Dominic

ON ST. DOMINIC, CONFESSOR,

FOUNDER OF THE ORDER OF FRIARS PREACHERS.

AT BOLOGNA IN ITALY.

In the Year 1221.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Dominic, Confessor, at Bologna (St.)

BHL Number: 2211, 2215, 2222, 2226

BY THE AUTHOR G. C.

§ I. A notice is premised of the ancient authors who wrote the Saint's Life.

Many contemporary or nearly contemporary writers have left to posterity the distinguished deeds of St. Dominic. Besides eyewitnesses of St. Dominic's deeds, To these add nine witnesses beyond all exception, who declared under oath before judges the outstanding virtues of the same Saint, which they themselves had seen and observed. Nor do the sworn witnesses of Toulouse, three hundred in number, deserve less credit, who confirmed not a little certain deeds and miracles of the Saint seen or heard by them in the parts about Toulouse, as we shall say afterward. Whence I marvel that Adrien Baillet, in volume 2 of his French Legend, sets the authority of all these at such small value that in the critical table prefixed to the month of August, at the day IV of that month, he boldly hints after his manner that in this matter little deference is to be paid to Blessed Jordan, the first writer of the Life, and to the other ancient biographers. For if that severe Aristarchus does not believe the most worthy successor of St. Dominic, who could easily investigate the Acts of his holy Father, and eyewitnesses, and other men near to this time, what after all will he require to produce belief in history? If that hypercritic had known these things, or had attentively considered them, perhaps he would have passed a milder censure on those authors. Meanwhile, for a fuller refutation of this rigid censor, and a clearer understanding of the matters to be spoken of, we shall transcribe those ancient biographers from Bernard Gui, who flourished about the end of the XIIIth century in the Order of Preachers, and was afterward taken from it to the bishopric of Lodève, and shall elucidate them, supplemented here and there with our observations.

[2] Therefore that Bernard, in Edmond Martène's Most Ample Collection of ancient writers and monuments, volume 6, columns 404 and 405, reviews them thus: we have concerning them the little book of Blessed Jordan, a contemporary, The illustrious deeds of blessed Dominic were written by the following Brothers, illustrious men. First of all the venerable Brother and father Master Jordan, his worthy successor, in his little book or treatise which he entitled: On the beginning of the Order of Friars Preachers, before his canonization; and the general Chapter approved it; which little book begins in the prologue in this manner: To the sons of grace, coheirs of glory, to all the Brothers. But the Life or Legend begins in the same place in the second chapter in this manner: In his times there was a certain youth named Dominic. From this distinct beginning of the prologue and of the chapter, and from other circumstances, we abundantly gather that there is preserved in our Museum an ancient transcript of that same little book which Blessed Jordan wrote a few years after St. Dominic's death, as will appear more clearly below.

[3] When it is here said that that little book was approved by the general Chapter, in which the Chapter of Bologna of the year 1242 this ought not to be so understood as if that Chapter approved each and all things contained in it: for the general Chapter which was celebrated at Bologna in the year 1242, in Edmond Martène's New Treasury of Anecdotes, volume 4, column [ ], after other decrees, thus laid down: Likewise we admonish and will that it be scraped out of the Legend of blessed Dominic, where he asserts of himself that, although preserved by divine grace in integrity of the flesh, he had not yet been able to escape that imperfection, that he was more affected by the conversation of young girls than by the discourse of old women. That passage, which is here decreed to be suppressed, is in our parchment transcript so erased that it has still been possible to read it in some fashion, as will be plain below.

[4] decrees that a certain passage be suppressed. Moreover Jacques Échard, who not long ago reviewed the writers of the Order of Preachers in two volumes, and inserted into that work the Life of St. Dominic from the same little book of Blessed Jordan, and illustrated it with notes, in volume 1, page 22, in his observations

on that decree of the general Chapter notes the following: Those wise men (it was the second Chapter of definitors) perhaps feared lest that confession should injure the outstanding sanctity of blessed Dominic and brand it with a stain, and their prudence in the erasure of these lines is only to be praised; but since that affection was merely external, and did not penetrate to the Saint's soul, nay, was one which he detested with his whole heart, what is against it, if he himself so confessed it, so that we frail ones might be on our guard, that we should know that he, so holy, nevertheless suffered something human, his innocence being safe. Let these things said about Blessed Jordan's little book suffice.

[5] After Blessed Jordan, Peter Ferrandi, Bernard Gui thus goes on to the second writer of the Life: Second, Brother Peter Ferrandi wrote, a Spaniard by nation, from Galicia, * after the canonization of holy Dominic; and the general Chapter likewise approved it. This Legend begins, as I judge: Blessed Dominic, while still a little boy placed under the care of his nurse. Nicolás Antonio in the Old Spanish Library, book 8, chapter 3, number 119, thus makes mention of the same Peter: A member of the same institute (namely of the Order of Preachers, of which he had treated before), Friar Peter Ferdinandi or Fernandez, a Galician, lived most holily among the Brothers from boyhood, and was a professor in very many places, and at length departed to those Above from the monastery of Zamora. He compiled the Life of the holy father Dominic, no ordinary diligence being applied. Antonio Senense calls it a Legend, which begins: Blessed Dominic, while still a little boy. I do not know whence Nicolás Antonio, Échard, and others dug up the surname Ferdinandi or Fernandez, since by Bernard Gui, and in the Lives of the Brothers, which we have in our old Manuscript codex marked P. Ms. 7, part 5, chapter 3, he is expressly named Brother Peter Ferrandi.

[6] The praised Échard, in volume 1 on the writers of the Order of Preachers (henceforth for brevity's sake we shall cite this work under the name Bibl. Praedicat.), page 1, makes that Peter a Portuguese by fatherland, whose little work it has not been possible to find until now, either because Galicia is near to Portugal, or because perhaps that province from which Peter was sprung once belonged to Portugal. But Échard in the same volume, page 127, treats of this Peter more distinctly, and there calls him a Spaniard, and rightly proves by certain arguments that he departed this life before the year 1260. For the rest, Échard, after mentioning this writer's little work on the Acts of St. Dominic, and assigning its beginning, thus writes in the same place to our purpose: This Life Malvenda, cited from Bernard Gui in his Commentary on the affairs of the Order, says was approved in a general Chapter; but which Chapter that was, he does not indicate: and that Commentary of Gui (it has lately been printed by Edmond Martène in the Most Ample Collection, volume 6, from column 398, as we indicated above) it has not been permitted me to see. For the rest, that Life would seem to need to be investigated more carefully, and to be brought to light by those in whose possession it is: for although the venerable Humbert used it, and inserted the chief things in it into the Life written by him, it contributes not a little to the elucidation of the truth of the facts to look upon the first and simple and genuine copies of writers of this kind who were contemporary or nearly so. Since I suspected that that unpublished little work was preserved somewhere in the libraries of the Reverend Fathers Preachers, I indicated my desire of publishing it to them in a memorandum which was transmitted to the most reverend Master of the whole Order. Moreover I wrote to friends in Portugal and Spain, that I might discover this lucubration of Peter's somewhere; but thus far I have wasted oil and labor.

[7] This Peter is followed in the order of biographers, or perhaps preceded, Bartholomew of Trent, by Bartholomew of Trent, whom Bernard Gui omitted, or did not know, and concerning whom Échard, volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 110, hands down these things: Brother Bartholomew of Trent, so named from his fatherland, a man conspicuous for learning and piety, flourished about the beginnings of the Order, and took the habit either from blessed Dominic himself, or from some one of his first companions. Certainly he himself asserts, in the work presently to be praised, that he saw and knew St. Anthony of Padua, who died in the year 1231, and that he was present at the first translation of the body of St. Dominic in the year 1233. And this work is entitled: An Epilogue of the Life of the saints, as Échard has it, or: A Book of epilogues on the deeds of the Saints, as our Henschen noted in his transcript, and it seems to have been composed about the year 1240, as Échard judges with us. But certainly the synopsis of the Acts of St. Dominic was written after the year 1244 and before the year 1251, as we shall afterward observe in the Annotations. From this manuscript work of Bartholomew of Trent, which in the year 1660 was still preserved in the library of Cardinal Barberini in codex 2061, Henschen excerpted at Rome the first translation of St. Dominic, and Papebroch a brief Life of the same Saint, which below in their place we shall now for the first time print.

[8] About these times there also lived a Dominican nun, passed over by Bernard Gui, Angelica of Bologna, who is said to have written Acts of St. Dominic, and concerning whom the praised — and often to be praised — Échard, in volume 2 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 831, hands down the following: Sister Angelica of Bologna was one of the first nuns of the sacred convent of St. Agnes, erected in the city of Bologna at the very beginnings of the Order, who under the training of Blessed Cecilia de Cesarinis, praised above, ascended to such perfection that she left an illustrious memory of her most holily conducted life. She is said to have flourished from the year 1225 to 1240, and beyond. She wrote the Life and deeds of Blessed Dominic, as she had heard Blessed Cecilia and the first companions of the same Saint narrating them. A Manuscript copy of this work exists at Madrid in the royal monastery of St. Dominic, seen by Brother Joseph de Sarabia, concerning whom above, page 782; who testifies, however, that it is only a transcript, written after the year 1372, since in the same hand there is contained in it not only the Life of St. Thomas Aquinas, but also the history of the translation of his body. We lack that lucubration, nor do we greatly need it, since Fernando del Castillo in his Spanish History of the Order of Preachers doubtless used these monuments, as he seems to indicate in the prologue of the same History. Moreover how much credit is to be assigned to the narrations of sister Cecilia will appear from the words of Échard to be cited below.

[9] and Constantine of Orvieto, nearly contemporary authors, To this age also belongs Constantine, who from the bishopric of Orvieto, to which he was taken up from the Order of Preachers, is commonly surnamed of Orvieto, and concerning whom Bernard Gui in the place cited above has this: Third, Brother Constantine wrote, who was bishop of Orvieto, by the mandate of the venerable father the Master of the Order, Brother John the German, as is plain in the letter of that same Brother Constantine, which begins: To the Father reverend in Christ. But the prologue begins consequently in this manner: In many ways and by many methods. But the Legend begins in this manner: The venerable father indeed, blessed Dominic; and this Legend likewise the general Chapter approved. Among the writers of the Acts of St. Dominic there is also numbered by Échard in the Library of Preachers, volume 1, page 1, third, Constantine Medici, an Etruscan, thereafter bishop of Orvieto, who at the bidding of John of Wildeshausen, the fourth Master of the Order, wrote and published a new Legend between 1242 and 1247, adding many things omitted by Jordan, using witnesses who had lived familiarly with the Saint for several years.

[10] committed the Life of the same Saint to writing. Then Échard in the same volume, page 153, narrates the chief deeds of this Constantine, and in the same place advises thus about his Legend, to our purpose: This we have published above entire from our accurate Manuscript codex of the XIIIth century, on parchment, in a very minute but elegant hand. This Life Vincent of Beauvais inserted in the Mirror of History, book XXXII, but not entire, and moreover in the printed editions swarming with errors. This he calls the NEW LEGEND to distinguish it from the other written earlier by blessed Jordan. They will have it that Constantine wrote at the command of the fourth Master of the Order, John of Wildeshausen, given in the year 1242 in the assembly at Bologna; which is likely, although in the acts of that Chapter, which are now had, nothing about this is read. That he finished the work before 1247 is almost certain to me. Since therefore Échard published this Life of St. Dominic in volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat. from page 25, we do not judge that it should be reprinted by us, especially since Dietrich of Apolda, whom we shall subjoin in print after this Preliminary Commentary, composed his own fuller lucubration from it and from others. If nevertheless anything worthy of note, or differing from others, occurs in that Legend of Constantine, we shall indicate it in our Commentary, or in the Annotations to the Acts by Dietrich of Apolda.

[11] Bernard Gui at once pursues the series of his biographers after Constantine of Orvieto in these words: These were followed by Gerard de Frachet, There wrote also Brother Gerald de Frachet, beloved of God and men, of the diocese of Limoges, Prior Provincial of the province, as it were gathering the ears of grain which escaped the hands of the reapers, as he himself testifies in the same place, recollecting and putting together many things which seemed to have been omitted or unknown by other writers, in the second book which is entitled Lives of the Brothers, which he himself composed, and divided into five little books; which second book begins: It ought not to seem superfluous. Échard, volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 259, calls this writer Gerard, and on the following page shows that his work was already finished by the year 1260; the second part of which, which pertains to the Acts of St. Dominic, he had inserted, reprinted more correctly from two Manuscript codices, in the same volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat. from page 37. We have that same work of Gerard or Gerald entire and divided into five parts in our parchment codex P. MS. 7, which we shall compare with the printed editions, if anything from it in the course of this Commentary or in the Annotations to the Acts of St. Dominic occurs that must be observed.

[12] Dietrich of Apolda in the first prologue to the Acts of St. Dominic, below among us at number 3, who at the bidding of Humbert, general Master of the Preachers, attributes the aforementioned Lives of the Brothers to the venerable Humbert, when in the same place, after other things about him, he has this: He also compiled by his devotion and diligence the book which is called Lives of the Brothers. Hence also Malvenda and some others more recent ascribe that collection to the same Humbert. But the most illustrious Bernard Gui, besides what we have reported on this matter in the preceding number, in the praised Edmond Martène, in the same volume 6 of the cited work, column 423, writes the following: The eighth Prior Provincial was Brother Gerald de Frachet, of the diocese of Limoges, sprung from the Castle of Lucet near Limoges, who succeeded Brother Stephen of Auvergne, elected in the provincial Chapter celebrated at Le Puy of blessed Mary, in the year of the Lord 1251 … He, the book which is entitled Lives of the Brothers, by

the mandate of the venerable father Brother Humbert, Master of the Order, compiled; in which he left to posterity, for readers, a living image of his Religion.

[13] But these assertions of Dietrich and of Bernard, contrary in appearance, gathered the Lives of the Brothers, seem able to be reconciled with each other, if we say that the venerable Humbert supplied Gerard with the material of this little work, and that Gerard arranged the various monuments supplied to him and set them in fit order. To this reconciliation Échard furnishes a foundation, when in volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 147, he hands down this concerning the venerable Humbert: In the book to which they gave the title Lives of the Brothers, he has no small part: for it was both compiled at his bidding by Brother Gerard of Limoges, and he sent him several things known and written by himself, to be inserted in their places. Then on page 260 of the same volume he reckons the Lives of the Brothers among the lucubrations of Gerard of Limoges, and among other things advises thus about that little work: The time at which this work was published is dug out from the acts of the general assemblies. And so in the year 1256 it was ordained at Paris that whatever memorable thing the members should learn, they should write it as soon as possible to the Master of the Order. And when thereupon many memoranda had been sent from all the provinces, Humbert committed them to Gerard, who, selecting the more praiseworthy, had already completed the work in the year 1260, and in the same year, being approved in the assembly at Strasbourg, it was made public throughout the Order; which things are established from the prologue itself. But afterward certain things were added in various places, as at the end of the second part and at the beginning of the sixth chapter of the fourth part, and elsewhere; but these were added and inserted before the year 1300. Now let us proceed to another certain lucubration of the venerable Humbert.

[14] and Master Humbert himself, To this Gerard or Gerald Bernard thus subjoins the venerable Master Humbert: There wrote nonetheless the venerable father Brother Humbert, the fifth Master of the Order, gathering again and fitting together all the things well said and set down by his predecessors, welding one compilation out of the Legend of the aforesaid Brother Ferrandi and of Brother Constantine, cutting away the less necessary, taking up again more deeply what was well set down, with a faithful, beautiful, and graceful style, and with an order also very reasonable and fitting, which in many respects is preferred to the rest, as is plain to one who diligently examines and compares, taking the same beginning which Brother Constantine also took in his prologue, namely in what follows, in their own places also superadding in the prologue itself and changing suitably and aptly. The prologue begins thus: In many ways and by many methods … But the Legend begins consequently in this manner: Blessed Dominic, leader and renowned father of the Friars Preachers. Échard, volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 147, conjectures that this Life of St. Dominic was written by Humbert before the year 1254, which we have in a transcript of the Utrecht codex (to this add the short chronicle of the same Humbert, which exists in our codex P. MS. 7), both of which instruments we shall use, if any difference of greater moment presents itself.

[15] whose lucubration was chiefly in use. That Legend of Humbert's seems to have been most used in the Order of Preachers: for already from the year 1254 it had been inserted into the Lectionary or ecclesiastical Office of that Order, as Échard testifies in volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 147. I also gather the more common use of that same Legend from the acts of the general Chapter which was celebrated at Strasbourg in the year 1260, and from which Edmond Martène in the New Treasury of Anecdotes, volume 4, column [ ], produces the following decree: Likewise the Master commands that the Brothers use the Legend of blessed Dominic which is inserted in the Lectionary, and that others henceforth be not written. When it is here decreed that other Legends be not henceforth written, I suspect that it is only forbidden that anyone unbidden should write a new Life of St. Dominic, or at least insert one already written into the ecclesiastical Office: for afterward various writers of the same Order published Acts of St. Dominic in diverse ways, as we shall presently see.

[16] Finally James of Voragine, and two others, James of Voragine inserted into his work, which is now commonly called the Golden Legend, a brief Life of St. Dominic, as, besides others, the praised Bernard Gui testifies in these words: Brother James of Voragine, a Lombard, afterward archbishop of Genoa, welded together his compilation after his manner in his new Lives of the Saints, as he did also of other Saints, as is plain in the same place. Concerning this work of James the judgments of the learned are various: for Melchior Cano, book XI on Theological Topics, in our work page 540, together with a certain other old collector of examples, thus sharply censures the author of this Legend: Nor do I here excuse the author of that book which is entitled MIRROR OF EXAMPLES; nor even of that history which is named the Golden Legend: for in the former you may read monstrosities of miracles more often than true miracles; the latter was written by a man of iron mouth, of leaden heart, of a mind certainly little severe and prudent. Nevertheless our Bolland in the prologue to the Acts of the Saints before volume 1 of January, §4, page XIX and following, defends this James's Golden Legend against Ludovicus Vives and other critics. What is to be thought about that collection, which exists once in manuscript in the parchment codex marked ✠ Ms. 87, and twice printed in old type, in our Museum, matters little to us here, since older and fuller Acts of St. Dominic are available to us from elsewhere.

[17] Since mention has here fallen upon Melchior Cano, there can fitly be reported in this place the severe censure of the same, which he passed on two writers of a different time and of his own Order, who also collected Acts of St. Dominic. That critic therefore, book XI on Theological Topics, pages 540 and 541, thus marks with the censor's rod the historical collections of Vincent of Beauvais and of St. Antoninus: Concerning Vincent of Beauvais and the divine Antony (so is he here called by his baptismal name, although he is now commonly called Antoninus) I judge more freely, of whom each took pains not so much to describe true and certain matters as not to pass over anything at all which was found written in any scraps of paper whatever. Thus for estimating each history and weighing it in its own moment they used not the balance of craftsmen, nor even the common scales. Wherefore, although good men and by no means deceitful, yet since they neither diligently examined those authors from whom they copied out their books, nor handed down matters to memory weighed with just weights, they lack authority among grave and severe critics. This rigid judgment of Cano will not prevent us from excerpting some things from those two authors, where it shall seem worth the trouble.

[18] Finally Bernard Gui, in the place mentioned above, thus reports the last biographer of his own age: and Dietrich of Apolda wrote the same Life. Brother Dietrich of Apolda, a German, of the convent of Erfurt, of the province of Saxony, in the time and at the bidding of the venerable father Brother Munio, the seventh Master of our Order, compiled a new book, which he entitled On the Life and miracles of St. Dominic, and on the Order of Preachers, which he founded, about the year of the Lord 1290, by chapters and rubrics. The first book, after all the prologues, begins in this manner: Dominic, the humble servant of Jesus Christ. That author is Dietrich, a German by nation, who from his birthplace, situated between Weimar and Jena, received the surname of Apolda, and concerning whom more will be treated below. Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers at the year 1234, pages 530 and 531, and Altamura here and there in the Dominican Library, and other writers of the Order add to the authors already mentioned some old biographers of St. Dominic, whose writings are supposititious, or doubtful, and unknown to all the ancients, as we shall show in the following paragraph.

* perhaps "Galicia"

§ II. Fictitious and supposititious or doubtful writers of the same Life, who under the name of ancients or of others are wrongly alleged by some.

Some authors wrongly reckon John de Monte and Thomas de Templo If John de Monte and Thomas de Templo had ever existed, or at least had written those works which certain more recent writers confidently attribute to them, they would have had to be placed among the first biographers of St. Dominic in the preceding paragraph: for Ambrose of Altamura in the Dominican Library at the year 1226, first century, page 5, indicates the date and the lucubration of the former in these words: John de Monte, most loving companion of our most holy patriarch Dominic, a Spaniard by nation, a man of ancient faith and candor, and no less distinguished by excellence of learning than by uprightness of life, begot for himself immortal glory among posterity by writing a book on the praises of blessed Mary entitled Mariale. Lusitanus in his Library, Plodius part 2, book 1. He flourished in the year of restored salvation 1226. Then he proposes a certain slight conjecture, by which he wrongly desires to confound John de Monte with John of Navarre, as will be plain from what is to be reported below.

[20] wrongly among the ancient biographers of St. Dominic, Altamura in his work just cited, first century, pages 56 and 57, thus reviews another companion of St. Dominic: Thomas de Templo, a Spaniard, was for a long time the companion of our most holy patriarch Dominic; a man plainly most skilled in liberal letters and in sacred Scripture, who was versed also in the theological disciplines, conspicuous in religion, and also notable in reputation; but above all he embraced with burning fervor the Virgin of the Rosary: hence he wrote a book on the miracles of the most holy Rosary of the most blessed Virgin; likewise on the preaching of it made by the same most holy Father. He is reported to have lived almost until this year 1280. Taegio in his Monuments, part 1, Lusitanus in his Library, and Plodius part 2, book 1. Nicolás Antonio in the Old Spanish Library, book 8, chapter 3, number 120, fixes his death in the year 1260, and incautiously followed certain more recent Dominicans, when he writes thus in the same place: Contemporary with these and with father Dominic was Brother Thomas de Templo, being a companion of the same holy Patriarch, who is reported to have written a book on the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin, and to have died in the year 1260. I do not know why Nicolás Antonio omitted John de Monte in his Spanish Library, since he too is handed down to have been a Spaniard.

[21] as Jacques Échard, But whatever be the cause of this omission, it will be useful to hear Jacques Échard of the Order of Preachers, who in volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., pages 472 and 473, passes such a judgment on these two pretended companions and writers of St. Dominic: Brothers John de Monte and Thomas de Templo are to be treated by us together, and not to be separated from one another, since they fable the same things of each. Both are said to be Spaniards, both companions and fellow-ministers of blessed Dominic while he was pressing the word of God among the Albigensians, both enlisted into his Order by the holy Father and endowed with his habit, both writers of his deeds: the first, namely John, in the book to which they give the title Mariale,

or on the praises of the Blessed Virgin; the other, namely Thomas, in the other which they ascribe to him, On the miracles of the rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and on the preaching of it made by blessed Dominic.

[22] Then Échard cites Lusitanus, Gozzeo, Pio, a writer of the Order of Preachers, Malvenda, and other authors of his Order, who on the credit of Alan de la Roche (whose credit we shall examine below) praise the aforementioned writings of both, and he goes on thus to judge against their opinion: Meanwhile a sincere lover of truth will hold these two writers to be plainly fictitious men, and will find what is produced from them concerning blessed Dominic supported by no appearance of truth, and not agreeing with his certain Acts; nay, altogether opposed to them. Certainly it would be a wonder, if they had been companions of holy Dominic, that there should be no memory of either in the ancient monuments of the Order: for neither has blessed Jordan, the second Master of the Order, who so diligently enumerates his sixteen first companions by name, anything about these two: nothing has Stephen of Bourbon or of Belleville, nothing Stephen of Salanhac, nothing the rest of his age — Humbert of Romans, the fifth Master of the Order, Gerard de Frachet, Vincent of Beauvais, Thomas of Cantimpré, Dietrich of Apolda, James of Voragine — in a word, none; of whom nevertheless very many published special treatises on the cult of the Blessed Virgin, on her miracles, on the angelic Salutation, on the special devotion of the Order toward her, and on the graces received from her. Those Fathers of the primitive Order searched out the deeds of blessed Dominic quite carefully, that they might hand them on to posterity. How came it about that all the things produced from those two, which ought to have been solemn and most widely known, especially those stupendous things done at Toulouse, escaped them?

[23] But there is another wonder, that those books of John de Monte and Thomas de Templo are praised in Alan alone, he demonstrates by various arguments, if indeed he really mentions them, and were seen or read by no other of his age. Certainly Jakob Sprenger does not mention them, who erected the first sodality of the Rosary at Cologne in the year 1475, nor Cornelius of Sneek, Vicar general of the congregation of Holland about 1500, who sought quite diligently for ancient monuments of the Psalter of the Blessed Virgin, and produces some even of about the year 1230. If those books, older by two hundred years and more, were still extant in Alan's age, why were they not thereafter seen, why not multiplied, why not given to the press: for this was to the purpose? This John de Monte, Altamura conjectures to be the same as John of Navarre, an illustrious companion of blessed Dominic; but I fear this conjecture will please no one: for if Navarre had written anything, it would not have been hidden from our ancient writers of the deeds of St. Dominic, but they would have received it the more eagerly. But how what has been said thus far does not stand in the way of the antiquity of the cult of the Blessed Virgin by a single or threefold fifty of angelic Salutations, will be established both from what has already been observed from time to time and from what is to be said afterward. We seek one thing, the truth, which we are persuaded does not need lies, is not supported by them, but is rather worn away and buried by them. We profess the same love of truth, and therefore below without any partisan zeal we shall attempt to trace the origin of the institution of the Rosary.

[24] But I do not sufficiently clearly understand why Échard at the beginning of the preceding number says conditionally in which nevertheless something occurs difficult to understand. that those books of John de Monte and Thomas de Templo are praised in Alan alone, "if indeed he really mentions them." Certainly he could not doubt that those books are very often cited by Alan, as will become manifest to one running lightly through his little works. Or does he perhaps by that manner of speaking hint that Alan de la Roche is not really the author of those little works which are generally ascribed to him? If he means this, we shall not greatly oppose him. But on that hypothesis Échard will seem to be at odds with himself, since he himself afterward attributes the same little works to Alan, and in the same place warns that the fables sprinkled through them do not injure his sanctity. But of these figments we shall have to treat more fully below. Meanwhile let us pass on to other writers who through a more innocuous error are praised under another's name.

[25] A certain Maurice is said to have written the same Life, John of St. Mary, by another surname Rechac, in his preface to the French Life of St. Dominic, page 6, cites among the ancient biographers of his holy Father a certain Maurice, as though he had been a companion of St. Dominic and had written his Acts from his own eyewitness testimony; whereas meanwhile neither among the ancients nor among the more recent (unless perhaps you except Stephen de Sampayo alone) does any mention of this companion and writer occur. Nevertheless that French hagiographer of his Order confidently adds in the same place that this lucubration of Maurice's is found at Paris in the convent of St. James among the Dominicans, among the ecclesiastical Offices. But how could that Legend of Maurice have escaped Échard and his helpers, who everywhere diligently investigated the writers of their Order, both printed and manuscript, and lately reviewed them in that same city of Paris in two volumes of great bulk? How is it that Antonio Senense makes no mention of that Maurice, biographer of St. Dominic, who, ranging over libraries everywhere, examining archives, noting down the ancient monuments of the Order, as Échard says in volume 2, page 271, published at Paris in the year 1585 a Library of Preachers, and after a year or two departed this life in France?

[26] as an eyewitness of the deeds, Wherefore I not altogether rashly suspect that by that facile and prolific John Rechac, of whose excessive credulity mention will recur below, one author was taken for another, and that that Maurice is to be numbered among the invented companions of St. Dominic whom Alan de la Roche, part 3, chapter 18, pages 181 and 182, after a fabricated sermon of St. Dominic on the Rosary, thus thrusts upon us: The heretics, their error being condemned, betook themselves to the bosom of the Church; among whom three men of chief renown, and most bitter heretics, openly professed themselves Catholics, their heresy being abjured: namely Master Norbert de Valle, doctor of canon law, Master Guelrinus de Fracmo, outstanding in the arts of philosophy, Master Bartholomew de Prato, a most experienced physician and likewise a most profound theologian. These three, besides several others, humbly received the Psalter from the hands of St. Dominic, and began to preach the same far and wide round about together with St. Dominic, following the institute of the Preachers of St. Dominic. But concerning these outstanding Masters, who entered the Order of Preachers, the ancient biographers are silent, although they review by name the sixteen first companions of St. Dominic.

[27] Justin erroneously taken for another, On the occasion of Constantine of Orvieto, whom in the preceding paragraph we numbered among the true biographers of St. Dominic, some authors went astray, whom Malvenda followed, and in the Annals of the Preachers at the year of Christ 1234, pages 530 and 531, made two writers of the Acts of St. Dominic out of one, and thus assigns us a certain Justin, unknown to all antiquity, as a distinct biographer of St. Dominic: Brother Justin in the general Chapter at Bologna in the year 1242 under Master John the German was ordered by the Fathers to write the Life of St. Dominic, as Ambrose Taegio in the first part of the Monuments of the Order, Leander book 4 in his historical works, and Antonio Senense in the Library of the Order report. But Échard, volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 153, rightly corrects all these, and thus concludes in the same place: Let the reader therefore hold it certain that Justin, unknown by this name to the ancients contemporary and nearly contemporary, of whom no Life of Blessed Dominic was ever seen by anyone, is no other than our Constantine.

[28] To this fictitious Justin, according to Échard's opinion, must be added John de Castilla, and John de Castilla, and some others, concerning whom Altamura in the Dominican Library at the year 1234, page 6, writes thus: In this year Gregory IX places among the holy confessors our most holy patriarch Dominic. Father Friar John de Castilla, a Spaniard, a pious and learned man, composed the Office of the most holy Patriarch, and accurately his Life. Two of ours composed the said Office, namely Father Friar John de Castilla (as I have said) and the most reverend Father Friar Constantine, bishop of Orvieto: but because that published by bishop Constantine was judged by the Fathers more elegant, this is read in church. Plodius in the Appendix, Lusitanus in his Library, and others.

[29] Échard, volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 472, thus discourses of this real or fictitious man: concerning whom the ancient writers Brother John de Castilla, a Spaniard, is praised by Lusitanus as flourishing in the year 1262, by Pio in the Appendix to Part II, and by his followers, and lately by Altamura, and he is said to have composed the ecclesiastical Office for the feast of St. Dominic, and his Legend. But since Lusitanus maintains that it is the same which the Order used from the beginning, his credit greatly totters; since that work is by Constantine Medici, bishop of Orvieto, concerning whom we have spoken above. Hence Altamura at 1234 contends that it is another, but not admitted by the Order; and on his own credit be it, since he praises no witness by whom it was seen.

[30] Then concerning the Acts of St. Dominic ascribed to him, which pertain more closely to our purpose, make no mention, he judges thus in the same place: I think the same of the ACCURATE Legend or Life of St. Dominic, as Altamura says; namely, of which there is no memory among the ancients. See, if you please, Malvenda's Annals, page 529 and following, where he reviews all the ancients who wrote the Life of the Saint, among whom that John has no place. For my part I confess that this John has no place among the ancient writers of the deeds of St. Dominic, whom Malvenda there reviews from the commentary of Bernard Gui; but Malvenda himself in the same Annals, page 530, among others whom he adds to Bernard Gui, mentions the same John in this way: Brother John the Spaniard, of Castile, compiled a Legend of St. Dominic, as Antonio Senense is the author in the Library of the Order of Preachers. He is said to have flourished about the year of salvation 1262. Hence, nevertheless, I do not wish to infer that the Life of St. Dominic was written by that John: for Malvenda and others cite no one of the ancients who ever saw that lucubration, nor do they indicate the place where it once existed or can be found. Wherefore I rather agree with Échard, who thus concludes his aforementioned reasoning about this author in the same place: I would not deny that some things unknown to the ancients are daily uncovered: but then whence they were dug out is at the same time indicated; and since those men do not disclose this, let them not wonder if credit is given them sparingly.

[31] To us no less suspect of forgery is rendered Conrad, and whom we therefore report commonly surnamed Teuto, whom Leander Alberti, book 4 On the illustrious men of the Order of Preachers, folio 152 verso, numbers among the ancient biographers of St. Dominic in this phrase: Behold that German, once prefect of the German province, Conrad by name, bearing the Life of the divine parent Dominic, published by him in a clear and not inelegant style, about the year

of the Lord 1290. Him Lusitanus followed, otherwise called Antonio Senense, who in the Library of the Order of the Friars Preachers, page 61, adorns that Conrad with such a eulogy: Brother Conrad, a German by nation, at one time Prior Provincial of that same Germany, a man renowned both for the honesty of his manners and the splendor of his regular observance, and also shining in learning, who out of all those who had written on this before him compiled a book on the life, death, and miracles of blessed Dominic our father; which Legend is fuller than the others. He flourished about the year 1290. From these two Altamura and other more recent bibliographers, both Dominican and outside the Order, have drawn their material.

[32] according to Échard's opinion That Legend of Conrad's is not so easily admitted by Échard, who in volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 421, thus reasons against the opinion of very many more recent writers: It would be a wonder that this Life, surpassing the rest, was never seen by anyone, praised by none of the ancients or of his contemporaries or near-contemporaries. Dietrich of Apolda, who about 1290 undertook to write the Life of St. Dominic, and finished it about 1296, citing the authors who had undertaken the same thing until then — Jordan, Constantine, Humbert, and Gerard, then Provincial of Germany — mentions only these. Would he have omitted Conrad, who, as they will have it, presided over that same province of his in the year 1290? Or would he at least have been ignorant that the latter had the same purpose as himself? Bernard Gui, writing after the year 1300, and enumerating all who had written the Life of the Saint, besides Dietrich and those praised by him adds only Peter Ferdinandi the Spaniard, and James of Voragine in the Legend of the Saints. How did that fuller Life of Conrad escape him?

[33] among the supposititious Then he asks who that Conrad was, and after distinguishing various namesakes, to whom nevertheless for the same and other reasons that Legend of St. Dominic does not seem able to be ascribed, at length on the following page he thus concludes: I have therefore a strong suspicion that Leander, the first asserter of this author, went astray and wrote Conrad for Gerard; errors of this kind sometimes and easily slip out even from more attentive cataloguers; and this pleases me the more, because although Gerard wrote several things about the deeds of blessed Dominic received from the mouth of Blessed Cecilia at Bologna in the year 1288, from which Dietrich enriched and enlarged his Life, yet Leander nowhere mentions that Gerard. I do not deny that this and other reasonings of Échard rest chiefly on a negative argument; but that kind of argumentation sometimes is not without its own force, which here I leave to the learned to weigh.

[34] or at least doubtful writers of the Acts, Finally, among the doubtful collectors of the deeds of St. Dominic must be reported a certain Friar Bornasius, whom Antonio Senense in his Library just praised, page 58, thus alleges: Brother Bornasius, a Sicilian by nation, a man venerable for the excellence of his religion and learning, made one book on the Life of blessed Dominic our father out of all those things which the sworn witnesses testified about him concerning his sanctity, when he was to be inscribed in the fellowship of the Blessed; in which are contained many things, and more notable, than in the other chronicles in which the Life of our father Dominic is commonly treated. He flourished in the year. * By this asterisk Antonio probably wished to indicate that the date of that Bornasius was unknown to him. Nevertheless Altamura expressly reports him in the Library of the Preachers at the year 1344. Échard, volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 617, after reporting the title of the work from Antonio Senense, speaks conditionally of its excellence, and doubts about its author: If it is so, he says, no pains should be spared that it be brought to light; but from giving full credit to what is reported I am hindered by this, that Leander, Malvenda, do not mention this writer, nor Vallius in his Compendium, nor Toppi in the Neapolitan Library, nor Mongitore in the Sicilian Library.

[35] One might also doubt whether Alan de la Roche should not be placed in this series of supposititious authors, to whom perhaps Alan de la Roche is also to be numbered. to whom perhaps some outside impostor foisted fabulous little works on the Psalter or Rosary of Christ and Mary, and treacherously inscribed on them Alan's name; and John Andrew Coppenstein of the sacred Order of Preachers, deceived by that false inscription, was the first afterward to publish them in print under the name of Blessed Alan de la Roche Revived: for since that Alan is said to have been a pious and learned man, nay is generally called Blessed in the Order, there do not seem able to be attributed to him the gross and manifest fictions with which the author of these little works has contaminated the Life of St. Dominic. We are not unaware that to this doubt there can be opposed the testimonies of several authors who ascribed such little works to Alan. Wherefore we shall leave this question undecided, and shall give the Reverend Fathers Preachers the choice whether they prefer to attribute them to their Alan or to another unknown person. But we certainly think that the true author of these little works (whoever in the end he was) was an imprudent fabulist, who opened a muddy fountain of fictions, from which nevertheless certain later writers incautiously drew their material, and mingled many fables with the true deeds of St. Dominic, as will be demonstrated in the two following paragraphs and in the course of this Preliminary Commentary.

§ III. The authority of Alan de la Roche is examined, who narrates stupendous deeds of St. Dominic unknown to the ancients.

Since above in §1 I had proposed to treat only of the ancient biographers, I did not wish to enumerate there all the writers Omitting the more recent writers of the Life, who after Dietrich of Apolda published the Life of St. Dominic in various languages. Whence, besides others, I there omitted Friar Thomas Antony of Siena, and Friar John Lopez, of whom the first wrote the Acts of St. Dominic in Italian, the other in Spanish, in the XVth century, as may be seen in Échard, volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., pages 781 and 826. Also only in passing and on another occasion I there made mention of St. Antoninus, who in the same XVth century collected the Acts of St. Dominic from older documents: for since various monuments of these were available, I did not judge that these more recent ones should be treated at greater length. But among these more recent writers of the fifteenth century Alan de la Roche alone (whether he be the true or a fictitious author, which it may suffice to have warned once and again) narrates wonderful and previously unheard-of stories about St. Dominic in certain little works, which henceforth I shall cite under the name of Alan Revived, according to the title which the first editor Coppenstein prefixed to them. In this paragraph it must now be discussed how much credit such narrations of Alan deserve.

[37] the authority of Alan de la Roche is examined, After Échard, volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., pages 850 and 851, had reported various deeds and writings of Alan, he judges thus in the same place concerning the little works which appeared under the title of Alan Revived: But certain things are here to be added about that writer; first, his revelations and visions, the sermons of holy Dominic revealed to him, the examples and miracles of the Rosary: all these, I say, are not to be held as if they had really existed; but to be only the meditations of a pious man, who framed his thoughts in this manner that he might more easily glide into the minds of his hearers: for such was the temper of his age, and such even now in certain provinces of Europe, that hearers are more delighted by little stories and examples of this kind, retain them more easily in memory, and by them are more powerfully and sharply both deterred from vices and moved to good, than by accurate and solid doctrine, which soon vanishes from their hearts.

[38] who narrates prodigies unknown to all the ancients, But those things which he narrates about holy Dominic so conflict with his true deeds, are so discordant with and contrary to his history, that they can please no sensible man, nor be adopted by a historian who is a friend and cultivator of truth. Thus the story which he reports in Part 2, chapter 3, about the Saint preaching the Rosary at Toulouse, and about the stupendous prodigies which then happened, if they had been true, who would think that in the inquiry into his deeds made so diligently in the year 1233, where so many witnesses who had seen him living were heard, they were recorded by no one? Who would believe that they escaped Jordan his successor, Peter Ferdinandi the Spaniard (to these I add Bartholomew of Trent), Constantine, Humbert of Romans, Stephen of Bourbon, Vincent of Beauvais, Stephen of Salanhac, Dietrich of Apolda — all writers of his age exceedingly eager for Dominic's deeds, and who sought out his marvels with all solicitude and diligence?

[39] and contrary to his whole history, You may say the same of Cardinal Conrad, whom he will have to have been in his youth a fellow-student of Dominic at Osma, called back by him to sober living, and thence a Cistercian; whereas certainly that Cardinal as a young man neither stayed nor studied in Spain, but in Germany. The same of Dominic's capture by pirates, by whom, converted, he was brought into a harbor of Brittany — a province which Dominic never saw. The same of Dominic's journey to Paris through Germany, Part 3, chapter 3, and of the castle on the Rhine or Danube, in which demons under the appearance of most beautiful maidens deluded the governor and his attendants — a road which the Saint never took, who did not even come to Paris except once from Spain. The same, in short, of everything which he narrates about the Saint. I pass over that in Part 5, chapter 38, he exhibits Dominic dwelling in the church of St. Mary above Minerva, which convicts him of being altogether a stranger in the history of the Order, since he did not know that this church was granted to our Romans only under Gregory X, namely in the year 1275.

[40] and contrary to the true Acts of St. Dominic, That you may know Alan's temper, compare the story of Benedicta of Florence (both of these we shall compare with one another below), which he has in Part 5, chapter 38, with number 35 of the Life of Dominic by Constantine, who heard the matter from the mouth of Benedicta herself, and narrates it simply. Alas, how great the difference! Whatever Alan has beyond, all that is his amplification, vision, if you will, meditation, composition; and someone will perhaps add that certain things are not consonant with right faith, if they be taken literally, as when he exhibits the blessed Virgin at the altar, while blessed Dominic was celebrating, dividing the Sacrifice, and taking and drinking part of the Host and of the chalice, and afterward helping to lay aside the sacred vestments; which, unless they be explained in some spiritual manner exceeding, I confess, my own mind, I do not know what theologian would bear. There are several other things of this kind; as when he calls Dominic the spouse of the blessed Virgin, with which title neither did the Saint adorn himself, nor the praised writers of his Life adorn him; or when Alan says of himself that he was received by the blessed Virgin as a spouse, and presented by her with a torque on his neck and a ring on his finger, both neatly made from the hairs of the Virgin herself, nay, that it was even permitted him to suck the Virgin's breasts, which he did quite eagerly; which things, unless they be understood spiritually, you would scarcely conceive or endure.

[41] John de Monte and Thomas de Templo,

whom he praises as companions of blessed Dominic and writers of his affairs, which nevertheless he strives to confirm by fictitious witnesses. are of the same manufacture as his revelations — men plainly unknown to our first writers, French, Italian, Spanish, German, English. If their Manuscript codices were still standing in Alan's age, assuredly he alone would not have read them; but no other ever asserted that he had seen them; not Michael Francisci of Lille, his disciple; not Cornelius of Sneek, another of his hearers (both wrote about the Rosary); not Jakob Sprenger, who first erected the society of the Rosary at Cologne: in a word, no one ever read these authors except in Alan.

[42] Let this therefore be our conclusion: Alan was a most pious man, Échard contends that those narratives of Alan most devoted to the cult of the blessed Virgin through the Rosary, a preacher most thirsty for the salvation of souls; his visions, revelations, or more truly parables, by the manner in which he brought them forth in sermons, produced wonderful fruits; but do not drag them into history — this only I wish. So blessed Elisabeth of Schönau had wonderful revelations about the circumstances of Christ's passion, about the blessed Virgin, raised up only on the fortieth day from her death, that is on the XXIII of September, and assumed into heaven, about the history of the eleven thousand Virgins. These, nevertheless, men of a finer nose have laid down are not to be drawn into history. See, if you please, what the editors of the Acts of the Saints think about these, volume III of June, page 635, in the Annotations, and volume VI of May, page 246, in a digression. From these things, nevertheless, you may conclude nothing either against Elisabeth's sanctity or against Alan's piety. Then he subjoins many things about the use of the Rosary, some of which we think will not everywhere please the praiseworthy devotion of our Belgians toward the Mother of God, and the fervent preachers of the Rosary. But since these things are not of this place, we proceed to examine the criticism of Échard already reported.

[43] Échard, contrary to his custom, by a not sufficiently clear manner of arguing, would here gladly persuade us are to be taken for meditations or parables, to take all Alan's visions or revelations for his pious meditations, and his false histories for parables, and finally to understand spiritually the prodigious benefits which he asserts were conferred on him from heaven. But Alan himself seems to refuse this spiritual interpretation, or rather to have closed the way to this escape: for in Part 2 of Alan Revived, chapter 3, after a long story about St. Dominic preaching the Rosary at Toulouse, and a whole heap of stupendous prodigies, which above at number 38 are rejected by Échard himself, he thus confirms his narration: All these things the most pious Virgin Mary, Mother of God, related to a certain man whom she espoused by a ring and a wondrous Psalter, hanging from the hairs of the Virgin Mary herself on the neck of her spouse, to be most true VISIBLY and SENSIBLY. That spouse is Alan de la Roche himself, who in the aforementioned little works often calls himself the new spouse of the Mother of God, as all his praisers freely admit. But since Alan in this place expressly asserts that all these things were revealed to him visibly and sensibly, how shall he speak the truth, if we wish with Échard to understand them only spiritually?

[44] which opinion of Échard is here refuted, But as regards his historical narrations, these cannot be explained spiritually or parabolically, since they are adorned with such circumstances of places, times, and persons that all the accompaniments of the narration cry out either that those histories really happened, or that they were fraudulently invented, as will be plain to one running lightly through Alan Revived. Thus in Part 3, chapter 20, he narrates a fabulous story about St. Dominic approaching a castle in Germany where demons lay hidden in the shape of maidens, as Échard confesses above at number 39; and yet Alan, to produce greater credit for his narration, inserts in the same place the following: I do not dare to call the place by name, lest the present inhabitants complain that a mark of infamy is twisted against them: for even now perhaps unspeakable things are done there. Who from this manner of speaking will not infer that Alan wished to indicate that St. Dominic really went to that castle of Germany, and compelled the demons lurking in the shape of maidens to depart from it? Who would take such narrations of Alan for the meditations of a pious man? Certainly several learned writers of the Order of Preachers have thought that the stories narrated by Alan truly happened, as will appear in the following paragraph.

[45] since Alan himself alleges for his stories sworn revelations made to him, Moreover Échard in his judgment reported above confesses that the story of Benedicta of Florence, which Constantine of Orvieto sincerely narrates as received from Benedicta's own mouth, was augmented by Alan with many fables, and that there are inserted into it certain things which seem not sufficiently consonant with the common opinion of theologians and with right faith. Nevertheless Alan in Part 5, chapter 60, after this very story of Benedicta of Florence, which he had contaminated with many episodes or rather fictions, subjoins these things for the sake of greater confirmation: In the Legend of St. Thomas de Templo they are written in part, who was a Spaniard, and a companion of our holy father Dominic; from which Legend and from several other Legends the things which have now been said about Dominic were extracted, and they have lately been confirmed by revelation of Christ and of the Virgin Mary with great signs and portents: and of all these I bear faith and testimony under oath by the faith of the Trinity, under peril of every curse to be inflicted on me, in case I depart from the straight path of truth. So often elsewhere he confirms his revelations by oath, and proves his portentous stories by the authority of John de Monte and Thomas de Templo, in whose books he testifies that he read them. If Alan had wished his visions and revelations to be taken for meditations, how would he have confirmed them by oath? If his historical narrations are to be understood parabolically, why does he cite for the confirmation of those parables witnesses whom he alleges under the name of ancients? How, finally, could Alan have said without lying that he had read those stories in writers who, according to Échard's opinion, never existed in the nature of things?

[46] Nor does that confidence of Alan's please us, in which, after the example of the Saints, with which he clings so firmly to his revelations that he confirms them by repeated oaths. He would rather have doubted prudently about those visions with Blessed Margaret of Ravenna, concerning whom Serafino of Fermo in her Life, chapter 2, which we reported at the day XXIII of January, in the second volume of that month, page 550, hands down the following: I will not here omit a certain teaching of hers, exceedingly necessary to all students of the spiritual life; that although very many things were divinely revealed to her, yet she never made much of them, nor gave them any credence, lest by this means she should incautiously be deceived by the devil, who (as is in the sacred Letters) transforms himself into an angel of light, that he may the more easily deceive the imprudent. Therefore she clearly and expressly instructed that disciple of hers, whom I mentioned above, that she should give credence to no matter whatsoever, except what the Church proposed to be believed: by which one teaching all the illusions of the demon vanish, which otherwise for the most part abound at this time …; so that scarcely the tenth part of those who easily believe supernatural revelations can escape the frauds of the crafty and cunning enemy. Would that the peril of this thing did not occur daily with great detriment to souls! If those nuns had followed this counsel of Blessed Margaret, of whom Ribadeneira makes mention in the Life of St. Ignatius of Loyola, among us volume VII of July, page 767, the demon would not have deceived them so shamefully, nor would they so easily have imposed upon others, as the outcome proved. For these and other reasons we cautiously call into doubt all those revelations and histories of Alan which are repugnant to the certain and true deeds of St. Dominic.

[47] Fair appraisers of matters will not take it ill that we do not easily give credit to Alan's false revelations, and of prudent men, he ought to have trusted more cautiously. since the Reverend Fathers Preachers themselves did not admit the true ecstasies and visions of Blessed Osanna of Mantua without severe examination: for Friar Francis Silvester of Ferrara, of the same Order of Preachers, an eyewitness, in the Life of Blessed Osanna, who on the day XVIII of June in the year 1505 passed to those Above, among us volume III of June, page 680, writes the following on this matter: It was an ancient and long-standing custom of the Order of Preachers not only to spurn but even greatly to detest all those things which are wont to catch at the breeze of popular favor, judging assuredly that it belongs to divine providence to impart glory and fame to whom it will. Therefore when the Friars Preachers who served in the church of the divine Dominic beheld Osanna of a certain divine form, and had repeatedly seen her departed from her senses, fearing lest a rumor should wander through the city that Osanna was feigning such a transport of mind at their persuasion in order to allure the minds of the common people and to claim a reputation for religion or holiness, they afflicted the innocent woman with no small annoyance. And they assailed her with such reproaches: that she was a witless little woman, that that withdrawal of mind was either invented by herself, or contrived by the most iniquitous demon, or (what they feared more) flowed from a disease of a feeble brain. If it was permissible for them prudently to suspect this of a pious woman whom Pope Leo X in the year 1515 reckoned in the number of the Blessed, why shall it not be permissible for others to doubt about the visions of Alan, who reports from them stories contrary to the ancient Acts of St. Dominic, and whom the Church until now acknowledges neither as Saint nor as Blessed?

[48] Although Dominican authors generally adorn Alan with the title of Blessed, I know indeed that Alan is reported among the Blessed in the Italian Diary of Marchese, in the German Pleasure-garden of Friedrich Steill, in the Flemish Dominican Year of Dominic de Herre, at the day VIII of September, and that he is generally called Blessed by Hyacinth Choquet in the Belgian Saints of the Order of Preachers, page 202, and by other more recent writers of the same Order. But another authority is needed for us to inscribe Alan in the number of the Blessed, and therefore I said confidently above that he is not yet acknowledged by the Church as Saint or Blessed. If nevertheless the Reverend Fathers Preachers can produce solid testimonies of immemorial cult concerning him, let them not be burdened to communicate them to us, that Alan may be inserted into our work at the day VIII of September: for then it would have to be discussed by what reasoning so many sworn fictions can stand together with true sanctity. Meanwhile we shall here set forth our scruples about that difficult agreement.

[49] and Échard by the example of Blessed Elisabeth of Schönau The Échard praised above, after rejecting Alan's visions and histories, nevertheless concludes that he was a most pious man, and that from his false revelations nothing can be inferred against his piety. And this he strives to prove by the example of Blessed Elisabeth of Schönau, who in certain circumstances of the Lord's Passion revealed to her, in the time of the Assumption of the Mother of God, in the history of the eleven thousand Virgins, deviates from the more common and perhaps truer opinion. He cites also the digression which Papebroch appended to the Acts of St. Mary Magdalen

de' Pazzi, volume VI of May from page 246, and which for a clearer understanding of this matter deserves to be read entire. To these we freely add Blessed Colette, who against the more probable opinion thought, from a revelation, that St. Anne, the mother of the Mother of God, was thrice married, as has been explained more fully in the Acts of St. Anne at the day XXVI of July, volume VI of that month, page 242.

[50] strives to defend his sanctity, But between the revelations of Alan and those of these holy women there is a great disparity: for those holy women go astray, and sometimes contradict one another, in the lighter circumstances of certain histories, about which it is disputed among the learned. Hence also in ecstasy or rapture they often judge of matters according to species naturally possessed beforehand, and according to the more common opinion of their Order or of their time, as Papebroch in the digression just cited declares by various examples. But Alan invents whole histories from head to heel, asserts under oath that they were revealed to him, and confirms them by fictitious testimonies of ancient writers. At least he did not in ecstasy read the books of John de Monte and Thomas de Templo, which according to Échard were never written. Therefore the example of Blessed Elisabeth of Schönau avails Échard nothing for proving Alan's sanctity, although from it he rightly concludes in the same place that such revelations of holy women are not to be drawn into history.

[51] yet by us true piety cannot be reconciled with thrice-sworn fictions, Add that Papebroch, volume III of June, page 635, doubts whether those erroneous revelations which Échard mentions above are truly to be attributed to Blessed Elisabeth of Schönau. Whence he concludes thus in the same place: For Elisabeth I see nothing thus far (at least as regards the Ursuline matters) more convenient than to doubt whether she really dictated such things. For Alan too I see nothing more convenient than to doubt whether he really wrote such fictions, which long after his death first appeared in print: for since Alan was a most learned theologian, as John Rechac contends in the preface to his Life, volume 2 of his French work on the Saints of the Order of Preachers, page 760, he does not seem to be numbered among those simple men who counted it a matter of piety to invent lies for religion's sake, as Ludovicus Vives, and after him Melchior Cano, book XI of Theological Topics, among us page 534, complain of some. Wherefore let those whom it concerns choose whether they prefer to ascribe these little works to Alan, or to adjudge them away from him. Meanwhile I frankly confess that so many open and sworn fictions have thus far not been able to be reconciled by me with the author's true sanctity.

[52] That an end may be put to this paragraph, brief mention must be made of the Mirror of the sinful soul; which same difficulty occurs in that author, which little work Échard, volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 851, also attributes to Alan, and there only advises that the story of Benedicta of Florence, which is reported in that little piece, was taken from Part 5 of Alan Revived, chapter 27 (among us 60). Afterward, on the occasion of the editor, in volume 2 of Bibl. Praedicat., pages 502 and 503, he thus makes mention of the same booklet: Brother Louis Loumans, a Belgian, an alumnus of the Convent of Antwerp, a pious and learned man, died there on the X of October 1639. He brought to light an ascetic booklet of an anonymous author, to which he gave this title: The Mirror of the sinful soul, or fifteen prayers to the Mother of God, deprecating as many vices through the various articles of the Life of holy Dominic, published by an anonymous author of the Order of Preachers. Then, after he had assigned the place and time of the printing, he signifies in these few words that a greater criticism was required by him in the editor: Louis added certain notes, who would deservedly have added fuller and severer ones.

[53] Finally Échard in the same place thus judges concerning the author of that booklet: who composed the Mirror of the sinful soul. That anonymous author Loumans conjectures to be our Blessed Alan de la Roche, whose writings, as we have reported above where we treated of him, were collected after his death, most of them not finished nor revised by the author. Certainly the things which he reports, whether in that booklet or elsewhere, about the Life of the blessed Father Dominic as revealed to him by the blessed Virgin, are so abhorrent from those which are had about him in the ancient monuments of the Order and in certain documents, that they do not even seem probable, and are to be judged rather the meditations and parables of a pious man than revelations, and certainly not to be drawn into the truth of history and inserted into it, as slipped from certain writers of ours and outsiders who were not sufficiently attentive. That reasoning of Échard, by which he would desire to thrust Alan's revelations upon us for meditations and parables, we have abundantly impugned above. For the rest, in the following paragraph we shall report the chief authors, both of the Order and outside it, who from Alan Revived and from this Mirror of the sinful soul incautiously inserted certain absurdities into the Acts of St. Dominic.

§ IV. A judgment concerning the more recent writers of the same Life, who flourished after Alan de la Roche.

It is not my intention in this paragraph to judge of each of the authors who insert the deeds of St. Dominic into their Legends or Annals, and whom Thomas Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers at the year 1234, page 531, reviews in a long series. Besides others, John Martin, And so I shall select only the chief of them, to whom I shall add some others, and especially I shall briefly examine those whose lucubrations it has been permitted me to see. Among these, in order of date, Friar John Martin will lead the column, a Hainauter by fatherland and by religious profession of Valenciennes, who departed this life in the year 1495. He had written in French a certain Legend of St. Dominic in an unpleasing, obscure, and rather harsh style, but one easily to be pardoned in a man of his age and nation, says Échard, volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 881, who on the following page, after reciting the French title of that Legend, and indicating by conjecture the year of its publication, thus judges of the work itself: This Legend is written by way of a dialogue between a confessor or director of conscience and a devout penitent. And the author asserts that he collected it from blessed Jordan, Constantine, Humbert, and Dietrich of Apolda; but he also added several things from the revelations of our Alan de la Roche, which never ought to have been inserted into history.

[55] John Garzo, Nearest to him in date is John Garzo, a distinguished orator, who left various offspring of his talent to posterity, and whom Vossius, book 3 On the Latin Historians, chapter 12, among us page 683, thus praises: John Garzo or Garzoni of Bologna is mentioned by Leander in his description of Romagnola and elsewhere; nay, in the place where he depicts Latium for us, he calls him his teacher. He committed to letters the Life of St. Dominic, and dedicated it to Vincent Bandello, theologian, and afterward thirty-sixth Master general. Since Vincent Bandello was elected Master general in the year 1501, and died in the year 1506, from this dedication of the work we gather certainly that the Life of St. Dominic was composed by Garzoni before this time. Leander Alberti inserted that lucubration of Garzoni's into his work On the illustrious Men of the Order of Preachers from folio 7, which we have printed at Bologna in the year 1517. And it is a rhetorical narration of his deeds, and a sufficiently elegant compendium of his Life, in which I have thus far detected nothing drawn from Alan's muddy fountain.

[56] John Antony Flaminius, Him John Antony Flaminius next follows, concerning whom Aubert Le Mire writes thus in his Ecclesiastical Library, chapter 45: John Antony Flaminius of Imola opened a school of letters at Bologna, and died there in 1536; he was buried among the Dominicans. Then he enumerates his writings, among which he did not express the Life of St. Dominic. Nevertheless the same Flaminius comprised it in three books, and dedicated it in the year of Christ 1527, as is clear from the preface, to Cardinal Lorenzo Pucci. This writer mingled various fables with the Acts of St. Dominic, and indicates not obscurely whence he drew them, when in book 2 of that Life, among us folio XLI verso, he hands down these things concerning the restoration of the Rosary: Which the most happy Virgin, taking it ill, and understanding how useful and how necessary it was to mortals, did not suffer to go into disuse and grow obsolete any longer, and in the year 1470 showed herself to be seen by Alan de la Roche of Brittany, a man of the Order of Preachers, distinguished by sanctity and by the mastership of theology, and bade him renew by his own sermons the memory and cult of the Psalter, and induce others through various places to do the same.

[57] Fernando del Castillo, Somewhat more cautious was Friar Fernando del Castillo, who after the middle of the XVIth century began to write in an elegant Spanish style the Annals of the Order of Preachers, and at their beginning inserted the Life of St. Dominic: for he, in his prologue exactly citing both manuscript and printed monuments which he used for composing his history, nowhere alleges Alan de la Roche. Nay, at the end of that prologue he perhaps complains of him, or certainly of men like him, that they gathered trifles and fables rather than solid histories. Échard, volume 2 of Bibl. Praedicat., pages 308 and 309, adorns this prudent and learned man according to his merits with an honorable eulogy, and to our purpose adds these things at the end: To this illustrious man at least the Order of Preachers owes this favor, that he wrote our Annals in the Spanish tongue most purely and most elegantly, but also with the greatest fidelity. But if anywhere, especially in the beginnings, he has sometimes gone astray, that must be ascribed to the scarcity of ancient documents, which were lacking to him; which he himself also complains of in the prologue, grieving that those who had gone before him in this subject had spent their labor in collecting frivolous and puerile things, and had omitted the illustrious deeds, on which alone they ought to have applied themselves. Whence it comes about that an accurate and clear history of the Order is now scarcely to be hoped for, unless several members in various kingdoms and provinces search the ancient archives of the supreme Pontiffs, kings, princes, cities, colleges, and monasteries untiringly and diligently, and light upon another Fernando del Castillo, to whom they may commit what they have found, to be arranged in order and written in Latin with like elegance. Since nevertheless that sincere man gave too much credence to Flaminius, and in this way unknowingly followed Alan from time to time, hence he sometimes mingled with his elegant history some apocryphal narrations, as we shall observe in the course of this work.

[58] At the beginning of the XVIIth century Friar Thomas Malvenda collected the Annals of the Preachers in Latin, Thomas Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers, the first part of which work, beyond which the author did not proceed, appeared at Naples in the year 1627 at the bidding of the most reverend Father Seraphinus Siccus, Master general, and by the care of Friar Dominic Gravina, even though Malvenda desired that this offspring of his be suppressed, or published under another's name, and afterward would not acknowledge it as his own when published. Échard, volume 2 of Bibl. Praedicat., pages 455 and 456, attempts to give the reason which moved Malvenda to this, in these words: Nor is it a wonder,

that he neither acknowledged these Annals as his own nor wished them to be so held; not because he did not heap together in them very many things both learned and recondite, but because it is in truth an undigested mass, cemented together from whatever memoranda were supplied to him, distributed only according to the series of years, which awaited the last hand, by which true and certain things might be separated from fabulous and uncertain ones — which last hand he was not permitted to apply, either because he was called to weightier business, or because those monuments were lacking which he needed for a complete knowledge of that first century of the Order. This is proved, among other things, by what he reports about blessed Dominic from the visions of Alan de la Roche, as though they pertained to the Life of the Saint, whereas they can in no way be accommodated to it, and are at most to be held as the meditations of a pious man. But whence did Échard know that Alan's fables turned Malvenda away from publishing his Annals? Cannot this be attributed to humble modesty, to anxious timidity, to a scrupulous zeal for a more polished style or for correcting the chronology, or to other causes?

[59] But whatever in the end moved the author to desire the suppression or postponement of his work, which at the bidding of the most reverend Master General the most reverend Master of the whole Order with the weightiest censors judged that the first volume of the Annals should be published under the very name of Thomas Malvenda, as we learn from Friar Dominic Gravina, who after the dedication of this work, made to the most reverend Master general, among other things thus forewarns the reader: Moreover their writer, the very Reverend Father master Friar Thomas Malvenda, a man of eminent talent and learning, of keen judgment and incomparable erudition, will allure and incite men to the reading of these Annals: for he so frames his discourse that, joining truth of thought with choice of words, and drawing a varied abundance of matters from both sacred and profane authors, he adapts them to his own design with such proportion that by the delight of recondite matters he calls fastidious minds away from weariness, and is very well fitted, by his diction joined with gravity, for stirring the movements of minds.

[60] contrary to the author's desire were published at Naples in the year 1627, The author would have wished, having become more learned and better furnished than himself, to bring to light that work, laid aside these twenty-five years, enlarged and, as they say, with a more polished file; nay, out of the modesty in which he excels, he earnestly asked in a letter given from the city of Valencia (where, like a resourceful bee, he is preparing most learned elucubrations upon the whole of Scripture) that the Annals should not be printed, or, if they were printed, that they should be published under another's name rather than his own. But lest that treasure should lie hidden and unseen, by the prudence of our most reverend Father that work, examined and approved at Rome by the weightiest Fathers, was transmitted to me, Friar Dominic Gravina, that it might be committed to the press. Now therefore, being printed, it sees the light with this end, that in the cult of his Saints the divine Majesty may be glorified, the Catholic faith exalted, the heretic confounded, the faithful abundantly fed in the most fruitful gardens of heroic virtues, etc. Since therefore that first volume of the Annals came to light by the public authority of the Dominican Order under Malvenda's name, after the example of Échard and others it will be permissible for us to cite it under the same name, however much the author himself protests. This nevertheless I wished to premise, lest I should seem to do Malvenda an injury.

[61] Nicholas Janssenius, In the year 1622 Friar Nicholas Janssenboy, otherwise surnamed in Latin Janssenius, published at Antwerp in the Latin idiom a Life of St. Dominic, and illustrated it with various observations. But that this learned man also gave credence to Alan too easily is plain from book 1 of that Life, chapter 2, where he narrates a portentous story about St. Dominic captured by pirates in Galicia, to which in the same place he premises the following: But indeed it came about about the year 1200 that at Compostella, where he had been intent upon preaching (namely St. Dominic, still a canon of Osma), he was captured by pirates coming upon him. The Mother of God herself relates the matter in our Alan de la Roche, a most holy man, in almost this manner. Then he reports a long fable, which in Part 2 of Alan Revived, chapter 17, is narrated still more fully, and which afterward we shall discuss in its own time.

[62] Hyacinth Choquet, Brother Hyacinth Choquet, master and professor of sacred theology, published at Antwerp in the year 1634 The maternal bowels of Mary Mother of God toward the Order of Preachers (that is the title of the book). Into this little work, which was proscribed at Rome until correction, the author mingled certain apocryphal deeds of St. Dominic, such as the Saint's captivity in Galicia exploded above, and some similar inventions, which he incautiously took from Alan Revived, and of which mention will occur here and there through the course of this Commentary. When Échard, volume 2 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 543, corrected a notable error in another lucubration of the same author, he afterward thus pronounces generally concerning the little work already mentioned: The work is prohibited in the Roman Index until it be corrected; chiefly for this reason, as they say, because of what he narrates about the irradiated face of Brother Thomas de Lemos when coming into the sight of Urban VIII, or also about the stigmata impressed upon the holy father Dominic, and similar things adduced on too little firm credit, and received from other authors of lighter judgment.

[63] After him Friar John of St. Mary, in the world surnamed de Giffre de Rechac, and John Rechac collected the Life of St. Dominic, composed in French the Life of St. Dominic from various monuments. Échard, already often praised, volume 2 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 595 and following, reviews the various works of this writer, and adorns the author himself with a magnificent eulogy, in which he is also praised as a tireless investigator of histories both domestic to the Order and foreign, yet a little too credulous. This credulity of his is sufficiently plain from the history which he wrote about the journey of the Ethiopian prince Zaga Christ, and dedicated to the queen of the French with a dedicatory letter: for, on Échard's testimony in the same place, this Zaga Christ died at Rueil near Paris on the X of the Kalends of May 1638, and was detected as an impostor, and his narrative fabulous, which our John, in this matter too credulous, had written down as received from his mouth. John of St. Mary himself in the aforementioned French Acts of St. Dominic, page 631 and following, enumerates his various lucubrations, some of which he had published, others he had proposed to publish; and concerning the latter, not yet finished, the praised Échard, in the volume just cited, page 596, speaks thus: He left a good many things collected from all sides, which one with more leisure, provided he apply right judgment, will one day be able to use, and, new and more certain documents being brought in, to complete the work proposed to our John.

[64] From what has been said it is easily gathered that that prolific man did not examine with sufficient rigor everything whom most, incautiously following Alan, which he committed to writing. This is most clear from the very Life of St. Dominic which we are now treating, and into which he mingled many uncertain and fabulous things from Alan Revived and other writers of that sort. Nevertheless Friar Hyacinth Cunibert seems to have rendered this French Life of St. Dominic into Latin with gloomy and useless labor, concerning whom Échard treats in volume 2 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 687, where among Cunibert's other translations from the French idiom into Latin is reported the Life of the most holy father Dominic, rendered into Latin from the French of Friar John of St. Mary; to which title the praised Échard adds the following: He was engaged on this work in the year 1665, as he himself wrote from Augsburg to Paris to our Vincent Cronenbach the German, then staying among our friars of St. James, in a letter given on the XIII of August. But whether he committed it to the press is thus far unknown to me. This too is unknown to us, and it little concerns us to know, since we understand well enough in French the fables inserted into this Life.

[65] For the rest, John of St. Mary not only cites Alan Revived after the manner of others, mingled in some fables, but even ex professo, as they commonly say, defends his authority: for in the preface to his French Life of St. Dominic, page 6, he speaks almost thus: Many who judge of matters without examination have attempted to reject this author as apocryphal; but their attempts will appear vain when they see the apology which I have prefixed at the beginning of his Life. Afterward, among the Acts of the Saints of the Dominican Order, volume 2 from page 758, he exhibits the promised apology, and prefixes it to the Life of Alan de la Roche, where he alleges various writers who praised Alan, or incautiously gave credence to his revelations and histories. But their good and easy faith has not yet persuaded Échard and me that the histories are true which Alan Revived confidently thrusts upon us. Wherefore to their authority we oppose those ecclesiastical men who did not approve the unusual miracles which Alan was publishing, as Choquet among the Belgian Saints of the Order of Preachers, in the Life of Alan de la Roche, pages 212 and 213, confesses, and who perhaps in that matter were more prudent; although Choquet in the same place asserts, without witnesses or records, that those adversaries of Alan were driven by the goads of envy. Since finally, according to the testimony of John of St. Mary reported above, many have attempted to reject Alan as apocryphal, we at least rightly conclude that Échard and we were not the first of those who refused to believe Alan Revived.

[66] which Thomas Souèges To him also Stephen Thomas Souèges of the same Order of Preachers tacitly denied credence, whom henceforth with Échard we shall call in Latin Soegius: for he, in the French Life of St. Dominic which not long ago he inserted into the Dominican Year at the day IV of August, prudently omitted the fabulous histories of Alan Revived. Nay, although he generally follows Malvenda and John of St. Mary, yet he cautiously abstained from reporting those fables which those two writers had taken from Alan Revived. Thus Souèges in the praised Life of St. Dominic says not a word about the portentous miracles of the Rosary which the Saint is said to have wrought in Spain, and which Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers at the year of Christ 1219, chapter 15 and following, records. Thus the same French writer keeps deep silence about very many prodigies which John of St. Mary confidently narrates from the same fabulist.

[67] prudently omitted in the French Acts of the same Saint. But even though this prudence of Souèges deserves great praise, yet on that account we do not yet adopt each and all the things which that diligent biographer hands down about St. Dominic and the other Saints of his Order, as we shall see at the appropriate time. This cautious manner of proceeding the Reverend Fathers Preachers will not disapprove in us, since we are thus warned by Échard himself among the praises of that writer, volume 2 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 748: Stephen was of a very keen and lively judgment, and one who would easily distinguish true from false amid so great a variety of reports, as is proved by the ancient monuments which he gave, or also by the dissertations sometimes appended. But if certain smaller matters slipped from him, especially in the Lives of the weaker sex, or also in others less approved, and not always rendered according to an accurate reckoning of chronology, that must be attributed to the multitude of Lives which he was writing, to the pressing labors of the press, and to some I know not what favor toward ancient fables (for those which

history, whether secular or regular, does not have its own? which, once they have been received or imbibed, scarcely can anyone lay aside, or dare to challenge) — easily to be pardoned in a preconceived opinion. Lest we should seem to wish to subtract anything from the deserved praises of Souèges, we frankly confess that no one has thus far been read by us who has collected the Acts of St. Dominic with greater criticism and accuracy.

§ V. A forewarning about the ancient Acts of the Saint, which we are about to publish after this Commentary.

We shall print the little book of Blessed Jordan From the ancient biographers of St. Dominic, whose manuscript or printed copies are at hand to us, we shall try to select a few and the chief ones in such a way that we may at once exhibit all the Saint's deeds, and yet that the same things be not too often repeated to the reader's weariness. Wherefore we shall omit Constantine of Orvieto, already published by Échard, the Gleanings of Gerard de Frachet, the venerable Master Humbert, Vincent of Beauvais, and James of Voragine; whom nevertheless we shall use in this Preliminary Commentary or in the Annotations, where anything different and worthy of note shall occur. These therefore being passed over, in the first place and under one view we shall publish from an ancient parchment Manuscript the little book which Blessed Jordan wrote on the beginning of the Order of the Friars Preachers, and which Échard lately, in volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., pages 99 and 293, published in print here and there from the codex of the monastery of Prouille, with which we shall compare our manuscript. Moreover we shall add from the same Manuscript of ours the miracles which Blessed Jordan seems to have collected, and which Échard either did not have or passed over.

[69] Henceforth we shall call this little book of ours, written on parchment, from a most ancient codex of Osma, the Osma codex, because we received it long ago from Osma. And it is of such antiquity that we are of the opinion that it was written before the year 1242: for in the Chapter of Bologna of that year it was decreed that a certain passage should be scraped out of this Legend of St. Dominic, as we showed above at number 3. And this passage in our Osma Manuscript is in some fashion erased, as we said in the same place. Whence we most probably infer that that passage, and the rest of the Legend, which is written in the same hand, was written before that Chapter of Bologna of the year 1242: for who would easily persuade himself that these things were afterward written against the decree of the general Chapter, and then again erased? For the rest, everywhere in his narrations Blessed Jordan deserves the greatest credit, who succeeded St. Dominic in the supreme magistracy of the Order, and saw him at Paris and at Bologna, and, according to Échard's testimony in volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 1, throughout the whole time of his rule from the year 1222 to 1236 diligently inquired, in his visitations through the various kingdoms of Europe, from his contemporaries and those who had lived with him, about the things which pertained to him. If anyone should desire to know more about the blessed writer of this Life, let him read our Work at the day XIII of February, where our Predecessors illustrated the Acts of Blessed Jordan.

[70] In the order of antiquity, after Blessed Jordan's little book, we shall publish in print a brief indeed, but precious, [and an unpublished synopsis of the Life, which we found in the Barberini library,] compendium of the Life, which until now has never seen the public light. Its author is Bartholomew of Trent, concerning whom, besides Échard, cited above at number 7, Antonio Senense in the Library of the Preachers, page 40, thus makes mention: Brother Bartholomew of Trent, a man conspicuous in religion, celebrated in fame and renowned in learning, and fervent in the spirit of devotion, wrote a Legendary of the Saints, from which very many afterward drew. He is said to have written more; which nevertheless has not come to my knowledge. He flourished about the beginnings of the Order. Similar things Altamura has at the year of Christ 1225, where he cites Taegio, part 1 of the Monuments of the Order, and others; who nevertheless all seem to have been unaware that such a synopsis of the deeds of St. Dominic was left to posterity by that Bartholomew, and nowhere do they hint that any transcript of it exists in their monasteries. Nevertheless our Papebroch transcribed at Rome that compendium of the Acts from a Manuscript codex of the Barberini library, and in the Preliminary Commentary on the Life of St. Anthony of Padua, volume 2 of June, page 703, conjectures that those deeds of the Saints were collected by Bartholomew of Trent about the year 1240; to which conjecture Échard assents. But we shall afterward observe in the Annotations that at least the compendious Life of St. Dominic was certainly written by him between the year 1244 and 1251.

[71] [just as we have discovered other monuments of the Order, unknown to the Preachers, as Échard testifies,] Since for seeking out from everywhere the Acts of the Saints we spare neither labor nor expense, and to the same end have undertaken long journeys through the various provinces of Europe, it ought to seem a wonder to no one that there are sometimes discovered by us certain monuments pertaining to monastic Saints which escape learned men of that same profession: for Échard in the preface before the first volume of the Library of Preachers confesses that this has happened several times, and gratefully acknowledges this service rendered to his Order in these words: Learned men, ancient and more recent, who have applied themselves, or even now apply themselves, to purging and perfecting ecclesiastical or even literary history, I follow with all fitting reverence and everywhere praise, as men from whose lucubrations I have profited not a little. Among others there come to be named the learned editors of the Acts of the Saints, which appear day by day at Antwerp, and whom a grateful mind does not permit me to forget, since they have dug out of the darkness many monuments of the Order, of which among us no memory any longer existed.

[72] to whom we gladly refer certain notices as received, Since nevertheless neither he nor others outside our Order are versed in the governance of the Order of Preachers, and since it is not easy for them to learn where they stray from the truth, which sometimes happens, I correct them with that liberty which the love of truth permits, with which alone they show themselves to burn, and with which alone we are all bound to burn, but with no zeal for contention, from which I am most averse. The same entire judgment upon this work I leave to all the learned, and so far am I from bearing it ill to be corrected if I have sometimes erred, that I desire that very thing with my whole heart, that our literary history may at length come forth as pure as possible, and most thoroughly purged of all slips. We too gladly grant this pardon, and in turn ask it. Wherefore with a candid indication of a grateful mind we confess that we are sometimes taught better and more certain things by Échard and others, all which shall be corrected in their own time and place in our Work; and in this very Commentary certain things pertaining in some fashion to the Life of St. Dominic, of which mention fell in passing on another occasion long ago, shall be freely amended. But we shall freely use the same liberty, where we shall dissent from the opinions of Échard and others, and then we shall attempt to render solid reasons for our judgment, as we have already begun to do above.

[73] and whose desire we shall satisfy sooner, In the third place, finally, we have judged that there should be published the fuller Life of St. Dominic, which Dietrich of Apolda collected from all quarters out of the preceding biographers and other documents, as he himself testifies in his prologue. This indeed Surius published in print at the fifth day of August; but after his manner he changed the style, and, using a truncated codex, exhibited only a few fragments of the seventh and eighth parts. Wherefore Échard, volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 454, desires the entire and genuine lucubration of this Dietrich in this way: But since Surius confesses that he changed the style, it were to be wished that someone should render that Life in the original style in which it was written, however barbarous, and submit it to the press from authentic Manuscript codices of better quality, and that as soon as possible: for even if by this means it is to appear in the Antwerp Acts of the Saints, it is scarcely to be hoped for before twenty-five or thirty years. I add, from ancient and uncorrupted codices: for it is known to the skilled that through the fault of the copyists many errors creep in; and these can be detected only from the collation of several Manuscript codices. Thus I conjecture that the codex which Surius used was corrupt from this, that certain things are read in him which are not reported in the same manner by St. Antoninus, who nevertheless chiefly used Dietrich's codex in the Life of St. Dominic.

[74] I grieve that no one of the Order of Preachers has hitherto satisfied so just a desire of Échard, than he himself had thought, and published Dietrich's entire lucubration from ancient codices: for such an editor would have freed me from the gloomy labor of transcribing our codex and comparing it with others. Nevertheless I rejoice at the same time that I have been able to comply with Échard sooner than he had thought: for since he published the first volume of his work in the year 1719, and then judged that that Life of St. Dominic had still to be awaited for twenty-five or thirty years, it is plain from the year of our edition that his expectation has been pleasantly disappointed by nearly half that space of time. But when Échard requires ancient and several codices, that errors may be detected from the collation of several Manuscript codices, it is possible to satisfy his demand only in part, since we have no more than two such ancient codices, written on parchment, about which we shall here premise a few things.

[75] The first is a parchment codex of the best quality and of an ancient hand, [we shall publish Dietrich of Apolda's entire lucubration from the Frankfurt Manuscript codex,] which we shall call the Frankfurt codex, because the Reverend Father Ulrich Nols of the Order of Preachers, in the year 1688 Prior of Frankfurt, gave it to us as a gift, since he had in his library another Manuscript copy of the same Life, as our Papebroch noted at the front of the codex. But the other is the Utrecht codex, as is plain from a note written on the cover, which we have possessed for a long time. In it several things pertaining to the Order of Preachers are reported, namely the Lives of the Brothers by Gerard de Frachet, the Chronicle of the venerable Master Humbert, and the Acts of certain Saints of the same Order. Although it too consists of parchment, yet its hand is more recent than that of the preceding, as we conjecture from various signs. Wherefore we have transcribed the Life of St. Dominic from the Frankfurt codex, which in our Museum is marked P. Ms. 8, and have collated it with this Utrecht codex, which in the same place is marked P. Ms. 7. And these codices render mutual service to each other, so that from the one we have supplied what was lacking in the other. Those supplements, for greater security, we have enclosed in brackets, and in the Annotations we shall from time to time advise the reader of this matter, where it shall have seemed worth the trouble.

[76] But in neither copy did I find the last chapter on St. Dominic's manner of praying bodily, [and to it we shall add the last chapter from a Manuscript of the Vatican library.] which I received from a codex of the Vatican Library, number 1218, and to which transcript our Henschen prefixed these words: It is the last chapter of the Life by Apolda. Certainly St. Antoninus in Part 3 of the Chronicles, title 23, chapter 2, §1, treating of the outstanding virtues of St. Dominic, also ascribes these nine different manners of praying to the Saint. But since St. Antoninus chiefly used Dietrich's codex, as Échard asserts above, from the Vatican codex that

last chapter we shall confidently join to the lucubration of Dietrich of Apolda. Yet I shall readily believe that this chapter on the various manners of praying was written by Gerard, Provincial of Germany, who was present at the assembly of Lucca, and had received many things from the mouth of sister Cecilia, and that Dietrich perhaps adopted it as his own, or at least added it to his lucubration: for the author of it among us at number 408 speaks thus: In this manner he prayed, when God by his prayer raised up the boy Napoleon at Rome at St. Sixtus's, in the place of the sacristy, and in the church at the celebration of Mass, when he was lifted up from the ground, as that devout and holy sister Cecilia related to me, who was present and saw it with a multitude of others. Souèges in the French Life of St. Dominic, page 448, testifies that in the library of Carcassonne there is preserved an old manuscript (of the same, with images representing the Saint, he had made mention in the same work, page 257) in which these nine manners of praying are expressed. But whoever in the end is the author of that last chapter, that he is ancient is sufficiently plain from what has been said and from the following words, which are read among us at the same number: The holy father Dominic was also seen sometimes to pray, as I heard with my own ears from one who saw it, with his hands and arms outspread.

[77] [Dietrich began to collect the Saint's Life at the bidding of Munio, seventh Master of the Preachers,] Dietrich began to collect this Life of St. Dominic at the bidding of Munio, who from the year 1285 until the year 1291 presided over the whole Order of Preachers, as is gathered from the letter of that same Master general, who in our Utrecht codex, before the prologue of the aforementioned Life, thus writes to Dietrich: To Brother Dietrich of Apolda, beloved to him in Christ, of the house of Erfurt of the province of Germany, Brother Munio, Master of the Order though unworthy, greeting and continual increase of heavenly graces. For the remission of your sins and no less for the increase of your merits I enjoin upon you that you undertake the merit of composing a Legend of holy Dominic our father according to the grace given you, of which I bear a fuller confidence in the Lord, that you may not seem to have received the grace of God in vain; attending among other things more diligently to this, that it be most firm in truth, complete in integrity, and gracious in beauty. And I will that your Prior, whoever he shall be at the time, be present to you with counsels, aids, and comforts, with the best consolations. Farewell and pray for me. Given at Orvieto on the Ides of April. Although in this letter the year is lacking, nevertheless Échard, volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 453, conjectures that it was given in the year 1288, when Munio was girding himself to hold the general assembly at Lucca, or was returning thence.

[78] and finished it under Nicholas Boccasini, Meanwhile Pope Nicholas IV in the year 1291 deposed Munio, whom Stephen of Besançon succeeded, and, he dying after two years, Nicholas of Treviso, otherwise surnamed Boccasini, was raised to the supreme magistracy of the whole Order, to whom at length Dietrich of Apolda offers his lucubration with this dedicatory letter: To the father lovable to his sons, Nicholas, venerable Master of the Brothers of the Order of Preachers, Brother Dietrich of the province of Germany, wishes to attain through the prosperity of provincial merits to the rewards of eternal joys. The little book which your Worthiness commanded to be brought to you, composed about the divine father Dominic and the Order founded by him, I first wrote in my old age on mean sheets and cheap scraps, with my own hands and with dim eyes, and put it together; concerning whose matter the proem of that little book will instruct and teach you. Having therefore found from the chronicles the time in which the parents of this Saint lived, I took care to arrange according to the course of time those things which were done about the birth and progress and end of his life; yet in such a way that, on account of the fittingness of the matter, I have put first things done afterward, and put last, subjoining them, things done before.

[79] I have read the Lives of the holy Fathers Bernard and Francis, ninth Master General of the same Order, published with much completeness, and composed in an elegant style, approved with signal and sincere devotion, and the resplendent and most bright Life of our outstanding Father written very differently. Desiring therefore that the state of our Order should not lack full certainty, and to make known to posterity the nobility of our increased stock, I have set forth, as I could, in simple words the things of our father's sanctity. Many things I have set down word for word, as I found them in the copies; sometimes, however, I have changed something for the sake of the sequence. And when I had completed everything from those copies which I had at hand, there were brought to me at my request certain writings, which I also purchased at a price, on account of which I entirely broke up the work already done, that I might insert them: for they were of great authority, being namely the depositions of sworn witnesses, which Pope Gregory the ninth approved, and especially expressive of great merits and examples of sanctity. Moreover there came to me beforehand a letter of our venerable father Brother Munio, then Master of the Order, enjoining upon me this labor and study for my sins.

[80] Not as I wished, nor as I ought, yet I have done what I could, as the dedicatory letter teaches, as you see. But do you, most reverend Father, apply, as is your part, a skilled hand, and from this shapeless material perfect, as you know how, a glorious work. I had certainly resolved to apply further diligence to this work by adding, changing, adorning, arranging, if the means of expense and the opportunity of the times had been at hand; and these failing, I desisted, and, as you observe, I left it. Nevertheless, so long as I live, I do not refuse to expend labor on these things, if it be required. Pardon me, I beseech you, in the name of Jesus Christ: I was at first afraid and grieved that my unskillfulness should have to reach your ears, nor did I believe that this would be. May the Holy Spirit of God direct and pour into your spirit, that you may be found a devout emulator of the sanctity described in this little book, and an effective executor of it, and in the Order committed to your governance a faithful consoler. This letter, some fragments of which Échard, volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., pages 453 and 454, exhibits, we have transcribed entire from our Utrecht codex P. Ms. 7.

[81] Moreover Échard from the fragments of this letter advises in the same place that the following should be observed: [from which Échard determines approximately the interval and the completion of the elaborated work.] Since the said Nicholas Boccasini was elected at Strasbourg in 1296, and toward the end of the year 1298 was taken up as Cardinal; in some one of these years he must have ordered this work to be dedicated to him: whence you may gather that Dietrich sweated over the composing of this work for seven or eight solid years. But when the author says that he was already an old man when he began to write, he indicates that he was then more than sixty years old; nor is it a wonder that he mentions his dim eyes, since at that age those glasses, so suited to the eyes of old men, had not yet been invented. Most of all it must be noted, what he warns, that in his narration he does not always follow the series of the years in which things were done; but reports many things "the later first," as the knowledge of the deeds demanded; to which it is necessary that he attend most carefully who would wish to avoid anachronisms. Then after another fragment of the same letter he thus concludes: From these things it is had that he completed the work twice; the first time from the earlier Legends; the second, having received the answers of the nine witnesses of the Order sworn in the process of canonization, and other certain documents, which were the cause why, tearing up what he had written thus far, he undertook a new work. But what documents Dietrich of Apolda used for collecting this Life of St. Dominic will afterward be understood more distinctly from his prologue. Now it must be examined whether Dietrich in his narrations everywhere deserves equal credit.

[82] Melchior Cano explodes a certain narration of Dietrich, There is no doubt that the highest credit is owed to this author in those things which he collected from Blessed Jordan, Constantine of Orvieto, and the other ancient biographers. But among the Preachers themselves it is disputed whether all those things can prudently be believed which Dietrich narrates on the testimony of sister Cecilia. Thus that writer among us at number 147, on the authority of the same Cecilia, reports besides other prodigies how St. Dominic ordered a demon, mocking him under the form of an ape, to hold a candle so long until his fingers were burned. But Melchior Cano, book XI on Theological Topics, page 533, explodes these and similar things as fabulous in these words: That likewise, how ridiculous — that a devil once making a din at our father Dominic was compelled by the Saint to hold a lamp in his hands, until, being consumed, it brought not only annoyance but even incredible pain. Examples of this kind cannot be comprehended in number; but in these few very many others will be understood, which have obscured the histories of the most illustrious Saints. But it was not fitting that the true deeds of the Saints should be contaminated with false and invented fables.

[83] which nevertheless Malvenda strives to defend Thomas Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers at the year 1219, chapter 25 and following, thus refutes this censure of his fellow-member Cano: The distinguished author laughs at our historians, because they refer to holy Dominic that he ordered the devil to hold in his hand a lighted candle, by which he was tormented. Therefore ridiculous are Dietrich of Apolda, St. Antoninus, John Garzo, Marcus Antony Flaminius, and the other authors of the affairs of holy Dominic — upright, honest, prudent men, setting forth with so great consent one and the same thing. But in this place it was not fitting to adduce more recent writers, who in good faith drew that story from Dietrich. Wherefore Malvenda presses his adversary more, when from Dietrich's words he proves that that narration was taken from the mouth of Cecilia, an eyewitness, and then discourses thus: You see, reader, with what entire fidelity Dietrich has rendered the deed about the devil holding a candle with the greatest torment. He received it from a most holy virgin, who received the habit of the Order from the hands of St. Dominic, saw very many of his miracles, often spoke with him, and heard very many other things from his own mouth. If this is not human credibility, I know not what can be.

[84] by the testimony of Sister Cecilia, Finally he attempts to render the same narration of Dietrich, or rather of sister Cecilia, credible by various examples, and at last concludes thus: And let these things be said thus far for the defense of a history reported on the credit of so many excellent writers: by which we have also wished to pave the way for establishing similar narrations, which critics will perhaps deride, provided we are secure about the integrity of the authors. That, however, must be corrected in St. Antoninus, when he says that that terror of the demon under the likeness of an ape, blown away by holy Dominic, happened at Bologna: for unless it happened twice, it is certain, as we have said before, that the thing was done at St. Sixtus's. But it is in no way probable that it happened twice, since the older biographers make mention not even of one such prodigy, as we shall presently see.

[85] Échard professes that he chooses a middle way, and wishes to reconcile these two adversaries, to whom Échard seems to defer little, when in volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 87, he thus judges concerning that same testimony of Cecilia: Add sister Cecilia, from whose mouth these things at Bologna in the year 1288

were received by Brother Gerard, then definitor for Germany in the general assembly held at Lucca, and afterward Prior provincial of the same Germany; that she had then passed her eighty-fourth year, and could easily through old age err in certain circumstances of a matter done sixty-eight years before. Nay, as it is the way of old women not rarely to exaggerate what happened in their youth, hence one might not undeservedly think it came about that the aforesaid Cecilia reported certain things about blessed Dominic — for example about a demon, now in the shape of a lizard, now of a sparrow, troubling or terrifying the nuns, or even of an ape, which the Saint bade hold a candle before him until his fingers were burned, and other like things, which, to use the word of Fernando del Castillo prefacing the general history of the Order, are held by graver men as puerile absurdities, "niñerías y cuentos" (these Spanish words also signify trifles and fables).

[86] For since the older writers, contemporary with the Saint or nearly so — Jordan and Humbert, Masters of the Order, and Constantine, an alumnus of the Roman province — although most curious about even the smallest of his affairs, do not mention these things, they show that they never heard anything of them either from the sisters of St. Sixtus's or from members of the Order who had seen him alive; and accordingly, as things not sufficiently worthy of a wise man, as Boniface VIII was wont to call Dominic — at least in the manner in which they are narrated by Dietrich — you will do no wrong if you withhold credence from them altogether: yet in such a way that you may judge that something of truth lies hidden in what is reported, and so you will reconcile Melchior Cano, On Theological Topics, book XI, chapter 6, who makes light of everything, and Malvenda at 1219, number XXIV, who accepts and defends everything. When Échard calls the things narrated about the demon ordered to hold a candle until his fingers were burned, and things like these, by Fernando del Castillo's Spanish phrase, puerile absurdities or trifles and fables, he comes nearer to Melchior Cano, although he had proposed to hold a middle way. I do not wish to be an arbiter among these three learned Dominicans, and therefore I leave this whole dispute to be decided by the mature judgment of the prudent reader.

[87] But meanwhile I warn that no one should extend this severe judgment of Cano and Échard to any other narrations of Dietrich, [which certainly must not be extended to other histories which Dietrich drew from the ancient biographers.] and thus take away from him almost all credit: for that untiring collector drew most of the histories of these Acts from ancient writers and authentic monuments. This will be sufficiently plain from the Acts of Blessed Jordan and of Bartholomew of Trent, which I shall prefix to his lucubration, and from the juridical instruments which I shall subjoin to it. The other sources of this collection, which I have been able to discover, I shall briefly assign in the Annotations; but the rest, which have escaped my inquiry, I shall leave to the sagacity of others to trace. These things being premised concerning the various writers of the Life, that what is to be said below may be more clearly understood, to the same end in the following paragraph we shall exhibit a chronological series of the deeds of St. Dominic, according to which the remainder of our Preliminary Commentary will be directed.

* elsewhere "of present merits"

* read "John"

§ VI. A chronological compendium of the Life, according to which the remainder of the Preliminary Commentary will be arranged.

A brief chronological arrangement of the Acts, The often-cited Échard, in volume 1 of the Library of the Preachers, between pages 86 and 87, published a folding leaf, in which he briefly exhibits the Life of St. Dominic in chronological order, and to which he prefixes this title: A chronological Table of the Acts of holy Dominic, with the Indiction, the golden number, the Dominical letter, and the day of Easter added in the margin of each year, for the reader's convenience, that he may have ready at hand what reckons the beginning of the year, whether by the old style from the day of Easter, or by the new from the first of January; being warned at the same time that among chronologists of the XIIIth century, especially the French, the year is always begun from Easter, and the preceding months are reckoned to the previous year. Below we shall discuss whether this general rule holds everywhere, and whether that method of numbering the years from Easter is employed by all writers of the XIIIth century. Since therefore this table must be examined in the course of our work, we have not thought that the Indictions, Dominical letters, and other chronological marks should here be scrupulously expressed. Wherefore we shall prefix to the deeds only the years according to Échard's opinion, so that at least the reader, afterward turning over the ancient Acts, which are for the most part written without any order or indication of time, may be able to form some chronological idea of the things done. Moreover we here transcribe this table of Échard's, that we may have some chronological arrangement of the Acts, according to which the remainder of our Commentary may proceed in order of time. Now we exhibit the table itself, and for the sake of greater clarity we begin each year on a new line.

[89] which exhibits the Life of St. Dominic in boyhood and youth, In the year 1170. Dominic is born.

In the year 1176. He is handed over to his maternal uncle to be educated.

In the year 1184. He is sent away to Palencia to be instructed in the university in human and divine disciplines.

In the year 1191. While giving his attention to theology, a famine having arisen, he sells his books and furniture, and gives the price to the poor, and for ten years abstains from wine.

In the year 1194. At Palencia he expounds the sacred Letters.

In the year 1199. About this year he is summoned from Palencia, whence he had not yet gone out elsewhere, to Osma by bishop Diego, and becomes a regular Canon, then Subprior of the Chapter; he reads the Conferences of the Fathers: if he ever preaches, as is probable, always within the bounds of the diocese.

[90] his various journeys, and first contests In the year 1203. Having until now not gone out of Osma, he accompanies bishop Diego, envoy to the Marches for Alfonso king of Castile, and passing through Toulouse converts his heretical host.

In the year 1204. Having returned with the bishop to king Alfonso, he goes again with him, sent a second time by the king as envoy to the Marches.

In the year 1205. With the same bishop, the embassy accomplished, he goes on to Rome; thence, returning, they come to Montpellier toward the end of the year, namely in the following February or March: they find there three legates, and twelve abbots of the Cistercian Order gathered, whom they exhort to continue the mission among the Albigensians, and offer themselves as their leaders. Fulk, newly elected bishop of Toulouse, enters upon possession on the fifth of February by the new style 1206, by the old 1205.

In the year 1206. About Easter, as has been said, either a little before or a little after, bishop Diego and Dominic, as standard-bearers and leaders of the praised preachers, attack the Albigensian heretics by word and example, and in various places have keen contests with them. At Carcassonne harvests flowing with the blood of heretics appear on the day of St. John the Baptist. Arnald, one of the legates and a Cistercian abbot, returns to Cîteaux in the month of July or August for the general assembly of the Order, and several abbots follow. Diego and Dominic persist untiringly in the mission. At Fanjeaux a celebrated disputation is held with the heretics. A little book written by Dominic, setting forth the Catholic faith, thrice cast into the fire, comes out unharmed. Dominic then erects the monastery of Prouille, and encloses there before the Lord's Nativity the noble women converted by him.

[91] In the year 1207. In the month of April archbishop Berengar confers several benefices on the monastery of Prouille. against the Albigensian heretics, At Montréal several disputations are held with the heretics. Diego, Dominic, and the other preachers were still there when abbot and legate Arnald returns from Cîteaux, accompanied by twelve abbots, in the month of May: all these, barefoot, divided in twos or threes, traverse the whole region, everywhere preaching the Gospel for three months. When on a certain day our preachers were disputing with the Albigensians, Dominic gives to one of them a paper written by himself, containing the arguments of the Catholic faith; when the heretic had handed this to his fellows, they cast it thrice into the fire, whence it always flew out unharmed: but this was done privately and only among the faithless, which nevertheless a certain soldier who had been present revealed. At Pamiers a solemn disputation with the Waldensians is appointed about November or December: thither several bishops and abbots betake themselves, among whom Fulk of Toulouse, Navarrus of Couserans, Diego of Osma with Dominic, and others. The outcome was happy, very many being converted or confirmed in the true faith. Then Diego returns to Spain; but before he departed, he appoints Dominic leader and prefect of the preaching: already some months before most of the abbots had gone away. Peter of Castelnau, one of the Pope's legates, was then slain: Ralph, another legate, also died then: Arnald, already praised, a man of great parts, betook himself into France to the king.

[92] In the year 1208. Diego dies at Osma on the sixth of February. and other things nobly done Fulk of Toulouse and Navarrus of Couserans, bishops, go to Rome, that they may obtain from Innocent III that the crusade be preached against the Albigensians. Their wish being obtained, the crusade is preached in France, especially in the provinces on this side of the Loire. Guy, abbot of Vaux-de-Cernay, shines as most fervent among the preachers of the crusade. Meanwhile Dominic persists in Languedoc, wholly applying himself in all patience and doctrine to the conversion of the Albigensians.

In the year 1209. The crusaders under the leadership of Simon, count of Montfort, arrive in Languedoc. Dominic, not involved in this war, presses only the word of God; he suffers mockeries, insults, and snares from the Albigensians: in all these he overcomes, his desire of martyrdom being declared to them.

In the year 1210. Dominic pursues the same office of preacher: lodging with noble ladies, he fasts through Lent on bread and water, and lies upon a bare board, and brings them back to the faith.

In the year 1211. He goes on preaching. Simon count of Montfort besieges Toulouse. Meanwhile Dominic prays in a certain chapel by the Garonne, and by his prayers raises and delivers from the depth of the water forty English pilgrims perishing, the ship in which they were crossing the river having sunk. On the twelfth of the Kalends of June William de Cardaillac, bishop of Cahors, professes vassalage to Simon of Montfort: among the magnates Dominic is present as a witness, and affixes his seal to the instrument thereupon drawn up: The seal of Brother Dominic, Preacher.

[93] in the parts about Toulouse In the year 1212. Guy, abbot of Vaux-de-Cernay, elected bishop of Carcassonne, returns from France, and was already at Albi on the vigil of Easter; in the month of May he is consecrated at Narbonne: some months afterward he returns into France, Dominic being left and appointed vicar in spiritual matters. Dominic himself is elected pastor of the churches of Couserans, Comminges, and Béziers, all of which he constantly refuses.

In the year 1213. Guy being absent this whole year, Dominic performs his vicarial duties, and, always preaching throughout Lent, fasts on bread and water, nor does he enter a bed. In the month of September battle is joined at Muret. Montfort conquers. Peter king of Aragon is slain. Meanwhile, while the fight rages, Dominic with the bishops implores divine help in the church of Muret.

In the year 1214. Guy, bishop of Carcassonne, returns from France into Languedoc, and comes to the Albigensian parts about the Octave of Easter. Dominic imparts the blessing at Carcassonne to the nuptials of Amaury, firstborn of Montfort, with Beatrice the Dauphine: about this year he baptizes the daughter of Simon of Montfort the father.

[94] up to the institution of the Order of Preachers, In the year 1215. Peter Cellani gives the houses which at Toulouse

he had by the Narbonnese castle, to Dominic, who enlists him and Thomas, a citizen of Toulouse, a noble man, and others into the Order to be founded by him. Bishop Fulk appoints Dominic and his companions as preachers in his diocese, and, that they may have what is necessary for food and other things, confers on them the sixth part of the tithes. Dominic accompanies the same bishop on his way to Rome to the Lateran council; and, being already at Rome in the month of October, he obtains from Innocent III, before the council, the confirmation of the churches, castles, estates, and revenues hitherto given to the monastery of Prouille. Then he asks of the same Pontiff that he might be permitted to found an Order which should be called and be the Order of Preachers. He receives the answer that he should return to the members living at Toulouse, and with them by common counsel choose a rule already approved, and afterward come back to Rome to receive the confirmation of his Order.

In the year 1216. Dominic at Prouille with about sixteen companions chooses the rule of St. Augustine and certain stricter institutions. In the month of June or July the church of St. Romanus at Toulouse is given them, and there the first house of the Order is erected. On the sixteenth of July Innocent III dies, in whose place on the next day Honorius is substituted. Six of his companions, not yet sufficiently exercised in the sacred Letters, Dominic leads to the public school of theology, and bids them apply diligent labor to their studies; but he himself goes off to Rome, and was already in the City, as is probable, in the month of November. On the twenty-second of December he obtains the confirmation of the Order attested by a double diploma.

[95] In the year 1217. Dominic obtains two other diplomas from Honorius III in the months of January and February. and, its confirmation having been obtained, the Saint disperses his companions, He spends Lent at Rome, and, as is easy to conjecture, publicly expounds the epistles of St. Paul in the Pontiff's court. Then, frequenting the household of the Cardinal of Ostia, he forms a friendship with William of Montferrat staying there, from whom he also receives a promise of embracing the Order, but after he should have heard theology for two years thereafter at Paris. After Easter Dominic returns into Gaul to his own, whom he finds living at Toulouse at St. Romanus's: he spends two or three months in giving them their final formation. On the day of the Assumption he divides them all, gathered in the monastery of Prouille; four he sends away into Spain, seven to Paris; two of the first companions he leaves at Prouille, as many at Toulouse; but he also then enlisted several into the Order. In the month of September he himself was still remaining in the parts about Toulouse, perhaps even longer. Then he goes to Rome, taking as companion Brother Stephen of Metz, but also four others recently admitted to the Order. Of those whom he had sent to Paris, some had arrived on the twelfth of September, others a little after, and had rented a house by the greater church, where they stayed for almost a year. Of those sent into Spain, Brother Peter erected houses of the Order at Madrid, Brother Suerius Gomez at Santarém; the other two, Brother Michael of Uzero and Brother Dominic, returned to him at Rome.

[96] In the year 1218. Dominic at Rome receives from Honorius the church of St. Sixtus and the monastery adjoining it. and wonderfully propagates the same Order through France, He adds more members daily. He resumes his conferences in the Apostolic palace, going on to expound either the Gospel of Matthew or the epistles of Paul: meanwhile he also preaches through the City, even in the basilica of St. Peter with such applause and fruit that his hearers cut up his garments as relics, so that his scapular, thus cut away by pieces, scarcely came down to his knees. About the beginning of the year, which at Rome was reckoned from the day of the Annunciation, he sends certain of his own, namely John of Navarre and a certain Bertrand, to Bologna, and sets over them Richard, already advanced in age — namely that man who enlisted into the Order Tancred, a noble man and formerly a tribune in the emperor's army — to whom afterward he joins Michael of Uzero and Dominic, returned to him from Spain. Then also he gives his own habit to Reginald, dean of St. Aignan of Orléans, miraculously healed of a most burning fever; nevertheless he permits him to go into Palestine for the sake of fulfilling a vow. He himself works several miracles at St. Sixtus's. An architect, crushed beneath the ruin of a building, he restores unharmed. His companions, in the utmost scarcity of all things, he feeds, on one occasion forty, on another about a hundred, with bread sent from heaven. The procurator of the convent, already anointed and just breathing out his soul, he calls back to life. He goes out of the City so seasonably that, passing through Narbonnese Gaul and the parts about Toulouse, he was present at Segovia in Spain a little before the Lord's Nativity, where, since on account of the extreme drought the farmers had not yet begun to sow, he obtains for them by his prayers abundant rain from heaven, and erects a house of the Order. Reginald, returned from Palestine, was already at Bologna on the XXI of December. In this same year the members living at Paris pass from the house rented by them to the church of St. James granted to them, and enter on the sixth of August.

[97] In the year 1219. Dominic, having gone on to Madrid, Spain, restores the house erected in the year 1217 by Brother Peter, whom he had sent thither from Toulouse, and enlists several into the Order. At Guadalajara he clothes many novices, and presently, when they repent of their purpose, he lets them go free; but by prayers poured out to God he obtains that they return. Several things having been done in Spain, about Easter he returns into Gaul. He makes his way again to Toulouse. He refreshes the novice members with water turned into wine, and by honeyed words rouses them to bear bravely whatever hardships for Christ. Then, taking as companion Brother Bertrand de Garriga, found there, he comes first to Rocamadour, thence in eight days to Orléans, and at last to Paris, where he gladly beholds a Convent of thirty members, most holily ruled under Brother Matthew the abbot. He holds publicly several conferences, as was his custom everywhere. He sends men to Reims, Metz, Poitiers, Orléans, to erect new houses in these cities. Brother Peter Cellani, found there, he assigns with certain companions to Limoges, and bids him arrive there within the following January. Jordan, afterward his successor, then a bachelor of the sacred faculty, and not yet thinking of embracing the Order, he makes his familiar friend. William of Montferrat, of whom above, who for two years by agreement had been giving his attention to theology at Paris, he clothes with his own habit, exacting the promise, and takes as companion, Bertrand de Garriga being sent away to Toulouse.

Then, thinking of Italy, he sets his journey through Burgundy. Passing through Châtillon, he restores to life, as though lifeless, the son of his host, who had fallen from an upper floor. While crossing the Alps on foot, he refreshes with bread sent from heaven a certain Brother John, a lay brother, brought with him from Spain, failing in spirit from weariness and hunger. He enters first Bergamo, then Milan. Here he is honorably received by the Canons of St. Nazarius. By his sermons he stirs the whole city, and admits three most excellent men into the Order: leading these with him, he reaches Bologna toward the end of August. Already at Bologna the college of Brothers was more numerous, gathered by the most fervent sermons and most holy examples of Reginald. Hence therefore Dominic sends the same Reginald off to Paris, hoping from him a like success in the royal city. Then indeed he sends members to the more celebrated cities of Lombardy, to erect houses of the Order, and among others Brother John of Salerno to Florence. He himself, thinking of Rome, passes through Florence, where he frees Benedicta, a noble woman, but on account of worldly manners, God permitting, vexed by an evil spirit, and brings her to better fruit. At Viterbo he was already with the supreme Pontiff Honorius III on the XV of November. He follows the court of the supreme Pontiff until the XVII of December, on which day by an Apostolic Brief, given at Civita Castellana, he obtains that the church of St. Sixtus be granted absolutely to him and his Brothers. Afterward he goes on to Rome.

[98] and Italy, wonderfully, until the year of Christ 1221, In the year 1220. Dominic, having entered Rome perhaps before Christmas, blesses his members with his presence. But then, learning that the monastery by the church of St. Sixtus, which his own were inhabiting, had once been erected by Innocent III for enclosing the Roman nuns, although the work was not completed, the Pontiff's death interrupting it, he does not suffer so salutary a counsel of Innocent to be made void, himself then knowing it and being in a manner the obstacle: he advises Honorius that there is an easy way of settling everything — let the church of St. Sabina be given him, let his members be brought into it, then let the Roman nuns be transferred into the monastery of St. Sixtus, made by our friars' care most fit for religion. Honorius approves, and sets three Cardinals over the business to be concluded with Dominic: Hugolin of Ostia and Nicholas of Tusculum, bishops, and Stephen de Fossanova, priest of the title of the Twelve Apostles. The matter, begun in January, is completed in February; but not without a miracle. On the day of St. Valentine the martyr, the XIV of February, on Ash Friday, the aforesaid Cardinal Stephen had come to St. Sixtus's and was conversing with Dominic; and behold, there is brought the body of the youth Napoleon, kinsman of the said Stephen, thrown headlong with his horse into a pit, thought by all to be already lifeless. Dominic orders it to be carried into a certain cell, and, all being shut out, entering alone, prayer being poured out to God, he restores the youth to life, and gives him back to his uncle Stephen, whole and unharmed, before the bystanders. Dietrich says that there was present at the miracle the abbess of St. Mary in Tempore, who had come with certain of her nuns to inspect the monastery into which they were to be transferred. On the following Sunday, the first of Lent, the XVI of February, forty nuns, all of the church of St. Mary in Tempore, or as others write in Tempulo, come to St. Sixtus's, thereafter to remain there within the cloister without leave of going out. To these on the same day a great part of the nuns of St. Bibiana join themselves voluntarily, and others from various monasteries of the City, to the number of twenty-one: to whom afterward were added several noble Roman virgins, who, despising the delights of the world, embraced the cross of Christ with great courage. Eight sisters called by Dominic from the monastery of Prouille soon arrive, the first of whom, Blanca by name, the holy Man gives as prefect or Prioress to the nuns of St. Sixtus. That these departed from Prouille at least in the month of March is certain; perhaps they even reached Rome before the XXV of March, on which the new year began at Rome.

On this occasion Dominic enlists St. Hyacinth and his companions Blessed Ceslaus, Henry, and Herman into the Order, and after Easter leads them with him to Bologna, where he had proclaimed that his first general assembly should be held at Pentecost. On the way he passes through Siena, where he finds that the members sent by him from Rome had already since the fourteenth of March received a place from the curators of the public infirmary to dwell in, until meanwhile a more convenient site should be found for erecting a house of the Order. They will have it that he also visited Florence in passing. In those first assemblies at Bologna the rule of St. Augustine and the constitutions superadded in the monastery of Prouille in the year 1216 are confirmed by all and accepted for the whole Order; that one in particular, by which fixed revenues of every kind are renounced. Soon after the assemblies were ended Dominic sends Hyacinth and his companions off into Poland. He himself traverses the cities of Lombardy, everywhere preaching after his custom. He was at Milan on the day of St. Barnabas, and his own at St. Eustorgius's

church, which they had entered on Passion Sunday, the XV of March, he gladly sees already established and living most religiously in great number. There, being seized with a fever, he is compelled to stay some days; but soon recovering he goes on elsewhere, where houses of the Order had not yet been erected, obtaining them easily. He had already returned to Bologna before the Assumption of the most blessed Virgin, and on that very feast day he admits without delay into his bosom Conrad the German, a famous master of the university, while they were chanting Prime, prostrate at his feet and earnestly asking for the habit of the Order. Afterward from time to time he betakes himself to other cities of Lombardy, of the lower part as it seems, for the sake of spreading the Order; and then, as is easy to conjecture, a certain dean from France heard him preaching at Modena, who also, confessing to him a grievous temptation by which he was assailed, obtained chastity from God by his prayers. While he was also at Bologna, whether in this year or the preceding, he twice refreshes the Brothers, who lacked the necessaries of life, with bread sent from heaven. In the month of November he hastens again to Rome, and, setting his journey through Florence, and finding Benedicta, whom in the previous year he had freed from the vexation of the malign spirit, rather negligent in the business of her salvation, with her consent, and God himself committing the matter, that her spirit might be saved, he sees her vexed in the flesh as before. At the beginning of December Dominic was already at Rome.

[99] [in which year he died at Bologna, afterward honorably buried, and inscribed in the number of the Saints,] In the year 1221. Dominic, staying at Rome, obtains on the XVIII of January a Brief from Honorius III, in which he is called only a Canon, and another on the XXIX of March, in which he is named Prior of the Order of Preachers. But I should scarcely doubt that he resumed his lectures in the Apostolic palace, and also preached generally in the City: for that was always his custom. Being there, he receives as a gift one thousand and ninety pounds for the monastery of the Sisters of St. Sixtus. He was still remaining on the day XVII of April, on which he concludes an agreement with Fulk, bishop of Toulouse, also present in the City, and remits, cedes, and, as he says, "disamparates" forever into his hands the sixth part of the tithes once granted by him to himself and his own. What road he took in returning to Bologna is not altogether certain: more probably he went to Viterbo with Cardinal Rainerio Capocci, and then received from him the church of St. Mary ad Gradus and the adjoining monastery; thence to Siena, Florence, and at last Bologna. At the feast of Pentecost on the XXX of May he holds his second general assembly in that city. In these, the Order being distributed into eight provinces, as many provincial prefects are created, and it is enjoined that the supreme head over them should henceforth be called MASTER. After the assembly, ended on the fifth of June, he goes to Venice to Cardinal Hugolin, and then, as is most probable, erects a monastery of the Order in that city: he returns toward the end of July; but, seized through excessive heat with a rather sharp fever, which grew stronger day by day, he is at length caught up into heaven on the VIII of the Ides, that is on the sixth of August, on Friday, at the noon hour, in the fifty-first year of his age. In the old church of St. Nicholas his body was buried, the often-named lord Hugolin, bishop of Ostia, afterward the supreme Pontiff Gregory IX, celebrating the sacred rites and all the offices of the funeral.

In the year 1233. On the day XXIV of May, the third feria of Pentecost, while the general assembly of the Order was being held at Bologna, presided over by the Master of the Order Blessed Jordan, St. Dominic's successor, the body of this most holy Parent was translated to a more becoming place with a most celebrated pomp: the history of which translation the same Jordan wrote.

In the year 1234. Gregory IX inscribes blessed Dominic in the roll of the Saints at Rieti, on the V of the Nones of July.

[100] [as this synopsis of the Acts teaches, according to which the remainder of the Commentary will be arranged.] You have here a historical and sufficiently accurate compendium of the Acts, which embraces most of the deeds of St. Dominic in chronological order. Since nevertheless Malvenda and other writers sometimes dissent from this chronology of Échard's, we shall indicate their various opinions in their place, and, where it shall seem worth the trouble, we shall briefly discuss them: for since it often matters little, and cannot be certainly established, whether such matters happened a year or some months later or earlier, we shall not linger long over these chronological trifles, lest we bring weariness to the reader; but we shall chiefly give our labor to confirming by ancient instruments or testimonies what has already been reported in this compendium. From time to time also we shall examine certain narrations handed down by more recent authors, that we may separate true histories from false, and certain from ambiguous. Finally there will have to be interposed some controversies which are connected with the Acts of St. Dominic, and certain things added about miracles and other matters which pertain to the Saint's posthumous glory. But before we follow the promised chronology of the Acts, in the following paragraph some things must be discussed which are narrated to have preceded the Saint's birth.

§ VII. An examination of the signs which are said to have foretold and preceded the Saint's birth.

Some think that the Orders of the Dominicans and Franciscans were clearly foretold many centuries before by Sibylline oracles. The Saint is said to have been foretold by Sibylline oracles, Besides Franciscan writers, Gerard de Frachet the Dominican in the Lives of the Brothers (this work some attribute to the venerable Humbert), after other predictions of his Order, part 1, chapter 2, speaks thus on this matter: The Sibyl also seems to have prophesied about this Order, and to have commended it with excellent eloquence, as is plain to those who inspect her book. John Garzo in the Life of St. Dominic in Leander Alberti, folio 12, ascribes this prophecy to the Erythraean Sibyl, and hints that by her not only the Order of Preachers but also its splendid Founder was designated, in these words: The Erythraean Sibyl, whom Apollodorus of Erythrae affirms to be his fellow-citizen, announced that a star should be brought forth in Spain, by whose brightness the whole world would be rendered illustrious and bright … And yet from her who sang these things until that time in which Dominic was living his life there are two thousand four hundred and ninety-seven years. Garzo probably drew this notice of the Erythraean Sibyl from the Italian history of Giovanni Villani, which this author wrote about the middle of the XIVth century, and which was lately reprinted at Milan among the Writers of Italian affairs, volume 13: for after Villani had praised the origin of the Preachers and Minorites, and the holy Founders of both Orders, in the same Milanese edition, book 5, chapter 25, he subjoins in Italian to our purpose the following, which I thus render into Latin: Truly the Erythraean Sibyl, looking to these times, prophesied about those two Orders, saying that two stars should arise which would illuminate the world.

[102] It does not please me to examine here at length the authority of those prophecies, whose authority there is no leisure to discuss here, about which the judgments of the learned are various, as may be seen in Honoré de Sainte-Marie in the French Observations on the use of Criticism, volume 2, book 2, dissertation 2, and other obvious writers. Nicolas Le Nourry of the Order of St. Benedict, in his Apparatus to the greatest library of the ancient Fathers, volume 1, book 1, dissertation 12, chapter 3, after an accurate examination of the Sibylline oracles, at length concludes thus in §10: For the opinion of those seems truer who judge that those adulterated songs of the Sibyls were composed by various authors, at different times and on various occasions, and at length were compacted and reduced into that order which we now see in subsequent, and perhaps more recent, times. For the rest, on this matter Thomas Malvenda may be consulted in the Annals of the Preachers at the year of Christ 1216, chapter 20, who nevertheless there and elsewhere prudently warns that the eight books of Sibylline oracles which are now in circulation are not free in many respects from the suspicion of imposture and forgery. Nor is it necessary that I repeat in this place the various texts of sacred Scripture which Joachim, abbot of Fiore, expounded with a prophetic spirit about these two Orders; since our Papebroch at the day XXIX of May, in the Life of the same holy Abbot illustrated, volume VII of that month, page 141, reported and approved those prophetic interpretations. But concerning a similar matter another opinion must now be discussed, which Papebroch in the place just cited did not admit.

[103] and to have been depicted long before his birth at Venice, After St. Antoninus in part 3 of the Chronicles, title 23, chapter 1, §1, had reported the prophetic exposition of abbot Joachim, who had expounded the words of Zechariah, chapter 11, verse 7, of the two Orders of mendicants soon to arise, in the same place he immediately subjoins the following concerning the holy Founder of the Order of Preachers, expressed in an anticipatory image: But he was more openly foretold and more particularly declared in a certain painting which was found in the church of St. Mark at Venice, where, before Dominic was born into the world, the images of two men were seen depicted by all: of which the one was after the manner of a religious in the habit of the Order of Preachers with a lily in his hand; the other had the likeness of the apostle Paul, as he is wont to be painted, over which was written "hagios Paulos," that is, holy Paul; but beneath the figure, at his feet, thus: Through this man one goes to Christ. Over the other figure was written "hagios Dominikos," holy Dominic; but beneath him: More easily does one go through this man. Nor should you wonder at writing of this kind, because the doctrine of Paul, like that of the other Apostles, was a doctrine leading to faith and to the observance of the precepts; the doctrine of Dominic to the observance of the counsels, and therefore more easily does one go through him to Christ.

[104] as is asserted also of St. Francis, Franciscan writers substitute in place of St. Paul in those Venetian figures their Seraphic patriarch, as may be seen more fully in Wadding in the Apparatus to the Annals of the Minors, which Francis Harold of the same Order thus abridged in a compendium of that Apparatus, number 8: Joachim, although he did not precede the birth of these Saints by a hundred years or more, as some think, since he still flourished when they were already born, nevertheless foretold many things about them by a prophetic spirit, before either they became famous or founded their Orders; and especially about the Order of Minors he foretold many and great things in his book On the Concord of both Testaments (though more elsewhere), which the outcome of events shows to be true, and from things past confirm the hope of things to come. And the same Joachim had images of both Patriarchs made in mosaic work in the church of the divine Mark at Venice, in that bodily habit and clothing which they were afterward to assume and to prescribe to their followers; while nevertheless he had as yet seen neither of them, nor had they passed out of boyhood, but had either been recently born, or, as the more common opinion holds, before they were born — writing for holy Dominic this very name of Dominic in Greek characters, and expressing in the image of holy Francis those stigmata with which he was afterward marked by Christ.

[105] Our Papebroch, volume VII of May, page 141, opposes various difficulties to this Venetian image, and suspects to which pictures Papebroch opposed some difficulties. that it was adorned after the death of both holy Founders, which on the following page he thus proves from the silence of the ancient writers: Certainly the older writers on the Life of the same Saints

do not seem likely to have passed over so evident and clear a prophecy, and one which could have been most widely known, if they had known anything of it then; especially Gerard in the Lives of the Brothers, who diligently collected such things, and the author of the chronicle of the Preachers. Candide Chalippe in the notes to the Life of St. Francis, which he lately published in French with prudent and learned criticism, book 1, page 3, cites those objections of Papebroch, and seems to acquiesce in them, since he does not refute them. But on the contrary Souèges in the French Life of St. Dominic, which is inserted into the Dominican Year, volume 1 of August, page 281 and following, turns himself in every direction to vindicate in part that prophetic image and to dissolve the opposing reasons of Papebroch. But he has not yet persuaded us of this prophecy, and is at least compelled to confess that two figures of different places were welded into one by Antoninus, or that the one of which he makes mention was wrongly placed by him at Venice, as will sufficiently appear from the following number.

[106] John Antony Flaminius in the Life of St. Dominic, book 1, folio 1 verso, thus exhibits to us two prophetic images of the same Saint: To this Venetian image some add another at Constantinople, That also must not be passed over in silence which pertains to the renown of so great a Man: that several centuries before, this sacred Order of Preachers, and not only the Order but also its Founder himself, and his name, and — what you would wonder at no less — also the habit of the Preachers, that is their clothing, was foreshown: for there existed and was seen in the church of the divine Sophia at Constantinople an effigy of blessed Dominic and of the apostle Paul, above whose head was written in Greek "hagios Paulos," that is, holy Paul; but of Dominic, "kalos Dominikos," that is, good Dominic. Beneath the Apostle's feet was written: Through him one ascends to Christ; but beneath Dominic's: Through him one ascends more easily to Christ. A similar picture is seen at Venice in the church of the divine Mark, in the vault of the place where the relics of that church are kept, where the effigies of the divine Dominic and Francis are seen, the author (as they say) being abbot Joachim, not a few years before the Order of Preachers and of Minorites was founded; and that this abbot was distinguished by a prophetic spirit is the constant report: and they say that he was the author not only of that picture but also of the others which are seen in the church. From these things it is plain that a similar image, such as St. Antoninus had assigned at Venice in the church of St. Mark, is placed by Flaminius at Constantinople in the church of St. Sophia. But let those whom it concerns reconcile these things. Meanwhile let us go on to investigate that Constantinopolitan effigy more curiously.

[107] John of St. Mary in the French Acts of St. Dominic, book 1, chapter 3, treating of those two Constantinopolitan images, whose traces are said still to survive, asserts that, besides the name of each Saint, which was expressed in Greek above their heads, there were once read on the pedestal of St. Paul the following words: "Through this man one ascends to Christ"; but that beneath the feet of St. Dominic these were written: "Through this man one ascends more easily to Christ." But whence did that writer know that these Greek words were inscribed precisely on the pedestals of each Saint, since he did not read them, and did not even see those figures, although he himself was at Constantinople in the year of Christ 1630 or 1631? Nay, in the same place he confesses, on the report of the companions of his journey to Constantinople, that those images were then almost entirely destroyed, and that only obscure traces of them survived. Since he himself was already at Constantinople, why did he not examine those figures? Certainly this ancient effigy of his holy Father should have been accurately inspected by him, since the companions of his journey were admitted to see it. From these circumstances I not improbably conjecture that those Constantinopolitan inscriptions, of which no one of the ancients makes mention, were composed in Greek by the praised John himself from the Latin words of St. Antoninus or of Flaminius.

[108] which opinion is not probable to us, Moreover I suspect that those companions of the journey to Constantinople imposed upon a simple man, and, as we said above from Échard, too credulous. To that suspicion I am moved by the extreme superstition of the Turks, by which they exclude foreigners, and especially Christians, from their temples, so that scarcely ever is a Christian permitted to enter their shrines. Augier de Busbecq attests this, who was admitted by a special favor to see the church of St. Sophia, even though he was the imperial ambassador, as he himself indicates in his first letter, among us page 73, in these words: First of all it pleased me to go to the church of the divine Sophia, to which nevertheless I was admitted only by a singular favor. The Turks believe their temples to be profaned if any Christian enters. John Cotovicus in his Jerusalem and Syrian Itinerary, book 4, chapter 5, where he treats of the temples and rites of the Mohammedans, attests the same after other things in this manner: To these temples access lies open to no Christian: for the Mohammedans think them profaned if any Christian enters them. Wherefore a Christian must most greatly beware of entering them rashly; for if he do so, he must needs either deny the faith of Christ and be initiated into the Mohammedan rites, or undergo the extreme penalty. Hence therefore the narrative of those companions, whom John too easily believed, is rendered suspect to me.

[109] unless perhaps that image was placed at Constantinople afterward. Add that in Grelot, Du Cange, Banduri, and others who have exactly described the church of St. Sophia, no mention of these figures occurs. If nevertheless anyone shall prove by more trustworthy witnesses that some effigy of St. Dominic once existed in the majestic church of St. Sophia, or that even now probable indications of it are found, I shall not with difficulty grant that it was erected by the Preachers, who from the year 1252 were dwelling at Constantinople, as Échard, volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 136, affirms. And this could have been done within that time in which the Latins possessed that city, and before in the year of Christ 1261 they were compelled to leave it again to the Greeks. And these are the reasons for which we doubt whether the Venetian or Constantinopolitan effigy of St. Dominic preceded his birth, although St. Antoninus and Flaminius perhaps confidently assert it from some popular tradition. Moreover the curious reader will be able maturely to weigh the other difficulties which our Papebroch adduced in the place cited above against the antiquity of the Venetian image.

[110] Abbot Joachim seems to have foretold St. Dominic and his Order, Much more easily do we persuade ourselves that a certain prophetic effigy of St. Dominic was formed somewhere in Calabria by Abbot Joachim: for this ancient writers of the Order of Preachers hand down, among whom Stephen of Salanhac in Malvenda's Annals at the year of Christ 1216, chapter 20, thus testifies: This blessed father Dominic the venerable abbot Joachim, founder of the Order of Fiore, set forth as though present by deed and word; by deed indeed, in that he showed to his Brothers the habit — not that which St. Dominic first wore as a regular Canon, but that which he received from the most blessed Virgin when she anointed Brother Reginald — and depicted it in a certain monastery of his Order in Calabria, saying: "Soon there shall arise in the Church of God a new Order of teachers, over which one greater shall preside, and with him and under him shall be twelve ruling the aforesaid Order; who, as the patriarch Jacob with his twelve sons entered Egypt, so he with those twelve, greater after him in that Order, shall enter and shall enlighten the world. When they come, receive them with honor." Which they both do and have done: for when the Brothers first came to them, they went out to meet them with crosses and with spiritual songs, and in all their places they treat and entertain them as their own Brothers.

[111] Hermann Corner of the Order of Preachers, although in that prediction certain things occur whose Chronicle George Eckhart lately published in the Historical Corpus of the middle age, volume 2, reports in the same place, column 846, this prophecy of abbot Joachim, and also records the twelve greater or ruling men with whom the holy Founder should enter and enlighten the world. But concerning this number of twelve some doubt arises, whether Joachim in this part foretold the truth. For if it be understood of the first companions of St. Dominic, they were sixteen, as all the ancient biographers affirm. I am not unaware that Souèges in the French Acts of the Saint, page 256, took pains to explain this number in some fashion, and to preserve that prophecy of abbot Joachim entirely unharmed; but, to open my mind candidly, that learned man has not yet loosed the knot, since the older writers of the same Order interpreted this number of the twelve Provincials, as Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers at the year of Christ 1216, chapter 20, indicates in this manner: James of Soest understands those twelve greater men of our Order as the twelve Provincials set over the twelve provinces of the Order, which number, established in the most general Chapter at Paris in the year 1228, remained long afterward. But that interpretation too has its own difficulty, as we shall see just below.

[112] An anonymous writer of the Order of Preachers, whom Mabillon dug out at Rome from a manuscript of St. Sabina's of the year 1367, difficult to understand, and whom Edmond Martène lately inserted into the Most Ample collection of ancient writers and monuments, volume 6, from column 331, in the same place, column 335, thus recites the aforementioned prediction of Joachim: The venerable abbot Joachim also, founder of the Order of Fiore, prophetically showing to his Brothers the habit which the said master Reginald had received from the most blessed Virgin, had it painted in a certain monastery of his Order in Calabria, saying: "Soon there shall arise in the Church of God a new Order of teachers, over which one greater shall preside, and with him and under him shall be twelve ruling the aforesaid Order: because, as the patriarch Jacob with his twelve sons entered Egypt, so he with those twelve, greater after him in that Order, shall enter and shall enlighten the world. May the Lord spare him who shall have given cause and occasion that through the division of provinces this prophetic and apostolic number should be taken away." That last passage is here too distinguished by brackets, as though it pertained to the preceding prophecy of Joachim. Nevertheless I am of opinion that these are rather the words of the anonymous author than of abbot Joachim: for another anonymous writer of the same Order, who is published in the same place by Edmond Martène, having reported the same words of Joachim, subjoins in volume 6 of the Most Ample Collection, column 348, this clause: That prophecy standing, I fear that they sinned who gave cause and occasion that through the division of provinces this prophetic and apostolic number should be taken away from the Order.

[113] and which are with difficulty reconciled with other narratives. Above I said that this interpretation is not without its own difficulty. For how is it consonant with truth that there should be with him and under him twelve ruling the aforesaid Order, or Provincials,

since from ancient monuments it is established that the Order was divided into only eight provinces while the holy Founder was living? How shall we understand that St. Dominic, according to abbot Joachim's prophecy, was truly to enter and enlighten the world with twelve who were greater after him in that Order, since in his lifetime he had more companions and fewer provincials? We see no probable solution of this knot, unless we say that various predictions were ascribed to Joachim of which that holy Abbot never thought, as our Papebroch, volume VII of May, pages 137 and 138, shows. Certainly Gerard de Frachet, older than all the asserters of this prophecy hitherto cited, says not a word about that twelvefold number of companions or provincials, where nevertheless in the Lives of the Brothers, part 1, chapter 2, he thus reports the same prediction of Joachim: Joachim also, abbot and founder of the monastery of Fiore, wrote about that Order of Preachers in many books and in many places: and describing the Order and the habit, he admonished his Brothers that after his death, when such an Order should arise, they should receive it devoutly; which they also did, receiving the Brothers with the cross and with a procession, when they first came to them. If anyone hence infer that the Order of Preachers was foretold by that abbot, and that its clothing was prophetically expressed in some monastery of Calabria (say that of Fiore), perhaps in a painting or statue of St. Dominic, on account of the testimony of the praised Gerard we shall not oppose these credible consequences. Now another question must briefly be dispatched which pertains to this paragraph, and whose matter the indiscreet piety of certain persons supplies to us.

[114] Some hand down that St. Dominic was sanctified in his mother's womb. John of St. Mary in the aforesaid French Acts of St. Dominic, book 1, chapter 5, reports as though from the opinion of St. Antoninus that the holy Founder of his Order was sanctified in his mother's womb. But neither I nor Souèges have been able thus far to find that opinion of St. Antoninus anywhere. Nevertheless Louis Loumans in his Notes on the Mirror of the sinful soul, which little work Échard attributes to Alan de la Roche, cites the same holy archbishop for this exotic opinion, and in the same place, pages 246 and 247, observes the following in these words: Note that this pious author was indeed not ignorant of the doctrine of St. Thomas, 3rd part, question 27, article 6, where he teaches that it is not certain that anyone was sanctified in the maternal womb, except the most blessed Virgin Mother of God, of whom the whole Church thinks this, and Jeremiah the prophet, and John the Baptist, of whom sacred Scripture most clearly hands this down; yet he seems to incline to the opinion of some who taught the same about holy Dominic, of whom St. Antoninus makes mention in the third part of the Theological Summa, chapter 5, §6 (neither in this place nor elsewhere have I found anything similar in St. Antoninus), and since he does not refute it, he may be judged to have adhered to it.

[115] If nevertheless that Saint anywhere consented to this singular opinion, to whom we oppose the doctrine of St. Thomas, we oppose to him the authority of St. Thomas, who in Part 3 of the Theological Summa, question 27, article 6, proving from sacred Scripture the sanctification of Jeremiah and John the Baptist in the maternal womb, thus concludes: Nor is it to be believed that any others were sanctified in the womb of whom Scripture makes no mention, because privileges of grace of this kind, which are given to some beyond the common law, are ordained for the benefit of others (according to that word of 1 Corinthians 12: To each is given the manifestation of the spirit unto profit), which would in no way come from the sanctification of any in the womb, unless it became known to the Church. Wherefore Loumans, after the note cited above, thus continues, and prudently abandons his author with this conclusion: For the rest, we more gladly embrace the opinion of St. Thomas, and plainly assert that the prodigies which preceded the birth of holy Dominic were only portents and indications of his future very great sanctity. But he could have omitted what he there uselessly subjoins thus: We add, however, that if anyone should grant that blessed Nicholas, bishop of Myra, and Livinus, and Christina of Cologne obtained that prerogative, much more ought it to be attributed by him to holy Dominic, for the reason set down in this place by the author. We, according to the doctrine of St. Thomas, grant such a singular privilege neither to Nicholas of Myra nor to other Saints (except those to whom the holy Doctor expressly attributes it).

[116] But if that pious author of the Mirror, as Loumans above asserts, even though the author of the Mirror of the sinful soul was not ignorant of St. Thomas's doctrine, we certainly marvel that he opposed to the holy Doctor his own reasonings and a certain revelation, when in the Mirror of the sinful soul, page 17 and following, he prescribes this prayer: Most loving Mary, most noble banqueting-chamber of the whole Trinity, way, method, and rule of the entire faith, for the sake of your spouse Dominic — wondrously foreseen before his conception, magnified after his birth by the prodigy of a star, visited by God in his mother's womb, and shown to his mother in the likeness of a dog bearing in its mouth a torch, by which it kindled the whole world to the charity and faith of Christ; from which it is piously believed that he was sanctified in his mother's womb: for this appears more of him than of the holy Livinus and Christina of Cologne, who are read to have been sanctified in their mother's womb; for it appears no less of him than of Jeremiah, since Dominic was given to the world for a greater cause, namely for founding the Order of Friars Preachers and reforming the whole world, than Jeremiah, who was given only to foretell the future captivity of the people of the Jews.

[117] It appears further, since a boy existing in original sin cannot be inflamed with charity, attempts to prove this exotic opinion by certain petty reasons. nor singularly beloved by God, nor chosen to perform in a privileged and familiar way an office most pleasing to God. But Dominic in his mother's womb was Christ's dog, and was so loved by Christ as puppies are wont to be by their mistresses. He had also the torch of charity for himself and for others by reason of a most high and most noble office, namely that of the Preachers; which was of the greatest excellence: for he is the first and the most principal who founded a state for the cause of preaching for souls; for this his Order had divinely the name of Friars Preachers. Take away, I say, from me and mine, through this Dominic sanctified in his mother's womb (as you once visibly revealed to a certain servant of yours), mortal sin, which according to St. Ambrose is disobedience to the divine commandments, etc. But all these petty reasonings and the pretended revelation move me no more than they move Souèges, who in the French Life of St. Dominic, page 154, rightly exploded this new opinion of certain persons.

[118] Other more probable predictions concerning the same Saint At least some greater appearance of truth belongs to a certain tradition, which Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers at the year of Christ 1170, chapter 9, thus reports from Fernando del Castillo and others: But not without preceding prophecies and divine revelations was holy Dominic born. His mother Joanna was with child, and, anxious about the dangers of childbirth, was devoutly performing a nine days' vigil at the tomb of St. Dominic, abbot of Silos, who a hundred years before had died with a great repute of sanctity, and was venerated in Spain with special veneration, since that place was not far distant from Caleruega. During the vigil the holy abbot Dominic was seen by her in a more divine appearance, and, having consoled the devout woman with sweet words, he also promised that a son should be born to her who should be distinguished in the Church for sanctity and doctrine. Thus Joanna afterward took care that the little infant born of her should be called by the name of Dominic, in confirmation of the oracle and as a monument of a grateful mind toward the announcing patron. Nicholas Janssenius in the Life of St. Dominic, book 1, chapter 1, and John of St. Mary, book 1, chapter 4, narrate the same revelation in other words. We leave that tradition such as we found it, since it cannot be confirmed from the ancient biographers.

[119] we admit without difficulty. Far more certain credit we give to another foretelling vision which the mother of the same Saint is said to have had, when she seemed to herself to bring forth a whelp which carried a torch in its mouth: for this, besides Vincent of Beauvais, the venerable Humbert, and others, Constantine of Orvieto in Échard, volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 25, narrates in these words: His mother, before she conceived him, that not only the subsequent facts but also the presages of the subsequent facts, divinely procured, might tell who he should be, saw in a dream that she was carrying a whelp in her womb, bearing a burning torch in its mouth, which, going forth from the womb, set the whole face of the world aflame. What is given to be understood in this, no one is ignorant who remembers that by the whelp a preacher, and by the burning torch the divine utterance, is designated, sacred Scripture attesting. Let these things said about the signs preceding the Saint's birth suffice. Now let us proceed to examine other matters in order of time.

§ VIII. The year of his birth, his fatherland, parents, and kinsmen.

Our Saint was brought forth into the light in the year of Christ 1170, The Saint was born in the year of Christ 1170 as after Dietrich of Apolda, Antoninus in Part 3 of the Chronicles, title 23, chapter 4, expressly hands down in these words: Blessed Dominic, leader and renowned father of the Preachers, who as the end of the world drew near shone forth like a new star, was sprung from the parts of Spain, from the village which is called Calorga, of the diocese of Osma *, Alexander III presiding at Rome, and Frederick I reigning as emperor, namely in the year of the Lord's incarnation 1170. This epoch of his birth more recent historians follow, and all those implicitly confirm it who generally assert that St. Dominic passed to those Above in the year of Christ one thousand two hundred and twenty-one, in the fifty-first year of his age.

[121] His fatherland was Spain, as all the ancient biographers agree, at Caleruega in Spain, with whom Constantine of Orvieto in Échard, volume 1, page 25, thus distinctly expressed his birthplace: The venerable father blessed Dominic, therefore, whom divine providence disposed to be destined for a world likewise setting in time, drew his origin according to the flesh from the Western parts of Spain, namely from a certain village which is called Caleruega, of the diocese of Osma, his father being named Felix, and his mother Joanna. Certain writers or their copyists dislocated this place of his birth in various ways, as will be plain from the Acts to be published below. Esteban de Garibay in his Compendium of Spanish history, book 12, chapter 44, contends that this fatherland of St. Dominic ought in the vernacular to be called Caleruega. But not only in the name but also in the thing itself Lucio Marineo Siculo, Francisco Tarafa, and Alfonso García Matamoros err, whose words may be seen in volume 1 of Spain Illustrated, pages 347, 559, and in volume 2 of the same work, page 811, where they wrongly surname this Saint from his fatherland "of Calahorra": for there are in Spain two places called Calagurris, altogether different from Caleruega, of which one is now in the vernacular Calahorra,

the other is commonly called Loharre, and about which the most illustrious Pierre de Marca in the Spanish Frontier, book 2, chapter 28, number 2, may be consulted. Our John Mariana, book 12 On the Affairs of Spain, chapter 8, thus briefly indicates the situation of Caleruega: In this number Dominic held the chief place, born at Caleruega in the territory of Osma, at almost equal distance between Osma and Aranda.

[122] Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers at the year of Christ 1170, chapter 1, describes the same place more fully in these words: whose birthplace's situation Malvenda describes, Among the Arevaci there is also a notable city, called by Ptolemy Uxama Argellae, but by Pliny and others simply Uxama, at this time still retaining traces of its ancient name and called Osma; which, illustrious with an episcopal chair and great ornaments for many years now, is celebrated among the noble cities of Spain. In the territory of this city and in the jurisdiction of the bishopric, which they call the diocese, there is a town Caleruega, sixteen thousand paces distant from Aranda de Duero, at almost equal distance between Osma and Aranda, once wealthy and distinguished by splendid families, now scarcely preserving the remains of its former renown: plainly different from either Calagurris, which two cities in Spain are held celebrated among authors under the same name: whereas of Caleruega there is no mention in the ancient authors, and it is happy in this name, that it received the first birth and infancy of the most blessed father Dominic.

[123] and where, among other things pertaining to the Saint's glory, Alfonso, king of Castile, surnamed the Wise, in the Spanish era 1304, that is in the year of Christ 1266, built at Caleruega a monastery for the nuns of St. Dominic, because the Saint had been born there, as the king testifies in his letters, which Malvenda promises to exhibit afterward. But since he did not carry his Annals down to the year of Christ 1266, the diplomas pertaining to that foundation may be read in the Spanish idiom in Fernando del Castillo, History of the Order, book 2, chapter 78. Moreover that monastery, in the catalogue which Edmond Martène published in volume 6 of the Most Ample Collection from a Manuscript of the Royal library, is in the same place, column 541, thus reckoned among the monasteries of Spain: The monastery of sisters at Caleruega in the place of the birth of St. Dominic, the father of all. Besides this memorial of the Saint, which still survives at Caleruega, Nicholas Janssenius in the Commentary on the Life of St. Dominic, page 242, mentions another more prodigious one in these words: Those who were lately in Spain testify that they heard there that in that place where holy Dominic was born a certain dust springs up (just as at Barcelona from the tomb of St. Raymond of Peñafort), by which more miracles are done day by day. I marvel that other biographers do not mention this miracle.

[124] the font of his baptism is said to be honorably preserved, The praised Janssenius in the very Life of St. Dominic, book 1, chapter 1, writes thus of another memorial of the Saint surviving there: The infant, born at Caleruega, was washed in the sacred font, and from the most holy abbot of whom we taught a little before (he means St. Dominic, abbot of Silos, who is said to have appeared to his mother when with child, as was reported by us in the preceding paragraph) received the name of Dominic. That font is even today preserved with great zeal, in which (I should judge not without a most happy omen) was cleansed in the year 1605 the Catholic king of the Spains, Philip Dominic Victor; for whose father it did not seem enough that he should be Philip the fourth of that appellation, unless he should also be Dominic the first of this appellation. Concerning the same venerable font of baptism, and the singular piety of Philip III, king of Spain, toward this sacred monument, Malvenda in the Annals at the year of Christ 1170, chapter 10, has the following: There survives to this our own age that baptistery, or white stone basin, in which the holy infant Dominic consecrated the beginnings of his life by the divine sacrament of baptism. It is preserved at Caleruega with the highest veneration. Nor must there be passed over in silence that outstanding example of piety by which Philip III, Catholic king of the Spains, wished to attest his love and devotion toward St. Dominic and his Order, when in the year of salvation 1605, on the day XXIX of May, at Valladolid, the assembly of the whole Order of Preachers (they call it the general Chapter) was being held after the custom under the most reverend Father Friar Jerome Xavierre, professor of sacred theology and Master General of that same Order.

[125] in which also Philip IV, king of Spain, was baptized. Then he proves his narration from the very acts of the general assembly, which for the splendor of the Order I shall gladly here transcribe, and which run thus: We announce to all the Brothers of our Order that the most powerful Catholic king of the Spains has heaped this our Chapter with the amplest favors: for our solemn supplication, numerous with a multitude of Brothers, on the most holy day of Pentecost from our church of St. Paul to the cathedral, both in the going and in the return, he himself, accompanied by several princes and nobles of these kingdoms, adorned. He commanded the baptismal font, in which our most holy father Dominic gave his name to the Christian religion, to be carried from the town of Caleruega to Valladolid, and ordered his son the prince to be baptized in it on the same most sacred day after Vespers with a most solemn rite by the most illustrious and most reverend lord Don Bernardo de Rojas y Sandoval, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, archbishop of Toledo, in our church; and the prince's name was called Philip, Dominic, Victor. He honored our public disputations with his royal presence, together with the queen his wife: he bestowed with the greatest cheerfulness a most ample alms for the support of the Brothers who had flowed together to the Chapter from various parts of the world, and performed very many other things, by which he most clearly showed the great benevolence with which he is affected toward our Order.

[126] After a few things interposed, Malvenda in the same place begins thus to discourse about the name A judgment about the name of Dominic, which the Saint received in baptism: The name of Dominic, which the Man of God received at the sacred font, was common to him with other servants of God who before him flourished in outstanding sanctity. Then he enumerates various Saints of this name, and at the same year 1170, chapter XI, thus continues: But our holy Dominic, as an emulator of their name, so also of their sanctity, doubtless surpassed them in every kind of virtue. That our Saint's name came from Dominic of Silos by an oracle we have already noted above. For the rest, the appellation of Dominic indicates something sublime and outstanding, namely one who is wholly the Lord's. Laughable is what a certain man (this is Stephen of Salanhac, as is indicated in the margin) thought, that Dominicus was so called as it were "the Lord's cup," namely a vessel of election. James of Voragine prefixed to the Acts of St. Dominic several etymologies of this kind, which betray the simple temper of that age. Certain more recent biographers too have devised mystical explanations of the same name, which could equally be attributed to other Saints who bore the same name. But to me it does not seem that mysteries should be sought in that name, which could easily have been imposed on this Saint on account of St. Dominic of la Calzada or the other of Silos, who at that time were very greatly celebrated in Spain.

[127] The Saint had honorable and pious parents, as Dietrich of Apolda among us below at number 11 testifies. and about the opinion of Salazar, who wrongly changed the name of his father. His father was called Felix, and his mother Joanna, whose names the ancient writers clearly express. Whence I cannot sufficiently marvel by what authority Luis Salazar de Castro in the History of the family of Lara, book 11, chapter XI, called St. Dominic's father Ferdinand. Namely that genealogist conjectured that the Saint's father was wrongly named Felix on account of the initial letter F (the initial letters of names sometimes occur in old diplomas), and, relying on this conjecture, changed the widely known name of Felix into the appellation of Ferdinand. Francisco de Berganza of the Order of St. Benedict, who published in Spanish at Madrid in 1719 and 1721 the Antiquities of Spain Defended, in part 2 of that work, page 99, seems to congratulate his countrymen as though on a new notice discovered, and there asserts that Salazar in the praised History of the family of Lara, pages 89 and 348, proved against the commonly received opinion, with his usual erudition, that St. Dominic's father was called not Felix, as until now was believed, but Ferdinand. But that both the author of this new notice and his praiser were greatly mistaken is plain from the consent of our old Manuscripts, in which the name of Felix is not designated by the initial letter F, but is expressed in full.

[128] Against John Garzoni it is shown The Saint had two full brothers, even though John Garzoni in the Life of St. Dominic in Leander Alberti, folio 8, thus makes mention of one only: At that time a certain Felix dwelt at Caleruega, which is a quite noble town of Spain, a man endowed with the highest probity, the highest virtue, and the highest liberality. He had joined to himself in marriage Joanna, a maiden indeed comely and adorned with womanly duties. By her, through the gift of Christ most good and great, he had two sons, Dominic and Anthony. These, as is the custom, he took care to have taught and instructed in every duty: whence it came about that, as they advanced in age, they were enrolled in the number of priests. Anthony, because he was strong in wondrous mercy, rendered outstanding service to those who were in the utmost beggary; for he both begged for all and served all: when he departed by death, many signs were wrought by him. But Dominic, despising the allurements of this world, gave himself to Religion. I do not know whence Garzoni dug up the name of Anthony, which the ancients passed over in silence.

[129] that the Saint had two full brothers, I greatly marvel that St. Dominic's other brother was unknown to him, since Gerard de Frachet in the Lives of the Brothers, part 2, chapter 1, evidently reckons two in this manner: First of all, therefore, as an argument of his sanctity we say that he had not only honorable and pious parents, but also two full brothers, men very perfect, of whom one, a priest, giving himself wholly to works of mercy in a certain hospital in the service of the poor, is said to have shone with miracles in life and after; but the other brother, called Manes, a contemplative and holy man, long serving God in the Order, rested in a blessed end. And two nephews of his lived holily and laudably in the Order. Échard, volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 37, notes on this text, among other things, thus: But the two nephews here praised must have been the sons of a certain sister of St. Dominic, unless he had a third brother not here reckoned. What if Gerard took "nephews" for other kinsmen or relations in a broader signification? For the rest, that both these brothers were older by birth Flaminius clearly indicates in the Acts of St. Dominic in these words: His parents were Felix and Joanna, of whom what sort they are to be judged to have been it is permissible to conjecture from so great a Son, and from the others whom they begot: for before Dominic was born they had had two, who became renowned for learning, holiness of life, and the priesthood, of whom the one, his home being left

and his paternal wealth, ministered while he lived to Christ's poor, the sick in a hospice, and both living and dead shone with miracles. The other, whose name was Manes, himself also renouncing earthly things, chose the monastic life, and lived long and with great praise among the Preachers with his most holy Brother.

[130] to whom Joseph López Agurleta adds others, Joseph López Agurleta, an Augustinian Canon of the Order of St. James, in the Appendix to his Apology for St. Dominic, which he published in Spanish at Madrid in the year 1731, page 93 and following, holds it for certain that the second brother of St. Dominic differs from the aforementioned Mames, and consequently that at least three brothers must be granted to the same Saint. And he thinks that this is most clearly deduced from the Acts of Apolda, which he had read in Surius, and from which therefore he recites in Latin and Spanish the following: For Joanna bore two sons, who, imbued with letters, were initiated into the priesthood. One of them, devoting himself in a certain hospital to the ministry of the poor, was renowned in his life, and, as is said, after his death shone with miracles. But the other, bidding farewell to the world, embraced the monastic life, and serving the Lord in it a long time, a holy man given to divine contemplations, rested in a blessed end. From these words he confidently concludes that Mames is different from these two brothers of St. Dominic, because Mames did not embrace the monastic life, but lived among the Canons of St. Romanus at Toulouse, that is the first Preachers, who cannot properly be called monks. Thence he further infers that most certainly Mames, and perhaps other brothers and sisters of St. Dominic, were omitted by Dietrich. So indeed he reasons.

[131] But the author of this new opinion ought to have noticed and erroneously thought that one of them was a monk, that the monastic life is quite often taken by authors in a broader signification, and used for any religious institute in a regular Order. Moreover the genuine text of Dietrich should have been consulted, which among us runs thus: For Joanna by the grace of God bore to her husband Felix two sons (namely before the birth of St. Dominic, of which he treats afterward), who, instructed in letters and living commendably, ascended to the grade of the priesthood. One of these, dedicating himself in a certain hospital to the service of the poor, was renowned in his life for the grace of humility and for works of mercy and other virtues, and, as is said, after his death shone with miracles; but the other, leaving the world, passed over to Religion, in which, serving the Lord laudably for a long time, a holy and contemplative man, he rested in a blessed end. No word is here made of the monastic life; but that second brother of St. Dominic is said to have passed over to Religion, by which the Order of Preachers can conveniently be understood, in which it is established that Mames lived. Finally the praised Joseph could have consulted the Lives of the Brothers, in which Gerard de Frachet expressly expresses the name of Mames, and weaves the same eulogy for this second brother of St. Dominic. And so that Spanish writer, misled by Surius's altered style, was led into error, in which perhaps the following, which we are now about to report, confirmed him.

[132] Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers at the year of Christ 1217, chapter 6, concerning Manes, perhaps because Manes the Preacher was buried among the Cistercians, or Mames, or Maneetes (so his name is variously written), recites the following words of Bernard Gui: He died and rests in a certain monastery of white monks in Spain, where he shone with miracles and virtues. He is reputed a Saint and is honorably guarded near the altar, having there a venerable burial-place. Thus concerning the place of his burial and the fame of his sanctity a certain Spanish Brother reported in the general Chapter at Toulouse in the year of the Lord 1303 (Échard, volume 1, page 37, in the notes assigns the year 1304), who was the companion of the Prior provincial of Spain, and had been at his tomb. The anonymous writer of the XIVth century praised above, in Edmond Martène's Most Ample Collection, volume 6, column 333, enumerating the first companions of St. Dominic, thus repeats similar things about the tomb of the same pious man: The fifth, Brother Manees the Spaniard, uterine brother of holy Dominic, and a most pure imitator of his sanctity. He was a contemplative man, who, long serving in the Order, rested in a blessed end. He died and rests in a certain monastery of white monks in Spain, where he shone with virtues and miracles.

[133] who wrongly ascribe him to their own Order. Then Malvenda in the place just cited, after the words of Bernard Gui alleged, rightly notes that the name of white monks was then commonly given to the Cistercians, and in the same place reports from Fernando del Castillo that in the monastery of St. Peter of Gumiel de Izán (the place is called in the vernacular Gumiel de Yzan, and is situated in the diocese of Osma) the body of this Manes is religiously preserved. Hence Cistercian hagiographers generally ascribe that venerable man to their Order, and among others Chrysostom Henriquez inserted him under the name of Mamertus into his Menology at the eleventh day of March thus: At St. Peter's near Gumiel, Mamertus, a Cistercian monk, and abbot of that same monastery, full brother of the most holy confessor Dominic, standard-bearer of the Order of Preachers, who by continual maceration of the flesh and mortification of the spirit endured a long martyrdom, and, the bonds of the flesh being loosed, deserved to receive in the heavenly Jerusalem the crown prepared by his works: whose sacred bones, raised by ecclesiastical authority, are honorably preserved among the bodies of the Saints on an altar dedicated to them. Henriquez in the same place in the notes strives to confirm this announcement of his by certain testimonies. But we think it far more probable that this full brother of St. Dominic belongs to the Order of Preachers. Wherefore we again ask the Reverend Fathers Dominicans to teach us clearly whether in that monastery of St. Peter there is so public and licit a cult of this Manes or Mamertus that he deserves to be reported in our Acts among the Blessed or the Saints.

[134] [Flaminius narrates that a certain kinsman of the Saint was present at the jubilees of the years 1200 and 1300 at Rome,] But something remains to be said about certain kinsmen or relations of St. Dominic on the occasion of the two nephews whom Gerard de Frachet mentioned above, and to whom Flaminius in the Life of the same Saint, folio 1 verso, thus adds a third: There were also at the same time, he says, three of his kinsmen not unlike him, of whom two lived with great praise in the Order of Preachers. The third led an eremitical life: who, when he was in his fifteenth year, and that year was a jubilee, came to Rome, and after a hundred years returned there for another jubilee, and swore before Boniface the eighth, supreme Pontiff, that he had been present at the previous jubilee; who, having returned to Spain, happily met his day. By these words that writer indicates that this kinsman of the Saint was at Rome in the year 1200 and 1300, in which latter the jubilee was celebrated under Pope Boniface VIII. Although this could altogether have happened, yet we doubt of the truth of that narration for the reasons which we shall now bring forward.

[135] of the truth of which matter we doubt James, Cardinal deacon of St. George in Velabro, and a kinsman of Pope Boniface VIII, wrote a little work on the jubilee of the year 1300, which is inserted in volume XIII of the Cologne Library of the ancient Fathers from page 479. In that booklet that eyewitness narrates the chief things which happened at Rome at the time of that jubilee, and in the same place, chapter 2, page 481, has this to our purpose: Nor was there lacking a living witness of things past, who, asserting that his pilgrimage was of a hundred and seven years, would maintain before many, and in the presence of that same Prelate (persons summoned for that very purpose), that he remembered that his father had stayed at Rome in another centenary year for the indulgence (so long as the provisions which the farmer had brought with him sufficed); and that he had admonished him that if (what he did not think) it should come about, the boy should by no means be slow to be present at Rome in the coming centenary year: and when we inquired the same, he added that on every day of that year an indulgence of a hundred years could there be gained. I do not think that Flaminius wished to make of this farmer, or the farmer's son, a kinsman or relative of St. Dominic.

[136] Then Cardinal James in chapter 7 of the same little work, in the aforesaid Cologne edition, page 482, thus reports in no less barbarous a style another example of extraordinary old age then seen: on account of the silence of an eyewitness. The very modesty and bearing of those who came deserved attendance, since both those of seventy years and beyond, even the infirm, were carried in litters; and there was a man of a hundred years from Savoy, of no lowly family, who as one who had been mindful of the past centenary year, brought by his sons, breathed toward a death now salutary. And not vaguely, as at other times, but circumcised in his lips, girt about the loins, or within that time in which we now think his pilgrimage reached its goal in the heavens. I suspect that the author by these latter words wishes to signify that that Savoyard old man died happily at Rome at the very time of the jubilee. However that may be, the circumstances of this narration cannot suit the Spanish hermit, kinsman of St. Dominic. If therefore that Spanish hermit had sworn before Pope Boniface VIII that he had been present at the past Jubilee of the year 1200, why would Cardinal James have omitted this prodigy, since he seems diligently to collect examples of this kind? Even though these things do not pertain closely to our Saint, yet we wished to discuss them in this place, lest anyone should trust too much other narrations of Flaminius.

* read "Caleruega, of Osma"

* perhaps "of Caleruega"

* elsewhere "Victor"

* In our Manuscript, "two nephews of theirs also"

§ IX. Whether the Saint was sprung from the most noble family of the Guzmans.

From the Guzman stock, which genealogists acknowledge as most noble, Jerónimo de Villalobos, Lázaro de Puerta Quiñones, Pedro Barrantes Maldonado, Ambrosio de Morales, Prudencio de Sandoval, Pedro Jerónimo de Aponte, and other genealogists both Spanish and foreign agree that the stock of the Guzmans is to be numbered among the most noble families of Spain, even though they dispute about the ancient origin of that most illustrious lineage, which some refer to the Goths, some to the dukes of Armorican Brittany, as may be seen in Jakob Wilhelm Imhof in the Genealogy of some illustrious families of Spain, page 118 and following. No one therefore doubts of the distinguished and ancient nobility of the Guzman family; but a purely historical question remains, whether St. Dominic drew his origin from that illustrious stock. Imhof, following Luis Salazar de Castro, in the genealogical tables of the work just cited, page 103, calls St. Dominic's father Ferdinand; but in the preceding paragraph we showed from the constant reading of the old Manuscripts that his father is called Felix, and we abundantly refuted this new conjecture of Salazar.

[138] Ambrosio de Morales, in a special Spanish dissertation St. Dominic is said by more recent authors to have sprung, which he appended to volume 3 of the General Chronicle of Spain, strives by various arguments to vindicate St. Dominic's kinship with the Guzman stock, where nevertheless at folio 332 he confesses that it had not yet in his time been sufficiently proved, and therefore

that certain persons had doubted of it. Hence more recent authors generally, who treat of the deeds of St. Dominic, adorn this Saint with the same title of nobility, so that Malvenda in the Annals at the year of Christ 1170, chapter 5, writes thus confidently about that kinship: That the Man of God was born of the most splendid family of the Guzmans, all authors and all the ancient monuments attest. But would that Malvenda had produced all those ancient monuments, which we have thus far not been able to find! Certainly among our biographers and other ancient writers we find no vestige of that most noble kinship, as will now appear from their texts to be alleged.

[139] although the ancient biographers are silent about that nobility, Blessed Jordan among us at number 4, treating of the boyhood of St. Dominic, has only this: There was a certain youth named Dominic, sprung in the same diocese, in the village which is called Caleruega, whom from his boyish years the diligence of his parents, and especially of a certain archpriest, his maternal uncle, was rearing. Nearest to him in date is Bartholomew of Trent, who thus begins his synopsis of the Life: Dominic, … born of the village of Calagora in the diocese of Osma, of the province of Spain, of a father Felix and a mother Joanna, was prefigured before his birth. Constantine of Orvieto in Échard, volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 25, thus briefly treats of the birth and parents of the same Saint: The venerable father, therefore, blessed Dominic, whom divine providence disposed to be destined for a world likewise setting in time, drew his origin according to the flesh from the western parts of Spain, namely from a certain village which is called Caleruega, of the diocese of Osma, his father being named Felix, his mother Joanna. Moreover Gerard de Frachet, who collected the Acts of St. Dominic omitted by the other biographers, thus in passing makes mention of his parents and brothers: He had not only honorable and pious parents, but also two full brothers, men very perfect, etc. None of these says a word about that illustrious lineage of the Saint.

[140] among whom Dietrich is violently expounded by Échard, Finally among the ancient biographers Dietrich of Apolda below at number 11 thus indicates the father and mother of our Saint: In the parts of Spain, in the village which is called Caleruega, of the diocese of Osma, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1170, there was a certain man who was called Felix, and he took a wife named Joanna, who according to the state of the world were indeed sufficiently honorable, and before God devoted with Christian piety, etc. Échard, volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 25, from this text of Dietrich elicits a noble lineage for St. Dominic, and in the same place thus notes on those words of the biographer: The word SUFFICIENTLY according to the grammarians signifies ABUNDANTLY; therefore SUFFICIENTLY HONORABLE, that is, greatly excelling, most illustriously honorable, and it indicates nobility of family. I doubt whether this interpretation is to be admitted at once by all, even though I should freely grant that the word "satis" is sometimes used by grammarians for "abundantly": for why would Dietrich not have called St. Dominic's "sufficiently honorable" parents noble, or illustrious by family, as the biographers of noble Saints have been accustomed to do? Moreover we ask Échard to reconcile this explanation of his with the words of the same Dietrich, who in the preceding number, praising the outstanding virtues of St. Dominic, had written thus about him among other things: In this pilgrimage he shone admirably in grace, and by the rising of his natural birth he shone forth HUMBLY out of Spain. What does the adverb "humbly" here mean, if "sufficiently honorable" parents are to be taken for "most illustrious," and that manner of speaking indicates nobility of stock, as Échard contends?

[141] But that exposition of Échard's is at least more tolerable than the interpolation of Brother Thomas de Trujillo, who in the Acts of Apolda tacitly, on his own authority alone, changed St. Dominic's "sufficiently honorable" parents into "most illustrious," and is more shamefully interpolated by Thomas de Trujillo. and in volume 2 of the Treasury of preachers, column [ ], thus begins to narrate the Life of the same Saint in almost the very words of Dietrich: While the great father lord Alexander the third presided in the chair of St. Peter, and Frederick the first was emperor, in the Spanish town of Caleruega of the diocese of Osma, in the year of the Lord 1170, there was a certain man, Felix by name, who joined to himself in marriage a wife Joanna; and these were both, according to the condition of the world, MOST ILLUSTRIOUS, and toward God devoted with Christian piety, etc. I do not know with what fidelity Friar Thomas de Trujillo prefixed to these Acts in the same place the following title: The Life of the most blessed father Dominic, first founder of the Order of Preachers, by the author Brother Dietrich of Apolda, Dominican. Who, on reading this, would not believe that the parents of St. Dominic are called "most illustrious" by Dietrich of Apolda himself, whereas this author calls them only "sufficiently honorable"; nay, above asserts that the same Saint by the rising of his natural birth shone forth "humbly" out of Spain? Here therefore we are compelled to desire greater fidelity in Trujillo. Now let us see whether other historians, or even more recent collectors of the Acts, have expressed that nobility more clearly.

[142] Lucas of Tuy, contemporary with St. Dominic, in volume 4 of Spain Illustrated, page 2, reckons our Saint among the other martyrs and confessors of his fatherland; [The contemporary and nearly contemporary historians are also silent about that nobility,] but he keeps deep silence about his nobility. Bernard Gui in the Little book on the Masters of the Order of Preachers, in Edmond Martène, volume 6, column 397, hands down this about the birthplace and other endowments of his holy Founder: The first and chief lord and Master of the Order of Friars Preachers was blessed Dominic, a Spaniard by nation, of the village which is called Caleruega, of the diocese of Osma, a man full of the knowledge of God, sincere in life, conspicuous in religion; who was first a regular Canon and Subprior, ruled and ruling, in the church of Osma of the province of Toledo, which subpriorship had in that same church the status of a personate. Nicholas Trevet, the Dominican chronographer, in the newest edition of d'Achery's Spicilegium, volume 3, page 180, hands down the following about the birth of the same Saint: In these times there shone in Spain the man of God Dominic, distinguished in sanctity and religion, who, born in the village which is called Caleruega of pious parents, and religiously reared, began to be an ingenious boy, as one who had obtained a good soul. This he probably transcribed from the venerable Humbert, who uses the same phrasing.

[143] Peter de Natalibus in the Catalogue of the Saints, book 7, chapter 22, expresses the fatherland and parents of St. Dominic in these words: who nevertheless treat of the deeds of St. Dominic, Dominic, renowned leader and founder of the Order of Preachers, drew his origin from the parts of Spain, from the village which is called Caleruega of the diocese of Osma, from a father Felix and a mother Joanna. Finally, to omit Vincent of Beauvais, James of Voragine, Mombritius, and similar collectors of the Acts, holy Antoninus in volume 3 of the Chronicle, title 23, chapter 4, writes thus on the same matter: Blessed Dominic, renowned leader and father of the Preachers, who as the end of the world drew near shone forth like a new star, was sprung from the parts of Spain, from the village which is called Caleruega, of the diocese of Osma, Alexander the third presiding at Rome, and Frederick the first reigning as emperor, namely in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1170; whose father was called Felix, his mother Joanna: for these honorable parents, devoted to God, had three sons, who, instructed in letters, ascended to the grade of the priesthood. One of them gave himself to hospitality, serving in a hospital, and, renowned for great virtues, is said after his death to have shone with miracles; the second was called Manes, given to contemplation, and made a Brother of the Order; the third was blessed Dominic. Then in the same place he repeats that our Saint was born of pious parents, and imitates the aforesaid phrasing of the venerable Humbert and others. We certainly marvel that no one of all these writers made express mention of so illustrious a nobility of St. Dominic. Hence also it is plain that Malvenda spoke not a little hyperbolically when in the place cited above he said that all authors and all the ancient monuments attest the birth of the same Saint from the most splendid family of the Guzmans.

[144] as also the Breviaries printed before the middle of the XVIth century, The Roman Breviaries themselves, older than the middle of the sixteenth century, are silent about this most splendid kinship of St. Dominic: for, to pass over older ones, in the Roman Breviary which was printed at Paris in the year 1556, the following Lesson is prescribed: Dominic, a Spaniard by nation, a man renowned for sanctity and doctrine, author of the Order of Preachers, was born at Calagura (in the Cologne edition of the year 1536 it is better read Caleruega), a town of the diocese of Osma, of a father Felix and a mother Joanna; who, being with child, seemed to herself in a dream to carry in her womb a whelp with a torch set in its mouth, with which, going forth from the womb, it should set the whole world on fire. Nay, the Fathers Preachers themselves before the middle of the sixteenth century do not seem to have inserted that illustrious nobility of their holy Founder into the ecclesiastical Office: for in the Breviary of their Order, which was printed at Paris in the year 1549, in the lessons of the first nocturn they sang only the following about his birth: Blessed Dominic, renowned leader and father of the Preachers, who as the end of the world drew near shone forth like a new star, was sprung from the parts of Spain, from the village which is called Caleruega of the diocese of Osma … His father was called Felix, but his mother Joanna, who, before she conceived him, saw in a dream that she carried a whelp bearing a lighted torch in its mouth, which, going forth from the womb, seemed to set the whole world on fire.

[145] into which this was afterward inserted. I am not unaware that that kinship of St. Dominic with the Guzman stock was inserted into the Lessons some years later: since in the Breviary of the Preachers, which was again printed in the same city of Paris six years after, that is in the year of Christ 1555, the fourth Lesson is recited thus: Blessed Dominic, renowned leader and father of the Order of Preachers, born in the parts of Spain of the most noble lineage of the Guzmans, shone forth to the world like a new star. He was foreshown to his carnal mother, while she still carried him in her womb, in the figure of a whelp bearing a lighted torch in its mouth, etc. Hence perhaps that opinion afterward passed into the Roman Breviary, which by order of St. Pius V was published in the Plantin press at Antwerp in the year 1569, and in which we read the following: Dominic, born at Caleruega in Spain of the noble family of the Guzmans, gave his attention at Palencia to the liberal disciplines and to theology: and when in that study he had profited very much, he was first a regular canon of the church of Osma, then the author of the Order of Friars Preachers. His mother, being with child, seemed to herself in sleep to hold in her womb a whelp bearing a torch in its mouth, with which, being brought forth into the light, it should set the world on fire. The same we recite even today in the Roman Breviary.

[146] Let no one here tell me that that authority of the Breviaries suffices, so that there may be no doubt about the illustrious birth of St. Dominic: An illustrious lineage falsely attributed to St. Catherine of Siena for we have a similar example of this matter in holy Catherine of Siena, of whose stock in the ancient Acts and lessons only the following was narrated: Blessed Catherine of Siena [had] a father James, but a mother

named Lapa, approved in virtue and faith in the city of Siena. In the Breviaries of the Preachers which appeared about the middle of the sixteenth century, the same Saint was said to have sprung of an honorable family. Afterward she was believed to have been born of the Benincasa family together with the Borghese family, coming from the same stock, as we read in the Roman Breviary until the year 1641. But in that year this splendid kinship of the Saint was examined and legitimately struck out of the Roman Breviary, after the most noble family of the Borghese themselves had opposed itself to this lesson, as may be seen more fully among us in volume III of April, page 978.

[147] Whence Échard, volume 2 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 833, lays down these things as certain concerning the birth of the same holy Virgin: crept into the more recent Breviaries, as Échard confesses, Namely, he says, holy Catherine had a father called James de Benincasa, a citizen certainly of Siena, a simple man and without guile, fearing God and departing from evil; who, bereft of his parents, had married Lapa, of the same city with him, and not unlike him in station. Both, that is, were of plebeian family, yet sprung of a not unpraiseworthy stock of common people, and such as abounded sufficiently in temporal goods for their station, as Raymond notes in the Life of the Saint, chapter one; and James carried on a dyer's trade at Siena, occupied in dyeing cloths and wools; whence he went by the name of dyer. Which we here note, lest anyone beyond measure and truth should exalt Catherine, content with her lot, with empty and fictitious titles of lineage, or depress her with excessive obscurity of family: for he is as injurious to the Saints who fabricates for them a false renown of family, as he who strives to obscure or snatch away their native one; the former is the mark of a vain and idle man, the latter of an envious one; both of which are to be shunned and are shameful. Then to this more recent opinion, on account of which the pretended nobility of St. Catherine had afterward been inserted into certain Breviaries, he opposes the silence of the ancients, and in the same place thus concludes: Wherefore it is a wonder enough by what rashness or levity of the presses or of others there was altered and fabricated in the lessons of the Roman and of the Preachers' Breviary that matter of Benincasa and Borghese nobility and affinity, which by a decree of Urban VIII, given at Rome on the day XXVIII of September 1641, the promoter of the holy faith intervening, in the congregation of sacred rites, Cardinal Gaetano reporting, is deservedly ordered to be deleted, and there are to be scraped from the new edition of the Breviary these words rashly introduced into the lessons: Of the Benincasa family together with the Borghese, coming from the same stock. Which of course in the preceding editions of the Breviary down to the year 1630, or thereabouts, were not found.

[148] The praised Échard, on the following page of the volume just cited, asserts [who judges the same about the stock of St. Francis Borgia, which will be examined in its own time.] that in examining the Acts of the Saints nobility of family is discussed only accidentally and secondarily, and is approved in passing, when a process of Canonization is instituted, or an Office to be recited on the festival of some Saint is admitted. That writer in the same place strives to prove this assertion of his by the example of our St. Francis, who is commonly surnamed Borgia, and whose progenitors he asserts to be sprung, not from those ancient men of primeval nobility in the kingdom of Aragon called "de Borja," but from a certain Dominic Borgia, a mean man indeed, having a slender estate near Játiva in Aragon, who usurped for himself the Borgian name. Then finally, as though he had already persuaded all of this opinion of his, he thus confidently concludes: So true is it that in these matters of the apotheosis of Saints, or of the approbation of lessons and Offices, where nothing openly cries out against report, and the common sense of peoples does not shrink from it, and it does not much concern the sanctity and commendation of the man, these things are treated only lightly, and little attention is paid to the smoky images of ancestors, or to their overgrown parchments. This opinion of Échard we shall examine in its own time in our Acts at the day X of October, on which the annual festival of St. Francis Borgia is celebrated.

[149] We lay down nothing certain about the noble lineage of St. Dominic, We meanwhile do not dare to pronounce so boldly about the noble or ignoble stock of St. Dominic: for since, on Échard's testimony, it is the mark of an idle and vain man to fabricate a false nobility for the Saints, and of an envious one to take away a true one from them, desiring to avoid both these faults, we lay down nothing certain about St. Dominic's family. Nay, we gladly confess that our argument is for the greatest part negative, which nevertheless often has its own force, as several learned men have demonstrated. Yet this kind of argument plainly collapses when from elsewhere, from genuine and ancient monuments, some matter can be proved. Therefore we have moved every stone that the Reverend Fathers Preachers might communicate to us authentic testimonies of this nobility: for already three years ago and more, in a public letter which was inserted in French in the Mémoires de Trévoux in the year 1729, we sought an exact genealogy of St. Dominic.

[150] for which we have thus far waited in vain for solid proofs, In Échard, volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 25, in the notes, I had read the following about St. Dominic's father: That Felix was sprung from the illustrious Guzman family is said to have been accurately proved by our Andrés Ferrer de Valdecebro in his History of the Order, written most elegantly in the Spanish idiom; but which, prevented by death, he did not publish in print. Then Échard, volume 2 of the same work, page 658, again making mention of that author's Spanish history, which is still preserved in Manuscript, desires its publication in these words: This writer is certainly to be reckoned among those who wrote in a purer and more elegant Spanish tongue; and would that the Annals of the Order, which he had written after Fernando del Castillo (for they say that those written by John Lopez did not please him, at least by reason of style), were published in print, especially what are said to have been written by him about the genealogy of holy Dominic from the ancient Guzman stock. When I had read these things a year or two ago, the same desire came upon me. But since the hope of seeing this edition was slight and remote, besides other studies applied to that end, I at once assigned these very texts of Échard to the Reverend Father Prior of the Preachers' convent at Antwerp, that by the order of the most reverend Master General of the whole Order I might obtain from these posthumous and unpublished works certain arguments for the nobility of St. Dominic; but although the praised Reverend Father Prior then noted down in my presence in his tablets the pages of the assigned texts, and so gave no small hope of obtaining my request, yet after a delay of two years I have thus far received nothing.

[151] and which nevertheless more recent writers confidently assert, I knew indeed that by Ambrosio de Morales in his Spanish Dissertation, and by Fernando del Castillo in the Spanish History of the Preachers, certain diplomas are cited for asserting the Guzman stock of St. Dominic; but these either do not establish the point which those authors intend, or are suspect to us, because they express neither the era nor the year; which nevertheless is customary in genuine instruments of this kind. Thus Castillo in part 1 of the praised History, book 2, chapter 78, page 436, recites a Spanish diploma by which Diego García, out of devotion toward St. Dominic, and on account of the birthplace which he had in common with the same Saint, grants to the nuns of Caleruega all that he possessed at Caleruega. And he expresses this motive of the donation among other things thus in Spanish: [a phrase meaning "by reason of birth and out of the special devotion which I have toward holy Dominic of Caleruega, father and founder of the Order of the Friars Preachers"]. Ambrosio de Morales and some others understand by the Spanish word "naturaleza" the kinship which that Diego García, according to their opinion, had with St. Dominic. But that word is equivocal, and is taken equally for a person's native soil as for kinship, as those skilled in the Spanish tongue know, and Ambrosio de Morales confesses. So too the word "natureza" among the Portuguese signifies fatherland or birthplace, as Augustinho Barbosa in the Portuguese-Latin Dictionary, column 763, attests. That Diego García could therefore have been moved to make that donation because he followed St. Dominic with singular veneration and had a fatherland in common with the same Saint.

[152] Hence also Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers at the year 1170, chapter 5, too lightly and perfunctorily strives to persuade us of this illustrious lineage of St. Dominic in these words: all antiquity meanwhile being silent. Records of ancient memory are said to exist, in which the subscription of holy Dominic is read expressed in this manner: Brother Dominic de Guzman. But these and similar subscriptions ought to have been exhibited as extracted from authentic archives, marked with chronological notes, and strengthened by trustworthy testimonies. Add that in a diploma of the year 1203 we find another Dominic de Guzman, Prior of the monastery of Vite, as will be said afterward on another occasion. But if anyone shall prove the Guzman nobility of St. Dominic by ancient and genuine instruments, thereupon we lay aside all doubt about it, and shall thenceforth only marvel at the strange taciturnity of all the ancient biographers. And the more numerous and more certain those testimonies shall be, the more welcome they will be to us; yet they would have pleased us most if they had been supplied seasonably, since, furnished with them, we could have asserted the illustrious birth of St. Dominic fearlessly even in this commentary.

* read "Caleruega, of Osma"

§ X. The Saint's pious boyhood, his studies of letters, and his outstanding exercises of virtue at that time.

The Saint's boyhood was renowned for certain miracles, The Saint's very infancy was not without miracles: for the venerable Humbert in our codex P. Ms. 10, chapter 4 of the Life, narrates these things: Wishing also to show that something great should come forth from the boy, God, foreknowing things to come, revealed to a certain matron, who namely had lifted him from the font of baptism, a vision of this kind in a dream. For there seemed to that spiritual mother of his that the boy Dominic had as it were a star on his forehead, which lit up the whole earth with its light: by which it was given to be understood that he was one day to be given as a light of the nations, to enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. And this matron was noble, who, astonished at the greatness of the vision, announced with immense joy to his mother what she had seen. Constantine of Orvieto in Échard, volume 1, page 25, Vincent of Beauvais in the Mirror of History, book 29, chapter 94, James of Voragine, and St. Antoninus have similar things. But from all these Blessed Jordan differs, who attributes this vision to the Saint's own mother, as may be seen below in the Acts to be published, number 6.

[154] as Dietrich of Apolda, No less wonderful is what Dietrich of Apolda below among us at number 14 thus narrates about the same holy Boy: But while he was lying in his cradle, at a certain time a swarm of bees was flying about his mouth; which prefigured that his tongue would flow with the honey of divine wisdom. I confess that this is read only in our Utrecht codex, and is omitted in the Frankfurt one; but the same in the codex

Surius had read in his own, who in the Life of St. Dominic at the day IV of August thus reports it with the style changed: And when he once lay in his cradle, a swarm of bees flying about his mouth indicated that his tongue would flow with the honey of divine wisdom. But even though that prodigy is lacking in our Frankfurt codex, and is not recorded by the other ancient writers of the Acts, yet that silence is abundantly compensated by the old testimony of Bartholomew of Trent, who in the compendium of the Life, which after this Preliminary Commentary we shall publish in the second place, at number 1 openly affirms that a swarm of bees flew about the Infant's mouth when he was placed in the cradle.

[155] and the older biographers testify, Vincent of Beauvais, book 29 of the Mirror, chapter 94, observes a singular prelude in the holy Boy to the austerity that was to follow and the penance afterward to be practiced, in these words: Being born therefore of pious parents living religiously, in that boyish age of his an old man's heart was already in him, and a venerable hoariness of judgment lay hidden beneath a tender face: for when he was still a little boy, not yet separated from his nurse's care, he was often caught leaving his bed, as though he already abhorred the delights of the flesh, and rather chose to lie down upon the ground. Similar things hand down Constantine of Orvieto, the venerable Humbert, James of Voragine, and Dietrich of Apolda, of whom the last will below in the fuller Acts, numbers 14 and 15, enumerate one by one other virtues of the holy Boy.

[156] to which more recent writers add another, On no such firm foundation rests the presage of the same Boy's future sanctity, which Hyacinth Choquet in his work entitled The maternal bowels of Mary Mother of God toward the Order of Preachers, chapter 4, page 38, thus relates: When his mother Joanna, shortly after the usual time of childbirth, had carried him for religion's sake to the sacred church of blessed Dominic of Silos, most holy of the Benedictine Order (from whom also our Dominic has his name), the priest, about to begin a votive sacrifice of the Mass for him, God moving his tongue, contrary to the prescription of the Missal, contrary to his own mind and his intended manner of reading, repeated this thrice: Behold the reformer of the Church. The same story the Reverend Father Friar Ignatius Coutiño, with a few changes, inserted into his Spiritual Storehouse on the Saints, tract 22, consideration 1, among us page 310, and set it before his hearers in a Spanish sermon. But he alleges no witnesses of that prediction.

