meant (for there follows, "but first those which … in his life he did … we shall try to declare"), nor were they written except after the death of those who, having received health by the intercession of St. Gualfardus, long surviving, gave certain testimony of the whole affair, as did Vivianus, of whom n. 11 treats: yet they seem to have been made not very long after the death of the Saint, and at least to have been written before the end of the same century. Be that as it may, the writer of the Life here to be edited comes very near to the authority and credit of contemporary writers, its abridgments in others, and from it have been drawn the shorter synopses of the Life, which it is permitted to read in Valerius and Ferrarius in Latin, in Jerome della Corte in Italian, in Stengel in German. But the Saint himself, who is venerated at Verona on the day before the Kalends of May, is commemorated at Augsburg, on account of the memory of the Translation, on October 26, in the year of the Lord 1602.
[6] We shall give the instruments of the said Translation after the Life, from which another copy in the manuscript of Welser. we shall learn that Mark Welser, the illustrious man and chief ornament of the city of Augsburg, labored for the same: whom I persuade myself to have been the first author of relics sought from Verona. For our own Gamansius, in a Codex, copied at St. Anne's in the public school about the year 1580 (which is now of the Commonwealth of Augsburg and formerly was of Mark Welser), found another copy of the Life, and transcribed and communicated it: whose tenor of Life, in the same words for the most part, yet sometimes woven more briefly and more polished, we shall sometimes cite below in the notes. But from this Codex, which itself may seem to have been received from some Veronese manuscript, Welser, brought to the knowledge of this Augsburg Saint, whence he himself composed a new one. first wove a new Life in his own style, with additions which could be added from Augustine Valerius: and so it is found printed along with the opuscula of Blessed Brother David of Augsburg of the Order of Minors in the year 1596: then he seems to have conceived a great desire of communicating so great a good to his fellow citizens, as we shall soon see done.
LIFE
From a Veronese manuscript brought along with the Relics.
Gualfardus Solitary, of Verona and Augsburg (S.)
BHL Number: 8789
FROM A MS.
[1] Brought to Verona, he remains there, There was a certain very noble man of Christian profession, named Gualfardus, arising from the province of Germany, from the city of Augsburg: who by divine providence, with certain of his companion merchants, came to the city of Verona: and there, seeing the fertility of the time, the fitness of the place, with a companion of his own craft named Licko a, all the others returning, arranged to stay in the same city. Blessed Gualfardus, therefore, snowy-white in chastity, flame-like in charity, sober in modesty, empty of anger, great-minded in constancy, long-suffering in the virtue of patience, compassionate in mercy, holding compassion inwardly, yet performing the work outwardly daily, whatever finally he found by the labor of his hands, he sustains himself by the work of a saddler. he distributed to the poor and needy keeping nothing for himself except only so much clothing as he could drive away winter and at least cover his body. In the same place the most blessed Gualfardus, in the exercise of saddlery (for he was an excellent saddler) remained for a short time. For considering the deceitfulness of men, the fragility of his life, the craftiness of the devil, it displeased him to lead his life in such a way.
[2] Therefore, that he might gain for himself eternal life, and wholly put away the vanities of this world; thereafter he lives as a solitary for 20 years, a grove
which is called Saltuccius b, for the purpose of dwelling there, with desirous mind, no one knowing, he entered: which grove was not far distant from the city of Verona, near the Adige river. In that same grove, however, the most blessed man of God Gualfardus for nearly twenty years, no man could know how most strict and how good and how very useful a life he led there. For the grove in which he remained was not frequented, the place of it was almost impenetrable on every side. But when it pleased the Lord to show the works of so great a man, to certain sailors navigating near the wood, he showed forth St. Gualfardus near the bank of the Adige; where, found and brought back to Verona. who, thinking he was either a wild or a sylvan man, came in their ship to the shore. Going out therefore from the little boat and advancing by that same path, they found him in a small hut having a little garden. Him they seized unwilling and led off to the city of Verona. Whom his countrymen recognizing, they found a suitable place for him at the church of St. Peter c in the monastery, and gave him garments and other necessary things: from which nevertheless he daily abstained, and as much as possible aided the needy, and there, being devoted to good works for a very brief space of time, he remained.