[157] whose credit we leave with themselves. Nicholas Janssenius in the Commentary on the Life of St. Dominic, pages 243 and 244, cites as witness of this matter our Balthasar Arias, who said it in a certain sermon about the same Saint, and at the same time reports the story of this prophecy thus: Certain persons (among whom Balthasar Arias) assert that in the archives of the monastery of Silos there exists the following testimony about Dominic's future sanctity: namely that when, quite a boy, he was being led by his mother into the church to be present at the divine service, the priest, who had something else to say, pronounced about him once, twice, and a third time: Behold the reformer of the Church. And the prelate of the place affirmed that this was a most certain indication of his future greatness. John of St. Mary in the French Acts already cited several times, book 1, chapter 8, depicts this story so graphically as if he had seen it with his own eyes. Moreover in the same place, besides our Balthasar Arias and the already praised Nicholas Janssenius, he alleges two more recent narrators of the same presage, with all of whom we leave the credit of this matter, since the ancient biographers were silent about it, and we do not know the date of that testimony from Silos.

[158] When the Saint had passed his infancy innocently in his father's house, When the Saint had passed his boyhood piously, in the seventh year of his age he was sent to his maternal uncle the archpriest, that he might be imbued with the elements of letters and profit in piety, as Malvenda in the Annals at the year of Christ 1176, chapter 1, hands down in this manner: Joanna had a full brother, an archpriest in the church of Gumiel de Izán (Fernando del Castillo, book 1, chapter 4, writes in Spanish "en Gumiel de Ycan," of which place we made mention above on another occasion), not far from Caleruega, a man conspicuous for most honorable manners, prudence, gravity, and religion; to him the religious matron handed over her little son Dominic to be guarded and to be taught good letters and holy discipline. But how much Dominic advanced in letters and virtue under the care of his priestly uncle, Dietrich in book 1 of his Life, chapter 1, thus narrates. Here Malvenda recites from Surius the interpolated words of Dietrich, which can be read below among us in the genuine style of this author. And this pious education of St. Dominic with his uncle Blessed Jordan at number 4, and Bartholomew of Trent at number 1, will below confirm by their testimony.

[159] The Saint, after seven years passed with his uncle, he was sent to the academy of Palencia, in the fifteenth year of his age, and according to the chronology of Échard and Malvenda in the year of Christ 1184, betook himself for the sake of studies to Palencia, as among other ancient biographers Constantine of Orvieto in the Life of St. Dominic, number 4, in Échard, volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 26, testifies in these few words: His boyish years therefore having innocently run their course, he was at length sent to Palencia, where at that time a general school flourished; and after he had, diligently sweating over them, been sufficiently taught the liberal arts, lest he should spend upon them longer the time due to more salutary disciplines, he transferred himself to theology, over whose studies watching ardently for four years, he drank eagerly from its treasures what he afterward poured out abundantly. Saint Antoninus, Part 3 of the Chronicles, title 23, chapter 4, and some others wrote Valencia, another academy of Spain, for Palencia, unless perhaps it be an error of the copyists, which by an easy change of the initial letter alone could creep into their writings. Malvenda in the Annals at the year of Christ 1184, chapter 2, also corrects this error, and rightly observes in the same place that Valencia, an ample city of Tarraconensian Spain, was then groaning under the yoke of the Moors, and that other cities of the same name in Spain were not so renowned as to be ennobled with public academies. But even though this Palentine wrestling-school of studies appears at first sight plain and certain, yet it suffers a not slight difficulty, which we shall now propose and then attempt to dissolve.

[160] concerning which wrestling-school of studies Rodrigo, archbishop of Toledo, book 7 On the affairs of Spain, chapter 34, or volume 2 of Spain Illustrated, page 128, praising the illustrious deeds of king Alfonso, thus reckons among them the restoration of the academy of Palencia: But lest he should be defrauded of any virtue among the bundles of charisms which flowed into him from the Holy Spirit, he summoned wise men from Gaul and Italy, that the discipline of wisdom might never be absent from his kingdom, and gathered masters of all faculties at Palencia, on whom he also bestowed great stipends, so that into the mouth of everyone desiring study the wisdom of any faculty whatsoever might flow like manna: and although this school was interrupted, yet by God's grace it still endures. Our Mariana, book XI, chapter 22, and other writers of Spanish affairs generally lay down that this was done about the year of Christ 1209. But if king Alfonso erected the academy of Palencia about the year 1209, you will say, how was it that before the year of Christ 1184, in which St. Dominic went to it for the sake of studies, a general school flourished there at that time, as Constantine and other ancient writers of the Acts affirm?

[161] an occurring difficulty is explained, For cutting this knot Lucas of Tuy, a Spanish writer of the same century, supplies a wedge, when in the Chronicle of the world, or volume 4 of Spain Illustrated, page 109, he thus makes mention of the same academy: At that time king Alfonso called masters of theology and of the other liberal arts, and established schools at Palencia, at the procurement of the most reverend and most noble man Tello, bishop of that same city. Because, as antiquity relates, scholastic wisdom always flourished there. From these last words of Lucas we gather that masters of all faculties were then gathered at Palencia by king Alfonso, and allured thither from all sides with great stipends, that that academy might be rendered more celebrated, since even before scholastic wisdom had always flourished there, as, according to Lucas of Tuy, antiquity attests. Wherefore with Malvenda in the Annals at the year of Christ 1184, chapter 1, we answer that, before general academies of all the sciences were founded at Palencia by king Alfonso with those rights and privileges which those enjoy which they call universities, there had already flourished in that same city, by Pontifical and royal authority, studies of the liberal arts and of theology, with a great concourse of those flowing thither, yet as it were by private right and without the privileges of a university: which matter perhaps impelled Alfonso, on account of the frequency and nobility of the studies, to think that those schools should be augmented with the dignity of a general university.

[162] and there in a time of famine he sells his furniture to feed the poor, Among the illustrious virtues which the Saint practiced in the academy of Palencia, and which will occur below in his Acts, there must be examined a notable example of charity, which after Blessed Jordan Constantine at number 6 thus narrates: About that same time, when the disaster of famine invaded all Spain, the man of God Dominic, still established at Palencia, moved with wondrous compassion for certain perishing needy persons, when he could not relieve them otherwise, having sold his books with all the furniture which he had, dispersed and gave to the poor — prudently indeed, providing at once both by a work of mercy for the needs of the destitute, and complying with the evangelical counsels: in which matter he stirred not a few of the scholars and masters to works of mercy. Malvenda in the Annals at the year of Christ 1184, chapter 5, thinks that the Saint performed that noble work of mercy in the year 1191, in which almost the whole world was afflicted with a most grievous famine, and alleges Thomas of Cantimpré, book 2 On Bees, chapter 3, §8, for his opinion. On the contrary Échard, volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 3, in the notes, judges it more probable that a certain particular famine in Spain in the following years, before the year 1198, gave occasion for this outstanding charity of St. Dominic. But in whatever year it finally happened, which matters little, it is disputed among the Dominican writers themselves whether that excellent action of the Saint is to be doubled.

[163] Flaminius in the Acts of St. Dominic, folio 3, thus doubles that deed: which act of charity Flaminius With wondrous charity, therefore, and compassion he attended the needy, which then especially showed and spread itself abroad, when famine had invaded not only the city of Palencia, in which he was still staying for the sake of studies, but also all Spain, and there seemed to be no one at Palencia who would pity the hungry destitute and take up their care. Widows and orphans cried out, and another numerous multitude of the famished; but those who could help passed them by with deaf ear; nor were there any who would hear the laments and groans of those begging for bread. The holy and merciful Youth could not bear it longer, and judged that the suffering must be relieved

by whatever means he could; and where other means were lacking, he sold his books and all his furniture which he had in that city, and paid out the price to the destitute: by whose example moved, very many began to vie in bringing help to the hungry, and thus indeed the dire famine began to be more tolerable and milder. Then he thus reports a similar example of charity, yet in his judgment distinct, on the verso of the same folio: We read that the divine Dominic, after he was enrolled in the number of the Regular Canons and promoted to the archdeaconate, returned to Palencia and again sold his books, and distributed the price to the destitute, saying that he would no longer spend his time upon the skins of dead animals while living men were being consumed by hunger: by whose example (as also before) certain others were moved and did the same.

[164] To this distinction a probable ground was given by Brother Stephen, and Malvenda judge should be doubled, a Spaniard by nation according to the notes of Bernard Gui, whose testimony in the juridical Report of Bologna among us at number 45 is thus produced: Brother Stephen, Prior provincial of the Order of Preachers of the province of Lombardy, on oath said that it is fifteen years and more since he knew master Dominic, the founder and planter of the Order of Friars Preachers and its first Master; but before he had knowledge of his person by sight, he heard many good things about him from great and trustworthy men, namely that when he was Prior or Subprior of the church of Osma, of which he was a Canon, he was studying the Divine page at Palencia, and at that time a most grievous famine began to grow strong in that region, so that many poor were dying there of hunger. Whence Brother Dominic, moved with compassion and mercy, sold his books, glossed by his own hand, and their price, and other things which he had, he gave to the poor, saying: I will not study upon dead skins while men die of hunger: by whose example certain men of great authority did the like, and from then began to preach with him. Malvenda in the Annals at the year of Christ 1200 concludes from this testimony of Stephen that holy Dominic twice sold and distributed his books and furniture at Palencia among the poor: once, before he was a Regular Canon, while giving his labor to letters in that city, and again when already made a Canon, when he was preaching the Gospel there, which perhaps the witnesses of the Canonization call giving his time to sacred letters; unless we should hold that holy Dominic, while preaching at Palencia, also attended the sacred studies.

[165] while Souèges and Échard lay down the contrary, Souèges in the Acts of the Saint already praised, page 156 and following, thinks that this was one and the same action of St. Dominic, with whose opinion Échard agrees, when in volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 52, in the notes on the aforesaid testimony of Stephen, he thus discourses: As to what he adds in the same place, that before he had knowledge of him by sight he had already heard many things about him from great men, there is no doubt that he heard these in Spain, and before he betook himself to Rome. What follows gave Malvenda occasion for doubling that celebrated sale of his books made by blessed Dominic at Palencia for the benefit of the poor, so that the first time he did it while still a secular and a student, the second time when already a Canon and Subprior of Osma. But since all the others — Jordan, Constantine, Dietrich — who had read this testimony of Stephen, narrate that blessed Dominic did this only once, I judge it more certain that we should assent to these, the more so because the Saint, from the time he was enlisted as a Regular Canon, had nothing of his own. See also above the fifth testimony of John the Spaniard, number 5. This John the Spaniard below among us at number 34 mentions only one sale of books, and asserts on trustworthy witnesses that it was made in the time of famine, when Brother Dominic himself was in the world and was studying at Palencia.

[166] that this was one and the same action. From these things Échard in the same place thus concludes: And so in this testimony of Stephen it must be acknowledged that a "later-for-earlier" has crept in; so that what was the occasion (namely that wonderful outpouring of charity toward the poor, then praised by all) for Diego, bishop of Osma, to enlist Dominic into his college, he thought that Dominic did as already Prior or Subprior of Osma. Nor indeed is it a wonder that Stephen slipped in this, who reports only things heard by him when he was still a secular and a young man, and narrates indeed the deed itself, which was the chief thing; but as regards the reckoning of time, which is of less weight, was not so certainly informed. The reader has in this place the foundations of both opinions, so that he may himself pass judgment on this controversy. We think it more probable that we should adhere to Souèges and Échard, although the contrary opinion of Malvenda, on account of the reported testimony of Stephen, is not altogether destitute of all probability.

[167] Then also the Saint, among other examples of virtue, But what Stephen there adds, that certain men of great authority, moved by St. Dominic's example, did the like, and from then began to preach with him, proves that the Saint, while staying at Palencia, sometimes gave his labor to preaching. What if the Saint at the time of that famine held sermons, that he might move others to relieve the destitution of the poor, and then grave men began to imitate this pious zeal for preaching? If you ask Échard what besides St. Dominic did particularly at Palencia, he answers in volume 1 of the work just cited, page 4, in the notes, in this manner: The writers do not set it forth particularly; whence they leave it to be guessed that he did what was customary in an academy, especially at that time. About six years he had given to the arts, that is to the humanities and philosophy; four to theology, from the XXth to the XXIVth year of his age: thereafter, according to custom (for that was the manner of ascending to the scholastic degrees), he himself expounded sacred doctrine, chiefly the books of the old and new Testament, which was then most in use; and Stephen indicates it, the seventh witness in the Process of canonization, to be reported afterward, when he says that in the famine reported above HE SOLD HIS BOOKS, GLOSSED BY HIS OWN HAND. He also held sermons from time to time (for these were reckoned among the academic acts), and that Dominic performed all these offices the authors sufficiently hint, since they exhibit him staying so long at Palencia.

[168] The praised Souèges in the aforesaid French Acts of St. Dominic, page 157, attaches to this time another action of the highest charity, wished to sell himself, that he might free a captive, by which the Saint wished to sell himself for the redemption of a certain captive, and which the venerable Humbert in our Utrecht Manuscript, after another example of almost the same kind, thus sets forth: He is known to have done something similar earlier, when he was still staying in his own country (that is in Spain, which can broadly be taken for his fatherland): for a certain woman complained to him that her brother was held captive among the Saracens. And he, as he was full of the spirit of piety, wounded with an inmost feeling of compassion, offered himself to be sold for the redemption of the captive. But the Lord did not permit this, who was keeping him for himself for richer fruits of justice and for the conversion of very many souls: for in this is the Father glorified, that the disciples should bring forth not only fruit but very much fruit; and he wills that his servants should bring back the money delivered to them with much interest of usury, and therefore he sometimes recalls from lesser goods those whom he has endowed with heavenly goods to greater ones. Note that Humbert subjoined these things to another action of like charity, by which the Saint on another occasion proposed to sell himself, that he might recall a certain man from heresy, and which Constantine of Orvieto at numbers 13 and 14, Vincent of Beauvais in book 29 of the Mirror, chapter 104, Dietrich of Apolda among us at numbers 40 and 198, and others with James of Voragine distinguished from the other.

[169] Nevertheless Souèges in the place just cited contends that only a first and single act of this outstanding charity is to be admitted in the holy Youth, as Souèges thinks, against whose opinion we judge, because the Saint, afterward aggregated to the Regular Canons, did not have this power of selling himself. But this difficulty, which could be solved in various ways, must yield to the authority of the ancient biographers, among whom Constantine in Échard, volume 1, page 27, thus narrates the one: But he was borne with such an ardor of charity toward converting the souls of his neighbors, that once, having exhorted a certain man seduced by heretical malignity, when he had learned that he had attached himself to the fellowships of the heretics with a view to temporal support on account of the excessive want which he was suffering, following Paul who says to the Corinthians, Most gladly will I spend and be spent myself for your souls, he resolved to sell himself, so that from the price received for himself he might both cut off the occasion of his want and free him who had been sold under error. Which he would have done, had not divine dispensation, rich in all things, provided from elsewhere wherewith his poverty might be repaired.

[170] To this narration he in the same place immediately subjoins another thus: that a like act of charity was afterward repeated by him, At another time also he is reported to have done something similar long before, while he was in his own country: for when a certain woman set forth with lamentable complaint to him that her brother was detained in the captivity of the Saracens, and confessed that no counsel remained to her for his liberation, the man of God Dominic, moved with that inmost compassion with which he was filled, offered himself to be sold for the redemption of the captive. But God, who had foreseen him for the more necessary redemption of many, namely of spiritual captives, did not permit it. To these add the testimony of Bartholomew of Trent, who below among us at number 5, treating of St. Dominic's burning zeal toward his neighbor, thus testifies: He so burned with charity that he was MORE THAN ONCE ready to sell himself for the need of Christians. From this common assertion of the ancient writers, and from the different circumstances of both histories, against Souèges's opinion we infer that this illustrious act of charity is to be attributed twice to St. Dominic.

[171] and on this occasion we reject an inept fable, But just as here we would have nothing withdrawn from the true praises of St. Dominic, so also we should wish that elsewhere nothing be fabricated for his miracles and virtues of those things which certain more recent biographers imprudently mingled with the Acts of this Saint. Among these, John of St. Mary, in book 1 of the French Life, chapter XI, narrates that the Saint, while still staying at Palencia, labored under a grave illness, and that to him then sick St. James the Greater appeared, by which apparition he immediately recovered from the illness. Then in the following chapter, besides other fictions, he reports that St. Dominic at Palencia brought back to better fruit his fellow-student Conrad, afterward Cardinal of Porto, of whom treatment will be made below in the Acts. But that credulous writer drew these deeds, unknown to all the ancient biographers, from part 2, chapter 10, and part 4, chapter 40, of Alan Revived, whom we do not believe even on oath.

[172] which some moderns fabricate for the same Saint. Although this must be pardoned to a man too credulous, we do not so easily forgive Adrien Baillet, who scarcely gives credit to St. Dominic's contemporary biographers, as we said at the beginning of this Commentary, and meanwhile in the French Life of the same Saint, at number 3, adopts these fables of the moderns. Whence

Échard rightly and deservedly corrects that untimely hypercritic, who often doubts of the certain deeds and miracles of the Saints on account of slight conjectures, in volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 29, in the notes, thus: It must be noted in passing that Baillet in the Life of holy Dominic goes astray, when he will have this Conrad (of whose illustrious stock in Germany, and of his various grades of dignity and offices administered, he had briefly treated above) to have been the fellow-student of the same Saint in the school of Palencia, and to have been converted by him from a too licentious life to sober living; whereas he, most holily educated under his parents' care, and always thereafter like himself, certainly had not seen Spain by the year 1221: but in this author there are several other errors. Nevertheless a recent writer in the French History of the religious and military Orders, volume 3, pages 199 and 200, incautiously followed this dangerous guide, and fell with him into the same pit.

§ XI. The Saint's pious life among the Regular Canons, and an examination of certain things which are recorded to have been done by him at this time.

Blessed Jordan in the Life of St. Dominic among us at number 3 hands down that Diego, bishop of Osma, by words and examples exhorted the Canons of his church that under the rule of blessed Augustine they should agree to the observance of canonical religion. The Saint becomes a Regular Canon in the church of Osma before the year 1200 And that Prelate, according to the testimony of the same Jordan, did this very thing with such solicitude that he inclined their minds (although he had certain of them as opponents) to his desire. About what time this was done we gather approximately from the letter of Pope Innocent III, which in the second year of his Pontificate, that is of Christ 1199, he gave to Diego of Osma, and by which he approves the change of secular Canons into Regular ones made by him, as may be seen in Malvenda's Annals at the year of Christ 1194, chapter 1, and in the other editors of that letter. From these things Échard, volume 1, page 2, infers that Gil González Dávila erred, when in the Ecclesiastical Theater of Spain, among the prelates of Osma, chapter 5, he asserts that Diego's predecessor was raised to that chair in the year of Christ 1186, and that the same, after a governance of sixteen years, departed this life in the year 1202. Échard in the same place, page 4, answers those who ask in what year St. Dominic embraced the institute of the Regular Canons, on the same foundation, that this probably happened in the year of Christ 1199, when Diego had persuaded the Canons of his church to the regular life.

[174] But this chronology will not easily be reconciled with the historical dissertation which chronology cannot be composed with the opinion of a recent writer, which the Reverend Don José Esteban de Noriega, abbot of the Premonstratensian Order, published in Latin at Salamanca in the year 1723, and in which he strives to prove that St. Dominic from tender age until the year of Christ 1203 served under the rule of St. Norbert, and professed it in the monastery of St. Mary of Vite, before he embraced the institute of the Regular Canons in the church of Osma. This aim of the praised Dissertation the Reverend Father Pedro Manso of the Order of the hermits of St. Augustine sets forth in a prefatory approbation, and approves in these words: The most wise and most pious Dissertator contends that the most illustrious founder and parent of the sacred Order of Preachers, holy Dominic de Guzman, was not only a Regular Canon in the church of Osma, as the consensus of all writers holds; but that, educated from boyhood in the Premonstratensian church of Vite, he lived most holily under the habit and profession of the holy father Norbert until the thirtieth year of his age and beyond: made worthy there to give light to a blind man by mere touch, and, with others of the same institute, to be most opportunely taken up for the great work of the reformation of the church of Osma. This the most wise writer shows by monuments so strong, and likewise by reasons from the chronology of the times, and by prudent conjectures, that nothing of any weight seems to stand in the way to the contrary.

[175] But to this opinion, besides other things which we shall afterward observe in passing in the Annotations to the Acts of the Saint, who contends that St. Dominic in the era 1241, or the year of Christ 1203, there seems also to stand in the way the reckoning of the times, or the chronology, which is here praised by the censor: for the Reverend Don José Esteban de Noriega, to establish his opinion, besides other instruments in §2, page 14, produces a Latin diploma, which was given in the Era 1241, that is in the year of Christ 1203, as the Dissertator himself computes on the following page, and to which, after the abbot of the monastery of Vite, there immediately subscribes Don Dominic de Guzman, Prior of that same church. Then also to the same diploma there subscribes his name Don Peter de Guzman, canon of that same church. But if that Dominic is the same as the holy Founder of the Preachers, who in the year of Christ 1199 professed the institute of the Regular Canons in the church of Osma, how could he in the era 1241, or the year of Christ 1203, confirm the aforesaid diploma as Prior of the monastery of Vite by subscribing his name? Moreover in the following paragraph we prove from the venerable Humbert and Bernard Gui that St. Dominic in the year of Christ 1203 departed from Spain into Gaul with Diego, bishop of Osma, after he had already discharged the office of Subprior in the church of Osma among the Regular Canons, and most probably had made his profession a year or two before. How therefore could the same St. Dominic in the same year of Christ 1203 be staying in the monastery of Vite of the Premonstratensian Order, and discharge the office of Prior?

[176] [held the office of Prior in the monastery of Vite of the Premonstratensian Order.] Wherefore we suspect that this Dominic, Prior of Vite, is different from the other Dominic, Subprior of Osma. Perhaps on account of the identity of name these two have been welded into one. Nevertheless this similarity of names does not suffice for confounding two men: for the name of Dominic at that time was common enough in Spain on account of the two Saints of the same name who were celebrated in that same region, as we noted above. Certainly the abbot of the monastery of Vite, under whom St. Dominic is said to have laid the first foundations of the religious life, was also called Dominic, as the Reverend Don José Esteban de Noriega in his Dissertation, §1, pages 4 and 5, shows. From this confusion of two persons also perhaps the surname "de Guzman" was added to our St. Dominic by more recent authors, of which the ancient biographers nowhere made mention.

[177] Malvenda hands down that St. Dominic in the year of Christ 1194 was admitted Whatever be the case with this last suspicion or conjecture, which we submit to the prudent judgment of the reader, certainly the Premonstratensian chronological system can much less be composed with Malvenda, who in the Annals of the Order of Preachers refers this Regular profession of St. Dominic in the church of Osma to the year of Christ 1194, and there at chapter 1 thus describes in detail the changed form of the Canons of Osma: Therefore Diego, the religious Order of Canons having been brought into his church, gave also new names to the new institute for those who entered; the words for ecclesiastical dignities, used by ancient custom, he changed into new ones. The archpriest he called Prior; the archdeacon, Subprior, appellations proper to Religious. And to sustain and propagate the plan of the new institute the excellent prelate joined to himself with great zeal, and co-opted into the new society, those whom he knew to be of a fervent spirit in divine things and to bear great minds toward virtue.

[178] among the Regular Canons of the church of Osma, Then he sets forth in the same place the desired and most useful reception of St. Dominic among the Regular Canons of the church of Osma in these words: At that time the fame of the virtues, letters, and sanctity of the youth Dominic was flying about on men's lips. Diego, judging him most fit for his designs, and because he was of his jurisdiction (for Caleruega, where he was born, was reckoned in the diocese of Osma, and was a town near the city), took care to have him summoned to himself at Osma from Palencia, where he was then staying. It was not difficult to persuade a Youth aspiring to every virtue to embrace that way. Nay, he, thinking the occasion divinely offered to him, gladly seized it. Coming to Osma he is received with incredible joy by bishop Diego and the Canons, and presently, the habit of holy Religion having been received from the bishop's hands, he is enrolled in the sacred society. That habit was, as now, over a white woolen tunic a linen ephod or shoulder-garment put on, with rather loose sleeves, which was covered by a black cloak.

[179] I am not unaware that there is dispute among the learned about the exact garments of the Regular Canons, about whose clothing Échard discourses. and that Échard, on the occasion of the picture in which Hélyot, in volume 3 of the Religious and Military Orders, had represented the ancient habit of the Preachers, or of St. Dominic while still a Regular Canon, between pages 198 and 199, wrote against him, without naming him, in volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 71, the following: Hence at least is clearly refuted the recent editor of a History of the regular Orders written in French, with images engraved in copper exhibiting their various garments. How far he has strayed from the truth in other matters I leave to be discussed by those whom the matter touches; I touch only on our own. To this new author, therefore, when treating of the Order of Preachers, it pleased to strike a first image, in which a man is exhibited clothed in a black tunic reaching down to the ankles, and over it a rochet with sleeves rather tight at the wrist, and short, scarcely descending to the knees, such as bishops and abbots now wear, the head otherwise entirely bare and free; and this he will have to have been the manner of dressing of holy Dominic and his companions down to the year 1219. But that it is a pure and sheer invention of an erring man, resting on no ancient document, supported by no ancient image, is proved by the testimonies adduced, which assert that holy Dominic, from the time he was enlisted into the Chapter of Osma, was clothed with a white ankle-length tunic, and at least with a black cope over it with a hood of the same color. That the rochet was never worn by the Saint will be plain from what follows, where it will be shown that this kind of garment was unknown throughout the whole XIIIth century. Whatever be the case about the ancient clothing of the Preachers, of which we shall have to treat briefly below, and which makes nothing or little for the glory of St. Dominic, let us rather pass to the pious manner of life of the same Saint among the Regular Canons.

[180] Constantine of Orvieto in Échard at number 7 describes his admission among the Regular Canons [Since according to the ancient biographers the Saint then gave himself to himself,] and the eminent piety of that time in this manner: Meanwhile, while the Man of God, such ascents being disposed in his heart, was advancing from virtue to virtue, the fragrant odor of his manner of life came, celebrated report carrying it, to the knowledge of Diego of good memory, bishop of Osma. Having therefore summoned him, he made him a Regular Canon in his church, reckoning himself indeed blessed in this very thing, in that he had provided both for himself so great a son, and for his church so renowned a minister. And not long after, he himself, being made to all a mirror of life and an example of religion, is appointed Subprior by the Canons in that same church. But he, applying himself wholly to the pursuit of all sanctity, going wholly toward God, wore the church day and night, gave himself without intermission to reading and prayer, and with himself, with Jacob in the tents

dwelling, he shunned the wandering excursions of Esau. Reading also most frequently [and] most studiously in the book of the Conferences of the Fathers, he laid hold from it of a great accumulation of perfection. And he wept most abundantly (for this special grace God had conferred on him) for sinners, for the wretched and afflicted, and, showing forth in himself a new Jeremiah, melted wholly toward the souls of the perishing with a wondrous affection of compassion. Wherefore he was always urged within himself by this special desire, and chiefly and unceasingly he beat upon the ears of the divine clemency with this petition, that it would deign to pour into him that grace by which he might one day spend himself wholly for the salvation of his neighbors: nor was he at length cheated of his desire. Indeed that desire was at last fulfilled, when afterward he contended strenuously by word and example against the Albigensian heretics, and led back many sinners to the way of eternal salvation.

[181] and scarcely went out of the monastery, Meanwhile note that the Saint at that time, when he was living among the Canons of Osma, rarely went out beyond the monastery, or exercised public ministries outside: for according to Constantine's testimony he wore the church day and night, gave himself without intermission to reading and prayer, and, dwelling with himself, with Jacob in the tents, shunned the wandering excursions of Esau. Blessed Jordan below among us at number 9 thus clearly indicates the same: But he, like a sprouting olive, and a cypress raising itself to a height, wore the church day and night, gave himself to prayer without intermission, and, redeeming for himself the leisure of contemplation, scarcely appeared outside the enclosure of the monastery. On those last words of Blessed Jordan Échard, volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 4, thus rightly notes: These things teach that, from the time he was enlisted as a Canon of Osma, he scarcely went out of that city, unless perhaps to make visitations of the diocese with the bishop, or to hold sermons in the same; and that those thrust a fable upon their readers who narrate that the bishop was asked by the academic men of Palencia to grant him, now a Canon, to them again, to profess sacred Letters among them, and that Diego consented. How therefore will those more recent biographers explain these phrases of the ancient writers, who confidently assert that St. Dominic at that time traversed various provinces of Spain which the Mohammedans and heretics had infected with their errors?

[182] the fictions of those writers collapse, Among those authors again Adrien Baillet must chiefly be chastised, here contrary to his custom by no means critical, who in the French Acts of St. Dominic, number 4, not only narrates that the Saint by the order of his bishop Diego returned from Osma to Palencia, that he might there publicly teach theology; but also adds that he then instituted apostolic excursions, in the first of which he converted the heresiarch Rainerius, who afterward entered the Order of Preachers, and concerning whom Leander Alberti in his work on Illustrious Men, book 4, folio 148, has the following: Rainerius Sacconi is of Piacenza, who first had been a prelate of the heretics, before he returned to a sound mind, and had brought many harms upon the Christian commonwealth in Emilia: at length, returning to himself and embracing with all his strength and his whole mind the orthodox and holy faith of Christ, he received the Preacher's gown; which received, he presently declared war on the heretics whose false dogma he had before so vehemently defended, and as much as he had before, being blind, favored them, so much and much more did he exact punishment from them: for by his order the town of Gatta, whose ruin the divine Peter of Verona, afterward a martyr, had once foretold, was leveled to the ground. He did not fear to undergo exile for the defense of the Catholic faith, etc. More may be read in the same place, which does not pertain to our purpose. Fernando del Castillo in the Spanish History of the Dominican Order, book 2, chapter 22, toward the end, and Pietro Maria Campi in the History of Piacenza, part 2, book 18, at the year of Christ 1250, treat more fully of the same Rainerius; but neither ascribes his conversion to the Catholic faith to the preaching of St. Dominic.

[183] Échard, volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., pages 154 and 155, reviews the deeds and writings of this Rainerius against the heretics, who ascribe to him at that time apostolic excursions and at the end thus concludes to our purpose: From what has been said thus far you will gather how preposterously certain more recent writers, among whom Baillet and Giry, who published Lives of the Saints in French, have written that this Rainerius was converted from heresy by blessed Dominic, then a young man and giving his labor to studies at Palencia, and was afterward employed by Innocent III in several matters, especially against the heretics: for no ancient monuments teach that Rainerius ever acted in Spain; moreover his conversion seems to be later by several years than the death of blessed Dominic, and rather to be ascribed to the persuasions of holy Peter the martyr, God inspiring; and thus not Innocent III, but Gregory IX and Innocent IV used his services against the heretics. The nearness of the words Palencia and Piacenza perhaps was the occasion of the error, so that what was done at Piacenza they twisted to Palencia. So indeed he kindly excuses these erring men; but that excuse at least does not clear John of St. Mary, who in book 1 of the aforementioned French Life, chapter 15, expressly notes that that city in which St. Dominic converted Rainerius was not Piacenza in Italy (for there exists a city of the same name in each region), but Placencia in Spain, and there moreover changed Rainerius's surname Sacconi into Sancho, that he might make a Spaniard out of an Italian.

[184] Baillet in the Acts just cited, numbers 4 and 5, also then attributes to St. Dominic other apostolic missions, as far as the borders of Galicia, where he was captured by pirates, and those far apart from one another and distant, so that the Saint is said to have come as far as the borders of Galicia, and there to have been captured by pirates. I confess indeed that Baillet somewhat doubts of that captivity; but he could have roundly rejected that whole excursion, cohering neither with the time nor with the ancient Acts, if he had opportunely used his criticism. That prodigious story first came forth from Alan Revived, who in part 2, chapter 17, thus begins to narrate it: Holy Dominic, endued with power from on high, and made a truly apostolic man, had traversed the lands of the Spains (into which already before the Saracen, the enemy of the Christian name, had poured himself) preaching far and wide, and had filled them, informed by his most salutary doctrines. When lo, as he was already looking to the foreign nations round about, it happened (almost fifteen years before the glorious day of his death, the sacred Order of Preachers not yet auspiciously founded, but he himself professed a Canon under the rule of St. Augustine) that not far from St. James of Compostella he fell with Brother Bernard, the companion of his pilgrimage, into the hands of pirates; who, seizing both and carrying them off to their fleet of ships, take them away as a noble prey. Baillet says that those pirates were Mohammedans, and by Hyacinth Choquet in the work cited above, page 166, they are called African robbers, that the following story may seem the more stupendous, which the Mother of God is said to have revealed to Alan de la Roche, and which nevertheless, unless I am mistaken, sensible men will hold wholly suspect of fiction from the mere reading of it in Alan Revived in the place just cited.

[185] We have not leisure to transcribe that whole story, concerning which captivity Nicholas Janssenius which Alan de la Roche sets forth with many circumlocutions of words. Yet that the learned reader may be able to pass some judgment on this narration, we shall give it from Nicholas Janssenius, who in the Life of St. Dominic, book 1, chapter 2, thus abridged it: When the glorious father Dominic was traversing the Spains for almost twenty years (Alan has "almost fifteen years," as we reported in the preceding number) before his death for the sake of preaching, robbers, having made a landing, intercepted him near St. James's together with his companion Bernard, and, placing him on a galley, condemned him to the benches and the oar, where for almost three continuous months he plied the oar like a barbarian slave or a criminal man. I, the Mother of mercy (the narration is framed as from a revelation of the Mother of God, as I noted above), did not bear this calamity of his, and, kindled with the bowels of charity, blazed vehemently against the unspeakable ravishers. Straightway, at my will and command, the sky is gathered into clouds, lightnings and thunders strike, rains and tempests enfold them. They were now being carried uncertain of the sea and ignorant of the stars, when Dominic (whom this storm had in no way moved), noticing that those profane men distrusted their fortunes and were being hurried headlong into despair, raised them to hope by his ardent preaching: Brothers, he said, do penance, and invoke most sweet Mary. At these words they raged and roared, and stormed against Dominic with hands and cudgels, denouncing him as guilty of so great a peril and evil: for most of them had denied the faith, or could not endure even the name of virtue or of penance.

[186] a portentous story At length there came the night on which the feast day of the Angelic salutation dawned, on which, out of reverence for the feast, that most keen Zealot for souls exhorted them by asking, by supplicating, by setting the heavenly threats before their eyes, that at least then they should be led to repentance for their crimes. Hearing which, as though driven into madness, they horribly blasphemed Me and my Son. And straightway the storm grew strong, and, the steersman being shaken off by the waves and snatched away, covered the whole night with squalls and dense darkness, they were kept until dawn for death, as they thought; and when it grew light, as my dearest Dominic was more earnestly entreating Me for their safety, I became visible to him as he prayed, and said that I pardoned those wicked men on this condition, that they should say my Psalter (that is the Rosary, as will appear from what is to be said below) every day, and should begin a new confraternity which should be called that of Jesus Christ and the virgin Mary: the condition being accepted, it would come to pass that, a blessing being made by him against the storm, it should presently depart; if it were refused, he himself being snatched away, the others would be plunged into the destruction of body and soul.

[187] abridged from Alan de la Roche, As Dominic urged these things, tears were presently forced from the impious men: they profess that they will do penance, and bind themselves by promise to begin this holy confraternity; at the same time, with great wailing, falling at his knees, they ask pardon and help. But he said: I am at hand: and stretching out his hand against the whirlwinds, In the name, he said, of Jesus Christ, and through Mary his most holy mother, be still, and be more swiftly dumb. A wondrous thing! He spoke; he laid it, and the wind was dumb, calm being restored to the Ocean. But when, the rudder being broken and the prow dashed upon a rock, the ship was now almost swamped, and all stood knee-deep in the water (Dominic alone excepted), I presented myself to be seen by all, and lifted the ship from the sea, and, its cracks being diligently stopped, bade them go away unharmed. But when, bathed in tears and joy, they were giving thanks and praises, straightway horrible voices of demons crying out in the sea were heard: Woe, woe to us! because this Dominic unnerves us, snatches away our prey, and intends greater things, namely the Order of Preachers. The passengers, moreover, being snatched from perils, devoutly began the aforesaid confraternity under the form revealed at that time by Me to my son Dominic.

[188] The learned reader has here a sufficiently faithful compendium

of a prodigious story, and to which Alan himself, concerning which he will now be able to judge maturely, and to which the praised Janssenius subjoins the following: These things the Mother of God revealed to our blessed Alan de la Roche; and Dominic, set at liberty by her (so far as one may guess, since I have not found these things written down), returned to the Canons, and was received by them with incredible joy, because report had spread abroad that he was lost and miserably afflicted. But I certainly marvel that Janssenius did not find these things written down, since Alan ends that very story in the chapter aforesaid at number 15 thus: Meanwhile the ships held their course, and were making their way into the harbor of the neighboring Brittany, and, having passed through all the perils in order, were singing a happy psalm-like boat-song. Here, as had been foretold, they find everything that had been cast out, and even the wines, of which they had cast out very many with their vessels, now more precious than before. Changed into other men, they holily observe the confraternity, and devote themselves in the Psalter to various institutions of penance. Hence John of St. Mary in book 1 of the Life already often cited, chapter 20, asserted positively that St. Dominic on that occasion came to the city of Vannes in Armorican Brittany, that he might preach the Rosary of the Mother of God, and might visit his kinsman the Duke of Brittany.

[189] But all these fictions again he incautiously drew from Alan Revived, and John of St. Mary, incautiously following him who in Part 3, chapter 22, among us page 228, thus invents that Breton visit: Holy Dominic, the apostle of a new world, was bringing the preaching of the Gospel with the power of the Psalter into Brittany also: and because his mother, the daughter of a certain Duke of Brittany, had been sprung from that country, he was heard the more attentively, as being near of kin by blood to a great Duke. Then, after reciting a certain sermon of St. Dominic and stupendous prodigies which are said to have been then wrought there before all, in the following chapter, among us page 260, he narrates how the Saint wonderfully escaped the highest ecclesiastical dignity of Brittany, most insistently and violently offered to him: From that time, he says, all the zeal of all was turned upon holy Dominic alone. The Duke himself, and the whole clergy, and the whole nation proclaimed themselves blessed if it should befall them to have holy Dominic as chief prelate of Brittany; which honor he constantly refusing, the Duke devised by craft this force without force, and carried it into execution, that he should severely command through all the coasts of Brittany that no one should suffer holy Dominic to set foot outside or to leave the country, so that at least in this way he might be compelled to undertake the prelacy.

[190] But in vain is a net cast before the eyes of them that have wings: for holy Dominic gave himself up to God's will, added various fables and behold, becoming invisible before the eyes of the bystanders, he is snatched from their eyes by a more divine power: he is snatched from Brittany, and at that very time was found in Spain, whence his father had been sprung. The Duke had ordered all preparation to be made for the next day, that he might be created bishop of Dol: for that see was at that time vacant. But a certain rumor came beforehand to the Duke that holy Dominic had in a moment ceased to appear, and was nowhere yet to be seen. Hereupon the Duke sets everything in motion, sends out searchers in every direction, and has everything searched throughout all Brittany, nor does he desist from what he had begun. Already a whole month had been taken up in most keen investigation, when lo, through Spaniards it is certainly announced that holy Dominic had for that very month been preaching through Spain, with signs following. But here the greatest admiration came upon all, when it was learned that the holy Man had by the gift of agility and subtlety been transported in the same day from Brittany far away into Spain by the divine power. Therefore the former hope and courage returned to the inhabitants. Embassies were multiplied, one after another, to entreat holy Dominic to be their prelate. To whom he said: The Lord sent me to preach the Gospel, not to be a bishop. Go, tell your people, let them remember what they have seen and received, and let them persist in the grace and fear of God: for if unbelievers had known that grace, leaving their errors, they would have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. We shall afterward on another occasion treat of the bishoprics which our most humble Saint really did have offered to him and constantly refused.

[191] added. John of St. Mary in the Acts of St. Dominic in the place cited above adorned all these things with various circumstances of persons and matters, and had already in book 1, chapter 14, inserted into them another little fable of the same kind, which Alan Revived thus subjoins to the preceding story: The like holy Dominic is reported to have done at Compostella, as our Brother John de Monte narrates, who was Master of both Laws and a formed bachelor of sacred theology, a companion of holy Dominic before the foundation of the Order of Preachers, when the aforesaid things happened, holy Dominic then acting only as a Regular Canon. In this place one must remember what in §2 of this Commentary we pronounced with Échard about those fictitious witnesses of Alan Revived. Meanwhile John of St. Mary, not yet content with these things, in book 1 of the same Life thrusts upon us from Alan Revived various prodigies of the Rosary which happened then in Galicia and other provinces of Spain, and which it does not please me to transcribe here, much less to refute. Nevertheless I observe in passing that Flaminius, Bzovius in the Ecclesiastical Annals, and Malvenda place those portentous miracles at other times, although they would have done more prudently to omit them and to attach them to no time at all. But lest I alone should seem to pass so severe a judgment about that Galician expedition and the other things which are said to have been then done by the Saint, hear Échard, who in volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 4, in the notes, treating of the time in which St. Dominic stayed at Palencia and lived among the Regular Canons, thus implicitly rejects all these fictions: But several things, he says, which certain more recent writers invent as done by him in these years, or even from the time he was a Canon, in various provinces of Spain, or even endured, down to a captivity among sea-robbers, neither agree with what is reported by Jordan, Constantine, Humbert, Dietrich, Bernard Gui, and the rest down to holy Antoninus, to all of whom they were unknown, and who nevertheless, if they were true, would not have escaped them; nor are they worthy of the holy Man, nor supported by any probability.

* read "supported."

§ XII. The Saint's journeys with Diego, bishop of Osma, and various things which are handed down to have happened in them.

The Saint converts his heretical host on the journey, Since the Saint, on the testimony of Blessed Jordan, had hitherto scarcely appeared outside the enclosure of the monastery of the Regular Canons, and had generally given himself to prayer, divine Providence at length satisfied his burning desire, and offered him a fitting occasion of exercising his zeal, which Constantine of Orvieto in Échard at number 8 describes in these words: Therefore, when the time was now at the doors in which the purpose of the divine will required that the blessed Man's virtue should come forth in public, lest the lamp which the divine fire had so diligently kindled should longer lie hidden under a bushel, it came about that Diego of good memory, bishop of Osma, whose heart God had long since touched with a like inspiration for procuring salvation, had to set out at the request of the king of Castile to the Marches, on the occasion of arranging a certain marriage between that king's son and a certain noble maiden. And so, having taken a becoming retinue, he took with him also, not without God's nod, the servant of God Dominic, for the solace of holy conversation, and no less for the ornament of religious society. And when, the journey being begun, they had come to Toulouse, on the same night on which they were received there into lodging, the man of God Dominic discovered that his host was corrupted with heretical depravity: whom, approaching him with kindly and at the same time evangelical persuasion, and converting him to the faith, he presented to the Lord as it were a certain sheaf of the first-fruits of the future harvest to be gathered by him.

[193] The time of this embassy, which is not here expressed by the ancient biographers, which in the year 1203 he undertook with the bishop of Osma to the Marches, the venerable Humbert in our Manuscript Chronicle thus indicates: In the year of the Lord 1203 blessed Dominic came with Diego, bishop of Osma, to Toulouse, where on the first day, God cooperating, he brought back his heretical host to the true faith. Then, the king's embassy having been performed once and again, and the Curia (understand the Roman) having been visited by the bishop, he remained with him for about two years in the office of preaching in the parts about Toulouse. Bernard Gui in Edmond Martène's Most Ample Collection of ancient writers, volume 6, columns 397 and 398, notes the same year of this journey, and there adds other things thus: For in the year of the Lord 1203 blessed Dominic, setting out with Diego of happy memory, his bishop of Osma, into the Marches or into Dacia, a matter of marriage committed to him by Alfonso king of Castile requiring it, passing through Toulouse, on the first night on which they were received there into lodging, discovered that his host was infected with heretical depravity, which had greatly grown strong in those parts, and, dealing with him strongly and fervently with much disputation and persuasion, since the heretic could not resist the wisdom and the spirit which spoke, on that same night, God cooperating, he converted that heretic to the truth of the Catholic faith; and from then he conceived the design of devoting labor to the conversion of unbelievers, and of founding a religious state, and dedicating it to evangelical preaching. And having spent a year's delay in the said business of the king of Castile, he went with the aforesaid bishop to Rome, and gained for himself the acquaintance, nay even the favor, of the supreme Pontiff and of those about him.

[194] On this occasion certain learned men ask where those Marches were situated about which region the authors to which king Alfonso sent Diego of Osma with our Saint. When Bernard Gui explains "the Marches" by "Dacia," that explanation displeases Malvenda, as he declares in the Annals of the Preachers at the year of Christ 1205, chapter 1, by this reasoning: Bernard Gui in the treatise on the Grades of the prelates of the Order affirms that Diego set out as envoy into the Marches or into Dacia. But that about Dacia moves us to think that for Dacia should be read either Marchia or Dalmatia: since Dacia is a province of Europe by the Danube, concerning which Strabo, book 7, Pliny, book 4, chapter 14, Ptolemy, book 3, chapter 8, Dio Cassius, Roman history, book 51, Suidas under the word Dacia, and others; but separately more about the same will be found in Ortelius in the Theater, and in the Geographical Thesaurus. Their king Decebalus is renowned by Trajan's victories. Nor does it seem likely that an embassy was sent by Alfonso into this barbarous province.

[195] dispute among themselves, But Malvenda ought to have noticed that among writers of the middle age and of his own Order Dacia is quite often taken for Denmark, as among others Échard asserts, who in volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 4, after reciting the same words of Bernard Gui, thus discourses: In vain do certain persons here imagine for themselves a castle in the March of Limoges, distinguished by the name of Dacia: for even if perhaps there was some such, which they do not prove, places of that sort, generally unknown, are not wont to be noted by the ancient writers. Dacia, as it was taken in the XIIIth century, both in the list of the provinces of our Order and in Bernard Gui, means Denmark,

Sweden, and part of the March now of Brandenburg. Nor is it a wonder that some princely woman of these regions was sought by the Spanish king as a wife for his son, since Philip Augustus, king of the Franks, had thence taken to himself as consort Ingeborg, daughter of the king of Denmark. He could opportunely have added here Christina, daughter of Haakon king of Norway, whom Alfonso X, king of Castile, sought for himself as consort, and who about the year of Christ 1254 was married to his brother Philip, as our Mariana narrates in book 13 On the Affairs of Spain, chapter 9, where he calls this maiden's father king of Denmark. Of that Christina we made mention in the Acts of St. Olaf the martyr at the day XXIX of July, volume VII of that month, pages 88 and 89, where Thormod Torfaeus is cited, in whom, Part 4 of the Norwegian History, book 4, chapter 44, more on this matter may be seen.

[196] and hand down such different things, Even though all this renders that journey into Denmark in some way probable, yet Baillet and others more recent roundly affirm that this maiden whom Alfonso sought as consort for his son was the daughter of Hugh of Lusignan, count of La Marche in France; concerning which opinion Échard in the place just cited thus judges: What those Marches are, through which those going from Spain had to pass by way of Toulouse, no one clearly explains. Was it the March in Aquitaine, part of the province of Limoges, whose Count was then most powerful in France, and who also caused no light trouble to Louis IX, king of the Franks? So several judge; but it stands against this, that, since that region is not so far distant from Toulouse, that journey would not have cost Diego such labors as Jordan hints. Souèges in the French Acts of St. Dominic, page 158, adds that this place of the province of Limoges would doubtless have been more distinctly indicated by Bernard Gui, born in the same region.

[197] that we cannot assign its certain situation. Finally Échard in the same place thus concludes: But the Spaniards alone from their royal archives can teach who that maiden was who was sought as bride for Ferdinand, the firstborn of Alfonso IX, then sixteen years old, and whose daughter she was — which they have hitherto neglected. If credit were to be given to Juan Tamayo de Salazar, who in the Spanish Martyrology at the day VI of February professes that he gives the Acts of Diego from a very ancient Manuscript Legendary of the church of Osma, we could at least fearlessly assert that those Marches were situated in France or Italy; since in those Acts the following is read: Alfonso king of Castile, an entanglement of grave business arising, sent Diego as envoy to the parts of France and Italy. But because that author not rarely thrusts his own compositions upon us for ancient Acts, and we have already often found him deceitful, we do not dare to trust this testimony, and are compelled to assent to Malvenda's conclusion, who in the Annals at the year of Christ 1205, chapter 2, after many Marches assigned in different regions, at length thus confesses: We cannot divine to which of these Marches Diego was sent as envoy; for it would be probable that a bride worthy of Ferdinand could at these times have been found in the March of France, or of Germany, or of Italy. Since therefore it is not possible to assign a certain place for the double embassy, let us at least see whether the chronology of both may more easily be found.

[198] I hinted briefly in a word that a double embassy was then performed by Diego, [Échard arranges chronologically at his own pleasure their double journey to the Marches,] which Dietrich did not distinguish, and which Constantine in Échard at number 9 obscurely indicates both times, when in the same place he mentions the embassy "at length once and again accomplished." But Blessed Jordan among us at number 13 openly sets forth both in these words: Coming to the appointed place where the maiden was, at the cost of many labors, and the cause of their journey being set forth, and consent obtained, they hastened at once to return to the king; to whom the bishop announced the matter prosperously done and the maiden's answer or consent. The king therefore a second time thought that he should be sent back with the honor of greater display, that with honor he might bring the maiden to be joined to his son: who, undertaking again the laborious journey, when he had come to the Marches, found the maiden meanwhile dead. Humbert in our Utrecht transcript also thus distinguishes that double embassy: The aforesaid bishop, having pursued his journey, discharged his message, and attained his purpose, returning to the king announced the prosperous outcome and the maiden's assent. Sent again by the same king with greater display, he went to the Marches; but he found dead the maiden who, being to be married, had been the cause of so great labor; divine providence assuredly so disposing, that Diego might learn to dedicate better and spiritual nuptials between God and the soul. A message therefore being sent back to the king, he himself with his clerics went to the Roman curia, and asked resignation of the supreme Pontiff, etc.

[199] Échard, volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 5, so arranges the chronological series of these matters and orders chronologically certain other things at his own pleasure, that Diego, having undertaken from Spain his first journey to the Marches toward the end of the year 1203, returned within six months, gave another six months to the second embassy, then spent six months more on the journey to Rome; which bring us to about the middle of the year 1205, reckoning the year by the old style either from Easter or from the XXV of March: which had necessarily to be noted for the understanding of what follows. Then, after a few other things interposed, he thus arranges the remaining chronological order in the same place: And so Diego and Dominic, returning from the Roman court and hastening into Spain, arrived at Montpellier toward the end of the year 1205. When I say the end of the year, I speak by the old style about February or March, which by the new style would be called 1206. Finally he proves this from Bernard Gui, in whom in the Chronicle mentioned above he asserts that this is read: In the year of the Lord 1205, at the end of that year, the aforesaid bishop determined with holy Dominic to return into Spain. And passing through Montpellier, etc.

[200] whose chronological arrangement But that whole chronological system seems to have been devised by Échard gratuitously: for whence did he know that Diego undertook the journey to the Marches toward the end of the year 1203? What if he began to undertake it after the beginning or before the middle of the same year? Whence did he know that Diego, returning from Rome with St. Dominic, arrived at Montpellier about the end of the year 1205 by the old style, and about February or March of the year 1206 by the new? From Bernard Gui, he will say, who numbers the years by the old style, and who at the year of the Lord 1205 notes that Diego at the end of that year wished to return to Spain, and passed through Montpellier. But I in the same Chronicle of Bernard Gui, in Edmond Martène, volume 6 of the Most Ample Collection of ancient writers, column 398, read this thus: In the year of the Lord 1205 (I suspect that for 1205 should be read 1204, on account of what precedes and follows) at the end of the FOURTH of that year the aforesaid bishop determined with holy Dominic to return into Spain. And passing through Montpellier, etc. But what is that word "fourth" doing there, unless it be referred to the preceding year; or unless it be said that an error has crept into the number immediately preceding those words?

[201] we impugn from the death of the bishop of Osma, Moreover how will Échard in his chronology reconcile the two years which Diego is handed down to have spent preaching against the heretics in the parts about Toulouse with the death of the same Diego? It is useful to draw this chronological knot a little tighter with the words of Bernard Gui himself, who, after he had narrated in the place already cited how Diego and St. Dominic found at Montpellier certain abbots of the Cistercian Order, and suggested to them a useful counsel for converting the heretics, thus continues in the following column: And for a continuous two years they all remained in the said office of preaching, doing much fruit among the people. But after the two years the aforesaid Diego, bishop of Osma, lest perhaps he could be charged with negligence concerning the church of Osma committed to him, determined to return into Spain: who, when he had entered Castile, after a few days completed the present life in great sanctity, about to receive in abundance the glorious fruit of his good labors, entering the tomb into a rich rest, in the year of the Lord 1207. And he is said after his death to have shone with miracles.

[202] or from the Spanish era, Menard, Henriquez, and other writers generally agree that Diego departed this life in the year of Christ 1207, on the day VI of February. This year of his death is confirmed from his epitaph at Osma, which in Gil González Dávila in the Ecclesiastical Theater of Spain, among the bishops of Osma, book 2, chapter 6, is thus expressed: Here lies Diego de Acebes, bishop of Osma. He died in the Era one thousand two hundred forty-five. Besides other reporters of the same epitaph, Malvenda in the Annals at the year 1207, chapter 4, after it thus notes: But since the reckoning of the Era adds, as is clear, thirty-eight years to the years from the birth of Christ, it is established that Diego died in this year 1207. If therefore Diego, according to Échard's new style, first arrived at Montpellier in the month of February or March of the year 1206, and afterward, having returned into Spain, died in the month of February of the year 1207 (certain Necrologies note another month, but all the same year), how will Échard find the two years of preaching which he spent in the parts about Toulouse on the conversion of the heretics, as all the ancient biographers testify?

[203] Since Échard could not deny that time of his death, inscribed on his tomb, in volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 8, in the notes, he thus seeks another escape: This epigraph carved on his tomb in the church of the suburb of Osma is reported by Malvenda and by Tamayo in the Spanish Martyrology at the sixth day of February: Here lies Diego de Acebes, bishop of Osma. He died in the Era 1245. But since the Spanish Era precedes the Christian by XXXVIII years, the year noted on the tomb agrees with the year of Christ 1207, which nevertheless you should understand by the old style, by the new 1208, on the VIth of February. Thus he who in the year 1206 about February had come to Montpellier contended manfully with the heretics in Languedoc for nearly two years. But while that learned writer strives in this way to escape the difficulty, he becomes more entangled, as I shall now show.

[204] First, even on his own hypothesis he cannot find two whole years of preaching, and is compelled to admit "nearly two years" spent by bishop Diego in Languedoc against the heretics; we impugn, whereas nevertheless Blessed Jordan in him at number 16, and below among us at number 22, expressly expresses that time thus: In the exercise of this kind of preaching bishop Diego remained two years, which being COMPLETED, … he determined to return into Spain. Besides Bernard Gui, whose words I reported above, Constantine of Orvieto, Humbert, Vincent of Beauvais, and Dietrich of Apolda in their manner of speaking also sufficiently indicate that those two years of preaching are to be reckoned as complete. Moreover Échard greatly errs when he attempts by the new style to compose the month of February of the year 1208 with the Spanish Era 1245:

for in the month of February of that year the Spanish Era 1246 was already running. But if he had determined to cut this knot in any way whatever, he would rather have declared roundly, without any foundation, that the Spanish Era in this tomb inscription is corrupted, and that all those writers erred who assigned Diego's death to the month of February of the year 1207. But doubtless that man, otherwise learned, thought that the Spanish Era changed with the new and old style of the years, and probably did not know, or at least did not remember, that the Spanish Era always has a fixed beginning from the Kalends of January, as Joseph Perez of the Order of St. Benedict in his Ecclesiastical Dissertations, page 362, invincibly demonstrates.

[205] Wherefore we propose another chronological system of these deeds, which can easily be reconciled both with the two complete years of the aforementioned preaching and we propose another chronological system. and with Diego's death. First let us set down that Diego, after the beginning or about the middle of the year 1203, set out with St. Dominic to the Marches: for nothing compels us with Échard to defer that first embassy until the end of the same year. Second, according to Bernard Gui let us lay down that the bishop of Osma, after he had spent a year in these two embassies, or in the said business of the king of Castile, went to Rome, and at length at the end of the fourth of those years arrived at Montpellier, where he found those abbots of the Cistercian Order with whom he began to preach against the Albigensian heretics. On this hypothesis Diego could have spent two whole years on the conversion of the heretics, and in the month of February of the Era 1245, or the year 1207, could have been called away to the eternal reward of his labors, as will be plain to one who considers. We here compute the years by the new style: for that ancient style, which Échard so studiously distinguishes everywhere, does not seem to have place in this matter, nor to have been always in use among writers, as we shall say below on another occasion. Now, leaving these chronological trifles, let us proceed to another historical discussion.

[206] Diego, bishop of Osma, is said on that journey Blessed Jordan, after Diego's journey to Rome, where the Pontiff had denied him leave to resign his bishopric, among us at number 15 reports the following: Returning therefore, he visited Cîteaux on the way, where, having beheld the manner of life of many servants of God, and being allured by the loftiness of that Religion, having taken there the monastic habit, and having brought with him some monks by whose instruction he might learn the form of that manner of life, he was hastening to return into Spain. Of that visit to the Cistercian monastery Constantine is silent, and in Humbert in our Utrecht transcript only this is read: And so returning, having visited Cîteaux, he was hastening to return into Spain. But the foresight from above, which had generally already brought him back from what he had conceived in mind to better things, was now also preparing for him another obstacle to this journey. Échard, volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 5, testifies that in his codex too Humbert is silent about the habit of the Cistercian Order having been taken. Nevertheless in our parchment codex P. Ms. 10, in Humbert it is thus read: And so returning, he visited Cîteaux on the way, where, having beheld the holy manner of life of the multitude of the servants of Christ, delighted by the beauty of that Religion, he took the monastic habit, and, having brought with him some of the monks, by whose instruction he might also put on the form of that Religion, he was hastening to return into Spain. But the foresight from above, etc. Whatever be the case with this doubtful testimony of Humbert, Bartholomew of Trent below among us at number 3 thus briefly arranges the journey of Diego and St. Dominic: After these things they come to Rome; returning thence they visit Cîteaux, where the bishop of Osma took the habit. The same things Dietrich of Apolda will narrate below at number 28, to whom Fernando del Castillo, book 1, chapter 8, and others more recent subscribe.

[207] to have taken the Cistercian habit, Souèges nevertheless in the Acts of St. Dominic, page 159 and following, impugns that taking of the Cistercian habit with so many and so urgent arguments that I frankly confess that I cannot dissolve them all. Nevertheless the clear assertion of Blessed Jordan and Bartholomew of Trent seems to be preferable to all Souèges's reasons. Perhaps the authority of these ancient writers can somehow be reconciled with Souèges's arguments, if we say with John of St. Mary in the French Acts of St. Dominic, book 2, chapter 2, that Diego took the habit of the Cistercian Order not by profession, but out of a certain devotion. Certainly Malvenda in the Annals at the year of Christ 1206, chapter 2, after describing the situation of the monastery of Cîteaux, speaks thus of this matter: Hence upon Diego, always aspiring to a loftier kind of life, there came a great desire of visiting that notable monastery, and of taking up its habit and institute. But understand that he received the sacred monastic garb in such a way that he did not lay aside the dignity and insignia of a bishop (for it would not be lawful for him without consulting the Roman Pontiff); but, remaining a bishop, he determined both in habit and in institute to imitate and practice the monk (so far as his episcopal cares permitted him).

[208] which narrative seems to be understood in that manner, Alfonso de Villegas in the Spanish Life of St. Dominic substitutes for the Cistercian monastery the Carthusian, and that perhaps from some tradition which is said to be preserved among the Carthusians, and of which John of St. Mary and Souèges made mention in the places just cited: for, on the testimony of the praised John of St. Mary, the Carthusians hand down that St. Dominic came to the Grande Chartreuse, situated in France not far from Grenoble, and there asked of the General of the whole Order the habit of that Religion, which the General denied to him as he asked, and, enlightened with divine light, answered him: Go, you are called to greater things. But according to Souèges in the Acts, page 160, the Carthusians narrate that this befell St. Dominic in their monastery of Portes, which is situated in the diocese of Lyons, and that the Prior likewise answered him: Go, you are called to greater things. But wherever it be said to have happened, another authority is needed before we admit this fact, altogether alien from the apostolic and active life which the Saint had so long desired and had already begun to lead. Certainly that Carthusian tradition is not to be greatly valued if it rests on no firmer foundation than another one, also consigned to public writings, which destroys itself by a notable anachronism, as we shall now demonstrate.

[209] Denis the Carthusian in his little work on the Proclamation or praise of the Carthusian Order, article 8, by which the tradition of the Carthusians may be explained, which is inserted in volume 2 of his minor works, there in the Cologne edition of the year 1532, folio 413 verso, writes thus: That holy Dominic is read to have received from the most devout man lord Basil, then Prior of the Grande Chartreuse, counsel about the manner of preaching against the heretics, and about the institution and habit of his Order. Theodore Petreius in the Notes on the Carthusian Chronicle of Peter Dorland, page 75, reports the same from Denis the Carthusian; and there adds that hence perhaps it came about that so great a conformity of garments is found between the Dominicans and Carthusians. But the good man cuts his own throat with his own sword: for on the same page, on the testimony of others, he expressly notes that that Basil died about the year of Christ 1173. This year of his death, which Peter Sutor and other Carthusian writers generally express, is confirmed from an older History of the same Order, which was lately published in Edmond Martène, volume 6 of the Most Ample Collection of ancient writers, where in column 275 the following is read about this Basil: In the year of the Lord, as it seems, one thousand one hundred fifty-one, in the Priorate of the house of Chartreuse there succeeded to the same Anthelm, as has already been premised, of holy and venerable memory dom Basil, a monk of the said house of Chartreuse: who, distinguished by much knowledge, outstanding in virtues, enlarged the house of Chartreuse not a little in spiritual and temporal things. This excellent man held the Priorate of Chartreuse for twenty-three years, or thereabouts, … and, failing, died in a holy old age about the year of the Lord one thousand one hundred seventy-three. Since therefore St. Dominic was born only in the year of Christ 1170, it is clear enough that Denis the Carthusian and the other asserters of this narrative are mistaken, since the Saint at Basil's death was only three years old.

[210] More cautious was Henry of Kalkar, who died in the Carthusian Order in the year of Christ 1408 at eighty years of age, who think that St. Dominic when he does not name that Prior of Chartreuse to whom St. Dominic is handed down to have come, and in the praised Edmond Martène, in the same volume 6, column 209, narrates the matter thus: To a certain Prior of their Order (namely of the Carthusians), standing in prayer and grieving with the Church over the fewness of preachers against the errors of the Albigensians, because the Pope was compelled to send Cistercian abbots against them, since he had no others, God openly revealed that shortly four Orders of preachers should come, in place of the four Evangelists, saying to him: Son, be of good courage, for shortly I will provide for myself concerning preachers. Which the aforesaid Prior confidently reported to his Brothers and to other Christians: and behold, not long afterward Dominic, a Regular Canon, came to Chartreuse, receiving from the Prior counsel about preaching against the heretics, and likewise as it were the habit without the enclosure, namely of the bands; which habit nevertheless afterward was shown by the blessed Virgin to one of them, and at length somewhat changed. Of the habit of the Preachers, which the Mother of God showed to Reginald, treatment will be made below.

[211] asked and obtained some habit of their Order; If the Carthusians shall prove from older documents of their Order that St. Dominic came for the sake of consultation to Jancelinus or Ancelinus, who presided over the Grande Chartreuse from the year 1176 until the year 1233, we shall admit it without difficulty, since the Saint could have done this for various reasons, and especially with this view, that he might commend the happy success of his expedition and the desired conversion of the heretics to the prayers of that holy congregation. But if they shall also solidly confirm what is here recorded about the habit taken "as it were without the enclosure," we shall not easily understand all that of a stable profession of that Order; but we shall explain it of some imitation of the rigid Carthusian life, and of a habit received out of devotion, as we said above concerning Diego of Osma on the occasion of the Cistercian habit. Moreover John of St. Mary does not seem altogether averse from this explanation of ours, since in the French Life, book 2, chapter 2, he judges it probable that St. Dominic, after the example of his bishop Diego, asked for or took the Cistercian habit.

[212] all which things can more easily be composed than the journey to Paris, For the rest, we shall not here laboriously dispute about the journey to Paris, which Fernando del Castillo, book 1, chapter 7, and Michael Pio or Plodius, book 1, chapter 10, will have to have been then undertaken by the bishop of Osma and his holy companion, and in which they narrate certain deeds contrary to the whole history and to evident chronology: for Malvenda himself in the Annals at the year of Christ 1205, chapter 9, evidently refutes the false circumstances of this journey in this manner: When that notable pair of virtues, Diego and Dominic, had departed from Toulouse, that they came to the court of Louis

the prince of the Gauls, and in the name of king Alfonso greeted his daughter Blanche, and treated certain business with king Philip and his son Louis, some relate. But as to what they add — that Blanche, from the desire of offspring which she lacked, then prayed holy Dominic (whose sanctity she had known from some years back, when he was still in Spain) to obtain a son for her from God by his prayers, and that the holy Man, the devotion of the sacred Rosary having been enjoined upon Blanche and promulgated through almost the whole kingdom, obtained for her from God by his prayers a son Louis, afterward to be great in sanctity — for a very good reason I would by no means refer this to these times (a matter otherwise most openly done), since that sacred and divine institution of the Rosary had not yet in this year been devised by holy Dominic, and holy Louis was not brought forth into the light until nine years after, namely in 1214, as the Annals of the Franks hand down. Indeed that both by the devotion of the Rosary and by holy Dominic's prayers Louis was divinely given to Blanche, we shall report from approved authors in time and place. And this he afterward reports in his Annals at the year of Christ 1215, chapter 22, as we shall hear below in §14 of this Commentary. But we think that St. Dominic came to Paris neither at this time nor in the year of Christ 1212 or 1213, as Malvenda conjectures in the place cited, as will appear from the course of our Commentary.

[213] Meanwhile we wish it here to be observed in passing that Malvenda is not consistent with himself in employing the authority of Alan de la Roche, which Diego is said to have then undertaken with the Saint. and that by his words already reported all those prodigies are tacitly disapproved which Alan and his followers narrate to have happened before in various provinces of Spain, and ascribe to the preaching of the Rosary: for if that sacred and divine institution of the Rosary had not yet in this year (namely 1205, of which Malvenda there treats) been devised by holy Dominic, how did the same Saint, while still a Regular Canon, teach the pirates the Rosary, and then found a confraternity of the Rosary in Armorican Brittany, as we reported in the preceding paragraph? Why does Malvenda in this matter implicitly reject Alan's authority, and admit the same in the story of queen Blanche? If Alan does not deserve credit in that narration, neither will he obtain credit with us in this, as we shall show below in paragraphs 14 and 19, and elsewhere in the course of this Commentary.

§ XIII. The Saint's first contests with the Albigensian heretics, and the foundation of the monastery of Prouille.

The orthodox, on the counsel of Diego of Osma, All the writers of the Life record on what occasion Diego of Osma and St. Dominic met in Gaul certain assailants of the Albigensians, and persuaded them by counsel and example to preach more fruitfully against those heretics. Among others Constantine in Échard at number 10 thus narrates the matter: At that time, when the disease of heretical depravity was growing strong in the parts of the Albigensians, for extirpating the deadly plague of that disease by the word of preaching there were destined to those parts by the supreme Pontiff Innocent III twelve abbots of the Cistercian Order, with a legate of the Apostolic See joined to them: and when these, together with the other prelates of the churches of that region, had gathered into one and were diligently inquiring among themselves what manner might be held fitter for more fruitfully carrying out that for whose sake they had been sent, the aforesaid Diego, bishop of Osma, making his journey thence, is reported to have arrived. All rejoice, they call the newcomer, they receive him when called with honor, and because they knew him to be a man no less conspicuous for holiness of life than for discretion of knowledge, they seek his opinion upon the deliberation of this counsel.

[215] But he, considering on the one hand the pomp of the various apparatus which they had brought with them in horses and baggage, all pomp being cast aside, and on the other not being ignorant that the cunning of the heretics wove from this their syllogisms of mockery against the Roman Church for the subversion of the simple, and no less taking his argument from the so many and so great examples of the earlier heralds of the faith of Jesus Christ, concluded the determination of his counsel with this judgment, the Holy Spirit dictating: that, the arms of Saul being cast off, that is the baggage of temporal things, going with David with sling and staff to lay Goliath low, they should preach the poor Christ on the path of poverty, that so they might blunt nail with nail, while what the voice of the tongue uttered the merit of their life should confirm, and the sight of true sanctity should confute the sophistical religion of the adversaries.

[216] attack the Albigensian heretics, And straightway joining deeds to words, he sent back to Osma the horses with the servants and also the rest of the furniture which he had, keeping with him a few of his clerics, but before the rest the servant of God Dominic, altogether necessary to him for this, for whom also through all these things the Lord was preparing the way to that which he had foreseen was to be accomplished through him. Whence also then he began to be called not Subprior, but Brother Dominic. Nor was there delay: all who had been sent for the cause of preaching the faith acquiesce in the salutary counsel; and what was advised was committed to execution, and, all the baggage of temporal things being sent back to their own places, they began alike to preach the poor Christ on foot and poor. Seeing which, the heretics, envying not a little, on the opposite side began to press their preaching more strongly.

[217] against whom before Certain writers will have this thing done in the year of Christ 1206, others in 1203 or 1204, as may be seen in Malvenda's Annals at the year 1206, chapter 1. Bernard Gui, cited in the preceding paragraph, in the year of the Lord 1205 reports the same matter thus: And passing through Montpellier, they found there a certain legate of the Apostolic See with twelve abbots of the Cistercian Order, who, archbishops and bishops and other prelates of the churches having been called together and being present, were holding a council about preaching the crusade in the Albigensian land and about the preaching to the unbelievers. Bishop Diego therefore and blessed Dominic having been summoned, the legate inquired in what way he might more conveniently commit to execution that for whose sake he had been sent: and their counsel, the Spirit suggesting it, was that the said abbots and the others deputed to the office of preaching, the pomp of superfluous apparatus in mounts and garments and expenses being cast off, should on foot preach the poor Christ in voluntary poverty; and, their own clerics being sent back to Osma with the conveyances and furniture and the various apparatus which they had brought with them, they promise to do this first. And so, pursuing the office of preaching in this manner, the said abbots and the rest followed him in this. Bartholomew of Lucca, commonly called Ptolemy of Lucca, who flourished at the beginning of the XIVth century in the Order of Preachers, and whose Ecclesiastical History was lately printed at Milan among the Writers of Italian affairs, volume XI, in book 21 of that History, chapter 10, in the said edition, volume XI, column [ ], also begins St. Dominic's preaching against the Albigensians from the year of Christ 1205. We for the reasons adduced in the preceding paragraph think it more probable that that beginning of preaching is to be placed at the end of the year 1204, or the beginning of 1205 by the new style.

[218] with little fruit Yet we shall readily allow ourselves to be persuaded that those Cistercians before the coming of Diego of Osma and St. Dominic had preached against the Albigensian heretics with little fruit: for in Échard, volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 5, in the notes, this is sufficiently indicated by Stephen of Bourbon or of Belleville, who flourished about the middle of the XIIIth century, and who in his work on the Seven gifts, Part IV, on the gift of fortitude, title 5, on bad and good example, chapter 1, reports this: I heard from Brothers of that Province of that time that, when certain legates and XIII abbots had been sent to the land of the Albigensians to preach against the Albigensian heretics, since they had with them mounts for carrying their garments and for the necessaries of the journey, and were preaching against the heretics and their errors, the heretics rose up against them, preaching against the bad examples and the insolence of the life of the Catholics, weaving their discourse chiefly about the corruption of the clergy and of Religious. Whereby those abbots, greatly confounded, ceasing from preaching without much fruit, withdrew from that land, the heretics saying: See how these horsemen preach to us Christ their Lord who went on foot, rich men a poor man, honored men an abject and mean one, and the like.

[219] The same is confirmed from the contemporary author Peter, they had preached. a Cistercian monk of Vaux-de-Cernay, who in the History of the Albigensians, chapter 3, after other things writes thus of Diego of Osma: It came about therefore that, while he was returning from the curia (namely the Roman, Diego) and was at Montpellier, he found there the venerable man Arnald, abbot of Cîteaux, and Brother Peter of Castelnau and Brother Ralph, Cistercian monks, legates of the Apostolic See, wishing out of weariness to resign the legation enjoined upon them, because they had been able to profit nothing or little by preaching to the heretics: for as often as they wished to preach to those heretics, the heretics objected to them the most evil manner of life of the clergy, and thus, unless they were willing to correct the life of the clergy, they must desist from preaching. But the aforementioned bishop gave a salutary counsel against perplexity of this kind, admonishing and advising that, other things being omitted, they should sweat more ardently at preaching, and that, in order to be able to stop the mouths of the malignant, going before in humility after the example of the pious Master, they should do and teach, and should go on foot without gold and silver, in all things imitating the apostolic form. But the said legates, not being able of themselves to undertake all this as a kind of novelty, said that if anyone of favorable authority were willing to go before them under this form, they would most gladly follow him. What more? The man full of God offered himself, and presently, sending his household to Osma, content with one companion, he enters Montpellier with the two often-named monks, namely Peter and Ralph. From these things it is sufficiently plain that those Cistercians had before begun to preach against the Albigensians in another manner, and had interrupted that preaching on account of the taunts of the heretics.

[220] Moreover who that companion of Diego of Osma was, whose name is not here expressed, St. Dominic with Diego strenuously attacks the Albigensians, William of Puylaurens, a writer of the same XIIIth century, clearly sets forth, who in his Chronicle on the affairs of the Albigensians, chapter 8, has this: In those days also the lord God, he who keeps chosen arrows in the quiver of his providence, brought forth from Spain for this work two chosen champions, the lord Diego, bishop of Osma, and a religious man, afterward declared a saint, his companion Dominic, a Regular Canon of his church. These two therefore, putting their hands to strong things, having gathered those abbots of the Cistercian Order and other good men, began to attack with all humility, abstinence, and patience the superstition of the heretics glorying in the depth of Satan, not with a pompous or mounted multitude, but by a footpath they walked from castle to castle with bare soles and feet to the appointed disputations; and one of the first encounters was at Verfeuil (it is a castle of the diocese of Toulouse, which in the vernacular is called Ver feuil), where very many heresiarchs were present, namely Pons Jordan and Arnard Arifat and others.

[221] The aforesaid Peter of Vaux-de-Cernay in his History

of the Albigensians, chapters 3 and 6, reviews several disputations which at that time the Catholics instituted against the heretics, and against them writes a little book, and at which St. Dominic was probably present, although the writers of his Life did not express them one by one: for Peter affirms that Diego of Osma was present at them, whom without doubt our Saint generally accompanied in expeditions of this kind. But it is worth hearing an illustrious miracle wrought in one of those disputations, which the praised contemporary author and ear-witness narrates in chapter 7 of the same History thus: It happened at that time that a certain miracle took place, which we have thought worthy to be inserted in this place. Certain of our preachers, religious men, had disputed on a certain day against the heretics; and one of ours, Dominic by name, a man of all sanctity, who had been the companion of the bishop of Osma, put into writing the authorities which he had brought forward, and handed that paper to a certain heretic, that he might deliberate upon the objections set forth.

[222] which at Montréal, On that night, therefore, the heretics were gathered in one house, sitting by the fire. And he to whom the Man of God had handed the paper produced it in their midst: then his fellows said that he should throw it into the midst of the fire, and if that paper were burned, the faith — nay rather the perfidy — of the heretics would be true; but if it remained unburned, they would confess that the faith which our men preached was true. What more? In this all consent, the paper is thrown into the fire; but when it had lingered a little in the midst of the fire, it leapt back from the fire wholly unburned. As those present were astonished, one harder than the rest said to them: Let it be thrown into the fire again, and then you will more fully test the truth. It is thrown again, and again it leaps back unburned. Seeing which, that hard and slow man to believe said again: Let it be thrown a third time, and then without doubt we shall know the outcome of the matter. It is thrown a third time, and not even then is it burned, but leaps back from the fire whole and unharmed. But the heretics, though they had seen so many signs, would not even then be converted to the faith; but remaining in their malice, they most strictly forbade one another that this miracle should come by anyone's narration to the knowledge of our men. But a certain knight who was with them, who somewhat agreed with our faith, would not conceal what he had seen, but recounted it to many. And this took place at Montréal, as I heard from the mouth of the most religious Man who handed the aforewritten paper to the heretic. From this clause it is plain that Peter heard this from St. Dominic himself, than which no more certain testimony can be required.

[223] and at Fanjeaux remained unharmed in the fire, About the same times something similar is recorded to have happened at Fanjeaux (the French commonly call that town Fanjaux), as after Blessed Jordan and Bartholomew of Trent Constantine of Orvieto in the Acts already often cited, number 11, reports in this manner: Since therefore at that time in those parts there frequently occurred conflicts of disputation between Catholics and heretics, to which a multitude of people of both sexes flowed together, it came about that at Fanjeaux a celebrated disputation was appointed under appointed judges, to whom on either side there should be presented in writing an assertion of the faith which each taught. Wherefore, various little books having been diligently written on this by various Catholics, and brought together in common and discussed by mutual comparison among themselves, the little book which the man of God Dominic had written is commonly commended before the rest, and is decided to be the one presented. And so on the appointed day, and with a multitude of people standing round, the little books of both parties are brought forward into the midst. But since the judges disagreed among themselves, this at length was their common sentence: that they should throw both little books into the flames, and whichever it should befall not to be burned by the fire, that one beyond doubt would contain the true faith. A faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance! A great fire was kindled in public, the little books are thrown into the midst; the little book of the heretical party is at once burned; but the little book of the servant of God Dominic is not only not harmed, but leaps out far from the fire; thrown in a second and a third time, it came forth equally unburned, so that thus the divine power, by a stupendous prodigy in one and the same little book altogether preserved from the fire, might prove both the truth of the orthodox faith and the sanctity of its author — as we know was once wrought in the three youths.

[224] On account of a certain similarity of both these stories it might be doubted which miracle, on account of the different circumstances of place and matter, whether these two prodigies are to be distinguished, especially since most writers make mention of only one of the two: for blessed Jordan, Bartholomew of Trent, and Constantine already reported narrate only that which is handed down to have happened at Fanjeaux; but Humbert in our codex P. Ms. 10 (or whoever perhaps interpolated Humbert), and Nicholas Trevet in the last edition of d'Achery's Spicilegium, volume 3, page 181, record only the miracle wrought at Montréal, which we reported above from Peter, monk of Vaux-de-Cernay. But Dietrich of Apolda below among us at numbers 31 and 46 (to him Bernard Gui is added by Échard) distinguishes both, and Humbert in our Utrecht transcript after narrating the miracle of Montréal subjoins this: Something similar is said to have happened at Fanjeaux, a certain solemn disputation against the heretics having been appointed there in those days.

[225] Échard, volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 8, in the notes, thinks each of those miracles different, we think happened twice. and places the one at Fanjeaux, as publicly wrought, in the year of Christ 1206; but the other at Montréal, done privately among obstinate heretics, he fixes in the year of Christ 1207, as may be distinctly read above in §6 in the chronological compendium of the Acts which we exhibited according to his reckoning. But the praised Nicholas Trevet, who at the end of the XIIIth century lived in the Order of Preachers, reports in his Chronicle only the miracle of Fanjeaux, at the year of the Lord 1205. But the other biographers do not express a certain year. Wherefore we bind neither to a certain time, although on account of the reported testimonies of the ancients, and the different circumstances of the thing done, we judge that both are to be distinguished. To making this distinction we are also moved by the ancient tradition of the inhabitants of Fanjeaux, who preserved the memory of that prodigy by a sacred monument, as the praised Échard, volume 1, page 6, testifies in these words: The fame of this miracle had so settled in the minds of the citizens of Fanjeaux that they took care that the house of the noble man Raymond de Durfort, co-lord of that castle, in which by tradition they had received that the thing was done, should be converted into a chapel under the name of holy Dominic, to which afterward a cloister was joined, and given to our friars. More about this tradition may be seen in Souèges in the Acts of St. Dominic, page 169 and following.

[226] Meanwhile Diego of Osma and St. Dominic, to weaken the Albigensian heresy, founded a monastery of women, The monastery of women at Prouille is founded, the time and occasion of whose foundation Bernard Gui in Edmond Martène, volume 6 of the Most Ample Collection, column 437, thus briefly sets forth: In the year of the Lord 1206 blessed Dominic, the man of God Diego, bishop of Osma, helping him — namely at that time of about two years in which he had stayed in the parts about Toulouse — and also under the patronage of the man in all things memorable, lord Fulk, bishop of Toulouse, by whose help and patronage there was need in this matter, especially in his own diocese, founded a certain monastery which is called Prouille, situated between Fanjeaux and Montréal in the diocese of Toulouse (now that place belongs to the diocese of Pamiers, which chair was erected by Pope John XXII, as Échard notes), for the reception of certain noble women whom their parents, compelled by want by reason of poverty, were handing over to the heretics, who at that time dwelt in great numbers in those same parts and in the neighboring places, to be taught and nourished by them, nay rather in truth to be deluded with errors and slain in soul; as concerning the time and the cause of the foundation is sufficiently gathered and had from the Little book of the venerable father Brother Jordan, Master of the Order, which he composed and entitled: On the beginning of the Order of Preachers. The testimony which is here assigned will be found in the little work of Blessed Jordan below among us at number 21.

[227] which St. Dominic increased not a little Then Bernard in the same place makes mention of various donations made to this monastery, and reports their diplomas, among which the first is that by which Berengar, archbishop of Narbonne, in the year of the Lord 1207, on the day XVII of April, grants various possessions and privileges to the Prioress and the nuns newly converted by the admonitions and examples of Brother Dominic of Osma and his companions, dwelling and to dwell forever in the Castle of Fanjeaux and in the church of blessed Mary of Prouille of the diocese of Toulouse. Afterward various prelates and other pious benefactors increased the goods of this monastery, or confirmed its privileges, as may be seen in the praised Bernard Gui in the column cited above and in many that follow. Souèges in the French Acts, page 174 and following, reports from a certain tradition of the nuns or of the neighboring dwellers that for three nights a fiery globe was shown to St. Dominic, by which the site of the monastery to be founded was divinely assigned. But since the other biographers are silent about this matter, and the authority of this tradition is unknown to us, we leave it untouched without further discussion.

[228] when he had shown nine women By firmer testimonies is strengthened a prodigy wrought about these times, which the venerable Humbert in the Life of St. Dominic, chapter 44, distinctly narrates, and which among us in the Utrecht transcript of the same Life runs thus: When once at the Castle which is called Fanjeaux the same blessed Dominic, in a certain sermon, proving the Catholic faith, had in manifold ways disproved the perfidy of the heretics, after the sermon he remained after his custom in the church at prayer. And behold, nine noble matrons of that same castle, entering the church, fell at his feet, saying: Servant of God, help us. If the things are true which you have preached today, long since has the spirit of error blinded our minds: for those whom you call heretics, but we call good men, we have believed until this present day, and have clung to them with all our heart. But now we waver in the midst. Servant of God, help us, and pray to the Lord your God that he may make known to us his faith, in which we may live, die, and be saved.

[229] Then the Man of God, standing awhile and praying within himself, after a little said to them: Be steadfast, and wait undaunted. I trust in the Lord my God that he who wills that no one should perish will now show you to what sort of lord you have hitherto clung. visibly the demon whom they had served in heresy; And straightway they saw leap forth from their midst a most foul cat, which, having the size of a great dog, had large and flaming eyes, and a long and broad and bloody tongue stretched out as far as the navel; and having a short tail stretched upward, it showed, whichever way it turned, the foulness of its hinder parts, from which an intolerable stench exhaled. And when

it had turned itself hither and thither about those matrons for about an hour, leaping to the rope from which the bell hung, and climbing by it to the upper parts, at length, slipping through the belfry, it disappeared, leaving foul traces behind it. But the man of God Dominic, turning to those matrons and consoling them, said: Behold, by this which has appeared figuratively before your eyes, God so working, you can perceive what sort he is to whom hitherto, following the heretics, you have been in service. But they, giving thanks to God, from that hour were converted to the Catholic faith; some of whom also took the habit of religion among the Sisters of Prouille. Probably Humbert examined that miracle diligently, since he left it to posterity in a more distinct manner than the other writers.

[230] Hence we readily give credence to what Échard, volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., pages 6 and 7, thus produces from the monuments of that same monastery: to which prodigy, and to Échard's other observations, Nine noble matrons, inhabitants of Fanjeaux, were converted from heresy by the preaching and examples of the holy Father through the miracle which they saw of a demon going out under the form of a beast, at the time when the Man of God finished his sermon: one of whom, named Berengaria, in the inquiry made for the canonization of the holy Man testified on oath that the said miracle was seen by her. Dietrich of Apolda below at numbers 43 and 44 will narrate this prodigy from others, and in the authentic Letter of the inquiry of Toulouse, number 11, Berengaria the eyewitness will confirm the same on oath. Then Échard from the same monuments of the monastery names these converted women thus: The names of these nine are these, from the same Acts: Sisters Aadaicia, Raymunda Passarina, Berengaria, Richarda, Barbairana Jordana, Guillelmina de Bellopont, Curtolana, Raimunda Claretta, Gentiana, who entered a house of whatever sort built by the chapel of the blessed Virgin at Prouille on the day of St. Cecilia, the XXII of November, and on the following day of St. John the evangelist, the XXVII of December 1206, were shut in under key, thenceforth not to go out. To these a little after two joined themselves, Manenta and Guillelmina of Fanjeaux, the last of whom blessed Dominic appointed Prioress.

[231] Moreover Échard in the same place, page 7, after reporting the diplomas of Berengar, archbishop of Narbonne, and of Fulk, bishop of Toulouse, bids it be noted we rather give credence, that the erection of this monastery (Diego indeed favoring and lending help) was yet the singular work of Dominic, who both converted those women, as the archbishop says, and instituted them with the best rules, and was their first Prior or provost; which the sacred prelates, praising and fostering, thereafter enriched these nuns with many estates. And these things prove how vigorously from the beginning Dominic sweated at the conversion of the Albigensians, and how efficaciously and prudently at the destruction of the heresy, the princes of the church being witnesses, although the monk of Vaux-de-Cernay mentions him very sparingly. We do not doubt that St. Dominic labored most prudently and most earnestly at converting the heretics, even though Peter, monk of Vaux-de-Cernay, did not mention his great labors one by one. But in the building of the monastery of Prouille we think that Diego of Osma is not to be deprived of his own praise, since Blessed Jordan among us at number 21 attributes the foundation of this monastery to Diego, and Bartholomew of Trent at number 5 writes thus of the same matter: When therefore many through want in those parts were handing over their daughters to the heretics to be reared, Diego founded the monastery of Prouille, gathering handmaids of Christ; and, foretelling the destruction of Toulouse, he died in Castile, and shone with many miracles. From these things we gather that both those champions of the faith strenuously labored together in building that monastery.

[232] than to another miracle, We scarcely know whether there deserves to have place here a certain wonderful and at the same time laughable little narrative, which John of St. Mary after the second book of the Acts of St. Dominic, treating of the origin of the monastery of Prouille and enumerating its first nuns, sets forth in French at page 198 in almost this manner: The monastery having been happily begun, one of the first nine Sisters was tempted to go out, because she could not endure that the beauty of her body should lie hidden in the cloister and be unknown to the eyes of men. In this temptation St. Dominic, about to bring help to his spiritual daughter, who was in the nearest peril of shipwreck, was rousing her with pious exhortation, and striving in various ways to expel that womanly weakness from her heart. But the demon had so deeply impressed upon her mind the desire of pleasing men that St. Dominic profited nothing. Nevertheless the Saint, not losing heart, hoped that he would recover this prey, and therefore poured out prayers for her salvation.

[233] which John of St. Mary alone narrates to have been wrought there. Meanwhile it happened that she blew her nose, and her nose remained in the cloth which she used for cleaning her nostrils. Perceiving this and acknowledging the divine punishment of her vanity, she at once ordered St. Dominic to be summoned, and, repenting of her inconstancy, asked pardon of him, and promised that she would thenceforth be more faithful to Christ her spouse, and would never forsake the house of his most sweet Mother Mary. The Saint, seeing her sincere repentance, commanded her to lay her face upon that same cloth; which done, before all the Sisters her nose was so perfectly restored to her as if nothing untoward had happened. So he alone: for neither among the ancients nor among more recent writers have we found any memory of a like prodigy. Wherefore we give these things as gleanings, to which nevertheless we do not give credence without firmer testimony.

* perhaps "and"

* elsewhere "undaunted women"

* elsewhere "cat"

§ XIV. Other deeds during the ten years which the Saint spent on the conversion of the heretics.

St. Dominic, whom the heretics The venerable Humbert in his Chronicle, in Échard, volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 69, thus summarily reports the deeds of St. Dominic in the parts about Toulouse from the year of Christ 1205 until the year 1215: After the return of bishop Diego to his diocese, blessed Dominic, remaining as it were alone, with a few clinging to him yet without the bond of profession, for ten years through various places of the province of Narbonne, and especially about Carcassonne and Fanjeaux, by attacking the heretics exalted the Catholic faith, and, given to the salvation of souls, devoted himself wholly to the office of preaching, joyfully enduring many humiliations and abjections and straits for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. In those times also he founded the house of the Sisters of Prouille, before the confirmation of the Order. Since the monastery was founded before Diego's return, as all the biographers agree, it is sufficiently plain that Humbert here narrates indiscriminately also those things which happened before Diego's departure, and that therefore he noted the year of the Lord 1205, as we have already remarked.

[235] But what Humbert here briefly touches upon concerning the injuries afflicted with various insults, inflicted on St. Dominic by the heretics, the same author elsewhere, describing the Life of the same Saint, in our codex P. Ms. 10 and in the Utrecht transcript, thus more distinctly explains: He was held worthy to suffer contumely for the name of Jesus; for the heretics mocked and in manifold ways derided the holy Man, spitting upon him, and throwing mud and mean things of this kind at him. There came also afterward one of them, led by penitence, who said in confession that he had struck holy Dominic himself by throwing mud, and had tied straws behind his back in derision. We add nothing here about the Saint's unconquered patience, his ardent desire of martyrdom, and other illustrious deeds and notable miracles which happened at that time: for all these will recur below in Blessed Jordan, Bartholomew of Trent, or Dietrich of Apolda, and in this Preliminary Commentary we discuss only those things which differ from the ancient Acts, or can bring light to them.

[236] Wherefore we proceed with Humbert, who in his praised Chronicle thus pursues the remaining deeds of that time: was most dear to Simon, At that time also the Count of Montfort, fighting against the heretics with the material sword, and blessed Dominic with the sword of the word of God, became in those parts so familiar that the Count willed that blessed Dominic himself should give the blessing at the nuptials of his son's wife, whom he took, namely the daughter of the Dauphin of Vienne, at Carcassonne; and should baptize a certain daughter of his, who, living until today, is Prioress at St. Antoine at Paris, a most religious woman, and is held of great sanctity. Although Peter of Vaux-de-Cernay in the History of the Albigensians, chapter 79, reporting those same nuptials, does not mention this blessing of St. Dominic, yet on account of so express a testimony of the venerable Humbert it cannot be doubted, as Échard in the same place in the notes rightly observes.

[237] Moreover Humbert thus continues: He also gave (namely the Count of Montfort) a certain castle to blessed Dominic for the support of himself to the Count of Montfort, and of those who clung to him in preaching. I suspect that it is the castle of Casseneuil, of which Jordan among us at number 29 makes mention, and whose siege Peter of Vaux-de-Cernay in the History of the Albigensians, chapter 79, particularly describes. Certainly that the Count of Montfort was of a plainly munificent and benevolent mind toward St. Dominic is abundantly clear from the diplomas which Échard, volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., pages 10 and 11, reviews, and from which we here produce one, which runs thus: Let all know that I, Simon lord of Montfort, by the grace of God viscount of Béziers and Carcassonne, with the assent and will of A. (that is Alice) my wife, and A. (that is Amaury) my firstborn, to the honor of God and of blessed Mary, and for the remission of our sins, give and grant and confirm whatever Hugh de Lascum, lord of Laurac and of Castelnau, gave to lord Dominic, Canon of Osma, and to the Brothers and ladies of Prouille, now and forever, which the aforesaid Hugh de Lascum has and ought to have at Villeneuve between Puyserran and Villepinte. Moreover I likewise give and grant and confirm whatever the Brothers of the aforesaid house have or possess by right of purchase or donation, or in any other just manner, or shall have: and that it may remain firm and stable forever, we confirm the present page by the affixing of our seal. Given at Carcassonne in the month of May, in the year of the Lord 1213. Nor had the most pious Count less care of preserving the possessions granted to St. Dominic and his companions, as will be plain from a vernacular diploma which we shall report below on another occasion.

[238] and to other Catholic men, Then Humbert declares by certain examples that Simon of Montfort not only gave to the Saint and his companions excellent indications of love, but left the same benevolence as it were hereditary to his posterity, who were most well affected toward the Order of Preachers. But omitting these matters, which do not properly pertain to the Acts of our Saint, let us record that which belongs more closely to St. Dominic, and which Humbert in the same place thus subjoins to these examples: Moreover, when the time was at hand in which the prelates were preparing to go to the Lateran council, a certain man of Toulouse, Peter Cellani by name, gave himself and the noble houses which he had

beside the castle in that same city, offered them to blessed Dominic, in which he first at Toulouse dwelt with those who clung to him, and there they began to conform themselves to the manners of religious. To this Peter, who then together with his possessions offered himself also to the Saint, Jordan, Bartholomew of Trent, and Dietrich of Apolda add Thomas, a gracious and eloquent man, whom certain more recent writers judge to be the brother of the said Peter — of which kinship there is no memory among the ancients, as Échard noted with Percin and Souèges.

[239] who conferred various possessions on him, Bernard Gui in Edmond Martène, volume 6 of the Most Ample Collection, columns 399 and 400, has this concerning both those companions of St. Dominic: About the year of the Lord 1214, the time drawing on in which the bishops began to go to Rome to the Lateran council, there offered themselves to holy Dominic two upright and fit men of Toulouse, of whom one was Brother Peter Cellani, who was afterward the first Prior of Limoges; and the other Brother Thomas, a man very gracious and eloquent in speech. The first of these offered and gave to holy Dominic and his companions the noble and notable houses which he had possessed at Toulouse near the Narbonnese castle: from which time they first began to dwell at Toulouse in those same houses, and from then all who were with him descended more and more to humility, and conformed themselves to the manners of religious. The aforesaid Brother Peter afterward often said in jest that he had received the Order — namely into his own houses — not the Order him. And in those same houses the inquisitors of heretical depravity afterward dwelt at Toulouse until the present day.

[240] and in this way showed a benevolent and munificent mind Finally Humbert in the same place makes mention thus of the liberality of Fulk, bishop of Toulouse, toward St. Dominic and his companions: But the bishop of Toulouse, a holy man and a zealot of the faith, Fulk by name, with the consent of the Chapter gave the sixth part of the tithes for books and necessaries, hoping that he would have them as faithful champions for storming the heresy. The instrument of this donation in Échard, volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 12, is read thus: In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Be it known to all present and to come that we, Fulk, by God's grace humble minister of the see of Toulouse, for extirpating heretical depravity and expelling vices, and teaching the rule of faith, and imbuing men with sound manners, have appointed as preachers in our bishopric Brother Dominic and his companions, who have religiously purposed to go on foot in evangelical poverty, and to preach the word of evangelical truth. And because the workman is worthy of his food, and the mouth of the threshing ox is not to be muzzled, nay rather he who preaches the Gospel ought to live by the Gospel, we will that, when they go about preaching, they should have from the bishopric the necessaries of life; and with the consent of the Chapter of blessed Stephen and of the clergy of the diocese of Toulouse we assign forever to the aforesaid preachers, and to others whom the zeal of the Lord and the love of the salvation of souls shall in the same way have girded for the same office of preaching, the half of the third part of the tithe which is assigned to the ornaments and fabric of all the parish churches which are in our power, for their clothing and other necessaries in their infirmities, and when at any time they wish to rest.

[241] But if anything shall be left over after the year, we will and lay down toward him. that it be paid back to those same parish churches for their adorning, or to the uses of the poor, according as the bishop shall see to be expedient: for since it is provided by law that some part of the tithes ought always to be assigned and paid out to the poor, it is established that we are bound rather to assign some part of the tithes to those poor who, choosing evangelical poverty for Christ, strive and labor by example and doctrine to enrich all and each with heavenly gifts: so that from those from whom we reap temporal things, we may by ourselves and by others fittingly and opportunely sow spiritual things. Given in the year of the Word incarnate 1215, Philip reigning as king of the Franks, and the count of Montfort holding the principate of Toulouse. Bernard Gui, with a few words differing, reports the same instrument in Edmond Martène, volume 6 of the Most Ample Collection, column 446, where there also follows another, given on the third of the Ides of September, and on the second feria, in the year of the Word incarnate 1217, at Castelnau, by which Fulk of Toulouse and St. Dominic amicably settle a controversy which had arisen about those same tithes, and, as true lovers of peace, cut off thenceforth all matter of litigation.

[242] From Humbert's Chronicle and other testimonies of the ancient biographers we easily gather Since the Saint remained constantly for ten years in the parts about Toulouse, that St. Dominic after Diego's death stayed constantly for almost ten years in Narbonnese Gaul, and usefully spent himself wholly on the conversion of the Albigensian heretics; which Bernard Gui also, in the already often praised Edmond Martène, volume 6 of the Most Ample Collection, column 399, sufficiently indicates in these words: But after the death of the aforesaid lord Diego, blessed Dominic remained for about ten years in the province of Narbonne, chiefly in the parts about Toulouse and of the Carcassès and the Albigeois, in which the heretical plague was raging more widely, confounding the heretics and confirming the Catholics by words alike and examples, announcing the Lord Jesus Christ with signs following and glorious miracles — namely until the time of the Lateran council, which was celebrated under the aforesaid Pope Innocent the third, in the year of the Lord 1215, in the month of November. That the Saint continuously persisted in those provinces during this ten-year period is also sufficiently proved by the chronological series of his Acts, which in §6 we represented from Échard.

[243] his journey to Paris collapses, which Malvenda fixes in the year 1212 or 1213, Nevertheless Malvenda in the Annals at the year of Christ 1215, chapter 22, desires to persuade us of the following: To these times also, he says, I should refer that noble miracle by which holy Dominic, by means of the devotion of the holy Rosary, obtained for Blanche, wife of Louis, the firstborn of Philip Augustus, a son, Louis IX, king of the Franks, distinguished in sanctity. From the Frankish Annals it is certain that holy Louis was born in the year of salvation 1214; it is now probable enough that holy Dominic in the year of the Lord 1212 or 1213, going to the court of the Franks on account of those arduous affairs of the Albigensians, to be transacted with king Philip and his son Louis, visited Blanche, as being his fellow-countrywoman, the daughter of Alfonso king of Castile. All the authors who have published Commentaries on the Rosary hand down this notable miracle, worthy of the Annals, with constant faith: Flaminius in book 2 of the Life of holy Dominic, Castillo in book 1, chapter 7, Sagastizával in book 1 On the Rosary, and others. Then he subjoins a long narrative of this matter, which it does not please me to transcribe in this place.

[244] and which he incautiously drew from Alan, I should readily believe that that story is handed down by almost all the more recent writers; but Malvenda omitted their chief leader, namely Alan Revived, who in part 5, chapter 68, thus narrates the same story: It is read of Blanche, mother of holy Louis, king of the Franks, that when she asked the most blessed Dominic to be willing to pray for her, that the Lord might deign to take barrenness away from her and to confer offspring for his service and honor, he advised and persuaded her that she herself should devoutly recite the Psalter of the glorious Virgin, and should buy many "Patriloquia" (that is Rosaries) to give to all who wished to read it. And when she had devoutly done this, after a short space by the prayers of the blessed Virgin Mary she conceived and bore a most noble, most beautiful, and most devout son Louis, and other royal offspring followed.

[245] which leader others also followed, This leader Abraham Bzovius in the Ecclesiastical Annals at the year of Christ 1213, number 10, Nicholas Janssenius in the Latin Life of St. Dominic, book 1, chapter 5, and John of St. Mary in the French Acts of the same Saint, book 2, chapter 23, followed undaunted; the last of whom attempts to defend this miracle against all the difficulties opposed to it. But all his evasions, and the authority of other more recent writers, the often-cited Échard, a most learned writer of the same Order, made little of, when in volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 11, after reciting the words of Bernard Gui which we reported above at number 242, he thus concludes: But from this narration, in which the other ancient writers agree (namely about the Saint's assiduous stay in the tract of Toulouse or the neighboring provinces for ten years), it is inferred that Dominic during all that intervening time stood continuously in those parts, and did not go out elsewhere; and so that they thrust their own inventions upon us who feign that he then came into France and to Paris. In truth our ancient writers acknowledge no other journey of Dominic to Paris than that which he undertook from Spain in the year 1219, of which afterward.

[246] Among the apocryphal is also to be reported that which Hyacinth Choquet thinks happened about the same times, inserted various fables into their books. and which in the Maternal Bowels of the Mother of God toward the Order of Preachers, chapter 5, he thus abridges from Alan Revived: When the most holy parent Dominic was fighting most keenly against the heresy of the Albigensians, he once withdrew into a wood near to the people of Toulouse, and there with burning sighs, with a great shower of tears, with a three days' fast, and with dire chastisements of the body, his flesh being almost torn with briars and variously mangled, he more earnestly besought the help and protection of the most august Queen of the heavens (whose special office it is to crush the head of the accursed serpent, and to destroy and extinguish every heresy). At length the kindly Mother appeared visibly, raised him up as he lay half dead, and, having received him into her virginal embrace, kissed him with a fixed kiss, pressed him to her most chaste breasts, and refreshed him with an ample draught of her maternal milk. These things Alan in Part 2, chapter 3, adorns with many portentous circumstances, and affirms that he learned all of them from a revelation of the Mother of God visibly and sensibly. But of the credit which is to be given to Alan's revelations and narrations we treated abundantly above in §3. It is wearisome here to report other little fables which Bzovius, John of St. Mary, and others eagerly drew from the same source, and imprudently mingled with the true deeds of St. Dominic. Wherefore rather, for the solid praise of the same Saint, we shall in this place discuss and illustrate some things which within the aforementioned interval of ten years really happened.

[247] Constantine of Orvieto in Échard at number 33 reports among the things done by the Saint in the parts about Toulouse the following miracle: [Truly pertaining to the Saint's glory are the understanding of an unknown tongue,] But this too is not a little worthy of report, which also, through the reverend father Lord Rainerius, venerable Cardinal of St. Mary in Cosmedin, discoursing and reporting it in the Convent of the Brothers on the feast of that same holy man blessed Dominic, in the presence of certain bishops and of not a few other clerics, was found to be altogether true. For it happened once, as the Man of God was making a journey, that there was associated with him a certain religious, familiar indeed in the holiness of his manner of life, but wholly foreign in speech and tongue. Grieving therefore,

that he could not refresh himself in mutual conversation with him about divine words, at length by the urgency of his prayers he obtained from the Lord that the one should speak the tongue of the other, and that thus, their words being interchanged, they should understand each other for the three days during which they were to go together. The venerable Humbert in the Life, chapter 40, Vincent of Beauvais in book 30 of the Mirror, chapter 74, and St. Antoninus in part 3 of the Chronicles, title 23, chapter 4, §10, set forth the same in as many words once.

[248] Dietrich of Apolda among us at numbers 38 and 154 records a similar miracle twice. which miracle seems to be wrongly doubled, Whence Malvenda in the Annals at the year 1211, chapter 4, reports it from Vincent of Beauvais, and, repeating a similar one at the year 1219, chapter 19, from Dietrich and St. Antoninus, in the latter place notes this: But it is hidden from us whether it was one and the same miracle, or a different one wrought at another time and with a different companion; and whether in the one there was granted only a mutual understanding of each other's tongue, but in the other both understanding and speaking of a different tongue. But we rather think that it was only that one miracle which we described at the year of the Lord 1211, chapter IV. Since miracles are not to be multiplied without a solid foundation, we too think it more probable that it was only this one, and we adhere to the opinion of Échard, who in volume 1 of the work already often cited, page 32, in the notes, thus pronounces about that double narration of Dietrich: The miracle here reported Malvenda doubts whether it be single or double, because it is had twice in Dietrich, namely book 1, chapter VII, and again book III, chapter VIII. I should rather judge it single, twice repeated by Dietrich, since it is reported only once by the older Constantine and Humbert.

[249] his ecstasy in the church of Castres, For declaring the Saint's sublime contemplation amid so many apostolic occupations, what Dietrich of Apolda in our Utrecht codex narrates below at numbers 50 and 51 makes not a little. But from his narration the older Stephen of Salanhac somewhat differs, who in Malvenda's Annals at the year of Christ 1212, chapter 6, thus reports the same matter: The blessed Father visited the places of prayer and the bodies of the Saints frequently and gladly, nor did he pass by like a cloud without rain: but there in prayers he frequently joined day to night. And more frequently, as often as opportunity offered, he turned aside to the town which is called Castres in the diocese of Albi, which is contiguous to the diocese of Toulouse, out of reverence and honor for the most blessed levite Vincent, whose body without any doubt is known and is certain to rest there from the time of Charlemagne, the glorious king, as the history written of this hands down, made by manifold revelation; the miracles cry out, the church, wonderfully built there by the faithful peoples, testifies: but also everyone walking in the spirit, as soon as he enters the church, drinks in and feels the power of the Saint with his spiritual senses. Various churches contend among themselves about the relics of that martyr — which dispute does not pertain here, and about which our Predecessors said enough at the day XXII of January in the Acts of St. Vincent.

[250] which Stephen of Salanhac, Moreover Stephen in the same place thus continues to our purpose: In this church the aforesaid noble count of Montfort, when he ruled in that land, established secular prebends after the manner of the Gallican church, and there Brother Matthew was Prior, who was afterward in the Order of Friars Preachers the first and last abbot, and Prior at Paris, as I have heard said, and the first Prior of France, as is noted below. In the time of this Prior blessed Dominic after his custom remained praying before the altar in the church. But when the day was already advanced, and dinner was prepared, and the table laid, the Prior sent one of the clerics to call the Saint to dinner; who, when he had entered the church, saw the blessed man Dominic wholly separated from the ground, and lifted as it were half a cubit into the air. Trembling and astonished, he announces this to his lord, who, waiting some while, at length went, and saw him lifted about a cubit, and waited so long until, returning from the heavenly habitation to bodily dwelling, he lay prostrate before the altar. Seeing this, the said Prior after a short time followed him, who promised the bread of life and the water of heaven to himself and to all whom he received: for this manner blessed Father always kept when he received Brothers and gave them the habit. Malvenda in the Annals of the Order at the year of Christ 1220, chapters 34 and 35, on the occasion of Brother Matthew, recites the same story from an old Lectionary.

[251] and Dietrich of Apolda narrate in different ways, Dietrich among us at number 50 says that St. Dominic was invited at Castres by the abbot, and that one of the clerics who stood by the abbot saw this wondrous elevation of the body. Certainly at that time there was at Castres a monastery of the Benedictine Order, as is clear from the diploma of William, abbot of Castres, which our Predecessors exhibited at the day XXII of January on the occasion of the relics of St. Vincent, §3. But this discrepancy does not prevent us from giving credence to this miracle, which Stephen of Salanhac, Dietrich of Apolda, and Bernard Gui confirm by their testimony. Not so certain is the miracle which Battista Fregoso in book 1 of Memorable Deeds and Sayings, chapter 6, briefly records in these words: In the city of Castres too there is an opinion that a Crucifix spoke to Dominic, which at this time also is reverently venerated and shown. Perhaps Fregoso reported this from the tradition of the citizens of Castres, with whom we leave the credit of this miracle, since the ancient biographers made no mention of that matter. Wherefore we pass on to illustrating the outstanding humility of St. Dominic, by which he constantly refused the ecclesiastical dignities offered to him.

[252] Already above we have rejected the narration of Alan Revived, and his flight from ecclesiastical dignities, who feigns bishoprics offered to the Saint in Galicia and Armorican Brittany. But we do not know at what value are to be held those things which Antonio Senense in the Chronicle of the Order of Preachers, page 42, thus writes: The blessed father Dominic was being promoted to the archbishopric of Tarragona, or (as Claude a Rota will have it in his sermon or Legend of blessed Dominic our father, which he has partly from James of Voragine, partly from others) to the bishopric of Cotoron and of Citavia; but he preferred to announce Christ in the life of poverty which he had chosen, and therefore always constantly fled dignities of this kind. The divine Antoninus affirms of him that he refused episcopal dignities offered to him several times, and in chapter IV says that he refused three episcopal dignities presented to him at different times. All the ancients keep deep silence about the archbishopric of Tarragona which the Saint is said to have refused, so that accordingly we do not know whence Antonio Senense dug out that notice.

[253] But as regards the other bishoprics which he records from Claude a Rota, by which St. Dominic refused three bishoprics, we suspect that their names stand dislocated in these and other writers, and that for the bishopric of Cotoron should be read that of Couserans, as Constantine in the Acts of St. Dominic at number 44 sufficiently hints by this expression: Being once elected bishop of Couserans, he altogether refused, protesting that he would sooner leave the country than in any degree consent to any election made of himself. This is confirmed from the authentic Letter of the inquiry of Toulouse, in which the sworn witnesses at numbers 2 and 3 affirm the same about the bishopric of Couserans, and in which in the same place at number 11 Raymond and Zonzamias said that they heard from him that he would sooner flee by night with his staff than accept a bishopric or any other dignity.

[254] Of two other bishoprics offered to the same Saint John the Spaniard testifies in the juridical Report of the inquiry of Bologna, offered to him in Gaul, he refused. where below among us at number 33, being asked to what bishoprics St. Dominic had been elected, he answered, to that of Béziers and of Comminges. With these agree Stephen of Salanhac and Bernard Gui, who according to Malvenda's testimony at the year of Christ 1212, chapter 5, or page 104, in a certain commentary of the Order write thus: Blessed Dominic refused a bishopric in the province of Narbonne, and the bishopric of Comminges, and the bishopric of Couserans in Gascony, as was found concerning this by sworn witnesses of that time, when the inquiry was made by the authority of Gregory the ninth concerning the life and manners and miracles of blessed Dominic, when he was to be entered in the catalogue of the holy confessors, in the year of the Lord 1233; leaving in this very thing to us his Brothers and sons an example, that, following his footsteps, especially those of poverty and humility, we may be able to attain to the glory and crown of the eternal kingdom the more confidently as the more securely, if we flee the glory and honor of this world with heart and mind. Here therefore we have assigned from ancient instruments three bishoprics, of which Échard in the chronological series of the Acts above in §6 at the year of Christ 1212 makes passing mention, and which the Saint really refused, so that there is no need with Alan Revived and his other followers to seek fictitious refusals of this kind in Galicia and Armorican Brittany. Now certain small disputations must be undertaken about matters which happened within the same ten years, or are ascribed to St. Dominic.

* In our Manuscript, "became friends to such a degree,"

* elsewhere "doctrine"

* elsewhere "strive"

§ XV. Some other things which are said to have happened then in the parts about Toulouse, and are attributed to the same Saint.

Caesarius of Heisterbach in book 9 of Illustrious miracles and memorable histories, chapter 12, narrates the following prodigy: A certain priest scatters the illusions of demons, At that time, he says, when the Albigensian heresies began to be manifested, certain malignant men, supported by diabolical power, showed certain signs and portents, by which they both strengthened those heresies and subverted many of the faithful in the faith; they walked upon the waters and were not submerged. Seeing this, a certain priest, Catholic in faith and religious in life, knowing that true signs cannot go with false doctrine, carried the Body of the Lord with the pyx to the river where they were about to show their powers to the peoples, and said in the hearing of all: I adjure you, devil, by him whom I carry in my hands, that you exercise not in this river, through these men, such fantasies for the subversion of this people.

[256] shown by the Albigensian heretics, After these words, while they walked upon the waves of the river as before, the priest, troubled, cast the Lord's Body into the river. Wondrous power of Christ! For as soon as the element touched the Sacrament, the fantasy yielded to the truth, and those false Saints, going down like lead, were submerged in the deep; but the pyx with the Sacrament was straightway taken up by angels. The priest, seeing all these things, exulted indeed at the miracle;

but grieved at the loss of the Sacrament: and passing the whole night in tears and groaning, in the morning he found the pyx with the Sacrament upon the altar. These things were reported to us at that same time. We are not unaware that that Caesarius was ready to consign to writing any reports and popular rumors whatever; but this excessive credulity of his does not pertain to the matter which we here undertake to examine.

[257] which matter some rashly attribute to St. Dominic. When Malvenda in the Annals at the year of Christ 1211, chapter 8, had reported the same prodigy from Caesarius, he attributed it by conjecture to St. Dominic, and thus excuses that priest's deed: Nor let that deed of the priest, casting the Eucharist into the water, seem rash and atrocious to anyone: for it is certain that it was attempted by the priest only by divine instinct, that the miracle might be the more brilliant and illustrious, as the outcome of the matter showed. Bzovius in the Ecclesiastical Annals at the year of Christ 1211, number 10, also reports this miracle among the deeds of St. Dominic, whom Nicholas Janssenius in book 1 of the Latin Life, chapter 5, followed. Finally John of St. Mary in book 2 of the French Life, chapter 22, without any hesitation eagerly seizes upon this very thing, and at the end of the cited chapter adds that it is evidently demonstrated from the circumstances that that deed of the anonymous priest is to be ascribed to St. Dominic. But Souèges in the French Life, pages 216 and 217, for various reasons judges that that deed is by no means (not even by conjecture) to be attributed to the Saint. We, on account of the silence of the ancients and other reasons, subscribe to Souèges's opinion, and altogether adjudge that miracle away from St. Dominic: for if it had been publicly wrought, the contemporary witnesses of the inquiry of Toulouse and of Bologna, and the ancient biographers, would not have kept silence about it.

[258] When the king of Aragon in the year of Christ 1213 was bringing great reinforcements to the Albigensians against the Count of Montfort, The Saint was present at the famous battle at Muret, a battle was joined at the castle of Muret, which is three leagues distant from Toulouse, in which the king of Aragon himself fell, and the Count of Montfort with a small band of soldiers by God's help routed a huge army of the enemy. It is not our design to describe at length this prodigious victory, which Peter of Vaux-de-Cernay in the History of the Albigensians, chapter 72, and William of Puylaurens in his Chronicle, chapter 22, and other historians generally recount copiously. But what properly belongs to our part let us now pursue (I use Malvenda's words at the year of Christ 1213, chapter 6): namely, what the holy father Dominic did when so notable a battle was fought. The Frankish, Spanish, and Aragonese Annals, which we cite quite often, hand down with wonderful agreement that the man of God Dominic was present in the fortress of Muret with the other bishops and religious men, pouring out prayers to God at that time in which Simon was entering upon that great battle and gloriously conquering. But let us explain a little more clearly what Malvenda here touched upon in passing about the Frankish Annals.

[259] François Duchesne among the writers of the history of the Franks, volume 5, published a little work and there with others poured out prayers for the Catholic army; entitled Illustrious Deeds of the Franks, and which reviews in chronological order the chief deeds of Simon of Montfort and of others from the year 1201 until the year 1311, where at page 768, after the narration of the aforementioned battle and of the prodigious victory, the following is read to our purpose: But meanwhile, while the war of the Lord was being waged, seven bishops who had come together — Fulk of Toulouse, and Guy of Carcassonne (for Carcassonne must be substituted Béziers, as Échard shows in the place presently to be cited), and Seditius of Agde, of Nîmes, of Uzès, of Lodève, and of Comminges — and three abbots, namely of Clairac, of Villemagne, and of St. Thibéry, with their clerics and some religious, among whom was the religious friend of God Brother Dominic, Canon of Osma, afterward the instructor and founder of the Order of Friars Preachers, entered the church, after the example of Moses in Joshua's battle lifting their hands to heaven, beseeching the Lord for his servants who were exposing themselves to the peril of imminent death for his name and faith; and praying and crying out to heaven they sent up so great a bellowing on account of the impending distress that they seemed rather to be howling than praying. Bernard Gui, as reported in Échard, seems to have excerpted his account from this little work, and in the Lives of the Roman Pontiffs, which were lately published among the Writers of Italian Affairs, volume 3, column 483, similar things are repeated. By these testimonies at least those are refuted who doubt whether St. Dominic was present at this battle at Muret.

[260] But some more recent writers, not yet content with that presence, but he is falsely said then to have carried the cross in the front line, will have it that St. Dominic then bore before the first line of the Catholics an image of Christ crucified, and thus gave the soldiers courage for the fight. Among them Nicholas Janssenius in book 1 of the Life, chapter 6, thus briefly maintains that action of the Saint: Then it came about that Count Montfort subdued whatever remained to be conquered by arms, Peter king of Aragon being slain, who had come to the aid of the rebels. A great part of the sacred soldiers had flowed together (the ancient historians reckon only eight hundred or a thousand) who, marked with the cross, had given their names to the sacred warfare. These he was leading out against the enemies of religion; Dominic went before, unarmed, with a wooden cross, and, as I said above, grazed by no weapon, and the image of Christ untouched, he was a great part of the victory. That effigy of the cross exists at Toulouse in the house of the sacred Inquisition, certainly most illustrious by a twofold miracle, in that it both remained unharmed and preserved Dominic unharmed. John of St. Mary in book 2 of the French Life, chapters 26 and 27, sets these things forth at greater length.

[261] which amid dense showers of missiles remained unharmed, Malvenda, treating of this effigy of the Crucified, seems forgetful of himself: for in the Annals at the year of Christ 1213, chapter 6, he asserts that St. Dominic prayed in the castle of Muret with the bishops and others for the happy outcome of the contest, while the Count of Montfort was fighting; and yet afterward at the year of Christ 1215, chapter 5, he writes thus of the cross of Toulouse: Nor have we thought that this should be omitted in this place, which we have often heard from trustworthy and approved witnesses: that there still exists at Toulouse in the house of the sacred Inquisition the sacred image of Christ crucified, which in the wars which Simon of Montfort waged against the impious Albigensians holy Dominic was wont to carry before them in place of a military standard: bearing that salutary sign often into the wedges of the enemy as a most certain token of death; which, although the shaft itself and the wood of the cross show themselves pierced in many places with the perforations of arrows and hostile weapons, yet the image of Christ affixed to the cross is still seen whole and unimpaired without any injury, and is adored with the highest veneration of all: so that hence one may marvel at a twofold great miracle then wont to be wrought — both of the unharmed image of Christ, and of holy Dominic, who, carrying it unarmed, amid the densest showers of arrows and weapons received neither wound nor harm.

[262] as is still shown at Toulouse; How do these things cohere with what precedes? How did St. Dominic in that battle carry the image of the Crucified amid dense showers of missiles, if at the time of that fight he was praying in the Castle of Muret with the bishops and abbots, as Malvenda affirms above? Whence Jacques Quétif of the Order of Preachers, who once, staying at Toulouse, had seen that cross, on the testimony of Échard, volume 1, page 10, added with his own hand to the earlier words of Malvenda this note: Hence is sufficiently overthrown the asserted presence of holy Dominic in the battle, bearing the cross raised in his hand; which is even now seen at Toulouse, small, pierced with the shafts of arrows, in the house of the Inquisition — a thing which is proved by no authority of the ancient Writers. If Malvenda should perhaps wish that this was done in some other battle, he contradicts the tradition of Toulouse, which asserts that St. Dominic bore that same image of the Crucified, hitherto reverently preserved at Toulouse, in the fight at Muret, as Souèges in the French Acts of the Saint, page 242, testifies; who nevertheless in the same place wrongly thinks that Bernard Gui was silent about the presence of his holy Father in the castle of Muret: for Bernard Gui expressly says that St. Dominic prayed there with the others, even though he keeps deep silence about the cross borne by him.

[263] Wherefore Échard, volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 10, against Souèges and other defenders of the tradition of Toulouse thus argues from the words of Bernard Gui: but Échard by various arguments For the rest, from this it is had that, when Montfort was joining hands with the enemy, Dominic prayed to God in the chapel with the bishops, and implored help from heaven upon the arms of the Catholics, which was most worthy of his gravity, piety, and zeal. But thence you may gather that in Bernard Gui's age there had not yet been invented what has now generally prevailed among more recent writers, namely that Dominic, bearing a cross in his hands, went to meet the enemy in the first front of the Catholic line, and that all the arrows shot from every side were received on the cross, yet so divinely that none fell upon the figure of Christ, but was fixed either at the sides or between the legs — which cross they say is even now preserved and shown among our brethren of Toulouse. These things, I say, were not yet so narrated in the age of Gui, who nevertheless for several years, namely from 1308 to 1322, acted as inquisitor at Toulouse: otherwise so most curious an investigator of the affairs of the Order would not have omitted these things, nor would he have exhibited Dominic so distinctly as praying with the bishops in the church while the battle raged.

[264] Then Échard in the same place sets forth the various ways and by explanations in which the cross was wont to be carried in this war, and thus opportunely discourses to the present matter: But it is easy to bring light to these things, if one attends to the manner in which the cross was borne by the crusaders in battles or in the siege of cities: for first, each had a certain cross sewn on his outer garment about the breast, as a sign of the sacred warfare, upon which, if at any time an arrow fell, it was several times observed to go back with the blow vain; concerning which see the monk of Vaux-de-Cernay, chapter XXXIV. Second, in the siege of cities they set a cross on the top of their engines, which the heretics, hating it, strove with all industry to shatter with stones hurled against it. See the monk of Vaux-de-Cernay, chapter LII. Third, when they assailed some castle, and the soldiers attempted an assault, the bishops and clergy withdrew to a certain safe place, where, out of all danger, with the cross set before them, they invoked divine help. This third manner he confirms by the words of Peter of Vaux-de-Cernay, chapter 63, where he treats of the assault made on the castle of Moissac. Finally he proves a fourth manner of carrying the cross from the same monk of Vaux-de-Cernay, who in the History of the Albigensians, chapter 37, makes mention of the surrender of the fortress of Minerve.

[265] But that in a fight, Échard adds in the same place, when the opposing lines were charging on either side, impugns this tradition of Toulouse, any cleric or canon or monk, otherwise unarmed, went before in the front of the Catholic army bearing a cross, is read neither in the monk of Vaux-de-Cernay nor in the other writers of this war;

nor is it probable; since it would not have been prudent so gratuitously to expose oneself to danger, and to tempt God, who did not command these things. Finally, after the other things already reported, Échard makes this conjecture about the effigy of the Crucified which is now shown at Toulouse: And so if the cross, he says, is of that age, as they will have it, it is perhaps that not which was carried in the battle, but which the bishops ordered to be carried before them, and which, when the bishop of Comminges imparted a blessing from a higher place to Montfort and his troops, as the monk of Vaux-de-Cernay has it in the place cited, they carried back with them into the church, to entreat the Lord before it for the happy outcome of the fight: to which finally, as a sign of the victory, they may have affixed certain arrows of the enemy, and hung them up as a kind of trophy of anathema.

[266] of whose truth others long before him doubted. Nor is Échard the first to call this tradition of Toulouse into doubt: for already a hundred years ago Guillaume de Catel in his French History of the Counts of Toulouse, book 2, among us page 298, doubted of that same tradition, as Ángel Manrique also noticed, when in the Cistercian Annals at the year of Christ 1213, chapter 8, number 7, after the aforementioned battle at Muret, he subjoins this: That holy Dominic, who scarcely ever departed from Fulk, remained with the bishops and religious men in the castle, several authors hand down; although there is not lacking someone who says that he ran along the lines, carrying before the soldiers the sacred image of Christ hanging on the cross, and animating them to the fight. Nay, I read that the cross itself is still preserved today (in the margin he here cites Fernando del Castillo), pierced with an arrow in that very battle from among those which were hurled by the adversaries. Which nevertheless, being passed over by the ancients, Guillaume de Catel and others hold suspect. Nevertheless Souèges in the place cited above defends that tradition tooth and nail; but his chief argument, which he frames from the silence of Bernard Gui, rests on a false hypothesis, as we noted above. If moreover anyone should prove from ancient documents that in some other battle or occurrence that Crucifix which is preserved at Toulouse was pierced with the arrows of the Albigensians, we shall so far not oppose the tradition.

[267] The Saint in the tract of Toulouse, a possessed man There seems also to have happened in the tract of Toulouse the prodigious deliverance of a possessed man, which Constantine of Orvieto in the Life of St. Dominic at number 34 reports in these words: Nor was the power of the Most High lacking to the man of God Dominic, for the confirmation of his sanctity, in putting demons to flight: for so also the same Lord Rainerius, venerable Cardinal (on whose testimony he had before narrated that miracle which we reported in the preceding paragraph at number 247), narrated in the same sermon to the Brothers before all the aforesaid persons, with faithful attestation indeed. On a certain day, while the man of God Dominic was in a certain church, it happened that a man possessed by various demons was presented to him. And he, having taken a stole, first put it about his own neck, then with the same girded the neck of that demoniac, commanding them that henceforth they should not vex that man. But they straightway began to be strongly tormented in the body of that possessed man, and to cry out: Let us go out. Why do you compel us to be tortured here?

[268] wonderfully freed from many demons, But he said: I do not let you go, unless you give me sureties that you shall by no means henceforth return here. What sureties, said they, can we give you? And he: The holy martyrs whose bodies rest in this church. They said: We cannot, because our deserts forbid. You must give them, said he; otherwise I shall by no means let you go free from this torment. Then they answered that they would take pains for this so far as they could; and after a short interval they said: Behold, we have obtained, though undeserving, that the holy Martyrs have gone surety for us. What sign, said he, do you give me that this is true? They said: Go to the chest in which the heads of the Martyrs are laid up; you will find it turned about. A wondrous thing, and altogether to be ascribed to divine prodigies! It was looked into, and it was found in all respects just as they had declared. Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers at the year of Christ 1221, chapter 16, explains how that wonderful suretyship could have been made.

[269] Humbert in the Acts of St. Dominic, chapter 41, sets forth the same miracle in as many words, which prodigious deliverance and after this and another casting out of demons, in the same place, chapter 43, adds the following: It was also found by those to whom after the death of the Man of God the inquiry was committed concerning the miracles wrought by him in the parts about Toulouse, a certain priest attesting, whom not only his office but also the maturity of his age rendered worthy of credence, that in his parish there had been a man who had long been grievously vexed by a demon. But when the man of God Dominic had come there for the sake of preaching, by his prayer and devotion he both drove out the demon and freed the man. He added moreover that in the same parish he restored many to health from the languors of fevers by the suffrage of his prayers. Probably Humbert in this place alludes to the authentic examination of the witnesses of Toulouse, whom we shall hear below after the Acts.

[270] Moreover we suspect that the miracle reported above, or a similar one wrought in the parts about Toulouse, perhaps furnished a foundation for a more portentous story, gave occasion for embellishing the narrative which Abraham Bzovius thought should be inserted in the Ecclesiastical Annals at the year of Christ 1213, number 12, since he thinks the thing happened in this very year 1213 or the preceding, at Carcassonne. Wadding in the Annals of the Minors at the year of Christ 1219, number 22, and Dermot Thaddeus in the Splendor of the Franciscan Religion, page 3, complain of Bzovius on account of this very account, and charge him with bad faith and interpolated reading. But since this interpolation makes nothing for the Acts of St. Dominic, it is not for us to settle that dispute. Rather it belongs to us to investigate who was the first reporter of that portentous story. And this seems to have been Friar John Martin, who from the ancient biographers collected in French the Acts of St. Dominic, into which he mingled various apocryphal things which ought never to have been inserted into history, as we said above in §4 with Échard when treating of him. Certainly Bzovius cited no older author, when at the end of the narration John Martin of Valenciennes is alleged by him as witness, part 1, chapter 5, from Jordan, Constantine, Humbert, and Dietrich, writers of the Life of holy Dominic.

[271] Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers at the year of Christ 1215, chapter 23 and following, reports the same prodigious story from the Great Mirror of examples, for which the ancient biographers whose collector also does not seem to have known any witness of this account older than John Martin, whom he there in Malvenda, chapter 25, indicates at the end in these words: From the Legend of holy Dominic, which is taken from the four writers of his Life; namely from Brothers Jordan, Constantine, Humbert, and Dietrich of Apolda, pious and learned men of the Dominican Order: and the venerable Religious of the same Order Brother John Martin, of the Convent of Valenciennes, translated it into the French tongue, who reports the aforesaid miracle in part 1, chapter 5, folio 35, column 4. So the collector of the Great Mirror of examples, who doubtless thought that John Martin had reported that stupendous miracle from some one of these four ancient biographers. Alfonso Fernández, book 2 On the Rosary, chapter 6, and Gilles de Lalaing, part 2, chapter 4, §1, and other Dominican writers generally allege the same John Martin as the first reporter of this miracle.

[272] are falsely alleged, But lest anyone be incautiously deceived by the specious name of the ancient authors from whom John Martin is said to have collected the French Legend of St. Dominic, we warn the candid reader that not one of the four praised writers of the Life makes mention of so prodigious an expulsion of so many demons as is reported by John Martin, by the editor of the Great Mirror of examples, by Abraham Bzovius, Thomas Malvenda, and others more recent. In the aforesaid narration of Constantine of Orvieto it is indeed handed down that St. Dominic freed a possessed man from various demons, and Dietrich of Apolda below at number 47 will also indicate this in a few words; but in that account of John Martin and of the other more recent writers that number of demons swells to fifteen thousand, and all are said to have been expelled by the power of the Rosary, of which these two ancient writers say not a word. Yet we readily believe that this wonderful and true expulsion of various demons furnished a foundation to some imprudent fabulist, so that from it he might strike out a new prodigy and embellish it with various circumstances, although the one story differs very much from the other, as will become manifest to one who compares both. We have not leisure to transcribe that lengthy narration, which whoever delights in longer fables of this kind may read in the places cited in Bzovius and Malvenda or others.

[273] and of which we give an epitome from Janssenius, Yet that the reader may have some rough idea of this more recent story, we give it here from Nicholas Janssenius, who in the Life of St. Dominic, book 1, chapter 5, somewhat softens it, and abridges it in this manner: He (namely St. Dominic, whom he there asserts to be the first founder of the Rosary) was delivering a sermon on the cult of the Rosary; when a heretic, as he discoursed at length on its use and advantage, barked at him with cynic mouth, and bit him. And behold the punishment which generally accompanies such an offense. So great a force of demons filled him that you would have believed hell had migrated. The wretch raved, foamed, tore himself; he twisted his countenance, mouth, and eyes in a foul manner. Hereupon all entreated Dominic to bring help even to the undeserving. And as he pressed the foul spirits with various questions, they openly declare the cause of their irruption to be: first indeed, that he had shamelessly attempted to injure the honor of the Virgin. Then because, having a month before been taught these very things about the Rosary, he had laughed at Dominic, and had now brazenly dared openly to violate it, and to drive others like himself against the head of an innocent man. Hence, after various things said and answered back and forth, Dominic anoints the possessed man's neck by casting upon it a wreath of roses, and adjures the demons to disclose who among Christians are most of all damned. Hereupon they were anxiously pressed, threw blood from their nostrils, mud from the ears, and foamed at the mouth. Being compelled to speak, they said: We possess a huge number of princes and prelates, but of tenant farmers or rustics not so great: merchants and townsmen we have very many, whom generally avarice, frauds, dainties, and pleasures plunge into hell. Of priests finally and religious, being compelled they confess that of the former there is a great number; of the latter only those who, taking no account of their state and of the observance of religion, have obeyed extraordinary desires rather than the admonitions of their superiors and the rule.

[274] After these and other things of this kind they are more insistently required who softened it not a little, to declare openly what Saint in heaven they fear above the rest, and whom men ought to worship and venerate above all. Hereupon they roared, bellowed horribly, and dismayed the bystanders, so that most seemed to lose sense and mind. On the contrary the Man of God roused them,

and admonished them to be of good cheer, and not to dread these empty terrors. Then, silence being imposed, he declares to the demons that he would never cease to torment them unless they answered his question openly and in the hearing of all. When they promised that they would say it secretly, and affirmed that it could not be done otherwise without notable loss and detriment to themselves, the holy Father with fervid affection, his knees pressed to the ground, entreats the Mother of God that the obstinate ones might be compelled to the truth by the power of the most holy Rosary. Wondrous to say and to see! Straightway a flame is poured out from the man's mouth, and with wretched wailing they beg to depart. All in vain: for Dominic again entreats the Virgin to be mindful of her own honor and of the cult of the Rose-garland; let the demons themselves at length confess how the matter stands; it is the time in which the truth must be carved out of the architects of lies.

[275] He had finished, when suddenly a throng of heavenly angels glides down, and abridged from a lengthy narration, and the Mother of God herself takes her stand in the midst: with a golden rod she strikes the man, and orders them to utter truly what Dominic demanded. Then they cried out and wailed: "O our enemy! O condemner, our confusion! Why have you come down from heaven to torment us here? Now through you, who despoil hell and intercede for sinners as a powerful advocate, O most sure way of heaven, we are compelled — alas! we are compelled — to speak the very truth. That must be declared by which we ourselves shall be vehemently confounded. Woe and cursing to the princes of darkness! Hear then, Christians. This Mother of Christ is indeed powerful in preserving her clients from being rolled headlong into hell. She it is who, like the sun, disperses the darkness of our frauds; who unnerves and dissolves whatever we contrive. Whoever shall have persevered in her holy cult cannot perish: for she avails more than all the Saints. And be assured that very many, while they implore her in the last act of life, have been preserved against our right: and had she not withstood our attempts, we should have destroyed almost the whole Church. Moreover (which, O the shame! we are compelled to declare) no one, no one who has persevered in the cult of the Rosary is adjudged to eternal punishments: for she grants to her clients that they repent of the crimes committed; whence it comes about that they cast them away by confession, and obtain sure pardon from God."

[276] Those craftsmen of falsehood had said these things, when the blessed Father rouses the congregation to repeat the Psalter. in which occur some things, They repeat it; and behold a stupendous thing. At each Ave Maria each of the demons departs in the likeness of a most burning coal. And at length, the unhappy man being freed from those guests, the Mother of God, having invoked blessings upon all who were present, withdrew from their eyes. At this catastrophe the heretics were astounded, and, Dominic exhorting them, not a few came over to the true faith of Christ and to the Rose-garland cult of the Virgin. Thus far Nicholas Janssenius, who passed over in silence the huge number of those demons, and cautiously softened other incredible expressions of the longer narrative. We know indeed that the hand of the Lord is not shortened, and that God works marvels through his Saints; but what sensible man would at once give credence to this narration without older witnesses and records? Who would readily believe that before twelve thousand men, as is handed down in the first account, these prodigies happened publicly at Carcassonne, and that not one of the three hundred contemporary witnesses who were juridically heard in the examination at Toulouse made mention of matters so memorable?

[277] which do not sufficiently befit St. Dominic's prudence. Add that in those questionings of the demons and their answers there occur some things which do not seem to befit the prudence of St. Dominic, which virtue was certainly greatest in him, and which Pope Boniface VIII had been wont especially to praise in that Saint, as an anonymous writer of the beginning of the XIVth century of the Order of Preachers in Échard, volume 1, page 2, testifies in these words: Boniface, sometimes speaking of our Father blessed Dominic, used to say: That wise man did or said thus. Whence Melchior Cano in his Work on Theological Topics, book XI, among us page 535, rightly said: While some indulge their own feeling too much, and write those things which the mind of the writer dictates, not the truth, they sometimes exhibit to us such Saints as the Saints themselves, even if they could have been such, would not have wished to be. And so it pertains to the greater glory of St. Dominic, and we think we do a thing most pleasing to the same Saint, when we reject unfitting inventions of this kind. For the rest, the most solid devotion of the Rosary, which the Catholic world approves by daily use, which God often confirms by certain miracles, and which the Roman Pontiffs have adorned with singular privileges, has no need of such props, as we shall see afterward.

§ XVI. The judicial acts which the Saint exercised against the Albigensians, and on this occasion a digression about the punishments of heretics.

St. Dominic seems From two formulas which still survive we easily gather that St. Dominic often juridically enjoined penance upon heretics brought back to the Church, and exercised several judicial acts of this kind. Copies of these formulas occur generally in Janssenius, Souèges, Échard, and other Dominican writers, and Malvenda in the Annals at the year of Christ 1215, chapter 7, reports the first thus: To all the faithful of Christ to whom the present letters shall come, Brother Dominic, Canon of Osma, least of preachers, greeting in Christ. By the authority of the lord abbot of Cîteaux, legate of the Apostolic See, who enjoined this office upon us, we have reconciled the bearer of these presents, Pons Roger, converted, by God's bounty, from the sect of the heretics: charging, in virtue of the oath taken, that on three Sundays or feast days he be led by the priest, naked but for his breeches, from the entrance of the town as far as the church, being scourged.

[279] We enjoin upon him also that he abstain from flesh, eggs, and cheese, not only to have enjoined a penance on repentant heretics, or all things which draw their origin from the seed of flesh, at all times, except on the day of Easter and the day of Pentecost and the day of the Lord's Nativity, on which, for the abjuration of his former error, we command that he eat them. Let him keep three Lents in the year, abstaining from fish; on three days in the week let him always abstain from fish and from oil and wine, and let him fast, unless bodily infirmity or the labors of summer require a dispensation. Let him be clothed with religious garments both in form and in color, on which, straight over each breast, let small crosses be sewn. Daily, if it be convenient, let him hear Mass, and on feast days let him go to the church for Vespers. The other hours, both nocturnal and daily, wherever he shall be, let him render to God; namely seven times a day let him say the Our Father ten times; at midnight twenty times. Let him observe chastity, and in the morning at the town of Céret let him show this charter to his chaplain every month. To the chaplain also we command that he take diligent care of his life. Let him observe all these things diligently, until the lord legate shall otherwise express to us his will upon these matters. But if he shall scorn to observe them, we command that he be held as a perjurer and a heretic and excommunicate, and be cut off from the fellowship of the faithful. Échard, volume 1, page 9, in the notes, conjectures that this charter was written in the year of Christ 1208, even though the year and month are not expressed in it.

[280] Malvenda at the same year, chapter 8, thus recites the other copy: To all the faithful of Christ to whom the present letters shall come, having enjoined penance, Brother Dominic, Canon of Osma, humble minister of preaching, greeting and sincere charity in the Lord. Let the discretion of your whole body know by the authority of these presents that we have granted to Raymond William of Alta Ripa Pelaganirius leave to keep with him in his house at Toulouse William Ugotio, once invested with the heretical habit, as the same asserted before us, conversing after the manner of other men, until the lord Cardinal shall give a more express command upon this to us or to him: and that this shall not turn to his — namely Raymond William's — infamy or damage. Échard in the place just cited, in the same notes, most probably gathers from the title of Cardinal which is here mentioned that these letters were given between the year 1210 and 1215.

[281] St. Dominic also seems to have received from the Apostolic legates the power of convicting heretics in a juridical examination, but also to have handed over the obstinate to the secular judgment, and of handing over those obstinate in their errors to the secular judgment, as we gather from the story which Constantine of Orvieto in Échard at number 36 thus narrates: Once, as the man of God Dominic was preaching in the parts about Toulouse, it happened that certain heretics, being taken and convicted by him, since they were unwilling to return to the Catholic faith, were handed over to the secular judgment. And when they had been appointed to the fire, looking among the rest upon a certain man named Raymond de Grossi, as though he had beheld in him some ray of divine predestination, he said to the officials of the court: Reserve that man, and let him by no means be burned with the rest; and turning to him and speaking kindly, he said: I know, my son, I know that yet, though late, you will be a good and holy man. A stupendous thing, and worthily to be commended to memory! For being dismissed, he remained for almost twenty years in heretical blindness; but at length, enlightened by God's grace, leaving the darkness, he came to the light: for, being made a Friar Preacher, in that same Order he both led his life laudably and happily consummated it. Vincent of Beauvais in book 30 of the Mirror, chapter 77, reports precisely the same, and Échard, volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 33, in the notes on this text of Constantine, observes that Humbert in chapter 45 took over this story in as many words, and thinks that that matter happened between the year of Christ 1209 and 1215.

[282] as Malvenda gladly admits; But we marvel that other notes were not here added by Échard, especially since Malvenda in the Annals at the year of Christ 1215, chapter 9, looking back to that story which he had reported at the same year above, chapter 2, from Vincent of Beauvais and others, writes thus against a certain heretic: We do not deny that holy Dominic was the first who by inquisitorial authority (in the following paragraph we shall investigate whether he did this by the office of first Inquisitor) punished heretics with fire; and we have seen above in this year that at Toulouse, the Man of God himself both convicting and judging, heretics were consumed by fire, and one was reserved: and in previous years, when Simon, Count of Montfort, was occupying various places by arms, many obstinate heretics were burned, as we have said above, holy Dominic doubtless acting as Inquisitor. Therefore that dog bearing a torch in its mouth, which was observed in a dream by holy Dominic's mother before she bore him, seems rightly to have designated both the untiring office of teaching and preaching and of guarding the Lord's flock, and the office of the Inquisition, both of which wonderfully flourished in the apostolic Man and in his Order.

[283] but Échard denies this last, But on the contrary Échard contends that St. Dominic persuaded the heretics to conversion by preaching alone and by the example of his life, and never involved himself in their punishments. This opinion of his he diligently inculcates in various places, and especially repeats it when the Saint in the authentic Letter of the inquiry of Toulouse is by eyewitnesses and sworn witnesses

not without great praise twice and a third time called a persecutor of heretics: for on this title, in volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 56, among other things in the notes he thus anxiously warns: Do you see in what way he was an assiduous persecutor of heretics? Namely by refuting them both by word and by the example of a good life, not by seeking their throats, not by threatening steel and fire, which was not of his office. But what, I pray, of sin or dishonor would redound upon St. Dominic, if he by a delegated power of the Church had handed over obstinate heretics to be punished by the secular arm, as we commonly say, just as he enjoined penance upon those who repented by the same authority of the Apostolic legate?

[284] to whom we oppose the doctrine of St. Thomas, Certainly no Catholic can doubt of that power of the Church, which is proved by countless examples and testimonies, and which Alfonso de Castro, Jodocus Coccius, and other writers have vindicated in whole volumes against the heterodox. Here we only produce the divine Thomas, who in the Theological Summa, 2a 2ae, question XI, article 3, confirms the same power of the Church from the opinion of St. Jerome, and thus explains this matter by a familiar comparison: I answer that concerning heretics two things are to be considered. One indeed on their own part; the other on the part of the Church. On their own part there is the sin, by which they have deserved not only to be separated from the Church by excommunication, but also to be excluded from the world by death. For it is much graver to corrupt the faith, by which is the life of the soul, than to falsify money, by which temporal life is supported. Whence if forgers of money or other malefactors are at once justly handed over to death by secular princes, much more can heretics, at once, from the time they are convicted of heresy, not only be excommunicated but also justly slain. But on the Church's part there is mercy for the conversion of those who err; and therefore she does not condemn at once, but after the first and second correction, as the Apostle teaches: but afterward, if he still be found obstinate, the Church, having no hope of his conversion, provides for the salvation of others by separating him from the Church by the sentence of excommunication, and further leaves him to the secular judgment, to be removed from the world by death.

[285] What therefore hinders us from saying with Malvenda the zeal of St. Ferdinand the king, that St. Dominic left to the secular power to be punished those heretics convicted by him and obstinate after repeated admonitions, of whom Constantine reported above makes mention? Certainly this in no way stands against his sanctity, since zeal of this kind against obstinate heretics is praised in the Acts of the Saints. Therefore Lucas of Tuy in the Chronicle of the world, which was published in volume 4 of Spain Illustrated, among us page 112, extols holy king Ferdinand with these praises: To such a degree, he says, kindled with the fire of Catholic truth, did he strenuously rule the kingdom subject to him, that he pursued the enemies of the Christian faith with all his might, and burned in flames whatever heretics he found; and he himself, in place of servants, supplied fire and wood for burning them. Lest here perhaps someone seek an escape and answer us that these things befit royal severity rather than priestly mildness, we shall produce a few examples of most pious prelates and priests who handed obstinate heretics over to the secular arm.

[286] The first occurs in France, where Euraud de Châteauneuf, the practice of orthodox prelates, who in France, convicted of heresy by Hugh, prelate of Auxerre, and persisting in it, was burned, as in the History of the bishops of Auxerre, chapter 58, in Labbe, volume 1 of the Manuscript Library, page 477, is narrated in these words: When at length the infamy of the heresy with which he was branded grew strong against him, that bishop, as he was a chief zealot of Catholic doctrines and a fervent extirpator of heretical perversity, in the council of Paris, convoked at Paris by Octavian, Cardinal priest of the Roman Church, who then discharged the office of legate in France, with many archbishops, bishops, and other persons of ecclesiastical dignities or lower administrations being present, publicly accused him of heresy, and, being accused, convicted him by irrefragable testimonies: being convicted, with the council's approval he received the sentence of condemnation; being condemned, he breathed out his profane soul by the burning of fire, receiving worthy wages of his deserts, and imprinting on his family a foul mark of perversity and everlasting reproach.

[287] In this matter altogether singular is what happened in Belgium in the year of Christ 1234, and which our John Buzelin in the Annals of Gallo-Flanders, book 6, at that year reports from ancient monuments in this manner: and in other regions Against heretics at Douai in the same year most justly and most severely was action taken. Ten men imbued with that poison had been found; and certain persons had labored in vain to bring them back from their insane mind to the right one. Therefore, when it had been resolved to punish them according to their deserts with a signal punishment, nothing was lacking to the solemnity of the judgment and of the penalties. Opportunely there had then come into these parts Henry, archbishop of Reims, and Father Robert of the Order of the Dominicans was present, endowed by the supreme Pontiff with the power of seizing and punishing heretics. Nor did Godfrey, pontiff of Cambrai, Asso, bishop of Arras, and Walter of Tournai suffer their own presence to be missed. There also joined them Joanna, princess of Flanders, with much nobility of her dominions in attendance. And that the more terror might be struck into the multitude of men, Sunday in the month of May was chosen for the punishment, so that all the citizens and the inhabitants of the neighboring places, being at leisure from their works, might take in the spectacle. Therefore, with so many most noble men and countless crowds of people standing by and looking on, outside the gate of Olivet, on the road that led to Lambres, they were cast into the flames and consumed.

[288] permitted obstinate heretics to be put to death, Caesarius of Heisterbach concerning a similar punishment which obstinate heretics underwent at Cologne in his time, in book 5 of Miracles and memorable histories, chapter 19, thus makes mention: About those times, under archbishop Reynald, several heretics were seized at Cologne, who, being examined and overcome by lettered men, were condemned by the secular judgment. Sentence being given, when they were to be led to the fire, one of them, Arnold by name, whom the rest confessed to be their master, as those who were present related, asked that bread and a basin with water be given him. When certain persons wished this to be done, prudent men dissuaded them, saying: Something might be done here by diabolical working which would be for the scandal and ruin of the weak … They were led outside the city, and cast together into the fire beside the cemetery of the Jews. Then this writer in the same book, chapter 22, reviews by name certain heretical clerics who, convicted of heresy by the bishop and the theologians, were burned at Paris for their obstinacy. Not to be longer here, we omit St. Peter Thomas of the Order of Carmelites, who in the island of Crete implored the help of the duke for putting heretics to death, and at length obtained it, as may be read among us at the day XXIX of January in the Acts of that Saint, chapter 7, number 43 and following.

[289] and against whom we argue But that Échard may not think this severity dishonorable to his holy Founder or to his renowned Order, we shall supply him with some domestic examples, among which Leander Alberti in the Work on the Illustrious Men of the Order of Preachers, book 2, among us folio 59, reports one in these words: When Bosnia and Dalmatia were agitated with the greatest errors, heretics seducing the peoples, the prelate of Kalocsa was sent thither by the supreme Pontiff as Legate, that either by persuasions or by the arms of the crusaders he might compel them to return to a sound mind. But when they could be plucked from their errors neither by words nor by arms, the prelate committed the matter, altogether desperate, by the Pontiff's order to the Preaching family; who, diligently and undauntedly carrying out the Pontiff's commands, began by literary disputations and sermons to press those stained with the blot of heresy so keenly, king Coloman assisting, that they compelled many to return from darkness to the light of the true faith. But at the beginning several of the Brothers, while they most constantly defended the faith of Christ, were crowned with martyrdom. At length, their footing being made firm, they handed over to the fire many entangled in errors and obstinate in their perfidy.

[290] from domestic examples of the Preachers, Leander in the same Work, book 4, folio 149, records other examples of this kind, and thus praises severe censors of heretical depravity: Behold James of Ferrara with Louis of Pisa accompanying James de Petris of Brescia, interpreter of sacred theology, a most severe file of heretics, and Vercellinus of Vercelli, a learned and erudite man, flourishing about the year of the Lord 1470. O how severely all these proceed, and especially that James of Brescia, who, never fearing anyone for the faith of Christ, adjudged to the fire several infected with the blot of heresy and not repenting; whose footsteps Anthony of Casale followed, who in the past year, by himself and his vicars, handed over more than thirty to the fire, being inquisitor at Como, where he ended his life.

[291] Hence also Malvenda in the Annals at the year of Christ 1215, chapter 8, adorns his Order with such a eulogy: in which Malvenda glories; How much glory, splendor, and dignity the Order of Preachers has, because through the authorship of holy Dominic that so sacrosanct office of Inquisitor took its first origin, and thereafter was happily propagated to the later Friars Preachers, can scarcely be expressed in words. This was plainly a divine invention, and in it the Dominican religion brought a great advantage to the Christian commonwealth: since by that safeguard chiefly the audacity of heretics is blunted, the orthodox are kept in their duty, the purity and sincerity of the Christian faith is preserved unimpaired, the depraved and noxious shrubs of heresies and false dogmas being plucked out and extirpated root and branch; and finally all heretics, innovators and alterers of sound doctrine, being extinguished by fire and steel if they do not repent, or at least deterred, put to flight, and routed. What excellent service the religious Preachers have always rendered in this office to the province of the Christian world, with what admirable integrity, industry, and prudence they have perpetually administered it, and what deeds worthy of themselves and of the Christian people, and salutary to the Church, they have excellently performed in that kind, our Annals in their own times and places will stand as most abundant witnesses.

[292] But lest any scruple remain to Échard, we shall also exhibit from our Work some illustrious men of that same Order nay, from the deeds of the Saints whom the Church has inscribed in the catalogue of the Saints or of the Blessed, although they severely proceeded against heretics. The first according to the series of our Work is St. Antoninus, taken from the Order of Preachers to the archbishopric of Florence, concerning whom at the second day of May, volume 1 of that month, page 339, in the summary of the processes, the following is read: A certain heretic, Master John called de Canibus, a newcomer dwelling on Florentine soil, a magician and necromancer, and obstinately thinking ill of our most blessed and immaculate Lady, ever virgin Mary, Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, after canonical admonitions and due examination and a just process of his condemnation, he dismissed into the hand of the secular court, by which at last, persevering publicly in his obstinacy, he was burned. Leander Alberti, book 3 of the Work cited above, folio

100, thus briefly praises the same zeal of the Saint: Nor was greatness of mind lacking to Antony (this name he received in baptism, as we have noted elsewhere) at that time, when he adjudged that a most sordid man and detestable head, John Canini, whom he had detected to be infected with heretical depravity, should be burned in the flames, many of the citizens not approving it.

[293] The second is Blessed John Dominici, raised from the same Order to the purple, we show the same Order's severity, who is celebrated in our Work at the day X of June, where in the second volume of that month, pages 396 and 397, his eulogy is reported from the aforementioned St. Antoninus, who in the same place, Part 3 of the Chronicles, title 23, chapter 11, §3, writes thus of him, once his own master, after other things: At the request of the lord emperor Sigismund he was sent as legate into Hungary, to extinguish the heresy of the Bohemians which had arisen. He, having set out thither, when he had seen that that nation was hardened in that heresy and could not be brought back by words, advised the emperor to expose those peoples to the sword, while they were still weak in power; lest perhaps, when afterward multiplied, they could not be subdued. That speech seemed hard to the emperor, and, compassionating their bodies carnally, lest they should be slain and his kingdom desolated, he did not consent, perhaps hoping that they might be recalled from their errors by another means. The outcome taught that the blessed Man's counsel was useful, and that kingdoms are ruined in wretched ways unless heresies that arise are at once extirpated, as we observed in the same place, page 399, in the Annotations. Third in the same Order occurs Blessed John of Vicenza, whose Acts were illustrated at the second day of July, where in volume 1 of that month, page 485, Gerard Maurisius, a contemporary writer, has this about him to our purpose: He was there a persecutor of heretics, so that he had several burned.

[294] that severity, We are not unaware that this rigid practice of the Saints greatly displeases heretics, and that they rave with continual complaints against the sacred tribunal of the Inquisition as cruel. Whence from their sect Philipp Camerarius in the first century of his Leisure Hours, chapter 58, strives by many arguments to persuade that liberty of religion should be permitted with impunity, and thus ineptly complains of St. Dominic himself: Dominic, author of one of the four mendicant Orders, first introduced burnings and scorchings among Christians for religion's sake, and therefore his imitators still claim the Inquisition as peculiar to themselves, and in many places exercise it severely. And they hand down that his mother, when about to bear him, dreamed that she was bringing forth a huge dog which carried a burning brand in its mouth; which brand perhaps designated the pyres in which an infinite multitude of men has been reduced to ashes. What that heterodox man in this place blathers about an infinite multitude of men reduced to ashes could easily be refuted, if it were worth the trouble, since from the ecclesiastical histories of various times and places it is established that countless Catholics were destroyed by heretics with flame and sword.

[295] or rather the care of preserving the faith, But there suffices here the brief refutation of Malvenda, who in the Annals at the year of Christ 1215, chapter 8, after reporting this heretic's words, thus answers: Let these be to us palm-crowns, that the Religion of the Preachers was born for extinguishing heretics in the world, and for cutting off the impenitent with sword and flame. But it is not true that holy Dominic first introduced burnings and scorchings among Christians for religion's sake: for as regards heretics to be punished with the capital penalty, it is certain that the emperors Valentinian and Marcian inflicted the extreme penalty upon such plagues, as appears from the Theodosian Code. If anyone desires to know these things more distinctly, let him consult Jodocus Coccius, volume 1 of the Catholic Thesaurus, book 7, article 27; the most eminent Bellarmine, volume 2 of the Controversies, book 3 On the Laity, chapters 21 and 22; Alfonso de Castro, and others generally to be met with, who allege the ancient laws of the emperors and the evident testimonies of the ancient Fathers. Then Malvenda in the following chapter assigns very many examples of this matter preceding the age of St. Dominic, from which it is clear that Camerarius talks nonsense when he mendaciously ascribes to this Saint the first practice of capital punishment employed against heretics.

[296] Finally Malvenda in the same place forearms the Catholic reader against a certain political opinion of Justus Lipsius in these words: which heretics and politicians hate, But beware of those things, and read them cautiously, and at the same time embrace the doctrine and usage of the Church, that all heretics detected, obstinately persisting in their opinion after instruction and sweet and kindly admonitions, unless a clear and evident hope of conversion (which is rare and difficult) should shine forth, are to be consumed by the punishment of fire. There exist on this matter innumerable opinions of theologians and jurisconsults; but meanwhile do you consult these few: Alfonso de Castro, book 2 On the just punishment of heretics, chapter 12 and following; Bellarmine, book 3 On the Laity, chapters 21 and 22; Báñez, 2a 2ae, question 1, articles 3 and 4; Azor, Part 1 of the Institutions, book 8, chapter 13. The Church of Christ by divine counsel judges that no more present remedy can be applied to the disease of heresy than that the putrid and affected parts be cut off with steel and fire — a most grievous and desperate evil, assuredly.

[297] Of these things we have disputed so fully, because there are found today under the name of Catholics certain innovators and which perhaps Échard judges too savage, who grant to the Church only a certain persuasive power in converting heretics. Among these, however, we by no means number Échard, who perhaps adjudges such judicial acts away from St. Dominic because he judged that severity less honorable to his holy Founder. But by the examples of Saints already mentioned we have removed this scruple from him. But if perhaps he did it because in his opinion the tribunal of the Inquisition had not then yet been instituted, he profits nothing the more: for from the older examples it is manifest that heretics were examined by bishops or theologians, and after obstinacy handed over to the secular judgment, although at that time the tribunal of the Inquisition against heretical depravity had not yet been instituted in the present-day manner.

[298] And so here between us and Échard, as we think, is by no means dishonorable to the Saint. only this question is agitated: whether St. Dominic ever handed obstinate heretics over to the secular power to be punished. He denies it, because he judges that it is nowhere clearly enough expressed. But we contend that this is sufficiently drawn out from the aforesaid narration of Constantine of Orvieto and its circumstances, and we affirm it with most Dominican writers. But although the Inquisition had not then been instituted, the Saint could have done it by the order of the Legates of the Apostolic See, or of the bishops, to whom at that time the examination of heretics belonged, and by whose authority he exercised other judicial acts in the same matter, as we have seen above. Most easily could this have happened when the Saint was vicar of the bishop of Carcassonne, who was absent from his diocese, as Dietrich of Apolda below at number 50 will testify. Who would believe that Guy, bishop of Carcassonne, that most fervent preacher of the crusade, who intimately knew the integrity and virtue of our Saint, and had committed his own office to him, reserved to himself, though absent, the examination of heretics? But now it is time that we inquire whether St. Dominic was the first to administer the office of the Inquisition.

* elsewhere "in his house"

§ XVII. Whether the Saint was appointed by the Roman Pontiff the first Inquisitor against heretical depravity?

The Preachers confidently claim the first office of inquisitor for St. Dominic, A long-standing dispute is now agitated between the Cistercians and the Dominicans, while these attribute the beginning of the Inquisition against heretics to St. Dominic; those ascribe the glory of this office's beginning to their own St. Peter of Castelnau. Each of the litigating parties adduces many witnesses for itself, and thinks its own cause most just. Malvenda in the Annals at the year of Christ 1215, chapter 6, briefly pronounces that by the consent of almost all it is held most fully ascertained that holy Dominic first, in that form and manner in which it now flourishes and is administered, discharged the office of delegated and ordinary Inquisitor against heretical depravity in the province of Narbonne, and was the first Inquisitor in the Church of God. Nicholas Janssenius in the Commentary on the Life of St. Dominic, page 250, asserts that the reader himself, if he shall have consulted the Preaching Contest of Alfonso Fernández, will judge in this matter that the contrary opinions have been so throttled that they ought to be buried deep. Nay, Luis de Sousa in the Portuguese Annals of the Order of Preachers, Part 1, book 1, chapter 3, confidently demands of Ángel Manrique and another writer of the Cistercian Order that in this controversy they retract their opinion.

[300] and the Cistercians confidently vindicate it for St. Peter of Castelnau, But Ángel Manrique afterward in the Cistercian Annals at the year of Christ 1204, chapter 3, confirms by many arguments the opinion which thirty-six years before he had set forth in the Evangelical Laurel, and there at number 14 invites the Dominicans to a retraction, and with equal confidence warns them that the glory which hitherto — held by our men, he says, as though abandoned — they have appropriated to themselves in good faith, as we think, they should of their own accord restore, now at length reclaimed by its true owners, and not without the due interest of thanks. Then he protests that he wrote these things with no other end than of making the truth known, being always ready, he adds, if anyone should demonstrate otherwise (for by words alone, I confess, I shall not be moved), to recant these and whatever other things: for I do not think our own men to be such as need fictions; nor, if they needed them, would they accept them from us, at least knowingly; for as we never spare our own true possessions, so we altogether refrain from others'. Augustin Sartorius, who published at Prague in the year 1700 Cîteaux Twice Third, or an Eulogistic History of the most sacred Cistercian Order, in title XXIV of that Work, page 684 and following, reduces the arguments of Ángel Manrique to a compendium, and strenuously defends his opinion about the beginning of the Inquisition against the Dominicans. Hence it is sufficiently plain that the writers of each Order greatly trust in the equity of their own cause.

[301] in which controversy outside writers Other authors who have written on this matter outside both Orders, and who therefore would be the best judges in that cause, also disagree among themselves: for Aubert Le Mire in book 5 of the Monastic Origins, chapter 16, pronounces thus in favor of the Cistercians: Blessed Peter of Castelnau, a Cistercian monk in the monastery of Fontfroide in France and in the diocese of Beauvais, was the first Inquisitor of heretical depravity appointed by Pope Innocent III. Then he attempts to prove this title of first Inquisitor by various testimonies and arguments, and in the same place after them thus concludes: These things it has seemed good to set forth somewhat more at large, that against the common opinion we might show that not to the Dominicans, but to the Cistercians, the office of the Inquisition first instituted against heresies is owed. Le Mire has agreeing with him the most illustrious Sponde, who in the Continuation of the Ecclesiastical Annals at the year of Christ 1208, number 4, writes that Peter, a Cistercian monk of the monastery of Fontfroide of the diocese of Beauvais (or, as others will have it, of Narbonne, where there is a monastery of that name and Order), first of all consecrated with his own blood the tribunal of the holy Inquisition, which by him and by the same abbot Arnald and his companion Ralph,

concerning whom above, before the rise of the Dominican Religion, took its beginning, and firmly established it; and that to him, as to the primary minister of that same holy office, appointed by the Apostolic See, is owed whatever so many Cistercian monks, and so many illustrious men of the family of the Preachers, instituted afterward, thereafter performed under the title of the Inquisition for extirpating heresies. To this opinion certain other outside writers also assent, as may be seen in Ángel Manrique in the Cistercian Annals in the place just cited, number 3.

[302] But on the contrary Flaminius in the Life of St. Dominic, folio 18, favors the Preachers, also disagree among themselves. and narrates this about their most holy Founder: After he had treated in the monastery of Prouille of sending Preachers through various places (as we have shown), while he was offering sacrifice there, he turned to the multitude which had gathered from various places to that place, celebrated among the peoples by ancient veneration, and for the feast day, and declared to all that he had been made by the supreme Pontiff Inquisitor against the heretics, and that a business of the holy faith most necessary had been committed to him; which he affirmed that he would so handle that he wished all to be admonished that he would spare no one whom he should have detected an enemy of the Christian faith; and that, where spiritual arms did not avail, he would stir up peoples against them together with princes and kings, and would pursue them with war, and overthrow their cities. Stephen of Salanhac in Malvenda's Annals at the year of Christ 1217, chapter 3, reporting the same threat of the Saint, says not a word about the office of Inquisitor. Nevertheless Francisco Peña in his Commentary on the Directory of Nicholas Eymeric, Part 3, Comment 32, in the Venetian edition, among us page 461, thus positively attributes that office to the same Saint: The office of delegated Inquisition (that I may say it here in passing) is ascertained to have been first committed, in the province of Provence, or in Narbonnese Gaul, to blessed Dominic, and from him to have taken its first beginnings about the year 1200 in the times of Innocent the third, supreme Pontiff. To this opinion our Famiano Strada, and several outsiders, subscribe, whom Luis de Sousa in the Work mentioned above, and other Dominican writers, generally review. Since therefore those very men by whose judgment the dispute is to be decided do not agree among themselves, let us briefly hear the chief arguments of each side.

[303] Ángel Manrique in the Cistercian Annals at the year of Christ 1204, chapter 3, Dominican writers for their opinion and again at the year 1210, chapter 4, contends that St. Dominic received from Arnald the Cistercian the power of acting against heretics, just as today in Spain private and inferior Inquisitors are wont to receive the same from the Inquisitor general. This the Dominicans do not deny, since it is established from St. Dominic's own letters, which we reported in the preceding paragraph; but they add that that power was afterward granted to their holy Founder immediately by the Roman Pontiff himself, as Nicholas Janssenius in the praised Commentary on the Life of St. Dominic, page 252, indicates in these few words: That authority of punishing or reconciling heretics the blessed Father had first received from Arnald, abbot of Cîteaux, Legate of the Apostolic See. But he was not called Inquisitor, until Innocent III had confirmed that office to him. Malvenda in the Annals at the year of Christ 1215, chapter 6, also confesses that our Saint before the Lateran council exercised in the province of Narbonne the office of Inquisitor by the authority of the Apostolic legates; but afterward in the same Annals at the year 1217, chapter 3, he affirms that that office was committed to him immediately by the Pontiffs Innocent III and Honorius III.

[304] adduce the letters of Pope Sixtus V, When the praised Ángel demands that the letters of these Pontiffs be exhibited to him, the Preachers answer that they are indeed no longer to be found, but that this matter is sufficiently established from the thirtieth constitution of Sixtus V, who in the year 1586 prescribed the Office of St. Peter the martyr of the Order of Preachers to be celebrated with a double rite: for there the Pontiff, on the occasion of that holy Inquisitor, whom he praises for his fervent zeal against heretics, after other things thus makes mention of the beginning of the Inquisition: Kindled by imitation of the blessed father Dominic — as he, by continual sermons and encounters of disputation, and by the office of the Inquisition, which our predecessors Innocent III and Honorius III had first committed to him, bore himself wonderfully against the heretics — so he himself, since he had never in any discourse left any place for stirring up those sons of perdition, then, in discharging the office of Inquisitor committed to him by Apostolic letters, did not cease with a certain wondrous diligence to pursue and press them. This is the chief foundation on which Malvenda, Bzovius, and most Dominican writers rest.

[305] to which Ángel Manrique answers, But Ángel Manrique in the Cistercian Annals at the year 1204, chapter 3, number 13, thus answers this argument: The one authority of Sixtus V strikes reverence into us, and would strike fear, did we not know that this matter is altogether of those in which the successors of Peter are accustomed never to assert, much less to define, but precisely to speak according to the common mind, and generally according to the mind of the petitioners: as those who allow their own judgment in such matters, not maintaining, but condescending to what is proposed to them. The Pontiff's opinion could indeed even in these matters have an executable authority, as not definitive but judicial, if it had been pronounced after the parties had been cited and heard, and the proofs and instruments of both weighed. But with one party neither heard nor cited, what either could he or would he judge that should harm us? Especially since he is not held to have in the shrine of his breast these special instruments, which circulate outside the body of law, much less those which lie hidden in the Vatican archives alone: wherefore he does not will them to be derogated from, whenever he makes no mention of them. What of this, that in the same letters it is held that holy Peter of Verona was the first martyr slain by heretics on account of the office of inquiring into them committed to him? And yet that our Peter of Castelnau long before was slain by the same for the same cause, not even the authors against whom we dispute can deny. So the monks of Monte Cassino and of Fleury, contending with each other about the precious treasure of the body of the holy father Benedict, produce Pontifical letters for themselves; which, while they stand in the way of both, favor neither, and are equally rejected by both. Then he subjoins several examples of this kind, concerning which the Papebrochian Responses and our Acts of the Saints may be consulted in various places.

[306] The Sartorius cited above in the Eulogistic History of the Cistercian Order, Title XXIV, page 687, approves this answer of Ángel, and which Augustin Sartorius explains. if one is to proceed with scholastic rigor. But indeed, he subjoins, if the historical authority of the Pontiff Sixtus is to be weighed with a more kindly spirit, we shall be able to use the interpretation that the Pontiff asserted for the divine Dominic the honor of first Inquisitor, namely in his own Order, not in the universal Church, which we admit without controversy and with reverence. And this manner of reconciliation shines forth openly from the very context of the letter and from the Dominican history. Sixtus asserts in the same style that the divine Peter of Verona, a glorious martyr of the same Order of Preachers, was the first martyr slain by heretics on account of the office of the Inquisition which he had exercised; and the Dominican History, book 1, chapter 3, affirms that the praised Peter, a most sacred victim for religion, first consecrated by his blood the sacrosanct office of the Inquisition. Understand: the first of the sacred family of the Preachers, but not the first simply: otherwise the Pontiff's words and the History of the Order would not cohere with antiquity and truth, since forty-four years before Peter the martyr of Verona there was cruelly slain by heretics in hatred of the faith, and on account of the exercise of the most holy Inquisition, St. Peter of Castelnau, that most glorious martyr of Christ from Cîteaux — which even the Dominican writers themselves do not deny. It is not to be presumed that the Pontiff and the sacred Order of Preachers corrected a history which had already for three hundred years and more been true; but the words of both are to be taken in a fitting sense, so far namely as they do not prejudice a third party (Cîteaux), to which neither Sixtus nor the Dominicans are to be thought to have wished to derogate in anything. There is to be assumed in this place, and as it were set down as a principle, that dogma of the jurisconsults: If an act is not valid as it is performed, let it be valid as far as it can be valid. Pope Sixtus asserted in the alleged letter that father Dominic was the first Inquisitor; and because he could not be first simply, since our Cistercians Peter, Arnald, and Ralph preceded him, he is to be understood to have been first of his own Order, which he founded. And thus likewise the reasoning and line of parity is to be drawn from the divine Dominic, first Inquisitor — in the sense now explained — to the divine Peter of Verona, first martyr of the Inquisition, both first; but only in their own family of the Preachers.

[307] We judge that this offered condition for settling the dispute is not to be admitted by the Dominicans; If the dispute is about the name of Inquisitor since Malvenda in the place cited above, according to the common tradition of the Order, expressly pronounced that St. Dominic was not merely in his own Order, but the first Inquisitor in the Church of God. Wherefore Luis de Sousa and Francisco Araújo and other Dominicans afterward distinguished (this distinction Ángel roundly calls an evasion) between Apostolic Legates and Inquisitors, and grant to St. Peter of Castelnau the title of Apostolic Legate, but deny that of Inquisitor, which latter they judge should be attributed to their holy Patriarch before all. But Ángel in the Cistercian Annals at the aforesaid year proves from various letters of Innocent III that Arnald with his companions was specially destined for extirpating heretical depravity, and that to them there was granted by the Pontiff, in the provinces of Narbonnese Gaul and in the neighboring dioceses also, if any are polluted with the stain of heretics, full faculty of doing all those things which afterward were wont to be done by the Inquisitors of the faith against heretics.

[308] which some attribute to ancient expellers of heretics, We have therefore in these letters of Innocent III the office of Inquisitors, even though the very word Inquisitor is not expressed in them. Whence also it is by no means a wonder that those Cistercians and St. Dominic are named Inquisitors by authors of later times, from the office which they bore, according to the phrasing of their own age. Thus John de Poelde, senior Canon of the church of Hameln, who in the year 1374 wrote the Chronicle of that same church, attributes to St. Boniface, the apostle of the Germans, the title of Inquisitor, when in Meibom, volume 2 of German Affairs, page 513, and in Mencke among the Writers of German, especially Saxon, Affairs, published again, volume 3, column 820, he narrates this: This athlete and warrior Boniface flourished thirty-three years in the bishopric of Mainz, converted the Franks, Bavarians, Thuringians, Hessians, Frisians to the true faith. By Apostolic authority he had been Inquisitor of heretical depravity, whence with the help of the said king Pepin he destroyed many heretics, and handed them over to be burned by fire. Certainly in the eighth century, in which that St. Boniface was crowned with the laurel of martyrdom, such assailants of heretics were not yet called by the title of Inquisitors. Wherefore that Canon John attended rather to the thing than to the name, and according to the common usage of his own century to this holy

destroyer of heretics ascribed the title of Inquisitor. So also our Predecessors on the V of March called St. Peter of Castelnau the first Inquisitor of the faith rather from the thing than from the name.

[309] attending rather to the office than to the title, Our Paul Sherlog also seems to have looked to this, when in volume 3 of his Reflections on the Song of Songs, Investigation 34, number 31, he attributes to St. Dominic, according to the Sixtine bull, the title of first Inquisitor. But in the same place, after reporting the fragment of the Sixtine bull, he presently subjoins the following: But if by Inquisitors it is better to understand those to whom an ample faculty against heretics was granted by a special motion of the supreme Pontiffs, that power was certainly granted before holy Dominic to the abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Fontfroide, as the letters of Innocent addressed to him indicate. If therefore the Preachers should leave aside the question about the name, on which it does not please us to dispute at length, and should agree with the Cistercians about the substance, we shall gladly admit that St. Dominic was in his own Order the first Inquisitor of heretical depravity appointed by abbot Arnald. Hence perhaps our John Azor, Part 1 of the Moral Institutions, book 8, chapter 18, question 1, says that the office of the Inquisition was in a certain respect first committed to St. Dominic. But when the Dominicans and other writers assert that that office was afterward confirmed to him immediately by Innocent III and Honorius III, they ought to prove their assertion from the very letters of those Pontiffs, or at least from ancient authors.

[310] it is to be ascribed strictly to neither Saint; But if the Cistercians and Dominicans go on disputing about the first and strictly so-called title of Inquisitor, and contend that it should be given to one or the other of their Order's Saints, we shall adjudge this name away from both with Échard, who in volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 88, thus discourses of that matter: On this occasion it is asked whether holy Dominic was a censor of heretics, and, as they say, appointed Inquisitor? I answer briefly that it is certain among all that he did not discharge this office; nay, that no other bore it before the fourth Lateran council. Hence those greatly go astray, and betray themselves as quite ignorant of the deeds of that age, who assert that Peter of Castelnau was the first Inquisitor. He was an Apostolic legate against the Albigensians; but not therefore to be called Inquisitor; otherwise all legates, nay all bishops, to whom by right it belongs to proceed against heretics, would have to be called Inquisitors, which I do not know whether they would easily endure. Échard here treats of the strict name of Inquisitor: for if we look at the thing itself, all bishops by right and office are Inquisitors of heretical depravity. But when he adds that he does not know whether they would easily endure it, he speaks according to the custom of his own country: for in Spain and Portugal the highest prelates do not disdain the title of Inquisitors.

[311] Then in the same place he thus continues: But there is something further. Namely, Peter really exercised no act of the Inquisition; yet this office was not lacking in St. Peter of Castelnau, he had no need to search out whether there were heretics, and who they were: for then the enemies of the Catholic faith openly betrayed themselves, disputed publicly on equal terms in appointed places against the Apostolic legates and the preachers who assisted them, and defended their errors with all their might; there is no memory of any Albigensian heretic seized up to the year 1209, of any handed over to the secular arm, of any adjudged to death. The Apostolic legates and their helpers opposed to the heretics patience alone, and when they suffered, they did not threaten: nay, Peter of Castelnau himself was impiously slain by the Albigensians, to whom nevertheless he had never done even the least evil, whom he had only striven to recall to the faith — a true martyr of Christ and an innocent victim, about the end of the year 1208.

[312] But Échard here explains too narrowly the office of St. Peter (we dispute about the substance, even though he could not actually exercise his power. and about the name of Inquisitor, not yet then employed, we agree with him), as though it consisted only in the exercise of inquiring into, seizing, and punishing heretics. The Apostolic legates had received from Innocent III the power of doing all these things, as is plain from the letters of that Pontiff, which exist entire in Ángel Manrique in the Cistercian Annals at the year 1204, chapter 2, and in which the Pontiff in the same place, number 10, after other things speaks thus: Commanding your Discretion by Apostolic writings that you all alike proceed in the name of the Lord to extirpate heretical depravity, that you may bring back the wandering sheep to the fold of Christ, and if any perhaps persist in their contumacy, … you declare them delivered to Satan unto destruction, and their persons exposed to exile and to the secular judgment, and their goods subjected to confiscation, etc. Must then, according to Échard, all these things be committed to execution, in order that anyone be called Inquisitor, or legate for extirpating heresy? Will he cease to be such if he cannot by accident exercise such judicial acts? Is his power finally diminished because by the greater power of princes, or by the open rebellion of heretics, the exercise of his office is hindered?

[313] Meanwhile let us hear Échard, who thus pursues his reasoning: Échard involves this question But indeed from the year 1209, in which the crusaders came into Languedoc, until the Lateran council, no search for heretics either appears. By keen war, I confess, the heretics were assailed, and were often conquered; but they did not hide themselves, nay they resisted strongly and spiritedly, and sometimes were superior. Then indeed many rebels and men obstinate in error were adjudged to the flames, but these slaughters were made by the princes and leaders of the crusaders; in these the assent of the first Preachers, and especially of blessed Dominic, was not asked. We read that many insults were offered to him, many snares laid; that he repelled force with force we do not read; nay, that, thirsting for martyrdom, he remained undaunted among them; and when they saw this, they ceased to persecute him. That they might be reconciled to Christ and the Church, he exhorted untiringly; to those whom he knew to be attached to the heretics on account of poverty he supplied necessities; he sometimes lodged with noble women, that by his holy and austere manner of life he might recall them from heresy, and at length he obtained it; for the converted, or those endangered in the faith, he erected a monastery in which they might live securely and be instructed in the Catholic faith. These things we do not deny; but in the preceding paragraph we drew out from the narration of Constantine of Orvieto and others that St. Dominic besides exercised other judicial acts against obstinate heretics.

[314] in various digressions, It makes little to the purpose that Échard thus subjoins to what precedes: In the Lateran council the bishops were reminded of their office, and first of all that each should take pains to eject the heretics from his own diocese: whence no one appointed blessed Dominic then as delegated Inquisitor. But although in the Lateran council the bishops were urged to eject heretics from their dioceses, yet Innocent III had already before sent Arnald and other Cistercian monks to extirpate heretical depravity, because at that time various prelates discharged their office too negligently, as that Pontiff in the same letters, a fragment of which we gave above, after other things indicates in this manner: The shepherd therefore degenerates into a hireling, when, feeding not the people but himself, he seeks milk and wool in the sheep; nor does he oppose himself to the wolves rising upon the fold, nor set himself as a barrier or wall for the house of the Lord against those who come up on the other side; but, because he is a hireling, turning to flight, since he could restrain the perverse and neglects it, he is convicted of favoring their iniquity. And since almost all have turned aside, and very many have together become unprofitable, there is scarcely one who with Moses executes God's cause with the sword among the people, etc. The letters may be seen entire in Ángel Manrique in the place cited above, where also the letter of the same Pontiff to the king of the Franks given at that time deserves to be read. Hence we gather that St. Dominic at that time could easily have been subdelegated by Arnald the Cistercian for examining and punishing obstinate heretics, just as by his authority he then imposed canonical penance on those who repented.

[315] who nevertheless adjudges the first office of Inquisitor away from St. Dominic, More solid are Échard's arguments which now follow: But whether after the council this office was imposed on him (namely on St. Dominic) is doubtful. Some affirm it, and testify that they have seen the letters of this appointment, which they grieve to be lost. Others deny it, nor do they lack arguments: first, because no vestige of the institution of this office of that age survives in the Vatican Acts. Second, all the ecclesiastical histories of those times, or even the writers of blessed Dominic's Life, keep deep silence about the tribunal of the Inquisition being then established. Third, soon after the Lateran synod ended, the heretics began to prevail in Languedoc, and in the following years were superior to the Catholics, until that province passed to the king of France, which happened only after blessed Dominic's death; so that, while he lived, there was no free opportunity of erecting this tribunal. Fourth, because after that synod blessed Dominic led a settled life nowhere, especially in France, which nevertheless was necessary for the erection of this tribunal and the execution of the office; but he was in continual running to and fro for the sake of establishing his Order, going and returning several times into France and Italy, afterward seeking Spain, then also Paris, and finally fixing his seat at Bologna, where nevertheless he scarcely stayed a few months, going out at intervals, everywhere announcing to the peoples the word of reconciliation to his last breath, but exercising no act of the tribunal of the Inquisition, at least such as the historians set forth.

[316] Finally, because the erection of this tribunal is asserted by writers to Gregory IX, and attributes it to Conrad of Marburg in Germany, who first instituted it in Germany, and committed it to master Conrad of Marburg about the year 1231. Bzovius in the Ecclesiastical Annals at the year of Christ 1231, number 17, Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers at the year 1233, chapter 15 and following, Malpé in the Palm of the Faith, pages 13 and 14, Friedrich Steill in the German Pleasure-garden at the day XXVI of September, and other Dominican writers generally treat of that Conrad, and ascribe him to their Order and to the number of the Blessed. But Échard, volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 487, among other things writes thus of him: Him, after Trithemius in the Chronicle of Hirsau and of Sponheim, and Leander Alberti, folio 55, our countrymen reckon in the Order of Preachers: there are on the other side those who claim him for the Order of Minors; whereas in truth he was neither, but a priest living in the world, never bound by religious vows, a man plainly of his own right and altogether free, capable of ecclesiastical benefices, although he most constantly refused all such when often offered. Then in the same place and on the following page he proves this at greater length. For the rest, as regards the title of Blessed, Aubry, monk of Trois-Fontaines, in his Chronicle at the year of Christ 1233, and Trithemius in the Chronicle of Hirsau at the same year, speak of his indiscreet zeal with little honor; whose narrative it is not the place here to discuss.

Wherefore let us return to our subject.

[317] Échard, volume 1, page 88, proves from a mutilated text of Bernard Gui and then to his own companions at Toulouse, that the charge of the Inquisition against heretics was first given to the Dominicans in the city of Toulouse in the year 1233, and that there Brother Peter Cellani and Brother William Arnaldi were appointed the first Inquisitors by Pope Gregory IX. That testimony may be read entire among the Writers of Italian Affairs, lately published at Milan, volume 3, column 573. But since Bernard Gui doubtless transcribed it from the Chronicle of William of Puylaurens, we prefer to report it in the like words of this author, who on the affairs of the Albigensians, chapter 43, narrates the matter in almost the same phrasing thus: But in the days of the legation of the same bishop of Tournai there was committed by the supreme Pontiff to the Brothers of the Order of Preachers the Inquisition to be made in these lands against the heretics; and there were deputed to this Brother Peter Cellani and William Arnaldi, who at Toulouse cited certain men whom they presumed could more easily be convicted, and, being convicted, judged them heretics; and so little by little the Inquisition began to reach certain greater persons: and it came about that some, having straw-stuffed backs, began to raise difficulties by which they might hinder the office of the Inquisition, which so grew worse and prevailed that the Inquisitors and the same bishop were compelled to leave the town, and even the whole Convent of the Friars Preachers was likewise ejected.

[318] which opinion of his is confirmed from elsewhere, We add that this same thing could have been confirmed from the older Lives of the Brothers, in which Gerard de Frachet, Part 5, chapter 1, §1, writes thus: Since the Order of Preachers was specially founded by blessed Dominic against heresies and errors, and at Toulouse for almost forty years the Brothers of those parts in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness, and in many tribulations contended against them and against the tyrants who defended the heretics, AT LENGTH by Pope Gregory the ninth of blessed memory the Inquisition against the said heretics and their supporters was committed to the Brothers throughout the Province, on account of which the Brothers exposed themselves to many perils. Flaminius himself in the Life of St. Dominic, folio 15, follows this opinion, when he narrates this about the same Peter Cellani: He was the first among the people of Toulouse, with William, a man of great integrity and spirit, made Inquisitor against the heretics by the Apostolic See in the year 1233. But this author seems forgetful of himself: for elsewhere he asserts that St. Dominic was the first Inquisitor in those same parts about Toulouse, as we reported above at number 302.

[319] and from him a eulogy of St. Dominic is reported. Even though for the reasons hitherto adduced we are compelled to adjudge the office of first Inquisitor away from St. Dominic, yet most gladly, to the glory of the same Saint, we thus end this paragraph with Échard: For the rest, those who think thus, he says, nevertheless acknowledge blessed Dominic to be a perfect example of Inquisitors in the innocence and austerity of his life, in his accurate skill in the holy Scriptures and the sacred canons, in his most ardent zeal for the honor of the Church, Christ's spouse, in his hatred of errors, in his insuperable charity toward those who erred, in his patience joyful and glorying in persecutions, in his most constant devotion to the Apostolic See, in a mind most ready to shed his blood for the faith — a man, in fine, shining with every kind of virtue, by which he showed himself another Paul of his own age. But what I have written thus far, this I write only relatively: for concerning the office of Inquisitor, what is certain and to be held, I shall gladly be taught by wiser men and those more skilled in the affairs of the Order. Although we do not write these things merely relatively, but really think that neither St. Peter of Castelnau nor St. Dominic was ever distinguished by the name (about the substance we shall easily agree among ourselves, as we indicated above) of Inquisitors, yet from learned men free from party zeal we shall gladly learn whether in this judgment we have strayed from the truth.

* read "of Fontfroide"

* Bernard Gui: "straw-stuffed"

§ XVIII. Whether the Saint founded the Order of the Militia of Jesus Christ, which was afterward changed into the third Order of Penance?

Concerning the militia of Christ, which the Saint is said to have founded, The Dominican writers do not agree at what time St. Dominic erected that sacred Militia: for some hint that it was done when the Saint was still living in the parts about Toulouse; but others defer the institution of that military Order until the year of Christ 1219 or 1220. If that Order was ever founded by the Saint himself, for conjectures to be alleged below we think it more probable that it happened in the city of Toulouse, and therefore we examine that question in this place. Malvenda frankly confesses that the time of that institution is unknown to him, and in the Annals of the Preachers at the year of Christ 1221, chapter 19, writes thus about this matter: Among the illustrious and outstanding deeds of holy Dominic, while he lived here on earth, which nevertheless could not be marked with a certain note of time, there ought deservedly to be numbered the institution of the Order of Brothers and Sisters of the Militia of Jesus Christ, or of the Penance of blessed Dominic. About to treat of this matter now ex professo, we shall use no other words than those very public and authentic ones which Brother Vincent Bandello and Brother Vincent Justiniani, each Master of the Order, inserted into the volume of our Constitutions, as into the public Acts and monuments of the Religion. Then he excerpts a long narrative of this institution from those Constitutions, which we have published at Milan in the year 1505 together with other privileges of the Preachers. But since those two editors and Masters general, whom he there names, drew the greater part of that history from Raymond of Capua, an earlier Master general of the same Order, we shall below go to the fountain itself, and from it draw such arguments as there are for this tradition.

[321] Malvenda by these words indicates that the Order of the Militia of Jesus Christ besides other moderns, Antonio Senense, and that of Penance are one and the same, although in the course of time the name was changed; to which opinion several assent. Nevertheless Antonio Senense seems to doubt whether they are not two distinct Orders, when in the Chronicle of the Preachers, page 13, among the other deeds of St. Dominic, he speaks thus of the institution of that Militia: About the same time he instituted a certain other pious manner of living for the benefit of persons of both sexes, by which under certain fixed rules they should serve the Lord God, solicitous for their own salvation and mindful also of their neighbors'; and the men indeed vowed that they would fight with bodily arms for the defense of the faith; but the women with exhortations and other spiritual arms. These were at first called confraternity brothers of the Militia of Jesus Christ; but afterward, with the consent and disposition of the Fathers of the Order (the ground for bodily warfare ceasing also, at least in part), they were called confraternity brothers of the Penance of blessed Dominic (unless perhaps those judge better who think that the institution of these and of those was different); and in course of time these began to be named of the third habit or Order of the divine Dominic, which nomenclature endures in most places even to the present day.

[322] Our Philippo Bonanni in the Catalogue of the military Orders, chapter 55, attributes the institution of the same Militia to St. Dominic, and our Philippo Bonanni made mention; and in the Catalogue of the Religious Orders, Part 2, chapter 48, repeats similar things, and signifies that the third Order of Penance took its rise from this Militia in these words: Holy Dominic, seeing the rights of the Church usurped by the heretics, especially in the region of Toulouse, instituted a certain Militia of men, who took oaths to expose themselves and their goods, that heretical depravity might be overcome. And that they might not be hindered by their wives, the wives also swore that they would not hinder their husbands. And he called them Brothers of the Militia of Christ, and, that they might be distinguished by some sign, he prescribed that both men and women should always have white and black color in their garments. After the death of holy Dominic these Brothers determined to change the name and to be called Brothers of Penance, because, the heretics failing, no warfare seemed necessary except the interior. After holy Peter the martyr this pious band of men ceased; but it remained among women, to whom Father Munio, a Spaniard by nation, prescribed a manner of living according to the teachings of holy Dominic, which is called the rule of the third Order, although this is not regular: for they do not profess the three vows of Religion. In some places, however, are found congregations of such women, who, even though they do not profess public vows, live together in some house enclosed like nuns. Their garb the image displayed shows, namely a white tunic and scapular, and a black mantle placed on the head, extended down to the feet: wherefore these sisters are also called MANTELLATE, as Father Raymond of Capua testifies in the Life of St. Catherine of Siena, etc.

[323] but Raymond of Capua, Master of the Order of Preachers, Now we shall confirm that history of the institution and of the change by the testimony of Raymond of Capua; but that you may first know this man's date and merits, hear a few things from an anonymous writer of the Order of Preachers, who in Edmond Martène, volume 6 of the Most Ample Collection, column 387, wove for him such a eulogy: In the year of the Lord 1380 there was elected at Bologna as twenty-third Master general of the Order for the obedience of Urban VI Brother Raymond of Capua, master in theology, a holy and learned man, who was the confessor of holy Catherine of Siena. This father began to reform the Order in the Convent of St. Dominic at Venice, from which afterward Lombardy and Tuscany and Sicily and Trinacria and Holland, Hungary and Germany, Spain and France were for a great part reformed. He ruled the Order XIX years, and in the Convent of Nuremberg of the province of Germany, wholly crippled, passed to the Lord in the year of the Lord 1399. More about him, and his various fortunes, may be seen in Échard, volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 679 and following.

[324] the origin of that militia, Moreover that Raymond, whom hitherto we acknowledge as the first certain asserter of this tradition, in the Life of St. Catherine of Siena, chapter 8, among us at the day XXX of April, or volume III of that month, page 871 and following, thus explains the origin of that Order: To all who wish to read, I make known by the present chapter, as I have both read and heard from trustworthy men in various parts of Italy, and as the deeds of our most blessed Father attest. That glorious champion of the Catholic faith and athlete of Christ, blessed Dominic, being a sacred zealot for the good state of the Church militant, although by himself and his Brothers, both at Toulouse and in Lombardy, he had triumphantly overcome the heretics, so that, as at the time of his canonization was legitimately proved before the supreme Pontiff, a hundred thousand heretics and more were converted in Lombardy alone, both by his doctrine and by his miracles, nevertheless the poisonous doctrine of the said heretics had so greatly infected the minds of men that almost all

the rights of the churches were in the hands of laymen, who possessed them as though by hereditary right, just as (alas the grief!) is done in many parts of that same Italy.

[325] its progress, From this the pontiffs were compelled to beg, and had no power by which they could resist error, nor were they able, according to the duty of their office, to help clerics or the poor by feeding them: which the holy Father seeing with a zealous mind, and not able to endure it — he who for himself and his followers had chosen the highest poverty — began to contend for the riches of the Church. Calling therefore certain laymen fearing God and known to him, he began to treat with them of ordaining a certain holy militia, which should recover the rights of the churches and at the same time defend them, and also faithfully resist heretical depravity; which also was done: for those whom he found willing he so induced that they took an oath to him to do all the things which have been said according to their strength, and for this to expose both their person and what they possessed. And that this holy work might not be hindered by their spouses, he made also their spouses or wives swear that they would not hinder their husbands, but according to their manner would cooperate with them in all things possible to them; and the Saint promised to each party of the couple, if they kept this, eternal life in security; and he called them Brothers of the Militia of Jesus Christ.

[326] But that they might at least by some sign be distinguished from other laymen, their spiritual exercises, and might add something of works of supererogation beyond the custom of others, he gave them the color of a proper habit: namely that both men and women, whatever shape of garments they used, should nevertheless always wear white and black, so that each color should appear outwardly as a token of innocence and humility. Moreover he assigned them a certain fixed number of the Lord's Prayer and the Angelic salutation, which for each canonical hour they should daily complete in praying, that they might not be free from the divine office. Papebroch on this text of Raymond rightly noted that in this place there is not indicated the Psalter or Rosary of the Mother of God, which a writer accustomed to it would have expressed in clearer and fewer words. Whence in the same place he observes that by Albert the Carmelite there was prescribed for the Brothers who did not know letters a certain number of Lord's Prayers and Angelic salutations, which differs from the Rosary. So in the very Chapter of the Preachers which was celebrated at Besançon in the year 1303, Masses for the living and the dead are appointed for the priests of the Order, and it is decreed that for every Mass set down above every Brother cleric who is not a priest should say the seven psalms with the litany, and every Lay-brother a hundred Our Fathers with as many Hail Marys, as may be seen in Edmond Martène in the New Treasury of Anecdotes, volume 4, column [ ].

[327] Then Raymond of Capua in the same place thus pursues his narrative: This being done, after the blessed Father, the burden of the flesh being laid aside, passed to heaven, and, his miracles growing frequent, the Apostolic See, entering him in the catalogue of the Saints, set him forth to be honored by all, and the change these Brothers and Sisters, called of the Militia of Jesus Christ, wishing to render singular thanks and honor to their now glorious Ordainer, determined to change the name, and to be called Brothers of the Penance of blessed Dominic. There also induced them sufficiently to this, that by the merits and miracles of the most blessed Father, and also by the laborious teaching of his Brothers, the heretical plague had already almost failed, and much further outward warfare did not seem necessary; but it remained only that by penance they should fight with the inward enemy, on account of which they also chose in particular the name of Penance. Finally, as the band of faithful Preachers daily increased, among whom the martyr and virgin Peter shone like the morning star, who when slain trod down more of the enemy than while living, the crowd of little foxes desiring to demolish the vineyard of the Lord of hosts was almost wholly destroyed, and peace, the Lord bringing it about, was restored to God's holy Church: wherefore the cause of that militia wholly ceased, and consequently its effect also.

[328] into the third Order of Penance, But as the men of this state died, the women remaining, on account of the religious life which they had kept with their husbands, no longer dared to marry; but continued the state which they had preserved until death. Other widows not of this state, seeing this, who had determined to keep their widowhood, began to wish to follow the said Sisters of the Penance of blessed Dominic, and to imitate their observance as a remedy for their sins: whence, growing little by little in various places of Italy, they compelled the Friars Preachers dwelling there to instruct them in the manner of living which had been instituted by blessed Dominic. But because that manner was not strict, a certain Father of holy memory, who bore the care of the whole Order, called Brother Munio, a Spaniard by nation, reduced that manner of living to writing, which they have today and call the Rule; although it ought not properly to be called a rule, since neither is that state properly of itself called regular, inasmuch as it does not include the three vows which are principal in every Religion.

[329] describes at sufficient length, Moreover, as the aforesaid Sisters increased in number and merit in various places of Italy, the lord Pope Honorius of happy memory, the fourth of this name, perceiving the odor of their good repute, granted them by a bull that in a time of interdict they might hear the divine offices in the church of the Friars Preachers. Likewise the lord Pope John XXII, after he had promulgated the Clementine constitution against Beguines and Beghards alike, declared by his bull that that decretal ought not to be understood of the Sisters called of the Penance of blessed Dominic established throughout Italy, nor that by it their state had been in any way derogated from. Now therefore, reader, you have why at present this state is found in women alone, and why those Sisters answered on the first occasion that they were not accustomed to receive virgins, but only approved widows. And these things which I have written I found for the greater part written in various parts of Italy; but certain things, though few, I learned by hearing and inquiring from trustworthy aged Friars Preachers of both sexes, and Sisters of the Penance of blessed Dominic.

[330] who is hitherto known as the first witness of that tradition, This is the most ancient author whom we have hitherto been able to find who expressly ascribes to St. Dominic the institution of the Order of the Militia of Jesus Christ. Nor did those two Dominicans find an older asserter of this tradition, who in the aforementioned Treatise which we said was appended to the Constitutions of the Preachers thus testify concerning the beginning of that same Militia, among us folio 1: Let it be plain to all the faithful how I, Brother Thomas of Siena, together with the reverend father and master Brother Bartholomew of Siena, both of the Order of Preachers, being at Venice in the year of the Lord 1422, and inquiring as diligently as we could about the rule or state of the Brothers and Sisters of the Militia of Jesus Christ of the Penance of blessed Dominic, found, as regards the beginning of the same rule, that it stood thus, as appears in the Legend of blessed Catherine of Siena, aforesaid, chapter VIII, where it is said thus. Then in the same place follows the interpolated narrative of Raymond of Capua, which we have exhibited above in its genuine form. If those two Preachers in the year 1422, after diligent inquiry, had found older monuments of this institution, they would doubtless have reported them too, or at least indicated them. Nevertheless we do not doubt that Raymond of Capua in his time saw older instruments, since he himself testifies it. But would that he had indicated by a word of what date and authority they were! Wherefore we do not altogether reject Raymond's opinion; but because the ancient biographers do not attribute that institution of the Militia to St. Dominic, and Raymond of Capua lived a century and a half after the Saint, we do not dare securely to admit it.

[331] Perhaps the Reverend Fathers Dominicans will say that older testimonies of this matter exist, although the diploma of Gregory IX, which the Preachers cite for themselves, since from the old diplomas of the Roman Pontiffs it is established that that third Order flourished under Honorius III and Gregory IX, as Malvenda in the Annals at the year of Christ 1228, chapter 2, asserts in these words: That third Order named of Penance, already flourishing in these times, instituted by the blessed father Dominic, as we saw above, and approved by the Apostolic See, Pope Gregory, after the example of his predecessor, thought should be attended with peculiar favors, Apostolic letters being given in this year to this effect. Then Malvenda exhibits the letter itself, which Pope Gregory IX gave at the Lateran on the third of the Kalends of April in the second year of his Pontificate, that is of Christ 1228 or 1229, and in which he grants to all the Brothers of Penance established throughout Italy certain privileges after the example of his predecessor, of whom in the same place he thus makes mention: Indeed Pope Honorius of happy memory, our predecessor, considering that you, bringing forth fruits of penance, were afflicted with unheard-of distresses by the sons of this world, [and] that you were on this account to be cherished, embracing your Religion with a laudable action in the bowels of Jesus Christ, attended it with a special grace, etc. Do not these things, you will say, seem to you sufficiently ancient?

[332] We answer that it can not undeservedly be doubted seems to pertain to the third Order of St. Francis; whether this diploma of Gregory IX pertains to the Brothers of Penance of St. Dominic: for Wadding in the Annals of the Minors at the year of Christ 1229, number 33, thinks that it was given to the Brothers of Penance of St. Francis; and therefore in the same place speaks thus affirmatively of this matter: Favorable this year was the Pontiff to the institute of the Penitents or third Order, to whose professors he granted a weighty and honorable diploma, in which he frees them from burdens and from taking public oaths, which privilege he testifies to have been already granted by his predecessor Honorius. It begins: "The detestable custom of the human race." Given at the Lateran on the III of the Kalends of April, in the second year of his Pontificate. Wadding after volume 1 of his Annals, in the Pontifical Register, pages 3 and 4, exhibits the entire letter of Gregory IX, which is altogether like that which Malvenda in the place assigned above published in his Annals, as will evidently appear to anyone wishing to compare the two.

[333] In this controversy about the diploma of Honorius III and Gregory IX (other matters we do not undertake to discuss here) the Franciscans are favored first by the silence of St. Antoninus, as is proved by certain arguments, who in Part 3 of the Chronicles, title 23, chapter 14, §2, briefly reports the origin of this third Order of his from Raymond of Capua, and after his example is silent about the letters of Honorius III and Gregory IX, even though in the same place he studiously reviews the privileges of later Roman Pontiffs. Second, they are favored by the custom of the Roman Pontiffs, who are wont to call the tertiaries of St. Francis simply Brothers of Penance, as appears from another diploma of the same Gregory IX in Wadding in the cited Pontifical Register, page 5; but when they grant privileges to the third Order of Preachers, they commonly name it "of the Penance of St. Dominic," and expressly add the name of St. Dominic, that it may be distinguished from the other Franciscan third Order of Penance, just as

is plain from various diplomas of the Pontiffs which the most reverend Master Vincent Bandello ordered to be printed in the year 1505 with the Constitutions of the Preachers. Finally Raymond of Capua, St. Antoninus, and an anonymous Dominican in Edmond Martène, volume 6 of the Most Ample Collection, columns 348 and 349, tacitly adjudge these two diplomas away from their own third Order, when they narrate with unanimous consent that the Brothers of the Militia of Jesus Christ changed their name, and wished to be called Brothers of the Penance of holy Dominic in honor of their Founder, after he had been solemnly inscribed in the catalogue of the Saints: for since St. Dominic was placed in the number of the Saints in the year of Christ 1234, how did Honorius III, and after him Gregory IX, already from the year of Christ 1228 or 1229 name those men Brothers of Penance?

[334] and the other pertains to the militia of Christ in Italy, Nearer to the origin of this third Order comes the letter which Pope Gregory IX is said to have written to the Brothers of the Militia of Jesus Christ established throughout Italy, which begins "The going forth of heretics," and in which the Pontiff thus takes them into the protection of the Apostolic See: Hence it is that, since, converted from vain and secular warfare to the service of Jesus Christ, you have promised obedience to the Apostolic See and to the diocesan bishops, and to defend the liberty of the Church against all according to our will and that of our successors, and have pledged with all your strength to storm the madness of the heretics, we mercifully assent to your just supplications, and take your persons, with all the goods which at present you reasonably possess, or which in future by just means, the Lord granting, you shall be able to acquire, under the protection of blessed Peter and our own, and fortify them with the patronage of the present writing. Then, after other privileges, he bestows on them a plenary indulgence of their sins at the point of death. This diploma is printed entire with the aforesaid Constitutions of the Preachers, folio 9, under the name of Gregory IX, and is noted as given at Perugia on the XI of the Kalends of January, in the VIIIth year of his Pontificate, which corresponds to the year of Christ 1234. If anyone hence infer that those letters were most certainly directed to the Brothers of the Militia of Jesus Christ which St. Dominic founded, we shall rightly and deservedly answer that in that whole diploma no mention is made of the first founder of this militia.

[335] which St. Peter the martyr founded there. Nay, we shall rather suspect that these letters pertain to the Militia of Jesus Christ which St. Peter the martyr of the Order of Preachers founded in Italy, since Bzovius in the Ecclesiastical Annals at the same year of Christ 1234, number 5, among the other deeds of Gregory IX reports the following from Flaminius: He also animated the crusaders of the militia of Jesus Christ to fight strenuously against the heretics, and did not spend that labor in vain upon extirpating heretics. There was at Florence no small number of those who asserted that God was not the Creator of visible things. These the divine Peter of Verona, a great champion of the holy faith, pursued by whatever means he could, harried, and strove to destroy. Against them therefore by the authority of the Pontiff Gregory he stirred up a multitude of Christ's faithful, and to the noble family of the Rossi, to whom this business was chiefly committed, he gave a standard marked with a cross, which the Christians going to that illustrious contest should follow. And so, a huge multitude of armed men being gathered, they went against the heretics, and, a keen battle arising on this side of the Arno in a place which was called the Well of Water, they routed them beyond the river, and laid them low in the square of St. Felicity, and put the rest to flight out of the city. From the fresh victory the divine Peter instituted a college (Flaminius in the Life of St. Peter Martyr, among us folio 100 verso, notes that it is commonly called a fraternity) of the Militia of Jesus Christ among the Florentines, and left it that most sacred standard as a great gift, which until now is preserved at Florence and is displayed on the festival of that same Saint. Similar things are read in the older Acts of St. Peter the martyr among us, volume III of April, page 693, and the same are repeated by holy Antoninus in Part 3 of the Chronicles, title 23, chapter 6, §2.

[336] Even though these old monuments prove that a certain congregation of sacred militia was founded at Florence by that St. Peter the martyr, If that militia has St. Dominic as its author, we do not on that account yet adjudge away from St. Dominic the institution of the Militia of Jesus Christ, which Raymond of Capua, St. Antoninus, and other more recent writers generally ascribe to him: for St. Peter could easily, after the example of his holy Founder, have founded or propagated a like militia. Thus no one hitherto has attributed the first institution of the Dominican third Order of Penance to Blessed Ambrose Sansedoni of the same Order of Preachers, although in his ancient Acts, which we gave at the day XX of March, among us volume III of that month, page 192, number 53, the following is read about him: He instituted moreover various confraternities of men, whom by his religious constitutions he led to the observance of the Catholic life and to performing penance for their sins. Women also, virgins and widows, he gathered into one for a religious manner of living, to whom he also delivered a manner of living with discreet constitutions under the government of the Friars Preachers. Since therefore nothing certain can be concluded from these, we must try in another way whether we can confirm by probable conjecture from elsewhere that tradition which ascribes the origin of the Militia of Jesus Christ to St. Dominic.

[337] We seem to ourselves to have discovered some obscure indication or vestige of that sacred militia in the History of William of Puylaurens, it probably arose by his counsel in the parts about Toulouse, who in chapter 15, concerning the great confraternity made at Toulouse and marked with the Cross against heretics and manifest usurers, narrates this: And so, the venerable father bishop Fulk taking watchful care that all his fellow citizens of Toulouse should not lack that indulgence which was granted to strangers, and that by this devotion he might gather them to the Church, and more easily through them storm heretical depravity and extinguish the fervor of usuries, with God's help, the Legate assisting, he obtained that a great confraternity should be made at Toulouse, marking all the confreres for the Lord with the sign of the cross; in which was almost the whole city except a few, and some of the borough consented; and he bound them all to the Church with the bond of an oath; and, Aymeric de Châteauneuf, who was called Cofa, and Arnald his brother, knights, and Peter de Saint-Romain, and Arnald Bernard, called Endura, strenuous, discreet, and powerful men, being set as bailiffs of the confraternity, that confraternity, God bringing it about, so grew strong that the usurers were compelled to answer before them when men complained, and to make satisfaction against their will: and with arms there was a rushing to the ruin and plundering of the houses of the contumacious; and some fortified towers to defend themselves: and there was made from this a great division between the citizens and the Burgesses, so that in the borough they made against this another confraternity fenced with the bond of an oath; and it had so far proceeded that the one was called the white confraternity, the other the black, and battles were fought between the parties with arms and standards, often even with armed horses: for the Lord had come, through that bishop his servant, to send among them not an evil peace, but a good sword.

[338] as we deduce from certain conjectures. Then that nearly contemporary author in the same History, chapter 17, reports that a great multitude of that sworn congregation or militia, even against the will of the Count of Toulouse, a favorer of the heretics, went out from Toulouse to the Castle of Lavaur, that it might bring help to the besieging Catholics and storm the heretics. It is no wonder therefore if St. Dominic, then intent on the conversion of the heretics, and most friendly with bishop Fulk, stirred up this sacred militia by his zeal and industry. We are not unaware that certain things can be objected to this conjecture. First indeed it may be said that by the historian cited that institution of the militia is expressly attributed to bishop Fulk. But all know that illustrious deeds of this kind are wont to be ascribed to men placed in ecclesiastical dignity, however much others of lower rank may have suggested their first counsels and labored untiringly to bring them to completion. Thus above some attribute the erection of the monastery of Prouille to Diego of Osma, although St. Dominic has the greatest part in that foundation, so that he is rightly and deservedly called its founder. Second, it may be objected that that militia of Toulouse was founded against heretics and manifest usurers, whereas nevertheless it is handed down that St. Dominic founded the Militia of Jesus Christ against heretics and usurpers of ecclesiastical goods. But perhaps the historian by a broader manner of speaking called usurers those who unjustly usurped ecclesiastical goods. For the rest, this conjecture of ours, joined with the testimony of Raymond of Capua, St. Antoninus, and others, we think not altogether improbable, especially since no certain argument opposes this tradition of the Order. Meanwhile let learned men value our opinion in this matter as much as they shall judge it should be valued.

§ XIX. What the Psalter or Rosary of the Mother of God is, and whether the holy Founder of the Preachers first instituted it?

What the Psalter of the Mother of God, or Rosary, is, Alan de la Roche in his Apology to Ferry, bishop of Tournai, discoursing of this manner of praying, Part 1 of the Mainz edition, chapter 3, judges that it should be called by the name of Psalter rather than by any other; and he alleges the following causes of this opinion of his: First, he says, on account of the figure of the Davidic Psalter; for the figure and the thing figured are named by the same name, though not in the same manner of signifying. So Christ is called a lion, a worm, a stone, etc. In a like manner these names CROWN, ROSARY, GARLAND differ far in their proper signification (as disparate and diverse) from a kind of prayer. But the Psalter of the Church, which is the foundation and figure of this psalter, is truly and univocally prayer. Second, the words CROWN, ROSARY, GARLAND are metaphorical, said from a likeness; but the psalter, having its name from the praises to be sung to God, is properly prayer. Third, those names are vulgar, and savor of the vanity of the world, because they are so called from girls' garlands; but the psalter is ecclesiastical, and therefore is more religiously to be embraced by the sons of the Church, to be venerated, employed, and proclaimed. Fourth, psalter is a divine word, biblical, and consonant and conformable to the style of both Testaments; but the other names were born of the understanding and affection of men, though not without a reason of likeness. Fifth, crowns, rosaries, garlands are worn by men, women, and girls, good and bad alike; but the psalter in sacred Scripture is only in the use of the good, and in the worship of God alone.

[340] Whatever be the case about the more fitting appellation of these prayers, which latter word seems to have been employed later, we according to the now received custom generally express that rite of praying by the word Rosary, although this name in that signification seems more recent. That word first occurs to us in Thomas of Cantimpré, who flourished after the middle of the XIIIth century, book 2 On Bees, chapter 19, where at number eight this title is prefixed: Of a young man daily reciting three Rosaries, who came to life again and did penance. But in the narration itself of that miracle he does not express the word Rosary; but uses a threefold fifty in the salutation of the Angelic verse Hail

Mary, and employs a similar phrasing at number six of the same chapter on the occasion of another young man, who daily honored the Mother of God with three fifties of angelic salutations. Whence Choquet in the Bowels of the Mother of God, already cited several times, chapter 23, page 467, doubts whether Cantimpré wrote the very word Rosary, perhaps not yet in use: for we suspect, he says, that the titles of the articles, or those prefixed to the numbers, were not published by Cantimpré himself. Judge of this opinion as you please: for we shall not dispute about the name, if we agree among ourselves about the thing itself.

[341] Moreover Malvenda in the Annals at the year of Christ 1215, chapter 10, thus sets forth this manner of praying: Malvenda explains; That divine method and formula of sacred prayers which we call the Rosary of the most blessed virgin Mary is by many called the PSALTER, because in it, the Angelic salutation Hail Mary, etc., being recited a hundred and fifty times, after the likeness of the Davidic psalter, which consists of a hundred and fifty Psalms, and the Lord's Prayer OUR FATHER being interposed once for each decade of Angelic salutations, through fifteen decades of Angelic salutations, with the Lord's Prayer repeated fifteen times, the fifteen greater mysteries of the restoration of mankind are reviewed with pious meditations. Then he fits the individual mysteries to the individual decades, and explains that rite of praying more distinctly, which also several writers of the same Order have laudably done. But since it is not for us to transcribe these things, everywhere known and obvious, we proceed to investigate the time of this institution.

[342] Johann Andreas Coppenstein, book 2 On the Fraternity of the Rosary, chapter 3, Nicholas Janssenius, Hyacinth Choquet, John of St. Mary, and all others who admit St. Dominic's preaching in Galicia and Armorican Brittany from Alan de la Roche, but the Dominican authors themselves do not agree, are consequently compelled to refer the first institution of the Psalter or Rosary, made by that Saint, to about the year 1200: for Alan Revived, Part 2, chapter 17, from a revelation made to him asserts that the Mother of God then commanded St. Dominic to preach the Rosary to the impious pirates by whom he had been captured. Nor did that preaching lack the desired success, as Alan there indicates in these words: There is one voice and one vow of all the suppliants, that they will do what is commanded; only let him command. Detesting their perfidy, their crimes, their past life, and themselves, they promise penance with great wailing; they receive Psalters from the hand of their preserver (namely St. Dominic, who had saved them), accept them, and all come together into one new Fraternity under the auspices of Jesus and Mary, and under the title of the Psalter. But since above in § XI we rejected this story of Alan, let us proceed to the other times which are assigned to this institution.

[343] at what time it began to be taught, After Malvenda in the Annals at the year 1215, chapter 10 and following, has instituted a long dissertation on the etymology of the Rosary, and from the testimonies of the Roman Pontiffs has claimed its first use for his holy Founder, at length in chapter 19 he adds this about its chronological beginning: Concerning the time in which that institution of the Rosary was devised by holy Dominic, since a certain year cannot be established from the writers, yet all (except the writers cited in the preceding number, who are compelled either to change that time or to deny Alan's narrative) go over to this opinion, that it was devised by him while the apostolic Man was preaching against the Albigensians in the region of Toulouse. We without doubt, all things being duly weighed, think that the institution of the Rosary is to be placed within that ten years of holy Dominic's preaching against the Albigensians, and in the earlier years of this decade. Nor yet do we so say that holy Dominic was the author of the Rosary, as to affirm that he was the first and of himself the inventor and deviser of so holy a rite: for the most blessed Mother of God herself, appearing to the Man of God, taught him the institution of the Rosary: by the mouth, the words, and the admonition of the blessed Virgin, and with her leading the way, holy Dominic learned the formula of the Rosary. The sacred Mother of God therefore was the inventor; holy Dominic was rather the promulgator. All the writers set forth the history of the matter to almost this effect. Then he subjoins the story of this apparition, and, the stupendous prodigies being omitted, studiously softens it and renders it more credible. Alan Revived, than whom we have hitherto known no older author of this narrative, in Part 2, chapter 3, sets forth the same apparition of the Mother of God more fully, and augments it with very many portents.

[344] since some refer it to St. Dominic's stay at Toulouse, Lest by Alan's lengthy discourse we bring weariness to the reader, we transcribe it from Nicholas Janssenius, who in the Life of St. Dominic, book 1, chapter 4, abridged it, and after narrating the obstinacy of the Albigensians thus continues in the same place: At length about the year 1210, not far from Toulouse, he once betook himself into a lonely wood and to fervent prayer. When he had remained in it for three whole days, and had thereupon dreadfully torn his poor body with brambles and briars (that by this punishment of his own he might expiate the crimes of the people of Toulouse, which he judged to be a hindrance), at last on the third day, when amid the blows he was collapsing with strength broken, the Mother of God appeared to the most valiant Champion, a notable throng of heavenly virgins accompanying her. She, addressing him, refreshed by the new sight, said: Dearest Dominic, do you know what and what kind of arms the blessed Trinity has taken, with which it has clothed the whole world in a new form? To whom he: O Lady, you know better than I; for through you salvation was given to the world, through you the restoration of us all began. And she: My beloved Dominic, the blessed Trinity assuredly, to blot out all sins, chose no other arms than the angelic Psalter, which is the foundation of the whole new Testament. Wherefore, if you desire the fruit of your preaching, commend and inculcate my Psalter, from which shortly a most abundant harvest shall be brought forth for you.

[345] She had spoken; at the same time she instructed him about the rite and order of the Rosary, others refer it earlier to his captivity at sea, which we hold today, and finally bade him go to Toulouse, preach the Rosary, and, relying on her auspices, be of good courage: and he went straight into the city; when the bronze bells of all the churches sound together at once, as on feast days. There is a running together to the parish called of St. Romanus. Here Dominic is seen and heard about the Rosary. What more? Hell did not bear the preaching, and straightway winds, thunders, lightnings, an earthquake, wailing, horror, and despair seize upon all. Dominic strives with his voice, urges the Rosary, promises quiet, persuades. They recite it, and behold, throughout the whole region of the air the lamentation and howling of evil demons: Woe, woe to us, because by the angels we are bound with fiery chains through the Psalter. Amid these things there was seen in the church an image of the Mother of God with hand raised as though threatening. Hereupon all the people as suppliants implore the help of the gracious Virgin, Dominic leading the way in the words of the archangel. There is peace and deep quiet; admiration alike and a change of minds. To say nothing in this place about the suspect first author of this narrative, I do not see by what coherence of chronology Janssenius here refers the origin of the Rosary to the year of Christ 1210, since above in § XI he narrated that St. Dominic by the command of the Mother of God had already from the year of Christ 1200 preached the Rosary to the sea-robbers who had then carried him off captive with his companion from the shore of Galicia into their ship. How therefore did he now first in the year 1210 learn from the Mother of God appearing to him the rite of the Rosary, which already ten years before, having been taught it by an apparition of the same most holy Virgin, he had preached and urged upon the pirates?

[346] Hyacinth Choquet felt this difficulty; but he strives to escape it or to elude it by a slight little reason, which discrepancy Choquet strives to reconcile, when in the work just cited, chapter 22, page 451, before an elegant compendium of the same story he thus prefaces: It is now time that we recount the admirable origin and promulgation of the Rosary, most worthy of every astonishment. But passing over certain things which are said on this matter by blessed Alan de la Roche, which it is not worth the trouble to report here, since they are only certain private rudiments and preludes of the Rosary, we shall give its solemn publication, made to the world itself. Then quite elegantly and faithfully he reports according to the text of Alan Revived the portentous story briefly reported already from Janssenius, and attaches it to the end of the year of Christ 1213 or the beginning of 1214. But the same chronological difficulty which Choquet attempts to evade or to obscure by a brief omission remains for him to solve, as we shall now show.

[347] In the eleventh paragraph of this Preliminary Commentary we cited John of St. Mary, while he gratuitously calls that earlier preaching of the Rosary private, who in the French Acts of St. Dominic, book 1, chapters 19 and 20, narrates from Alan how the Saint, after the storm of the sea was calmed, landed together with the now converted pirates in Armorican Brittany, and there erected the first confraternity of the Rosary. Now let us hear Alan Revived himself, who in Part 3, chapter 22, page 228, writes thus of the success of this Breton preaching: Holy Dominic, the apostle of a new world, was bringing the preaching of the Gospel with the power of the Psalter into Brittany also; and because his mother, the daughter of a certain duke of Brittany, had been sprung from that country, he was heard the more attentively, as being near of kin by blood to a great duke. Afterward in the same place he recites the Saint's very sermons delivered in Brittany about the Rosary, and heaps up prodigious miracles which then happened publicly in that same province, and testifies that all these were revealed to him by St. Dominic himself. These things the Saint is said to have preached publicly before all in Brittany long before the apparition at Toulouse, and to have induced very many inhabitants of this province to the use of the Rosary.

[348] but the other public, On what foundation therefore does Choquet place this public preaching of the Psalter among the private rudiments and preludes of the Rosary? If St. Dominic ever did these things, that they were certainly not done by him privately is abundantly plain from what Alan in the continuation of the same narrative, Part 3, chapter 23, page 260, has in this manner: From that time all the zeal of all was turned upon holy Dominic alone. The duke himself, and the whole clergy, and the whole nation proclaimed themselves blessed if it should befall them to have holy Dominic as chief prelate of Brittany. Then he there narrates how the Saint constantly refused that ecclesiastical dignity, to the acceptance of which the Bretons wished to compel him, and was prodigiously transported from Brittany into Spain, as we reported in § XI. These things sufficiently indicate the public fame of his deeds which the Saint had acquired in that province from his preaching and miracles, if we believe Alan. Choquet ought therefore either to have anticipated by some years the first promulgation of the Rosary which he ascribes to St. Dominic, or to have withdrawn credit from Alan in this Breton preaching. The same argument presses all those who judge that Alan's narrations are to be received as oracles.

[349] about which public [promulgation nevertheless no ancient historians] But Choquet is so far from that repudiation of Alan that in chapter 13 of his aforesaid work, pages 227 and 228, he confirms by Alan's testimony alone the wonderful passage of St. Dominic which is handed down to have been made divinely from Armorican Brittany into Spain. Moreover in chapter 22 of the same work

page 461, he opposes to the apparition at Toulouse, which so many public prodigies accompanied, an obvious doubt, and at the same time strives to solve it in these words: But perhaps someone will yelp: if the truth of such portents is as constant as we assert, why until Alan's time, namely for two centuries, did there lie hidden from the world a matter to be received with all astonishment, and one whose equal antiquity does not produce? Certainly it is scarcely credible that it slipped from the memory and pen of so many ancient writers, so that no one at all, even of the Preachers' own class, made mention of it, if the beginnings of the nascent Rosary were so adorned, so splendid. Then to this objection, which readily occurs at once to any sensible man, he thus answers: Indeed we dispel that darkness with no trouble at all; for all things were then in Narbonnese Gaul so disturbed by the atrocity of war that, all men being intent on other matters, the rage of hell had an easy means of utterly suppressing those wonders — a rage which had in Alan's age almost extinguished the very memory of the Rosary as well.

[350] Was then this reverend master of sacred theology unaware that several writers left to posterity the deeds of that time and region? Did he not remember that Peter of Vaux-de-Cernay, an eyewitness in many things, nor did the witnesses examined in the Process of Canonization make mention. committed to writing even the smaller circumstances of this war? Was William of Puylaurens unknown to him, who, next to that age, copiously wrote the history of the Albigensians? Did he finally not know that other old chronicles about this war had been published? I readily understand that the Process of Toulouse was hidden from him, which only lately appeared, and in which several contemporary witnesses declare on oath the outstanding deeds and miracles of St. Dominic which they themselves had seen or heard in the parts about Toulouse. But not one of these (yet three hundred and more gave their sworn testimony, as will be plain from what is to be said below) says a word about the great prodigies which then openly happened in the city of Toulouse. To these add nine witnesses of the Order of Preachers, who were juridically examined in the Process of Bologna, and confirm by oath various things which they knew their holy Father had done in Narbonnese Gaul against the Albigensians. Why, I pray, would all those writers and witnesses have kept silence about a matter so public and so portentous?

[351] By this negative argument, which here is not without its own force, Nay, Alan contends that that Psalter of the Mother of God another escape of Choquet's is closed off, snatched from Alan's authority alone, which he presently subjoins in the same place to the answer already given. But if nevertheless anyone should contend with Choquet, John of St. Mary, and other too credulous writers that full historical credence must be given to Alan's narrations, then it will be necessary not only to anticipate by some years St. Dominic's first preaching of the Rosary, but even to deny him the very institution of the Rosary: for Alan himself in his Apology, Part 1 of Alan Revived, chapter 8, being as it were accused of introducing a novelty, attempts to persuade Ferry, bishop of Tournai, that this usage of reciting the Rosary flourished in the first ages of the Church, and, after alleging various witnesses of this ancient piety, thus confidently concludes the chapter cited: From all which it is plainly clear that to teach or preach the Psalter of the virgin Mary can by no means justly be held suspect or blamed on any mark of novelty. So ancient a rite is it, so most praised and most honored in the Church, although through the carelessness of men and the injury of the times it has from time to time lain neglected and torpid.

[352] In the course of the same chapter he numbers among the chief cultivators of the Psalter or Rosary St. Benedict, was in use long before the times of St. Dominic, the venerable Bede, St. Otto, St. Dominic Loricatus, and St. Bernard, to whom at length he thus subjoins the holy Founder of his own Order: Holy Dominic after him (namely St. Bernard, of whom he had treated immediately before), himself the first leader and renowned father of the sacred Order of Preachers, was from tender age so devoted to Christ and the Mother of God in this rite of praying that he assiduously prayed, handled, and carried the Psalter. But in his stronger years, amid the other exercises of his religion and preaching, he constantly employed its recitation together with the discipline inflicted on himself with an iron chain, repeated at least three times every day; and so frequently too, that sometimes in a day he is handed down to have paid eight or even ten Psalters, praying in the manner mentioned. This is that apostle of the Psalter, to whom the gracious Virgin of God, a revelation being made to him more than once, gave the command and the form of preaching it. And indeed he preached it and carried it about through all Spain, Italy, Gaul, England, and Germany. But from all the Acts of St. Dominic, and from their chronological series, it can evidently be gathered that the Saint was never in England or Germany, much less preached there about the Rosary. Wherefore from this reasoning of Alan, which for the greatest part we do not believe, we argue only "to the man," as it is commonly said.

[353] which difficulty Choquet attempts to elude; Perhaps some defender of Alan will reply that before the age of St. Dominic the more select mysteries of Christ and Mary were not mingled with the individual decades by those holy reciters of the Psalter or Rosary, just as Choquet in the same chapter of the work just cited, page 435, eludes a similar difficulty by this explanation: Two things must be observed in this Psalter or Rosary. One is the substance and frequency of such prayers, nay also the use of beads or little stones: the other, the very formula of praying, so disposed and adapted that through fifteen decades of salutations, with fifteen Lord's Prayers interposed, counted on the beads, the chief fifteen sacred mysteries of our salvation are reviewed with pious meditations. The first we assert to have been in use in a wonderful way from the Apostles and from the very cradle of the rising Church. The second we most truly pronounce to have been first brought into the world and thus into the Church and published by the most holy Dominic, founder of the Order of Preachers, at the admonition and instruction of the Mother of God herself.

[354] but Alan himself closed this escape to him, But Alan himself seems to remove this scruple of a devised distinction, when in Part 2, chapter 2, he again enumerates the ancient propagators of the Psalter or Rosary, and to them here at page 95 thus adds outstanding doctors of the Church: Holy Augustine, incomparable doctor of the Church, employed the Psalter of Mary: for who would dare to say, or even to think, that so great a man was ignorant of the very Psalter which we know, which the Church proclaims and frequents? We know, as the blessed virgin Mary revealed, we know that to holy Jerome that said rite of praying upon beads to the number of a hundred and fifty was a singular refuge, both against heretics, and that in every kind of the sciences he might excel in style as much as the world admires. We know, as likewise the thrice blessed Mother of God revealed, that St. Ambrose and St. George knew the most holy dignity of this Psalter, and that IN SUBSTANCE, IN QUANTITY, AND IN QUALITY. And can anyone hold them suspect, even in thought, of any negligence and omission of that same praying? Doubtless Alan here treats of the Psalter which he himself taught with meditation on the chief mysteries of our redemption, and whose antiquity he desired to show, that he might vindicate it from the objected accusation of novelty. This he sufficiently indicates by asserting that St. Augustine was not ignorant of that Psalter (which, he says, we know). The same again he abundantly confirms by adding that that rite of praying was known to these holy Doctors in substance, in quantity, and in quality. Here again we use the argument "to the man," as we warned above: for what is more probably to be thought about that antiquity is fully examined in the most learned Mabillon in the Preface to Part 1 of the Vth Benedictine century, number 118 and following.

[355] and Échard twice overturns his distinction or explanation Meanwhile Échard by another way overturns this distinction of Choquet's, when in volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 852, he writes thus: Alan first devised the method of binding fifteen mysteries of religion to the decades of the Rosary, by joining to which his visions, and his examples or miracles, as you will, he prepared for himself a great matter for speaking. It is well where these things are readily listened to; but this method does not please all, by which all the force and vehemence of a discourse is broken, and of which finally this is always the single conclusion, which alone the hearers carry off: therefore say the Rosary. This disapproval of pious sermons on the Rosary, which is there inculcated too studiously in the preceding and following words, does not please us, nor do we think it will please most fervent preachers of the Rosary, who by this method laudably promote the cult of the Mother of God. But although we should not wish the prodigies of Alan to be mingled with sermons of this kind, yet we by no means disapprove that the true miracles of the most blessed Virgin, which certainly cannot be lacking to a diligent preacher, should be reported in them, and that thus the Catholic people should be stirred up to recite the Rosary. Much more displeasing to us is a French booklet published at Paris in the year 1727, entitled The Solid Devotion of the Rosary, etc.: for it contains several propositions akin to the condemned errors of Quesnel, and seems composed under a deceptive title rather to destroy than to build up the devotion of the Rosary. A word to the wise, as is commonly said proverbially. We therefore from this historical opinion of Échard only conclude that the aforesaid distinction of Choquet is useless, and that St. Dominic was not the first who bound to the fifteen decades the meditation of as many mysteries.

[356] Échard in volume 2 of the same Work, page 845, repeats this opinion of his, in another way, where on the Life of Blessed Emilia Bicchieri, which we published in the Appendix at the third day of May, volume VII of that month, from page 557, he notes the following: What is also said at number 19, that the Blessed woman ordered the portress of the monastery to distribute every Saturday as many loaves to the poor in honor of the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, is novel and of more recent invention: for there is no memory of the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary before Alan de la Roche, who first, either for the sake of relieving attention or of stirring piety, devised this distinction, and joined and fitted it to the fifteen decades of the Rosary. Whence there is no memory of that fact in the Life of the same Blessed woman, which about the year 1609 Sister Petronilla Bava, a member of the same monastery, wrote, and which Michael Pio took over, part two, book one, column 140.

[357] I know indeed that this opinion of Échard was accused of error by the most learned Father Louis Robyn, a Dominican of Ghent, which nevertheless he is said afterward to have abandoned, because in the rules or statutes of the Beguines of Ghent, whose confessions the Reverend Fathers Preachers have heard now for some centuries, the Psalter of the most blessed Virgin or Rosary is prescribed to be recited with meditation on the mysteries. Hence Échard, thinking that that meditation on the mysteries was prescribed in the earliest statutes of the Beguines of Ghent, and those older than Alan himself, published after his Work another appendix, in which he retracted what he had said on this matter. But I have hitherto been able to see only one copy of this appendix, and I have sought that appendix in vain at Paris and in other copies of the same Work. Did perhaps Échard

publish this retraction of his only for the sake of his admonisher, and communicate it to those Belgians whom he had offended by his earlier opinion?

[358] However that may be, it can be doubted whether Échard did not here too easily retract what he had said, perhaps believing his admonisher too easily, because he at once believed that those constitutions of the Beguines of Ghent had remained without any change from the very origin of the Beguinage down to our own age. But here the water stuck, as it is commonly said: for the most eminent Lord Josse Geldolf van Ryckel of Oorbeek, abbot of St. Gertrude at Louvain, in the History of the Beguinages of Belgium, appended to the Acts of St. Begga, sufficiently hints that these constitutions were at various times augmented or changed, when in the same place, §71, page 315, he writes: There are two Beguinages at Ghent, the mother of Flemish cities. The first is that of St. Elizabeth, founded by Joanna and Margaret, Countesses of Flanders, about the year 1234. And it is a most ample place of three and more bonniers of land. There has been added beauty also to its size, so much so that those who have seen many confess that they have seen none fairer. Formerly, from its first origin, it was outside the city; now it is enclosed within the walls. Its direction has always been in the hands of the Dominican Fathers, who assign to it at least two ordinary confessors from the body of their choir, yet subject to their own cloister; but they celebrate the sacred Offices through secular chaplains. Louis, Count of Flanders, is read to have augmented the statutes of this Beguinage at the suggestion of the prelates, which, so augmented, he also confirmed in the year 1354. These same things Charles V of august memory approved in the year 1531 on the twelfth of May. Again in the year 1623 on the twenty-seventh of November we remember that they were examined and approved. Since therefore those statutes were at some time augmented and examined, it is quite probable that they were also somewhat changed according to the various circumstances of things and times. Moreover this dispute cannot be decided except by an eyewitness inspection of the old Manuscript constitutions, and it would have to be accurately examined whether in the ancient autographs of the statutes preceding Alan's age that meditation on the mysteries is joined to the Psalter or Rosary of the most blessed Virgin.

[359] that he contradicts the ancient monuments of the Beguinage of Ghent, At least it is not expressed in the ancient diploma which the most eminent Lord Josse Geldolf Ryckel in the praised History of the Beguinages of Belgium, pages 563 and 564, thus reports from the Ghent autograph: To all who shall inspect the present letters, John son of Alexander, greeting and to know the truth. Let all, both present and to come, know that I, with the common consent and will of John and Jordan my sons, and my own, have conferred forever, to be possessed by hereditary right, upon the said Beguines, as a pure alms for the remission of my sins and of those of my predecessors, a certain ditch lying to the East of the court of the Beguines of St. Elizabeth near Ghent, between my land and the land of the same, extending from the bridge of the gate of the said court toward the North beside the embankment or dike, and made equal in length to that same embankment or dike; renouncing every right which I have held, had, and possessed in the said ditch, and which I or my successors were to have hereafter: and, all guile and fraud being removed, I have promised in good faith that I would in no way go against the said grant, by myself or by another or by others.

[360] from which nevertheless this is not hitherto proved, Wherefore the damsel Elizabeth, grand mistress of the court, and the Beguines of the aforesaid same place promised in good faith that they would have the anniversary of Elizabeth (she was the benefactor's wife) celebrated forever. And every damsel or Beguine of the said place shall say for the soul of my wife, daughter of the late Jordan de Rym, and likewise for my soul, the Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary, on the same day on which the said anniversary shall be celebrated. Of which matter the witnesses were John and Jordan my sons; and the discreet men the Prior of the Order of Friars Preachers of Ghent, Brother Siger called of Zottegem, Brother Laurence, Brother Siger of Aalst, Theodoric called wtren Ramen, Lord Giles and Lord John, Chaplains of the aforesaid court. In testimony, strength, and confirmation of all which we have thought fit to affix my seal to these presents together with the seal of the Prior of the Preachers of Ghent. Given in the year of the Lord 1227, in the month of July. Even though here the Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary is promised by the Beguines of Ghent to be recited — by which Alan and others generally understand the Rosary of the Mother of God — no word is made of the aforesaid meditation on the mysteries, which nevertheless is said to be expressed in the ancient statutes of the Beguines of Ghent. But if nevertheless that meditation on the mysteries should, against our opinion, be found expressed in the earliest constitutions of the Beguines of Ghent and joined to the Rosary, thereupon we adhere to Échard's retraction.

[361] But then another question will arise, whether this pious meditation of the Psalter or Rosary did not precede the age of St. Dominic: and another difficulty could be opposed to Choquet's distinction. since the Reverend Don José Esteban de Noriega in the historical Dissertation praised above, §21, contends that that meditation of the Rosary was in use in the Premonstratensian Order before the times of St. Dominic, and in the same place, page 209, after some proofs of this opinion of his, thus concludes: See by what foundations I am led to believe that in the age of the Blessed Father Dominic the Rosary of the Virgin, distributed and ordered by mysteries and joys, was already wont to be recited in the Premonstratensian Order: since Blessed Joseph, as is clear from what was said above at number 180, is more certainly asserted to have received the white habit in the year of the Lord 1163 at twelve years of age. At which time the aforesaid Albert, the first abbot and last Provost of the monastery of Steinfeld, had composed that little book of the joys of the Virgin, that he might inflame the hearts of the Premonstratensians to the cult and service of the Patroness of the Order. To which Blessed Joseph, adding new joys, and intermingling Angelic Salutations in a new order of devotion like roses, wove the Marian Crown or Rosary with which he might wreathe the head of his dearest Rose. And thus most excellently could the holy Father Dominic have learned among the Marian Canons of Vite (some of whom, sent hither at that time from those regions, are known to have come to Spain) the devotion of the Marian Rosary; which afterward, thus disposed by him as it is now in use among the Faithful, and confirmed by countless marvels, the Brothers of his most illustrious Order have disseminated throughout the whole world, and do not cease day by day to promote with wondrous fervor and most solemn cult. Although we doubt of St. Dominic's stay in the monastery of Vite (this doubt of ours will be not a little confirmed below in the Annotations to the Acts of Dietrich of Apolda), and it can at least not be prolonged to the year of Christ 1203, as we showed in the eleventh paragraph, yet in the Premonstratensian Order this pious practice of the Rosary could have been employed, about which nevertheless we determine nothing certain.

* perhaps "every"

* read "Gregory"

§ XX. The arguments of those who attribute the first institution of the Rosary to St. Dominic, and the answers which can be opposed to them.

Dominican writers confess Although most more recent writers ascribe the origin of the Rosary to St. Dominic, yet that this is not the opinion of all Nicholas Janssenius in the Life of St. Dominic, book 1, chapter 5, signifies in these words: Some hold it uncertain whether blessed Dominic was, and therefore whether he ought to be called, the founder of the most holy Rosary. In a few words I shall set forth what the truth is. The venerable Bede seems to make mention of this rite of praying, and that its use existed in his age. But Polydore Vergil treats of it more studiously, and says that it was devised by a certain Peter, a hermit of Amiens, about the year 1075. But the question is easily solved, if we speak more distinctly about the Rosary: for by this is understood either the method of praying by the counting of beads, or the Rosary as comprising a hundred and fifty Angelic salutations, with the Lord's Prayer interposed for each decade. If you take it in the first way, the inventor may have been that Peter of Polydore, or anyone else; taken in the second way, its founder is holy Dominic.

[363] that the question about the first founder of the Rosary Antonio Senense in the Chronicle of the Brothers of the Order of Preachers, pages 11 and 12, does not have recourse to this distinction; but confesses that St. Dominic found or revived the use of the Rosary, which in the time of the venerable Bede or of Peter the hermit had perhaps flourished, but was afterward extinguished or given over to oblivion. Here are his own words: At the same time in which the man of God Dominic was pressing on with the preaching of the Gospel, he also suggested to the devotion of the faithful that pious manner of praying of the Rosary of the blessed Virgin, that she also, who of old alone had destroyed all heresies, being stirred by the devout prayers of the faithful, might deign by her intercession to extinguish that one which was then creeping on; that so, the tares of false doctrine being killed, the wheat of sacred doctrine might grow up. And although Polydore Vergil refers this manner of praying to the year 1073, as devised by a certain father, a hermit of Amiens; and Bede and others even to more ancient times; yet not undeservedly is it ascribed to the divine Dominic, that he, when perhaps it had already fallen out of men's knowledge, moved thereto (as is believed) by the divine Godhead, devised it, and preached it with wondrous affection of devotion and exceeding ardor.

[364] is disputed among Catholic authors, For the rest, Choquet in the Work already often cited and henceforth to be cited also sufficiently indicates that this question is disputed among the learned, when there in chapter 22, pages 429 and following, about to vindicate the first institution of the Rosary for his most holy Parent, he thus prefaces: Moreover before all things it must be accurately inquired what were the beginnings of the most sacred Marian Rosary; namely when it was first born, and began to be used in the Church: for these things

do not seem so very clear, since certain persons go over to different opinions. Then he reports and refutes various opinions of authors on this controversy, from which we shall in the following paragraph select a few, and shall add one or two which present some appearance of difficulty, after we have first produced here the strongest arguments by which the institution of the Rosary is claimed for St. Dominic.

[365] and for their opinion they can adduce the Roman Breviary, The first argument can be sought from the new Office which we lately received from Pope Benedict XIII, and in which we recite the fourth Lesson thus: When the heresy of the Albigensians was impiously ranging through the region of Toulouse, and was daily driving its roots deeper, holy Dominic, who had lately laid the foundations of the Order of Preachers, applied himself wholly to uprooting it. That he might do this more strongly, he implored with earnest prayers the help of the blessed Virgin, whose dignity was most shamelessly assailed by those errors, and to whom it is given to destroy all heresies in the whole world: by whom (as has been handed down to memory), when he had been admonished to preach the Rosary to the peoples as a singular safeguard against heresies and vices, it is wonderful with how great fervor of mind and with how happy a success he carried out the office enjoined upon him. And the Rosary is a certain formula of prayer, by which we distinguish fifteen decades of Angelic salutations with the Lord's Prayer interposed, and at each of them recall by pious meditation as many mysteries of our restoration. From that time therefore this pious manner of praying began to be wonderfully promulgated and increased through holy Dominic; and that he was its founder and author the supreme Pontiffs have generally affirmed in Apostolic letters. Of this assertion of the supreme Pontiffs we shall presently treat.

[366] Meanwhile let it be permitted us to ask who before the times of Alan de la Roche recorded which here does not seem to rest on ancient testimonies, that St. Dominic was admonished by the Mother of God appearing to him to preach the Rosary to the peoples. Certainly Choquet does not seem to have known an older author of this story, when at pages 459 and 460 of the aforesaid Work he writes thus: And indeed what we have said about the institution of the Rosary and its preaching at Toulouse by blessed Dominic, Alan de la Roche has in part 2 of the Revived work, chapter 3. To him he subjoins other more recent asserters of that apparition, and, to produce greater credit, alleges in the same place from the end of the cited chapter these words of Alan: And all these things the most pious Virgin Mary, Mother of God, related to a certain man whom she espoused with a ring and a wondrous Psalter, hanging on the spouse's neck from the hairs of the virgin Mary herself, to be most true, visibly and sensibly. Nay, Choquet on the following page confesses that that private conversation of St. Dominic with the Mother of God in the wood of Toulouse would have lain hidden forever, had not heaven itself in its kindness at length disclosed it — namely to Alan de la Roche, of whose suspect credit we have discussed above in §3 more than enough with Échard. From these things therefore we conclude that the sacred Congregation of Rites and Benedict XIII do not in this matter require of us greater historical credence than the authority of Alan de la Roche deserves, who first recorded that singular privilege two hundred and fifty years after St. Dominic's death.

[367] Moreover this new Lesson hints that the Rosary, and which in this matter has not the highest authority, as it is handed down to have been instituted by the holy Founder of the Preachers, is a certain formula of praying by which we distinguish fifteen decades of Angelic salutations with the Lord's Prayer interposed, and at each of them recall by pious meditation as many mysteries of our restoration. Flaminius in the Life of St. Dominic, book 2, folio 34 verso, also expressly asserts that that whole formula was revealed to the Saint by the Mother of God herself, and, dividing the whole Psalter into three Rosaries, thus discourses of this revelation: And the most happy Virgin admonished that, when the first Rosary is offered, the mystery of the Lord's nativity should come to the mind of the one saying it, and that his mind should be occupied in considering that matter: but in the second, the most harsh torment of our Redeemer, and a most atrocious death comparable to no slaying, which we call the Lord's Passion: in the third, finally, the glory of the admirable Resurrection of the Lord, which no speech can sufficiently explain, and at the same time that of the other Saints. But if for the Psalter or Rosary which St. Dominic is said to have instituted there is also required a pious meditation on those mysteries, how will there be reconciled with this narration the opinion of Échard, who in the preceding paragraph twice affirms that Alan de la Roche was the first who bound that meditation on the mysteries to the decades of the Rosary? But if you wish that that meditation on the mysteries was instituted by St. Dominic himself, then the arguments of the Premonstratensian authors must be dissolved, who contend that that practice of reciting the Rosary was in use in their Order before the times of St. Dominic, as in the preceding paragraph we reported from the most eminent Don José Esteban de Noriega, Premonstratensian abbot.

[368] as Pope Benedict XIII declared on another occasion. On account of this examination of the Roman Breviary we are not to be accused of irreverence toward the Apostolic See, as has often been demonstrated in the Papebrochian Responses at article IX and elsewhere. If nevertheless some imprudent or unskilled person should on that account charge us, he would involve in the same accusation Benedict XIII himself, who once, raised from the Order of Preachers to the Roman Purple and the chair of Benevento, contended in a whole dissertation against the Romans that the relics of St. Bartholomew the Apostle still rest in his own church of Benevento. And when the contrary opinion of the Roman Breviary was objected to him, in the seventh article of the same dissertation he answers that the Roman Breviary is indeed of the greatest authority in those things which of themselves pertain to ecclesiastical worship; but of less weight in private facts or deeds which are reported incidentally in the Life of the Saints, so that no effective argument can be drawn from it, especially where older monuments are opposed. For neither does the Church herself, who uses them, judge whatever is inserted in her Breviaries to be of unshaken and infallible truth, since many times, according to various times, she has changed and corrected them as occasion arose … All which are an argument that Breviaries are not straightway to be thought free from all historical error, but generally need a great sponge, although the Church employs them for her own use. Nay, that even the Clementine-Urban Breviary which we use is not altogether without its blemishes, most learned investigators of histories indicate. So he, then most eminent Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, and afterward supreme Pontiff; who to the authority of the Roman Martyrology, which also opposed his opinion, answers similarly in the same place, and confirms his statements by various examples. Now let us report other testimonies of the Roman Pontiffs on this matter.

[369] Leo X ascribes the confraternity of the Rosary to St. Dominic, Peter Louvet of the Order of Preachers published at Douai in the year 1635 a booklet entitled The Apostolic Treasury of graces and privileges, etc., and in it collected the authentic letters of prerogatives and indulgences which the Apostolic Legates or the supreme Pontiffs granted in favor of the Rosary. In that collection is exhibited the bull of Leo X, and there at page 22 that Pontiff after other things speaks thus to our purpose: Indeed a petition lately presented on behalf of our beloved sons the Priors and Brothers of the house of the Preachers of Cologne contained that formerly, as is read in the histories, a certain confraternity of the faithful of both sexes called of the Rosary of the blessed Virgin Mary was instituted by holy Dominic in honor of the Angelic salutation, and was preached in various parts of the world, with signs following; but since that confraternity in the course of time had been almost neglected and had passed into oblivion, and in the year 1475 the city and diocese were pressed by grievous wars, that same confraternity, to the praise and honor of the aforesaid Virgin, that the aforesaid city and diocese might by the merits and intercessions of the same Virgin be freed from those wars, was renewed and instituted anew in the church of the said house with a certain manner of praying: namely, that the confreres and sisters of that confraternity should on three days of every week, to the honor of God and of the aforesaid Virgin, and against the impending perils of the world, recite together or separately the Angelic salutation as many times as there are psalms in the Davidic Psalter, prefixing once to every ten such salutations the Lord's Prayer; and this manner of praying is commonly called the Psalter or Rosary of the same blessed Virgin. You see that here the institution of the confraternity of the Rosary is ascribed to St. Dominic.

[370] But although Martín de Azpilcueta, who is commonly called Doctor Navarrus, which nevertheless Martín Navarrus, a pious and learned man, attributes the first preaching of the Rosary to St. Dominic, yet he does not admit this assertion of Leo X about the first institution of the confraternity of the Rosary, when among the Miscellanies on prayer, volume 2 of his Works, which were printed at Venice in the year 1601, folio 316, he assigns the beginning of that confraternity in these words: Second, I answer directly to the question itself, that it is a received opinion that in the year 1476 a certain distinguished doctor, provincial of the same Order, by name Jakob Sprenger, when he was Prior of the celebrated monastery of the Preachers of the most famous city of Cologne on the Rhine, instituted a solemn and general confraternity of the Rosary of our Lady for all Christians of both sexes, with certain statutes added concerning entrance and the obligation of the confreres; which the aforesaid legate Alexander, at the instance of the emperor Frederick III and of his august wife, confirmed and enriched with indulgences, as is established from his letters. Then he brings forward a fragment of the letters of Alexander, Apostolic Legate, which the curious reader will find entire in the praised Louvet, page 1 and following. Although the Legate Alexander first approved this confraternity in the year 1476, yet it seems to have been erected in the preceding year, as will appear from what is presently to be said.

[371] This opinion of Doctor Navarrus Échard confirms, and Échard believe was instituted much later. when in volume 1 of Bibl. Praedicat., page 881, narrating the occasion on which Jakob Sprenger erected that congregation of the Rosary at Cologne, he subjoins the following to his narration: Whence it came about that Alexander Nanni de Malatestis, bishop of Forlì, Legate a latere of Sixtus IV, then staying at Cologne, confirmed this society and enriched it with indulgences, on the X of March of the following year 1476. And this is the first confraternity, as they call it, of the Rosary strengthened and approved by Apostolic authority, which, being shortly everywhere eagerly taken up and daily augmented with new privileges, filled almost the whole Church. Note that that congregation of Cologne is said by Échard to be the first strengthened and approved by Apostolic authority: for at Douai in the year 1470 another confraternity of the Rosary had already been erected, which Brother John Excuria received into the communion of merits, and about which Échard in the same volume, page 871, had made mention thus: When in his age our Alan de la Roche was ardently preaching the cult of the most holy Rosary or Psalter of the blessed Virgin in Flanders, a certain society of this title was erected at Douai, for the promotion of which our John here gave these letters, which it has seemed good to insert here, because they are the first bestowed in favor of this pious exercise. After the letters of John are recited, which at Douai in the year 1470,

were given on the XVI of March, he adds these things in the same place:

And this I read to be the first congregation, or, as they say, confraternity, of this pious cult in that century.

In the year and month in which the letters were given, the aforesaid F. Alanus de Rupe was staying at Douai, being, as it seems, the instigator of them. From these things it follows that the origin of such congregations is not referred by these two writers to St. Dominic, although Leo X the Pontiff, upon the report of others, attributed it to him.

[372] Choquet cites the indulgences of the ancient Pontiffs, But the defenders of the more ancient institution will doubtless say that Martin Navarrus and Jacobus Echard erred, since Pope Sixtus V, in volume 2 of the Roman Bullary, page 515, numbers Urban IV and John XXII among his predecessors who enriched the confraternity of the Rosary with indulgences. Hence Choquet, on page 469 and the following, after the fragment of the Sixtine Bull has been adduced, from the fact that among the Pontiffs who heaped sacred gifts upon the maidenly sodality of the Rosary Urban IV is reckoned by Sixtus V, thus proves the antiquity of the instituted confraternity: Whence it is clear that not long after the age of St. Dominic the Roman Pontiffs were munificent toward the sodality of the Rosary; which is surely an argument that it already then flourished with a great throng and cult of the Christian people, and also with stupendous prodigies. And that it may be permitted to reckon the years, Urban IV was created Pontiff in the sixty-first year of the twelfth century, that is, forty years from the passing of blessed Dominic. Further, our Andreas Coppenstein, in book 2 on the Fraternity of the Rosary, chapter XI, ascribes Alexander IV to the Pontiffs who augmented the sacred colleges of the Rosary with great favors; as also Clement IV, of whom Alexander immediately preceded Urban IV in the pontifical see, whom likewise Clement IV immediately followed, a man by far most inclined toward the Order of Preachers. Then he ascends to the Roman Pontiffs nearer to the age of St. Dominic, whom also he judges to have favored the confraternity of the Rosary. We are not so peevish as to require more ancient testimonies, if that can be proved concerning Alexander IV or Urban IV. Nay rather, we freely confess that this argument is most valid, if it rests upon monuments which precede the age of Alanus de Rupe.

[373] concerning which all the collectors of Bulls are silent, Various things move us not to subscribe at once to this argumentation. First, the authority and erudition of Martin Navarrus, who in volume 2 of the cited Work, folio 315 verso, so plainly pronounces: But it is established that the Psalter is called the Rosary, not indeed from the letters of Sixtus IV, who first of the supreme Pontiffs approved this kind of praying, but from the letters of Alexander the Legate, to be reported in the following Miscellany, who first confirmed the confraternity of the Rosary. Secondly, the silence of Peter Louvet, who at the beginning of his little book brings forward the letters of Alexander the Legate and of Sixtus IV the Pontiff, and makes no mention of more ancient Bulls of the Roman Pontiffs, although he has carefully arranged in order of time all the indulgences granted to the confraternity of the Rosary, and certainly would not have omitted other ancient ones, had he found them, or judged them to pertain to the confraternity of the Rosary. This negative argument is confirmed from Joseph Stephanus of Valencia, Canon of the church of Segorbe, to whom F. John Brunus, after a diligent search of the Roman archives, was able to communicate only the same Bulls which the former inserted into his elegant little work on the Rosary, which was published at Rome in the year 1584, on page 149 and following. Thirdly, the very reasoning of certain authors who claim the institution of that confraternity for St. Dominic, and on that account commemorate the indulgences of the ancient Pontiffs.

[374] Let us hear from among these first Coppenstein, who in book 2 on the Fraternity of the Rosary, chapter XI, alleges to this end the diploma of Pope Alexander IV, whose fragment, from the autograph itself which is preserved in the archive of the Convent of Cologne, and which Coppenstein by conjecture supposes he thus exhibits:

The glory of everlasting life must be acquired by virtue by those redeemed at the price of the blood deservedly poured out from the precious body of the Redeemer; among which things that is recognized to be exceedingly great, that everywhere, but especially in the churches of the Saints, the Majesty of the Most High be praised. We therefore ask and exhort your whole body in the Lord, enjoining it upon you for the remission of sins, that you approach in humility of spirit the church of the delinquent sons of the Prior and Brothers of the Order of Preachers of Cologne, to implore from the Lord pardon for the beloved. We also, that we may invite Christ's faithful as it were by rewards to merits, trusting in the mercy of Almighty God and in the authority of his blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, mercifully relax one hundred days of the penance enjoined upon them to all who are truly penitent and confessed, who shall approach that same church yearly on the several festivals of the glorious Virgin Mary, etc., for the sake of devotion, etc. Given at Anagni on the V of the Ides of January, in the sixth year of our Pontificate. This year of Alexander the Pontiff corresponds to the year of Christ 1260.

[375] But how, you will say, do these things regard the confraternity of the Rosary? to have been granted to the Confraternity of the Rosary, Very closely, if we believe Coppenstein, who in the place already cited, after other conjectures of no moment, goes on thus to divine from this diploma of Alexander IV: But who were those worshippers of Mary among the Preachers, save those who were numbered in very great number in the fraternity of the Rosary? To these, then, chiefly, though not solely, it must be judged that Apostolic favor was shown. This opinion is brought to me by the authority, as I said, of those writers, and by the testimony concerning Urban IV, who expressly and singly adorned the fraternity of the Rosary in the year 1263; and therefore that the intention of his predecessor in the year 1260, and of his successor about the year 1266, was turned to the same thing, seems to me highly probable from the conjunction of the years and the agreement of the Pontiffs. Behold the whole foundation, constructed by Alanus de Rupe and other more recent writers, upon which the specious argumentation of Choquet rests, and whose weakness must be more deeply inspected.

[376] Antoninus of Siena in the Chronicle of the Preachers, page 101, treats of Clement IV the Pontiff, to which they by no means pertain, who granted various privileges to the Dominican Order, and on the following page reports among others one in this manner: He also granted indulgences to those visiting our churches on the anniversary day of their dedication, and on the eight days following, and on the feasts of the blessed Virgin, of the divine Dominic our father, and of the other Saints of our Order, etc. From these things Coppenstein, in the place above mentioned, number 6, infers that these indulgences were granted chiefly to the confraternity of the Rosary, because it was then wont to perform its exercises in the churches of the Preachers. But he supposes that upon which the whole hinge of the question turns. Whether, therefore, this inference is more legitimate than the preceding, we leave to be judged by skilled logicians.

[377] For the rest, the letters themselves of Clement IV, which the most learned Edmund Martène lately published in volume 2 of the Thesaurus of Anecdotes, column 212, as is shown from the very words of those Pontiffs, make no word concerning the confraternity or the Rosary; but to all truly penitent and confessed, who shall have venerably visited those churches (namely of the Preachers) at their dedications, and on the anniversary day of their dedications, and up to the eight days following, and also on the festivals of the blessed Virgin Mary, of the holy confessor Dominic and of Peter the martyr, and also of the other Saints in whose honor the major altars in those churches are constructed, for the sake of devotion, trusting in the mercy of Almighty God and in the authority of his blessed Apostles Peter and Paul (says the Pontiff), we mercifully relax one hundred days of indulgence from the penances enjoined upon them, in each several year. Given at Perugia on the V of the Ides of October, in the first year of our Pontificate. Now let us see whether anything further can be proved concerning Urban IV.

[378] and from the texts of other writers, First of all we ask, where did Urban IV expressly and singly adorn the fraternity of the Rosary, as Coppenstein above confidently affirms? Not even Alanus' own disciple Michael of Lille dared to assert that, when in the Cologne Quodlibet on the truth of the fraternity of the Rosary (this little work Coppenstein appended to the Alanus Redivivus under the name of this Michael), chapter 5, in our edition page 40, he thus writes: Nor do I think it should here be passed over in silence, that Urban IV granted thirty days of indulgences for each occasion to WHOMSOEVER added the name of Jesus at the end of the Angelic salutation, which indulgences John XXII his successor, confirming, superadded another thirty days, as is plain in the authentic Bull which is kept in the church of Avignon, where John XXII stayed for many years. If Urban IV granted those indulgences to whomsoever added the name of Jesus to the Angelic salutation, how, according to Coppenstein, did he expressly and singly adorn the fraternity of the Rosary?

[379] although Alanus at his own discretion As to what here pertains to John XXII, Michael of Lille received it from his master Alanus, who in the Apology, or part 1, chapter 13, has these words: The supreme Pontiff John XXII granted an indulgence of XXIV years, XXXIV weeks, and two days to those praying the Psalter of Mary, which he defines to consist of one hundred and fifty Angelic salutations. I have seen a transcript of the Bull; the autograph is kept at Avignon in our Convent, as I have heard. The same grants sixty days of indulgence to those adding the words Jesus Christ to the close of each salutation. But a hundred and fifty times sixty days of indulgence added to the aforesaid make up an enormous number. Not undeservedly do we here hold the credit of Alanus suspect, even though he testifies that a transcript or copy of the Bull of John XXII was seen by him: for he also asserts that he had read the books of John of the Mount and of Thomas of the Temple, which no one has seen, and which in all likelihood never existed, as we said with Echard in §2 of this Commentary.

[380] fitted those indulgences arithmetically to the Rosary, Nevertheless let us gratuitously believe that a copy of the Bull was seen by him, by which John XXII bestows indulgences of a certain number of days upon those reciting the Angelic salutation: for Raynaldus in the Ecclesiastical Annals, at the year 1318 number 58, and at the year 1327 number 54, mentions two letters of this kind, which John XXII gave at Avignon, and by which he grants indulgences of ten days to all the faithful of Christ who shall have recited the Angelic salutation at the evening ringing of the bell. But Alanus seems to transfer similar indulgences, I know not by what authority, arithmetically to the Psalter or Rosary, and to multiply them according to the number of Angelic salutations, and to increase them to more years: for sixty days of indulgence counted a hundred and fifty times will make up an indulgence of XXIV years, XXXIV weeks, and two days, which Alanus expresses above, as will be plain to one who works out the reckoning. But what, I beseech, has this computation to do with proving the antiquity of the confraternity of the Rosary? It would have to be shown from the Bulls of the Pontiffs themselves that Urban IV and John XXII multiplied those indulgences of thirty or sixty days according to the number of Angelic salutations, and extended them to the confreres who should recite the Psalter or Rosary.

[381] Coppenstein however, in book 2 of the above-mentioned Work, chapter XI number 5, uses the same arithmetical argument more clearly to this end: and Coppenstein followed him in this matter, Urban IV, that he might add a spur to those accustomed assiduously and piously to frequent the Angelic salutation, and might increase devotion; the same, as very many witnesses of it attest, is established to have, at the solemn

decree, sanctioned that these little words Jesus Christ should be added; and at the same time to have added, in favor of those pronouncing them, an indulgence of XXX days: so that whoever should have prayed one Psalter of Mary would earn a remission of XII years, XVIII [] weeks, and one day. These same indulgences John XXII confirmed somewhat afterward, and even added as much again about the year of the Lord 1330. Hence in chapter 14 of the same book, number 4, he treads in the footsteps of Alanus, and thus doubles the reckoning: John XXII had bestowed upon those praying the Psalter a remission of XXIV years, XXXVI [] weeks, and two days, by public letters about the year 1330. Alanus saw a transcript of the Bull, and testifies that the autograph is kept in the Convent of Avignon.

[382] If in the time of Alanus de Rupe that Bull of John XXII was preserved in the Avignon Convent of the Preachers, whereas nevertheless no one hitherto has produced such diplomas of the Pontiffs. and pertained to the confraternity of the Psalter or Rosary, we greatly marvel that it was not communicated to Vincent Bandello, general Master of the Order, who in the year 1505 subjoined to the constitutions several letters of the ancient Pontiffs granted in favor of his Order. It is also strange that it lay hidden from Joseph Stephanus of Valencia and from Peter Louvet, who carefully published in the aforesaid little books the Bulls of the Roman Pontiffs pertaining to the confraternity of the Rosary. If nonetheless a genuine diploma of John XXII can still be produced, in which he expressly mentions the confraternity of the Psalter or Rosary, we freely confess, against the opinion of Martin Navarrus and Jacobus Echard, that that confraternity flourished before the times of Alanus and Jacobus Sprenger. And if likewise such letters of Urban IV be produced, from that very fact we assert St. Dominic to be the author not only of the Rosary but also of that confraternity, and on that condition we heartily congratulate the Reverend Fathers Preachers on the victory won in this matter over all their adversaries.

[383] And these are the chief arguments by which Choquet defends the antiquity of the confraternity of the Rosary: Besides other Roman Pontiffs, for the things which he repeats from the words of the venerable Humbert and from the letters of Peter de Vineis can easily be understood of other congregations or of the third Order of the Minorites and Preachers. Perhaps Sixtus V the Pontiff was led by similar reasonings or testimonies to reckon Urban IV and John XXII among his predecessors who had promoted the confraternity of the Rosary with privileges and indulgences. Learned Catholics everywhere know that the Roman Pontiffs in Bulls of this kind do not confirm the historical facts which occur in them, but for the most part simply report them as they are probably suggested, just as we related above from Angelus Manrique on occasion of the first Inquisitor. These things concerning the confraternity of the Rosary having been discussed, let us return to the origin of the Rosary itself.

[384] St. Pius V ascribes the institution of the Rosary to St. Dominic, Pius V clearly ascribes this institution to St. Dominic, and in the Bull of the year 1569, in Louvet page 79, speaks thus among other things: Blessed Dominic, author of the Order of Friars Preachers (whose institute and rule, when we were in minor orders, we expressly professed), inspired by the Holy Spirit, as is piously believed, on an occasion like that of the present time, when the heresy of the Albigensians was miserably raging through the parts of Gaul and Italy, and had blinded so many of the laity that they raged most savagely against the priests and clerics of the Lord, lifting his eyes to heaven, and looking upon that mountain of the glorious virgin Mary, the nourishing Mother of God, who by her offspring crushed the head of the crooked serpent, and alone destroyed all heresies, and by the blessed fruit of her womb saved the world condemned by the fall of the first parent, and from which was cut without human hands that stone which, struck by the wood, brought forth flowing waters of graces — devised an easy manner, accessible to all and exceedingly pious, of praying and beseeching God, called the Rosary or Psalter of the same blessed Virgin Mary, by which the same most blessed Virgin is venerated with the Angelic salutation repeated a hundred and fifty times according to the number of the Davidic Psalter, and with the Lord's Prayer interposed at each decade, together with certain meditations setting forth the whole life of the same our Lord Jesus Christ; and having devised it, propagated it through the parts of the holy Roman Church, etc. Gregory XIII, and certain other Roman Pontiffs of whom mention has been made above, agree with holy Pius V. But observe that all those Vicars of Christ who made mention of the Rosary or of its confraternity governed the Church after the times of Alanus de Rupe.

[385] which opinion, however, men eminently Catholic We do not deny that the authority of the Roman Pontiffs is great, and that it adds no small weight to this opinion: yet in this matter it is not such that Catholic and learned men are forbidden publicly to dispute about that purely historical question, and to disagree among themselves. Thus the Reverend Dom Nebridius Mundelheim, of the Order of Canons Regular of St. Augustine, after all these diplomas of the supreme Pontiffs, thinks the origin of the Rosary to be more ancient than the age of St. Dominic, as he indicates in the Monastic Antiquary of the second edition, page 314, or at the end of letter 70, where he thus addresses a certain Brother of his Order: Do you care for your Rosary, than which after the Breviary God (I think) has instituted nothing more noble in the Church, or more efficacious for obtaining; which also laymen like yourself can most easily use: for what of divine wares does not lie hidden there? You have the Lord's Prayer, you have there the symbol of faith, you have also the Angelic salutation, than which what is more acceptable and sweeter to the Queen of heaven? Then, after he has proved by the example of Blessed Mechtild how pleasing the Angelic salutation is to the most blessed Virgin, he continues thus in the same place: Whereby you see, Josippus, how precious a gem is the Angelic salutation, of which almost alone the Rosary consists. This is the invention of Peter the hermit, to which afterward St. Dominic gave a great increase.

[386] and learned men do not admit. The most learned Mabillon, in the Preface to the Acts of the Saints of the fifth Benedictine century, number 125, thus reports various opinions concerning this institution: But let us come at last to that for whose sake these things have been adduced; namely, to the origin of the Rosary, and let us see whether mention was made of it in the Council of Chelsea. The Rosary is established to consist of fifteen Lord's Prayers and one hundred and fifty salutations of blessed Mary. The Crown (as they call it) of the blessed Virgin has six or seven decades of salutations with six or seven Lord's Prayers, according to the differing opinion of authors about the years of her life. Concerning the author of the Rosary there are various opinions. Some refer it to the holy father Benedict, others to the venerable Bede, others to Peter the hermit, others finally to St. Dominic, founder of the Preachers. Afterward in the same Preface, number 128, he adds these things: Concerning the Rosary, which comprises a hundred and fifty salutations with fifteen Lord's Prayers, there is no mention in the Acts of St. Dominic, to whom this invention is attributed two hundred years ago. Thomas of Cantimpré, of the Order of Preachers, nearly contemporary with Dominic, mentions once and again three fifties of salutations, wont to be frequented by certain devotees of blessed Mary: but concerning the author he says nothing. Among these Catholic men who think contrary to such diplomas of the Roman Pontiffs must be numbered a recent Spanish writer of the Premonstratensian Order, whose words bearing on this we alleged in the preceding paragraph, number 361. Also to these could be reckoned all those who refer the first institution of the Psalter or Rosary to more ancient times, and whose opinions, and the refutations of them, we shall set forth in the following paragraph, where at times, without any decision of the dispute, we shall intermingle our own or others' observations.

* perhaps "Peter"

* perhaps "eloquence"

* read XVII

* read XXXIV

§ XXI. The arguments of those who think the origin of the Rosary more ancient than the age of St. Dominic, and the responses to them, and various observations upon these responses.

Although from the beginning of Christ's Church, says Mabillon in the Preface to the Acts of the Saints of the fifth Benedictine century, number 115, Mabillon [refers the origin of the Rosary to about the tenth century,] the cult of the most blessed virgin Mary was received (as was fitting) and propagated, yet it afterward received increase. Nor is that to be lightly regarded, that of the first four councils one, namely that of Ephesus, was convened for asserting to the Mother of God her super-excellent dignity, in a church named after her, where she was endowed by the Fathers with many eulogies (as was right). As time went on, various feasts were gradually established in her honor. But in the tenth century the devotion of the faithful toward her became more inclined: for about that time three things were instituted; namely, her memorial on Saturday, and abstinence from flesh even outside the fasts; the Little Office; and numbered prayers or Angelic salutations recited to a number, which they call the crown or Rosary. Mabillon seems by these latter words to refer the origin of the Rosary to about the tenth century.

[388] Other writers, however, of no small authority, such as John Lopez of the Order of Preachers, raised to the see of Crotone in Calabria, in his Spanish work on the Rosary of the Mother of God, book 1, chapter 2, number 6, confesses and other authors assign it to earlier centuries, that they trace back the use of the Rosary from the time of the Apostles, and contend that it flourished in the first centuries of the Catholic Church. Nay more, John Rebellus judges that the Apostles instituted the Rosary, and prescribed it to the first Christians, that in this way they might extinguish or transform the superstitious rite of the pagans, who from pebbles strung upon a thread made a certain likeness of a Rosary, and in the cult of their idols muttered a numbered set of prayers. Hence some object the example of St. Bartholomew the Apostle, who is said to have prayed a hundred times by day and as many times by night. Certain persons allege the custom of Paul the Egyptian, who daily recited three hundred prayers, which he marked by as many little stones, as Palladius testifies in the Lausiac History, chapter 23. But since it is not expressed what those prayers were, Choquet in chapter 22 of his mentioned Work easily refutes the objections of this man. Wherefore we, omitting uncertain or obscure histories of this sort, whose truth or circumstances there is no leisure to examine more scrupulously, shall adduce only those arguments which at first sight seem to have greater difficulty, especially when they are intrepidly proposed with great confidence by a certain author.

[389] among whom Alanus refers it to the times of St. Benedict First, such is the assertion of Alanus de Rupe, who in his Apology, or Part 1 of the Alanus Redivivus, chapter 8, thus confidently ascribes the use of the Rosary to St. Benedict: Moreover holy Benedict, most worthy patriarch of the most ample sacred Order, with such care and religion willed the holy cult of God in the salutatory Psalter to be familiar to himself and perpetual, and so observed it, that thereby he deserved to become the founder and author of so divine a monastic institution. From the example of so great a Father the sacred choir of the Brothers soon carried about with it the Psalter far and wide throughout the world, and besides the accustomed divine exercises of the Order, each one also loved this inwardly as it were a private thing among his more secret delights, and in it more cordially caressed the nourishing Virgin Mother, the bride of his Bridegroom, with a certain holy familiarity, as a certain doctor, John de Prato, has left handed down. Similar things

he repeats in Part 2, chapter 2, and in the same place declares that the witness of this history, John de Prato, was of the Benedictine Order. But no bibliographer makes mention of such a Benedictine author, so that I suspect not altogether rashly that this John de Prato is to be placed among fictitious writers together with Thomas of the Temple and John of the Mount. Further, as regards the matter itself, Mabillon himself, that most learned Benedictine, frankly denies to his holy founder any knowledge of the Rosary, as we shall presently report in his own words.

[390] and of the venerable Bede, With equal confidence Alanus, Part 1, chapter 8, attributes the restoration of the Psalter or Rosary to the venerable Bede: After these, he says, God raised up for himself the venerable Bede, who throughout all England, Britain, and France, far and wide, restored by his preachings the interrupted frequenting of the Marian Psalter. And from that time those nations, chiefly the English, embraced this Psalter with such love and honor down to this day, that everywhere in the churches there were to be seen many prayer-cords hung and fixed, for public use and common to all, for those entering the temple who might be pleased to pour forth their prayers over them and offer them to God. That religious practice lasted long enough; but it too at last, as the years slipped by, and as the public "patriloquies," as they called them, were worn out by use and lost, came into rarity and finally into oblivion among the common people. In almost the same manner he affirms this very thing again in Part 2, chapter 2. John de Marieta, a Spanish writer of the Order of Preachers, embraces this opinion of Alanus, when in the Ecclesiastical History of the Saints of Spain, Part 3, book 8, chapter 3, he asserts that the venerable Bede renewed in England the recitation of the Rosary, interrupted after the times of the Apostles. Indeed in the same place he narrates how that usage, afterward again fallen into decay, was restored in Germany before the age of St. Dominic by a certain Carthusian monk whose name was Eloy. Choquet refutes both those opinions, and on page 444 rejects this history of Eloy as unknown to himself, from which it would certainly follow that St. Dominic was not the first discoverer of the Rosary. We have sought that same history of Eloy in vain among the ancient writers of the Carthusian Order, and accordingly leave the credit of it with F. Marieta.

[391] Further, some, to confirm the venerable Bede's restoration in this matter, add to which latter difficulty Choquet that the Rosary in England drew its name from that Bede, and that hence it is called in English "bedes," as the English pronounce it, even though they write that word "beades." This etymology does not please Mabillon, who in the place to be presently cited judges that the Rosary could have been so called in English from another source, namely from "beltis," concerning which word more will occur immediately below. Meanwhile let us hear Choquet, who on page 443 of the aforesaid work thus answers this difficulty: We confess that the holy and venerable Bede brought into Britain the manner of stringing pebbles upon a thread, at which the faithful might pray the several Lord's Prayers, and perhaps also the Angelic salutations, in greater or lesser number; and this we grant on the strength of pictures and ancient monuments of England. But that he was the inventor or observer of the Marian Psalter, we plainly deny. And indeed, to the greatest advantage of the Church and of the Christian commonwealth, that divine man transmitted to posterity very many proofs of his piety and erudition; and though he pursued the greatest things and the least, yet he wrote not a word about the Rosary; which he would doubtless have done, had he been its discoverer or restorer. Wherefore John Sagastizaval constantly asserts that he has not seen in any history authentic monuments of a Rosary known of old in the Benedictine or Cistercian Order. Nor certainly, if Bede or another had been the author, restorer, or cultivator of the Rosary, would the countless pious, holy, and most devoted writers of those Orders have kept silence about it, or at least one out of them all. So he.

[392] Besides other things which might be noted in this response, does not answer aptly enough, we observe first that Choquet here believed Alanus too scrupulously, lest he should seem to withdraw credit from him in his other narrations also: for if in the age of Alanus traces of those Rosaries still survived in England, whence will it be proved that those Psalters or Rosaries of the venerable Bede were different from the present-day ones? Secondly, that credulous champion of Alanus by his response enervates his whole argument and renders it frivolous: for if the Psalters of Bede differed from the Alanian ones, in vain does Alanus defend himself by the example of Bede and of other ancients, and ridiculously does he prove from prayers of another form the antiquity of his own Psalter or Rosary, whose novelty, or rather new institution, was being attacked. Thirdly, Choquet furnishes arms against himself, when he here reasons from the silence of the ancients: for this negative argument can with better right be turned back upon himself, as will be said afterward.

[393] Wherefore Mabillon, in the praised Preface to the Acts of the Saints of the fifth Benedictine century, number 125, implicitly explodes this narration of Alanus, and in the same place answers this objection more briefly thus: If the use of the Angelic salutation had not yet prevailed (as we have shown above) in the age of St. Benedict, and which Mabillon briefly resolves. nor in that of Bede, in vain is its institution (namely of the Rosary, of which he treats) recalled to those times. To this they twist the fact that the Rosary among the English is called by the name BEDES, as though from Bede its author. But it could have been so called for another reason, say from "beltis"; which word is employed in the Council of Chelsea, and indeed for the Rosary, as Spelman judges. The chief foundation of this response was laid in the same Preface, where Mabillon discusses the use and progress of the Angelic salutation, as may be seen in the same place at number 118 and following. For the rest, we doubt whether the derivation of the English appellation "bedes" (the English write "beades," as we noted above) from the word "beltis" is at once to be admitted by all; the meaning of the latter must now be investigated.

[394] Some writers think that in a certain English council, In the year of Christ 816 a council was celebrated in England at Chelsea, which our Labbe published in volume VII of the Councils, column [ ] and following. By the tenth canon of that Synod those things are ordained which are to be done when some bishop has departed from the living, and after a determined number of psalms and Masses, and certain works of mercy, which are enjoined for the soul of the deceased, it is among other things established, in the same Labbe, column [ ], that "seven beltides of the Our Father" be sung for him. This obscure expression has racked the wits of many, and hitherto it is not agreed among the learned what is properly signified by the word "beltidum." Dominic Magri in the Hierolexicon, at the word "beltis," cites the words of this Synod of Chelsea, and in his judgment "beltis" is an instrument for numbering prayers and Lord's Prayers and Angelic salutations, just as today we reckon with the crown or Rosary. But his brother Charles Magri adds these things in the same place: I think "seven beltides" signifies turns, a word commonly derived from the Spanish SIETE BUELTAS, in Italian SETTE VOLTE, that is, seven turns, from VOLVERE to turn. But this last explanation of "beltidum," deduced from the Spanish or Italian idiom, will not undeservedly seem to some too violent and far-fetched. Add that "buelta" in Spanish does not signify a turn in the sense of an occasion; but, besides the other significations which that word has, is generally taken for a return or a circuit.

[395] which was held in the year of Christ 816, Whence rather, in that hypothesis of Charles Magri, by the word "beltis" would be understood the circuit or circle which is wont to be made by turning and reciting the Rosary: for that the initial words of the Lord's Prayer, "Our Father," which are plainly expressed in this Synod of Chelsea, are commonly taken for the Rosary, daily experience teaches us. Nor is this new, since F. Peter of Dacia of the Order of Preachers, who wrote the Acts of Blessed Christina of Stommeln in the XIII century, in our volume IV of June, page 314, an eyewitness, narrates these things about his companion F. Nicholas: Now Nicholas gave Christina his "Our Father," which he had personally carried for four years. Echard, in volume 1 of the Library of the Preachers, page 411, notes the following upon this text of F. Peter of Dacia: Since by that "Our Father" nothing else can be understood than what is now called a Crown or Rosary, hence there is an argument that it was then in use among our men to carry continually at the girdle those crowns, or a series of beads of a certain number strung upon a thread and fastened. More examples of this signification may be seen in the same Echard, in the volume just cited, page 852, from which it is plain that the word "Our Father" was commonly employed in the XIII century and following for a Crown or Rosary. But from that it does not yet manifestly follow that that word "Our Father" has the same signification in the Synod of Chelsea.

[396] Henry Spelman in the Archaeological Glossary, at the name "beltis," recites the words of this Synod of Chelsea, the word "beltis" signifies the Rosary, and thinks that by that word the Rosary is there indicated, which those praying used, and derives it from the Saxon root "belt," which signifies a girdle. But what, you will say, has a girdle to do with the matter here? I reply that the noun "beltis" could have been deduced from the Saxon root "belt," that is, a girdle, because perhaps the devotees of the Mother of God had been accustomed to carry Rosaries hanging from their girdles, as is gathered from the preceding number. Certainly St. Dominic, while still of tender age, so carried his Rosary, if we believe Alanus de Rupe, who in Part 2, chapter 3, narrates the following about that holy Boy: Nor was he delighted only to pray it, but also to carry it with him hanging from his little girdle, more than any golden or jeweled chain. He could have drunk this in with his mother's milk, or have imbibed it from the ecclesiastic given as director and master of his boyhood: but the disposition of the Boy, loftier than man, seemed worthy of a loftier discipline, with God as teacher. And so, the Virgin Mary revealing this to him, when he was still about ten years old, he always carried and prayed the Psalter. If these things be true, certain difficulties readily present themselves to me, to reconcile or resolve which I freely confess myself unequal: for if the Saint drank in this singular manner of praying with his mother's milk, or learned it from his uncle, the director of his boyhood, how is he said to have been the first to discover it? If while still a little boy, the Virgin Mary revealing this to him, he carried and prayed the Psalter or Rosary, how did the Mother of God, appearing in the wood of Toulouse, first reveal this manner of praying to the same Saint, and instruct him concerning the rite and order of the Rosary, as we reported above from Nicholas Janssen? These things having been observed in passing as occasion offered, let us return to our purpose.

[397] The most learned Du Cange in the Glossary, at the same word "beltis," reports certain words of the Synod already so often mentioned, which etymology is not clear enough; and adds to them these: In which place Spelman interprets "beltis" as the Rosary, and derives it from the Saxon BELT, that is, GIRDLE. But whether the use of the Rosary existed at that time may with right be doubted. The most learned Mabillon had seen these various opinions of authors, and thus delivers his judgment on that obscure controversy: By these words "beltides of the Our Father"

we do not doubt that a certain number of Lord's Prayers is designated. Spelman interprets it of the Rosary, from the Saxon BELT, which signifies a girdle. But whether at that time the Rosary was in use may with right be doubted, says the most learned Du Cange. To me indeed it seems to be a more recent invention: but nevertheless that a certain number (as I have already said) of Lord's Prayers is signified by those words seems clear. Since, however, there is no mention there of the Angelic salutation, which is the chief part of the Rosary, neither can this passage be taken up to demonstrate the antiquity of the Rosary. Certainly numbered prayers were in use long before the ninth century, as Palladius witnesses, where he treats of Paul the Egyptian, who recited three hundred prayers daily, counting three hundred pebbles in his bosom. Nothing, however, forbids that the word BELTIS, which at first signified only Lord's Prayers recited to a certain number, was afterward employed to signify the Rosary (if indeed that can be proved from elsewhere). We leave further investigation of this ambiguous word to the philologists, and proceed to other arguments.

[398] but others gather from certain histories, William of Malmesbury, in book 4 on the Deeds of the English Pontiffs, chapter 4, in our edition page 289, praises count Leofric and his wife Godiva, who in the year of Christ 1040 founded the monastery of Coventry in England, and in the same place has these things bearing on the present question: In both porticoes of Coventry lie the most excellent married pair who built the place, of whom especially the woman is celebrated; who, when while living she had heaped up all her treasures there, and being now about to die, [had] a circle of gems which she had strung upon a thread, so that by touching each one she might begin each prayer, and not pass over the number; this circle of gems, then, she ordered to be hung on the neck of the image of holy Mary. But this example does not yet settle the matter, since it cannot clearly be proved from it that those prayers, which Godiva recited to a certain number, touching each of the beads of the gemmed circle, are to be taken for Lord's Prayers and Angelic salutations. Wherefore let us pass to another history of the close of the eleventh century, in which Angelic salutations are evidently expressed.

[399] that the recitation of the Rosary in the eleventh century, Heriman, abbot of St. Martin of Tournai and a contemporary writer, in the Spicilegium of d'Achery of the latest edition, volume 2, page 905, narrates that a certain hermit dwelling in a wood of Hainaut, which is called Brocherota [*], had a revelation concerning Thierry of Avesnes, who was summoned to the judgment of God, of whom St. Waldetrudis and St. Aldegundis were complaining, because in the war against Baldwin of Mons he had inflicted grave damage upon their monasteries. Then the author adds that the Mother of God interceded for him, and to these two Saints demanding vengeance replied thus: Spare him, I pray, and do not be troublesome to me, because I do not wish at present to burden him: for his wife the lady Ada renders me a certain service, by which she so binds me to herself as a familiar that I cannot allow any burden to be inflicted either upon her or upon her husband. And when those Saints inquired what that service was, she replied: That Angelic salutation, which on earth was the beginning of joy to me, she repeats to me sixty times each day; and twenty times indeed prostrate, twenty times with bended knees, and twenty times standing, either in church, or in her chamber, or in some secret place, she commemorates to me "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb." Finally Heriman on the same page adds that this matter was so divulged that even Gosceguin, … who succeeded his aforesaid uncle Thierry, daily repeated the same salutations of blessed Mary, and urged his soldiers to say them. Our elders on the IX day of April, in the Appendix to the Acts of St. Waltrude, volume 1 of that month, page 842, published the same narration from a manuscript.

[400] and at the beginning of the twelfth was customary; Luke d'Achery of the Order of St. Benedict, who published this history in print about the same time, in both editions of his Spicilegium bids it be noted upon that passage that the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin, commonly CHAPPELET, was then in use. Mabillon, however, in the mentioned Preface, number 127, after reporting a synopsis of the same history, thus concludes from it: Hence I think was the beginning of the Crown of the blessed Virgin, which at that time, that is, at the beginning of the twelfth century, is understood from these words of Heriman to have been new. And if that hermit is the same as Peter the Hermit, to whom the invention of the Rosary is attributed by Polydore Vergil, hence it appears on what foundation that was said, namely because he published abroad this devotion of Ada toward the most blessed Virgin. Concerning this brief conclusion of Mabillon the following things occur to be noted. First, in that whole narration no mention is made of Lord's Prayers, which nevertheless are properly required to constitute a Crown. But if anyone should contend that they are sufficiently understood, and that here the denomination is taken from the greater part, we shall not grudgingly confess that the Crown of the Mother of God is there indicated: but then another difficulty remains: for the Crown differs from the Rosary, as we said toward the end of the preceding paragraph from Mabillon himself. Secondly, Polydore Vergil attributes the institution of the Rosary to Peter the hermit, as will be plain from his words presently to be reported. But that hermit, who brought forth Ada's devotion into public, cannot be said to have divulged the Rosary, if we speak strictly, even though Luke d'Achery confounds the Crown with the Rosary. Thirdly, it must be proved that Peter the hermit then dwelt in the wood Brocherota, before we admit that vague conjecture of Mabillon. But we have hitherto not been able to find that that Peter ever led an anchoritic life in that place.

[401] Polydore Vergil, in book 5 on the Inventors of things, chapter 9, attributes the invention of the Rosary to the famous Peter of Amiens, but those examples by no means settle the matter, who in the vernacular was surnamed l'Eremite, in these words: But that we might be able to keep an account with God, as often as we should recite the Lord's Prayer itself with the Angelic salutation, there is a manner of praying lately invented by means of little counters, so to speak, of wood, which the common people call now "preculæ," now "Pater-nosters." These, fifty-five in number, are so distinguished in order that after every ten a single larger one is fixed upon the thread (for they are pierced through); and as many as these are, so many times they recite the Lord's Prayer; as many as those are, so many times the Angelic salutation, going through the number thrice, and thrice they introduce the shorter creed: and this they call the Psalter of the divine Virgin Mary. The author of that practice is said to be Peter the Hermit, a Frenchman, a citizen of Amiens, who four hundred and thirty years ago, that is, about the year of human salvation one thousand and ninety, flourished in sanctity, and dealt with Urban the Roman Pontiff that the Asian war should be undertaken by our men, by which Jerusalem was recovered. Today so great honor has accrued to counters of this kind, that they are made not only of wood, amber, and coral, but of gold and silver, etc. You see here a sufficiently clear description of the Rosary, which is ascribed by that author to Peter the Hermit.

[402] Choquet, on page 443 and the following, thus lightly answers this difficulty: Our opinion concerning Peter the Hermit is as we judge with Choquet, that he did not indeed invent the method of praying by counters strung upon a thread, but brought into the nation of the Gauls the one previously discovered by Bede, and set it before the Crusaders whom he led into Palestine. For the venerable Bede preceded him by three hundred and sixty-seven years, since he lived in the year seven hundred and twenty-three; but Peter in one thousand and ninety. Unless we should say that the manner of numbering prayers by little spheres, first invented by Bede, entirely perished, and was anew restored by Peter, for which reason, from that exploit, the descendants of the Hermit carry a decade of beads added to their family arms — which, copied from an ancient medal, Peter Doultreman of the Society of Jesus inserted into his French book on the Life of the Hermit. This our opinion and interpretation is approved by Peter Doultreman himself, who in chapter XI of the said book plainly hands down that the first discoverer, or herald, of the Rosary was our most blessed parent Dominic.

[403] in whose response, however, we disapprove certain things. But Choquet in this response dissembles the fact that our Doultreman in the cited place distinguished the Rosary from the Crown, and made Peter the Hermit the first inventor of the latter, but St. Dominic of the former. Arnold Wion of the Order of St. Benedict also accurately distinguishes these two formulas of praying from each other in book 5 of the Tree of Life, in our edition Part 2, page 837, where he ascribes to Peter the Hermit the institution of the Crown, and to St. Dominic the origin of the Rosary. But Benedict Gonon, among the Lives of the Fathers of the West, book 5, page 327, in the Acts of Peter the Hermit, with no mention made of the Rosary, brings forward the following as to the present matter: Peter the Hermit, exceedingly devoted to the blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, instituted her Crown, which he gave to the soldiers to be recited daily. But it was for these three and for other recent writers to prove that Polydore Vergil confounded with the Crown the Rosary, whose form and number he carefully explains. Nevertheless we do not make so much of the authority of that Polydore, who flourished about the middle of the sixteenth century, that on that account we should deny the institution of the Rosary to St. Dominic. Wherefore in this last place we produce a testimony of greater antiquity and weight.

[404] Wherefore we produce the example of St. Aybert In our Work at the day VII of April occur the Acts of St. Aybert (Choquet names him Albert), a monk recluse in Hainaut, who died in the year of Christ 1140, in which Robert the archdeacon and coeval biographer, in volume 1 of that month, page 677, among other exercises of prayer commemorates this: A hundred times in the day he bent his knees, and fifty times with body prostrate, that is, raised upon knuckles and fingers, saying at each bending: "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb." From these things it follows that St. Aybert recited the Angelic salutation a hundred times with bended knees and fifty times with body prostrate, and thus daily honored the Mother of God with three fifties, as Thomas of Cantimpré speaks in book 2 of the Bees, chapter 29, number 6, on the occasion of a certain youth whom the most blessed Virgin invited to glory on account of a like task of Angelic salutations, where also at number 8 he narrates a prodigy about another youth who, although he was wholly given over to the world, yet being devoted to the blessed Virgin Mary, daily discharged the said three fifties in salutations.

[405] who at the beginning of the XII century daily recited 150 Angelic salutations Choquet does not deny that the same number of Angelic salutations was daily customary to St. Aybert, when on page 432 he objects these things to himself: Moreover Albert the monk, who lived under Paschal II, about the year 1105, was accustomed, as Surius witnesses (he would better have called as witness the contemporary Robert, from whom Surius gave the Life of St. Aybert), to pray the Angelic salutation a hundred times by day and fifty times by night. Then on page 438 he repeats the same thing, and at the same time mentions the aforesaid Ada of Hainaut in these words: Ada (whom we now add), wife of Thierry of Avesnes, prayed sixty Angelic salutations daily, who lived in the year 1080. Albert the monk a hundred

and fifty; by which number he reproduced the Psalter, and came nearer to the Rosary: but he did not say the Rosary, as will presently be plain. Why, I beseech, did St. Aybert not say the Rosary with his three fifties, when according to Choquet himself those two youths whom Thomas of Cantimpré commemorates in book 2 of the Bees, chapter 29, numbers 6 and 8, said it with an equal number of Angelic salutations?

[406] Let us nevertheless hear Choquet answering in the same place, pages 438 and 439, by which Choquet vainly tries to extricate himself, where after certain things said about the ancient use of the Davidic psalms he thus seeks an escape: Others, he says, who perhaps had no leisure for so long a reading, poured forth as many Lord's Prayers as there are hymns and songs of the Davidic Psalter; and this pursuit of piety they signified also by the name of the Psalter, and the anchorites often repeated it. Others rendered to the most august Mother of God a canon and Psalter of as many eulogies or Angelic salutations; among whom we confess, and congratulate ourselves, that Albert the monk was. But that they did not hold the Rosary, but only played a prelude to it, is most certain: for there was lacking to them the very species and form of the Rosary; namely, the punctuation of the decades by the adjoined Lord's Prayer, and the distinction and meditation of the mysteries. For just as a rude and undigested mass of stones and timbers is not a house until it puts on the form of art, so the Rosary is not a repetition, a frequency, and a heap of Angelic salutations; but a studious and apt arrangement of the same, composed into fifteen classes for the more attentive meditation of as many chief sacraments of the life, death, and glory of Christ and of the Mother of God.

[407] We well understand this response; but we think that various things in it are gratuitously asserted and supposed. while he is altogether constrained by an argument ad hominem, First, leisure was available to St. Aybert, a recluse or anchorite, for reading the Davidic psalms: for besides the great number of them which he recited, he daily honored the most blessed Virgin with a hundred and fifty Angelic salutations, as may be seen in his ancient Acts at the place cited above. Secondly, the meditation of the mysteries at each decade was afterward devised by Alanus de Rupe, as we said above from Echard, and accordingly ought not to be required for constituting the Rosary. Thirdly, the punctuation of the decades by the adjoined Lord's Prayer seems here tacitly to be understood, however much it is not explicitly expressed. Otherwise we do not see how in Cantimpré those two youths recited the Rosary, since there no word occurs about the meditation of the mysteries and the Lord's Prayer. And yet both of them said the Rosary, on the testimony of Choquet himself, who in chapter 23, page 466 and the following, thus alleges these same two examples for his own opinion: To these writers our Cantimpré also must deservedly be reckoned, who in book 2 of the Bees, chapter 29, number or part 6 and 8, reports two examples of his own time concerning the power of the Rosary, although he does not write the very word Rosary, it not yet being perhaps in use. Turn and turn again these two cited numbers, and besides three fifties of Angelic salutations you will find nothing. If therefore on that account, in Choquet's judgment, those two youths said the Rosary, by equal right St. Aybert must be judged to have recited it. Thus do we argue ad hominem, as they commonly say, and meanwhile establish nothing certain about the sum of the question itself.

[408] Now let us see whether Choquet's other response has succeeded more happily, which on page 439 he subjoins to the preceding, and by which he tries thus to free himself from this troublesome example of St. Aybert: And indeed, he says, since Albert the monk alone is reported to have prayed the Angelic salutations daily in that number, so that he seems to have alluded to the Marian Rosary more nearly than the rest, and yet did not attain it; and therefore perhaps he adds another response, nor through twelve centuries did any one of countless writers even touch the very name of the Rosary, or set forth with his pen its species or form; whereas nevertheless in every age very many most devoted clients of the Mother of God have handed down ecclesiastical matters and all the ancient documents of Christian piety: by this manner of arguing also, although (as they say) negative, it is altogether ascertained by us that the Rosary lay hidden so long in the bosom of the Virgin Mother of God, until she, of her own kindness, deigned by her own admonition that it be brought into the Christian world through Dominic, the first leader of her apostolic Order. And doubtless it would beget astonishment in anyone, if the Rosary, the delight of Mary the mother of God, previously known to the world, had been unknown to the Cistercian Order, into which too the love of the Mother of God was poured, and thus to honey-sweet Bernard himself. Many have diligently written out the histories of that greatest Order; Bernard too passed over nothing untouched by his pen which he knew to be pleasant and pleasing to the Mother of God: Fr. Chrysostom Henriquez reviewed in his Menology the more illustrious monuments of all the Cistercian Saints: Caesarius brought to light in twelve books the examples of his own time and Order; and yet in all these there is no memory of the Rosary, none of this formula of prayers. Namely because the thing itself of the Rosary had not yet flown down from heaven and from Mary's bosom to the earth.

[409] which can be turned back upon himself, But first of all Choquet seems by this response to withdraw credit from his dear Alanus, who in his Apology, or Part 1, chapter 8, confirming the antiquity of the Psalter or Rosary by examples, has among other things the following about the mellifluous enlarger of the Cistercian Order: Holy Bernard, special spouse of Mary, propagated this same Psalter with wonderful zeal and illustrated it by his example, and adapted it to the number and sense of the psalms of David, as I both saw and held. This was to that divine man a sure instrument to such sanctity of life as the world beheld, hell envied, and the Church venerates to this day. This same thing is again more clearly explained in Part 2 of the Alanus Redivivus, chapter 2, and a twofold Psalter of St. Bernard is distinguished. Moreover, while Choquet in this response opposes the silence of writers to his adversaries, did he sufficiently remember that he could be vehemently pressed by a like negative argument? Truly we do not know what solid answer could be given, if one of his adversaries should turn that response back upon its author by this same manner of arguing: Several ancients wrote the Life of St. Dominic; three hundred contemporary witnesses in the Toulouse examination set forth on oath various deeds of the same Saint; nine witnesses of the Order of Preachers, who had conversed familiarly with the same Saint, in the juridical process at Bologna confirmed by their sworn testimony his singular virtues and even the more minute exercises of his piety. And yet not one of them even touched the very name of the Rosary, or mentioned its form: no one of all these attributed to St. Dominic the institution of the Marian Psalter or Rosary. Does it follow thence, according to Choquet, that that exercise of piety was not yet in use some years after the death of St. Dominic?

[410] and he objects to himself a difficulty, A little above I was asking whether Choquet sufficiently remembered that he could be pressed by a like negative argument: for he was not ignorant that his adversaries used the same argument, since he himself in chapter 23, pages 464 and 465, on another occasion thus objects it to himself: And that we may move every stone, he says, there will perhaps not be lacking some among them who desire the causes and beginnings of each thing to be pointed out to them with the finger, and to handle them themselves with their hands: for these will object to us that no one of the ancient writers handed down to posterity even a trace of that sodality (what is here said of the sodality of the Rosary can be understood also of the institution of the Rosary itself) founded by blessed Dominic. The deeds done by the first Parent of the great Order have surely been written out by very many men either of his age or while his memory still flourished: blessed Jordan of Saxony, next after Dominic himself the supreme moderator of the Order (add to him more than three hundred coeval witnesses of the Toulouse and Bologna examinations, and Bartholomew of Trent the biographer), Humbert, who third from Jordan sat at the same helm, Gerard of Limoges, Stephen of Salanhac, Constantine of Orvieto afterward bishop, who also composed the Office of the same Saint which the Order uses, inscribed to blessed John the Teuton, Theodoric of Apolda, and others; who, though they commemorate the plainly illustrious deeds of their most holy Leader, yet do not touch with their pen that which is excellent and singular, and which indeed no reason persuades them to pass over — nay rather, the glory of the Virgin Mother by its own right demanded that it be made public. Add that foreign writers and those of other Orders, and among them Caesarius of Heisterbach, who wrote in the age of St. Dominic, have transmitted to us no memory of so great a matter: which is an argument that it lay hidden from them, and further that such a sodality was not established by Dominic, the prince of the Order of Preachers; so that consequently the opinion of Navarrus, who doubtless examined everything, seems more certain. Thus he reasons against himself in the name of his adversaries, for the sake of exercise.

[411] Then in the same place, pages 465 and 466, he thus intrepidly answers this difficult argument: which he by no means resolves, But amid these things the laurelled truth stands firm: for we give testimonies of those earlier times, and of every age thereafter, most clear, which overcome all the obstinacy and cynic teeth of the barkers. First of all, among the countless who have followed with their pen the marvels of the Rosary, our John of the Mount is reported, doctor of sacred theology and companion of the most holy Dominic, who in the book in which he reviews the praises and the extraordinary benefits of the Mother of God toward mortals, to which he gave the name Mariale, plainly writes that blessed Dominic, patriarch of our Order, instituted the sodality of the Rosary before all others: of which book, although we have had no copy, credit is nevertheless not to be denied to so many and so great writers, religious men, professors of theology, bishops, Pontiffs, who saw that book and read it through. Another besides him is likewise commemorated, our Thomas of the Temple, likewise a companion of St. Dominic, a man renowned for holiness, who studiously and (as they say) professedly reduced into a book the history of the sacred Rosary and its great prodigies, in which he has excellent things concerning its sodality, founded by St. Dominic, and its progress; from which, as from a first fountain, Flaminius brings forth selected matters.

[412] But Choquet urges these things more confidently than truly, since his answer rests upon a false hypothesis. as is easily gathered from paragraphs 2 and 3 of this preliminary Commentary: for one must here remember the things which we noted there with Echard about those two fictitious writers. For those two columns collapsing, upon which the reasoning of Choquet chiefly rests, the system of the same writer built upon them must needs collapse. Besides, what authors, religious men, professors of theology, bishops, Pontiffs saw and read through the book of John of the Mount, as Choquet rashly asserts, if you except only Alanus de Rupe, who testifies that it was seen by him, and to whom neither Echard nor we give credit? But the things which Flaminius narrates about the Rosary he did not draw from these authors as from a first fountain, but from Alanus himself, who often cites them, that he may persuade the unwary of the stupendous portents of his miracles. Since therefore Choquet's whole response rests upon a false hypothesis and a ruinous foundation, the negative argumentation of his adversaries retains all

its force, and a more solid refutation of that objection must be devised. These things having been disputed and observed on both sides, we leave free judgment upon the controversy itself to learned readers, and hasten on to the more certain deeds of our Saint.

* elsewhere Brocheroia

§ XXII. The Saint's endeavor to institute the Order of Preachers; the choice of the rule and constitutions.

That he might found the long-premeditated Order of Preachers, St. Dominic had long since thought of founding the Order of Preachers, as Bernard Gui testifies in the Treatise on the three grades of prelates, in Edmund Martène, volume 6 of the most ample Collection, column 397, in these words: The first and chief lord and master of the Order of Friars Preachers was blessed Dominic, a Spaniard by nation, from the town which is called Caleruega, of the diocese of Osma; a man full of the knowledge of God, sincere in life, conspicuous in religion, who was first a Canon Regular, and Subprior regulated and regulating in the church of Osma of the province of Toledo, which subpriorate had a personate in the same church. Now he began to conceive in mind and to treat of the Order of Preachers in the parts of Toulouse, reckoning from the beginning at which he came to Toulouse, in the year of the Lord 1203, in the sixth year of the Pontificate of the lord Pope Innocent III, who sat eighteen years, four months, twenty-three days. More exact chronologists assign to the Pontificate of Innocent III eighteen years, six months, and nine days, which it may here suffice to have noted.

[414] The Saint in the year 1215 betook himself to Rome; When at length the Saint decided to commit to execution his long-meditated plan, the venerable Humbert thus indicates in the Chronicle: In the year of the Lord 1215 blessed Dominic went to Rome to the general council with Fulk, bishop of Toulouse, for the sake of procuring an Order which should be called and be the Order of Friars Preachers; and then he received the answer that he should return to the Brothers and choose a rule. No word is here made of the refusal which the Saint is said to have first borne, and Blessed Jordan does not mention it either in his Acts, in our edition, numbers 31 and 32. This silence wonderfully pleases Echard, who in volume 1, page 12, in the notes, thus discourses from it: This simple narration of Jordan's Acts concerning the petition for the Order pleases much: it hints at no difficulty made on the part of the Pontiff, at least such as was known to Jordan up to that point; and this becomes the more likely because this suppliant petition agreed directly and wonderfully with those things concerning preachers which the Pontiff had already resolved with himself to be established in the synod. Then in the same place he recites the tenth canon of the Lateran council, in which it was decreed that prelates who are hindered should substitute in their place suitable heralds of the word of God; and from it Echard thus argues to his purpose: When, I say, the Pontiff was already bearing in mind that these things were to be decreed in the synod, what could smile upon him more than to see Dominic — a man assuredly mighty in work and word — offered to him by the bishop of Toulouse, and panting to institute a society of men who for the name of Christ Jesus would deliver up their souls, and devote themselves wholly and throughout the world to the office of preaching?

[415] This argumentation of Echard at least brings it about that we do not approve the reason of the refusal but since he could not at first obtain permission for it from Innocent III, which Bernard Gui, in volume 6 of the most ample Collection, column 400, alleges in this manner: In the year of the Lord 1215 holy Dominic set out with the aforesaid lord Fulk, bishop of Toulouse, to the aforesaid general council, with whom he approached the aforesaid lord Pope Innocent III, asking that he would deign to confirm for him an Order which should be called and be the Order of Preachers: to whose petition showing himself difficult, because the office of preaching belonged to the greater prelates of God in the church, the supreme Pontiff saw that very night that the Lateran church, the head of all churches, threatened a grave ruin; but the man of God Dominic was supporting it with his shoulders; whose meaning the Vicar of Jesus Christ perceiving more deeply, at length replied to the holy Man that, returning to his Brothers, and the Holy Spirit being invoked, they should choose some approved rule, and thus he would carry back the confirmation at his pleasure.

[416] But although this reason for the first refusal, which Bernard Gui here brings forward, probably on account of the thirteenth canon of the Lateran council, does not seem to stand, Pope Innocent could nevertheless have disapproved at the outset the institution of this new Order for other causes, say on account of the thirteenth canon of the same council, which the Pontiff was already bearing in mind to establish, and which in our Labbe, volume XI of the Councils, Part 1, columns 165 and 168, runs thus: Lest too great a diversity of Religions bring in grave confusion in the Church of God, we firmly forbid that anyone henceforth devise a new Religion; but whoever shall wish to be converted to Religion, let him take up one of the approved ones. Similarly, whoever shall wish to found a Religious house anew, let him receive the rule and institution from the approved Religions. Perhaps someone will ask how Innocent III kept this canon inviolate, when he promised to approve the new Order of Preachers under this condition, and his successor Honorius III, who confirmed the same Order. We answer with Echard, who in the place just cited rightly resolves this difficulty thus: For indeed to take up a rule and institutions already approved was not so much to found a new Order as to raise one already constituted to more perfect things. Whence Dominic with his men, by choosing the rule of St. Augustine, and institutions already received in use and approved in other congregations, especially of Canons Regular, did not so much erect a new Order as augment the Canonical Order into an apostolic one. Hence the Order of Preachers is called by Honorius III in the first Bull of confirmation a "Canonical Order," as we shall see below. This scruple discussed, let us return to the refusal, which Echard seems to deny.

[417] Although Blessed Jordan and the venerable Humbert in his Chronicle were silent about the refusal, and its cause is unknown to us, that Pontiff is admonished by a heavenly vision, yet Constantine of Orvieto in the Acts of St. Dominic, number 17, plainly expresses it in the following narration: After these things, when Fulk of good memory, bishop of Toulouse, was setting out for Rome to the general council, there was joined to him the man of God Dominic, who had long been cherished by the same bishop with tender affection on account of the merit of his sanctity; with whom also he approached the supreme Pontiff Innocent, and asked that an Order which should be called and be the Order of Preachers be confirmed to himself and to his followers. But he seemed at first to show himself somewhat difficult to a petition of this kind, which nevertheless was not done without a divine nod, so that namely from the following revelation the Vicar of Jesus Christ might learn how necessary to the universal Church over which he presided was that to which the man of God Dominic, divinely inspired, was aspiring. For as has been ascertained from many worthy of credit, on a certain night the same supreme Pontiff, God revealing it to him, saw in his sleep that the Lateran church, as though its joints were loosened, suddenly threatened a grave ruin: and while, trembling and at once grieving, he beheld this, from the opposite side the man of God Dominic came running, and with his shoulders set beneath it supported that whole fabric that was about to fall. Marveling indeed at the strangeness of this vision, and prudently understanding its signification, without any obstacle of delay he both commended the purpose of the man of God, and cheerfully accepted his petition, exhorting him that, returning to his Brothers and deliberating diligently with them, they should with equal vow choose for themselves some approved rule, upon which they might form the promotion of the Order to be begun, and thus coming afterward to him, he might carry back the confirmation at his pleasure. Which surely the wise man considered wisely, and not without the Holy Spirit's suggestion, knowing namely that those buildings are stronger which rest upon foundations laid of old, and that ancient and royal ways are safer than new paths, etc. Humbert in the Life of St. Dominic, chapter 22, Vincent of Beauvais in book 30 of the Mirror, chapter 65, Theodoric of Apolda below at numbers 61 and 62, and other more recent writers hand down like things with unanimous consent.

[418] such as he is said to have had also on the occasion of St. Francis, As to what here pertains to the nocturnal vision of the supreme Pontiff about the falling Lateran church, the same Innocent III is said to have had an altogether similar one on the occasion of St. Francis, whom he had previously repulsed when he had asked approval of his rule. Further, such a vision could have been twice presented to the same Pontiff in favor of each most holy Founder, as Malvenda indicates in the Annals of the Preachers, at the year of Christ 1215, chapter 27, in these words: St. Bonaventure and other authors of the affairs of St. Francis report that, when St. Francis was asking confirmation of his Order and was rejected by Innocent, the same vision which we lately spoke of concerning St. Dominic was presented to the Pontiff; namely, Innocent saw in his sleep Francis, whom he had repulsed, supporting with his shoulders the collapsing Lateran basilica. But this does not lessen the credit of our vision, confirmed by so great a consent of authors, as we have said, but rather establishes it. Why could not a like vision concerning each most holy man, at a different time, most rightly have presented itself to Innocent the Pontiff? Now let us report how St. Dominic, returned from Rome to Toulouse, chose with his companions the rule of St. Augustine and other constitutions of the religious life.

[419] The praised Constantine in the same Acts of St. Dominic, number 18, thus sets forth these things: Returning therefore after the celebration of the council, the man of God Dominic disclosed to the Brothers the word of the supreme Pontiff; moved by which, he sends St. Dominic to choose with his men an approved rule, and the Brothers were about sixteen in number, who soon, the Holy Spirit being invoked, unanimously chose the rule of blessed Augustine, that distinguished doctor and preacher — they themselves being likewise about to be Preachers in fact and in name — taking up moreover certain customs of a stricter life, which they should establish to be observed by them in the form of constitutions. In which the provident Father, in composing the beginnings of his Order, not disdaining the footsteps of preceding fathers, so held the mean that to the sons who should be born and arise there should both be present a measure of due perfection in which they might stand, and there should not be lacking that by which they might ascend through continual advance; not being ignorant of what is written: The path of the just goes forward as a shining light, and increases even to the perfect day. And this quite advisedly, lest, while he at once stretched himself on high beyond measure, those who came after should thereafter be compelled rather to go backward than to go forward; and thus it should deservedly be said against them, according to that evangelical reproach: This Order began to build, and was not able to finish. Wherefore, lest the office of preaching, to which they ought most greatly to attend, be hindered, they resolved from that time to cast away earthly possessions and revenues entirely, which afterward, in the first general chapter celebrated at Bologna in the year of the Lord 1220, was committed both in affection and in effect to perpetual execution by an immovable constitution. But there is a question from what approved religious orders St. Dominic took his customs or constitutions, since various Orders contend for that glory.

[420] Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers

at the year of Christ 1216, chapter 3, teaches us the following: who, returning to his companions, adopts with them the rule of St. Augustine, Now as to the fact that St. Dominic and his companions are recorded to have chosen certain constitutions by whose norm they might order their life, very many have judged that, since St. Dominic had been admonished by Innocent the Pontiff to take for his Order a rule from those already approved by the Apostolic See, he also received constitutions from some confirmed Religion, and they think this was the Carthusian, which had its origin in the year of the Lord 1086. But Humbert, general Master of our Order, who could well have seen St. Dominic, is a most certain author that the man of God first borrowed his constitutions from the Premonstratensian Order; namely, that when the matter had been communicated with his Brothers at Toulouse, by the consent of all he chose, together with the rule of St. Augustine, certain constitutions from the Premonstratensian Religion, and that with these the Order of Preachers was at the outset confirmed by Honorius: although afterward, in the course of times, several others were added in various general Chapters. Now it is established that those primitive and original constitutions of the Order were of this sort: perpetual abstinence from flesh, save in the necessity of grave illness; harsh fasts continued from the feast of the Exaltation of the holy Cross to Easter; by no means to be clothed in linen shirts next the flesh, or to use linen cloths in beds and coverings, and other things of that kind. What is here said of the Carthusians may be gathered from §12, where we touched upon it in a word.

[421] John le Paige in the Premonstratensian Library, book 1, chapter 17, confirms Malvenda's opinion from the communication of merits and certain constitutions of the Premonstratensian Order, which in the year of Christ 1233 was established between the German Dominicans and the Premonstratensians, and whose authentic testimony in the same place, page 304, runs thus: To the Religious men and dearest friends in Christ, all the Brothers of the Order of Preachers established throughout Germany, the general Chapter of the abbots of the Premonstratensian Order, greeting, and to carry back sheaves of salvation from the seed of the word of God. How fruitful is that labor, how acceptable to God and men the sacrifice which those work who especially procure the salvation of souls, and unceasingly expend their exertion in acquiring souls devoted to God, all know who profess the insignia of the Christian name. Whence, since the zeal of your working is directed to this chiefly and principally, that through the labor of your preaching sinners may be salutarily converted from the error of their way, and, the darkness of ignorance being driven off, may return to the right light of faith and holiness; it is assuredly fitting and expedient that you be aided by the prayers of the faithful, so that you may be able freely to carry out what you piously intend, and may more abundantly bring back the desired fruit of your labor. Since therefore the prayers of our Order have been devoutly asked of us on your part, benignly and humbly inclining to that same petition, we grant to you all and each full participation in our spiritual benefits and in all those which shall henceforth be done in that same whole Order of ours. And that your labor may better obtain its effect, by the authority of these presents we grant you full faculty of granting and bestowing our prayers upon all those who at your preaching or admonition shall cease from the perpetration of sins, or shall remit injuries or enmities to their enemies. Farewell. Given at Prémontré in the general chapter, in the year of grace one thousand two hundred and thirty-three.

[422] even though Angelus Manrique contends Angelus Manrique in the Cistercian Annals, at the year of Christ 1216, chapter 1, number 3, will have it that some constitutions of the Preachers were taken from his own Order, and thus claims part of this glory for his brethren: Blessed Dominic, restored to Toulouse and to his companions, that he might fulfill Innocent's precept, having first taken counsel with them (nor do I doubt that also with Fulk), chose the rule of St. Augustine, under which those whom he was instituting as Preachers should profess to fight until death; with certain constitutions superadded, which Ferdinand del Castillo, Malvenda, and others of the same family testify were taken from the Premonstratensians. Certainly I judge it by no means alien to reason that one instituting the Order of Preachers under the rule of Augustine should have taken certain things from Norbert, a distinguished preacher, and one fighting under the same rule. But the things which Thomas adduces as examples — abstinence from flesh, the great fast, to use his words, from the feast of the Exaltation of the holy Cross until Easter, and others of that kind, which St. Norbert never adopted — he could by no means have taken from him. Further, since all these things are enjoined upon ours to be observed by rule, I would more readily believe them borrowed from ours, with Fulk advising; especially since the most holy Patriarch attached himself rarely, so far as we know, to the Premonstratensians, but to the Cistercians so frequently, from the time he came from Spain, that he was never found without them; in which he also persevered after the Order was instituted, as the things we shall say below will declare. Augustine Sartorius most recently, in the Cistercium bis tertium, title XXVII, page 897, defends the same opinion.

[423] But certainly Angelus Manrique wanders from the truth when he asserts that abstinence from flesh and other things of that kind were never adopted by the founder of the Premonstratensian Order: for Cardinal James of Vitry, near to those times, that they were rather sought from the Cistercian Order who saw the first discipline of the Premonstratensians, in the Western History, chapter 22, writes thus among other things concerning them: For the Canons and lay Brothers of the Premonstratensian Order never eat flesh, save in sickness: from the feast of the holy Cross until Easter they fast. But the perpetual abstinence from flesh was relaxed by the authority of Pope Pius II and of the following Pontiffs, who also modified certain other stricter observances of the same Order. There is no leisure to discuss more laboriously this controversy of less moment, since we readily give credit to the venerable Humbert, who could know this best, and whom Ferdinand del Castillo, Malvenda, and other Dominican writers cite as a witness in this matter.

[424] Whence in our judgment Echard, in volume 1, pages 12 and 13, in the notes, seems most probably to discourse thus about this choice of rule and constitutions: which opinion we with Echard judge improbable. Since the council, he says, was concluded after three sessions about the feast of St. Andrew, there is no doubt that both (namely St. Dominic and Fulk, bishop of Toulouse) immediately thought of returning to Gaul. When they arrived in Occitania the annals do not disclose; but only that immediately after his return Dominic, in the year 1216, and accordingly about Easter, which in that year fell on the tenth of April, gathered his companions in the monastery of Prouille, and that all together, to comply with the Pontiff, adopted and imposed upon themselves the rule of St. Augustine and certain stricter institutes in diet from the Premonstratensians, says Humbert — but which were then in use among certain other congregations of Canons Regular, then flourishing and stricter, and perhaps in the Osma reformation itself — so that it should seem not so much a new Order as a new congregation of Canons Regular, specially devoted to preaching, and thus nothing should be done contrary to the orders of the council. The most eminent Dom Joseph Stephen de Noriega, in the praised historical Dissertation, §7 and following, more fully confirms the same opinion.

§ XXIII. The Toulouse monastery of the Brothers, an account of the Saint's first companions, and certain other things which happened about this time before the confirmation of the Order.

Bernard Gui, in the often praised Edmund Martène, volume 6 of the most ample Collection, columns 400 and 401, has these things about the first monastery of the Brothers, after other writers: The first monastery of the Preachers at Toulouse, In the year of the Lord 1216, in summertime, there was given to blessed Dominic and his Brothers by Fulk of good memory, bishop of Toulouse, with the assent of the whole Chapter, one church in the city of Toulouse, founded in honor of blessed Romanus the martyr; around which forthwith a cloister was built, having cells for study and sleep above, sufficiently open [*] (and there were, as was said above, about sixteen Brothers in number); and another church in the town of Pamiers; and a third church between Saurine and Puylaurens, which is called the church of blessed Mary of Lescure, in each of which there was to be a Convent and Priory; but in these last two it never befell that any of the Brothers dwelt. Echard, in volume 1, page 13, notes the following on the text of Blessed Jordan: The church of Lescure here praised is reckoned in the bull of confirmation of the Order, and perhaps it passed to the monastery of Prouille; which same is to be said of the third church, that of Pamiers. But although in this last place there was no college of Brothers under blessed Jordan and for a long while afterward, at length in the year 1269 our Brethren, being called thither, erected a conventual house.

[426] on which occasion the Convent of Pamiers is also treated, Doubtless Echard dug out the beginning of this Convent of Pamiers from ancient instruments, or perhaps from Bernard Gui himself: for he, in volume 6 of the cited Collection, column 507, writes thus about the foundation of the Convent of Pamiers: In the year of the Lord 1269, in the Acts of the provincial Chapter celebrated at Béziers on the day before the feast of blessed Mary Magdalene, Brother Peregrine and Brother William Blanchi were assigned to provide for the place of Pamiers, who should work and proceed in the promotion of that place by the counsel and assent of the Prior of Toulouse; but as to the other necessary Brothers, the Prior Provincial should provide or cause provision to be made. In the aforesaid year of the Lord 1269, on the feast of All Saints, the lord Brother Raymond, bishop of Toulouse, solemnly celebrated Mass in the aforesaid place of the Brothers at Pamiers, and blessed a cemetery [*] for the Brothers, and preached to the clergy and people assembled; and from that time the Brothers began there solemnly to perform the divine office and likewise to dwell. Brother Bernard Gauterius of Toulouse was instituted vicar. In the year of the Lord 1270, in the Acts of the Chapter celebrated at Sisteron on the feast of the apostles Peter and Paul, in the town of Pamiers, which was then of the diocese of Toulouse, a Convent of Friars Preachers was regularly placed and received, and the first Prior instituted, Brother William Garini of Fanjeaux. If Bernard Gui here treats of the same place in the city of Pamiers, how do those things cohere with the aforesaid, where he had asserted that none of the Brothers ever dwelt in the two last churches? But from this brief digression let us return to the Toulouse monastery.

[427] which Flaminius commends for its poverty, Flaminius, in the Life of St. Dominic, book 1, folio 13, praising the various virtues of the Saint, adds these things bearing on the present matter: This too was to him a care, and not among the last, to look ahead for the future as regards the building of monasteries. On this account he applied the greatest diligence in erecting the Toulouse monastery of St. Romanus, which we have said was the first monastery of the Order of Preachers, so that the rest might be built after its form as proposed to all; concerning which we shall not keep silence about certain things worthy of memory. He appointed that the chambers of the individuals (the monks call them cells) should be only six feet, where the supports of the little bed should be made of wickerwork, with a bench where they might read, write, and study;

but everything cheap, and indicating humility and poverty: and he ordered the chambers themselves to be open, so that those who were inside might be seen by passers-by, etc. Whence Flaminius drew so distinct a description of the Toulouse monastery, we do not know.

[428] Blessed Jordan, Constantine of Orvieto, and other ancient biographers agree that the Brothers were then about sixteen in number, whom Bernard Gui, in the same volume 6 of the most ample Collection, column 457, thus reviews by name: and Bernard Gui names the first companions of St. Dominic, In the aforesaid church of St. Romanus a cloister was forthwith built, having cells above sufficiently apt for study and sleep. Now the Brothers were then about sixteen in number, whose names, such as I have been able to find, I have here briefly set down, because they are written out more diffusely elsewhere above. Brother Matthew the Frenchman, a learned man and ready to teach, who was afterward the first and the last abbot in our Order. Brother Bertrand de Garriga, born near Alès, who was afterward the first Prior Provincial of this province. Brother Peter Cellani, who was the first Prior of Limoges. Brother Thomas of Toulouse, a man exceedingly gracious and eloquent in speech. Brother Mames the Spaniard, own brother of St. Dominic, and a most pure imitator of his sanctity. Brother Michael the Spaniard, a contemplative man. Brother Dominic the Spaniard, other than St. Dominic, a man of extraordinary humility, small indeed in learning, but magnificent in virtue. Brother John of Navarre, from the town of St. Jean-Pied-de-Port, of the diocese of Bayonne. Brother Laurence the Englishman. Brother Stephen of Metz, a rigid macerator of his own flesh. Brother Odorius, a Norman lay brother. Brother William Clareti of Pamiers. Brother Peter of Madrid [*]. Brother Gomez. Brother Michael of Uzero, other than the aforesaid Michael. Concerning those three last I have not found full certainty, but I have a probable opinion from the things I have read about this.

[429] An anonymous writer of the fourteenth century of the Order of Preachers, in the praised Martène, in the volume just cited, column 333, enumerates the same first companions of St. Dominic with the names dislocated. whom Echard also reviews in the order of nation, But Echard sufficiently supplies this defect, who in volume 1 of the Library of the Preachers, page 13, in the notes, thus names the same in the order of nation: Those sixteen Brothers, the first companions of Dominic, are numbered thus by Stephen of Salanhac and Bernard Gui: Matthew, formerly Prior of St. Vincent de Castres; Noël of Prouille; Bertrand de Garriga, so named from his birthplace toward Arles; Peter Cellani and Thomas, both noble citizens of Toulouse; Stephen of Metz; William Clareti of Pamiers, and Odorius, a Norman lay brother. These eight are French; the seven following Spaniards: Mannes or Mammes, uterine brother of blessed Dominic; Michael Fabra; Michael of Uzero; Peter, surnamed by some "of Madrid"; Suerius Gomez; another Dominic; John of Navarre; finally Laurence the Englishman, concerning each of whom there will be brief treatment afterward. We too shall briefly note some things upon their names where they occur in the Acts. Further, nowhere here appear John of the Mount, Thomas of the Temple, Norbert of the Valley, Guelrinus de Fracmo, and Bartholomew de Prato, whom above in §2 Alanus de Rupe rashly thrust upon us among the first companions of St. Dominic.

[430] The holy Patriarch led six of these his brethren, and of whom the Saint himself led six to the theological school, who perhaps were not yet sufficiently imbued with theological science, to the school for the sake of perfecting that same learning; on which occasion Humbert in the Acts of St. Dominic, chapter 32, thus narrates the following vision: When a certain master, distinguished in birth, science, and fame, was teaching theology at Toulouse, one morning before daybreak, while he was previewing his lectures, oppressed by a heavy sleep he reclined his head a little upon his chair and began to sleep; and it seemed to him at that same hour that seven stars were presented to him: and while he was greatly marveling at the strangeness of such a gift [], suddenly they so increased in light and in size that they illuminated the whole country and the world. He, at once roused from sleep, perceived the dawn of day, and, having called his servants to carry his books, entered the schools. And behold, blessed Dominic with six companions of the same habit humbly approached the said master, intimating to him that they were Brothers who preached the Gospel of God in the parts of Toulouse against the unbelievers and to the faithful; signifying to him that they had come to frequent his schools, and that they desired and wished with eager hearts to hear his lectures. And the said master for a long time held the said seven brothers as familiars and devoted friends, and instructed them as scholars. And recalling the vision which he had seen a little before, he followed blessed Dominic and his companions — whom he interpreted as the shining stars, which he saw suddenly grow bright with the immense light of fame and knowledge — with the highest veneration, and thenceforth continually embraced them with a great affection of love. Now the same master reported this to Brother Arnulph of Béthune and his companion, when they were [] in England at the king's court.

[431] that he might perhaps stir them by his example to studies, Malvenda in the Annals, at the year of Christ 1216, chapter 4, reports the same history from Theodoric of Apolda, and on this occasion thus runs out into the praises of his holy Father: A truly admirable example of humility and modesty shone forth in St. Dominic, since a man plainly most learned, and a supreme preacher of the word of God, who had given clear proofs of his learning for so many years in that province by disputing with heretics and by preaching, and who had discharged the office of Apostolic Inquisitor (recall the things we said above in §17 about this office), who for the sake of erudition had accompanied bishop Fulk going to the council of Lyons [*] in the petition for approval of the Order, and in the council and in other actions had won for himself at Rome a great name and authority for wisdom, now does not disdain to go to the schools for the sake of learning, nay rather freely seeks it: namely, that by that example he might admonish his nurslings with how great zeal they must apply themselves to divine theology and to skill in the sacred Letters, that they might administer the office of preaching among the peoples with the desired fruit. He was founding the Order of Preachers, whose chief and principal parts he wished to be that his sons should exercise themselves in the assiduous meditation of the divine Scriptures; for that reason he wished to shine before them by his own example, by frequenting the public schools. Perhaps because those six Brothers had not yet made great progress in theological matters, so as to be already fit for the preaching of the word of God, and lest they should be deterred from that study by shame, he wished himself to go before them in learning, although a supreme theologian; since at home, at the rise of the new Order, no opportunity or convenience of teaching was yet given: for thus he judged that those six Brothers, since he was soon to set out for Rome, should be commended by his presence to that master.

[432] as Malvenda judges, whose chronology We do not doubt that St. Dominic is to be numbered among the most learned men of his century, and that he chiefly went to that school in order by his example to arouse his companions to theological studies, or to commend them to this master. His learning is sufficiently proved by his deeds against the Albigensians, and an evident argument of this extraordinary knowledge is that his own little book, which he had written against the heretics, was chosen before the rest, as Blessed Jordan in our edition, number 20, and other ancient writers everywhere testify. But we fear that Malvenda does not easily reconcile all those things which he records about the Saint's first Roman journey in this matter with the long time during which that master is said to have instructed those companions, and which Humbert and Theodoric of Apolda expressed: for Malvenda indicates that this happened first after the Lateran council and the construction of the Toulouse monastery, in the year of Christ 1216.

[433] At least his opinion cannot be reconciled with the reasoning of Echard, does not here agree with Echard's opinion. who in volume 1, pages 11 and 12, in the notes, thus discourses about the time of this history: Since Humbert first reports this, it is a ready conjecture that he heard it from the said Brother Arnulph; and although it is not so easy to say when it happened, yet it is more readily to be believed that it was done when he gathered to himself his first brethren, say six, in the house of Peter Cellani near the Narbonne castle in the year 1215 before or about the summer: for it is most likely that Dominic led these, perhaps not yet sufficiently instructed in theology, with himself to the public school, which they went on frequenting for the two following years, up to their dispersion in the summer of the year 1217, of which presently, while meanwhile Dominic went twice to Rome to obtain the institution of the Order: for thus what is contained in the narration becomes true, that they heard this theologian FOR A LONG TIME. But we marvel that Echard in the chronological synopsis of the Acts placed that action of St. Dominic after the Lateran council, and fixed it to the year of Christ 1216. For the rest, we, having followed that order of chronology, as we promised in §6, have examined in this place this theological instruction of the first brethren. Besides, Echard in the same place and elsewhere digs out from that narration that the garments of the Preachers were never changed, of which matter we shall treat below. Meanwhile let us accompany St. Dominic, who in the year of Christ 1216 again set out for Rome, that he might obtain the confirmation of his Order.

[434] The praised Malvenda in the Annals, at the year of Christ 1216, chapter 7, writes thus about the time of this Roman journey: The Saint in the month of September of the year 1216 I would readily believe that St. Dominic arrived at Rome in the month of September, at the beginnings of the Pontificate of Honorius; and although struck on the journey by the grave news of Innocent's death, he did not on that account go back to his own, but pursued the journey he had begun. Grave cares occupied the man of God, whether the new Pontiff Honorius would wish to hold ratified what Innocent had promised; that in the change of things new princes are wont to have other minds and other purposes. But the cause of God, which he had begun, bade him hope well: that God and the sacred Mother of God would be present to counsels so pious, and to things which were being begun with so great advantage to the Church, doubtless to be promoted to the desired ends. Then he records various affairs which threw delay upon this confirmation.

[435] But here certain things have been gratuitously devised by that author: again set out for Rome, for since Innocent III died in the year of Christ 1216, on the XVI day of July, and on the next day Honorius III succeeded him, it is altogether likely that St. Dominic, still staying in the parts of Toulouse, learned these things by public report, and accordingly was not struck by such news on the Roman journey. This is sufficiently clear from the argument of Echard, who in volume 1, page 13, in the notes, thus reasons about the time of the same journey: St. Dominic was still at Toulouse on the XXVIII of August: for on that day he received into his hands the profession of Brother John of Navarre in the church of St. Romanus, the same

John being witness; so that, being about to return to Rome, he could not have set out on the journey except in the month of September, nor accordingly arrive in the City except in the month of October. And he acted so urgently that before the Lord's nativity he obtained what he wished. After these things he confirms his chronology by the words of Bernard Gui. Malvenda and Echard at this time make mention of a certain vision which was then presented at Rome to St. Dominic before the confirmation of the Order, and which we shall here report from the first source.

[436] where he had a heavenly vision, Gerard de Frachet in the Lives of the Brothers, part 1, chapter 1, in our manuscript codex P. Ms. 7, narrates the following: A certain Minorite Brother, religious and worthy of credit, who was for a long time a companion of blessed Francis, narrated to certain Brothers, one of whom wrote these things to Master Jordan, that when blessed Dominic was at Rome, and was pressing with God and with the lord Pope for the confirmation of the Order, on a certain night, praying as he was accustomed, he saw in a vision the Lord Jesus standing in the air and brandishing three lances against the world: at whose knees the Virgin Mother, falling down, was asking that he would become merciful to those whom he had redeemed, and would temper justice with mercy. To whom the Son said: Do you not see how great injuries are done to me? My justice does not suffer such evils to go unpunished. Then the Mother said to him: As you know, who know all things, this is the way by which you will lead them back to you. I have one faithful servant, whom you will send into the world, that he may announce your words; and they will be converted and will seek you, the Savior of all. I will also give him another servant as a helper, who will work in like manner.

[437] in which he first recognized St. Francis, Then the Son said to the Mother: Behold, appeased, I have received your face; nevertheless show me those whom you wish to destine for so great an office. Then the Lady Mother offered blessed Dominic to the Lord Jesus Christ. To whom the Lord said: He will do well and studiously what you have said. She likewise offered also blessed Francis, and him likewise the Lord praised. St. Dominic therefore, diligently considering in that vision the companion whom he had not known before, when on the morrow he had found him in the church, recognized him from the things he had seen in the night, and rushing into holy kisses and sincere embraces said: You are my companion; you will run together with me; let us stand together and no adversary will prevail. He also narrated that vision to him, and from then on they became one heart and one soul in God, which they also commanded their descendants to observe in perpetuity. Concerning the charity commended to the descendants of both Orders, the encyclical letters deserve to be read which St. Antoninus in part 3 of the Chronicles, title 23, chapter 13, §5, recites, and which the venerable Humbert and John of Parma, Generals of those two Orders, by common counsel directed to their subjects in the year of Christ 1255 to this end.

[438] which is said to have been then shown also to St. Francis, Theodoric of Apolda, in our edition below from number 65, narrates the same vision, and to win credit for it, in the same place subjoins the following to his narration: We deserved to receive the series and knowledge of this vision through St. Francis, to whom also our blessed Father disclosed [it] before the confirmation of the Order. St. Antoninus in part 3 of the Chronicles, title 23, chapter 3, repeats the same words of Theodoric. But how, you will say, does Gerard de Frachet allege as witness of this vision a companion of St. Francis, and Theodoric of Apolda St. Francis himself? This discrepancy can somehow be reconciled if we say that St. Francis narrated this vision to his companion, and this companion afterward narrated the same to the Preachers, and thus that the Dominicans mediately received the series and knowledge of this vision through St. Francis. It is likely, however, that this vision was written to Blessed Jordan after he had already published his little book on the beginning of the Order of Preachers; otherwise he would doubtless have inserted it among the deeds of St. Dominic. Not so easily reconciled with this narration is the opinion of certain persons, which Wadding in the Annals of the Minorites, at the year of Christ 1216, number 16, thus reports: But that we may return to the vision itself, that Francis also had this very same one St. Vincent Ferrer expressly asserts from others, and Ferdinand del Castillo and Louis Rebolledo piously judge, by which he might be admonished what God on high determined concerning so great a man given to him as a companion, and concerning himself, and to how great a work and burden he had dedicated them. How therefore did St. Dominic narrate this vision to St. Francis, or disclose it, as Gerard de Frachet and Theodoric of Apolda speak? I see no sufficiently apt answer to this difficulty, unless it be proved that the same vision was afterward presented also to St. Francis, or it be said that each Saint then indicated to the other a mutual revelation.

[439] Echard in volume 1, page 15, in the notes, marvels that St. Dominic did not reveal that vision to his brethren, and which can more easily be admitted, and accordingly that it was known to the Preachers only through a Franciscan. Besides, he marvels that it was omitted by St. Bonaventure in the Life of St. Francis. Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers, at the year 1216, chapter 9, thus meets this last wonderment: It is manifest that the same vision is narrated also in the ancient Annals of the Order of Minorites, and even in their more recent histories. Wherefore to wish to detract credit from it for this reason alone, that St. Bonaventure did not mention it in the affairs of St. Francis, would be too harsh and injurious. First of all we have the consent of writers and of Annals, and no author hitherto gainsaying. Then from the silence of St. Bonaventure how strong an argument can be drawn? You will say: St. Bonaventure would not have kept silence about so great a matter, and one to the praise of St. Francis, if he had had it ascertained. Then he tries to refute that negative argument by certain examples, and continues thus in the same place: Far be it that we should suspect evil guile in St. Bonaventure, or that he did not hold that vision for true. Perhaps, when he was composing the Life of St. Francis, it had not yet become known to him; or because that revelation was made chiefly concerning St. Dominic, therefore he omitted to describe it, since he thought it enough that the same had been set forth fully and with entire fidelity in the Annals of the Preachers. However it may be, it would doubtless be the mark of a mind little pious and prudent to wish to call into doubt a matter confirmed by so great a consent of writers. Whatever be the case with this response of Malvenda, we receive that revelation as historically probable on account of the testimony of Gerard de Frachet, who was not very far removed from those times.

[440] But we shall not with such ease admit the prophetic colloquy as we do the prophetic colloquy of St. Angelus the Carmelite, which St. Angelus the Carmelite is handed down to have had at Rome with these two holy Founders of Orders, and of which Wadding in the Annals of the Minorites, at the year 1216, number 17, thus makes mention: In no other year than this and the preceding have I found these holy Patriarchs to have met together at Rome. Wherefore I hold it persuaded to myself that either in that year or in this there came upon them that holy man Angelus the Carmelite, an excellent athlete of the faith soon to be crowned with martyrdom among the Sicilians, and that he entered upon that prophetic and admirable colloquy with these Patriarchs at the Lateran, which Enoch, Carmelite patriarch of Jerusalem, reported in the following words, etc. Among the Acts of St. Angelus the Carmelite, which Papebroch published in the Appendix to the day V of May, collated with others, and discussed with observations, in volume 11 of that month, pages 824 and 825, that colloquy occurs, in which those Saints are said to have recognized each other divinely and to have foretold future things to one another.

[441] which Papebroch denies to have been then held with these two Saints, When Wadding fixes that meeting to the year of Christ 1215 or 1216, he does not seem in any way to have had regard to chronology, with which nevertheless history must needs agree: for each of those years is repugnant to the Carmelite Annals and to these very Acts of St. Angelus. Whence our Papebroch, besides another observation by which he renders this colloquy suspect of falsity, in the same place, page 828, attacks the same narration by a negative argument, and at the same time objects another difficulty to Wadding in these words: The suspicion is increased by the silence of all those who anciently wrote the Lives of either Patriarch, committing many things to memory about their mutual familiarity. There is added that it is difficult to bring both (namely St. Dominic and St. Francis) to Rome at the same time in the year 1219; and therefore Wadding, not wishing altogether to reject as fabulous the meeting of each with St. Angelus, referred it to the year 1216, which is equally repugnant to the authority of this Life.

[442] who nevertheless there errs in the chronotaxis of St. Dominic. I do not, however, wish to defend all the things which Papebroch on that occasion hands down in passing about the chronotaxis of St. Dominic. Thus he there says that St. Dominic after the Chapter of the Minorites in the year 1219 went into Spain, and wrongly adds these things about the same Saint's delay and return: A great part of the summer being over, he landed at Segovia, and did not return to Bologna until the following year, in the month of September, nor was he at Rome as long as he lived, that is, up to August of the year 1221. In defining that Spanish journey Papebroch certainly was mistaken, the matter not yet having been maturely discussed: for if St. Dominic first returned from Spain to Bologna in the month of September of the year 1220, it necessarily follows, against the credit of ancient monuments, that the Saint was not present at the general Chapter which in the same year 1220 was celebrated at Bologna on the feast of Pentecost. This error, therefore, that most candid man, if he were living, would wish corrected, and after his manner would frankly retract. But the presence of St. Dominic at the Chapter of the Minorites, and other things which here displease Echard, we shall examine in their places through the course of this Commentary.

* read "apt"

* read "cemetery"

* perhaps "of Madrid"

* Ms. "exenii," that is, of a gift

* Ms. "was"

* read "Lateran"

§ XXIV. The confirmation of the Order of Preachers, its singular eulogies, and a brief vindication from the calumny cast upon it.

Pope Honorius III approved the Order of Preachers The venerable Humbert in the Chronicle thus briefly indicates the year in which the Order of Preachers was confirmed: In the year of the Lord 1216, when blessed Dominic was returning to Rome, Innocent being dead and Honorius substituted, the Order was granted and confirmed. Bernard Gui, in Edmund Martène, volume 6 of the most ample Collection, column 401, distinctly expresses the month and day of the same year in these words: In the year of the Lord 1216, on the eleventh of the Calends of January, the morrow of blessed Thomas the apostle, in the fifth Indiction, at Rome at St. Peter's (most of the diplomas note "at St. Sabina's"), the Order of Preachers was confirmed, and blessed Dominic, whom God had chosen from eternity, and whom Pope Innocent III had approved in the preceding year, was instituted and confirmed master and lord of the Order by Pope Honorius III, successor of the aforesaid Innocent, in the first year of the Pontificate of that same lord Honorius.

This Pope Honorius conferred upon St. Dominic and his Brothers many privileges and liberties, and confirmed the churches and tithes, and the castles and possessions given to St. Dominic, as is contained in the privilege concerning the confirmation of the Order.

[444] The same epoch of the confirmation is marked by two diplomas of Honorius the Pontiff, by two diplomas, of which one is shorter, the first of which, in Bzovius in the Ecclesiastical Annals, at the year of Christ 1216, number 9, runs thus: Honorius bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his beloved son Brother Dominic, Prior of St. Romanus of Toulouse, and to his Brothers who have professed and shall profess the regular life, greeting and Apostolic benediction. We, considering that the Brothers of your Order will be champions of the faith and true lights of the world, confirm your Order with all castles and possessions held and to be held, and take that Order and its possessions and rights under our governance and protection. Given at Rome at St. Sabina's on the XI of the Calends of January, in the first year of our Pontificate. The same bull may be read in Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers, at the year 1216, chapter 12, in John of St. Mary in the French Acts of St. Dominic, book 3, chapter 12, and in Echard in volume 1 of the Library of the Preachers, page 13, in the notes, where it is reported in plainly the same words. Among the privileges granted to the Order of Preachers by the Roman Pontiffs, which the most reverend Master Vincent Bandello subjoined to the constitutions and published at Milan in the year of Christ 1505, the same brief diploma is read in the first place; but in it the month or day of the confirmation is not expressed, nor is it noted as "at St. Sabina's," but at the end it is only said, Given at Rome, in the first year of our Pontificate. Nevertheless it is there hinted that that apograph was taken from the leaden bull which is preserved in the monastery of Prouille.

[445] John of St. Mary, in the Acts of St. Dominic just praised, book 3, chapter 13, judges the other ample, that this shorter bull of Honorius the Pontiff was used by the first Preachers on the road, when they set out abroad to found Convents, or offered themselves to bishops for discharging their duties, that they might show to all that their institute had been approved by the Apostolic See. Perhaps a more exact use of similar testimonial letters is renewed in the general Chapter of the Preachers which was celebrated at Strasbourg in the year of Christ 1296, and whose thirteenth decree, in the Thesaurus of Anecdotes in the most learned Edmund Martène, volume 4, column [ ], has thus: Likewise we admonish that the constitution about carrying testimonial letters be more strictly observed by traveling Brothers. But whatever this conjecture of ours may be, John of St. Mary judges that the ancient Dominicans used this shorter bull on their journeys as a testimony of their profession, and in the same place adds that St. Dominic moreover obtained another and more ample one, in which the possessions and prerogatives of the Order were expressed one by one.

[446] That other diploma, which Honorius III the Pontiff gave in the same year, month, and day, occurs everywhere in him in which latter the possessions and in other Dominican writers, and in the Roman Bullary of Laertius Cherubinus, volume 1, page 44 and following, is read thus: Honorius bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his beloved sons Dominic, Prior of St. Romanus of Toulouse, and his Brothers both present and future who have professed the regular life, greeting and Apostolic benediction. It befits the Apostolic protection to be present to those choosing the religious life, lest perhaps the assault of any rashness either call them back from their purpose or (which God forbid) break the strength of sacred religion. Wherefore, beloved sons in the Lord, we clemently assent to your just petitions, and take under the protection of blessed Peter and our own the church of St. Romanus of Toulouse, in which you are dedicated to the divine service, and fortify it by the privilege of the present writing. First indeed establishing that the canonical Order, which is recognized to have been instituted in that same church according to God and the rule of blessed Augustine, be there inviolably observed for perpetual times. Moreover, whatever possessions, whatever goods that same church at present justly and canonically possesses, or in the future may be able to obtain, by concession of Pontiffs, by the largess of kings or princes, by the oblation of the faithful, or by other just means, the Lord granting it — let them remain firm and unimpaired to you and to your successors. Among which we have thought these to be expressed by their proper names, namely: the place itself in which the aforesaid church is situated, with all its appurtenances; the church of Prouille with all its appurtenances; the town of Cassanel with all its appurtenances; the church of St. Mary of Lescure with all its appurtenances; the hospital of Toulouse which is called that of Arnald Berard, with all its appurtenances; the church of the Holy Trinity of Lobens with all its appurtenances; the tithes granted to you by our venerable Brother Fulk, bishop of Toulouse, with the assent of his Chapter, by pious and provident liberality, as is more fully contained in their letters. Let no one presume to exact or extort tithes from you upon your newly broken lands, which you cultivate with your own hands or at your own expense, or upon the nurslings of your animals.

[447] exemptions, Let it also be lawful for you to receive clerics or laymen, free and unbound, fleeing from the world, to conversion, or to retain them without any contradiction. We forbid moreover that it be lawful for any of your Brothers, after profession made in your church, to depart from that place without the license of his Prior, except for the sake of a stricter Religion; and let no one dare to retain one departing without the common security of your letters. But in the parochial churches which you have, let it be lawful for you to choose priests and to present them to the diocesan bishop, to whom, if they be suitable, the bishop shall commit the care of souls, so that they shall be bound to answer to him in spiritual things and to you in temporal ones. We establish besides that it be lawful to no one to impose new and undue exactions upon your church, or to promulgate sentences of excommunication or interdict against you or your aforesaid church without a manifest and reasonable cause. But when there shall be a general interdict upon the land, let it be lawful for you, with doors closed, the excommunicated and interdicted excluded, the bells not rung, and with lowered voice, to celebrate the divine offices. But the chrism and holy oil, the consecrations of altars or of basilicas, the ordinations of clerics who are to be promoted to sacred Orders, you shall receive from the diocesan bishop, if indeed he be Catholic and shall have the grace and communion of the most holy Roman See, and shall be willing to exhibit these to you without any depravity: otherwise let it be lawful for you to approach whatever Catholic prelate you prefer, having the grace and communion of the Apostolic See, who, relying on our authority, shall bestow upon you what you ask.

[448] We decree also that the burial of that place be free, and it distinctly confirms the privileges of the same Order, so that no one may oppose the devotion and last will of those who shall have determined to be buried there (unless perchance they be excommunicated or interdicted); saving however the right of those churches from which the bodies of the dead are taken. But when you, now Prior of the same place, or any of your successors, shall die, let no one be set over it there by any cunning of subreption or by violence, save him whom the Brothers by common consent, or the part of the Brothers of greater and sounder counsel, shall have provided to be elected according to God and the rule of blessed Augustine. We hold ratified also the ancient liberties and immunities and reasonable customs granted to your church and hitherto observed, and we sanction that they remain unimpaired for perpetual times. We decree therefore that it be lawful to no man whatsoever rashly to disturb the aforesaid church, or to carry off its possessions, or to retain what has been carried off, to diminish them, or to harass them with any vexations; but let all be preserved entire, to be of use in every way to those for whose governance and sustenance they were granted; saving the authority of the Apostolic See and the canonical right of the diocesan bishop. If therefore in the future any ecclesiastical or secular person, knowing this page of our constitution, shall rashly attempt to go against it, let him, admonished a second and third time, unless he shall have corrected his offense by fitting satisfaction, lose the dignity of his power and honor, and know himself to stand guilty before the divine judgment for the iniquity perpetrated, and be made a stranger to the most sacred body and blood of God and our Lord and Redeemer Jesus Christ, and at the last examination lie subject to strict vengeance. But to all who preserve to that place its rights, may there be the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that both here they may receive the fruit of good action, and before the strict Judge may find the rewards of eternal peace. Amen. Amen.

[449] I, Honorius, bishop of the Catholic Church, have subscribed. and to which the names of the Pontiff and of the Cardinals are subscribed.

I, Nicholas, bishop of Tusculum.

I, Guido, bishop of Palestrina.

I, Ugolino, bishop of Ostia and Velletri.

I, Pelagius, bishop of Albano.

I, Cinthius, Cardinal priest of the title of St. Lawrence in Lucina.

I, Leo, Cardinal priest of the title of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem.

I, Robert, Cardinal priest of the title of St. Sixtus on the Caelian Mount.

I, Stephen, Cardinal priest of the basilica of the Twelve Apostles.

I, Gregory, Cardinal priest of the title of St. Anastasia.

I, Peter, Cardinal priest of the title of St. Lawrence in Damaso.

I, Thomas, Cardinal priest of the title of St. Sabina.

I, Guido, Cardinal deacon of St. Nicholas in the Tullian prison.

I, Octavian, Cardinal deacon of SS. Sergius and Bacchus.

I, John, Cardinal deacon of SS. Cosmas and Damian.

I, Gregory, Cardinal deacon of St. Theodore.

I, Raynerius, Cardinal deacon of St. Mary in Cosmedin.

I, Romanus, Cardinal deacon of St. Angelo.

I, Stephen, Cardinal deacon of St. Adrian.

Given at Rome at St. Sabina's by the hand of Raynerius, Prior of St. Frediano [*] of the diocese of Lucca, vice-chancellor of the Holy Roman Church, on the XI of the Calends of January, in the V Indiction, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1216, but in the first year of the Pontificate of the lord Pope Honorius III. These subscribed names are arranged in a different order in Malvenda, John of St. Mary, Echard, and here in Cherubinus, which is an argument that one or the other apograph was not taken from the autograph. For the rest, Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers, at the year of Christ 1216, chapter 13, furnishes a brief notice about each of these Cardinals.

[450] Ancient historians, Thus therefore was confirmed that distinguished Order which brought great fruit to the whole Church, and which nearly all the historians of those times extol with deserved praises. Among others William of Puylaurens, who lived near in place and time to this rising Order, in the Chronicle of the affairs of the Albigensians, chapter 10, writes thus honorably of it: When therefore this labor had been continued for two years and more, since the blessed champions of God were not able by this way to extinguish the kindled fire, considering that this matter needed a loftier counsel, they were compelled to cry out to the Apostolic See, and, that the preaching begun might remain, provision was made, the Lord inspiring it, for ordaining perpetual preachers; and for this cause under the blessed bishop lord Fulk the Order of Preachers principally took its beginning: whose standard-bearer, blessed Dominic, undertook both the prelacy and the labor alike; concerning which it is not my business to pursue the narration, since through the history of his life and of the Order spread everywhere it is by now evident

manifest to the willing and the unwilling, and true is what the Apostle says, that it behooved heresies to be in our times or regions, so that the blessed Order might appear fruitful and public not so much among us as throughout the whole world. Similar eulogies of the same Order occur everywhere in the abbot of Ursperg and in other contemporary and near-contemporary authors. But we do not wish here to heap up those obvious proclamations of praise, or to excerpt them from known writers, since there are at hand clearer testimonies of the supreme Pontiffs, with which they adorned that same illustrious Order. Wherefore we shall here select only certain new and extraordinary ones from the Anecdotes of the most learned Edmund Martène, which not so long ago saw the public light.

[451] and the Roman Pontiffs, among whom Gregory IX, In volume 1 of the Thesaurus of Anecdotes there is published a letter which Pope Gregory IX gave to all bishops and prelates of the Church, and which in favor of the Preachers there, column 954 and the following, runs thus: Gregory bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his venerable brothers the archbishops and bishops, and to his beloved sons the abbots, Priors, and other prelates of churches, greeting and Apostolic benediction. Since iniquity has abounded and the charity of very many has grown cold, behold the Lord has raised up the Order of his beloved sons the Preachers, who, seeking not the things that are their own but the things that are Christ's, have dedicated themselves to the extirpating both of promulgated heresies and of other deadly plagues, in the evangelizing of the word of God, in the abjection of voluntary poverty. We therefore, following with benevolent favor the purpose and necessary ministry of those Brothers, have thought that they should be affectionately commended to you all; asking and exhorting your charity in the Lord, and commanding by Apostolic writings, that you kindly receive our beloved sons the Brothers of the said Order, out of reverence for God and for us, to the office of preaching, to which they are deputed by the profession of their Order, and that you diligently admonish the peoples committed to you devoutly to receive from their mouth the seed of the word of God, and to confess to them, since it is lawful for them by our authority to hear confessions and enjoin penances; and that out of reverence for you and for the Apostolic See you liberally assist them in their necessities, so that the peoples, prepared by your exhortations to receive the aforesaid, may as good and fruitful earth begin to germinate a crop of virtues in place of the thistles of vices, and that the said Brothers, more happily completing the course of the ministry undertaken through your co-operation, may bring back the desired fruit and end of their labor, namely the salvation of souls. But because vices often creep in secretly under the appearance of virtues, and the angel of Satan for the most part feignedly transforms himself into an angel of light, we command you by the authority of these presents that, if any calling themselves of the Order of Friars Preachers shall have preached in your parts, turning themselves to the quest of money, whereby the Religion of those who have professed poverty might come to be defamed, you seize and condemn them as forgers. Given at the Lateran on the XVII of the Calends of April, in the third year of our Pontificate. This same diploma, among the privileges after the Constitutions of the Preachers, number 6, is said by the same Pontiff to have been Given at the Lateran on the XIII of the Calends of March, in the first year of our Pontificate.

[452] Innocent IV the Pontiff, in the same volume, column 1046, calls the Order of Preachers a mirror of right living, Innocent IV, an exemplar of salutary conversation. Pope Alexander IV, in the same place, column [ ] and following, thus praises the Friars Preachers and Minorites: The benignity of the eternal Father, for the exalting of the glory of his name and the procuring of the salvation of the faithful, among very many persons deputed to divine services, has constituted in his holy Church men conspicuous for the honesty of their conversation and life, and distinguished with the titles of knowledge. These are the Brothers of the Order of Preachers and of Minorites, beloved of God and of men, who, ever directing their affection to the love of heavenly things, publish the power of the divine name throughout the world, and sweat with vigilant attention for the enlarging of the worship of the Christian religion. These are they who, contemplating the life and merits of the most blessed apostle Paul, glory in the cross of the Lord alone, spurning the solaces of the world for the delights of paradise. These are they who, warring down the enemies of the soul by the shield of faith and the breastplate of justice, and the sword of the spirit, the helmet of salvation and the spear of perseverance, strive to obtain that increases of faith, hope, and charity may accrue to all Catholics, and that the way of truth may lie open to the faithless, and the madness of heretical depravity may vanish. Then, on account of these virtues, he earnestly commends both those Orders to all the prelates of the Church.

[453] It is also worth transcribing a fragment of the letter which is reported in volume 2 of the same Thesaurus, columns 282 and 283, Clement IV, and by which Pope Clement IV in the year of Christ 1266 thus commends the necessities of the Church to the prayers of the Friars Preachers: Clement bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his beloved sons and to the general Chapter, greeting and Apostolic benediction. The utterance of sacred reading hints that your Order, true sons, represents the city of strength, which a just nation enters by open gates, keeping truth: for to you, girt with the belt of justice, the door of heavenly mercy is opened unto grace, while you keep the commandments of the supreme truth, which is Christ, and guard their observance with the utmost care; and the Most High has prepared that Order as his tabernacle and a dwelling for himself in it, constituting a light among the peoples, to show the way of salvation and grace to the faithful; which, shining like the sun in the temple of God, and like a cypress raising itself on high, illuminates the minds of those who look upon it, and is a shade of rest for those wearied under the burden of worldly misery. This is the Lord's field, drenched with the dew of the blessing from above, requiring industrious cultivators, distinguished for the brightness of chastity, endowed with the gift of proven probity, sprinkled with the stain of no defilement; that warring on earth they may deserve to triumph in the heavens, and running in the zeal of the sun [*], may seize the prize of eternal blessedness. This is assuredly a field of fertility bringing forth rich fruits: for the seeds scattered in it do not perish, the flowers brought forth do not wither, and yet from multiplied sheaves the grasses of glory are gathered. Wherefore we most tenderly love that Order, which we behold thus shining forth in the house of the Lord, and hold it in our heart, watching over it with paternal solicitude, that it may be protected from harmful things, may ever receive salutary increases, and may overflow with the abundance of charitable peace. Then he exhorts them, after the example of their holy Founder, strenuously to preach the word of God to the peoples, and paternally requests their prayers for the afflicted state of the Church.

[454] Urban IV, Finally, in volume 4 of the Thesaurus of Anecdotes, column [ ], there occurs Urban IV, who, recently taken up to the supreme government of the Church, in the first year of his Pontificate, or of Christ 1262, thus with great confidence asked the prayers of the Preachers: Urban bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his beloved the Master, Priors, and Brothers of the Order of Preachers gathered in general Chapter at Bologna, greeting and Apostolic benediction. In the honor of the distinguished dignity to which the Exalter of the humble has preferred us, there is bound upon our shoulders as it were an unbearable burden; whose stupendous magnitude while we consider, we not undeservedly are afraid, after the manner of the Prince of the Apostles, whom the waves of the sea terrified. But if in a manner we are sunk by the consideration of our frailty, we are lifted up by trust in the Lord's clemency; hoping that we may prosperously pass through the stormy straits of such a sea, if you obtain help for us, who have prepared a flowering couch for the heavenly Bridegroom in the delights of a holy conscience. For what will be denied by God's mercy to you, who deserve ever to have it favorable through the fragrance of good works and the brightness of virtues? For what will your angelic conversation not obtain with the most resplendent Queen, the inviolate and glorious Mother of the Lord — you by whose merits the Church shines, by whose flowering examples the Christian religion thrives and advances? What will the blessed host of Saints not grant to your votive affections, which is rendered more benign to you for the proclamations of the Lord's praise and the merits of an innocent life? Behold, that you have the favor of the eternal King and of the heavenly court is presumed from clear proofs, and declared by evident signs. Then he earnestly asks from them the pious aid of prayers for the happy governing of the Church, and assures them of his affection toward that same Order.

[455] In the same volume 4 of the Thesaurus, column [ ], Nicholas III the Pontiff writes to the Chapter of the Preachers and others are alleged, which was held at Milan in the year 1278, in the first year of his Pontificate: Nicholas bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his beloved sons the general Chapter of the Order of Preachers, greeting and Apostolic benediction. Your Order, divinely instituted, shines in the sight of the most high Father through the blessed offspring which it has brought forth to take up the glory of the eternal inheritance. It shines on earth as a most resplendent luminary, pouring out in its convents the rays of brightness. Worthily indeed does the angelic choir exult in it; and we, who embrace that Order with the prerogative of a special love conceived toward it, delight in its brightness, and rest in its religion as in a stable solidity, while you, continually sweating over the exercise of the virtues, through the insistence of devout prayers and the exposition of the Lord's word, as it were mediators of God and of men, seek the salvation of souls, and, fervid zealots of the prosperous state of the universal Church, serve it with untiring labors and demonstrated works. Wherefore your soul gladdens the Lord our God, and joyfully exults in him, because, confirmed in the spirit of humility, with promptitude of devotion and work, you strive to imitate his footsteps and with the utmost care keep the ways of him who, descending from the Father of light and taking the form of a servant, and offering a placable victim in the sacrifice of praise, immolated himself. Afterward he exhorts them constantly to persevere in these exercises of the virtues, and, wishing the increase of the whole Order, promises it his favor.

[456] Finally, in the same place, column [ ], Pope Boniface VIII thus addresses in his letters the general Chapter of the Preachers, have earnestly praised the Order of Preachers, which was next to be celebrated at Marseilles in the year 1300: Boniface bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his beloved sons all the definitors of the general Chapter of the Order of Preachers next to be celebrated at Marseilles. Among the several Religions which the counsel of divine providence has established on earth for the services of the heavenly court and the salvation of the faithful peoples, your Order of Preachers, shining forth with the brightness of the excellence of its works, shows itself pleasing to God, and pours out among all the grace of a glorious reputation; upon whose state we extend the keenness of our mind the more perspicaciously, and desire its prosperity the more longingly, in proportion as through it fuller fruits of advantage and honor accrue both to the Apostolic See and to the universal Church. After these things that Pontiff admonishes the Preachers to deliberate maturely about the division of the provinces which some had asked for, and to refer their counsel to the Apostolic See, and promises that he will consent to this division if it should seem more useful to the Order.

[457] And these are the chief eulogies of that sacred Order which from an ancient calumny, which have of themselves offered themselves to me. Indeed I am not ignorant that many more of this kind can be found; but I sincerely profess that I have studiously selected from all that occurred the more illustrious and more solid ones. Nay rather, I would gladly dwell longer on this easy and pleasant theme of praises, if the accustomed method of our Commentaries did not call me back to the more difficult and more forbidding examination of the Acts.

Before, however, I return to that, a certain accusation must be briefly refuted, by which Richer the monk, in the Spicilegium of d'Achery of the latest edition, page 633 and following, contumeliously tears the reputation of the ancient Preachers: for that writer, in book 4 of his Chronicle of Sens, chapter 16, blurts out that the Order of Preachers not long after its rise fell away from its primitive piety, unjustly accumulated temporal goods, and other like things, which perhaps he heard from envious detractors of this Order, and malevolently or incautiously inserted into his Chronicle. Certainly it is plain that this author wrote many insipid and false things unskillfully from the empty rumors of the crowd, from the very beginning of that same chapter, where, about to treat of the Order of Preachers, he asserts that its founder was a certain man, Dominic by name, sprung from the parts of Tuscany, and in the same place presently subjoins that the Dominicans were dispersed through all regions after they had been confirmed by Pope Gregory. Assuredly he had scant knowledge of the Preachers, who makes St. Dominic a Tuscan by origin, and wrongly ascribes the confirmation of the same Order to Pope Gregory. For the rest, this whole contumelious narration is sufficiently refuted from the testimonies of the Roman Pontiffs already reported, who deservedly praised the Preachers of their time for their extraordinary piety, singular love of poverty, and other virtues.

[458] and from an odious comparison From the same eulogies of the Pontiffs it is easily gathered that that monk of Sens was carried away by partisan zeal, or believed too lightly the detractors of the Dominican Order, when in the same book 4 of his Chronicle, chapter 17, he institutes a comparison between the Friars Minor and the Preachers, and thus rashly pronounces about the followers of each Order: For their conversation and life always endured better and more holily than that of the Preachers down to our times (that is, to the year of Christ 1250, about which he wove together his Chronicle). But at that time, if ever, the Order of Preachers shone with men most renowned for sanctity and learning, which we wish to be said also of the Order of St. Francis. And this will become manifest to all who are willing to run through with even a light eye the Lives of the Brothers and the Annals of both Orders down to these times.

[459] we vindicate it. Besides, that useless and odious comparison is destroyed by Clement IV, whom above too we reckoned among the praisers of the Preachers: for when the nobleman Ermengaud of Melgueil wished to leave the world and had consulted that Clement as to which Order he should rather embrace, the Pontiff, in volume 2 of the Thesaurus of Anecdotes, column 314, thus answers him: You seek counsel from us which you will be able more rightly to find with yourself. For if the Lord has inspired you, the world being left, to seek the fruit of a better life, we neither can nor wish to hinder the Spirit of God; especially since you have a son well disciplined, as we believe, who will know how to provide for your house. But if, your purpose being unchanged, you inquire further which of the Orders of Friars Preachers and Minorites we believe should be chosen by you in preference, that we chiefly leave to your conscience: for you can better know the observances of each Order, which are not equal in all things, and in different articles are exceeding and exceeded. To one indeed of those Orders belongs a harder bed, a heavier nakedness, and, as some judge, a deeper poverty; and to the other, scantier food, longer fasts, and, as very many assert, a severer discipline. Neither, therefore, do we prefer to the other; but we believe that, founded in one and that the highest poverty, they tend to one thing, namely the salvation of souls; and therefore, whether you choose this one or that, you will enter upon the narrow way, and through the gate will enter into a land flowing with honey and spacious beyond the rest. Wherefore weigh these things with yourself, diligently consider these, which more pleases your mind, which you hope you will better bear. So adhere to one in your manner of life that you do not withdraw in love from the other: for that Friar Preacher is reprobate who has not loved the Minorites; and execrable is that Friar Minor who either hates or despises the Order of Preachers. Given at Perugia on the XIII of the Calends of May, in the second year, namely of his Pontificate, which corresponds to the year of Christ 1266. These things having been said as occasion offered, let us return to the discussion of the Acts begun.

* elsewhere "Fridiani"

* read "stadio" in the course

§ XXV. How this Order received the title of Preachers, and by what other names it was called.