[3] Then at the time when the Adige river greatly d rose, so that it overflowed the squares of the whole city, with the Adige flooding he departs: and with almost all men fleeing from fear, the most blessed man of God Gualfardus also went out of the city of Verona: then he sought the church of the Holy Trinity e, not far distant from the aforesaid city. But remaining there a brief time, serving God, obeying, denying nothing; renouncing the world with its pomps, by certain most religious men of the church of St. Salvator, with the affection of pious love and the clemency of highest devotion intervening, and returning again he lives ten years at St. Salvator's, he was received. When therefore the most holy man of God Gualfardus was remaining in that same place, immediately he ordered a cell to be made for himself, to which at his own pleasure, situated near the church, he entered. There indeed for ten years, persevering day and night in vigils, persisting in most frequent prayers, and continuing in fasting, and always abstaining from foods and drinks, he did not cease daily to distribute to the needy. He freed the sick from fevers and from many other languors, where becoming famous for virtues and miracles, by the virtue of God he enlightened the blind, he drove away demons, he sent the lame home upright. For he was a man who by piety, by justice, by modesty, by fortitude, by prudence, by finally the splendor of all virtues, shone by the goodness of God alone. He was a man to whom wisdom was a sister, prudence a friend, modesty a mother, fortitude a midwife, justice a nurse. Therefore the most blessed man of God Gualfardus, being thus devoted to good works, was always free from anger and hate, and from step to step always ascended.
[4] Of the manifold and innumerable miracles, which the most holy man of God Gualfardus by God's help and virtue after his death f displayed; as from present witnesses, most religious persons still living, whom we shall enumerate in what follows, this we have found to be true; he has fishes sporting with him, and we shall labor with good faith to open to you some of his miracles. But first the signs, the miracles in his most holy life which he himself performed, we shall try to declare with the inquiry of highest love. For often this most holy man of God Gualfardus, going down to the bank of the river Adige, to wash his hands, and take some water in his cup, fishes came of their own accord, and vied to leap into the cup, and also licked the hands of the most holy man: some of them he raised up, yet afterwards putting them down, when they were unwilling to depart, commanding them he made them return for the church of Salvator is adjacent to the Adige. O how great is his humility! he preserves the alms brought to him, how great his wisdom and how great his fortitude! How magnificent are the wonders which God displayed through so most religious a man, praying to God for the whole people of Verona in that cell! For boys and virgin girls, coming from afar by the command of their elders, bringing food to the most holy man Gualfardus in small dishes, most frequently fell on the most foul road; yet they lost nothing of what was in the vessels: which he distributed almost wholly to the poor there present.
[5] At that same time a certain citizen of Verona, Mugetus by name, he enlightens the blind, was held in grievous infirmity of the eyes, so that he believed the lost office of seeing would not be henceforth in any way restored to him. And when he had been long wearied with such labor, he sent a messenger to the venerable man, asking and with many prayers begging that he would deign to come to him as if for the purpose of visiting. Who, when, avoiding the favor of men, he refused to go; being admonished by the words of the Priest of that church at which he dwelt, at length, with night already pressing on, he went to the house of the aforesaid man. he heals those sick in the eyes, Therefore when his hands were violently drawn over the eyes of the sick man himself, the next day sight was restored to him; and being brought back to his former well-being, he rendered immense thanks for the bestowed benefit to the Man of God. Another citizen also, Albericus by name, suffering from like infirmity, came to the man of God, and prostrating himself at his feet, and drawing his hands over his own eyes, he who had come grieving, the remedy being received, is said to have departed with joy.
[6] likewise another blind man, Besides, from the same city of Verona a certain man, who was called Gisalbertus, had fallen into total blindness of sight: to whom it was revealed in a vision, that he should seek the man of God Gualfardus, and through his intervention he should not doubt that he would receive a fitting remedy. Therefore supporting himself on a staff, he came to the place where the man of God dwelt: whom, that he might have mercy upon him, he most instantly besought, and so departed joyful from having received his former health. To the wife also of a certain Rodulph the saddler, suffering from the heat of fevers, it was shown at night in a vision, that if she drank of the water with which the hands of the aforesaid man of God were washed, without any delay she would escape from that languor of fevers. Which being done, that woman became well, and gave not a few thanks to the man of God for the remedy granted. and a woman with fever. Therefore with such and other innumerable miracles and good works the most sacred worshipper of God, relying on humility, polished by patience, and composed with discretion; never was he made arrogant, never exalted, never angry, never could he seem to be proud.