Echard, in volume 1 of the Library of the Preachers, page 14, in the notes, judges that St. Dominic at once obtained from Honorius III Pope Honorius III seems that his Order should be of Preachers (this the Saint chiefly intended), and thinks this sufficiently indicated in the mentioned synopsis of the confirmation, where the Pontiff thus speaks: We, considering that the Brothers of your Order will be champions of the faith and true lights of the world. Wherefore he judges that by these words the thing itself is designated, even though the title of Preachers is not there granted. Whence Echard in the same place confesses that the holy Founder of his Order does not seem to have obtained that it should be called the Order of Preachers, since in the two earlier bulls of Honorius III the name of Preachers is nowhere expressed. Nevertheless, in the place just cited he rightly notes that St. Dominic obtained the very title of Preachers by a third diploma of the same Pontiff, which comprises extraordinary praises of the first Preachers, and which we shall now transcribe to the glory of that Order.

[461] Odoricus Raynaldus in the Ecclesiastical Annals, at the year of Christ 1217, number the title of Preachers 50, praises the untiring labor of St. Dominic and his companions against the Albigensians, and in the same place cites as witnesses of this matter the letters which Honorius III the Pontiff wrote to the Prior and Brothers of St. Romanus, Preachers in the parts of Toulouse, in this manner: To the Bestower of all graces we render worthy thanksgivings for the grace of God which has been given to you, in which you both stand and will finally stand, as we hope: since, inwardly burning with the flame of charity, outwardly with the odor of a fragrant reputation, which both delights sound minds and refreshes the infirm, to whom also, lest they remain sterile, you exhibit spiritual mandrakes as zealous physicians, and make them fruitful with the seed of the divine word by your salutary eloquence; thus, like faithful servants dispensing the talents entrusted to you, that you may bring them back doubled to the Lord; thus, like unconquered athletes of Christ, armed with the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation, not fearing those who can kill the body, you magnanimously wield the word of God, which is more penetrating than any two-edged sword, against the enemies of the faith; thus hating your souls in this world, that you may keep them unto life eternal.

[462] For the rest, since the end, not the fight, crowns, and, when all the virtues run in the course, perseverance alone receives the destined prize, to have first granted to the Dominicans, we ask your charity, and attentively exhort you, commanding you by Apostolic writings, and enjoining upon you for the remission of your sins, that, more and more strengthened in the Lord, you strive to evangelize the word of God, pressing in season and out of season, and laudably fulfilling the work of an evangelist. And if you shall suffer any tribulations on this account, not only bear them with equanimity, but glory with the Apostle, rejoicing in them, because you have been held worthy to suffer reproaches for the name of Jesus: for this light and momentary tribulation works an immense weight of glory, to which the sufferings of this time are not to be compared. We also, intending favorably to cherish you as special sons, ask that you offer for us the calves of your lips, if perchance we may obtain by your suffrages what by our own merits we cannot. Given at the Lateran on the VII of the Calends of February, in the first year of our Pontificate. This is the first diploma of the Roman Pontiffs in which we read the title of Preachers given to this Order.

[463] [although some will have it that this was wondrously given to them by Innocent III,] Nevertheless the most reverend Vincent Bandello, praised in Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers, at the year of Christ 1216, chapter 16, in the Commentaries on the Constitutions, Distinction 1, chapter 15, hands down the following about the origin of this title: This name of Preachers was imposed on our Order by Pope Innocent III, who, when he was writing to blessed Dominic and his Brothers, and had directed the scribe to write in this manner: "To Brother Dominic and his companions," at once recalled it and said: Write in this manner: "To Master Dominic and those preaching with him"; and immediately, considering somewhat further, he said, Do not say so; but write in this manner: "To Master Dominic and the Friars Preachers." And from that time blessed Dominic himself and his sons began to call themselves Friars Preachers, and began at the court and everywhere to be so called by all. To this tradition an anonymous writer of the XIV century in Edmund Martène, volume 6 of the most ample Collection, columns 334 and 347, Hermann Corner in his Chronicle, Jacobus Susatus, Sebastian de Olmeda, Bzovius in the Ecclesiastical Annals at the year of Christ 1215, number 6, Nicholas Janssen in the Life of St. Dominic, chapter 6, and other more recent writers everywhere assent.

[464] for which opinion Stephen of Salanhac is wrongly cited, But the most ancient asserter of the same tradition whom we have hitherto known is alleged to be Stephen of Salanhac, who in Malvenda, in the place just cited, is reported to write thus: The Lateran council having been celebrated, in the year of the Lord 1216 the supreme Pontiff, ordaining certain things to be done concerning the business of the faith in the parts of Toulouse, and determining to write upon these things to blessed Dominic and to those who were with him, having called a notary, said to him: Sit, write upon these matters "To Brother Dominic and his companions," in these words. And standing a little while, Do not write thus, he said; but in this manner: "To Brother Dominic and those preaching with him in the parts of Toulouse," etc. And immediately considering somewhat longer, Write thus, he said: "To Master Dominic and the Friars Preachers," etc. And he rose. As the lord said, so the notary wrote. By the nod of God the holy Father was then present at Rome, who, having heard the word of the lord of the whole world, the vicar of Jesus Christ, rejoiced with exceeding great joy: for thenceforth at the court and everywhere he and his sons began to call themselves Friars Preachers, and began at the court and everywhere to be so called by all, according to that of Isaiah 62: A new name shall be called for you, which the mouth of the Lord has named. Whoever will compare similar narrations of more recent authors with this will not with difficulty perceive that all those proceed, unless we are mistaken, from this first fountain. But concerning the alleged first narrator of this matter certain things occur to be noted.

[465] First we observe that it is not said by the more ancient witness of this tradition whose writings have been interpolated, that that threefold change of the inscription happened immediately after the celebration of the Lateran council. Nay rather, this writer indicates that it took place in the year of Christ 1216, in which same year Honorius III succeeded in the place of Innocent III. Secondly, we notice that in this text the name of Pope Innocent III is not expressed, to whom perhaps more recent authors ascribe it by conjecture, when it should have been attributed to his successor Honorius III. Thirdly, we note that that work of Stephen of Salanhac has been interpolated, as Echard testifies in volume 1 of the Library of the Preachers, page 415. Whence the praised Echard, page

71 of the same volume, thus answers the authority of that Stephen objected to him: The testimony would be of great moment if it were established that it was written by Salanhac; but since Bernard Gui himself notes that this treatise was interpolated by him everywhere, and that many things afterward known to him and omitted by Salanhac were inserted by him in their places, it has no other authority than that of Bernard, in whose age that opinion about the change made had grown strong. What Echard here answers to the argument about the change made in the garments, which we shall discuss afterward, we with equal right lay down in this matter.

[466] Besides, we doubt whether Bernard Gui alone interpolated that work of Stephen. as is proved by an example. Nay rather, we suspect that afterward many and more recent things gradually came in to augment or supplement the same work: for we do not dare to attribute even to Bernard Gui what in Malvenda, in the Annals of the Preachers, at the year of Christ 1217, chapter 8, is narrated under the name of Stephen of Salanhac in these words: Blessed Dominic went about, and sent out Brothers, of whom from the beginning he had few, and moderately lettered, and for the most part very young men. Whence certain Religious, especially of the Cistercian Order, wondered that he sent such young Brothers to preach, and so confidently, and they watched those Brothers, whether they might reprehend them either in words or in deeds: which when he had long borne, taking holy boldness, on a certain day he said: Why, after the manner of the Pharisees, do you curiously watch my disciples? I know, I know, and I am certain, that my young men will go and will return, will be sent and will come back; but your young men will be shut up, and will not come back. Flaminius, in book 2 of the Life of St. Dominic, folio 50, reports the same answer of the Saint, and makes it still harsher. But we can scarcely persuade ourselves that the most gentle Saint answered so bitterly the Religious of the Cistercian Order, to which he owed so much, and with which he familiarly conversed, as we read in his ancient Acts, which nowhere mention an odious response of this kind.

[467] Rather, therefore, shall we believe that something similar happened to Honorius III concerning the title of Preachers: Thomas of Cantimpré attributes a wondrous history of this title to Honorius III, for Thomas of Cantimpré, who is more ancient than Bernard Gui, in book 1 of the Bees, chapter 9, number 5, attributes nearly such a change of the inscription to this Pontiff, and hands down the following about the origin of that appellation: Here indeed, an occasion having been found, it must be seen how the Order of Preachers was called by such a name: for when the Order was to be confirmed by the Apostolic lord, he directed the notary to put in the inscription of the Order "preaching Brothers." He, drawing up the letter of confirmation, put "Friars Preachers" in the correct manner. The letter therefore having been inspected, the Apostolic lord said to the notary: Why, according to what I had told you, did you not put "preaching Brothers," but chose to put "Preachers"? Then he with steady countenance replied: "Preaching," he said, is an adjectival noun, although it be granted that it can be substantivized from a participle, and it is a common noun in the act; but "Preachers" is properly a substantive noun, and is a verbal and at the same time a personal noun, in which the name of the office is most manifestly declared. See therefore, reader, how truthfully the notary answered the objections: for "preaching" never signifies its thing except by way of act; but "preacher" signifies its thing by way of habit, though it be not always in act, and therefore "Preacher" ought fittingly to have been put. The lord Apostolic therefore consenting to the most evident reason, the Order was entitled with the name of Preachers, and solemnly confirmed among the Cardinals.

[468] to which Flaminius gratuitously adds another prodigy, Flaminius, in the praised Life of St. Dominic, folios 11 and 12, thus adorns this confirmation of the Order with a new miracle: This also must not be passed over in this place, which happened divinely to those to whom it had been commanded by the supreme Pontiff himself that they should write letters witnessing to the confirmation of the Order and to the other things granted by him to that Order: for when, as though loathing and indignant, they were unwilling to write "the Order of Preachers," because (as we have said) that business and title of name was given to none but bishops and the like, having often begun and wishing to write otherwise, they always unwillingly wrote "Preachers." Which at length, moved as by a miracle, they wrote, since they perceived that it was divinely dictated to them. We do not know whence Flaminius dug up this prodigy, about which all the ancient biographers kept deep silence. Wherefore we give him greater credit when in the same place he subjoins the narration about the holy princes of the Apostles, Peter and Paul, who about this time appeared to St. Dominic at Rome, and of whom the one gave the Saint a staff, the other a book, enjoining upon him the office of preaching: for this apparition Constantine of Orvieto narrates at number 20, Humbert at chapter 26, Vincent of Beauvais in book 30 of the Mirror, chapter 67, and the same will recur in Theodoric of Apolda below at number 70.

[469] and Malvenda ascribes the same to Innocent and Honorius; Malvenda, in the Annals of the Preachers, at the year 1216, chapter 17, strives to preserve unharmed the authority of Stephen of Salanhac and Thomas of Cantimpré, and therefore discourses thus about the origin of this glorious name: I should by no means doubt that this illustrious and splendid name of Preachers was granted to our Order by both Innocent III and Honorius III, not without divine prompting. But as concerns Honorius, since in the authentic letters of confirmation of the Order, which we have set down above, no mention is made of the name of Preachers, we are compelled to judge — lest the solid credit of Cantimpré totter — that Honorius, either in the memorial booklet which he was dictating to the notary, when he was about to propose the confirmation of the Order in the consistory of the Cardinals, or in the register of things done in his Pontificate, when the confirmation of the Order was to be inserted in it, at length ordered the Order to be inscribed thus, "of Preachers." Malvenda is here compelled thus to divine, because he had not seen the third diploma of Honorius, which we gave above from Raynaldus, and in whose superscription there could have happened that which we lately reported from Thomas of Cantimpré. Further, we wish it proved by more certain documents that something similar took place under Innocent III the Pontiff.

[470] When Echard treats of this title of his Order, he commemorates no mystery or miracle in its imposition; but in volume 1 of the often praised work, page 14, in the notes, he candidly assigns the open fountain of that appellation in these words: but the name of Preachers is plainly explained by Echard, But since various men discourse variously about the name of Preachers, it is easy to indicate its true and simple origin. It is therefore to be known that those who first gave their labor to the conversion of the Albigensians were commonly called Preachers, which is met with everywhere in Peter of Vaux-de-Cernay. Then from the History of Peter of Vaux-de-Cernay he brings forward certain texts in which the Cistercian monks, and other opponents of the Albigensians, are indiscriminately called by the name of Preachers. Finally he shows that very many others discharged the office of preaching only for a certain time, which being over, they laid aside the name and office of Preachers and returned to their own affairs. But Dominic, on the contrary, he says in the same place, from the time he gave himself to this work and saw himself adorned with the title of Preacher, so took pleasure in it that, once assumed, he never laid it aside, nay took it as a surname, and wished it engraved on his seal and expressed thus: "Of St. Brother Dominic, Preacher." So it is even now to be seen in the act of homage which the bishop of Cahors rendered to Simon, count of Montfort, on the XII of the Calends of July 1211 at Cahors, at which, with many other magnates and religious men, Dominic was present and a witness. After these things he indicates where that ancient instrument may be found, and at length sets forth how St. Dominic solemnly obtained from Honorius III the Pontiff for his Order this title of Preachers, which he had always greatly esteemed. Behold a sufficiently plain origin of that appellation, on account of which there is no need to multiply miracles. Yet we do not on that account deny that what the mentioned Thomas of Cantimpré narrates took place under Honorius III.

[471] When I had already written these things, I chanced upon certain words of F. Hyacinth Choquet, about which Choquet raises a scruple. who in chapter 6 of the often cited work, page 66, thus casts a scruple upon me concerning this name: But more strange, he says, is it that some, otherwise pious and learned, begrudge the specious name of Preachers, written in heaven, not so much to us as to the Church. I certainly do not know what human weakness they suffer, who in words, letters, and books, where mention of ours occurs, omitting the title of Preachers, call them Dominicans: for although to the men of any Religious family the name of their first leader and founder is most pleasant, and they rejoice to derive their own from him whose camp, discipline, and examples they follow; yet they sin nonetheless, and either are ignorant of or despise the laws of naming, who ascribe to anyone lesser titles, the worthier being omitted. For my part I confess that through the course of this Commentary I have indiscriminately named the Preachers Dominicans; but at the same time I most sincerely testify that no thought of this scrupulous distinction then occurred to me, and that I did it innocently after the example of several Preachers who in their writings or books often call themselves Dominicans. Wherefore that scruple of Choquet seems able to be safely disregarded. If anyone, however, should judge with Choquet that there is some fault in that matter, which hitherto I have, with very many writers, not known, let him freely, according to my mind, everywhere substitute "Preachers" for "Dominicans." Now let us proceed to assign the other names by which this Order was called.

[472] Cardinal James of Vitry in his Western History prefixed to chapter 27 this title: On the new religion Order On the occasion of another title Echard demands a retraction from us, and the preaching of the Canons of Bologna. Then, describing the life of those Canons, he asserts among other things that they live in the utmost poverty and preach the word of God to the faithful, adorning the canonical rule and the salutary observances of regulars with the grace of preaching and doctrine, and joining the Order of Preachers to the Order of Canons. Echard, in volume 1 of the Library of the Preachers, page 24, from this whole chapter of James of Vitry learnedly demonstrates, against the opinion of Andreas Hoius, that Cardinal James of Vitry here treated of the Order of Preachers, and on the following page thus concludes his reasoning: If the learned editors of the Acts of the Saints shall at some time read these things, I would dare to hope that they will emend what in volume III of May, page LIV, in the series of the bishops of Jerusalem, is put forward as certain by Daniel Papebroch, relying on the sole credit of the above-cited Andreas Hoius, namely that no mention of the Order of Preachers is made by James of Vitry.

[473] which Papebroch has already twice published, But what Echard demands from us in this place, the most candid Papebroch himself has already twice performed in his Responses to the exhibition of errors: for in the response to article XVI, number 170 and following, he proves that the Order of Preachers is called by Honorius III a Canonical Order, and therefore adds in the same place that he ought not to have doubted that the new religion and preaching of the Canons of Bologna (he alludes to the words of Cardinal James of Vitry) was the Order of Preachers. Besides, in the response to article XXII, number 32, Papebroch speaks thus about the same matter: Finally I congratulate myself and the Order that I have been able

in article XVI, number 170, to be the first to observe notice of it in James of Vitry under the honorific title of Canons of Bologna, employed before the very appellation of Preachers was established by the nod of the Roman Pontiff. And lest I seem to have asserted this gratuitously, though it is founded upon the very bulls of the Pontiffs produced by the annalist of the Order, here for you is the text of James of Vitry itself. Then in the following numbers he reports the entire text of James of Vitry, and from it digs out that the Order of Preachers is there designated.

[474] and which Helyot reprehends, Nay rather, Helyot in the French History of the Religious and Military Orders, part 2, chapter 37, or volume 2 of that work, page 247, censures Papebroch on account of this retraction, as though he had wrongly confounded the Order of Preachers with the congregation of scholars of Bologna. Meanwhile Helyot confesses that the progress and habit of this congregation are unknown to him, and while he places its beginning before the year of Christ 1200, he alleges no ancient witness of this epoch. Besides, he judges that the congregation of the scholars of Bologna must be distinguished from the Order of Preachers, because Cardinal James of Vitry says that they joined the Order of Preachers to the Order of Canons. But this very expression moves us to judge that the Order of Preachers is here designated: for the Friars Preachers in that age are quite often called by the name of Canons. Thus in the year of Christ 1224 Girard, archbishop of Besançon, praised "the reverend Brother Canons of the Order of Preachers" in his diploma, which John James Chifflet in his Vesontio, part 2, page 258 and following, exhibited entire. From several other authentic instruments that appellation is established, and the same will be confirmed below from the process of Bologna.

[475] Finally Helyot thinks a distinction is to be made between them, because the Friars Preachers abstained from flesh, although we think that Papebroch's retraction is to be adhered to. while meanwhile James of Vitry writes thus about the canons of Bologna: On three days in the week they do not refuse flesh, if it be set before them. But to this argument Echard in the notes just cited answers in various ways thus: A scruple perhaps someone will bring in, that the same James of Vitry adds that those Preachers on three days in the week did not refuse flesh if it were set before them. But the answer is easy, that James of Vitry was not exactly instructed about the things which were observed in each Religion, especially a new one: for thus, where he treats of the Order of Minorites, he has certain things which among them were never in use; as when he says that the highest among them is a Prior, under whom are lower Priors; which denominations they never employed: likewise that general chapters are convoked among them once or even twice a year, which is not true, nor does Wadding himself acknowledge it. Add that perhaps at Bologna in those beginnings, and before blessed Dominic had his general Chapters, the use of flesh on three days of the week, if it were offered, was lawful, or at least not yet prohibited, or finally that it is to be understood of the sick. All things maturely weighed, we judge that the opinion of Echard and the retraction of Papebroch are more probably to be adhered to.

[476] St. Antoninus, in part 3 of the Chronicles, title 23, chapter 3, §1, thus indicates another name given to the same Order: The Preachers were formerly called Brothers of the Virgin Mary, In the beginning the Brothers of the Order were called Brothers of the Virgin Mary; but it pleased the Church of God to give them the title of Friars Preachers. In this pious name Choquet, in the Maternal Bowels of the Mother of God toward the Order of Preachers, chapter 6, page 60, thus with just right glories: Which title and pleasant appellation of name, he says, was not bestowed upon the Order by its first leader Dominic himself, or by any other of mortals; but from the greatest benefits of the Mother of God toward it, and from the wonderful religion of this in return toward her — both already most renowned throughout the whole world — and from various revelations of the same Virgin, by the hidden prompting of the Deity, by the common consent and acclamation of the Christian world, it was everywhere employed and had come down from heaven. Certain other sacred Orders of men indeed have their name from the name of the most glorious Virgin Mary, but such as their founders first imposed upon them from her cult and love; ours, however, obtained that title from heaven, until the Virgin Mother adorned it with another from the apostolic office of preaching, afterward to be published by the mouth of the supreme Pontiff as of a supreme dictator. In the ancient Acts of St. Dominic the singular favors of the Mother of God toward the Order of Preachers are recounted; but in them we nowhere read that the Brothers received their name from the same Virgin Mary.

[477] We learn from the Deeds of the archbishops of Trier, which Edmund Martène, that most diligent investigator of ancient monuments, lately inserted into volume 4 of his most ample Collection, and Greater Brothers, that the Preachers were at one time called Greater Brothers: for when the author there had reported the Acts of John the archbishop, who in the year of the Lord's incarnation 1190 was raised to the see of Trier, and in the twenty-third year of his governance departed from the living, in the same place, column 229, he inserts the following bearing on our purpose: In his times also there shone in Lombardy two great luminaries, wondrously irradiating the Church of God, namely Dominic and Francis; of whom the former instituted the Order of the Greater Brothers, that is, of the Preachers; the latter, of the Lesser Brothers, that is, of the barefoot or knotted ones. Perhaps this appellation was used only in Germany, or among the common people, so that the Preachers might be distinguished from the Friars Minor or Franciscans, since elsewhere we have nowhere found this title of Greater Brothers.

[478] just as in France they are called Jacobins, Finally in France the Preachers have for many centuries been, and even today are, commonly called Jacobins, the origin of which appellation Matthew Paris in the Greater History, reprinted at Paris in the year 1644, among the deeds of the year 1198, page 134, explains in these words: In the same year, Pope Celestine having died, Innocent III succeeded, consecrated Pope on the day of the chair of St. Peter, and placed in the chair of Peter, by whose favor there arose in Italy a new kind of Preachers, who wished to be called Jacobites, because they began to imitate the Apostolic life. These, sufficiently spare in food and clothing, possessing neither gold nor silver nor anything else of their own, went through cities and villages and castles, preaching the word of the Gospel. And they were multiplied in a short time throughout the whole world on account of their voluntary poverty, dwelling ten and seven together in the chief cities, thinking nothing of the morrow, and keeping nothing until morning. They lived also of the gospel according to the evangelical rule, and if anything was left over to them at table from the largess of alms, this they at once distributed to the poor. And they went shod in the preparation of the Gospel; they slept clothed; they used mats spread [*], with stony bolsters set under their heads.

[479] which etymology, before the rest, That English monk could better testify about the austere life of the first Preachers, whom he doubtless saw in his time in England, than about the French appellation of Jacobins or Jacobites, which is here frivolously explained by him. Besides, in other matters he here also goes astray: for how did a new kind of Preachers arise in Italy by the favor of Innocent III, who under his Pontificate were still living at Toulouse in France? Finally, that eulogy which he here attributes to the ancient Preachers does not at all cohere with the contumelious taunts with which he assails the same elsewhere in that work. Whence we shall not rashly suspect that very many calumnies were inserted into this work by heretical editors, with which under the name of Matthew Paris they are wont furiously to rage against the Roman Pontiffs and the religious Orders. Hence also less corrupt (at least as regards the present appellation of Jacobins) seems to us the Cecilian codex of the same Matthew, in which before the eulogy of the Preachers these things are read: Which name (namely of Jacobites), pledged in the beginning, then began to cleave to them when master John, physician of the king of the French, English by nation and sprung from the district of St. Albans, gave to those same Preachers his dwelling, which he had assigned at Paris to pilgrims seeking lodging; which house had been called that of St. James. Whence those Preachers are today called Jacobites.

[480] French authors rightly explain, We scarcely understand what Matthew wishes to signify by the word "pledged." Wherefore let us hear one or another writer among the French, who explain the same etymology more clearly, and among whom Caesar Egassius Bulaeus, in the History of the University of Paris, volume 3, page 678, thus briefly writes: Dominic the Spaniard, Canon of Osma, on the occasion of the Albigensian heresy instituted a college or sodality of Friars Preachers, who from him were called Dominicans; then Jacobins or Jacobites, after they placed their seat at Paris in the street of St. James. Gerard Dubois, in the History of the Church of Paris, book 14, chapter 6, number 8, treats of the coming of the Preachers into the city of Paris, and in the same place, number 9, or volume 2 of that work, page 264, has these things bearing on our matter: Nor was there then a place for the Dominicans to perform sacred rites, and they used the basilica of blessed Mary of the Fields, and in it Reginald was buried. But the place which they called St. James's, the Masters of the University of Paris, to whom it belonged, freely granted to them. There was built an oratory or chapel of St. James; whence afterward came the name both of the Dominicans and of the street: for they were by popular appellation called Jacobins, and the street was called the Street of St. James.

[481] Lately the Reverend Dom Joseph Lopez Agurleta, an Augustinian Canon of the military Order of St. James, and about which a recent Spanish writer frivolously discourses. wrote in Spanish an Apology in which he claims for his own Augustinian Order not only St. Dominic but all the Preachers up to the year 1236, or at least up to the death of the holy Founder; and he continued this Apology in a repeated printing at Madrid in the year 1731. In that continuation, §22, chapter 1, number 5, from the name of Jacobites by which the Dominicans are called, and from certain other signs, or customs common to both institutes, he strives to prove that St. Dominic belonged to the military Order of St. James, and that the first institute of the Preachers arose from his own Order. We have neither leisure nor inclination to examine or refute the several conjectures of the Reverend Dom Joseph. But since we have here fallen upon the name of Jacobites or Jacobins, we observe on this occasion in passing that from that name of the Preachers a frivolous argument is drawn for the identity of the two Orders, since from what has been said hitherto it is established that it was bestowed upon the Preachers in France for another cause. With these things, however, the Reverend Apologist is not satisfied; but in the praised continuation of his Apology, §22, chapter 9, number 21, he attempts to weaken this origin of the name, and there confidently asks why the Preachers in Flanders and other parts are called Jacobites. But here we deny the erroneous hypothesis of the Reverend Dom Joseph: for all the followers of that sacred Order in Flanders and other parts, if you except France, are commonly called Preachers or Dominicans. That place at Paris, from which the name of Jacobins clung to the Preachers in France, will be more distinctly assigned in the following paragraph, after we shall there have premised some things about the return of St. Dominic to Toulouse and the dispersion of the first brethren.

* perhaps "made fruitful"

* perhaps for "spread out"

§ XXVI. The Saint's return from the city of Rome to that of Toulouse, the dispersion of the first brethren through Spain and France, and the origin of the Convent of Paris.

John of St. Mary, in the French Acts of St. Dominic, book 3, chapter 16, reports a fourth bull, which the Saint, while still staying at Rome after the confirmation of his Order, obtained from Honorius III the Pontiff, The Saint, after four diplomas, and which, inscribed to the Prior of St. Romanus, runs thus: Inclining to the just wishes of petitioners, by Apostolic authority we more strictly forbid that it be lawful for any of your Brothers, after profession made in it, to depart from that place without your license, son Prior, or that of your successors, except for the sake of a stricter Religion; and let no one dare to retain one departing without the security of your common letters. But if anyone should perhaps presume to retain him, let it be lawful for you to promulgate the regular sentence against those Brothers. To no one therefore, etc. Given at the Lateran on the VII of the Ides of February, in the first year of our Pontificate.

[483] obtained from Honorius III the Pontiff, Bzovius excerpted the same bull of Honorius III from the register of the first year, and inserted it into the manuscript Annals of the Order, from which Echard brings it forward in volume 1 of the Library of the Preachers, page 15, and from it thus arranges the chronology of this time: From this diploma it is had that Dominic was still remaining at Rome on the VII of February of the year 1216 old style, 1217 new, in which the golden number was 2, the Dominical letter A, Easter the XXVI of March. And that he spent Lent, which began on the VIII of February, in the same place, William of Montferrat, the second witness in the process of canonization, will teach afterward. Therefore we so determine, that Dominic, after receiving the four reported diplomas, left Rome not so soon, but after Easter of the year 1217: nor is there any doubt that in all this time he preached many times, as was customary to him everywhere, and perhaps also then interpreted the epistles of St. Paul in the hall of the supreme Pontiff, which gave occasion for erecting the office of master of the sacred palace. Of the mastership of the sacred palace we shall treat below.

[484] returns to Toulouse, Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers judges that St. Dominic, after obtaining the diplomas from Honorius the Pontiff, at once returned to Toulouse to his companions, and thus begins to narrate the events of the year 1217 in chapter 1: The year of the Lord's nativity one thousand two hundred and seventeen is at hand; the first year of Honorius the Pontiff is continued up to the month of July, whence the second begins to be numbered; but of the life of St. Dominic the forty-eighth, and of his magistracy of the Order the first. The man of God, all things being dispatched which seemed to pertain to the confirmation of the Order, returned from Rome to Toulouse to his companions. About the time all authors agree. And it is very likely that St. Dominic, the Order being confirmed, remained at Rome only a very short time, hastening most eagerly to return to his own, to whom he would bring so joyful a message of the confirmed Order, with whom also he was to deliberate about establishing and propagating the Order.

[485] and disperses his first companions into various regions, When Malvenda in this place says that all authors agree about the time, he is to be understood of those authors who number the year in the new style: for these agree that all these things happened in the year of Christ 1217. But since he himself thinks it likely that the Saint returned to his companions immediately after the confirmation of the Order, he differs from the opinion of Echard, who on the page just cited thus postpones the return of the same Saint until Easter: In the year 1217 after Easter, which was the XXVI of March, Dominic, his business at Rome finished, departed, and returned into France to his own who were staying at Toulouse in St. Romanus's, whom he gladdened by the reading of the four reported bulls: then he warned them that they were now presently to be divided from him, although the count of Montfort, the archbishop of Narbonne, the bishop of Toulouse, and several others dissuaded him from doing this. But the plan of propagating the Order throughout the world urged him on. That he chose for this division the day of the Assumption, the XV of August of that year, Salanhac discloses; and for the place the monastery of Prouille. Then he confirms the same day from the archive of Prouille, in whose monuments it is read that the holy Founder of the Order on the day of the Assumption called together his companions at the monastery of Prouille, and thence sent them to various provinces.

[486] Now it is asked what reason moved St. Dominic because he divinely foreknew the impending death of the Count of Montfort, to disperse his still very tender flock so soon into different regions. Blessed Jordan and Bartholomew of Trent hint that he did this on account of the revelation by which he had foreseen the death of the Count of Montfort. Humbert, in our Utrecht apograph, thus narrates this prophetic vision: Nor must it be kept silent how the fall of that excellent man Simon, Count of Montfort, his special friend and familiar, who died there for the affairs of the faith, which he was vigorously conducting in the parts of Toulouse, was not hidden from the man of God through the mystery of a vision, the divine power revealing it to him, before he dispersed the Brothers from Toulouse: for he saw in his sleep, by a certain imaginary vision, but one not empty of meaning, a certain tree tall in size, spread out with the extension of its branches, and most beautiful with the comeliness of dense foliage; and also a copious multitude of birds resting in its branches. But after a little while that tree fell, and all that assembly of birds, scattered, flew away. The man filled with the divine Spirit therefore understood at once that the destruction of death was imminent and near to the Count of Montfort, namely a great prince and guardian of orphans, as the outcome of the matter afterward proved. Certainly that St. Dominic was divinely instructed about that dispersion to be made is sufficiently shown by those simple words with which in Theodoric of Apolda, number 71, he thus humbly answers the Count of Montfort and others who dissuaded him from this matter: Do not, fathers and lords, contradict me, for I well know what I am doing.

[487] Malvenda, in the Annals of the Preachers, at the year of Christ 1217, chapter 1, expresses another cause of this dispersion, and that the chief one, and had previously had at Rome another heavenly vision in these words: It is certain that St. Dominic, when in the very beginnings of the new plantation he determined thus to send away the Brothers to preach and to propagate the Order through various regions of the world, was moved chiefly by that divine vision which we described at the end of the preceding year; namely, when Peter and Paul, the princes of the Apostles, divinely appearing to him, commanded him to go and announce the Gospel to the peoples, for he had been chosen by God for this office, etc. Flaminius, in the Acts of St. Dominic, folio 12, thus interprets the same apparition, in which Peter handed the Saint a staff and Paul a book, and in which suddenly the Brothers seemed to him to be going two by two everywhere through the world to preach: But by the staff handed to him we ought to believe is signified the authority granted, not only of preaching, but also of loosing and binding, not only because Honorius permitted to him and to the whole Order of Preachers the faculty of hearing those who confess, but also because from his descendants there would be supreme Pontiffs, Cardinals, bishops, and other men distinguished with ecclesiastical dignities. But by the open book, the clearness of mind by which he might openly perceive the force and meanings of the divine law. And the Preachers scattered in a moment of time two by two everywhere through the world foreshowed the multitude and propagation soon to come. Now it is established that blessed Dominic after that time, whether he stayed in the monastery or made a journey anywhere, always carried a staff in his hand, and had with him the epistles of Paul wherever he went. And the staff which he assiduously used is still to be seen at Bologna in the monastery of St. Agnes, and is preserved no otherwise than relics of the Saints are wont to be.

[488] by which also he was moved to this dispersion of the brethren, Whatever is to be thought of this interpretation of Flaminius, it is worth reporting the same vision from Constantine of Orvieto, who in the Life of St. Dominic, number 20 and following, hints that it gave the cause for the dispersion of the Brothers, in these words: When therefore the man of God Dominic was at Rome, and in the basilica of St. Peter was pouring out his prayer in the sight of God for the preservation and enlargement of the Order which through him his right hand was propagating, the hand of the Lord being made upon him, he beheld the glorious princes Peter and Paul suddenly coming to him in a certain imaginary vision, of whom the first, namely Peter, seemed to hand him a staff; but Paul, a book; and they added, saying: Go, preach, for you have been chosen by God for this ministry; and presently in a moment of time it seemed to him that he beheld his sons dispersed through the whole world, going two by two, and preaching the word of God to the peoples. Wherefore, returning to Toulouse, where the Brothers had already built a cloister and were dwelling at the church of St. Romanus, which the aforesaid Fulk, bishop of Toulouse, had conferred upon them, having called all together, he said that this was his purpose, that he should disperse all the Brothers, though few, through the various regions of the world, knowing that seeds scattered bear fruit, but heaped together rot.

[489] as Constantine of Orvieto testifies. He wished also that they should set someone over themselves by election, in whom, over all, yet under himself, the authority of ruling and correcting should reside. And this the holy Man did, arranging to go to the lands of the Saracens and to preach to them the word of the Lord; on account of which also he was nourishing his beard for some time. Brother Matthew therefore was chosen, and called by the name of abbot, after whom in the same Order no other abbot has arisen or will arise: for it pleased the Brothers afterward that he who should preside over the whole Order should be called, not abbot, but master of the Order; and that the other lower prelates should be reckoned by the common name of Religious, namely of Priors and Subpriors, avoiding, according to the Apostle, novelties of words in all things, if not profane, yet superstitious. The Holy Spirit therefore having been invoked, Dominic, the faithful steward and prudent servant of God, dispersed his Brothers, and destined some for Spain, some for Paris (the name of this city is by authors of the middle age commonly not inflected through the cases, which it may suffice to have noted here once), and others finally for Bologna. And they, having set out, disseminated everywhere the salutary knowledge, sustaining indeed great straits of poverty, and the power of God was there to multiply them. But he himself, the Lord leading, set out for Rome.

[490] Among those companions who were sent to various regions, Our Acts, written by the ancient biographers, which we shall give below, review those dispersed brethren by name, and Echard, in volume 1, page 16, in the notes, thus distributes them all: Of the sixteen first companions, when Dominic had sent four into Spain and seven to Paris, he thus distributed the remaining five. Brother Noël of Prouille and Brother William Clareti he established in the monastery of Prouille, the first as prefect in spiritual things, the other as curator in temporal, as is established from the ancient monuments of the place, preserved by me among my papers. Brothers Peter Cellani and Thomas, Toulousans, he left at Toulouse in St. Romanus's. What Echard here records about the curators of the monastery of Prouille from the ancient instruments of that place can be confirmed from Bernard Gui, who in Edmund

Martène, volume 6 of the most ample Collection, column 452, writes thus: The first Prior in time, dignity, and order, as being the institutor, founder, and governor of the monastery of the Sisters of blessed Mary of Prouille, was blessed Dominic, a Spaniard by nation, now and always before God the defender and patron of the Sisters and of the place. He ruled and directed the monastery from its beginning, as principal by himself for some years, although not continually residing there, but running about to various parts for the salvation of many; and for this cause he instituted others in his place, namely Brother Noël and Brother William Clareti. But from the confirmation of the Order he began to be called Prior, not of Prouille, but of St. Romanus, and Master of the Order, and the monastery began to be governed by other Priors, yet under him.

[491] Malvenda, in the Annals of the Preachers, at the year of Christ 1217, chapter 3 and the following, records many things about the four brethren sent into Spain, chiefly a certain Dominic the Spaniard is praised and especially about Gomez. But since we do not know the authority of the testimonies which Malvenda there alleges, we leave them to be examined by learned inhabitants of those regions. At least Bernard Gui, who had turned over very many ancient monuments of the Order, in the same place in Malvenda hands down only the following about those same four companions: Brother Dominic the Spaniard, other than St. Dominic. This Brother Dominic, together with Brother Michael of Uzero, other than the aforesaid Michael, namely Fabra, and two others, namely Brother Peter and Brother Gomez, the same father blessed Dominic, when he dispersed the Brothers from Toulouse, destined for the parts of Spain: of whom the first two, namely Brother Dominic and Brother Michael, afterward returning from Spain to Rome to blessed Dominic, because they could not bear fruit in Spain as they had desired, were sent by master Dominic from Rome to Bologna, where they made their stay, as is expressly contained in the same little book of the venerable father master Jordan. This Brother Dominic was almost from the beginning an inseparable companion of blessed Dominic in the parts of Toulouse. He afterward, having returned into Spain, became Prior of a monastery, about whom in the same little book of master Jordan it is written thus among other things: The aforesaid Dominic was of extraordinary humility, a man indeed small in body, but magnificent in knowledge and virtue.

[492] In passing we here observe that this last eulogy of Dominic is read thus in blessed Jordan in Echard's edition, number 28, whose eulogy is read in different ways in different authors. and in the codex of Osma, below in our edition at number 36: But this aforesaid Dominic was of extraordinary humility, a man small indeed in knowledge, but magnificent in virtue. Whence we suspect that the text of Bernard Gui in this place has been interpolated or corrupted: for Bernard himself, reported by us in paragraph 23, has these things about the same Dominic: Brother Dominic the Spaniard, other than St. Dominic, a man of extraordinary humility, small indeed in knowledge, but magnificent in virtue. But that interpolation must be ancient, since Theodoric of Apolda, in both our codices, below in our edition at number 74, thus praises the same Dominic: This last one was indeed slight in body, but was magnificent in sanctity, knowledge, and virtue. But since our Osma manuscript is most ancient, as we showed above in §5, we judge that the reading of blessed Jordan is to be preferred. Add that Bartholomew of Trent, below at number 7, writes the following about the same pious man: Also a certain man, who was called Brother Dominic the SIMPLE, being tempted by a certain enticing woman, threw himself between two kindled and neighboring fires, and, in no way harmed, converted the wretched woman. Now let us say some things about the seven Brothers who were destined for Paris, and whom Blessed Jordan names specially.

[493] John of Navarre is sent unwillingly to Paris, Flaminius, in the Life of St. Dominic, book 3, folio 72, Malvenda, in the Annals of the Preachers, at the year 1217, chapter 5, and John of St. Mary, book 4 of the same French Life, chapter 21, page 528, introduce John of Navarre, the fifth witness in the process of Bologna, speaking thus: When I was at Toulouse, he sent me, unwilling and refusing, to Paris with five other priests of the Order, and one of those whom we call Lay Brothers, to study, to preach, and to erect a monastery in that city, saying beforehand that we should fear nothing; although the Count of Montfort, the archbishop of Narbonne, and the bishop of Toulouse, and several others dissuaded him from doing this, to whom he replied: Be not an impediment to me; for I know what I am doing. Similar things in another style will be reported below in the process of Bologna in our edition at number 29.

[494] and refuses to depart without travel money, Stephen of Salanhac, in Malvenda at the place just cited, and in Souèges in the French Acts, page 318, has handed down to memory these things about the same John: Concerning whom there comes to mind what I heard from that very Brother narrating about himself. When, as has been said, the holy Father was sending him with the aforesaid Brother Laurence to Paris, John asked for expenses or travel money. The Saint was unwilling to give it, admonishing that they should go as the disciples of Jesus Christ, carrying neither gold nor silver. But trust, he said, in the Lord, because to those who fear God nothing is lacking. The said John was unwilling to acquiesce, but was altogether disobedient to the words of the Saint; and the holy and pious Father, seeing the disobedience of the wretched man, fell at his feet weeping and wailing over the wretch, who did not weep over himself, and ordered only twelve pence to be given as travel money as far as Paris. No prudent person will suspect that the text of Stephen of Salanhac has here been interpolated, since the narrator himself asserts that he heard it from John himself, which cannot fit Bernard Gui or other more recent interpolators of Stephen. For the rest, we readily believe that John of Navarre afterward, repenting of the deed, accused his own shamelessness and obstinacy before his companions, as Flaminius in the Life of St. Dominic, book 1, folio 17 verso, affirms after the narration of this matter.

[495] with whom the others coming to that city, and staying there for some time, Blessed Jordan and Theodoric of Apolda in the Acts, to be given after this Commentary, will narrate summarily how those seven Brothers received a place in the city of Paris, all of which Echard, in volume 1 of the Library of the Preachers, page 17, sets forth more distinctly from the ancient records of the house of St. James in this manner: As soon as our men came to Paris, they hired a lodging near the episcopal palace, which place I should not doubt they chose, both that they might more readily render their labor to the bishop in the evangelical ministry, and that they might more conveniently frequent the theological schools of the Chapter of the church of Paris, as they had before frequented those of Toulouse. Since, however, the house was a hired one, they were meanwhile seeking a more ample place where they might erect a stable dwelling. There met them John, dean of St. Quentin, whom Hemeraeus in his chronology of the deans of St. Quentin surnames "de Barastre," a man of note in that age, royal chaplain, and one of the public professors of the sacred faculty; he, being given to piety, had recently erected a public house for poor strangers with a chapel under the invocation of St. James, on the other side of St. Stephen's at the exit of the city toward the Orleans gate, and had established in it certain Lay Brothers who should serve the poor. But whether because he recognized that this institute was not firm enough, or for whatever other cause, certainly weighing the greater advantage of the Church, having left his former plan and dismissed those Lay Brothers, he placed our men there on the VI of August, 1218, and at length made a final settlement with them in the year 1221.

[496] Then he proves these his statements by three diplomas, the first of which he there reports from the archive of St. James in this way: they obtained a more ample place, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. I, Simon of Poissy, make known to all who shall inspect the present writing, that I, with the consent and grant of Agnes my wife and of my heirs, have granted and given to master John, clerk of the king and my friend, sixteen pence in rent, which I had before the church of St. Stephen at Paris, with all liberty and lordship and jurisdiction of the same rent-holding, for the work of the house of God, namely of the hospital of St. James, which the same John proposes to build there, to be freely possessed in perpetuity. And that this donation may be firm, I have strengthened this little charter with the protection of my seal. I ask also my most beloved lord Philip, king of the French, that for the love of God and of me it may please him to confirm this my act. Done at Aigremont in the year of the Lord's incarnation 1209. From this diploma is gathered the first plan of John the dean, as Echard rightly observes.

[497] The second instrument of donation runs thus: which the dean of St. Quentin In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. I, John, dean of St. Quentin, make known, etc., that whatever right we have in our place, which is at Paris before St. Stephen's on the right hand between the two nearest gates at the exit of the city, as the common roads surround it, both in lands and in all buildings, we confer and give to our beloved Brother Matthew the Prior and his Brothers of the Order of Preachers, etc.; yet so that they be bound to exhibit to us personally only the right, honor, and reverence which are owed by common law to the patrons and founders of religious places; among which we have thought these should be more fully declared: a place in the choir, in the refectory, in the chapter; that they bow to us when we come; burial in the church, obsequies and memorials for all time, as for one of the Brothers; and each year they shall celebrate the anniversary day of our passing: and that on solemn days we may celebrate both the hours in the choir and Mass at the greater altar, if we wish; but on other days either one of the Brothers shall celebrate Mass for us, if he can, or, assisting us, shall minister to our chaplain wishing to celebrate in our presence at a fitting hour.

[498] But if the aforesaid Brothers or their successors shall leave that place, at length in the year of Christ 1221, except for the cause of study or of a general interdict, transferring their habitation and estate entirely to another place, we will that the place itself revert to us, if we are living, or to the Lay Brothers who had previously inhabited the place, if they shall have retained the hospitality of the poor; yet so that for the things which the Friars Preachers themselves shall have put into it, both for churches and for lands, they receive from us or from those Lay Brothers according to the estimation of the lord bishop of Paris and our own and of other good men. But if we or the aforesaid Brothers of the hospital cannot or will not, according to the aforesaid estimation, repay to the aforenamed Friars Preachers all their outlays [*], yet if we shall wish to retain some part of the Preachers' property, we shall retain it according to the estimation of the aforesaid men: but as to the rest, let it remain ordered as the aforesaid men shall have ordained. In memory of which matter, and for perpetual firmness hereafter, the present page, both of the venerable fathers the lord bishop,

the dean, and the cantor of Paris, we have caused to be strengthened with their seals as well as with our own. Done in the same place in the chapel of St. James in the year of the Lord's incarnation 1221, on the fifth of the Nones of May. From the year of this absolute donation we easily understand why blessed Jordan in his little book, below in our edition at number 40, wrote thus: In the year of the Lord 1218 the house of blessed James was given to the Brothers, although not yet absolutely, by master John, dean of St. Quentin.

[499] and the University of Paris granted them entirely, Finally the third diploma, of the University of Paris, is reported thus in Jacques du Breul in the Theater of Parisian Antiquities, page 499, and in Caesar Egassius Bulaeus in the History of the University of Paris, volume 3, page 104, and most recently in Echard at the place just cited: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. To the honor of God, of the most blessed Virgin Mary, of blessed James the Apostle, and of all the Saints, we, the University of the masters and scholars of Paris, for the salvation of our souls, do spontaneously and freely offer and give to Brother Matthew the Prior and his Brothers of the Order of Preachers, and to that Order itself, whatever right we have or have had in the place of St. James, which is before the church of St. Stephen at the exit of the city of Paris. And as a sign of reverence and acknowledgment that they hold that place from our University as from a lady and patroness, they shall receive us and our successors into general and perpetual participation in all their prayers and benefits, as their confreres. Moreover, each year on the morrow of the feast of blessed Nicholas they shall celebrate a solemn Mass at the greater altar, the Convent being present, for the living masters and scholars, and also for the preservation of the University of Paris; and on the morrow of the Purification of the blessed Virgin Mary, with the same solemnity, a Mass for those of our University who shall have departed at Paris. Besides, for any master, of whatever faculty he be of ours, who shall have died at Paris in the office of teaching, they shall make as great a solemnity as they would make for one of their own deceased Brothers; and each priest among them shall celebrate a Mass for him, and their Prior shall cause three psalters to be read for the same. But if he shall have chosen burial there, if he was a theologian they shall bury him in the Chapter house; but if of another faculty, in the cloister. For the perpetual firmness of which matter, we have caused the present page to be strengthened with the seals of the masters of theology. Done in the year of grace 1221. Echard, in the same place after reporting this instrument, notes that a limit had to be set to this last burden, since afterward the number of masters had grown immensely, which he testifies was also done by the authority of the Parisian senate.

[500] Further, from the relation of these diplomas it is plain that the author of the brief history of the Parisian convent of the Friars Preachers, which Edmund Martène published in volume 6 of the most ample Collection from a manuscript of St. Victor, all of which an anonymous writer narrates in passing and confusedly. heaped many and various things into the same time, when in the same place, column 549, he hands down these things all together about the origin of that Convent: After the confirmation of the Order of Preachers, blessed Dominic, a faithful and prudent steward, inspired by the Spirit of God, dispersed his Brothers through the world, as certain seeds of salvation about to produce most abundant fruits of souls, and in the year of the Lord 1217 sent some to Paris; and the Brothers first received a house to stay in between the house of the bishop and the house of God; and in the same year the house of St. James was given to them. And a little after, blessed Dominic came to Paris, and found there nearly thirty Brothers, and arranged for them a regular house, ordering a cloister, dormitory, refectory, and cells for study. And this Convent, which the holy Father founded, he loved among all the Convents of the Order with special love and affection, foreseeing by the divine Spirit what sort of and how many Brothers it would nourish and educate in the future, who by life and doctrine would illuminate the whole Church: for when he withdrew from Paris and went to Bologna, he at once sent to the Convent of Paris the most approved Brother Reginald, who after blessed Dominic was held second in life and doctrine, and had taught canon law at Paris for five years: which holy father closed his last day in that Convent. And Brother Matthew was Prior in the Convent for a long time, who was canonically elected abbot in the Order of Preachers, and was the first and the last called abbot, and is buried at the head of the right choir of that Convent near the lower seats. Let these things said about the first dispersion of the Brothers, and the origin of the Convent of Paris, suffice. Now let us accompany St. Dominic, who in the year of Christ 1217 returned again to Rome, and there shone with very many miracles.

* that is, expenses

* perhaps "which"

§ XXVII. The Saint's departure from the parts of Toulouse to the city of Rome, certain notable miracles, and a synopsis of the things which he did at Rome.

The Saint did not depart from Toulouse to Rome Humbert in his Chronicle thus fixes the dispersion of the Brothers and the return of St. Dominic to the city of Rome to the year of Christ 1217: In the year of the Lord 1217, when the Toulousans were arranging to rise up against the Count of Montfort, blessed Dominic dispersed the Brothers, Brother Matthew having first been elected abbot, sending some into Spain, others to Paris, and he himself went to Rome, and at that time instituted the house of the Sisters of St. Sixtus. With this chronology agrees Theodoric of Apolda, who in our edition at number 76 writes thus about that journey: In the same year in which the holy Father had dispersed his sons, as has been said before, with the Lord himself as leader, he set out for Rome, where God deigned to work marvels through him, to the honor of his name and the strengthening of the newly begun Order of Preachers, as the following will declare. But from the preceding paragraph and the whole series of the Acts it is established that the Brothers were dispersed in the month of August of the year 1217, and accordingly, according to the reported testimonies of Humbert and Theodoric, the Saint seems to have arrived at Rome in the same year 1217. There remains, however, an intricate question, whether that year is to be reckoned in the new style or the old. This obscure difficulty will perhaps receive some light from a more accurate examination of the time, which we shall now institute.

[502] before September of the year 1217, as is plain from a diploma; That the Saint was still in the parts of Toulouse in the year of Christ 1217, on the XI day of September, is clear from the diploma which Bernard Gui, in Edmund Martène, volume 6 of the most ample Collection, column 446 and the following, reports in this manner: In the year of the incarnate Word 1217, when a controversy was raised between the envoys of the reverend father Fulk, by the grace of God bishop of Toulouse, and the Friars Preachers concerning the sixth portion of the tithes conferred by the same lord bishop upon the Friars Preachers in the churches which seem to belong to him in the diocese of Toulouse — the envoys of the Friars Preachers saying that the said sixth portion ought to be received by those Brothers in all the parochial churches of the aforesaid diocese, even though they should have but seven parishioners; but the envoys of the lord bishop protesting and saying that no church ought to be called or understood as parochial unless it should have at least ten parishioners.

[503] [by which he settles a suit that had arisen between his men and the envoys of the bishop of Toulouse] A question of this kind having at length been brought to the ears of the lord bishop and of Brother Dominic, it pleased the lord bishop and Brother Dominic that it be amicably terminated in this manner, the archdeacons of Lézat and Villemur being present and giving their consent. It pleased them that in all the churches belonging to the lord bishop in which there shall be ten households of parishioners or more, now and hereafter, who receive the divine Sacraments there, even though they may have their domicile elsewhere, the Friars Preachers should receive the sixth part of the tithes — in those, that is, in which there shall be ten households of parishioners, as has been noted above. If any church on account of insufficiency shall have been joined to another church which has a chaplain, in which also they receive the divine Sacraments the same holds; but in others let them receive no portion at all.

[504] amicably; It also pleased them, by way of precaution, that every way of cavil for the future be closed off, and the matter of altercation, so far as is possible, cut away: that if perchance concerning the said sixth portion, on this or another article, any question should hereafter happen to arise between them or their procurators, it be decided by the arbitration of Peter de Parlevivi, archdeacon of Lézat, and Peter Donatus, advocate, and Arnald Saucius, chaplain, all delay being entirely cut off. But if one of them or all cannot or will not be present, or perchance shall have died, let three other suitable persons at once be substituted, with the knowledge and choice of both parties. And that these things may remain unshaken, we, Fulk by the grace of God bishop of Toulouse, and Brother Dominic, confirm them with the protection of our seals. This was done at Castelnau on the III of the Ides of September and on the second feria, in the aforesaid year of the Lord. All these chronological notes designate the year of Christ 1217, in which the XI day of September fell on the second feria Monday. And that the authentic credit of this diploma may be more confirmed, a certain eyewitness of it adds these things: There exists thence a letter of both, divided by the alphabet, whose original I myself saw and held, and from it extracted word for word; the seals, however, had been removed from it, the places in which they had been appended appearing manifestly, in the year of the Lord 1221, in the month of July.

[505] Nay rather, we probably conjecture that St. Dominic had not yet departed for Rome in the same year 1217, on the XIII day of December, [indeed he was still around Toulouse in the month of December of the year 1217, if the letters of protection,] from the letters of protection of the Count of Montfort, an authentic copy of which is said to exist among the Preachers of Toulouse, and which in the vernacular idiom of that age run thus: "Symo per la gracia de Dio duc de Narbona, coms de Tholosa & de Lencastre, vescons de Beses & de Carcassona, a ses amats fiels als senecals de Carcasses & Agenes salut & dileccio. Mandem vos & vos comandem, que todas mages e las causas de nostre car Frayre Domenge Carorgue gardet & deffendat, com las nostras proprias causas. Lettras dadas el cetti de Tolosas en ydas de Desembre." So those letters read in Echard, volume 1, page 16, in the notes, where Percin renders them thus into Latin: Simon by the grace of God duke of Narbonne, Count of Toulouse and of Leicester, viscount of Béziers and of Carcassonne, to his beloved and faithful seneschals of Carcassonne and of Agen, greeting and love. We charge and command you that you guard and defend the houses and all the goods of our dear Brother Dominic the canon as our own. Given at the siege of Toulouse on the Ides of December.

[506] Simon of Montfort twice besieged Toulouse; once in the year 1211, which the Count of Montfort signed at the second siege of Toulouse, when after a few days he was compelled to raise the siege; again in the year 1217, which siege began at the end of September and lasted beyond

the month of June of the following year, in which the Count himself fell on the XXV day of June. But even though a twofold siege of the city of Toulouse must be distinguished, yet these letters do not fit any but the latter, since the first lasted only a few days and was made in summertime, as is manifestly indicated in the History of the Albigensians in Peter of Vaux-de-Cernay, chapter 55. Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers, at the year of Christ 1217, chapter 23, and John of St. Mary in book 3 of the Acts of St. Dominic, chapter 21, exhibit the same letters of protection in Latin, as signed on the III day of December at the siege of Toulouse, and judge that they were transmitted by the Count to the Saint when already absent. This discrepancy of a few days, which occurs at the end of those letters, ought not to detain us here longer.

[507] Further, Echard on the page just cited not improbably thinks were given to St. Dominic when present. that those letters were handed to St. Dominic when present, and thus reasons from them: If those letters of protection were granted to Dominic himself when present, as is a ready conjecture, he will not have left the parts of Toulouse until after the XIII of December 1217, to seek Italy again. However that may be, it is certain that he arrived at Rome before the following Lent, in which Ash Wednesday fell on the XXVIII of February: for in that Lent he preached in the City, as will be proved in what follows. Nor does it please us to dispute more laboriously about an uncertain matter, namely whether these letters of Simon of Montfort were granted to St. Dominic when present or absent; since at least it is established that the Saint arrived at Rome before Lent of the year 1218 (we speak in the new style). It also matters little to us here whether you wish to reckon this year in the old style as 1217 or in the new as 1218; in which latter he could certainly only then have been at Rome, if he remained in the parts of Toulouse up to the XIII day of December. However these things stand, it is surely plain from what has been said that the Saint had to accomplish that Roman journey within the space of four months and some days, since in the year of Christ 1217, on the XI day of September, he fortified with his seal at Castelnau the diploma reported above, and afterward departed for Rome, whither he had come before the XXVIII day of February, or Lent, of the year 1218.

[508] Malvenda, from monuments sent to him, narrates, Although Humbert and the other ancient biographers hint by no word that St. Dominic turned aside to other cities on that Roman journey, much less that he stayed some time in them, yet Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers, at the year of Christ 1217, chapter 12, thus brings the Saint at that time to Venice: The Brothers therefore having been sent into the Spains and to Paris and Limoges, and having been abundantly instructed about the things which were to be done by them in those places, St. Dominic, with that most ardent desire with which he burned of preaching the word of God to the Saracens and unbelievers, and of undergoing martyrdom for the faith of Christ (for that cause he had nourished his beard, as we saw above), bidding farewell to Simon of Montfort and the bishop of Toulouse, and also to the archbishop of Narbonne, and having admirably consoled those few Brothers whom he was leaving at Toulouse, and exhorted them in most weighty words to propagate the Order; when he had decided to sail to the provinces overseas, departed from Toulouse, leaving those few Brothers: but he himself, as we said before, went to Venice, that he might cross the sea to the heathen. But what the holy father Dominic did at Venice we have from the monuments of the most illustrious Convent of Saints John and Paul, which the Fathers of that monastery sent to us, whose words we most faithfully report.

[509] that St. Dominic then turned aside to Venice, Let us hear these monuments of the Venetian Convent, which in the same place in Malvenda run thus: In the year of the Lord 1217 the holy father Dominic came to Venice, and with a few Brothers received from the Republic a certain oratory called that of St. Daniel, which after the canonization of the same holy Man was called the chapel of St. Dominic; but at the present time, after the year of salvation 1567, it is called the chapel of the Rosary. In that oratory, which before was much narrower, St. Dominic built a small monastery for the Brothers; and traces of that ancient fabric are still seen today in the walls and windows in that place which at this time is called the PROFESSORY. But those monuments, which Malvenda there calls ancient and genuine, seem to us more recent and perhaps written down from some popular tradition about the year of Christ 1567, as their very words disclose.

[510] and on that journey founded the Venetian, Paduan, Certainly Echard makes no great account of those monuments, when in volume 1 of the Library of the Preachers, page 16, in the notes, he thus judges about that Venetian detour: But as to what some will have, that on his journey he went to Venice and erected a house of the Order there, it is supported by no ancient document of his age; nay rather, from the acts collected by Bernard Gui, the Venetian Convent obtained only the third place in the right choir in the province of Lower Lombardy, which is an unanswerable argument that it was erected not only after four other more ancient ones, but even after certain ones of Upper Lombardy, which at first was one with the Lower. A like judgment must be passed about the Paduan Convent of the Preachers, whose monuments, reported in the same place in Malvenda, hand down that it was founded in the same year 1217, which Malvenda in the place just cited tries thus to explain: We readily judge that St. Dominic in this very year sent Brothers to Padua either from Venice or from Rome; unless we should prefer (which is likely) that the same man of God, coming from Venice to Rome, entered Padua and, having stayed there a few days, began a monastery. But since Malvenda reckons the years in the new style, and brings St. Dominic to Rome in the year 1217, it in no way seems likely to us that the Saint in the space of three months built two Convents and accomplished so long a journey. Wherefore we judge that Malvenda was too easy in admitting monuments of this kind, as will evidently appear from the following example.

[511] The Preachers of Split in Dalmatia contend that their monastery was founded by the order of St. Dominic in the year 1217, and founded that of Split in Dalmatia, and therefore sent to Malvenda ancient (so he himself calls them) monuments of the same monastery, which he reports in the Annals of the Preachers, at the same year 1217, chapter 23, thus: From the records of the church of Split it is established that the lord Ugrin of Hungary, archbishop of Split, died in the year of the Lord 1219, after he had sat for a year, and was buried among the Preachers; but that Ugrin himself did not give the Brothers the place on archiepiscopal ground on which the Convent was founded, but the archbishop his predecessor, who was a monk from the monastery of St. Stephen "de Pinis": so that in the year 1218, in which Ugrin began to sit, the Convent was already being built in the place which Ugrin's predecessor had assigned to the Brothers. Whence a certain conjecture is drawn that the monastery was founded and begun to be built in the preceding year, that is, in that year 1217. And blessed Gregory, companion of St. Dominic, founded that Convent.

[512] But Malvenda in the same place thus confirms this foundation in his own words: These things [are] in the ancient records, he says, which last he confirms by his own reasoning, but these things about the time of the foundation of the monastery of Split seem able to be more solidly established from the fact that its founder Gregory, companion of St. Dominic, was present at Rome at the beginning of the following year 1218, and, as we shall see, died before the month of March of the same year. Thus therefore we judge that St. Dominic in this year, either from Venice or as soon as he came to Rome, sent his companion Gregory, who perhaps was a Dalmatian and skilled in the affairs of his country (for that he was an industrious man and gracious to the citizens we shall show in the following year), to plant the Order of Preachers in Dalmatia; and that he, as soon as he landed at Split, a notable city of Dalmatia, built a monastery, and, some having been received into the Order, and the norm of the Religious life prescribed to them, at once returned to St. Dominic at Rome.

[513] But that whole reasoning of Malvenda collapses along with the false records on which it rests: for Thomas, archdeacon of Split, and which nevertheless certainly collapses from ancient testimonies, and a contemporary writer, in the History of Salona, which John Lucius published after the middle of the preceding century and subjoined to his work on the Kingdom of Dalmatia and Croatia, chapter 47, page 366, thus fixes the promotion of this Ugrin, or Hugrin, to the see of Split to the year of Christ 1247: But afterward, a whole three years having elapsed, that Hugrin by Apostolic mandate received consecration in the church of blessed Domnius … in the year of the Redeemer 1247, on the twelfth of the Calends of October, being about forty years of age. Then in the same place he narrates how a little before his death that archbishop received the pallium from Innocent IV the Pontiff, and at length thus concludes the cited chapter: And Hugrin presided from the day of his consecration to the day of his burial one year, two months, ten days. Nearly consonant is the Catalogue of the prelates of Split, which in the same Work of John Lucius, page 386, has these few things about that Ugrin: Hugrin, a Hungarian by nation, presided one year, two months, seven days. He had not used the pallium, except when he was carried to his tomb. He died on the third day before the feast of St. Andrew the apostle; and was buried in the church of the Friars Preachers in the year of the Lord 1248. From these things it is clear that the Preachers of Split, perhaps deceived by unfamiliarity with the ancient numeral characters, wrongly read for the year 1247 or 1248 the year 1217 or 1218, and thus furnished this erroneous notice to the writer of the Annals of their Order — lest we be compelled to suspect any fraud.

[514] as Echard confesses; But in whatever way this happened, Echard in volume 1, page 33, after reporting Malvenda's opinion, thus roundly pronounces about that error: But Malvenda was deluded by the records communicated to him: for Ugrin of Hungary was not elected archbishop until the year 1248 (perhaps Echard here numbers the years in the new style), and died in the following year 1249, buried among our men in the same place, as Thomas, archdeacon of that church, has it in the History of the archbishops of Split published in print by Lucius, in the History of Dalmatia and Croatia published at Amsterdam 1666. From another source it is certain that the Convent of Split and the others of Dalmatia were all erected by Brothers of the province of Hungary, of which they were a part throughout the whole first century of the Order and beyond. And Paul the Hungarian, the first prefect of that province, instituted in the second general Chapter of 1221, did not proceed to those regions until after that assembly, and erected the first Convents. Whence the antiquity of the Convent of Split is not so great as Malvenda supposed. But if some Gregory is its founder, he is plainly another than the one who died at St. Sixtus's, blessed Dominic foreseeing it. If any other monasteries of the Preachers (except the Parisian, the Bolognese, and others expressed in the ancient Acts of St. Dominic) refer their origin to the same time, we cautiously demand from them ancient and authentic instruments of foundation,

lest we be deceived with Malvenda by supposititious records such as we have already reported.

[515] but John of St. Mary is convicted of a grosser error, Not yet content with this Venetian digression, John of St. Mary, in the often cited French Acts of St. Dominic, book 3, chapter 21 and following, so arranges the Saint's departure from the parts of Toulouse to the city of Rome that he first came from Occitania to Paris. Then from Paris he brings him to Metz in Lorraine, where he is said to have founded a Convent and received many into the Order. After these things he directs his journey through Germany, where he is said to have fallen among robbers, all of whom he converted to penitence by preaching the Rosary, after the Saint had shown them the horrid demons who under the form of maidens were serving those robbers. But this last episode issues from the fabulous workshop of Alanus, who in part 3, chapter 20, page 193, adorns the same history with very many circumstances which it is irksome to report here.

[516] who improbably augments this journey with still other detours. At length John of St. Mary asserts that St. Dominic came through Switzerland and the Tyrol to the city of Venice, and there built a Convent of his Order. Nay rather, he adds that from Venice certain companions were then sent by the Saint into Dalmatia, that they might build at Split a monastery of the Preachers. Finally he affirms that he departed from Venice to Padua, and there dealt with the leading men of the city about constructing a new Convent, and thus at length about the end of the year 1217, which he reckons in the new style, arrived at Rome. Since all the ancient writers are silent about that enormous detour, who would readily believe that St. Dominic in the space of three or four months traversed all those regions, and accomplished on his journey so many affairs as demanded so long a delay? And yet the hypercritical Baillet, who elsewhere scarcely gives credit to contemporary biographers of the Saints, inserts all these incredible things into the Acts of St. Dominic, and readily swallows them. We, leaving these uncertain little narrations, shall gradually approach the illustrating of the distinguished things which the Saint did at Rome.

[517] It is worth here to excerpt from those deeds one or another notable miracle, The Saint at Rome, for his Brothers in need, which Constantine of Orvieto, near to those times, in Echard, volume 1 of the Library of the Preachers, page 31, in the Life of St. Dominic, thus reports from eyewitnesses: Moreover it must not be passed over in silence that, when the Brothers were still staying at the place of St. Sixtus in the City, and frequently suffered much lack of necessities on account of the Order not yet known among men, it happened on a certain day that the procurator of the Brothers, namely Brother James de Melle, a Roman, did not have bread to set before the Brothers. And the Brothers sent for alms, when they had gone round many houses in the accustomed manner, found indeed very many priests and Levites, but a Samaritan most rarely. Whence it came about that they brought back scarcely a little, and a very little, bread. The hour of refection therefore drawing near, the procurator approached the servant of God Dominic, who was then present, and set forth the lack; but he, exulting with an alert spirit, blessed God, and, as if strengthened by a certain confidence infused into him from above, ordered that little which was had of bread to be divided in portions upon the table. And there were in the Convent at that time about forty Brothers.

[518] The signal therefore being given, the Brothers come to the refectory, twice obtains bread from heaven, follow the blessing of the table with joyful voices; and while, sitting in order, they were with joy breaking the morsel of bread which each found before him, behold two young men of the same habit and of like appearance entered the refectory, carrying the folds of their cloaks, which hung from the neck, full of loaves such as that baker who sent them knows how to make: which having been silently offered at the head of one table, near which the man of God Dominic was sitting, they so suddenly departed that no one ever afterward could know either whence they had come or whither they had afterward turned aside. And when those aforesaid young men had departed, the man of God Dominic, with hand stretched out to the Brothers all around, said: Now, my Brothers, eat. And that this was procured divinely and by the merits of the servant of God Dominic, no one at all doubted, as very many still surviving of those Brothers who were then present attest. Also on another occasion in a like case a like miracle, namely of loaves divinely procured, was found to have happened in the same City by the merits of the same servant of God Dominic, the same Brother James, a man indeed worthy of credit, being likewise procurator at that time, and afterward narrating it in my hearing: from whom also I heard a certain other thing, no less worthy of relating, which he reported to have been done in the same place concerning himself by the same man of God Dominic.

[519] That other prodigy, which Brother James narrated to Constantine as done concerning himself, on which twofold miracle some things are noted by Echard, we shall at once transcribe from the same ear-witness, after we have reported the observation of Echard which in the place just cited, in the notes on the mentioned text of Constantine, he expresses in these words: This miracle and the following one about loaves sent from heaven Theodoric also reports in book 3, chapter 4; but in inverted order: for what is second in Constantine is first in Theodoric, and most fully narrated, and also performed at St. Sixtus's. But what is first in Constantine is second in Theodoric, and most briefly reported. In the first of Constantine and the second of Theodoric there were only about XL Brothers; in the second of Constantine and the first of Theodoric there were up to a hundred. But Constantine in the second miracle did not express the number of the Brothers, which Echard gathers only from the narration of Theodoric, and from which nevertheless he there argues thus: Hence it is invincibly proved that Dominic stayed longer at St. Sixtus's than Malvenda supposes: for granted that he arrived at Rome in the month of November 1217 (for certainly he could not sooner), it is incredible that the brethren increased to a hundred before the XVI of the Calends of March of the following year, on which day nevertheless Malvenda will have it that they passed over to St. Sabina's. But from that number what Echard intends is not invincibly proved: for it is very likely that very many gave their names to this new Order, whose holy Founder shone with public miracles. Thus St. Francis, in the very Chapter of the Mats, which was celebrated in the year of Christ 1219, and at which five thousand Friars Minor were present, in a shorter space of time received five hundred candidates into his Order, as may be read in Wadding in the Annals of the Minorites, at the year of Christ 1219, number 17.

[520] and there at once heals a dying Brother, Since the truth of these prodigies is sufficiently established, we do not here dispute further about their certain time, and proceed to transcribe another miracle, which the mentioned Constantine of Orvieto in the same place thus adds to the two preceding: For he narrated (namely Brother James de Melle, to whom it had happened, and from whose mouth Constantine had received it) that at a certain time, seized by a grave infirmity, and the disease growing worse daily, he had already come to the end of life, nature entirely succumbing. And when the Brothers, the office of Unction having already been administered, had gathered about him to protect by prayer his departing spirit, and were not a little sad at the taking away of a Brother so necessary to them at that time, because they had no other Brother so well known in the City, the kind Father, greatly moved with compassion for his sons, all having been shut out and the door closed upon him, lay upon the body of the dying Brother, and, measuring himself like another Elisha limb by limb, prayer having been poured out over him, powerfully retained the departing spirit, and, the Brothers having been called, restored to them by the hand the recovered Brother, and returned him unharmed to his office. In which indeed we manifestly behold renewed through his Servant that which we know was done by the Lord in the case of Peter's mother-in-law. Although I was not unaware that similar miracles would have to be repeated in the Acts to be published below, yet I wished to confirm these few by the older and express testimony of Constantine of Orvieto.

[521] Besides, certain Roman deeds of St. Dominic are circulated, [which miracles we have here reported from an ear-witness among the Saint's Roman deeds,] about which Theodoric of Apolda and the other ancient biographers make no mention. Nevertheless Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers, at the years of Christ 1217 and 1218, laboriously collected all those, and at the end renews the memory of them by a brief recapitulation or repeated synopsis of the things done, which we have thought should be transcribed in this place, so that in the following paragraphs we may examine certain ambiguous heads of it, and accurately distinguish the most certain histories of the ancient biographers from the more uncertain traditions of more recent writers. Malvenda therefore in the praised Annals, at the year of Christ 1218, chapter 36, concludes the long narration of the Roman affairs in these words: And thus far we have written out the deeds of St. Dominic at Rome in this year from great authors and monuments with the most certain truth. A vast admiration seizes the mind, how many and how distinguished and plainly heroic exploits the apostolic Man performed at Rome in this and the preceding year (which time did not exceed fourteen months, as the very course of our Annals openly shows).

[522] Then the Saint's Roman deeds and miracles are thus summarily reviewed by him: a synopsis of which Malvenda exhibits. Three dead brought back to life publicly and openly in the eyes of so many men and witnesses, with Rome astonished: the Brothers twice fed by angelic hands; bread divinely multiplied and increased; wine growing by a miracle once and again: the death of two Brothers foretold by prophecy: a river suddenly swelling for the safety of a novice, to keep off his pursuers: the holy Father seen twice raised a cubit from the ground in the air at the raising of Napoleon: a woman possessed by seven demons freed: three nuns restored to health, the fever being cast out by his mere command. The Unction, the health, the habit of the Order, obtained for Reginald from the Mother of God by his prayers. So many and so notable miracles marked by the power of the Rosary. The mastership of the sacred palace. The blessed Virgin Mother of God visiting the Brothers, sprinkling and blessing them; the same covering them under her cloak and singularly protecting them. The recluses Bona and Lucia cured of most grave diseases: an angel being present and accompanying, the gates of the monastery, barred with strong bolts, opened: a failing novice recalled to soundness of mind: the terrors of the demon driven off; a huge rock hurled by him avoided: a medicinal tree of four hundred years planted and thriving for the health of men; and countless other most illustrious deeds, which, left in silence on account of their multitude, are unknown to writers. Since Theodoric of Apolda below will narrate most of these deeds at length, we shall in the following paragraphs touch only upon those which require some explanation or discussion.

§ XXVIII. The beginnings of the monastery of Bologna, the wondrous vision of Reginald, who had vowed to enter the Order, and the habit of the Preachers changed after this vision.

Blessed Jordan below at number 41, and Theodoric of Apolda at number 102, narrate how St. Dominic sent certain Brothers from Rome to Bologna. The Preachers are sent to Bologna in the year 1218, And Humbert in his Chronicle briefly records the same matter, and at the same time the conversion of Brother Reginald, presently to be more fully by us

set forth, touches on it in these few words: In the year of the Lord 1218, about the beginning of the year, blessed Dominic sent Brothers from the City [*] to Bologna, and in the same year at the court he acquired the acquaintance of Brother Reginald, who in the same year came to Bologna on the XII of the Calends of January. As regards the origin of the residence at Bologna, when the Brothers arrived there, the church of St. Mary, which was surnamed "de Mascarella," was first given them; but a little afterward they obtained from the bishop of Bologna the church of St. Nicholas at the Vineyards, as Theodoric of Apolda will testify in the Acts at number 122, who in the same place proves by a certain example that this latter place had been previously designated from heaven. We shall here draw this from the first fountain, and on this occasion confirm that heavenly prediction by one or two examples.

[524] where their coming Gerard de Frachet in the Lives of the Brothers, part 1, chapter 3, has thus about this matter: Brother Ralph, a good man and one fearing God, formerly chaplain of the said church of blessed Nicholas, which he himself had resigned for love of the Order, and became a Brother there, reported that there was at Bologna, before the Brothers came, a certain woman despised by the world but devoted and dear to God, who, when she frequently prayed on bended knees toward a certain vineyard where the Brothers now are, and men derided her as though foolish, would say: Wretched and foolish are you rather: if you knew what things are to come there, and who are to be there, you would adore God here with me: for through those who are to be here the whole world will be illuminated. Theodoric of Apolda in the place just cited mentions the same prediction; but since he did not allege its witness, we have judged that it should here be reported entire from the Lives of the Brothers.

[525] had been foretold by certain visions. To this, for the sake of confirmation, we add two other testimonies, which Gerard, the collector of the same work, subjoins in the same place in these words: Brother John of Bologna reported that before the Friars Preachers came to Bologna, vinedressers saw in the place where the Brothers now are lights and many splendors. The other is reported by the same in the same place in this manner: Brother Clarus testified that, when he was a boy, and was passing one day with his father, who was good and faithful, near the place which the Brothers now inhabit, his father said to him: Son, in this place the songs of angels have been frequently heard, which is a great prognostic of things to come. To whom, when the boy had said: Perhaps they were the voices of men playing, or of the monks of blessed Proculus, the father replied: Other are the voices of men, other those of angels, and greatly differing. Which words never fell from his memory. Let these things said about the beginning of the Convent of Bologna suffice, mention of which will often recur below in the Acts. Now let us proceed to the memorable conversion of Brother Reginald and the controversy annexed to it.

[526] Reginald resolves to embrace the institute of the Preachers; All the biographers report that history; but because Constantine of Orvieto sets it forth with certain circumstances which the others have not expressed, we shall transcribe it from this near-contemporary author, who in the Life of St. Dominic, number 24, or in Echard volume 1, page 29 and following, thus begins the narration of this matter: When therefore the man of God Dominic was placed at Rome, at the same time a certain venerable man, master Reginald, dean of St. Aignan of Orleans, skilled in knowledge, conspicuous in virtue, and distinguished in reputation, who also had taught canon law at Paris for five years, had come to Rome together with the bishop of Orleans, being about to cross the sea. God had long since touched this man's heart with such an inspiration that, all things being left, he should give himself wholly to the office of preaching; but by what manner he might bring to effect what he had conceived in mind he had not yet perceived, nor had the recent institution of the Order of Preachers yet been made known to him. But when he had learned from someone, to whom he had expressed such a vow in familiar conversation, that a new Order had already been instituted in accordance with the purpose of his desire, and had learned of the founder and father of the same Order, namely the servant of God Dominic, engaged in the office of preaching in the same city, having called for him and being vehemently affected by the wondrous sweetness of his conversation, and no less drawn by the aspect of his sanctity, having revealed the purpose of his mind, he from then on determined upon entrance into that Order.

[527] Without delay he is seized by a grave infirmity of fevers; but seized by a grave disease, by the prayers of St. Dominic, and while the languor, growing more strongly, by no means admitted the remedies of medicine, nature entirely failing — for death at the doors had utterly shut out hope of health. But the man of God Dominic, not bearing the untimely loss of the offspring he had awaited, betook himself wholly to prayer, appealing with importunate cries of the heart to the ears of the divine clemency and of the queen of mercy blessed Mary, to whom as a special patroness he had committed the care of the Order, that she should not so suddenly deprive him of the consolation of a son not yet born, but in a manner conceived: and he pressed the more importunately that she would deign to grant him at least for a little time, in proportion as he in no way doubted the more certainly that he would be a vessel of election and of grace.

[528] While he therefore was persisting in prayer, behold suddenly Reginald, waking and awaiting death, beheld the Queen of mercy, and by the visible unction of the Virgin Mother of God is wondrously healed, accompanied by two exceedingly beautiful maidens, coming visibly to him and saying to him with a gracious face: Ask of me what you will, and I will give it to you. But as he was terrified at the encounter of so venerable a vision and was deliberating what he should ask, one of those maidens who accompanied the Queen suggested to him that he should ask nothing but what the Queen of mercy should deign to confer, and that he should commit himself wholly to her will. Which having been done, she then stretching forth her hand anointed the sick man's eyes, ears, and nostrils, and also his mouth and hands, loins and feet, with the salutary unction which she had brought with her, adding proper forms of words to each anointing: of which words only those have been ascertained which she uttered at the anointing of the loins and feet. At the loins indeed she said: Let your loins be girded with the cincture of chastity; and at the feet: I anoint your feet in the preparation of the Gospel of peace. Then, showing him the habit of the Order of Preachers, Behold, she said, this is the habit of your Order; and at once she both withdrew the appearance of her vision from the sick man's eyes, and the sick man, the languor being entirely driven off, recovered; namely inasmuch as she had anointed him who is his Mother, who knows how to compound the unctions of health.

[529] But all this which was done in the presence of the aforesaid Reginald was not hidden, God revealing it to him, from the servant of God Dominic, placed in prayer at a distance. and, the Jerusalem pilgrimage completed, he enters the Order, And so, coming to him in the morning, he both found him well and heard likewise from him the whole series of the vision. Of this so stupendous a miracle also a certain religious man of the Order of Hospitallers was a witness, who on the third day, being himself present in the same place, with God granting it to him, both saw with his own eyes and was astonished at the series of the same vision presented again to the same Reginald, the man of God Dominic being also present. And that heavenly unction so tempered the body of that master Reginald not only from the heat of fevers, but also from the scent of concupiscence, that, as he himself afterward confessed, not even a first motion of lust sprouted in him thereafter. This vision, this notable miracle, the servant of God Dominic published to many Brothers, of whom some still survive, chiefly after his passing. Health therefore having been thus received, he offered himself wholly to God and to the Order, and, having gained his vow, at length went to Bologna, etc. Understand these things thus: that Reginald, after fulfilling the vow of the Jerusalem pilgrimage, entered the Order at Bologna in the year of Christ 1218, on the XXI day of December.

[530] all which Echard arranges chronologically, Echard, volume 1, page 18, in the notes, thus chronologically arranges this Jerusalem journey of Reginald: If Reginald be supposed healed in the month of April, and to have undertaken the Jerusalem journey in the following May, he could easily have been back at Rome about October, especially since this pilgrimage was in that age both most frequent and most easy; and thus he found Dominic still in the City, by whom he was sent to Bologna and instituted his vicar over the brethren staying there. However it may be, whether he learned this ordinance concerning himself from the Saint while still remaining at Rome, or when he had already gone out of the City, by letters left before his departure, he at length arrived at Bologna on the XXI of December, and there had won for himself much fame from his sermons, when he preached on the day of St. Stephen. We do not deny that Reginald could have accomplished the Jerusalem pilgrimage in so brief a space of time; but in a matter which depends on breeze and wind, we determine nothing certain as to one month or another.

[531] who would rather have resolved an intricate difficulty, I should have preferred that Echard in the notes in the same place had explained a certain more intricate difficulty which here of itself offers itself to us: for Blessed Jordan, in Echard at the page just cited, 18, and below in our edition at number 42, thus confirms by his own testimony that wondrous vision of Reginald: This notable miracle master Dominic afterward published, with many still remaining today, and when he once recited this to several in a conference at Paris, I myself was present. But Humbert in the Life of St. Dominic, chapter 27, narrates the same history, and at the end adds the following: This vision blessed Dominic published to the Brothers after his passing: for he had been adjured by Brother Reginald himself that he should reveal it to no one in his lifetime, but should keep the secret as it were under the seal of confession. Vincent of Beauvais in book 30 of the Historical Mirror, chapter 70, imitates the phrase of Humbert, and Theodoric of Apolda, after narrating that heavenly unction of Reginald, in our edition at number 106 has these things: All these things the holy father Dominic, adjured by the same master, was unwilling ever to reveal to anyone except after his death; and when he had died, he disclosed them to the Brothers.

[532] which occurs in this narration of various writers, Now we ask how these testimonies of the biographers can be reconciled with each other. If St. Dominic disclosed this vision to no one before the death of Reginald, Blessed Jordan could not have heard it at Paris from the mouth of St. Dominic in a conference, unless we should say, without any appearance of likelihood, that the holy Founder came again to Paris after the death of Reginald. But all the ancient writers acknowledge only a single Parisian journey of St. Dominic, namely when the Saint in the year 1219 came from Spain to Paris, and another is repugnant to the series of the Acts, as Echard in volume 1, page 11, confesses. But at that time when St. Dominic stayed at Paris, Reginald was still living at Bologna, whom the Saint afterward sent thence to Paris. Nothing therefore seems to remain but that we withdraw credit from Blessed Jordan, or from Humbert and others narrating like things. Since, however, Bartholomew of Trent and Constantine of Orvieto make no mention of that sworn silence, we rather believe Blessed Jordan, a contemporary and an ear-witness, who in our old manuscript, and in Echard's edition, plainly asserts

that he heard it at Paris in a conference of St. Dominic.

[533] Until therefore that entangled knot be loosed in another way, [and on account of which we hitherto think that the Annals of the Preachers must be corrected in this matter] we think that the specious narration must be deleted from the Annals of the Preachers, which Malvenda at the year of Christ 1219, chapter 40, thus sets out: Then also it is certain that St. Dominic, being now released by the death of Reginald from the religious obligation of his oath, set forth and quite frequently narrated that divine and admirable vision of Reginald, by which the same Blessed Reginald, twice anointed by the most holy Mother of God and made whole from a desperate disease, deserved to receive from the hands of the same Mother of God the habit of the Preachers for himself and for the whole Order: which, so long as Reginald lived, he had kept under the inviolable pledge of secrecy (just as he had stipulated with him), as we narrated at length from great authors in the year 1218, chapters 18 and 20. For then the great father Dominic, bathed in many tears, and with most devout prayer, disclosed in order to the Brothers that whole heavenly apparition of the most sacred Mother of God made to blessed Reginald, and at the same time commemorated the vast benefit conferred upon the Order by the blessed Virgin in the habit shown and given, which the Friars Preachers should use, and that this was the cause of the assumption of this habit, the former one of Canons Regular having been left off, although he had not previously explained the reasons of the change, being bound by the sacred bond of an oath.

[534] Malvenda in the same place pursues these same things more fully, [In that narration of Constantine the repeated unction of the Mother of God displeases Echard,] which we here pass over for brevity's sake, and we return to defending the mentioned narration of Constantine of Orvieto, in which the repeated unction displeases Echard, which is said to have been made again on the third day before St. Dominic and a certain religious Hospitaller. Whence in the cited volume, page 30, in the notes, bringing forward the same history from Humbert, who is silent about the repeated unction and the presence of the said two witnesses, he anxiously notes these things in the same place: He has nothing about the vision and unction repeated on that third day and with those present, which also is altogether useless. But it must be observed that the several circumstances of a matter are not always scrupulously enumerated by all writers narrating the same history. Otherwise Echard could have concluded by a like manner of arguing that the company of the two beautiful maidens, whom Constantine, Humbert, and others join as companions to the Mother of God, is superfluous or useless, since Blessed Jordan in the narration of the same history omitted them, and mentioned only the visitation of the most blessed Virgin Mary. The testimony of these ancient authors suffices for us to give credit also to these adjuncts of the matter, as we shall try below to prove more clearly.

[535] Meanwhile let Echard, concerning these adjuncts of the history, hear Stephen of Bourbon, which nevertheless is asserted by ancient authors: who in the year 1223 was already enrolled in the Order and was then already renowned, as he himself in volume 1 of the praised work, page 72, speaks, and from whom in the same place he alleges the following to establish another opinion of his: It is read in the Life of blessed Dominic that when master Reginald, dean of Orleans, devoted to her (namely to the Mother of God), was laboring in his last extremity, and had been left as it were despaired of by all remedies, the blessed Virgin appeared to him with two maidens, of whom the one carried the habit of the Order of Preachers, which Order was new and unknown, and the other an ointment. Whom the blessed Virgin anointed upon each limb, uttering a certain form of words, and she showed him the habit of the aforesaid Order, which she admonished him to take up; and when she anointed his feet, she said: I anoint your feet in the preparation of the Gospel of peace; when the loins, she said: Let these loins be bound with the cincture of chastity; and she promised him that on the third day she would return and give him full health. And when on the third day blessed Dominic and a certain Hospitaller Brother were before the said master, the blessed Virgin was present, who also not only freed the said Reginald from infirmity of body, but from temptation of the flesh, so that afterward, having become a Brother of the Order of Preachers, and an excellent preacher, he did not feel even a first motion of the flesh from that unction of hers, as he himself afterward confessed. You see therefore here, in an author whose antiquity Echard himself extols, two witnesses of the repeated unction or visitation, which certainly was not altogether useless, since Reginald had not previously obtained full health. But all these things we shall confirm below on another occasion from another writer of the same age.

[536] nor does the change of the Dominican habit inferred from this please him, Besides, the opinion of Theodoric of Apolda, Bernard Gui, and other ancient and more recent writers, who commonly judge that from the garment which the Mother of God then showed Reginald the habit of the Order was changed, does not please Echard. Wherefore in volume 1, page 18, in the notes on the little book of Blessed Jordan, he bids the following be diligently observed: To this simple narration, which — to disclose my own view — pleases me wonderfully, the following writers have added other circumstances, and the more recent, the more ample. See afterward Constantine at number 24, and Humbert in the same place. See also Theodoric, book 2, chapter 11, and St. Antoninus, title 23, chapter 4, §4. Meanwhile weigh each of Jordan's words and the order of things, and hold them in memory, and note that he does not add that from this vision there was any change made by Dominic in the garment which either he or his brethren had hitherto used; which will afterward be discussed in a special dissertation. This too he quite often inculcates elsewhere in the course of his work, as occasion is seized.

[537] which against Echard's opinion we prove Further, Echard in that dissertation which he published in volume 1 of the Library of the Preachers, page 71 and following, freely confesses that Jacobus de Voragine and very many other writers of his Order oppose his opinion; but he chiefly repeats the argument for this new view from the silence of Blessed Jordan, Humbert, and Constantine, who did not mention that change of garment, as he himself contends. But we answer that in this matter the open circumstances of the history speak, and that that change of garment is tacitly indicated by those ancient authors when they say that the Mother of God showed the sick Reginald the habit of the Order. For why should she have shown a habit which Reginald already knew, and in which he had seen St. Dominic clothed? For St. Dominic, on the testimony of Blessed Jordan, exhorting him to the poverty of Christ and to the fellowship of his Order, elicited from him a free and full consent to receiving this Religion, so that he bound himself by a vow. All these things Constantine and Humbert explain more fully, as may be seen above in the reported text of Constantine. What need therefore was there to show the garment of the Order, which he had doubtless already often seen, and to the receiving of which he was bound by vow? And so from the circumstances we probably gather that the Mother of God showed Reginald a new form of habit, in which both he himself and the other brethren of the same Order which he had vowed to enter were thenceforth to be clothed. Hence also it follows that the reasoning which Puricelli in the Nazarian Dissertation, chapter 109, page 556, objects to the change of garments, and which Echard in volume 1, page 72, calls peremptory, can be turned back upon its author.

[538] But to this peremptory reasoning, and to the other specious arguments and evasions of Echard, from the words of Bartholomew of Trent, which there is no leisure to refute or block one by one, we oppose the single testimony of Bartholomew of Trent, who flourished about the beginnings of the Order, and took the garment either from blessed Dominic himself or from one of his first brethren, as Echard himself in volume 1, page 110, testifies. That ancient author therefore, who could easily have seen the use of both habits, in the shorter Life of St. Dominic, below in our edition at numbers 8 and 9, plainly expresses the change of garments and the other adjuncts which above did not please Echard, in these words: St. Dominic by prayer obtained that Brother Reginald, dean of St. Aignan of Orleans, be freed from a desperate infirmity through her who brought the medicine of life to the world. Visibly the Mother of mercy, accompanied by two most beautiful maidens, appeared to him as he lay sick, saying: Ask of me what you will, and I will give it to you. As he was deliberating, lest he ask anything indiscreetly, one of the damsels suggested that he commit himself to our Lady's will: and when he did this, the Queen of heaven with virginal hand anointed his eyes, ears, and nostrils, mouth, hands, loins, and feet with a certain most salutary unction, using these words: Let your loins be bound with the cincture of chastity, and I anoint your feet in the preparation of the Gospel of peace; and she added: On the third day I will send you a flask for the restoration of full health; and at once she showed him the habit of the Order which the Friars Preachers NOW use, saying: Behold the habit of your Order. This vision, being at once freed, he reported to the holy Father, and took up the habit as he had foreseen; for before they used surplices [*]. On the third day the Mother of God, solicitous for her own, was present, and the Queen of angels anointed Reginald's whole body, and not only extinguished in him the heats of fevers, but also the motions of lusts entirely.

[539] For greater confirmation of this matter Flaminius in the Life of St. Dominic, book 2, folio 45 verso, and which very many writers maintain. Ferdinand del Castillo in the General History of the Order of Preachers, book 1, chapter 51, and Antoninus of Siena in the Chronicle, page 21, add that certain Brothers at first resisted this change of garments. But Echard in volume 1, page 73, roundly explodes this repugnance of the first brethren as fabulous, and thus attacks all the defenders of the change: I know that our Souèges and Percin refute that Flaminian fable on the ground that they will have it that the Toulousans were always so obedient to the Saint that at his first letters they at once took up the new habit: but is it not readier that they in fact did not resist, because in fact no change was made? For the followers of Flaminius will most unwillingly suffer themselves to be persuaded that it was made with no one resisting. We shall discuss this tradition, which is connected with the other, below in its place.

[540] Although from the reported testimony of Bartholomew of Trent the change of garments having been made seems sufficiently established, since nevertheless it is not established in what that change consisted, yet it is not so clear what that habit was which St. Dominic and his first companions wore before the vision of Reginald. It is indeed likely that St. Dominic retained the form of dress from the Canons Regular of Osma in Spain, among whom he had lived; but on account of the scarcity of ancient monuments we cannot determine with certainty what the habit of those Canons was. But in what the change chiefly consisted, Bernard Gui in the Acts of St. Dominic, chapter 34, somehow indicates in these words: But after the aforesaid heavenly vision and the showing of the habit of the Order of Preachers, blessed Dominic and the other Brothers, laying aside their surplices, put on in their place white scapulars as a distinctive habit, retaining the copes over the white tunics which they had before worn as Canons Regular.

[541] and the Dominican authors themselves The Dominican writers themselves dispute among themselves about the remaining parts of the earlier garments: for Malvenda in the Annals at the year of Christ 1218

chapter 20, writes thus about the earlier habit: Up to this day St. Dominic and his companions wore the habit of Canons Regular, which we said above, at the year of the Lord 1194, was a linen ephod or shoulder-garment put on over a white woolen tunic, which they call a rochet or cotta or surplice, with a woolen mantle of black color added over it. But after the Queen of heaven gave to Reginald that habit which we have mentioned, namely the scapular, both the blessed Father himself and the rest of his Brothers received the same habit and continue to wear it thereafter down to these our times. Souèges in the Dominican Year, volume 1 of August, page 351, follows him. But since neither of them mentioned the hood, Echard on the page just cited chiefly convicts the latter of error thus: But he, though otherwise accurate, must certainly be said not to have attended to the customs of the XII, XIII, and XIV centuries: for in those times not only regulars but also secular clerics and laymen, nobles and citizens, used hoods, as the images of that age unanswerably prove.

[542] dispute among themselves about the first garments of the Preachers, Then Echard in the same place reports the opinion of Percin, and at the same time thus refutes it: Percin in the Toulouse Monuments, pages 24 and 25, will have it that Dominic's earlier habit comprised these: a white ankle-length tunic with a white hood, after the manner, he says, of the church of Osma; a rochet after the manner of Canons Regular; a cope with a hood of black color; and that in the change of habit, in place of the rochet which he laid aside, there was added to the white hood that front and back appendage which they call the scapular — not indeed separate from the hood, such as we now wear (for that is a novelty), but sewn to the hood itself, such as they wore in the first centuries of the Order; whence in the constitutions hood and scapular are used indiscriminately for the same thing. The whole difficulty therefore will at last come back to this: whether that white hood, which according to Percin Dominic used after the manner of the church of Osma, was sewn to the collar of the tunic, or had that front and back appendage which they call the scapular. Certainly such is that which, on Percin's own eyewitness testimony, is still preserved among the nuns of Prouille as Dominic's own; and although of what year it is is now unknown, it is most likely to be one of those which they themselves made and washed for the Saint while he gave his labor to their institution from the year 1206 to 1217: for after that last year he saw them only in passing, while he was accomplishing his Spanish journey. But that the rochet was never worn by St. Dominic there is an unanswerable argument, namely that that kind of garment was throughout the whole XIII century and the following altogether unknown to Regulars, and employed by none: for even the Victorine Canons themselves then used not rochets but only surplices, nearly equal to the white tunic, and whose wider sleeves projected two palms beyond the fingers; for so is the form prescribed in their ancient constitutions. On the surplice and the rest of the habit of the Canons Regular, Nicholas Desnos may be consulted in the Latin work entitled "The Canon Secular and Regular," where throughout book 4 he examines each part of that habit in particular.

[543] Since therefore we cannot decide that dispute about the older garments, at least we exhibit an ancient image of a Preacher, agitated among Dominican writers, for want of ancient monuments, at least something more certain must be brought forward about the habit which the Preachers assumed after the vision of Reginald. Echard, in volume 1 of the Library of the Preachers, page 144, treating of the lucubrations of the venerable Humbert and reviewing their titles from ancient manuscripts, exhibits an ancient image of a Preacher, to which he premises this notice: In the square in which all the cited titles are written, painted by an elegant hand, at the four corners are four figures; at the two upper ones, on this side the blessed Virgin, on that the angel Gabriel; at the lower ones, on this side and on that two brethren of the Order in the habit customary in that age, namely with a pointed hood almost after the manner of the Carthusians, having a scapular sewn to it, with the sleeves of the tunic narrower at the wrist, and with a cope of natural black or tawny color sewn to a hood of the same color, so that it might be a sure example to be followed by all. To these he subjoins the image itself, which we have ordered our engraver exactly to imitate. From this image it is sufficiently plain what form of garments was in use among the Preachers in the time of the venerable Humbert, about which there is no need to dispute more fully here, since Echard in volume 1, page 75 and following, has explained one by one the outer and inner parts of this habit from an anonymous writer of the XIII century.

[544] the habit of the Order having now been changed, which the Roman Pontiffs About the middle of the XIII century some seem to have assumed by private authority the same or a like habit, as we gather from a twofold diploma of Innocent IV the Pontiff, the first of which, among the privileges of the Preachers subjoined to the Constitutions published at Milan in the year 1505, number 15, runs thus: Innocent bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his beloved sons the Master and Brothers of the Order of Preachers, greeting and Apostolic benediction. Because confusion of habit often brings in confusion of Orders and even of minds, by the authority of these presents we more strictly forbid that it be lawful for anyone, whether he be established in a Religious Order or outside an Order, to wear your habit or one so like it that on account of it he could be believed a Friar Preacher, without a special mandate of the Apostolic See. Moreover, that the said prohibition may obtain a greater effect, we establish that those who shall have presumed to wear your habit or one like it in the aforesaid manner be compelled to lay it aside by the diocesans of the places, when they shall have been requested by you, an admonition having first been given, by ecclesiastical censure, appeal being set aside. Let it therefore be lawful to no man whatsoever to infringe this page of our prohibition and constitution, or with rash daring to go against it. But if anyone shall presume to attempt this, let him know that he will incur the indignation of Almighty God and of his blessed apostles Peter and Paul. Given at the Lateran on the VIII of the Calends of April, in the first year of our Pontificate, which corresponds to the year of Christ 1244. Then in the same place, number 16, follows another diploma of the same Pontiff, directed at the same time to archbishops and bishops, in which he charges that they take care to have his mentioned decree committed to execution.

[545] forbade to be worn by others. There was also a long dispute about the wearing of the habit between the Augustinian Hermit Friars and the Friars Preachers, as Pope Clement VIII in volume 3 of the Roman Bullary, page 154, testifies in these words: Formerly indeed, when between our beloved sons the Brothers of the Order of Preachers of St. Dominic and the Brothers of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine controversies had quite often arisen, not without disturbance of those Brothers and offense to the laity, about the wearing of the white habit, in which they seemed so alike that, if they go about without the black outer garment, the one can scarcely be distinguished from the other, several constitutions of the Roman Pontiffs our predecessors, but especially of Pope Alexander IV of happy memory, were issued upon that matter. Since that dispute had been renewed in the time of Clement in the kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves, this Pontiff extinguished it in perpetuity, and prescribed for each Order a certain form of garments to be publicly worn, by which the nurslings of each Order might easily be distinguished, as may be seen more fully in volume 3 of the Roman Bullary, page 154 and following.

* our Ms. adds "from Rome"

* read "surplices"

§ XXIX. Whether the Saint at Rome exercised the Mastership of the sacred palace, admitted St. Hyacinth to the Order, and saw the divine essence in a certain ecstasy.

Flaminius in the Life of St. Dominic, book 1, folio 24 verso and following, reports the origin of that illustrious Mastership in these words: The Mastership of the sacred palace, When blessed Dominic saw that daily, while the Cardinals were occupied with the Pontiff, their ministers wore away the time in the hall in idle strolling and trifles, he grieved, and approached the Pontiff and said that it was shameful and harmful that time should be worn away in vain by so great a multitude; that it seemed to him it would be useful if, while the Cardinals were occupied with him in the affairs of the Church, some learned man should publicly expound something useful. The counsel greatly pleased Honorius, and he gave that business to the very man who had advised it (for he was a great man in the sacred Letters); which he gladly undertook, and daily began to interpret the epistles of the apostle Paul in a great assembly and attention of hearers: and the thing so pleased that it was thereafter established that from the Order of Preachers someone should always be chosen for such an office, and that he who had been chosen should be marked with the title of that dignity, that is, should be called Master of the sacred palace. And that codex of the epistles of Paul which blessed Dominic used is preserved at Toulouse in St. Romanus's. These circumstances of the narration we leave to the credit of the reporter, of whom we should make no great account if the chief substance of the matter were not confirmed by ancient authors, as will appear from what is to be said.

[547] St. Antoninus, in part 3 of the Chronicles, title 23, chapter 2, §3, praising the extraordinary virtues and endowments of St. Dominic, which St. Antoninus, thus mentions this notable office: Applying himself wholly to this (namely the wisdom of the Scriptures and of sacred theology, of which he had treated a little above), blessed Dominic for love of it passed his nights almost sleepless, as his sacred history testifies: and thence he eagerly drank in what he afterward poured out abundantly, and, having been made a master in sacred theology, and the first Master of the sacred palace (which dignity was afterward granted to the Order of Preachers), he lectured in the Roman court and in other places on several books of the sacred Page, frequently disputing against heretics and preaching, and exhorting all the faithful, and chiefly through his Order, upon which alone the title of Preachers was conferred. Certainly no one can doubt that St. Dominic was most versed in sacred Scripture, as is abundantly gathered from his assiduous study of it, which John the Spaniard, an eyewitness, in the process of Bologna, in our edition at number 34, sets forth in these words: He always carried with him the Gospel of Matthew and the epistles of Paul, and studied much in them, so that he almost knew them by heart. Hence we readily admit that the Saint interpreted the epistles of Paul in the palace of the Pontiff, and that from that place he was commonly called Master of the sacred palace.

[548] Echard, among the other indexes which he exhibits before the volume of the often praised Work, and which other more recent writers commonly attribute to St. Dominic, on page XXI wove a series of the Masters of the sacred palace, to which he prefixes the following admonition: What the series of Masters of the sacred palace was throughout the whole XIII century is not so ready to say, unless ancient monuments be unrolled, which is easy only for our Roman brethren. But since in that century that office consisted chiefly in the government of the Roman and Pontifical school, and in the public exposition of sacred Scripture, no one will wonder that those whom we know for certain to have discharged this twofold office are reckoned among the Masters of the sacred palace. Then he enumerates by name those Masters who in the XIII century and the following succeeded St. Dominic in that office. For the rest, Echard in volume 1 of the same Work, page

15, in the notes, conjectures that this office had its beginning when St. Dominic, according to the old style in the year of Christ 1216, or according to the new in the year 1217, after the confirmation of his Order and before the dispersion of the Brothers, was staying in the city of Rome, as he indicates in the same place in these words: Therefore we so determine, that Dominic, after receiving the four reported diplomas, left Rome not so soon, but after Easter of the year 1217; nor is there any doubt that in all this time he preached many times, as was customary to him everywhere, and perhaps also then interpreted the epistles of St. Paul in the hall of the supreme Pontiff, which gave occasion for erecting the office of Master of the sacred palace. But whatever be the chronological beginning of that Mastership, we here treat of it with Malvenda at the year of Christ 1218, and inquire rather into the thing itself than into the time.

[549] is confirmed by the testimony of an old writer, Although the ancient biographers did not plainly express that Mastership of the Saint, yet it is sufficiently certain to us from the testimony of John of Colonna, who under Gregory IX the Pontiff entered the Order of Preachers, and afterward was raised to the see of Messina, as may be seen more fully in Echard, volume 1 of the Library of the Preachers, page 418 and following, where his deeds and writings are reviewed. That author therefore, in the book On Illustrious Men, after other things which he reports about St. Dominic and the institution of his Order, and of which in his youth or boyhood he could have been an eyewitness, has these things bearing on the present matter: But when the man of God was at Rome, many flocked to his sound doctrine: for he then lectured in the public schools on Paul, to whose schools flowed no small crowd of scholars and even of prelates, and he was called Master by all… And he then wrote upon all the epistles of Paul, whose writings, full of much learning and devotion, are still found. Of these and other writings of the Saint there will be treatment below.

[550] whose authentic credit Echard proves. Further, Echard, who reported this testimony of John in the appendix to volume 2 of the Library of the Preachers, page 996, adds these things in the same place to prove its authentic credit: They are excerpted from the praised book of John of Colonna On Illustrious Men, and were lately sent to me from Rome by the Reverend and Learned Father Benedict Zoanelli, professor of sacred theology, prefect of the Casanatense library, who, since he is a nursling of the Venetian house of the Order of Saints John and Paul, more easily obtained that this work, hitherto kept in darkness and desired by the learned, be handed over to him, and is already diligently applying himself to illustrating it with notes and publishing it in print as soon as possible. And so, from the few things here reported by a near-contemporary author, nay an eyewitness, it is established both that St. Dominic taught at Rome in the public schools with a vast concourse and applause of hearers — which gave occasion for instituting the Master of the sacred palace, since in that age the public theological schools were in the sacred palace of the most holy lord Pope — and that the same Saint, which is what now concerns us, wrote upon all the epistles of the apostle St. Paul, which writings were preserved throughout the whole XIII century. But this treasure seems now to have perished, or to lie hidden somewhere, as we shall indicate afterward when we treat of the writings of St. Dominic. Let these things adduced for asserting to the Saint the Mastership of the sacred palace suffice.

[551] Now we proceed with Malvenda, who in the Annals of the Preachers, at the year of Christ 1218, chapter 23, immediately subjoins to this Mastership the reception of St. Hyacinth into the Order, There is a dispute between Echard and other authors about the year and contends with very many historians that it must be fixed to the year of Christ 1218. But on the contrary Echard, in an entire dissertation which he inserted into volume 1 of the Library of the Preachers, page 81 and following, tries at length to prove that the famous raising of the dead Napoleon, and consequently the conversion of St. Hyacinth, must be deferred to the year 1220 of the new style. We frankly confess that the arguments of Echard are not to be despised, to which, however, grave difficulties could be opposed from the death of the venerable Vincent Kadłubek, whose Life and miracles Simon Starowolski collected, and from other chronological circumstances of Polish history, which perhaps will be discussed in the Acts of St. Hyacinth at the day XV of August. Meanwhile we here refer the matter itself to the present Roman sojourn of St. Dominic, with Odoricus Raynaldus, the most illustrious Cromer, and other Polish writers, from whom in this place we shall select a single more ancient and most diligent investigator of Polish affairs.

[552] Since therefore John Długosz or Longinus, in book 6 of the Polish History, at the year of Christ 1218, had narrated the firm purpose of the most pious Vincent Kadłubek, in which St. Hyacinth entered the Order of Preachers, who had determined to abdicate the bishopric of Cracow, he subjoins the following bearing on our matter: While a suitable successor was being sought, Iwo, son of Saul, Count of Końskie, noble by birth from the house of Odrowąż, and Polish by nation, cantor of Gniezno, Canon of Cracow, and chancellor of Leszek the White, duke of Cracow and Sandomir, seemed to the duke and the Chapter worthier than the rest to succeed Vincent in the bishopric on account of his skill in letters and the brilliance of his human prudence. But while a difficulty was feared in the admitting of Vincent's resignation by the supreme Pontiff, Iwo, having taken to himself as companion and counselor Jacek (that is, Hyacinth) of the province of Opole and the village of Łanka, Canon of Cracow, a sensible and industrious man, betook himself to Honorius III in the City, and easily obtained both that Vincent's resignation be admitted, and that his own nomination be confirmed, and that he be promoted to the bishopric of Cracow — Cardinal Ugolino, bishop of Ostia, extolling his person with high praises before the Pope and the college of Cardinals, on account of the special familiarity which they had contracted with each other in the University of Paris.

[553] While he delayed at Rome transacting the business of his promotion, which matter we narrate from Długosz or Longinus, he deserved to see blessed Dominic, already declaring the beginnings of his sanctity and Religion by great prodigies, and to enjoy his familiar conversation, and to be present at his preaching. And when on a certain day Cardinal Stephen had come to St. Sixtus's, where the man of God Dominic was staying with his Brothers, the nephew of the aforesaid Cardinal, hurled by his horse into a pit, was carried out lifeless by the hands of mourners. The man of God Dominic [*], Brother Tancred, a man of great religion, beseeching him and saying: What are you doing, Father? This mishap awaits a proof of your power. But Dominic, sure of power from above, prayer having been poured out, restored the dead man unharmed to his former life. By which miracle indeed Iwo, bishop of Cracow, who was present at all that was done concerning the man raised, being stirred, being about to return into Poland, asked Brothers from blessed Dominic. But being unable to obtain others, he obtained that three of his companions and familiars, namely Jacek, Canon of Cracow, who was himself also of the house of Odrowąż, likewise Ceslaus the Pole, Henry the Moravian, and Hermann the Teuton, be received into the Order by blessed Dominic; and leading them with him into Poland, he was the first to plant the Order of Preachers in Poland, blessed Dominic being still alive. And Iwo indeed, having returned from Rome, was consecrated bishop of Cracow by Henry, archbishop of Gniezno.

[554] and from the same we attack Echard's chronology. But, on Długosz's testimony in the same place at the year of Christ 1219, Henry, metropolitan of the church of Gniezno, when he had sat in the archiepiscopal see nineteen years, coming to his last hour, having received the salutary Viaticum, dies on the XX of March, and is buried with due honor in the church of Gniezno. If that Henry died in the year 1219 on the XX day of March, how could he consecrate Iwo returned from Rome into Poland, since Iwo, according to Echard's opinion, was still staying in the city of Rome in the month of February of the year 1220, and was then present at the miracle of the raised Napoleon? Whether Echard numbers the years in the old or the new style, he cannot escape from this, unless he should say that this diligent writer of Polish history strayed from the true chronology, which would have to be proved. Besides, that diligent investigator of his country's history, in the same book 6, thus reports the death of Vincent Kadłubek at the year of Christ 1223: Vincent Kadłubek, formerly bishop of Cracow, when he had religiously passed five years in the Order of the monastery of Jędrzejów, on the eighth day of the month of March, about to receive from Christ, for whom he had forsaken all things, the unfading crown of his labors, was loosed from the prison-house of the flesh, and was buried in the same monastery in the middle of the choir. But if from this time of death you count backward the five years spent in the Cistercian Order, you will arrive at the beginning of March of the year 1218, by which time Iwo had already departed for Rome, because a difficulty was feared in the admitting of Vincent's resignation. And it is in no way likely that the most pious Vincent left his bishopric without the leave of the Roman Pontiff and embraced the monastic life. Several other things could be opposed to this new system of Echard. But it does not please us here to dispute more laboriously about the year of the event, as we have already said, provided it be established that St. Hyacinth was admitted to the Order of Preachers by St. Dominic himself, which that sincere historian and canon of Cracow doubtless dug out from the ancient monuments of his country, even though our ancient biographers did not particularly commemorate it.

[555] The Saint at Rome was rapt into a wondrous ecstasy, To this Roman sojourn must also be referred the wondrous rapture of the Saint, which Theodoric of Apolda in our edition, chapter 10, and from him St. Antoninus in part 3 of the Chronicles, title 23, chapter 3, and other more recent writers narrate at length. For us here, for a preliminary notice, an epitome of the same ecstasy will suffice, which John Garzo in the Life of St. Dominic, in Leander Alberti, book 1 On Illustrious Men of the Order of Preachers, folio 14, briefly sets forth in these words: Straightway Dominic returned to prayer: nor after much time had intervened was he placed outside himself. The most holy Man contemplated Mary the queen of heaven sitting beside Christ, and besides many of the Fathers who had dedicated men and women to sacred Religions; moreover a multitude of those who were following God with immortal praises. When he beheld none of his own, he could not restrain his tears. But contemplating the divine Majesty, he drew back his foot. But the Virgin beckoned with her finger that he should approach her. He, dismayed with fear, remained in his resolve until he was summoned by the Lord. But, restraining no tears, he fell at the feet of both. Then the Lord: What is the cause that you pour yourself out in tears? This, said he: There is no Religion from which you have not received abundant fruits; but ours has brought forth not even one fruit. Then the Lord: Behold your Religion, which lies hidden within the Mother's cloak; which when he saw spread out, he greatly rejoiced: for he knew that the Queen of heaven alone held the Religion of the Preachers under her most firm protection. Nicholas Janssen inserted a similar synopsis of the same history into the Acts of St. Dominic, book 2, chapter 12.

[556] St. Antoninus, on the occasion of this vision, which in the part just cited, title 23, chapter 1, §

1, he again briefly touched upon, in which it cannot even be said scholastically that he saw the divine essence, utters these words worthy of note: A certain Master of the Order of Minorites, who composed a great and very magisterial book about blessed Dominic, says that in the said vision of this kind it could be said scholastically, not assertively, that Dominic then saw God through his essence, as Paul in his rapture. Nevertheless, saving the reverence of that Master, who is hitherto unknown to us, we by no means assent to this opinion, and think it most probable that this can be said neither assertively nor scholastically: for St. Thomas, in part 1 of the Theological Summa, question 12, article 11, disputing about this matter, and after his manner resolving the reasons apparently to the contrary, thus answers the second argument: It must be said that, just as God miraculously works something supernaturally in corporeal things, so also supernaturally and beyond the common order he has elevated the minds of some living in this flesh, but not using the senses of the flesh, even to the vision of his essence, as Augustine says in the twelfth book on Genesis according to the letter, and in the book on Seeing God, of Moses, who was the master of the Jews, and of Paul, who was the master of the Gentiles. Then in 2.2, question 175, article 3, discoursing on the rapture of St. Paul, he repeats the same opinion of his, and following the mind of St. Augustine grants such a vision only to Moses and Paul.

[557] The angelic Doctor comes still nearer to the present controversy as we prove from St. Thomas against the opinion of a certain Master; when in the Quodlibetal Questions, question 1, article 1, he examines whether blessed Benedict in the vision in which he saw the whole world saw the divine essence. This sublime rapture, in which he also saw the soul of St. Germanus, bishop of Capua, carried into heaven, Pope Gregory the Great narrates in book 2 of the Dialogues, chapter 35, and we reported it from him in the Acts of St. Benedict at the day XXI of March, volume III of that month, page 287. Divine Thomas, resolving the difficulties which can be objected to his opinion from the words of St. Gregory the Pope, in the same place among other things answers thus: It must be said that the corruptible body weighs down the soul, as is said in Wisdom 9. But the highest elevation of the human mind is that it should attain to seeing the divine essence. Whence it is impossible that the human mind united to a body should see the essence of God, as Augustine says in the twelfth book on Genesis according to the letter, unless a man utterly dies to this mortal life, or is so alienated from the senses that he does not know whether he is in the body or outside the body, as we read of Paul in 2 Corinthians 11 [*]. But blessed Benedict, when he saw that vision, was neither utterly dead to this life nor alienated from the corporeal senses: which is plain from this, that while he still persisted in the same vision he called another to see the same thing, as the same Gregory reports. Whence it is manifest that he did not see the essence of God. From what has now been said everyone abundantly understands that the aforesaid Master of the Order of Minorites is not to be followed in this singular opinion. Wherefore, that theological question being left aside, let us return to the history.

[558] but from that vision, Malvenda, in the Annals of the Preachers, at the year 1218, chapter 31, thus forestalls and enervates a certain cavil which could be objected to the mentioned vision of St. Dominic by hypercritics: But as regards the second vision, it must be noted, lest it happen that we suffer calumny from someone insufficiently pious, that in this second year of the confirmed Order very few Brothers had yet died; and, to grant that some had passed from life by the time of this vision, we have hitherto read only of two, Brother Albert the Roman and Brother Gregory. But it is very strange that, with so small a number of dead Brothers as yet, St. Dominic should have grieved so lamentably that he saw none of his Order in the heavenly glory, and afterward beheld an innumerable multitude of Preachers under the cloak of the sacred Mother of God. But observe, learned reader, that this vision expressed not so much the glory of Brothers already dead, or the manifestation of things already done, as it represented the most certain truth of things to come. In that imaginary vision shown to blessed Dominic, when he beheld in the heavenly glory of the blessed innumerable Religious of various Orders, but none of his own, this was then presented to his mind, no one of the dead Brothers appearing in heaven: that perhaps the newly founded Order was not in God's heart, or that his nurslings were unworthy of heaven; unless we should prefer that Dominic, disturbed by that spectacle and ignorant of the causes, and not sufficiently explaining his reasons through astonishment, seized with grief, burst into tears; but that Christ, in order to show him that the Friars Preachers both present and future were committed to the singular care and protection of his most holy Mother, and that she is and will always be their patroness, advocate, and guardian, demonstrated their innumerable multitude hidden under her cloak and in her bosom and under her most certain safeguard and protection, and sheltered under the shadow of her wings — who, after the distinguished labors endured for God and his Church in this mortal life, should at length attain eternal glory, and by their virtues render heaven itself brighter. Thus far he.

[559] such as was also presented to a Cistercian monk John of St. Mary, in the French Acts of St. Dominic, book 3, chapter 33, also suspects that to the same vision must be opposed the likeness of another history, which Caesarius of Heisterbach in book 7 of the Dialogues, chapter 60, thus reports: A certain monk of our Order, greatly loving our Lady, a few years ago, passing out of his mind, was led to the contemplation of the heavenly glory; where, when he saw the various Orders of the Church triumphant, namely of angels, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors, and these distinguished by certain marks, likewise Canons Regular, Premonstratensians, and Cluniacs, being solicitous about his own Order, as he stood and looked around and found no person of it in that glory, looking with a groan to the blessed Mother of God, said: What is it, most holy Lady, that I see here no one of the Cistercian Order? Why are your servants, serving you so devotedly, excluded from the fellowship of so great a blessedness? The Queen of heaven, seeing him disturbed, replied: So beloved and familiar to me are these who are of the Cistercian Order, that I even cherish them under my arms; and opening her cloak, with which she seemed to be clad, which was of wondrous breadth, she showed him an innumerable multitude of monks, Lay Brothers, and nuns: who, exulting greatly and giving thanks, returned to his body, and narrated to his abbot what he had seen and heard; and he, reporting these things in the following Chapter to the abbots, gladdened them all, kindling them to a fuller love of the holy Mother of God.

[560] If anyone from the likeness of both these histories should infer concerning the protection of his own Order that the Dominican writers took this ecstasy from Caesarius and fitted it to their holy Founder, the same suspicion would fall upon the Cistercians, says the praised John, and this same argument could be turned back upon them. But the Cistercians in that case would answer that their Caesarius of Heisterbach is more ancient than Theodoric of Apolda, who among the biographers first committed this vision of St. Dominic to writing. At length John of St. Mary, after that useless retort, more cautiously agrees with the opinion of Malvenda, who in the place just cited in the Annals thus confirms the one ecstasy from the other: For the rest, that the credit of the aforesaid vision may stand more firmly, we judge that it should also be established by an example. Those Orders of Religious whom the sacred Virgin Mother of God cherishes and adorns with singular benefits, and hides under her protection, she is wont by certain heavenly powers to display under her cloak as most dear to her. Then, on account of the testimony of the mentioned Caesarius, who in the year of Christ 1222 wrote his Dialogues, he grants this prerogative to both Orders.

[561] Certainly we do not see why a like vision could not be presented both to a Cistercian monk and to a priest of our Society, and to St. Dominic, since the most blessed Virgin has deigned to bestow the same favor upon our least Society, as Nicholas Lancicius in volume 2 of the Spiritual Opuscula, opusculum 17, book 2, chapter 2, number 178, narrates in these words: The Society being fully founded and quite often confirmed by the Apostolic See, how dear it is to the most blessed Virgin she showed first of all to that most holy man Fr. Martin Gutiérrez the Spaniard, whose soul, when he had died in prison (into which he had been cast by the French heretics), St. Teresa saw entering heaven with the aureole of martyrdom: for the most holy Virgin appeared to him, shining with an exceedingly extraordinary beauty, with her garment spread out to a great breadth, and containing under that garment the whole Society gathered together, which she embraced with maternal affection and cherished with that covering as it were of charity and grace. Our Lancicius in the same place in the margin cites the reporters of this apparition, and the same is recorded in the History of the Society of Jesus at the year of Christ 1573, part 4, book 1, numbers 7 and 8, in these few words: Among the extraordinary virtues of Martin Gutiérrez there stood out an almost unspeakable reverence toward the Mother of God, Queen of heaven, taken up from his earliest years. Nor was the most indulgent Mother outdone in services toward her client. It is certain that she was wont to show herself to him most kindly, and among other things was at one time seen covering the whole Society under her most august cloak, as a symbol of her singular patronage. What sort of clientship that cloak signifies, the Mother of God herself explains in the Revelations of St. Bridget, book 3, chapters 17 and 18, where we are also admonished that only the true executors of their profession lie hidden under this protection — lest perhaps the followers of any Order should exalt themselves on account of privileges of this kind, or trust too rashly in similar favors toward their Religion.

[562] the love of the Mother of God toward the Order of Preachers is rightly gathered, Although Theodoric of Apolda was the first, so far as we have hitherto been able to ascertain, to commit to writing that wondrous ecstasy of St. Dominic, yet Thomas of Cantimpré, older than Theodoric, demonstrates the mentioned care of the Mother of God for the Order of Preachers by two examples. The first, in book 2 of the Bees, chapter 10, number 16, whose title is "A vision by which it was declared that the blessed Virgin is patroness of the Order of Preachers," he sets forth in this manner: Concerning this a certain monk of the Cistercian Order of so holy a life saw a wondrous vision, that not to believe him would be thought most shameful and impious: for, rapt in spirit, he saw the most kind Mother of Christ Jesus, patroness of that same Cistercian Order. To whom the blessed Virgin said: That you may sincerely love them, and pray more intensely for them, I commend to your charity my Brothers and sons. And when he joyfully assented, believing these to be the Brothers of his own Order, the blessed Virgin said: I have also other Brothers, whom I embrace to be cherished and guarded by my patronage. And saying this, her cloak being drawn back, she showed the Brothers of the Order of Preachers protected under it, and added: These, she said, are they who especially [*] press on with the business, lest the blood of my beloved Son

be shed in vain.

[563] which is confirmed by other histories. The other example of the same protection he reports in the same place, in the following number, thus: Likewise, when a certain recluse in Saxony (as Brother Walter of Trier of the Order of Preachers reported to us), of most holy reputation, stirred by the name of the Preachers, had vehemently desired to see the Brothers at the beginning of the Order, and at length, an occasion being given, had seen two young Brothers, with the edge of her mind astonished she said to the Lord: What is it, Lord, that the preaching of your word is taken up by such childish and unskilled men? To whom presently at these words the Mother of Christ, appearing and drawing back her cloak, as was said before, showed her the Brothers of the Order, saying: Do not despise any such; it is I who rule and protect them, and direct their feet in the way of peace. Gerard de Frachet in the Lives of the Brothers, part 1, chapter 5, and Theodoric in the Acts of St. Dominic below at number 270, narrate something similar about a solitary woman whom the Mother of God rebuked for the same cause, and to whom she showed the Brothers under her cloak. But both hand down that this happened in Lombardy. Bartholomew of Trent, in our edition at number 12, somewhat changes this narration, and does not express the region in which it took place.

* perhaps "was presented to the man of God Dominic"

* read 12

* elsewhere "spiritually"

§ XXX. Certain other things which the Saint is said to have done in this Roman sojourn.

Among the other Roman deeds of the Saint, Theodoric below at number 118 and following will report the prodigious history of two women recluses or living solitarily, Among other Roman deeds it is narrated, whom St. Dominic wondrously healed by his prayer. Although the ancient biographers made no mention of such prodigies, and Theodoric perhaps first wrote them down from the report of Sister Cecilia, and accordingly, according to Echard's criticism reported above in §5, so much credit is not owed them, yet some foundation for their easier admission is furnished by the narration of Stephen of Bourbon, who in Echard, volume 1, page 18, in the notes, testifies these things: I have heard of blessed Dominic that he, when he was at Rome, after he had heard his office [*], on almost every day went round the walls of the city and other places where there were immured persons, and gave them admonitions of salvation. Then Stephen compares St. Dominic on account of these works of mercy to Tobias, and adds that he heard these things from Bartholomew de Clusa, archdeacon of Mâcon and Canon of Chartres, to whom the Saint himself foretold many future things, as we shall briefly note on another occasion. It is therefore not improbable that St. Dominic also visited these pious women, shut up for Christ's sake in a voluntary prison, and that then those things happened which will afterward be narrated in the Acts.

[565] Gerard de Frachet in the Lives of the Brothers, part 2, chapter 14, reports the following about his holy Founder: how the demon hurled a great stone at St. Dominic's side, When on a certain night the holy Man was lying prostrate in prayer, the devil, envying him, hurled from the roof of the church a great stone so violently beside him that it made a noise through the whole church; namely, that he might disturb him from his insistence on prayer. And the stone came so near that it even touched the hood of his cope. And when the holy Man persisted immovable in prayer, the devil, presently wailing with a terrible voice, departed confounded. Theodoric of Apolda in our edition at number 171 doubtless excerpted the same matter from this gleaning of Gerard, and although the place is not expressed, yet the Dominican writers commonly hand down that it happened at Rome in the church of St. Sabina. Whence Echard, volume 1, page 40, in the notes, thus gathers the time of this matter: That it took place at Rome in the church of St. Sabina, the Roman brethren assert, as received by tradition. And if this be true, since Dominic did not obtain this church, nor enter it with his men, until the month of February 1219 old style, 1220 new, this event must be referred to this year or the following. We have already hinted above that this chronology of Echard can be attacked by Polish monuments; but it does not please us to wrangle about the determined year of this event. Wherefore we proceed to report the posthumous testimonies of the matter itself.

[566] Flaminius in book 2 of the Life of St. Dominic, folio 44 verso and following, records that hurling of the rock by which the pavement was still seen cracked in the age of Flaminius, and the traces it left, in these words: On a certain night in the church of the divine Sabina the ancient enemy tried to deter him from his undertaking. He hurled a huge rock from the top of the roof in such a way that it grazed the covering of his head. But he, understanding the tricks of the old deceiver, remained immovable as a rock: which the demon seeing, gnashing terribly, departed. The marble beneath, upon which the rock fell, is still seen cracked by that blow; and the rock itself, having the likeness of a certain black glass, round indeed but as it were flattened, preserving the credit and testimony of the miracle, is seen hanging there even today. Thus Flaminius about the posthumous traces of this rock, which in his age still survived. But after those times the pavement of that church was removed and changed.

[567] and which for the posthumous memory of the matter Wherefore Malvenda in the Annals, at the year of Christ 1218, chapter 35, opportunely thus admonishes us: Pompeo Ugonio, in the book on the Stations of the City, at the first station, is authority that that marble of the pavement, cracked and shattered in various parts by the blow of the rock hurled by the demon, remained visible to all up to the year 1586, retaining the sign of the miracle. But in that year, the middle wall which cut the church in two having been thrown down, as we said above, and the pavement restored by order of Sixtus V the supreme Pontiff, who was seeing to the adorning of that church, the hired workmen, caring nothing at all, removed that broken marble, and imprudently destroyed that ancient memorial of the miracle. Pompeo Ugonio, whom Malvenda here alleges, in the Italian History of the Roman Stations, in our copy folio 11 verso, reports an inscription attesting this restoration, which in the same church of St. Sabina is read thus: Sixtus V, supreme Pontiff, restored this church to this form, the middle wall and the ruinous plastering having been removed, the pavement laid, steps erected, pictures suited to piety set up, and the altar translated together with the sacred relics of the martyrs Alexander the Pope, Eventius, Theodolus, Sabina, and Seraphia, for the celebrating of stational and pontifical Masses — in the II year of his Pontificate, that is, of Christ 1586.

[568] is hitherto preserved in the church of St. Sabina, Then the praised Pompeo, folio 15, supplies in Italian a later notice of the mentioned rock, which Malvenda in the Annals at the place just cited renders nearly thus into Latin: Now the rock itself which the demon hurled at St. Dominic is seen in the middle of the church, placed upon a little two-cubit column and bound with an iron chain lest anyone carry it off, which we have often beheld. It is of black color, round, and, as we reckon, of fifty pounds' weight. We judge it to be from the ancient weights of the Romans: for we have seen at Rome many like stones of this use. Before these times, under that black rock these verses were read, in a rude and heavy style indeed, but such as faithfully expressed a memorial of the deed:

The crafty enemy thought here to crush holy Dominic at prayer with a hurled rock; but the Lord keeps him unharmed. The wondrous deed the fracture of the struck marble shows for an age, and this millstone hung up gives credit to these things.

[569] [and there is shown the medicinal apple tree which the Saint is said to have planted.] Finally Malvenda in the same place records another posthumous monument of the Roman sojourn in these words: There still stands and is seen in the little garden of St. Sabina a medicinal apple tree, which by constant report and tradition they hand down was planted by the hands of St. Dominic. It is incredible to say with how great a throng and devotion the people, every year on Ash Wednesday, both men and women, flocking in eager rivalry, take away from the fruit and the leaves, the Brothers offering them, for various uses and medicines, nay even for most present remedies of various diseases; quite often having experienced in these, not without a miracle, the safeguards of their ills. That tree stands and thrives for nearly four hundred years now, as though by a miracle reviving each year, since almost every year it is left without leaves. It is surely strange that all the ancient biographers, and Sister Cecilia herself, kept silence about this medicinal tree. Nevertheless we leave the inhabitants of this monastery in peaceful possession of their tradition, such as it is, since we lack ancient instruments by which we might confirm or disprove it.

[570] More remote from all likelihood is the following, To these miracles improbable prodigies, which Flaminius in the Life of St. Dominic, book 2, folio 40, reports thus among the Roman deeds of the Saint: When he was publishing the Psalter at Rome also, there was an admirable concourse of the whole city to him on account of the vast prodigies which followed, while he was drawing and exhorting the people to it — so much indeed that not only others, but even the Cardinals themselves, and men distinguished with other ecclesiastical dignities, vied in demanding to be enrolled in the number of the Rosary confraternities. There was then at Rome a most beautiful courtesan of great name, whose name was Catherine, surnamed the fair, to whom on account of the elegance of her manners and form, and her exquisite adornment of body, a frequent throng of youths resorted: who, although she was of such corrupt morals, and herself corrupted a numerous multitude, yet, having received from the hands of blessed Dominic a rosary cord, came daily to church and there said the Rosary. But while she was going through the city one day, there met her a most beautiful young man, who very graciously addressed her and said: Why do you wander thus through the city, Catherine? Have you perhaps no home? But she said: I have a house beautiful and well-appointed, and filled with all necessary things. Then the young man: Do you wish that I should dine with you today? She said: By all means; and I promise that I will receive you sumptuously. These things said, she took his hand and led him home.

[571] Not to be long, supper was set out, in which and unknown to all the old writers, whatever he touched, blood stained. Catherine was amazed, with the many maidens who reclined together with her, and said: What is this that I see, my guest, by whose hand all things touched are defiled with blood? To whom the young man: Do you not know, Catherine, that a true Christian ought not to eat or drink anything which is not dyed with the blood of Christ? Then the courtesan: I think you are some venerable man. The young man said: Who I am you will not fail to know when we have entered the chamber. With mind greatly in suspense and most eagerly desiring to see the outcome of the matter, she entered the chamber with the young man, and, leaping first upon the bed, invites the young man to her. Then suddenly the young man is transformed into a boy, having a crown of thorns on his head and bearing a cross on his shoulders, pierced with five dread wounds, his whole body torn with scourges, and to her, terrified and astonished, he says: O unhappy Catherine, set at last a measure to your folly, and make an end of your madness. Behold me,

and see what dire torments I have suffered for you. Which said, he transformed himself into the form of a man, and appeared such as he was when he bore the dire torments and scourges. But afterward he shone like the sun, and the five wounds poured forth from themselves a divine radiance, and again he said: Cease, O Catherine, cease now to be mad, and remember what you have seen, and now look to yourself.

[572] And when he had admonished her of these and many other things, he vanished. She, at once coming to her senses, went to blessed Dominic, Flaminius adds, and narrated all these things to him, and confessed her sins, and, the penalty of saying the Psalter having been received with a cheerful mind, she was also enrolled in the fellowship of the Rosary. And when she was intent with her whole mind upon prayer, the great Mother of God, taking blessed Catherine as companion, came to her and said: You see, daughter, how greatly you have offended: it is fair that, to purge so great a stain of your soul, you should endure some punishment. I will therefore that you inflict upon yourself fifty stripes three times daily. Wondrous were the things which were afterward shown from heaven about her to blessed Dominic; so that he himself was astonished that a courtesan so foul a little before had come to so great a degree and excellence of sanctity: whom, thus wondering, the pious Mother of God, and the most certain salvation of the human race, thus addressed: Do you not know, my son, that I am the lover and protection of sinners, and that God's clemency is placed in my hands? These things which you wonder at in this courtesan I wished to be known to you, lest there be anyone who despairs of God's mercy. Moreover I will that you be not ignorant that I have obtained from my Son that whoever shall be cultivators of my Psalter and shall be enrolled in the number of the Rosary confraternities, shall abound with such grace as to beget astonishment in all. But Catherine, having despised all things and forsaken the enticements and pleasures of her former life, shut herself up in a place, where she happily ended her life; to whom indeed at her death there was present the Redeemer of the human race, and with blessed Catherine the most happy Mother of God.

[573] whose credit Malvenda vainly commends to us, Ferdinand del Castillo in the Spanish History of the Order of Preachers, book 1, chapter 35, Abraham Bzovius in the Ecclesiastical Annals at the year of Christ 1221, number 10, John of St. Mary in the French Life of St. Dominic, book 3, chapter 30, and finally Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers at the year 1218, chapter 28, confidently narrate the same prodigious history from Flaminius. Nay rather, Malvenda, to win greater credit for it, in the cited place premises these things: But with how great an ardor of mind and spirit St. Dominic at this time preached the divine institute of the Rosary at Rome, and with how clear prodigies from heaven it happened to be illustrated, Flaminius thus reports from ancient monuments. Then he recites the stupendous history of this Catherine, already reported by us, to which he subjoins two others of this kind from the same author, and after them in the following chapter again commends the credit of Flaminius in these words: Thus far Flaminius, an upright and learned man of unimpaired credit, bringing into his history only things ascertained by himself: having received them doubtless from the ancient records of the Order of Preachers, and from others who before him composed entire books about the Rosary; which also later writers, copied out from him and others, inserted into their commentaries. We do not deny that Flaminius was a learned and upright man; but without injury it may be said that he was too piously credulous, which we wish to be understood also of Ferdinand del Castillo, an otherwise prudent historian, and of certain of his followers.

[574] since he received these things from Alanus de Rupe, But Malvenda seems to have been ignorant of, or to have dissembled, the first author of these little narrations: for while he makes mention of ancient monuments which shone before Flaminius, he nowhere names Alanus de Rupe, who nevertheless in part 5, chapter 59, set forth in writing the same history of Catherine of Rome, and in the same place, in the Mainz edition in our copy, page 506, thus prefaces it: That glorious master John of the Mount narrated in his Mariale, which also I found in the book of Brother Thomas of the Temple, that in the time when the most blessed Dominic, leader and illustrious father of the Order of Preachers, was preaching most famously throughout the world, and in very many kingdoms was unceasingly exhorting the peoples to the praise of the inviolate Virgin Mary and to the angelic confraternity of her Psalter, it happened that he was preaching at Rome, etc. At length, after a rather long prologue, he begins to treat of Catherine of Rome, and amplifies that pious drama, which Flaminius reduced to a compendium, through several pages with various episodes. We repeat nothing here about John of the Mount and Thomas of the Temple, of whom enough and more than enough has been said before.

[575] While we compare this history to a pious drama, we do not wish it to be inferred thence for which perhaps the conversion of some sinful woman furnished a foundation, that its whole substance was invented by Alanus: for we in no way doubt that St. Dominic at Rome and elsewhere converted many and great sinners to penitence by his fervent sermons. What if the Saint somewhere wondrously brought back a famous courtesan to a better life, and Alanus after his manner adorned this conversion with prodigies added, which perhaps he thought not unlawful for himself for the more moving of his hearers' minds? Certainly that Alanus was by no means scrupulous in adding episodes of this kind will afterward be plain to the eye from the history of Benedicta of Florence, which we shall exhibit below from Constantine of Orvieto and from Alanus himself, so that both narrations may be compared with each other. Something similar we suspect was done in the history of a certain usurer, which Flaminius subjoins to the preceding, and which Alanus de Rupe fitted to his Rosary, as we shall presently demonstrate below.

[576] Gerard de Frachet, in the Lives of the Brothers, part 2, chapter 19, narrates the following about St. Dominic: just as the true history of a certain usurer To a certain usurer, who was lying to him about his justice and asking for the Eucharist, he held out the sacred Host, which seemed to burn his palate like a live coal, so that, like the fire of Vulcan which cools the bowels of the boys, it might burn the wickedness of the Chaldean. Whence, being pricked with compunction, he was converted, restoring all that he had ill acquired. The author here plainly enough alludes to the miracle of the Babylonian furnace, which kept the boys unharmed, and whose flame burned up the Chaldeans standing by. Besides, that usurer is said to have been brought back to a better life by this punishment. But Stephen of Bourbon, an ancient writer of the Dominican Order, in Echard, volume 1, page 40 and following, in the notes, reports the same or a similar history of a usurer otherwise, thus: I read in the book of a certain ancient Brother that in Lombardy blessed Dominic visited, at the prayers of some, a certain jurist, a great advocate and usurer; whom, being gravely ill, blessed Dominic asked in the presence of a priest that he should order his usuries to be restored. He would not acquiesce, saying that he did not wish to leave his sons and daughters poor; therefore St. Dominic withdrew with the others and with the Body of Christ. But his friends, being confounded, asked him that he would promise until such time as he should receive communion, and that he might not lack Christian burial; which he did, believing that he could thus deceive them. But when they withdrew, after he had received communion, he began to cry out that he was all on fire, and that hell had been placed in his mouth: Behold, I am wholly burning. And raising his hand he said: Behold, it is all burning; and so of the other members; and thus he died and was consumed. Nothing here is indicated about the conversion of that usurer.

[577] Now let us patiently hear how Alanus de Rupe, in part 5, chapter 38, page 450 and following, altered one or the other history of this usurer, and amplified it with stupendous miracles: There was in Italy, gave matter for a copious narration, he says, a certain usurer exceedingly famous and of note, having villages, cities, and castles. Why say more? He was more powerful than counts. Likewise in very many villages and lands he had few [*]. He at a certain time heard the Psalter of the blessed Virgin preached by St. Dominic, and, purposing to recite it, procured for himself for reciting a most precious prayer-cord, which he carried not only for devotion's sake, but perhaps more for ostentation's sake, and continued for three years. It happened that, touched at some time with devotion, he entered a certain chapel, where in an unwonted manner he heard the terrifying voice of an image of Mary saying to him: James, James, render an account to me and to my Son, as you exact it distinctly from your subjects, even for the least things. And this he heard several times. Whence at length he was so terrified that he fled from the church. When he came home, that terror of heart did not cease. And when his wife and sons asked why he was disturbed, he set forth what had happened to him. To him, as he narrated the matter, they said that it was a fantasy; and they asked what they should do if all these things were restored: on account of which he had not the heart to restore them. But they urged him to commend himself and all things to blessed Mary.

[578] which with incredible episodes, Then it happened, after two years, that as he was riding with a great retinue, mighty as it were in his riches, behold wolves and bears attacked him, while the others did not see them, but only heard the sound and the noises: by which, dragged from his horse, the horse being strangled, he was miserably bitten and wounded in the head, arms, and through his whole body by the beasts. The others who were with him urged him to cry out to the blessed Virgin; which he did, purposing to amend himself; and so, freed, he escaped at least the death of the body. Thus gravely wounded, they brought him into a village and took care of him. Therefore, when he had returned home and wished to amend himself, the love of his wife and sons met him, nor did he change his life as he had purposed. He, after two years, again rode out with a great retinue. And behold, at once lightnings and thunders began to sound horribly, and presently he alone was snatched by a whirlwind and carried upward by demons with his horse for six miles. But he cried out to the blessed Virgin Mary, promising amendment. To whom presently Mary was present with a flashing prayer-cord, and, all the demons who were there to do harm being put to flight, she brought him back with her own hand to the ground, sitting on his horse. Which done, the Virgin Mary disappeared. But the horse, terrified by the sight of the demons, rushed madly through various meadows [*]. At last he entered a certain little house on the road, and those to whom he turned aside were greatly terrified by the dreadful sight of the horse and its rider. And so he escaped again. Yet not having the heart to restore, but on account of the infamy of himself and his family, he put off fulfilling his promise.

[579] and with various fables he augmented, He confessed, yet not having the heart to restore what had been taken by usury: upon which, as he grieved, the confessor absolved him, and admonished him not to forsake that most salutary service of the Virgin Mary. After these things he did many good works, and in various places built monasteries, and bestowed alms most abundantly. After this the blessed Virgin Mary appeared to him visibly, asking

him whether he would yet restore what was not his own. When he answered that he had not the heart to do this, the blessed Virgin sweetly asked whether he would be willing to restore, if she should give him wherewith to make satisfaction. He assented; and behold, there were given him by the Empress of the heavenly paradise countless gifts. Presently he beheld a house full of riches; which, attentively contemplating, he was tempted by cupidity to keep still, with his own family, those things thus granted through the Virgin. Yet the Virgin Mary was present, threatening him that she would take away the substance given, and at the same time his own, along with his life, unless he acquiesced and fulfilled his vow. On account of which, terrified, he began everywhere in the world to write to his banks [*] and to publish restitution, and to restore to each. Which also was done. And there remained to him only all his former possessions, out of which he did many good works. But when the term of his life was drawing near, the Virgin Mary intimated to him that he should set his house in order, because he was about to depart from this light: for he was quite advanced in years. This having been arranged, he dies, fortified with the ecclesiastical Sacraments.

[580] Countless demons stood by him, miserably tearing his soul which they had seized. and so greatly changed, While it therefore cried out miserably, and as they were drawing near those infernal gates, there appeared a certain most beautiful Queen with Michael the archangel, arresting them and asking why they were thus carrying off her servant; they allege that he is theirs, setting forth all his sins. To whom the Virgin queen answered: Take a balance, and let all the evils be weighed against the goods: for he did some good things. Which was done. But the evils at once went down, the goods rising. Then the blessed Virgin added to his goods one small prayer-cord, and presently the side of the goods descended, outweighing all the evils lying in the other side. And the glorious Virgin Mary said that her Psalter was of greater merit than all his evils. Thus therefore he was given and rendered to the Virgin Mary. Which the numerous demons seeing, and not daring to approach, but blaspheming the blessed Virgin and beating one another, they fled. Yet most fiercely they all assail the guardian of that usurer with cries and blows, reproaching him that, when he had held him so long bound with so many chains, he had nevertheless allowed him to escape; and likewise why he had permitted him to say the Psalter. And, confounded, they returned with a wondrous din into hell. But he, freed from the demons, ascended with the glorious Virgin to the realms above and starry, which may Jesus Christ with the Virgin Mary grant also to us his servants. Amen.

[581] If anyone should perhaps contend that this narration differs so greatly from the two ancient histories mentioned above so that the whole may seem to have been invented by him. that it does not become sufficiently likely that it was taken from them, we shall not greatly resist, and shall readily believe that this whole fable was devised by Alanus. At least from it the reader will not with difficulty recognize the genius of Alanus, which delights in stupendous prodigies — not to say with Melchior Cano, in incredible monstrosities of miracles — as will again appear from what is to be said below. These are the chief things which we have thought must be discussed from the Roman deeds of the Saint; but other notable and more evident ones will be reported below in the Acts. Now, however, let us with St. Dominic undertake the Spanish journey.

* perhaps "had died"

* perhaps "bancos," that is, treasuries

* perhaps "was running"

* perhaps "bancos," as above.

§ XXXI. The Spanish journey of St. Dominic, his deeds at Segovia, the posthumous monuments of the Segovian sojourn, and whether the Saint there received the sacred stigmata.

The Saint in the year 1218 set out from the city of Rome into Spain, Blessed Jordan, below in our edition at number 44, thus assigns the year of this journey: In the same year (namely of Christ 1218, which he had expressed a little above) Master Dominic went on into Spain, and there established two houses, one at Madrid, which is now of nuns; the other at Segovia, which was the first house of the Brothers of Spain. The venerable Humbert, Theodoric of Apolda, Bernard Gui, and other authors commonly agree with this chronology, which Malvenda in the Annals, at the same year 1218, chapter 42 and following, vindicates from objections and confirms by several arguments. Of the time within that year we can determine nothing certain, although more exact chronologists judge that the Saint departed from Rome into Spain about the month of October or November. Only from what is to be said below it will be established that he arrived at Segovia in this year before the Nativity feasts of our Lord Jesus Christ, and preached there.

[583] and according to Echard's conjecture he then passed through Occitania, Echard, in volume 1 of the Library of the Preachers, page 19, in the notes, thus arranges this Spanish journey of the Saint: Dominic, having left Rome, say in the month of October 1218, came into Occitania. Several things urged him to betake himself into that province: the death of Simon, count of Montfort, his most intimate friend, whom, sticking at the siege of Toulouse for nine months, a stone hurled from an engine had crushed on the XXV day of June of the same year; his brethren, who, having lost that distinguished hero, their most beneficent patron, were worn out with grief and to be consoled; the affairs of his Order, not a little disturbed, the heretics prevailing in that region: these having been repaired so far as was possible in passing, the Brothers refreshed and roused to endure all adversities for the faith, and Brother Bertrand de Garriga left as their prefect — whom in the preceding year he had sent with abbot Matthew to Paris, but who, as may be conjectured, had then returned to Toulouse — he entered Spain, and was already at Segovia before the Lord's Nativity, and was preaching there after his manner, and for the inhabitants, afflicted and almost prostrate on account of a long drought which had hitherto prevented the farmers from sowing, he obtained a most copious shower from heaven. This conjecture of Echard is quite probable, even though Blessed Jordan did not express this brief sojourn of St. Dominic in Occitania.

[584] on which journey he is said to have performed two miracles, But before we pass into Spain, two miracles which the Saint is said to have performed on that journey must be briefly reported from Flaminius, who in the Acts of St. Dominic, folio 31, thus narrates the first: Affairs in the City having been settled, blessed Dominic returned into Spain. On that journey he had as companion Albert a Minorite, whose tunic when a dog had torn, and when they were in places where on account of the scarcity of cobblers and needles it could not be mended, blessed Dominic sprinkled the torn part with mud, which when it had dried and had been shaken off by rubbing, the tunic indeed appeared whole, as though it had never been torn. Malvenda, in the Annals of the Preachers at the year of Christ 1218, chapter 43, after reporting the words of Flaminius, tries to prove that the Saint could have had a Minorite as companion on that journey, and thus confirms the prodigious restoration of the torn tunic by other examples in the same place: Nor yet should it be reckoned too slight or trivial that the man of God repaired by a miracle the torn garment of the Minorite, since St. Benedict too by the sign of the cross made whole the sieve of his nurse (it is a vessel or instrument by which grain is cleansed, as Du Cange hands down in the Glossary): and a certain holy Lay Brother of the Cistercian Order by his prayers restored whole a broken pot, in Caesarius, book 10, chapter 14; and it is sufficiently established that the Saints performed many miracles of that kind even in small matters. These things indeed prove that it could have happened, which no one will deny; but we should have preferred that Malvenda had there brought forward older testimonies of this deed.

[585] Further, Flaminius on the folio just cited sets forth the other miracle in these words: of which we know no older witness than Flaminius; Thence he had come to a certain inn, where, when meats had been set before blessed Dominic and the other guests, and he himself did not eat, the innkeeper's wife, intent on gain, and thinking that this was done by him at the prompting of avarice, did not cease to assail him with insults and impudently to hurl reproaches at him. The unseemliness of the thing moved the guests, and they asked the holy Man to enjoin silence upon her by his words: and when he addressed her gently and exhorted her not to treat the servants of Christ so inhumanly, and yet she made no end of quarreling, stirred by no anger, but only by reverence for God, of whom he saw no account taken in his ministers, he said: God enjoins silence upon you. These words spoken, she was so struck dumb that for a whole eight months, that is, up to the return of blessed Dominic, she was unable to speak. When she who had been made mute recognized him upon his return, falling at his knees she asked pardon in the manner she could, and prayed that her tongue be restored to her, which she easily obtained by the holy Man's prayer. Thus far it lies hidden from us whence Flaminius drew these things, since neither Alanus himself nor other ancient writers mentioned those two miracles.

[586] Greater credit is merited by the miracles which the Saint performed at Segovia, but more certain are those which in the field, the first of which is read thus in the Lives of the Brothers, part 2, chapter 6: At the time when the blessed father Dominic received a house in Spain at Segovia, it happened that on a certain day he preached outside the walls of the said city to a vast assembled crowd. And it was not hidden from him that the people were entangled in much matter of sadness for want of rain, since the feast of the Lord's Nativity was at hand, and, rain failing, the farmers had not yet begun to sow. After the beginning of the sermon, therefore, the man of God, divinely inspired, burst into these words: Do not be afraid, brothers; trust in God's mercy, because today, by rain abundantly granted you by the Lord, this sadness of yours will be turned into joy. Certainly at that time no sign of rain appeared; nay rather, the whole air, with the sun's rays gleaming with brightness and darkened by the interposition of no cloud, shone most serene. As the sermon he had begun therefore went on, behold, suddenly there came down so great and so violent a rain that on account of the flood of water they could scarcely return to the city, hastening in rivalry to their own homes. Thanks are given to God by all the people, who alone does great marvels, and who willed so swiftly to bring to effect the promise of his servant Dominic.

[587] The other is narrated in the same place, in the following chapter, thus: About the same time, when the same servant of God Dominic wished on a certain feast day to set forth the word of God in the council of the aforesaid city, or in the city of Segovia, and all who had assembled had heard the royal letters which at that time had been sent to them, he said: Until now, my brothers, you have heard the edicts of an earthly and mortal king; now therefore hear the commands of the heavenly and immortal one. At which word a certain nobleman, puffed up according to the pride of the world with the sense of the flesh, not only scorned to hear, but even burst into words of indignation, saying: Would it not be an ill thing that this wordy fellow, taking up the day with sermons, should keep us from our dinner? He spoke, and immediately, directing the horse on which he sat toward his own house, which was near, went off muttering. To whom blessed Dominic said: Behold, now indeed you withdraw; but before the circle of the year rolls round, your horse,

on which you now sit, will lack a rider, and you will not be able to reach the laboriously built defense of your tower, a slayer occupying it. That this word was uttered by the sentence of God, the following event most manifestly proved: for the year not yet being over, the same nobleman, in the same place where he was standing when the sentence was uttered, was atrociously slain by his rivals together with his own son and cousin, while he was hastening to the tower which he had built for himself, that he might escape. Although these miracles are lacking in our Utrecht codex P. Ms. 7, and in certain other copies of that work, yet sufficient credit is given to them by another codex of the XIII century, from which they are reported in Echard, volume 1, page 38.

[588] wondrously happened at that time, Finally the third is set forth in the same Lives of the Brothers, part 2, chapter 9, in these words: In the city of Segovia there was a certain woman devoted to God, with whom at one time Dominic, the holy man of God, lodging, laid aside a sackcloth tunic which he had used for a time in place of a hair shirt, having found a most rough hair shirt, and, according to his wish, exceedingly pricking; which tunic the woman received with much devotion, and laid up in her chest among her more precious things, and guarded more carefully than royal purple. It happened therefore that on a certain day the said woman, going out to dispatch some business, left her house alone and shut, a fire having been left kindled there on account of her haste or for some other cause, which growing gradually stronger, whatever was on the floor of the house was burned up, except only the wooden chest in which the Saint's tunic was kept, which, placed in the midst of the fire, not only did not burn, but was not even darkened by the smoke. The woman therefore returning, and being astonished at so vehement a miracle, first indeed gave thanks to God and to blessed Dominic her guest, who together with his tunic preserved from the fire also her whole little substance, nearly all of which she had laid up in the chest; and, having kept the sleeves of the tunic for devotion, she handed the remaining part to the Brothers to be preserved, which to this day is kept in the Convent of the Brothers among the relics.

[589] and whose posthumous monuments Diego de Colmenares in the History of Segovia, which he had reprinted in Spanish in the year 1640, chapter 20, §8, treating of this miracle, asserts that that tunic of the Saint after some years came into the power of Maria de Meneses, who was married to king Sancho the Strong, and that it was afterward left with other sacred relics to the monastery of Las Huelgas of Valladolid, and there is today honored with great devotion. Ambrosio de Morales, in volume 3 of the Spanish Chronicle, folio 349, testifies that he saw that tunic there entire, except for one sleeve. The donation and identity of these relics we leave to be more accurately investigated by those whom it concerns. For the rest, Echard in volume 1, page 39, notes the following upon the narration of this miracle: Hence it is argued that the monastery of Segovia had not yet been begun when blessed Dominic came to that city; otherwise he would have lodged with his Brothers, not with a devout woman. It is nevertheless said to have been the first erected in Spain; because that of Madrid, although already begun by the brethren sent thither in the year 1217, was converted into a sacred nunnery while the Saint was still living; nor did the Order have a house of Brothers at Madrid until long afterward.

[590] Gil González Dávila, in the Ecclesiastical Theater of Spain, volume 1, page 512, supplies us with a new notice: are shown even today, for enumerating the monasteries of the diocese of Segovia, he there treats of the Convent of Preachers, to which St. Dominic assigned as first Prior a certain Brother named Corbalán. And since he, after a short interval of time, died in great reputation for sanctity, his relics were placed in the greater chapel on the Gospel side, and are today exposed for veneration, as the following Spanish inscription testifies, which we thus render into Latin: Here are the relics of many Saints, and the body of St. Corbalán, companion of St. Dominic, who died in this house in the year one thousand two hundred and eighteen. The praised Diego de Colmenares in the History of Segovia, chapter 20, §8, confirms the same thing, and adds that those relics were raised in the Convent of the Preachers above the door of the sacristy, and that the already mentioned inscription is read there. We are truly surprised that we have found no mention of that Corbalán among the Menologists and other Dominican writers. Wherefore on this occasion we ask the Reverend Fathers Preachers to instruct us about the legitimate cult of this their brother, the day of his death, and other things pertaining to him, if they desire him to be inserted into our Work.

[591] Nor does Malvenda have anything about that first Prior of the Convent of Segovia in the Annals at the year of Christ 1218, among which is a cave, venerable for St. Dominic's sojourn, where nevertheless in chapter 44 he thus reviews the posthumous monuments of St. Dominic staying in that city: When the man of God had arrived at Segovia in this year (namely of Christ 1218) in the month of December, he began with great ardor of mind frequently to preach to the people about contempt of the world and about desire for heavenly and eternal things, with so great fruit for the hearers that many, vices being left behind, took up the fruit of a better life, and some, sending word of farewell to the world, professed that divine philosophy of the Preachers. And there is seen and shown even today, by the river near Segovia, the place where the man of God was wont to preach, with a great throng of men flocking together, ennobled to this very day by a notable monument, a chapel or oratory having been erected there which preserves the memory of Dominic once preaching there. Therefore, some companions having joined him in the most holy discipline, and the Segovians granting and freely offering it, he chose a place for founding a monastery among most rugged rocks and precipitous crags, where there was a cave, into which the most holy Father used to withdraw at night, to pray rather than to sleep. There he most harshly beat with an iron chain every night that most pure little body, utterly exhausted with fasts and vigils and the labors of journeys: the blood flowed in great abundance, so as not only to stain the sides of the cave but even to water the ground itself. A faithful and certain tradition, received by hand from our elders and brought down to these our times, gave credit that the drops of blood from that sacred body sprinkled upon the very rock of the cave are seen as though fresh, with great admiration of those who behold them, since that cave now remains enclosed within a chapel dedicated to the name of St. Dominic, in the church of the Preachers at Segovia.

[592] which St. Teresa once devoutly visited, Those hidden afflictions of the body, and the bloody traces of these left in the Segovian cave, we can confirm from the Life of St. Teresa which Francisco de Ribera wrote in Spanish, and in which the Latin translator of this writer, Matthias Martinez, in book 4, chapter 13, reports the following about that illustrious Saint, bearing on our matter: She was now about to go from Segovia to Ávila; but first she wished to visit the monastery of the Friars Preachers, named from the Holy Cross, because there is in that place a spot sacred by ancient religion, in which Dominic, the glorious parent of that Order, practiced severity of life, and shed much blood drawn from his body by scourges. Having entered the chapel, accompanied by the Prior of the place and by Brother Diego de Yanguas, to whom she was then indeed making her confession, having come nearer the altar, prostrate on her knees she remained a long while in prayer; and then indeed the same Dominic appeared to her at her left side. Seeing which, Diego addressed her by name: at which voice she at once rose from prayer, bathed in a thick shower of tears, though so far as she could she dissembled the matter, as she had been accustomed to do in like cases. Diego then received her confession, celebrated Mass, and imparted to her the Eucharistic communion.

[593] and where the Saint appeared to her with Christ: But when afterward too she persisted in prayer, in exactly the manner as before, she beheld St. Dominic standing by her at the same side: and when she asked why he placed himself on this side, The other side, he said, I have reserved for my Lord. And behold, at once she saw Christ the Redeemer standing at her right, who, after he had stayed a little while with her, departed, saying: Take delight meanwhile with my friend. Nearly two hours Teresa remained here, and Dominic was present with her meanwhile, asserting that he rejoiced that she had come to this very place; and at the same time disclosing at length what labors he had here formerly undergone, and what graces he had there received from the Lord: then, having taken her right hand, he pledged to her the utmost help and aid in promoting the affairs of the Order instituted by her, adding besides other things which brought her consolation and joy. Teresa said afterward that, since she had received so great a grace from God in this chapel and had been anointed with so great consolation, it would have been most pleasing to her to remain in it perpetually. Thus far our Ribera through his translator, who was at one time confessor to this seraphic Virgin, and accordingly perhaps received that revelation from the mouth of St. Teresa herself. With these notable and venerable monuments of the Segovian crypt certain writers, not yet content, assert from a certain popular tradition that St. Dominic was there marked with the sacred stigmata, such as St. Francis received in the year of Christ 1224. Among others John of St. Mary, in the French Acts of St. Dominic, book 4, chapter 7, tenaciously defends this tradition; nay, he there violently wrests the very revelation of St. Teresa which we have just reported to the confirming of his own opinion. But this exotic opinion, about which Malvenda prudently kept silence, most probably owes its origin to Alanus, as we shall now show.

[594] This uncertain tradition Brother Louis Loumans confidently inserted into his Notes on the Mirror of the Sinful Soul, but these do not yet suffice for certain writers, when there on page 253 and following he thus more distinctly describes the Segovian cave, venerable for the sojourn of St. Dominic: Note that our monastery of Segovia, situated outside the walls, was built by St. Dominic in that place in which there was a rock, which yielded in some part to the uses of our men; it has certain caves and recesses, whose solitude, when the man of God saw it exceedingly suited for meditations and perceived it more secret, he chose for himself for contemplations of mind and afflictions of body, so long as he lived at Segovia. There, spending the night in the prayer of God, now with mind snatched up to heaven the divine Man foretasted its joys, now he exercised his languid and exhausted limbs with the harshest scourges unto every torture, both that he might bend the excellently tamed flesh to the command of reason, and chiefly that he himself might be wholly fastened to the cross with the suffering Christ. At which time there was in the same city not some old wives' suspicion, but a conjecture confirmed by great weight of reasons, that he there received the stigmata of the dying Christ, as the Very Reverend Father Master Hyacinth Choquet discloses and demonstrates on the testimony of some in the book which he entitled "The Maternal Bowels of Mary the Mother of God toward the Order of Preachers," chapter 18, which I desire you to see.

[595] Let us therefore consult Master Choquet, who in chapter 18 of the assigned Work, page 348 and

following, thus strives to defend that improbable tradition: who moreover attribute to the same Saint there First of all our men, the most blessed Dominic, in the year 1224 (here doubtless an error has crept into the number of the year 1224, for which certainly another year must be substituted), when he was at Florence, and at some time, being about to perform the sacred rites, was attending to the altar, was beheld by the pious and devout woman Benedicta marked with the sacred stigmata of Christ, wearing a crown of thorns on his head. This both Fr. Thomas of the Temple, companion of the holy Man, reports; and also Blessed Alanus de Rupe asserts that this very thing was revealed to him by the most blessed Virgin. The same Flaminius and others disclose: nay, they even record that to Blessed Catherine of Siena and to certain others the same our most holy Parent, immortal and endowed with eternal felicity, was seen with the marks of the sacred wounds. But first of all we shall see below that Alanus invented that vision of Benedicta of Florence. Besides, we do not accept the testimony of Thomas of the Temple, which from what has been said and is to be said is plainly known to be fictitious. Finally, of such an apparition made to Blessed Catherine of Siena no one made mention before the author of the Mirror of the Sinful Soul, which little work Echard also ascribes to Alanus de Rupe. At least in the genuine Acts of Blessed Catherine of Siena, which were illustrated in our Work at the day XXX of April, we find nothing similar, although in them some apparitions of St. Dominic are narrated.

[596] Nevertheless let us hear the other arguments of Choquet, who in the aforesaid place thus pursues his reasoning: the sacred stigmata, and other improbable torments, Further, Alfonso Fernández in the prologue to his notable work on the Rosary, of the second edition, writes from Alfonso Venero that four years before that vision occurred at Florence, the truth of the sacred stigmata of St. Dominic had already been examined and ascertained in Spain, and that he had received them at Segovia in the cave of our monastery, which in these times is most celebrated by the pious pilgrimages of very many men. And this truly illustrious matter, received by long and continuous tradition, the same Venero expressed in these verses in the cave itself:

Moreover, suffering with the Lord hanging on the living stock, and wetting his pale face with tears, beneath this rock, wholly melted with the love of the cross, he felt the bitter stigmata through all his skin.

Alfonso Fernández in the prologue of the same Spanish work on the Rosary, which was reprinted at Madrid in the year 1620, commemorates two other little verses inscribed above on the same cave, in this manner:

Whoever you are that enter the thresholds of the sacred crypt, behold the dwellings of your leader Dominic.

To these two hexameter verses (perhaps the second is a pentameter, if you omit the elision of one vowel, and read "habitacla" for "habitacula"), in which no account is taken either of orthography or of meter, he subjoins the distich which he testifies is read below in the same place, and which we have already reported from Choquet.

[597] If anyone should perhaps say that these sacred stigmata of St. Dominic (as those of St. Francis were) ought to have been known and visible to many, which Choquet and Loumans Choquet in the same place, page 349, thus forestalls this objection: The utmost modesty of St. Dominic, he says, and his most profound humility and incredible zeal for pressing down under perpetual silence the gifts conferred upon him from heaven, brought it about that those sacred stigmata of his were not visible to all, and that posterity did not know of them. But Blessed Alanus asserts upon oath that that admirable vision of Benedicta of Florence, which Thomas of the Temple gathered into his book from her own mouth, was related to him also by the Mother of God, so that no one of sound mind would dare to deny it. Whence also strength and force are received by the opinion, which once crept about at Segovia, concerning the wounds of Christ impressed upon St. Dominic, and by the tradition received from our elders. For why should Benedicta have beheld what was not there; or why should God, who can never deceive, have shown these things to others also? And indeed why it should have been only a shadowy appearance, and merely an enigmatic signification of Dominic's great merits, we do not grasp: for the thing itself demands it, which assuredly could have been, nay it is clearly established that it was afterward granted to very many others, and indeed to followers of the greatest Leader himself, so that it adorned Dominic not only in image but in reality. But the first part of this response rests upon a ruinous foundation, and is at length wholly resolved into the testimony of Alanus, whom, even when swearing, we do not believe, for the reasons already said and hereafter to be said. But the last part proves nothing, or too much: for to all founders of Orders cannot be attributed those privileges or miracles which were divinely granted to individual followers of theirs, even those lesser in sanctity. Thus no one without suitable witnesses will admit that St. Dominic remained unharmed in the midst of fire, even though this happened to another Dominic, his disciple, as Blessed Jordan below in our edition at numbers 37 and 38 will narrate. Now let us hear the wondrous manner in which St. Dominic is said to have been marked with these stigmata.

[598] drew from Alanus or the Mirror of the Sinful Soul, The anonymous author in the Mirror of the Sinful Soul, who by Echard is believed to have been Alanus, on page 186 and following, after other things thus prays to the Mother of God: Further, O most beautiful Mary, on account of your most beloved seraphic spouse, St. Dominic, for whom you obtained from your Son that he might be made like to the Lord Jesus Christ himself in sufferings, on account of which he was seized by countless demons for the sins of men, bound, scourged, really fixed with nails on a cross and pierced with a lance, and endured all the other articles of the Passion with unspeakable pains, so much that, when he was failing in death, again through you and your Son, the demons being put to flight, he was anew restored. Therefore in glory he was seen by certain persons at one time living in this world, as by the most blessed Catherine of Siena and by certain other most holy persons, with the stigmata gleaming in glory; and afterward also he was seen by mortals in many miraculous visions with the same marks of the Passion, although in his body, at his own request, they did not afterward remain to bodily sight. Nor let this seem impossible to anyone, that Dominic was thus crucified by demons, since our Lord Jesus Christ himself was tempted by the devil, and carried above the pinnacle of the temple and upon a mountain, and afterward crucified through him, so much that, standing at the cross, he wished to snatch away his soul, etc. We have already denied above that Dominic thus appeared to St. Catherine of Siena.

[599] Louis Loumans, in the Notes on this passage, page 255, after the words reported above and with frivolous reasonings with which he had described the Segovian crypt and admitted the tradition about the stigmata of St. Dominic, thus tries to defend and explain that discordant history of the anonymous author or of Alanus: That there then happened what the author in this place records from the revelation of the Mother of God is plainly to be believed, especially since from the death of St. Dominic our elders out of religion shut off with a wall that part of the cave as a kind of sanctuary — which in the year 1566 Peter Fernández, himself also renowned for the praise of sanctity, when he was Prior of Segovia, opened, and, with torches shining before, together with the chief men of the monastery surveyed the place hidden beneath the rock, and here and there scattered through the cave found so great a quantity of clotted blood that you would have said some beast had been slaughtered in it. Yet that blood was plainly purple and most like to blood freshly shed. All were astonished, and after prayers and tears poured forth they again closed that place with a wall. But that you may give credit, reader, to what is said by the author, you must remember the blows, scourges, torments, and torturings of every kind inflicted upon many Saints by the evil demon, envious of human salvation: and what is singular here detracts nothing from the truth, but increases the glory of St. Dominic, who endured these things from the very executioners and torturers by whose emissaries Christ suffered. And since the dark ones of hell variously harassed both Jobs and Anthonys, that they should have received with scourges another Dominic, as it were a savior of the world, after the likeness of Christ, by the nod of God, with Mary as president of the contest looking on, and crowned him with thorns, and at length driven him to the cross, contains nothing absurd; and if (as the author writes) the Mother of God gave credit to it, there is no reason why we should deny it.

[600] Several things might be noted in this explanation; but it will suffice to have observed a few. they wrongly attempt to defend. First, Loumans proves nothing for his tradition from the reverence which our elders always showed toward this place: for certainly that cave, noble for the prayers and sighs of St. Dominic, watered with his pious tears, stained with the innocent blood of stern penance, deserves the great veneration of the faithful. Thus we venerate the cave of Manresa of St. Ignatius, although there our holy Father was neither crucified by demons nor received the sacred stigmata. Secondly, the question here is not what can absolutely happen, but what likely did happen. Thirdly, Loumans supposes that that wondrous history was confirmed by a revelation of the Mother of God. But this hypothesis we deny, and we make nothing, with Echard, of the revelations of the anonymous author or of Alanus. Wherefore there is need of other authority before we safely admit that vague and uncertain tradition.

* elsewhere "should leave"

§ XXXII. Certain other things which the Saint is reported to have done in Spain.

When the Saint had founded monasteries of his Order at Segovia and Madrid, The ancient writers express by name only two Convents of the Order, namely that of Segovia and that of Madrid, which St. Dominic, being present in Spain, erected or completed. Nevertheless certain more recent writers will have it that several monasteries of the Preachers in the same region, say that of Zamora and that of Saragossa, were founded by the Saint himself. But lest we be deceived in judging the antiquity of these foundations, whose ancient instruments we lack, we leave the more certain knowledge of those origins to the investigation of the inhabitants, with Echard, who in volume 1 of the Library of the Preachers, page 19, in the notes, thus pronounces about the holy Founder of the Spanish monasteries: That he instituted two houses in Spain is certain; the first at Segovia, whither he had first come, and this you may readily believe the work of him alone; the other at Madrid, which Brother Peter, whom he had sent thither from Toulouse, had begun in the preceding year, but blessed Dominic restored it and enlarged it with several drawn to the Order… Since they report that Dominic remained some months in Spain, I should not doubt that he erected other houses besides those reported: for he was a man impatient of rest, and who, as in preaching the word of God, so also in increasing his Order, labored tirelessly and continually. It remains that those who contend that their monasteries were erected by him should prove and establish it by certain and ancient documents.

[602] and had transferred the nuns to that of Madrid, Malvenda, in the Annals of the Preachers at the year of Christ 1219, chapter 13, thinks that St. Dominic at that time changed into a monastery of nuns the place which the Brothers had previously received to dwell in at Madrid. But Echard, on the page just cited above, judges that it can with reason be doubted whether that change was then made. That doubt seems to grow from the diploma which was given at Madrid in the month of May of the year 1219, and

in which James Mames gives a certain farm to the Friars Preachers, no mention being made of nuns who might dwell there. He confirms this same thing from a letter of Honorius III the Pontiff, and from a certain phrase of Blessed Jordan, and at length more probably concludes that this change was made after the general Chapter of the year 1220, in which the Order renounced possessions and revenues, and that then the house of Madrid, which enjoyed certain farms, was left by the Brothers and thereafter granted to the sisters. Nevertheless Echard commits this opinion of his to the further inquiry of the natives, to which examination we too gladly assent. Further, the mentioned diploma of James Mames is found in Malvenda, in the Annals of the Preachers at the year of Christ 1219, chapter 13, and the letters of Honorius III in the same place at the year 1220, chapter 9.

[603] he is said to have written them afterward a letter But on this occasion we do not wish to pass over the letter which the Saint is said to have written afterward to the Nuns of Madrid, and which the praised Malvenda, at the year 1220 in the chapter just cited, reports in this manner: Brother Dominic, Master of the Friars Preachers, to our dearest Prioress and Convent of Sisters at Majoricum, greeting and increase of virtues. We greatly rejoice, and render thanks to God, for the fervor of your holy manner of life, and because the Lord has snatched you from the stench of this world. Fight, daughters, unceasingly against your ancient enemy with prayers and fasts, because he shall not be crowned who has not lawfully striven. Up to now you had no suitable house for observing the things which belong to our Religion; but now you can allege no excuse, because you have, by the grace of God, sufficient buildings where the regular observance can be kept entire. And so I will that henceforth silence be kept in the places established by the Order, namely in the choir, in the refectory and dormitory, and that in all other things you live according to your constitutions.

[604] Let none go out beyond the gate of the monastery, nor let any secular person enter in to you, in which he exhorts them to religious perfection, unless it be a bishop or some prelate to preach, or for the sake of a public visitation. Do not omit disciplines, vigils, and be obedient to your Prioress. Be not occupied in mutual conversations among yourselves, nor lose time in vain and useless talk. And because in temporal necessities we cannot come to your aid, we do not wish to burden you, nor to consent that any of the Brothers have power of receiving novices, but only the Prioress with the counsel of her Convent. We also charge our dearest Brother, who has labored much in this house of yours, and has joined you in this most holy state, that he arrange, establish, and ordain all things as shall seem to him more expedient, so that you may live holily and religiously; and we give him power and faculty to visit and correct you, and to remove the Prioress, if it be necessary, with the consent of the greater part of the nuns, and to dispense in certain matters as he shall judge expedient. Farewell in Christ.

[605] Ferdinand del Castillo, in the History of the Preachers, book 1, chapter 42, exhibits the same letter of the Saint in Spanish, whose authentic credit, however, is not altogether clear to us. and adds in the same place that he faithfully translated it into the Spanish tongue from the Latin idiom in which the autograph was first written. But we truly marvel that St. Dominic, a Spaniard by nation, wrote this letter in Latin to Spanish nuns, most of them likely ignorant of the Latin tongue. Nevertheless this reason does not suffice for us to hold those letters suspect of forgery. Lest anyone stick at the word "Majoricum" at the beginning of this letter, and perhaps think that Majorca, one of the Balearic islands, is indicated, it must be known that Mantua Carpetanorum or Madrid was in that age called in Latin "Majoricum," as is plain from the first letter of Honorius III the Pontiff, which Malvenda alleges in the Annals in the aforesaid place. Since in the reported letter the Saint imposes the care of the nuns of Madrid upon his dearest Brother, certain writers have judged that Mannes, own brother of St. Dominic, is here designated. But Ferdinand del Castillo, in book 1 of the praised History, chapter 41, writes that this conjecture of theirs is altogether slight and lacks a solid foundation. For the rest, St. Dominic, his business at Madrid finished, being about to return into France, passed through Guadalajara, as Malvenda at the year of Christ 1219, chapter 14, and other authors commonly hand down. But what happened to him then in that town, which is about nine leagues distant from Madrid, we shall now report from an ancient biographer.

[606] [The Saint in Spain wondrously recalls certain Brothers who were deserting the Order,] Constantine of Orvieto in the Life of St. Dominic, number 38, thus narrates the matter: But when he was in Spain in the place which is called Gualdafaien (by this corrupted name understand Guadalajara), certain Brothers having been associated with him, Satan tempted them to depart from the fellowship of the blessed Man; which was not hidden from the man of God, the Holy Spirit revealing it to him: for there appeared to him in a vision a certain most monstrous dragon, which seemed with open jaws to swallow up those Brothers who were with him. The Man, full of the Spirit of God, therefore understood that a grave crisis of temptation was hanging over the Brothers, to whom also he disclosed that terrible vision, exhorting them constantly to resist the coming temptations, by which no one is swallowed up unless willingly. But after a short space of time had intervened, that dragon which a little before was swallowing those Brothers in a vision swallowed them in effect: for all who had been with the man of God Dominic, except three, namely Brother Adam and two Lay Brothers, at the devil's persuasion withdrew. And when a certain one of them was asked by the man of God whether he too wished to go away, Far be it, he said, dearest Father, that, having left the head, I should follow the feet. But the merciful Father, moved toward those who had withdrawn not by indignation but by compassion, at once turned to his accustomed refuge of prayer, and those whom he could not retain by admonitions he recalled by prayers: for a little after nearly all returned to him at the prompting of divine grace. Stephen of Bourbon, in Echard volume 1, page 33, hands down similar things about this temptation; but differs from the others in this, that he says it happened when Dominic was building a certain Convent of the Brothers in Spain.

[607] about the time of which matter modern writers dispute, With Constantine, Vincent of Beauvais in the Mirror, book 30, chapter 77, and Humbert in the Acts of St. Dominic, chapter 28, plainly agree, of whom the latter, subjoining that matter to the foundation of Segovia and Madrid, sufficiently hints that it took place on the return from Spain into France. Yet Ferdinand del Castillo, in book 1 of his History, chapter 40, anticipates this temptation by some months, and refers it to the Saint's entry into Spain, which Malvenda in the Annals at the year of Christ 1219, chapter 14, rightly refutes in these words: I know that Castillo and others have referred the aforesaid narration to St. Dominic's entry into the Spains, when he was going to Segovia to found a monastery there. But we think it happened more fittingly at his departure, when he was determining to go into France, the Convents of Segovia and Madrid having been founded: for it is not likely that at his first entry, when he was making his journey straight into old Castile, so many companions accompanied the holy Man; whereas it seems agreeable to reason that, two monasteries having now been built, after several months of famous sermons in various places, and with the fame and reputation of his sanctity and doctrine flying about everywhere, St. Dominic could rightly lead a household. But on these matters I should not greatly contend. Echard in volume 1, page 33, tacitly approves this opinion of Malvenda, when he there bids it be noted upon the reported text of Constantine that those Brothers who were tempted to defection in Spain were not of those brethren whom the Saint had brought with him from Italy or France into Spain, but Spanish novices whom he had recently admitted to his Order in that region.

[608] Then Malvenda, at the same year of Christ 1219, chapter 15, brings St. Dominic into Aragon, and ascribes to him stupendous miracles which he there performed by the preaching and power of the Rosary. and to which Flaminius and Malvenda add portentous histories, The same prodigies are narrated by Alfonso Fernández, Gilles de Lalaing, Peter Vloers, and by very many others who composed books about the Rosary, both in Latin and in the vernacular. Nay rather, Abraham Bzovius judged them worthy to be inserted into the Ecclesiastical Annals. Nevertheless these incredible histories, to call them by the mildest name, issue from the workshop of Alanus de Rupe, who in part 5 heaped up many portents of this kind. It neither pleases us to transcribe the prolix narrations of this first author, nor is it permitted to omit them entirely, since the curious reader cannot pass a right judgment on a matter withdrawn from his eyes and perhaps unknown to him. Since therefore short fables displease learned men less than long ones, we shall enter a middle way, and shall subject to the judgment of the prudent reader certain such miracles transcribed from Flaminius, who reduced the prodigious narrations of Alanus into a compendium faithfully enough. Nevertheless we fear that these very compendia may be too long, and may afflict with weariness the reader who loves the truth. Wherefore, for the reason already given, we shall excerpt from them all only three histories of this kind, which Malvenda too at the year 1219, chapter 15 and following, studiously selected.

[609] And so Flaminius, in the Life of St. Dominic, book 2, folio 36, drew the first miracle from Alanus in these words: among which the first is narrated about a girl's severed head, There was in the region of the Aragonese a girl noble by birth and of outstanding beauty, whose name was Alexandra; who, moved by the preachings of blessed Dominic about the Psalter of the Virgin, wished to be enrolled in that college which they call the fraternity of the Rosary: who, although for a certain time she was a cultivator of the Rosary, yet on account of the company of girls of her own age and the adornment of her body, in which she indulged more than was fitting, had often intermitted it. Two noble young men were dying of love for her, from which matter (as often happens) great enmities arose between them, which at length were turned to their destruction: for so greatly did hatred grow between them that they came to single combat, in which, charging with spurred horses and hostile lances, they fell pierced by mutual wounds. Certain of their kinsmen, bearing the matter most indignantly, attacking Alexandra secretly, wounded her mortally; and when she asked for a priest, that she might confess her sins before she expired, one of them cut off her head, fearing that she would disclose her assailants, and threw it into a nearby well.

[610] Five months had now passed since the murder: blessed Dominic was divinely admonished of this matter, whose confession St. Dominic heard in Aragon, who, coming to the well by the command of the blessed Virgin, called Alexandra to himself. A wondrous thing followed: the girl's head, with many present who had gathered for so great a spectacle, rose up from the bottom of the well restored to life, having its wound as fresh as if it had been cut off in that same hour, and with eyes upon blessed Dominic

fixed upon him it said: I desire, Father, to confess my sins. Having been made partaker not only of that, but also of the sacred Eucharist, she was gladdened in a wondrous manner, and gave thanks to blessed Dominic that by his admonitions and exhortation she had been enrolled in the college of the Rosary of the blessed Virgin. She answered wondrous things, being asked by blessed Dominic, which she had seen after her slaying; of which number the first was that the college of the Rosary had profited her very much, by whose merits there had been added what had been lacking to her, namely so great a sorrow for her sins as would suffice for penitence. The second, that when her head had been cut off, the most chaste Mother of God had put to flight from her the assaults and terrors of the demons. The third, that on account of the same merits of the Rosary confraternities the purgatorial punishments which she had deserved would be much shorter: for on account of the young men who for her sake had fallen in single combat she affirmed that she was to be tormented with two hundred years' punishments; and on account of her delights and excessive adornment of body, which had drawn many to ruin, with five hundred years'; but that for the cause I have mentioned she hoped these would be much shorter.

[611] and that she survived for two days. That head survived two days, with the great admiration of all and the joy of those who in that city were cultivators of the Rosary. Then, joined to its body, it was honorably buried. Fifteen days afterward her soul stood before blessed Dominic, brighter than a star, and said that she was performing an embassy of those who were being tormented in purgatorial fire: that they begged their kinsmen and familiars to be enrolled by their agency in the college of the Rosary confraternities, promising that afterward, when they had passed to perpetual felicity, they would be of great help to them with God. She added moreover that the holy angels wondrously rejoice in the colleges of the Rosary, and that God says he is their father, but that the most happy Mother of God affirms she is their mother: and these things said, the happy soul was carried back to heaven. Alanus, part 5, chapter 62, amplifies the same history with certain other circumstances, and for a fuller form of the matter adds that that severed head, after confession of sins had been made, was fortified not only with the sacred Eucharist but also with holy extreme unction.

[612] [The second portent is reported about a woman in childbed, captive among the Moors,] Flaminius on the verso of the same folio thus abridges the second prodigy: Blessed Dominic, when in Spain he was exhorting the peoples to the Psalter, had admitted into the college of the Rosary another certain noble girl, who afterward married a distinguished knight. She was pregnant when the heathen burst out from the kingdom which is called Granada, who took and plundered her city. The girl herself, her husband having been slain before her eyes, was led into captivity with many others: who, suffering a most harsh servitude and being most roughly treated, had not omitted the holy Rosary. The time of giving birth came. That night was the Lord's Nativity, and in a stable and among swine and oxen, and destitute of all human help and solace, a girl of about fifteen years, alone, and having never before experienced such pains, bore a boy; who, while she was tortured with the great labors of childbirth, was imploring the aid of the blessed Virgin. She was present, most prompt to the suppliant prayers of her own, and performed in all things the office of a midwife. There came also the merciful Jesus, with all the marks in his body of the most harsh torments which he had suffered, having with him a deacon and a subdeacon and chrism; and the newly born boy, the glorious Virgin holding him, he washed with his own hands in sacred baptism after the Christian manner, and willed him to be called Marianus. Which done, the Mother of God returned the infant to his mother, saying: Be of good heart, daughter, and do not omit my Rosary; for I promise that my help will always be at hand for you. These things said, the heavenly spectacle vanished from mortal eyes.

[613] whom the Mother of God incredibly aided, The day of the glorious Virgin's purification was at hand. There came to Lucia (this was the name of the captive woman, which Alanus expresses at the beginning of the history, and Flaminius before had omitted) a certain young man of exceedingly comely and shining face, and said: You are not yet purified after childbirth in the Christian manner, Lucia; but that you may now be purified, gird yourself. She said: How can I do this, since there is here neither a Christian people, nor a church, nor likewise a priest. Then the young man: Then follow me; for I will lead you into a church in which you will see and hear wondrous things. Then she at once took the infant in her arms and followed the holy guide. And when she entered a most beautiful temple, in I know not what place, Martha and Mary Magdalene met them, who, taking her by the arms on either side, led her into that part of the building which is commonly called the choir: in which place the most chaste Mother of God came forth to meet her, and greeted her very graciously, calling her daughter, and said: Often indeed have you offered my Son to me while you celebrate my Psalter: now it is time that I offer you and your son to him; and, taking her by the hand, bade her sit near the altar. And behold, that same priest who had washed her son in sacred baptism, Christ, was suddenly present, and began to celebrate in chant the sacrifice of the Eucharist, the choir singing with him and responding with unspeakable song.

[614] And when they had come to that part of the sacred rite which is called the Offertory, [and who in a moment of time was transported from the kingdom of Granada to Compostela.] the most pure Virgin took Lucia by the hand and willed that she should be the first to offer a candle to the priest and to kiss his hand. Others afterward followed. But when the time came for partaking of the sacred Host, the most gentle Virgin likewise willed that Lucia should be the first to partake. The sacred rite at length being finished, she greatly exhorted her to perseverance, and accompanied her as she departed as far as the door of the temple. And in a moment of time she was divinely transported into her own region, where in a certain retreat Lucia shut herself up with her son, and there ended her life. And her son, leading an eremitic life in a certain solitude, also happily passed from this life. Alanus, part 5, chapter 63, paints all these things in such lively colors as if he had seen the deed done with his own eyes, and about that wondrous transporting of the captive woman to her own country writes thus more distinctly: Suddenly, about the tenth hour, this Lucia found herself in the middle of the church of St. James with her little one: for she was born at Compostela, but had been married far away in the kingdom of Granada.

[615] Finally Flaminius in the same place, folio 37 verso and following, narrates the third miracle in this manner: Finally the third prodigy is attributed to a certain Spanish sinner, There was a man distinguished in birth and wealth, one of the kinsmen of blessed Dominic, but most defiled with the stain of many vices. He came to hear his kinsman preaching. Then blessed Dominic happened to be sharply inveighing against the crimes of men, and gravely accusing those who despise the precepts of the divine law. But when he saw his kinsman, whom he knew very well, entering the church, he at once prayed God to have mercy on him, that he might change his mind for the better: for he saw him surrounded by an innumerable multitude of demons, who, changed into bestial forms, were more deformed and terrifying than anyone could tell, and who dragged him bound with iron chains wherever they wished. And those forms indicated the man's baseness: for the holy Man used to say that by their vices men are changed into various forms of beasts. That wretch, moved by such detestation of vices and vehemently terrified, returned home.

[616] On another feast day he returned to hear his kinsman; and as he entered the church, blessed Dominic, raising his voice, said: Lord Jesus Christ, grant to this people that they may be able to see what sort of man this is who enters your house: for he knew whom St. Dominic allowed to be visibly dragged by demons, that there was nothing which could move him more effectually than if he were publicly afflicted with some ignominy. The people therefore, turning toward him, saw an innumerable multitude of demons who (as I said) were dragging him with iron chains. That dread and horrible spectacle terrified them all, and they raised a cry, as those are wont who are suddenly terrified by some vast and unforeseen evil; they also prepared flight, crying out: Let us flee from hell. His wife too, struck with vast terror, fled from him. Then, when he asked the cause of so great a disturbance and outcry, the servants answered that the crowd had been struck by the sight of the demons who held him bound with chains. He stood full of astonishment at the strangeness of the thing, and like one thunderstruck.

[617] and by the power of the Rosary Then blessed Dominic, turning to him, said: Unhappy Peter, now begin to consider in what state you are, who so terrify and put to flight this people by your appearance; and come to your senses, unhappy man. You must flee to the Psalter of the Virgin, that you may escape so great a tempest, lest the earth swallow you. And the holy Man ordered Bertrand his companion to bring him a cord containing the number of the Psalter. That wretch, coming to his senses and touched with great sorrow for his crimes, begged blessed Dominic to render God favorable to him by his prayers, and at once fled to the altar of the blessed Virgin, and, with knees bent before her image, went through the whole Psalter. He veiled that terrifying deformity of face which no one could look upon, and, approaching blessed Dominic, confessed his sins: and when he had done this, the holy Man, considering the number and gravity of his sins, and doubting what penance he should enjoin upon him, betook himself to the image of the blessed Virgin, and prayed her to show him what was to be done in that matter. She said: Punish him with no other penalty than that he constantly say my Psalter; and when he had done this, he also enrolled him in the number of the Rosary confraternities.

[618] brought him back to a better life; A wondrous thing at once followed, with the astonishment of all. That great deformity and horror of face returned to its former shape, and, the veil being removed with which he had covered his face, three crowns of roses were seen on his head on account of the three Rosaries; and, the demons being driven off with their chains, countless angels stood about him; and blessed Dominic himself affirmed also this, that while Peter was confessing his crimes this wondrous thing too happened: that at each sin which he brought forth he felt himself loosed from a chain. Thus thereafter the man, a little before most criminal, having become a supreme cultivator of the Psalter, passed his life with great praise and with a happy end. Alanus, part 5, chapter 53, again adorns these things with many additions, and about the happy death of that Peter subjoins the following: At length, being well enlightened in all his doings and acting prosperously, after he had led his wife and his whole household to the frequent and assiduous use of the aforesaid Psalter, persevering together with them in this holy purpose, he obtained from the Virgin Mary a foretelling of his own death and that of his family; and, Christ and the Virgin Mary appearing to him, this penitent sinner deserved

through that same Psalter to yield up his spirit between the hands of the same Christ and Mary, not without singular devotion in many who stood by, from the presence of the Lord Jesus and the Virgin Mary.

[619] Malvenda, in the Annals of the Preachers at the year 1219, chapter 17, fights fiercely for the truth of these histories, as for altars and hearths, and confirms them chiefly by the testimony of John of the Mount. but Echard rightly reckons these and similar things among fables. But we judge that Malvenda with all his effort has not yet brought it about that sensible men give credit to these portentous miracles. At least he has not yet persuaded of the truth of these and like prodigies his own brother Echard, who in volume 1 of the Library of the Preachers, page 19, in the notes, thus explodes these very histories: As for the stupendous miracles performed by him in those parts, which Malvenda reports from Flaminius at 1219, numbers 15 and 16 — about a certain Peter, kinsman of the Saint, recalled from abandoned morals to a better life; about a certain pregnant Lucia, captive among the Moors, and after childbirth wondrously transported in a moment with her son, baptized by Christ himself, into her own Christian country; about the said Alexandra, whose head, cut off five months before, emerged alive from a well; about a notable robber, thought slain and buried by his companions in the road, but divinely preserved alive under the earth until Dominic's arrival — if they have no other author, as he presents, than John of the Mount, a purely fictitious person, I fear they will not find credit with the wise, the more so because they were unknown both to Jordan and to Humbert, who traveled through the Spains. The glory of Dominic does not need miracles of this kind, nor is the dignity of the society of the Rosary, abundantly established by its own merits, built up by them. Thus Echard, whose judgment we here approve.

§ XXXIII. At what time the Saint departed from Spain into France and Italy, and what he did on that journey.

The ancient biographers agree that St. Dominic in the year of Christ 1219 returned from Spain into France, [Against Echard's hypothesis we prove that St. Dominic at the end of March of the year 1219] and Humbert in his Chronicle plainly expresses this year in these words: In the year of the Lord 1219 blessed Dominic came from Spain to Paris, and found there nearly thirty of the Brothers. Having stayed there a little while, he turned aside to Bologna, where there was already a great number of Brothers gathered under Brother Reginald at St. Nicholas's (for before they had been in another place from the beginning), who received him with wondrous joy; and therefore he sent Brother Reginald to Paris. These same things Humbert repeats in the Acts of the Saint, chapter 29, with which Blessed Jordan and Theodoric have similar things, so that about that year 1219 it is sufficiently established. But there remains the intricate question at what time of that year the Saint arrived at Paris, and whether one must stand by the opinion of Echard, who in volume 1, page 19, in the notes, thus discourses: That Dominic left Spain in the year 1219 and thence came into France and as far as Paris, Jordan asserts; and accordingly, according to the style of that age, he left Spain after the XXV of March, or after Easter, which was the VII of April.

[621] Echard here first supposes that the Saint only began to leave Spain after the XXV day of March, could have arrived at Paris from Spain, or after Easter. But Blessed Jordan only says that the Saint, returning thence, came to Paris in the year 1219; so that this year 1219 can be referred equally to St. Dominic's arrival at Paris as to his departure from Spain. And so, on the hypothesis by which the beginning of the year is taken from the feast of the Annunciation, or the XXV day of March, St. Dominic could have departed from Spain in the month of February of the year 1218, and about the end of March of the year 1219, now begun, have arrived at Paris. In this system the narration of Blessed Jordan and of the other ancients is true, even though they began the years from the feast of the Annunciation, or from the XXV day of March. Secondly, Echard supposes that all those biographers reckoned the beginning of the year from the XXV day of March, or from Easter. But that ought to have been clearly and solidly proved by sure arguments: for at that time different writers numbered the beginning of the year in different ways, as we shall now try to demonstrate in few words.

[622] and from Bernard Gui, Among the Writers of Italian affairs lately published at Milan, in volume 3, page 480, there is reported from a manuscript of Bernard Gui a Life of Innocent III the Pontiff, in which that French author has these things bearing on our purpose: Innocent III, a Campanian by nation, from the castle of Segni, of his father Trasmund, consecrated in the chair of St. Peter. He began in the year of the Lord 1197 according to those who begin to reckon the years of the Lord's Incarnation from the feast of the Lord's Annunciation in March; but according to those who begin to reckon the years of the Lord's Incarnation at Christmas, it is written in the year of the Lord 1198. That Innocent was raised to the chair of St. Peter on the VIII day of January, in the year of Christ 1198, according to the present-day method of reckoning, as ancient monuments testify. Hence it is clear that in the age of Bernard Gui, or in the XIII and XIV centuries, a twofold manner of numbering the year was in use, although Echard in volume 1, page 78, speaks thus in general: The writers therefore of the XIII century, and among them our own, where they treat of chronology, ALWAYS follow the old style, by which the year was reckoned either from the day of the Annunciation, the XXV of March, to the XXV of March following, or from the feast of Easter to the following Easter, so that they refer January, February, March, and sometimes part of April, when past, to the preceding year. This style they followed in France, Spain, and several cities of Italy, as at Florence and Rome, which is most easy to prove from countless Pontifical diplomas reported by Odoricus Raynaldus. But the Spaniards up to the XIV century used their own peculiar era, which began from the Calends of January, as we noted above on another occasion.

[623] and by other ancient monuments we show against his opinion, What Echard here adds about the Roman style can be called into doubt: for in the XIII century the year at Rome seems to have begun from the Nativity of Christ, as we gather from the synod of Cologne of the year 1310, which in canon 23, in our Labbe, volume XI of the Councils, part 2, column [ ], decrees the following: We establish also that from now on henceforth the year of the Lord be observed and be renewed each year at the Nativity of Christ, as the most holy Roman church observes it, which is the head and mistress of all churches, so that the errors and difficulties which have many times arisen on account of the diversity of the beginning of the year of his Nativity may henceforth be avoided. Add that Covarruvias, in volume 2 of the Various Resolutions, book 1, chapter 12, number 1, ascribes this manner of reckoning generally to Italy, although he afterward excepts some, as Mabillon in the Work on Diplomatics, book 2, chapter 23, number 3, sets forth in these words: In Italy also it is an old custom to begin the years from the Nativity, on Covarruvias's testimony, except among the Pisans, who take the beginning of the year of the Incarnation nine months before the Nativity; by which reckoning the fiftieth year from the Nativity is also of the same number from the Incarnation up to the XXV day of March; and from that day, which is the fiftieth from the Nativity, it will be the fifty-first from the Incarnation; and so the Pisan calculation anticipates the other by nine months. Otherwise the Florentines begin the years of the Incarnation three months after the Nativity, in the same manner in which we must afterward speak of the French: which Puricelli also quite often observes of the Milanese in his work on the Ambrosian Basilica.

[624] For my part I confess that several French historians of the XIII century used this Florentine or Milanese style, not among all the writers of those times yet not all, as Mabillon in the chapter just cited, number 6, writes: for Bernard Gui, bishop of Lodève (these are the words of the same Mabillon in the same place), in the Acts of St. Fulcran, bishop of the same see, written by him in the XIV century, asserts that he was ordained in the year of grace 949, on the day before the Nones of February, which day was a Sunday of a new year furnished with the letter G; but that he died in the year of the grace of Christ 1006, on the Ides of February, on the fourth feria, which altogether correspond to the new calculation. In the Acts of St. Fulcran, which our Bolland published from Bernard Gui at the day XIII of February, toward the end of the first chapter it is likewise read that that holy prelate of Lodève was consecrated … on the day before the Nones of February, in the year of the generation of Christ 949. After other things, in the same place, chapter 5, the time of his death is thus marked: And he passed to the Lord in the year of the generation of Christ 1006, on the Ides of February, on the fourth feria, nearly the eighth hour of the day being past… And he remained in the episcopate LXII years and IX days.

[625] I am not unaware that concerning the aforesaid year of consecration a certain difficulty is proposed by Bolland, the beginning of the year was reckoned from the feast of the Annunciation, because St. Fulcran is said to have governed the church of Lodève for LXII years, which chronology cannot stand with the beginning and end of his episcopate. Pagi in the Critique at the year of Christ 1006, number 2, eagerly embraced this doubt of Bolland, and asseveratingly pronounces that by the error of copyists the numeral X crept in for V, and that the year of Christ 944 must be read for the year 949. But with the same ease an error could have crept into the years of the episcopate, and the numeral X been wrongly put for V, so that those LXII years which are erroneously attributed to the episcopate of St. Fulcran must be changed into LVII years. This same change of one numeral being made, everything stands rightly, and St. Fulcran can truly be said to have been raised to the see of Lodève in the month of February of the year 949, and to have left it, dying, in the same month of February of the year 1006.

[626] Besides, this scruple of Bolland and Pagi is sufficiently dispelled by the most illustrious Jean Plantavit de la Pause, or from Easter, bishop of Lodève, when in the Chronology of the prelates of Lodève, page 45, he hands down from the Necrology of that church that the predecessor of St. Fulcran died in the year 949 as printed: 1449, on the III day of January; and in the same place, pages 50 and 51, from ancient Breviaries and other monuments of Lodève, has the following about the succession of St. Fulcran: He is led unwilling to Narbonne, the metropolis of the province, and there is confirmed by Aymeric the archbishop, and consecrated in the basilica of blessed Paul the proconsul, first prelate of that city, on the day before the Nones of February, in the year of salvation nine hundred and forty-nine. Then the same most illustrious writer adds these things about the death of the same Saint (about this year of death no one doubts), pages 63 and 64: He presided over the church of Lodève fifty-seven years and nine days. At length, worn out by old age and broken by labors, … he breathed forth his holy soul loosed from the flesh, while with chilling lips he scarcely faintly uttered the sacred words of blessing over the bystanders, in the year of salvation 1006, on the Ides of February, on the fourth feria, at the eighth hour of the morning. Since therefore in that year of Christ 1006 the Dominical letter was F, and the Ides of February fell on the feria

fourth, from these chronological marks it is clear that Bernard Gui in these Acts of St. Fulcran took the beginning of the year from the Nativity of the Lord or from the Calends of January.

[627] but that a varying epoch for the beginning of the year From this example we do not wish to conclude that Bernard Gui constantly used that style: for that author elsewhere clearly indicates that he numbers the new year from the feast of the Annunciation, or from the XXV day of March, after the manner of certain Frenchmen. But from these things we only conjecture that that writer employed now one, now the other of the two epochs of the year, which he asserted above were in use in his age. Thus other Frenchmen too express a twofold manner of reckoning, as Mabillon in the praised diplomatic work, chapter 23, number 9, indicates in these words: Further, although our countrymen took the beginning of the year from Easter, yet they reckoned the Calends of January the beginning of a new year. Whence a charter of Drogo of Vaucourt in Du Cange in the Glossary, where he treats of the year, is said to have been given "from the Incarnation 1183, in the month of January, on the second day of the year beginning." And some historians not rarely expressed both calculations, as in the History of the bishops of Auxerre, where Audoin in chapter seventy-six is said to have been translated to the see of Maguelone "IN THE FIFTY-THIRD YEAR" (namely after 1300) "after the manner of the Roman court, at the Nativity of the Lord; but after the Gallican manner, in the fifty-second year": which twofold manner the same author distinguishes also in the following chapters up to the eightieth.

[628] was then in use among different authors. And thence it becomes evident that the years of the Incarnation among the French, although begun from Easter, did not anticipate the years of the Nativity as devised by the Romans, but were later by a space of three months (which is especially to be noted), even though the Incarnation preceded the Nativity by nine months. For the French, as still happens, employed the years of the Incarnation and of the Nativity indiscriminately, as we shall say afterward. The reckoning of the Romans the Germans everywhere followed, and began the year from the Nativity of Christ, as Du Cange learnedly proves in the Glossary. In passing I should wish it here observed that two of the chief biographers of St. Dominic, namely Blessed Jordan and Theodoric of Apolda, are Germans by nation, and accordingly in assigning the years probably kept the custom of their country. Perhaps also these and other writers of the Acts followed the style of the Roman court. For the rest, particular dioceses and cities employed a different manner in reckoning the beginning of the year, as is more fully proved in Du Cange in the Latin-Barbarous Glossary at the word "annus," and in Mabillon, book 2 of the praised diplomatic work, throughout the whole of chapter 23.

[629] From our chronological arrangement it follows, From all that has been said hitherto we conclude that Echard asserts too confidently that all the biographers of St. Dominic always used the old style. But if these German authors, according to the practice of the Roman court and the custom of very many historians, begin in describing the Saint's Life to number the years from the Nativity of the Lord, no difficulty presses us: for thus the holy Man could have departed from Spain in the month of January, or at the beginning of February, of the year 1219, and have come to Paris in the month of March, and thence after a brief delay set out for Italy. But if anyone should solidly prove that those writers begin the new year at the feast of the Annunciation or the XXV day of March (this epoch certainly was then in use in certain cities of France and Italy), according to the hypothesis proposed above we shall say that St. Dominic, at the beginning of the year 1219 or when it had already begun, arrived at Paris about the end of March, and there, some days having been passed, set out thence into Italy after Easter, or the VII day of April. In this system the Saint could about the middle of May of the same year have passed through various cities of Italy, and on the feast of Pentecost, or the XXVI day of May, have been present at the Chapter of the Minorites, as Franciscan writers commonly assert, whose testimonies, and the contrary arguments of the Preachers, we shall briefly weigh in the following paragraph.

[630] Let no one here object to us the excessive haste of all those journeys, that the Saint after his manner swiftly accomplished these journeys, and perhaps say that the Saint on our hypothesis could nowhere have rested or stayed longer: for we shall answer with Malvenda, who in the Annals of the Preachers at the year of Christ 1219, chapter 14, thus praises this haste of the holy Founder: Nowhere did the holy Man suffer himself to be detained, at least for a long time; but altogether imitating the course of the sun, surveying all things with incredible swiftness, he everywhere diffused the rays of his virtues and doctrine: for knowing that the laying down of his tabernacle was swift, he traversed with untiring labor various provinces and places, that while still living he might behold the most certain increases of his Order. It is no wonder therefore that a Man impatient of rest, as he is rightly called above by Echard, and burning with the desire of propagating his Order, nowhere stayed long. Add that the Saint in the space of eight days came from Rocamadour all the way to the city of Orleans, as will afterward be narrated in Theodoric of Apolda, number 150 and following. From this last specimen of swift traveling we sufficiently gather that the Saint accomplished great journeys day by day.

[631] Being somehow disentangled from these chronological trifles, we proceed to set forth the Saint's deeds in which he prodigiously increased wine, which happened on those journeys. But since most of them are narrated in the Acts to be published below, we shall examine only those which are there omitted, or which need some explanation. We probably think that on that return there happened the miracle which is narrated in the Lives of the Brothers, part 2, chapter 5, in this manner: On a certain day, when in those parts (namely of Toulouse, of which mention is made there immediately before) he was making a journey with many Brothers, and they had for dinner only one cup of wine, the blessed Father, having compassion on some who in the world had been very delicately reared, ordered that little to be poured into a large vessel, and water to be poured over it in abundance: and there were eight Brothers, who all drank abundantly of the water made very good wine, and it was left over for them. Malvenda, in the Annals of the Preachers at the year of Christ 1219, chapter 18, also thinks that St. Dominic performed this miracle on his return from Spain, and in the same place adds these things about the companions of that journey: But since St. Antoninus says that those eight companion Brothers had been newly received into the Order, we suspect that these were the very men who had adhered to St. Dominic in Spain, and, defection having been attempted at Guadalajara, were recalled by the man of God to a sound mind.

[632] This suspicion of Malvenda displeases Echard, who therefore in volume 1 of the Library of the Preachers, page 38, in the notes, and by it refreshed eight Spanish or Toulousan recruits, thus disapproves it: This miracle Malvenda refers, at the year 1219, number 18, to blessed Dominic's return from Spain, and as done for the sake of Spanish youths, whom, namely, recently enrolled in the Order, he thinks he brought with him to Toulouse; which does not please: for since he was zealous for enlarging the Order in Spain, it is not likely that he removed the brethren enlisted there from their homeland, where they were needed. Souèges rightly judges that it was done for the sake of the Toulousan brethren, several of whom, when the Saint passed that way, either seeking Spain or thence planning for Paris, wished to accompany him for some part of the journey, that they might enjoy his sweet conversations. If Souèges and Echard wished wholly to persuade us that this miracle was performed for the sake of the Toulousan brethren, they had chiefly to prove that those Toulousan companions had recently been admitted to the Order, since St. Antoninus in part 3 of his Chronicle, title 23, chapter 4, §9, plainly affirms that it happened to Brothers newly received into the Order and accustomed to delights in the world.

[633] and various affairs in the short time Echard, in volume 1, page 19, in the notes, records these things about the same Saint after his departure from Spain: Seeking Occitania again, and having embraced the Toulousan brethren for the last time, he took Brother Bertrand de Garriga as companion, and by great marches hastened to Paris. Since Jordan and Humbert add that he tarried a little, he probably stayed about a month in the royal city. Meanwhile, as was customary to him, he held public conferences everywhere, at which Jordan himself, then a bachelor of the sacred faculty, testifies that he was present; nay, that he confessed his sins to him in the sacred tribunal, and at his admonitions received the diaconate. Since the ancient writers of the Acts agree that St. Dominic stayed at Paris a little while, we are not compelled to embrace the conjecture of Echard, who grants a month to this sojourn: for within one or two weeks the things which the Saint is handed down to have done at Paris could have taken place. Whence Malvenda assigns to this Parisian stay only a few days, when in the often praised Annals at the year 1219, chapter 21, he writes these things: That in those few days also in which the holy Father stayed at Paris he received into the Order Brother William of Montferrat, a man of notable name in the Religion, Brother William himself affirms. This very man we shall hear below as the second witness in the Process of Bologna on this matter.

[634] in which he stayed at Paris, Then Echard, in the place just cited and on the preceding page, makes mention of certain cities to which St. Dominic then sent brethren from the city of Paris, that they might found monasteries of the Order in them. We have no leisure to investigate the several origins of these Convents, and therefore we admit without grudging the opinion of Echard in this matter. Nevertheless some observation is deserved by the foundation of the monastery of Limoges, which Echard in the same place, page 19, reports in these words: Brother Peter Cellani, whom he found at Paris, and whither you may with reason think he betook himself after the death of the Count of Montfort, either to escape the fury of Raymond, Count of Toulouse, and of the victorious Albigensians, or that he might for at least some time hear the sacred Letters at Paris, he sent to Limoges for the sake of erecting a monastery; who nevertheless, doubtless with the Saint so disposing, did not so soon leave Paris: since he did not arrive at Limoges with the companions assigned to him until about the following Epiphany in the year 1219 old style, 1220 new.

[635] trusting greatly in divine providence, The singular confidence of our Saint in God is proved by what happened in that sending of Peter Cellani, and which the praised Bernard Gui, in Edmund Martène, in the same volume 6 of the most ample Collection, column 402, thus narrates: In the year of the Lord 1219 blessed Dominic came from Spain to Paris, and in the aforesaid house of St. James found a Convent of thirty Brothers, and thence sent to Limoges, to receive a Convent there, Brother Peter Cellani of Toulouse, mentioned above, who, when he alleged his ignorance and his want of books (for he had only a single quire of the homilies of blessed Gregory), the merciful Father, whose heart had trust in the Lord, answered: Go, he said, son, and go confidently; every day I will have you twice before God, and do not doubt; you will win many to the Lord, and will bring forth much fruit; you will grow and multiply, and the Lord will be with you. And thus Brother Peter himself afterward related to his familiars,

that when he was pressed by straits within or without, he called upon the Lord and Dominic, recalling to memory his promise, and all things prospered for him.

[636] he did for the propagating of his Order. Alexander II, king of Scotland, who was then staying at Paris on business, is also said to have asked St. Dominic to send some of his brethren into his kingdom, as Hector Boethius in book 13 of the History of the Scots, in our copy folio 283 verso, narrates in this manner: They report that Alexander, when he had come into France to Philip to renew the ancient treaties, happened also to meet Dominic, and greatly entreated that he would send some holy men, from among those whom he had with him, into Scotland to instruct the people: and when this was done, they were held in the greatest honor with Alexander, and houses in which they might live were either supplied or newly built. The most illustrious John Leslie, bishop of Ross, in book 6 On the Deeds of the Scots, page 232 of the Roman edition, writes nearly similar things. The credit of that colloquy we leave with those more recent authors, since they themselves allege no ancient witnesses, and our ancient biographers make no mention of this matter. But whether the Preachers penetrated into Scotland while the Saint was still alive, as Malvenda judges, we shall briefly examine below on another occasion.

[637] Further, St. Dominic, his affairs being finished after a brief delay, Also on that journey among the Alps of Lombardy perhaps took William of Montferrat with others as a companion of the journey, and set out from the city of Paris through Burgundy (doubtless swiftly, after his manner) into Italy. The various miracles which the Saint performed on the way will afterward be read in the Acts. Certainly on that journey there happened what St. Antoninus in part 3 of the Chronicles, title 23, chapter 4, §9, narrates, even though he there inverted the order of the journey: for he thinks it was done when the blessed Father was setting out from Bologna into France, and in the Alps his companion, through weakness from hunger, was unable to proceed further. But doubtless the holy historian errs, or an error crept into his words, since from the whole series of the Acts it is established that St. Dominic after the confirmation of his Order never came from Bologna into Transalpine Gaul.

[638] Wherefore we transcribe this miracle from the Lives of the Brothers, part 2, chapter 8, he refreshed his companion, failing from hunger, where after the Spanish journey it is rightly reported thus: After these things the glorious Father returned into Italy, a certain Brother John, a Lay Brother, being associated with him; which Brother John among the Alps of Lombardy suddenly began to fail from hunger, so that he could neither go further nor raise himself from the ground for weariness. To whom the merciful Father said: Take courage, son, and let us proceed little by little, and we shall come to a place where we may be able to find some refreshment. And when he answered that he was by no means able to proceed, but was utterly failing, the holy Man, moved by the mercy with which he was filled and by compassion for the Brother, turning to his accustomed refuge, briefly prayed to the Lord, and, turning to the Brother, said: Rise, son, and go to that place, and whatever you find there, bring here.

[639] with bread heavenly appointed, He rose, though with great difficulty, and with such step as he could, at length reaching the place, which might be a stone's throw distant, found one loaf of wondrous whiteness wrapped in most white napkins; and, having taken it, he returned to God's Saint, and, at his command, eating of the same loaf, he recovered strength sufficiently; and being asked by the man of God whether now, hunger being driven off and himself refreshed, he could walk, he answered that he was sufficiently refreshed and could very well pursue the journey begun — he who a little before could not move himself. Rise, he said, son, and put back the remainder of the loaf wrapped in the napkins in the place where you found it. Which done, they began to go on the journey they had begun. But when they had proceeded a little, the Brother, coming to himself, said within himself: My God! Who put bread there, or whence was it brought thither? And am I not both slow and ignorant alike, who have hitherto asked nothing about this? Then he said to the Saint: Holy Father, whence was that bread brought, or who put it there? Then the true lover and preserver of humility asked the Brother, saying: Son, you have eaten what suffices you; give thanks to God, as is fitting, and by no means inquire further. These things the said Brother John, to whom it happened, afterward, returning into Spain, related to the Brothers: who at length, associated with the Brothers who by the mandate of the lord Pope were going into Africa to preach the Catholic faith, coming to Morocco, passed to the Lord, his course happily completed.

[640] and perhaps he then turned aside to certain cities of Italy, Echard, in volume 1 of the Library of the Preachers, page 19 and following, in the notes, recites various monuments to prove that St. Dominic on that journey turned aside to Milan, delivered fervent sermons there, and gathered some into his Order. But our ancient biographers are silent about these matters, and Malvenda, in the Annals of the Preachers at the year of Christ 1219, chapter 22, describing this return, makes no mention of this Milanese digression; nay rather, at the end of the same place he refutes Flaminius, who in the Life of St. Dominic, folio 30 verso, asserts that the Saint then stayed many days at Bergamo. We are not unaware that the Saint at some time came to the city of Milan; but historians differ about the time when this happened, as may be seen in Puricelli in the Nazarian Dissertation, chapter 109, where it is fully disputed how often and when St. Dominic went to Milan. Nay rather, Puricelli himself, ancient monuments having been weighed, in the same place, page 545, pronounces thus on this controversy: Nowhere assuredly does it appear how Dominic could meanwhile have come to Milan before he set out for Bologna. The ancient writers being silent, therefore, the order of that journey seems arbitrary.

[641] before he came to Bologna. Wherefore it will be permitted us also to suspect that St. Dominic then, for the sake of enlarging his Order, traversed several cities of Italy before he came to Bologna, and that at that time he went on business to Perugia, where Cardinal Ugolino was staying, and accordingly on this occasion could have been present at the Chapter of the Minorites, which in the year of Christ 1219, on the feast of Pentecost, was celebrated at the neighboring place of St. Mary of the Portiuncula. Since in our chronological system St. Dominic departed from Paris into Italy immediately after Easter of the year 1219, which then fell on the VII day of April, we have hitherto said only that the Saint could have been present at the Chapter of the Minorites which in the same year was celebrated on the XXVI day of May: for it is another question whether he was in fact present at this Chapter, and whether there happened in it all those things which Franciscan writers narrate about St. Dominic. This historical controversy, long agitated between two most distinguished Orders, we shall now briefly discuss in the following paragraph.

§ XXXIV. Whether the Saint was present at the assembly of the Franciscans, which is commonly called the Chapter of the Mats.

In the year of Christ 1219, about the feast of Pentecost, or the XXVI day of May, there came together from various regions to the general assembly of the Order five thousand Minorites, Between the Minorites and the Preachers it is disputed, whom St. Francis in the preceding year had summoned by letters. But since the monastery could scarcely hold a tenth part of so great a multitude, not far from Assisi in the field around the Portiuncula they lay on mats; whence that gathering was commonly called the Chapter of the Mats. Franciscan writers commonly hand down that St. Dominic was present at this Chapter; but the Preachers altogether deny it, and attack that tradition of the Minorites with various arguments. Among them Luke Wadding, in the Annals of the Minorites at the year of Christ 1219, number 1 and following, treats this matter fully, and strives to confirm the common opinion of his Order by several testimonies; but against these James Echard, in volume 1 of the Library of the Preachers, from page 77, not long ago opposed an entire dissertation to this opinion, and tries to overturn the whole foundation of Wadding.

[643] But since our Papebroch, in the Appendix to volume 11 of May, pages 828 and 840, in the Life of St. Angelus the Carmelite, followed Wadding, whether St. Dominic was present at the Chapter of the Mats, and in this controversy in passing favored the Franciscans, the praised Echard, in volume 1 of his cited work, page 81, does not doubt that we shall revoke that opinion of Papebroch when the matter has been more maturely discussed. We frankly confess that Papebroch, in the Appendix to the said volume 11 of May, page 828, wrongly placed the Spanish journey of St. Dominic after this Chapter of the Mats. Nor ought this to seem strange, since he touched this matter only lightly as occasion offered, before he had attentively perused all the ancient biographers of St. Dominic. Wherefore the same could be said, without any dishonor to that most learned man, about the presence of St. Dominic at the Chapter of the Mats, which too he asserts only in passing from Wadding, if the arguments of Echard plainly convinced us. But we do not yet see that they are such as to compel us to abandon this assertion of Papebroch and the immemorial tradition of the Franciscans. Certainly Candide Chalippe, a learned French Minorite, had read all these reasonings of Echard, and yet lately in the French Life of St. Francis, at the year 1219, book 3, page 124 and following, narrates the same tradition of his Order, and in the same place in the notes requests our judgment on this controversy with Echard. Lest perhaps we should seem to favor one Order more earnestly than the other, we shall allege the chief reasons of both sides, and shall weigh first the arguments of those who affirm, then of those who deny.

[644] Bartholomew of Pisa, who wrote at the close of the XIV century, in book 1 of the Conformities, folio 18, column 1, has these things about the presence of St. Dominic at the mentioned Chapter: although the Franciscans assert it from the testimony of ancient writers, Blessed Francis was also made known to blessed Dominic in the general Chapter celebrated by blessed Francis at Assisi; at which, when there were more than five thousand Brothers, blessed Dominic himself was present with several of his Brothers; where he recognized that divine providence was present toward the Brothers by the merits of blessed Francis, since to so many Brothers having nothing, and not thinking about food, divine providence suddenly supplied all things copiously; on account of which blessed Dominic himself said: Truly the Lord has care of these holy poor men, and I knew it not. But Wadding, in the Annals of the Minorites at the year of Christ 1219, number 13, cites various older witnesses of this matter in these words: Further, that it so happened, and that he (namely St. Dominic) was present at this Chapter of the Mats with seven companions, of our men expressly report the three companions of Francis, Leo, Rufinus, and Angelo, in his Legend; Thomas of Celano in the other; Bernard of Besse, companion of Bonaventure, in his history; Brother Ugolino of St. Mary on the Mount, who flourished three hundred years ago, in the History of St. Francis in manuscript in my possession. Then he alleges Bartholomew of Pisa, and other more recent writers, both domestic and external,

who made mention of the same presence of St. Dominic. Since these latter cannot bear certain testimony about a matter so long past, we shall exhibit the narration of this tradition from the ancient monuments of the Franciscan Order.

[645] among whom contemporary witnesses narrate, Nevertheless we have no leisure here to unroll and discuss laboriously before the time all the Acts of St. Francis which are preserved in our archives. Wherefore we shall transcribe this history from the ready Mirror of the Life of St. Francis, which Brother Philip Bosquier published under the name of his coeval brethren, and where in Century 2, chapter 68, he reports the following from these contemporary authors: In a certain general Chapter which Francis, the most faithful servant of Christ, celebrated in the plain of St. Mary of the Angels, more than five thousand Brothers were gathered. There was present there also St. Dominic, head of the Order of Preachers, with seven Brothers of his Order. There was moreover present the lord Cardinal (namely Ugolino, who afterward under the name of Gregory IX was raised to the chair of St. Peter), greatly devoted to blessed Francis and to his Brothers, to whom St. Francis foretold that he was to be Pope, and so it came to pass. Since therefore the court of the lord Pope was then at Perugia, the said Cardinal came zealously to Assisi, and every day came to St. Francis to see him and his Brothers: sometimes he sang Mass, sometimes he preached a sermon to them.

[646] that St. Dominic was present there. But when he came to visit that happy college, and saw them in the aforesaid field sitting in companies of sixty and a hundred and three hundred, either in divine conversation or in prayers and tears, or in exercises of charity, and with such silence that there was no noise or din there, marveling at so great a multitude, ordered like the ranks of an army, he said with tears and great devotion: Truly these are the camps of God: for no one among them dared to tell tales or jests. But wherever they gathered, they either prayed, or wept, or spoke of the salvation of souls; and they had in that field shelters of matting distinguished around and above; and their beds were either the earth or a little straw; and their pillows stones or wood. Therefore such was the devotion of all, that from the court nearby many Counts and Barons, dukes and knights, and Cardinals also together with bishops and clerics, and nobles with common folk, ran together to see so holy and humble a congregation, the like of which for so many holy men the world had not; and also to see the most holy head of those Brothers, who had snatched so beautiful a prey from the world, and was directing so devout a flock to the blessed pastures of Christ.

[647] But when all were gathered, the holy shepherd and venerable leader Francis rose in the fervor of the Holy Spirit, seeing the vast confidence, and set before that blessed flock the word of life with a lofty and trumpet-like voice, which the divine unction poured into him; and he proposed this theme: We have promised great things, but greater have been promised to us; let us keep these, let us aspire to those. Brief is pleasure, perpetual is punishment. Slight is suffering, glory infinite. And preaching most devoutly upon these words, he exhorted all to obedience to holy mother Church, to the sweetness of fraternal charity, to praying for the whole holy people of God; also to patience amid hardships, to purity and angelic chastity, to peace and concord with God and men, to humility and gentleness with all, to contempt of the world and fervent zeal for the highest poverty; and to solicitude and vigilance in prayer and in the praise of God, to casting all care of soul and body upon the good shepherd and nourisher of souls and bodies, upon our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. And for the better observing of this, I command, he said, all the Brothers here gathered, unto the merit of salutary obedience, that none of you have any care or solicitude about any eatable thing, or about any necessities of the body; but attend only to prayer and to the praise of God, casting all your care upon Christ, since he has a special care for us. And so they did, running with cheerful mind to pray.

[648] But St. Dominic, who was still present, with which St. Francis cast off the care of temporal things, marveling at the command which St. Francis had made, and reckoning that he was proceeding indiscreetly, because he had commanded, in so great a multitude, that no one should have care about the necessities of the body, judged that in so great a multitude some inconvenience must occur. But the Lord Jesus Christ, wishing to show that he himself bore a singular care for such dear sheep and his own poor, at once, by inspiring, the hand of the Lord was made upon the people of Perugia, Spoleto, Foligno, Spello, Assisi, and all the surrounding lands: and they came with asses, mules, and horses, and with carts laden with bread and wine, beans and cheese, and all the good things which they thought those blessed poor men needed. Moreover they brought napkins, and vessels great and small, and whatever utensils were needed; and he thought himself blessed who could serve more devoutly and attentively, and most zealously provide in all things for the need of that blessed multitude.

[649] But you would have seen noble knights most devoutly serving that company of holy men. embraced by his example a stricter poverty, You would have seen there also devout and faithful clerics running about everywhere after the manner of pages. You would have seen there the flowering youth of adolescents ministering with such reverence that they seemed to be serving not poor little Brothers, but the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. All which when St. Dominic beheld, and truly recognized divine providence there, he humbly reproved himself for the aforesaid judgment of indiscretion which he had made, and, bending his knee to blessed Francis, humbly confessed his fault, and said: Truly God has care of these poor little Brothers, and I knew it not. Whence from now on I promise to keep holy evangelical poverty, and I curse on God's behalf all Brothers of my Order who shall presume to have property in that Order. St. Dominic was therefore greatly edified by the faith of St. Francis, and by the obedience and poverty of so well-ordered and great a college, and by divine providence, and the most abundant supply of everything.

[650] as we wished to report in the original phrasing of the authors. In the Mirror of the Life of St. Francis which Brother William Spoelberch published at Antwerp in the year 1620, and which he too ascribes to the contemporary brethren of his seraphic Father, part 1, chapter 20, similar things are read; but that editor changed the style and order of that little work, as he himself testifies in his premonition to the reader in these words: They wrote indeed in a style quite simple and unpolished, such as this fastidious age scarcely bears, scarcely admits; and therefore, the truth of the history being preserved, we have polished it a little. They wrote in a somewhat confused order; we have reduced it to a better one in our judgment. But since in our age the original phrasing of the ancient writers pleases more, we have given that narration from the edition of Philip Bosquier, which also nearly agrees with the transcript of the same Mirror which we received from the Louvain archive of the Minorites, and which has been collated with various manuscript codices. But hitherto we do not know the antiquity of those codices, which will have to be more accurately investigated when we come to illustrating the Acts of St. Francis. Meanwhile Fr. Matthias Grouwels may be consulted, who in the Critical History of the sacred indulgence of Blessed Mary of the Angels, commonly of the Portiuncula, part 4, chapter 5, vindicated the authority and credit of this Mirror against an anonymous writer.

[651] To this narration Echard the Dominican, Now we must hear what the Dominican authors oppose to this narration, among whom most recently Echard, in volume 1 of the Library of the Preachers, page 78, thus discourses: Whether that Chapter of the Mats was really held, or rather a gathering (for perhaps no one will deny that St. Francis summoned a gathering of the chief men among his Brothers, which, if it please to call a general Chapter, so be it) — but whether so many thousands of brethren had already then been enlisted into his company, and came together at once in that assembly, I have no mind to inquire: there will perhaps at some time be those who will scrutinize more curiously a matter omitted by St. Bonaventure and, so far as one may conjecture, either unknown to him or not approved; and who, bringing to the touchstone the Legend circulated under the name of the three companions of St. Francis, which Wadding professes that he is transcribing, will teach, according to the task they undertake, what credit it deserves. I here treat only of St. Dominic; I plainly contend that the colloquy of his with St. Francis reported by Wadding, whether at Perugia (whether this was done at Perugia we shall examine below) or at Assisi in the Chapter of the Mats, is fictitious.

[652] who certainly erred in denying a certain matter, In this place Echard suffered something human, when namely he here hints that St. Bonaventure made no mention of that Chapter and of so great a number of Minorites, who nevertheless in the Life of St. Francis, chapter 4, plainly writes the following: Also in the course of time, the Brothers being now multiplied, the solicitous Shepherd began to summon them to a general Chapter at the place of St. Mary of the Portiuncula, that in the measuring line of divine distribution in the land of their poverty he might assign to each his portion of obedience: where, although there was a want of all necessaries, and a multitude of Brothers MORE THAN FIVE THOUSAND came together, yet, by the help of divine clemency, both a sufficiency of food was at hand, and bodily health attended, and spiritual gladness abounded. And so it evidently appears that that general Chapter was not omitted by Bonaventure, and that more than five thousand Brothers were present at it. In the parchment codex of our Museum marked P Ms. 1, which with other manuscript Acts of the Saints contains that lucubration of Bonaventure, exactly the same words of this holy biographer are read, which we here add lest perhaps Echard should suspect that some interpolation crept into the printed copies of that Life.

[653] Besides, Echard by the words already reported indicates that the Legend of St. Francis, or the aforesaid Mirror of the Life, and ought to have overturned the credit of the witnesses, which is attributed to the contemporary companions of the same Saint, is suspect to him of fabrication or interpolation. But in the first place that suspicion, which he so confidently thrusts forward and commits to others to be discussed, ought to have been proved by him by some reasons or at least conjectures: for if Echard had demonstrated that that Mirror was invented, we should more easily have acquiesced in his arguments. He ought moreover chiefly to have shown that that disputed presence of St. Dominic at the Chapter of the Mats is not asserted by Thomas of Celano and other ancient writers, whom Wadding, praised above, alleges in the Annals of the Minorites as witnesses of this matter. We scarcely doubt that the Franciscans can exhibit various ancient copies of all these writers, which being shown or legitimately proved, we could safely judge about this controversy.

[654] Meanwhile let us briefly run through the other

arguments of Echard, he opposes various arguments, among which in volume 1, page 78, he thus repeats his strongest, from chronology: On the testimony of the Franciscan Annalist himself, the whole question turns on this, whether in the year 1219 St. Dominic celebrated the feast of Pentecost in Italy; and accordingly, if I shall demonstrate that he then spent it in Spain or France, Wadding's narration must utterly collapse. To settle the matter from contemporary authors is not difficult; but before I bring them forward, the reader must be warned always to keep before his eyes, in reckoning the years, the difference of the old style from the new; which, since certain more recent writers, and among them Wadding, have quite often not attended to, they have entangled themselves in various mazes and have been most gravely deluded. Then in the same place he affirms that all the biographers of St. Dominic, and other writers of the XIII century, used the old style, and always reckoned the beginning of the year either from the XXV day of March or from Easter.

[655] But we have already shown in the preceding paragraph that a twofold epoch was in use at that time, and that many began the year from the Nativity of the Lord, which nevertheless do not yet settle the matter, which we also confirmed by an evident example from Bernard Gui. If the ancient writers of the Acts of St. Dominic employed this same epoch with several historians of their time, chronology does not prevent this Saint from having been present at the Chapter of the Mats, as will become manifest to one who considers. Nay rather, in the same place, even on Echard's own opinion, according to which those writers reckoned the beginning of the year from the feast of the Annunciation, or from the XXV day of March, we proposed a certain system to which the words of these authors are not repugnant, and in which St. Dominic, departing from Paris immediately after Easter of the year 1219, could absolutely in the same year have been at Assisi about the feast of Pentecost. We do not deny that on this hypothesis a long journey must be accomplished in an interval of fifty days; but since it could absolutely have been accomplished, we prefer to swallow that difficulty rather than rashly at once withdraw credit from witnesses whom Baronius in the Notes to the Roman Martyrology at the IV day of October acknowledges as contemporary, and on whose testimony the opinion of the Franciscans chiefly rests, which accordingly ought before all else to have been overturned by Echard, if he wished to accomplish anything by his whole dissertation.

[656] and so far do not decide the dispute, Besides, in the mentioned narration of the Mirror it displeases Echard that St. Dominic, after seeing divine providence's care for feeding so many thousands of poor Brothers, as is there handed down, resolved after the example of St. Francis to renounce all temporal goods: for in volume 1, page 80 and following, he contends that St. Dominic had long before had this renunciation of temporal goods in mind, and had determined to carry it out as soon as possible. But that resolve of St. Dominic, which he is said to have conceived at the Chapter of the Mats, can be explained of the stricter observance of poverty which he afterward prescribed to his brethren in the first Chapter of Bologna. Some foundation for this explanation is furnished by Blessed Jordan himself, who below in our edition at number 29 writes thus: Nor was that constitution afterward published yet observed, that it should be lawful neither to receive possessions nor to retain those already received. Then in the same place at number 32, treating of the choice of the rule and of certain first constitutions, he adds these things: They also resolved and established not to have possessions, lest the office of preaching be hindered by solicitude for earthly things; but only to receive revenues from which they might provide for themselves the necessities of food. You see here possessions distinguished from revenues. St. Dominic therefore could have renounced not only possessions, which he had before determined to abandon, but, after the example of St. Francis, revenues also, and have embraced a stricter poverty.

[657] which could be terminated by an eyewitness inspection of the manuscript codices. Although these and other arguments of Echard are not to be despised, yet they must somehow be resolved, until the Dominican writers shall have demonstrated that the narration reported above was falsely attributed to the contemporary companions of St. Francis and to other ancient writers. Candide Chalippe, in the preface to the French Life of St. Francis, page XXXII, testifies that the Legend of the three brethren is preserved in the library of the king of France, and among the Minorites of Louvain and Mechlin, in manuscript codices. We do not doubt that in other libraries of Europe several copies of the same little work are found. Since, however, the antiquity of those manuscript codices is hitherto unknown to us, we do not dare to decide with certainty that dispute agitated between the Preachers and the Franciscans, which will be able to be recalled to examination in the Acts of St. Francis. Meanwhile it lies upon the Preachers to show that that Mirror of the Life of St. Francis is wrongly ascribed to his coeval brethren, or at least that the mentioned relation was afterward inserted into it and into the other ancient writers: but the Franciscans must legitimately prove that that very narration is found in ancient manuscripts and codices worthy of credit, so that the truth of one or the other opinion may plainly be established. But if my colleagues or successors shall then receive those more certain documents for one side or the other, or shall detect others among the biographers of St. Francis, I wish them asked to confirm my conjectures, or most freely to refute them, if they should seem to stray from the truth. Now, on account of the likeness of the matter, I proceed to another meeting of the same Saints, although this perhaps happened at another time.

* that is, trifles

* elsewhere "let us sigh"

* perhaps "likewise"

§ XXXV. The other colloquy which our Saint is said to have had at Rome or at Perugia with St. Francis.

Writers do not agree Writers do not agree about the time and place of this colloquy, which St. Antoninus, in part 3 of the Chronicles, in the Acts of St. Francis, title 24, chapter 2, §2, thus narrates: When those two luminaries of the world, blessed Dominic and blessed Francis, were in the city of Rome before the lord Cardinal of Ostia, who afterward was Pope, the lord Cardinal said: Why do we not make of your Brothers bishops and prelates, who excel the rest in teaching and example? There arises between the Saints a long and pious contention about answering, which of them ought to be first. At length humility conquered Francis, that he should not set himself before the other; and it conquered Dominic also, that he should first humbly obey the questioner. Blessed Dominic therefore said: Lord, my Brothers are raised to a good grade, if they recognize it; nor will I so far as in me lies permit that they attain any other token of dignity. After him blessed Francis answering said: Lord, my Brothers were therefore made Lesser, that they might not presume to become greater. Ferdinand del Castillo in the History of the Dominican Order, book 1, chapter 50, elegantly sets forth the same in Spanish.

[659] But Malvenda, in the Annals of the Preachers at the year 1219, chapter 28, after reporting this narration of St. Antoninus, subjoins the following: about the time and place of the colloquy, Thus the great chieftains and lofty pillars of the Christian religion, out of great humility, deferred to each other, and determined about their Orders what they most greatly desired. But far otherwise was the judgment in that matter of the supreme Presidents of the Church, who, well perceiving how much of utility and splendor would accrue to the Christian commonwealth from these sacred Orders, soon began in rivalry to draw from these garrisons distinguished prelates, leaders, bishops, who should be set over the assemblies of the faithful and over churches, with great advantage to the Christian cause, as we shall show more fully in their places in these Annals. Nor do we doubt that in those days in which the most holy patriarchs Dominic and Francis stayed at Rome they wondrously vied with each other in mutual offices of love and charity, quite often mingled most sweet conversations about God, and not rarely conferred by what means they might profit the peoples, help the salvation of souls, and promote virtue everywhere. Oh, if it had been permitted to see that holy pair of Christ, and a pair on earth without a peer! With what unexhausted thirst, with what ardor of mind they strove to establish in the world the honor of God, the extinction of vices, the propagation of virtues! Thus far he, who by conjecture thinks that this matter took place at Rome about the last months of the year 1219; but Souèges in the French Acts of St. Dominic, page 381, judges that it happened there before Easter of the year 1220.

[660] Wadding, in the Opuscula of St. Francis, which were published at Antwerp in the year 1623 from the Plantin press, which St. Dominic and St. Francis are said to have had, volume 3, colloquy 10, page 449, had also placed this meeting of both Saints at Rome; but afterward in the Annals of the Minorites he changed his opinion, and judges it more probable that those holy Patriarchs met at Perugia a little before the Chapter of the Mats in the presence of Cardinal Ugolino; and in the praised Annals at the year of Christ 1219, number 2, thus gives the reason for his changed opinion: There are those who have thought that this colloquy was entered upon in the City, whom I followed in the collection of the Opuscula of the holy Patriarch; but I should judge that here more credit is to be given to Blessed Leo, an eyewitness and companion of this very journey. But we marvel how Wadding says on the testimony of Leo that that colloquy was held at Perugia, since the Mirror of the Life of St. Francis, which is ascribed to the same Leo and to other coeval brethren of the Saint, in certain printed and manuscript copies clearly expresses that it took place at Rome. Let the Franciscans, to whom it belongs, reconcile these things among themselves.

[661] and therefore Echard thinks it fictitious; Meanwhile let us hear Echard, who in volume 1 of the Library of the Preachers, page 80, thus attacks all the asserters of this meeting: But neither St. Antoninus, nor those of our men who follow him, help Wadding at all: for he writes that this colloquy was held not at Perugia but at Rome, without note of the year. Our Souèges, in volume 1 of August of the French Dominican Year, page 381, likewise places it at Rome before Easter of the year 1220; which in no way coheres with the chronology of the Life of St. Francis: for Wadding denies and proves that the two Saints did not meet at Rome after the year 1216. But in the year 1220 St. Francis, scarcely returned from Palestine or Syria, where he had stayed about a year, betook himself, not to Rome, but step by step through several cities of Lombardy to Assisi, where he had very many affairs. At length from this diversity of opinions he concludes that that meeting of both holy Founders must be numbered among fables.

[662] which reasoning of his proves too much. But this argumentation of Echard proves too much: for from a discrepancy of time and place at which some matter is said to have been done, it cannot at once be inferred that it never or nowhere happened. Thus the canonization of St. Dominic is said, according to various writers, to have been performed at a different place and time, as we shall see afterward, and Echard himself in the notes to the Chronicle of Humbert, volume 1, page 70, confesses in these words: It is strange that in a matter so public as was the canonization of blessed Dominic there should be so great a difference among writers both contemporary and near-contemporary, nay among the various codices of the same writers and the various copies of the bull itself, so that they agree neither as to place nor as to year, month, or day. Yet no one thence concludes that St. Dominic was nowhere or never solemnly inscribed in the catalogue of the Saints. Therefore from a difference of place and time it does not yet follow that the mentioned meeting of both those Patriarchs

which St. Antoninus reports is fictitious.

[663] Franciscan writers about that colloquy, Wadding and other Franciscan writers add many things to this colloquy from the aforesaid Mirror of the Life of St. Francis, which in the edition of Philip Bosquier, Century 1, chapter 42, thus narrates that meeting of the two Saints: In the city of Rome, when those two bright luminaries of the world, namely blessed Francis and blessed Dominic, were together before the lord of Ostia, who afterward was supreme Pontiff, and in turn poured forth honeyed words about God, at length the lord of Ostia said to them: In the primitive Church the shepherds and prelates were poor men, fervent with charity, not with cupidity. Why therefore do we not make of the Brothers bishops and prelates, who would excel all others in teaching and example? There was between the Saints a humble and devout contention about answering, not indeed commanding but deferring to each other and urging each other to the answer. But at length the humility of blessed Francis conquered, that he should not answer first. It conquered Dominic also, that by answering first he should humbly obey. Blessed Dominic therefore, answering, said to the lord Guidibonus (in the Louvain manuscript is read "said: Lord, to a good grade," which reading Wadding also seems to follow): My Brothers have been raised, if they will acknowledge this; and so far as in me lies I will never permit that they attain any other mirror of dignity. Then blessed Francis, bowing before the said lord, said: Lord, my Brothers were therefore called Lesser, that they might not presume to become greater; and their calling teaches them to remain on the level, and to imitate the footsteps of Christ's humility, that through this they may at length in the regard of the Saints be exalted more than others: for if you wish that they bear fruit in the Church of God, hold them and preserve them in the state of their calling, and if they climb to lofty things, bring them back forcibly to the level, and never permit them to ascend to any prelacy. These were the answers of the Saints: which answers of both being finished, the lord of Ostia was greatly edified, and gave immense thanks.

[664] But as both were departing together, blessed Dominic asked blessed Francis which they narrate that these two Saints established about various matters, that he would deign to give him the cord with which he was girded. Blessed Francis refused out of humility, as the other asked out of charity. At length the happy devotion of the petitioner conquered, and blessed Dominic girded himself under his inner tunic with the cord of blessed Francis, received by the violence of charity, and from then on devoutly wore it. At length the one placed his hands between the hands of the other, and each most sweetly commended himself to the other with mutual commendation. And blessed Dominic said to blessed Francis: I would wish, Brother Francis, that your Religion and mine were made one, and that we should live in the Church in an equal form. After these things, when they were parting from each other, blessed Dominic said to several who stood by: In truth I say to you that all Religious ought to imitate this holy Man; for so great is the perfection of his sanctity.

[665] Here it is not expressed what St. Francis answered to St. Dominic when he desired that both Orders should live under the same rule in the Church of God. they hand down many things from ancient witnesses, But Wadding, among the opuscula of St. Francis, volume 3, colloquy 10, page 449 and following, thus reports this answer from Bartholomew of Pisa, Pelbart of Temesvár, and the Fano manuscript codex: The man of God and our blessed father Dominic, patriarch and illustrious founder of the Preachers, met each other in the City; and while they were proposing and arranging with each other certain serious matters for the salvation of souls and very many for the benefit and peace of the Catholic Church, that great ornament of the Preachers said to his companion and friend Francis: Dearest Brother, on account of my great intimacy with you, my heartfelt love toward your sons, and the stability of peace and brotherhood between yours and mine, I should rejoice that both should serve under one Religion, so that those whom the firm love of their fathers has so joined, a disparity of Religion or of life may not dissolve. To whom Francis with the utmost humility replied: It is of the divine will, most loving Brother, that what has been done was done and ordained by it, that different Religions should be founded by us, so that in the variety of both, in the diversity of precepts, in the rigor of the one and the leniency of the other, provision may be made for the variety of human infirmity; and that to those whom these do not please, those may not displease; and that to whom one seems hard, the other may appear more lenient; and thus that God may not lose souls by the straitness of one Religion, but gain them by the capacity of the other. Wadding, in the Annals of the Minorites at the year of Christ 1219, number 1 and following, narrates these and the other things already reported above, and confirms them by the testimony of the contemporary Leo and of the near-contemporary Bernard of Besse.

[666] which vehemently offend Echard, But this whole relation of Wadding offends Echard, who in volume 1 of the Library of the Preachers, pages 79 and 80, thus sharply attacks it: Wadding narrates three things done between the two in the colloquy at Perugia: first, that both were present before Cardinal Ugolino, and were asked by him whether they did not judge it to the advantage of the Church that their brethren be carried off to the mitre; secondly, that Dominic asked of Francis that from both Orders one should be made, which the latter did not approve; thirdly, that Dominic at length by friendly humility and holy importunity obtained from Francis at least the knotted cord with which he was girded, which the former presently put about his body under his garments. Such trifles, forsooth, they used to sing to the Minorite recruits when they were being clothed: for childish things of this kind and insipid ones suit only children; but they are hardly worthy of the majesty of Saints who think nothing but great things for the greater glory of God. That Dominic was girded secretly not with a cord but with an iron chain; and that St. Francis prescribed to his men, so that they might openly set it before the eyes of all above their garments, that cord which the more ancient monks wore under their garments, has been shown in the preceding dissertation.

[667] who therefore contends by various arguments, The second, that from both Orders one should be made, in whatever way it be understood, could not have come into Dominic's mind: not indeed that his own should pass into the Franciscan, which he had instituted with so many labors, had already dispersed through Europe, heaven had approved by so many visions, the supreme Pontiff had confirmed by a solemn diploma, and had already adorned with many privileges, whereas St. Francis had not yet obtained any confirmation of his society, at least in writing, and did not obtain it until several years afterward; nor even that the Franciscans should join his: for Dominic, like another Paul, urged each to remain in his own calling. Thus, as will be shown in the following dissertation, he was enlisting various companions from various Orders and monasteries for preaching in the year 1220, but each in the proper habit of his own Order. Why should he have wished the Minorites to lay theirs aside?

[668] that that whole colloquy is fabulous, Now as to Cardinal Ugolino's proposition, Wadding, I confess, presents both Saints answering with the utmost modesty. But is this of such importance that on that account the whole scheme of Dominic's Life must be overturned? St. Bonaventure indeed reports that Ugolino at one time dealt about these things with St. Francis; but since neither he nor our writers who flourished before the year 1300 mention that Dominic was present at that meeting, one must believe that this was afterward devised by those who cannot bear to narrate matters simply as they are read in the first and candid authors, unless they augment and adorn them at pleasure with new circumstances. Then in the same place he confesses that St. Antoninus mentioned the first part of the colloquy in the Acts of St. Francis. Finally, however, he concludes that his narration is not to be admitted, as we have already indicated above.

[669] which nevertheless he does not yet prove, Thomas of Cantimpré, in book 2 of the Bees, chapter 10, §10, writes the following: Among our clerics a threefold manner of living is distinguished. Secular clerics labor in study; secular or regular Canons watch over the singing of the hours; but monks, or other Religious, diligently sweat over their regular institutions, and in all these each is content with his own manner of living. But the Friars Preachers and Minorites, as their Order has established, seem to keep these three manners of living at once. They study with the clerics; with the Canons they watch over the singing of the hours; but with the monks and other Religious they are bound in their convents to undergo accusations, floggings, fasting, and for the most part silence, and almost daily and general disciplines after Compline; besides those things which are inward, as among the Preachers is the hard cord next the skin about the loins, the woolen garment on a journey afoot, soaked with much sweat, together with the fact that they have chosen to live without any properties of possessions. George Colvenerius, doctor of sacred theology of Douai, notes upon this text of Cantimpré that the Dominicans, when consulted by him, answered that such a cord was to be worn by them by their institute; and on the occasion of this cord, with Sedulius the Franciscan, he mentions the cord of St. Francis, with which St. Dominic is handed down to have girded himself under his inner tunic.

[670] Since this observation of the Douai doctor displeased Echard, since he has not destroyed the credit of the ancient witnesses who are alleged, he did not think it should be passed over in volume 1, page 77, without refutation: From what has been said hitherto you will gather, he says, that our men rightly answered George Colvenerius inquiring, in his notes on the passage of Cantimpré cited above, that they have that custom from the Order, namely to be bound with a hard cord next the flesh; but that it is a sheer fable which Colvenerius in the same place subjoins from Henry Sedulius in his commentary on chapter XII of the Life of St. Francis, and from the book entitled the Mirror of the Life of the same Saint, that Dominic, having at some time met with Francis, asked of him the knotted cord with which he was girded, and, though with difficulty, yet obtained it, with which he presently girded himself under his inner tunic, and did not thereafter lay it aside. For first, although blessed Dominic prescribed to his men a hard cord about the loins, after the custom common among Religious, he himself is nowhere read to have worn a cord, but an iron chain. After he has solidly proved this about the iron chain from Rodolph, an eyewitness, whom we shall afterward hear in the process of Bologna, he continues thus in the same place: What place is there for a cord where there is an iron chain? Surely, if that also had existed, Rodolph would have preserved it no otherwise than the chain, as a deposit sacred on a twofold ground — both because it had at one time been used by St. Francis, and because it had clung so closely and so intimately to St. Dominic; of which nevertheless there is no memory.

[671] But Echard (be it said with all respect to that most learned man) does not settle the matter by this argument: and from whose inspected codices the dispute would have to be decided. for St. Dominic could have worn a cord, as he had prescribed to his men, and have superadded to it an iron chain for the sake of greater penance. Thus in our Work at the day XIX of February, in the Acts of Blessed Boniface, bishop of Lausanne, we read that this prelate tamed his body with fasts and vigils, and for the sake of greater chastisement wore together with a hair shirt an iron ring. Add that in the proper Office of the diocese of Antwerp we yearly recite of St. Lambert, bishop and martyr,

the following: To his incredible abstinence and insistence on prayers there corresponded a hair garment next the bare flesh, together with a knotted cord about him. There was therefore a place for a knotted cord, although there was there a hair garment, or even if there had been an iron chain. But that no mention is made of a cord which Rodolph would also have preserved proves nothing, or too much. Thus in particular the other inner garments of St. Dominic are not recorded, some of which we could on account of that silence deny to the Saint, or which we could all, by a like manner of arguing, say were preserved by the same Rodolph, although no distinct memory of this matter exists. We probably think that after the death of St. Dominic these his sacred remains were distributed among his brethren, or eagerly received by those present, and that in that distribution or reception the iron chain fell to the mentioned Rodolph, and other relics were given to other brethren, although express notice of these is not found. For the rest, about the sum of this controversy we pronounce the same as we said in the preceding paragraph about the other: for although certain arguments of Echard do not lack their force, yet they will lose all their strength if the Franciscans shall have legitimately proved from ancient manuscript codices that this narration was left to posterity by an eyewitness, namely Brother Leo, and by other near-contemporary historians of their Order. Now the series of the Acts demands that we bring St. Dominic to Bologna, and review his various deeds before the first Chapter of Bologna.

§ XXXVI. The Saint's various deeds and journeys up to Pentecost of the year 1220, or the first general Chapter.

When St. Dominic had come to Bologna in the summer of the year 1219, We do not know in what month of the year 1219 St. Dominic arrived at Bologna, since Souèges fixes his arrival to the month of July, other writers to August. Besides, we do not know whether for the sake of propagating the Order or of business he did not go to several cities of Italy before betaking himself to the city of Bologna. Nevertheless from the testimony of Theodoric of Apolda and other contemporaries it is established that he arrived at Bologna in the summer of the year 1219. Frugerio of Penne in the process of Bologna, below at number 59, will testify that he himself, returning to Bologna on the Calends of September, found St. Dominic there. Hence is plain the error of John Garzo, who deferred this arrival too long, when in Leander Alberti, in the Work on Illustrious Men of the Order of Preachers, book 1, folio 17, he thus narrates the Saint's return from France into Italy: It was one thousand two hundred and nineteen years from the Nativity of the Savior when Dominic, setting out from Paris, came to the castle which is surnamed Castiglione. Then, a miracle having been reported which the Saint performed on that journey, he subjoins these things in the same place: At the end of the year he came to Bologna. But from what has been said it is clear that St. Dominic was already at Bologna on the Calends of September, and accordingly that that entry into Bologna is wrongly deferred to the end of the same year 1219.

[673] having stayed there a little while, The Saint does not seem to have stayed there long, in the opinion of Malvenda, who in the Annals of the Preachers at the year of Christ 1219, chapter 23, writes the following: But every discerning person will readily judge with us, what is in the highest degree likely, that the man of God, having stayed a few days at Bologna, at once hastened to Rome, to set forth to the supreme Pontiff Honorius III all the accounts of the things done by him in Spain and France in the founding and constituting of the Order; which he did not doubt would be most pleasing to the Pontiff, and judged to be part of his duty. Which fitting and good custom the general Masters of our Order keep to this day, that as soon as they return to Rome from the survey of the provinces, which they call a visitation, they render to Christ's Vicar himself a kind of summary of the greater things done by them in the provinces, briefly touching on the state of the Religion, the distinguished merits of the Brothers, the statutes imposed, and other things of that kind. Nevertheless Echard, in volume 1, page 87, judges that the Saint then stayed at Bologna about three months.

[674] Whatever be the case with this shorter or longer sojourn, he sent his companions to various cities of Italy, the Saint dispatched Reginald from Bologna to Paris, hoping that no less fruit would be brought back by him in the city of Paris than he had before brought back in that of Bologna, where that distinguished man had gathered many into the Order. He also sent thence companions to various cities of Italy, that they might erect monasteries of the Order, for whom perhaps the Saint himself had opened the way by traversing those cities before he came to Bologna. Certainly Echard thinks that in the following year certain new monasteries of the Preachers were erected in different cities of Italy, which he in volume 1, page 20, in the notes, thus enumerates: But blessed Dominic sent brethren in the year 1219 not only to Bergamo or Milan, but also to the more famous cities of Lombardy, Verona, Brescia, Faenza, Piacenza; who by word and example so bound to themselves the citizens of those cities that they both gathered many into the Order and, within the following year 1220, perhaps even before Pentecost, erected monasteries in all of them.

[675] But when St. Dominic had finished his business at Bologna, and he himself departed to Viterbo to Honorius III, having taken some brethren, he set out to the Roman Pontiff, who was then staying at Viterbo; and the Saint seems on that journey to have passed through the city of Florence, where he brought back to a better life a woman of freer life, of whose conversion we shall afterward treat at length. All these things Echard in the place just cited thus briefly sets forth: These things being thus settled at Bologna, and several distinguished men having recently been gathered into the society — Brother Ventura of Verona, who was the first witness in the process of Canonization, Brother Stephen the Lombard, who was the seventh in the same, and others — Dominic himself undertook the Roman journey, to render an account of his deeds to the supreme Pontiff, and to ask several things either for the governance of the Order or for its commendation to outsiders. He took as companions Brother William of Montferrat and Brother Bonvisus of Piacenza, as they themselves testify; nor is there any doubt that he joined others too. But on whatever day they left Bologna, passing through Florence, as will afterward be proved, they had already met Honorius III at Viterbo, where he was staying, on the XV of November: for on that day Dominic obtained from him a diploma given at Viterbo on the XVII of the Calends of December, in the fourth year, by which the Pope commends the bearers of the presents in every better way to the archbishops and other prelates established throughout Spain.

[676] The diploma of which Echard here makes mention is read in the Annals of Malvenda at the year of Christ 1219, chapter 37, from whom he obtained three diplomas, and there runs thus: Honorius bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his venerable Brothers the archbishops and bishops, and to his beloved sons the abbots, Priors, and other prelates of churches established throughout Spain, greeting and Apostolic benediction. If you take care to love and honor Religious persons, you exhibit a service sufficiently pleasing to God, whom to serve is to reign, who affirms that whatever is done to one of his least ones is done to himself. We therefore ask your devotion and attentively exhort you, commanding you by Apostolic writings, that, cherishing in their laudable purpose our beloved sons the bearers of the presents of the Order of Preachers, whose useful ministry and Religion we believe pleasing to God, you take care kindly to receive them to the office of preaching, to which they are deputed; and, holding them commended out of reverence for us and for the Apostolic See, that you assist them in their necessities: who, setting forth the word of God freely and faithfully, attending to the advancement of souls, following the Lord alone, have preferred the title of poverty. You will so fulfill our prayers and command that, placed at the right hand on the day of the strict examination, you may with the elect receive with them the eternal kingdom: not about to hear the sentence of damnation of the reprobate, whom for their contempt of such men God himself, who affirms that he is despised in their contempt, will assign to perpetual burning. Given at Viterbo on the XVII of the Calends of December, in the fourth year of our Pontificate. These chronological marks designate the month of November of the year 1219, as is manifest.

[677] by which the Pontiff commends the Order of Preachers The Saint obtained from Honorius the Pontiff in the same place, in the same year, on the VIII day of December, another diploma, which is extant in Odoricus Raynaldus in the Ecclesiastical Annals at the year of Christ 1219, numbers 54 and 55, with the following tenor: To the archbishops and bishops and abbots and other prelates of churches to whom these letters shall come. Our beloved sons the Prior and Brothers of the Order of Preachers, providently considering that those who hide away grain are cursed among the peoples, sow their grain — namely the word of preaching, which is the food of souls — unceasingly upon many waters, that is, many peoples; and, the burdens of worldly riches being cast off, that they may run the more unencumbered through the field of this world, which more than usual the briars of vices cover, they go in the abjection of voluntary poverty, and weeping cast their seed, that, the Lord mercifully giving the increase, they may be able with exultation to carry back their sheaves to his threshing floor.

[678] to various prelates, These men therefore, whose purpose we judge holy and whose ministry necessary, we have thought should be affectionately commended to you all, asking and exhorting your charity in the Lord, and commanding you by Apostolic writings, that out of reverence for God, kindly receiving them to the office of preaching to which they are deputed, and diligently admonishing the peoples committed to you devoutly to receive from their mouth the seed of the word of God, you liberally assist them in their necessities out of reverence for us and the Apostolic See; so that the peoples, prepared by your exhortations to receive it, may as good and fruitful earth begin to germinate a crop of virtues in place of the thistles of vices, and the said Brothers, more happily completing to God through your co-operation the course of the ministry they have undertaken, may bring back the desired fruit and end of their labor, namely the salvation of souls. Given at Viterbo on the VI of the Ides of December, in the IV year of our Pontificate.

[679] and grants the church of St. Sixtus to Dominic and the Brothers. Finally Honorius the Pontiff, in the month of December of the same year, in Civita Castellana, absolutely gave to St. Dominic the Roman church of St. Sixtus by letters, from which Raynaldus at the same year of Christ 1219, number 50, excerpted the following: Desiring, according to what we are bound by the duty of our office, to plant fruit-bearing trees in the paradise of the Church, and to cherish those planted, we have thought that the church of St. Sixtus of the City should be granted to our beloved son Brother Dominic and the Brothers of his Order, hoping in the Lord that both he and his Brothers will minister to hungering souls the fruits new and old which the Bridegroom is read to have kept for his Bride, etc. Given at Civita Castellana on the XVI of the Calends of January, in the IV year of our Pontificate. Let it seem strange to no one that in this year the church of St. Sixtus was first given to the Preachers, which they had long before inhabited: for at Paris too they had entered the church of St. James in the month of August of the year 1218, which nevertheless was only absolutely granted them in the month of May of the year 1221, as we noted above in §26, and Echard rightly observes, who also from the diplomas already reported concludes that in the months of November and December St. Dominic was at Viterbo or in the neighboring

cities near Rome, and dealt about his affairs with the Roman Pontiff.

[680] Then the Saint at the end of the year 1219, or the beginning of 1220 Then the Saint set out for Rome, where he did several things, if you reckon in the new style, set out for Rome, and there performed many miracles which will be narrated below in our Acts. Echard in an entire dissertation strives to prove that St. Dominic at that time publicly recalled to life the noble youth Napoleon, transferred the nuns of Trastevere to the monastery of St. Sixtus, and that then St. Hyacinth and others were admitted to the Order of Preachers by the holy Founder himself. But Odoricus Raynaldus, Abraham Bzovius, Thomas Malvenda, and other historians judge that these things and those connected with them happened in the earlier Roman sojourn of St. Dominic. Wherefore above in §29 we indicated in passing from Polish monuments that several chronological difficulties can be opposed to this Echardian opinion. But it is not worth the trouble, as we noted in the same place, to dispute more laboriously about a matter which in no way diminishes the glory of our Saint, whether it was done in one year or another.

[681] Nay rather, Echard in volume 1, page 87, is compelled in favor of his opinion violently to wrest the text of Theodoric of Apolda, which Echard refers to the preceding years, who below at number 146 writes thus: At a certain time, returning from Spain, the holy Father brought the Sisters cypress spoons, one for each Sister. Echard does not deny that this manner of speaking is contrary to his opinion, when in the same place, after reporting Theodoric's words, he thus discourses: For these things would seem to indicate that the nuns had already been transferred to St. Sixtus's before blessed Dominic undertook the Spanish journey, so that he, mindful of his daughters either at Segovia or at Madrid, procured these little gifts for each. But is this of such importance that on that account the whole scheme of the Saint's journeys, confirmed by so many monuments, must be overturned? And so, since a hysteron proteron must necessarily be recognized in Theodoric's narration, where he reports the transfer of the nuns before Dominic's Spanish journey, yet placing both in the year 1219; but if it be true, as is established for me, the journey preceded and the transfer followed, as was determined by us above: thus in that bringing and distribution of the spoons also something must necessarily be supplied in Theodoric. We do not sufficiently understand how Echard here hints that the Spanish journey of St. Dominic is placed by Theodoric in the year 1219, since in the same volume 1, page 78, he asserts that Theodoric does not note the year in which Dominic left Rome to seek Spain.

[682] Afterward Echard on the aforesaid page 87 thus calls into doubt the truth of Theodoric's narration: Besides, it is incredible, he says, even if those nuns be asserted to have been transferred before Dominic's Spanish journey, that the Saint, planning to traverse from Spain so many regions on foot [*], [and on account of which he is forced to change Theodoric's narration, contrary to his opinion,] namely all France as far as Paris, thence through Burgundy into Italy, and at length to Bologna, where he stayed about three months before he went to Rome — that he laid upon his shoulders a burden of this kind of more than a hundred spoons (for that from the very beginnings there were more than a hundred Sisters at St. Sixtus's, all report), those hundred, I say, and more spoons; that he always had that troublesome and irksome burden with him at Toulouse, at Paris, in Burgundy, through the Alps, at Bergamo, at Milan, at Bologna; that his brethren did not ask him what he was carrying with him, and that none asked him to give them any. That Dominic, seriously thinking on this whole journey of all lofty things for God's glory, for the greater increase of the Church, for the establishment of the Order, everywhere indefatigably pressing on with preaching, and otherwise sufficiently laden with the codices of the Gospels and of Paul's Epistles, which he always carried with him on the way, gave attention to spoons — this will be proved to no wise man.

[683] he is forced to change, Finally he judges that the text of Theodoric of Apolda must be changed, and accommodates it to his own opinion, when in the same place he thus goes on to reason: What then? Behold what seems more likely; namely, that one of the Spanish brethren who came to Bologna for the first assembly of the Order in the year 1220 brought these spoons with him, from whom blessed Dominic received them as a gift, and afterward, betaking himself to Rome at the end of the year, as has been said, distributed this little Spanish gift to the Sisters of St. Sixtus; and thus you may rightly arrange Theodoric's words: At a certain time, returning to Rome, blessed Dominic brought the Sisters cypress spoons brought from Spain, one for each Sister. These conjectures of Echard are specious enough; but if it were everywhere permitted thus to change or supplement the text of ancient authors, we shall easily free ourselves from many difficulties.

[684] and the testimony of Sister Cecilia Nevertheless that narration of Theodoric rests upon the authority of Sister Cecilia, an eyewitness, about whom therefore Theodoric in his prologue below at number 4 writes thus: At length our beloved father, Brother Gerard, Prior provincial of Germany, returning from the general Chapter celebrated at Lucca, brought certain distinguished deeds of St. Dominic from Bologna, which were written down from the mouth of Sister Cecilia of Rome, whom blessed Dominic had received into the Order; which, as she saw and heard, she most sincerely narrated with full credit — she who up to the year of the Lord 1290 led a most religious and most holy life. Then Theodoric in the Acts themselves thus confirms this bringing of the spoons, and certain prodigies which St. Dominic at that time performed at Rome, by the testimony of the same Sister Cecilia, below in our edition at number 148: Sister Cecilia, a girl of seventeen years, first received the habit of the Order from the hand of the holy father Dominic; who, transferred to Bologna to establish the monastery of St. Agnes, still lives there in a good old age and in a manner of life of the highest sanctity. She beheld with her eyes and heard with her ears the things which have been recorded, and faithfully narrated them.

[685] to call into doubt. Malvenda, content with the testimony of Sister Cecilia, asserts that St. Dominic himself brought these cypress spoons from Spain, and in the Annals of the Preachers at the year of Christ 1219, chapter 24, thus ascribes that labor to his humble charity: Admirable is the humility and charity of the divine Father, who brought those little gifts, tokens nevertheless of love and poverty, from the Spains, and gave them to the Sisters. Then in the same place, chapter 25 and following, he sharply defends another miracle which Theodoric reports from the mouth of Sister Cecilia, and which nevertheless Melchior Cano explodes. To this severer critic Echard comes very near, when in the place just cited he indicates that Sister Cecilia, through old age scarcely of sound mind, could easily have erred in certain circumstances, or after the manner of old women perhaps exaggerated the things which had happened in her youth, as we said above on another occasion in §6, where we recited Echard's own words, and saw Malvenda contending with Melchior Cano. That judgment of both critics we judge will not please everyone: for by this manner of arguing several other narrations of Theodoric could be doubted. We meanwhile do not dare to settle that dispute agitated between such learned writers of the same Order, and, its decision being left to more skilled persons, we proceed rather to discussing other deeds of our Saint.

[686] St. Dominic seems, about three months having been spent at Rome, At length the Saint returned from Rome to Viterbo, to have returned to the Roman Pontiff still staying at Viterbo, as Echard in volume 1, page 20, in the notes judges, and as is gathered from the diploma which Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers at the year 1220, chapter 9, thus reported: Honorius bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his beloved sons and to the whole people of Majoricum (that is, of Madrid, as we noted above), greeting and Apostolic benediction. Pleasing and acceptable to us was what we have heard, namely that you have received our beloved sons, the Brothers of the Order of Preachers who dwell at Majoricum, into the bowels of charity, and have laudably protected them with offices of piety: in which we understand that you render a pleasing service to God; because among the good works by which we serve God, almost none is found more pleasing to him than to aid those who, on account of the thirst which they have for the salvation of men, draw with joy and gladness waters from the fountains of the Savior, that they may distribute them in the streets; not only for the satisfying of souls that thirst, but also as a salutary remedy and medicine against the poison of ailing minds. And that you may more fully know the sincere affection which we bear toward the aforesaid Brothers, we therefore ask your devotion and attentively exhort you, commanding by Apostolic writings, that, as you have laudably begun, so out of reverence for us and for the Apostolic See you hold them more affectionately commended, and assist them in their necessities with your benefits and alms, in such a way that you may render God favorable to you, and may bind us to be more favorable and kind to you. Given at Viterbo on the XIII of the Calends of April, in the fourth year of our Pontificate.

[687] The Pontiff in the same place, in the same year of Christ 1220, on the VI day of May, where he again from Honorius III the Pontiff gave other letters, by which he commends the Order of Preachers to the archbishop of Tarragona, and which in the place just cited in Malvenda run thus: Honorius bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his venerable brother the archbishop of Tarragona, greeting and Apostolic benediction. Since iniquity has abounded and the charity of very many has grown cold, the Lord, as we believe, has raised up the Order of Friars Preachers; who, seeking not the things that are their own but the things that are Christ's, have dedicated themselves both to the routing of heresies and to the extirpating of other deadly plagues, in the evangelizing of the word of God in the abjection of voluntary poverty. We therefore, following with favor their pious purpose and necessary ministry, have thought that your fraternity should be asked and admonished on their behalf, commanding you by Apostolic writings that out of reverence for God and for us you hold them more devotedly commended, so that you may strive to attend to the promotion of their Order in such a way that you may manifoldly deserve well with God, to whom their Religion is pleasing; and that the said Brothers, strengthened by your co-operation and that of other faithful, more happily completing the course of the ministry undertaken, may bring back the desired fruit and end of their labor, namely the salvation of souls, and that we may thereafter be able to commend your devotion in the Lord. Given at Viterbo on the day before the Nones of May, in the fourth year of our Pontificate.

[688] in that sojourn or after his departure, If this second diploma was given at Viterbo to St. Dominic when present, as Echard in volume 1, page 84, hints, from the VI day of May on which it was signed, and the XVII day of the same month, on which the Saint began to celebrate the general Chapter at Bologna, it manifestly follows that he came from Viterbo to Bologna in the space of ten days, and accordingly was accustomed daily to accomplish great journeys, as was said above on another occasion. But he does not seem to have obtained when present at Viterbo from Honorius the Pontiff the third diploma, which Echard in volume 1, page 85, thus reports from Souèges: Honorius, etc. To his beloved sons Master Robert of St. Victor, Vincent de Sillia, Cattorgius de Mansu, Joseph de Flore, James of Vallombrosa, and Domingo de Aquilari, monks of monasteries, etc. Because those who

sow upon the waters, and those who hide away grain are cursed among the people, you act advisedly if you do not tie up in a napkin the talent entrusted to you by God; since by no one is a lamp lit that it may be put under a bushel, but is set upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all who are in the house.

[689] obtained various diplomas, Since therefore our beloved Brother Dominic, Prior of the Order of Preachers, believes that there would be great advancement of souls if you should dispense, according to his providence, the grace of preaching which you have received from the Lord to the profit of your neighbors, we command your discretion by Apostolic writings that, for the love of him who on account of the exceeding charity with which he loved us went forth from the Father's secret into the public state of the human condition, you set out with that Brother Dominic to set forth the word of God to those to whom he shall see it expedient, so that, the light of truth being shown, those who err may return to the way of justice — knowing that we have granted you to the aforesaid Brother, that you may be bound to co-operate with him in the ministry of the word of God, always wearing your own habit. Given at Viterbo on the IV of the Ides of May, in the fourth year of our Pontificate. Since those letters were signed on the XII day of May, most probably St. Dominic obtained them when absent, since it is in no way probable that the Saint came in an interval of four days from the city of Viterbo to that of Bologna. Whence Echard in the same place, after reporting those letters, notes the following: I should not think that Dominic received this diploma when present, for whom there would not have been enough time left to return to Bologna, where on the XVII of the same month, the day of Pentecost, he was to open his general Chapter; but at least that it was obtained from the Pontiff at his request while he was returning a little before from Rome.

[690] which we have exhibited in this place Echard, in volume 1, page 20, in the notes, hands down that St. Dominic also at that time, whether by the oracle of the living voice or by a written and sealed diploma which has perhaps now perished, obtained from Pope Honorius absolute and full power over the whole Order of Preachers. The cause of this matter Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers at the year of Christ 1219, chapter 29, learnedly explains, and there alleges the irrefragable testimony of Ventura of Verona, by which in the Process of Bologna, below in our edition at number 2, this very thing is confirmed in this manner: Brother Ventura of Verona, priest and Prior of the Convent of the Friars Preachers of Bologna, sworn, said that it is thirteen years and more since he, this witness, entered the Order of the Friars Preachers at the persuasion and admonition of Brother Dominic, founder and first Master of the Order of Friars Preachers, and made profession into his hand, and received the habit from him. And at that time Brother Dominic himself had full power and dispensation and ordering and correction of the whole Order of Preachers after the lord Pope. Similar things will occur in Theodoric of Apolda below in the Acts, number 182, where he will record the first general Chapter, of which we must now treat.

* perhaps "on foot"

§ XXXVII. Certain Acts in the first general Chapter, which was celebrated at Bologna in the year 1220.

This first assembly of the Order was celebrated in the year of Christ 1220, on the feast of Pentecost, which in that year fell on the XVII day of May. Humbert about the first Chapter of the Order of Preachers, About the time ancient and more recent historians agree, and among them the venerable Humbert in his Chronicle summarily indicates the same year and the chief heads of the decrees in these words: In the year of the Lord 1220 the first general Chapter was celebrated at Bologna under blessed Dominic, at which Brother Jordan also was present, sent to it from Paris, where he had entered the Order a little before in the preceding Lent. And in this Chapter, among the many things which were established, this too was established: that henceforth possessions and revenues should not be received, and that they should resign those which they had in the parts of Toulouse; and that the general Chapter should be celebrated one year at Paris, another year at Bologna, which was observed for a long time; but afterward it was otherwise established.

[692] That decree of celebrating the Chapter in alternate years at Bologna and at Paris was afterward explained in the Parisian assembly of the year 1241, certain of whose decrees were afterward changed, as is expressed in Edmund Martène, volume 4 of the Thesaurus of Anecdotes, column [ ], in the Acts of that assembly, number 1, in these words: In the constitutions, where it is said, "Let the general Chapter be celebrated one year at Paris, another year at Bologna," let there be added: "Unless it should at some time seem otherwise to the Master and the definitors for a lawful cause." Yet that custom of alternating the general assemblies held until the year 1245, in which the Chapter was celebrated at Cologne. But as regards the assemblies to be held each year, that seems to have been changed in the Chapter of Bordeaux of the year 1287, in whose Acts, in the praised Martène, volume 4 of the Thesaurus, column [ ], number 4, we read the following: Let the general Chapter be intermitted one year, and be celebrated in the following year. And whatever shall be found in the constitutions contrary to the form of this constitution, let it be removed by the definitors of the general Chapter in which this constitution shall be confirmed. For the rest, about the celebration of general Chapters, Malvenda at the year of Christ 1220, chapter 21, and the Constitutions of the Order of Preachers, distinction 2, chapters 8 and 9, may be consulted.

[693] and Bernard Gui summarily made mention: Bernard Gui, in the Little Book on the Masters of the Order of Preachers, in Edmund Martène, volume 6 of the most ample Collection, columns 402 and 403, has these things about the same assembly: In the year of the Lord 1220 St. Dominic celebrated the first general Chapter at Bologna: in which Chapter, by a perpetual constitution, all temporal things being abdicated, by resigning them both for the present and for the future, the Order of Preachers professed voluntary poverty: in which also it was established that the general Chapter should be celebrated one year at Paris, another year at Bologna, yet so that the next Chapter immediately should be celebrated at Bologna on account of the solemnity of the then numerous Convent, as also was done. Many things too were there established which are observed in the Order to this day. At this Chapter Brother Jordan, successor of blessed Dominic, was present, as he himself describes in his little book. This testimony we shall hear below in the Acts of St. Dominic, number 64, from Blessed Jordan himself.

[694] although we lack the Acts themselves of this Chapter, The praised Edmund Martène, in volume 4 of the Thesaurus of Anecdotes, from column [ ], published the general Chapters of the Order of Preachers from a Toulouse manuscript; but he did not find the particular decrees of this first and of some following Chapters, which have long since perished, or lie hidden somewhere: for the ancient collector of them, whom we suspect to be Bernard Gui, in the same place, column [ ], before those Acts of the general Chapters thus prefaces: From the year of the Lord one thousand two hundred and twenty up to the year of the same blessed Lord one thousand two hundred and forty, I have noted below the few things which I could find about the acts of the general Chapters. But from the year of the Lord 1240 up to the year of the Lord 1313, in which I wrote these things, they are had more completely collected, with certain exceptions however, for the collecting and completing of which in due time blank spaces are left below in their places. Then in the same place he records about the first Chapter of Bologna nearly the same things which we reported in the preceding number.

[695] yet from elsewhere we know that the Saint there with great lowliness of mind Although we are ignorant of many things which were done in this first assembly, yet besides what has already been recorded Theodoric of Apolda below in our edition, chapter 16, narrates how St. Dominic then wished to abdicate his magistracy, and, to demonstrate the humility of the same Saint, reports the following from ancient monuments: But the humble Servant of Christ, presiding over the Chapter, said among the Brothers: I am worthy of deposition, because I am useless and remiss. And he who was greater than all in sanctity and authority greatly humbled himself in all things before all. And when the Brothers by no means acquiesced in accepting his resignation, he decreed with their good pleasure that thenceforth definitors should be appointed who should have power over him and over the whole Chapter of defining, establishing, and ordaining so long as the Chapter lasted, the reverence due to the Master being saved for the future… The Order of Preachers, erected by divine dispensation for the benefit of the Church and duly confirmed by the Apostolic See, blessed Dominic, confessor of Christ, had hitherto governed by ruling it by the authority of the same See with all diligence of sanctity. But now the illustrious men of the said Order, when in this Chapter he humbly asked to resign, with unanimous charity and voluntary devotion harmoniously preferred him to themselves. Being therefore constituted Master and ruler by them, he was among them as one of them, save that he was first in rigor, greatest in abstinence, vigils, fasts, and chastisements upon himself, supreme in sanctity, and highest in humility. These things will be confirmed below by eyewitnesses in the process of Bologna.

[696] But Malvenda, in the Annals of the Preachers at the year of Christ 1220, chapter 14, thus concludes from these and similar monuments: wished in vain to abdicate the supreme mastership of the Order, Thus therefore the man of God, who out of humility desired to renounce the general Mastership of the Order and the supreme prefecture which he had hitherto borne, imposed upon him by Apostolic authority, was by the common consent of the definitors and of the whole general Chapter elected general Master and supreme prelate of the whole Order; and what he had before from the Pontiff he now received by the election of the Brothers — or rather by common consent the Brothers accepted, acknowledged, approved, inspected, and venerated the authority of supreme president which he exercised over the whole Order as received from the Apostolic See; and, if there were need, they of new elected him as their Master and prefect, and humbly asked him that he would thenceforth exercise and continue that power, and govern and rule them as he had hitherto done; and whatever authority they themselves could give over themselves by the force of that religious body and confirmed Order, whether by custom or by statutes, or by reason of a Religion approved in the Church, they most fully committed to the same holy Father. Then he discourses at length about the authority of the Master general, the power of the definitors, and the governance of the Order of Preachers: all which we assign to readers curious about these matters, and leave to be perused there.

[697] Further, Malvenda at the same year 1220, chapter 17, observes these things about the abdication of possessions and revenues established in that assembly: and issued a decree about the strict observance of poverty, The wondrous love of evangelical poverty, and that burning thirst for Christian perfection, seething in the breast of Dominic, drove the apostolic Man to sanction that severe constitution about poverty. But since the affairs of the Order, as we see, have come to that state that small possessions and revenues in common have been admitted by the Convents for the modest and temperate sustenance of the Brothers, it must be seen in a few words how long that rigor of regular discipline about not having possessions flourished in our Order, and how it began to relax, and on what occasion or for what cause possessions were introduced, and whether it was done against the statutes of our elders and of the holy father Dominic that our Convents should possess revenues and stable goods. For

as to what some say, that St. Dominic hurled the curse of God and his own against those who should bring possessions into the Order, we shall treat of these things more fully at the death of the man of God in the following year, chapter 37, when that execration is handed down to have been uttered by him.

[698] Then in the same place, chapter 18 and following, he disputes copiously about this matter, whose mitigation, afterward introduced, Antoninus of Siena excuses, and by the authority of St. Thomas, St. Antoninus, and other reasons proves that stable possessions were afterward lawfully introduced into the Order of Preachers. We in no way doubt that that constitution of the first Chapter was afterward legitimately changed, and therefore we gladly acquiesce in the argument of Antoninus of Siena, or the Portuguese, who in the Chronicle of the Preachers, pages 19 and 20, disposes of the whole matter in these few words: In the year 1220 the blessed father Dominic celebrated the general assembly at Bologna; and in it he ordained that our Convents should have no possessions or revenues, and should renounce those they had. And indeed, if that fervent charity had endured in us in this our age which once flourished in our fathers, and if among the Christian people also charity for the giving of alms were not now so diminished, or rather extinguished, this constitution would be exceedingly suitable to the state of the Religion. But that ancient fervor of spirit having grown lukewarm in us, and charity among the people having been lulled and extinguished through cupidity (which assuredly is the poison of charity, as Augustine testifies), it was necessary, according to the condition of laws — which, whether they be ecclesiastical or civil, are also sometimes changed as the times vary — that this constitution be changed by Pontifical dispensation: for it is today proved by clearest experience that the integrity of regular discipline in this our age can hardly, at least in a regular way, so stand, when the Convents are pressed by want of necessaries; nay rather, thence arise countless abuses, and the execrable vice of ownership becomes familiar to many.

[699] and to which decree of stricter poverty, Now certain things must be discussed which Flaminius records as done in that same assembly, when in the Life of St. Dominic, book 2, folio 45 verso, he first writes these things: But in the year 1220 he celebrated the first general synod at Bologna during the days of Pentecost, chiefly for this cause, that he might decree in so great a convention of the fathers certain matters pertaining to the further establishing and enlarging of the Order. And they came together at his edict, as from various other places, so certain from Paris. But the first decree was that all the estates which the Preachers had up to that day possessed, wherever they might be, they should without delay give up: which, although (as we showed above) it had been agitated before, and on that account many things had been bestowed on the sacred virgins of Prouille, had nevertheless not yet been publicly decreed, so that such goods should be forbidden to the Order.

[700] [as also to the change of garments, the Toulousan Brothers are said to have resisted,] And when certain Preachers of Toulouse bore this matter ill, and, bidden by Apostolic authority, seemed unwilling to obey the synod, nor even to lay aside the old garment and receive the Virgin's, they appealed to the supreme Pontiff; who, when they were about to go to Rome for this cause and first came to Bologna, were gravely punished: for at the request of blessed Dominic the magistrate of Bologna took from them the money which they had brought with them, and their horses. Nor did the holy Man suffer them to be present at the synod then in session, that they might be an example to the rest, and he ordered them to go off at once to Toulouse; who at length, displeased with themselves and disapproving their own deed, obeyed the synod and received the enjoined garment. Thus concerning evangelical poverty to be kept thereafter, and the virginal habit to be worn, a law was there passed and promulgated. Certain writers soften this narration of Flaminius; but others with Echard explode the whole of it as fabulous, as we shall see afterward.

[701] which certainly did not then happen, if it ever took place at all. If it ever took place, certainly it had to happen after this first assembly, as Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers at the year of Christ 1221, chapter 2, rightly contends by the following reasoning: In this very year 1221, he says, we think it doubtless happened, what authors report about the Toulousan Brothers refusing to obey the constitutions of the general Chapter of the preceding year, and going to the Pontiff at Rome for that cause, and being detained and rebuked by St. Dominic: for although Flaminius judges that this was done in the preceding year in the very Chapter of Bologna, it could not have happened until after the Acts of the general Chapter had been carried to Toulouse and published; and since in that contention many things had to be agitated back and forth between St. Dominic and them by letters, in which no small time must necessarily have intervened, it is more likely that the controversy, begun to be handled in the preceding year, was at length in this year finished and settled, as Antoninus of Siena in the Chronicle, page 21, and others have noted. For the rest, we shall examine below in its place whether this likely ever really happened.

[702] Meanwhile let us proceed with Flaminius, who in the Life of St. Dominic, folio 46, subjoins these things to the preceding: [The Saint had determined to commit the care of temporal things to the Lay Brothers;] In the same synod blessed Dominic wished to abdicate the Mastership; but the fathers did not allow it. He also instituted certain men (they call them definitors) whom he wished to have power over himself also, so that at their judgment and command he should either abdicate the Mastership or retain it; and they too did not permit him to abdicate. Of their number was that distinguished man Jordan the German, who was then scarcely in his third month in the Order. Blessed Dominic wished also that temporal things should be handled only by those who are called Lay Brothers, and spiritual things by the rest, lest anything should be a hindrance to their studies, to their preachings, and to the divine offices. But the definitors did not permit it, fearing lest there should happen to the Preachers what happened also to the Grandmontines, who were said to have fallen away for such a cause: whose opinion the holy Man bore with equanimity and approved. What Flaminius here reports about the desire of abdicating the supreme Mastership we have already set forth above from more ancient monuments; but to that which he hands down about leaving the administration of temporal things to the Lay Brothers, Theodoric below in the Acts, number 194, and St. Antoninus in part 3 of the Chronicles, title 23, chapter 4, §12, also allude. This same thing Brother John the Spaniard below in the Process of Bologna, number 30, will clearly explain. What finally he adds about the example of the Grandmontines needs some explanation.

[703] Our Bolland at the day VIII of February treated of St. Stephen, but he changed his opinion, alarmed by the example of the Grandmontine laymen, founder of the Grandmontine Order, and on that occasion in the preliminary Commentary, §2, reported some things from Cardinal James of Vitry, who in chapter 19 of the Western History thus describes the Grandmontine Order: There is another Religion of Brothers or regular institution, which is named from Grandmont, whose head and original monastery is in the parts of Aquitaine. For these Brothers of Grandmont from the beginning of the Order prudently established that the monks should attend only to spiritual and divine offices, the administration and provision of temporal things being entrusted and left to the lay Brothers. Then he explains the rule of the Order, and adds these things bearing on our matter: But although it may seem expedient for monks and spiritual men not to have the administration of temporal things, or any sort of lordship, so that they may be able to devote themselves to spiritual things the more tranquilly the less they think about temporal ones, yet the enemy of the human race and the crafty assailant of all religion, envying institutions so holy and salutary, on this occasion at one time stirred up a most pernicious murmur, sedition, and scandal between the clerics and laymen, monks and Lay Brothers of the aforesaid monastery of Grandmont. Afterward it is set forth in the same place in what matter especially those proud laymen sinned, and how at length they were subjected to the clerics.

[704] whose proud insolence But that insolence of the Grandmontine Lay Brothers is graphically depicted in the letters which Edmund Martène lately inserted in volume 1 of the Thesaurus of Anecdotes from column 845, and in which the Grandmontine monks, after other things, thus miserably complain to Innocent III the Pontiff: For those laymen oppress us beyond what can be believed, and afflict us, and from day to day by their cunning strive to subject us to their servitude. From servants they have become lords; from disciples, masters; from messengers, Brothers; and from needy, rich. They will not be corrected, but correct; not be taught, but teach. They wish to seem philosophers, though they are altogether stupid. But they are wise to do evil; and to do good they know not, because they are not of God. For they destroy the houses of the Order over which they preside, violate the institutes of the Religion, squander the common goods, wickedly bestowing them upon kinsmen, acquaintances, and secular friends, and thus they despoil the Hebrews, abusing the Lord's precept, and enrich the Egyptians; and therefore concerning receipts and expenses, according to your mandate, lord, they will not render an account, but contradict, saying that they have the care of temporal things by your mandate, and will dispense them as they will. There follow then more atrocious deeds of those laymen, which for brevity's and modesty's sake we omit.

[705] is here briefly indicated from coeval monuments, Yet those Lay Brothers had magnificent patrons of their pride, as we gather from a letter of Pope Innocent III, who in volume 1 of the same Thesaurus of Anecdotes, column 847, sharply rebukes Robert of Courçon, a Cardinal and their supporter, in these words: We are compelled to marvel at your prudence and to be moved, that whereas you ought to be to others a form of living and an exemplar of religion and honesty, you, as we perceive from the writings of your letters, are recognized to have become matter of dissension and scandal: for whereas the Lay Brothers of Grandmont have long since lifted up their heel against the Prior and Clerics of that place, you, in order that those Lay Brothers might assume the horns of greater arrogance and rise into a haughty mind of grander pride, forthwith, as soon as you had entered the bounds of your legation, taking them under your protection, forbade the aforesaid Prior to attempt in any way to change anything against the state of the Brothers of the Order; commanding both archbishops and bishops, and the other prelates of churches, and all Christ's faithful, that they should faithfully defend them against that Prior, etc. After these things the Pontiff throughout that whole letter vigorously shows that that legate of the Apostolic See erred manifoldly in this cause, and transgressed the limits of his power.

[706] and the error of Flaminius is refuted, who falsely supposed, Now from this explanation or digression let us return to Flaminius, who, treating of the same assembly in the Life of St. Dominic, on the same folio 46, thus continues: While this synod was being held, two distinguished men were received into the Order of Preachers, notable for their knowledge of human and divine law: Raymond of Barcelona, the writer on the Decretals, and afterward third in place as general Master of the whole Order; and John the German, dear penitentiary to the supreme Pontiff, and not long after promoted to the bishopric of Bosnia. And when not long after he had abdicated the bishopric, he was made fourth general Master of the whole Order after blessed Dominic, about whom we shall say certain things below,

which will show how great a man he was.

[707] But it is established that Flaminius erred in assigning the time at which St. Raymond of Peñafort embraced the Order of Preachers, that St. Raymond was admitted to the Order of Preachers in this Chapter. as Malvenda in the Annals at the year of Christ 1222, chapter 9, evidently shows in these words: Raymond remained at Barcelona a Canon and provost of that church up to the present year 1222, renowned in the mouth of all with the highest praise for learning and probity; in which year, a suit having arisen between Berengar of St. Vincent and Bernard Rapax, Canons of the church of Barcelona, both with the consent of bishop Berengar chose St. Raymond as arbiter-judge in that cause, and laid the whole judgment and arbitration of the suit, as is said in the public instrument, "in the hand of master Raymond of Peñafort," who in this year 1222, on the fourteenth of March, passed sentence in the cause, and subscribed with his own hand in these words: "the sign of master Raymond of Peñafort." The public autograph instrument itself about the whole matter is extant in the archive of the Chapter of Barcelona. And in this same year, on the day of Good Friday, St. Raymond, having taken the habit of the holy Religion, entered the Order of Preachers, as Nicholas Rosell affirms. Then he confirms that time by various testimonies of monuments. But from the mentioned instrument it is sufficiently plain that those authors also were deluded who referred the entry of St. Raymond to the year 1218 or 1219. But whether John the German was received into the Order at the time of this first Chapter, as seemed to Flaminius, we leave to be accurately investigated by curious historiographers of the Dominican Order, since hitherto we have not yet found among the ancient writers the determined year in which that distinguished man, and afterward general Master, took the habit of the Preachers.

* perhaps "a haughty mountain"

§ XXXVIII. The Saint after the first general Chapter of his Order makes excursions to various cities of Italy.

Flaminius, Castillo, and other more recent writers commonly hand down that St. Dominic after the first assembly of his Order was finished made excursions to various cities of Italy, Although the Saint after the first assembly of his Order among which several glory that they had the same Saint as guest twice or thrice at different times. At least from the ancient instruments to be published after this commentary it will be established that the Saint at some time stayed at Milan, at Modena, and in certain other cities of Italy. But those ancient documents do not express the determined time at which the holy Founder of the Order came to them. Wherefore we are compelled here to preface with Malvenda, who in the Annals of the Preachers at the year of Christ 1220, chapter 31, thus admonishes the reader about those apostolic excursions of the holy Man: We, since in this visitation of St. Dominic we cannot exactly express the series of the times and of the places which he visited, nor has it been possible to set forth the order of his journey, shall give here all at once whatever we have been able to investigate about that matter, namely the things done in those cities to which the man of God went after setting out from Bologna. We in this paragraph shall do the same, omitting however the things which will be reported below in the Acts and in other ancient instruments.

[709] Giovanni Pietro Puricelli, in the Nazarian Dissertation, chapter 109, number 16, brings forward the following on this matter from Ambrogio Taegio: But the general Chapter being finished, made excursions to some cities of Italy, the blessed one (namely Dominic, as Puricelli supplies) went round the plain of Lombardy for that whole year, attending to preaching and the salvation of souls. He came therefore to Milan on the feast of St. Barnabas the apostle, and, turning aside to the Convent of the Brothers, found there a great number of Brothers, by whom he was received with the highest honor and the joy of all. After no long time a fever seized him, in whose access he prayed continually. Whence Brother Bonvisus, of whom mention has been made above quite often, who was his companion at that time, perceived by the signs of his countenance that he was receiving many divine consolations and contemplating heavenly things. But when the fever departed, he had a book brought before him, and caused a lesson to be read. Afterward he began to praise God and to preach to the Brothers; and, recovering from his illness and bidding the Brothers farewell, he departed thence. These things he refers to the year of Christ 1220, and in the following number adds that St. Dominic in the year 1221, after the celebration of the second Chapter, came again to Milan, which second Milanese journey will be discussed afterward.

[710] yet he sometimes returned to Bologna, When Taegio here says that St. Dominic went round the plain of Lombardy for that whole year, this must be so understood that the Saint sometimes returned to Bologna: for he was at Bologna on the feast of the Assumption of the Mother of God, as we learn from the following narration, which Humbert in the Life of St. Dominic, chapter 50, thus sets out: By the most faithful attestation of a man of venerable life, the bishop of Alatri, the matter written below was ascertained, who also transmitted this to Brother John of Colonna, then Prior of the Brothers in the Roman province, who diligently inquired about it, by his letters fortified with his own seal. He, when he was still Prior of the monastery of Casamari of the Cistercian Order, at a certain time, when, having been sent by Honorius the Pope of good memory into Germany, he was making his journey through Bologna, came to visit the beloved man of God Dominic, with whom he had long since at Rome contracted an acquaintance of great familiarity. Now at that time there was at Bologna a certain master Conrad the German, whose entry into the Order the Brothers wondrously desired.

[711] where he wondrously drew Conrad to the Order by his prayers, When therefore on the vigil of the Assumption of blessed Mary the man of God Dominic was having a secret and consoling conversation with the aforesaid Prior, whom he loved with intimate affection, about divine matters and the delights of the heavenly life, with a certain familiar confidence, the matter requiring it, he said to him: I confess to you, Prior, what nevertheless I have hitherto never disclosed to anyone, nor will you reveal it to another so long as I live: that I have never yet asked anything of God in this life which I did not obtain according to my wish. But he, greatly marveling, and being conscious of the desire which the Brothers had concerning the conversion of the aforesaid master Conrad the German, confidently added: Ask therefore, Father, that he give you master Conrad for the Order, whose entry the Brothers seem so ardently to demand. But he said: A difficult thing, good Brother, have you asked. Yet if you will persist with me in prayer this night, I trust in the Lord that he will not cheat us of the desire of our petition.

[712] and on the feast of the Assumption of the Mother of God received him into it; And so, Compline being finished, and the Brothers going to rest, the man of God Dominic remained in the church, the said Prior being present and seeing, and passed the night in prayer after his accustomed manner. But when the vigils of those most solemn matins had been solemnly performed, and day was dawning, and the Brothers were coming together for Prime, when the cantor had begun "Now that the star of light has risen," behold, master Conrad, about to be truly a new star of light, suddenly coming and prostrating himself at the feet of the blessed father Dominic, both instantly asked for the habit of the Order and perseveringly received it: and when he had at once been gathered with the Brothers, Almighty God showed how far the word of his servant Dominic, both preceding and following, was by no means empty of its effect. The aforesaid bishop also narrated that, when blessed Dominic asked that he keep such a deed secret while he lived, and the bishop himself answered that perhaps he would die before him, blessed Dominic answered that he knew that he would survive him; which the outcome of the matter afterward demonstrated, since he lived much more than twenty years after blessed Dominic. Except for this last prediction, which the outcome proved, Constantine of Orvieto in the Acts of St. Dominic, number 42, and Vincent of Beauvais in book 30 of the Historical Mirror, chapter 110, narrate the same history.

[713] Echard, in volume 1 of the Library of the Preachers, page 34, in the notes on a similar narration of Constantine of Orvieto, shrewdly observes in which history Echard that Alatri is an episcopal city of Campania, immediately subject to the Roman Pontiff, to whose see that Cistercian Prior was afterward raised; and hence he rightly corrects Malvenda and the Cistercian Menologists, who from a corrupt edition of Vincent of Beauvais call this Prior Alacrinus or Alacrio, and thus wrongly took the name of the see for the proper name of that bishop. By these Angelus Manrique was led into error, as he sufficiently shows, when in the Cistercian Annals at the year of Christ 1220, chapter 4, number 8, after alleging the words of Malvenda, he thus discourses: Therefore from these things, if they be exactly weighed, not only the year of Alacrinus's colloquy with blessed Dominic, but also that of his own death, can be deduced: for if he survived him by twenty years, it follows that he died in 1240; not, however, in what year of his episcopate, nor over what church he presided, which neither in others have I hitherto been able to find. Finally Augustine Sartorius, in the Eulogistic History of the Cistercian Order, published not long ago at Old Prague, title XI, page 305, and title XXVII, page 898, twice struck upon the same rock.

[714] Wherefore Echard in the place just cited thus concludes: corrects the error of certain moderns, It must therefore be read "the bishop of Alatri"; and he doubtless is the one who is numbered nineteenth among the bishops of Alatri by Ughelli, by name John, who was already sitting in the year 1233, as is established from a diploma given in that year, in the month of June, in the sixth Indiction, and reported by the same Ughelli, by which the said bishop John with his Canons gives to Stephen, Cardinal priest of St. Mary across the Tiber, the church of St. Benedict for the monastery of St. Sebastian. And that it is he is proved from the relation itself, in which he is said to have written thus to Brother John of Colonna, then Prior of the Roman province, which office the latter was already discharging for the first time in the year 1236. Although this argument of Echard seems solidly to demonstrate the bishop of Alatri of that time, yet about this matter Ughelli himself casts a scruple upon us, when in the latest Venetian edition of Sacred Italy, volume 1, column 290, he writes thus about James, bishop of Alatri and predecessor of the mentioned John: James was living in the year 1236, whom some writers affirm to have been a Cardinal, of the family of the Counts of Anagni, and a kinsman of Gregory IX; but however much I have striven, I have not been able clearly to find this very thing. What if an error crept into the numbers or the series of the prelates of Alatri, or, as Echard there asserts, it happened that John is confounded with his successor, and his death is deferred too long by Ughelli?

[715] and we observe something about the year of the event. But as regards the time of the event, Echard agrees with Malvenda that it happened in the year of Christ 1220, and strives to prove that chronology when on the page just cited he notes these things in the notes about the conversion of Conrad the German: He gave his name to the Order on the XV of August, 1220: for in no other year did Dominic celebrate the feast of the Assumption of the blessed Virgin at Bologna; but in the following year, at the general assembly held at Pentecost, he was given as the first prior of Germany

as provincial prefect. But that argumentation does not yet altogether settle the matter: for hitherto we do not see why St. Dominic could not have celebrated the feast of the Assumption of the Mother of God at Bologna in the year of Christ 1219, since from the ancient monuments it is established only that the Saint came to Bologna in the summer of the year 1219, and was there most certainly on the Calends of September. But those testimonies do not prevent the Saint from having already stayed there for one or two months before. If therefore with Souèges we fix that arrival at Bologna to the month of July, St. Dominic could in the year 1219 have celebrated at Bologna the feast of the Assumption of the most blessed Virgin, and accordingly the mentioned history could have taken place in the month of August of the year 1219. Yet we shall readily admit that it happened in the year of Christ 1220, although a more certain chronology of this matter would have to be dug out from the time at which the aforesaid Cistercian Prior, and afterward bishop of Alatri, was sent by Honorius III the Pontiff into Germany, which hitherto we do not know. Wherefore about the year we determine nothing certain, and set out with our Saint to other cities of Italy.

[716] Wadding asserts that SS. Dominic and Francis were at Bergamo, Wadding, in the Annals of the Minorites at the year of Christ 1220, among the other cities of Italy which St. Francis, returned from the East, visited, reckons Bergamo, and there at number 5 narrates these things bearing on our purpose: They assert that there was present (namely at Bergamo with St. Francis) the most holy Founder of the Preachers, and that he dwelt in the chapel of St. Mary Magdalene, situated in the citadel; but Francis in the oratory of St. Vigilius, bishop of Trent, situated near that citadel; at which time the pastor of this city was John of Novara of the Torniella family, whom the holy Men quite often visited, and with whom they dealt about many things for the salvation of souls. They frequently visited the monks of the valley of Astino beneath that city, and among them, while Dominic was performing the sacred rites, the merciful Deacon ministered to the Brothers with holy humility and charity. At length the clergy, senate, and people of Bergamo gave to the holy Men, when they were about to depart from the city, two churches for the habitation of their Brothers: to St. Dominic, that which was called St. Stephen's; to St. Francis, that of St. John the Baptist, which today belongs to the conventual Minorites: which having been occupied, and men having been left who should add adjoining dwellings, they went on to Brescia. Antonio Guarneri the Canon, in the Commentaries on the Life and Deeds of the Saints of Bergamo, folio 127 and following, records similar things distinctly and elegantly; with whom and other more recent writers we leave the credit of this tradition, since ancient authors made no mention of that meeting of the two Saints.

[717] Then both those Founders of illustrious Orders are said to have come to Brescia, which city each Patriarch found no less favorable and pious, and at Brescia, which Brescian journey of his as Wadding in the same place at number 6 hands down. But we marvel that no distinct memory of this stay at Brescia exists among the readily available Dominican writers, since Jacopo Malvezzi, lately published among the Writers of Italian Affairs, volume 14, from column 777, wrote in his Chronicle of Brescia, more than three hundred years ago, chapter 94, or in the same place column 899, the following: In those days the most blessed Dominic, father and founder of the Order of Friars Preachers, traversing the places of Lombardy, entered this city. He, having lodging at the basilica of the blood of Saints Faustinus and Jovita, there appointed certain religious men to serve Christ the Lord under the yoke of his most holy rule. Surely he thought that same place should be observed with a very great worship of devotion and reverence and with sacred religion.

[718] And when he was there passing many days, we confirm from an ancient Chronicle, beside that same church toward the northern quarter, as has been handed down from our elders, he planted a juniper tree, from whose roots little shoots sprang up, from which even in my days a plantation grew strong. But this is believed to have been done rather for the recreation of himself and his Brothers than for his own memorial. But after this, departing from this city and preaching the Gospel of Christ the Lord through many places — he who always flourished in life and deeds — at length he passed from this light to the eternal country in the year from the coming of Christ Jesus our Lord 1221. Ferdinando Ughelli also records that Brescian journey of St. Dominic when in the Venetian edition of Sacred Italy, volume 4, column 546, among the deeds of Albert, bishop of Brescia, he writes thus about the benevolence of this prelate toward our Saint and his Order: The holy patriarch Dominic, still living and putting forward the Order not long before founded by him, he received at Brescia and held in honor, and assigned to him a suitable place which could suffice for building a very ample monastery. Departing thence, he left Guala [*], a distinguished man of his Order, as prefect of the place. About this Brother Guala, who from the Order of Preachers was raised to the see of Brescia and succeeded the mentioned Albert, mention will occur in the Acts to be published after this Commentary.

[719] Finally Wadding, in the praised Annals of the Minorites at the same year 1220, number 6, thus narrates his holy Founder's journey from Brescia to Cremona and thence he brings them to Cremona, where there is a tradition, and another meeting of St. Dominic with him: At length Francis with his companion came to Cremona, which is a noble city in the Italian Cenomani, in the same region of Lombardy beyond the Po, where they stayed for some days and obtained a site for building a monastery; and while they were building it, the most holy patriarch Dominic came up, who at once withdrew to see his beloved Francis. When they were together and were having a long discourse about divine matters, there came to them the monks, who were suffering from want of pure water, asking both of them to pray God that the water of their well might not be turbid and muddy. There was for some time a contest between the holy Men, which of them should bless the water: at length blessed Francis prevailed. Therefore blessed Dominic ordered a small vessel of that water to be brought to him, and, after he had blessed it, willed it to be put into the well, and a little afterward water to be drawn thence, which indeed was found most pure and best for drinking, and so was thereafter and continued. So he, from Flaminius and Ferdinand del Castillo, whom he cites in the margin, and of whom the latter in book 1, chapter 50, thinks that those monks who were suffering from want of pure water were Franciscans.

[720] Nicholas Janssen, in the Commentary on the Life of St. Dominic, page 253 and following, that both these Saints by the sign of the cross attributes that want of pure water to the citizens, and reports the same matter differently from others thus: This friendship the two most holy Patriarchs preserved whole and entire; who then again embraced each other in the city of Cremona (where St. Clare too was present) in the year 1218, if the chronicle of that city published by Antonio Campo and Vincenzo Cavitelli asserts the truth: but Ferdinand del Castillo reports that it happened in the year 1220, after St. Dominic had come to Cremona from Milan, where he had been afflicted with a most grave sickness of body. In this city, as the aforesaid chronicle relates, the two most holy Men performed a notable miracle. There was a well by the orchard with turbid and foul water, of no convenience or use to the citizens. This they bring in a vessel to the Saints, and ask that they mark it with a sacred blessing. The prayers of the citizens were heard; but there arose a certain pious contention, since each yielded to the other the imparting of the blessing. At length both together bestowed it, and presently that water, clear and of most sweet taste, was poured upon the rest in the well, and to this day preserves the sweetness divinely conferred. Ferdinand del Castillo hands down that St. Francis was unwilling to bestow the blessing, and that this was given by blessed Dominic: in which matter (if it was done in this way) the former commended to posterity his humility, because Dominic was a priest; the latter his obedience, by which he complied with his friend. For the rest, about the time of this meeting consult the Supplement to the Annals of the Minorites at the year 1215, number 4, which was published at Turin in the year 1710.

[721] changed the insipid water of a well into sweet, Ludovico Cavitelli, in the Annals of Cremona at the year of Christ 1218, folio 78 verso and following, narrates the same miracle otherwise in these words: The divine Dominic and Francis together with the divine Clare of Assisi came to Cremona, and lodged in the houses in which formerly was the public school outside the Pulesella gate of that city, in which, since there was a well which had turbid and muddy waters, and unpleasant to drink, and a jar having been drawn from them and brought before them by those dwelling in those houses, and at their intercession having been blessed by them with the venerable sign of the holy cross, and by those who carried them having been thrown into the well, all its waters were purged of every impurity and made sweet and pleasant, by the grace and power of Almighty God, and by the highest faith in him, and by the goodness and merits of those Saints, and to the astonishment of all the inhabitants there; and the well still exists in the same place, in which was a temple in honor of the divine William, a monastery of nuns of the Order of the Observance of the divine Clare having then been erected under the title of the most sacred Body of Christ in the district of St. Paul of that city, at the exhortation of the divine Dominic, Francis, and Clare.

[722] [which well was lately uncovered, and by the drinking of whose water various miracles are performed to this day.] From these things it is plain that that well was still known in the age of Cavitelli, who published his Annals of Cremona in print in the year 1588. Nay, the memory of it persevered up to the year of Christ 1649, in which, on account of the war pressing on and the new fortifications of the city of Cremona, the well, being covered over, lost its memory and veneration, as we read in an Italian little book which was lately published at Cremona. In the same little book it is narrated how this well was at length uncovered in the year of Christ 1728, and recovered its former veneration. Nay rather, the most benign God in the years 1728 and 1729, through the intercession of St. Dominic and St. Francis, prodigiously restored health to many sick persons drinking water from this well, and performed several miracles to the glory of both Saints, which are there solidly confirmed by legitimate and sworn testimonies. I should gladly have published in Latin all these prodigies of our age, if my occupations had permitted. Wherefore I offered the aforesaid little book to the Reverend Fathers Preachers, that it might be turned into Latin by someone skilled in the Italian idiom, and printed after this Commentary with the translator's name prefixed. But since I have not been able to obtain that translation, and the never-resting press already presses me, I am compelled to omit those miracles, to which perhaps new ones are daily added. Since, however, that posthumous glory belongs partly also to St. Francis, those prodigious benefits, and others perhaps to be added, will be able to be inserted into the Acts of St. Francis at the day IV of October, if the Franciscan Fathers shall communicate them to us in Latin.

[723] Meanwhile let us proceed to St. Dominic's journey to Faenza

sojourn, Malvenda narrates that St. Dominic preached at Faenza, which is handed down to have been illustrated by a notable miracle, as Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers at the year of Christ 1220, chapters 32 and 33, reports from the monuments of the monastery of Faenza in this manner: When the blessed father Dominic was laboring untiringly for the enlarging of his Order, he diligently traversed the parts of Italy; and among the very many other things worthy of memory which happened concerning him by divine disposition, this one is faithfully noted. Namely, running through the parts of Romagna with fervent zeal of preaching, he came to Faenza; where then, staying at first at the church of St. Vitalis near the gate, he preached for some time to the people flocking thither. But afterward, going further on, he sought Forlì, and remained there a few days, and, returning again to Faenza, was received by the bishop of the city: a chamber having been assigned to him with his companion, he stayed there for the space of many days.

[724] And so, when the Saint of God rose at night for matins, as he was accustomed, and that he was there led at night to the church by angels, two most beautiful young men were several times seen at that same hour to approach the door of his chamber with lighted lamps, and to lead blessed Dominic with his companion outside the bishop's house, the doors being entirely barred, and after some little space to return also. Therefore one of the observers reported these things to the bishop: and while he, astonished, was hesitating about it, he wished, watching with them, rather to test that very thing by sight. And so when at the hour of matins he had evidently seen the aforesaid young men with burning candles, as had been reported, and recognized the doors thoroughly and completely fastened, when morning came, going to the Saint of God, he thus addressed him: Most beloved Father, I know that you very well know what is written: That it is good to hide the secret of a king, but honorable to reveal and confess the works of God. Wherefore I pray that you disclose who those young men are who at night lead you hence with a light and lead you back. To this the blessed Father, keeping silence about the matter, lest he should seem to acknowledge it, said: Alas, reverend lord, about what young men do you inquire? To whom the prelate said: Knowing that two young men accompany you hence with a light and return together with you, we pray, in the name of Christ, that you declare who they are and whither you go.

[725] Moved by this adjuration, the man of God Dominic humbly said: Lord, that I may explain what you ask of me, as the Saint himself was compelled to confess to the bishop, do you receive my petition. And when he assented, he thus continued: You shall plainly know, reverend prelate, that all the labors of my life, long since anxiously aspiring to the salvation of my neighbors, are most urgently applied to the enlarging of my Order. Wherefore, never at rest, frequently and with anxiety traversing Spain, the Gauls, Italy, and nearly all the western parts, I watch with all zeal that Brothers may be multiplied to the Order, and places to the Brothers. Since I have tarried here a little while, when in prayer I was inquiring whether God had prepared a suitable dwelling for my Brothers, he sent to me these two angels, about whom you have asked, under the appearance of young men, who, quite often leading me at the hour of matins to the church of St. Andrew among the Vineyards, and Matins having been devoutly performed there, and the Lord adored, brought me back also hither. And God willed this to be made known to you for this reason, that I might more confidently seek that place for a Convent to be dedicated for my Brothers. As a suppliant therefore I beg that you labor that it may be granted me.

[726] who saw to it that a monastery was built for the Preachers in that city, But the bishop, hearing this, embraced him with most tender charity and said: I will altogether do it, Father. And so on the same day he set forth the matter to the rulers of the city, and obtained that that church of St. Andrew, with the surrounding space, be assigned to father Dominic himself for the dwelling of the Friars Preachers, by a public instrument and with the solemn seal of the community. Moreover the bishop also, that a ready faculty of preaching to the people might be at hand for the blessed father Dominic, saw to it that a pulpit of stone was erected in the middle front of the praetor's palace above the public square; and there the blessed father Dominic bountifully ministered to the people of Faenza the seeds of the divine word. From that time therefore, in the aforesaid place of St. Andrew, foundations began to be laid and walls raised by the citizens of the city for the building of a house for the Brothers; and that church being enlarged, and a cloister arranged on the western side, and a dormitory and certain other things completed, the devotion and solicitude of the people so advanced that in a rather short space about twenty Brothers were lodged there. And in memory of these things the aforesaid pulpit still appears on the public road called the Imola road, and there still exists the road by which the divine father Dominic was accompanied by the two aforesaid angels, which from that event is called THE WAY OF THE ANGELS up to the present day.

[727] where, besides other posthumous traces of these matters, This relation does not exhibit great antiquity, and that colloquy of St. Dominic with the prelate of Faenza seems more rhetorically adorned than historically certain: for the author in it adduces rather the things which probably could have been said in a like case than those which it is established were said. Yet on that account we do not call into doubt the substance of this history or tradition of Faenza, which Giulio Cesare Tonduzzi in the History of Faenza, printed in Italian in the year 1675, part 2, page 252, abridges from Brother Michele Pio, and for which he alleges no more ancient author. Certainly we should wish that so illustrious a miracle were proved by older documents: for of those which Malvenda cites we do not know the antiquity and authority. Nevertheless we do not gainsay the pious conviction of the people of Faenza, even though we have now quite often learned by experience that popular traditions of this kind are to be admitted cautiously without suitable instruments. But we marvel that in these monuments of Faenza no mention is made of the perpetual posthumous memory of that pulpit, which Flaminius in the Acts of St. Dominic, book 2, folio 49, commemorates in these words: But he stayed especially at Faenza, where he tarried many days; in which city, when too numerous a multitude flocked to his sermons, the citizens publicly built for him a platform in that most frequented place, where he often preached, and after him blessed Thomas and Peter the martyr; and it was provided, and is observed to this day out of reverence for those three Saints, that no one else of a different Order should preach on it.

[728] Further, concerning the erection of the stone pulpit, which is recorded in the above relation, a recent inscription is read, a certain difficulty occurs to us: for Malvenda fixes this history, and consequently the erection of the stone pulpit which was built on this occasion, to the year of Christ 1220. But the praised Giulio Cesare Tonduzzi, in the Italian work just cited, page 21, exhibits and explains a Latin inscription of the Preachers of Faenza carved on marble in these words: In the year of the Lord 1218, when the blessed father Dominic, out of fervent zeal for the faith and for the enlarging of the Order, was diligently traversing the parts of Italy, he came to Faenza and was kindly received by the most reverend bishop of the city, who, that a ready faculty of preaching to the people might be at hand for the blessed father Dominic, saw to it that this platform of stone was erected, where the holy father Dominic bountifully preached to the people of Faenza the seeds of the divine word, and obtained by his prayers from the most reverend bishop and the rulers of the city the church of St. Andrew among the Vineyards, with the surrounding space, for the dwelling of the Brothers. This stone (the other and older one being worn away) his humble sons renewed in memory of so great a father out of gratitude, 1590. How does the year of Christ 1218, expressed in this inscription, cohere with Malvenda's chronology?

[729] We are not unaware that the aforesaid Tonduzzi distinguished a twofold arrival of St. Dominic, in which occurs a chronological difficulty, and on page 247 asserts without any solid foundation that the Saint came to Faenza in the year 1218 and again afterward in the year 1221. But that chronology does not agree with the Acts of St. Dominic, and that distinction certainly conflicts with the monuments of Faenza which we reported above from Malvenda: for in them all things are attributed to the same prelate of Faenza, while meanwhile Ughelli in the Venetian edition of Sacred Italy, volume 2, column 500, writes thus about two bishops of Faenza of those times: Rolando therefore, Ubaldo having lately been translated, was substituted as worthy, since he was provost of the Cathedral, in the year 1210. He died in 1219. Then about Rolando's immediate successor he adds these things: Albert was promoted from Provost to this see in the year 1220. He received the Friars Preachers into the city. If therefore St. Dominic came to Faenza in the year 1218, and returned thither again in the year 1220 or 1221, his first arrival would have to be placed under Rolando, the second under Albert. Nevertheless the already reported monuments of Faenza indicate that the whole history took place under one and the same bishop, and John of St. Mary in the French Acts of St. Dominic, book 4, chapter 6, expressly calls that prelate Albert. Wherefore let the people of Faenza, in favor of their tradition, reconcile these things among themselves, or overturn the chronological arrangement of Ughelli.

[730] After these and like excursions the Saint again departed for Rome, and, passing through Florence, there allowed a woman of looser life, such as Malvenda also found in the history of Benedicta of Florence, whom he had before converted and freed for a year from possession by a demon, to be vexed again by the demon, and at length brought her wholly back to a better life. Malvenda, in the Annals of the Preachers at the year of Christ 1221, chapter 3, labors greatly to find the time of this history, and in his own opinion is compelled to change the text of Vincent of Beauvais and of St. Antoninus. But Echard, in volume 1, page 32, in the notes, thus aptly arranges the chronological series of this matter: That this history may agree with the series of blessed Dominic's deeds, it must be said that he, when he first came to Bologna from the Spanish and Parisian journey in the month of August 1219, and was sending brethren into certain cities of Lombardy for the sake of enlarging the Order, destined some also for Florence, with Brother John of Salerno, a distinguished man, set over them as superior; and that Dominic himself afterward, setting out for Rome in the same year about November, made his journey by way of Florence, that he might visit his own, and then by the sermons which he unceasingly delivered everywhere brought Benedicta, of whom here, to a better life, and freed her from the evil spirit. I should not doubt that the Saint in the following year after Easter, seeking Bologna again from Rome by way of Viterbo, also passed through Siena and Florence. However that may be, certainly at the end of the year 1220, say in November, going again to Rome, he made his journey anew through Florence, and, finding Benedicta lukewarm and negligent in the affairs of salvation, with her consent, and himself committing the matter to God, saw her again vexed by the evil spirit.

[731] which Echard arranges in a more probable manner. These things being thus explained, it is not necessary, as Malvenda will have it, to emend Constantine, and Humbert, Vincent of Beauvais, and St. Antoninus who follow him, and to strike out what they all have, that Benedicta remained sound MORE THAN A YEAR. But rather Malvenda himself must be corrected, who treats not accurately of blessed Dominic's journeys in these last three years of his life. Malvenda, however, on page 313, opposes an ancient tradition, namely that our men came to Florence

did not come until the year 1220, after the first general Chapter held at Bologna; namely that then a citizen of Florence named Deusdedit came to Bologna, and offered to St. Dominic a certain house suitable for Religious, built by him in the plain of Ripoli, who immediately sent Brothers thither; and that this was written to him by Serafino Razzi. But the answer is easy. If ancient monuments were produced testifying that the matter was so, I should gladly acquiesce; but let no one vainly oppose a tradition without documents to the ancient record of the Roman province, according to which the Convent of Florence, after that of Rome, precedes the rest in antiquity, and which accordingly was already erected in the year 1219: for that of Siena, later, is certainly reported to have been begun in the year 1220, on the XIV day of the month of March, namely by brethren whom Dominic, then being at Rome, sent thither, who on the day indicated made an agreement with the curators of the hospital house of the Magdalene. Now in the following paragraph we shall narrate that history of Benedicta of Florence from an ear-witness most worthy of credit, and shall compare it with another fabulous narration of the same history, that the reader from this comparison may once for all evidently recognize the character of Alanus de Rupe, who was accustomed to mix very many false things with some true matter.

* Const. "of Casamari"

* read "were"

* perhaps "him after himself"

* perhaps "a juniper"

* read "a plant"

* elsewhere "Guala"

§ XXXIX. The true narration of the conversion of Benedicta of Florence, which may be compared with the fabulous history of the same conversion.

Constantine of Orvieto and other ancient writers Constantine of Orvieto in the Acts of St. Dominic, number 35, sets forth the conversion of Benedicta of Florence and the marvels that followed it in these words: I bring forth a matter which I report the more securely inasmuch as, having been instructed by the very person about whom it took place, namely Sister Benedicta, the handmaid of Christ, I devoutly write it more certainly. For this woman, long given over to the world, gave herself to the enticements of the flesh; but at length her fault did not lack punishment: for the malignant spirit began at intervals of time gravely to vex her. Now she was a neighbor of the church in which at that time the Friars Preachers dwelt at Florence; whither the man of God Dominic, arriving, first led her by exhortation to penitence. Afterward too, having compassion on her vexation, he obtained by his prayers that the malignant spirit should depart from her; so that she, who could scarcely have a little rest on alternate days, for more than a year did not feel the trouble of her accustomed vexation.

[733] But being free from the vexation of the flesh, she found herself vexed worse in mind, narrate the conversion of Benedicta of Florence, and the medicine of the body became for her at once a disease of the mind, and she began to grow the more negligently lukewarm from God's service in proportion as she was the more strongly drawn by revived temptations to the enticement of the flesh. And when she set this forth to the man of God, and he saw the benefit bestowed turned into an occasion of ruin, he gently asked her whether she wished to be brought back to her former state. And when she committed it to the will of God and to his own discretion: I will ask the Lord therefore, he said, daughter, that there may be done to you what he shall see more expedient for your salvation. Whence it came about that after not many days the malignant spirit again received power over the body of the handmaid of Christ, in such a way that her soul might remain safe, and the vexation, which before was the punishment of her fault, might afterward become a remedy of her manner of life and an accumulation of merits. Thus that witness, beyond every exception, narrates this whole history, which the venerable Humbert in the Life of St. Dominic, chapter 42, Vincent of Beauvais in book 30 of the Mirror, chapter 75, and St. Antoninus in part 3 of the Chronicles, title 23, chapter 4, §6, reported in nearly the same words.

[734] Now hear and marvel at the wordy fluency of Alanus de Rupe, who adorned the same matter with various stupendous episodes, with which is compared the narration of the same history in Alanus, or rather defiled it with fictions. But if any learned man is abundantly convinced by the preceding arguments of the fabulous character of this author, and the prolix reading of a feigned narration wearies him, let him leap over to the following paragraph. Since, however, John of St. Mary strenuously fights for the authority of Alanus, and perhaps still has some fellow soldiers, for their sake we transcribe from Alanus himself this long history, that they may conveniently compare both narrations with each other, and from this specimen judge maturely what credit this writer deserves in other little narrations or revelations of this kind.

[735] Therefore in the Mainz edition of the Alanus Redivivus, from page 514, or part 5, chapter 60, we read the following: There was a certain woman in the city of Florence in Tuscany, who feigns that that Benedicta was a public prostitute, by name Benedicta (I here omit a few words enclosed in parenthesis and expressed in another type, because they seem to be the editor's rather than the author's), sprung of noble birth and adorned with incomparable beauty. She lost and consumed the years of her younger life in slippery wanderings. At length she became there a public prostitute, into a very great snare for the perdition of souls. Seeing whom, the most blessed Dominic, singular spouse of the most blessed Virgin Mary, marveled at her exceeding beauty and at the same time at her baseness, and grieved vehemently for the perdition of her and of many souls redeemed by Christ's blood. But by the nod of God that sinful woman, after Dominic's sermon, pricked with compunction by his sermon, came to him for confession. To whom, after the rest, when confession had been made, Dominic said: Do you wish that I should pray for you to our Lord Jesus Christ your bridegroom, and to the most sweet Mary his mother, that they may set you in that state which is more expedient for you for your salvation? To whom she said: Yes, most sweet father, and I humbly ask and beseech that you so do. And Dominic, rising from the seat of confession, presently prayed for her.

[736] who after her conversion was possessed by very many demons And at once a multitude of demons entered the woman's body, and she remained thus bound and possessed for a whole year, not without great astonishment and terror of the whole people, and especially of her lovers and of many other carnal men. Why say more? After a year Dominic, returning, visited his captive. Then she with the greatest weeping and sighs besought him to stretch out to her the hand of mercy by freeing her from the enemies of the human race. Which he willingly granted, and, the sign of the cross being made, by the power of the Psalter of the Virgin Mary (through which he was always accustomed to do great things) he put to flight from her all the demons, who were four hundred and fifty in number. For this he enjoined upon her as penance to say each day three Psalters of the Virgin Mary, in which there are as many, namely four hundred and fifty, Hail Marys, against as many of the aforesaid demons. A thing to be lamented! Hear what follows.

[737] and, freed from them by St. Dominic's prayers, returned to her former lust, After that most unhappy sinner had been freed from them and left to herself, the fires of the flesh began again to be kindled in her, carnal thoughts to grow up, and new desires of carnal pomps to boil forth. Her former lovers, returning to her, when they saw her restored to her first splendor and beauty of body, urged her to sin, so that that most wretched woman, forgetful of God's mercy and grace, gave herself over to her former wicked acts, and more deeply than she had been accustomed before. Almost countless men run to her, and the theater of the devil becomes graver than it had ever been. A new spectacle! The most merciful Dominic, hearing of the aforesaid Benedicta's fall and of the ruin of countless men, coming to her swiftly by the Spirit of God (although he was then in distant parts), and having found her in her house, thronged with the consolations of wretched men, and all having been put to flight by a divine light, turning to her with terrifying countenance, said: Is it, O daughter, true what you had promised to Christ and to the Virgin Mary, to lead an immaculate life? Recognizing it, now indeed know that a great loss threatens you from the Lord in vengeance, unless you quickly repent of having relapsed. Hearing which, she, keeping silence with trembling and astonished, did not dare to speak. Then the man of God said: Follow me; and he led her at that same hour, just as she then was, clothed in a harlot's dress, into the greater church, in which a very great multitude of people had come, and there, sitting as at a tribunal, he heard the confessions of that accursed woman, with all seeing and immensely astonished. A new and stupendous hand of God! Confession having been made, Dominic said to her: Do you wish, daughter, for your own salvation and that of others, to commit yourself to the most sweet Mother of mercy? To whom that poor woman, trembling and astonished, said: Yes, lord; let her will be done.

[738] When therefore Dominic (who in all his petitions was heard according to his wish) had prayed a little for her, and whom therefore four hundred and fifty demons again possessed. suddenly, with all beholding, she was seized as before by four hundred and fifty demons, and horribly vexed before all. She is taken, chained, bound, and, howling and crying out with the greatest gnashing and horror of all who stood by, is led to her house. But Dominic, suddenly disappearing, was found an hour later at Paris. Thus therefore that wretched woman remained possessed for a year and more, and was daily horribly vexed. Yet she had every day a quiet and free time, in which she frequently prayed three Psalters of the Virgin Mary: nor could they at that time vex or hinder her, although outwardly by beatings of boards, or by murmuring of voices, or by pullings of her garments or hair, they strove to hinder that poor woman from the service of the Mother of God.

[739] When therefore the poor captive of the blessed Virgin Mary and of Dominic was harassed by such great tribulations, [On the testimony of the same Alanus, this woman is dragged to the tribunal of divine justice,] it happened on a certain vigil of the Virgin Mary that, being astounded and rapt in spirit (Dominic having again suddenly returned to her by God's nod, and suppliantly praying God for her), she saw herself dragged to the tribunal of Christ, terrible beyond measure, hedged about with ranks of Saints brighter than the sun; and a huge book of the size of a cell or chamber was brought, marked with signs of malediction and of hell: in it the whole life of that Benedicta was perfectly depicted and at the same time described. That poor woman is bidden to look upon and read the picture and writing of the first leaf; which writing was of such terror and weight that she would much more gladly have entered a furnace of fire of a hundred and fifty stadia than have looked upon that first leaf alone.

[740] Then, trembling and astonished, she began to cry out with loud voice, and is compelled to read the book of her life, saying: Alas, alas for me, accursed and not blessed! Why did I, wretched, come into the world? Why, ill-fortuned beyond other sons and daughters of Eve, am I filled with so many evils? Woe to me, wretched daughter of malediction! Woe to the parents who bore me and did not teach me! And alas! woe still more to those who first deceived me. Alas, alas for me! Whither shall I go? Whither shall I depart? Where shall I hide? Whither shall I flee? What shall I say, or what shall I do? Alas, alas, wretched me! Hell open to

receive me I behold; a Judge more terrible to me than hell I see. Alas for me! Why did I not die young? Why was I not extinguished in the cradle? But alas, by a long evil life I have been brought to these last miseries! O if I had known these so great perils and had well recognized them, surely I should have lived holily. O if the world, and worldly women, knew these things which I see, what would they think of such matters? What would they say? What would they do? Woe to me, daughter of abomination and of confusion, of misery and of all uncleanness, an abyss of horrible baseness and of all iniquity! Brief were my joys, and behold, alas, alas! in their place I behold eternal torments prepared before me!

[741] And thus crying out and falling to the ground before the supreme Judge, which reading afflicted her with intolerable torments; she was harassed with immense grief. To whom the angered Judge said with terrifying voice: Rise, he said, rise; do what I have said, and read in your book before all what you have done. And she read the first margin of the first leaf and saw: and all the letters and marks, to her as she looked upon them, with their figures inflicted various torments, so that it would have been far easier and sweeter and milder to suffer the death of the body than to suffer the pain of the smallest letter of that book. A horrible thing! Willing or unwilling, this wretched woman read the page of the first leaf of the book of death with such outcries, sighs, laments, and griefs that, failing in strength, she fell as though dead before the Judge: yet the most terrible Judge, crying out at her more fiercely, bids her complete the writing of her whole book. And when another leaf was turned to be read, that poor woman so cried out with such terror, dread, and trembling for fear of the punishments of the following writing, that even stones and other inanimate things, if they had heard and understood her, would have wept with her. Therefore the bystanders, having compassion on her, fell at the knees of the Judge, asking pardon for that most wretched poor woman; whom the Judge, repelling them far off, asserted that he had been the more gravely offended by her, and had lost very many souls through her; and that therefore justly she ought to read through that whole book which she herself had made, and at length from it to receive a fitting sentence, as she had deserved, according to her merits.

[742] but St. Dominic urged her to have recourse to the Mother of God, Then one of the bystanders, who, as it seemed to her, was St. Dominic (who beheld the whole vision of the matter more clearly than she herself), turning to that most wretched woman, said: To Mary the mother of God, whom you have served in the Psalter, cry out now swiftly, that she may have mercy on you. Then, groaning and sighing mightily, turning to Mary the Mother of God, she humbly said: O Lady, most sweet mother and queen of mercy, have mercy on me, a most accursed sinner, standing here now, alas, in such great straits for my offenses. Then our Lady, praying and beseeching the Judge for her, at length under hope of amendment appeased him. The Judge then, addressing her more kindly than before, said: Behold, daughter, I now grant you a time of penitence. See therefore very diligently that by penitence you blot out all the sins which you have written in your book of death. But if you do otherwise, I will give sentence of eternal damnation upon you on the day when you do not expect it. And so, the vision thus disappearing, she came to herself, and beheld Dominic present with her in the church; to whom, having confessed more swiftly and attentively, she asks also the manner in which she must blot out the terrifying book. To whom he said: Commend yourself, daughter, to the Virgin Mary: for she who helped you thus today will without doubt help you also in the future as you serve her; for I hasten elsewhere, and when I have returned, as the Lord shall command for you, I will make it manifest to you.

[743] who showed her seven lilies, in which she saw the gravity of sin, And so for the space of three months she daily saluted with all her strength the most sweet Mary in her Psalter. Dominic having arrived, while he was celebrating Mass, she was rapt in spirit for about the space of three hours, in which she beholds the most sweet Virgin thus addressing her: Daughter, daughter, about the manner of blotting out your infernal book you have quite often asked me, and behold I, the Mother of mercy, have come to teach you the art and manner by which you can wholly blot it out. And presently the most sweet Mary, bringing forth a most beautiful lily inscribed with golden letters, gave it to Benedicta, saying: Read, daughter, and in this blot out your sins. And this was the writing of the lily: Remember the gravity of sin, and in it God's mercy toward you. And when she was struck dumb from confusion, our Lady, addressing her, said: I tell you, daughter, that so great is the gravity of the least mortal sin, and so hateful to God and to all the Saints, and so detestable to the court of the heavenly paradise, that (if it were possible) if I and all the Saints existing in heaven should sin by one single mortal sin, we should presently fall into hell and be damned eternally. On this account, daughter, were not Lucifer and so many thousands of demons, for one single mortal sin, suddenly expelled from heaven and damned eternally? Since therefore, O daughter, you have deserved worse than all of them in the number of your sins, and are more unworthy, more wretched, infinitely less both than they and than us, without any comparison, is it a small mercy and grace that has been done to you? Therefore so great a mercy ought to move you to return to clemency and grace through the mercy of the Creator. Hearing which, Benedicta poured forth most abundant sobs and tears by the power of this lily.

[744] After this Mary, blessed among women, brought forth a second lily for that Benedicta to read, the death of Christ and the penances of the Saints, in which was written: Remember the most innocent death of Christ, and attend to the penances of the Saints. If, said our Lady, God the Father held sin in such hatred that he did not spare his own Son, but for thirty-three years exposed him to the injuries of the world, and caused him to be condemned to a most shameful final death, for the single sin of Adam's disobedience — ought you not therefore most greatly to give thanks to God, who up to now has given you time for repentance without punishment of your sin, whereas the Son of God himself from the beginning of his conception up to his death inclusively was always for you at every instant in as many anguishes of death as the sins by which you have offended God? And besides, do you not see that those who were more pleasing to God — such as the prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors, and virgins, and all the Saints — were the more afflicted in the world? And you, most wretched, have done such great evils, and yet for so long a time have been mercifully awaited, and have endured no punishment. Which words pierced the heart of Benedicta like sharp arrows, and called forth in her copious fountains of tears.

[745] The most wise Mary, bringing forth a third lily, handed it to Benedicta to read, the punishment of Adam, in which was written this: Remember the punishment of the sin of the first man and of all the just who sin. Expounding which, Mary said: O daughter Benedicta, ought not your life greatly to displease you from the recognition of the divine mercy, when you see the first-formed Adam with his consort Eve expelled from paradise, bringing the condemnation of death upon all his posterity, and thus subject to hunger, thirst, cold, heat, and the infinite calamities of the world until the end of the world, as is plain? Behold, before you, you see the sword of divine vengeance everywhere and on every side punishing at every hour the sin of Adam, and yet you have committed such great and so many evils so often, so foul, so horrible, for so many years, nor have you been rebuked for them, but always sweetly borne with. Does not this, O daughter, appear to you great and not small? And moreover, did not almost the whole world perish in the flood on account of the sin of lust — not only men, but also all animals and insensible things, and, what is greater, countless innocent children? And you, filled with such great sins, do you not wish to be converted to God, you who have not yet suffered anything evil? See, she said, Sodom and Gomorrah, and the other cities joined to them, in which, in fire descending from heaven, nearly innumerable innocents perished with their parents; and you, a dwelling place of all vices and sins, remain unharmed. Did not all the fathers thus die in the desert (nay, even the most holy Moses and Aaron) for mere vainglory, or for murmuring? And you, so abominable a harlot, so full of unspeakable sins, not yet punished for them, do you not recognize toward yourself the clemency of a Judge so severe and terrible to others? Hearing which words, Benedicta was absorbed by such weeping and groaning that she nearly died.

[746] the grace of her calling to the faith The most clement mother Mary brought forth a fourth lily for her daughter Benedicta, in which was written: Remember how you have been called, and that so many kingdoms of Gentiles and Jews have not been drawn by Christ. Expounding which, holy Mary, the fountain of mercy, said: Has not, O daughter, a great grace been done to you, that Christ called you, and yet for so many years has not drawn to his law so many kings of the pagans, dukes and nobles, so many beautiful youths and beautiful women, the strongest and richest of either sex; but has brought you, a poor, wretched, and pitiable woman, least of all, carnal and slippery, to the knowledge of himself? Weigh this therefore, and weigh whether this does not seem great to you, that they are sons of the devil, and walk with demons in all sins, and go by the way of death descending into hell; and you, most unworthy, have been called by God in baptism, associated with angels, and set in the way of salvation. Think on these things, and think again in this how great grace and benignity and clemency have been shown you, and yet you have offended your God more than all Jews and pagans without any comparison. O how many, do you think, are the Jews and pagans who now fast, wear hair shirts continually, and sharply discipline themselves, keep silence, fulfill works of mercy, and yet with all these are dragged to hell. And you, full of miseries and sins, thus far without penitence and good works, are awaited by God, and are guarded in the way of salvation by me and the angels. O if such men were converted and faithful, and such things were done for them, how much, do you think, would they do for the love of God, if they do so much amid the error of the world? Whence, she said, now look more attentively, since in this more is given you than if every day twenty-four mountains of gold were given you; and yet you do not think on these things, nor fear. Hearing which, and gnashing her teeth for terror and fear, she was rendered as though bloodless, recognizing herself more wretched than all wretched persons.

[747] the punishments of past sins, Then a fifth most beautiful lily

the blessed Mother of God and queen brought forth for Benedicta her handmaid, in which was thus written: Remember the worldly punishments inflicted in past times upon sinners in this world. Expounding which, the blessed mother Mary said: Do you know what punishment Saul had, what punishment Cain, what punishment Pharaoh, Dathan and Abiram, and many others? How many, I ask, were hanged for one theft? How many burned, consumed by fire, and slain for one act of lust? And how many scourged, imprisoned, condemned, fined, and afflicted for one single sin from the beginning of the world? And you, since you have done infinite evils and have suffered none of these things, does it seem to you a small matter? Nay rather, in your life you were endowed and preserved with the gifts of nature and fortune, unworthy of every gift and undeserving, since you have deserved punishment more than all. Hearing which, and, her conscience pricking her, confessing that it was so, immensely confounded, prostrate at her feet, with irremediable weeping she humbly begged pardon.

[748] Mary, the queen of mercy, brought forth a sixth lily, and of present ones, which contained in itself this writing: Remember the punishments of those present and of those to come who live in this age. Expounding which, that Mistress of all sciences, our Lady Mary, said: Truly, daughter Benedicta, very many of good life have fallen today, and you are raised up; and many on this very day will die for one single mortal sin: for a certain soldier, sleeping and dwelling with his harlot, will die suddenly in his sleep for this sin alone. And a certain man in England will be beheaded for one single sin of anger. And in this city of Florence three will be burned for one sin. On this day very many at one table will be extinguished for the sin of gluttony. Nay rather, certain religious living without observance, on account of the vice of ownership especially, will be burned, and with the whole Convent, in the German lands, and with the adjacent town for the greater part, because they are partakers in their sins and even defend them. And you, most wicked, remain until now unpunished. Likewise today some will be made lepers, some rabid, some possessed, some sick, some will be drowned, some will be damned. And you, worse than all of them, do you not recognize God's mercy calling you? O how many are and will be in this world who, if they had the inspiration which you have and the occasions of conversion, would return to God with all their strength through penitence. Look therefore upon these things, since in this mercy shown you more is given you than if a hundred golden worlds were given you. See therefore and hear what I say, and be converted to God with your whole heart. She, hearing these things and uttering lamentable cries and confessing her sins, so filled the whole chapel with tears that even her garments seemed everywhere drenched together with the ground.

[749] Our illustrious and most benign Lady Mary gave a seventh lily to the aforesaid Benedicta, and the damnation of various men, in which was contained this writing: Remember the damnation of men past, present, and to come. Expounding which, the Mother of mercy said: There is no one damned who, if he were where you are, could not repent to the utmost. And again, very many are and will be damned who, if they had had or had your grace, would without doubt have been saved. O how many are damned for one single mortal sin! And you, who have committed such great crimes, are still undamned. O how many were just until death, and, sinning in death, were and are damned, the just God justly doing or permitting this! And you, wretched, are still alive. O how many for the sin of ignorance alone are damned and will be damned; and you, who have perpetrated such great crimes out of settled and deliberate malice, are still reserved and unpunished. Do you understand what I say? If you believe, be converted; if you do not believe, again attend to what is said. Today one girl of twelve years, for the sin of lust alone, having been killed with her own father, is damned eternally: and today in Spain a boy of eight years will be drowned, and solely for the sin of lust which he committed with his sister — though he did not consummate it, yet he began it — will be damned eternally. Why say more? On this very day a certain most beautiful and most noble lady, leading dances, will suddenly die before all, and for the sin of dances will be damned eternally. Nay rather, a certain man is held by all as good and almost holy in Lombardy, who solely for the sin of negligent confession and of an imperfect examination of conscience will die and be damned eternally, although he had no conscience pricking him about this. Let all therefore hereafter fear to confess coarsely and negligently, as alas! very many do today.

[750] all which the Mother of God confirms by examples. Today also in this city four will die, and one burgher will be damned for negligence alone, because he did not diligently instruct his sons and also his servants according to God. A certain curate or pastor also, good in his own person, but because he negligently and too carelessly ruled his sheep, and in the examination of confession did not correct them, will suddenly die and be damned. A certain religious too, falling today from the cellar, with broken neck, will die and be damned for this, that he had no firm purpose of living according to the statutes and rule of his Order — to having which purpose, at least in will and intention, every religious is bound under peril of mortal sin. And there is another religious in another monastery who today will suddenly die in a pestilence, and will be damned most particularly for this, that he said the divine Office negligently and with a wandering mind. And you, wretched woman full of sins, who have sinned more in one hour than all these four in their whole life, will you not fear nor be terrified, whereas today at this hour two of your companions in a brothel are now being murdered by ruffians and damned? O if these things now happened to you, what would you do, say, or think? See therefore, see and weigh, that in hell there are many better than you, their state saved, who nevertheless will never be saved. And you, more guilty than all of them, are still not damned. What more do you wish to hear? Do you see how great good things God has done for you, and yet does not do for others immensely better than you? See therefore, and weigh well, and note what I have said, lest after these things, returning to your infamy, the wrath of God rush upon you without mercy: for in this gift more has been given you than if there had been given you as many worlds of precious stones as there are stars in heaven. And so, hearing these things, the aforesaid poor woman, and especially the sudden deaths of those living with her, and recognizing herself guilty beyond measure, began to tremble before the glorious Virgin: her veins burst, and blood flowed through all the passages of her body, and she remained as though lifeless from anguish of heart. To whom, after the outcry of the people standing by, Dominic, coming from Mass (in which he had stood during those three hours in which the aforesaid Benedicta had been in rapture, praying suppliantly for her), recognizing all that had been said and done concerning his daughter, and taking her by the hand, and signing her in the power of the Psalter of the Virgin Mary, presently restored her, nearly dead, to entire health, with all the people standing by and seeing and proclaiming immense praises to heaven.

[751] At length this woman, coming to her senses, After a week of days, when the most devout father Dominic was celebrating in the church of the blessed Virgin, and the aforesaid Benedicta was present, she saw Dominic in the likeness of the Crucified, with all the stigmata and a crown of thorns, proceeding to the altar with the attendance of the Virgin Mary and of very many angels. And when the consecration had been made, Christ appeared visibly stretched upon the cross with all the signs of the passion, and dripped upon Dominic his most divine blood, and perfectly configured him to himself. Which done, she saw on the right the very great book which she had before seen at the judgment, made most white, but not yet written upon. And when she was marveling vehemently at this, she heard with clear voice the Lord Jesus Christ saying to her: Daughter Benedicta, you have blotted out your book with seven lilies from every species of the seven mortal sins. See that henceforth it be written over again, not as before with black and horrible infernal pictures, but with white and red letters. But if otherwise, I will again take vengeance upon you, and you will fall. Hearing which, she, vehemently terrified and greatly fearing to come to her former punishment, approaching nearer and prostrating herself at the feet of the most sweet Virgin Mary, begged mercy, that she might not, as before, be afflicted with such great punishments.

[752] Then the Queen of mercy, lifting her mantle, had incredible revelations and heavenly favors, drew from her neck a most beautiful prayer-cord of various precious stones, saying: This, daughter, you gave to me, and I wear it on my neck as an imperial collar: and my Son, whom you behold hanging on the cross, likewise has for a royal collar his own chaplet, placed upon his neck, of wondrous beauty and worth, which you gave to us, and in which, with the addition of the lilies, you blotted out your book of death. Now therefore, daughter, act constantly. Behold my Psalter, in which hereafter you shall blot out your sins and those of others, I commend to you. And in the first fifty, which is of white and bright precious stones, you shall write in the book the articles of the Incarnation of my Son and God, Jesus Christ, meditating on my dignities in relation to my Son according to all the parts of my body: namely, how reverently I bowed my head to him, with my ears heard his voice, with maternal and virginal hands handled his most tender and most beautiful limbs, and rendered him maternal services, running through the several members down to the feet. But with red letters you shall write with the second chaplet, which you shall say devoutly at the hours of my Son's Passion: which chaplet is of red precious stones, meditating here namely on the fifty articles of my Son's Passion, and having before you the image of the Crucified, and offering a Hail Mary to each wound, and along with this meditating on the pain of that part. And you shall write golden letters with the third chaplet, which shall be in honor of the holy Sacraments and against your sins; and for images you shall have the images of your church and of your country, meditating and spiritually passing from one to another; and this is designated by the third chaplet composed of golden signs. Thus therefore, daughter, in the aforesaid Psalter serve me and my Son devoutly, as you have begun; and as often as you shall offer us the Psalter, so many imperial collars of infinite worth you shall fit about our necks with fitting and royal honor.

[753] Therefore, the Mass being thus miraculously completed, in which the Virgin Mary, taking a part of the Host and of the Blood of Christ, if we believe Alanus on his oath, to Dominic, most familiar to her,

gave communion as a sign of the highest and most singular friendship, as a bride with her bridegroom, and helped him to lay aside the vestments of the church, and, humbly bidding him farewell, and signing Benedicta (concerning whom the aforesaid things were done), disappeared with a most gracious countenance. And afterward that Benedicta, wholly freed from the demons and confirmed in her good purpose, remained in the service of the Psalter of Christ and of the Virgin Mary until the end in all sanctity of devotion and fervor of penitence, so much that our Lady afterward quite often appeared to her, and revealed very many deeds of St. Dominic which no man knew, which are in part written in the Legend of St. Thomas of the Temple, who was a Spaniard and a companion of our holy father Dominic: from which Legend, and from several other Legends, the deeds which have now been told about Dominic were extracted; and they have lately been confirmed by revelation of Christ and of the Virgin Mary with great signs and portents. And of all these things I bear faith and testimony under oath by faith in the Trinity, under peril of every malediction to be inflicted upon me in case I depart from the right path of truth.

[754] or to the author of the Mirror of the Sinful Soul, In the Mirror of the Sinful Soul, which Brother Louis Loumans published at Antwerp in the year 1635, that conversion of Benedicta of Florence is set forth with the same long circumlocutions, or in nearly as many words, from page 203, and the author of the narration is at the end, in the same place, pages 240 and 241, thus more clearly indicated: After these things Benedicta, wholly freed from the demons and confirmed in good, remained in the service of the Psalter of Christ and of the Virgin Mary until the end, in all sanctity of devotion and of penitence, so much that our Lady quite often appeared to her, and revealed several deeds of Dominic which no man knew, some part of which are written in the Legend of Thomas of the Temple, who was a Spaniard and a companion of the most holy Dominic: from which Legend, and from several other Legends made about so great a Saint, the things which have now been said about Dominic were extracted; and they have lately been confirmed by revelation of Christ and of the Virgin Mary with great signs and portents — so much that our Lady herself visibly espoused him to whom she revealed these things, gave him her breasts to suck, and impressed upon him a virginal kiss, and adorned him with the greatest graces, so much that no woman was ever so familiar to her husband as Christ and the Virgin Mary are quite frequently familiar to the aforesaid man thus espoused. And of all these things I bear faith under oath by faith in the Trinity, and testimony, under peril of every malediction to be inflicted upon me in case I depart from the right path of truth. But that espousal and the other singular favors are ascribed to Alanus de Rupe, as may be seen in Hyacinth Choquet, among the Belgian Saints of the Order of Preachers, chapter 23, page 202 and following, in the Life of the same Alanus.

[755] to which two writers, or perhaps to the same one, Whoever moreover shall be willing to run through this prolix history with even a light eye will easily understand that the true conversion of Benedicta was theatrically amplified by Alanus with hyperbolic circumstances and various fictions. But if anyone should attentively peruse the same narration, he will find in it certain things scarcely coherent with themselves: for the author introduces the Mother of God saying to this sinful woman that she has hitherto suffered nothing for her sins. Yet he had before narrated that Benedicta, to expiate her sins, was possessed and vexed by four hundred and fifty demons. Besides, to the attentive reader there will occur certain discordant doctrines, which we leave to theologians to discuss. To us the oath is most displeasing which the author adds, to confirm the truth of his narration, in the faith of the most holy Trinity, and which we cannot reconcile with the piety of the reporter, unless he was out of his mind or deluded by false visions, as we hinted above in §3.

[756] Echard rightly withdraws credit in this narration, Echard is chiefly offended by the narration about the Mother of God's communion at St. Dominic's Mass, and in volume 1 of the Library of the Preachers, page 33, in the notes on the text of Constantine of Orvieto, passes this judgment upon this whole history: This woman, whom Humbert previously names BENE, namely while she was still in the world, but whom now both Constantine and Humbert call Sister Benedicta, both indicate that, when they wrote these things, she was still living and enrolled in the Order, either in the monastery of Ripoli at Florence — converted from a monastery of Brothers into a sacred nunnery a few years after blessed Dominic's death, which I judge truer — or only under the rule of the third Order of Penance, as St. Antoninus will have it. But the visions which Flaminius attributes to this Sister Benedicta, followed by Malvenda on page 320, we neither approve, nor judge that they ought to be approved by any man of refined judgment. Who could bear them narrating that Benedicta, while blessed Dominic was celebrating the sacred rite, saw the blessed Virgin taking and eating a part of the Eucharist, and likewise drinking a part of the Blood from the same chalice, and thus communicating together with the Saint in sign of friendship, and other things of the same stamp taken from the little book entitled THE MIRROR OF THE SINFUL SOUL; which little book, although it appeared under the name of our Alanus de Rupe after his death, I am scarcely induced to believe is his?

[757] But hitherto we do not know that the Mirror of the Sinful Soul appeared under the name of Alanus: and judges that it ought to be withdrawn by all learned men. for Louis Loumans published that little work under the name of an anonymous author of the Order of Preachers, even though the editor in the dedication made to the most reverend Master of the whole Order, page 7, not altogether rashly suspects that it can be ascribed to Alanus. Moreover Echard himself in volume 1, page 851, reckons the Mirror of the Sinful Soul among the works of Alanus. But whose that Mirror may be is of no concern to us, since Echard on the same page confesses that the history of Benedicta of Florence was interpolated by Alanus de Rupe, and in the same place admonishes the reader about that interpolation in these words: That you may know the character of Alanus, compare the history of Benedicta of Florence, which he has in part 5, chapter 38, with number 35 of the Life of Dominic by Constantine, who heard the matter from the mouth of Benedicta herself and narrates it simply. Alas, how great a difference! But if nevertheless anyone should contend that the little works which appeared under the title of the Alanus Redivivus are not to be ascribed to Alanus, we shall not resist, provided he acknowledge that the author of the longer history already reported (whoever at last he may be) was an inept fabulist.

* Humbert: "of her preservation"

§ XL. The Saint's last Roman sojourn, and his return from Rome to Bologna, where at the end of May of the year 1221 he celebrated the second general Chapter.

The Saint, staying at Rome At that time St. Dominic likely set out from Florence for Rome, and had already arrived in the City at the beginning of December of the year 1220, as we gather from the following diploma, which in Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers at the year 1220, chapter 36, is read thus: Honorius bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his beloved son Brother Dominic, Prior of the Order of Preachers, greeting and Apostolic benediction. On your part humble supplication has been made to us that we would deign mercifully to dispense with certain of your Brothers, some of whom, while still living in the world, took ecclesiastical Orders less canonically, so that they may be able to minister in the Orders thus received and to be promoted to higher ones. We therefore, having fuller confidence in your discretion, command you by Apostolic writings that, as you shall see expedient for their salvation, you deal mercifully in this matter with those only who have already received the habit of the Order, in such a way that you do not forsake justice, and so moderately execute this mandate that on the last day of the strict examination you may be able to render a worthy account before the Lord. Given at the Lateran on the VI of the Ides of December, in the V year of our Pontificate.

[759] at the end of the year of Christ 1220, Malvenda there notes by conjecture that this privilege was given in the V or IV year of Honorius' Pontificate, and had before in the same place thus given the reason for this disjunctive chronology: Since that diploma is said to have been given on the VI of the Ides of December, in the VI year of Honorius' Pontificate, at which time St. Dominic had already departed from life (for we shall show that he died in the following year, on the VIII of the Ides of August, in the sixth year of Honorius' Pontificate), it is too clearly evident that an error slipped into the date of the Apostolic letters, and, what seems readier, that in the Pontifical diploma there must be restored, for the VI year of Honorius' Pontificate, the V or IV, which slip of a numeral could easily have occurred. Thus therefore we judge that that bull was granted either in the preceding year, when St. Dominic, returning from the Spains and the Gauls, had asked it of the Pontiff at Rome, or in this year, on the eighth day of December. But there was no need of this disjunctive conjecture, since the diploma of the same Pontiff which we reported above in §36 from number 677 out of Raynaldus evidently demonstrates that Honorius III on that day of the year 1219 was staying at Viterbo, and accordingly it manifestly follows that the present letters were given at Rome in the year of Christ 1220, or the fifth year of the same Pontiff.

[760] and at the beginning of 1221, Honorius III in the month of January of the year 1221 (we reckon the year in the new style with Malvenda and others), or on the XV of the Calends of February, in the fifth year of his Pontificate, granted the Saint another diploma, in which he commends the Order of Preachers, and by name Brother Dominic, the bearer of the presents, to the archbishops and other prelates of the Church, and calls him a Canon of the aforesaid Order. These letters of commendation, because they are similar to those which we recited above in §36 as given to the archbishop of Tarragona, we do not repeat in this place, and we assign them to be read in Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers at the year of Christ 1221, chapter 1. But since Honorius in these and the preceding letters calls St. Dominic now Prior of the Order of Preachers, now a Canon, Malvenda and Echard conclude from that appellation that the title of Master of the Order had not yet then been conferred upon him.

[761] from Honorius III the Pontiff The holy Founder about this time obtained from the same Pontiff for himself and his Order other letters of commendation, which in Malvenda in the place just cited are of this tenor: Honorius bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his venerable Brothers the archbishops and bishops, and to his beloved sons all the prelates of churches to whom these letters shall come, greeting and Apostolic benediction. Since he who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet receives a prophet's reward, we deservedly commend to you all the men who are Preachers, most necessary to the holy Church, because they minister the food of the word of God, that from this you may gain for yourselves an incomparable reward. Hence it is that we have thought that our beloved son Brother Dominic, Prior of the Order of Preachers, who, having professed poverty and the regular life, is wholly deputed to the evangelizing of the word of God, should be more earnestly commended to you; asking you all, and more attentively exhorting you, and commanding you by Apostolic writings, that, when he shall come to your parts for the office of preaching [*] to which he is deputed,

you charitably receive him, and, diligently admonishing the peoples committed to you, out of reverence for God and for us, devoutly to receive from his mouth the seed of the word of God, that you liberally assist him in his necessities. And strive to show him such favor in these matters that, through your co-operation, more happily completing the course of the ministry he has undertaken, he may bring back the desired fruit and end of his labor, namely the salvation of souls.

[762] But because vices often creep in secretly under the appearance of virtues, for himself and his Order and the angel of Satan for the most part feignedly transforms himself into an angel of light, we command you by the authority of these presents that, if any calling themselves of the Order of the aforesaid Brothers shall have preached in your parts, turning themselves to the quest of money, whereby the Religion of those who have professed poverty might come to be defamed, you seize and condemn them as forgers. Given at the Lateran on the IV of the Calends of April, in the fifth year of our Pontificate. From this clause we conjecture that at that time certain impostors ran about under the name, and perhaps also under the habit, of the Preachers. Nor does the boldness of those wanderers seem to have been altogether repressed by this diploma of Honorius III: for Gregory IX the Pontiff used the same clause in the letters which we reported in §24, number 451. Nay, we suspect that Innocent IV for the same cause forbade anyone to wear, without a special mandate of the Apostolic See, the habit of the Preachers, or one so like it that he could be believed a Friar Preacher, as was expressed in §28, number 544, in the letter of this Pontiff.

[763] Mabillon, in his Italian Journey which he made in the year of Christ 1685, obtains various diplomas, at the month of July of the same year, number 22, or in volume 1 of the Italian Museum, page 74, testifies that at Rome in the Chigi library he read an ancient instrument by which master Cencius, son of Gregory Ranpazolus, in the presence of Stephen, Cardinal of the Holy Apostles, grants in perpetuity to the reverend and in all things accomplished Brother Dominic, Prior of the venerable monastery of St. Sixtus, receiving for that monastery and for the monastery of St. Mary in Tempulo and their servants, 1090 pounds of Sienese provisines, which he had lent to the lady Eugenia, formerly abbess of the said monastery of St. Mary in Tempulo, and for which she had given him a pledge, namely in the gardens of that monastery of the Circus Maximus. Done in the year 1221, in the year V of the Pontificate of the lord Pope Honorius, indiction IX. Echard in volume 1, page 86, gathers from the year of this instrument that it was written in the year 1221 after the XXV day of March, on which day, he says, the year then began at Rome. But we have already shown above that this rule of chronology is not so general that from it a certain time can always be extracted. Further, it matters little in what month of the year 1221 it was drawn up, since at least from the assigned year it is established that that donation was made in St. Dominic's last Roman sojourn.

[764] That the Saint was still staying at Rome in the year of Christ 1221, on the XVII day of April, we gather from another instrument, which Bernard Gui, in Edmund Martène, volume 6 of the most ample Collection, columns 447 and 448, thus reports: In the year of the Lord 1221, and there rescinds a donation formerly made to him, in the ninth Indiction, on the XV of the Calends of May. In the name of the Lord. Be it known to all who shall inspect the present page, that we, Fulk, by the grace of God bishop of the church of Toulouse, give and freely grant, by ourselves and our successors, for the remission of our soul, and for the defense of the Catholic faith, and for the benefit of the whole diocese of Toulouse, to you our beloved Dominic, master of preaching, and through you to your successors and Brothers of the same Order, the church of blessed Mary of Fanjeaux, which we assign entirely to that Order of preaching, with the tithes formerly pertaining either to us, or to the fabric of the church, or to the chaplain to be instituted there, and with the first-fruits, oblations, and with all its pertaining rights, to be held and possessed by perpetual right; inducting you, and through you the Brothers of the same Order, into possession by the delivery of the present charter — saving, however, the episcopal right to us and to our successors, both in the cathedraticum and in procurations and visitations, and in the commission of the care of souls to that priest who shall have been presented to us or to our successors by the master and by the Prior instituted in the said church by the said master, or by the Brothers of the aforesaid Order.

[765] And we, the aforesaid Master of preaching, by ourselves and our successors and the Brothers of that Order, by a legitimate instrument release and relinquish to you, lord bishop Fulk, and to your successors, in perpetuity, the sixth part of the tithes of the parochial churches of the whole diocese of Toulouse, which in times past you freely granted to us and to the aforesaid Order with the consent of the Canons of St. Stephen of Toulouse, as is more fully contained in a public instrument; so that the said instrument be utterly void and empty; renouncing all aid of laws and canons which could belong or avail to us and to the aforesaid Order from your donation, or in any other way, concerning the aforesaid part of the tithes. And that all the aforesaid may remain supported by every firmness, we have caused them to be strengthened with the protection of our seal and of that of Dominic, the aforesaid master of preaching. Done in the city of Rome in the year and on the day aforesaid, there being present, called for this purpose, Aymeric and Peter, monks of the Cistercian Order, and Brother Bertrand of the same Order, and master Arnald of Compragnano, and William Calvet, and I, William Gayraud, who, being asked, wrote these things, the lord Amicus, archdeacon of Arles, dictating.

[766] Echard, in volume 1, page 85, exhibits that same instrument, to which is appended the seal of St. Dominic, which we here represent. which agrees with the one already reported, if you except a slight discrepancy of a few names, and place at the end the year, month, and day, which in ours are marked at the beginning, and which together with the witnesses are in Echard thus reported at the end: Done in the city of Rome in the year of the Lord 1221, Indiction 9, on the XV of the Calends of May. There being present, called together for this purpose, Aymeric and Peter, monks of the Cistercian Order, and Brother Bertrand, a Lay Brother of the same Order, and master Arnaud of Campragnano, and William Calvet, and I, W. Garrad, who, being asked, wrote these things, the lord Amicus, archdeacon of Arles, dictating. In the same place Echard notes that to the Toulouse archetype of that instrument, which is still preserved among the Preachers, there are appended three seals: the first that of the church of St. Stephen, the second that of bishop Fulk, and the third that of St. Dominic, as is sufficiently plain from the characters expressed round about, by which it is indicated to be "the seal of Dominic, minister of preachings." We, of those three seals, here represent the last, engraved in copper, as properly belonging to our matter.

You see here the sleeves narrower at the wrist, and the rest of the habit of the Preachers sufficiently distinctly expressed. But would that it were possible to find the seal which St. Dominic affixed in the year 1211 to the instrument of the vassalage which William de Cardaillac, bishop of Cahors, in the month of May of the same year 1211 professed to Simon, count of Montfort, as the praised Echard in volume 1, page 14, in the notes testifies. Then perhaps from an eyewitness inspection of a like seal we could utterly convince Echard about the changed habit of the Preachers. But we have somehow supplied this defect, and above have proved that change from various testimonies of the ancients. Finally, Echard, upon that Roman instrument of the year 1221, on the cited page 85, notes that St. Dominic ceded all the rights acquired by him and his Brothers over the said church of Fanjeaux by this instrument to the nuns of Prouille, who from that time even now enjoy them.

[767] It may be doubted whether St. Dominic, when present at Rome, obtained for his Order the privilege The Saint, about to return from Rome to Bologna, which in Malvenda, in the Annals of the Preachers at the year of Christ 1221, chapter 2, runs thus: Honorius bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his beloved sons the Brothers of the Order of Preachers, greeting and Apostolic benediction. You have asked of us that, since you are quite frequently outside cities and towns, and it is not expedient for you to run about through such places to hear the divine Offices, we would grant you license to celebrate upon a portable altar wherever there shall be a Convent of your Order: and we, inclining to these your supplications, grant it without prejudice to another's right. Given at the Lateran on the Nones of May, in the fifth year of our Pontificate. We have said that it may be doubted whether the Saint, present at Rome, received that privilege on the VII day of May, both because in it no mention is made of St. Dominic, and because he himself on the XXX day of the same month began to celebrate the second general Chapter at Bologna. Besides, the holy Founder seems on that return from the city of Rome to that of Bologna to have stayed some time at Viterbo, as we shall now say.

[768] Malvenda and Echard agree that at that time St. Dominic, seems to have passed through Viterbo, about to return from Rome to Bologna, went with Cardinal Capocci to Viterbo, and there received from him the church of St. Mary ad Gradus and the adjoining monastery. But concerning the prodigious origin of the monastery of Viterbo, or the donation then made to the Preachers, let us hear Malvenda, who in the Annals at the year already mentioned, chapter 5, thus reports it from the monuments of Viterbo: Several stone steps must be climbed by all approaching this church, from which it received its surname. Raniero Capocci of Viterbo, Cardinal deacon of St. Mary in Cosmedin, was a man conspicuous in dignity and renowned for sanctity of life. Now he had been accustomed frequently to give himself to holy prayers. On a certain night, therefore, applying himself to prayer, being overcome by sleep he fell asleep. And there appeared to him as he slept a woman comely and very beautiful, who, holding a burning candle, took the Cardinal by the hand, and seemed to lead him to a grove or among the shrubs, situated where our church now is, and with that candle to burn up the grasses and little shrubs throughout that whole circuit over which our church now extends.

[769] where, led by a heavenly vision shown to pious men, The Cardinal, being awakened, began to reflect and weigh what he had seen. But not knowing what the vision meant, though he did not doubt that it was divinely made, in the morning he went to a monk named Albus, a monk indeed, who dwelt as a solitary on the mountain which is now called St. Martin's, to consult him: for he was accustomed quite often to visit him, and to seek counsel about the difficult matters that met him from one who was free for God, and, being spiritual, knew how to judge divine and human things. He came therefore to him, and narrated to the monk the whole series of the vision. He at once answered the Cardinal: That woman is Mary, who asks that a church be built there for her by you in that space and place. Wherefore I exhort you again and again to hearken to the Queen of heaven: for she is the one who on that account will be able chiefly to be favorable to you and to be at hand, and to lead you by a safe journey to the heights of heaven. Why say more? The Cardinal received the hermit's words with glad and eager mind, and, ready to obey Mary, descending from the mountain, hastened to the place he had seen, and, waking, beholds with his eyes the traces of the burning as he had seen when sleeping, nor did he delay

to satisfy Mary's wish. He did not move from the place before, masons having been summoned, and with the clergy and people of Viterbo standing by and rejoicing, he began to lay the foundations of the church, which within a short time he completed according to the marked-out space of the fires, and dedicated to Mary ever virgin.

[770] he obtains a monastery for his Brothers, Now on the same night that monk had seen in that place, where now the greatest chapel is, Mary sitting on a royal heavenly throne, and urging the Cardinal, who seemed to stand by, to build such a church. Whence it is no wonder if, as soon as the Cardinal heard the vision or dream, he at once understood whither it tended: for God willed that the vision of each should stand the more certain and firm from that of the other. But the church, not completed but only begun, and the adjoining slender monastery of the Holy Cross, formerly the dwelling of sacred virgins but then empty, situated on the hill called Caponio, that same Cardinal handed over to blessed Dominic, whom he had brought with him from the City to Viterbo, to be possessed for himself and his Order. And the Order had a Convent there in the year of the Lord 1220, or, as others think, in the following year. But who was then instituted as first Prior we do not know. Since the collector of the monuments of Viterbo frankly confesses that the certain year of the foundation is not there expressed, and that the first Prior of that monastery is unknown, we easily conjecture that those documents were written long after the foundation of the Convent, perhaps from the common tradition of the inhabitants, which we could wish were confirmed by older testimonies.