[7] About to die, he begs to be humbly buried: But when he understood the end of his life, he ordered a wooden coffin to be constructed for him, which he asked to be placed in the common way about the church: upon which coffin, with the man of God placed within, he wished men going and returning to tread. He said he was not worthy to remain in the cemetery: he called himself greatly a sinner and said God had been offended by him in many things. Not long after, while he was sick, certain most honorable men of the same church of St. Salvator, with some of their neighbors, found two wagons, and were pleased to go for a stone chest, which was reported to be in the valley of Paltena, at Cozanum g: which for a long time previously, but in a stone chest miraculously conveyed, even in the serenest weather and calmest air, could not be taken from there by any men who had very often wanted to carry off that chest; nay, immediately upon their attempting to move the said chest, the whole coast of the place was devastated by a great storm. But when the aforesaid men by divine providence came to the chest, all the men of that valley, fearing the usual storm, on bended knees earnestly begged them not to move the chest. However, as it was God's will, not therefore abandoning the chest, they placed the box in one wagon, and the cover in another vehicle, with God's help, with great joy, without any adversity of weather. it is laid up: Coming therefore with great festivity and great gladness, they brought the chest to the church of our Lord the Savior without any hindrance. But in that same hour the most holy servant of God Gualfardus gave up his spirit, in which they, coming with the chest, approached the aforesaid church with great jubilation.
[8] After the death of the most holy man, a certain woman named Tulcelda, [h] oppressed by the plague of paralysis, and therefore deprived of the function of one arm and shoulder, a paralytic is healed at the bier, scarcely walking, approached his bier: and there by his intercession, received full health. But when a certain woman of the same quarter of St. Salvator, called Otta (whose son, named Henry, was held in grievous infirmity of one eye) had heard that such wonders were being done through the merits of the most holy man of God Gualfardus; she brought the boy to his bier, and with the eye of her son being touched by the hand of the most holy man, and then with the foot, and many other sick, he was thus, by God's mercy and by the merits of the holy man, delivered. We have learned that many also there, both men and women, were cured from diverse sicknesses, the blind enlightened, the contracted extended, those burning with fevers freed; [of whom, lest if we be drawn out into a volume and an abundance of words, we become a weariness to readers, we have thought it fitting to be silent].
[9] Afterwards at the tomb they are cured, a contracted man But after the burial of that most holy man Gualfardus, a certain man of Trent, John by name, was brought to his chest: who was so contracted from the navel downward, that he could scarcely move himself, nor could he walk except with his hips resting on the ground. And while he remained persisting there in prayer, with the people then standing by looking on, his paralytic limbs began to be stretched out, and then at length being raised up, he ran rejoicing to the bells, and made all present equally certain and glad of his liberation. a blind woman, Besides, from a certain village, which is called Agna i, of the Paduan diocese, a certain woman coming, wholly deprived of the light of her eyes, brought before the chest of the man of God; the light, which she had long lacked, was straightway restored to her. A maidservant also of Thebaldus k Strusius was so sharply vexed by a demon, a possessed woman, that she could scarcely be held and restrained by three men: who, when for some days she had been held before the tomb of the most blessed man, on the Lord's day, while Mass was being celebrated, that wicked spirit going out, ceased to infest the girl: and so, freed, with great gladness she returned to her own.
[10] But another woman from Terratio l, which place is of the diocese of Verona, with her throat obstructed, situated not far from the field of Padua, was seized with such misfortune, that with her cheeks falling down and obstructing her throat, scarcely was the faculty of breathing granted: and she could taste nothing, except with a little knife opening her mouth. To her in sleep was made a revelation in this manner. For it seemed to her that the man of God Gualfardus came to her, and with him drawing his hands over her cheeks the languor departed; moreover, he exhorted her to go to the presence of his body. Therefore coming to his tomb, she obtained the remedy. So great is the certitude of this miracle, that after these things the woman offered the tithes of all her goods to the church at which the venerable body rests: and so she was accustomed to do by custom in each year.