[771] and then also at Florence he utters a prophecy. Echard in volume 1, page 21, in the notes, thinks that on that return the Saint also passed through Siena and Florence, and visited his Brothers staying there. Hence we too not altogether rashly suspect that then at Florence there happened that prophecy of St. Dominic which the venerable Humbert in his Life, chapter 46, records in these words: At Florence a certain secular Cleric, because the church in which he was a Cleric had been conferred upon the Brothers (in which also the Brothers stayed for some time at the beginning of the Order), exercised a grave tyranny of persecution against that Order. There was also a certain woman in the same parish newly converted from the world to God by the man of God Dominic, Bene by name, but now Sister Benedicta, of whom a little above there was mention, upon whom also the said Cleric daily inflicted not a few molestations out of hatred for the Brothers. And so, when the aforesaid woman had frequently brought lamentable complaints about this to the man of God Dominic, at length he, consoling her with gentle words, said: Bear it patiently, daughter, knowing that this man, who so insolently persecutes you and the Order, will yet, and soon, be a good Brother of the Order, and in that same Order will endure not a few labors and for a long time. A faithful word. The following outcome proved in every point all that the man of God had foretold. Constantine of Orvieto in the Acts of St. Dominic, number 37, narrates the same matter, and calls that Cleric, who afterward entered the Order of Preachers, Hugh. Since, however, that woman named Bene, afterward Benedicta, was only in the year 1220, as was shown above, freed from the repeated possession by the demon, and then wholly returned to a better life, we judge it not improbable that St. Dominic then foretold to her that conversion of the Cleric.

* perhaps "of preaching"

§ XLI. The Acts in the second general assembly, at which the Saint was present.

In the year of Christ 1221, on the feast of Pentecost, or the XXX day of May, the second general Chapter of the Order of Preachers began to be celebrated, In the year 1221 Preachers were sent into England, about which Humbert in the Chronicle has these things: In the year of the Lord 1221 the second general Chapter was celebrated at Bologna under the same father Dominic, and from that Chapter Brothers were sent into England, and to Brother Jordan, who was not present, was enjoined the office of the Priorate of the province of Lombardy; and when he was going from Paris to execute that office, Brother Everard, formerly archdeacon of Langres, a man of great authority, who by his example had moved many at Paris to enter the Order, going with him, drawn by the desire of seeing blessed Dominic and by love of Brother Jordan himself, died at Lausanne, where he had once been elected bishop. Meanwhile in the same year blessed Dominic died on the eighth of the Ides of August, and was honorably buried within the church of the Brothers. Blessed Jordan, an eyewitness, will narrate more below, after this preliminary Commentary, about the pious death of Everard of Langres. But the other Acts of this Chapter will be discussed one by one below.

[773] But what is here summarily touched upon by Humbert about the mission of the Brothers into England, as Nicholas Trivet distinctly explains, Nicholas Trivet, an English writer of the same Order, in his Chronicle at the year of Christ 1221, or in the latest edition of the Spicilegium of d'Achery, volume 3, page 188, sets forth more distinctly in these words: From the second general Chapter of the Brothers of the Order of Preachers, which was celebrated under blessed Dominic at Bologna, in this year Friars Preachers were sent into England, who, thirteen in number, having as Prior Brother Gilbert de Fraxineto, in the company of the venerable father, the lord Peter des Roches, bishop of Winchester, came to Canterbury; where, when they had presented themselves to the lord Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, hearing that they were Preachers, he at once charged Brother Gilbert to deliver a sermon before him in a certain church in which he himself had purposed to preach on that same day: by whose words the bishop, being greatly edified, throughout his whole time followed the Religion of the Friars Preachers and their office with grace and favor. But the Brothers, proceeding from Canterbury, came to London on the feast of St. Lawrence, and further to Oxford on the feast of the Assumption of the glorious Virgin, in whose honor they built an oratory; and they had those schools which are now called St. Edward's, in whose parish they had received a place, in which they stayed for some time. But since there was no opportunity of sufficiently enlarging the place, they transferred themselves to the place granted them by the king, where they now dwell outside the walls.

[774] to which Malvenda and Janssen gratuitously add Scotland and Ireland; Malvenda, in the Annals at the year of Christ 1221, chapter 6 and the following, judges that the Preachers passed at once from England into Scotland and Ireland, and that thence they penetrated at that time into Sweden, Norway, and other regions of the North. This opinion of Malvenda was followed by Nicholas Janssen in the Life of St. Dominic, book 1, chapter 8, where he asseveratingly reviews the various regions of the world to which he thinks Brothers were sent by the Saint while still alive, in these words: Moreover St. Dominic in the year 1221, in which he departed from this life to the heavens, nearly three months before he died, on the very day of Pentecost, through the assembly of the Order which was being held at Bologna, destined some Brothers for England, Scotland, Scandinavia, Greenland; likewise for Hungary and the region of the Cumans, not without fruit, very many schismatics having been brought to the Catholic faith, and the superstition of demons cut away in several places. In book 1 of the same Life, chapter 11, he repeats the same.

[775] whereas the Brothers seem to have come to these regions later. About the English mission it is sufficiently established from what we have already reported above. But it may not undeservedly be doubted whether they also went to the other regions already mentioned while St. Dominic was still alive: for Echard himself in volume 1 of the Library of the Preachers, pages 22 and 111, asserts that the brethren of his Order did not so soon enter Scotland, and to prove his assertion alleges in the same place from the Chronicle of Melrose the following: In the year of the Lord 1230 the Jacobin Brothers first enter Scotland, whom King Alexander II attracted, and with great tenderness, as their patron and singular procurator, he stood by them, assigned them places, adorned and endowed them. But that you may know the antiquity of that Chronicle of Melrose, hear the same Echard, who on page 22 of the volume just cited, after the already reported text of the same Chronicle, notes these things: That Chronicle, a parchment manuscript written in the XIII century, is still preserved in England in the famous Cottonian library, and Dom Innes the Scot, a learned man, staying at Paris in this year 1717 and applying himself to the illustrating of Scottish ecclesiastical history, saw it, from whom I received that notice; who also conjectures that our first brethren were summoned by the praised King Alexander from the house of St. James at Paris, because at their very entrance into Scotland they were called Jacobins; but not from England, in which it is nowhere read that ours were heard of by this name. But whether the Preachers passed into Scotland from France or from England, for the present examination it suffices us that they first arrived there some years after the death of St. Dominic; which, being destitute of ancient documents, we shall also suspect about the other regions which Malvenda and Janssen above enumerate — if, however, you except Hungary, about whose entry we shall presently bring forward some testimonies.

[776] Bernard Gui, in the most learned Martène, volume 6 of the most ample Collection, column 403, treating of the same assembly of the Order, Bernard Gui enumerates the provinces into which the Order was then divided, thus cautiously and candidly writes: In the year of the Lord 1221 the second general Chapter was celebrated by blessed Dominic at Bologna, in which Chapter, or in the preceding one (which I rather judge; but I have not found full certainty), about sixty Convents having now been founded throughout the world, the said Convents were distinguished into eight provinces, namely Spain, Provence, Germany, Lombardy, the Roman province, France, Hungary, England. Echard in volume 1, page 21, concerning the number of Convents expressed in this text, notes the following: As to the number of houses, a certain number seems here put for an uncertain one; or those which were shortly hoped to be erected are indicated as though already instituted: for from the account of the Order set down above, those already erected do not appear to have risen beyond forty.

[777] Further, Bernard Gui in the place just cited thus reviews by name the prefects of these provinces: and their Provincial Priors, The first Provincial Priors instituted were these who follow. The first Prior provincial in the province of Provence, Brother Bertrand de Garriga, mentioned above and to be mentioned below. The first provincial in the province of Spain, Brother Suerius. The first Prior provincial in the province of France, Brother Matthew mentioned above, who was the first and the last abbot of our Order. The first Prior provincial in the province of Lombardy, Brother and father Jordan, as he himself described in his little book. The first Prior provincial in the province of England, Brother Gilbert. About the German, Hungarian, and Roman province I have not yet been able to find certainty. In the year of the Lord 1221 Brother Paul the Hungarian, who, when he entered the Order, was actually lecturing in canon law at Bologna, was sent with four other Brothers into Hungary by blessed Dominic. Him I judge to have been the first Prior provincial of that province; yet I do not assert it, because I have not found it otherwise. Now certain doubtful and uncertain things which here occur must be illustrated with Echard from documents afterward discovered.

[778] The first Prior provincial of Spain, whom the praised Bernard in this place names Suggerus, about whom, with Echard, is by others commonly called Suerius Gomes, and about him Echard in volume 1, page 15, in the notes supplies this notice: Brother Gnomitius (others read Gomizius, which they will have to have been his surname, but his name Suerius), a man born in a noble place, Portuguese by birth, erected the monastery of Santarém, and in it drew several to the Order. Luis de Sousa, in the History of the Preachers of the kingdom of Portugal, which he published in Portuguese in the year 1623, book 1, chapter 9, proves by many arguments that this Prior's name was Suerius and his surname Gomes, and shows this among other things from an ancient necrology which in the monastery of St. Vincent of Lisbon has thus in Latin: On the sixth of the Calends of May died Suerius Gomes, formerly Prior of the Preachers. About his noble stock and distinguished deeds the following chapters in the same place may be consulted.

[779] Echard, in volume 1, page 115 and following, contends that Peter of Reims was the first Prior provincial of France, from documents afterward discovered, and there proves from letters of William, provost of Lille, that in the year of Christ 1224 he was still discharging that office. Whence on page 21 of the same volume, in the notes, he had before admonished the reader in these words: I know that by some Brother Matthew is called the first provincial of France, who namely, with the title of abbot, ruled from 1217 not only the house of Paris but also the rest of France; but the title of abbot having been struck out in the assembly of the year 1220, he was afterward held only as Prior of Paris, which he was still bearing in the year 1225: so far is it from being the case that he died in the year 1220, as Malvenda has it. But these things can be reconciled with the opinion of Bernard Gui if we say that Matthew from the year of Christ 1217 up to the year 1220 or 1221 governed the province of France, and then, the title of abbot being abolished, was made Prior of the monastery of Paris, in whose place Peter of Reims was then substituted in administering the province of France, just as the latter afterward succeeded him at his death in the office of Prior of Paris. Perhaps in this way Bernard assigns the first prefecture of France to Matthew, although at that time the title of Prior was not yet in use, as will be said below. Now those things must be investigated about which the praised Bernard found no certainty.

[780] and from the Lives of the Brothers In the Roman province the Prior provincial seems to have been Brother Clarus, about whom in the Lives of the Brothers published at Douai in the year 1619, part 1, chapter 4, we read these things: Brother Clarus, a good man of great authority and skilled in civil law, who had also taught in the arts and in canon law, was afterward Prior Provincial (our manuscript here inserts "in the Roman province") and penitentiary and chaplain of the lord Pope, etc. Similar things about him Echard reports in volume 1, page 92, and thence in the same place thus discourses: From which we learn both who he was before his entry into the Order, namely a doctor and professor of both laws of the academy of Bologna, and a man weighty in authority; and what offices he discharged in the Order, namely as the first Prior provincial in the Roman province instituted by blessed Dominic in his second assembly at Bologna in the year 1221, and thereafter taken up by the supreme Pontiffs Honorius III and Gregory IX as penitentiary and chaplain. Several things are there discussed about his homeland and writings.

[781] we note other things more distinctly. The Prior provincial of Germany was Conrad, who in the middle of the month of August of the year 1220 had wondrously entered the Order, as we narrated above in §38 from Humbert. When he had in this second Chapter of the Order received Germany to administer, at once setting out on the journey he halted with his companions at Friesach, and there erected the first monastery of his province, or restored one already erected before, as others will have it, by Hyacinth. About this city Echard in volume 1, page 21, discourses, and there thus corrects Malvenda: Now Friesach is not, as Malvenda again has it, Ptolemy's Viranum, which is on the Drave in Noricum and is now called in the vernacular Völkermarkt; but a little town of the domain of the archbishop of Salzburg or Juvavum, situated in upper Carinthia on the torrent Metnitz, with a strong castle upon a neighboring rock, and in which the bishop of Lavant quite often stays. For the rest, about the pious death of this Conrad, which happened at Magdeburg after some years, the Lives of the Brothers, part 5, chapter 2, may be read.

[782] Finally, other heads of provinces being omitted, who are sufficiently known, the first Prior provincial of Hungary was likely Brother Paul, about whom in our parchment codex P. Ms. 7, after the Lives of the Brothers, we read the following: In the second Chapter Preachers were destined for Hungary, In the year of the Lord one thousand two hundred and twenty-one, when master Paul the Hungarian, who was actually lecturing in canon law at Bologna, had entered the Order, he was sent with four other Brothers into Hungary by blessed Dominic, and they first came into the city of Lorch, to whose preaching a multitude of men flocked as to a new and unheard-of spectacle; where at that very first preaching three of the good scholars were received into the Order. When Echard, in volume 1, page 21, abridges that mission of Paul and his companions from Theodoric, he thus explains the site of the mentioned city for a clearer understanding of the matter: The city Lauriensis here praised is doubtless Lauriacum at the confluence of the Enns with the Danube, situated between Linz, to which it is very near, and Vienna; which indeed was at other times most flourishing, and the see of an archbishop: but now, its dignity having been transferred to Salzburg, it has been reduced to a town, still called Lorch by the natives. Indeed thence it was easy to enter Hungary, which they sought, by following the Danube; and besides, to those who had left Italy and had crossed the Noric Alps and traversed the inland regions, that convenient haven presented itself.

[783] Then our manuscript Codex pursues their journey in these words: and afterward went on thence And because they had not yet a place, going out thence they passed into Pannonia, where on that very night to Brother Sadoc, who was one of the four, and afterward became Prior of the Convent of Zagreb, a man of great perfection, a multitude of demons appeared, saying with loud voice and much howling: Have you come to take away our right? And directing their gaze upon those three novice youths, they said: Alas, by such little ones you confound us! Which the said Brother narrated to his said companions after Matins. Proceeding thence they came into the city of Veszprém, and thence into Székesfehérvár. At length, the number of the Brothers increasing, some sent by Brother Paul entered the land which is called that of the Feurii; whose inhabitants were both schismatics and public heretics: where, many tribulations having been endured, at length growing strong, they converted many from heresy to the true faith and from schism to the unity of the Church.

[784] Then the Brothers, mindful of blessed Dominic's devotion concerning the conversion of the pagans and especially of the Cumans, to the Cumans, who had no knowledge of God at all, ordained by the counsel of the Holy Spirit to send Brothers, men of virtue, to the aforesaid nation; where, afflicted with tribulations and scarcely credible miseries, they were driven back by the pagans, and, no fruit having been brought forth, were compelled to return to their own. But, the Holy Spirit inflaming them and zeal for souls urging them, they returned a second time to the aforesaid nation, and through many perils of the ways came to them beside a certain river which is called the Dnieper, where they were frequently afflicted with hunger and thirst and nakedness and various persecution: some of them were led into captivity by the unbelievers; two were slain. The others nonetheless constantly remained in the office of preaching they had begun. After these things follows how in that second expedition certain leaders of the Cumans were converted to the Christian faith; which things, and others, Theodoric of Apolda in our edition, chapter 27, transcribed almost word for word.

[785] Although these things must in part be repeated below in the Acts, whom St. Dominic had determined to visit, yet we wished to report those few from our manuscript codex, that we might indicate the source from which Theodoric drew his material: for the reporter of these things is certainly older than Theodoric, as is sufficiently plain there from the following epilogue of the narration: You shall know also that infinite miracles have been done by the grace of God and by the merits of blessed Dominic in several of our Convents in Hungary, so many that they exceed number. But also lately, in the year of the Lord one thousand two hundred and fifty-nine (hence the age of the narrator is easily gathered), when the people had come to the church of our Brothers of Poroch on the vigil of the translation of blessed Dominic, and after the celebration concerning blessed Peter the martyr the people were approaching for devotion's sake the relics of blessed Peter the martyr, a certain Ruthenian woman received health in her right hand from a grave infirmity which she was suffering, with all seeing, both Religious and seculars, who were present there. Many notable miracles which were performed in Hungary by the patronage of St. Dominic will be narrated below in the Acts of Theodoric of Apolda. For the rest, in our manuscript there is reported in the same place a letter (this is also read in the Douai edition after the Lives of the Brothers, page 139 and following) which the Friars Preachers who were living among the Cumans sent to a certain general Chapter.

[786] and whose region is described differently by authors, But since mention of the Cumans occurs here and elsewhere quite often, it is worth investigating what that nation was, and where it had its seats; about which matter various opinions of authors are found, as Sigismund Ferrarius testifies in the Work on the Affairs of the Hungarian province of the Order of Preachers, where in part 1, chapter 4, he has these things about that nation: Who the Cumans were is not agreed on one opinion. It does not displease me what is noted by some in Magini, that the Precopite tract of the Tartars between the Borysthenes and the Tanais, around the Euxine Sea and the Maeotic marsh, was called Cumania, since Theodoric asserts that the river bordering Cumania was the Neper (which we know is called in Latin the Borysthenes), to which finally the Brothers came when setting out into Cumania, as we shall afterward report. Moreover, many of them coming together into Hungary, at length settled in that region which beyond Temesvár and the Tisza is today called Cumania, embracing twenty-five Hungarian miles in length and fifteen in breadth. On what occasion the Cumans obtained seats in Hungary, and how they were mingled with the inhabitants even to the point of envy, may be read everywhere in the readily available writers of Hungarian affairs.

[787] although they certainly dwelt around the river Borysthenes, Hayton the Armenian, in the Book on the Tartars, chapter 5, so describes the region of the Cumans that, on account of the ancient or vernacular names of the places, it cannot be distinctly known where they formerly dwelt. But at least that nation seems to have issued from Lesser Tartary, and to have been a certain kind of Tartars, as we gather from Antonio Bonfini, who in Decade 2 of Hungarian Affairs, book 10, in our copy page 350, thus about Louis, king of Hungary

writes: He strove most earnestly to recall to the true faith the Cumans, infected with Tartar savagery and rites, and, being by no means frustrated of his hope, having sent sacred preachers thither, masters of religion, he most diligently confirmed them when recalled, so far as in him lay. This same thing Nicholas Isthvanffy confirms, when in the History of Hungarian Affairs, book 18, in our copy page 324, he thus mentions the fortification of the city of Temesvár: Temesvár, a most famous city and citadel, was named from the river Temes, which flows from the Alps situated near the city of Severin not far from the Ister or Danube, and glides past the city and the citadel; which the ancient kings of Pannonia had built to avert the more frequent incursions of the Bulgarians, not yet imbued with the Christian religion, who are separated from the borders of Pannonia only by the Ister, and of the Cumans or Cuni, whom the Poles call Polovtsi (this name, according to the interpretation of some, signifies "wanderers"), and whom we now call Tartars. Finally, from the neighboring river Borysthenes, which in our Acts is called Neper and is now commonly called by the inhabitants Dnieper, we can approximately conjecture in what place the Cumans formerly had their seats. Further, Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers at the year of Christ 1222, chapter 22, assigns various opinions about the origin and seats of the Cumans. And let these things be said on occasion of the Hungarian mission, which we think was decreed in this Chapter.

[788] Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers at the year 1221, chapter 8, sets forth another statute of the same Chapter in these words: and another decree of the same Chapter is reported. In the same general synod of the fathers, we readily suspect, it was likewise established that the prefects of Convents should be called Priors, the presidents of provinces Priors provincial, and the supreme moderator of the whole Order Master of the Order; since it is certain that these nomenclatures did not exist before the Chapter of this year, as we saw above, and immediately after this Chapter such appellations began to be received in use. Indeed at the year 1225 we shall show that they were already wont to be employed. The other Acts of the same Chapter lie hidden from us. To this opinion of Malvenda we subscribe with Echard, who in volume 1, page 22, in the notes concerning the same appellations of the heads observes the following: That in this second assembly held by blessed Dominic the final form of the Order's governance was prescribed, Malvenda rightly notes; and that, just as it pleased that those who were set over a certain number of houses should be called Priors provincial, so also it was established that he who should be set over all should thenceforth be called Master of the Order.

* read "of Juvavum"

* read "Juvavum"

§ XLII. An examination of the things which the Saint is handed down to have done after the second assembly of the Order up to his last illness.

We have already mentioned above in §37 the Toulousan Brothers who are said to have resisted the abdication of possessions and the change of garments, Antoninus of Siena refers to this time the resistance of the Toulousan Brothers, and there from Malvenda's reasoning we concluded that that resistance (if however it ever took place) is wrongly bound by Flaminius to the time of the first assembly. Wherefore we find no time fitter for discussing this question than the present, which Antoninus of Siena also assigns in the Chronicle of the Preachers, when there on page 21, after the second general Chapter and before the happy death of St. Dominic, he writes more mildly thus about the same dissension of the Toulousan Brothers: In the same year (namely of Christ 1221, in which the second general Chapter of the Order was celebrated and the holy Founder passed to heaven), when some Brothers of the province of Toulouse were unwilling to receive the habit of the Order which the most sacred Virgin had given to blessed Reginald and had shown was to be worn in our Order, but wished to keep the old one which father Dominic had first used; and were unwilling to abdicate possessions, as had before been ordained in the general Chapter — in order to speak about these matters at the Apostolic See, they set out for Rome. But when they had come to Bologna, where at that time the glorious father Dominic was, they were rebuked by him about this matter, and were divinely inclined to obey; and thus, returning soon to Toulouse, they conformed themselves to the rest in habit and in the abdication of possessions and revenues, and abdicated all their possessions, giving them to the nuns of our Convent of Prouille.

[790] which he with Echard judges fabulous Although this narration is much more tolerable than the other and cruder one which we reported above from Flaminius, yet Echard, in volume 2 of the Library of the Preachers, page 272, treating of the writings of Antoninus of Siena, thus censures this author on account of this and like histories: But that Antoninus of Siena, in arranging both his Chronicle and his Library, quite often and gravely stumbled, is certain; which in digging out these ruins of an earlier age and of so many centuries was easy, and readily to be pardoned to the author; but now, more certain monuments and lights being at hand, the things which are found in him either doubtful or false must be emended. Among other things, to be reckoned among fables is what he reports on page 21 of the Chronicle about the Toulousan Brothers contending with St. Dominic about the change of habit and the abdication of possessions — than which nothing more insipid could have been devised, or more contrary to our ancient history, which our Souèges also excellently refutes in the French Dominican Yearbook, at the IV of August. But we do not see how that narration is contrary to the ancient history of the Order, since in it not a word occurs about this disagreement.

[791] Jean Réchac, who certainly is mistaken in a certain matter, John of St. Mary, who is wont eagerly to seize upon any fables whatever, in the French Acts of St. Dominic, book 4, chapter 6, attacks this narration of Flaminius and Antoninus of Siena with various arguments. And yet he himself in book 3 of the same Acts, chapter 7, had already asserted that William Clareti departed from the Order of Preachers before the death of St. Dominic, because he was unwilling to consent to the abdication of possessions and revenues. From this assertion it would at least follow that one of the first Toulousan brethren resisted the profession of stricter poverty. But that John of St. Mary was here mistaken we gather from the testimony of Bernard Gui, who in Edmund Martène, in the most ample Collection of ancient writers, volume 6, column 452, hands down the following about that companion of the holy Founder: Brother William Clareti of Pamiers, Prior of Prouille in the year 1218, likewise 1219, likewise 1222, likewise 1224, likewise 1229, as is plain in certain letters of that monastery, in which he is named and written as Prior. He transferred himself to the white monks of the Cistercian Order, in the abbey of Boulbonne of the diocese of Pamiers (this monastery is commonly called Bolbona, and, situated in the county of Foix, now belongs to the diocese of Mirepoix), as I have heard it said, and wished to transfer the monastery to them; but, God being unwilling, he by no means prevailed. About which Brother William there is also mention above among the Brothers who with blessed Dominic chose the rule, among whom he was one. Hence it is clear that that William did not fall away from the Order of Preachers before the death of St. Dominic, and was likely moved by another reason to pass afterward to the Cistercians.

[792] Ferdinand del Castillo, in the Spanish History of the Order, book 1, chapter 51, and which other Dominican writers admit, and Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers at the year of Christ 1221, chapter 2, admit that narration of Flaminius and Antoninus of Siena without any scruple; nay rather, Malvenda strives in the same place to vindicate it from a certain difficulty which might be objected, in these words: But lest it offend anyone that St. Dominic forcibly detained the Toulousan Brothers appealing to the Pontiff at Rome, and deterred them from the journey and cause they had begun, and compelled them to return, as though in that matter he showed too little deference to the dignity of the Apostolic See: The holy Man well knew that Pope Honorius had praised and approved what had been established in the general Chapter about casting off possessions, and wished these things to be observed by all, except those with whom a dispensation had been made for a just cause, and that he would not admit that appeal of the Toulousan Brothers — with whom the man of God had conferred about all things. Whence it is certain that in this matter St. Dominic attempted nothing without consulting the Pontiff; since he was not ignorant that it was not permitted him to act otherwise. But those evasions do not yet move us to give credit to this history as it is narrated by Flaminius.

[793] Now let us hear Echard, who in volume 1, page 73, rejects not only the narration of Flaminius, although Echard sharply attacks it but also that of Antoninus of Siena or the Portuguese, and of others, and at the same time thus tries from this side to overturn the aforesaid change of garments: The first writers of the change did not attend to this; but you may see the later ones, such as John Antonius Flaminius, the Portuguese, and from them Malvenda, who also narrate that the Toulousan brethren, namely those firstborn sons of Dominic, really resisted the change; and indeed so obstinately that, although the Saint after Reginald had been admitted, seeking Spain, made his journey by way of Prouille and Toulouse, and, returning from Spain, again passed through Toulouse seeking Paris, and most tenderly embraced them as one who would see them no more, they shrank in horror from his new habit and refused to put it on. Nay, more. That although in the year 1220 in the first assembly held at Bologna under the Saint that new form of habit was prescribed, Reginald being then dead and the vision now revealed to all, the Toulousans still not only did not acquiesce, but appealed to the supreme Pontiff, and sent procurators to Rome to enter suit; whom, unless Dominic had by chance seized them as they passed through Bologna, calling in the secular arm, and had rather severely chastised them, the nascent Order was about to suffer a most disastrous schism with the greatest scandal to the Church.

[794] It has seemed good to report these things, that it may be plain to all what the defenders of the change are compelled to invent and to swallow. by various arguments, For that all these things are a most rotten fable is more certain than certain, of which there is not the slightest trace either in Jordan, or in the Lives of the Brothers — a book in which the failings of our men are neither omitted nor glossed over — nor in any coeval or near-coeval writer. That the Toulousan brethren therefore were always most closely joined to Dominic with the utmost agreement of minds is most certain. Nor can such waywardness be attributed to those holy chief stones of the Order except by the utmost calumny. I know that our Souèges and Percin refute that Flaminian fable on the ground that they will have it that the Toulousans were always so obedient to the Saint that at his first letters they at once took up the new habit. But is it not readier that they in fact did not resist, because in fact no change was made? For the followers of Flaminius will most unwillingly suffer themselves to be persuaded that it was made with no one resisting.

[795] We do not understand on what ground Echard contends that the fable of Flaminius must be swallowed by the defenders of the change: for that change of garments could have taken place with none of the Brothers resisting. Thus, on Echard's own testimony, poverty was made stricter, and the abdication of possessions and revenues decreed, with no one objecting, which only prove that this narration of Antoninus of Siena is uncertain. although this restriction of poverty could have stirred them more than a slight change of habit. What if with Souèges and Percin we should say that at the outset a few Toulousans resisted each change, who soon, becoming penitent, obeyed the Saint? Are we on that account compelled to invent monstrosities and to swallow fables? For the change of garments indeed stands hitherto unshaken, which we confirmed above by ancient testimonies,

whether some, or none, contradicted it. We freely confess, however, that these arguments of Echard have effected only this with us: that we hold the crude history of Flaminius suspect of fabrication, and judge the softened narration of Antoninus of Siena altogether uncertain, especially since none of the ancients made mention of this dissension.

[796] Malvenda and others, deceived by Bzovius, We shall be able to pass a more certain judgment about the letter which some Dominican authors judge was given at this time by St. Dominic himself to the Brothers of Poland, and to which Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers at the year of Christ 1221, chapter 8, prefixes the following eulogy: That from this general Chapter (he there treats of the second general assembly of the Order, or the last at which the holy Founder was present), or soon after its celebration, public and open letters were given by St. Dominic to the Brothers of the province of Poland, in which he vehemently exhorts them to every virtue and to the cultivation of regular discipline, the ancient monuments of that province testify. Those letters, a most precious treasure of the divine Father, Abraham Bzovius copied from a most ancient codex in the History of the Preachers of Poland; and, plainly worthy to be read always and everywhere, and to be more deeply fixed in the hearts of the Preachers as certain golden documents, we here insert them.

[797] attributed to St. Dominic an encyclical letter, Then in the same place he recites the letters themselves, which in him run thus: To his dearest sons and Brothers, all the Priors and Convents of the Order of Preachers established throughout the province of Poland [], Brother Dominic [], their humble servant, joy and salvation in the consolation of the Holy Spirit. Being daily [*] solicitous for the progress and salvation of you all, and accustomed to admonish you with a yearly exhortation, behold, the general Chapter having again been celebrated, we repay to your charity as it were the yearly tribute of our service, discharging in this the debt of charity, which the more we discharge, the more we owe. And so, my most longed-for and most beloved Brothers, joy and gladness of my heart, we beseech you by the mercy of God, and call you to witness by the charity of the Holy Spirit, that amid the changes of the world and the waves of the wild sea, in which, as you behold, the confusions of the reprobate are pressed down, you who have taken refuge, by the inspiring grace of God, in the life of Religion, may thence with continual desires and untiring labors strive toward the harbor of the heavenly country.

[798] and wrongly published it under his name, Treading down with great faith the swelling storms of adversities and the various tempests of temptations, and hastening confidently and eagerly to Christ, who rules over the power of the sea and calms the motion of its waves, make haste, dearest ones, to enter into rest, you who admonish others to make haste. Be watchful, you who rouse others to watchfulness. Be conspicuous in all purity and holiness, you who invite the faithful to sanctity. Your feet shod in the preparation of the Gospel, be harmonious in brotherly charity. Show yourselves, as persuaders of humility and obedience, conformed to Christ, the most humble and most obedient true Son of God the Father, that you may honor by worthy acts the angelic office of your profession, you who are sent into the office of human salvation [*]. Reverently attend upon the divine gaze in every place, and faithfully minister to the edification of your neighbors, that you may be able to abound in the fiery eloquence of preaching and in salutary counsel in confessions. Follow the divinely inspired Scriptures, and the immaculate law of the Lord, converting souls, by hearing, meditating, searching; ever pressing on with the study of useful things, and avoiding the waste of curiosity.

[799] And since it befits you to show forth with your tongue, consecrated to most sacred utterances, the speech of charity, and wrongly published it, not the service of vanity, let your speech ever be seasoned with salt, that it may give grace to the hearers; and, the censure of silence being resumed — which is now known to have been cast off less reverently and openly by certain of you — melt down your silver and gold, make a just balance for your words, and impose right bridles upon your mouth. Let your speech be living and effectual, spurning all that is vain and not plain; a tongue that is peaceable, a tree of life, a word holy and irreproachable, which the adversary may revere, by which the neighbor may be edified and the glory of God enlarged. Let there burn in your hearts an unceasing zeal for winning souls, ardent and keen, which reason may rule, discretion direct, and gentle behavior temper. And since the eyes of many look upon you, set as you are on a most eminent watchtower, and require of you examples of virtues rather than ornaments of speech, let us put our hand to strong things, distilling from our fingers the most approved myrrh, showing rigor [*] in works, perseverance in adversities, so that through the patience and consolation of the Scriptures, hope being conceived, we may with untroubled mind foretaste on earth the banquet of heavenly things, which we are to enjoy in the abundance of eternity. Farewell, that your brotherhood may thrive in the Lord Jesus Christ, and hold me, your useless servant, with my companions, commended in your prayers.

[800] Since this letter is not unworthy of St. Dominic, and was accustomed to be publicly read each week under his name in the Convents of Poland, whereas it belongs to John the German, who wrote it at London in the year 1250, as Malvenda in the same place reports from Bzovius, we do not greatly wonder that Michele Pio in the Progeny of St. Dominic, book 2, chapter 61, and Nicholas Janssen in book 1 of the Life, chapter 11, ascribed it to their holy Founder. Hence also the Roman editors prefixed it under the name of St. Dominic to the Constitutions of the Preachers printed in the year 1620. But all those erred, deceived by Bzovius: for this very letter must evidently be attributed to John the German, fourth general Master of the whole Order, since from the manuscript Acts of the general Chapters, says Echard in volume 1, page 113, still everywhere preserved, it is most certain that it is not the offspring of blessed Dominic, but of our John of Wildeshausen. And that John gave these letters in the year of Christ 1250 from the Chapter of London, as is plain from their closing clause, which in volume 4 of the Thesaurus of Anecdotes, column [ ], runs thus: Farewell, and may your brotherhood thrive in the Lord Jesus Christ, and hold me, the useless servant, with the companions of our journey, commended in your prayers. Given at London in the general Chapter. For the rest, that letter of John the German, which the most learned Edmund Martène published in the praised Thesaurus of Anecdotes from column [ ], among the general Chapters of the Preachers from a Toulouse manuscript, agrees with the letters already reported, if you especially except that discrepancy of greater moment which we noted above in the margin. Wherefore we do not sufficiently clearly understand on what credit Bzovius could have been the first to attribute the same letter to St. Dominic. Now let us discuss the remaining things which the Saint really did before his last illness.

[801] The Saint perhaps turned aside to Milan, Puricelli in the Nazarian Dissertation, chapter 109, number 17, cites the following from Ambrogio Taegio: After the celebration of the Chapter blessed Dominic visited the court of the often-mentioned lord Ugolino, legate in Lombardy. But returning from the legate about the end of the month of July, he came to Bologna very weary: for the heat was great, and the labor of the journey had been very burdensome. Then he began to be sick with that infirmity of which he died. Similar things we shall read in Theodoric of Apolda below at number 232. From these things certain writers infer that the Saint on that journey again turned aside to the city of Milan. Hence one might suspect that the Saint then only at Milan dealt with Cardinal Ugolino, legate in Lombardy, about the affairs of his Order, since Carlo Sigonio in book 17 of the history of the Kingdom of Italy, at the year 1221, thus in passing mentions St. Dominic: Having returned from Milan, when he was still weary from the road, he consulted the whole night with Ventura the Prior and Rodolph the procurator about the state of the Order, and on the next day began to be seized by a violent fever; which when he perceived, understanding that the end of his life was at hand, he called the Brothers, and, a testament having been made, settled the affairs of his household.

[802] when not long before his death he returned from Venice to Bologna. But that very Brother Ventura, an eyewitness, who is here alleged by Sigonio, in the Process of Bologna in our edition at number 7 plainly asserts that St. Dominic then returned to Bologna from Venice, where Cardinal Ugolino was, as is plain from his following testimony: Likewise he said that about the end of the month of July, as he believes as to the time, he had returned from the court of the lord Ugolino, at that time bishop of Ostia and legate of the Apostolic See, and now supreme Pontiff, who was at Venice, as he himself most certainly believes as to the place; and Brother Dominic returned very weary, and although he was thus tired, he spoke with him, this witness, who was then the new Prior, and with Brother Rodolph, until a great part of the night about the business of the Order. Although this testimony seems to conflict with the narration of Sigonio and others, yet it can without much difficulty be reconciled with it, if we say that St. Dominic on that return from Venice turned aside to Milan, and thence returned to Bologna. Now in the following paragraph we shall report indiscriminately some deeds of the Saint which are omitted in our Acts, or are narrated in another manner, and which we have not been able to fix to a certain time.

* elsewhere "of Provence"

* elsewhere "John"

* perhaps "Daily"

* elsewhere "are foamed away"

* elsewhere "ministry"

* elsewhere "vigor"

§ XLIII. Some deeds of the Saint which could not be reduced to a certain time.

The Saint at one time enters a closed monastery, Although in the course of this Commentary we have tried by conjecture to reduce approximately to a determined time some actions of St. Dominic, yet others, distinguished by no note of time, we have reserved for this paragraph; among which there occurs to us in the first place a twofold miracle which is set forth in the Lives of the Brothers, part 2, chapter 13, in these words: The blessed Father came at one time to a certain religious Convent after all had gone to their beds; and, fearing to disturb them, prostrate before the gate with his companion he asked the Lord that he would provide for their necessities without disturbing them. A wondrous thing! For prostrate as they were outside, they at once found themselves within. This same thing happened to him when he was engaged in the contest with the heretics, with a certain Lay Brother of the Cistercian Order, a very devout man: for he came late to a certain church, and, finding it closed, when they had prayed at the door, they suddenly found themselves within, and gave that whole night to prayers.

[804] In the same Lives of the Brothers, part 4, chapter 2, another example, sees the secrets of the heart, which proves St. Dominic to have been aware of secrets, is thus narrated: While a certain Brother was going to a certain obedience enjoined upon him, he met blessed Dominic returning from preaching. After some words, therefore, the Saint asked him whether he was carrying any money: for he perceived in spirit that he was not going according to rule. The said Brother therefore, seeing himself detected, humbly confessed that he had some: and he at once ordered it to be thrown away, and enjoined upon him a fitting penance for such an excess. To this is subjoined in the same place another thing worthy of memory, which in chapter 6 of the same part is in our manuscript read thus, more correctly: A certain Brother of great authority in the Order, of distinguished life and reputation in the province of Lombardy,

narrated that, when he was a novice in the time of blessed Dominic, and on a certain night after Matins had slept a little before the altar, he heard a voice saying to him: Go, shave your head again. Who, waking, interpreted it as meaning that he was being admonished to confess again, and to state better all the circumstances. Whence, prostrating himself before blessed Dominic, he confessed all things with contrition and greater attention than he had done before. And when after a little he had received a brief rest, he saw an angel descending from heaven and carrying in his hand a golden crown wondrously adorned; and, drawing near, he placed it on his head. Waking therefore, the Brother found himself greatly consoled, and gave thanks to God.

[805] Finally, in part 4 of the same Work, the history about the possessed Brother, frees a possessed Brother, which shows St. Dominic's power against the demons, is in our manuscript codex, chapter 14, thus reported: In the Convent of Bologna it happened that a certain Lay Brother was suddenly most gravely vexed by a demon. The Lay Brothers therefore rising (for they had already gone to their beds) called their master, and then blessed Dominic, who was then in the house: who ordered him to be carried to the church, whom scarcely ten Brothers could carry. But at the entrance of the church, blowing, he extinguished all the lamps with one breath. When therefore the demon had vexed him in many ways, blessed Dominic said to him: I adjure you by Christ to say why you vex this Brother, and when and how you entered here. He answered: I vex him because he deserved it: for he drank yesterday in the city without leave and without the sign of the cross; whence I then entered into him in the form of a drink [*]; nay, he himself drank me with the wine. Meanwhile the signal was rung for Matins. And the demon said: From now on I cannot remain here, because the hooded ones are rising to praise God. And withdrawing, he left the Brother on the ground as though dead: and the Brothers carried him to the infirmary, and in the morning he rose whole, not knowing what had happened to him. And this a Brother who was present narrated to the Master. From this narration we indeed know that this happened at Bologna; but since St. Dominic between the year of Christ 1219 and 1221 quite often stayed for some time in that city, and repeatedly made excursions from it to certain cities of Italy, as we showed above, we cannot refer to a certain year these and like things which now follow.

[806] St. Antoninus in part 3 of the Chronicles, title 23, chapter 2, §1, indicates by this severe example the utmost care for chastity severely chastises a sacristan for eyes not cautiously guarded, which St. Dominic required in his Brothers: When on a certain occasion blessed Dominic was treating with the Brothers about some business at Bologna, the sacristan called one of those Brothers to hear the confession of a woman, as is believed, and said to him: A beautiful woman has asked for you; come quickly. And although he said it in a low voice, father Dominic heard it in spirit, and, disturbed with zeal for decency, said to the sacristan: Confess your fault; God has made known to me what you thought hidden. And when he asked pardon, he disciplined him strongly and long, so that the Brothers were moved to compassion on account of the bruises of the blows. And he said: Go, son; you have learned henceforth how to look upon a woman, that you may not judge of her color: pray, you too, that God may make you chaste. Likely the holy historian drew this from Theodoric of Apolda, who below at number 412 will narrate the same matter. But among the biographers older than Theodoric we find nothing similar.

[807] We also do not know in which year's sojourn at Bologna that wondrous matter took place a demon lying in wait for the Brothers with a feigned confession, which the praised St. Antoninus in the Work just cited, title 23, chapter 4, §6, narrates in this manner: When Blessed Dominic was at Bologna, the devil in the form of a wanton youth came to the Convent of the Preachers, and asked the sacristan that a confessor be given him. And five Brother confessors were brought to him in succession. And this was the cause: because he so affected and inflamed the first confessor by his foul words that he rose from the hearing of the confession, and was unwilling to hear those abominations to the end. Likewise did the second, the third, and the fourth. And they likewise withdrew, nor did they tell the cause, lest they should reveal the confession; because on their part it was a sacramental confession, since they believed him to be a man, but not on the devil's part.

[808] and drives away one wishing to confess even to him, Then the sacristan summoned blessed Dominic, complaining before him that five Brothers could not hear one sinner, adding: A great scandal! The Brothers preach penitence, and are unwilling to impose penance upon sinners. Then blessed Dominic, withdrawing from reading, prayer, and contemplation, came to him in the church, and, as soon as he saw him, recognized him, and said to him: Why, malignant spirit, do you under this show of piety tempt the servants of God? And he most harshly rebuked him; who, vanishing, left the church foul with the smell of sulphur: and the sacristan, who had been indignant against those confessors, was thereupon appeased. Similar things we shall read in the Acts of Theodoric below at number 417 and the following. But hitherto too we have not been able to find any narrator of this matter who precedes Theodoric in age: for although Caesarius of Heisterbach in book 3 of the Dialogues, chapter 26, reports a wondrous history about a demon who confessed his sins to a priest, yet this differs much from that.

[809] wondrously preserves the vineyard of his host, It also does not seem possible to fix to a certain time what Flaminius in the Life of St. Dominic, book 2, folio 33 verso, thus narrates: After these things blessed Dominic, returning to Bologna, turned aside in the territory of Orvieto to a certain host of his, who, as often as the holy Man made his journey that way, kindly and generously received him into hospitality. That place is called St. Christina. Then by chance a vast tempest of hail suddenly arose, which laid waste all the vineyards in that tract except that of the aforesaid host; who, moved by so great a miracle, and much more admiring and venerating the Order of Preachers, determined and ordered that his house should lie open perpetually to the Preachers — he who, on account of his generosity toward them, not only saw the fruit of his vineyard unharmed, but even found it more abundant than usual and much better. Theodoric of Apolda below in the Acts of St. Dominic, number 342, will set forth the same miracle with a fuller and more distinct narration; but will indicate no note of time.

[810] Meanwhile Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers at the year of Christ 1221, chapter 18, thus proposes his conjectures about the time of this miracle: about the time of which last miracle Malvenda disputes. But about the time, he says, at which so great a miracle happened, I feel no slight difficulty: for Flaminius says it happened then, when St. Dominic, returning from the Spains and going to Rome, was thence returning to Bologna. But, the reckoning of the times having been diligently inspected, we have already said above that that return of St. Dominic from Rome to Bologna took place at the very end of the year 1219, when the vintage was already entirely finished, nor could the vineyards be laid waste by hail. We shall never think that Flaminius, an eloquent and pious man, in narrating these things was led by uncertain and perhaps false rumors, but that he set forth what he had ascertained from ancient records, although mistaken in the time. We, from the course of the deeds of the holy Father, explained in these our Annals according to a certain chronology, can judge nothing else than that this miracle happened in the territory of Orvieto on that journey in which the man of God, after he had come from the Spains and the Gauls to Bologna at the end of the summer of the year 1219, at once betook himself from that city to Rome: for, the vintage being at hand, it is likely that St. Dominic came to Orvieto; unless we should say that in the year 1221, when the holy Father went to Florence, Viterbo, and perhaps Rome, that miracle happened on his return to Bologna, namely in the month of May, when the vineyards begin to flower.

[811] The things which we have hitherto reported in this paragraph are sufficiently certain, Flaminius also reports an uncertain miracle, even though we cannot assign their determined time. But we doubt not only about the time, but also about the matter itself, which Flaminius in the Life of St. Dominic, book 2, folio 47 verso, thus narrates: So great had grown the veneration and reverence of the people of Bologna toward blessed Dominic, so great their admiration of his sanctity, and so vehement was their desire of hearing him preach, and such fruit of souls followed from that thing, that, when he preached now in this church, now in that, to comply with those who asked, the people did not come together to that church, but thronged to the house where he was staying, that of St. Nicholas, that they might accompany him as he went. On a certain day, amid the multitude of the people thus flocking, two students met him, when he had not yet left the church of St. Nicholas; of whom one, approaching nearer, said: I ask you, Father, to obtain for me from God pardon of my sins, which I have all confessed. He at once answered that he would gladly do it, and went to one altar of the church, and, having used a brief prayer, returned to him and said: Be of good heart, son, and believe that God has forgiven you. Hearing this, the other asked the same of him and obtained it. But the holy Man, returning from prayer to him, said: God, my son, cannot be deceived. You have confessed your sins, but not all: for shame stood in your way, whereby it came about that you kept one silent; and, leading him aside, he told him what it was. The youth affirmed that the holy Man had spoken truly, and, truly repenting of that sin, departed from him. We do not know whence Flaminius dug out these things, about which the ancient biographers kept entire silence. Wherefore we require an older testimony before we give sure credit to this miracle.

[812] and then two other prodigies, Much more do we doubt about two other prodigies which the praised Flaminius in the same Life, folio 38 and following, thus reports: As he preached through various places (namely St. Dominic, as is plain from what precedes) and kindly heard those wishing to confess their sins to him, the most happy Virgin admonished him of whatever was to be done. Before all things she bade that her Psalter should be the penance for those confessing, when he absolved them; and moreover that he should enroll them with the Rosary confraternities. When therefore the diligent Son was carrying out the pious commands of his Mother, he fell in with a certain Roman woman, upon whom, having confessed, he enjoined a penance of this kind for seven days; then he exhorted her not to be burdened at saying the Psalter throughout a whole year, not indeed by way of penance, but for the honor alone of the Mother of God, by whom that practice had been instituted and commanded. And, lest she could plead occupations and hindrances, he permitted her to do it while walking, sitting, and doing anything else whatever, and at whatever time she wished. But she refused a burden of that kind, nor could she be brought by the persuasion and exhortations of the holy Man to accept it.

[813] distinguished by no marks of time After these things she was present on a certain day at blessed Dominic's celebration of Mass; and while she was intent upon it, being taken away from her bodily senses, she was rapt to the tribunal of the eternal Judge, where, having first been gravely accused of having spurned the penance enjoined upon her by the Servant of Christ, she was destined to atrocious torments; who, presently recalling the Mother of God, implored her help. She was at once present, and delivered her from the punishments. Blessed Dominic too was present with many cords containing the number of the Rosary, of which the most happy Virgin took one in her hands and placed it in a scale-pan: but in the other pan whatever good that woman had ever done, or anyone could do; and the Rosary was found of equal weight. Then the Mother of God, turning to her, said: You despised the penance of my Servant, nor were you willing to be enrolled in the number of the Rosary confraternities. Now you can see how greatly you erred, and how great power my Rosary has. The woman, restored to her senses, understood how greatly she had offended, and, all delay being removed, did all that the holy Man had bidden, for which she obtained a happy end of life.

[814] Then that author in the same place subjoins to this another thus: and not a little suspected by us of fabrication When he was publishing the Psalter in Italy also, and kindling the peoples to it with vehement exhortation, a certain knight, greatly moved, came to him and confessed his sins. And when he had done so, blessed Dominic said to him: You have indeed confessed small sins, but have kept silent about great ones; and he said what they were: for God granted him often to know even the secrets of hearts. The knight was astonished and said: Those to whom we are wont to confess do not teach us these things; and who will teach when you, Father, have departed? Then blessed Dominic said: But I will leave you a master who will never forsake you. This will be the cord of the Rosary, in which there will be five great beads, which admonish that the Lord's Prayer be said as many times; there follow them fifty smaller ones, comprising the number of the Angelic salutation. And those five larger ones will be distinguished in this order and with these colors. And the first indeed, in which you will see a diversity of colors, figures the various crimes which are perpetrated by men against God, against themselves, and against their neighbor, and which are done by thought, word, sloth, and deed. But the ten smaller beads which follow designate particular sins. The second larger one by its pallor suggests to you the memory of death, of what color the corpses of the dead are. The ten smaller ones which are after it admonish of the perils which can befall a dying man. The third by its fiery color indicates the wrath of the eternal Judge against sinners, who is about to pronounce sentence upon each according to the quality of his merits. The ten smaller ones which are after it indicate the dangers which occur at such a time. The fourth by its black color shows the torments of hell; the ten smaller ones the particular punishments of hell. The fifth finally, of gold, shows the gladness of the heavenly country, and the ten smaller ones its particular joys. This is the master whom I leave you: he will teach you the manner of living, and how crimes are to be avoided, if you diligently consider in it what I have said.

[815] The knight received these things joyfully, and, following the counsel of the holy Man, he narrates from Alanus de Rupe, so took up the Psalter of the great Virgin that he never afterward omitted it: which while he was reciting on a certain day, he thought that he saw, as often as he repeated the Angelic Salutation, an angel placing in the hand of the Virgin herself a stone, presently growing to wondrous size and brightness; and thus, when he had gone through the whole Psalter, that a building of a hundred and fifty stones of admirable beauty had been constructed. From which he understood that a place is prepared in heaven for each one who is a holy cultivator of the Psalter. When I first read these things, still not knowing whence Flaminius had drawn them, I began to suspect that this was the invention of some fabulous writer, and did not much differ from the genius of Alanus de Rupe. But behold, while I lightly run through the Alanus Redivivus, I find both these prodigies, adorned with many circumlocutions of words and various circumstances of the matter, in part 5, chapters 42 and 71. Since therefore these wares again issue from the workshop of Alanus de Rupe, they seem to us not undeservedly spurious; and therefore we judge that those two miracles are to be bound to no time, although Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers reported the same at the year of Christ 1219, chapter 28. But although a like judgment must be passed on most of the narrations of the same Alanus, which in the course of this work we have partly indicated and partly omitted, yet it could easily have happened that St. Dominic wondrously brought back to a better life some Roman woman and a certain Italian knight, whose conversion Alanus interpolated with his episodes and applied to the Rosary, as we saw above in the history of Benedicta of Florence. Since, however, the ancient biographers are silent about this twofold conversion, we do not dare to assert even the substance of the Flaminian narration, until someone shall have pointed it out in older and more credible authors.

[816] I also greatly doubt whether it belongs to our St. Dominic, [to which may be added the apparition of St. Norbert, said to have been made to our Saint,] and whether the prodigious healing must be fitted to him at any time, which Joseph Stephen de Noriega in the historical Dissertation praised above, §21, number 181, thus pathetically narrates: The remarkable boy Dominic, having been received into the fellowship of the Canons of La Vid, and drawing to himself their eyes and hearts, when at one time he had been gravely ill, is said at once to have recovered by the help of our most holy father Norbert, appearing to him in archiepiscopal attire and gently touching the sick boy's head with his pastoral staff. For what should the most merciful Father do? The joy of timbrels had ceased, the sound of the rejoicing had grown still, the sweetness of the harp had fallen silent, all who a little before rejoiced in heart were groaning, the vintage mourned, since an outcry over the wine in the streets was foreseen as coming, from the fact that in one tender shoot, Dominic, the Norbertine vine was already believed to be sick unto death. Lately, Lord (I seem to myself to hear the men of La Vid crying to heaven), lately that morning star, sprung from our Parent, your beloved servant Jacob, the herald of the Sun of justice, shone upon us. Why therefore does it hasten with so swift a course to its setting? Lately that flower, fragrant with sweetest odor, appeared in our land, and has the time of pruning already come? Scarcely have we seen, the south wind blowing, that our vine so flowered — why may we not see, under your protection, this flower of our hope bring forth the most abundant fruits which it promises?

[817] and which perhaps pertains to another Dominic of La Vid. But restrain your tears, venerable Fathers: behold, from a cloud fallen from heaven, the planter of our vine and its ever-watchful guardian Norbert, snatching the sickle from envious and never more savage Atropos, marks with his staff the shoot to be grafted; he aids the withering branch with his cherishing, and preserves his tender son Dominic — to be propagated by a most fruitful offshoot throughout the whole world — from the peril of imminent death. In the year 1643 the Reverend Fr. John de Sousa of the Order of Preachers, in a Spanish sermon which he delivered on the feast of St. Norbert, reported the same miracle, as the praised Premonstratensian writer in the same Dissertation, §1, page 8, number 7, affirms. But on account of the chronological argument which we proposed above in § XI, we not undeservedly suspect that Dominic de Guzmán, Canon of La Vid of the Premonstratensian Order, was confounded with our St. Dominic. Nay rather, on account of those things which we shall afterward note in the Acts of Theodoric of Apolda, we probably judge that the holy Founder of the Preachers never made religious profession in the Premonstratensian Order. But if perchance St. Dominic while still a boy lived some time in the monastery of La Vid, and then wondrously obtained health by the intercession of St. Norbert (about which matter, however, there is deep silence among the ancient biographers), we can assign no certain time to this miracle, which therefore we have relegated to this paragraph.

* Ms. "which"

* elsewhere "before"

* elsewhere "of a gnat"

§ XLIV. The Saint's last illness and pious death, and the revelation of his passing made from heaven to those absent.

The Saint, forewarned of his imminent death, That our Saint had a previous revelation of his death we gather from the Lives of the Brothers, where in part 2, chapter 27, the following are read: The blessed Father himself had visited certain scholars who were familiar with him; and when he wished to withdraw, he foretold to them among other things his own passing, drawing them to contempt of the world and the memory of death. You, he said, dearest ones, see me now in health; but before the Assumption of our Lady comes, I shall be removed from this mortal life; which the outcome of the matter proved: for a little before the Assumption of our Lady he was taken up by the Lord. Nay rather, Bartholomew of Trent asserts that he was forewarned of his imminent death by an angel, as we shall see below in him at number 13 of the shorter Life. Yet we do not on that account at once believe Alanus de Rupe or the anonymous author who in the Mirror of the Sinful Soul, page 182, determines a certain time for this forewarning, and there, mingling other things, thus addresses the Mother of God: Most beautiful Virgin Mary, on account of the most blessed Dominic, to whom you quite often showed the pains of hell and displayed the joys of paradise with the orders of the Saints existing there, and to whom you foretold his own passing a hundred and fifty days before his death, and adorned those days with every kind of miracles more than ever, and confirmed and corroborated the most beautiful, most useful, and greatest privileges of those saying your Psalter — long before shown to him — by words, signs, prodigies, and portents, etc.

[819] Further, St. Dominic, having returned at the end of July of the year 1221 from Venice to Bologna, now sick, called together the Brothers, and threatened with a curse those fell into sickness, as we have already indicated above, and, foreseeing that the end of his life was at hand, did those things which Constantine of Orvieto in the Acts of that most holy Man, number 45, sets forth in these words: Therefore, as the term of his pilgrimage drew near, and the end of the contest by which the man of God Dominic should receive the glorious fruit of his good labors and carry back the crown of victory, being stationed at Bologna he began to languish with a grave infirmity of body. And those of his sons who were then present having been placed before him, he disposed his testament of peace, in which chiefly, to them as well as to all spread abroad throughout the Order everywhere, a certain salutary admonition having been premised, he bequeathed the lawful succession of charity, humility, and poverty; in the ownership, I say, of this threefold treasure he chiefly instituted all his sons as heirs, by which indeed they should become co-heirs with him of that kingdom which God has promised to those who love him. But that he forbade with what strictness he could, that anyone should ever bring temporal possessions into his Order, terribly imprecating the curse of Almighty God and his own upon him who should strive to besprinkle with the poison of earthly substance the Order of Preachers, which the profession of poverty especially adorns.

[820] Finally, to the Brothers standing round and grieving as though inconsolably at the loss of so great a Father, who should bring temporal possessions into his Order, sweetly consoling them, he added: Let not my bodily departure disturb you, sons, in no way doubting that you will have me better dead than alive. A great confidence indeed, but not vain! For he knew assuredly in whom

he had believed, and was certain of the crown of glory laid up for him, which having been received, he would become the more powerful for obtaining, in proportion as he had entered the more securely into the powers of the Lord. The venerable Humbert in the Life of St. Dominic, chapter 53, and Vincent of Beauvais in book 30 of the Mirror, chapter 113, have altogether similar things, except that they have somewhat amplified the narration of Constantine of Orvieto. For the rest, Theodoric of Apolda below in the Acts, and eyewitnesses in the Process of Bologna, will more distinctly explain the smaller circumstances of the illness and the particular deeds of that time.

[821] The most reverend Master of the Order, Vincent Bandello, charges with falsity that narration about the curse which nevertheless the most reverend Master Bandello denies, which St. Dominic is said to have hurled against those who should first bring possessions and revenues into the Order of Preachers, and explodes it as invented, when in Malvenda, in the Annals at the year of Christ 1221, chapter 37, he strives to overturn that opinion in these words: Nor is it true that blessed Dominic in his testament gave the curse of God and his own to anyone bringing revenues and possessions into the Order; both first, because in the depositions made for his canonization by those who were present at his death this is not found, but rather this: Have charity, keep humility, possess voluntary poverty. And secondly, because in his ancient Legend, which is said to have been published by blessed Jordan, such a curse is not found written. And thirdly, because in the Chapter celebrated at Strasbourg in the year 1270 (read the year 1260, in which that Chapter was held in the city of Strasbourg) it is commanded to all the Brothers that they use the Legend of blessed Dominic which was published by blessed Jordan, and is inserted in the ancient Lectionaries, and that others thenceforth should not be read. But in the aforesaid Legend, which is in the ancient Lectionaries, such a curse is not found.

[822] and vainly strives to prove his opinion from the silence of certain authors, But those arguments which the most reverend writer opposes to this narration are not firm enough, as we shall now briefly try to show. First, it does not follow that that imprecation is fictitious because contemporary witnesses and blessed Jordan made no mention of it: for already in the course of this Commentary we have reported various things from Constantine of Orvieto, the venerable Humbert, Vincent of Beauvais, and others, and below in the Acts of Theodoric more will be narrated, all of which nevertheless are not at once to be numbered among fables, although these are passed over in silence by the eyewitnesses and blessed Jordan. Whence Gerard de Frachet in the Lives of the Brothers, part 2, wrote a gleaning of the Acts of St. Dominic, although an ample harvest of his deeds had already been gathered by others, and in the same place, chapter 1, thus forewarns us about this labor of his: It ought not to seem superfluous if we gather, as ears of grain slipped from the hand of the reapers, those things which were omitted or unknown by the very compilers of the Legend of our blessed father Dominic.

[823] and by a false hypothesis, Besides, in the assembly of Strasbourg of the year 1260, which the most reverend Bandello alleges for his opinion, no word is made of a Legend of St. Dominic which blessed Jordan is said to have published; but in it, in Edmund Martène, volume 4 of the Thesaurus of Anecdotes, column [ ], the Master only commands that the Brothers use the Legend of blessed Dominic which is inserted in the Lectionary, and that others thenceforth be not written. But at that time there was inserted in the Lectionary the Legend of St. Dominic which Humbert had composed, as Echard in volume 1 of the Library of the Preachers, pages 143 and 147, evidently demonstrates from Humbert's own autograph. If it were necessary, it could be proved by several arguments that that Lectionary was arranged by Humbert and was already received in the whole Order of Preachers before the assembly of Strasbourg of the year 1260. This too is plain from our parchment codex P. Ms. 10, in which the Life of St. Dominic is divided into Lessons, and where we read the following: And that the distinguished Father forbade with what strictness he could, that anyone should bring temporal possessions into this Order; terribly imprecating the curse of God and his own upon him who should presume to darken this Order, which the profession of poverty especially adorns, with the dust of earthly riches. And these are the very words which the venerable Humbert has in the Life of St. Dominic, chapter 53, as may be seen in Echard, volume 1, page 36, in the notes.

[824] Wherefore we are better pleased with the last response of the most reverend Master, although afterward this constitution of the Saint was legitimately changed, which in Malvenda, just cited, he thus subjoins to the preceding arguments: And granted that such a curse were inserted in the aforesaid Legend, it must be understood as given to those Brothers who without any necessity and lawful cause, and without the dispensation of the Master, should introduce such dispensations. Whence there are found Convents instituted by blessed Dominic which even now have the possessions and revenues which they then had. We are not unaware that possessions and revenues were left to the monastery of Prouille and perhaps to other monasteries of nuns; but hitherto Convents of Brothers are unknown to us which retained stable goods of this kind in the time of St. Dominic after the first or second Chapter. We in no way doubt, however, that that constitution of the holy Founder was afterward legitimately changed, since the Council of Trent, session 25, chapter 3 on reformation, granted or confirmed to all monasteries and houses, both of men and of women, even of mendicants (except those who asked to be excluded from this privilege), the possession of stable goods.

[825] St. Antoninus in part 3 of the Chronicles, title 23, chapter 4, §13, seems in a manner to have foreseen this concession of the most sacred synod: which just causes of the change St. Antoninus for after he had there sharply rebuked those Religious who rashly violate the rules and statutes of their Order, he adds these things bearing on the present matter: But as to what is said, as is contained in his (namely his holy Founder's) sacred history, that he forbade with what strictness he could that anyone should bring temporal possessions into this Order, imprecating the curse of God and his own upon one doing the contrary — in this his zeal for poverty is commended, and that his testament must altogether be kept where necessity does not press, lest one incur the curse; but where necessity (which has no law, but itself makes a law for itself, as is said in causa 1, question 1, § BUT IT MUST BE NOTED) presses to this, inasmuch as the Brothers cannot otherwise live in a competent number, experience having been had, which is the mistress of things.

[826] But since, beyond the prohibition of the most blessed Father with the curse annexed, this is also most strictly forbidden expressly by constitutions made in the most general Chapter, examined even before the Council of Trent. which constitutions have been approved by the Church, therefore it does not seem that this can safely be done without a dispensation of the Apostolic See, which in such matters (since they are positive) has the fullness of power. For if God according to the diversity of times changes prohibitions and ordinances made for men, as is plain concerning the ceremonial and judicial precepts of the old law, which were taken away in the new according to the letter, although to them also were added many curses of God upon their transgressors; and the Church too changes its decrees and constitutions when necessity or utility presses, as in the decretal "on consanguinity and affinity," NON DEBET; nor is this to be ascribed to levity but to reason: so also, if, the conditions of that time being changed, that constitution be changed or dispensed with, since otherwise it appears that they cannot be sustained, no inconvenience follows therefrom. For then there were no other Religious except monks, who did not beg because they did not lack; whence they received alms copiously. Now Religious orders of those who seek alms have been multiplied, even in both sexes. And since iniquity has abounded, the charity of many has grown cold, and, want having been multiplied by wars and by the pomps of the laity, they are sparing in giving alms, and more willingly spend on chapels or superfluous ornaments and pomps of churches than on the relief of the poor. Let these things be said briefly and incidentally, saving always a better judgment. From what has been said hitherto it is clear that that constitution of the Preachers was changed for a just cause.

[827] The Saint, dying, on account of a public declaration of his virginity Now let us pursue the other deeds of our Saint while sick with the same Antoninus, who in the Work just praised, title 23, chapter 4, §14, narrates these things about him: But as the infirmity grew stronger, being strengthened in spirit, he clung untiringly to God, bearing that sickness so patiently that he always appeared pleasant and cheerful, although he was pressed by dysentery and burned with fevers. But knowing that the day of his death was very near at hand, he ordered the novices to come together before him; whom, beholding with serene countenance, he exhorted with most sweet words to the love of God and of the Order, and to devotion of religion and observance. Nor even so, weak as he was, did he consent to rest upon a bed. Thereafter, having called twelve of the more discreet Brothers, he made a general confession of all his acts to the Prior of the Convent, Brother Ventura (or Bonaventura), and said to the Brothers: Behold, up to this hour the mercy of God has preserved me uncorrupted in flesh, and has guarded unimpaired the purity of virginity: that this chastity may remain immaculate in you, avoid the suspect company of all women. On another occasion above in §1 we indicated, and below from the little book of Blessed Jordan it will appear, what was cut away from this passage.

[828] is troubled with a scruple, which Souèges wrongly numbers among fables, Ferdinand del Castillo, in the Spanish History of the Order of Preachers, book 1, chapter 56, reports a like admonition of St. Dominic, and adds to this narration that the Saint was afterward vexed by remorse of conscience, or rather by a scruple, because he had publicly declared his virginity before the Brothers. But Souèges in the Dominican Year, volume 1 of August, page 459, roundly refutes that addition of Castillo and other authors as a fable. But Souèges does not seem to have seen the testimony of Brother Ventura himself, whom Castillo had cited in the place just assigned, and who in the Process of Bologna in our edition at number 5 affirms that St. Dominic after this public declaration of his virginity said to him these words: Brother, I have sinned, because I spoke publicly of my virginity before the Brothers, which I ought not to have said. Nevertheless far be it indeed that we should on that account accuse the most holy Man of any fault, although he himself out of tenderness of conscience thought himself guilty of some offense: for it belongs to good minds in some manner to acknowledge their faults even where there is no fault, as St. Gregory the Great in the Responses to the questions of Augustine of Canterbury, chapter 10, testifies. There now remain to be discussed certain things which are omitted in the Acts to be published below, although they are handed down to have happened at the time of the same last illness.

[829] [among which we rather reckon the apparitions reported by the author of the Mirror,] Alanus de Rupe, or an anonymous author of the same bran, in the Mirror of the Sinful Soul, page 189 and following, narrates wondrous favors of St.

Dominic when sick were conferred from heaven, when in the same place he invokes the Mother of God in these words: O most beautiful Mary, on account of your most sweet son St. Dominic, to whom, appearing more than four times when he was sick, you ministered; nay rather, with whom, as a sign of most singular friendship, you ate and drank of the good things brought by you, together also with your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, truly and really, just as your Son himself ate and drank with his disciples after he rose from the dead — grant us to fulfill the two commandments of the law of nature, etc. We do not know from what fountain that author drew these singular privileges. If perchance anyone should say that these things were divinely revealed to the author of the Mirror, as he himself affirms about certain other exotic narrations of his, we require a more certain knowledge of the person and more motives of historical credit before we believe this private revelation.

[830] Of greater authority with us are the revelations of St. Bridget, and we transcribe a more likely revelation of St. Bridget, which underwent rigorous examination in the Church, and in which, book 3, chapter 17, to the praise of our Saint we read the following: Likewise the Mother of God speaks to the bride (namely St. Bridget), saying: I told you yesterday about two who were of the rule of St. Dominic. Certainly that Dominic held my Son as his most dear Lord, and loved me his Mother more than his own heart. To this Saint my Son inspired that there were three things in the world which displeased my Son: namely pride, and cupidity, and concupiscence of the flesh; for the diminishing of which three St. Dominic obtained with the greatest sighs help and a remedy, whose tears God pitying, inspired in him a law and rule of living, in which that Saint established three goods against the three evils of the world: for against the vice of concupiscence he established that they should possess nothing except with the leave of their Prior. Against pride he established that they should have a humble and simple habit. Against the insatiable gulf of the flesh he established abstinence, and a due time for regulating oneself. He also appointed a Prior for his Brothers for the observance of peace and the guarding of unity. Then, wishing to give a certain spiritual sign to his Brothers, he impressed as it were one spiritual and red cross on their left arm near the heart, by his teaching and the efficacy of his example, when he taught and admonished them continually to remember the Passion of God, to preach the words of God fervently, not for the world's sake but for the love of God and of souls. He taught them moreover rather to be subject than to preside, to hate their own will, to bear reproaches patiently, to desire nothing beyond food and clothing, to love truth in the heart and utter it with the mouth, not to seek their own praise, but always to have the divine words in their mouth and to teach them, and not to give them up out of shame, nor to recite them for human favor.

[831] Then the immaculate Mother of God reveals to St. Bridget in the same place other hidden things which took place in St. Dominic's last illness: in which it is narrated how St. Dominic And when the time of his dissolution was at hand, which my Son showed him in spirit, he came to me his Mother, saying with tears: O Mary, queen of heaven, whom God himself chose beforehand for himself for the joining of Deity and humanity! You are that singular virgin and singularly most worthy Mother; you are that most powerful one, from whom power itself came forth: hear me asking you: for because I know you to be most powerful, therefore I presume upon you. Receive my Brothers, whom I have brought up and cherished under my narrow scapular, and defend them under your broad mantle. Rule and cherish them, lest the ancient enemy prevail against them, and lest he destroy the new vineyard which the right hand of your Son has planted. But what else, my Lady, do I mark by the narrow scapular, which has one small cloak before the breast and another behind, but the twofold consideration which I had toward my Brothers? For I was solicitous night and day for them, how they might serve God with reasonable and praiseworthy temperance. I prayed also for them that they might desire nothing of the world which would either offend God or blacken the reputation of humility and piety before their neighbor.

[832] commended his Order to the Mother of God a little before his death, Now therefore, since the time of my recompense is at hand, I assign my members to you. Teach them therefore as sons, and carry them as a mother. For with these words and others Dominic was called into the glory of God. To whom I, speaking by a similitude, answered thus: O Dominic, beloved friend, because you have loved me more than yourself, I will defend and cover your sons under my broad mantle, and moreover all who persevere in your rule shall be saved. And my broad mantle is my mercy, which I deny to no one who happily asks; but all who seek are protected under the bosom of my mercy. But what do you believe, O my daughter, the rule of Dominic to be? Assuredly humility, and continence, and contempt of the world: for all who take up these three, and love them by persevering, shall never be damned, and these are they who keep the rule of blessed Dominic. Afterward in the same chapter and the following it is more fully explained who truly serve under the rule of St. Dominic, lest perchance anyone should wrongly interpret these promises, or rashly trust in them.

[833] who in the year 1221, on the sixth day of August, died, At length the most holy Founder of the Order, after the other circumstances of his illness, which will be set forth minutely below in the Acts and in the Process of Bologna, in the year of Christ 1221, on the VI day of August, passed to heaven, as the venerable Humbert in the Life of the same Saint, chapter 53, testifies in these words: At length blessed Dominic, after the long labors in which he had faithfully sweated in the vineyard of the Lord of Sabaoth, entered into the joy of his Lord, and received the day's penny, and completed his days in good and his years in glory, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1221, on the eighth of the Ides of August, after the second general Chapter which in the same year had been celebrated at Bologna. Constantine of Orvieto and most other writers assign the same year and day to his death. Wherefore it is not worth the trouble in this place to refute those authors who have strayed from this chronology, and whom Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers at the year 1221, chapter 34, reviews.

[834] and which at once to two absent Brothers The Saint's happy death was at once revealed from heaven to two absent Brothers, as Bartholomew of Trent in the compendium of the Acts, numbers 14 and 15, will narrate below. But since Blessed Jordan mentioned only the first revelation of this kind, it may be useful here to transcribe the second from Constantine of Orvieto, who in the Acts of St. Dominic, number 47, thus confirms it by his own testimony: But it holds an indication of no lesser astonishment, an argument of no lesser certainty, that concerning the passing of that same blessed Father it was found to have been revealed more clearly than light to Brother Rao, a man of that Order of altogether outstanding sanctity, placed at a distance. For on the very day of his death it happened that the said Brother Rao with Brother Tancred, of whom mention has been made in another place, came from the City to Tivoli. And when they arrived at the accustomed lodging about the sixth hour, by the command of Brother Tancred, Brother Rao approached the altar to celebrate Mass: from whom also, confession having first been made, he received the charge that he should be mindful of their beloved Father, whom they had lately heard was sick at Bologna.

[835] was divinely revealed. When therefore he had come to that place in the Mass where mention is wont to be made of the living, and solicitously had recalled to memory the charge given him, he was suddenly placed in an ecstasy of mind, and, standing motionless at the altar, rapt in Spirit, he saw indeed in a manifest vision the man of God Dominic crowned with a certain golden crown, and all shining with wondrous splendor, accompanied on this side and that by two certain reverend men, proceeding outside Bologna along the royal road. And in that same vision it was given him to understand by a certain revelation that the man of God Dominic, passing from the body at that same hour, namely the sixth, and on the sixth feria, had gloriously entered the heavenly country. But that vision being finished, presently returning to himself and restored to himself, from that same place at which, being placed in ecstasy, he had left off, he continued and completed the Mass which he had begun. But Brother Tancred, who had prostrated himself on the ground behind him, whether depressed by the drowsiness of sleep from weariness of the road, or held in suspense by some other meditation, perceived neither the distance of the interval that had passed nor any indication of his rapture. And this vision he who had seen it, that Brother, out of a certain humility with which he was doubtless filled, kept silent for a long time; but afterward, forewarned by divine inspiration, he revealed it to several, and, as he related it, I frequently heard it, and he wrote the same to me with his own hand. From these things it becomes likely that Blessed Jordan did not mention that revelation because Brother Rao perhaps disclosed it only after the departure or death of Blessed Jordan. However that may be, the venerable Humbert in the Acts of St. Dominic, chapter 55, reports that vision, and Bartholomew of Trent in the compendium of the Acts below at number 15 will testify that he received the same from the mouth of Brother Rao himself.

§ XLV. The Saint's bodily form, and the literary Works which are said to have been left by him to posterity.

Theodoric of Apolda describes the bodily form of St. Dominic, Here we shall imitate those hagiographers who are wont to depict the outward form of the Saints before their bodies are withdrawn from the eyes of men and committed to burial. Would that Blessed Jordan, or other contemporary witnesses who had quite often seen St. Dominic, had represented to us an accurate likeness of this Saint! But perhaps they omitted this because the outward form of the body contributes nothing to sanctity. Nevertheless in most men there is implanted a certain curiosity by which they desire to contemplate the renowned heroes of antiquity, and men illustrious for learning or sanctity, depicted in lively colors. Hence Theodoric of Apolda thought that that part of the history should not be neglected by him, and below in our edition at number 213 expressed the image of St. Dominic with this brush of words: He was of even middling stature, agile from the slenderness of his body, beautiful of face and slightly ruddy; and his beard and hair presented somewhat the appearance of a reddish color. From his forehead and between his brows there gleamed a certain radiant splendor, which drew all to veneration and love of him. He always appeared cheerful and pleasant, except when he was moved to compassion by any affliction of his neighbor. He had long and beautiful hands; a voice great and beautiful and resounding like a trumpet. He was not bald; but had the shaven crown whole and entire, sprinkled with a few gray hairs.

[837] In this place Theodoric seems to have had before his eyes the older Legend of St. Francis, written in the time of Gregory IX the Pontiff, from which Wadding in the Annals of the Minorites at the year of Christ

1221, number 48, reports a similar likeness of St. Dominic, which is also depicted by another older writer; which in that ancient monument is depicted in nearly the same words thus: He was of middling stature, even in body, agile from slenderness, of beautiful and ruddy face, somewhat reddish in beard and hair, and comely in aspect. From his forehead and eyebrows there gleamed a certain radiant splendor, which rendered him venerable to all. He always bore before him a religious joy and cheerfulness, except when out of natural compassion he pitied the needy. He had long hands, a clear and sonorous voice. He had nothing of his head bald, but had it entirely trim in an even circle, sprinkled with a few gray hairs. Candide Chalippe, in the notes to the Life of St. Francis lately published at Paris, page 228 and following, sets forth the same image of the Saint in French.

[838] but to this twofold description a difficulty is opposed Although these two descriptions of the body agree excellently with each other, they cannot so easily be reconciled with the history or revelation which Gerard de Frachet in the printed Lives of the Brothers, part 3, chapter 26, and in our manuscripts chapter 25, thus narrates: On the night of the Lord's Circumcision, when according to custom at Paris the said Father (namely Blessed Jordan, in whose Acts these things are reported) was reading the ninth [*] lesson, a certain Brother, falling asleep, saw a most beautiful lady standing in the pulpit, having a golden crown on her head and adorned with a cloak of wondrous beauty, gazing most intently upon the reader. And when he had finished the lesson, she, taking the book from his hand, began gravely to descend the steps before him, with Saints standing on this side and that; among whom one, somewhat bald, seemed greater and worthier, who, carrying a staff, went before that Lady as though making a way. But the Brother, who had clearly seen this, judging that she was the blessed Virgin, and that the one going before was blessed Paul or blessed Dominic, who also toward the end of his life had been bald, approaching the Master asked whether he had felt any sweetness in that lesson, and disclosed to him what he had seen: who, smiling at his words, was unwilling to reveal anything.

[839] from the Lives of the Brothers about the Saint's baldness, In this place St. Dominic is said to have been bald toward the end of his life, and above in the twofold delineation of his body Theodoric of Apolda, and another older than he, assert that the same Saint had nothing of his head bald, but had the shaven crown whole and entire. These things can with difficulty be reconciled, unless we should say that both of the earlier descriptions of his form, though composed after the Saint's death, suit St. Dominic when younger, and the other assertion of that Brother suits the same Saint when already older. What if that Brother wrongly took St. Dominic for St. Paul, especially since he says that that Saint, who was bald and went before the Mother of God, seemed greater and worthier? But this greater dignity can be attributed to St. Paul. Wherefore it could easily have happened that this Brother erred in that circumstance of the vision: for we have said above on another occasion that from certain adjuncts of revelations a historical argument is not safely to be deduced. However that may be, John of St. Mary in the French Acts of St. Dominic, book 4, chapter 11, affirms that that Saint was in no way bald, and there censures those who in his images paint some baldness. Nevertheless a certain baldness of St. Dominic above the forehead is expressed by a certain likeness of the same Saint at Soriano, which is handed down to have been brought from heaven, as we shall report more fully below.

[840] This dispute could be decided from an ancient and genuine image of the Saint, which is said still to be preserved somewhere, and of which an accurate copy has long since been promised me. which nevertheless does not appear in the likeness here exhibited. Certainly no baldness is expressed in the painted likeness of St. Dominic which not long ago, by the care of the Most Reverend general Master of the whole Order, I received from the Preachers of Antwerp, and which agrees rightly enough with the twofold description of his body reported above. I speak here of the likeness of the face alone, since perhaps the form of the garments and the other ornaments of the picture were expressed at the painter's discretion. But because this picture of St. Dominic differs much from another likeness of the same Saint, which nevertheless is believed to have been brought from heaven to the Soriano monastery of the Preachers, I proposed some questions about it six or seven months ago, that I might judge more cautiously and certainly about the Saint's bodily form. Among other things I then inquired by letter about what time the prototype of the image handed to me had been painted, and whether from immemorial tradition it had always been held for the true figure of St. Dominic: for since between this picture and the Soriano image (this latter will afterward be exhibited in §51, and can be compared with the former) scarcely any likeness of face appeared, I began thus to argue with myself: If that Soriano image was brought from heaven, as the tradition of Soriano has it, no more certain or true likeness of St. Dominic can be required, since doubtless the heavenly painters knew best the form of that Saint while living, and expressed it with a divine brush; but if the picture sent to me represents the true likeness of the same Saint, the other, that of Soriano, must be by no means genuine. Entangled in this argumentation I stuck fast, and awaited some solution of my doubt; but after a long delay of some months nothing has hitherto been answered me. Wherefore I have taken care that the picture sent to me — which at least comes nearer to the mentioned description of Theodoric of Apolda and of the other ancient author — be exactly reproduced and engraved in copper, and I here faithfully exhibit it, so far as the engraver's art allows, even though this cannot distinctly imitate the various colors of the brush.

[841] There now remains another question, whether St. Dominic was in body like our Redeemer, Nicephorus Callistus represents the form of Christ, whom Nicephorus Callistus in book 1 of the Ecclesiastical History, chapter 40, depicts in these words: Now the likeness of the form of our Lord Jesus Christ, as we have received from the ancients, was nearly such, so far as it may be grossly comprehended in words. He was of a distinguished and lively countenance. In stature of body fully seven palms (in Greek is read "of seven spans," where the word "span" signifies the greater palm or a measure of twelve fingers). He had hair somewhat golden and not very thick, gently inclining in a manner to curls: eyebrows black, not much arched. From his eyes, tawny and somewhat golden, there shone forth a wondrous grace; they were keen, and his nose rather long. The hair of his beard was golden, and not very long; but the hair of his head he wore rather long: for a razor never came upon his head, nor any hand of man, except his mother's, and that only in his tender age. His neck was gently sloping, so that he was not of a haughty and over-erect bearing of body. Moreover, having the color of wheat, he had not a round or sharp face, but such as his mother's was, inclining a little downward, and moderately ruddy; showing gravity and prudence joined with mildness, and a placability free from wrath. Finally he was in all things most like to his divine and immaculate Mother. Thus that Greek writer of the XIV century, who is too young to bear certain testimony about so ancient a matter: for among the ancients themselves there is no agreement about the true likeness of Christ, and more recent authors do not cease to dispute about it.

[842] to whom St. Dominic is said to have been like in body, For the rest, the image of our Redeemer just described does not differ much from that of St. Dominic which Theodoric of Apolda and another ancient writer delineated above. Nay rather, the author of the Mirror of the Sinful Soul, page 21, asserts that St. Dominic was most like to Christ, when in the same place he thus prays to the Mother of God: Again, O most loving Mary, on account of your spouse Dominic, most like in body to the Lord Jesus Christ your virginal and natural Son, in size, color, figure, and eloquence, as was divinely revealed to St. Catherine of Siena, take from me and from mine these most horrible evils which follow from every mortal fault, etc. But the editor Louis Loumans upon this text of the Mirror, page 248, notes the following: What the author says, that St. Dominic was like to Christ in face and in the other things there added, I frankly confess that I have never read, although I have diligently consulted and examined the writers of the holy Father's Life. Accordingly, until we have a clear document of that matter, it pleases me to note it in this place as uncertain, of no credit, and apocryphal. But if anyone shall have read it in some approved author, and shall have proved it, I beg him to inform me.

[843] and which likeness we confirm We not a little marvel that Loumans did not consult the Life of St. Catherine of Siena, which Raymond of Capua, a contemporary, wrote, and which was published in print at Cologne in the year of Christ 1553: for in it he would have found that revelation which is briefly indicated by the author of the Mirror. We reprinted the Acts of this holy Virgin from that Cologne edition, collated with manuscripts, at the day XXX of April in our Work; from which it will not be irksome here to transcribe, to the glory of St. Dominic, the following, which the praised Raymond, general Master of the Order of Preachers and confessor of the same Saint, in our edition, volume III of April, page 904, thus reports: But since, to confess the truth, blessed Dominic miraculously calling me, I unworthily entered his Order, lest I be found ungrateful to so great a Father if I pass over in silence his glory revealed to this Virgin, I have determined to insert here the vision of this virgin touched upon above. For the aforesaid Brother Bartholomew, who is now actually with me, narrates to me that on the said day the sacred Virgin, while she was speaking to him, asserted that she was actually seeing in an imaginary vision the supreme and eternal Father producing from his mouth (as it seemed) the Son coeternal with him, who also with the assumed human nature was openly shown to her. And while she was attending to this, on the other side she saw the most blessed patriarch Dominic produced from the breast of the same Father, surrounded with light and splendors; and she heard uttered from the same mouth a voice which formed the words written below: I, most sweet daughter, have begotten these two sons; the one by generating naturally, the other by adopting lovingly and sweetly.

[844] from a revelation of St. Catherine of Siena, And when she marveled greatly at so great a comparison, and at so lofty a likening of that Saint, for the removing of her wonder the aforesaid words were thus expounded by him who had uttered them: As this Son, begotten by me naturally and eternally, having assumed human nature, was in all things most perfectly obedient to me even unto death, so my adoptive son Dominic — all that he did from his infancy to the term of his life was regulated according to obedience to my precepts; nor did he ever once transgress any precept of mine, because he kept the virginity of body and soul unimpaired, and the grace of baptism,

by which he was spiritually reborn, he always preserved. And as this natural Son, as the eternal word of my mouth, spoke openly to the world those things which were imposed upon him by me, and bore witness to the truth, as he himself said to Pilate; so my adoptive son Dominic preached the truth of my words openly to the world, both among heretics and among Catholics, and not only through himself, but also through others; nor only while he lived, but also through his successors, through whom he still preaches and will preach: for as my natural Son sent his disciples, so this adoptive one sent his Brothers: whence, as my natural Son is my Word, so this adoptive one is the herald and bearer of my word; on account of which it was given him by a singular gift, and to his Brothers, to understand the truth of my words and not to depart from it.

[845] Likewise, as my natural Son ordered his whole life and his acts, both of doctrine and of example, to the salvation of souls; [which Loumans seems to have been ignorant of, who vainly sought this matter among the ancients.] so my adoptive son Dominic always set all his zeal and effort to freeing souls both from the snare of errors and from the snare of vices: and this was his principal intention, wherefore he began and watered his Order, namely out of zeal for souls. On account of which I say to you that he is likened to my natural Son in a manner in all his acts; and therefore there is now shown to you also the likeness of his body, which had much of the likeness of the body of my most sacred natural and only-begotten Son. Our Papebroch in his Responses to the prefatory accusation of article XX rightly noted that historical controversies cannot prudently be settled from the revelations of ecstatic women, even holy ones. We, however, wished to report these things, that we might satisfy the desire of Loumans, who vainly sought in older monuments the bodily likeness of St. Dominic to Christ, and wished it pointed out to him from some source. Now we must treat of the writings which the Saint is handed down to have left to posterity.

[846] We cannot determine what in particular the two little works contained Bibliographers attribute to St. Dominic certain little works, which St. Dominic wrote against the Albigensians, since they have now perished. In this place we also pass over the twofold formula by which the Saint reconciled penitent heretics to the Church, and which we reported above in §16. To these Echard, in volume 1 of the Library of the Preachers, page 88, subjoins another writing of the same holy Founder, to which in a different type he prefixes this title: A body of Constitutions, which he added to the rule of St. Augustine, collected and composed by him with the assent of the first brethren from the statutes of the more ancient Orders. The praised Echard in the same place hands down the following about that work: That this is still preserved in a parchment manuscript among our brethren of Rodez, the Reverend and Learned Father Melchior Thomas de Lermite informed me, as having been seen by him while, as prefect of the Toulouse province, he was making his visitations. A work now rare, from which blessed Raymond, third Master of the Order, composed the same thing, though on another plan. We readily believe this domestic witness, since we cannot pass judgment on a work unknown to us and never seen.

[847] Antoninus of Siena or the Portuguese, in the Library of the Preachers, page 68, thus subjoins to the polemical little works already mentioned, which are unknown to us, which St. Dominic wrote against the Albigensian heretics, others pertaining to the explanation of sacred Scripture: But being Master of the sacred palace, having been made so by Honorius III the supreme Pontiff, he lectured at Rome and wrote postils on the Epistles of the divine Paul; but at Bologna on the Canonical Epistles and the Psalter, making at the end of each psalm a beautiful conference. He also wrote postils on the Gospel of Matthew, and upon that word of Matthew 8, "as Jesus went into a little ship," etc., he beautifully moralized all things necessary to a ship. Ambrogio de Altamura in the Dominican Library, and our Antonio Possevino in the Sacred Apparatus, review the same lucubrations of St. Dominic, or written expositions of the sacred Letters.

[848] and some of which Nicolás Antonio judges supposititious; Nicolás Antonio, in book 8 of the Old Spanish Library, chapter 7, or volume 2, page 69, cites similar little works from Antoninus of Siena; but he seems to deny them to St. Dominic, when after another one taken from him he thus discourses about these very ones: But no one either has seen the manuscript codices, or informs us of the place in which they were seen by others or can be seen. And it is scarcely credible that the lucubrations of so learned and holy a Parent should have been so cheap among his own that no one hitherto, if he has not published them, has nevertheless yet informed us that they are preserved with great veneration in this or that corner of the Dominican or other libraries. I fear therefore that these are of the same stamp as those which Alfonso Ciccarelli, that chief of impostors, whom the most illustrious Leo Allatius described in an entire little work, expressing him in lively colors, attributed to Dominic: namely three homilies on the grace of God, and as many on the ineffable Trinity, which the impostor said he had in his possession.

[849] but we think that some interpretations of sacred Scripture were written by him, Whatever be the case with those six homilies, which no one but Ciccarelli records, we probably judge that St. Dominic interpreted some parts of sacred Scripture: for St. Antoninus in part 3 of the Chronicles, title 23, chapter 2, §2, treating of the gifts of grace conferred on St. Dominic, among other charisms attributes to him the interpretation of discourses or the explanation of sacred Scripture, and thus mentions such writings of his: He wrote postils on certain books of Scripture, such as the Gospel of Matthew and the Epistles of Paul, which works some worthy of credit reported that they had seen. Whence we judge most likely the conjecture which Echard in volume 1, pages 88 and 89, proposes in these words: One who continually read the Gospel of Matthew, who continually read the Epistles of Paul, so as to know them entire by heart, it is difficult that he did not comment much upon them, especially since, as Stephen asserts, the seventh witness in the same Process, while still a youth and studying in the school of Palencia, he had illustrated with glosses in his own hand several codices, which you may rightly conjecture were of sacred Scripture. It must be confessed, however, that, whether by the vicissitude or the carelessness of affairs and times, where these scholia of his are now to be found is disclosed by no one. From this clause it is plain that the argument of Nicolás Antonio does not prove what he intended to prove from it.

[850] [and letters, among which nevertheless must not be numbered the letter to the Poles,] From a contemporary witness it is established that St. Dominic wrote certain letters to his Brothers: for John the Spaniard in the Process of Bologna, in our edition at number 34, said among other things about him that the aforesaid Brother Dominic often admonished and exhorted the Brothers of the said Order by his words and letters that they should always study in the New and Old Testament; and this he knows because he heard him saying those things, and saw his letters. Blessed Jordan in his little book mentions that letter by which the holy Founder summoned four Parisian Brothers to the first general assembly. We do not doubt that several others were given by him to the Brothers and Sisters; but would that all, more precious than gold, had been preserved, as we are compelled to wish with Echard, who in the same place, volume 1, page 89, forewarns us against a certain supposititious letter in these words: But beware of believing that the one which the same Malvenda reports on the credit of Bzovius, as written by blessed Dominic from his second general Chapter to the province of Poland, is his: for it was given by the fourth Master of the Order, Brother John of Wildeshausen, from the assembly held at London in the year 1250, as is established from the acts preserved everywhere. Add that the monasteries of Poland were erected into a distinct province only in the most general assembly held at Paris in the year 1228. This letter we exhibited above in §42, and evidently convicted Bzovius and his other followers of error.

[851] A greater controversy is about the book on the Body of Christ, [and we leave in doubt a book about which several learned men dispute among themselves.] which Bernardino de Busti, Pelbart of Temesvár, and others, and of our men Peter Canisius, Alfonso Salmerón, Francisco Suárez, Gabriel Vásquez, have ascribed to St. Dominic. But on the contrary John of Torquemada, Bartholomew of Pisa, Thomas Malvenda, our Théophile Raynaud, and Nicolás Antonio plainly deny it to St. Dominic. But Altamura and Antoninus of Siena expressly attribute that work to a certain Dominic de Pantaleonibus, who flourished in the XIV century in the Order of Preachers. Hence Echard in volume 1, page 89, thus asseveratingly pronounces about the former opinion of the several authors: To all these, and to any others there may be who assert the same, the occasion of their delusion was that our Dominic de Pantaleonibus of Florence wrote a book with this title, on the Body of Christ, and that they attributed to the Master, on account of the kinship of the name, what was the disciple's. We do not settle this controversy, which would have to be decided by a diligent search for that Work and an eyewitness inspection of the manuscript codices.

* elsewhere "a new"

§ XLVI. The Saint's first burial, and the afterward honorable elevation of his sacred body.

The Cardinal of Ostia buried the Saint's body, We shall not commemorate in this place the visions, miracles, and other prodigious things which happened immediately after the Saint's death and at his obsequies: since all these will be copiously set forth below in the Acts and in the process of Bologna. We shall here report in a few words only the first burial of the sacred body, which Humbert in the Life of St. Dominic, chapter 53, thus briefly mentions: And there was present at his obsequies the venerable bishop of Ostia, then legate of the Apostolic See in Lombardy, but afterward Pope Gregory, and he himself with worthy devotion committed his most sacred body to burial: for he knew his holy manner of life in the Lord, and, while he still lived, he had bound him to himself with the embrace of a special love. And he was buried at Bologna in the church of St. Nicholas of the Friars Preachers, of whose Order he himself was the first founder.

[853] Meanwhile the frequent miracles which were done through the intercession of St. Dominic gave occasion for the honorable elevation of his sacred body, as Constantine of Orvieto in the Life of the Saint, chapter 48, testifies in these words: which after some years was honorably elevated, After the passing also of the venerable father blessed Dominic, the divine power did not cease unceasingly from multiplying miracles through his merits; very many of which the indiscreet humility of the Brothers concealed, lest namely under this pretext they should incur the mark of pride or cupidity: and thus so improvidently providing for themselves, they, being less provident, did not see how much they withdrew from the glory of God from that source whence they thought inadvisedly to take counsel for their own reputation. But some, passed over through negligence, oblivion, the offspring of ingratitude, buried in silence; but Almighty God, who is shown glorious in his Saints, did not suffer the sun to be overshadowed by a cloud, nor

a treasure to lie hidden in the dust, so that assuredly so illustrious a lamp, placed upon the candlestick of the Church, might for the advancement of all flash with signs and shine with examples. Wherefore, as miracles unceasingly grew more frequent, since the sanctity of the blessed Man could no longer be hidden, the devotion of the faithful judged it worthy to transfer his body, previously laid in a humble place, to a higher one with due honor. So famous was this first elevation of the body that its memory is celebrated yearly in the Roman Martyrology at the day XXIV of May with this announcement: At Bologna, the translation of St. Dominic the confessor, in the time of Pope Gregory IX.

[854] which elevation or translation Blessed Jordan, Below in the Process of Bologna we shall hear several eyewitnesses about this translation, besides whom Blessed Jordan wrote about the same matter the following encyclical letter: To his beloved in the beloved Son of God, all the Brothers of the Order of Preachers, Brother Jordan, humble Master and servant of the same Order, greeting and everlasting joy. The divine goodness is wont in its unsearchable wisdom for the most part to defer a good, not that it may be taken away, but that, deferred, it may arise more richly at a fitting time. Whether therefore because God was better providing for his Church, or because different men thought differently, certain persons, following the way of simplicity without prudence, confessed that it sufficed for the immortal memory of the servant of the most high Lord, of the holy founder of the Order which is called of Preachers, to be known with God, and that no care need be taken whether it should come to the knowledge of men: for a certain darkness, as has been said above, had so covered the hearts of the Brothers that there was scarcely anyone who met the divine grace with a worthy giving of thanks.

[855] an eyewitness, For after the death of the man of God the reverence of the people was awakened, many coming who were pressed by various troubles of infirmities of every kind, and, remaining there day and night, they confessed that they had altogether received remedies of health. Whence they brought testimonies of their cures, hanging at the tomb of the blessed Man waxen images of eyes, hands, feet, and the other members, according as the various infirmity of their bodies had been, or as their health had been in manifold ways restored. For indeed the life which he possessed in heaven he declared on earth by miracles. But it seemed to very many that miracles ought not to be received, lest under the appearance of piety they should incur the mark of gain-seeking. They therefore broke and cast down the images brought; and while they desire by an inconsiderate holiness to conceal their own opinion, they neglected the common advancement of the Church, and buried the divine glory. Others also thought otherwise; yet, depressed by a spirit of faint-heartedness, did not oppose these. And thus it came about that the glory of the blessed father Dominic remained lulled to sleep for nearly twelve years without any veneration of his sanctity. For the treasure lay hidden, lacking usefulness, and benefits were withdrawn from above by the Bestower of virtues: for the equity of justice demanded that grace be withdrawn from those who strove to conceal the grace and glory of God. For the grain does not come forth into fruit if, when it has come forth, it is often trodden down. Often did the power of Dominic come forth; but the negligence of his sons stifled it. He who is patient and very merciful patiently waited; but when there was no voice, nor any sense thinking about the due honor of holy Dominic, God added an occasion by which the sloth of the Brothers should be roused.

[856] Finally, the number of the Brothers increasing at Bologna, and the most worthy successor of St. Dominic it was necessary that the houses and the church be enlarged. New things succeeding, the old are pulled down, and the body of God's Servant remained in the open air. Who capable of reason would think it worthy that the mirror of purity, the little vessel of chastity, the sanctuary of virginity, the instrument of the Holy Spirit, should thus remain covered by a humble coffin — he who in his whole life, as his last confession before twelve Brothers standing by declared, never by the stain of mortal fault cast out that sweet guest of the soul from the lodging of his soul? Certain of the Brothers therefore, returning to their heart, conferred among themselves that he should be transferred to a more becoming place. But they were unwilling that even this should be done without the license of the Roman Pontiff. Truly in many things it is weighed that the virtue of humility deserves exaltation: for the Brothers and sons could have buried their Father by themselves; but while in this they seek the authority of a greater, it turned out for the better, so that the translation of the glorious one should be not only simple but canonical. Yet this too was neglected for a longer time, the Brothers meanwhile arranging for a becoming sarcophagus, and others going to the supreme Pontiff, the lord Gregory, to make known the aforesaid business to him. But he, being a man of great zeal and faith, most harshly rebuked those who had neglected to serve so great a Father with due honor. And he added: I knew the Man, a follower of the whole Apostolic rule, whom I do not doubt to be joined in heaven to the glory of those holy Apostles themselves. He therefore wrote to the archbishop of Ravenna that, since he, hindered by many affairs, could not be present in person, he should attend so great a translation with his suffragans.

[857] Almighty God therefore willing, by the counsel of the Pastor of the universal Church, accurately described to wipe away the clouds of sloth, himself also opened his hand from on high, and thundered from heaven with the crash of miracles, so that it might manifestly be given to understand that all that court of the heavenly Jerusalem was then exulting and rejoicing with immense gladness that the glory of its great Fellow-citizen was being declared to the earth-dwellers: for the Saints, the fuel of envy being excluded and being embraced in the bosom of divine love, wish the abundance of their blessing to be common to all. Sight is announced to the blind, walking to the lame, health to the paralytic, speech to the mute, flight to the demons, recovery to fevers, and banishment to various maladies, and the sanctity of Dominic is clearly demonstrated to all. We saw Nicholas the Englishman, long paralytic, leaping at this solemnity. The disease of a man, incurable, yielded when a vow was made; abscesses flee; and many other things, read out and set forth at his canonization before the supreme Pontiff and the lord Cardinals and all who stood by, appeared most clearly. Nor is it strange if, reigning with God, he could do these things — he who, clothed in his mortal case, received back the book of the faith unharmed from the fire, perceived the Virgin Mother present to a sick Brother, drove off rain by the sign of the Lord, by prayer lit a candle in the mud (this miracle of the lighted candle we have nowhere read in the Acts of the Saint), rescued a novice from a stupendous burning of his garments, expelled a demon by the cross, foretold to two the death of the body and to two that of the soul. To two at Rome he restored life, saw Christ calling him at his death, appeared crowned to a disciple who was at the canon of the Mass, was shown raised on white ladders by the Virgin Mary and her Son to a throne of glory. The letters of the lord Pope Gregory about his canonization attest very many notable marks of his miracles and the glorious heights of his virtuous life.

[858] in encyclical letters, The famous day therefore is at hand, that the translation of the distinguished Doctor may be celebrated; the venerable archbishop is present, and a multitude of bishops and prelates; there is present the innumerable devotion of a people of various tongues; present too are armed bands of the people of Bologna, lest the patronage of the most holy body be taken from them. The Brothers are anxious, they grow pale, and pray in fear, trembling there with dread where there was no dread — namely, lest the body of holy Dominic, which had lain open to rains and heat, hidden so long a time in a cheap coffin, like any other who was reckoned among the dead, should teem with a gulf of worms, and burden with a horrid stench the smell of those present, and so the devotion toward so great a Man be darkened. Not knowing therefore what they should do, they have this only left, that they commit themselves wholly to God. The pious devotion of the bishops draws near, and others too draw near: with workmen's tools the stone joined to the tomb with hard cement is removed, and beneath was a wooden chest sunk in the earth, as the venerable Pope Gregory, then bishop of Ostia, had buried the sacred body, in which a small opening appeared. The stone having been removed, a certain wondrous odor began to breathe forth from the opening, at whose fragrance the bystanders, astonished, marveled what it might be. They order the board of the chest to be removed, and behold, a storehouse of ointments, a paradise of spices, a garden of roses, a field of lilies and violets, and the sweetness of all flowers is declared to be surpassed. Bologna, which formerly was drenched with a foul smell because the wagons entering pour forth a noisome odor as the wheel comes on, when the tomb of the glorious Dominic is opened, is purified and gladdened by an odor surpassing the sweetness of all spices. Those who were present are astonished, and, terrified with astonishment, they fall. Hence sweet weeping bursts forth, and joys are mingled; fear and hope rise up in the field of the soul, and stir wondrous wars, as they perceive the sweetness of that wondrous odor.

[859] which he sent to the whole Order of Preachers, We too perceived the sweetness of this odor, and what we saw and perceived, these things we attest: for never, although we stood zealously beside the body of holy Dominic, the bearer of eloquence, for a long time, could we be sated with so great a sweetness. That sweetness drove away loathing, brought in devotion, awakened miracles. If the body was touched with a hand, with a girdle, with anything, that odor remained for a long time. The body was carried to a marble monument, to be laid there with its own spices. The wondrous odor breathed from the holy body, showing clearly to all how good an odor of Christ this was. The solemnities of Masses are celebrated by the archbishop. And because the third day of Pentecost shone, the choir intones at the Introit: Receive the delight of your glory, giving thanks to God, who has called you to the heavenly kingdoms; which voice, sounding from heaven, the Brothers received in their gladness. Trumpets sound, the people raise up an innumerable multitude of candles, honorable processions too are made; "Blessed be Jesus Christ" resounds everywhere. These things were done in the city of Bologna on the IX of the Calends of June, in the year of grace 1233, in the VI Indiction, Gregory IX presiding over the Roman See, and Frederick II governing the scepters of the empire. To the honor of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of blessed Dominic his most faithful servant. This letter I have transcribed from Nicholas Janssen, who reports it in the Acts of St. Dominic, book 3, chapter 2, although the same occurs everywhere in Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers at the year of Christ 1233, chapters 9 and 10, and in other writers of the same Order. But it seems to have been sent to the Brothers only in the year 1234, after the Saint's canonization had been accomplished, since here Blessed Jordan mentions that canonization, as Echard in volume 1, page 99, shrewdly observed.

[860] For confirmation's sake we subjoin to this letter the hitherto unpublished testimony of Bartholomew of Trent, and which Bartholomew of Trent who in the aforesaid codex of the Barberini library has these things about the same translation: I desire faithfully to set forth the translation of St. Dominic, who founded the Order of Preachers, at which I myself was present. In the year of Christ one thousand two hundred and thirty-three, in the VI Indiction, many Brothers of the said Order came together at Bologna for the general Chapter with the great Jordan of pious memory, successor of St. Dominic. At that time miracles were growing frequent in the church where his holy body was rather humbly laid, and the devotion of the peoples overflowed. The archbishop of Ravenna was called, and several other bishops, among whom the lord William, then of Modena, who is Cardinal bishop of Sabina, a man almost like Thomas incredulous of miracles, who nevertheless afterward, as I myself heard, bore witness to the truth.

[861] To these it was enjoined on the part of the lord Gregory that they should place the mass of the sacred body more honorably: confirms by his eyewitness testimony, for it had lain for nearly twelve years sunk rather deep in the earth, and quite often rain and snow had reached the monument

lay open. On the tenth of the Calends of June, therefore, which was then the third feria after Pentecost, on account of the excessive multitude of the peoples the bishops came together by night with some Brothers and others devoutly, that they might carry out the office enjoined upon them; with iron tools they lift the very great stone laid over it, and find a most solid cement, which with difficulty they threw out. Then they find a wooden chest, and, removing its lid, all perceived the sweetness of so great an odor as though a storehouse of paradise had breathed forth. And that odor was unlike other odors in its fragrance; and, that it might clearly appear that the Preacher of the Lord's eloquence had been a good odor in the field of Christ's Church, it seemed the odor of a full field which God has blessed. And deservedly: the violet of humility flourished, he grew white with the lilies of virginity, the rose of patience bloomed in him. He had pressed out the cluster of joyful preaching in the cup of his king, had been a storehouse of ointment for the Savior, and had preserved unimpaired the balsam of good repute and the brightness of conscience. This too was wondrous, that the odor remained not only in the sacred limbs or in other things near them; but whether the bones were touched with the hand or with cloths, the odor remained in them for a long time. In the morning the throng of the peoples hastens with the utmost devotion; the choir intones with lofty voice "Receive the delight of your glory," and with joy the divine offices are performed. Finally miracles arise, which were most faithfully proved before the supreme Pontiff, and which will also be written in their place after the Life of the blessed Man.

[862] to which Thomas of Cantimpré adds a miracle omitted by them. In this place we pass over the smaller circumstances of that burial and first elevation, which will be more distinctly explained below in the Acts and in the process of Bologna; but we marvel that neither here nor there does there occur any mention of the miracle which happened to Blessed John of Vicenza at that translation, as Thomas of Cantimpré in book 2 of the Bees, chapter 1, number 9, after other deeds of the same Blessed one narrates in these words: Besides, from the account of a Brother of the Order of Preachers, I learned that the said venerable Brother John was present with the other Brothers at the elevation of Dominic's body at Bologna. But when a certain Cardinal bishop had been placed at the head at the elevation of the sacred body, the said Brother John was placed at the feet. And suddenly there was a wondrous and inconceivable exchange, so that that Brother was suddenly seen at the head, but the bishop at the feet. And the bishop was placed back at the head, and the Brother at the feet; and again suddenly the exchange was made, with all astonished. And who doubts that in this deed the merits of the holy man pleased the divine judgment, which preferred him to a bishop to be placed at the worthier part of the sacred body? Now let us set forth at what time and in what manner that distinguished Founder of a religious Order was solemnly inscribed in the number of the Saints.

* elsewhere "will come forth"

* elsewhere "of lands"

§ XLVII. The lawful Process, and other matters pertaining to the place and time of the canonization.

Gregory IX the Pontiff How Gregory IX the Pontiff was led to instituting an examination concerning the virtues and miracles of St. Dominic, we learn from Flaminius, who in the Life of the Saint, book 3, folio 66, hands down the following about this matter: The greatness and clarity of those things by which in the translation of the sacred body God willed his Saint to become much more illustrious moved Gregory IX the supreme Pontiff and the Apostolic senate to follow him with deserved honor and to inscribe him in the catalogue of the Saints. We shall not grudge to write the series of that matter, that the praises of the most holy Man, celebrated by the proclamation of the peoples, may shine forth and be illustrated more by the sacred approbation and attestation of the holy Church. Following therefore the ancient custom of the Church in enrolling Saints in the catalogue, the Pontiff himself chose for so great a business three men renowned for knowledge, faith, and all integrity of life. And these were Tancred, archdeacon of Bologna; Thomas, prefect (they called him Prior) of St. Mary of the Reno; and Palmerius of St. Mary surnamed of Campagnola: that they should by Apostolic authority diligently investigate the Life, death, and miracles of Master Dominic, founder and general Master of the Order of Preachers.

[864] charges the archdeacon of Bologna and other delegates, We have as witnesses of this matter the very letters of Gregory IX, by which this Pontiff charges the archdeacon of Bologna and the others delegated for it to inquire into the miracles of Brother Dominic, planter of the Order of Friars Preachers. Further, we have not found these letters except in John of St. Mary, who in the Acts of St. Dominic, book 4, chapter 20, exhibits them faultily, and which therefore we have tried somehow to emend by conjecture. But in him, in the cited place, they run thus: The all-powerful and eternal Maker of things visible and invisible, although he freely refreshes with the perpetuity of many good things the people whom he formed, yet renders them more grateful and fitter for the effects of their salvation, if they be of good will, as the pleasant sight of fresh flowers proves, and the free enjoyment of new fruits exhibits. Therefore, for the setting forth of eternal delights to the faithful, for the giving to the nations of increase of faith, hope, and charity, for the directing into the way of peace and eternal charity of the feet of those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death, the wondrous Worker of the sun and moon has brought forth in the heavenly throne new lights, emitting inextinguishable light, through which an immensity of exultation is poured into the hearts of the devout who seek the most lucid mansions of the ineffable light, and other infinite kinds of benefits are conferred. Moreover many rejoice in the presence of this time to behold a single star by day, who recall that in the time of the night now past they beheld innumerable ones. The Magi too rejoiced to gaze upon the brightness of the stars which the wisdom of God had made from the beginning; but beholding a new star in the East, the herald of a new King, they were suffused with inexplicable joy. Let holy mother Church assuredly exult, when in her shining firmament, illuminated with the various splendors of the Saints, there shines anew a conspicuous star, showing forth a singular and preeminent light, through which the darkness of those ignorant of the Lord is driven off, through which the perverse dogma of heretics is confounded, and the blessed belief of the faithful is increased.

[865] Indeed we have with joy lately learned that Brother Dominic of blessed memory, that they inquire into the miracles of St. Dominic, planter and Master of the Order of Preachers, by the favor of divine mercy has been gathered into the college of the Heavenly ones, expressing the glory of the blessedness granted him by glorious signs: for around his tomb and in other places, through the invocation of his name and the suffrages of sincere devotion, the Lord, wondrous in the heights, works in manifold ways very many miracles upon many. But although by the marks of virtues with which the mentioned Brother was of old in manifold ways distinguished, or by the precious miracles with which his holy burial place is said to glow, he ought by the voices of the heavenly bride to be affirmed to be of the number of the Saints, yet because to doubtful minds the truth of a matter does not suddenly become clear, and the spirits of some are not wont to exult at sudden reports of miracles, since not everything that glows obtains the name of gold, nor does every snow-white thing imitate ivory: we, whom foregoing providence teaches to be found swift in certain matters and slow in doubtful ones, charge your discretion, in which we hold full confidence in the Lord, that, providently considering that the true light of the Saints, the Lord Jesus Christ, strengthened by public signs and evident prodigies the breasts of his trembling disciples, making their glowing minds clear with the supports of expressed certainty concerning the admirable glory of the resurrection, you strive to inquire, with cautious diligence and vigilant solicitude, through suitable witnesses, into the life and manner of life of the aforesaid Brother, by which he is known to have pleased God and men, and also into the miracles which, God being their author, proceed from the sanctity of his body — having before your eyes only the reverence of the divine majesty; and that, reduced to writing, you faithfully preserve them under your seals, and, after you shall have received the Apostolic mandate, transmit them to us by faithful and solemn messengers. Given at the Lateran on the III of the Ides of July, in the VII year of the Pontificate of Gregory IX, or of Christ 1233. Raynaldus in the Ecclesiastical Annals at the year 1233, number 39, recites a certain fragment of this letter, from which we have corrected the utterly faulty closing clause of the same letter, which John of St. Mary had wretchedly dislocated, or had found dislocated, as is also sufficiently plain from the beginning, as may be gathered from the brackets and our marginal emendation in the same place.

[866] whose strict examination was instituted at Bologna For the rest, those to whom this examination had been committed by the Pontiff, about to carry out the Apostolic commands, admonished Brother Ventura, Prior of the monastery of Bologna, to deliberate about the means of advancing the business enjoined upon them. He at once called together the Chapter, in which it was determined that this matter should be lawfully carried through, as Flaminius in the Acts just praised, folio 66 verso, testifies by this narration: Ventura, who presided over the monastery of the Preachers of St. Nicholas at Bologna, and the college of the fathers of the monastery which they call the Chapter, appointed for this business as lawful procurator Philip of Vercelli, who should summon from various places fathers of the Order who, because they had lived with him, knew best the life and Acts of blessed Dominic. He chose out of the whole number nine men, distinguished in priesthood, gravity, and sanctity of life, and most worthy of the credit of all, who had been on more familiar terms with blessed Dominic, who promised on oath that they would give testimony truly and sincerely about his life and deeds. And their names are these: Ventura of Verona, prefect of the monastery, as we have just said; William of Montferrat; Amizo of Milan; Bonvisus; John the Spaniard; Rodolph of Faenza; Stephen, provincial Master; Paul of Venice; Frugerio of Penne. These therefore, having been brought by Philip the procurator whom we have mentioned into the presence of those three men who by Apostolic authority had been chosen for this business of inquiry, each being first sworn and questioned about the life, death, and miracles of the holy Man, answered as we shall report below. Then Flaminius reports those sworn testimonies, which John of St. Mary also inserted in Latin into the Acts of St. Dominic, book 4, after chapter 21; but since those testimonies are there interpolated, as Echard in volume 1, page 2, notes, we shall present the same below in their original and authentic style.

[867] and at Toulouse, Nor was this inquiry instituted only at Bologna; but those delegates also sent letters into France and perhaps to other regions in which the Saint had stayed for some time. Certainly they wrote to the people of Toulouse, as is plain from the title which likely Bernard Gui, in Echard volume 1, page 56, prefixed to the Toulouse Process in this manner: A copy of the letter which a certain abbot and two archdeacons of Toulouse sent to the venerable men master Tancred, archdeacon of Bologna, and Dom Thomas, Prior of St. Mary of the Reno, and Brother Palmerius of Campagnola, delegated by the Apostolic See for the examination of the life of blessed Dominic, concerning those things which they found and heard from those who lived with the aforesaid man of God, as is contained below. But whoever be the author of this title, from the very beginning of that letter it is established that letters on this matter were given by the inquisitors of Bologna to those of Toulouse, as will appear after this preliminary Commentary.

[868] as will be plain from the instruments to be published afterward. This brief Toulouse Process, or the responsive letters of the Toulousan subdelegates, we shall reprint below from Echard, in whom, in volume 1, page 58, Bernard Gui, unless we are mistaken, added this closing clause to the authentic testimonies: And at the end of this letter were set down more than three hundred names of men and women testifying on oath to the aforesaid, among whom were many Religious and priests, and clerics and nuns and other honorable persons worthy of credit. But beyond all these, concerning all these matters there was then in those parts in which he had stayed a public voice and report about his sanctity and virtues, as is plain in the letter strengthened with the protection of the seals of the aforesaid lords. This Toulouse instrument, which we shall publish below after the Process of Bologna under the title of an Authentic Letter, contains certain particular things which Ferdinand del Castillo, Malvenda, John of St. Mary, and other collectors of the Acts did not see.

[869] All things therefore having been strictly discussed and juridically carried through, The miracles of St. Dominic being duly proved, Gregory IX solemnly inscribed in the catalogue of the Saints Dominic, whom while still living he had known very well, and about whose virtues and miracles he had conceived so certain an opinion that Stephen of Salanhac, in Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers at the year of Christ 1234, chapter 2, narrates the following about that Pontiff: The lord Gregory also, Pope IX, who inscribed him in the catalogue of the Saints, bearing witness to his sanctity, when it was being treated of his canonization before him and the Cardinals, said that he doubted as little about his sanctity as about the sanctity of Peter and Paul. That Pontiff therefore, the processes having been maturely weighed, enrolled this distinguished Man and illustrious Founder of the Order in the number of the Saints by a special bull, which it is not necessary here to transcribe, since Theodoric of Apolda inserted the same into the Acts of St. Dominic. We shall afterward compare it with the Codex of canonizations which the most illustrious Fontanini lately published at Rome, and shall observe in the margin or in the Annotations the discrepancies of greater moment that occur.

[870] But it is truly strange that ancient and more recent authors, in a matter so public as this canonization of St. Dominic, do not agree among themselves about the place and time at which the bull was given: Pope Gregory IX inscribed him in the number of the Saints; for the venerable Humbert in the Chronicle published by Echard, and in our manuscript codex, hands down these things: In the year of the Lord 1233 the body of blessed Dominic was translated to a more honorable place, and in the same year he was joined to the catalogue of the Saints at Perugia by Pope Gregory IX; at which time so great a grace of preaching and of marvels was spread abroad through the Brothers in Lombardy, and elsewhere through the Brothers coming thence, that nearly the whole world was astonished at the report. You see that here the canonization of St. Dominic is placed by Humbert in the city of Perugia, and fixed to the same year 1233 in which his sacred body was honorably translated. Theodoric of Apolda below in the Acts, number 311, expresses the same place and year; but afterward at number 371 he exhibits the very bull of canonization as given at Spoleto on the V of the Calends of September.

[871] As regards the place, about which the various codices of the same authors differ, but about the place, Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers at the year of Christ 1234, chapter 1, thus reports the different opinions about it: But about the place where the canonization of the blessed father Dominic was made there is also hesitation. Theodoric, Susatus, and Flaminius judge it was made at Perugia; St. Antoninus at Spoleto; Castillo at Rome; Humbert (here in our copy he places it at Perugia, as we have already seen), Martin of Poland, Bernard Gui, and others at Rieti; and this is the truth. The ambiguity arose partly from the fact that the Pontifical diploma of canonization itself is circulated in various copies marked with a different note of the place where it was given. We with Malvenda and others more probably think that that bull of canonization was given in the city of Rieti: for besides other asserters of this our opinion, in the very bull of Gregory IX which the most reverend Master Vincent Bandello published in the year 1505 after the Constitutions of the Preachers, it is thus noted at the end: Given at Rieti on the III of the Ides of July, in the eighth year of our pontificate. To these add Sebastian of Perugia of the Order of Preachers, who in the Life of Blessed Colomba of Rieti, in our edition volume V of May, page 321, praises her native place, and on that occasion there writes thus to our purpose: In the same place St. Dominic was canonized by Gregory IX, and enrolled in the catalogue of the Saints. Let these things said about the place suffice, which will be confirmed from what is to be said below.

[872] in the year Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers at the place just cited rightly attacks those authors who fix the canonization of St. Dominic to the year 1233, by these reasons: But the arguments are all too strong, he says, which lead us to judge that the canonization of the blessed Man was rather made in this year 1234. First, all confess that after the translation of St. Dominic it began to be treated of his canonization; namely, that the great signs and prodigies which happened at the translation of the sacred body moved the Pontiff to order by Apostolic authority that inquiry be made with public credit in the various provinces of the world about the sanctity and miracles of the man of God. But while men are sent to far distant parts, while testimonies are sought out, discussed, taken down, while Processes are drawn up and sent back to the Pontiff; while at the court they are again examined and proved — who will say that only one month intervened? Since the translation of St. Dominic was made on the XXIV of May, but the Apostolic letters of his canonization were doubtless given on the third of the Ides of July, as we shall presently see. Then the bull of canonization itself, in the Vatican autograph of the Register of Gregory IX, and in all the genuine copies which we have been able to see, is most plainly read as given in the eighth year of the Pontificate of Gregory IX, on the third of the Ides of July.

[873] and about the day of the canonization About the place and the year we agree with Malvenda; but there remains a question about the day of the canonization, which he judges is marked in all genuine copies of the bull as the third of the Ides of July. Nevertheless Bernard Gui, in the little book on the Masters of the Order of Preachers, in Edmund Martène, volume 6 of the most ample collection, column 404, doubtless from more ancient monuments plainly indicates the place and time of the canonization in these words: This blessed father Dominic the aforesaid lord Ugolino, bishop of Ostia, made Pope after the death of Honorius III and called Gregory IX, canonized and noted in the catalogue of the Saints at Rieti, a city of Tuscia, on the V of the Nones of July, in the year of the Lord 1234, in the VIII year of the Pontificate of that Pope Gregory IX, and the XIII year from his happy passing. With this day agrees the Roman Bullary of Laertius Cherubinus, and the Codex of canonizations which the most illustrious Fontanini published at Rome in the year 1729.

[874] ancient authors and various manuscript codices do not agree. Although Bernard Gui elsewhere assigns another day of canonization, yet Echard thinks that this reading of his must be adhered to, and in volume 1, page 70, in the notes, thus attacks those who dissent from his opinion: Yet it must be confessed that all those hitherto reported have not hit the matter exactly, although the last came nearer to the truth. Let the reader therefore hold it most certain that blessed Dominic was inscribed in the annals of the Saints at Rieti in the year 1234, on the fifth of the Nones of July, in the VIII year of the Pontificate: for so has it the authentic bull of that age, confirmed with a leaden seal and preserved among our brethren of Toulouse. So the ancient Bullary of the Order preserved among the same, a parchment manuscript, in which those same Apostolic letters are transcribed entire. So also the same are had there a third time at the end of the Life of blessed Dominic composed by Blessed Humbert, fifth Master of the Order. Odoricus Raynaldus, who reports the same at 1234, numbers 24 and 25, doubtless from the register of Gregory IX itself, discloses that they were given at Rieti on the fifth of the Nones of July, in the VIII year of the Pontificate. This same epoch is confirmed by Stephen of Salanhac, a contemporary and already enrolled in the Order in the year 1228, in his work on the affairs of the Order, which is had twice in manuscript at Toulouse among our brethren in two different manuscript codices of Bernard: for in both is read that the bull was given at Rieti on the V of the Nones of July, in the VIII year of the Pontificate. It is true that in another codex of the same work, written separately, is read the III of the Nones of July; but there is no doubt that it is the notary's error: for that that codex is not so accurate is plain to me from another source, as I note elsewhere. Then he cites the more correct text of Bernard Gui, which we have already reported above.

[875] This opinion of Echard can be confirmed from Francesco Pagi, [Pagi thinks that the feast of St. Dominic was not celebrated on the day of his death,] who in the Breviary of the Roman Pontiffs, volume 3, page 273, assigns the same day of canonization, and at the same time discourses thus about the celebration of St. Dominic's yearly festival: In the following year one thousand two hundred and thirty-four the same Pontiff Gregory, stirred by the report of the miracles of St. Dominic, founder of the Preachers, the due inquiry into the miracles having been made in the preceding year, inscribed him also in the annals of the Heavenly ones, concerning which he gave most weighty letters to the prelates of the churches at Rieti on the V of the Nones of July, in the VIII year of his Pontificate, and therefore in the year 1234. The holy Man had died in the year one thousand two hundred and twenty-one at Bologna, and indeed on the sixth day of August; for the Pontiff says in those letters: "Firmly establishing, and enjoining upon you all by these presents, that on the Nones of August, before the day on which, the burden of the flesh being laid down, rich in merits he entered into the holy places, being made like the Saints in glory, you celebrate his birthday and cause it to be solemnly celebrated." From which it may be conjectured that the feast of St. Mary of the Snows was not then solemnly celebrated, or that its celebration had been intermitted, if what Raynaldus writes at the year 1223, number 22, is true, namely that Pope Honorius had ordered it to be observed: for since the Pontiff ordered the solemnity of St. Dominic to be celebrated on the fifth day of August, which immediately preceded the day of his death, which coincided with the solemnity of the Lord's Transfiguration, it is evident that the fifth day of August was not solemn on account of the feast of St. Mary of the Snows; otherwise Gregory would have transferred the festivity of St. Dominic to another day, which he seems to have drawn back to the day before his death because the day of his death was sacred to the Lord's Transfiguration, which feast we shall show was celebrated long before these times, in our treatment of Callistus III.

[876] Nor can it be said with Baronius in the notes to the Roman Martyrology because this was hindered by the feast of the Transfiguration, that Gregory IX therefore established that the solemnity of St. Dominic should be kept in the Church on the fifth day of August because on that day he was enrolled among the Saints: for in the opinion of Baronius himself Dominic was inscribed in the catalogue of the Saints in the eighth year of Gregory IX, and therefore in the year 1234, and the letters of canonization were given at Rieti on the V of the Nones of July, and consequently before the fifth day of the month of August. Therefore no

other cause of this matter seems to me able to be assigned than the one just assigned by us: namely, that since the day of Dominic's death coincided with the feast of the Lord's Transfiguration, the Pontiff ordered his solemnity to be kept on the day preceding his death, namely the fifth of August, which therefore was not impeded by the feast of St. Mary of the Snows. From which it can also be inferred that the festivity of St. Mary of the Snows was celebrated in the universal Church long after these times, and that therefore Paul IV drew back the feast of St. Dominic to the fourth day of August, because then the fifth day of the same month coincided with the solemnity of St. Mary of the Snows, which was kept in the universal Church. Behold here in few words what an anonymous author sets forth at length in a printed dissertation which we have in our hands, and by which he strives to demonstrate that the yearly festivity of St. Dominic ought to be celebrated everywhere by all on the IV day of August.

[877] which reason Echard refutes, But Echard here is displeased with the argument by which Pagi contends that the feast of the Lord's Transfiguration then stood in the way of the yearly festivity of St. Dominic being celebrated on the day of his death, or the sixth of August. Wherefore the praised Echard, in volume 1 of the Library of the Preachers, page 46, in the notes, tacitly refutes Pagi and other defenders of the same opinion in these words: Note in passing, he says, that the feast of St. Sixtus is specially noted by him (namely Brother Ventura, who in the Process of Bologna gives testimony about the deeds and virtues of his holy Founder), not the feast of the Transfiguration, because namely the feast of the Transfiguration, although it was already celebrated in certain churches, was nevertheless not so in that age in the Roman Church, nor in the Order: for neither is it noted in our Calendars of the XIII century and of the following XIV. They are deceived, therefore, who have hitherto thought that the feast of blessed Dominic was transferred by Gregory IX from the eighth of the Ides to the Nones of August by reason of the feast of the Transfiguration, since it was done only on account of the feast of St. Sixtus, supreme Pontiff and martyr: but in the XVII century, on account of the feast of St. Mary of the Snows, it was again transferred from the Nones of August to the day before the Nones by our Holy Father Clement VIII (Pagi above attributes this to Pope Paul IV). But the feast of the Transfiguration Callistus III was the first to order to be celebrated throughout the whole Latin church, on account of the notable victory won over the Turks on the sixth of August in the year 1456.

[878] whose reasoning seems to us hitherto more probable. This reasoning of Echard seems to us very probable, although Odoricus Raynaldus in the Ecclesiastical Annals at the year of Christ 1457, number 73, notes the following about the institution of the same festivity: In this year Callistus, to recall the memory of the victory divinely granted to Christ's faithful in the preceding year, ordered an ecclesiastical feast day of the Lord's Transfiguration on Mount Tabor to be kept on the sixth day of August, to be celebrated in each year recurring thereafter: which Platina testifies was conceived by that Pontiff and promulgated, with the same rewards of indulgences set forth which are granted in the sacred solemnity of the Body of Christ. Further, the festivity was not so much instituted as restored by Callistus, since Cardinal Baronius shows in his notes added to the Roman Martyrology that it was celebrated long before these times, from the most ancient monuments both of the Greeks and of the Latins, from which the error of those is refuted who affirmed that this feast was first instituted by Callistus III. Certainly Wandelbert, who flourished in the IX century, mentions at the sixth day of August the Transfiguration of the Lord, as may be seen in our illustrated Usuard at the same day. But it must be proved that the feast of the Transfiguration was anciently celebrated on that day in the universal Church, or at least in Italy, in order that that dispute may be safely decided. Since therefore Pagi above promised that he would show the greater antiquity of this festivity in his treatment of Callistus III, to whom in the hitherto published Breviary of the Roman Pontiffs he has not yet come, we shall await from him a clear proof of this matter, and meanwhile shall proceed to the most celebrated cult of our Saint.

* perhaps "of thanks"

* read "new"

§ XLVIII. The Saint's cult propagated and increased in various ways.

In the year of Christ 1234, after the solemn canonization of St. Dominic, the festival of the same Saint at once began to be celebrated, not without a heavenly revelation, In the year 1234 the public veneration of St. Dominic began as Stephen of Salanhac, an eyewitness, in Malvenda in the Annals of the Preachers at the same year 1234, chapter 5, narrates in these words: In the year of the Lord 1234, on the day preceding this first solemnity of the blessed Father, it happened that I met at Toulouse the devout man Brother Aymeric of Solignac, a monk of the Cistercian Order, with many monks of Grandselve; whom, because he had been an old companion and faithful friend of blessed Dominic in the house of Fulk, bishop of Toulouse, I earnestly asked to come to the feast to be celebrated on the morrow. He, exulting in spirit (for he was a spiritual and holy man), said: Almighty God, I give you thanks, because you glorify your servant Dominic; for through the whole night I was with him in spirit in a vision, and, after the manner customary, after loving kisses and divine conversations mutually held, he earnestly asked and in every way enjoined that today I should come to the house of his sons and be present at his court: for it was to be very solemn. And behold, I shall come with glad mind, and shall be present with joy and exultation. On the morrow he came with many, and offered the gifts of prayers and praises, honoring God in his Saint.

[880] About the same time Blessed Jordan disclosed his veneration and devotion toward St. Dominic, which Blessed Jordan increased, by composing in his honor a most pious prayer, about which Malvenda in the praised Annals of the Preachers at the year 1237, chapter 25, thus makes mention: This too is worth knowing, that blessed Jordan loved with singular affection the holy father Dominic while still living, and after his death burned with incredible devotion and love toward him; whence he was the author of that most pious prayer whose beginning is: "Most holy priest of God, kindly confessor," etc., in which he shows a wondrous love and affection toward his most dear Parent: which surely ought deservedly to be assiduously recited by the Dominican Brothers. The use of so pious a prayer is to be urged not only upon the Friars Preachers, but upon all Christ's faithful. Certainly I, lest I incur the most shameful vice of an ungrateful mind, am compelled to testify about myself that this prayer profited me very much: for when, in a difficult and stubborn illness which not long ago seized me, I had recited it daily for nearly two months with great confidence, I felt my mind more eager to bear the troubles of the illness, and gradually so recovered my strength that I have been able to put an end to this Commentary, then begun. Although in that matter there is no miracle, yet I gladly acknowledge the benefit, and, lest I should seem unmindful of it, I shall not grudge to transcribe here that prayer, to the honor of St. Dominic and for the common use of all the faithful.

[881] by composing a pious prayer in his honor, Nicholas Janssen in the Life of St. Dominic, book 3, chapter 5, thus exhibits it: Most holy priest of God, kindly confessor and distinguished preacher, most blessed Father, holy Dominic, virgin chosen by the Lord and in your days pleasing and beloved above all; glorious in life, doctrine, and miracles, whom we rejoice to have as a gracious advocate with the Lord our God; to you, whom among the Saints and elect of God I venerate with special devotion, I cry from the depths in this vale of misery. Be present, I pray, most merciful one, to my sinful soul, destitute of all virtue and grace and wrapped in many stains of vices and sins: be present to my wretched and unhappy soul. O blessed and happy soul of the man of God, whom divine grace enriched with so great a blessing that it not only raised you to blessed rest, a tranquil seat, and heavenly glory, but also drew countless others to the same beatitude by so praiseworthy a life, stirred them by sweet admonition, instructed them by pleasant doctrine, and roused them by fervent preaching: be present therefore, blessed Dominic, and incline the ear of your mercy to the voice of my supplication. Fleeing to you, my poor and beggarly soul prostrates itself before you; with what humble mind it can, it strives, languishing, to present itself to you; dying, so far as it is able, to beseech you, begging that by your powerful merits and pious prayers you would deign to quicken and heal it, and to fill it with the copious gift of your blessing. For I know, and truly know, and am certain, that you can; I trust from your great charity that you will be willing; and I hope from the immense mercy of the Savior that with him you will accomplish whatever you will. I hope assuredly from your great familiarity, which you have with your most beloved and chosen out of thousands, Jesus Christ, who will deny you nothing; but with him, though he be Lord and God, yet also your friend, you will obtain whatever you will: for what could one so beloved deny to his beloved? What will he not give to him who, all things being set aside, did not hesitate to give himself and all his own to him?

[882] by which he discloses his devotion toward his Founder, Thus assuredly have we learned; thus do we praise and venerate you. You, while still in the flower of your age, dedicated your virginity to the beautiful Spouse of virgins. You, made white in the sacred font and adorned with the Holy Spirit, devoted your soul with most chaste love to the King of kings. You, long since instructed in regular disciplines, set ascensions in your heart. You, growing from virtue to virtue, advanced ever from good to better. You presented your body a living, holy sacrifice, pleasing to God. You, formed by divine instruction, consecrated yourself wholly to God. You, having at length entered upon the way of perfection, all things left behind, following naked the naked Christ, chose to lay up treasure rather in heavenly things than on earth. You, denying yourself more vehemently, and manfully bearing your cross, strove to follow the footsteps of our Redeemer, the true leader indeed. You, kindled with zeal for God and heavenly fire, on account of your exceeding charity, in the vehement fervor of spirit and the vow of poverty, expended yourself wholly upon the most perfect and indeed apostolic Religion; and for this work, a lofty counsel long since providing, you instituted the Order of Preachers. You illuminated the holy Church throughout the world by your glorious merits and examples. You, the prison-house of the flesh at length being left, taken up to the court above, gloriously ascended to heaven. You, now adorned with the first robe, came before God as our advocate.

[883] You therefore I beseech: come to the aid of me and of all dear to me, and which we have here transcribed to the greater glory of the Saint. nay of all the clergy and people, and also of the devout female sex, you who desired the salvation of the human race with such great zeal: for you before all the Saints, after the blessed Queen of virgins, are my hope and sweet solace; you are my singular refuge. Look therefore graciously to my help: for to you alone I flee,

to you alone I boldly come, at your feet I prostrate myself, you as patron I suppliantly invoke, you I implore, and to you I devoutly commend myself. Deign, I pray, graciously to receive and guard me, to protect and help me, so that by the intervention of your aid I may deserve to obtain the desired grace of God, to find mercy, and finally to obtain remedies of the present and future life unto salvation. So, so obtain, Master; so may it be, illustrious leader and kindly father, blessed Dominic. So, I pray, be present to me and to all who invoke you; be to us truly Dominic, that is, an assiduous guardian of the Lord's flock. Guard us always and govern us who are committed to you, amend us, and, being amended, reconcile us to God, and after this exile present us with joy to the blessed Lord and beloved most high Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, whose honor, praise, and unspeakable glory, joy and perpetual beatitude with the glorious Virgin Mary and the whole court of the citizens above remains without end for everlasting ages of ages. Amen. Echard, in volume 1 of the Library of the Preachers, page 99, reckons the same prayer among the little works of Blessed Jordan, and adds that it was inserted into the Breviary of the Preachers which was printed in the city of Venice in the year 1492, that it might be recited on the feast of St. Dominic in place of the first six lessons of Matins.

[884] Doubtless the Preachers, having passed over to various regions of the world, The Preachers sent to various quarters of the world, brought along with them into those regions the cult of their most holy Founder: for in Edmund Martène, volume 7 of the most ample Collection, column 132, the Constitutions of the bishop of Sabina, which were confirmed in the year 1239 in the council of Tarragona, prescribe that the festivity of St. Dominic be solemnly celebrated. So also in our Hardouin, volume 7 of the Councils, column 346, in the synod of Worcester which was celebrated in the year of Christ 1240, in decree 54 we read the following: But we will that the feasts of Saints Dominic and Francis be celebrated in the churches with nine lessons upon this; yet we do not will that by this the labors of the lay faithful be hindered. Wadding, in the Annals of the Minorites at the year of Christ 1251, number 3, writes to our purpose that Innocent IV the Pontiff in that year came into the city of Ferrara, in which he consecrated two recently built houses, one of the Friars Preachers, the other of the Minorites, and dedicated the former to the divine Dominic, the latter to the divine Francis. And so from that time the city appointed these divine ones as its patrons with God. I do not wish here to enumerate Benevento, Naples, and other cities which with singular devotion placed themselves under the patronage of St. Dominic, because either that choice of a patron is more recent, or I do not know its determined time.

[885] Further, the Roman Pontiffs themselves propagated the cult of St. Dominic, and the Roman Pontiffs themselves among whom Alexander IV, in Edmund Martène, volume 1 of the Thesaurus of Anecdotes, column [ ], writes thus to the Cistercians: Alexander bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his beloved son the abbot of Cîteaux and to the general Chapter of the Cistercian Order, greeting and Apostolic benediction. Although the Apostolic See, by a just and meritorious judgment, inscribing in the catalogue of the Saints blessed Dominic the confessor, founder of the Order of Friars Preachers, and blessed Peter the martyr of the same Order, has commanded their feasts to be solemnly celebrated by all; yet you, taking occasion from the fact that this was not specially charged upon you, by no means celebrate the feasts of those Saints with the due solemnity, as is said. Hence it is that we ask, admonish, and attentively exhort you all, commanding you by Apostolic writings, that, considering that he undoubtedly attains illustrious joys by the merits of the Saints who venerates in them him who is himself their glory and the recompense of their merits, you cause the festivities of the aforesaid Saints to be solemnly celebrated throughout your whole Order, according to what is piously known to have been ordained by the same See. Given at Anagni on the XII of the Calends of August, in the first year of our Pontificate. This first year of Alexander IV coincides with the year of Christ 1255.

[886] propagated far and wide Clement IV the Pontiff in the year of Christ 1266 ordered the yearly festivity of the same most holy Man to be solemnly celebrated, letters having been given to the prelates of Portugal, which in the praised Edmund Martène in the Thesaurus of Anecdotes, volume 2, column 294 and the following, run thus: Clement bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his venerable Brothers the archbishop of Braga and the bishops established throughout the kingdom of Portugal, to whom these letters shall come, greeting and Apostolic benediction. From the excellence of merits by which the Blessed Dominic the confessor and Peter the martyr of the Order of Friars Preachers shone in the darkness of this world under the pursuit of an innocent life, it is recognized to have proceeded that the Apostolic See after their happy death inscribed them in the catalogue of the Blessed, the feasts of that Confessor and Martyr being solemnly celebrated yearly to the glory and honor of him who bestowed on each of them, made illustrious by various miracles, the rewards of perpetual brightness — as we believe has come to the general knowledge of all Christ's faithful for many years past in many ways, and especially through the aforesaid Order, which namely the aforesaid Confessor, drawn by the love of heavenly things with an utter contempt of earthly ones, devised by the grace of divine inspiration; and which the mentioned Martyr, as a man diligent in the meditation of the divine law and assiduously zealous in good works, diligently and constantly observing, at length deserved to obtain the palm of martyrdom for the defense of the Catholic faith.

[887] the cult of St. Dominic, Since therefore a matter so famous and solemn ought by you and the other faithful of the kingdom of Portugal not to be uncultivated or unknown, but in every way revered, we ask and attentively exhort you all, firmly charging and commanding you by Apostolic writings, and enjoining it for the remission of your sins, that you celebrate every year the feast of that same Confessor on the Nones of August, and the solemnity of the aforesaid Martyr on the third of the Calends of May — the days, namely, on which those Saints, the bonds of death being loosed, came to the delights of everlasting life — and that you cause them to be celebrated with due reverence by all your subjects of the aforesaid kingdom, taking care nonetheless that their feasts be written in your calendars and in theirs; that there may come to you from the heavenly treasures, by their pious intercession, that which each of them, the Son of God bestowing it, is recognized to have received and glories to possess perpetually. Given at Perugia on the XIII of the Calends of April, in the second year of our Pontificate. Although Pope Clement in this letter hints that St. Dominic died on the Nones of August, yet at the end of §§44 and 47 we reported from Gregory IX the Pontiff and other authors that that holy Confessor passed from this life on the eighth of the Ides of August, or the sixth day of that month.

[888] Although the veneration of St. Dominic now flourishes everywhere in the world, which flourishes especially at Bologna, yet it is most celebrated at Bologna in Italy, where his sacred body rests, as Nicholas Janssen in the Life of the same Saint, book 3, chapter 4, testifies in these words: For the blessed Father became more renowned day by day, and through the ears of all was spread the glory of the miracles by which the Almighty willed him to grow more and more illustrious. Hence the sick and the healthy alike came in rivalry to his monument: the former indeed that they might obtain relief for their disease; the latter that they might dispel perils perhaps threatening. Others labored at this, that they should vie in placing about and at the tomb ornaments distinguished before all others. Whence imported marbles and artistic images raised the tomb itself and the little shrine within a short time to such majesty that they are reckoned among the most splendid glories not only of the Order but of all Italy. The sarcophagus indeed, everywhere incrusted with most white marble, represents some histories wondrously carved; in the carving of which, among other most noble craftsmen, Brother Damian of Bergamo, a Lay Brother of our Order, indeed bestowed skilled labor, who expressed the skill of his art in the greater choir to the admiration of all, as anyone who has seen it will readily testify. But it must be noted that that most richly adorned coffer does not contain entire the body of St. Dominic: for, the tomb having been opened again in the year 1383, on the sixteenth of the Calends of March, two bishops separated the sacred head from the other members, which, enclosed in a silver case and adorned with most rich treasures, is seen on the high altar of the church.

[889] Our Papebroch, who attentively inspected the Bologna church of the Reverend Fathers Preachers in the year of Christ 1660, where his tomb is magnificently adorned. in his manuscript Itinerary describes at length its magnificence. Then in the same place he treats of the most ample chapel of St. Dominic, which is paved with a starred pavement and everywhere adorned with artistic paintings and precious marble. Finally, about the sacred relics of the holy Founder he has the following bearing on our matter: The body itself of St. Dominic rests upon an altar and marble base in a tomb likewise of marble, of most elegant carving, in which the hand of Alfonso Lombardi expressed various histories in minute detail as though in ivory; the figures set above Michelangelo wrought. That tomb encloses a silver case, and in this one of crystal, and finally one of cedar, in which the body of the holy Patriarch is preserved. Then follows, on the same side, after some altars interposed, the chapel of relics, in which an altar fortified with gilded lattices contains the head of St. Dominic, a finger of the divine Thomas, and other relics, enclosed in silver cases and arranged as in a perspective within those same lattices, through which, the intervening board being removed, each could be touched with Rosaries hung upon a rod. Whether in the meantime the position of certain relics has been changed we do not know. At least from what has been said it is plain that there have been heaped up in this church all those ornaments in which art vies with material, because it has always been believed that the chief bones of St. Dominic rest there — although some have called that presence of the sacred body into doubt, or even denied it, whom we shall refute in the following paragraph.

* perhaps "may come"

§ XLIX. The chief bones of the Saint preserved among the Reverend Fathers Preachers of Bologna, and vindicated to them.

Besides other improbable things some assert, Cherubino Ghirardacci, in the History of Bologna which he published in Italian in the year of Christ 1596, part 1, book 5, page 135 and following, reports and refutes various opinions of those who deny that the body of St. Dominic is hitherto preserved in the Bolognese church of the Preachers. Some, he says, have thought that the body of that holy Founder is found in Spain; but these doubtless confounded the holy Founder of the Order of Preachers with another St. Dominic, a Spaniard, as the Reverend Father Ghirardacci in the same place rightly answers. But others judge that the sacred body of St. Dominic is buried in the church of the Annunciation of Blessed Mary, near the walls of Bologna, as besides this author Michele Pio in the Italian Work on Illustrious Men of the Order of Preachers, book 1, column 119, records, where the Franciscans in the year of Christ 1475 obtained a monastery of their Order. But this opinion has no foundation, as the praised Cherubino notes, and it could be shown more fully from the most illustrious Francesco Gonzaga and other Minorite writers, who are silent about so great a treasure, although they review the foundation and the relics of that Convent. Several finally will have it that St. Dominic at Assisi with St. Francis

still rests in a certain subterranean church.

[891] that the body of St. Dominic rests at Assisi, This last opinion was already two centuries ago received among some, as we gather from John Garzo, who in the Acts of St. Dominic, in Leander Alberti, folio 21 verso, has these things: They say that I have defiled the truth with no small falsehood, because I wrote that Dominic's body was buried at Bologna in the church of Nicholas, whereas most weighty and most wise men affirm that it is laid in a tomb at Assisi. There are extant the letters of Clement IV the supreme Pontiff, to which if they think no credit is to be given, I fear they may be reduced to madness, or are by nature most frivolous. In these he gives power to the Master and Brothers of the Religion of Preachers to choose at their will a nobler place in the city of Bologna for setting the most holy body of Dominic in a tomb: that in transferring it he accedes to their opinion; that Dominic so ordered his life chastely, piously, and holily that those who profess themselves Christians ought to venerate and honor him. There came also into my hands the letters of the bishop of Vicenza, which when I had diligently and carefully read, I was compelled to confess that those are foolish like old women who assert that Dominic's body was carried to Assisi and buried in the church of Francis.

[892] That most weighty man affirms that he was present when the body was being transferred. These are his words: When Dominic's body, which lay in a humble place, which opinion John Garzo explodes, was to be transferred, a multitude of Brothers came together at Bologna; there were summoned Arnulph and Giles, of whom the one was endowed with the dignity of the bishopric of Humana, the other of Torcello: besides, the governor of Bologna, and the consuls and tribunes of the people. I omit the whole people of Bologna, who set out to behold the thing. You would have said that Bologna itself was almost torn from its foundations: for men and women of all kinds, ages, ranks, and of every fortune made their way to behold the body and the head plucked from the shoulders. All these things will receive greater light from what is presently to be said, after we shall have detected the likely origin of the contrary opinion.

[893] We suspect that that popular tradition about the burial of St. Dominic at Assisi arose from the letter of Francesco del Balzo, and which perhaps has its origin from the letter of Francesco del Balzo, which Wadding in the Annals of the Minorites at the year of Christ 1230, number 4, exhibits. In it is narrated how Nicholas V the Pontiff in the year of the Lord 1449 visited at Assisi in the subterranean church the body of St. Francis, and on this occasion saw there another incorrupt body, the state of both being thus described: On the Eastern side that sacred body of the Seraphic Francis stood upright, with its face tending toward the west and its eyes raised to heaven; and its hands were covered with the sleeves of the habit and joined together, as the Brothers are wont to bear them. And the body was so incorrupt as if it had been laid there on the first day: for it seemed as one sleeping. But on the other side we saw another standing upright in the habit of blessed Dominic, who also had his hands joined together with the fingers joined upward, as is the manner of those praying; but his eyes gazed toward the feet of blessed Francis. And both had eyes so bright and shining that there was no difference from living men. The credit of this letter will be able to be more strictly examined at the day IV of October, on which the Acts of St. Francis are to be illustrated.

[894] Meanwhile, the truth of that narration being supposed, it does not yet follow although a certain Franciscan writer confesses, that that other body is St. Dominic's, even though it appears clothed in the Dominican habit: for some pious Dominican could have died at Assisi about the time of St. Francis's death, and have been buried there, as Souèges rightly observes. Hence Brother Pietro Rodolfi, of the Order of Conventual Franciscans, raised to the bishopric of Senigallia, in the Histories of the Seraphic Religion, book 2, from folio 247 verso, reporting the same letter of Francesco del Balzo, in the same place, folio 248 verso, upon the above-reported words of the letter, thus notes in the margin: They err who gather from this passage that blessed Dominic was here laid with blessed Francis, since we hold it ascertained that he, returning from Venice, weary from the journey and the heat at Bologna — namely about the end of July, the day of his death pressing on — died there and was buried in the year 1221, blessed Francis being still alive.

[895] First, from this note of Rodolfi it is clear that some gathered from the praised words of the letter the burial of St. Dominic at Assisi. that from this such a consequence is erroneously deduced. Secondly, from the same it is plain that this was not the common opinion of all the Franciscans, although the Most Eminent Vincenzo Maria Orsini, afterward raised under the name of Benedict XIII to the Roman Chair, hints at it, when in the aforesaid Dissertation vindicating the relics of St. Bartholomew for his church of Benevento, in article 6, page 21, he thus answers his adversaries: They could also assert that the body of the most holy parent Dominic was there, which my most religious confreres the Franciscans of Assisi contend rests with them, not at Bologna — in whose most famous Convent of my Religion, when we were engaged in the sacred studies of theology, they several times for the highest honor let my hands touch the monstrance containing the head of the most holy Patriarch. At least from this response of the Most Eminent Dissertator we gather that that exotic opinion about the burial or translation of St. Dominic at Assisi is still defended by some. But lest any scruple about this matter remain, we shall now evidently vindicate from ancient and authentic instruments the bodily presence of St. Dominic for the Bolognese church of the Reverend Fathers Preachers.

[896] By the authentic testimony of Blessed Bartholomew, It is established from two eyewitnesses, whom we cited above in §46, that the body of St. Dominic was seen at Bologna in the year 1233 by countless men. Afterward, in the year of Christ 1267, Blessed Bartholomew of the Order of Preachers, bishop of Vicenza, was present at another visitation or translation of the same sacred body, of which the Blessed man himself, in Michele Pio, book 1 on Illustrious Men of the Order of Preachers, column 118, gives evidence by the following diploma: To the venerable faithful of Christ who shall inspect the present letters, Brother Bartholomew, by divine mercy bishop of Vicenza, greeting and eternal charity in the Lord. The just and merciful Lord, of whose gift it comes that he be worthily and laudably served by his faithful, repays to those who serve well vows far greater than they can deserve.

[897] bishop of Vicenza; Since therefore in the general Chapter of the Order of Friars Preachers celebrated at Bologna the most holy body of the most merciful father Dominic, founder of that Order — with the venerable father Brother John of Vercelli the Master present and beholding, and the Brothers of the said Order gathered in the said Chapter in the year from the Lord's Nativity 1262, in the X Indiction, on the day of Pentecost, the V of June — the venerable father lord Philip, by the grace of God archbishop of Ravenna, in the presence and attendance of the venerable fathers the lords, by the grace of God, Octavian of Bologna, Tomasius of Imola, the Brothers Arnulph of Humana and Giles of Torcello, bishops, and ourselves, and also of the noble men lords Yrech de la Turre the podestà, Guiestus de Ponte Carali the captain, and the Elders of Bologna, transferred it from the uncarved stone tomb to a marble and carved one with due reverence and due devotion; and the precious head, first reverently exhibited to the devout kisses of the said bishops, of the Master and of the Brothers, he consequently showed through us in the corner pulpit of the church of the said Saint in the outer square, in the presence of a laudable multitude of the faithful, to remove any scruple of doubt about the solid and entire preservation of that body in the said church, which perhaps sat in the hearts of some, a solemn sermon having first been preached; bringing it back with devout hand into the aforesaid carved tomb, and laying it up in the frame of his body with a holy kiss: we, by the authority of the said lord archbishop and the concession of the bishops, desiring that the aforesaid body be visited in the said church each year with festive honors, to all truly penitent and confessed, to whom the jurisdiction of the aforesaid lords the archbishop, the bishops, and our own extends, who shall take care yearly devoutly and laudably to visit the aforesaid body on the feast of its translation and up to the octave, on the part of the said lord archbishop two years, and on the part of the said lord bishops and ourselves one year for each, of the penances enjoined upon them — trusting in the mercy of the Almighty, and in the merits of the glorious Virgin Mary his Mother, and in the authority of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and in the suffrages of all the Saints — we have thought should be mercifully relaxed in the Lord, these presents to be valid in perpetuity. In testimony of which matter we have caused the present letters to be made and fortified with our seal. Given at Bologna in the year of the Lord 1267, in the tenth Indiction, on the ninth day, June beginning. It is clear from this instrument, with which the ancient testimonies of the historians of Bologna agree, that the sacred body of St. Dominic rested up to the year of Christ 1267 in the Bolognese church of the Fathers Preachers. Now let us proceed gradually to more recent times.

[898] In the year of Christ 1383 the tomb of St. Dominic was again opened, it is proved by other later instruments, as Carlo Sigonio in the Work on the bishops of Bologna, book 3, page 154, narrates in these words: In the year one thousand three hundred and eighty-three, on the XII of the Calends of March, the Friars Preachers drew the head of St. Dominic out of the coffer, with bishop Philip and the magistrates present, and laid it up for the use of the church in a noble silver casket. And this wondrous thing happened to the eyes of mortals, that while the coffer lay open, a star shone most brightly above the church: which thing, being observed, kindled the devotion of the city toward the holy Confessor. This public apparition of the prodigious star, and other circumstances, are recorded in the old Chronicle of Bologna, which was lately published in Italian among the Writers of Italian Affairs, volume 18, column 525. Besides, in the archive of the city of Bologna there exist ancient and authentic testimonies of this narration, as Michele Pio in the praised Work on illustrious men of the Order of Preachers, book 1, column 120, testifies.

[899] For the rest, that inspection of the tomb in the year 1383 is confirmed by another instrument of the year 1473, that the sacred body of St. Dominic which in Michele Pio at the place just cited, columns 122 and 123, runs thus: In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. In the year of the Lord 1473. Let all know how I, Giovanni Bolognini, a citizen of Bologna, one of the four men appointed to see to the completing of the tomb of the divine Dominic, with the other associates consenting — namely Giovanni Guidotto, standard-bearer of justice, Ludovico di San Pietro, and Battista Manzolo — at the third hour of the sixth feria, namely on the XVI day of July of this year 1473, and with the venerable Father Brother George of Vercelli, Prior of the monastery of St. Dominic, consenting, with the Fathers and Brothers of the said monastery and bystanders, ordered the old covering to be removed from the aforesaid tomb, as unworthy of so great a work, that a new one, wrought with wondrous workmanship by Nicholas of Bari, might be set upon it.

[900] Which having been removed, we found a wooden chest of larch, in the Bolognese church of the Preachers closed, well secured, and fortified with keys, upon which three sealed letters, which were unsealed and read piecemeal: of which

two, as the subscription showed, had been written by the hand of Bartholomew de Saliceto, a most excellent and most lettered doctor; others by a certain Father of the Order of Preachers; the last by Jacobus Blanchettus, corrector of the notaries. For all those attested with their own hands that the aforesaid wooden chest had been unsealed in the year of the Lord 1383, and the sacred bones of the divine Dominic found in it, and left there untouched, and that at that time the venerable head had been taken from the rest of the body and placed in a silver casket, where it is now preserved. To the praise and glory of Almighty God, and of the aforesaid most blessed patriarch Dominic, protector and defender of this our city, by whose prayers and intercessions with God I pray and beseech that our city be rescued from the perils that threaten. And in evidence of the premises, and for the perpetual memory of the matter, I, the aforesaid Giovanni Bolognini, have written these things with my own hand, and marked them with the seal which I use, on the day, month, and year as above, etc.

[901] is still honorably preserved. Carlo Sigonio, in book 4 of the Work just praised, page 204, thus briefly mentions that same elegant ornament which was then placed upon the tomb of St. Dominic: The marble crown also, a work of wondrous craftsmanship and of singular and ancient elegance, placed upon the square coffer of St. Dominic mentioned above, so ennobled that tomb that today no one of even slightly cultivated mind comes to Bologna who does not think it, before all else, or at least on that account, to be visited by him. Although after these times the tomb of that Saint has not been opened, yet various ornaments have been bestowed to increase its splendor, and many princes, both ecclesiastical and secular, have venerated at Bologna these relics of the most holy Confessor, which they held themselves most certainly persuaded rest there. I do not wish here to report the diplomas of the Roman Pontiffs who assert to the Preachers of Bologna the bodily presence of St. Dominic and grant indulgences to the faithful who piously visit these sacred relics. I pass over also the other arguments by which Michele Pio and other Dominican writers vindicate the sacred bones of their Founder for the people of Bologna: for the instruments hitherto reported seem to me abundantly to suffice, that sensible adversaries of this most common opinion may acknowledge their error. But if any of these, more obstinate, should still wish to adhere to his former opinion, let him set forth for us on what occasion, or at what time, the body of St. Dominic was transferred elsewhere, just as we shall now show this concerning certain particles of those same sacred bones.

§ L. Some relics of the same Saint transferred elsewhere, and various miracles performed through them.

Besides a rib of St. Dominic, which was carried to Pisa, It is not my will or power to enumerate all the relics of St. Dominic which are honored in the various monasteries or churches of the Dominican Order. Wherefore, for want of more distinct knowledge, I shall here review only those which have readily occurred to me, and among which our Papebroch in his posthumous papers noted a rib of the same Saint in this manner: Brother William of Pisa, a Lay Brother, an excellent carver of stones, a blessed and good man; he was present at the second translation of the body of the blessed father Dominic at Bologna in the year of the Lord 1267, in the time of Master John of Vercelli, at which time he secretly carried away with him to Pisa one of the ribs of that blessed Dominic, and, the Brothers not knowing it, venerated it under the altar of blessed Mary Magdalene as long as he lived. At length, drawing near to death, he disclosed the matter to the Brothers; who, going to the place, found the holy rib as he had said. And the holy man flourished about the year of the Lord 1270. Since that paper of Papebroch was separated from the other transcripts of the same codex, I do not know whence he took it, and therefore leave further knowledge of this sacred relic to be investigated by the curious.

[903] John Garzo, in the Life of St. Dominic in Leander Alberti, folio 22, reports the following about certain relics of the same Saint there are recorded the relics of the same Saint at Ascoli, formerly preserved in the city of Ascoli: Ascoli is a city of Picenum, not far from which there is a river whose name is Tronto. Hither a certain woman had come to wash linen. There followed her a son not yet five years old. He, while he plays a game on the bank, by some fate fell into the river. The waters swallowed him up, being unskilled in swimming. Thus, swallowed by the force of the water, he was carried to a certain mill. When the mother heard that her son was lifeless, moved with grief she could not restrain continual tears. The women who were present run up; they console the wretched woman. That this one thing remained, that the body be drawn out and buried. But the mother, although she had hung the boy by the feet for the outflow of the water, and no result followed, was held by a great hope that he would return to life if she carried him to the church of Dominic, in whose sanctuary his tooth, which had fallen from his mouth while he lived, was preserved. Therefore, when the dead child had been placed upon the altar and the Brothers touched his belly with the tooth, suddenly the dead one was recalled, and he who was not living, lived.

[904] Flaminius, in the Acts of St. Dominic, folio 88 verso, narrates the same miracle; where miracles were performed through them, but asserts that that boy was touched with a finger of the same Saint, which was honorably preserved in the city of Ascoli, and there premises these things to his narration: There was at Ascoli, which is a city in Picenum, as we have already shown, one of the fingers of blessed Dominic, by whose touch various diseases were driven from human bodies; and it was held in great honor, and preserved with special veneration. Then he sets forth how the drowned boy, of whom above, came to life again at the touch of this sacred finger. The praised Flaminius, on folio 85 verso of the cited little work, had already mentioned the same relics, and on that occasion had set forth another miracle of Ascoli in these words: In the city of Ascoli the prefect of the church of the Preachers, being about to place a great marble slab upon the altar of blessed Dominic, was himself also helping the workmen; but while those who were lifting the stone could not bear the heaviness of its weight, the whole burden fell back upon the prefect himself, and so struck and crushed four fingers of his hand that they seemed bruised with an iron hammer. He ordered the finger of Dominic, which was preserved in that church, to be brought to him, by whose touch his fingers were at once so restored that no trace of that dire crushing remained in them. That finger afterward John of Vercelli, general Master of the Preachers, gave as a gift to Philip, king of the French, son of St. Louis, who asked for some relic of blessed Dominic, whom he followed with great veneration. But the king, returning thanks for so great a gift received, sent one thorn from the crown of Christ to the monastery of Ascoli.

[905] Echard, in volume 1 of the Library of the Preachers, page 258, also mentions the finger of his holy Founder at Ascoli, which some authors ascribe to a finger, and reports that it was afterward transferred to France, in these words: When the holy king Louis had learned that a finger of St. Dominic was preserved and honored at Ascoli, and had indicated his desire of having it, presently the Master of the Order Brother John of Vercelli, already praised, being informed of it, going to Ascoli, received the finger and carried it to the holy king, who, holding the gift most welcome, in return gave him a thorn of the Lord's own crown, which is that which our brethren of Ascoli venerate with them. But Sebastiano Andreantonelli, in the History of Ascoli, which he elaborated with the utmost zeal, page 214, treats of this finger, and thus records that it was given to another king of France: But there was preserved in the same (namely the Ascoli church of the Preachers, of which he there makes mention) a venerable relic, namely a finger of St. Dominic himself, handed over to Philip, king of the French, surnamed the Fair, by Brother Francis de Jacobis, a citizen of Ascoli, a Religious of the same body, who was confessor to the same king; from whom also he received a thorn plucked from the woven crown of the suffering Christ, which is there honored with the utmost veneration. Let him who can reconcile these different narrations with each other.

[906] but others to a tooth, We meanwhile shall transcribe here about the Ascoli relics of St. Dominic what we have received from a Prague manuscript, in which certain Lives of the Saints written by the most illustrious Bernard Gui are contained, together with the translation of St. Dominic. And so in our archives, at the day XVI of October, after other Acts of the Saints, is read the translation of the relics of St. Dominic, from which we excerpt for our purpose the following: In the time of the venerable father Brother John of Vercelli, Master of the Order of Friars Preachers, the body of blessed Dominic was translated a second time from the marble tomb in which at his first translation it had been placed; and it was transferred into a precious chest of white marble, raised upon columns, which they call the coffer of St. Dominic, in the year of the Lord 1267. But then Brother Francis of the city of Esculum (this city is so called too instead of Asculum, as Sebastiano Andreantonelli in the work praised above, page 204, hands down), companion of the aforesaid Master of the Order, secretly took one tooth of blessed Dominic, which afterward with the license of that Master he gave and placed in the Convent of the Friars Preachers of Esculum among the venerable relics, where at the touch of that tooth, by the merits of St. Dominic, many miracles were performed, of which we have thought that one should be subjoined.

[907] formerly preserved at Ascoli, A certain woman at Esculum was washing clothes with other women in the channel of a mill beside the church of blessed Dominic, who had brought with her her little son, Francis by name. And while the mother was intent upon her work, the little boy, playing above the channel, fell into the water and was drowned; and he was carried by the flow of the water as far as the wheels of the mill, and was violently crushed under the water by the wheels. And the mother, hearing of the mishap and peril of her son, ran with the other women to the wheels of the mill, and with difficulty and by force lifted her dead son from under the wheels. And when to the many bystanders who had gathered nothing else seemed possible but that the dead boy should be given to burial, the mother, weeping abundantly, recalling in mind that near at hand was the church of the Friars Preachers, where she had heard there was a tooth of St. Dominic and that many miracles had been done, taking confidence, said: My son shall not be buried, but I will carry him to the relics of St. Dominic, because I hope that through him God will render him to me alive and unharmed. And the mother, lifting her dead son in her arms, hastening to the church of blessed Dominic with plaintive cries, kept crying out: Blessed Dominic, give me back my son. Why say more? She placed the dead little body upon the altar of blessed Dominic, asking the Brothers to place the tooth of that Saint upon him. And the Brothers, moved to compassion and devotion, placed the holy tooth with much reverence upon the little body of the dead boy. And while all who were there grieved with her and prayed to God and to his holy Dominic, the boy who had been dead suddenly came to life again, and the mother, who weeping had brought her son dead, rejoicing carried him back alive by the merits of blessed Dominic.

[908] But after these things, some years having now elapsed,

while the aforesaid Master John of Vercelli was at Paris, and afterward transferred thence into France, he was asked by the illustrious king of the French Philip, son of the late king Louis, to give him as relics some of the bones of St. Dominic, toward whom he had great devotion. Since the same Master could not conveniently have them from elsewhere, he caused the aforesaid tooth to be brought from Esculum to Paris for the lord King: which the King reverently laid up in the treasury of his relics in a most beautiful vessel, and in recompense sent to the aforesaid Convent of Ascoli one thorn from the thorny crown of Christ, which is kept in the King's chapel. You see that here all things are reported about a tooth of St. Dominic which other writers, with a few changes, narrate about a finger of the same Saint.

[909] Besides, in these different narrations there occur certain things which we cannot reconcile with each other: about which varying narration an intricate difficulty is proposed. for first, John Garzo affirms that this tooth fell from St. Dominic while still living, whereas meanwhile the Prague manuscript asserts that the same tooth was secretly taken away by Brother Francis of Ascoli at the second translation of the sacred body. Secondly, our Prague transcript hands down that this Ascoli tooth was given by John of Vercelli to Philip, king of the French, who succeeded his father Louis, and was commonly surnamed the Bold. But if for the tooth a finger must be substituted, again there is no agreement among the writers: for Echard in volume 1 of the Library of the Preachers, pages 211 and 258, writes that that finger of St. Dominic was handed over by the same John of Vercelli to St. Louis, king of France. But the praised Sebastiano Andreantonelli says that the same finger of the Saint was carried by Brother Francis de Jacobis of Ascoli to Philip, surnamed the Fair, who succeeded Philip the Bold in the kingdom of France. But all these things will with difficulty be reconciled with each other and with chronology, even though you should say that a tooth of St. Dominic was granted to one king of the French and a finger of the same Saint to another at different times. But although there is error in certain circumstances of the narration, yet on account of those difficulties we do not doubt about the miracles which happened through the Ascoli relics of St. Dominic.

[910] I do not know at what time there was transferred into Hungary that finger of St. Dominic In Hungary about which Flaminius in the often cited Acts of the same Saint, folio 89 verso, thus writes: When already many monasteries of the Preachers had been built throughout Pannonia, one finger from the sacred body of the divine Dominic was carried into that province, into the city which is called Şimleu. Then among other miracles which were performed there, on folio 90 verso he reports the following in these words: Székesfehérvár is a city of the same province, the Provost of whose church (this is the name of an ecclesiastical dignity) died. Around the body as it lay, when the obsequies were now being prepared, many were sitting, of whom one said, by divine (as is credible) prompting: I indeed am led to hope that this our dead man can be recalled to life, if the finger of blessed Dominic be brought hither. The counsel pleased all, and with many torches lighted the finger was brought in a sacred chalice, which the prefect of the monastery washed with water, which he poured into the mouth of him who lay there; and when it went down into his throat, that dead man at once came to life again. Vincent of Beauvais and Theodoric of Apolda record more about these Hungarian relics of St. Dominic, which after this Commentary will be reported below in their place.

[911] the dead were recalled to life, But by these ancient writers another miracle also, performed in Hungary, is omitted, which the praised Flaminius thus subjoins to the preceding: A girl of twelve years had died in a place which was distant a day's journey from the aforesaid city of Şimleu. Her kinsmen and friends urged her father to order water to be brought with which the sacred finger of blessed Dominic had been washed, hoping that by the help of a Saint most acceptable to God the girl might be recalled to life. The father approved the counsel, and at once himself set out. But going away he ordered that in no way should they bury his daughter before he himself had returned. But since he seemed to delay too long on account of the distance of the place, the household had determined to bury her. Wherefore, when they were now carrying her out, they fell in with the father, who was bringing the water. He flared up, and, gravely rebuking his people, who were burying his daughter against his command, ordered those carrying the funeral bier to halt. Then he himself, with a multitude standing by, her mouth being forced open, poured in the water, and at once, with all astonished, she was restored to life.

[912] and at Liège or Lodi In the Lives of the Brothers, which were printed at Douai in the year 1619, part 2, chapter 39, certain miracles performed elsewhere through the relics of St. Dominic are reviewed in this manner: A certain citizen of Liège, bailiff of that city, was suffering from a disease in his neck, for which he had visited many places of the Saints; and when he was by no means cured, he asked the Prior of the Friars Preachers to place secretly the relics of St. Dominic upon the sore: which done, he at once received perfect health. This the Prior himself narrated to me. Another of the wealthier men of the same city was suffering a grave disease with a great swelling and a terrible ulcer, so that his people utterly despaired of his life: for so great was the pain and torment that he could not bear even the physician's touch. But Brother Lambert, when he saw his very great affliction, induced him to have devotion to blessed Dominic, because through him the Lord had done many marvels. He at once devoutly asked that there be brought him water from the washing of the relics of blessed Dominic; which being sprinkled upon the place, at once the pain began to lessen and the swelling to vanish, and thus he was perfectly cured. I do not know whether the relics of the Saint here recorded belong to the city of Liège in Belgium or to that of Lodi in Italy: for Echard in volume 1 of the Library of the Preachers, page 43, in a manuscript codex of the XIII century reads for "Leodiensis" "Lodiensis," and in the same place in the notes judges that by this word is indicated a city of Italy which is called in the vernacular Lodi. In our manuscript codex this same citizen is called "Lodienensis."

[913] and at Metz other miracles happened, The praised Echard, in the volume just cited, page 44, notes that Blessed Jordan in the year of Christ 1233 distributed to the brethren who had then gathered at Bologna the sacred dust found in the tomb of St. Dominic, and there from the Lives of the Brothers narrates the following miracles done through these relics: A certain Brother in the Convent of Metz, on account of a bone which had grown over in the joint which is between the fist and the arm, was suffering gravely in his hand, so that he probably feared to lose the use of his hand: about which he frequently received from physicians and surgeons the answer that it could not be cured except by cutting; which nevertheless was dangerous on account of the meeting of veins and nerves there. But it happened on the vigil of blessed Mary Magdalene, patroness in the aforesaid Convent, that two Brothers coming from the remote parts of Germany, at the hour when the altar was being prepared, after None entered the choir for the blessing: and the Brother who was suffering in his hand was one of those preparing it with the sacristan. They, leaving the altar, gave the blessing to the Brothers, and rising from the blessing said: We have brought with us some of the dust of blessed Dominic our father.

[914] That Brother who was suffering in his hand, when he heard the name of blessed Dominic and the coming of his relics, through the sacred bones of the same Saint, filled with devotion and no small exultation of mind, began to say in heart and mouth: Father, Father, welcome to us. And following the Brothers as they carried the sacred relics to the altar, clapping his hands, he kept crying out unceasingly after them: Father, Father, welcome. And coming to the altar and taking the relics with both hands and kissing them, he was suddenly freed from the peril of that bone. And when he was withdrawing from the altar, seeing certain dirt about the lamp in the middle of the choir, in touching and cleaning the lamp he soiled his hands a little; and going to the washing place, while he washed his hands, he then first knew that he was cured of the peril of that bone, and for joy, with unwashed hands, running to the Prior, who was in the Chapter, showed himself cured at the coming of the relics of blessed Dominic. And when this was wondrous in the eyes of the Brothers, and was spread abroad through the house, a certain Brother lying in the infirmary, who was most gravely tormented with gripings of the belly, hearing this, devoutly asked that the sacred relics of blessed Dominic be brought to him, and at their touch asserted that he was relieved of his pains and healed. These things too are read in the cited Douai edition, with a few changes, which I have observed in the margin.

[915] I do not doubt that in other monasteries of the Preachers several relics of this kind are preserved. which doubtless are found in very many other cities and regions. Thus the most illustrious Juan López in the History of the Preachers, part 4, book 2, chapter 75, at the year 1598, treats of a monastery of his Order which is situated in Spain not far from Madrid, and among the other sacred relics with which it is enriched reckons a certain bone of St. Dominic. Also in the monastery of the Escorial, besides three smaller bones of the same Saint, there is preserved a joint of a toe with its dried skin, as in the year 1722 I copied from the Relic-list of that magnificent monastery. For the rest, in this paragraph I have made mention only of those bones of St. Dominic which were transferred elsewhere from the city of Bologna: for about the garments of the same Saint, and other sacred remains of this kind, either there has already been treatment in our preliminary Commentary, or there will further be treatment in the course of the work. Since therefore I do not know what the Palermo relics of St. Dominic are, I have said nothing here about them, even though notable miracles were once performed through them, which may be read in Silvestro Frangipane in the Appendix to the prodigies of Soriano in Italian, or in Jean Doye in the other addition in French.

* Douai edition: "had come over"

* Douai edition: "junctura" joint

§ LI. The image of St. Dominic in the Soriano monastery of the Preachers, where by the intercession of the same Saint many benefits are conferred upon his clients.

On Choquet's testimony, a certain Preacher That what we shall report in this paragraph may be more easily understood, we shall premise to it the wondrous foundation of the monastery of Soriano, which Fr. Hyacinth Choquet in "The Maternal Bowels of Mary the Mother of God toward the Order of Preachers," chapter 27, thus elegantly describes: In the tenth year of the preceding century (that is, in the year of Christ 1510), at Catanzaro, a city of upper Calabria, there was one of our men, a man especially pious and an excellent follower of monastic discipline to the letter, Vincent by name, to whom that same city gave his surname. He, on a certain night of the month of December, after a brief sleep, sees the most holy parent Dominic standing by his bed, girt with much light, and hears him seriously admonishing and further commanding that he should go at once to the village of Soriano, whose men he would find most inclined and most ready to build a monastery of his Order. That vision

Vincent indeed interpreted, from the inward affection of his mind and a hidden force which impelled him to obey, as having come from heaven; yet he did not at once gird himself for the journey, because perhaps he wished to seek the approval of the prefect or provincial of that province, according to the laws of the Order, lest he should seem to have attempted anything rashly.

[917] after a threefold apparition of St. Dominic obtains a monastery for his Order, While he turns these and many things over in his mind, and sticks doubtful and destitute of counsel, on the very next night the supreme and greatest moderator of his Order from heaven, Dominic, again offers himself to be seen by him; he bids him break off all delays and set out more swiftly, and put aside the scruples and doubts cast into his mind. Vincent at the first dawn goes to the Prior, discloses the secret of so great a matter, asks leave to go, and obtains it; yet while he prepares to carry out the orders, he still lingers that day: when a third time a most brilliant light shakes off his sleep, and he beholds Dominic far more splendid than before, yet with a graver and somewhat angered countenance, rebuking such great delays: terrified by which, Vincent presently at daybreak hastens to Soriano. When he had come thither, he finds the chief men of the village taking counsel among themselves about building some monastery; and while they bring forward and weigh many things back and forth, Vincent, having entered into that very assembly, sets forth in order the cause of his journey and coming. The people of Soriano, at once astonished and filled with the greatest joy, receive Vincent as an angel fallen from heaven, assent to his wishes, and congratulate themselves.

[918] which was built at Soriano not without various miracles, Therefore with glad minds they decree and vow a church and monastery to the Order of Preachers and to its most blessed father Dominic, and on that very day fix a great cross in the place which they had before determined in the middle of the twofold or double-bodied village. This cross made the beginning of the prodigies which were one day to be performed at Soriano: for on the next night it passed of its own accord from the place where it had been fixed the day before, planted with olives, into another rugged one among the hardest rocks, beside a little shrine sacred to the Virgin of the Annunciation. On the following day, when it was ascertained by all that the cross had been moved from its place and set on the upper slope of the village, the people of lower Soriano, thinking that this had been done by the guile of those above, namely that the church and monastery might be nearer to them, bring the cross back to its former seat, appointed by common wishes, and fix it deeper and more firmly. And further, though the inhabitants of upper Soriano solemnly professed that they knew of no fraud, they nevertheless set several men to guard the cross and to uncover the fraud (if there were any): who, when they had encircled it sleepless the whole night and had watched more attentively, at twilight see it slip from their eyes, are astonished, search, and behold it fixed in that same place into which it had transported itself on the previous night. Presently the divine power and decision was recognized by all. Wherefore, with minds at once in agreement, both by the common purse and by the private gifts of many, the church began to be built, several also freely bestowing their own labors.

[919] Two wondrous things moreover then happened in that work. was built at Soriano, First indeed, since lime had to be sought from afar, namely with much labor and expense, some wished that a lime-kiln be set up in some nearer place; which was not approved by most, and especially by the elders, who had ascertained that there had never been such a kiln near Soriano, since it had once been tried more than once and had by no means succeeded. But Vincent, pitying such great labors and sweat, with the greatest confidence he had in the most blessed Parent, sees to it that one be prepared; fire is set under fragments of hard rock skillfully arranged, and it succeeds with a most happy issue, and lime comes forth complete in every respect — whereas neither before nor afterward was the outcome of lime from that same kiln prosperous. The other, worthy of no less astonishment, was this: that although the workmen at the close of the day always carried to the place of building all the stone cut in the quarry of Fellerina, yet on the next day they found as many cut, being utterly ignorant who had cut them and had laid them at the edge of the pit whence they themselves had carried away the others. To those inquiring much into that matter and marveling at the nocturnal labors, it seemed good more than once to find out who did it: which while they do, they most clearly receive in their ears the crash of the stones, the strokes of those cutting, and the steps of those carrying them from the pit or valley to the higher and level place, yet with no one seen — except that at times someone was seen in the Preacher's habit, above human appearance, presiding over the work like a taskmaster, whom they doubtless interpreted to be the most holy Dominic himself. We suppose that that narration comes from the ancient monuments of that place. But would that we could have obtained genuine transcripts of such ancient instruments, and exhibited to the curious reader authentic testimonies of such prodigies! Now it must be seen how there came to this monastery the image of St. Dominic which shines with innumerable miracles.

[920] Nicholas Janssen, in the Life of St. Dominic, book 2, chapter 12, disposes of this matter briefly in these words: [to which afterward the image of the Saint was brought in a wondrous manner, as Janssen narrates;] In Calabria, in the year 1606 from the Virgin's childbearing (others place the building of the monastery in the year of Christ 1510, and refer the donation of the prodigious image to the year 1530), in a place which they call Soriano, not far from Monteleone, our men had built a new church. The adornment was modest, few pictures on the walls, a token of religious poverty. When unexpectedly two matrons, greater than human appearance, knock at the doors. It was the Mother of God and St. Mary Magdalene, as was afterward known. They ask what place this was, what community, to whom the sacred building was dedicated. To St. Dominic, was the answer, and that the Friars Preachers had fixed their seat there. Hereupon they said: Have you then any image of Dominic? To those astonished as if with shame (for they had none), Take, they say, this too, and place it in the middle altar of the church. It was set up, and there was a concourse from every side to the new gift: the blind, the lame, the dropsical, and those afflicted with other diseases received health; the dead too were recalled to life; so that it was commonly said: The body of St. Dominic rests at Bologna, but his soul at Soriano. This a few years ago and in our age. In which indeed the Virgin Mother declared by a manifest pledge how she has hitherto been affected toward Dominic and his sons, and brought it about that veneration of him should grow there, and that very many monuments both of divine power and of human piety should be seen. I do not know whence Janssen dug out this narration, which differs from others, as will be plain to anyone attentively comparing it with the following.

[921] but Choquet differs from his narration, The praised Choquet in chapter 27 of the work just cited narrates the same history of the wondrous image fully and ornately thus: From the too hasty death of Joanna of Aragon, which happened in this year, all Calabria blazed with vast and most hostile wars, and, the blood of very many men being shed, was almost laid waste. Which injuries of the times and dread calamity made the progress of the happily begun church slower; so that from its first beginnings twenty years elapsed with the church not yet built; but only its rearward part had risen, which by an ecclesiastical term we call the choir: that part, shut off by a wall, served in place of a chapel or sacred building, in which a few of our men performed the divine offices, namely a certain Dominic, surnamed of Soriano from that very village, substituted in Vincent's place, and two others. Here one must remember what we reported above from Choquet about the wondrous origin of the monastery of Soriano and the first building of the church.

[922] who at length reports how the sacristan received that image Then he thus approaches the narration of the mentioned image: But it happened in the year 1530, on the night which immediately precedes the eighth day from the Nativity of the Virgin Mother of God, that he who discharged the office of sacristan went into the church (for so it pleases us to call only a part of the church); he lit the candles for the performing of the morning prayers, according to his custom and office; and behold, while he returns from the altar, he sees three women, conspicuous in face and dress beyond measure comely. Astonished, and further fearing lest the church had by his negligence stood open in the night, he at once goes to the doors, examines them, sees them barred, and marvels the more. As he sticks in anxiety, she who was held the chief of them, and stood in the middle, of a form more august than the others, calls him to her, and asks him to whose name that sacred building was dedicated, and what image hung on the wall. He answers that the church was dedicated and consecrated to blessed Dominic, whose single image, rude and painted by an unskilled hand, was seen before the altar. Then she brings from her bosom a rolled-up cloth, and says: Since in this church there is no other likeness of your Founder and leader, take this, and carry it to the prefect of yourself and of this house, and tell him to give it a place of honor in this building.

[923] from the Mother of God herself, accompanied by two women, The sacristan, although astonished at the untimely sight of women, and amazed by what way they had crept in there, the doors being everywhere barred and the bolts set, yet suffused with a gladness of mind fallen from heaven, receives that gift of the icon with reverent face, and at once hastens to the prefect, or (to speak after the manner of the Order) the vicar, to summon him; whom he meets coming to Matins. To him he sets forth the whole matter in order, and offers the cloth as he had received it rolled up. At once there was present the other of the priests, who was following the vicar behind, and together they are struck by the strangeness of the thing: and at first indeed they accuse the sacristan, by whose negligence they believed the church had stood open by night. But when they unfold the cloth and behold the icon darting burning flames of piety into their hearts, and by a certain hidden power moving them to venerate it, suspecting indeed nothing of what lay behind it, but only more vehemently marveling at the dignity and excellence of the gift, they go into the church to give thanks to those noble women.

[924] But they had already withdrawn into heaven; who, all afterward sought, had disappeared. and when the prefect had not found them, and our men saw and further greatly marveled that they had gone away with the doors closed, there began in them, from the strangeness of the things, an eagerness to inquire who they were. Wherefore they go out of the house, even in the dead of night, and most diligently investigate them everywhere through the village: having found no trace of them, they return home, again inspect the image most attentively, venerate it, and pray God, imploring the help of the most blessed Virgin Mother of God and of St. Dominic, that they would not disdain of their kindness to disclose the mystery of that matter, and the origin of the icon which they rightly suspected was something divine — namely from whose hand it had come to them. When, after many prayers and various conversations held about that matter among themselves all day long, on the following night the most blessed Catherine, virgin and martyr, appeared to one of our priests (whose love and devotion toward her was singular) as he prayed more ardently for the same thing after Matins, and disclosed the whole matter most clearly: namely that that likeness of Dominic, painted by no man's brush or art, had been brought to them from heaven, and that the most holy Mother of God herself had brought it and handed it to the sacristan, and that she herself, together with blessed Mary Magdalene, had been the companion of the Virgin Mother.

[925] But now let us inspect the image itself, so far as God shall grant: This image is described by the same author, for what it is like,

above every height and industry of human art, we trust that we can attain by the pen no more than the most excellent painters, and not inferior to Apelles, could by their genius and hand express others from it with the archetype set before them, and, having quite often tried to imitate it, were never able to do so. For to the eyes of some beholding it a very great and most brilliant flash presented itself, which utterly covered that likeness. Others, terrified by the majesty of the image, with faltering brush and hand desisted from what they had begun. Moreover its length is a little more than five palms; and it exhibits Dominic with a comely but far venerable aspect, and composed to every virtue, with a face somewhat oblong, an aquiline nose, hair for the most part gray, yet here and there with some somewhat reddish running through. The color of the face is fair, joined with a most pleasing pallor; the eyes more serene, like ones turned in every direction, with a most placid awe. The garments are not extended beyond the ankles; each foot is shod with black shoes; the right hand bears a book, the left a lily — most clear symbols of erudition and virginal modesty. The painted image is not tinged with various flowers of colors, but is simple only, and such as genuinely represents a man not made by art but rather formed by nature. And finally there is nothing in the image which does not argue a heavenly brush and craftsman: for the things which it expresses cannot cohere together in a work of human art. For it exhibits a rare majesty of the man, and nonetheless the utmost abjection and contempt of himself in him. There shines the serenity of his countenance, calling forth gladness in beholders; yet a pious sorrow terrifies and moves to repentance. It presents pallor and leanness; nonetheless a pleasant tranquility of mind shines. Equally there stand out the maturity of an old man and the loveliness of an infant. He is seen more rigid and severe toward himself, and at the same time sweeter and more placid toward others. Finally, a stricter guarding of the outward senses shows him wholly intent upon himself; yet equally there flashes forth solicitude and benevolence toward his clients. For indeed of this image it may be permitted to say what is denied to human art and to nature herself: They both well agree, and dwell in one seat — majesty and love.

[926] and a copy of it is here represented, Light will be brought to this description by a true copy of the prodigious image of St. Dominic at Soriano, which Brother John Baptist of St. George, Prior of the Soriano Convent of the Preachers, had engraved in copper and dedicated to the most illustrious Dom Antonio Dardinelli, as is noted in Italian on that same copy of the image. We instructed our engraver to reduce this likeness of St. Dominic to a smaller form, and nonetheless to imitate exactly, with proportion, all the lineaments of his prototype, as one sees it here expressed.

We have not wished in this place to record what Peter Paul Rubens, the most famous painter of our Belgium, judged about the Soriano painting itself of St. Dominic, which he at one time inspected rather closely, because that judgment is reported only from vague or uncertain report, and perhaps could not be proved by authentic testimonies. For the rest, the baldness which is here expressed in the crown of the Saint above the forehead does not agree with the description of his form which we gave above in §45, numbers 836 and 837, from Theodoric of Apolda and another older writer, where we also represented another likeness of St. Dominic, which differs greatly from this, as will readily appear to one comparing both. We only observe in passing in this image that the sleeves of the tunic are looser, whereas anciently they seem to have been narrower at the wrist, as is plain from the old figure of a Preacher, and from the seal of St. Dominic himself, which two monuments of antiquity we exhibited above in §§28 and 40. We say nothing here about the smaller adjuncts of either likeness, which perhaps depend on the painter's discretion. But whatever this original painting may be, and from wherever it came to Soriano, from indubitable testimonies it is established that there very many benefits are conferred on the faithful who implore the patronage of St. Dominic, as we shall now narrate summarily.

[927] The distinguished Choquet goes on in the same place to report other prodigies which followed the mentioned donation of the same image, and a reason is given why its ancient miracles were not committed to writing, in these words: But the first of all the wondrous portents which God of his kindness performed in connection with this heavenly likeness of St. Dominic have, through the negligence of our men, been buried in deep oblivion: for there were only three of them, hindered by various matters; since after prayers and the daily sacrifices, part of them had the care of the building, part gave themselves to seeking alms both for it and for the household affairs and food, so that, almost overwhelmed with other business, they did not set their mind to noting the prodigies which very frequently occurred; or perhaps, if any of them wrote them down for himself, no account of them was taken by the others. At length, whatever finally was the cause of this negligence, it is ascertained that very many and stupendous things happened by the merits of the most holy Dominic and the favor of the Virgin Mother of God in connection with this portentous image, even from the very beginnings of its being brought from heaven; and this the august and ample structure of the church of our men at Soriano clearly demonstrates, which, the former design being rejected, rose in an altogether elegant form. For since our men were destitute of all things, and the money of the whole village would not suffice, it is established from the account book of the fabric that upon the structure alone of that sacred building more than forty thousand gold pieces were spent; which force of gold surely could not have been gathered from any other source than from the lavish hand of pious men who out of religion set out for Soriano to the safeguards of this stupendous icon, and their piety poured out for benefits received.

[928] Also of the ancient prodigies of St. Dominic in connection with this his likeness, a few have persisted into our age by constant memory, overcoming all the envy of the demon; of which nevertheless one of which we indicate two in passing. One is this: a certain high rock overhung, very near the rear wall of the building, from which water continually running down had long since soaked the wall from which the image itself hung, and would most certainly have eaten it away, as it rained through day by day and gradually grew rotten. The Fathers, fearing lest the image itself also should admit the moisture — a most immediate destruction of canvas and painted colors — with prudent (as it seemed) counsel, wishing to provide for it, had placed it in another place. But when they had done this a second and third time, and as often it had returned to its former seat, the Fathers, thinking this had been done by the sacristan, and having handled him the more severely, the vicar or president takes the keys of the church from him, himself places the image in another place, closes the building, to which there should be no access save to himself; himself unlocks it for the morning prayers, enters first of all, and beholds and is astonished that the image has returned to its former and old place, and one indeed appointed by the Mother of God.

[929] is briefly reported. Again at that time it happened, namely ten years after the icon was brought from heaven (besides other collectors of the Soriano prodigies, Brother Charles Myleman in the Flemish Compendium of the same miracles, chapter 5, page 42, hands down that it happened in the year of Christ 1609), that when our men had learned by that miracle that that seat had been divinely given to the image, in order to remove the damage which they feared both to it and to the church, they saw to it that an aqueduct be made between the rock and the church, by which they might turn the waters to the other side. While Stephen Schiavelli of Soriano, a man of great devotion toward St. Dominic, applies himself to this work, he hears a crash, lifts his eyes, sees a huge stone rolling and rushing upon him, and, not able by however swift a flight to forestall the falling of the stone, cries out upon the name and the help of St. Dominic. Dominic was at once present, and was seen to hold back with his left hand that great stone, but with his right to seize Stephen himself and to move him from the place, these words being added to him: Withdraw a little, son, and flee the peril of life to which you have exposed yourself for my sake. He spoke, departed, and Stephen beheld that that mass of stone had fallen upon the place where he himself had before stood.

[930] Finally to that painting of the Saint there devoutly flocks Whatever be the case with the various circumstances of this narration, and the differing chronology of the prodigies, which we could wish confirmed by more ancient monuments, from the unanimous consent of all authors and daily experience it is established that countless men of every condition flock for devotion's sake to that image of Soriano, and that by the intercession of St. Dominic many and evident miracles are performed there, which the praised Choquet in the cited place thus summarily reviews: Besides, although from the very beginning of the sacred image there was always a vast concourse of men to it, yet nothing in particular was set forth in writing about it by our men, as neither about the miracles, up to the ninth year of this century (that is, of Christ 1609), in which Augustine Galamini, now added by Paul V to the number of the Purpled fathers of the Holy Roman Church, then bearing the general prefecture of the Order of Preachers, both went to Soriano and commanded that the several prodigies and things memorable to know be inscribed in records. But of those things which have been committed to memory from that year, it is worth our while here to report a few, or briefly. In that ninth year indeed, by the judgment and reckoning of skilled men, from the XXIX of July up to the Nones of August, there were counted as having come to Soriano for the sake of pious pilgrimage about a hundred thousand men; by others sometimes up to a hundred and thirty thousand. Nor did there come only the poor, country folk, and very many of the lowest common people; but also countless wealthy, patrician, illustrious men, princes and women, and finally men of every state and rank.

[931] a vast multitude of men, even illustrious ones, There came to Soriano for devotion's sake, and reverently to the icon of St. Dominic brought from heaven by the hands of the Virgin Mother of God, the sacred prelates the bishops of Mileto, Nicastro, Catanzaro, Crotone, Strongoli, Oppido, Umbriatico, and others. There came abbots, prelates, canons, and regulars of every institute. Thither as suppliants set out the marquis of Arena, the duke of Nocera, the count of Melissa, the marquis of Grotteria, the prince of Roccella, the marquis of Castelvetere, the princess of Squillace, the duke of Cerisano, the duke Cardinali, the prince of Maida, the marquis of Paola, the prince of Gerace, the marquises of Nicosia and Casabona; of others, though illustrious in blood, either an exact reckoning could not be made, or certainly to write out their names would be labor of no value. We have noted these out of countless numbers, both sacred nobles and princes most illustrious in the glory of their ancestral blood, their own and their forebears', in order to indicate how great is the devotion of each toward this likeness of St. Dominic, and how famous is the pilgrimage of all to it from every side. Further, lately also the most serene Cardinal de' Medici, his health prodigiously recovered from Dominic's hand, being about to discharge the pledge of his vow and to give thanks to his preserver, beheld Soriano.

[932] But it cannot be sufficiently set forth according to its dignity and merit, the greatest ardor of devotion whose piety there with which all, lowest and highest, most earnestly implore the protection of St. Dominic: for many are to be seen creeping from the very threshold of the church to the greater altar and licking the very ground; many fiercely scourging themselves with the hardest whips and pouring forth copious blood; others entering the church with head, shoulders, and breast, bared down to the loins, ingeniously covered with pricking thorns that tear the flesh, and presenting themselves before the sacred image, and

after prayers mingled with tears, laying that wild and prickly garment at the altar. There are to be seen women and girls, even illustrious ones, either cutting off their hair and locks in the church itself, or bringing them thither already cut off, and, as most dear pledges, vowing and offering them to blessed Dominic in place of a votive offering. There are to be seen also prelates and nobles coming barefoot on that sacred pilgrimage for the space of several days. And because from the offerings of the people flocking together from every side both their multitude and their piety can somehow be conjectured beyond what we said before: in the ninth year of this century, from the XXIX of July up to the VII of August, there were counted seven hundred pounds of silk, five hundred torches, twenty-two oxen, horses, and beasts of burden, a hundred and fifty-three sheep and goats, and money to the amount of a thousand ducats. In the following year, in the same space of time, namely on the feast days sacred to St. Dominic the wonder-worker, there were offered in money two thousand four hundred and thirty-seven ducats; besides other things of every kind to be valued at the greatest price: and thus year by year the abundance of gifts grows or lessens, according as one is more fruitful and happier than another.

[933] But since to review one by one the prodigies which God has deigned to perform through St. Dominic is compensated by frequent miracles, and his sacred likeness at Soriano, because they are innumerable and altogether stupendous, is beyond our design: yet it pleases us to indicate a few even in a brief word. From the year of salvation 1609 up to the twentieth of the same century, prodigies of every kind, both splendid and admirable and such as provoke astonishment, were performed in connection with this Soriano likeness of St. Dominic, heaven's favor being poured out: indeed, from the jaws of most immediate death, above the course and powers of nature, twenty-nine were snatched, and twelve were recalled from death itself to life. More thereafter, and not lesser, have continually happened up to this day, and are always occurring. Since, however, we could not obtain an exact account of them, we here pass them over. But what we have given in this whole chapter, Silvestro Frangipane committed to memory in his book about this very image, printed at Florence in the year 1622, whom consult, if you please, as he relates all things more at length in the Italian idiom.

[934] We have two collections of the Soriano miracles, published in Italian under the name of Silvestro Frangipane, of which one appeared at Venice in the year 1630, the other was printed at Messina in the year 1635. which may be read in the vernacular in various writers. But amid so many labors we had no leisure to render that entire work from the Italian tongue into Latin. Wherefore in the memorandum which two years ago I offered to the Reverend Father Prior of the Convent of Antwerp, and which he transmitted to the Most Reverend Master General of the Dominican Order, besides other things I had suppliantly asked in number 2 for the following help, in these words: Concerning the prodigious image of St. Dominic at Soriano we have only what the Reverend Father Hyacinth Choquet briefly wrote. But the illustrious miracles which happened there Silvestro Frangipane published in Italian, and the Reverend Father Jean Doye in French, in two parts, of which the first the Reverend Father Giles van Swieten, the second the Reverend Father Cornelius Janssenboy translated into Flemish. If any of the Reverend Fathers should wish to translate those miracles from the Italian, French, or Flemish idiom, we shall insert them into our Acts, with the translator's name prefixed. But if perhaps this work should seem of too great bulk, there could be rendered into Latin the compendium of both parts which the Reverend Father Charles Myleman published in print in Flemish at Ghent in the year 1650. Then many things were promised us; but beyond the promise we have hitherto received none of these. Let no one therefore ascribe to our negligence that omission of the miracles, since, contrary to expectation destitute of that aid, with the printers now pressing, we are compelled to pass them over. But this defect will somehow be supplied by a notable prodigy of the same place, which we found published in Latin among our papers, and which we shall insert in the following paragraph.

* In Greek "ergodioktes" is a superintendent of work

* read "to summon."

§ LII. The Saint's posthumous glory from innumerable miracles.

Besides innumerable benefits, Certainly innumerable are the benefits which St. Dominic has conferred upon his clients, and which are celebrated in the tongues of nearly all nations. I would gladly, after this commentary, to the Saint's glory have published also those things which have been written in the vernacular in various parts of Europe, if satisfaction had been given to my desire, which in the aforesaid memorandum offered to the Reverend Father Prior of Antwerp I had indicated in number 4 in these words: Finally, if any new miracles have occurred which St. Antoninus, Flaminius, and Malvenda have not mentioned, let the Reverend Fathers deign to collect them in Latin, that they may be inserted into the Acts of St. Dominic. If the Reverend Fathers know of other things pertaining to the elucidation of the Life of St. Dominic which lie hidden from us, let them not grudge to furnish them to us. But since I have obtained nothing, I shall subjoin to this commentary and to the Acts of St. Dominic only those miracles which I have found written in Latin in various authors.

[936] which St. Dominic has everywhere conferred upon his clients, I do not know at what time it happened, or on what testimonies it rests, that miracle which I have not found among the ancient writers, and which nevertheless John Garzo in the Acts of St. Dominic, in Leander Alberti, folio 22, asseveratingly narrates in these words: A certain gilded knight of Apulia held Dominic in the highest honors. Those who were attached to the Religion of the Preachers, if they turned aside to his town, he received humanely and kindly. He had in his chamber, not far from his bed, a small panel adorned with the figure of Dominic. It chanced that the house in which he lived fell in: he and his whole household were absent, except one son left in the chamber. There was a concourse of men to behold the matter, judging that the knight together with his household had perished. The stones being removed, the boy was found unharmed, and the panel uncorrupted and stained with no marks. He was asked whether he had been struck with any fear. With none, said he, because Dominic had protected him. Would that Garzo had distinctly expressed the place, time, and witnesses of this miracle!

[937] For the rest, in this place I shall report a singular prodigy which happened in the month of March of the year 1638 at Soriano, in the month of March of the year 1638 and which the Reverend Father Hyacinth Choquet published in Latin at Antwerp in the year 1639 on a broadsheet. Besides some things preceding and following, which in this place do not pertain to our purpose, that elegant writer narrates the history itself in this manner: Both Calabrias — namely that which looks toward the Tyrrhenian sea, called the hither and upper, and that which begins from the Ionian, called the farther and lower — the last and most delightful region of Italy, most flourishing in all abundance of things, which after others Gabriele Barrio accurately describes in five books, in the past year, on the sixth of the Calends of April, a horrendous earthquake infested and further in a pitiable manner made desolate, which shook cities and other places with a grievous downfall of ruins, and swallowed some entire. By the immortal God, what tears were there not then of the whole people in that common destruction! Before the eyes of those whom the calamity had not crushed nothing else appeared but the vast fear of most certain death, and trembling at its now impending onset. Immense chasms of the earth gaped open in more than one place; everywhere there met one the corpses of their own, whether parents or friends and fellow townsmen. Of all there was the one lamenting voice of those crying upon God's mercy. Wherever they turned their foot, they feared and encountered a most immediate peril of life. Nor was there even one shadow of refuge or hope of safety: for what could there be, the Deity being angered and armed for the punishment of crimes, and the earth conspiring for their destruction, which seemed to be unwilling any longer to bear crimes and the enemies of God given over to them, but to banish them into hell?

[938] Surely if flames too had at the same time raged fiercely against wretched Calabria, in the horrendous earthquakes, it could have seemed to anyone that last day of the world, of which that earthquake was truly a forerunner and image. For what else was the overthrow of so many cities, the extinction of so many lands, the destruction of so many men? So far indeed as we could gather from a certain report of this matter, published at Rome from the press of Ludovico Grignani, which alone we have seen printed, by that horrendous earthquake nine or ten populous towns were either utterly shaken down or gravely shaken, and among them Cosenza, metropolis of upper Calabria, and Catanzaro of the lower; Messina, a city indeed famous of Sicily, but then too near to Calabria; Mileto, whose bishop by the merits of blessed Dominic — whose help he had ardently demanded, a vow having also been conceived — was opportunely rescued from the common peril. Nicastro, a most delightful and populous city, utterly overthrown, drew with it into ruin three thousand men and the prince of Castiglione. Thirty-three villages also were either buried by the earth or shattered by its roaring. There perished fifteen thousand men of every age and state, a great part of whom, buried under the ruins, were thence heard crying upon God's mercy and the help of men with such wailing that it would have compelled even the stones to lament.

[939] To Nicastro, which we have already mentioned, the river Amato flows: which afflicted Calabria, its waters for several days took on the color of blood, breathing a sulphurous smell. Besides, we have seen a fragment of a certain letter which mentioned also another earthquake in the same Calabria, later than that one; and it recorded that by this earlier one more men were destroyed, more towns and places crushed or afflicted. We shall readily give credit to that and to other narrations later than that Roman one of Grignani, because the writer of the Roman one says that greater certainty is to be awaited with the progress of time, so that we are plainly persuaded that that Roman report of Grignani was committed to the press when the matter was not yet sufficiently ascertained. And indeed, although the number of men and of cities and places overthrown or shaken, which we here set down, sufficiently demonstrates the atrocity of that earthquake and the greatness of the miracle which we subjoin, yet a greater abundance of disasters and deaths would exaggerate both the more. However that may be, altogether pitiable and to be deplored with eternal tears is that calamity of flourishing Calabria, and the most disastrous destruction of so many men by the maw of the earth gaping and devouring. But if by night, as by day, the earth had raged, assuredly the evil would have been far worse; but heaven was more kindly, and God, who can never not be merciful, and who, when he has been angered, remembers mercy (especially where Mary, the helper of the afflicted, sets her breasts against the thunderbolt), not only set a limit to the raging earth, but also willed that in so great an inundation of evils and in an unwonted and more perilous shipwreck blessed Dominic should be a favoring guiding star, and his heavenly icon — a star shown by the hand of the Virgin Mother of God to Soriano, which then shone with new light.

[940] The Saint, to the people of Soriano imploring his help Therefore, when the earth roared horrendously, from wherever it could a very great throng of men ran to that its asylum, which alone seemed to remain. The Prior of our monastery ordered the sacred icon to be publicly uncovered, the silver door with which it is closed being unlocked. The eyes of all were bathed in tears, and, the people being terrified and dismayed by the wailing, the confusion of all was no less

and disorder than from the earthquake itself. The face of blessed Dominic in the image — who was the one hope of the afflicted — appeared to all grim, sadder, and sterner; which thing did not shake off the fear of death, but, as a dire omen of a Deity not yet appeased, and of a Patron not assenting to the prayers to whom they were having recourse, increased it the more. There was added moment by moment the report that other and other places had been seized by the same earthquake, and either overthrown or shaken. On the next day, which was the XXVIII of March, and by the rite of the Church Palm Sunday, our men instituted a public supplication, and went forth barefoot and sprinkled with ashes; whom there followed behind men of every age, sex, and condition, weeping together, and with one mouth calling upon their protector Dominic to change that ill-omened face of things into a more serene and kindly one. The prayers were continued, and that whole day was spent in great works of piety, since from sunrise there had been publicly exposed to the devotion of the faithful the most august Sacrament of the Eucharist, and, after God, the statue of the Virgin Mother of God of the Rosary, crowned with the roses of graces.

[941] consoled by the foregoing splendor of his image, Compline being finished toward evening, when our men had saluted God and his most loving Mother, the most holy Mary, by the daily and singular rite of their Institute, through the canticle "Salve Regina" of Hermann the Lame, famous and noble throughout the whole Church, and were returning to the hall, the said prefect of the monastery cast his eyes hastily upon the icon of the holy Father, and beheld in it a glowing star: which when he then, and when he was in the hall, was marveling at in the deepest silence, behold, there were heard the voices of the people congratulating themselves, exulting with delight and excessive joy at the unwonted thing, and crying out that they beheld not one star in that sacred image, but that several favoring stars shone upon them. At these cries the Prior makes his way into the midst of the people and the view of the sacred image, and marvels that what the whole throng of men was crying out is found true by himself: for by all there were conspicuously seen three stars really shining on the breast of the holy father Dominic, and one on each of his knees, and his countenance more serene and joyful — namely, by the nod of God he shows how greatly he loves his Soriano, fires having been sent from heaven upon that his icon, triumphing over the fury of the element — he who once as a mortal, and now as one nearest to God, burns for the salvation of men. He sent them also upon his knees, with which he, a most powerful pleader, prayed away destruction from Soriano; toward which he saw his clients stretch out suppliant hands and venerate them as altars, not without compassion. For indeed, even by the observation of the nations, there is a certain religious quality in a man's knees, as Pliny among others testifies in book 11, chapter 45; and that the seat of love is the heart, whose flame then burst forth in more than one place on Dominic's breast, no one is ignorant.

[942] There was then in our monastery a certain man of great name and most approved credit (a secular, or a great man of another Order, which many saw glowing with stars, who for the sake of a vow was staying for a time where he was, we altogether judge, since the man's quality is not written out in the letters sent to our General; and if he had been one of ours, he would then especially have kept his station with the others at Compline and at the meditation which immediately follows): he, at such great voices of all and festive acclamations, came down into the church, and, scarcely believing his own eyes, in order to remove every cloud of doubt, willed that all the doors and windows of the church be shut, and all torches, candles, and lamps be extinguished. Then, carefully surveying it round again and again on this side and that from every quarter, he at length found that that splendor was not from the sun, not from torches or candles, but that it really shone from those prodigious stars, by a very great portent, for the safety of Calabria and especially of Soriano. For, every entrance of outward light being closed off, and the doors of the silver door (within which the prodigious icon is kept) being also barred, yet the rays found chinks through which the hidden star might flash out. That great man indeed by his sagacity cut off at the very root the impudence of the ill-disposed and of the heretics, and made plain what ravings might occur, and at length asserted entire credit for so great a prodigy in the sacred icon. But the people, ardent and impatient of delay, not bearing that the star of their safety fallen from heaven, and their protector Dominic radiant with it, should be clouded over, complain of an eclipse, and with loud voices demand and obtain the sight of their most certain guiding star.

[943] On the next day, when the glory of such great prodigies had spread abroad, and wondrously saved them from imminent ruin, there was a much greater throng of men, and equal were the vows of all praying away so many evils from themselves and their own; and therefore all that day the icon of St. Dominic, noble with an unwonted star, lay open conspicuous to all. Several stars even then shone in it, to the astonishment and applause of all, and here and there a certain heavenly light not before beheld. Then for several days only a single star remained on Dominic's breast, which it was not given to everyone to behold; those alone saw it whose integrity of life was greater, whose soul was purer from the filth of sin; it was seen by the age of infants and boys, pleasing to heaven and not yet ripe for crime: that he too had seen it the illustrious Count of Soriano publicly confessed among others, and gave letters attesting it to posterity for eternal credit. For indeed it will be ascertained by everyone that all that not only brightness and praise of good things, but even the greatest glory, of such great prodigies in the icon of St. Dominic signified nothing else than that he is the singular pillar and protector of the Soriano zealously chosen by him; and that he makes the clemency of the Deity favorable to it, the help of the almighty Mary the Mother of God being of course besought: for even now in the eternal triumphs of glory Dominic undertakes nothing concerning mortals which he has not first settled with his Mother and the Mother of his Order, upon whose breast indeed he hangs, and which she has not pledged her help to. Hence, when a great part of Calabria in that dire motion of the earth either gaped open or was horrendously shaken, that common calamity would have laid Soriano low also; and further it brought threats and terrified: but by the protection of Mary and Dominic it only played a prelude to a destruction otherwise to come, without harm to anyone.

[944] which miracle drew very many pilgrims thither, I do not know what building our men were undertaking: the head of the monastery on the day before that Palm Sunday, the care of surveying the work pressing him, had climbed a certain framework of beams, and was standing over an arch or vault not yet closed, when the beams violently collided with each other and the marbles were shaken, just as when trees, most like to those about to fall, are more sharply stirred by a raging wind. At which time another of our men, a man of singular virtue, who happened to be standing near below, quietly admonishes the prefect of the monastery, anxious both for himself and for the building, that he had beheld two women of excellent body and of extraordinary appearance above the human, supporting the mass of the structure with their hands. No one indeed will deny that one of those heroines was the most august Mary, or, by her command, Magdalene and Catherine of Alexandria, most famous in heaven and in the whole world, who once were the companions of the Mother of God as she brought the heavenly icon. Further, when report announced these so great prodigies through both Calabrias and the neighboring provinces, an outpouring throng of men of every sex, age, and condition for more than a whole month ran in rivalry on sacred pilgrimage to Soriano — such as August sees every year, whose beginning is sacred to that same blessed Dominic. There ran, I say, countless numbers, and they gave altogether unwonted and admirable proofs both of piety and of penitence. Princes and nobles went before and paved the way; and above all shone the singular devotion of the bishop of Mileto, who, accompanied by the college of Canons and the rest of the Clergy, and by a most numerous multitude of men, was barefoot for the whole journey, and clothed in sackcloth, with the greatest example of virtue and gratitude. The whole substance of this narration is confirmed from the letter which the Reverend Father Francesco Castelvetere, then Prior of Soriano and an eyewitness, gave to the most reverend Master General of the whole Order, and which may be read in French in John of St. Mary in the Acts of St. Dominic, book 4, in the last chapter.

[945] and propagated the cult of the same Saint. Finally Choquet in the same place briefly sets forth how on account of this benefit veneration toward St. Dominic grew, and thus in a few words indicates that increase of public cult: That report also brought it about, and the ascertained and examined truth of the matter, that very many gave themselves and their goods into the perpetual clientship of St. Dominic; and chiefly that all the princes, nobles, and cities of the kingdom of Naples most ardently sought, legates having been sent to Urban VIII, that the same St. Dominic, chosen by them with the greatest consent as patron and protector of the whole kingdom, be declared, established, and confirmed by the oracle of the Apostolic See. This clientship of the kingdom of Naples the Reverend Father Paolo Caracciolo of the Order of Preachers celebrated in an Italian work entitled "The Triumph of St. Dominic," which, adorned with various poems and other literary ornaments, he published at Naples in the year 1644.

[945] and propagated the cult of the same Saint. Finally Choquet in the same place briefly sets forth how on account of this benefit veneration toward St. Dominic grew, and thus in a few words indicates that increase of public cult: That also brought it about

that report, and the truth of the matter being seen and explored, that very many gave themselves and their goods into the perpetual patronage of St. Dominic; and above all that all the princes, nobles, and cities of the kingdom of Naples, having by the greatest consent chosen the same St. Dominic as patron and protector of the whole kingdom, sought most ardently, by legates sent to Urban VIII, that he be declared, established, and confirmed such by the oracle of the Apostolic See. This patronage of the kingdom of Naples the Rev. Fr. Paul Caracciolo of the Order of Preachers celebrated in an Italian work entitled The Triumph of St. Dominic, which, adorned with various poems and other literary ornaments, he published at Naples in the year 1644.

[946] To this prodigy of Soriano I subjoin the miracle of Antwerp, A girl at Antwerp because it in some way regards the Soriano image of St. Dominic, inasmuch as a girl of Antwerp, anointed there with the oil of the lamp of Soriano, at once recovered from her illness. That happened at Antwerp about the end of the year 1632, and in a broadsheet which was printed there in the following year with the approbation of the bishop it is related in this manner: Catharina Praet, a girl eight years old, born at Antwerp, had come to such a degree of sickness, a humor continually flowing down from her brain, and now grown inveterate for almost five weeks, that for the space of ten days she could in no way stand upon her feet; which the most distinguished lord Lazarus Marquis, sworn and ordinary doctor of medicine of the city of Antwerp, faithfully attested after visits frequent enough. On the XXIII day of December, at the sixth hour in the morning, Maria Tengieters, a woman devoted to God and a kinswoman of the aforesaid girl, carried her in her own arms, most wretchedly afflicted as she was, to the sacred church of St. Paul of the Order of Preachers at Antwerp, piously trusting that she would be helped by the sacred prayers of the holy father Dominic.

[947] Wherefore she earnestly asks the Rev. Fr. Jacob de Brouwer, anointed with the oil of the lamp of Soriano, master of sacred theology and Prior of that same Convent, to impart to her kinswoman a votive blessing, and to anoint her with the oil from the lamp of the prodigious image of the holy Father Dominic at Soriano. The reverend father Prior, who was taking part in the hourly prayers (which they call Prime), bids her wait until an end be put to the canonical Office. It is put; and the girl is carried to the sacristy; she is placed upon a footstool, and prayers sacred to the blessed Virgin Mary and to the holy father Dominic are recited by the reverend father Prior; the oil is applied to her forehead together with the blessing; she is carried from the sacristy to the church, to hear the reverend father Prior's Mass. She hears it; she is carried home again in Maria's arms; she is placed in her accustomed seat; and thus she says to her kinswoman: Could not God, if He willed, heal in an instant the failure of my legs? He could, said she. And behold, she feels something new in her leg, in her feet; she attempts a step, and — wonderful to say — of her own accord she rises, stands firmly, and walks happily. On the same day, in the morning at the eighth hour, accompanied by her kinswoman, she returns to St. Paul's, approaches the reverend father Prior, who was administering the Sacrament of penance to his flock, as he is wont, and, full of thanksgiving, with many standing by and equally marveling, she magnifies the unwonted benefit. This favor, she says, is to me from St. Dominic; to him I owe this health, and the soundness of my feet. Having asked and obtained a blessing, she returns home on foot, exulting, without anyone's support.

[948] The reverend father Prior, struck by the novelty of the thing, was at once restored to health, approaches her, intending to examine the whole course of the matter exactly; but (what a gift of God) the girl, safe and sound, with Maria as companion, meets him as he visits, and to him and to the others running about on every side she extols, with what piety she can, the divine help and the aiding hand of the holy father Dominic. At the first hour after midday the Rev. Fr. Prior asks the most distinguished and most experienced doctor of medicine, Lord Lazarus, to go to the girl, to discern maturely, to show himself judge and arbiter, and candidly to declare what the matter is, and to what it is to be ascribed, whether to nature or to the Author of nature. All things and each were inspected: and on the fifth day he clearly testified with his own hand that so sudden a cure was to be referred not to man, but to God alone and to His Saints. Then indeed there follows in the same place the approbation of the bishop of Antwerp, which runs thus: We, John Malderus, bishop of Antwerp, having examined and weighed the above-mentioned attestations, and having heard thereupon the judgment of theologians and pious men, declare by these presents concerning the healing of the above-named Catharina Praet, that it seems to us to have been miraculously obtained by the prayers and merits of St. Dominic. Given at Antwerp, the XII of January, in the year of the Lord MDCXXXIII.

[949] and another there was freed from an inveterate cancer, In the year of Christ 1635 there happened in the same city another miracle, when by the intercession of St. Dominic a certain daughter, by name Catharina Vande Vaert, was prodigiously freed from an inveterate cancer, as is established from the approbation of the most illustrious and most reverend Lord Gaspar Nemius, bishop of Antwerp, which the Rev. Fr. John Doye translated into French and subjoined to the miracles of Soriano at page 293. Perhaps this authentic testimony of the bishop of Antwerp and the Latin narration of this miracle are preserved in the archive of the Preachers of Antwerp, as one may conjecture from the Dominican Belgium, which the Rev. Fr. Bernard de Jonghe published at Brussels in the year 1719, where at page 205 and the following, after the wonderful healing of Catharina Praet, he thus makes mention of this latter miracle: Of another miracle obtained by the same devotion toward St. Dominic mention is made by the Auctarium or Register of the resolutions of the Fathers of the council of this Convent (namely of Antwerp, of which he there treats), in whose record he asserts that the following is read: On the XXV day of August MDCXXXV it was concluded that on the next Sunday, the first of September, there should be promulgated the miracle wrought in the person of Catharina Vande Vaert, miraculously healed by the anointing of the oil of the lamp of St. Dominic at Soriano; which Catharina was suddenly healed of a cancer in the breast, which she had had for seventeen years, and of other most grievous diseases.

[950] to which we shall add other miracles after this Commentary. Moreover the praised John Doye in the aforesaid Work, at page 290 and following, relates in French a miracle which occurred in the year 1634 at Valenciennes in Belgium, and which was approved by public letters by the most illustrious and most reverend Lord Francis Vander Burch, archbishop of Cambrai. But these and other wonderful benefits of St. Dominic, which are written in the vernacular, I have been compelled to omit for the reason stated above. Nevertheless this omission will be sufficiently compensated by the several prodigies of the same Saint which I have found set down in Latin in Theodoric of Apolda and other authors, and which, collected by Echard and Flaminio, I shall afterward subjoin to his Acts. Now I put an end to this Commentary of mine, through whose course I have judged, after our manner, that true things are to be separated from false, and certain from ambiguous. But if that critical judgment has not always succeeded with me according to my wish, and if beyond my intention I have now and then strayed from the truth, I do not refuse to be corrected, being ready easily to yield to the genuine testimonies of ancient authors, or to the more probable arguments of anyone whatever. Meanwhile let the learned reader, fortified by this preliminary discussion of the deeds, now peruse the ancient Acts of St. Dominic, which I shall briefly illustrate with the accustomed notes after the several chapters.

LIFE

By the author Blessed Jordan, a contemporary of the Order of Preachers, and second Master General of the same Order.

From an ancient parchment Ms. of Osma, which is preserved in a codex of our Museum, marked ✠ Ms. 162, and it has been collated with the edition of Echard.

Dominic, confessor, at Bologna (St.)

BHL Number: 2210

FROM THE MS.

PROLOGUE.

To the sons of grace, and coheirs of glory, all the Brethren of the Order of Preachers, Jordan ^a, their useless servant, [The blessed author gives the reason why he commits to writing the Acts of St. Dominic] greeting, and gladness in following after their holy profession. Since very many of the Brethren have besought, and desire to know, in what manner this Order of Preachers, through which the divine dispensation has provided for the perils of these last times, took the beginning of its institution, and what sort of men also the Brethren of our primitive Order were, or in what manner they were multiplied in number and strengthened through grace, it has long since been investigated and ascertained by those same Brethren who were present at the new beginnings, and who saw and heard the venerable servant of Christ, blessed Dominic, the first master and Brother in the institution* of this Religion, who, living in this flesh among sinners, conversed with God and the angels in a pious mind, a guardian of the precepts, an emulator of the counsels, and out of all that he knew and could, serving his eternal Creator, and shining in the foul darkness of this world by a blameless life and by the celibacy of a most holy manner of life.

[2] Therefore it seemed good to me, who have attained all these things in order, and sets down in writing the first beginnings of the Order of Preachers. who, although I was not altogether among the first, yet lived among the first, and saw blessed Dominic himself well enough not only outside the Order ^b, but while existing in the Order, and knew him familiarly, inasmuch as I made my confession to him, and at his will received the office of the diaconate, and who also four years after the first institution of the Order assumed this habit; it seemed good to me, therefore, to set down in writing those things which I personally saw and heard, and partly came to know by the report of true Brethren, concerning the beginnings of the Order, concerning the life and miracles of the blessed man, our father Dominic, and concerning certain other Brethren also, according as occasion of such things offered itself to my memory, lest the sons who shall be born and shall arise be ignorant of the first beginnings of this Order, and then desire in vain to know them, when, by the too great passage of time, no one can be found who is able to relate anything certain concerning those same beginnings. Therefore, most beloved in Christ, receive devoutly these things which will follow, which have been in whatever fashion gathered for your consolation and edification, and glow with emulation of the first charity of our Brethren ^c.

ANNOTATA.

* elsewhere: institutor

* elsewhere: holy master

* elsewhere: the primitive Brethren

CHAPTER I.

The Saint's fatherland, boyhood, literary studies, virtues, dignity in the Order of Regular Canons, journeys, and first contests with the Albigensian heretics.

In the regions of the Spains there was a man of venerable life, When Diego, a pious man, presided over the church of Osma, Diego ^a by name, bishop of the church of Osma, whom the knowledge of sacred Letters, and, according to the world, a noble birth*, but still more a remarkable uprightness of manners, adorned: his love had so wholly clung to God that, casting himself away and seeking only the things that are Jesus Christ's, he turned his mind and intention with the utmost effort to this, how, being made a lender at interest of many souls, he might bring back to his Lord the talent entrusted to him with manifold usury. He was busied, therefore, wherever he could search them out, to draw to himself, by what means he was able, men praiseworthy in the uprightness of their life and in their manners, and to place them, by conferring benefices, in the church over which he presided; but those of his subjects,

whose will was slothful ^b toward holiness, more inclined to the world, he persuaded by words and invited by examples to assume the form of a more praiseworthy and more religious life. Hence it came about that he gave his effort to persuading his own Canons, by frequent admonitions and unwearied exhortation, that they should consent to the observance of the canonical Religion under the rule of blessed Augustine; and he did this very thing with such solicitude that he bent their minds (although he had some of them as gainsayers) to his desire.

[4] St. Dominic gave his effort to studies at Palencia, In his times there was a certain youth, by name Dominic, in the same diocese, sprung from the village which is called Caleruega, ^c, whom from his boyish years the diligence of his parents, but especially of a certain archpriest his uncle, nourished. Him they caused first to be trained in ecclesiastical usage, so that he whom God had foreseen would be for Him a vessel of election might, even in that boyish age still, exhibit like a fresh earthen jar the odor of holiness (from which he would not afterward be changed). But afterward, sent to Palencia, that he might be instructed there in the liberal sciences, the study of which flourished there at that time; after he had learned them, as it seemed to him, well enough, leaving those studies, as being those in which he feared to spend the straits of this present time less fruitfully, he flew to the study of theology, and began vehemently to pant after the divine eloquences, as being sweeter than honey to his mouth.

[5] And so in those sacred studies he spent four years, through which he panted so incessantly and so avidly after drinking in the streamlets of the sacred Scriptures that, from his indefatigability in learning, he passed nights almost sleepless, and retained with tenacious memory the truth which was borne in upon his ears, laid up in the deep bosom of his mind. For those things which he grasped by the readiness of his talent he watered with pious affections, and from these there germinated works of salvation. Blessed indeed in this, according to the sentence of the Truth speaking in the Gospel: Blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it. For since the keeping of the divine word is twofold — one by which we retain in memory the things we receive by the ear; the other by which we also consign to effect and display in work that very thing which we have heard: which kind of keeping is the more commendable, let no one indeed doubt, just as a grain of wheat is better preserved when committed to the earth than when laid up in a chest. In neither was this happy Servant of God lacking, whose memory, like a certain storehouse of God, poured forth from the one into the other more abundantly, and outwardly his manners and works most manifestly cried aloud what lay hidden and stored in his sacred breast. For this reason, therefore, because he embraced the commandments of the Lord with so fervid an affection, receiving the voice of the Bridegroom with so pious an applause of good will, God increased for him the grace of the sciences, so that he was rendered fit not only for the drink of milk, but also penetrated the secret of difficult questions with the humble understanding of his heart, and swallowed the scrutiny of more solid food with a quite sufficient facility.

[6] He was from his very cradle of a very good disposition, and his remarkable infancy already heralded something great, and among his other virtues which was awaited as to come in a riper age. He did not mingle himself with those at play, nor did he show himself a partaker with those who walk in levity; but after the manner of the peaceable Jacob he shunned the wandering excursions of Esau, not leaving the bosom of mother church and the domestic tabernacles of holy quiet. You would have beheld at once a youth and an old man, since both the fewness of his days bespoke infancy, and the very maturity of his manner of life and the constancy of his morals proclaimed him already an old man. He spurned the enticements of the wanton world, walking in the immaculate way; he preserved the glory of his virginity unblemished even to the end for the Lord who is the lover of incorruption.

[He thought then to withdraw his flesh from wine; whence also he did not drink wine for ten years.] But already in that youthful age of his, God, foreknowing things to come, deigned in some measure to show that something remarkable was hoped to come forth from the Boy. Finally he was shown to his mother in a vision as having a moon* on his forehead; by which assuredly it was prefigured that he would one day be given for a light to enlighten the nations, those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, as the outcome of the matter afterward proved.

[7] At the same time, while he continued studying at Palencia, there arose a mighty famine through almost the whole of Spain ^d; by a remarkable example he exercises mercy toward the poor. when behold, moved by the necessity of the poor, and glowing within himself with the affection of compassion, he resolved by one work at once to obey the Lord's counsels and to repair, as far as he could, the destitution of the dying needy. And so, selling the books which he possessed as exceedingly necessary to himself together with all his furniture, and instituting a certain almsgiving, he dispersed, he gave to the poor: the example of which piety so provoked the minds of other theologians and masters that, esteeming their own sparing sluggishness by the young man's liberality, they abounded thenceforward in more generous alms.

[8] Afterward, having embraced the institute of the Regular Canons, While the Man of God was thus disposing such ascents in his heart, going forward from virtue to virtue, and, made daily better than himself, seeming wonderful in the eyes of all, among whom he shone red like the morning star in the midst of a cloud by the innocence of his life, his fame came to the hearing of the bishop of Osma; who, having diligently inquired into the truth about him, summoned him and made him a Regular Canon in his church. He straightway flashed forth among his fellow-canons like a singular radiance, lowest in humility of heart, foremost in holiness, made to all an odor of life unto life, and as it were frankincense giving fragrance in the days of summer.

[9] he is elected Subprior by them, The Brethren marvel at so swift and unlooked-for a summit of Religion; they appoint him Subprior, so that, set upon a more eminent watchtower, he might shine before the gaze of all and invite all by his examples. But he, like a sprouting olive and a cypress lifting itself into the height, wore the church day and night, gave himself to prayer without intermission, and, redeeming for himself the leisures of contemplation, scarcely appeared outside the enclosure of the monastery. God had bestowed on him a singular grace of weeping for sinners, for the wretched, for the afflicted; whose calamities, bearing them in the inmost sanctuary of compassion, he boiled forth outwardly through the outlets of his eyes as an affection glowing within.

[10] and shows a great study of prayer, of the salvation of souls, It was a most frequent custom with him to pass the night in prayers, and, the door being shut, to pray to his Father. Sometimes also amid his prayers he was wont to send forth roarings and cries from the groaning of his heart; nor could he contain himself but that, bursting forth, he was plainly heard from afar. Moreover there was to him a frequent and special petition to God, that He would deign to bestow on him a true charity, and one efficacious for curing and procuring the salvation of men, judging that he would then first be truly a member of Christ when he should spend himself wholly, according to his strength, for the gaining of souls, just as the Savior of men, the Lord Jesus Christ, offered Himself wholly for our salvation.

[11] and of sacred reading. A certain book which is entitled the CONFERENCES OF THE FATHERS ^e, treating of the vices and of every matter of spiritual perfection — this book, I say, reading and loving, he studied to search out in it the paths of salvation and to imitate the same with the whole strength of his mind. This book advanced him, grace assisting, to an arduous purity of conscience, to much light of contemplation, to a great summit of perfection. But while in this manner he was cherished by the embraces of the comely Rachel, Leah, not enduring it, began to assail him, that by his entering in to her she might, made fruitful with manifold offspring, lull to sleep the reproach of her bleared eyes.

[12] Bishop Diego takes St. Dominic as companion It happened, therefore, at that time that Alfonso, king of Castile, desired a marriage between his son Ferdinand and a certain noblewoman of the Marches ^f. For which cause he approached the aforesaid bishop of Osma, requesting that he be made procurator of this business. The bishop acquiesced in the royal requests, and soon, an honorable company being joined to him according to the requirement of his holiness, he brought with him the man of God Dominic, the aforementioned Subprior of his church, and, setting out on the journey, arrived as far as Toulouse: whose land, when he had discovered that its inhabitants had long been heretics, he began to be troubled with much compassion over so innumerable souls miserably deluded. But on that very night on which they lodged in the aforesaid city, that Subprior, dealing strongly and fervently with the heretic host of the house by much disputation and persuasion, since the heretic could not resist the wisdom and the spirit which spoke, brought him back to the faith, the Spirit of God mediating.

[13] Afterward, departing thence and coming, at the cost of many labors, to the appointed place on a certain embassy commanded by Alfonso, king of Castile, where the maiden was, having set forth the cause of their journey and obtained consent, they hastened at once to return to the king; to whom the bishop announced the matter prosperously accomplished and the maiden's answer or consent. The king therefore again led [him], to be sent back with the honor of a greater array, so that he might with honor bring the maiden to be joined to his son; and he, undertaking again the laborious journey, when he had come to the Marches, found the maiden in the meantime dead, God more healthfully disposing the cause of his journey, that through the occasion of the same way there might be brought about* the beginning of far more excellent nuptials between God and souls throughout the universal Church, to be recalled in manifold ways from the diverse errors of sinners to the union of eternal salvation, as the outcome of what followed proves.

[14] Therefore the bishop, having sent the message back to the king, himself with his Clerics, opportunity being got, hastened to go to the Roman court. [which being accomplished, he thinks of giving himself wholly to the conversion of unbelievers;] But coming to the lord Innocent ^g, the supreme Pontiff, he urgently sought, if it could be done, the favor of resignation, alleging his own manifold insufficiency and the immense dignity of the office beyond his strength. He also revealed to the supreme Pontiff that it was the purpose of his heart to bestow his effort, according to his strength, upon the conversion of the Saracens ^h, if he would deign to admit his resignation. The Pope did not acquiesce in the instance of the petitioner; but neither would he even grant him, though he asked it, or enjoin upon him unto the remission of sins, that, remaining bishop, he should enter the territories of the Saracens to preach — by a secret counsel assuredly, or at the nod of God, who had provided the labors of so great a man for the abundant fruit of another salvation.

[15] Returning, therefore, he visited Cîteaux on the way, where, having beheld the manner of life of many servants of God, but, God so disposing, he finds assailants of the Albigensian heretics, and allured by the loftiness of the Religion, having there assumed the monastic habit, and having brought with him some monks by whose instruction he might learn the form of that manner of life, he was hastening to return into Spain, not yet knowing what obstacle to his haste he was, God procuring it, to have upon the way: for at that time the lord Pope Innocent had directed twelve abbots of the Cistercian Order with one legate against the heretics of the Albigenses* ⁱ to preach the faith; who, having celebrated a council with the archbishops and bishops and other prelates of that land, were deliberating what might be the fitter way for more fruitfully carrying out that for which they had been sent.

[16] Meanwhile, while they were thus taking counsel with one another, it happened and he suggests to them the best counsel, that the aforementioned bishop of Osma was making his journey through Montpellier ^k, where the council was being held. Him therefore, as he came, they receive with honor, they seek counsel, knowing the man to be holy, mature, and just, and a zealot for the faith. He, as he was a man of circumspection and skilled

in the ways of God, began to inquire concerning the rite and manners of the heretics, and to learn the manner by which they were accustomed to allure others to the side of their perfidy by persuasions and preachings and by examples of feigned holiness. And seeing on the other side the great array of those who had been sent, in expenses, horses, and garments, he said: Not thus, Brethren, not thus do I judge that you should proceed. It seems to me impossible that those men should be brought back to the faith by words alone, who rather rely upon examples.

[17] for the converting of these heretics, Behold, while the heretics put forward a show of piety, while they counterfeit examples of evangelical frugality and austerity, they persuade the simple of their ways. Wherefore, if you come to show the contrary, you will build up little, you will perhaps destroy, and they will by no means acquiesce. Drive out nail with nail; put feigned sanctity to flight with true religion, because the pride of pseudo-apostles must be convicted by evident humility. Thus Paul is compelled to become foolish in enumerating his own true virtues, in bringing forward his austerities and perils, that he might refute the swelling of those who boasted themselves of the merit of their life. They say to him: What counsel, then, do you give, good father? What you shall see me do, said he, do you also.

[18] which by the example of that bishop Soon therefore, the Holy Spirit leaping upon him, he called his own men, and sent them back to Osma ^l with the horses and furnishings and the various array which he had brought with him, retaining a few clerics in his company. And he said that his purpose in this was to make a stay in that land for the cause of propagating the faith. He also detained with him the aforesaid Dominic the Subprior, whom he greatly esteemed, embracing him with a great affection of charity. This is Dominic, the first founder and Brother of the Order of Preachers, who from that time onward began to be called, not Subprior, but Brother Dominic; and truly Dominic, guarded by the Lord, innocent of sin; truly Dominic, keeping with every virtue the will of the Lord.

[19] the rest follow, and strenuously contend against the heretics, The abbots, therefore, who had been sent, having heard counsel of this kind and being animated by the example, agreed themselves also to undertake the like, each sending back to his own place the things which they had brought with them, retaining for themselves only the books necessary for the Hours, and for study, and for disputation when it should be opportune; and having the aforesaid bishop over them as their superior and as it were the head of the whole business, on foot and without expenses, in voluntary poverty, they began to announce the faith. When the heretics saw this, they too on the other side began to preach more strongly. And it came about that at Pamiers and at Lavaur, and also at Montréal and Fanjeaux ^m, disputations were frequently held before appointed judges, to which there came together on set days magnates and knights, women, and peoples, wishing to be present at the debate of the faith.

[20] whom St. Dominic confounds by a miracle. But it happened that at Fanjeaux a certain famous disputation was appointed, to which a very great multitude both of the faithful and of the unbelieving were summoned. Very many drew up their tracts in common, containing reasons and authorities for the confirmation of the faith, among which, all being inspected, the tract of the blessed man Dominic was commended above the rest and commonly approved, so that it should be presented, together with the tract of the heretics, which they too had drawn up for themselves, to any of the arbiters chosen by the consent of the parties for the determining of a sentence; and whichever party's tract the arbiters should judge the more reasonable, that party's faith should be held the more excellent. And when, after much debate of words, the arbiters could not come to one side or the other, at length a counsel occurred to them, that they should cast both tracts into the flames; and if it should happen that any of them was not burned, that one without doubt contained the true faith. A great fire, therefore, was kindled; they cast in both of the books*: the book of the heretics is at once burned; but the other, which the man of God Dominic had drawn up, not only remained unhurt, but also leaped out far from the flames in the sight of all: cast back a second and a third time, and as often leaping back, it showed the truth of the faith and the holiness of him who had drawn up the tract.

[21] But so remarkable a comeliness of manners shone in the man of God, Bishop Diego, Diego of Osma, having founded the monastery of Prouille, that it claimed for him the affection even of the unbelievers themselves, and flowed into the hearts of all among whom he lived. Whence the heretics pronounced concerning him that it would be impossible that such a man should not be predestined to life, and that he had perhaps been sent into those parts for this, that he might learn among them the discipline of the true faith. But for the reception of certain noble women, whom their parents by reason of poverty were handing over to the heretics to be taught and nourished, he founded a certain monastery, situated between Fanjeaux and Montréal, and the name of that place is Prouille ⁿ, where to this present day the handmaids of Christ render grateful services to their Creator, passing a life with a great example of holiness and with an illustrious purity of innocence — a life salutary to themselves, exemplary to men, delightful to angels, pleasing to God.

[22] In this exercise of preaching Bishop Diego remained two years; which being completed, he sets Dominic over the other preachers of the faith, fearing lest he might perhaps be charged with negligence concerning his own domestic church of Osma if he prolonged his stay any longer, he resolved to return into Spain; purposing, when he had visited his church, to take with him thence some money for the completion of the aforesaid monastery of women and to return, and then at last, with the consent of the Lord Pope, to ordain in those parts some men fit for preaching, whose office it should be always to beat down the errors of the heretics and not to fail in defending the truth of the faith. But over those who had remained he set Brother Dominic in the care of spiritual things, as one truly full of the spirit of God; in temporal things, William Claret of Pamiers ^o, yet only in such wise that he should render to Brother Dominic an account of all that he did.

[23] Bidding farewell, therefore, to the Brethren, when he had come to Osma, and, returned to his diocese, dies piously. passing on foot through Castile, after a few days he is seized with sickness, and being brought even to the end, he completed the present life in great holiness, receiving the glorious fruit of his good labors, and entering the tomb in abundance unto an opulent rest. And it is reported that he too shone with miracles after his death. Nor is it a wonder if he should be powerful with almighty God in working wonders, who, placed among men in this lowest and lamentable sojourn, was strong with such marks of graces and shone with so great a comeliness of virtues. Therefore, the passing of the man of God being understood, those who had remained in the regions of Toulouse returned to their own; but blessed Dominic alone remained there in the office of preaching; whom although some at times followed, yet they were not bound to him as by obedience. And of these his followers were the aforementioned William Claret, and a certain Brother Dominic, a Spaniard, who afterward was Prior in Spain of Manionium* [p].

ANNOTATA.

p. Perhaps it should be read "Matritum" Madrid. For the rest, with Echard we leave this name to be investigated by the diligence of the natives.

* elsewhere: birth, talent

* elsewhere: Charaloga

* elsewhere: he might drink in

* elsewhere: a star

* elsewhere: might be procured

* elsewhere: of the Cumans

* elsewhere: of the Cumans

* elsewhere: Albigenses

* elsewhere: of holiness

* elsewhere: much

* elsewhere: the tract

* elsewhere: Maninum

CHAPTER II.

The war decreed against the Albigenses, St. Dominic's intrepid constancy among the heretics, the confirmation of the Order of Preachers procured by him, and the Saint's Spanish journey.

But after the death of the bishop of Osma the crusade began to be preached in France against the Albigenses: since indeed Pope Innocent, indignant Diego being dead, war is decreed against the Albigenses, that the untamable rebellion of the heretics could be softened by no gentleness of the truth, decreed that those who could not be pierced through by the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, should be assailed at least by the power of the material sword; which animadversion of secular severity Bishop Diego, while yet living, had foretold as to come, by the inspiration* as it were of a prophetic spirit: for when at one time he had evidently and publicly confuted the erroneous rebellion of the heretics before many nobles, and they, mocking, defended their subverters with sacrilegious excuse, he, indignant, stretched his hands to heaven and said: Lord, send forth Your hand, and correct them (which word those who heard it uttered in the spirit afterward noted), that this vexation at least may give them understanding.

[25] At the time when they were there signed with the cross, blessed Dominic remained there as a sedulous preacher of the divine word until the death of the count of Montfort. at which time Dominic (bore) the threats and snares of the heretics How many injuries he endured in those parts from the wicked, how many snares he overcame! Finally, when at one time they threatened him with death, undaunted he answered them: I am not

worthy of the glory of martyrdom; I have not yet deserved that death. But afterward, passing through a place in which he suspected that snares had perhaps been set for him, he went along singing and cheerful. And when this had been made known to the heretics, marveling at his so unshaken constancy, they said to him: Do you not then shudder at death? What would you have done, if we had seized you?

[26] But he said: I would have asked you not to slay me suddenly with sudden wounds; he contemned so intrepidly that they themselves marveled. but to prolong the martyrdom by a successive mutilation of my limbs; and then, having displayed before my eyes the severed pieces of my limbs, and afterward having torn out my eyes, that you would leave the remaining trunk in this fashion rolling in its own blood, and would at length wholly extinguish [me], so that I might merit a greater crown by the prolonging of the martyrdom. At words of this kind the enemies of the truth were stupefied, and no longer thereafter set snares for him, nor sought after the soul of the just man, as being one whom by the infliction of death they would rather serve than harm. But he with all his strength and with a most fervent zeal was busied that he might gain for Christ what souls he could. And there was in his heart a wonderful and almost incredible zeal for the salvation of all.

[27] Nor certainly was there lacking to him that charity than which no one has a greater, that a man lay down his life for his friends: since indeed, when by pious exhortations he was inviting a certain unbeliever to the faithful bosom of mother Church, Meanwhile the Saint, on account of his virtues and his exceeding charity, and he answered that the need of temporal things was what provoked him to the society of the unbelievers, for the reason that the necessary expenses were furnished him by the heretics, which he could not have from elsewhere, straightway pitying him from an inmost affection, he resolved to sell himself, and by the price of himself to redeem the destitution of the imperiled soul: which he would even have done, had not the Lord, who is rich in all things, provided from elsewhere whereby that man's want might be repaired.

[28] venerable and beloved to all the orthodox, And so the servant of God Dominic advanced in virtue and in reputation, which the heretics envied. By how much he was good, by so much their more wicked eye, in its bleariness, could not bear the ray of his light. Now they mocked him, and variously derided those adhering to him, bringing forth evil things out of the evil treasure of the heart. But while the unbelievers derided, the devotion of the faithful congratulated him, and he was venerated by all Catholics with much affection; so that his holiness, sweetness, and comeliness of manners struck the hearts even of magnates, and he was held worthy of much honor by the archbishops and bishops and other prelates of those parts.

[29] together with various possessions The count of Montfort ^a, who cherished him with spiritual devotion, with the assent of his men gave to him, and to his successors or followers, whosoever should assist him in the office of the salvation he had begun, the notable castle which is called Casseneuil* ^b. Blessed Dominic himself also had the church of Fanjeaux and certain others, out of all of which he could provide the necessaries for himself and his men. [But whatever they could withdraw for themselves from those same revenues was imparted to the Sisters of the monastery of Prouille.] Not yet had the Order of Preachers been founded; but only had there been treatment concerning the founding of the Order, although he himself pressed on with the office of preaching according to his strength: nor was that constitution afterward published yet observed, that it should be lawful neither to receive possessions nor to retain those already received.

[30] he acquires certain imitators and companions, Therefore from the time of the death of the bishop of Osma to the Lateran council nearly ten years passed, during which time he remained almost alone. But when the time drew on in which the bishops began to go to Rome for the Lateran council, there offered themselves to the servant of Christ Dominic upright and fit men of Toulouse, one of whom was Brother Peter of Seila*, afterward Prior of Limoges; the other Thomas, a man very gracious and eloquent in speech ^c. The first of these, Br. Peter, handed over to Br. Dominic and his companions the lofty and noble houses which he had possessed at Toulouse near the Narbonnese castle, from which time they first began to dwell at Toulouse in those same houses; and from then all who were with him began more and more to descend to humility, and to conform themselves to the manners of Religious.

[31] and thinks of founding the Order of Preachers, But the bishop of Toulouse of happy memory, Fulk by name, who loved most tenderly Br. Dominic, beloved of God and men, seeing the religion and grace of those same Brethren, and their fervor in preaching, exulting at the rising of a new light, with the consent of his whole Chapter conferred upon them the sixth part of all the tithes of his diocese; by the subsidy of which emolument they provided the things necessary for themselves for books and for sustenance ^d. And Br. Dominic was joined to the same bishop, that they might go together to the Lateran council, and with an equal petition beseech the Lord Pope Innocent that there be confirmed to Br. Dominic and his companions an Order which should be called and be the Order of Preachers; and that he should none the less confirm the aforesaid revenues assigned to the Brethren both by the Count and by the bishop.

[32] Having heard them, therefore, upon this request, the Prelate of the Roman See exhorted Br. Dominic to return to his Brethren, and, counsel being taken with his fellows, and the rule of St. Augustine chosen, and, full deliberation being had with them, to choose with the unanimous consent of them all some rule already approved, and at last, these things being accomplished, to return to the Pope, to receive confirmation upon all points. And so, the council being celebrated, returning and publishing to the Brethren the word of the Lord Pope, soon they, the future preachers, chose the rule of blessed Augustine, that excellent preacher, taking upon themselves in this regard certain stricter customs in food and fastings, in beds and woolen garments. They also purposed and established not to have possessions, lest the office of preaching be impeded by solicitude for earthly things; but only to receive revenues whence they might provide for themselves the necessaries for food. The bishop of Toulouse also, with the assent of his Chapter, assigned them three churches; one near the boundaries of the city; another in the town of Pamiers; the third between Poreda and Puylaurens, namely St. Mary of Lescure; in each of which there was to be a Convent and Priory.

[33] In the year of the Lord MCCXVI, in the summer time, the first church was given to the Brethren in the city of Toulouse, he obtains the confirmation of the same Order from Pope Honorius III. which was founded in honor of blessed Romanus; but in the remaining two it never happened that any of the Brethren dwelt. But in the aforesaid church of St. Romanus a cloister was straightway built, having cells above quite suitable for study and sleep. And the Brethren were then sixteen in number. Meanwhile the lord Pope Innocent was taken from our midst, and as his successor Honorius was appointed, whom blessed Dominic soon approached, and according to the purpose and ordinance he had conceived, he fully obtained in all things the confirmation of the Order and the things he had wished to obtain.

[34] In the year of the Lord MCCXVII the people of Toulouse arranged to rise up against the count of Montfort, The holy Man, having foreseen the death of the count of Montfort, which we have learned that the man of God Dominic had also in some measure known beforehand through the spirit. A tree was shown him in a vision, great in its extension, weighty in its comeliness, in whose branches a great number of birds dwelt. The tree was cast down, and the birds resting in it fled away. The Man of God, full of the Spirit, understood therefore that the destruction of a near death threatened the count of Montfort, that is to say a great and lofty prince and the protector of many peoples: and, the Holy Spirit being invoked and the Brethren called together, he said that this was the purpose of his heart, that he should send them all, though few, throughout the world, nor should they any longer dwell together.

[35] All marveled at the judgment uttered by him of so sudden a disposition; he dispersed his companions into various regions, but since the evident authority of holiness in him animated them, they acquiesced the more easily, hoping that all these things would come to a good end. And it seemed good to him that they should choose one of the Brethren as abbot for themselves, by whose authority the rest should be ruled, as of a superior and a head, whose correction, however, he retained to himself. And Br. Matthew of Celoide* ^e was chosen as abbot. He was the first and the last in this Order to be called abbot, because afterward it pleased the Brethren that, for the insinuating of humility, he who presided should be called not abbot, but master of the Order.

[36] There were therefore appointed four Brethren for the parts of Spain: Br. Peter of Madrid, and Br. Gnomicius, Br. Michael de Utero*, of whom he sent four into Spain, and Br. Dominic; which last [two], afterward sent to Bologna from Rome by master Dominic, to whom they had returned from Spain, made their stay there: for they were not able, as they had desired, to bear fruit in Spain, the remaining two, however, abundantly profiting and disseminating the word of God. Now this aforementioned Dominic was of exceeding humility, a man indeed small in knowledge, but magnificent in virtue ^f, concerning whom it will not be useless briefly to recall something.

[37] among whom was a certain Dominic, whose chastity It was once arranged by certain accomplices*, perhaps rivals, that a certain shameless woman and harlot, an instrument of Satan, an obstacle to chastity, a torch of vices, should come to him under the pretense of confession; who addresses him in such terms as these: I am exceedingly straitened, I burn beyond measure, I am vehemently inflamed, and now, alas, he does not know me! but even if he did know, he whom I love would perhaps not deem me worthy — he whose love has so irremediably pierced my heart. Give counsel, I beseech you; apply a remedy to one who is perishing: for you can. While the harlot used these venomous and studied speeches to entice the innocent man, and could not be turned from her insistence by the Brother's salutary persuasion, he searches out the person and the cause of the peril.

[38] was proved by a miracle; She discloses that he himself was her burning. Go now, he says, and return in a while: I will prepare a place where we may suitably come together. And so, entering into a chamber, he prepares two fires, on this side and on that, yet near to each other, and, when the little harlot came, he prostrates himself in the middle and exhorts her to come: Behold, he says, a place fitting for so great a crime. Come, if it please you, that we may be joined to one another. But she shuddered vehemently, seeing the man undaunted rush in amid the fires blazing round about him; and, crying out, she withdrew stricken with compunction. But he rose up untouched, no heat whatever, either of the material fire or of the enticing lust, having dominion over him ^g.

[39] but certain others he appointed There were also sent to Paris the above-mentioned abbot Matthew with Br. Bertrand, who was afterward Prior provincial of Provence, a man of great holiness and of a rigor toward himself inexorable, since he was a most keen mortifier of his own flesh, and showed himself* in many things a pattern of his master, blessed Dominic; whose companion also on his journey he sometimes was. These, I say, were sent to Paris with letters of the supreme Pontiff, that they might publish the Order, and with them two other Brethren for study; namely Br. John of Navarre, and Br. Laurence the Englishman, to whom, before they entered Paris, many of those things which

afterward happened at Paris concerning the Brethren — namely concerning the dwelling and site of the houses, and concerning the reception of many Brethren — were revealed by the Lord, just as he foretold, and as the outcome of the matter afterward proved. And separately from these went Br. Mames, the uterine brother of blessed Dominic, and Br. Michael the Spaniard, having with them a Lay-brother, a Norman, whose name was Oderius ^h.

[40] to Paris All these were sent to Paris; but the last three, traveling more swiftly, arrived sooner. They entered Paris, therefore, on the day before the Ides of September, and after the space of three weeks the others above mentioned followed them. And they hired for themselves a house next to the hospital of the blessed Virgin before the doors of the bishop of Paris. In the year of the Lord MCCXVIII the house of blessed James was given to the Brethren, though not yet absolutely, by master John, dean of St. Quentin, and by the university of Paris at the instance of the prayers of the lord Pope Honorius, which they entered to dwell in on the VIII of the Ides of August. In that same year also there were sent to Orléans certain young and simple Brethren, who likewise, as certain small seeds, were the beginning of a more abundant growth thereafter.

[41] In the year of the Lord MCCXVIII, about the beginning, there were sent from Rome by blessed Dominic Brethren to Bologna, and to Bologna in Italy, where Reginald namely Br. John of Navarre, and a certain Br. Bertrand; and afterward Br. Christian with a Lay-brother, who, making their stay at Bologna, endured there a great straitness of poverty. In the same year, while St. Dominic was at Rome, master Reginald, dean of St. Aignan of Orléans*, about to cross the sea, arrived thither. He was a man great in repute, learned in knowledge, celebrated in dignity, who had taught canon law at Paris for five years. He therefore, when he had come to Rome, is seized with a grave infirmity: to whom master Dominic came several times to visit him, and, exhorting him to the poverty of Christ and to the fellowship of his Order, drew from him a free and full consent to taking up this Religion, so that he bound himself by a vow.

[42] He was therefore relieved of the grave and almost desperate peril of his infirmity; after health prodigiously received in the city of Rome, but not without the power of a divine miracle: for visibly, amid the heats of his fevers, the Queen of heaven, the mother of mercy, the virgin Mary, came to him, and anointing his eyes, nostrils, mouth, navel, hands, and feet with a certain salutary unction which she had brought with her, added words of this sort: I anoint your feet with holy oil unto the preparation of the Gospel of peace. She likewise also showed him the whole habit of this Order. Straightway therefore he was healed, and so suddenly restored in his whole body that the physicians, who had almost despaired of his convalescence, marveled when they saw the signs of his health. This remarkable miracle master Dominic afterward published, many witnesses remaining to this day; and when he once related this to several in a conference at Paris, I myself was present and took part ⁱ.

[43] Therefore master Reginald, his health recovered, although he was already bound to the Order by profession, and his pilgrimage to Jerusalem being accomplished, presided over the Brethren, crossed the sea to fulfill his desire, and returning thence, came to Bologna on the XII of the Kalends of January. And soon he began to devote himself wholly to preaching, and his utterance was vehemently fiery, and his speech, like a burning torch, inflamed the hearts of all who heard, so that scarcely was there one so stony as to hide himself from his heat. All Bologna was then fervent, because a new Elijah seemed to have arisen. In those days he received many at Bologna into the Order, and the number of the disciples began to increase, and more were added to them.

[44] In the same year master Dominic proceeded into Spain, whom St. Dominic, returned from Spain, and there established two houses, one at Madrid, which is now of nuns, and the other at Segovia, which was the first house of the Brethren in Spain. Returning thence, he came to Paris in the year of the Lord MCCXIX, where he found a congregation of nearly thirty Brethren. And having tarried there a little while, he turned aside to Bologna, and at St. Nicholas found a great college of Brethren, whom he nourished under discipline by the care and diligence of Br. Reginald. As he came, therefore, all received him with joy, offering reverence to him as to a father; and making his abode among them, he formed by counsels and examples the still tender infancy of the new plantation.

[45] ordered to remove to Paris. But he sent thence to Paris Br. Reginald, not without grave desolation of those sons whom he had recently begotten through the word of the Gospel; who wept that they were so hastily torn from the breasts of their accustomed mother. But all these things were done by divine promptings. And there was something wonderful about the servant of God, blessed Dominic, that in sending Brethren hither and thither through the various parts of the Church of God, as has been mentioned above, he did all things thus confidently and without the doubtfulness of hesitation, although at times it did not seem to others that it should be so done, as if he were already certain of future events, or had been taught by a revelation of the Spirit. And who would dare to deny this? At first he had had few Brethren with him, and those for the most part unlettered and simple, and sending them he distributed them here and there through the Church, so that to the sons of this world, judging according to their own prudence, he seemed rather to be pulling down what had been begun than to be building great things. But those whom he sent he followed with the suffrages of his prayers, and the power of the Lord was there to multiply them.

ANNOTATA.

* elsewhere: imprecation

* elsewhere: Cassanel

* elsewhere: Cellani

* elsewhere: within

* elsewhere: Soricinium

* elsewhere: it has been declared that he knew

* elsewhere: of orphans

* elsewhere: canonically

* elsewhere: Uzero

* elsewhere: with companions

* elsewhere: had drunk in for himself a form and pattern in many things.

* read: of Orléans

CHAPTER III.

The pious death of Reginald, the religious profession of Jordan and Henry in the Order of Preachers, and the praises of the same Henry.

And so Br. Reginald of holy memory came to Paris, and with unwearied fervor of mind preached Christ Jesus and Him crucified by word and by work; but quickly God took him from the earth, and being perfected in a short while, he fulfilled long times. The blessed writer here narrates the pious death of Reginald, Finally, a little time after, seized by infirmity and brought even to the death of the flesh, he fell asleep in the Lord, going on into the glorious riches of the house of God — he who, while he lived here, had shown himself a strenuous lover of poverty and meanness. And he was buried in the church of blessed Mary in the Fields, because the Brethren did not yet have a burial place. But it now comes to mind that, while Br. Matthew was still living, who had known him in the world as glorious and delicate, he several times asked of him as though marveling: Is it not hard for you, master, to have assumed this habit? But he with lowered countenance answered: I reckon that I merit nothing in this, because it has always pleased me too much.

[47] On that very night on which the spirit of the holy man flew away to the Lord, concerning which he testifies that a vision was presented to him, it seemed to me — not yet indeed a Brother as to the habit, but already professed into his hands — that the Brethren were being carried in a certain ship through the midst of the water. But the ship in which they were carried was submerged; yet they themselves came out of the water unharmed. This ship I judge to have been Br. Reginald, whom assuredly the Brethren at that time esteemed their staff* ^a. It seemed to a certain other, before his death, as if he saw a certain clear fountain stopped up, in place of which two other fountains straightway burst forth: whether that vision meant anything true, I, conscious of my own barrenness, do not dare to interpret ^b. One thing I know, that at Paris he received no one to profession of the Order except two; of whom indeed I was the first; and the other was Br. Henry, afterward Prior of Cologne, most dear to me in Christ with a singular affection above all mortals, as I think, as one truly a vessel of honor and grace, than whom I do not recall having seen in this life a more gracious creature: who, since with swift ripeness he hastened already to enter into the rest of the Lord, it will not be useless to recall of how great virtues a man he was.

[48] This Henry, therefore, sprung of good birth according to the world, and explains how he himself, when he was a Canon in the church of Utrecht ^c, was there from his boyish years diligently brought up in the fear of the Lord and in discipline by a certain holy and most religious man, a Canon of that church: for while there that good and just man, by crucifying his flesh, trod underfoot the wicked enticements of this world, and abounded in many works of piety, he had imbued the still tender mind of the youth with every work of virtue, making him wash the feet of the poor, frequent the church, shudder at vices, spurn luxury, love chastity; and he, being a youth of the best disposition, showed himself in all things docile to discipline, ready for the virtues; and thus, as he grew in age, he grew also in manners so far that, if you conversed with him, you would esteem him an angel and would believe his uprightness to be as it were inborn.

[49] And so in process of time he came to Paris, and at once betook himself to the study of theology, moved by the sermons of the same Reginald, having a great sharpness of natural talent and a most orderly reasoning. And he was joined with me in lodging, and dwelling together we came into a sweet and strong unity. Meanwhile, Br. Reginald of happy remembrance having come to Paris and preaching strenuously, I, prevented by divine grace, conceived and vowed within myself to take up that Order, judging that I had found a safe path of salvation, such as even before my acquaintance with the Brethren I had often conceived in my mind by deliberating. My heart's purpose, therefore, being fixed, I began to labor with all solicitude how I might draw my companion and friend

of my soul into an equal vow with me, seeing him by natural and gratuitous disposition most useful for the ministry of preaching. He himself refused, and I the more ceased not to press him.

[50] drew in a certain excellent young man, Henry, And so I contrived that he should approach Br. Reginald to make his confession and to receive exhortation: returning from whom to me, he opened the book of Isaiah as though for the sake of divination, and his eyes were first cast upon that place where it is said: The Lord has given me a learned tongue, that I should know how to sustain him that is weary by a word. He wakens in the morning, in the morning He wakens my ear, that I may hear Him as a master. The Lord God has opened my ear; and I do not gainsay, I have not gone backward. Which words of the prophet, while I was interpreting to him as answering so aptly to his own intention, and as it were sounding from heaven (for he was of a most eloquent tongue), and was exhorting him to bring his youth under the yoke of obedience, we noticed a little after that which follows: Let us stand together, as if we were being admonished in this excellent kind of fellowship by no means to desert one another. On occasion of this word afterward, while I was at Bologna, he wrote to me from Cologne: Where are you now, LET US STAND TOGETHER? You at Bologna, and I at Cologne. And so I said to him: What, I ask, is richer for merit, what more glorious for a crown, than if, being partakers of that poverty which Christ exhibited in Himself and which His followers the Apostles held, we should spurn this whole world for love of Him? He acquiesced, therefore, in the judgment of reason; but a sluggish will, kicking back, urged the contrary.

[51] reluctant at the beginning, On that same night, therefore, when he had gone to Matins in the church of the blessed Virgin, he continued there until daybreak, praying and beseeching the Mother of the Lord that his will might be bent to this purpose. And when he was profiting nothing by praying, as it seemed to him, still feeling the hardness of his heart, he began to pity himself and to prepare to withdraw, saying within himself: Now, O blessed Virgin, I find that you do not deem me worthy; there is no portion for me in the college of Christ's poor. For indeed the appetite for that perfection which he knew to be in voluntary poverty urged his heart, since it had once been shown him by the Lord how secure poverty is for one standing before the examination of the strict Judge.

[52] that, according to the vision formerly shown him, For when on a certain occasion he thought in a vision that he stood before the tribunal of Christ, he saw an immense multitude there present, both of those to be judged and of those judging with Christ. But he himself, among the others to be judged, while, conscious to himself of no crime, he thought to escape secure and innocent, a certain one at the Judge's side, stretching out his hand toward him, addresses him in such terms: You who stand there, say, what did you ever leave for the Lord? So strict a scrutiny of interrogation terrified him; since he had nothing to answer to the questions; and thus that vision vanished. Admonished by this, therefore, he desired the more to proclaim the summit of poverty, but that the sluggishness of his will hindered him.

[53] he might undergo the voluntary yoke of poverty, And so, as has been mentioned, while now he was almost departing from the church, reproaching himself and sorrowful, He who regards lowly things overthrew the foundations of his heart: and, tears springing up and his spirit melted, he began to pour himself wholly out before the Lord; and all that hardness was crushed in a vehement spirit, so that the sweet yoke of Christ, which a little before he had esteemed most heavy, being now rotted away before the face of the oil, became in all things light and pleasant. Rising therefore in the impulse of that fervor, and hastening to Br. Reginald himself, he uttered his vow: and soon returning to me, when in his angelic countenance I considered the traces of tears, and asked whence he came, he answered: I have vowed a vow to the Lord, and I will fulfill it. Nevertheless we deferred our novitiate until the time of Lent, having meanwhile gained one of our companions, Br. Leo, who afterward succeeded Br. Henry in the office of the Priorate.

[54] And so, the day coming on which by the imposition of ashes the faithful are admonished of their origin and their return into ashes, and should enter the Order of Preachers with him. we also arranged to fulfill, with a fitting beginning for repentance, what we had vowed to the Lord, our companions of the same lodging with us being still ignorant of it. Whence, when Br. Henry was going out from the lodging and one of the companions asked, Lord Henry, where are you going? I am going, he said, to Bethany. Which word that man understood, not then indeed, but afterward by the explanation of the deed, what it meant, when he saw him enter Bethany, which is interpreted THE HOUSE OF OBEDIENCE. Coming together, therefore, we three at St. James's, the Brethren already chanting LET US BE CHANGED IN HABIT, we came into their midst unexpectedly indeed, but opportunely, and straightway putting off the old man, we there put on the new; so that what they were singing with the voice might be fulfilled in us in deed ^d.

[55] This is Br. Henry, to whom the Lord granted much and wonderful grace in his word to the clergy of Paris, that Henry, endowed with remarkable marks of grace whose exceedingly efficacious speech most forcibly penetrated the hearts of his hearers. There was not seen before him, in the times of our memory, at Paris in the hearing of all the clergy, a preacher so young, so eloquent, so gracious in all things. And indeed upon this vessel of election God had conferred many marks of graces: for he was prompt in obedience, firm in patience, placid in meekness, pleasing in cheerfulness, diffused in charity. Nor was there lacking to him uprightness of manners, holiness of heart, and virginal integrity in the flesh: inasmuch as in all his life he neither looked upon nor touched an unchaste woman with the intention of his heart.

[56] There was in him modesty of speech, eloquence of tongue, sharpness of talent, and gifted with endowments of nature, grace of countenance, comeliness of person, aptitude for writing, skill in composing, the melody of an angelic voice. Never would you have beheld him sad, never turbulent. Always even-minded, always cheerful. Justice had released him from the rigor of austerity, and mercy had claimed him wholly for herself. With so great a felicity did he flow into the hearts of all, so sociable did he show himself to all, that if you conversed with him a little, you would esteem yourself beloved by him above all. And it was necessary that he whom God had suffused with grace should be loved by all. And although he so excelled in all the aforesaid things that he seemed singularly good in whatever grace, yet he knew not how to be extolled for them: for he had learned from Christ to be meek and humble.

[57] After Br. Henry's entrance, that holy man who had nurtured him, with two other spiritual and good men of the same church, whose friends are prevented from heaven from drawing him back from the Order, which three had loved him with great affection, were most gravely troubled, being as yet ignorant of the new Religion, and esteeming as it were lost a youth of such great hope. Therefore they had almost agreed on this, that some of them, or one of them, going to Paris, should turn him aside and draw him back from this indiscretion, as it seemed. Then one of them said: Let us not act so precipitately, but let us pass the night with prayers with an equal vow, asking that the Lord may deign to open to us His good pleasure concerning this matter. Night came; and as they prayed, one of them heard a voice sounding from on high: This has been done by the Lord, and it cannot be changed. And so, made most certain by this divine revelation, they were no longer troubled; but writing to him at Paris, they confidently exhorted him to persevere, making known to him the manner and order of this revelation: which letters, full of piety, sweet and honeyed, I have read.

[58] afterward was Prior of Cologne, But sent as Prior to Cologne ^e, how copious and abundant a handful of souls he there gained for Christ among virgins, widows, and true penitents by assiduous preaching, and how diligently also he kindled in the hearts of many the fire which the Lord came to send upon the earth, and nourished it when kindled, all Cologne still proclaims. He was accustomed to admonish them that the name of Jesus was most worthy of all reverence and worship; the name, I say, which is above every name — to such a degree that even to this day, when this name that is to be hallowed sounds in church or in preaching, the devotion of many hearts is straightway roused to the showing of some reverence.

[59] and after a happy death, At length, the course of his happy life being completed, the Brethren being present and praying, he rested in the Lord with a holy end. But before the going forth of his soul, when the offices of Extreme Unction were being administered to him, he himself, like one of the Brethren, vigorously recited to the end the litanies and suffrages, and when that office was completed, admonishing the Brethren with devout words, he provoked them to abundant tears. But how great was the weeping at his death, how many the sobs and groans of widows and virgins, how many the sighs of Brethren and friends, who could enumerate? Much indeed does my mind suggest concerning him; but lest perhaps my discourse should go on too long, let it suffice to recall one at least of those things which after his death I learned among many by the truth of confession, and from holy and faithful persons.

[60] according to a compact entered upon with a pious matron There was in the city of Cologne a certain venerable matron, who, while she loved Br. Henry himself with wonderful devotion while he was still living, once besought him that he would promise her that he would be willing to appear to her after death, if indeed he should die first. He acquiesced in the prayers of the petitioner, if however it should be pleasing to the divine will. He being dead, therefore, she waited and grievously burned to see the promise fulfilled: and then also she was wont to be beaten by a certain trouble of temptation, so that she suffered grave disquiets from the adversary concerning the faith — namely, whether after this life the souls of the departed were reduced to nothing, or lived. But to her, waiting long and desiring, nothing appeared. And so the temptation grew more grievously strong, and she said in her heart: If what is announced to us about the future life had anything of truth in it, he whom I venerated with so great affection ought surely already to have made me certain.

[61] he first appeared to a certain religious man While she was thus afflicted and pined away in her heart, behold, Br. Henry appeared to a certain religious man, and said to him: Go to that matron — calling her by her own name, which name indeed that man had until then not known, because a pet-name*, given from her infant years out of some fondness, had prevailed over her true name given in baptism; which then for the first time that man knew, Br. Henry declaring and expounding it to him. Go, he said, to her, and when you have greeted her for me, you shall say to her: These and these works you have been accustomed to do. You shall not do so henceforth; but you shall observe such and such a manner in them. Now those same works were so hidden that no one of men knew them except her. And so while he was saying these things, that good man noticed a gem on his breast exceedingly clear and shining, and a certain wall before his face inwoven with precious stones, which he contemplated with much gazing, and he said to him: What does this mean, my lord — this gem on your breast so

shining, and that wall so precious? But he said: This gem is a token of the cleanness of my heart, which I had in the world; and while I look upon it, I am suffused with much consolation. This wall also is that part in the building of the Lord which, while still living, I built up by counsel, preaching, and confession.

[62] Meanwhile the Queen of heaven, mother of mercy, the virgin Mary, came upon them; he appeared in glory, and as she drew near, Br. Henry said to the man: This is my lady, the Mother of the Savior, who chose me into her service. Consider how great a refreshment there is for me in her fellowship. When he had said these things, straightway joined to her, he departed with her. And so that good man came and revealed to that matron all things in order, disclosing to her certain of her works, especially the most secret, among manifest signs by whose recital the truth might be proved. But she, having received much consolation, was relieved of the heat of her temptation. Yet something else consoled her more strongly, which she afterward deserved to experience for herself.

[63] Finally, when at one time, reclining upon a certain chest in the chamber of her house, she was reading over with pious delight the letters formerly sent to her by Br. Henry, and then offered himself to be seen by the same matron. there occurred in those same letters a certain saying, of which, according to the Latin rendering, this was the sense: Recline upon the sweet breast of Jesus, and quench the thirst of our soul. Kindled by the recollection of this word, as though she were receiving it from the mouth of one still living and present, she was rapt in spirit, and saw herself standing on one side beside the breast of Jesus Christ, and Br. Henry on the other: in which rapture she experienced so profound and so wondrous a taste of divine consolation that, altogether inebriated by so immense a watering of salutary inflowing, she did not in the least perceive the handmaids of the house who were present and calling out to her to come quickly to the table of her waiting husband, until, returning from this honeyed inebriation of the spirit, she was restored to her senses. These things being recalled concerning Br. Henry, let us now pursue what remains.

ANNOTATA.

* elsewhere: bearer

* elsewhere: devotion

CHAPTER IV.

The first two general Chapters of the Order, the Saint's happy death, honorable obsequies, certain miracles, and outstanding virtues.

Blessed Jordan relates, who was present at the first chapter of the year 1220, In the year of the Lord MCCXX the first general Chapter of this Order was celebrated at Bologna, at which I myself was present, sent from Paris with three Brethren, because master Dominic had commanded by his letters that four Brethren from that same house of Paris be sent to him at Bologna. But when I was sent, I had not yet spent two months in the Order. In the same Chapter it was decreed by the common consent of the Brethren that the general Chapter should be celebrated one year at Bologna, and the other at Paris; yet in such wise that in the next coming year it should be held at Bologna. Then also it was ordained that our Brethren should henceforth hold no possessions or revenues; but that they should also renounce those which they had had in the regions of Toulouse. Many other things also were there established, which are observed to this day.

[65] and that he was absent from the other of the following year, In the year of the Lord MCCXXI, in the general Chapter of Bologna, it seemed good to them to lay upon me first the office of the Priorate over the province of Lombardy, when I had spent the space of a year in the Order, my roots not yet fixed on high as was fitting, so that I was set over others to be ruled before I had learned to rule my own imperfection. In that same Chapter also a Convent of Brethren was sent into England with Br. Gilbert as Prior. At this Chapter I was not present.

[66] with what security Br. Everard, having not long entered the Order of Preachers, But at that time there had entered at Paris Br. Everard, archdeacon of Langres ^a, a man of many virtues, strenuous in work, provident in counsel: who, since he was of exceeding authority, by how much he had been known in the world, by so much the more did he edify many by the example of the poverty he assumed. He set out on the journey with me as I was to go into Lombardy — me whom he seemed to love with a tender affection — desiring to see master Dominic; and through all the parts of France and Burgundy through which our passage lay, in which he himself had once been most well known, carrying about in his body Christ needy and poor, at length he is seized with sickness, and at Lausanne ^b, where he had once been elected bishop but had refused to accept, he completed this toilsome and lamentable life with an end swift indeed, but altogether happy.

[67] departed from this life, But a little before he died, when the judgment of the physicians already pronounced his death certain, yet this very thing was concealed from him, he said to me: If I am to die by the physicians' judgment, why is it not told me? Let death be concealed from those to whom the memory of death is bitter. I am not terrified by death. Nothing is to be feared by him who, if the earthly house of this wretched flesh is overthrown, awaits by a happy exchange a house not made with hands, an eternal consolation in heaven. He died, therefore, commending there his poor body to the earth, his spirit to the Creator. And of his happy death this was to me a praiseworthy token, that at the going forth of his spirit, when I believed myself to be stirred to grief of heart and disturbance of spirit, I was on the contrary suffused with a certain devotion and joyful cheerfulness, so that I was moved by the testimony of my conscience to hold that he was by no means to be wept for who had passed over to joys ^c.

[68] Meanwhile at Bologna master Dominic, as the end of his pilgrimage drew near, and then reports the counsels of St. Dominic when sick began grievously to sicken, and on that very bed of his sickness, calling twelve of the more discreet Brethren, he began to exhort them to fervor, and to the advancement of the Order and perseverance in holiness, admonishing them to avoid the suspect company of women, especially of young ones, since this kind is exceedingly enticing and effective for ensnaring souls not yet purely refined. Behold, he said, up to this hour the divine mercy has preserved me in incorruption of the flesh; yet I confess that I have not escaped this imperfection, that the conversations of young women affected me more than the discourse of old ones ^d.

[69] Before his death also he said confidently to the Brethren and his death, that they would have him more useful dead than living: for he knew assuredly to whom he had entrusted the deposit of his labor and fruitful life, not doubting that there was laid up for him for the rest a crown of justice, which being received, he would become so much the more powerful for obtaining favors as he had entered the more securely into the powers of the Lord. And so, the straitness of his infirmities growing stronger, at last he labored at once with fevers and with a flux. At length that pious soul was loosed from the flesh, going on to the Lord who had given it, and exchanging a mournful sojourn for the perennial consolation of a heavenly habitation.

[70] On the same day and the same hour of his death Br. Guala ^e, Prior of Brescia, which at the same time was revealed to Brother Guala. but afterward bishop of that same city, reclining in the place of the bell-tower of the Brethren at Brescia, had fallen asleep in a light slumber, and saw a certain most shining opening in heaven, through which a golden ladder descended to the earth, whose summit Jesus Christ held on one side, and His glorious Mother the other ^f. There was placed, then, at the bottom of the ladder a certain Brother, whose face he did not recognize, which he had covered with a cowl, as it is the custom for our dead to be buried; and he was sitting upon a chair: and Christ the Lord and His Mother drew the ladder upward, until he who had been placed at the bottom of the ladder came even to the top; and when at last he had been received into heaven, that most shining opening of heaven was closed, nor did anything further appear. The Brother, therefore, who had seen this, when a little after he had come to Bologna, found that on that same day and at that very hour of the day the servant of Christ, Dominic, had died, as we learned from his own narration to us.

[71] But let us return yet a little to the venerable obsequies of the blessed Man. His obsequies being honorably celebrated, In the days of his death, therefore, it happened, God so ordaining, that the venerable father the bishop of Ostia, at that time legate of the Apostolic See in Lombardy, but afterward supreme Pontiff of the Roman See, Pope Gregory, had come to Bologna, by reason of which many great men and prelates of churches were then present; who, when he had learned of master Dominic's departure from this life, came in person (inasmuch as he had known him very familiarly, and had loved him with much affection of love, knowing him to be a just and holy Man), and himself fulfilled the office of his burial, with many present there, in whose hearts the happy passing of the blessed Man and the holiness manifest to all which he had had while living here, and also the stole of eternal immortality which the consciences of the bystanders bore witness that he had already received, bespoke a contempt of the world, while at those same obsequies it came to be considered how secure a thing it is to merit the place of that heavenly habitation and of eternal rest by contempt of the present life, and by meanness of manner of living to procure for oneself this precious death.

[72] [the simplicity of the Brethren concealed the first benefits conferred on the sick by the dead Saint,] And so the devotion of the common people and the reverence of the peoples were awakened, and many came running who were oppressed by the diverse troubles of whatever infirmities, and remaining there day and night they confessed altogether that they had received remedies of health, and brought the testimonies of their cures, hanging at the tomb of the blessed Man waxen images of eyes, hands, feet, or the other limbs, according as their infirmity was various, and the health of bodies or of goods was manifoldly restored. But amid these things there was scarcely one of the Brethren who met this divine grace with a worthy thanksgiving: since indeed it seemed to very many that the miracles ought not to be published*, lest under the veil of piety they should incur the stain of gain; and thus, while by an inconsiderate holiness they concealed their own opinion, they neglected the common profit of the Church and buried the divine glory.

[73] for want of which Blessed Jordan records but few, Yet it is established that even while placed in this life he shone with certain wonders and glittered with miracles; and of these we have heard many, but on account of the diversity

of those narrating they were not committed to writing, lest perhaps, while the deed were described in an uncertain order, it should engender an uncertain understanding in readers. Yet it is pleasing to note certain of them, according as they have become more certainly known to us. When he was once at Rome, a certain kinsman of the lord Cardinal Stephen of Fossanova, a youth, while he sat upon a horse, and, incautiously frolicking, was borne along at a headlong gallop, having fallen, was being carried off most grievously hurt amid tears, whom, scarcely half alive, or perhaps already beyond doubt lifeless, they reckoned among the dead. And when the mourning and wailing increased around him, blessed Dominic was present there, and with him Br. Tancred ^g, a good and fervent man, once Prior of Rome, by whose disclosure I learned these things, who said to him: Do you see the wailing of the bystanders? Why do you dissemble? Why do you not entreat the Lord? Where now is your compassion toward your neighbors? Where the confidence of your heart toward God? Moved therefore by the Brother's exhortation, and overcome by the affection of a glowing compassion, he restored to life, by the power of his prayers, the youth who had been carried into an inner room, and brought him forth safe and sound openly before all.

[74] but the remarkable miracles of him while living, Br. Bertrand ^h also related to me — of whom mention was made above as sent to Paris — that when at one time he was making a journey together with him, and a grave inclemency of the air arose over them, and now a flooding of rains was drenching the earth abundantly, the sign of the cross being made, master Dominic so drove away before him all the deluge of that same flood that, as they walked, while they always saw before them at a space of three cubits the raindrops falling thickly upon the earth, not even one drop touched so much as the fringe of his garments. Of the cures of infirmities also many things have become known to us, which for the present have not been committed to writing, being tokens* of his holiness.

[75] But — what is more brilliant and more magnificent than the miracles themselves — to which, however, he prefers he was strong in so great an uprightness of manners, he was borne along by so great an impulse of divine fervor, that he was without doubt proved to be a vessel of honor and grace, a vessel adorned with every precious stone. There was in him a very firm evenness of mind, save when he was disturbed unto compassion and mercy. And because a rejoicing heart makes the face cheerful, he betrayed the placid composition of the inner man by a manifest outward kindness and cheerfulness of countenance, nor did he in any degree consent to be angry. And he preserved so great a constancy in those things which he had conceived should reasonably be done according to God, that scarcely or never did he consent to change a word once uttered with worthy deliberation. And although, as has been recalled, much cheerfulness from the good testimony of conscience always shone forth in his face, yet the light of his countenance did not fall to the ground. Finally, through this he easily claimed the love of all for himself; without difficulty, as soon as they beheld him, he glided into the affections of all.

[76] Wherever he was, whether on the road with companions, his outstanding holiness of life or in a house with a host and the rest of the household, or among magnates and princes and prelates, he always flowed with edifying discourses, he abounded in examples, by which the minds of his hearers might be bent to the love of God or to contempt of the world. Everywhere he showed himself an evangelical man in word and in work. In the daytime, with the Brethren or his companions, no one was more affable, no one more pleasant: in the night hours, no one more insistent in every manner in vigils and supplications. At evening weeping tarried, and at morning gladness. He imparted the day to his neighbors, the night to God, knowing that in the day the Lord has commanded His mercy, and in the night His canticle. And he wept most abundantly and most frequently, and his tears were his bread day and night; by day indeed the more, when he celebrated for himself the frequent and daily solemnities of Masses; but by night, when above all he kept watch with untiring vigils.

[77] It was his most frequent custom to pass the night in churches, to such a degree and his various virtues, that scarcely or rarely did he seem to have a fixed little bed for resting. He prayed, therefore, by night, and persevered watching as much as he could wrest from the frailty of the body; and when at length, weariness coming on and the spirit growing slack, the necessity of sleep interrupted him, whether before the altar, or in whatever other place, or at any rate upon a stone, after the manner of the patriarch Jacob, his head being laid down, resting a little he again awoke to the spirit and the fervor of prayer. He received all men in the broad bosom of charity; and since he loved all, he was loved by all. To rejoice with those who rejoice, to weep with those who weep, he claimed as his own, abounding in piety, and pouring himself wholly out in the care of his neighbors and in compassion for the wretched. This also made him most acceptable to all, that, walking by a simple way, he never put forward in word or work any trace of duplicity or feigning. He was a true lover of poverty, using mean garments; and in food and drink alike he observed a most temperate measure, avoiding delicacies, and gladly content with a simple pottage, having firm command of his flesh, and using wine so temperately watered that, while satisfying bodily need, he never dulled his subtle and delicate spirit.

[78] Who is sufficient to imitate in every respect the virtue of this man? We can marvel, and by his example weigh the sloth of our own time. which he extols with deserved praises. But to be able what he was able is not of human virtue, but of a singular grace, unless perhaps the pitying goodness of God has deigned to extend to someone a like summit of holiness. But who is fit for this? Yet let us imitate, Brethren, as we can, our father's footsteps, and at the same time let us give thanks to the Redeemer, who exhibited such a leader to His servants on this way in which we walk, regenerating us through him into the light of this manner of life; and let us beseech the Father of mercies that, with that Spirit ruling us by whom the sons of God are led, through the bounds which our fathers set, we too may deserve to attain by an unswerving path to that same goal of perpetual felicity and eternal beatitude into which he entered, happy without end.

ANNOTATA.

* elsewhere: to be received

* elsewhere: dead

* elsewhere: report

* elsewhere: strong proofs

CHAPTER V.

The wonderful history of Br. Bernard the possessed, the honorable elevation or translation of the body of St. Dominic, and various miracles wrought at that time through the intercession of the same Saint.

While Blessed Jordan was visiting the province of Lombardy, Those things now being accomplished which were to be recorded of the times of master Dominic, it is fitting to note certain things done afterward. And so, Br. Everard having died at Lausanne, as has been said, I, proceeding, entered Lombardy, to carry out the ministry enjoined upon me through that province. Now at that time there was a certain Brother, Bernard by name, at Bologna, who, possessed, was tormented by a most fierce demon, so far that day and night he was driven about by horrible furies, and beyond measure disturbed the whole college of Brethren: which tribulation the divine mercy had without doubt provided for the working of patience in His servants.

[80] But I will relate in what order such a scourge befell this Brother: he found at Bologna a Brother possessed by a demon, for after his entrance among us, frequently stung by sorrows for his sins, he desired that some kind of purgation be inflicted upon him by the Lord. It was therefore suggested to his heart rather frequently whether he would be willing to be afflicted by possession by a demon; and his mind shuddered, nor could he consent. At length, after many deliberations, when on a certain occasion he was more grievously indignant at his own offenses, he assented in mind that his body should be handed over to the demon for the sake of working purgation, as he himself declared to me. And so straightway it came about that the same thing which he had conceived in his heart was accomplished in deed, God permitting.

[81] The demon vomited forth many marvelous things through his mouth. Sometimes also, who at times played the learned interpreter of sacred Scripture, although that possessed man was not skilled in theology and was as it were ignorant of the sacred Scriptures, yet he drew forth through his mouth such profound sentences from the holy Scriptures that things of this kind, even if published by Augustine, would deservedly have been reckoned praiseworthy. But he gloried very greatly (though at the suggestion of pride) if anyone inclined an ear to his discourses. Sometimes, as I recall, he set forth this condition to me, that I should desist from preaching, and he would cease from all temptation of the Brethren. To whom I said: Far be it that I should enter a covenant with death, or make a pact with hell ^a. By your temptations, against your will, the Brethren will profit and will grow strong unto the life of grace, because the life of man upon earth is temptation.

[82] Moreover he strove, under a certain fraudulent cloaking of words, and among his other frauds frequently to sow in our hearts some trace of his wickedness; which when I noticed, I said to him: Why do you so often redouble your deceits upon us? We are not ignorant of your thoughts. But he: And I have known your pretense: what, once offered you, you reject and contemn, at last, tripped up by my wickedness, you will admit easily and gladly. Let the soldiers of Christ hear this, whose wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the princes and powers of these darknesses, against the spiritual darts of wickedness in the heavenly places, that they may learn from the continual assiduity of these very enemies to continue on the contrary their own fervor, and to shun the sluggishness of a spirit growing torpid within them.

[83] Sometimes also — what is more — he used such effective discourses, as it were after the manner of preaching, he suffused the body of the possessed with a sweet odor, that by the very manner of the delivery and by the piety, together with the profundity of the words, he drew abundant tears from the hearts of the hearers.

In a wonderful manner he also at times suffused the body of that possessed Brother with the sweetest odors, beyond every human compounding, and he wickedly brought upon me in my own person the same kind of temptation, feigning that he was gravely tormented by those same fragrances, as though procured from heaven by an angel, whereas he himself was altogether the one through whom snares of this sort were laid to stir up a rash presumption of holiness.

[84] Finally, when on a certain occasion he had grievously afflicted that Brother in our presence, he began to feign disturbance with a heavy voice, and to say: Behold the odor, behold the odor, behold the odor. And after a little, that sweetness of odor being poured over that same Brother, pretending that it was brought by his angel, he showed by countenance and voice alike, in feigning fashion, that he suffered horror and loathing, and he said to me: Do you know at what I just now shuddered? Behold, this Brother's angel has come, consoling him with the sweetest odors, and in this consolation of his has inflicted grave torment upon me. But behold, I bring forth for you from my treasures fragrances of another kind, with which I am accustomed to visit: and as soon as he had uttered the word, he sprinkled the air with sulphurous stenches, intending by the succession of these to cloak the deceit of that preceding sweetness.

[85] and imbued Jordan himself with the same fragrance of odor, Therefore, when he had done the like to me also, I, perplexed with much ambiguity, distrusted indeed my own merits; yet I hesitated, uncertain, wherever I went. Surrounded by a wonderful fragrance, I scarcely dared to stretch out my very hands, fearing to lose that holiness of which I was not yet conscious. If I carried a chalice, as is sometimes wont to be done, for the bearing of the host of the Lord's Body, so great a sweetness seemed to me to come forth from that chalice that I could be wholly changed by the immensity of so great a sweetness. But the Spirit of truth did not permit the deceits of the malign spirit to last long. For when on a certain day, about to celebrate the divine mysteries in a certain place, I was reciting to the end with some attention of spirit that psalm JUDGE, O LORD, THEM THAT HARM ME, effective for driving off temptations, and was now ruminating that verse ALL MY BONES SHALL SAY: LORD, WHO IS LIKE UNTO YOU? suddenly so great an immensity of odoriferous sweetness was poured over me that truly all the marrows of my bones seemed to be watered.

[86] who, after the demon's deceit was detected, Stupefied therefore, struck by such an unusual rarity, I prayed to the Lord that, if this were done by diabolical snares, He would by His grace reveal it, and would not any longer suffer the poor man to be slandered by the powerful, for whom there was no sure helper from elsewhere. As soon as I prayed to the Lord (I report it to His praise), I received inwardly so great an illumination of spirit, and, by infused truth, so undoubted a token of full security, that I no longer at all doubted that all these things had been the fabrications of the fraudulent enemy. And from then, the secret of iniquity being revealed, when I had made that Brother certain concerning the diabolical temptation, the sending of that odor ceased from us both, and from then he began to speak evil and filthy things, who before had been accustomed to relate to us discourses full of devotion. To whom, when I said, Where now are your fair discourses? he answered me: The design of my fraud is now manifest: I now wish to practice manifest wickedness.

[87] The so savage vexation of this aforesaid Br. Bernard was the occasion on which occasion he introduced the Antiphon Salve Regina into the Order. by which, being moved, we instituted at Bologna the antiphon SALVE REGINA to be sung after Compline, which from that same house afterward began to be frequented throughout the whole province of Lombardy, and thus afterward this pious and salutary custom prevailed throughout the whole Order. How many tears of devotion has the proclamation of the venerable Mother of Christ drawn forth, how often has it melted the affection of hearers and singers alike, softened hardness, and brought a pious ardor into their hearts! Do we not believe that the Mother of our Savior is delighted by such praises, and is mingled with such proclamations? A certain religious man worthy of trust related to me that he had frequently seen in the Spirit of God, while the Brethren were singing TURN THEN, O OUR ADVOCATE, the Mother of God herself prostrate before the presence of her Son and praying for the preservation of the whole Order. Which let it be recalled for this purpose, that the devotion of the Brethren who read may henceforth be the more animated to the praise of the Virgin.

[88] When the body of blessed Dominic was translated, The body of St. Dominic being raised up, the hard cement being scarcely broken with iron crowbars, and the stone which had been placed over the tomb being raised with great difficulty, a wonderful and most sweet odor came forth from that tomb, and such as seemed to surpass all spices; nor did it seem like the odor of any human thing: and the odor was not only in the bones, the casket, and the dust; but also in the hands of those who had touched the aforesaid things, or anything of the aforesaid, it lasted for several days.

[89] A certain scholar, by name Nicholas of Bosco, a certain Nicholas, an Englishman an Englishman of the diocese of Worcester, dwelling at Bologna, whom a pain of the kidneys and knees had miserably afflicted from the feast of St. Michael until Pentecost, could not raise himself nor go about the house unless he were supported by staves or by servants. And at length the infirmity was so aggravated for fifteen days that he could not leave his bed; and his left hip was so wasted and emptied of flesh that by no help of physicians could he be freed; but by various medicines it was worse for him, so that his friends and physicians despaired of his health. A vow being made to blessed Dominic, he was at once restored to health ^b.

[90] A certain girl, by name Thomasina, daughter of Thomasinus the scribe, and several others who lives at Bologna next to the court of St. Ambrose ^c, was for fifteen days held by a grave infirmity in her left jaw, so that, the flesh being broken, much matter and putrefaction flowed down, nor could it be checked by anything. And so her parents feared that she would not easily be healed, and would incur a very great deformity. But a vow being made to blessed Dominic, on the following morning, no medicament having been applied, she was so freed that neither scar nor any trace of the infirmity remained, save a certain redness in the jaw, which presents no deformity.

A certain lady, by name Gilla, wife of lord Marscotus, who lives in the street of Castiglione, for eight years and more had lost all the powers of her body on the right side from the girdle downward, so that she could move neither foot nor leg, unless she so moved a staff with her hands. But a vow being made to blessed Dominic, she was at once freed.

[91] A certain young man, by name Manfredinus, of Mausolinum, both men and women from the feast of St. Agatha until the feast day after Pentecost had lost the powers of all his limbs, so that he could not go without a staff or other support, nor upon his haunches ^d, but supine, nor place himself on the ground to sit, nor even raise himself; and he had swellings and great tumors, and he took medicines, and they profited nothing, nay rather greatly harmed him, and he could not draw up his legs unless he moved, turned, or drew them with his hands. A vow being made to blessed Dominic, he was restored to health, so that on the same day he walked on his own feet XXVIII miles without prop or another's help.

A certain woman, Gilla by name, daughter of John of Corviago, of the castle of Mansolinum, from Shrovetide ^e until the time of the translation of the body of blessed Dominic was sick in her whole body, and by the infirmity lost her left arm entirely, so that she could not help herself with it in any way, and when a bleeding was made, the blood in no way came forth, because the arm was dry and dead and insensible, so that in the bleeding she did not feel the wound; and the said arm was thinner, because so wasted, namely in the sickness. But a vow being made to blessed Dominic, she was at once cured.

[92] afflicted with various diseases, A certain boy, son of Jacobinus Bonfantinus, by name Petriciolus, was for two years ruptured in the groin, so that the intestine flowed down into the sac of the testicles, and by no help of physicians could he be relieved. A vow being made to blessed Dominic before the translation of the body, he was freed.

A certain woman, Menecata by name, daughter of Hugh Massarius of Sesso, whose lower lip was so swollen and as it were deadened that she could not eat without the greatest pain, nor drink unless she held up that lip; nor could she utter intelligible words, and the aforesaid infirmity had lasted for her a year and five months — a vow being made to blessed Dominic, she was at once restored to health.

A certain man by name Geminianus, son of Peter Bachalarius, had been held by a certain infirmity for four years and more, so that the hairs had fallen from his head, and a bloody putrefaction flowed down, and by no help of physicians could he be freed. A vow being made to blessed Dominic by his mother, he was at once freed.

[93] the intercession of that Saint being implored A certain man by name Cambius de Barticoribus, while he was cleaning a certain threshing floor, an awn entered his throat, and by occasion of that awn he was held by grave pain for eight days, and for four days he could neither eat, nor drink, nor utter intelligible words, nor could he be relieved [by] any physician. But a vow being made to blessed Dominic, he was at once fully freed.

A certain woman, by name Bona-filia, suffered the disease of the fig ^f in her nose and upper lip for two years and more; and she had her nose and lip swollen larger than a hen's egg, and it stank much, so that by no help of physicians could she be relieved. But a vow being made to blessed Dominic, she was at once freed, so that no trace of the infirmity remained in her nose or lip.

A certain boy, by name Petrinus, son of Gerard Petrinus of Tornello, for fifteen days and more was held by a most grave infirmity, and from the navel downward to the feet he was most grievously swollen, so that he could not stand, nor in any way help himself; and by all he was held for dead. A vow being made to blessed Dominic, he was at once restored to health.

[94] and a vow being made, A certain woman, Alda by name, daughter of Bertha the Tuscan, for five years had scrofulous swellings under her right armpit and glandular swellings, and about the breasts on the right side many blisters, which emitted much matter and putrefaction; and it stank much, so that it seemed abominable to her, and greatly afflicted her, so that she could not lie upon her side. A vow being made to blessed Dominic, she was straightway freed.

A certain boy, Rodulfus by name, son of Hymelia, wife of Hildebrandinus Jucellinus, was held by a grave infirmity, so that for eight days he neither ate nor took the breast; and now his heart had become as it were cold and dry, and all utterly despaired of his health. But a vow being made to blessed Dominic by his parents, he was at once freed.

A certain boy, by name Aimericus, for eight days and more was held by a most grave infirmity, so that he could neither eat nor drink,

nor speak: and his whole body had now become cold, and all utterly despaired of his health. But a vow being made to blessed Dominic, he was at once freed.

[95] A certain woman, by name Cortesina, wife of Maynardus, at once wonderfully recovered health. for a year and a half and more was held by a most grave infirmity in all her limbs, so that she could not help herself, nor perform any work. A vow being made to blessed Dominic, she was at once freed.

A certain man by name Marsilius de Suavitis, whom a continual fever and an unceasing pain of the whole body, and especially about the breast, had so afflicted for six days that, the Eucharist having been received and a testament made, his friends utterly despaired of his health; a vow being made to blessed Dominic, he was at once freed.

A certain man, by name Andulfus, of Mazanellum, for one month and more had a most grave infirmity of an abscess on the right side under the armpit, on the inner part, so that all who saw him judged him unto death. But a vow being made to blessed Dominic, he was at once restored to health.

A certain boy, by name John, for three days was held by so most grave an infirmity that, the signs of death appearing, the physicians and all others despaired of his safety. But a vow being made to blessed Dominic, he was at once freed.

A certain scholar, by name William Alare, of Castrum Vauri in the diocese of Toulouse, dwelling at Bologna, was for eight days grievously afflicted with a double tertian fever, so that his friends despaired of his health: but from the time that he lay upon the stone which is beneath the tomb of blessed Dominic, he was at once restored to health.

A certain woman, Gilla by name, wife of Hugh, who was of Bologna, but now ^g lives at Imola, was held by a most grave pain of the teeth, so that she in no wise rested, but was always crying out as if frenzied. A vow being made to blessed Dominic, she was at once freed.

ANNOTATA.

ANOTHER LIFE,

Which Br. Bartholomew of Trent of the Order of Preachers briefly composed before the middle of the XIII century.

It has been excerpted from Ms. Codex 2061, which is at Rome in the library of the most eminent Cardinal Barberini, and is now for the first time printed.

Dominic, confessor, at Bologna (St.)

BHL Number: 2214

FROM THE MS.

St. Dominic, piously brought up Dominic, which is etymologized as "guardian of the Lord," or "guarded by the Lord," either because he kept the precepts of the Lord, or because the Lord kept him from his enemies, brought forth in the village of Caleruega in the diocese of Osma, in the province of Spain, of his father Felix and his mother Joanna, was prefigured before his birth: for his mother saw herself carrying a whelp in her womb, which, coming forth, carried a torch in its mouth, from which it seemed to set the whole world on fire: for his utterance burned like a torch, as afterward plainly appeared. He was of a good disposition, and when he was placed in the cradle, a swarm of bees flitted about the mouth of the infant; and to the matron who had raised him from baptism he was shown to have a star on his forehead ^a. In his boyhood he was imbued with ecclesiastical offices by his uncle the archpriest.

[2] after completing the study of theology becomes a Regular Canon, Then he is sent to Valencia ^b, where he is instructed in the liberal studies. A great famine coming on, selling his books he fed the poor, and induced many to do the same. He did not mingle himself with those at play; he preserved his flesh unspotted, for ten years he abstained from wine; he was often accustomed to sleep on stones or upon the ground. He visited churches most gladly, he heard the divine offices most devoutly. Hearing theology, he fulfilled it in work. Diego therefore, bishop of Osma, made him a Canon in his church under the rule of Augustine, among whom, profiting after a little while, he is made their prelate.

[3] and on occasion of a certain embassy After these things, at the request of King Alfonso … the bishop sets out with blessed Dominic concerning the marriage of his son Ferdinand; he lodges on the journey at Toulouse, in which then heresy was greatly sprouting, and St. Dominic converted his host. After these things they come to Rome; returning thence, they visit Cîteaux, where the bishop of Osma assumed the habit ^c. Then he came to Toulouse, where at that time, the legate of the Roman Church with many prelates celebrating a council against the heretics, by the counsel of the said bishop Diego and of St. Dominic they cast off all superfluous pomp, and in poverty preached Christ poor.

[4] The heretics fortify themselves in opposition and write tracts contrary to the faith. contends strenuously against the Albigensian heretics, At Fanjeaux a solemn disputation is held under appointed judges; and while there was too much altercation of words, one tract approved by the heretics, and one tract composed by St. Dominic and approved by the Catholics, are examined on either side; but when it came into doubt for the judges which tract they should approve, it pleased them that it should be tested by the trial of fire. The heretic's tract was soon consumed; Dominic's book, then cast into the fire, then leaped forth unharmed, approving both his knowledge and his holiness in the purity of the faith.

[5] While therefore many in those parts through want handed over their daughters to be reared by the heretics, and shows a great zeal for the faith. Diego founded the monastery of Prouille, gathering handmaids of Christ, and foretelling the destruction of Toulouse, he died in Castile, and shone with many miracles. But blessed Dominic remained at Toulouse, where, having suffered many things from the heretics, he thirsted for martyrdom to such a degree that he desired to be torn limb from limb out of zeal for the faith. He glowed with charity so greatly that he was very often ready to sell himself for the need of Christians. Through the whole of Lent, clothed in a hair-shirt, he fasted on bread and water, that by true frugality he might overcome the heretics, since by feigned frugality they were seducing many.

[6] There then adhered to the Man of God certain men, among whom Br. Peter of Seila Afterward the Saint begins to found the Order of Preachers, and Br. Thomas, men of noble birth. Fulk, bishop of Toulouse, loving St. Dominic, gave his own and others' revenues from his goods, and besides, with the consent of the Chapter, the sixth part of all the tithes of his whole diocese … At Rome then a general council is celebrated by Innocent III, to which St. Dominic proceeded with the said bishop, and obtained an Order which should be called and be the Order of Friars Preachers. The rule of St. Augustine therefore being taken up by the counsel of the Brethren at Toulouse, they entered the church of St. Romanus in the year of Christ MCCXVII ^d.

[7] St. Dominic foresaw the death of the count of Montfort, and obtains its confirmation from Pope Honorius III, a most beautiful tree appearing to him in a vision, in which a multitude of birds rested; but being cut down it fell, and the birds are dispersed. He therefore also dispersed the few Brethren whom he had, and many were added to them. And so Pope Honorius confirmed the Order, and, lest the little flock should be shaken with fear, God began to console them with miracles and revelations. Also a certain man, who was called Br. Dominic the simple, being tempted by a certain enticing woman, cast himself between two kindled and neighboring pyres, and, in no way harmed, converted the wretched woman.

[8] The good father Dominic also began to shine with many miracles: and is illustrious with various miracles for going to Rome, by the sign of the cross he drove away from himself and from Br. Bertrand the rain flooding round about, so that not a drop touched them; St. Dominic obtained by praying that Br. Reginald, dean of St. Aignan of Orléans, be freed from a desperate infirmity through her who brought the medicine of life to the world: visibly the Mother of mercy, accompanied by two most beautiful maidens, appeared to him as he lay sick, saying: Ask of me what you will, and I will give it to you. As he deliberated, lest he should ask anything indiscreetly, one of the damsels suggested that he commit himself to our Lady's will: which when he did, the Queen of heaven anointed with her virginal hand his eyes, ears and nostrils, mouth, hands, loins, and feet with a certain most salutary unction, using these words: Let your loins be girt with the girdle of chastity, and I anoint your feet in the preparation of the Gospel of peace; and she added: On the third day I will send you a flask for the restoration of full health; and straightway she showed him the habit of the Order which the Friars Preachers now use, saying: Behold the habit of your Order.

[9] and with revelations, Being freed on the spot, he related this vision to the holy Father, and assumed the habit as he had foreseen: for before they used surplices. On the third day the Mother of God, solicitous for her own, was present, and the Queen of angels anointed Reginald's whole body; and not only the burnings of fevers, but also the motions of lusts she utterly extinguished in him. He afterward at Bologna, at Paris, and elsewhere drew very many to Jesus Christ, and after a little while rested in peace. There shone in those same times St. Francis, who founded the Order of Friars Minor: to him St. Dominic was joined with so great a charity that both had the same willing and the same not-willing. The two Orders therefore are extended under these Fathers. Nor was the cunning of the envious enemy lacking, but that he should set a snare for the feet of many: for St. Dominic, while he was in Spain, saw in a vision a most monstrous dragon devouring the Brethren who had come with him;

whence it came about that, except three, all the others departed, whom, when he could not retain them by holy persuasions, he brought back by praying. So also, by ardent prayer, he set fire to the garments of a certain delicate novice who wished to return to the world, that he might extinguish in him the fire of temptation.

[10] by which he enlarged his Order, A lay-brother, who without leave and blessing had taken drink, he freed from a demon which had invaded him. He himself often endured the mockeries of demons: for once, as he prayed at some length after Compline, a demon appeared in the shape of a Brother, to whom, when out of compassion he said: Go, sleep; that one, mocking, said: You have broken silence. Into the refectory also they once entered, leaping from table to table and saying repeatedly: But he understood more or less ^e. He foretold the death in soul of two Brethren who had left the Order, and of two in body, in the same week. He raised two dead men: at Rome the nephew of the lord Cardinal Stephen of Fossanova, who, frolicking on a horse and falling, had expired, as I myself heard from his parents in Spain; the other a workman, whom the mass of a little hill had crushed at St. Sixtus, whom likewise he called back from death by praying. When bread was lacking for the Brethren at table, the holy Father praying, there came two young men unknown to all, carrying most white loaves, and, bowing their heads to the Convent, they appeared no more: this I learned from a Brother who was present ^f.

[11] and God showed that its founding was pleasing to Him. Finally, that the work begun by this Father was well pleasing to God was demonstrated not only to his own, but also to others: for a certain priest, disposing to enter his Order, while he sought no other delay except that he should buy a new Testament, suddenly a certain man was at hand and sold him what he desired: which being bought, soon that which before had been most desired came into doubt and ambiguity. From that very book, therefore, he seeks an oracle from God, and, the cross being made, he opened the book while praying, and at the first opening found the words of the Lord speaking to Peter concerning the messengers of Cornelius: Arise, go down, and go with them, doubting nothing, for I have sent them. Made certain therefore, he joined himself to the Saint. The lord Conrad ^g also, bishop of Porto, who had come into doubt whether this Order were from God or of men, prayed to be made certain by God; and, the Missal being opened, in the first line he read: To praise, to bless, and to preach. Whence, all ambiguity being banished, he thenceforward showed himself most devoted to the Order. So also the lord William, then bishop of Modena, but now Cardinal bishop of Sabina, sedulously examining the manners of St. Dominic, asked to be received by him as a confrère of the Order: to whom the holy Father assenting, entrusted to him, as to a father, the affairs of the Order; which that same bishop fervently observes to this present day ^h.

[12] Finally the venerable man Dominic, presuming more upon divine grace The holy Founder, after the pious governance of his Order, than upon human wisdom, followed with the sedulous suffrages of his prayers the Brethren whom he sent out to preach. But how much the prayer of a just man avails, I will bring forward two instances in place of all: two Brethren had for God's sake visited a woman in prison, whose youthful elegance beholding, she began to hesitate whether such men, or others like them, could scarcely be kept unspotted from this world. As she was anxious for such and devoutly praying, there stood by her the Queen, the consoler of mourners, the protectress of her own, the virgin Mary, and spreading out before the anxious woman the ineffable mantle with which she then seemed to be clothed, she showed those for whom she was solicitous standing beside her, saying: Be not anxious for these or for such as these, who are mine, and I will keep them for myself. Deservedly, propped up* with so great a hope, they cry out assiduously: Our life, our sweetness, and our hope, hail.

[13] Shining forth, therefore, with these and many other abundances of virtues in himself and in his sons, the blessed Father in the year 1221 passes to those above, desired to be dissolved and to be with Christ; who, being at Bologna [in] the year of Christ MCCXXI, knew that the dissolution of his body was at hand: for he saw a most beautiful youth calling him with these words: Come, my beloved, come to joys, come. And so, twelve being called together, he promised most securely that after the death of his body he would be more useful to the Order than in life. Leaving them the virginity of his body as an example, and making a testament of charity, humility, and voluntary poverty, he entered into the joy of his Lord. And the venerable father, the lord Hugolino, then bishop of Ostia and legate of the Apostolic See, but afterward Pope Gregory IX, buried him in the church of St. Nicholas, which is now entitled by his name, between two altars.

[14] At the hour of his departure Br. Guala of pious memory ⁱ, then Prior of the Friars Preachers of Brescia, whose death was at the same time revealed but afterward bishop of that same city, in the bell-tower of the church of the Brethren, his head leaned against the wall, seized by a light slumber, saw heaven opened, and two white ladders let down to earth, whose summits Jesus held with His virgin Mother, and angels ascended and descended by them, jubilating, in the middle of the ladders: at the bottom was placed a seat, and sitting upon it a Brother with veiled head; and Jesus and Mary drew the ladders upward, the angels singing psalms. When the one sitting had been raised into heaven, the gate was closed which before seemed open. He was terrified at what he had seen, and disclosing it to his Brethren, he hastens to Bologna, and it is found to be the same hour of the vision and of the passing. This very thing I heard the bishop himself devoutly reading in the new Lesson before all at Bologna on Dominic's feast; this, since by God's grace and his own he was most familiar to me, I have known him often to attest before many.

[15] Brother Rao related to me that at Rome, in the church of St. Sixtus, whose feast was at hand, he was celebrating Mass at that hour; and while in the canon, where the memento of the living is made, to two Friars Preachers, he was proposing after his accustomed manner to make devout memento of the pious Father, he saw him accompanied by a reverend colleague, and adorned with a crown of glory, walking along a most delightful way; and although he did not then know that he had passed away, yet noting the hour, he found that the Saint had passed at that same hour. Whence concerning this vision that same Brother composed an Antiphon, which on the said day of our St. Dominic I heard in his voice. Another young man, familiar to me, then being at Bologna, there related, the truth of the holy faith being invoked, that he had indeed learned of the Saint's death only very lately; but that he had been ignorant of it for more than three months. In a vision of the night, therefore, he saw St. Dominic sitting on a glorious throne among the doctors, most gloriously adorned with priestly vestments, to whom, when the seer said, My lord, are you then not dead? he answered: My son, I am not dead, because I have a good Lord, in whom I live forever. In the morning, when he who had seen this entered the church, he found him buried in the same place where he had seen him sitting.

[16] and after his death, to many sick persons, Miracles were multiplying there; but the insipid simplicity of certain Brethren broke the images brought thither for the vows of those who had been cured, saying that under the appearance of holiness the vice of cupidity might creep in. But the Lord bore with such things for a time. Yet while there was treatment concerning his translation, which I mentioned above ^k, and his canonization, so many miracles had burst forth that they could not be concealed; of which I shall briefly touch upon certain that have been proved and approved. Nicholas the Englishman, as I myself saw, cured of a grave and manifold paralysis, leapt forth like a stag before us all standing by, glad and rejoicing ^l. That others also, paralytics variously sick, were variously cured, has been proved; four incurable abscesses, proved and approved, and many other things Christ cured by his merits.

[17] imploring his help, He restored health. That he likewise cured a man with the white leprosy ^m and one with an abscess has been proved. A man choked by a crust in his throat, who for four days had had neither food nor speech, we have known to have been healed when Dominic's name was invoked. Very many fever-stricken, vows being made to him, Jesus Christ freed by the merits of His Servant. Several corrupted in their intestines, therefore, Jesus Christ restored by his merits. Three despaired of and near to death, as has been proved and approved, he restored to life and health. A boy held by all for dead for several days, a vow being made to St. Dominic, he restored to the present life. He loosed the tongues of four mutes and of many others; he restored sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf. Many other signs and miracles indeed Jesus Christ wrought through this His holy servant Dominic, which it would be long to recount: but let these suffice for the edification of the faithful; because without doubt the tokens of his holiness are more than are narrated.

ANNOTATA.

* perhaps: thrice

* perhaps: surplices

* perhaps: for both

* read: propped

* read: of Brescia

* perhaps: ninth

FULLER ACTS,

which Br. Theodoric of Apolda, a writer of the Order of Preachers of nearly the same period, collected from various older monuments.

We now for the first time present them genuine and entire from our parchment Codex P. Ms. 8, which we have collated with another Codex of our Museum marked P. Ms. 7.

Dominic, confessor, at Bologna (St.)

BHL Number: 2226

FROM THE MSS.

FIRST PROLOGUE.

The author says that the Order of Preachers was long foretold, In many portions and in many manners God of old, inviting the elect to the eternal banquet, at the last in these days, that is at the eleventh hour, sent His servant to say to those invited that they should come, because now all things are ready. This servant St. Gregory interprets as the order of preachers, to be directed in the last times, namely to admonish human minds of the near coming of the judge: for Scripture forewarned that there would be some new order of preachers, which it so expressly declared was to be sent about the end of the world, saying, He sent His servant at the hour of supper. The hour of supper is the end of the world; and we are those upon whom the ends of the ages have come. There has been sent, therefore, at the hour of supper, that is in the last days, a new Order; new, I say, and equally ancient; new in its institution, ancient in its authority; new, nay newest in span of time, but first in office; for the cultivators of the vineyard having been hired first in the morning by agreement for a denarius, and also at the third, sixth, and ninth hour, there remains, nay there stands forth, now the eleventh hour, in which the last are multiplied.

[2] which St. Dominic founded, These are the preachers, whose Order the divine dispensation provided for the perils of these last times, so that, as the judgment of Him whose judgment was taken away in His humility drew near, the number of witnesses might be increased. Therefore even now they are multiplied in a fruitful old age, that, patient in well doing, they may announce that the Lord our God is upright. These are the little bells with which the hem of the pontifical robe is adorned. These are the strong and dappled horses in the last chariot, gone forth from between two mountains of brass, that they may traverse all the earth. The first founder and renowned father of this Order was blessed Dominic, whose life full of virtues and most pleasing to God, and also his death, and in part his miracles, and the beginning of that Order itself in the western parts of the world and at the setting of the time of the East, it is worth the effort to set down in a rude indeed, but truthful style, by the help of the grace of Jesus Christ ^a.

[3] and assigns the authors It should be known that our venerable father blessed Jordan, the second Master of our Order, most worthy successor of St. Dominic, composed a little book on the beginning of the Order, in which he wrote down the glorious deeds and wonderful works of the first Fathers and holy Brethren, lest such excellent Fathers and their examples of so exceptional holiness should come into oblivion: from which little book the first Legend of St. Dominic was written ^b. Afterward, by the mandate of the blessed bishop John ^c, who was the fourth Master from St. Dominic, Brother Constantine ^d published a second Legend, adding many remarkable things. The holy Father Humbert ^e succeeding, the fifth Master of the Order, forging a third Legend out of the aforesaid, with many things added, amplified it not a little; who also compiled by his devotion and diligence the book which is called the Lives of the Brethren ^f.

[4] At length our beloved Father, Brother Gerard, Prior provincial of Germany, and the documents returning from the general Chapter celebrated at Lucca ^g, brought certain illustrious deeds of St. Dominic from Bologna, which were written down from the mouth of Sister Cecilia of Rome, whom blessed Dominic had received into the Order; which, as she saw and heard them, she recounted most sincerely with full faith — she who led a most religious and most holy life until the year of the Lord one thousand two hundred ninety ^h. Besides, the sayings of illustrious men, namely of nine Brethren, whose testimonies, exceedingly credible and approved by the authority of the lord Gregory IX, are also to be preferred to others, proclaim the exceptional holiness of our Father ⁱ. To these are added the revelations of Saints, which are not to be despised, and the most faithful reports of the ancients, most worthy of all belief, through which both the authority of the Order of Preachers and the renowned merits of its Founder are declared ^k.

[5] From all these the matter of the present little work has been taken, from which he gathered the Life of this holy Founder, and has been faithfully written and compacted into one little book, to which the truth of the deeds gives authority, without which no authority avails. But who would dare to derogate authority from the aforesaid Fathers, whose sentences and for the most part words are here set down word for word? And this little book is divided into eight parts, and subdivided into chapters, so that what anyone seeks he may more easily find, and in reading may be the more delighted by the divisions. And this little book is the longer for this reason, that it contains more fully inserted and appended the deeds of master Reginald, and his death, and those of certain other Fathers, and the things which pertain to the commendation of the Order.

[6] I confess that all these things could have been expressed and written more elegantly and in better order; and explains the reason and method of his writing. but it must be granted me that in compiling them no one was at hand to help me, nor on account of this labor did I omit anything which regular observance requires; and I made this composition collected from various sources, that it might become known to posterity with how great glory and religion the Order of Preachers was founded, and what was the exceptional devotion and illustrious discretion of the holy Fathers who founded it. Nor do I wish that it be reckoned by the name of a Legend, but that it be named a little book concerning the Life and death and miracles of St. Dominic, and concerning the Order which he founded. Most things, as I found them in the aforenamed exemplars, I have here set down word for word, changing a few for the sake of continuity and the comeliness of the delivery. But I pray and desire that they be for the profit of readers, and I wish that every pious reader and devout hearer may with attentive care correct and emend these things.

ANNOTATA.

SECOND PROLOGUE.

Theodoric in this second prologue Charity from a pure heart and a good conscience and an unfeigned faith, which is the end of the commandment, and which is infused by God into the Saints by a hidden inspiration, sanctifying by penetrating the inner man, and is diffused in their hearts through the Holy Spirit, fructifying by bedewing the powers of the mind, and is poured out, manifesting itself in the virtues of the elect for the profit of the Church, according as that one and the same Spirit, the artificer of all, wills, who works all things in all — by the working of this most divine Artificer His servant, the holy Dominic, polished and perfected, was destined for the building up of the body of Christ and for the work of the Gospel among those whom the Apostle enumerates as pastors and doctors given for the perfecting of the Saints, and is not to be reckoned the lowest: for those whom he instructed with honeyed discourses, these also he fed with most welcome benefits and strengthened with most holy examples; whose illustrious heraldings of holiness, the exceptional merits of a most perfect life, various signs and also innumerable miracles, written down in manifold ways by divers persons, do indeed resound the praises of that lofty Preacher, and yet do not fully express what they aim at. For it is impossible for anyone to describe the spiritual life of a spiritual man, unless the Spirit of life, irradiating the mind and speaking mysteries, move his tongue.

[8] Who then shall describe the Life of Dominic, save one in the spirit of Dominic, exhorts his fellows helped by the Spirit of the Lord? For assuredly he was of those sons who are led by the Spirit of God, having the spirit of adoption of sons, in which, adoring the Father, he asks for us with groanings — that is, desires — unutterable, crying confidently: Abba, Father. Truly there was no guile in his spirit, to whom, having the first-fruits and pledge of the Spirit, his conscience rendered faithful testimony in the Holy Spirit that he was a son of God. Resolving therefore to serve God in his spirit, in the Gospel of His Son, he fell in love with the rule of evangelical perfection and Apostolic institution, seeking to take her as bride, that from her he might beget spiritual sons. Nor was he cheated of his desire: for behold, evangelical perfection, once barren, has now borne very many, and many are the sons of the deserted Apostolic religion, more than of her who has the firm support of temporal substance: for the barren has borne very many, and she who had many sons has been made weak.

[9] Utterly made weak is opulent Religion, and the profession of barren poverty has borne very many. to imitate the virtues of St. Dominic. Of this mother and Father we are truly the sons, if we shall study to become lovers of our mother's poverty and to be made imitators of our father's holiness: for just as

those who follow the faith and justice of Abraham are esteemed his sons alone, so, imitating the piety of our mother Religion and the holiness of our Father's manner of life, we shall deserve to be called sons. By imitation altogether shall we be most dear sons, we who walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit, lest, preaching spiritual things and living carnally, we become reprobates from the paternal inheritance, and, like salt made insipid, be trodden underfoot in contempt. To the sons, therefore, who wish to walk as he walked, his footsteps have been set down, that both his works may be made manifest, because they were done in God, and the way of justice may be shown us, and the paths of equity made known, by which we may proceed to the fatherland of our paternal inheritance, with Him as companion and foreguide who led this Just Man by ways straight and wonderful, showing him the glory of His kingdom — He who is the way that leads, the truth that gives light, and the life that fails not, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is God over all, blessed unto the ages of ages. Amen.

TITLES OF THE ANCIENT CHAPTERS.

PART ONE.

Chap. I. On the uprightness and piety of St. Dominic's parents.

II. That he was sufficiently instructed in natural and theological science.

III. On the venerable Diego, bishop of Osma, who made blessed Dominic a Regular Canon in his church.

IV. On his perfect religiousness and admirable holiness.

V. On the fellowship and mutual charity between bishop Diego and St. Dominic.

VI. On the preaching against the heretics, and on the tract preserved from the fire.

VII. On the things which happened after the bishop's death, and on the miracles which the Lord wrought through St. Dominic.

VIII. On the Saint's wonderful patience and fraternal charity, his desire of martyrdom, and his astounding works.

IX. On the manifold combat against the heretics, and several miracles wrought.

X. On his glorious fame, and his contempt of dignities.

XI. On the abstinence and the spirit of prophecy with which the Man of God shone.

XII. On the revelations by which the Order of Preachers was foreshown.

PART TWO.

Chap. I. On the confirmation of the Order of Preachers obtained through the blessed Virgin.

II. On the dispersion of the Brethren through the Church of God, and their progress.

III. On the grace of preaching, and the veneration of the people toward him, and the raising of two dead men.

IV. On the Apostolic commission given to blessed Dominic concerning the union of the nuns of the City.

V. On the nuns of St. Mary across the Tiber.

VI. On the raising of the young man called Napoleon, son of the brother of Cardinal Stephen.

VII. On the passage of the Friars Preachers to St. Sabina, where they now remain.

VIII. On the passage of the nuns of St. Mary across the Tiber to St. Sixtus.

IX. On the instruction of the Sisters, and the miracles wrought among them.

X. On his solicitude for the salvation of souls and for the spreading of the Order.

XI. On master Reginald, whom the blessed Virgin anointed, and to whom she showed the habit of the Preachers.

XII. On the commendation of master Reginald and of the Order.

XIII. On a most sacred revelation, most worthy of all acceptance.

XIV. On certain miracles.

PART THREE.

Chap. I. On the coming of Brother Reginald to Bologna.

II. On the glorious deeds of Brother Reginald at Bologna.

III. On the consolation of the Brethren after a disturbance, and on illustrious men.

IV. On the bread and wine ministered from heaven by angels.

V. On prophecies, and a certain young man received into the Order.

VI. On a threefold miracle gloriously wrought.

VII. On the power by which he prevailed to command demons.

VIII. On the miracles which occurred through the Servant of Christ while he was on a journey.

IX. On St. Dominic's coming to Bologna.

X. On the death of Brother Reginald, and on two received by him into the Order.

XI. On the venerable religiousness of our most holy Father.

XII. On the meanness of his habit and clothing, and the austerity of his bed.

XIII. On his love of poverty and the humility of mendicancy.

PART FOUR.

Chap. I. On the first general Chapter celebrated at Bologna.

II. On the guarding of religion, and the gentle correction of the Brethren.

III. On the holiness which he preserved on a journey.

IV. On the fervent preaching of St. Dominic.

V. On his zeal for souls, and the sending of the Brethren through the parts of the Church.

VI. On the efficacy of the holy Man's prayer.

VII. On the second general Chapter celebrated at Bologna, and the death of Brother Everard.

VIII. On the outward form and disposition of the holy Man's body.

IX. On the perfection of the works of the active life.

X. On his contempt of secular glory, and his avoidance of curiosities.

XI. On certain things which have been omitted in what precedes.

XII. That, called by the Lord, he foretold his death, or the day of his death.

PART FIVE.

Chap. I. On the last sickness of the holy Father, and on what Dominic then said and did.

II. On his final expiring.

III. On the revelations made at his passing.

IV. On the wrapping of the sacred body, and the obsequies rendered about the body.

V. On the solemn and devout burial.

VI. On the first glorification of the tomb by certain miracles.

VII. On the glorious merit and reward of St. Dominic, from revelations.

PART SIX.

Chap. I. On the first state of the holy Fathers and Brethren of the Order of Preachers.

II. On their perfect manner of life, and true contrition of heart.

III. On the diligent instruction of novices, and the strict observance of silence.

IV. On the frequenting of the divine Office, and continual prayer.

V. On the abstinence of the Brethren, and the services of mutual charity.

VI. On the veneration of the Brethren toward the blessed Virgin.

VII. On the frequency and fervor of preaching.

VIII. On the beginning of the Order. This chapter is taken from revelations.

PART SEVEN.

Chap. I. On the miracles of blessed Dominic.

II. On the cures of certain weakened limbs at the invocation of blessed Dominic.

III. On the cures of various infirmities.

IV. On the cures of the mute, the blind, and the deaf.

V. On those who procured the translation of the body of St. Dominic.

VI. On those who were present at the opening of the tomb.

VII. On the most sweet odor that came forth from the tomb.

VIII. On the placing of the most sacred bones in a new tomb.

IX. Recapitulation and contemplation of the aforesaid.

X. On the inquiries, the delegates, and the sayings of the witnesses.

XI. On the solemn canonization of blessed Dominic.

XII. On certain miracles wrought after the canonization.

PART EIGHT.

Chap. I. On the progress of the Brethren whom the holy father Dominic sent into Hungary.

II. On the conversion of a pagan duke.

III. Likewise on another pagan duke converted.

IV. On the raising of certain dead persons.

V. Likewise on the raising of others.

VI. On the cure of certain sick persons, and of certain monstrously contracted.

VII. On the cure of the mute, the deaf, and others.

VIII. On one cured of demons, and a miracle displayed in candles.

IX. On a blaspheming woman, and a girl cured of the affliction of the stone.

X. On dropsical persons cured by blessed Dominic.

XI. On wine increased by the merits of blessed Dominic.

XII. On a nun whom the holy Father cured with a salutary unction.

XIII. On a boy raised from the dead.

XIV. On the things which the Friars Minor wrote and narrated to our Brethren for the commendation of the holy father Dominic.

XV. On a Brother healed.

XVI. On Dithmar, abbot of the Cistercian Order.

XVII. A copy of the letter which the lord Pope Gregory IX directed through the whole Church concerning the solemn canonization of our most holy father Dominic, the kindly confessor.

XVIII. There follow revelations made to devout persons in various parts concerning the holy fathers Dominic and Francis, and concerning the Orders founded by them.

XIX. On most true revelations from the Saints.

XX. On the exceptional holiness of the first Fathers and Brethren of the Order of Preachers.

XXI. Likewise on the glory which they are to receive in the fatherland.

XXII. How blessed Dominic receives the deceased Brethren, and excels all.

XXIII. On the threefold state of the privileged.

XXIV. On St. Dominic's manner of praying bodily. From the Vatican codex, number 1218.

CHAPTER I.

The Saint's foretold birth, pious boyhood, literary studies, mercy toward the poor, and other virtues; his manner of life and dignity among the Regular Canons.

Part I.

Chap. I.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Dominic, humble servant of Jesus Christ, set apart unto the Gospel of God, The Saint in the parts of Spain living soberly and piously and justly, made worthy of a portion in the lot of the Saints in light, is truly the light of the world; who, appearing glittering like the morning star in the midst of a cloud, drove far from himself, by the rays of innocence, chastity, modesty, and simplicity, all the darknesses of boyish folly, of wanton adolescence, and of petulant concupiscence. He, by the studies of wisdom, by works of mercy, and by the perfection of the Canonical Religion, as a shining light, going forward like the full moon in its days, illumined himself and his neighbors; and, like the rising sun growing to the perfect day in the loftiest gifts of God, he erected the Order of Preachers, which, glowing red in its virtue, looked forth upon all things, illuminating things dark, making fruitful things barren, warming things cold, and rekindling things lukewarm. Now, transfigured from brightness to brightness by the Spirit of the Lord, he shines forth gloriously in the fatherland, he who in this pilgrimage shone admirably in grace, and by the rising of his natural birth shone humbly from Spain ^a. The time at which the Lord made the rays of this most splendid star rise upon the sons of earth the following will declare.

[11] While the great father the lord Alexander III presided at Rome on the See of St. Peter, after his two brothers and Frederick, the first emperor of this name, governed the commonwealth throughout the world, in the parts of Spain, in the village which is called Caleruega, of the diocese of Osma, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation MCLXX there was one man who was called Felix, and he took a wife by the name of Joanna: who according to the state of the world were indeed sufficiently honorable ^b, and before God devout with Christian piety; who, prevented by the gift of the divine dispensation, deserved a blessing in the fruitfulness of a most holy offspring: for Joanna by God's grace bore to her husband Felix two sons, who, instructed in letters and living commendably, ascended to the grade of the priesthood. One of these, dedicating himself in a certain hospital to the service of the poor, was illustrious in his life by the grace of humility and by works of mercy and other virtues, and, as is reported, glittered with miracles after his death; but the other, leaving the world, passed over to Religion, in which, serving the Lord laudably for a long time, a holy and contemplative man, he rested with a blessed end ^c. Such fruits, then, does good earth bring forth, of which the one, by showing mercy, breathes the fragrance of grace; the other, by contemplating truth, foretastes perpetual felicity.

[12] But the Lord added yet further, magnifying His mercy with them: is born, foretold in a certain vision, for the mother, about to bear a son of more excellent grace, before she conceived was prevented from heaven by the Lord with a vision indicative of the future birth: for she saw herself carrying a whelp in her womb, which bore in its mouth a burning torch; and coming forth from the womb, it set the whole world on fire with the flames proceeding from its mouth. After these things the grace of God visited Joanna, and, making drunk the fruit of her womb, made her to bring forth, multiplying her sacred offspring. At length the time of bearing was fulfilled, and she bore a son, the glory of his brothers and the joy of his mother, of an exulting

mother exulting in the Lord, because she beholds and holds in her lap what she had foreseen by presage. The little infant, catechized* after the custom, is sanctified with the priestly blessing, and is sealed with the salutary unction of chrism. He is baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and by the nod of Him whose name is Lord, he is called Dominic. To his spiritual mother also ^d, a certain noble woman, the sacred infant Dominic appeared in a vision, having a most shining star on his forehead, by whose exceeding splendor the face of the whole world was illuminated and radiant.

[13] and by upright parents Consider now the glorious little infant. He is begotten by his father Felix; he is brought forth, nourished, cherished by Joanna, his mother by the grace of God; he is reborn, and is marked with the name Dominic — a foster-son of grace, desirous of divinity, and the future heir of eternal felicity. Not yet born, he is foreshown by a true sign; reborn, he is exalted by a real name; and he is displayed with a countenance glittering with a star's splendor. So copious a fire blazes in the torch that the whole world may burn with it; he becomes so glorious in name that he terrifies adversaries; so radiant with light that he illumines those darkened by sins, and shines among the stars of heaven — fiery with the fervor of charity, solid in famed authority, radiant with the light of knowledge. But even in his birth this most blessed Infant was the form and standard-bearer and prophet of that illustrious Order whose father and prince he was to be: for preaching, kindling the heart of the sinner unto penitence, is the whelp's burning torch; authority, reconciling unto grace, is the name of power; the brightness of doctrine, leading to wisdom, is the star's radiance. He greatly errs who does not believe that these future things were disposed from eternity, and thus foresignified from heaven at this time.

[14] piously brought up, The mother nourishes her son with diligence, suckles and weans him, and, rejoicing, brings the little one to growth. [But when he was lying in the cradle, at a certain time a swarm of bees flitted about his mouth, prefiguring that his tongue would flow with the honey of divine wisdom ^e:] and he, weaned from milk and torn from the breast, soon began to be nourished at the breast of grace. Whence at once, as soon as he was able, his infant years not yet completed, by the example of his pious parents he learned to frequent churches and to worship God. His own little bed also, while yet tender, he very often deserted; and, shunning the softness of a couch, he laid his infant limbs upon the bare ground ^f, which also he afterward observed untiringly in his days. And so he grew, religiously nourished under the guardianship of pious parents, whom also in his boyish years in particular a certain venerable archpriest, his uncle, instructing him with great diligence, brought up. By their religious and prudent counsel the holy Boy was handed over to be imbued chiefly with the ecclesiastical office.

[15] and in boyhood shining with various virtues, There was present, therefore, to the vow of holy devotion the divine furtherance, and the boy began to be talented and docile, inasmuch as he had obtained a good soul, a little vessel of grace, a receptacle of knowledge. And advancing in the institute of divine worship, the venerable Boy tarried in churches, prayed the psalms with the clerics, sang the hymns, went about the altars, devoutly assisted at the sacred mysteries, served the ministers and priests of Christ. Thus, like a fresh earthen jar, his boyish soul in these exercises drank in for itself the odor of holiness, which he preserved in a perpetual tenor. Even then the hand of the supreme Artificer began to form out of him a vessel of election for Himself, into which He might pour the graces of His blessing. The chosen Boy guarded innocence, loved cleanness, preserved discipline. He was chaste in his senses, and modest in his acts. These and other things in the second seven years of his age, according as the unction suggested, while still a little Boy he observed, doing nothing boyish in his work: for already an aged heart was in him, and beneath a tender face the venerable hoariness of understanding lay hid: for from the very cradle he was of so very excellent a disposition that so remarkable an infancy heralded*, and so holy a boyhood, bearing witness, bespoke, that something great was to come.

II.

[16] Seeing the continual advance of age and grace in their holy Offspring, his pious parents he is sent to Palencia, sent him to study at Palencia ^g: for there at that time a general school flourished, abounding both in a multitude of scholars and in the skill of masters. The provident youth therefore began to act not sluggishly, but diligently to attend to the study for whose sake he had been sent, so that, grace helping, he advanced beyond many of his coevals in a shorter space: for, frivolities being omitted in which youth flows away, he devoted himself to necessary things. Avoiding the vicious and slippery companionship of harmful society, and especially of women, he did not mingle himself with those at play, nor did he show himself a partaker with those who in levity of heart, according to the concupiscences of the flesh, walk unto superfluous curiosities, unto false madnesses and latter-day spectacles. He spurned the gladness of a flattering and deceiving world, and passing over the filths of the flesh with the foot of unspotted affection, he consecrated to the Lord the unblemished glory of his virginity. There flowed therefore abundantly into his pure understanding and into a mind free from defilements the liberal sciences, which are grasped only by clean understandings.

[17] Truly the angelic youth Dominic was not sufficiently carried away by these sciences of human wisdom, devoting his effort to studies which nevertheless he easily grasped, because in them he did not behold Christ, the wisdom of God, whom he sought: for none of the philosophers handed her down, nor did any of the princes of this world know her. Accordingly, therefore, lest he should vainly consume the strength of his flourishing youth, and that he might quench the thirst with which he burned, he betook himself to the fountain of theological wisdom, that he might draw what he eagerly desired. And so, invoking by prayer Christ, the wisdom of the Father, he inclined his heart to discipline and his ear to the doctors of the holy Scriptures; and those eloquences were sweet above honey and the honeycomb to his heart: to the learning of which the pious Youth applied himself for four years with such avidity and such desire that he passed his nights almost sleepless, occupying the time of rest with vigils; but the truth heard humbly, embracing it sweetly with pious affection and holding it in his mind by memory, he fulfilled efficaciously in work: for that he might deserve to receive the cup from the fountain of salutary wisdom, for ten years, a lover of chastity, he did not at all taste wine, in which is wantonness.

[18] It was very wonderful and lovely to see a man whom both the fewness of his days set forth as a youth, he offers various examples of the virtues, and the maturity of his manner of life and constancy of morals proclaimed an old man. He fled youthful desires, he followed after justice, and, shunning wandering excursions, he did not leave the bosom of mother Church and the tabernacles of holy quiet; praying in church and sitting at his studies, he assiduously abode. For this reason therefore, because he embraced the commandments of the Lord with so fervid a love, the Lord filled him so greatly with the spirit of wisdom and understanding that he easily penetrated even the difficulties of questions. But because with his whole heart he loved the Lord who made him, he did not neglect his neighbor, whom God has judged is to be loved in Himself.

[19] and by the selling of his books There shone forth, then, in the servant of God, Dominic, toward the calamities and miseries of his neighbors a most pious compassion indeed, and the affection of pity was accompanied by a manifest effect of work: for while he still tarried at Palencia in study, a mighty famine was oppressing almost all Spain. The poor were failing from hunger and thirst, and there was none to restore them. The wretched and needy were dying, nor was there any who cared. The orphans and widows cried out, the little ones and the weak; nor was there any who heard. Amid these things the spirit of the young Dominic was afflicted, and his merciful soul had compassion on the multitude of the poor. Then, being now no deaf hearer of the evangelical counsel, and a follower of perfection, he sold his books and all that he had, and dispersed and gave the price received to the poor.

[20] he declares his tender affection toward the poor. Thus the most sweet Youth, obeying the word of Christ, succored the peril of his neighbors, and provoked those who beheld by his sacred example. The desire of wisdom grew in him, and did not diminish the help of justice, nor did the study of knowledge draw him back from perfection; but he consummated it in virtue: for he knew as it behooved him to know, being made understanding beyond the aged, because he sought the commandments of the Lord, and was blessed in fulfilling by work what he knew. These and other illustrious things the angelic Dominic did, not yet separated from the world by habit or by manner of living ^h; and, that we may speak truly, not he himself, but the Lord and the power of Christ dwelling in him did all these things: for He prevented him with the blessing of God's sweetness, glorifying his infancy with signal sacraments, and sanctifying his innocent boyhood with the rudiments of cleanness; and, accompanying the Saint's adolescence, He added that the mercy of God should strengthen him with the most solid foundations of a twofold knowledge, and with the ornaments of gentle manners; nor did He cease until He should consummate [it] to the end with the increases of good works and of all the virtues.

III.

[21] In those days there was a man of venerable life, Diego by name, Diego, bishop of Osma, bishop of the church of Osma, whom the knowledge of sacred Letters, and, according to the world, a nobility of birth, but still more a remarkable uprightness of manners, adorned: his love had so wholly clung to God that, casting himself away and seeking only the things that are Jesus Christ's, he turned his mind and intention with the utmost effort to this, how, being a lender at interest of many souls, he might bring back to his Lord the talent entrusted to him with manifold usury. He was busied therefore, wherever he could search them out, to draw to himself, by what means he was able, men of upright life and praiseworthy in manners, and to place them, by conferring benefices, in the church over which he presided. But those of his subjects whose will was zealous toward holiness, [yet] a pain toward the world, he persuaded by words and invited by examples to assume the form of praiseworthy men and of a more religious life. Hence it came about that he gave his effort to persuading his own Canons of this, by frequent admonitions and unwearied exhortation, that they should consent to the observance of the Canonical Religion under the rule of blessed Augustine. Finally he did this with such solicitude that he bent their minds, although he had some gainsayers, to his desire.

IV.

[22] To the hearing of this venerable pontiff came the famed and fragrant repute of the servant of Christ, Dominic, associates him with his Regular Canons, who, the truth having been diligently inquired into and ascertained, summoned him and made him a Regular Canon in his church, reckoning himself blessed in this very thing, in that he had provided both for himself such a son, and for his church so fit a minister. Clothed outwardly, therefore, in the habit of the Canonical Religion, the servant of Christ, Dominic, by the grace of God put on inwardly the new man; and soon, turned in the fear of God to the pursuit of all holiness, he began to do in himself what he was to teach others. Striving therefore to imitate the footsteps of the perfect and to climb the summits of the virtues, the novice Canon began solicitously to seek concerning the ancient paths which was the good way, that he might walk in it. Whence the book which is entitled the Conferences of the Fathers, in which the highest perfection of the ancient Saints is described, he undertook studiously to read, to grasp what he read with the understanding, to relish it with affection, and bravely to fulfill it in effect; being taught in it, with unction as his mistress, purity of heart, the way of contemplation, and the perfection of all the virtues: for that book indeed treats of such things.

[23] And so, casting himself away and despising himself, in humility of heart he yielded to all, by whom he is elected Subprior, showing reverence and honor to his fellow-canons: for, invited to the nuptials of the eternal Bridegroom, he took the last place, reckoning himself lower and all the rest holier. He tarried in the oratory, night and day without intermission giving himself to prayer and to the sacred readings

and meditations he assiduously applied himself. He set little store by outward comforts, and altogether avoided vain excursions, and, redeeming time for contemplation, he scarcely ever appeared outside the enclosure of the monastery. Thus the Saint of God flashed forth among the canons like a singular radiance, and, advancing with wonderful swiftness from virtue to virtue, he drew the affection of all upon himself. All marvel at so sudden a summit of Religion, and, although unwilling, they appoint him by common decree Subprior.

[24] Then, as a lamp upon a candlestick and a city set upon a mountain, and being established in that dignity, he became to all a mirror of life, an example of holiness: for he was assiduous in prayer, foremost in charity, anxious with compassion, suspended in contemplation, and subject with all humility to those subject to him. His heart and mind were watchful toward God, and frequently he passed the night in prayers; and his prayer was tearful and fervent, and he roared from the groaning of his heart, nor could he contain himself but that the most devout voice of one lamenting was heard from afar. He wore down his body with fastings and much abstinence, so that he scarcely took the sustenance necessary for nature. Whence also wine, which for ten years he had not drunk, he was compelled by the venerable Diego his bishop to take on account of the weakness of his stomach; which nevertheless he drank very sparingly, diluted and mixed with water.

[25] Vehement was the desire in his breast for the salvation of all souls, he shines with various virtues which, that he might become worthy to procure with effect, he demanded from the Lord with frequent prayers and special vows. He desired to spend himself wholly for the salvation of his neighbors, judging that he was truly a member of Christ if by His example he spent himself entirely on the gaining of souls. Nor was he cheated of his desire: for, sowing the word of Him and founding the Preachers, he deserved to raise up seed for his dead brother, namely for Christ crucified. And behold, God, multiplying the grain of seed, increases the growths of the fruits of justice.

[26] His breast was full of most holy affections, and to every advantage or disadvantage of his neighbor he shines among them. he was most piously moved; he was tortured by the torments of the afflicted, he was affected by the wants of the poor and the sorrows of the wretched, and, most of all kindled with zeal for perishing souls, he was wounded in mind. Thus the prophetic Dominic, beholding the sins of peoples and the calamities of the wretched, burned inwardly, and, weeping most abundantly, betrayed outwardly through tears the hidden affection of compassion: for God had infused into him this most excellent grace of charity. But as much as he was disturbed by compassion, suffering with the failing of the wretched, so much was he consoled, rejoicing at the progress of the good, as though refreshed with fragrant spices. Amid these things, seeking the things that are above, the divine man was carried into God, contemplating the glory of the Saints, and, panting after the fatherland, he abundantly bewailed the long-lasting sojourn of his exile.

ANNOTATA.

* that is, catechized

* elsewhere: heralding

* elsewhere: clinging

* elsewhere: most vain

CHAPTER II.

The journey with the bishop of Osma, the first contests against the Albigensian heretics, and various miracles of the Saint.

Since the angelic Dominic shone with so many and so great marks of virtues, Diego of Osma and St. Dominic, on the occasion of an embassy, he was loved by the venerable Diego, his bishop, with a wonderful affection: for there was in their minds a likeness of spirit and an agreement of graces, since with an equal zeal for the house of God they were borne by the impulse of the Holy Spirit to procuring the salvation of souls. When therefore it pleased God to reveal His grace in them, so that the virtue of each might come forth into public view, He so took them up into the ministry which He willed that they themselves, though holy, were ignorant of the counsel of divine providence concerning themselves. For behold, Alfonso, king of Castile, asked Bishop Diego that he should undertake his embassy to the Marches. And so, about to set out on royal business, the prudent pontiff took his church's Subprior, Dominic beloved by him, as an ornament of his company and a solace of holy conversation. When therefore he was passing through Toulouse, having heard that the inhabitants of that land were depraved with heretical frauds, the Christ-worshipper Dominic, groaning, was troubled in spirit, and, discovering his host to be a heretic, overcoming him by a discourse as affable as it was reasonable, brought him back to the truth of the Catholic faith. And this is the first handful which, snatched from the devil, he carried back to the threshing floor of the Lord.

[28] At length, the royal affairs for which he had been sent having been transacted at the Marches, which they had carried out at the command of the king of Castile, and an answer sent back to the king by a messenger, the bishop set out with his men for the Roman court, and, his desire being set forth to the supreme Pontiff, he sought resignation, that he might spend his care on the conversion of the Cumans; but he by no means obtained it. Truly a happy prelate, in whom so great a humility was eminent that he would yield up his dignity, and so lofty a charity glowed that for the salvation of his neighbor he desired to expose himself to death and perils! But the divine dispensation was disposing, according to its good pleasure, to fulfill the bishop's pious desire otherwise. He was therefore compelled to return, empty indeed of the hearing of his prayer, but full of the grace of obedience and charity, and by no means changed from his salutary purpose. And returning, he visited Cîteaux, where, allured by the virtue of the manner of life of many servants of God and by the loftiness of the Religion, he received the monastic habit, leading with him some of the monks, through whom he might learn the usage of their manner of life and the discipline of the Order.

VI.

[29] I would truly call Dominic, God's elect, happy, who deserved to be adorned with the fellowship and friendship of this so great pontiff and apostolic man, they find in France certain assailants of the Albigenses, through whom no one doubts that he took an example of holiness and a lesson of Religion. And passing through Montpellier, they found twelve abbots of the Cistercian Order sent by that same Pope Innocent against the Albigensian heretics, celebrating a council there with bishops and other prelates; who, when the arrival of Bishop Diego was learned, rejoicing, summon him, receive him with honor, consult him, and acquiesce in his counsels: for he was a holy man, a just and mature man, and a zealot for the Christian faith; who, seeing that they were not walking rightly toward the truth of the Gospel, as he was of wonderful circumspection and skilled in the ways of God, said to them: Not thus, brothers, not thus do I judge that we should proceed. It seems to me impossible that those men should be brought back by words alone; but rather they are to be convinced by works and examples, who impudently boast themselves of the merit of their life.

[30] They say: What counsel then do you give, father? to whom he suggests an easier method of converting the heretics, To whom he said: What you shall see me do, do; and soon he sent back his household with the horses and all the array which he had in abundance, disposing to make a stay in that land for the sake of defending the faith. By this example the rest were stirred up, doing likewise. Behold a divine miracle and a delightful spectacle! He joined to himself twelve fathers by word and by example, being made the thirteenth, father of fathers and patriarch, whom they unanimously followed as master and lord. He took up also other men of virtue and grace, companions of his labor, faithfully adhering to him; among whom the chief, and conspicuous in all holiness, the angelic man Dominic, beloved by the bishop above the others, glowed red in word and work like a most splendid star. All these began to go about on foot without expenses, in voluntary poverty to preach Christ poor. Behold the form of Christ establishing the Church in the beginning, and a figure of the Order of Preachers to follow in this last time. Then the heretics, envying, began on their side to preach more importunately; but so remarkable a comeliness of manners shone in the bishop that he claimed the affection of the unbelievers themselves and of all with whom he dealt.

[31] and he proves the truth of the orthodox faith by a remarkable miracle. Preachings were then frequently made among the common people, and disputations with the heretics before appointed judges. Nor even then did God fail His Church with signs and miracles. Several of the faithful also wrote tracts for the defense of the faith. St. Dominic too wrote a book of his faith, strengthened with sacred authorities and divine reasonings, which also, approved above the rest, was received by all; which, for the confuting of heretical falsity and the proving of the truth of the Catholic faith, was cast into the fire together with the tract of a certain heretic after a long disputation held at Fanjeaux: but the tract of the heretic, soon consumed by the flames and reduced to ashes, perished; the tract of Christ's confessor Dominic leaped far out of the fire: cast in again a second and a third time, and then indeed it leaped forth unburned, proving the holiness of its writer and the truth of the Christian faith ^a. All were astounded, and the pious rejoiced, and the impious were stricken with compunction.

[32] Diego having died after the building of the monastery of Prouille, Now there were in those places certain nobles who, compelled by want, handed over their daughters to the heretics to be nourished and taught, nay rather in truth to be deluded with pestiferous errors, whose pernicious disgrace the servant of God, Bishop Diego, pitying, founded a certain monastery for their reception in the place which is called Prouille, where to this day handmaids of Christ render service pleasing to God. And when two years had passed in the labor of preaching, the memorable pontiff Diego, wishing to visit his church, his companions remaining to preach, set over them the most devout priest of God, Brother Dominic, that to him an account of all things should be rendered: for he weighed something great in him; whence also he loved him most especially. And bidding farewell to all he returned, and passing on foot with much labor through Castile, he at length arrived at Osma; where, falling sick, at the end of temporal life he received the beginning of eternity with heavenly glory, and shone with miracles after his death, he who in his life had been remarkable for holy works and many virtues.

VII.

[33] Bishop Diego, beloved of God and men, had purposed to return to the office of preaching he had undertaken, The Saint contends constantly against the Albigenses, and to ordain, with the assent of the supreme Pontiff, men who should always by word and example resist heretical depravity; and also, for the completing of the monastery which he had established at Prouille, to bring back some subsidies. These and other sacred

desires of grace being fulfilled, passing out of this world he lives in Christ: whose death being learned, all who had remained in those parts for the grace of preaching, as having neither leader nor prince, returned to their own. Then the true confessor of Christ, the blessed man Dominic, his son in the Lord, rose up in his place, and all his brethren, joined to their Father who is in heaven, aided him with their merits and prayers, and they fought the battle of the faith with gladness. He was made like the lion of the tribe of Judah in his works, and the arms of his warfare were not carnal, but spiritual.

[34] There was gathered to him also a synagogue strong in the forces of the Crusaders, from whom he cheerfully endures many reproaches, and of those who fled from evils, and of all who were volunteers in the faith. Catholic Christians were added to them, and became for them a support: for by the mandate of the supreme Pontiff, the lord Innocent III, the crusade was preached against those Albigensian heretics, and the faithful were signed with the cross. There came to these the most valiant and most Christian prince, the lord Simon, Count of Montfort, father of orphans, defender of widows, guardian of wards, benefactor of the poor, protector of churches, who most constantly defended the Catholic faith against the heretics. This most illustrious prince, perceiving that Christ's athlete Dominic walked innocently and laudably before God and men, embraced his holiness with much love and venerated it with honor: for the man of God, Dominic, went about the villages and castles and cities, preaching the word of God. He was certainly a wonderful rebuker of vices, an assailant of heresies, a zealot for the faith, a most diligent exhorter of Christians, and his words burned like torches, who had come in the spirit and power of Elijah. The heretics therefore envied and raged against the just man, and mocked the simple teacher of truth, casting at him spittle and mud and other vile things, even tying straws behind his back in derision of him. And so he went rejoicing and exulting in spirit, since he was accounted worthy to suffer contumely for the name of Jesus.

[35] It happened at that time that a solemn disputation was to be held with the heretics; and by his patience converts a certain heretic, for which, when the bishop of the place was preparing to go with much pomp, the humble Herald of Christ said to him: Not thus, my lord father, not thus must we proceed against the sons of pride. By examples of humility and patience, of religion and the other virtues are the adversaries of truth to be convinced; not by the arrogance of exaltation and the ostentation of secular glory. Let us therefore arm ourselves with devout prayers, and, displaying the tokens of humility, let us go forth unshod against Goliath. The bishop assented to the counsel of piety, and all were unshod. And when they were in doubt about the way, they met a heretic whom they esteemed a Catholic; who did not lead them to the place by the straight road, as he had promised, but the treacherous man maliciously led them astray to a certain wood, where among briars and thorns their feet were wounded and their legs were sprinkled with blood. Then the Champion of God, bearing it with all patience and bursting forth into joyful praise of God, exhorted them all to praise together and to endure with patience, saying: Trust in the Lord, dearest ones, for triumph and victory await us from heaven; for now our sins are being expiated with blood. That malignant man, perceiving their wonderful and glad patience, and stricken with compunction by the Saint's excellent discourses, confessed his malice and abjured his heresy ^b.

[36] And as they came to the place, gladness arose to the upright in heart; but to the perverse confusion and sadness: for this the impious were cut to their hearts, and gnashed their teeth at the Servant of God, and, plotting against his life, laid designs of death against him, he receives his books, which had fallen into a river, wonderfully dry, that they might condemn innocent blood; but the Lord derided them, and did not deliver him into their hands; nay, He also glorified His Saint with wondrous works — who, frequently going about preaching, was crossing by a ford a little river which is called the Ariège ^c; in the midst of which the books he was carrying in his lap fell, as he girded himself up. And he, blessing God, made known to a certain devout matron the loss of his books. On the third day after, when a fisherman hoped to draw out a great fish from that water with his hook, he drew out those books, so entirely unharmed as if they had been kept in a dry cupboard. And this greatly amplifies the miracle, that those books had neither cloth nor leather nor any preserving case, save the merits of Dominic — which books the devout woman sent to Toulouse with great joy to the Saint of God ^d.

[37] money failing, he finds the fare from heaven, It happened also, as he went about preaching the Gospel, that he had crossed a certain water in those same parts with many others, and when the man who had ferried him across importunately demanded a penny for his fare, he said to him: I am a servant of God and a disciple of Christ. Silver and gold I have not; I promise you the reward of the kingdom of heaven: which promise that wretched man, holding it cheap, pressed the more sharply, and violently dragging the Saint by his cape, said: Either you will give up your cape, or you will pay the penny. Then, his eyes lifted to heaven, he prayed a little within himself, and soon, looking on the ground and seeing a penny lying there, brought by divine nod, he said: Behold, brother, what you demand: take it, and let me go free in peace ^e.

[38] [he understands a religious man of a tongue unknown to him, and is understood by him.] It happened once, while the Servant of Christ was making a journey, that a certain religious man was joined to him, one indeed at home in holiness of manner of life, but wholly alien in the speech of his tongue. Grieving therefore that he could not refresh himself together with him by mutual consolation in divine words, he obtained from the Lord by the urgency of his prayers that each should speak in the other's tongue. Thus, their words being interchanged, understanding each other, they were consoled during the three days on which they were to travel together, giving thanks to the Lord ^f. Truly quite fittingly does he speak with various tongues by the gift of the Holy Spirit, whose placable tongue and salutary doctrine were the key of heaven for the world and the opening of the eternal gate. He is graciously honored by the boatman's price sent from above, who had cast all his thought upon the Lord; and He who guarded his body and soul unspotted from carnal concupiscence, He Himself preserved his books unharmed in the water. And so the gift of speech makes illustrious the Preacher of the faith, the payment of the price honors the voluntary poor man of Christ, and the integrity of the books adorns the flower of chastity.

ANNOTATA.

CHAPTER III.

His burning desire of martyrdom, the conversion of certain heretical women, and some miracles of the Saint wrought in the regions of Toulouse.

VIII.

Now the priest of God, Dominic, remained in those regions of Toulouse a long time, The Saint intrepidly spurns the threats of the heretics, a man in all things apostolic, defending the faith and assailing heresy, strengthening the Church by words and examples and miracles. But there rose up against him iniquitous witnesses, a synagogue of Satan, and the strong sought his life. And when the fierce men threatened him with destruction with sacrilegious tongues, with a breast full of confidence he said to them: I am not worthy of martyrdom; I have not yet deserved that death. He thirsted with inestimable ardor to drink the cup of the passion; therefore, passing through places where snares were reported to be prepared for him, he went along singing and briskly. The satellites of Antichrist, marveling at so great a constancy of the Man, tempting him said to him: Are you then not shaken with the horror of death? What would you have done, if we had seized you? Then the Athlete of Christ, glowing with the love of martyrdom, said to them: I would have asked you not to inflict a swift death upon me by a brief dispatch, nor to slay me with sudden wounds; but that little by little and successively you would show my several mutilated limbs to my eyes to gaze upon. Then I would have asked that you tear out my eyes, and permit my body thus mangled to roll in its own blood. Truly a most blessed soul, in which not only did perfect charity cast out the fear of death, but it also poured in a love, unheard of by all, of enduring in torments!

[40] The Imitator of Christ was ready also to give his own life for the salvation of his neighbor, ready to sell himself for the salvation of his neighbor, who, when he was trying to bring back to the faith a man deceived by heretical depravity, that man said: The necessaries which I do not have from elsewhere I receive from these men; on account of which I am compelled to adhere to them. Then the Saint, pitying him from an inmost affection, disposed to sell himself, that he might supply the destitution of the imperiled man, and redeem one sold under sin ^a. He had truly taken up the cross of Christ, who for love of Him exposed himself to death with so desirous a mind, and for the salvation of his neighbor unhesitatingly longed to be subjected to perpetual servitude: for there blazed in his heart that charity than which no one has a greater, desiring altogether to be made like to God and to be conformed to the image of the Son of God.

[41] He was busied accordingly with all the powers of both the inner and the outer man, and desires to cross over to the regions beyond the sea, with desires, groanings, vigils, fastings, affections, prayers, preachings, labors, day and night, pressing on in season and out of season, that he might be made worthy of God's gift to be spent wholly and to be spent over and above for souls to be saved, and to be consummated through the glory of martyrdom: for which he had disposed to go to the land beyond the sea, if in any way at length he might deserve, in the will of God, to attain what he had so greatly longed for. But almighty God, the inspirer of pious vows, so hears the supplication of those who fear Him and clemently accomplishes their will that yet He does not depart from His own inscrutable disposition. And so the hidden Governor of all, and especially the guardian of the faithful and the lover of the elect, so set the holy vessel of His election in His great house for honor and use that in it He might proffer the cup of life-giving grace, and that he might profit the salvation of many, and yet not lack the crown of martyrdom: for just as that disciple whom Jesus loved (John, the chief evangelist) drank the cup of the Lord, although he did not shed his blood, because in mind he was not absent from the passion; so St. Dominic, on account of the most ardent desire of suffering which he had, did not lose the palm of martyrdom.

[42] by the example of his penance he brings back certain noble matrons from heresy, To these things he crucified his flesh daily and mortified his members by excessive austerity; and his spirit by the assiduous grief of compassion for perishing souls: for there was in his heart a certain wonderful and almost incredible zeal for the salvation of all;

on account of which he lodged with certain noble women deceived by heretical dissimulation, that he might bring them back to the Church: from whom, Lent being at hand, he secretly received hair-shirts and was clothed with them together with his companion. And when a bed was being prepared for them to rest, he said: Not thus, but we will rest upon the boards. And their sleep was short: for after his accustomed manner he occupied the night with vigils. In this way the innocent man consumed that whole time of holy Lent in the rigor of penance for the sins of others, and, content with bread alone and cold water, he fasted every day until Easter. Hence therefore it came about that those noble women, by the merits of the just Man, left their errors and returned to the faith of the Church, grace assisting ^b.

[43] and converts nine other heretical women, There happened in addition to this what the Lord wrought through him as he preached in those same regions of Toulouse: for when, preaching once at the castle which is called Fanjeaux, proving the Catholic faith, he had in manifold ways disproved the perfidy of the heretics, after the preaching he remained in the church to pray after his accustomed manner. And behold, nine noble matrons of that same castle, entering the church, fell down at his feet, saying: Servant of God, help us. If the things you preached today are true, long since has the spirit of error blinded our minds: for those whom you call heretics, but whom we call good men, we have believed until this present day, and have adhered to them with our whole heart; but now we waver in the middle. Servant of God, help us, and pray your God that He may make His faith known to us, in which we may live, die, and be saved.

[44] the demon whom they had served being prodigiously shown to them. Then the Man of God, standing for a while and praying within himself, after a little said to them: Be constant, and wait undaunted. I trust in the Lord my God that He, who wills that none should perish, will now show you what sort of lord you have hitherto adhered to. And soon they saw a most foul cat spring out from their midst, which, exceeding the size of a great dog, had huge and flaming eyes, a tongue long, broad, and bloody, and stretched out as far as the navel; a short tail, thrust upward. It displayed the foulness of its hinder parts, whichever way it turned, from which an intolerable stench exhaled. And when for an hour it had turned itself hither and thither about those matrons, leaping to the rope which hung from the bell, and climbing by it to the upper parts, at length, slipping away through the bell-tower, it disappeared, leaving foul traces behind it. And St. Dominic, turning to the matrons, consoled them in their great terror, saying: Behold, by this which has appeared figuratively before our eyes, God so working, you can perceive of what sort is he whom, believing the heretics, you have served. But they, giving thanks to God, were most perfectly converted to the Catholic faith; some of whom also assumed the habit of Religion among the Sisters of Prouille ^c. Thus the Servant of Christ, doing the work of an evangelist and laboring in all things, recalled the former women by the example of a most rigid penance, and these by the word of a most faithful doctrine and by the display of a diabolical fraud, to the bosom of mother Church.

IX.

[45] And so blessed Dominic for ten years dwelt in various places of the province of Narbonne, A paper written by the Saint against the heretics, and especially about Carcassonne and Fanjeaux, and by assailing the heretics he exalted the Catholic faith, and, devoted to the salvation of souls, he gave himself wholly to the office of preaching, gladly enduring many contempts, meannesses, rejections, and straits for the love of our Lord Jesus Christ. In that time the lord Simon, Count of Montfort, an illustrious prince, fighting against the heretics with the material sword, and Christ's confessor Dominic with the sword of the word of God, contracted mutually a great fellowship of familiarity and friendship: for it is read in the deeds of the said prince that when on a certain day the Catholics had disputed with the heretics, St. Dominic wrote certain arguments of the faith on a paper and gave it to a heretic, that he might deliberate on the objections.

[46] That night, when the heretics were sitting by the fire, that man brought forth the paper thrice leaps unharmed from the fire, as an eyewitness attests, which the Servant of God had written. They said therefore: Let the paper be cast into the fire, that thus it may be proved on which side the truth is. As soon as it was cast into the fire, when it had made some little stay in it, the paper leaped forth unharmed from the hearth. Then one harder than the rest said: Let it be cast in a second time, and thus we shall know the truth more certainly. It is cast in a second time, and again it leaped back unburned. And as they were astounded, that man, hardened in his perfidy, said: Let it be thrown into the fire yet a third time, and thus we shall see the truth beyond doubt. The paper is cast into the fire a third time, and then indeed it is not at all harmed; but it leaped back from the fire, as before. Such a prodigy being seen, those wretched men were [not] stricken with compunction, but firmly forbade among themselves that any of them should disclose this to the faithful. But a certain knight who was then present, consenting to the faith thus tested, published this remarkable miracle to the Catholics ^d.

[47] The Servant of the Almighty came also once with a certain lay-brother of the Cistercian Order, a very devout man, from a conflict with the heretics to a church late in the day, a possessed man is freed by his prayers from possession by a demon, and found it closed: and when they had prayed at the door, they suddenly and wonderfully found themselves inside, the doors being shut. Then, giving thanks to God, they passed all that night in His praises ^e. While St. Dominic was preaching in a certain parish, a man was brought forward who had long been vexed by a demon; whom the Man of God freed from the demon by the suffrage of his prayers, and others oppressed by various sicknesses, prayers being poured out to God, he restored to health. It happened also that another man, possessed by many demons, was presented to him, who, taking a stole, girded with it first his own neck, then that of the demoniac, commanding them that they should not thereafter vex the man ^f.

[48] and forty pilgrims are freed from the peril of drowning. Now when the most Christian man, the Count of Montfort, was besieging Toulouse with the Crusaders, there came pilgrims from England, wishing to visit the thresholds of St. James: who, avoiding Toulouse because of the excommunication, entered a small boat that they might cross the river; but on account of the multitude (for they were nearly forty) the boat was swallowed up, and all were submerged, so that not even their heads appeared. There was then praying there, in a neighboring church beside the river, the Saint of God, Dominic, who, roused by the cry of the perishing men and of the army standing about, ran up in haste, and, seeing the peril of his neighbors, moved with compassion, is prostrated with his whole body, and, his hands spread out in the manner of a cross, weeping most bitterly, cried to the Lord that He would free His pilgrims from death; and after a little, rising from prayer and turning to the river, taking confidence from God, he commanded, saying: I charge you in the name of Christ that you all come to the bank. A wonderful thing; but done by Him who alone does great wonders! At once at this voice all who had lain submerged in the waters so long a time appeared upon the waves, in the sight of all who were present at so sad a spectacle. Then, running up from every side and stretching out to them lances and spears, they brought them all forth from the waves unharmed, proclaiming the clemency of the Savior and the merits of His kindly confessor Dominic ^g.

ANNOTATA.

CHAPTER IV.

The Saint's humility in refusing the episcopal dignity, his ecstasy, two prophecies, the benevolence of the Count of Montfort and of others toward him.

Therefore the renowned man Dominic, an exceptional preacher, full of the grace of God, and proved and perfect in every virtue, He refuses to accept the episcopal miters offered him, was held among men most holy in repute and fame. But the heretics envied him, and, mocking, blasphemed the Saint of God. The devotion of all the faithful toward him increased, and among archbishops and bishops and other prelates of the churches in those parts he was reckoned worthy of all honor for the excellence of his holiness. It happened therefore that the episcopal dignity was offered him by the colleges of three cathedral churches; but he, preferring to be humbled with the meek, set the poverty of Christ before sees and kingdoms, and therefore refused the miters of the churches of Béziers and Comminges and Couserans, nor did he accept the sees ^a: for he wished to be free from all, that he might be able to be the servant of all. For to rich and poor, to Jews and to gentiles, of whom there are many in Spain, he showed himself amiable, and by all he was loved, except by the heretics and the enemies of the Church, whom he convinced by disputations and assailed by preachings. These same he exhorted to conversion with a most gracious kindness.

[50] Indeed, tarrying at Carcassonne in the bishop's house through one Lent, he applied himself more ardently to preaching; and while he supplies the place of the bishop of Carcassonne, and the offices of the bishop, then absent, committed to him in spiritual matters he exercised more diligently. [Going forth, therefore, from the palace of the bishop whose place he was filling, the Man of God came to a certain monastery which is called Castres, where, invited by the abbot to eat, he entered; but when the hour of refreshment was prolonged, the holy Man after his accustomed manner entered the church to pray; and when he was pouring forth prayers to God more intently, his body was raised from the ground, his spirit being lifted up into God. And when the hour of refreshment was at hand, inquiry was made where he might be who had been invited; and when, being sought through various places, he was not found, one of the clerics who stood by the abbot, going out to seek him, entered the church by chance, and beheld the Saint of God wonderfully raised up between heaven and earth.