A certain citizen of Verona, a paralytic, Andrew by name, had been dissolved by the infirmity of paralysis, so that with all his limbs on one side drawn together, he was compelled only to lie. Brought however to the presence of the man of God, he received full healing: and without anyone's aid, he returned to his own dwelling.
[11] an epileptic, There was also a certain citizen of Verona, Vivianus by name, who before his entrance into the Clergy was held by that infirmity which in common speech is called "cadiva" (falling), wherefore daily he was compelled to fall. This man, when he had come to the tomb of the man of God, was freed at the same hour at which he was accustomed to fall, and long surviving, he gave certain testimony of this matter. Another man, from a certain castle which is called Marciana m, in the valley of Paltena of the Veronese territory, a possessed man, was afflicted with such intolerable passion, that for three years day and night he did not at all cease from immoderate chattering; which many thought was done by the infestation of the evil spirit. This man being led to his tomb, was restored to his former quiet; and with the chattering calmed, joyful and with great joy of his parents, returned home. For which benefit granted him, as long as he remained in this life, each year he was accustomed to give a certain measure of oil to the church. pain in the sides, Besides, a certain Lady, who is named Redalda, had suffered for nearly sixteen years so immense a pain of the sides, that no hope of escape remained. Therefore on a certain day, while she was tormented in her usual manner, coming to the chest she began to persist in prayer, and to pour out tears: and there through the intervention of the man of God she received a full remedy of that languor, and being healed she returned home.
[12] In the parts of the Germans also, while the feast of St. Margaret n was imminent, a certain maidservant, who had vowed to observe the same feast, a girl having her hand contracted for the violation of the vow, her mistress compelling her and frightening her with threats, went out into a meadow where hay was being cut. Who when she had taken a rake in her hand, and had extended it to gather the hay; soon her withered hand remained bound around the wood, so that in no way could it be extended, nor the rake which she was holding be taken from her: whence it happened that on each side of the rake was cut, but the part which her hand was closing on (since it remained immovable) was left so. She, the fame of the most holy man of God being spread abroad, sought the presence of his body. Where when she had come, little by little approaching, her withered hand with the other, sound hand she raised over the chest: and soon, by divine power working, with her hand extended the wood fell: which was indeed hanging there, until that city of Verona o was burnt, and gave credit to this fact. There were also two girls from the diocese of Trent, who had been seized by a demon. But when they had come to the blessed man's chest, two possessed women, and had vomited forth blood and other most foul things from their mouths, thus freed by God and the merits of the holy man, they returned home with great joy.
[13] a woman weak in body, From the region of the Germans also there was a certain Countess, who was held in the greatest impediment of her limbs, so that she could in no way walk. But when she visited the tomb of the most holy man of God Gualfardus, by divine providence and by the merits of the blessed man, she departed freed. There was also a certain man, Consoldinus [p] by name, who, having a certain friend of his named Ursatus, a lame man, who for a long space of time had been lame, brought him on his own back to the threshold of the holy man: and immediately being freed before the chest, he went home on his own feet. Another man also, Gilbert by name, on a certain feast, as he himself professed, punished for the violation of the feast, was making suitable combs for the work of wool-making: for which reason one of the combs so strongly clung to his hand, that it could never be taken from it, until he visited the tomb of the most blessed man of God. But his hand being placed upon the chest, immediately by God's power and the intervention of the aforesaid man, from his outstretched hand the comb fell; and having thus escaped, he long bore witness to this. On one day alone five men seized by demons, 5 possessed men, by the merits and intercession of Blessed Gualfardus, were freed together, when they came to the aforesaid chest, with many standing by and seeing them vomiting blood from their mouths.
[14] But it is not much time since, three Germans, likewise one previously prohibited from approach to sacred places. who were coming from the sepulchre of our Lord Jesus Christ, and who had also visited the church of the most blessed Prince of the Apostles, and of St. James, came to the chest of the most religious man of God Gualfardus, and two of them placed great gifts upon the chest. But the third, when he wished to offer his gifts upon that chest, could in no way approach the chest. Whence his companions thought him to be seized by a demon, because he could neither touch the sepulchre of our Lord Jesus Christ, nor kiss that of Blessed Peter at Rome, nor also approach the chest of St. James. But while the aforesaid man tried three times in vain to go to the chest of Blessed Gualfardus, by divine providence and by the merits of the blessed man, he violently cast forth blood from his mouth; and thus freed from the chattering and from the devil's temptation he departed: and his companions rendered immense thanks to God and to his most blessed servant Gualfardus. By the bestowal of our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen. Blessed Gualfardus, however, passed to the Lord in the year from the incarnation of the Lord one thousand one hundred twenty-seven, the day before the Kalends of May: [and his holy bones rest in the church of our Holy Savior in the Royal Court above the river Adige.] [q]
ANNOTATIONS.
h MS. Velser: Tuleda.
p In Bianchinus: Contoldinus. MS. Velser: Centolinus, which pleases most as well known to Italians, namely a diminutive of the name Vincentius. In the same MS. he is called Ursinus, who here is Ursatus.
q MS. Velser adds these things, and at length subjoins the clause placed above, "Through the bestowal" etc.
TRANSLATION OF THE RELICS
From Verona to Augsburg,
from authentic manuscript instruments.
Gualfardus Solitary, of Verona and Augsburg (S.)
FROM A MS.
[1] On Monday, the 3rd day of the month of June 1602, at Verona, By order of the Coadjutor of Verona in the year 1602 in the below-noted church of St. Salvator. I Antony son of the late D. Francis of Rothariis of St. Stephen of Verona, Notary and Coadjutor in the Episcopal Chancellery, by order of the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Albert Valerius, Bishop of Famagusta and perpetual Coadjutor of the Bishopric of Verona, and so requested by the Reverend Fathers Brothers Mansuetus of Hostilia and Masseus of Bergamo, both Capuchins, residing here at Verona in the venerable monastery of the Reverend Fathers the Capuchins, I betook myself together with the said Reverend Fathers Capuchins to the parish church of the Venerable Lady Nuns of St. Salvator in the Royal Court, for the cause of noting down the present act, on the exhibition of the below-inscribed Relics of St. Gualfardus the Confessor. a thigh-bone with three particles is delivered to the Capuchins, When I had arrived there the Reverend Francis de Nigris, Curate Chaplain of the said parish church of St. Salvator, having first made prayer and lighted two lights, and the little window in the chest of the altar of St. Gualfardus being opened, took a certain Relic from the Relics of St. Gualfardus (as was there asserted) existing in the chest of the said Saint, namely a part of the thigh-bone, oblong, about one quarter in length, with three other particles, and consigned and delivered it to the same Reverend Fathers Capuchins, accepting it and placing it in a certain oblong box, to be carried to Augsburg: for the cause of transmitting it to Augsburg, to the Reverend Fathers Capuchins residing in the said city of Augsburg, and of preserving it perpetually in their church, which is now newly being constructed under the title and invocation of St. Francis, near the convent of the aforesaid Reverend Fathers the Capuchins: and so they insisted and requested that it be noted.
[16] likewise 4 particles of the skull, There follow the names of the witnesses, the subscription of the Notary and the authentication made by the Vicar of Verona, with the accustomed seal of the Chancellery: with which omitted, here rather is to be appended a similar Act, concerning other particles received in a similar manner, under this tenor. "On Wednesday, the 31st day of the month of July 1602. I, Antony of Rothariis, the aforementioned Notary, by order of the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Augustine Valerius, by divine mercy Cardinal Presbyter of the Holy Roman Church, of the title of St. Mark, named 'of Verona,' and Bishop of Verona and Count,
and so requested by the Reverend Fathers Mansuetus of Hostilia and John Baptist of Caravaggio, both Capuchins, and by the Reverend Lord John de Nigris, Curate Chaplain of the aforesaid church of St. Salvator at Verona, I betook myself with the aforesaid … to that parish church of St. Salvator: where when I had come … the same Reverend Lord John … took the upper part of the head of the same St. Gualfardus, and broke it, and from it exhibited four particles and delivered them to the same Reverend Father Mansuetus: who placed them in the aforementioned oblong box, in which is also found the aforementioned thighbone of the said St. Gualfardus, for the cause of transmitting it to Augsburg, as was noted in the aforementioned Act. And so, with the rest as above": to which the Instrument of Augsburg approbation is to be subjoined from the parchment autograph.
[17] "Henry, by the grace of God and the Apostolic See Bishop of Augsburg, to the perpetual memory of the matter. which having been presented to him the Bishop of Augsburg permits, Mindful of our pastoral office, we with all zeal willingly embrace those things through which the piety of Christ's faithful is stirred up, and the veneration of the Saints triumphing with Christ in heaven, especially of the Patrons of our city and diocese of Augsburg, is increased and enlarged. For thus we all Christians ought to venerate the Relics of the Saints, whose souls we do not doubt reign with Christ in heaven, with singular love on earth; that honoring the friends of God, we may fit ourselves to his good pleasures; and begging their patronage with God on this account, what we cannot by our own merits, we may deserve to obtain by their intercession. Hence it is that when lately to us, on behalf of the Religious Brothers of the Order of St. Francis of the Capuchins residing at Augsburg, certain Relics were exhibited from the body of the glorious Confessor Gualfardus, who, once born in the city of Augsburg, led at Verona a life of wondrous sanctity, and there in the Parish church of the Nuns of St. Salvator in the Royal Court most honorably rests, famous with many miracles by which God confirms his sanctity; namely one oblong part of the thighbone with three other particles, likewise four particles from the head of the same St. Gualfardus. Which Relics the same Brothers had taken from the aforesaid church of St. Salvator from the body of the said St. Gualfardus, through the Most Reverend Father in Christ Lord Albert Valerius, Bishop of Famagusta and perpetual Coadjutor of the Bishopric of Verona, obtained at their own prayers and at the prayers of the remarkable and eminent piety of the man Mark Welser, Prefect of the city of Augsburg, to be given, delivered, and consigned to them, as they said was established by the public instrument drawn up thereupon and by other documents worthy of credit. Therefore humbly and earnestly asking that we might permit Relics of this kind to be placed in the church of St. Francis, recently built from the foundations near their convent at Augsburg, and there to be honored by Christ's faithful, and to be held and published as such. We therefore, taught by the example of our elders to laud and honor Christ the Lord in his Saints with the highest desires, to be exhibited in the new church of St. Francis, favorably assenting to supplications of this kind laudable, and desiring the memory of St. Gualfardus to be celebrated with worthy honors in this his native soil: and because we have diligently inspected the aforesaid instruments and testimonial letters, sound and in no part suspect, and also have received diligent information about the aforesaid Relics from letters of this kind and otherwise, by which we have found them to be reputed, held, and received as Relics of St. Gualfardus from his body. Wherefore the said Relics and the aforementioned and specified parts of the same, as Relics of St. Gualfardus the Confessor, by Christ's faithful, with that honor with which the holy Catholic Church worships the bodies of the Blessed reigning with Christ, we have permitted to be venerated and to be held and published as such, and by the tenor of these presents we permit. In faith and testimony of all and each of which, we have caused and commanded the present letters, strengthened by the subscription of our own hand, to be made thereupon, and to be confirmed by the appending of our seal. Done at Augsburg in the year of the Lord one thousand six hundred and two, on the twenty-sixth day of the month of October.
Henry Bishop of Augsburg."
[18] Carl Stengel in the Chronicle of the Church of Augsburg published in German in the year 1620, book 4 chapter 5, the feast of the Translation on October 27 after rendering the Life of St. Gualfardus from the Latin of Augustine Valerius, and making mention of the relics brought from Verona, adds that their solemn Translation was made by the aforesaid Bishop Henry and all the clergy and a very great multitude of people, in the same year 1602, when the Capuchins' church was to be dedicated: and that thenceforward the feast of St. Gualfardus began to be celebrated at Augsburg on October 27. That day in that year was a Sunday, such as is usually read for the dedications of churches: from which time, since seventy and more years have flowed by, we wonder that no worthy adornment has yet accrued to Relics so earnestly sought and so magnificently brought into the aforesaid church; nor that the benefits obtained from them by the citizens of Augsburg are committed to writing; when nevertheless among them fame celebrates that St. Gualfardus still now at Verona shines forth with new miracles, as Brother Rudolf Weissenhorn, for the time being Vicar of the Augsburg Capuchins, wrote to us when asked about these things in the year 1674, transmitting copies of the authentic documents which I had requested. We, admonished by that suggestion, asked Verona whether any new thing about the Saint had been printed or written in this century; for seeking which indeed effort was promised us; but because thus far nothing has been brought, we believe that nothing has been found either.