[51] Greatly stupefied, therefore, he stood marveling and waiting he is seen raised from the ground in a certain monastery, what outcome so unusual a thing would have. At length little by little the raised body began to touch the earth and, descending from things above, to be fitted again to the outward senses. Then he who had seen these things, approaching the Saint of God, said: Sir, the hour of refreshment has passed, and my abbot awaits your presence. But the Saint of God, as though waking from a sweet sleep, said: Behold, I come, as you have said. After these things the cleric, who saw in the Saint of God these marvels of devotion and holiness, as has been said, left all things and followed blessed Dominic ^b.] For assuredly the venerable providence of God had by a wonderful counsel destined this Man for the inhabitants of those parts, among whom, as a lamp burning and shining in a dark place, he might rekindle in the hearts of many the charity growing cold, and might illumine with the light of evangelical doctrine the truth of the faith obscured by heretical falsity.

[52] he foreknew the impending slaying of the king of Aragon, There stood then for the Catholic faith the illustrious prince Simon, Count of Montfort, whom the Count of Toulouse, supported by the help of the king of Aragon, was strongly resisting, and they began to prevail not a little. Then a certain Cistercian lay-brother who was present, approaching St. Dominic, said to him: Master Dominic, will these evils never have an end? And when the Man of God kept silence, and he acted the more importunately, at length, in the presence of Brother Stephen ^c, he answered: Certainly the malice of these men of Toulouse will have an end; nevertheless the end is still far off; meanwhile the blood of many will be shed, and one king will fall slain in the struggle of this war ^d. When they feared that this was said of the king of France, who had lately undertaken the Albigensian business, he said: Fear not for the king of France; there will be another king, and soon there will be, whose life the changing fortune of this war will cut off.

[53] as the event proved; In the following year, therefore, the king of Aragon fell slain — who, would that he had not fallen fighting forever against the Church! These things long afterward to come the Saint of God foresaw and foretold by the illumination of a prophetic spirit. Nor undeservedly: for fasting through all that Lent, he had been refreshed with bread only and water, nor had he even entered the bed of his couch. But when holy Easter came, he was both stronger in strength and appeared more beautiful in appearance: for inwardly he was fed with invisible food, and his soul was filled as with marrow and fatness with the sweetness of God, from whose overflow the weakness of the flesh was strengthened, and the serenity of his mind was purified, so that he knew the mysteries of things to come.

[54] likewise he foretold the conversion of an obstinate heretic, Certain heretics, taken and convicted in the regions of Toulouse, when they were unwilling to return to the faith, were handed over to the secular judgment and appointed to the fire; among whom Dominic, privy to the secrets of God, beholding one, said to the officials of the court: Reserve this one, and let him by no means be burned. And turning to him, addressing him sweetly and gently, he said: I know, son, I know that yet, though late, you will be a good man and holy. A thing at once astounding and to be loved*! That man, dismissed, continued in heretical blindness for nearly twenty years: at length by grace he returned to the faith and took up the Order of Preachers, in which he both lived laudably and faithfully made his end ^e.

[55] and by the Count of Montfort, who esteemed him greatly, Finally the aforesaid Count of Montfort followed the holiness of Christ's confessor Dominic with so great a favor of friendship and so great an honor of reverence that he wished that he himself should baptize his daughter and bless the nuptials of his son. With the consent also of his heirs, according to princely munificence, he handed over to him and to his followers in the office of salvation the notable castle which is called Casseneuil; and he had the church of the castle which is called Fanjeaux, and others, from which he could provide sustenance for himself and his men ^f. And the bishop of Toulouse, a holy and good man and a zealot for the faith, who loved St. Dominic most tenderly, exulting at the rising of a new light, with the consent of his chapter gave him the sixth part of all the tithes for the procuring of books and other necessaries.

[56] Then also two upright men of Toulouse offered themselves to St. Dominic, namely Brother Thomas, a gracious and eloquent man; and Brother Peter Seila, and by other men of Toulouse possessions are offered in eager rivalry. who conferred upon him the notable houses which he had at Toulouse ^g. Then those who were with the servant of God, Dominic, began to conform themselves to the manners of Religious. Not yet had the Order of Preachers been founded; but a certain conception of it had been had, and its establishment was being treated of in counsel. Many indeed foresaw many things concerning this sacred Order to come, the Lord revealing it to them, and, congratulating the Church, foretold them with a presaging spirit: for, as Scripture witnesses, the notable things which the Lord is to do He has been accustomed to manifest to His elect and prophets, His servants, in many portions and in many manners through His Spirit; so also concerning this most chosen Order of the elect He deigned wonderfully to foreshow some things, of which I have judged it useful and becoming to insert some.

ANNOTATA.

* elsewhere: to be admired

CHAPTER V.

Predictions concerning the founding of the Order of Preachers, the counsel of that founding approved by a revelation, and the splendor of the same Order shown in a vision to a certain master of theology.

XII.

The venerable bishop, therefore, of the church of Orange ^a, of the white Order ^b, a man of much religion and of virtuous works, Besides others, was honored by the peoples as a saint. He excelled singularly in the grace of preaching and in fervor for the faith, not only in his own diocese, but also in other places. He, preaching publicly, asserted, saying: I announce to you the word of God as I know how; but shortly there will come those who will preach to you truly, as those who will have the office and the knowledge, the name and the life ^c. It was very fitting that a pontiff and a fervent preacher should so solemnly prophesy concerning the Order of Preachers. The great father Stephen also, Carthusian Prior of the diocese of Lyons, a man of exceptional holiness, foretold to his Brethren the Order of Preachers, asking them with special affection that this Order be held by them in all love and reverence; which they also fulfilled, most devoutly honoring the Order ^d.

[58] the abbot of Fiore, The abbot also and founder of the monastery of Fiore wrote in many books and places concerning the Order of Preachers: and describing the Order and the habit, he admonished his Brethren that after his death, when such an Order should arise, they should receive it with devotion and honor; and they, obeying, went out to meet with cross and procession the first Brethren of this Order who came to them ^e. Let each consider whom the Lord has deigned to place in this Order, and with how solicitous a devotion he ought to live in it, which the divine providence has commanded through His servants to be honored even by strangers with so great a piety. Let him consider none the less of how great weight the persons were, of how lofty an office, and men of what exceptional holiness, by whose exceedingly credible testimony the dignity and usefulness of the Order of Preachers is proved.

[59] a certain pious monk, There are added other no less true testimonies of devout faithful. Before the founding of the Order there was a certain monk leading an upright life; he, falling sick, rapt in ecstasy without outward sense or motion, remained thus for three continuous days: but returning to himself, he was unwilling to tell anyone what he had seen. Some time having elapsed, when he had seen in his church Friars Preachers, having diligently inquired into their office, Religion, and name, after the preaching, taking them aside, he said to them before honorable men: Those things which God by His kindness revealed to me, and which I have hitherto concealed in silence, I ought no longer to keep silent. Formerly, rapt in ecstasy for three days and three nights, I saw our lady, Mary the mother of God, with bent knees and joined hands beseeching her Son for the human race, that He would yet wait for it unto penitence; who, often giving His pious Mother a refusal, at length thus answered her as she urged: My Mother, what can I or what ought I to do further for the world? I sent patriarchs and prophets for their salvation, and they corrected themselves little. I came Myself, I sent apostles; and both Me and them they wickedly slew. I sent martyrs, doctors, and very many confessors; nor did they acquiesce in them. But because it is not right that I should deny you anything, I will give them My Preachers, through whom they may be enlightened and amended; but if not, I will avenge Myself on them, and will come against them ^f.

[60] and a man raised from death foretold the Order of Preachers, At the time when twelve abbots of the Cistercian Order were sent by the lord Pope Innocent III to preach against the Albigensian heretics, a certain man who had come back to life from death, being asked by one of the abbots of those monks what he had seen, answered: I saw our lady the virgin Mary for three continuous days with bent knees before her Son beseeching for the people; to whom the Son, recalling the benefits which He had conferred on the world and the evils which the world had rendered in return, said: And how can I spare longer one so ungrateful? But the Virgin said: Good Son, act not according to their malice, but according to Your gentleness. The Son, overcome at length by His mother's prayers, said: At your wish I will yet show this mercy; I will send them Preachers, who shall exhort them to penitence, and if indeed they shall be turned from their injustice, I will not remember all their iniquities ^g.

[61] In the year from the Lord's Incarnation MCCXV, while from all parts of the world the princes and prelates of all ecclesiastical dignities were setting out for Rome to the general council, and the usefulness of that institute there was joined to the venerable and holy man Fulk, bishop of Toulouse, as he journeyed thither, the most devout

servant of Christ, Dominic — men whom charity had so joined and the Spirit of Jesus had so directed that they sought the salvation of souls with a most fervent zeal. Judging the time therefore opportune, they resolved to disclose to the supreme Pontiff the counsel long since conceived and deliberated concerning the founding of the Order of Preachers. And when they had reverently and humbly, as was fitting, set forth the vows of their heart before the Christ of the Lord, the Lord's Dispenser seemed at first in some measure to resist.

[62] On the following night, therefore, that same Vicar of Jesus Christ saw in his sleep it is foreshown to the Roman Pontiff in a vision, that the Lateran Church, its joints loosened, was threatening ruin: and while, trembling and at the same time grieving, he beheld this, the man of God, Dominic, came running up from the opposite side, and supported on his shoulders that whole fabric about to fall. The wise man, marveling at the novelty of this vision and prudently understanding its signification, cheerfully accepted the petition offered, and commended the pious purpose ^h. But he exhorted blessed Dominic to return to his Brethren, and, deliberation being had, to choose some approved rule upon which they might establish the Order to be begun, and thus, coming to him, to carry back confirmation according to his wish.

[63] The Servant of God, returning after the celebration of the council, and in certain disciples of the holy Founder disclosed to the Brethren the word of the supreme Pontiff: who, the Holy Spirit being invoked, they, the future Preachers, unanimously chose the rule of blessed Augustine, that excellent preacher, yet taking upon themselves, by way of constitution, certain customs of a stricter life ⁱ. And lest the office of preaching be hindered, they purposed from then to cast off earthly possessions and to set aside temporal revenues; and then in the church of St. Romanus at Toulouse, which that happy Fulk, bishop of that same city, had assigned them, a cloister was straightway built, having cells for study, and above a dormitory quite suitable. And the Brethren were then about sixteen in number.

[64] While a certain master was teaching theology at Toulouse, the future splendor of the same Order is revealed to a certain man in ecstasy. illustrious in birth, knowledge, and fame, on a certain morning before daybreak, while he was preparing his lectures beforehand, oppressed by a heavy sleep, he leaned his head a little upon his chair and began to sleep, and it seemed to him at that same hour that seven stars were presented to him; and when he marveled greatly at the novelty of such a gift, suddenly they grew so much in light and in size that they illumined the whole land and the world: and he, at once roused from sleep, perceived the rising of the day, and, calling his servants to carry his books, entered the schools. And behold, blessed Dominic with six companions of the same habit humbly approached the aforesaid master, intimating to him that they were Brethren who preached the Gospel in the regions of Toulouse against the unbelievers and to the faithful, signifying also to him that they had come to frequent [his] schools, and that they desired and wished to hear his lectures with eager hearts. And the said master for a long time held the said seven Brethren as familiars and devoted men, and instructed them as scholars. And recalling the vision which he had seen before, he followed with the highest veneration blessed Dominic and his companions, whom he interpreted as the shining stars whom he had seen suddenly grow bright with an immense light of fame and knowledge, and he embraced them thenceforth continually with a great affection of love ^k.

ANNOTATA.

* for "mea"

CHAPTER VI.

The Saint's various revelations, the approbation of the Order of Preachers obtained, and the dispersion of his first fellows made by him.

Part II.

Chap. I.

After the man of God, Dominic, had spoken to the Brethren, according to the Apostolic mandate, concerning the choosing of a rule, he set out for Rome, the Lord accompanying him and directing him in all things. The Saint, strengthened by a revelation, Meanwhile the lord Pope Innocent died, and Honorius, succeeding, received the dignity of the apostolic See. The Saint of God therefore treated with that same Vicar of Christ that he should confirm the Order of Preachers against the enemies of the Church. And after his accustomed manner, keeping watch by night in a church, Dominic saw the Son, sitting at the Father's right hand, rise up in His anger to slay all the sinners of the earth and to destroy all who work iniquity. And He stood in the air, terrible of aspect, and brandished three lances against the world, which is set in wickedness: one with which He might transfix the uplifted necks of the proud; another with which He might pour out the bowels of the covetous; a third with which He might pierce through those given to the concupiscences of the flesh. And when none could resist His anger, the propitious Virgin Mother came running up, and, embracing His feet, asked that He would spare those whom He had redeemed, and temper justice with mercy. To whom the Son said: Do you not see how great injuries are done Me? My justice does not endure such evils unpunished.

[66] Then the Mother said: You know, who know all things, in which she had seen herself and St. Francis offered to Christ, that this is the way by which You will bring them back to Yourself. I have a faithful servant whom You will send into the world, that he may announce Your words to them, and they will be converted to You, the Savior of all. I have also another servant whom I will give him as a helper, that he may work likewise. The Son said: Behold, appeased, I have received your face. Nevertheless show Me whom you wish to appoint to so great an office. Then the lady Mother offered blessed Dominic to the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord said to His Mother: Let him do well and zealously the things you have said. She offered also St. Francis, whom likewise the Lord praised. St. Dominic therefore, diligently considering in the vision the companion whom he had not known before, when on the morrow he had found him in a church, from what he had seen by night recognized him, and, rushing into holy kisses and sincere embraces, said: You are my companion; you shall run equally with me; let us stand together, no adversary shall prevail. He also narrated the vision to him. From then, therefore, they were made one heart and one soul in the Lord, which also they commanded to posterity to be observed in perpetuity ^a.

[67] The course and knowledge of this vision we deserved to receive through St. Francis ^b, at Rome he obtains the confirmation of his Order, to whom also our blessed Father disclosed [it] before the confirmation of the Order; by which being strengthened and made certain, the servant of God, Dominic, approaching the aforesaid Vicar of Christ, according to the purpose and ordinance he had conceived, fully obtained in all things, by the help of God's grace, the confirmation of the Order of Preachers and of all that he had wished to obtain. If anyone shall skillfully take care to observe the course of this great matter, he will be held by vehement admiration, astounded that a man so humble and of the utmost poverty, supported by no human help, should have prevailed with the Apostolic excellency and the most glorious assembly of Cardinals to carry out alone so efficaciously this arduous business of piety, and to consummate it so easily. But truly not human industry, nay rather the powerful wisdom of God, as He willed, accomplished all these things through His humble Servant, just as the venerable intercession of God's Mother obtained it.

[68] which benefit the author ascribes to the intercession of the Mother of God, Let us therefore extol, as we can, the power, the clemency, the diligence of that same Mediatrix of the world, the Virgin mother of God. Power indeed I would call it, which prevailed to restrain by a single suppliant word the anger of the almighty Judge, who had sharpened His sword like lightning and whose hand had laid hold on judgment, lest, sent forth, it should devour the impious like stubble and burn even to the lowest parts of hell. But who would doubt that she is clement, who continually intercedes for those about to perish so humbly and mercifully and so urgently? Sinners await her clemency, that they may not perish; it is preached to the just, that they may advance; it is proclaimed as good news to the poor, that going and teaching they may bear fruit. Further, the solicitude of your diligence toward us, O our Lady, we experience in all these things, not only that you intercept the fury of the powerful judge and clemently intervene for us with your Son; nay, that you have provided ministers of the salvation of all, and have destined to the world men so pleasing to your Son, as holy as they are learned.

[69] and exhorts his fellows to show a grateful mind. These are truly those most chosen men, Dominic and Francis, whom the Virgin mother, offering them to her Son, praises with the heralding of fidelity; and the Son, accepting them, approves with the testimony of truth, and, as lambs sent by Himself among wolves, preserves with His protection. Let us bless, therefore, dearest Brethren, the Father and the Mother

with the Son and the Holy Spirit, whose inscrutable counsel over us we behold, and whose most kindly affection we feel: for the Son, angered by the sins of the people, was appeased by the prayers of His pious Mother, and in wrath was mindful of mercy, leaving us a divine seed, without which we should have been as Sodom, and, being like to Gomorrah, should have perished. Germinated therefore from this blessed seed, let us send roots downward, bearing fruit upward, that there may be found in us the recognition of our own meanness, and an unchangeable intention of eternity. We are the seed of His Servants, with whom good things remain: a seed which the Lord has blessed, that it may increase and take by inheritance the land of the living with the blessed meek, and possess the gates of its enemies, that is, of the demons. Let us therefore lovingly embrace, and unceasingly imitate, the most illustrious examples of such great Fathers, and their exceptional virtues with faith, so that, being made worthy of imitation, we may deserve to be reckoned with their seed among the sons of God.

[70] The Princes of the Apostles appear to the Saint. When, therefore, in the basilica of St. Peter he was pouring out his prayer in the sight of the Lord for the preservation and spreading of the Order which His right hand was propagating through him, the hand of the Lord being made upon him, he beheld the glorious princes Peter and Paul suddenly coming to him: of whom the first, namely Peter, seemed to hand him a staff; and Paul a book, and they added, saying: Go, preach, since by God you have been chosen for this ministry. Soon, in a moment of time, he saw his sons dispersed throughout the whole world, going two by two, and preaching the word of God to the peoples ^c.

II.

[71] Wherefore he returned to Toulouse, where he had left the Brethren, and, the Holy Spirit being invoked with them, who, returned to Toulouse, resolves to disperse his disciples, he said that this was the purpose of his heart, that he should disperse them all, though few, throughout the world, as few grains that were to bring forth a great harvest: for he had understood by the Apostolic revelation that their dispersion would be the will of the Lord. All marveled at the purpose of so sudden a dispersion conceived by him. And so the illustrious prince the lord Simon, Count of Montfort, and the venerable father the archbishop of Narbonne, and the bishop of Toulouse, and other prelates, judging according to human industry, opposing the man of God, Dominic, dissuaded so sudden a dispersion of so few; to whom the Man, full of the Spirit of God, said confidently: Do not gainsay me, fathers and lords; for I well know what I am doing. And he told the Brethren to study and to preach, and to make Convents, and not to fear; because all things would turn out prosperously.

[72] Then, because the evident authority of holiness in him animated them, and the death of the Count of Montfort being foreseen they acquiesced the more easily, as though God were commanding them through a man. When the men of Toulouse were already then disposing to rise up against the Count of Montfort, his friend St. Dominic knew this beforehand by revelation: for a tree was shown him in a vision, great in extension, pleasing in comeliness, in whose branches a great number of birds dwelt. The tree was cast down, and the birds resting in it fled away. The Man, full of the Spirit of God, understood therefore that the destruction of a near death threatened his friend, a great and lofty prince, which also the outcome of the matter proved.

[73] In the year of the Lord MCCXVII, by the good pleasure of the holy father Dominic, Brother Matthew was chosen as abbot, he himself purposing to go to the lands of the unbelievers, by whom the rest should be ruled; a prelate of which name afterward did not arise in this Order: for he who presides over the whole Order is called Master of the Order; but the other, lower prelates obtain the appellation of Priors and Subpriors. And St. Dominic decreed that this institution of an abbot be made because he had disposed to go to the land of the Saracens, that he might preach to them the word of the faith: for the charity of Christ urged him, the salvation of his neighbor, and the desire of martyrdom. Whence also he let his beard grow for some time.

[74] Further, the faithful and prudent servant Dominic took care to sow chosen grains in the field of the Church, some of his companions into Spain, which would produce very much fruit, in which the Father is glorified. There were appointed, therefore, to the parts of Spain four Brethren, namely Gnoninocius, Peter, Michael, Dominic. This last was indeed small in body; but in holiness, knowledge, and virtue he was magnificent ^d. There were also sent to Paris Brother Matthew, chosen abbot, with Brother Bertrand, of a rigor toward himself inexorable, since he was a most keen mortifier of his own flesh, and had impressed upon himself in many things the form and pattern of St. Dominic, and who at times also was the companion of his journey.

[75] These were appointed to Paris with letters of the supreme Pontiff, others he sent into France, that they might publish the Order of Preachers as confirmed, and with them two others for study, namely Brother John and Brother Laurence, to whom many things were revealed by the Lord concerning the dwelling and site of the houses, and the reception of many Brethren, which he foretold, and the outcome of the matter afterward proved. And separately three others also were sent, namely Brother Mames, the uterine brother of St. Dominic, a contemplative and holy man, with Brother Michael the Spaniard, and Brother Otherius, a lay-brother. All these, gathered at Paris on the Kalends of October, hired a house before the doors of the bishop, in which they at first dwelt.

[76] who first fixed their seat at Paris. In the following year, at the instance of the prayers of the lord Pope Honorius, the house of St. James was given by master John, dean of St. Quentin, and by the university of Paris to the Brethren of the Order of Preachers ^e, which they entered to dwell in on the eighth of the Ides of August, on the day of the Lord's Transfiguration, that is on the day of Pope Sixtus. In the same year in which the holy Father had dispersed his sons, as has been said, with the Lord Himself as guide, he set out for Rome, where through him, to the honor of His name and the strengthening of the newly begun Order of Preachers, [God] deigned to work wonders, as what follows will declare.

ANNOTATA.

* elsewhere: he will do

CHAPTER VII.

His fervent preachings, his fame of Holiness, the reform of nuns, and certain remarkable miracles of his.

III.

When the Saint was preaching at Rome, Coming to Rome, the father and founder of a new Religion, the confessor and priest of Christ, Dominic, began fervently, devoutly, and humbly to exercise the office of preaching, to which he had been divinely chosen and by the Apostolic See appointed, in that very principal place of Apostolic authority. Grace therefore was diffused on his lips, and the Lord was in his mouth, and his word was heard with desire: for his speech and preaching was not in the persuasive words of human wisdom or of vain philosophy; but in devotion of heart and in the showing of spirit and power. The Lord accordingly worked with him and confirmed his word with signs following.

[78] the son of a widow who had been present at his sermon For there was a certain matron, a Roman citizen, the widow Gutadonia, who was borne with great devotion toward blessed Dominic. She had an only son, a little boy, sick. When the Man of God was to preach in the church of St. Mark, this matron, out of desire to hear the word of God from his mouth, leaving her son, came to the preaching; and when it was fully heard, returning home she found her son dead: and she, suppressing in silence the exceeding grief which she had conceived at her son's death, trusting in the power of God and the merits of St. Dominic, taking her handmaids, carried the dead boy with her to the church of St. Sixtus, where the Confessor of the Lord was then staying with the Brethren. And because that house was then being prepared for the reception of the Sisters, others were entering on occasion of the workmen. And entering she found him standing at the door of the chapter house, as if awaiting someone: and seeing him, she laid the dead child at his feet, and, prostrate before him, began to entreat him with tears that he would render her son back to her alive.

[79] Then merciful Dominic, having compassion the more vehemently on the sorrow of the mourning woman, raised from the dead, withdrew from her a little, and, prostrate, a brief prayer being completed, rose and went to the dead child, making the sign of the cross over him. Then, holding the dead child's hand, he raised him up living, and gave him back to his mother sound and unharmed, charging her that she should reveal this to no one at all. But she, returning with immense joy, joyful and glorying in the Lord, made known the benefit of God which she had obtained in her son raised from death, so that it came even to the ears of the supreme Pontiff; who, exulting and rejoicing at the gifts of the Most High made manifest in his times, had resolved that this should be preached to all the people. But Dominic, a true cultivator of humility, resisted, protesting that if this were done, he would cross the sea and would no longer appear in those regions. Accordingly the Vicar of Christ desisted from his decree. But by how much the deeper the humility in his heart, that he might abase and cast himself down, by so much the greater was the sublimity of kindness with the Most High, to magnify and raise him up ^a.

[80] From then on, therefore, because he did not seek his own glory, he obtains a public fame of Holiness, he inclined toward himself more abundantly the affection and benevolence of the supreme Pontiff and of the Cardinals, who had already loved him not a little, so that they embraced his person with greater love and followed him with ampler honor. God also stirred up so great a devotion in all toward reverence for him that magnates and peoples honored him with wonderful charity and followed him as an angel, and everyone believed himself blessed who could either touch him or deserve to receive anything of what belonged to him. Whence they cut up his cape and hood so much that they scarcely seemed sufficient for the covering of his knees: and when they were restrained by the Brethren from such cutting of his garments, the Saint said: Let them fulfill their devotion: for he rejoiced at the faith of his neighbors. Therefore he thought little of appearing contemptible with a mutilated habit. There were present with our holy Father in these things proved men, namely Tancred, Otto, Henry, Gregory, and Albert, whose names we have therefore inserted here, because, adorned with the fellowship of so great a Father, they were the sacred foundations of the Order of Preachers, both living and precious stones. Thus also the divinely inscribed names of our elders are venerably recalled.

[81] In the same place, while the Brethren labored at building, which grew when he there restored to life a dead architect. a certain hired architect

was crushed in a certain crypt by a mass loosened from above, and, lying long beneath so great a weight, was utterly killed. The Brethren run together at the outcome of the pitiable accident, made exceedingly sad by the deadly novelty of so dire a hurt. But the pious father, merciful Dominic, having compassion from his inmost bowels at the peril of the unlooked-for death, and not enduring the desolation of his mourning sons, ordered the dead man's body, drawn out from the cavern, to be brought to him, and by the suffrage of his prayers at once restored him to life and health alike, and gave back joy to his desolate sons ^b.

IV.

[82] In that time, with the good pleasure of the Cardinals, the lord Pope Honorius had decreed to gather into union, if it could be done, all the nuns dispersed through various places of the city, He is commanded to gather into one monastery the nuns dispersed at Rome, so that they might both be more easily ruled and more safely guarded: for gathered into one, they are preserved with a lighter guard; and he had disposed to place them thus united at St. Sixtus, on account of the ancient reverence and suitability of the place. And considering the servant of Christ, Dominic, religious in all things, devout, and gracious in everything, he judged it worthy to commit to him the carrying out of this pious work; who, acquiescing, in no way resisted the Apostolic will; yet he most humbly requested that suitable co-workers be granted him for so great a business, which exceeded his strength.

[83] in which matter he asks three Cardinals as his helpers, There were given him, therefore, by the lord Pope three Cardinals as a help, namely the lord Hugolino of Ostia, who afterward was supreme Pontiff, the lord Stephen of Fossanova, and Cardinal Nicholas, bishop of Tusculum, who faithfully assisted him with counsel and aid in carrying out this commission. But when what the Pope had enjoined had been attempted with all modesty and discretion, they all alike, swallowed up by the habit of an inveterate liberty, with a certain stolid audacity and womanish pertinacity refused to obey the Apostolic will and the persuasions of his envoys.

[84] There was, however, in the City a certain notable monastery of nuns, and not without great difficulty called St. Mary across the Tiber, in which was kept a venerable image of that same Virgin mother, most worthy of the honor of all devotion, which the most blessed evangelist Luke is believed to have expressed most fully by painting after the likeness of the face, body, and habit of the God-bearer, remembered and ever to be remembered ^c: which most sweet image, by I know not what chance, had been taken away from that church; but was carried back to it by a heavenly miracle through the Virgin's grace. Which, as is fitting, the Sisters of that monastery and the whole throng of the Romans venerate with ineffable affection.

[85] under certain conditions, When blessed Dominic had come to this place, he inclined the abbess with all the Sisters except one to the Apostolic will. He received therefore from all obedience by hand. The abbess and all the Sisters promised that they would remove, if that sweet image were willing to remain there with them: which condition, added, the Apostolic envoy, the servant of Christ, Dominic, gratefully admitted. But if that desirable image should return, as formerly, to its own church, they too should equally be absolved from their obedience. These things being done, he forbade them henceforth to go out of the cloister to visit parents or any persons whatsoever.

[86] the kinsfolk of the nuns murmuring, Hearing what the nuns had done and to what they had consented, their kinsmen, neighbors, and friends were angered and were stirred; fury seized them, and, coming with an uproar, in their anger they reproached them for deserting so notable a place at the persuasion of an unknown man, and for disposing to migrate to another church. Raging with a mad mind, with sacrilegious tongues and blasphemous mouth they dared to call the Saint of God a stranger, a ribald, and an unknown. And so, disturbed and terrified with womanish fear, very many of them conceived a useless sadness and an unreasonable regret concerning the benefit. All these things the Man, full of the Spirit of God, knew though absent, the Spirit by whom he was ruled revealing them to his spirit.

[87] Bearing these things for some little interval of time, at length he persuades them to the cloister in the same monastery, on a certain day, coming to the place in the morning, after Mass was celebrated and the sermon completed, he says to them in a spirit of gentleness: My daughters, now, recoiling from a purpose of holiness as from an evil deed, you have grievously groaned, and you wish to draw back your foot from the way of the Lord and to withdraw from following Him. Now therefore, since those who sacrifice willingly and offer themselves with a spontaneous will are acceptable and pleasing in the sight of the Lord, if there is among you any woman fearing God and hearing the voice of His Servant, let her rise of her own accord, as was agreed, and come to my hands, to offer her obedience anew to the Lord.

[88] Then the abbess with all the rest, as before, and accomplishes the arduous business, promised voluntary obedience into his hands: for those who had gone back after Satan returned by the merits of the holy Father. Then the prudent Father brought in certain lay-brothers, religious and provident men, who should minister the necessaries to the monastery, the Sisters being at all times enclosed; and the religious and discreet Man took all the keys, and, assuming all the power of the monastery, did not permit that thenceforth they should speak to kinsfolk or other persons without a witness. Further, wise and faithful in the Apostolic commission, with the assent of the three Cardinals by whose aid he was ruled and led*, he ordained that they should assemble at St. Sixtus on the fourth day of the week at the head of the fast Ash Wednesday, so that there the aforesaid abbess, present with all her nuns, might freely resign the office and all the rights of the monastery to the Cardinals and to him; which also was done ^d.

VI.

[89] And when the most holy Man was sitting with those venerable fathers in the midst of the chapter, and afterward a kinsman of Cardinal Stephen, and the lady abbess also stood by with the nuns, that a miracle soon to follow might declare this work to have been done by the Lord, behold, a certain man wailing and tearing out his hair cried out lamentably with a horrible voice: Alas, alas! And when all were terrified and asked what was the matter with him, he answered: The nephew of the lord Stephen has fallen from his horse and is dead. And the young man's name was Napoleon. At this unexpected and pitiable news the lord Cardinal Stephen, his uncle, astounded and in anguish, leaned upon blessed Dominic. But others, catching him, lifted him up; and the Saint, rising, sprinkled him with holy water in the name of the Lord.

[90] Then the Man of God went out to where the body of the dead man lay, fallen from his horse and dead, exceedingly shattered by the pitiable concussion and horribly disfigured. He commanded therefore that it be carried into a certain house and shut up; and to Brother Tancred and the others who were with him he said that they should prepare an altar for him for the celebrating of Mass. The Cardinals therefore went with those who were with them, and the abbess with her nuns, to the place where the holy priest Dominic was offering the saving Host: who, standing at the sacred altar with the highest reverence, as he was wont, was suffused with an immense shower of tears, the Holy Spirit breathing. And when, holding the body of the Lord Jesus in his most pure hands, he had lifted it on high, in the sight and astonishment of all who were present, he himself likewise was raised from the ground to the height of one cubit, the Spirit of devotion and grace divinely lifting up his earthly and heavy body.

[91] the sacrifice of the Mass being performed, And so the office of the saving oblation being most devoutly ended, the most blessed Father approached the body of the dead man, to invoke the mercy of the Lord. There followed also the Cardinals with their households*, and likewise the lady abbess with her nuns, with mourning and trust, wholly ignorant of what the Lord was about to do for the glory of His name. And the most pious Man, standing at the lifeless body, touched with his most holy hand the head and the other limbs shattered by the fall, and the feet also, composing them in order and gently. Then he turned to prayer, placing himself beside the bier. When he had done in this manner a second and a third time, and had fitted to their places the face also, deformed by laceration, and the other limbs, rising from prayer he made the sign of the cross over him.

[92] he publicly recalls to life before many bystanders. Then, standing at the head of the dead man, his hands raised to heaven, he himself was raised from the ground by divine power, suspended in the air above the height of a cubit, and cried with a loud voice: O young man Napoleon, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ I say to you, arise; and at once, in the sight of all who had flocked together to so great a spectacle, he rose sound and unharmed, and said to his Raiser: Father, give me to eat. And the pious Man gave him food and drink; and sound and cheerful, having no sign of injury, he restored him to his uncle, the venerable lord Stephen, Cardinal of the holy Apostle* ^e. He had lain dead from morning until the ninth hour. And he was raised, as I think and can conjecture, on the XVI of the Kalends of March, on the day of the martyr Valentine ^f.

ANNOTATA.

* elsewhere: was protected

* elsewhere: servants

* elsewhere: of the Apostolic [See]

CHAPTER VIII.

The migration of the Friars Preachers and of the nuns to another place, the translation of the image of the Mother of God, the casting out of a demon from a possessed woman, and three nuns soon freed from fever.

VII.

Up to this time the Friars Preachers stayed at St. Sixtus in the city of Rome, where the almighty Jesus deigned to work these and many other great marvels through His beloved confessor blessed Dominic. At Rome the Friars Preachers from the church of St. Sixtus But the supreme Pontiff Honorius, a devout and special lover of this holy Father, handed over the church of St. Sabina to the aforesaid Brethren to dwell in, in which to this day they persevere by Apostolic favor. To this place they transferred their books and all that they had hitherto had at St. Sixtus. In this church of St. Sabina, indeed, rest the bodies of the holy martyrs Alexander the Pope, Eventius, and Theodolus.

[94] This blessed Alexander, by the blessed Apostle Peter

is the seventh, migrate to the church of St. Sabina, the first of this name, prelate of the Roman See, [who] under the emperor Hadrian, after chains and prisons, the rack, fire and hooks, was slain with most fierce prickings* throughout all his limbs. Eventius also and Theodolus, priests, after long endurance of prison, being tried by fires, were at last beheaded ^a. This place of the Brethren is adorned with the glorious titles of these Martyrs. There stands here none the less a notable title under the name of St. Sabina, whose Cardinal was the lord Hugh ^b, a venerable man, a most religious father, and the most learned Brother of this Order; by whose doctrine and illustrious writings the Church is instructed to this day. In Germany also, sent as legate a latere of the Apostolic See, he carried out the ministry of his legation with all knowledge of discretion and with religion without avarice, whose justice is remembered there even now.

VIII.

[95] Now also a man and venerable father of the same title, name, knowledge, religion, doctrine, and piety renders that same place honorable to all in every respect ^c; to which, when the Brethren had removed with all things belonging to them, as we said before, our most blessed father Dominic procuring it, a time was appointed by him at which the Sisters should enter the church of St. Sixtus, where the Brethren had hitherto dwelt. In the year, therefore, from the Incarnation of the Lord MCCXVIIII, on the XII of the Kalends of March, which was then the first Sunday of Lent ^d, the lady abbess came with her nuns from across the Tiber, receiving into possession the church of St. Sixtus, and there they began to dwell, to serve the Lord perpetually: among whom was a certain girl, by name Cecilia ^e, then a maiden of XVII years, who at the very entrance of the gate first of all assumed the habit of the Order from the holy Father, and into his hands professed obedience at the third turn. After her the abbess and the other nuns, and likewise so many others were clothed and professed, that all together they were forty-four.

[96] But the Romans were unwilling that that glorious image of the mother Mary to whom the Saint transfers which had remained among the nuns across the Tiber should be taken away from there, because there an easier access lay open to them for beholding the image. Therefore the provident Father, on the following night, accompanied by two Cardinals, namely the lord Nicholas, bishop of Tusculum, and the lord Stephen, whose nephew he had raised, and by very many other persons with a multitude of lights going before and following, all walking barefoot, most reverently carried on his own shoulders that most desirable and most sweet image of the Virgin mother, which the Sisters, awaiting it barefoot and placed in prayer, received with tears and jubilation of heart; and it remains with them to this day.

[97] the venerable image of the Mother of God, This is the venerable image which the holy Pope Gregory, for the repelling of an impending plague, ordered at a certain Easter time to be reverently carried around the circuit of the City before the procession with litanies ^f. And behold, all the infection of the air yielded to the power of the Virgin working in her image, as though fleeing and not enduring to bear her presence; and thus a wonderful serenity and purity of the air remained by the grace of the Mother of God, the virgin Mary; and voices were then heard in the air beside the image in this manner: Queen of heaven, rejoice, alleluia; for He whom you deserved to bear, alleluia, has risen, as He said, alleluia. And blessed Gregory soon added: Pray for us to God, we beseech, alleluia. And so there was placed at St. Sixtus, by the kindly confessor of Christ, Dominic, and by two Cardinals, venerably among virgins, the image of the Virgin, mother of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ, in which all the rich of the people shall entreat her face, adoring in the Mother the Son, who is God over all, blessed unto the ages of ages. Amen.

IX.

[98] This first monastery of Sisters the first founder of the Order of Preachers and renowned father Dominic established; and there casts out a demon which was disturbing his sermon, whom, keeping them with the utmost diligence under religious custody, he instructed, for whose consolation he frequently gave sermons and conferences, the Brethren hearing, and taught them about the discipline of the Order, because the power of a singular prerogative of grace was abundantly present to him. Before them and in them the power of the Most High evidently showed many miracles through him: for when on the second Sunday of Lent blessed Dominic was preaching at St. Sixtus, and a very great multitude of people was present, behold, a demoniac woman began greatly to hinder the preaching by crying out saying and repeating many times: Ribald, ribald ^g, by your deceptions you have taken from me four who were mine. They were mine, and you have taken them from me — often repeating: Ribald, ribald.

[99] out of a possessed woman, And when the people murmured at the hindering of the preaching, St. Dominic said to her several times: Be silent, be silent. The demon answered through the mouth of the possessed woman: You will not cast us out from here. This woman is ours, nor will we go out from her. We are seven, who entered into her in such and such ways. And each began to bark out in different voices the manner in which they had possessed her. But as the tumult of the people grew, the Man of God, lifting his hand, made the sign of the cross, saying: In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to go out, and to harm her no further. Immediately she, shaken by a horrible distension of the body, vomited forth a great heap of coals, which was followed by so great an abundance of blood that she seemed as if dead. Whom the holy Man ordered to be led out of the church and to be cared for until she should be more fully healed, giving her the name Sister Amata; who afterward lived long, sound and unharmed, in good works. This miracle was wrought on the eighth day after the Sisters' entrance into the church of St. Sixtus: and they, seeing him standing in public preaching and commanding demons with such power of authority, were astounded and greatly feared.

[100] At another time the most sweet Father, solicitous for the well-being of his daughters, and prodigiously frees three nuns from a fever. approaching the turn-wheel, asked Constantia the wheel-keeper whether the Sisters, namely Theodora, Thedramia, and Nimpha, were bodily well. And Constantia told him that they were tormented with the pain of fevers, and that Sister Theodora was already lying racked with a fit of fever. Then the merciful Father said: Go, tell them that I command them to have fever no longer. She went, commanding the sick women on behalf of the holy Father that they should have fever no longer. Soon, freed from all infirmity, they rose and went away unharmed, the other Sisters seeing it and being astounded at so great a prodigy, wrought by the power of Christ through the venerable Father. Constantia returned (for the Father was waiting), announcing what had happened; and he, giving thanks to God, went away ^h.

ANNOTATA.

* elsewhere: punishments

CHAPTER IX.

The Saint's zeal, the sending of Brethren to Bologna, Reginald's illness cured by his prayers and by a wonderful anointing of the Mother of God, the new habit of the Order shown to the same sick man, and the punishment of one who had exposed the sacred garb of the Preachers to mockery.

And so the blessed Man, preaching at Rome, like a branch abiding in the vine, While the Saint everywhere aims at the salvation of souls, brought forth abundant fruits of souls, so that he established two illustrious monasteries (one of Friars Preachers, the other of Sisters) full of most religious and most devout persons: for he was holy, and those who conversed with the Holy One were made holy. Thus, as he had always desired, bearing fruit he advanced. Nor yet did this enlargement suffice his heart through charity: for the charity of God was diffused in his heart by His Spirit dwelling in him, and he longed for all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. For this most pure affection, and this sacrifice of holy desire most acceptable to God, had occupied that most pious breast, that he might gain the souls of his neighbors and join them to their Creator.

[102] Brethren being sent to Bologna, This he sought from the Lord with tearful prayers, this he pursued with devout preachings, this he accomplished with most perfect labors, and the Lord fulfilled it through him with glorious miracles. He desired to be spent and to be spent over and above for the souls of his neighbors, after the example of the Savior, who gave Himself for our souls. Nothing was so laborious, nothing so terrible, that he would shun it for his neighbor's salvation. Nothing was so dear, nothing so precious, that he would not set it after charity and expose it for her sake. Therefore, mercifully solicitous for the salvation of many, and vigilantly zealous for the spreading of his Order, he sent from the City to Bologna the Brethren John and Bertrand in the year of the Lord MCCXVII* ^a, about the beginning; afterward Brother Christian with a lay-brother, who, making their stay there, endured great straits of poverty.

XI.

[103] In the same year the bishop of Orléans came to Rome, Reginald, dean of Orléans, comes to Rome, and with him master Reginald ^b, the dean, a man in all things praiseworthy, of celebrated fame, learned in knowledge, who also had taught canon law at Paris for five years. He, having a familiar conversation with a certain Cardinal, said that this was his purpose, that, leaving all things, he might go about the world as a poor man preaching Christ poor. But by what means he might undertake what he had conceived in his mind had not yet sufficiently occurred to him. Then that man said: Behold, just as your soul desires, a new Order is arising, which professes preaching and voluntary poverty; and now the Founder of this Order is staying in this City, applying himself to the office of preaching.

[104] who, falling sick there, is healed by the prayers of St. Dominic, Rejoicing at this, the wise man summoned to himself the Servant of Christ, delighted by the sight of his holiness, and drawn by the address of his kindness and truth, and the prudent man from then resolved on entrance into that Order. Soon adversity, the tester of a holy purpose, cast down master Reginald, seized by a grave infirmity. As the sickness grew strong, nature, succumbing, is pressed down, and health is despaired of by the physicians. But St. Dominic, trusting in God's power, took care to obtain health for him by his prayers. And behold, as the Servant of God prayed, and master Reginald lay awake and burning grievously with the force of the fevers, the queen of heaven, Mary the virgin, mother of God, visibly appeared with two maidens of surpassing beauty accompanying her, saying to him: Ask of me what you will, and I will give it to you.

[105] As he deliberated what he should ask, one of those maidens who had come with the Queen and by a visible anointing of the Mother of God, urged him not to ask anything, but to commit himself and the gift to his Lady's will. And he, obeying the salutary counsel, subjected himself in all things to the Queen's will. Then she, stretching out her virginal hand, anointed the sick man's eyes, ears, nostrils, mouth, and hands with the salutary unction which she had brought with her, adding her own formulas of words to each of the anointings. And at the feet the Virgin said: I anoint your feet unto the preparation of the Gospel of peace; and at the loins: Let your loins be girt with the girdle of chastity. And the Virgin mother, showing to that same man the whole habit of the Order of Preachers, said: Behold, this is the habit of your Order. So that heavenly vision was taken from the sick man's eyes, and every infirmity from his whole body, and vanished, so that the physicians marveled, by whose judgment his life had been despaired of.

[106] But all the things which were done bodily about master Reginald by the Virgin were not hidden spiritually from the servant of God, Dominic, inasmuch as they were wrought by his intercession and merits. which she is said to have repeated, On the third day after this most salutary anointing, when the said Reginald was sitting with blessed Dominic, the most clement Mother and virgin was present, happily repeating in the master the preceding anointing, as she had promised. There was present then also a religious and devout man of the Order of the Hospital, testifying that he had seen the blessed Virgin Mary anointing master Reginald's whole body with her hand. That salutary anointing, therefore, so purged his body by tempering it from all carnal concupiscence that, as he himself professed, not even a first motion of the flesh thereafter sprouted in him ^c. All these things the holy father Dominic, adjured by that same master, was unwilling ever to reveal to anyone except after his death; and when he had died, he disclosed them to the Brethren ^d.

XII.

[107] After these things the honorable man, master Reginald, received from the hand of the holy father Dominic the habit divinely foreshown to him, and to have shown him the new habit of the Preachers, being joined to the new Order of Preachers and to the fellowship of the poor of Christ. This is a gracious man, endowed with knowledge, prevented by grace, robust in virtue, conspicuous in holiness, foremost in religiousness, most pure in chastity, whom Mary the untouched virgin touched, anointing him with a salutary ointment — she who, besides her Son, never touched any man, and he was sanctified at her touch. To him was the habit of the Order of Preachers designated by the mouth of the virgin Mother. This is a comely habit, tawny with the rigor of penance, white with the vigor of chastity, an embroidered tunic and an ankle-length nuptial garment, the stole of a priest, the vesture of clerical uprightness, given not by angels, but by the clement condescension of the Virgin mother.

[108] But with how great a piety of devotion this religious habit of this sacred Order is to be worn, and with how great an uprightness of veneration it is to be honored, which a certain man, exposing it to mockery, is divinely punished, the Lord deigned afterward to declare in this manner: for a certain master teaching in arts at Salamanca ^e, a city of Spain, where a school then flourished, when on the morning of a certain Sunday he had come with many scholars to the house of the Preachers to hear a sermon, suddenly there came a great flood of rains, so that they could not go out of the house. Therefore the subprior of the house, when, inviting the said master to dinner, he could not detain him, put upon him the cape of one of the Brethren, lest his garments be harmed by the rain. Then, in the presence of many scholars and doctors who were in the chapter house, the subprior said: I protest this day, and I call you all as witnesses, that master Nicholas has assumed our habit. But that master, laughing and mocking, departed, and running about all that day through the squares and the houses of the scholars, he wore the habit of holiness with much laughter and guffawing; on account of which that very night, seized by a most grave continual fever, he was tormented more vehemently.

[109] and is compelled to assume it; Whence, when he and the physicians had been not a little terrified, his soul wasted away like a spider's web, and, greatly terrified, he poured out anxious prayers to the Lord. He heard therefore a voice divinely and manifestly saying to him: Do you believe that I have decreed that only the persons of the Order of Friars Preachers are to be held in reverence and honor? Nay, know that I also will that their habit and garments be not deprived of the veneration and honor due: which, since you have dishonored them, unless you come to your senses by repenting, you shall by no means pass unpunished. This voice sounded in the ears not of one sleeping, but of one waking and anxiously supplicating, and all his inward parts trembled at the voice. The Brethren therefore being called, he received with much reverence the habit which he had worn in derision and sport, and with devotion solemnly put it on, that in it he might make satisfaction for that in which he had offended.

[110] on which occasion the author commends the habit Plainly blessed are they who have deserved to be clothed with these manifold garments of grace, which the valiant woman wove for her household, that, clothed with the armor of light, they may walk uprightly, lest they be excluded from the nuptials of the Lamb. Truly happy and glorious is the Order of Preachers, the chief of all Orders, most like to the angelic order: for it praises, blesses, and preaches; and there is no one who doubts that this is the office of angels. Besides, after the manner of the angelic order, it purges the uncleanness of sins, by persuading and offering penance to the guilty. It illumines the ignorance of the unbelieving and the foolish, preaching saving knowledge. It profits those advancing toward the fatherland, showing a more excellent way.

[111] and his Order. This is the most well-ordered Religion of this Order and a profession most pleasing to God, ordained by an eternal counsel and designated in the ancient writings of the Saints, which the Virgin mother sought from her Son to be directed for the salvation of the people in the last time: this she aids with her patronage, exalts with benefits, adorns with miracles, assists in tribulations, preserves in temptations, and clemently and powerfully snatches from all perils. Also by a token of special charity and by the privilege of a singular grace she has clothed the sons of this sacred Order with the vesture of a most precious habit, and has adorned them with a garment peculiar above others; who, whereas they were clothed with the garments of Regular Canons, now, clothed from on high with the priceless vesture of the most glorious Virgin mother, glory above the rest. For which of the Saints, save the Holy of Holies, ever deserved to glory in garments conferred on him by the Queen of heaven? Guard, therefore, dearest Brother, with all diligence these royal and virginal garments with which you are clothed; let them remain white at all times, so that there may be the cleanness of chastity in the body, the light of truth in work, the purity of sincerity in the heart.

ANNOTATA.

* elsewhere: MCCXVIII

CHAPTER X.

Revelations made to the Saint concerning the singular affection of the Mother of God toward the Order of Preachers, and the sudden healing of two women, wonderfully obtained by his prayers.

XIII.

Behold and imitate the glorious father Dominic, the mirror of cleanness, The Mother of God appears to the Saint, blessing the sleeping Brethren, the emulator of chastity, the little vessel of virginal innocence, through whose purity the Virgin Mother by her Son's gift poured all this holiness into the Order of Preachers — who, when at Rome at St. Sabina he had passed the night praying in the church of the Brethren after his accustomed manner, in the middle of the night, when all things were keeping quiet, entering the dormitory, he stood praying in one part of it, and, lifting his eyes and looking toward the other part, he saw three virgins of admirable beauty, of whom the middle one* shone red above the others with an incomparable form of comeliness. One of those who were on either side carried a bucket, a splendid and adorned vessel; and the other held out a sprinkler to the Queen walking in the middle. And the Queen, passing through the dormitory with the virgins, sprinkled the several Brethren resting in their little beds, and blessing them signed them with the sign of the cross; but to one of those resting she wholly denied this grace of sprinkling and blessing, that posterity may learn what discipline of Religion and what guardianship of chastity the Mother of mercy, visiting us at all times, wishes to find in us even when sleeping.

[113] And so the kindly Father, beholding this, considered that Brother, and rising from prayer went forth to meet the Queen as far as the middle, where the lamp of the dormitory hung, except one, who was not decently enough covered, and, prostrate before her feet, prayed suppliantly, saying: I beseech you, my Lady, tell your servant who you are. Although he said this, yet he knew her in spirit. At that time the Antiphon SALVE REGINA was said at Rome in the Convent of the Brethren and Sisters only by reading, on bent knees. The Lady answered her servant, saying: I am that Queen of mercy whom you invoke every evening with devout minds; and when you say "Turn then, our Advocate," I prostrate myself before my Son, beseeching Him for the preservation of that Order. Then the faithful Servant, taking confidence, said: Who are these most beautiful virgins, O Lady, who accompany you? Answering, she said: These are Cecilia and Catherine. Again he: Why, my Lady, did you pass the Brother by, turning away? To whom she said: Because he did not conduct himself decently. Then, when she had gone round the remaining Brethren and had signed them by sprinkling, she disappeared.

[114] and in another vision there is shown to him, But the sacred Man returned to the place where he had first stood to pray; and behold, suddenly, the hand of the Lord being made upon him, he was rapt in spirit before

God, and he saw the Lord sitting, and His Mother, the glorious Virgin, who sat at His right hand, clothed with a cape of sapphire color. And looking round about, he saw of every nation of spiritual fathers, who from the sacred Religions had begotten spiritual sons and daughters for Christ, innumerable multitudes glorying in the sight of the Most High; and, since he beheld there none of his own sons, blushing and stricken to the depths, he began to weep most bitterly. Terrified therefore by the glory of the Lord's majesty, he stood afar off, nor did he dare to approach the countenance of glory and the excellence of the Virgin. But the Lady beckoned to him with her hand that he should come to her. But he, trembling and fearing, did not presume to approach until the Lord of majesty likewise called him.

[115] what singular care that same most blessed Virgin And so the man, stricken with compunction and humble in spirit and contrite of heart, wholly suffused with most bitter tears, prostrated himself most devoutly and most humbly at the propitious feet of the Son and of the Mother: and the consoler of the tearful, the Lord of glory, said to him: Arise. And when he stood before the Lord, He asked him, saying: Why do you weep so bitterly? And he said: Because in the sight of glory I behold men of every Religion; but of the sons of my Order here, alas, I behold none. To whom the Lord: Do you wish to see your Order? And he: This I desire, Lord God. Then the Son of God, placing His hand upon the shoulder of the Virgin, His mother, said to him: I have committed your Order to My Mother. And when he still clung with pious affection, desiring to see his Order, the Lord again said to him: Do you altogether wish to see it? He answered: This I desire, my Lord. And behold, the Virgin Mother, when it pleased the Son, evidently disclosing, opened the cape with which she was seen to be adorned, spreading it out before her tearful servant Dominic; and this garment was of such capacity and immensity that, sweetly embracing, it contained the whole heavenly fatherland.

[116] bears toward the Order of Preachers; Under this covering of security, in this bosom of piety, that contemplator of lofty things and beholder of the secrets of God, Dominic, saw an innumerable multitude of the Brethren of his Order embraced by the guardianship of a singular protection and by the arms of a peculiar love. His mourning therefore was turned into joy, and his lament into jubilation, and, exulting in spirit, prostrate he gave thanks to the Son of God and to His glorious virgin Mother. Then, returning to himself, he gave the signal with the bell for Matins, and the Brethren straightway rose. Matins being finished, and the Brethren called to the chapter house, he preached a great and beautiful sermon, exhorting them to the love of the Virgin Mother, because he had been satiated at the breasts of her consolation.

[117] After these things, gently addressing the Brother who had lacked the grace of the blessing, [whence the author stirs up his fellows to the study of chastity and the honoring of the Mother of God,] he found him entirely free of fault; but he learned only that, waking from sleep, he had found himself uncovered. O how great a necessity of discipline and guardianship of chastity is enjoined upon us, since even unknowing and unwilling we turn away from us those merciful eyes which clemently look ever upon those who solicitously observe her ways. With how great veneration is she to be honored, with how great a praise of charity is the most excellent Virgin, the most worthy Mother of Christ, our most kindly mother, to be followed, to whom we are committed by the Majesty, under whose wings we are protected, by whose hand we are blessed, with the dew of whose grace we are suffused, by whose intervention we are enlarged, preserved, and saved ^a. She it is who offered our most blessed father Dominic to her Son as a most faithful servant, to whom she frequently appeared, whom she sweetly addressed, to whom she was present as he lay dying at the last, and whom, carried up with her Son on a most white ladder, she crowned with the angels.

XIV.

[118] This most pious man, our father Dominic, wished to visit the troubled [and he narrates how St. Dominic wonderfully freed a solitary woman of great patience] and to console the poor: for there was at Rome in a tower beside the Lateran gate a certain solitary, a woman of great religion and holiness, by name Bona, who attained the truth of her name. She labored under a most grave infirmity: for from her breast and her paps there swarmed an innumerable multitude of worms. Which horrible sickness this woman endured with so great patience and gratitude that sometimes she gathered up the worms that fell out and placed them back on her breast. Devout Dominic visited her, heard her confession, and frequently gave her Communion. And when on a certain day he had communicated her and, sitting at her little window, was speaking to her words of consolation and edification, among other things he asked of her that she would show him the place of her horrible pain; which she did; and the place of the breast was full of worms. Seeing which the merciful Man, having compassion on her vehement pain, said: I ask you that you give me one of these worms as a great gift.

[119] She was unwilling unless he would promise that he would give the worm back. from a horrible disease And when he had promised, she, the Saint looking on, took a worm from her breast and gave it to him through the window; and it was large and had a black head: which, when the most holy Father received it with outstretched hand and turned it with his finger and examined it, suddenly it was turned into a most beautiful precious stone. Seeing which, the Brethren who were with him, astounded, marveled greatly, saying that he should not give her back the gem. Then the holy woman began to weep, asking that he give her back her precious stone. And the Saint, restoring the stone, placed it upon the window, as he had promised; which soon she, while the Man of God and those who were with him looked on, restored to her breast, whence she had taken it; and it was immediately changed again into a worm. Then, prayer being made over her, the holy Father, signing and blessing the handmaid of God, dismissed her in peace. And as he was going down from the tower, her paps fell from her breast together with the worms, and the worms were destroyed, and her breast was made whole and little by little wholly renewed, and all the pain of the horrible putrefaction was taken away. Some days having passed, the Saint, visiting her, found her unharmed and rejoicing; and [she] related to the Brethren how by the grace of God and his merits she had been freed from so horrible a disease.

[120] and how by his prayers he at once restored health to another recluse. At Rome, behind the church of St. Anastasia, blessed Dominic frequently visited a certain recluse, by name Lucia, when he went to St. Sixtus; whose one arm a most grave infirmity had so eaten away that, the flesh and skin being consumed, the whole bone as far as the elbow appeared entirely bare: which, when at his bidding the devout woman had shown to the holy Father, he, having compassion on her pain, signed her with the cross, and blessed her, and departed. And she soon by the holy Father's merits recovered entire health. There was present then Brother Bertrand, and very many others seeing this ^b.

ANNOTATA.

* elsewhere: one

* for "mea"

CHAPTER XI.

The deeds of Reginald and of other illustrious Preachers, apparitions, temptations, and various other things which happened in the Convent of Bologna.

Part III.

Chap. I.

Further, that venerable master Reginald, the health of both the inner and the outer man having been received through the blessed Virgin, Reginald, returned from Jerusalem, enters the Order of Preachers at Bologna, although already bound to the Order by profession, yet with the consent of the holy father Dominic crossed the sea with the bishop of Orléans to fulfill his desire, and returning thence, came to Bologna in the year of the Lord MCCXVIII ^a, on the XII of the Kalends of January, that is on the day of the blessed apostle Thomas. And soon he began to devote himself wholly to preaching; and his utterance was vehemently fiery, and his speech, like a burning torch, inflamed the hearts of all who heard, so that scarcely was there one so stony as to hide himself from his heat. All Bologna was then fervent, because a new Elijah seemed to have arisen.

[122] where in a short time the number of Brethren grew, In those days he received many at Bologna into the Order, and the number of the Preachers began to increase, and more were added to them, by whose light of preaching very many shine and blaze like stars throughout the world; which light God, foreknowing things to come, foreshowed would shine first and especially at Bologna: for before the Brethren came to Bologna, a certain woman devout and dear to God frequently adored on bent knees facing the place where the Brethren were to be, and now are; and when men mocked her as a fool, she said to them: Wretched are you and rather the fools. If you knew who are to be there, and what sort of men, you would surely here adore God with me; for assuredly through those who are to be there the whole world will be enlightened ^b. And so, while the Brethren at first stayed at the church of La Mascarella*, a little after the coming of Brother Reginald, at the prayers of the lord Hugolino, bishop of Ostia, who was afterward made Pope, the bishop of Bologna conferred and assigned to the Friars Preachers the church of St. Nicholas, whose chaplain and priest, Rudolf by name, a good and devout man, entered the Order of Friars Preachers.

II.

[123] That happy place at Bologna, the dwelling of our Father, our God prophetically adorned before the entrance of the Brethren and that Convent by various signs with the harmonies of angels, with lights from above and heavenly splendors. To this asylum of the guilty and house of refuge a certain cleric, sufficiently instructed indeed, but greatly seduced by the vanities of the world, admonished by God, fled to be saved: for he saw in a vision that he was surrounded and beset in a field by a mighty storm. Fleeing therefore to a certain house, and finding it closed, he knocks and asks to be received. To whom the hostess said: I, justice, dwell here, and this house is mine; and because you are not just, you shall not enter it. Grieving, he knocks at another house which he saw, asking to be received. To whom the hostess said: I am truth; nor do I receive you, because truth does not free him who does not love her. Seeing likewise a third dwelling, there too he asks to be received. But she who was within said: I am peace, and there is no peace for the impious, but only for men of good will. Nevertheless, because I think thoughts of peace and not of affliction, I give you useful counsel. Beyond me dwells my sister mercy, who always helps the wretched: go to her, and fulfill her commands.

[124] And as he went, the divine mercy, meeting him, said: and by a wonderful vision of a Cleric is commended. If you desire to be saved from the impending storm, go to St. Nicholas, where the Friars Preachers dwell, and you will find there the stable of penance, and the manger of continence, the fodder of doctrine, the ass of simplicity with the ox of discretion, Mary enlightening, Joseph perfecting, and Jesus saving you. Waking and ruminating on these things, he follows the counsel of mercy. Going to the Brethren, he most devoutly asked and obtained mercy from them ^c. There was then in the Brethren a great fervor of charity toward every work of virtue, a sweetness of exceptional devotion, a watchfulness of continual prayer, a most strict observance

of Religion, a burning zeal for souls in assiduous preachings and confessions, a beauty of manner of life in holy examples and morals, a most strenuous rigor in curbing vices, and then a light transgression was by no means followed by a light punishment.

[125] A certain lay-brother was then caught having received a cheap piece of cloth without special leave: While the Brethren at Bologna were tempted in various ways whom the great father Reginald sharply chastised in the chapter house, and burned the cloth in the cloister before the Brethren. But when that wretched man, murmuring and not acknowledging his fault, refused to humble himself to penance, the man of God commanded the Brethren to prepare him by force for the discipline. Then he himself, his eyes raised to heaven, said with tears: Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Your servant Benedict the power to drive out a demon from the heart of his monk by the discipline, grant, I beseech, that by the power of this discipline the temptation of the devil may be driven out from this Brother's soul. And he chastised him, scourging him so sharply that the Brethren were moved to weeping. Nor in vain: for he, stricken with compunction, said with tears: I give you thanks, father, because you have truly driven the devil from me. I plainly felt a serpent go out from my loins. And he, converted, afterward advancing, became a good and humble Brother.

[126] by the demon, Another Brother also, when in apostatizing he wished to go out of the house, being caught, was brought to the Chapter at Bologna before the great father Reginald; who, confessing his fault before him, humbled himself for the discipline. Then the man of God, turning to the Brother, chastising him grievously, said: Go out, demon. And turning to the Brethren, Pray, he said, Brethren; wishing by prayer and chastisement to drive out the demon. And when he did this for a long while, that man cried out, saying: Hear me, father. And he: What do you wish, son? Then the Brother: Truly the devil has withdrawn; and I promise you stability. And the Brethren rejoiced; and he remained in the Order confirmed ^d.

III.

[127] While the Order was still as it were a little flock, a certain commotion of temptation arose in the Convent of Bologna, and certain men thought of deserting the Order, so that some, deceived by a spirit of distrust, conferred with one another as to what Orders they should transfer, because the new planting of this Order seemed weakly established. Whence also two of them obtained letters of the legate who was then there concerning such a matter: which, when the great Reginald had read out among the Brethren, there was an immense lamentation, and the commotion began to grow. Then, while the man of God Reginald, his eyes raised to heaven and his heart speaking to God, was silent, Brother Clarus, a good man of great authority, inasmuch as he had taught in arts and in Canon law, and moreover was skilled in civil law, began to console the Brethren and to strengthen them with many reasons.

[128] other men, Scarcely had he completed his discourse; and behold, master Roland, who then taught at Bologna, whose fame was celebrated, kindled by the Spirit of God, fleeing from the world, came alone to the Brethren: and because he was drunk with the Spirit, without any preceding speech he simply asked to be received into the Order. And the great Reginald, out of exceeding joy, not waiting for other garments, took off his own hood and soon clothed him with it. Then, the bell being rung and the Brethren singing VENI CREATOR, there is a running of men, women, and scholars, and a commotion of the whole city. And the Brethren could scarcely sing for the abundance of joy and the plenty of tears. Then the former devotion was recalled, and every error and temptation subsided; and those two Brethren, leaping into the midst, confessed that they had acted ill, and, renouncing the letters, promised stability.

[129] illustrious in virtue and knowledge, On the following night Christ the Lord appeared to Brother Rudolf, already mentioned, and at His right hand the Virgin mother, and at His left blessed Nicholas, who, placing his hand upon his head, said: Fear not, Brother, for all things will turn out prosperously for you and for your Order, our Lady having care for you. And soon he saw in the water which passes beside the city a ship full of a multitude of Brethren; and blessed Nicholas said to him: Do you see these Brethren? Fear not therefore, for they are so many that they will fill the whole world ^e. The Brother was therefore consoled, because he had been much troubled by the aforesaid commotion. The memory of these illustrious men greatly delights, like music at a banquet of wine, and like the odor of sweet ointments. How great a man Brother Reginald was has already appeared from what has been written, and will appear from what follows.

[130] embrace the same Order. Brother Clarus ^f, according to his name, was constant and remarkable in goodness and holiness of life, and shone endowed with knowledge, inasmuch as he had taught in arts and in Canon law, and was distinguished as instructed in civil law; nor did he shine less in authority, who was Prior provincial of the Roman province, and also penitentiary and chaplain of the lord Pope. But Brother Roland of Cremona ^g, who was teaching at Bologna, stricken with compunction from consideration of the vanity of the delights and glory in which he abounded, coming to the Order, was the first among the Brethren to lecture in Theology at Paris, and for many years served the Lord in holiness, illustrious in fame, knowledge, and life. Brother Moneta also ^h, who, then lecturing in arts, was held the more famous in all Lombardy, forcibly stricken with compunction at the preaching of the great father Reginald, brought many to the Order while he was still a secular. But when clothed with the garments of the Order, what he was in all holiness, how much he advanced in word and doctrine and in the confuting of heresies, cannot easily be set forth in writing. These are the glorious men, our Fathers and Brethren, whom the great father Reginald acquired for the Lord at Bologna through the word of the Gospel, with many others.

ANNOTATA.

* read: Mascarella

CHAPTER XII.

The wonderful multiplication of food and drink, a prophecy, and other miracles of the Saint wrought at Rome.

IV.

The sweet and fragrant recollection of the sons has held me back as I write, When at Rome the Brethren labored under a great want of food and drink, and has meanwhile suspended my mind from the magnificent and honeyed remembrance of the father's merits. But I turn back the eye of my mind to the most sweet root from which all this sweetness sprouted: for meanwhile, while these things were being done at Bologna through the venerable father Reginald, almighty God deigned to work marvels in various places through the merits of the holy father Dominic: for when at Rome at St. Sixtus the Brethren, gathered with him to the number of a hundred, were living in evangelical poverty, on a certain day two Brethren were sent by him, John of Calabria and Albert the Roman, to ask alms: who, when they had labored in asking from morning until the third hour, received no alms at all. And as they were returning, a certain woman devoted to the Order met them, giving them one loaf and saying: I do not wish that you return altogether empty. Which being received, behold, a certain man, white and beautiful, accompanying them, earnestly asked that they give him alms. But they excused themselves, saying that they could not give him any, since they had not even for themselves. And when he asked the more insistently, they gave him the loaf for the love of God. Then he who had received the loaf soon vanished from their eyes.

[132] St. Dominic places his trust in God, As they returned, the pious Father came to meet them, who, by the revelation of the Holy Spirit, had already known all that had happened to them, and with a cheerful countenance said to them: Sons, have you now nothing? And they told what had happened, and about the poor man to whom they had given the loaf. He said to them: It was an angel of God; but the Lord will feed His servants. Let us go to pray; and entering the church, going out after a little while, he said that the Brethren should come together for dinner. Some of them say: Why should they come together, since we have nothing to set before them? But he, knowing what the Lord was about to do, said: The Lord will feed His servants. And when, as men of little faith, they still delayed, doubting, he called Brother Roger the cellarer, commanding that he gather the Brethren for dinner, because the Lord would provide for them.

[133] and from heaven obtains bread At length, the tables being covered and the cups set out, the signal being given, the Brethren entered the refectory, and the holy Father blessed the tables. All being seated, Brother Henry the Roman read at table. And St. Dominic, with joined hands, began to pray over the table; and behold, as he had promised, the divine providence was at hand to feed His servants: for two most beautiful young men appeared in the middle of the refectory, sent with two other cloths*, namely full of most white loaves, behind and before; and beginning from the lower places, one at the right and the other at the left, they offered a whole loaf to each of the Brethren. Coming to St. Dominic, they set before him, as before the rest, a whole loaf, and, bowing their heads, they appeared no more.

[134] and wine. Then St. Dominic said: Eat, Brethren, eat the bread which the Lord has sent us. Then to the servers of the table he said: Minister wine to the Brethren; and when they said: Holy father, we have none; he, full of the Holy Spirit, said: Go to the cask, and pour out of the wine which the Lord has sent there. Going therefore, as had been commanded them, they found the cask full to the top of the best wine, and, drawing it, they carried it to the Brethren and poured it out; to whom the holy Father said: Drink, Brethren, of the wine which the Lord has given you. And so they ate and drank as much as they wished, on that day and the next; but on the third day, after they had eaten, St. Dominic ordered all the fragments which were left over to be given to the poor, and would not that anything of them should remain. After these things the most faithful Father, exhorting his sons to place their hope in the Lord and not to despair in any necessity, preached them a most beautiful sermon.

[135] The Saint on another occasion multiplies bread, On another occasion also, in the same house, the procurator of the Brethren, approaching the holy Father, announced a lack of bread; and he, exulting in spirit, blessed God, and commanded that the little bread which was had be divided into portions upon the table. There were at that time in the Convent Brethren about forty in number, who, the signal being given, entered the refectory; and when after the blessing each was joyfully breaking the morsel set before him, behold, two young men of like habit and appearance entered, carrying the folds of their cloaks hanging from their necks full of loaves: which, when they had silently offered before the holy Father, they suddenly departed, nor could any knowledge of them be found. Then the holy Man, stretching out his hand round about, said: Now, Brethren, eat. O venerable kindness of God, which prepared such sweet food for those who fear Him ^a!

[136] In the same house the holy Father, the Spirit having come upon him, foretells things to come to the Brethren, the Brethren being called together to the Chapter, announced openly to all that two of them would die in body and two in spirit. Nor was there delay; the effect accompanies the word: for Brother Gregory, a most handsome and very gracious man, first; and on the third day after, Brother Albert, whom that same Father had sent for alms, who also gave the loaf to the angel, having devoutly received the Sacraments, died in the Lord. But two others, departing from the Order, perished ^b.

[137] Brother James, at a certain time overtaken by a grave infirmity, and the disease growing stronger daily, he frees Br. James, who was near death, from disease, had already come to the end of life, nature utterly succumbing. And when the Brethren, the office of Unction having already been administered, had come together about him to protect his departing spirit by praying, and were sad not a little at the removal of a Brother at that time so necessary to them, because they had no other Brother so well known in the city — the kindly Father, greatly moved by the desolation of his sons, all being shut out and the door closed, prayer being poured out over him, powerfully held back the departing spirit, and, the Brethren being called, restored to them by the hand the Brother who had been repaired, and resigned him, made whole, to his office. These things done concerning himself the aforesaid Brother James published, during whose procuratorship also there occurred the miracle of the multiplied loaves mentioned before ^c.

[138] The servant of Christ, Dominic, received a certain most handsome youth, Henry by name, noble indeed by birth, and wonderfully rescues another from the persecution of his kinsfolk. but nobler in manners, a Roman citizen. His kinsfolk, indignant at this, strove to draw him out of the Order. Knowing which, the prudent Father, giving him companions, sent him to another Convent: who, when he had already crossed the river beside the Via Nomentana, behold, the kinsfolk, to seize the fugitive, were already at hand on the other side of the river. Then the novice commended himself to God and to the merits of St. Dominic, that He would deign to snatch him from their hands. And behold, at the nod of God the water so rose that his pursuers could by no means ford it on horseback: seeing which, stupefied, they returned, leaving the young man confirmed in the Order. And the Brethren, seeing that they had returned stupefied, thought it good to go back. And when they had come to the aforesaid river, that they might return, the water returned to its place, offering a free passage to those crossing.

VI.

[139] On a certain day the most holy father Dominic came rather late to the Sisters, When on another occasion, before the Brethren and, all being called to the window, the Brethren being present, he said: My daughters, I come from fishing, and the Lord has given me a great fish. He said this of Brother Gaudio, who was the only son of the lord Alexander, a magnificent man of the city of Rome, whom he had received into the Order. A conference being made, he showed them much consolation. Which being ended, he said: It is good, my daughters, that we taste a little drink. At his bidding, therefore, a cup full of wine to the top was brought by Brother Roger the cellarer. Then he blessed it, and first drank himself, and afterward the other Brethren who were present, thirty in number: and after all these had drunk as much as they wished, the wine was not diminished; but the cup remained in its fullness.

[140] and the Sisters he had multiplied wine, Then the Saint, calling Sister Nubia, said to her: Go to the turn, that is, the wheel, take the cup, give drink to all the Sisters. She went with a companion, carrying the cup full to the top; and though it was so full, not even one drop was spilled from it, although it was carried through many hands and over spaces of place. There drank therefore first the Prioress, and all the other Sisters, the kindly Father saying to them frequently, Drink your fill, my daughters. There were then a hundred and four Sisters. And when all the Brethren and Sisters had drunk of that cup of charity, yet the cup remained full and without diminution.

[141] returning by night to the monastery of St. Sabina, These things being done, the holy Father said: The Lord wills that I go to St. Sabina to console my sons. But the Prioress and his sons strove to detain him, saying: Father, the hour has passed; it is now near midnight. It is not expedient that you depart hence at this hour. But he did not acquiesce in them, saying: Because the Lord altogether wills that I set out, and He will send His angel with us. Taking therefore Brother Tancred, Prior of the Brethren, and Brother Odo, Prior of the Sisters, he began to set out. And as they were going out, behold, a most beautiful young man stood before the gate, holding a staff in his hand, as one ready for the journey, and he began to go before them on the way.

[142] he is wonderfully brought into it by an angel, Then the holy Father set his companion Brethren between himself and him, and he himself followed in the third place. And coming to the gate of the Brethren, they found it carefully secured with bolts. Then the young man, who had been the guide of the way, drew himself to one side of the gate, which was at once opened to them: and first indeed he himself entered; then the Brethren; and after them father Dominic entered; and, the young man who had brought them in having gone out, the door was found closed, as before. Then Brother Tancred asked blessed Dominic, saying: Holy father, who was that young man who came with us? He answered: Son, it was a holy angel, whom the Lord appointed for our guarding. And so the Brethren, seeing the holy Father and his companions in the choir at Matins, marveled how they had entered with the doors shut.

[143] and a novice who altogether wished to leave the Order, There was then a certain young novice in the Convent, a Roman citizen, by name James, who, overcome by a vehement temptation, resolved altogether to depart from the Order when the doors of the church should be opened. Which the kindly Father, foreknowing by divine revelation, in a spirit of gentleness sweetly admonished him not to separate himself from so holy a fellowship. But he, not acquiescing in his entreaty and supplication, rising, stripped off his habit, saying that he had resolved to depart. But the most gentle Man, having compassion on the violent temptation, said: Wait a little, my son, and afterward you shall do what you will.

[144] prayer being poured out to God, he easily retains. Then the pious Father prostrated himself in prayer, supplicating the Lord for the son who was perishing. Soon it appeared how much the entreaty of a just man avails, and how easily he could obtain what he willed. He had not yet finished his prayer, and that man, suffused with a shower of tears, falling at the Saint's feet, asked that the habit which he had cast off be given back to him, promising that he would always serve the Lord in the Order: whom the kindly Father, sweetly addressing him, clothed again with the habit, exhorting him to perseverance: and he, helped by the merits of his Intercessor, afterward lived laudably in the Order for many years. When in the morning the Brethren, having returned, recited all that had happened to the Sisters, the truthful Father simply acknowledged that it was so, and said: My daughters, the enemy of God wished to snatch away the Lord's sheep; but the Lord freed her from his hands ^d.

ANNOTATA.

* elsewhere: sent by God with two cloaks

CHAPTER XIII.

A demon chastised by the saint, wine again multiplied, the wonderful understanding of an unknown tongue, and other prodigies.

VII.

The holy Man, entering the cloister of the Sisters with several Brethren, The Saint drives a demon, in the shape of a lizard, was there preaching steadfastly about the deceits of the enemy. And behold, Satan was present in the shape of a lizard exceedingly horrible and deformed, having two heads, and it was very large. And running about beside the bank where they were sitting, it very swiftly raised and lowered its tail and one of its heads, making a rush at the Sisters, as if it strove to attack them. But the holy Father, recognizing who it was, kindled against him with the zeal of God, shaking his head with a terrible aspect, said: Enemy, enemy; and turning to the Sisters, he said: Do not fear, because he cannot harm you. And when out of exceeding terror some had already risen to flee, he said to it: I command you, enemy of the human race, to cast yourself at once into this water. And soon, in the sight of all, it plunged itself into the water, and appeared nowhere.

[146] At a certain time, returning from Spain, the holy Father and at another time in the form of a sparrow, brought the Sisters cypress-wood spoons, one for each Sister. And when, sitting at the window with several Brethren, he was preaching to the Sisters, the enemy of the human race, in the likeness of a sparrow near the ground, so that it could be taken by hand, flitting in the air above the Sisters, hindered the preaching. Seeing which, the Saint said to Sister Maximilla: Rise and take it, and bring it to me. And she, rising, took it without difficulty, and handed it through the window to the holy Man. But he began quickly to pluck it, saying: Enemy, enemy. And when, all smiling, he had taken away all the feathers from it as it chattered lamentably, he threw it down, saying: Go, enemy of the human race; now fly, if you can. You will indeed make a great noise, but you will not be able to inflict harm. And so, entering through the window, it climbed up to a bronze vessel which hung on little chains before the altar of the blessed Virgin, in which was a lighted lamp full of oil, and, shaking the chains with a great rush, overturned it; and the lamp came out of the vessel, neither broken nor extinguished, and stood turned in the air, having its mouth below and its bottom above. The Sisters, raising their heads at the noise,

saw the lamp wonderfully persisting in the air without support, which was neither extinguished, nor was even one drop of oil spilled from it; but neither was the bran which was in the basin beneath the lamp for safekeeping scattered; but all things remained unharmed and entire, just as the holy Father had foretold with prophetic mouth. Seeing which, he with the Brethren gave thanks to God. But that unsteady sparrow was seen no more, and the Man of God ordered the lamp to be restored to its place.

[147] and chastises him appearing as an ape, It happened in that same place, when the Man of God had kept vigil in prayer until the middle of the night, that, going out of the church, he sat writing by the light of a candle at the head of the dormitory. And behold, a demon appearing in the shape of an ape began to make mocking gestures, with contortion of its face, walking about before him. Then the Saint beckoned to him with his hand to stand fixed, giving him the lighted candle to hold before him; and he, holding it, none the less made gestures with mockery of countenance. Meanwhile the candle is used up, and the ape's finger began to burn, and, twisting itself as if from pain, to lament — though, burning in the fires of Gehenna, it fears no bodily flame. But the Saint beckoned to him to stand still further. What more? He remained standing so long until the index finger was wholly burned away as far as the joint of the hand, and twisting itself more and more he wailed. Thus the Man of God, strong in faith, mocking him who wished to mock him, struck him strongly with the rod which he always carried with him, saying: Depart, wicked one; and the blow sounded as if he had struck a dry wineskin full of wind. Then, throwing itself against the neighboring wall, it appeared nowhere, and, leaving a stench behind it, disclosed who it had been. Truly he deserves to be crowned among the angelic powers, who so powerfully confounds and represses diabolical depravities.

[148] as Sister Cecilia attests. These and many other illustrious examples of virtues and prodigies of miracles the power of the Most High deigned to work through His glorious confessor Dominic in the city of Rome in the time of Pope Honorius, who confirmed the Order of Preachers and followed that same Father with kindly favor, and reckoned him worthy of all honor. Sister Cecilia, a girl of seventeen years, first received the habit of the Order from the hand of the holy father Dominic; who, transferred to Bologna to establish the monastery of St. Agnes, still lives there ^a in a good old age and in a manner of life of the highest holiness. She beheld with her own eyes and heard with her own ears the things which have been recorded, and faithfully narrated them ^b.

VIII.

[149] When he had established two Convents in Spain, seeking not the things that are his own, but the things that are Jesus Christ's, he hastened to other lands: and when he was making a journey in the regions of Toulouse with many Brethren, it happened on a certain day, Again he multiplies wine, because they were poor men of Christ, that for dinner they had only one cup of wine with which to be refreshed. But certain of those Brethren had been much pampered in the state of the world; whose want the pious Father pitying, ordered that little wine which they had to be received into a large vessel, and water poured over it in abundance to be served to the Brethren. And there were Brethren eight in number, who drank sufficiently of the water made into very good wine, giving thanks to the Lord. And the wine which had been ministered from above by the gift of Christ overflowed ^c.

[150] The holy Father also, going from Toulouse to Paris, and, ignorant of the German tongue, when he had come to Rocamadour, kept vigil devoutly there through the night in the church of blessed Mary, having as companion of his journey, of his fellowship and devotion, Brother Bertrand, a holy man, who was the first Prior of Provence. Going on the next day, they met on the road certain German pilgrims, who, hearing the Man of God with his companion frequently reciting psalms and lessons in prayer, devoutly attached themselves to them. And coming to a town, they invited the Saints, and after their accustomed manner provided for them bountifully: and so they did for four continuous days.

[151] On the fourth day blessed Dominic, groaning, said to his companion: Brother Bertrand, he wonderfully speaks German for four days, truly I have a wounded conscience, that we reap the carnal things of these pilgrims, when we do not sow spiritual things for them. If it please you, let us pray the Lord on bent knees that He may give us both the understanding and the speech of their tongue, so that we may be able to announce the Lord Jesus to them. And when they had prayed, to their astonishment they spoke the German idiom intelligibly, and, walking and speaking with them of the Lord Jesus for another four days, at length they came to Orléans. And the Germans left them on the road to Paris, humbly commending themselves to their prayers ^d.

[152] On the next day the humble Father said to the Brother: Behold, Brother, which miracle he orders his companion Bertrand to keep silent, we are entering Paris, and if the Brethren know the miracle which the Lord has given us, they will believe us saints, whereas we are sinners; and if it comes to seculars, we shall lie open to much vanity. By obedience, therefore, I command you not to tell these things to any man before my death. Thus the matter lay hidden until after his death Brother Bertrand disclosed it to devout Brethren. This Brother Bertrand, a holy man, the first Prior provincial of Provence, celebrated Mass for sins almost daily; of whom Brother Benedict, a prudent man, asked why he celebrated rarely for the dead and frequently for sins. He answered him: Because the dead have eternal salvation certain; but we still waver in peril.

[153] To whom the Brother said: Two poor beggars, one having sound limbs, [which Bertrand learns by a comparison and a vision to pray more often for the dead,] the other lacking them, are equally in need; which of these will you help most of all? The father says to him: Him who can less help himself. These, said the Brother, are the dead, who have no mouth to confess with, no hand to work with, awaiting our helps alone; but living sinners will be able to help themselves by all these. And when even so the father did not acquiesce, on the following night a dead man appeared to him, terrible, and pressed him grievously with a heap of wood, and more than ten times that night, rousing him, terrified and vexed him. Whence at dawn, calling Brother Benedict, going devoutly with tears to the altar, from then on he celebrated more often for the dead ^e. This is Brother Bertrand, a reverend and holy father, whom blessed Dominic forbade to bewail his own faults, but those of others: for he had observed that he afflicted himself too much for his sins: and the words of the holy Father were of such power in the Brother's heart that from then on he could not weep for himself even when he wished, whereas he lamented abundantly for the sins of others ^f.

[154] and the Saint understands another man of an unknown idiom, At another time likewise, as the holy Father was making a journey, he met a certain man, a holy man of God; and he was saddened that he could not address him, because he had no understanding of his tongue and idiom. Then the servant of God, Dominic, burning with desire of heavenly consolation and fraternal edification, turned himself to the Lord in prayer, asking that He would grant him to enjoy the conversation of that man of God who had met him. And behold, it was given to both by the Spirit of God that they should speak to one another in different tongues; and thus for three days, during which they walked together, being affected by spiritual discourses and divine conversations, at length, consoled in the Lord, bidding farewell they departed from one another ^g.

[155] [and by the sign of the cross keeps himself and his companion untouched by the rain.] When at a certain time the Man of God was making a journey along the road with Brother Bertrand, his beloved companion, a grave storm came upon them, which a rain followed. And when the thick shower, flooding, was drenching the earth round about, the holy Father set the sign of the cross against the impending storm and rain, and thus in that great inclemency of the air, protected by the power of the cross, they went forward, so that not even the fringe of their garment did the rain touch, although the shower was watering all things round about more vehemently ^h. It happened on the contrary that, rains coming on, his own garments and those of his men were very much soaked; and while the others remained by the fire to dry their garments, he, burning with the fire of the Holy Spirit, after his manner at once entered the church to pass the night in prayer, thus wet with rain-soaked garments. In the morning, when the garments of the others, who had remained by the fire, continued wet, his garments were found so dry as if they had lain all night in a warm place ⁱ.

ANNOTATA.

* elsewhere: and they were

CHAPTER XIV.

The prodigious healing of an injured boy and of a fever-stricken mother, the strict observance of poverty and of the rule, the repeated multiplication of bread and wine.

In the year of the Lord one thousand two hundred nineteen, therefore, coming to Paris, he found there in the house of St. James Brethren thirty in number, The Saint heals a gravely injured boy and his fever-stricken mother, with whom, having tarried a short time ^a, bidding them farewell and committing them to the grace of God, he set out. And when, passing through France, he had come to the castle of Châtillon ^b, the chaplain received him into hospitality, whose sister's son fell from an upper story, and was bewailed by his mother and kinsfolk as lifeless: with whose sorrow holy Dominic sympathizing, prostrated himself in prayer with tears. And the Lord heard him, and restored the boy unharmed to his mother, and sadness was turned into joy. The priest therefore, the boy's uncle, made a great feast, many God-fearing men being invited. But the boy's mother

vexed with quartan fevers, was not eating while the others ate eels. But the servant of Christ, Dominic, signing a morsel ^c of eel with the cross, offered it to the woman, saying: Eat in the name of the Savior. She ate, and was cured of all fever ^d.

[157] At length in the summer of the aforesaid year he entered Bologna, Coming to Bologna he rejects possessions, where already then at St. Nicholas a great number of Brethren had been gathered with Brother Reginald; who, greatly rejoicing at the Father's arrival, received him with immense devotion and reverence, as a most dear father. And the holy Father remained in that same city until the end of his life, except when he went to the Roman court, and when, going out, he visited certain lands of Lombardy and the city of Venice. And the true imitator of Jesus Christ loved evangelical poverty above all riches. Whence when he had come to Bologna, and the lord Odericus Galicani wished to give the Brethren his possessions, which were worth more than five hundred pounds of Bologna, this true contemner of riches utterly refused to accept them, and caused the charter made thereupon before the lord bishop of Bologna to be rescinded ^e: for he did not wish that the Brethren should have any temporal possessions; but that, living sparingly on alms alone, content with mean garments, they should dwell in small and lowly houses.

[158] When therefore Brother Rudolf, procurator at Bologna, in the absence of the holy Father had begun to raise up by an arm's length the small and very mean little cells which the Brethren had, and professes a strict poverty he, returning and seeing this, sorrowfully and with groaning rebuked the procurator and the others; and bursting into tears, with weeping he said to them: Alas, do you so quickly wish to abandon poverty and to build great palaces? At his command, therefore, this work remained unfinished as long as he lived. The Saint of God was patient and rejoicing in the tribulations which, from lack of food and clothing, he at that time endured manifold with the Brethren, in which he was made glad and delighted, as if he had found much spoil.

[159] and the observance of the rule, He kept the rule in himself strictly and entirely, and wished it to be firmly observed by the Brethren. And if he found any transgressors, he punished them with the greatest gentleness and sweetness of words, so that no one was disturbed, although the penance was very heavy. To him once a Brother, going to fulfill the obedience enjoined upon him, came as he was returning from preaching (and the holy Man understood in the Spirit that he was not walking regularly); of whom, after words of greeting, when the Father asked how he was journeying and whether he was carrying anything unlawful, the wretched man, seeing himself detected, blushed and humbly acknowledged that he was carrying money, which the most religious Father at once ordered to be thrown away, and amended the Brother by an enjoined penance of satisfaction ^f. He observed silence always at the accustomed and due hours according to the Order; he abstained from idle words; he always spoke of God and with God.

[160] In the same year in which St. Dominic had come to Bologna, and sends Br. Reginald to Paris, not without grave desolation of the Brethren whom, having received them there, he consoled with fatherly affection, Brother Reginald was sent by him to Paris, that, preaching Christ there, he might impart to them also something of spiritual grace. The venerable Brother Reginald, therefore, humbly obeying the command, coming to Paris, preached Jesus Christ with unwearied fervor of heart by word and by work. But quickly God took him away: for his soul was pleasing to God; therefore He hastened to lead him out of the midst of iniquities. Nevertheless God gave him two very noble sons, namely the most sweet master Jordan, the successor of blessed Dominic, and that gracious preacher, Brother Henry of Cologne, Germans by nation; of whose unspeakable virtues I prefer humbly to keep silent rather than to recount something insufficiently: for who will be able to set forth the glory of their virtue?

[161] who, reckoning the heavy yoke of the Order light, But Brother Matthew, the first and last abbot of this Order, was then Prior of Paris: he, because he had known master Reginald, formerly dean of Orléans, as glorious and pampered in the world, several times asked him with wonder, saying: Master, is it not hard for you to have assumed this hard and rough habit? But he with lowered countenance answered: I reckon that I merit nothing in this Order, because it has always pleased me too much in it. Assuredly the holy man, anointed with a heavenly unction, bore lightly the hard yoke of evangelical poverty, and the fragrant odor of the ointment made the heavy burden of the monastic Religion sweetly bearable to him.

[162] piously departs from this life, After that same Brother Reginald had stayed at Paris a short time, he began to be infirm in body, but to be strengthened in mind; and when he was drawing near to the end of this fleeting life and the entrance of the everlasting, Brother Matthew the Prior, approaching him, conferred with him about the Sacrament of extreme unction, saying that the struggle of death and of the demons was at hand. That blessed man answered: I do not fear this struggle; but I await it with joy and greatly desire it. The Mother of mercy indeed anointed me at Rome, in whom I trust, and to her I go with much desire; yet, lest I seem to contemn this ecclesiastical unction, it pleases me, and I ask for it: which being devoutly received, with the Brethren placed before him and praying, he happily fell asleep in the Lord. O truly blessed man, blessed on the day of his death, who feared neither the harshness of death nor the cruelty of the demon; but, trusting in the sweetness of the Virgin mother, hastened with joy to eternity! He was buried in the church of St. Mary in the Fields, because the Brethren did not yet enjoy their own burial place, in the year of the Lord one thousand two hundred nineteen.

[163] But after his death those two Germans, namely Jordan and Henry, after he had admitted two excellent young men to the Order. very gracious men, who had uttered their vow into his hands, as has been said, on Ash Wednesday, while the Brethren were singing the Antiphon LET US BE CHANGED IN HABIT, put off their secular garments and put on the habit of the Order. These are the two most limpid fountains which straightway arose from the stopped-up fountain, as the vision had foresignified: for they were of virginal body, most pure in cleanness, and most sweet in the grace of flowing doctrine, most open for washing away the filths of sins. These are the two olive trees, abounding in the bowels of piety and mercy, who sprinkled the whole Church with the odor of their sweetness. These are the two candlesticks, upon which bright wisdom, which does not wither, offered light to the feet of the foolish in this life, and now they increase the joys of the Saints, shining before the Lord ^g.

XI.

[164] In those days the exemplar and mirror of Religion, our holy father Dominic, remaining at Bologna, The holy Founder by his example stirs the Brethren like a fruitful olive in the house of God, fragrant with the flowers of virtues and of fame, radiant in word and examples, and growing rich with the grace of devotion, sprouted abundantly with incomparable fruits: who, like the tree of life in the midst of paradise, thus set among the Brethren, led a life pleasing to God, like to the angels, lovable to men, and scarcely imitable save by the perfect: whose most divine holiness of life, because I cannot describe it with worthy praises, I shall attempt with simple words. This man, then, was very humble, meek, patient, and kindly; quiet, peaceable, sober, and modest, and very mature in all his acts.

[165] A discreet and holy institutor of regular observance, to an exact observance of the rules, a chief cultivator, a strenuous and just executor, keeping his Order entirely and most perfectly above all men, and sparing himself in nothing, holding the rigor of the Convent, he followed it continually in all things. In choir, refectory, clothing, food, drink, fastings, and other things he most strictly kept in himself the rule and Order of the Preachers, and wished it to be observed by the Brethren. Sometimes indeed he reasonably dispensed well with others; but toward himself, harsh and hard beyond human measure, he condescended in nothing at all: for while others ate two dishes, he withdrew the second from himself: for he greatly excelled in the virtue of abstinence: for when Brother Rudolf, then procurator, sometimes made an extra portion ^h for the Brethren, calling him in silence he said to him: Why do you kill the Brethren by giving an extra portion? For he was content with little.

[166] But when the said Brother made known to him a lack of victuals, in the greatest want he obtains food divinely, he said: Go into the church and pray; and as he went, St. Dominic frequently followed him; and thus by God's gift it came about that they always had suitable sustenance. Sometimes the little bread which he had he placed at his command on the table, and by his merits it abounded. On a certain fast day, when bread was lacking in the refectory, the Saint gave the procurator the signal that bread should be set before the Brethren: and he told him that there was no bread. Then the Man of God with a cheerful countenance lifted his hands, and, praising God, blessed; and immediately there entered two men carrying two baskets, one full of bread, the other also full of dried figs, so that from these the Brethren were abundantly refreshed ⁱ. For the holy Preachers, flying up to lofty things on the wings of hope and contemplation, who neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, the heavenly Father feeds — who, according to the command of the Only-begotten, are not solicitous what they shall eat or what they shall drink.

[167] and again multiplies bread Therefore in the same Convent the procurator of the Brethren, approaching the holy Man, sorrowfully complained that he had only two loaves to set before so immense a multitude of Brethren: hearing which, the Confessor of Christ ordered those loaves to be divided into small pieces, and blessed them in the name of the Lord, and, trusting in the divine kindness, told the server to go about the tables and minister to each, setting out two or three pieces. The server went about thus a second and a third time, setting them out, and then what had been little abounded. What more? He went round so often that all were satisfied, and by God's miracle much more bread was taken away than had been set out by men on that day ^k.

[168] and wine. And when the Brethren of that Convent in the primitive time, on account of poverty, generally drank water, yet wine was provided for the sick, as it could be had, from wherever. And when it failed from the little cask, the infirmarian announced this with much compassion to the pious Father, who was then present; and he, soon running to prayer after his accustomed manner, exhorted him and the others also to this. And the Prior told the infirmarian to lift up the vessel and to refresh the sick that day as best he could. And when he wished to fulfill the command, he found the vessel full to the top with wine procured from heaven ^l. And so both by the holy Father's merits nothing was lacking to the sons who feared God, and to those seeking first the kingdom of God and His justice the necessaries were added, and He mercifully nourished those who cast their thought upon the Lord.

ANNOTATA.

and he thinks that the following miracles occurred at Châtillon-sur-Seine.

CHAPTER XV.

The various snares and frauds of the demon disclosed, the Saint's utmost love of evangelical poverty, and the commendation of that same virtue.

XII.

But neither was the holy Man solicitous about the garment with which he should be covered. He was clothed with the meanest garments, While that strict Contemner of himself and gloried in that; nor did he blush to appear even among the great in an unsightly habit: for sometimes wearing a short and very mean scapular, he would not cover it with his cape in the presence of magnates: abstaining also wholly from superfluities, in winter and summer he was content with a single tunic. He never wished to use any bed, in the house or outside, whether well or sick, except the ground or a bench, a hurdle, straw, chaff, or a sack; and he lay at night clothed, as he walked by day, except that he took off his shoes. He always wore an iron chain girded next to the flesh over his loins, with which, when he had died, Brother Rudolf found him girded, and, having taken it from his most holy flesh, kept it, and afterward gave it as a gift to Brother Jordan, master of the Order, the successor of that same most holy Father.

[170] After Compline and the prayer made in common by the Brethren, passed the night in prayer, he made them enter the dormitory, and hid himself in the church to pray. And he prayed with a strong cry and the greatest groaning, breaking forth into such lamentation and movement that those sleeping nearby were roused from sleep, and generally were moved to tears. Thus praying, he passed the night until Matins, and none the less stood at Matins singing briskly and crying out even to heaven. He also went round both sides of the choir with a voice of jubilation, admonishing and urging the Brethren to sing the psalms loudly and devoutly, and to sing solemnly and distinctly. And after Matins, giving his heart to watch at dawn to the Lord who made him, he so continued in prayer that he was never seen to sleep in a bed. Yet he was sometimes found to have fallen asleep from weariness, sitting, or lying on the ground, or on a plank ^a.

[171] So devoutly and rapt did he apply himself to prayer that on account of no tumult or disturbance of any kind was he moved from prayer, in vain the demon tried to terrify him, abstracted from the senses and joined to devotion. On a certain night, therefore, the devil, trying to call back St. Dominic, prostrate in prayer before the altar, threw a great stone ^b from the roof of the church with so great a force that it resounded through the whole church; and the thrown stone came so near his sacred head that it touched his hood. And when the Saint remained immovable, the enemy, wailing with a terrible voice, withdrew confounded.

[172] or to mock him, And when he could not terrify him, he attempted to mock him: to him, praying after Compline, a demon appeared in the shape of a Brother praying before a certain altar; whom the Saint, esteeming him a Brother, beckoned with his hand to go to rest. Then he, bowing his head, departed. Afterward the Father admonished the Brethren that no one should remain in the church after the last signal. Nevertheless that false and feigned Brother, as at first feigning prayer, so did a second and a third time. Then the Father, approaching him, said: What disobedience is this, that in a thing which I have so often forbidden I have caught you a third time? Then that most wicked one, guffawing, said: Just now I made you break silence. Do not, said the Saint, wretch, rejoice in that which will profit you nothing. I am the dispenser over silence, and I shall be able to speak when it seems expedient to me.

[173] who at another time appearing to him By His hidden and joyful judgment God foresaw and ordained the cunning of that most wicked plotter for the merit and salvation of His elect: for on a certain night St. Dominic saw the accuser of the Brethren holding as it were with iron hands a paper, and reading it by the light of the lamp; of whom, when the holy Man asked what he was reading, he answered: I am reading the sins of your Brethren. The powerful Father therefore commanded him to let go the paper, which, compelled in the name of Christ, he let go; in which the Father found certain things concerning which he amended his sons. Behold how the wicked one is caught in his own snares, and the just are freed from straits.

[174] is compelled to disclose his snares and frauds. When the same Saint was going about the city seeking her whom his soul loved, and, keeping watch, was guarding the walls of Jerusalem, he found him who goes about seeking whom he may devour, like a roaring lion, wandering through all the places of the monastery, and said to him: Why do you go about here, savage beast? He answered: On account of the gain which I receive from it. The Saint said to him: What do you gain in the dormitory? He answered: By snatching away necessary sleep, I hinder rest; and by making them rise slowly, I bring in sloth, and thus I persuade them to stay away from the divine Office. Besides, when I am permitted, I send in the goads and illusions of the flesh. And the Saint drew him to the choir and said: What do you gain in so sacred a place? He answered: I make them come late, go out quickly, and forget themselves.

[175] Asked also about the refectory, he answered: Who not more, who not less? Led hence to the parlor, he answered, guffawing: This place is wholly mine. Here come laughter, here rumors are told, words are uttered into the wind. And when the wicked one was dragged by the Saint to the Chapter house, he began to flee the place, shuddering, and saying: That place is hell to me: for what I have gained elsewhere, that I lose here: for here they are admonished, here they confess, here they are accused, here they are scourged, here they are absolved. Therefore I abhor and detest this place more than the rest. Thus, compelled by the Saint by the power of the Most High, he unwillingly uncovered the frauds of his malice, that the just may see and mock him, and beware of his snares, lest, ensnared, they be caught and held in them ^c.

XIII.

[176] Our Father was the highest lover of poverty, in all his acts and manners setting it forth and displaying it, The Saint in food and clothing exhorting his sons and Brethren to that same thing with all devotion and diligence, by counsels and examples. On account of this divine and singular virtue of Christ's disciples, he wished the possessions held to be cast away, and refused to accept those offered, and by a perpetual statute forbade and most strictly interdicted that they should be possessed in his Order. In buildings he wished costliness to be avoided; in churches also, by guarding against curiosity, he studied poverty. In the adornment also and ornament of ecclesiastical garments he wished tokens of poverty and holiness to appear rather than riches to be displayed. Therefore he strove much in his days for these things and gave his effort that the Brethren should not use silken or purple furnishings, either upon themselves or upon the altars, nor gold or silver vessels, save only in chalices, and that the sacred vestments should be had of buckram ^d or of other simple cloth.

[177] He also enjoined upon the Brethren, and himself held, that, clothed in mean garments, they should never carry money on the road, everywhere loved and commended poverty, but should everywhere live on alms. He was unwilling that his Order be at all darkened with possessions, and he commanded that these things be written in his rule. The prudent Man knew that thorns choke the seed cast among them, and therefore, lest the piercing solicitude of riches and the anxious love of temporal things should smother the fruit of holiness or the seed of preaching, he chose evangelical poverty, which, casting off solicitude, takes no thought for the morrow, and commanded his sons to choose it: for while the care of temporal things is vehemently pursued, spiritual things are less diligently attended to, and generally preaching is dissipated. This certainly our most sweet Father did not do, who never had that care of temporal things; nay rather, for Christ and the Gospel he counted all things loss and reckoned them as dung, and the poverty of Christ made him rich.

[178] O if we would attend to the holy Father, and if that most sincere and inmost love of evangelical poverty would pierce our heart, on which occasion the biographer exhorts his fellows which suffused his breast with so great sweetness in effect that he judged that nothing should be preferred to it, neither in the divine Offices nor in any necessaries whatsoever. He rejoiced in the wants of penury and destitution, as the sons of the world are wont to rejoice in abundance and in the increase of superfluities. He was glad when a lack of victuals was announced, as those who carry their sheaves are glad in harvest. He exulted in nakedness, as victors exult when the prey is taken and they divide the spoils. Without doubt the abundance of grace and an unfeigned charity of poverty wrought this in his mind. Generally then the Brethren, pressed by want, drank water with the holy Father, and, content with a little food, gladly gave thanks to the Lord: for their soul was filled from above as with marrow and fatness.

[179] This indeed was the life of our Fathers, an evangelical perfection. But we live only in life, to the love of evangelical poverty, and our name shall not be such. We are indeed poor, because we have left all things for Christ. The summit of our perfection is voluntary and evangelical poverty. Poverty indeed is common to all mortals, and has misery; but voluntary poverty is that of the philosophers, and has glory — but not with God. Evangelical poverty, however, belongs only to the Apostles and the perfect, and this has misery for God's sake, glory with God, and the sweetness of love in God. In poverty without love we shall be wretched, and shall lack glory with God, though it be voluntary and seem to have glory among men. But evangelical poverty for love's sake will not feel misery: for it will be suffused with sweetness, and will have glory with God.

[180] This our Father loved and sought out from his youth, and sought to take her to himself as bride, and to imitate the holy Father's example being made a lover of her form. For it is the highest wisdom to leave all things and to cling to the One who alone is necessary: for Christ is the wisdom of God

would not have urged this, unless He had known this to be true wisdom. And so the evangelical poor man Dominic, affected with this charity, sometimes sought alms from door to door, nor did the humble Man disdain to receive as a beggar the bread held out to him for the name of Christ. Not cupidity or want instigated his soul to this, but humility and charity: nor was that from cause of necessity, but an exercise of piety. It happened, therefore, that as he thus begged a certain man gave him a whole loaf. And the holy and grateful poor man Dominic on bent knees received with much devotion and humility the loaf offered for God's sake.

[181] earnestly exhorts. May God grant that this exceptional mendicancy of our Father, sprinkled with the sweetness of evangelical charity and filled with the richness of humility and devotion, and the gratitude also found in him in the receiving of a gift, may so persevere in our minds that we may lovingly embrace poverty, when it is present, as a bride, may gladly and humbly be joined to mendicancy, and may be found most grateful for the alms received. The love of poverty, restraining murmuring, gives patience; humility, driving out sloth, makes us brisk; gratitude, taking away hardness of heart, multiplies prayer and grace.

ANNOTATA.

CHAPTER XVI.

The Saint's humility shining forth in the first general Chapter, his strong and gentle governance of his own, the strict keeping of the rules and fasts observed even on journeys.

Part IV.

Chap. 1.

In the year of the Lord's Incarnation one thousand two hundred twenty, the sixth* from the confirmation of the Order of Preachers, In the year 1220 the first general Chapter was held, the servant of the Most High, blessed father Dominic, inspired by His Spirit, decreed general chapters to be frequented by posterity for the preservation of the Order he had begun: for indeed by the concession of the Apostolic See he had received and had at that time full power of disposing, ordaining, and correcting over the whole Order of Preachers. Therefore that first master of the Order, the renowned father Dominic, commanded by his letters to Paris that four Brethren from that Convent be sent to him at Bologna for the celebrating of the general Chapter. There was sent, then, the venerable Brother Jordan the German with three others to the Chapter, as the holy Father had commanded. And Brother Jordan, when he was sent to the Chapter, had not yet spent three months in the Order; but he was full of grace, and fit and ready for every good work.

[183] In this Chapter, over which the blessed confessor, kindly father, in which St. Dominic vainly desired and holy master Dominic presided, by the counsel of the Holy Spirit and of the illustrious men whom he had summoned, the foundations of this Order were laid. There evangelical poverty was the first stone: for they cast off by a perpetual statute possessions and temporal revenues, renouncing even those which they had in the regions of Toulouse, preferring the poverty of Christ to the riches of the Egyptians. And the humble Servant of Christ, presiding over the Chapter, said among the Brethren: I am worthy of deposition, because I am useless and slack. And he who was greater than all in holiness and authority humbled himself much in all things before all.

[184] And when the Brethren by no means acquiesced in admitting his resignation, to abdicate the office of Master general, he decreed with their good pleasure that thenceforth definitors should be appointed, who should have power over him and the whole Chapter of defining, establishing, and ordaining, so long as the Chapter lasted, the reverence due to the master being preserved for the future. Also, for the rooting out of the shrubs of vices and the planting of the shoots of virtues, it was decreed by those holy fathers that general Chapters should be celebrated each year. The Chapter being over, Brother Jordan, having received a blessing from the holy master Dominic, bidding him farewell, returned to Paris, where he read the Gospel of blessed Luke to the Brethren so graciously that from his teaching they received both an advance of truth in knowledge and an affection of piety in conscience: and his manner of life was holy and his life perfect. Whence also his teaching was useful and welcome.

[185] The Order of Preachers, directed for the profit of the Church by the divine dispensation and, confirmed in that supreme office and duly confirmed by the Apostolic See, the confessor of Christ, blessed Dominic, had hitherto governed by ruling it with all diligence of holiness by the authority of that same See. But now the illustrious men of the said Order, when in this Chapter he humbly asked to resign, with unanimous charity and voluntary devotion harmoniously set him at their head. Appointed master and ruler by them, therefore, he was among them as one of them, save that he was first in rigor, greatest in abstinence, vigils, fasts, and chastisements upon himself, highest in holiness, and loftiest in humility; day and night frequenting the divine Office in choir, he used the conventual table more sparingly than all.

[186] He was a cultivator of religious institution and its chief guardian, and strove with all zeal that it should be sincerely and entirely observed by all: he ruled his subjects strongly and gently, and if at any time, as human frailty is, some commission was made by anyone negligently, or some omission, he by no means spared it. But in his corrections he preserved so sweet a rigor and held so rigid a sweetness that he both sufficiently punished the guilty and did not disturb the man. If he sometimes saw a Brother overtaken in some fault, he became as one not seeing and having no mouth of speech, and passed by dissembling. But when opportunity was made, with much gentleness he said to him: Brother, you have not done well in doing what is not lawful. Give glory to God, and confess your sin. And as he showed himself a father in inflicting words of correction, so also a mother in pouring out the breasts of consolation in a spirit of gentleness; and he was so sweet and effective a consoler that all who were disturbed, coming to him, departed consoled ^a.

[187] and stirred them to perfection by his sermons. He guarded himself and the souls of his Brethren solicitously, having care for the observance of all uprightness and religiousness. Whence, since it is written: A man's gait, and the laughter of his teeth, and the clothing of his body declare concerning him — if he saw the garments of any Brother exceed the form of Religion or of poverty, he by no means endured it, but straightway amended it. Almost every day, unless some great impediment stood in the way, he made a preaching or a conference to the Brethren: and he spoke with such devotion and such an outpouring of tears that he provoked them to the grace of compunction and to tears. Nor has one like him been found, whose word so softened the Brethren to weeping and to grace. When he saw his sons desolate by occasion of any event whatever, all his bowels were moved with fatherly piety, and he always succored them with the aid of prayer, and many for the consolation of his own, as has been said, he miraculously raised from the dead by praying, and freed from various infirmities.

[188] The Saint frees a Brother possessed by a demon, A certain Brother at Bologna, appointed to serve the sick, frequently ate the leftovers of meat without leave; and when he had done this on the evening of one day, seized by the devil, he began to cry out horribly. And as the Brethren ran up, the pious Father came, and, compassionating him who suffered grievously, he rebuked the demon for having invaded the body of his Brother. And the devil said to him: I entered into him, because he deserved it by eating the meats of the sick against the ordinance of your constitutions. The holy father Dominic said: I absolve him by the authority of God from the sin which he has committed; but you, demon, I command in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to go out from him and to vex him no more. Which being said, the Brother was at once freed ^b.

III.

[189] When the blessed Man went out on any occasion whatever, and on a journey walking unshod and praying, he proposed the word of God, by himself or by others, to all who went with him, and, whether disputing, or conferring, or teaching, or reading, or praying, he did not cease from divine eloquences; and when it was not fitting to speak or pray with others, he said to his companions: Go before, and let us think about our Savior. Then they heard him groaning to the Lord and sighing from the marrow. He was never seen angry, nor stirred, nor disturbed in the labor of the journey, or in the heat of passion, or on any occasion whatever; but he was always patient in tribulations. He walked unshod along the roads with bare feet; but passing through towns and cities he put on shoes, and, when he had left them, he again went unshod. And he carried his shoes upon his shoulders, and his cape and his other garments, and he was unwilling to be relieved by anyone in carrying them. And if at any time he struck his foot against stones, undisturbed, with a cheerful face he bore it, saying: This is penance.

[190] or singing hymns Walking thus with bare feet from the city of Rome, when he had come to a place where there were sharp stones, he said to his companion: Behold, wretched me, here I was once compelled to put on shoes. And when he asked the reason, blessed Dominic answered: Because then it had rained. On the same road, from the overflow of rains, brooks and rivers had risen greatly. Then the Saint, rejoicing in the tempest, praised and blessed the Lord, singing the hymns AVE MARIS STELLA and VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS entirely, with a loud voice. And coming to the flooding waters, he signed them with the sign of the cross, telling his companion, who was much afraid, to cross. And he, trusting nevertheless in obedience and in the sign of the cross made by him, passed through the perils of the flooding waters with the Saint, safe and prosperous.

[191] But when he had to turn aside with his companions to lodge, the statutes of the Order he sought lodging not according to his own will, but according to that of his companions. And walking through cities and towns, he scarcely lifted his eyes from the ground. Being on the road, he celebrated Mass almost every day, if he found a church; and when he celebrated Mass, he poured out many tears. Coming to his lodging, if there was a church there, he always went into it to pray. When he was outside a Convent, hearing the first ringing of Matins of a monastery, he rose and roused the Brethren, and celebrated the whole Office with much devotion, both the day and the night Office, at the proper hours, so that he omitted nothing. And after Compline he was with his companions in silence on the journey, as if they were in a Convent: and in the morning as he went, he kept and made the Brethren keep silence until the third hour.

[192] He lay on straw clothed and shod, as he walked, and strictly observed the fasts. unless perhaps he took off his shoes. Going along the roads he observed a continuous fast from the feast of the Exaltation of the holy Cross until the day of the Lord's Resurrection. In summer also he fasted all the fasts appointed by the Church, and all Fridays. And he ate patiently what was given, except that he did not eat meat, nor any foods seasoned with meat.

or blood knowingly; and if at any time the provision was scanty, he thereupon gave thanks in the Lord. When he came to Convents of the Brethren, calling them together, he made a sermon, setting forth the word of God with much consolation; and if at any time he made a stay in the Convents, he conformed himself to the Convent in food and at table, and observed the rule entirely and most fully, and labored as he could that the Brethren should observe it with all their strength: for he was a wise man, discreet, patient, and very merciful, and very affable, sober, and just; who, when he was going to Rome and fell gravely sick on the way, did not on that account break the fast, nor eat meat, nor make himself an extra portion, except sometimes of apples or turnips, keeping all the fasts appointed in the rule in health and in sickness: for at Viterbo and at Milan, when sick, he did the like; and when the sickness abated, he spoke of God with the Brethren, and held a book, or had it read to him, and praised the Lord. He rejoiced also in sickness, as it was his custom always to rejoice rather in tribulations than in prosperity.

[193] This first Leader of the Preachers was very solicitous to show himself a workman not to be confounded, He preached frequently, rightly handling the word of truth. Lest a reprehensible life should deform what his tongue proclaimed as comely, he took care first to practice in work what he afterward strove to teach others. He preached frequently, and cried out unceasingly the truth and the salvation of God, saying in his heart: I have not hidden His justice. And his utterance was vehemently fiery, and he had words very moving: in preaching he poured out abundant tears, and very many, stricken with compunction, were moved to weeping at his sermons. He preached generally to all — scholars, peoples, the wise and the foolish — being made a debtor. He did not hide God's truth and mercy from a great assembly. He visited the monasteries of Religious, and set before them the word of preaching and of grace.

[194] and exhorted his own to preaching He exhorted the Brethren also with all diligence of charity that they should be solicitous for the salvation of souls, and well disposed and ready for preaching: and that they might be able the more freely to exercise this divine office, he did not wish that those fit and appointed for it should be drawn to other things, being occupied with the solicitude of temporal and outward matters. Our Father had also decreed from the beginning that unlettered lay-brothers should preside over the administration of temporal things, and that the other Brethren should be intent only upon prayer and meditation and preaching. But the more discreet Brethren did not agree with the Father in such an administration, fearing lest perhaps unsuitable consequences should follow ^c.

[195] and the study of sacred Scripture; But because without the knowledge of the holy Scriptures no one can be a perfect preacher, he faithfully urged his sons always to study in the New and the Old Testament. The blessed Man himself also, carrying with him the Gospel of St. Matthew and the epistles of Paul, studied much in them, so that he retained them almost by heart: for loving and embracing the evangelical and Apostolic doctrine and life, he thought little of philosophical fictions. He was ready and kindly for hearing the confessions of sinners, and very serene and clement in giving consolations to all the troubled. Indeed he was the highest and best consoler of the tempted, the disturbed, and of all, and especially of his own Brethren, abounding in the bowels of mercy and compassion, and always abounding in effective and sweet discourses.

[196] by which example a certain priest A certain priest, seeing blessed Dominic with the Brethren fervently applying himself to preaching, with no solicitude for earthly reward, and, all other things being set aside, giving himself to spiritual things alone, began to desire their life with pious emulation, reckoning that he would be blessed if he could sometime imitate them; and he resolved, all things being utterly left, to cling to their footsteps, provided only that he might have a book of the New Testament, which he judged necessary for himself for preaching. And as he was thinking these things, behold, a certain young man was at hand, carrying a codex for sale under his garment; and the priest, asking what sort of book it was, learned that it was a New Testament, and at once with great joy bought it. But when he had the book, soon a temptation crept upon him, and he began to hesitate whether it were expedient to carry out that purpose which he had conceived in his mind, and whether perhaps it would please God.

[197] is wonderfully drawn to the Order. When, therefore, various thoughts succeeded one another in his mind, it seemed good to him to demand a divine answer in that book, and, prayer being poured out to the Lord, and a cross impressed outwardly on the book, and the name of God invoked, he opened the book, and cast his eyes upon the chapter which first offered itself at the very opening of the book. And there occurred to him at once that which is read in the Acts of the Apostles as said by the Holy Spirit to blessed Peter concerning the messengers of Cornelius: Arise, go down, and go with them, doubting nothing, for I have sent them. And straightway, as one made certain by a divine oracle, leaving the world, he followed them ^d.

ANNOTATA.

* elsewhere: fourth

CHAPTER XVII.

The Saint's fervent zeal in procuring the salvation of souls, the great efficacy of his prayer, and his firm trust in God.

Our Father, knowing that God is the eternal lover of human souls, was busied with all his effort to join all souls to their lover: The Saint, thirsting for the salvation of souls, for there was in him a certain wonderful and almost incredible zeal for the salvation of all, and with a most fervent zeal he burned to break the jaws of the wicked one and to snatch the prey from his teeth. And he desired the salvation not only of Christians, but also of the gentiles, especially of the Cumans, whom he had also resolved to go to in person, that he might announce to them the word of the faith: for he was so great a zealot for souls that scarcely anyone could be found like him in this virtue: for he was full of that charity than which no one has a greater, even while he was still young; for a certain woman, while he still remained in his own country, complained to him that her brother was held captive among the Saracens. Then he, soon wounded by the sword of compassion, offered himself to be sold for the ransom of the captive, so that, as Christ laid down His life for us, so he was ready to give his life for his brother ^a.

[199] But desiring also to make a pilgrimage and to go into exile for the salvation of his neighbors' souls, sends out his Preachers without provision for the journey, speaking to the Brethren he disclosed his vow of going to foreign nations; for he said: When we shall have instructed and set in order our Order, we will go to the gentiles, and by preaching will gain them for the Lord Jesus Christ. And after the example of Christ and the Apostles he sent the sons whom God had given him into the whole world to preach penance unto the remission of all sins. And he instructed them to place their hope in God and not to carry money; but to live only sustained by the alms of pious men. And so, going out, they experienced much want, walking difficult ways.

[200] It happened, then, that two Brethren journeying, when the ninth hour had already passed, for whom God provides, as is proved by an example, asked one another where they might find the sustenance necessary for the body: for they were fasting and weary, and in a poor and unknown land. Soon, as they were thus solicitous, a great man in pilgrim's garb stood by them and said: What do you confer with one another, O you of little faith? Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you. You have believed God, so as to leave all things for His sake, and now do you fear that He will leave you unfed? He who gives their food to beasts will not afflict the souls of His sons with hunger; and this shall be a sign to you: You will cross that field, and in the following valley you will find a small village, where, when you shall have entered the church, the priest will invite you; but a certain knight will come, who will take you from him by force. And while they thus piously contend, the patron of the church will come up, who will most bountifully provide for you and for the priest and the knight. Which being said, he disappeared. And to the Brethren all things happened as he had foretold. And returning to Paris, they related these things to the Brethren, who were then few there and very poor ^b. Our Lord, the kindly father of the household, fulfilling the prophetic word of His holy Dominic, ministers bountifully to this day nourishment to His servants.

[201] and helped them with his prayers, The holy Father indeed had few Brethren in the beginning; yet he directed them to preach throughout the whole Church. And he sent them confidently and without a scruple of hesitation, though sometimes simple and slightly lettered, knowing that by the foolishness of preaching it pleased God to save those who believe: and when they excused themselves on account of their newness and inexperience, he taught them, saying: Go and bear fruit, because for this you have been taken up, persuading men to do penance for those things which you also once, loving this world, committed; because he who converts a sinner from the error of his way shall free his soul from death, and covers a multitude of his own sins. And he added: Trust in the Lord, and nothing shall be lacking to you; being secure of the protection of the God of heaven, to whom he commended them with prayers. And going out in the spirit of humility and the zeal of God, they bore much fruit, and all the workers of iniquity were confounded, because the power of the Lord was there to multiply them. Finally, those whom the holy Father exposed to perils by sending them, he protected with the shield of his prayer.

[202] as two Brethren of the same Order Two Brethren, sent thus into Germany, came to a certain abbey of the Cistercian Order, over which presided a religious and devout abbot, by name Hebberard, to whom the Lord appearing in his sleep said: Tomorrow I will send you My horses, and you shall shoe them for Me. Waking, the holy man knew not how to interpret the dream. On the following day the aforesaid two Brethren came to that same monastery, which is called Salem, situated in the diocese of Constance; of whom one was that illustrious man, Br. John the German, afterward bishop of Bosnia in Hungary, and the fourth successor of St. Dominic: and the religious abbot, they being still unknown in those parts, questioned them about their Order, saying: Why do you carry books and staves and a habit of two colors?

[203] experienced in a certain abbey of Germany. To whom the prudent and learned man Br. John elegantly answered to each point. We are Preachers, he said, and the book of knowledge* befits us; and because the Virgin, the mother of God, is a rod of aromatic spices, and the cross of Christ is a rod of direction, we use them and are supported as with staves. According to the prophecy

also of Zechariah, the holy seer, the last chariot going forth from between two mountains of brass, having dappled and strong horses, signifies the fourfold preaching of the Gospel, which, composed of the two Testaments, through men adorned with various sciences, virtues, and miracles, and strong against diabolical, worldly, and carnal assaults, and ready to run about preaching through all the earth, is carried in the last time of the world through the whole globe: for the Angel of great counsel sent them. Hearing these things, the abbot fell at their feet, and, devoutly kissing them, said: Truly you are the horses which the Lord had promised* me. And straightway, their feet being washed, he ordered new shoes and garments to be brought forth; and he himself and the Brethren of that monastery are to this present day devoted to the Order of Preachers ^c.

VI.

[204] A certain dean from France, journeying to Rome, found blessed Dominic preaching at Modena: By his prayers the Saint obtains for a certain man the gift of chastity, and approaching him and conferring with him about the salvation of his soul, he sorrowfully set forth this among other things, and said it was as it were an unavoidable shipwreck, that he could not restrain himself from the slipperiness of the flesh, on account of which also, as one despairing, he abstained from various good works. To whom the Man of God, strengthened by the faith with which he was full, said: Go henceforth; act manfully, and do not despair of God's mercy. I will obtain for you continence of the flesh. So he spoke, and so truly it came about: for he who had been unclean and slippery, thenceforth was made chaste and continent ^d. Behold how much the entreaty of a just man avails, by which the concupiscence of the flesh is extinguished, chastity is acquired, demons are put to flight, diseases are cured, and spiritual and temporal goods alike are conferred.

[205] At the time when the holy father Dominic was staying at Bologna, and by the same accomplishes so much that Conrad, a remarkable man, there was there master Conrad the German, whose fellowship in the Order the Brethren desired with ardent longing to have. And it happened that a certain religious and venerable Prior of the Cistercian Order, out of a special friendship which they had contracted at Rome, passing through Bologna visited the holy father Dominic: and while together on the vigil of the Assumption they were sweetly speaking of heavenly things, out of the confidence of familiarity blessed Dominic said to his friend: Truly I confess to you, Prior, that never in this life have I asked anything of the Lord which I did not obtain according to my wish. Yet this I have never told to any man; nor will you reveal it to anyone as long as I live.

[206] He, marveling at so special a grace in the holy Father, is moved to embrace the Order of Preachers, and mindful of the desire which the Brethren had concerning the conversion of master Conrad, said to him: Ask then, Father, that He give you master Conrad for the Order, whose company the Brethren so greatly desire and seek. To whom the holy Father said: A difficult thing, good Brother, you have asked. Yet if this night you will be willing to beseech the Lord with me, I trust in His accustomed kindness that He will not cheat us of the desire of our petition. And Compline being said, the kindly Father, the aforesaid Prior being present and seeing it, passed the night praying in the church after his accustomed manner. And as the day was dawning, while the Brethren were chanting Prime, behold, master Conrad, falling at the feet of the Confessor of Christ, insistently and humbly asked for the Order, and perseveringly received it ^e.

[207] This Br. Conrad, religious in his manner of life and a gracious lecturer, foretold his death and its place; whose pious death is on this occasion narrated, who, being near to death at Magdeburg, the Prior and the Brethren being present, sang with a sweet voice: Sing to the Lord a new song, alleluia. And when he uttered nothing else, the Brethren prayed the seven psalms. Then, opening his eyes and looking round upon them all, he said: The Lord be with you. And when they had answered, And with your spirit, he added: May the souls of the faithful through the mercy of God rest in peace. They answered: Amen. And he fell silent; and they began to pray the fifteen gradual psalms. And when they said, This is my rest forever and ever, his arm being raised and his finger stretched out to heaven, with joyful mouth and shining face he expired. Then all prostrated themselves out of reverence for the Savior, and certain there experienced so great a sweetness as they could neither believe nor express. Those also who clothed the body of the dead man felt a delightful and sweet fragrance of odor, which afterward clung to their hands for a long time ^f. Truly blessed and effective was our Father's prayer, which deserved to obtain such a son of grace and coheir of glory.

[208] [and keeps other disciples in the same Order against the violence of kinsfolk or friends.] St. Dominic also received at Bologna an Apulian*, Thomas by name, whom on account of his innocence and simplicity he so loved that he was specially called his son. Him his secular companions, having treacherously drawn him from the cloister, stripping him of his Religious garments, clothed with secular ones. The Brethren therefore run to the holy Father, complaining: Behold, your son is being violently dragged to the world. Soon the kindly Confessor enters the church, to demand judgment upon the robbery; and the Lord gave judgment to humble Dominic. And behold, as soon as those ravening wolves had by force put upon the seized sheep the wolfish garment of a shirt, he cried out: Behold, I am wholly burned up; nor could he rest until, clothed again with the garments of the lamblike Religion, he was led to the most safe sheepfold of the cloister; and he, living afterward a long time, was useful and very gracious.

[209] When friends were trying to draw by force a certain jurist of Bologna out of the Order, the Brethren, fearing, deliberated to call in certain knights, their patrons, for their defense; to whom the pious Shepherd said: We do not need the secular arm or human protection: for I see more than two hundred angels about the church, appointed by the Lord for the guarding of the Brethren. They withdrew, therefore, fearful and shaken by a heavenly terror ^g.

ANNOTATA.

* read: of Bosnia

* elsewhere: of conscience

* elsewhere: sent

CHAPTER XVIII.

The propagation and increase of the Order of Preachers, the bodily form of the holy Founder, and the singular endowments of his soul.

VII.

In the year from the Lord's Incarnation one thousand two hundred twenty-one it happened The demon gnashing his teeth, the Order is propagated, that two Brethren set out for Bologna to the general Chapter, to whom on the way there joined himself a certain man girt for the road, presenting the appearance of a courier, saying: Where are you going? They answered: We are going to Bologna to the general Chapter. Then he: What will be treated there? They answered: It will be ordained there that the Brethren, going into the whole world, shall preach the Gospel to every creature and announce the kingdom of God. Then he: Will any be sent into Hungary? They said: God granting it, many will be sent. Then that feigned courier leaped up into the air, crying with a terrible voice: Your Order is our confusion; and soon he vanished from their eyes like smoke. And those Brethren, coming to Bologna, narrated all these things to the holy father Dominic and to the others gathered there in the name of the Lord ^a.

[211] At that time also master Paul the Hungarian, then actually lecturing in canon law at Bologna, and shines with remarkable men, among whom the archdeacon of Langres inspired by God's grace, entered the Order of Preachers. After the celebration of this second general Chapter a convent was sent into England with Br. Gilbert as Prior. Blessed Dominic then also sent the aforesaid Br. Paul into Hungary with four Brethren, one of whom was Br. Sadoch, a man of great perfection. In this aforesaid Chapter the office of the Priorate of the province of Lombardy was enjoined upon the venerable man, Br. Jordan the German, though absent ^b. At that time there had entered at Paris the Order of the Friars Preachers the lord Everard, archdeacon of Langres, a man of many virtues, strenuous in work, provident in counsel, of great authority, who, by how much the more widely he had been known in the world, by so much the more did he edify many by the example of the poverty he assumed. He set out with Br. Jordan, whom he greatly loved, on a journey into Lombardy out of a desire to see St. Dominic, the master of the Order. And through all the parts of France and Burgundy through which they passed, and in which Br. Everard was most well known, carrying about in his body Christ needy and poor, at length, falling sick at Lausanne, where he had been elected bishop but refused to accept, he completed this toilsome and lamentable life with an end swift indeed, but altogether happy.

[212] But a little before he died, when the judgment of the physicians already pronounced his death certain, in a short time he exchanged a pious life for a secure death. and while this was concealed from him, he said to the Provincial: If I am to die by the physicians' judgment, why is it not told me? Let death be concealed from those to whom the memory of death is bitter. I am not terrified by death. Nothing is to be feared, if this earthly house of wretched flesh is overthrown, by one who awaits, by a happy exchange, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. And so he died, commending there his poor body to the earth, his spirit to the Creator; concerning whom master Jordan writes thus, saying: Of his happy death this was to me a praiseworthy token, that at the going forth of his spirit, when I believed that I should be stirred to grief of heart and disturbance of spirit, I was on the contrary suffused with a certain devotion and joyful cheerfulness, so that I was moved by the testimony of my conscience to hold that he who had passed over to joys was by no means to be wept for. And so

Br. Everard having died at Lausanne, Br. Jordan, proceeding, entered Lombardy, to carry out the ministry enjoined upon him through that province ^c.

VIII.

[213] Meanwhile the holy father Dominic was staying in the convent of the Brethren at Bologna, The writer of the Acts in this place graphically depicts the form of his body, about shortly to pass out of this world; who, gracious in the comeliness and purity of both the inner and outer man, drew upon himself the gaze and equally the affection of all: for he was even in the moderateness of his stature, agile in the slenderness of his body, beautiful in face and a little ruddy. And his beard and hair presented the appearance of a somewhat reddish color. From his forehead and brows there gleamed a certain radiant splendor, which drew all to veneration and love of him. He always appeared cheerful and joyful, save when he was moved to compassion by any affliction of his neighbor. He had long and beautiful hands; a great and beautiful voice, resounding as with a trumpet. He was not bald; but he had the shaven crown whole and entire, sprinkled with a few gray hairs ^d.

[214] and the Saint's various virtues, This earthen vessel and fragile body the hand of the Creator formed and so adorned with His grace that the Holy Spirit might worthily be infused into it: so He fashioned the members of this body that they might be little vessels of God's gifts and organs of His spirit. Truly a temple of the Holy Spirit was this poor body, which the contagion of mortal fault never stained, nor did the vice of carnal concupiscence infect. Truly blessed are the organs of the members of this body, in which there is such and so great a harmony of heart and flesh exulting unto the living God: for in him the flesh was in accord with the spirit as it tended to every perfection of holiness: for he was led by the Spirit of God, having free command of his flesh. In miraculous works and the prodigies of signs, in the grace of healings and in the cures of infirmities, by which Christ glorifies His Saints and a Christian is made illustrious in the sight of men, he is found second or inferior to none.

[215] and the outstanding endowments of his soul. But — what is more brilliant and more magnificent than the miracles themselves — he was strong in so great an uprightness of manners, he was borne along by so great an impulse of divine fervor, that we most truly proclaim him to be a vessel of honor and grace, a vessel adorned with every precious stone. There was in him a very firm evenness of mind, save when he was disturbed unto compassion and mercy for someone. And because a rejoicing heart makes the face cheerful, he betrayed the placid composition of the inner man by a manifest outward kindness and cheerfulness of countenance. And he preserved so great a constancy of heart in those things which he had conceived should reasonably be done according to God, that scarcely or never did he consent to change a word once uttered with worthy deliberation. And although, as has been mentioned, much cheerfulness from the good testimony of conscience always shone in his face, yet the light of his countenance did not fall to the ground.

[216] His joyfulness was according to the countenance of the Saints, through which he glided into the affections of all without difficulty, as soon as they beheld him. Wherever he was, whether on the road with companions, or in a house with a host and the rest of the household, or among magnates or princes and prelates, he always flowed with edifying discourses, he abounded in sacred examples, by which the minds of those present might be bent to the love of Christ or to contempt of the world. Everywhere he showed himself an evangelical man in word and in work, receiving all in the broad bosom of charity. And since he loved all, he was loved by all. To rejoice with those who rejoice, to weep with those who weep, he claimed as his own, abounding in piety, pouring himself wholly out in charity toward his neighbors and in compassion for the wretched. And although he was piously moved to all things, yet over the sins of men he was disturbed, wasting away with pitiable affection. Whence, drawing near to a city or town which he could see from afar, and pondering the miseries of men, he was wholly dissolved in tears ^e. This also made him most acceptable to all, that, walking by a simple way, he never put forward in word or work any trace of duplicity or feigning.

ANNOTATA.

CHAPTER XIX.

The Saint's effective sermons, his ardent zeal for prayer and mortification, his tender devotion in the sacrifice of the Mass, his abstinence, and his foreknowledge of his impending death.

IX.

This most sweet Man, and most pious father, most devout founder of the Order of Preachers, living in this flesh among sinners, After apostolic labors conversed with God and with the angels in a pious mind, and, a guardian of God's precepts, an emulator of the counsels, out of all that he knew and could, serving his eternal Creator, shining in the foul darkness of this world by a blameless life and by the celibacy of a most holy manner of life, he imparted the day to his neighbors, the night to God, because the Lord has commanded His mercy in the day, and in the night His canticle. He preached by day to peoples and clerics, nor did his word return empty: for he turned many from iniquity. For a certain cleric, hearing him preaching most excellently and discoursing powerfully and lucidly upon the Scriptures, asked him by the study of what books he had learned things so sublime. To whom the Saint kindly answered: Son, I have studied more in the book of charity than in others; for this book teaches concerning all things ^a. And so he was a learned householder, bringing forth from the treasure of charity things new and old. He went about villages, cities, and castles, preaching and announcing the kingdom of God, visiting the sick, consoling the desolate, and curing sicknesses.

[218] the Saint persevered in prayer When after the labor of the journey he turned aside to his lodging, he first quenched his thirst at some fountain or water, fearing lest from the thirst which is kindled by labor he should by drinking more incur a mark of reproach, which in all things he shunned with every effort. By day, with companions and neighbors, no one was more affable, none more useful; but by night no one was more insistent in every manner in vigils and supplications. At evening weeping tarried, and at morning gladness. He passed the night in churches and prayed, now kneeling, now prostrate, as much as he could wrest from the frailty of the body. And when at length, weariness coming on, the necessity of sleep interrupted him, whether before the altar, or in whatever other place, or at any rate upon a stone, after the manner of the patriarch Jacob, his head being laid down, resting a little, he again awoke to prayer and fervor of spirit. And then he went about visiting the altars and invoking the patronage of the Saints, and so continued until the middle of the night.

[219] and in the guarding of the Brethren, Afterward, most quietly visiting the sleeping Brethren, he covered those who were uncovered, and, signing them with the cross of Christ, returned to the oratory, continuing his prayer with watching. In these hours he endured many assaults and temptations of demons, and carried off many triumphs over them in the power of the name of the Most High. In these hours he deserved many illuminations of soul, and many visitations from above and divine revelations, of which it has been written above, because he desired God in the night, and watched for Him, sighing with all his heart. This was his most frequent custom of watching and praying, and he scarcely ever rested sleeping in a little bed, although he exhorted the Brethren rather diligently to rest. His prayer was pure and acceptable in the sight of God, which he offered without intermission, in which he placed all his hope, through which he obtained from the divine mercy whatever he willed: for, as he himself confessed, he never asked anything of the Lord in prayer in this life which he did not receive from Him according to his wish. For assuredly, because he believed the truth which promised that he would receive whatever he asked, he obtained from the bestowing kindness all that he asked.

[220] he afflicted his flesh, It did not suffice him to waste away his flesh by macerating it with continual vigils; but the innocent Man also afflicted and wore down his virginal body with many scourgings. For he took three disciplines each night with an iron chain: one for himself; another for sinners who are in the world; a third for those who are tormented in purgatory. Indeed of his eyes he had made as it were a fountain of tears, and he wept most abundantly and most frequently, and his tears were his bread day and night. By day indeed the more, while he celebrated the frequent and daily solemnities of Masses; but by night, when above all he kept watch with untiring vigils. Toward the Sacrament of the Lord's body he burned with the greatest devotion, and, calling to mind the most divine charity and most abundant sweetness of the Crucified, frequently, when the body of Christ was elevated at Mass, he was rapt into an excess of mind, delighted by the presence of the divine Majesty.

[221] Rich in faith, he spurned the riches of this world and despised the pomp of the age, and, contemning honor, rejoiced in adversities. embracing the humility of Christ and evangelical poverty: for, elected bishop of Couserans, he utterly refused, saying that he would rather desert the land than consent to any election made concerning himself ^b. The world was crucified to him and he to the world, since he contemned the glory of the world and preached that it was to be contemned, while the lovers of the world despised him and judged him despicable. For, being asked why he did not more gladly stay in the diocese of Toulouse than in Carcassonne, he answered: Because in that of Toulouse I find many who honor me; but in Carcassonne all on the contrary assail me. Behold a true contemner of the world and imitator of Christ, who, joy being set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame.

[222] He was a true lover of poverty, using mean garments: Since that true Lover of piety, for he kept his love so fixed upon the divinity that he studied not only to abstain from great things, but also to restrain his affections from the least. Whence he would not have garments, shoes, books, knives, girdles, and other things necessary for the use of his body precious and curious; but he accepted such as were humble and consonant with Religion and suited to poverty. He also admonished the Brethren not to desire or carry any such thing as did not in all respects agree with Religion and modesty. In food and drink also he was most temperate, avoiding delicacies and gladly content with a simple pottage: so satisfying the necessity of nature that his heart was never weighed down with surfeit, nor did the refreshment of the body dull his subtle spirit: for from his earliest age until the end of his life he brought his flesh into subjection to the spirit, and chastised his undefiled and innocent body with vigils, fastings, prayers, scourges, and the other works of penance.

[223] Who will be able in every respect to imitate the virtues of this man, whom with abundant gifts of graces which even the tongue cannot

suffice to express? For so great an abundance of graces and virtues was diffused in his soul through the Holy Spirit, such sincerity in his heart, such authority of truth in his speech, and such holiness of charity and humility shone in his action, that they exceeded human nature and most truly proclaimed God dwelling within. We can marvel, and by his example weigh the sloth of our own time: but to be able what he was able is not of human virtue, but of a singular grace, unless perhaps the pitying goodness of God has deigned to extend this grace to someone. But who is fit for this?

[224] Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the merciful God enriched, who blessed His servant, holy Dominic, with every heavenly blessing, so that nothing was lacking to him in any grace: for he prepared his heart, having God in mind and seeking Him with all his strength and working: for, setting God always before his sight, he was seen in contemplation, his hands raised to heaven, to stand suspended, so that he scarcely seemed to touch the ground. He watched and prayed more than the rest, taking greater and more frequent disciplines. He scourged himself, and had himself scourged by others with an iron chain which had three branches, chastising his innocent body.

[225] to the salvation of his neighbor Celebrating Mass daily, at home and abroad, he poured out abundant tears, and stood at the sacred altars with so great devotion, and said the Lord's prayer in the Mass in such a way, that those present understood the grace infused from heaven into his heart. In the Canonical hours and psalmody, which he was accustomed to say with much reverence and devotion, his face was frequently seen to be bedewed with tears. Before men indeed he was always serene and joyful, but in secret, praying to the Father, he poured down tears like a torrent, which, when called away from prayer, he wiped from his face. He observed most diligently that he should not offend with his tongue; and he wished always on the road and at home to speak of God or with God, and rarely spoke otherwise: and perfect men who lived with him a long time have testified that guile was not found in his mouth, nor was it ever heard that an idle or harmful word, or one of detraction or of flattery, proceeded from his mouth. He blessed those who cursed him, nor did he ever at all return a curse for a curse, who longed not only to be cursed, but even to be scourged and cut piece by piece and to die for the charity of Christ.

[226] and to his own perfection Indeed, wishing that the Brethren should always be intent on spiritual things alone, he forbade them to involve themselves in the business of the house or in counsels about temporal things, except those whom obedience bound to this and the injunction of prelates obliged: for he presided over the Brethren in the solicitude of charity, attending to himself and to the whole flock. He corrected offenses justly enough, yet punishing them kindly and mercifully; and he was tortured in mind, having compassion on those on whom he nevertheless inflicted due penances. Yet he was so sweet a consoler that by him novices and many others were snatched from many and various temptations. Bearing also in his body the freely-taken and heavy cross of penance, when he went from land to land, he walked unshod with bare feet. Indeed he had compassion on all his neighbors and on the afflicted, and most of all on sinners and unbelievers, whose salvation he desired with the most ardent longing to further by labors and to obtain from God by prayers. He venerated devoutly the Religions of the holy Fathers, and loved affectionately all Religious persons above others, as citizens of the Saints and members of God's household, and extolled their state and life with worthy praises, as of consorts and confrères.

[227] had spent his whole life, Further, on account of his preceding vigils he ate little and drank less. Whence he frequently dozed at table from weariness. When journeying in a time of fast, he always waited for the certain and due ninth hour; but he dispensed his companions to anticipate it and to be refreshed twice. Never, whether well or sick, was he querulous about food or drink, or bed or scanty provision, but gave thanks all the days of his life. On the road, before he composed himself for rest in the evening after Compline, he lay upon prayers so long that generally he roused his companions from sleep by his weeping. He was a most fervent zealot for the Order and the rule, and a religious and very strenuous keeper of the statutes, and also a most pious consoler of the Brethren, so much so that in these things he is not believed to have a successor.

[228] Among the other counsels of his teaching and the exceptional examples of his life, and had often commended the same virtues to his sons, he solicitously demanded three above the rest to be observed by posterity; namely, that they should always speak of God or with God; that going along the roads they should not carry money; and that forever they should not receive temporal possessions: for these are the things which make the heart clean and the mind free from cares, and render the servant of Christ ready for meditating on divine things and handling spiritual ones. Let us strive therefore, Brethren, to imitate our father's counsels, as we can, and his footsteps; and at the same time let us give thanks to the Redeemer, who exhibited such a leader to His servants on this way in which we walk, regenerating us through him into the light of this manner of life; and let us beseech the Father of mercies that, with that Spirit ruling us by whom the sons of God are led, through the bounds which our fathers set, we too may deserve to attain by an unswerving path to that same goal of perpetual felicity into which he entered happy.

XII.

[229] When the most blessed father Dominic, perfect in all holiness, shone with all virtues, his impending death among the other gifts of spiritual graces he deserved also to receive from the Lord the spirit of prophecy, by which he foresaw many things to come, being made privy to the divine secrets; to whom also, as to one beloved with a special election, the Lord deigned to foreshow the term of his calling: for how should He conceal from His beloved the death which was at hand and the dissolution of his members, He who had revealed to him the deaths of many others? For assuredly, because his tears were his bread day and night out of longing to come and to appear before the face of his God, the Lord heard the desire of the poor man, placing his tears in His sight.

[230] And behold, as he prayed and burned vehemently with desire of things above, he saw a most beautiful young man standing by him, is announced by an angel, who, calling him, said to him: Come, my beloved, come; enter into true joys ^c. O glorious and friendly calling of this holy and happy Man, full of all sweetness of charity, by which he is invited not to vain and perishable things, but to certain joys that abide forever. Truly blessed is the man who, being called, did not seek a respite through dread of the Judge, nor, being bidden to come to the great supper of the Lamb, put it off by wrongly excusing himself; but, his loins girt and bearing a burning lamp in his hands, the evangelical Man opened without delay to Him who knocked, and briskly hastened to meet the Lord as He came.

[231] And so, rejoicing and giving thanks for the certainty of his glory, the just Man visited certain clerics of Bologna very familiar and dear to him, which he foretold to certain of his friends. with whom, a most useful conference having been had concerning contempt of the world and the sojourn of this passing age, at last bidding them farewell, he said to them: You indeed, dearest ones, see me now well; but I, before that most solemn assumption of our Lady the Virgin Mother, shall be taken from this life and pass over to the Lord. A faithful word: for as he foretold, so it came about ^d: for on the tenth day ^e before the feast of the Virgin's assumption Dominic, her faithful servant, was taken up by her, being set over all the goods of her Son.

ANNOTATA.

CHAPTER XX.

The Saint's last illness, his pious counsels, and his happy death at once revealed to certain absent persons.

Part V.

Chap. I.

The second general Chapter being celebrated, blessed Dominic visited the court of the lord Hugolino, bishop of Ostia, then legate of the Apostolic See in Lombardy, The Saint, returned to Bologna, for the direction and advancement of his Order ^a. But returning from the legate about the end of the month of July, he came to Bologna very weary: for the heat was very great, and the labor of the journey had been very heavy. Yet, although so shaken, he spoke with the Prior of the house, Br. Ventura, and with Br. Rudolf, into part of the night about the state and affairs of the Order: and when they were going to rest, they urged him to compose his wearied limbs for rest, and not to be present at Matins. He did not acquiesce in their prayers; but, entering the church, he passed the night in it after his accustomed manner, and moreover was present at Matins. But after Matins he told the Prior that he was suffering a pain of the head.

[233] contracts an illness from weariness, From then, therefore, he began plainly to languish with the infirmity by which he was taken from this light. And as it grew strong, being strengthened in spirit, he clung untiringly to God, bearing this sickness so patiently that he always appeared joyful and cheerful, although he was pressed by dysentery and burned with fevers. And knowing that the day of his death was near, he ordered the novices to assemble before him; and, beholding them with a serene face, he exhorted them with most sweet words to the love of God and of the Order, to devotion, and to the observance of Religion. And, content after his manner with a sack, not even thus weak did he consent to rest upon a bed.

[234] in which he admonishes the Brethren about the guarding of chastity Then, twelve of the more discreet Brethren being called, and the Prior of the house Br. Ventura, with many priests hearing, he made a general confession of all his acts, and said to them: Behold, up to this hour God's mercy has preserved me uncorrupted in the flesh, and has kept for me the cleanness of virginity unblemished: which, that it may remain unspotted in you, avoid the suspect company of all women; which being kept, the servant of God will be pleasing to Christ through purity of life, and fruitful and glorious among the people through the odor of good repute. Persist in fervor of spirit, and in it serve the Lord always; attend to the advancement and spread of the Order you have begun; remain stable in holiness; persevere in canonical Religion and in the increase of all the virtues.

[235] and of poverty, And because, the Holy Spirit revealing it, he had known that he was to pass out of this world, his sons and Brethren being gathered before him, he made a testament, upon which it is lawful for no one to add: for by the death of the testator it has been confirmed. These are the things, he said, Brethren and sons, which I leave to you to be possessed by right of inheritance: have charity, keep humility, possess voluntary poverty. Silver and gold and earthly substance, whereof he might make a testament to leave to his sons, he had not; but what he had, being rich in faith, this he bequeathed; namely the riches of salvation, the treasures

of heaven, and immortal wealth, which his sacred life intimates, his examples proclaim, and his miracles attest that he possessed. And lest evangelical poverty, the most firm foundation of this Order, should be shaken by that carnal wisdom which is an enemy to God, he forbade with all the severity he could that anyone should bring temporal possessions into this Order, terribly imprecating the malediction of God almighty and his own upon him who should presume to obscure with the dust of earthly substance the Order of Preachers, which the profession of poverty especially adorns ^b.

II.

[236] But when the sickness grew stronger from day to day, and as it grew worse, he is carried to a healthier place; the sons, solicitous for the Father's health, carried him to St. Mary on the Mount, hoping that he would there be restored to life, because the place was healthier: and being placed there, when he had begun to be more deprived of strength, and felt that the dissolution of his body was at hand, he ordered the Prior to be called to him; and he came, and twenty Brethren followed him, out of desire to visit the holy Father in his weakness. And with them placed before him, lying down he preached a sermon very beautiful and moving. But hearing that the rector of that place was disposing to bury him in his own church, he said humbly and gently: Far be it that I be buried anywhere but under the feet of my Brethren. Then the man full of the spirit of charity and peace, taking precaution lest he be cheated of the tomb he wished, or lest perhaps a contention should arise, said: Carry me outside, that I may die in that vineyard under the open sky, so that you may be able to bury me in our own church. O truly faithful Father and happy man, who chose a more inconvenient and despised burial* rather than to be bodily separated from his sons even after death.

[237] Taking up therefore their beloved Father, the sons carried him back to the house of the Preachers, greatly fearing but he orders himself to be carried back from there, lest perhaps he should die on the way. And he was placed in a certain cell, the Sacrament of holy unction having been administered to him: where, while he remained some while, Br. Rudolf, holding the Saint's head, wiped the sweat of his face with a linen cloth ^c. And the Brethren standing by wept, seeing their most sweet Father now set in his agony, of whose consolation they grieved to be deprived, never to have his like in that grace. Whom the pious Father, beholding them weeping, consoling them said: Do not weep, dearest sons, nor let my bodily departure disturb you; in the place to which I go I shall be more useful to you than I have been here, and after death you will have me as a more powerful advocate than you can have me in this life. This great confidence in his death declares him altogether truly just, since he neither feared to die nor doubted of his entrance into eternity, where he so confidently promised to be a patron to his sons.

[238] Then one of the Brethren asked him, saying: Father, desiring to be buried under the feet of his Brethren, where do you wish your body to be buried? He answered: Under the feet of the Brethren. Invited to the nuptials, he chose the last place, which now the supreme Householder would transfer to a higher place, as a more honored friend, and exalt in glory before those reclining with him. Then, the Prior and the Brethren being called to him, he said: Prepare yourselves. And when they were solemnly prepared to say the commendation, he said to them: Wait yet a while. Then the Prior said to him: Father, you know how you leave us desolate and sad. Remember us, that you may pray for us to the Lord.

[239] and peacefully renders his spirit to the Creator, Then the most sweet Man, now wholly absorbed in God, his hands raised to heaven, said: Holy Father, You know that I have gladly persisted in Your will, and those whom You gave me I have guarded and preserved. I commend them to You; preserve and guard them. And I come to You, heavenly Father. And after a little while, knowing that the hour had come that he should pass from this world to heaven, he said to the Brethren: Begin. With what devotion, with what tears and sobs the office of commendation was then completed, He knows who does not spurn the prayers of the poor, nor despise the groaning and affection of mourners. Meanwhile the passing Father prayed in spirit with a movement of his lips, though his voice was not at all heard. And when at the conclusion of the commendation, as is the custom, they said, Come to his aid, saints of God, run to meet him, angels of the Lord, receiving his soul, offering it in the sight of the Most High — having his hands raised to heaven, he gave up his spirit ^d. And behold, angelic hands received him, presenting him to the sight of the divine glory. But the lifeless body remained lying in the ashes, pitiable to the desolation of the mourners, lovable to the piety of faith, and venerable to all for its holiness.

III.

[240] There was present in this hour of a most sacred death to the faithful Servant the glorious Mother with her Son, the Virgin Mary, whose happy death (was revealed) to the Prior of Brescia and a multitude of angels singing psalms, carrying the blessed spirit into heaven with joy, just as a divine revelation disclosed to His faithful: for on the same day and the same hour of his death, a venerable man of the same Order, Br. Wala, Prior of Brescia, afterward bishop there, weighed down by a light sleep, saw with inward eyes a certain opening in heaven, through which two most white ladders were let down. The summit of one ladder the Lord Jesus Christ held with His hand; and the summit of the other ladder the Virgin, His blessed mother, held; and angels ran to and fro, ascending and descending by them.

[241] in a certain wonderful vision, And behold, between the two ladders a seat was placed at the bottom, and one sitting upon the seat; and he who sat was like a Preacher, having the face of one going into the supercelestial Jerusalem. And those ladders Christ Jesus and His Mother, the glorious virgin, drew upward little by little. The seat was drawn along together with him who sat, until, the angels singing psalms, he was brought into heaven. And so, the ladders and the seat together with him who sat being received into heaven, the opening of heaven was closed, and the vision disappeared. The aforesaid man, coming to Bologna and exploring the truth of the matter, found that it was the same day and hour on which the holy Father departed from the body that that heavenly vision had been revealed to him: and he also openly preached the vision to the people to the glory of God and of St. Dominic ^e.

[242] and to Br. Rao as he celebrated Mass On that very day of our most blessed Father's passing it happened that two men of the Order of Preachers, namely Br. Tancred, of whom mention was made above, and Brother Rao, were walking together on the road; and when they had come to a lodging, Br. Rao went to the altar to celebrate Mass: to whom Br. Tancred gave an injunction that he should be mindful of master Dominic, whom he had heard was sick at Bologna. And when he had come to that place where in the Mass the memento for the living is wont to be made, and was turning over in his mind the injunction laid upon him, suddenly, being put into an excess of mind, standing immovable at the altar, rapt in spirit, he saw in a manifest vision the holy father Dominic crowned with a golden crown and shining wholly with a wonderful splendor, accompanied on either side by two reverend men, going forth from Bologna by the royal road.

[243] In the same vision that devout man, by the revelation of the Holy Spirit, it is at once revealed. learned that on that same day, namely on Friday, at the sixth hour, the holy confessor Dominic, passing from the body, had gloriously entered the heavenly fatherland. This illustrious vision the Brother who had seen it, out of the humility with which he was assuredly full, kept for a long time in silence; but afterward, admonished by the Lord, he recited it to certain Brethren to the praise of God and of the holy confessor Dominic ^f. Thus the sweet Father, the kindly confessor of Christ, the Brethren standing by and praying, passed clean out of this world to the meeting throngs of angels, exchanging the sojourn and misery of the present life for the comeliness of a heavenly habitation.

ANNOTATA.

* elsewhere: death

CHAPTER XXI.

The Saint's honorable obsequies, various benefits conferred on some immediately after his death, and a revelation made to a certain man concerning his great merits and virtues.

IV.

But when the sons wrapped the most sacred body of the blessed Father for burial, The Saint's body is found girded with an iron chain, they found his flesh girded about at the loins with an iron chain; which Br. Rudolf, taking away and reverently preserving, afterward gave as a great gift to the venerable father Jordan, master of the Order. And so, the most holy body being reverently and religiously wrapped, they carried it to the church with tearful solemnity. And the Brethren, attending the sacred funeral with fitting psalms and canticles, reverently surrounded it with mournful devotion. There was present then among them a certain religious and devout man, the lord Albert, Prior of St. Catherine at Bologna, who had honored blessed Dominic with a special familiarity and devout charity; who, seeing that the Brethren had exchanged their pitiable lamentation for a friendly jubilation, began himself also to rejoice with those who rejoiced: for, having conceived no vain confidence concerning the glory of the most holy Father, the sons of God had begun to rejoice and to praise the Lord for all the wonders which they had seen.

[245] and he foretells to a certain man his imminent and happy death, But that man, pitying himself and stricken with compunction within himself, approached the most sacred lifeless body of the deceased, rushing with mourning into pious kisses and devout embraces, clinging to which so long, he did not depart from there until he deserved to have an undoubted answer concerning his own death, which was at hand. Which being received according to his wish, the good and pious man, rising from the embraces of the sacred body to which he had devoutly clung, said to the Prior of the Brethren, joyful and rejoicing: A faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance! Master Dominic embraced me, saying: This year you shall go after me to Christ; which also was done: for in the same year of the holy Father's death that just man passed to the Lord, as the holy dead body had prophesied ^a.

[246] It happened in those days that the venerable Hugolino, bishop of Ostia, and it is buried in the presence of various prelates, legate of the Apostolic See in Lombardy, who afterward was the supreme Pontiff Gregory, had come to Bologna, the Lord so ordaining: on account of which many great men and prelates of churches were then present. He, having learned of the blessed Man's death, came, and with fitting devotion personally consigned his holy body to burial. He had indeed known his holy manner of life in the Lord, and, while he lived, had bound him to himself with the embrace of a special love; and he had also been present when that same holy Father at Rome raised from the dead by praying the nephew of the lord Cardinal Stephen. There was present none the less

the illustrious patriarch of Aquileia, and several bishops and abbots, and no small multitude of other prelates and of the people. This holy confessor Dominic therefore passed out of this world on the eighth of the Ides of August, buried at Bologna beside his sons and Brethren the Preachers, of whose Order he was the first master and founder, in the year of the Lord one thousand two hundred twenty-one.

[247] and is enclosed in a firm tomb, Further, this monument, the lodging of the sacred body, is composed indeed of contemptible and by no means precious material; yet it was prepared with pious devotion and careful zeal: for by the diligence of Br. Rudolf, who was then procurator, at whose nod all things were done, a chest was fabricated of wood fit and suitable for this, in which the sacred body, deposited by him, was firmly enclosed with iron nails; and he fortified the place of the tomb on every side, hedged about with great stones joined with strong cement: for there was fear among them lest the impious should do something with evil guile about so precious a treasure. There was therefore placed over the holy tomb a great stone secured with cement, beneath which that clod, more brilliant than gold, purer than silver, and nobler than every gem, might be kept.

[248] which place, though lowly, And so he sleeps in the bosom of his mother, thus content, resting in peace; and his sleep is sweet; nor will he awake until, roused by the last trumpet, he shall rise, to be placed with the elect of God at the right hand. Yet his soul is awake, the mist of darkness being dispelled, beholding with open eyes the longed-for brightness of eternal light. It is awake, offering open ears to the prayers of the wretched and the cries of the languishing, and continually meeting their calamities: for the almighty power of God has graciously worked many miracles evidently in the death and after the death of His chosen servant Dominic, unto his exaltation, and works them to this day through his merits in all the kingdoms of the Church.

VI.

[249] The holy Father lies therefore, as he had desired, among his sons, God with various miracles laid in a lowly and depressed place, and embalmed with no spices after the manner of other Saints, hidden and covered from the sight of men only by earth and dust. But God, who makes light to shine out of darkness, worthily and mercifully ordered flashes of miracles to glitter from this obscure light: for a certain honorable cleric, dwelling at Bologna, had indeed heard of blessed Dominic's death; but, hindered in some way, he did not deserve to be present at the solemnities of his burial. On the following night, therefore, he saw in his sleep blessed Dominic in the church of St. Nicholas sitting on a chair, wondrously crowned with glory and honor. And the cleric said to him: Are you not master Dominic, who are dead? He answered: I am not dead, son, for I have a good Lord, with whom I live. When morning came, going to the church of the Brethren, he found the Saint buried in that place where he had seen him enthroned in the vision ^b.

On that same day a certain demoniac was brought to this tomb of the holy Father; and when he had entered the church, the demon began to cry out, saying: What do you want with me, Dominic? Frequently crying this and repeating, Dominic. Thus, being dragged over his tomb, he was freed from the demon ^c.

[250] In the same year also of the holy Man's falling asleep, in winter time a most sweet and very great odor began to breathe forth beside the sacred tomb, and with a sweet odor made it illustrious. and to be spread throughout the whole church. The fragrance of this odor lasted therefore for many days, which Br. Ventura, Prior of Bologna, and other Brethren of that Convent perceived. And when signs began to be renewed and wonders multiplied, the faithful Christians, seeing that God's power was truly working in the place, resolved out of reverence to enclose the tomb and to cover it with silken cloths. But the Brethren did not permit it, fearing lest they should incur a mark of cupidity or boasting if they did this or suffered it to be done.

VII.

[251] To a certain person who loved blessed Dominic with a special charity the Lord revealed many things concerning his merits and glory, To a certain devout person and also concerning the Order of Preachers, which that person left in writing ^d; where among other things he speaks thus: I follow my beloved with a peculiar affection, and, as far as is lawful, I press with the embraces of a closer love that holy man Dominic, delicate above the rest. Therefore on his solemnity, when I was beseeching the Lord for the Order of Preachers, the Lord deigned to show me His presence, manifesting my beloved to me in glory. Behold, said the Lord, in these things which I require in all the rulers of My faithful, My faithful servant and good shepherd Dominic shone forth among the rest. For assuredly, living in the flesh, he never embittered in heart any of the Brethren subject to him, nor exasperated them by word or work: for nothing of bitterness could flow from the wellspring of charity.

[252] There was in him also so generous a kindness and so sweet a piety toward all, are revealed his outstanding virtues, that he procured bodily necessity, not only religious and frugal, but even convenient for the time, as he could, lest either the younger age, wasting away with hunger, should crave the fullness of Egypt, or the gravity of old age, worn out with fasting, should fail. But thus clemently condescending to all, he went before them all, teaching by an elegant example that modesty is praiseworthy and abstinence salutary. Moreover, exalting mercy and judgment, in correcting the offenses of delinquents he kept himself within regular bounds, justly sparing by the clemency of this mercy, and piously severe in discipline. These things my beloved said to me concerning his beloved; and I saw, and behold, my beloved was clothed in many colors, and covered about with an admirable variety: for he shone with a mantle of snowy whiteness and with the appearance of a purple and a green comeliness: for that tunic of immortality with which he is covered is dyed with the most beautiful whiteness of virginal cleanness, brighter than snow, and radiates with the splendor of the greenness of the first truth, which delights and refreshes heavenly minds, mingled with the glowing rosy color of a twofold charity, by which through compassion he was joined to his neighbor, and burned with the desire of laying down his life for Christ.

[253] which the holy Founder of the Preachers And the Lord added to speak to me, saying of His Saint: When at times this My Chosen One laughed, his laughter came forth from the sweetness of My spirit. He was truthful, and the mouth of a truthful man ought to be filled with such laughter. But when praying he poured out tears, he presented before My sight, in the censer of his devotion and with great faith, the cause and straits of the whole Church, and especially the necessities of the sons of his Order. The pious Shepherd considered most diligently the countenance of his flock with a kindly regard, with sincere devotion, with prudent discretion: men of perverse understanding he converted by a pious animadversion. He taught the wise to adorn their knowledge with dove-like simplicity according to the Gospel of the Lord Savior, instructing the simpler to seek and to love above all things that wisdom which is from above, chaste and modest.

[254] had practiced in his life. The perils and turbulent troubles of the tempted he bore in the secret of his sacred breast with fatherly compassion and anxious pity, piously consoling, discreetly counseling, and sustaining with prayer. He urged upon the young continual silence for the attaining of prudence and the observance of discipline. The weak and the sick he cherished with a most pious affection, solicitously providing with effect for their necessities. All therefore rejoiced in his long-continued presence, and the desirable fellowship of his most sweet manner of life rendered tolerable to them all the destitution of poverty, and lightened the harsh hardness of a whole laborious life. Let us give thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ, and let us glory in His praise, who has conferred on us such a Leader and prince of this pilgrimage, whose magnificence of holiness has been approved and praised by the mouth of the Lord's own Truth. Let us glory concerning him in the Lord, because from the honor of our Father is our glory, and we shall be his glory, if we shall be wise.

ANNOTATA.

CHAPTER XXII.

The illustrious increase of the Order of Preachers after the death of its holy Founder, and the great fervor of the first Brethren in imitating the holiness of their Founder.

Part VI.

Chap. I.

In the year of the Lord's Incarnation one thousand two hundred twenty-two, our holy father Dominic having been translated among the angels and Saints, The Order of Preachers was increased the third general Chapter was celebrated at Paris, in which a man of venerable life, Br. Jordan the German, sprung from Saxony, by the will of God, the Spirit of Jesus directing, was elected master of the Order of Preachers. He succeeded St. Dominic, the founder of that same Order, first not so much in the administration of governance as in the emulation of justice and rectitude, being made a most perfect imitator of his father's intention, religion, and fervor: who, beloved of God and men, sought good things for his people and enlarged the glory of his Order, increasing it in provinces, in Convents, and in a multitude of the best persons: for many eminent in birth and dignities, very many rich in possessions and benefices, several masters and doctors of various sciences, and other countless pampered youths and lettered scholars, stricken with compunction at his discourse and honeyed eloquence, leaving all things for Christ and the Gospel, took up the Order of Preachers. Then the sons of God grew, and were multiplied as things germinating, and, exceedingly strengthened, they filled the earth ^a. For assuredly that most pure grain of wheat, dead and hidden in the earth but living in heaven, St. Dominic, sprouting, overflowed into this most beautiful and most copious harvest.

II.

[256] It was indeed then an acceptable time and days of salvation, with learned and illustrious men, when so many illustrious men, solicitous for their own salvation and that of others, offered themselves and others as a fragrant sacrifice and an acceptable holocaust in the sight of the Lord. Those were truly days of the unspotted, whom the Lord knows, who, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, were in holiness and justice before Him. For God had then sent fire from on high into their bones, and their hearts were made to burn vehemently with the ardor of charity. And the flame was spread abroad outwardly in shining works and effective examples, of which, being innumerable, we recall a few works of holiness and perfection for the edification of men of our own time. For those who by grace were then converted from the pleasures of the world and from sins to the fruit of a better life, stricken with compunction for the evils they had committed, striving in the whole tribulation of their soul to purge away their past sins, offered a contrite heart as a sacrifice to God, confessing their offenses most strictly

and most purely, accusing themselves to confessors. They solicitously searched out the secrets of their consciences, lest anything, even a little, should prick the heart or obscure its cleanness: for a delicate conscience is afflicted and gnawed not only by criminal faults, but even by the least.

[257] who, drawn away from earthly things There were then assiduous examinations of minds and daily confessions; and not only at one time of the day, or once; but evening and morning and midday, whenever anything occurred which disturbed a pious conscience. Then, armed manfully against all the temptations of the flesh and of the demon, they reckoned it unworthy even to feel the first motions; and to admit them, or to linger in them, they rejected as a most shameful abomination. Of all their preceding business, comforts, and delights they had no remembrance; but their whole solicitude and intent was only to bewail their sins, to attend to divine things, to contain themselves within themselves, to subject their body to servitude and to despise it, to commit all things to God and to cling continually to Him alone; and, observing the uprightness of the Order and the beauty of the Religion they had assumed, and extolling it in their words and hearts, they complained of this alone, that they had put off so long assuming it and serving God.

III.

[258] diligently instructed the novices, Very great then was the diligence for the instruction of novices, great and zealous the guardianship for the preservation of their salvation and bodily health, lest, made weak by an excess of indiscreet labor, they should afterward be rendered useless for greater things. As it is necessary to urge on with goads the lukewarm and slack to work, so it was then needful to apply the bridle of discretion to those burning with too great a heat of devotion: and as very many now are scarcely roused by impulses to wake from sleep, so then, being sought in various corners and found at prayer, they could scarcely be compelled to sleep.

[259] as is shown by an example, In the observance of silence, which is the foundation of sacred Religion, there was a strict censure, a devoted care, and a zealous and pure observance: for unless great necessity urged, or peril threatened, to break the discipline of silence was among them a wickedness. For example, when a certain Brother at Bologna, prostrate before the altar, was praying after Compline, the devil, seizing him by the foot, dragged him as far as the middle of the church: and as he cried out, more than thirty Brethren run up, who were hidden praying in various corners of the church, and, beholding him dragged, but not at all seeing the one dragging, they strove, but could by no means hold him. Greatly terrified, therefore, they sprinkled him with holy water; nor even so did they prevail. But one of the older Brethren, clinging to him to hold him back, was himself dragged along equally with the one dragged. At length with much effort he was brought to the altar of St. Nicholas. Then the venerable father Reginald, coming, heard his confession, and straightway the Lord freed him from the power of the devil: for there had lain hidden in his heart I know not what evil which he had not cast out by confessing ^b. Truly wonderful and to be marveled at is the power of pure confession, and no less to be imitated and commended the discipline of the Brethren in the observance of religion: for in such and so great a vexation there was not found a Brother who transgressed the law of silence even by one small word.

[260] in the strict guarding of the tongue, There was therefore peace among them, because the talkative tongue was bridled: for as, when the mouth of the oven is stopped, the heat is fostered within, so, silence being kept, the grace of the Holy Spirit is retained in the heart. Knowing this, they set a guard upon their mouth, that they might not offend with their tongue, and therefore their heart grew warm within them, and in their meditation there blazed that fire which consumes vices, our God. This observance the sacred Dominic established and taught by example, who never uttered a word of detraction or of flattery or one that was harmful: who also, when set upon a journey, kept silence until the third hour, commanding that the same be observed by his companions. Never, except in speaking of God or with God, did he think it worthy to open his mouth.

IV.

[261] Matins and Mass, and all the canonical hours, were sung daily at fixed times solemnly and distinctly, in prayers, at which the master of the Order, the holy father Dominic, was always accustomed to be present, giving diligent effort that the psalms be sung briskly and devoutly. There stood with him at the divine praises the most reverend men, the Patriarchs of this Order, and generally all the Brethren, in the midst of whom stood He who promised that He would be present to those gathered in His name. Besides, it was rarely empty of those praying, and rarely was the church seen without Brethren; whence they were more frequently found there when sought by anyone: for they did not depart, applying themselves day and night to prayers. Offering to the Lord deep sighs of penance and inward sorrows of heart, they bewailed their own sins and those of others, sometimes with uttered cries. Others, laboring with a hundred and two hundred genuflections by day and night, afflicted themselves, adoring the Majesty of the Lord.

[262] The day Hours being completed with due observance and all piety, and in other exercises of piety the Brethren awaited Compline as something desirable, and, preparing themselves for it more devoutly as for some solemn feast, commended themselves to one another with mutual prayers. And when the signal was rung, they hastened more quickly from all the places of the monastery to the church, and, the Virgin having been saluted after Compline by the Antiphon Regina caeli, the Brethren in common submitted themselves to the disciplines. Then, visiting in heart and body the citizens of the Saints and members of God's household, their patrons, whose altars were had in the oratories — they themselves as pilgrims, and not having here a lasting city — and beholding them from afar, they most devoutly saluted those already blessed in the fatherland. Meanwhile, from the devout memory of the Saints their thought was cleansed, their affection grew warm, their conscience was made serene, their mind was lifted up to God, and, with the light of grace shining, hearts were stricken with compunction and their bowels were moved, and tears burst forth; nor could they contain themselves, but that by those standing outside the voice of weeping and much wailing was heard more plainly, who thought that a funeral was being lamented by those round about. Whence very many were stricken with compunction, and some received the habit of the Order.

[263] Nor yet content with this exercise, they hid themselves in whatever corners of the monastery, and persevered in exercises of penance, and, examining their acts with the strictest scrutiny, some with the blows of rods, others with knotted thongs, most sharply tore their flesh. From these exercises of the most ardent devotion they were made as it were a gleaming fire, and as incense burning in the fire; some, raised in prayer, were seen to remain some while between heaven and earth, the fire of the Spirit driving them upward; others, burned up with the flames of penance, groaned in dust and ashes, and, placing their mouth in the dust, would not lift their eyes to heaven until the boiling ardor should provoke through tears the burning of sorrow; another, unable to rest for the desire of love, refused to indulge sleep to his eyes until he should have found the new grace that warmed him. Let every devout person weigh how much space of the night could remain for God's servants to rest after exercises of this kind.

[264] Rising for Matins, reverently completing standing, as is the custom, the Office of the Virgin Mother, and devoutly venerated the Mother of God. they ran more devoutly to her altar, lest even that little time should be lacking to prayer. And when Matins and Compline were said, they sometimes went round the aforesaid altar of the Virgin in a circle in triple order, so that it is deservedly sung that the roses of flowers and the lilies of the valleys surrounded her: for indeed penitents, rosy with shame, and the innocent, lilied with virginal chastity, circled adoring her. And so after Matins few ran back to the study of lessons, fewer to bed, and very many remained watching to pray. But when it grew light, and the signal was given for the celebration of Masses, scarcely was one found who did not cleanse his conscience by confession before Mass. Then very many ran together to one priest for the sake of serving, and there was among them a holy contention as to who should above all assist the priest in so sacred an office ^c.

ANNOTATA.

CHAPTER XXIII.

The Order of Preachers illustrious for the great piety of the first Brethren, the singular care of the Mother of God, certain revelations, and charity toward the neighbor.

After such great labors spent in the divine Offices, bread and food and drink were generally lacking to those about to go to refreshment. The austere abstinence of the first Preachers, Nevertheless the kindness of Christ provided, whether wonderfully through the merits of the fathers, or mercifully from the alms of the faithful, that nothing should be lacking to those trusting in Him. And although the conventual table was of itself sparing and sober enough, yet the sobriety of certain men and their added abstinence adorned it: for one, abstaining from drink for eight days, did not drink; another diluted the savor of the food by pouring cold water over it. Many also, lest they should incur a mark of singularity, abstained now from one food, then from another, withdrawing some things from what was offered them. Another stood through all Lent drinking only once a day, nor did he speak unless asked something by someone.

[266] But in the Convent, so many others ran together in a throng to help those who were to read and to serve their fraternal charity, as the most faithful are wont to do for their friends about to engage in battle. Assuredly so great was the devotion in these services of piety, and so great the cheerfulness of heart, that they seemed to serve not men, but angels; and some felt so great a sweetness that out of the jubilation of their heart they even secretly kissed the dishes. Besides, how great was the readiness in the offices of fraternal charity, who will be able to recount? For in relieving the necessities of sick Brethren the compassion of all was very merciful, and the consolation of word and work unwearied and effective.

[267] In the receiving of those who came from their labors

there was a very affectionate and charitable joyfulness, their great hospitality toward pilgrims, into whose service the Brethren everywhere thrust themselves, and humbly cast themselves down to wash their feet. Accordingly, if anyone could be sweeter in compassion for the sick, more glad in the reception of guests, more humble in washing feet, more sedulous in conventual services, he reckoned himself the happier before the Lord. They frequently took off their tunics, capes, and scapulars, stripping themselves, and gave them to pilgrim Brethren or to those in need on some other occasion. Several also of the Brethren, not content with the harshness of the regular habit, secretly clothed in hair-shirts, afflicted their own flesh, and girded their loins over the bare skin with iron girdles.

VI.

[268] Amid these aforesaid rigors of the outward man and of bodily affliction — what is greater — and their immaculate purity of life, the truth of the virtues in this Religion stood out clean and immaculate, and the purity of innocence. For indeed, as a holy Brother and a great man reported, it was ascertained that within a short time he had heard the general confession of a hundred Brethren who, whole in mind and body alike, had preserved virginal chastity ^a. If one priest deserved to experience in confession the chastity of so many holy men, how much and how great a sanctity do you think lies hidden in the whole Order? Assuredly from the flowering garden of the Order of Preachers, planted by the hand of the Virgin Mother, her Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the flower, gathers these lilies. Into this garden, sown with royal cultivation and hand, the Queen of the world, accompanied by heavenly nobles and virgins, going forth to take her delight, roots out the offshoots of vices, planting the shoots of all virtues and sowing the seeds, pouring down from above the droppings of grace. Here with her Son, the Bridegroom of the Church, and His companions, abounding in delights, she is delighted by the comeliness of the flowers, the sweetness of the odors, and the fullness of the savors. By flowers I mean sacred morals, by odors prayers, by savors the consolations of the spirit.

[269] on account of which the Mother of God cherished this Order with singular care, Refreshed with these things from this garden and filled with delights, the delicate Virgin gladly and frequently walks through it, and, enclosed by God's guardianship, diligently surrounds and protects it: for she has deigned to show her presence not only to the highest and loftiest cedars of this garden, namely St. Dominic, and sweet Jordan, and most learned Reginald, as has been said; but she has also not refused to visit with manifest face the myrtle and the hyssop, the rose, the lily, the violet, and the nard. This gardener, appearing visibly to the Brethren in labors, in temptations, in perils, and when set at the end of life, took away weariness, wavering, anguish, and fear; and likewise to those placed in choir, in cells, in the dormitory, at Compline, and on a journey, she infuses joy and consolation by her presence — all which things are reserved for another time and work. Yet one thing concerning the solicitous guardianship of this garden, which is the dearer as it is the stranger, I shall recount.

[270] as she showed by appearing to a certain woman, A certain devout woman in Lombardy ^b, leading a solitary life, hearing that a new Order of Preachers had arisen, longed to see some of them. And it happened that two Brethren passed through those parts preaching; who, turning aside to her, addressed her after the manner of the Brethren with sacred words. And when she had asked who they were and of what Order, they answered that they were of the new Order of Preachers. And she, considering them handsome and in a comely habit, and young, despised them, judging that they could not thus remain unblemished in this wicked world. To whom on the following night the blessed Virgin Mother of God, standing by with a troubled face, said: Since yesterday you have grievously offended me. Do you not believe that I can guard my young servants unharmed, as they run through the world for the salvation of souls? But that you may know that I have taken them into my special guardianship, behold, I show you those whom yesterday you presumed to despise: and lifting her mantle she showed her a great multitude of Brethren, and those whom she had despised among them. Then the holy woman, stricken with compunction, loved the Brethren thenceforth from her inmost heart, and recounted these things in order.

[271] she who had despised these unknown clients of the most blessed Virgin. Indeed the mantle of the Virgin Mother of God is the notable habit of the sacred Order of Preachers, which if we wear with religious charity in true humility, we assuredly, protected under the wings of that same Virgin, dwell in the help of the Most High. So great therefore was the devotion of all the Brethren toward this Mary, the Mother of God, so wonderful the diligence in her reverence and pious in the honoring of her praise, so sedulous and fervent their prayer to her and their affection of holy love, so great and faithful their confidence in her patronage, and so insatiable their suspension in contemplating her, that human speech does not avail to set these things forth. And so they had in their little cells and dwellings depicted images of the Virgin with her Son, and of the Crucified hanging on the wood, the sight of which might rouse a drowsing memory and strengthen the outward sense with spiritual vigor against vain and slippery things.

VII.

[272] It happened also at that time, when the Convent of the Brethren at Bologna was already more numerous, [The bishop of Porto esteems the Order of Preachers greatly, by words found by chance,] that a certain legate of the Apostolic See, namely the bishop of Porto, Conrad by name, a religious man of the Cistercian Order, had come to Bologna ^c. He, coming into the Convent of the Preachers, was received with due honor. But a certain thought of hesitation about this Order was agitating his mind, namely what such a new and unwonted Religion might mean, and whether it were of men or of God. And a chair being placed for him, sitting in the church of the Brethren, he asked for some book, and a Missal was brought to him: which, making the sign of the cross, he opened, and in the upper part of the first leaf he read: TO PRAISE, TO BLESS, AND TO PREACH. Gladdened by this as by an answer sent from heaven, being now certain, he cast off every scruple of ambiguity. Then, embracing the Brethren as with his whole bowels, he said: I indeed, although outwardly I bear the habit of another profession, yet inwardly bear yours in my mind; nor let it be doubtful to you that I am wholly yours. I am of your Order: I commit myself to you with all devotion.

[273] Well indeed are praising, blessing, and preaching fitted by a divine oracle to the men of this Religion, which expressed their chief office, in whose mouth the praise of the Lord ever resounds, and all the day they bless Him, preaching His power and greatness to the peoples. For indeed those four holy mystical living creatures, described in the vision of the prophet Ezekiel and in the Apocalypse of John the apostle as a figure of the Preachers, do not cease day and night to cry HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, because the holy Preachers do not cease to praise, to bless, and to preach the magnificence of the divine Majesty: for the Holy Spirit had infused into their hearts the grace of an admirable fervor, so that with pious desire they sought to announce the word of God to the faithful and to preach Jesus Christ. And because they knew that the Order was founded chiefly for preaching and for the salvation of souls, some, moved by a simple zeal, did not go gladly to take food unless they had first preached the word of the Lord to several, or at least to one. Truly these preached with the Apostle, not that they might eat; but they ate, that they might preach. I will set down here some things which the Lord deigned to reveal concerning these holy Preachers.

VIII.

[274] In those days there was in Tuscany, in the monastery of St. Galgano of the Cistercian Order, a monk and Christ commended the same Order at the prayers of a pious monk, by name James, of much simplicity and grace and fame, to whom the Lord frequently showed His presence in prayers: to whom two Brethren of the Order of Preachers, coming thither, most devoutly commended themselves and the whole Order. Praying therefore after Matins, while he was thinking how he should pray for the Preachers, the Lord appeared to him, saying: Brother James, receive these prayers, and pray thus for the Preachers ^d. Which the devout man, grasping with his understanding, published, and the Apostolic authority confirmed them and granted them to be used in the Office of the Mass: for that monk was acceptable on account of his holiness, and was rather often called to the Roman court.

[275] This simple and upright man, while he was rather frequently present at the sermons of a certain Brother, who also saw the Mother of God suggesting words to a certain Preacher, by the Lord's revelation saw that the blessed Mother of God, the virgin Mary, held an open book before his face, from the reading of which the whole course of that preaching ran on. Hearing also the sermon of another Preacher, speaking on an unforeseen subject, that same chosen man saw the blessed Virgin graciously standing by, who cast words into the Brother's mouth, and ministered by the gift of her bounty each thing that he uttered. There followed from these sayings of the Preachers much salvation of souls, since assuredly the Mother of the Word ministered the word with much power to those preaching the Gospel. Accordingly that holy man loved the Order and followed the Brethren, wishing that all of his own Order and other lettered clerics were joined to the Order of Preachers, that they might spend their care upon the salvation of souls ^e.

[276] when the Brethren then with fervent sermons Now preaching was then fervent, continual, and willing, and they announced the word of the Lord with desire, ardently, and frequently. God therefore, who was pleased by the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe, supplied by the effect of grace in them the lack of knowledge, so that they might win many to salvation and provoke them to do penance. Going out to preach, they carried only the Gospel of blessed Matthew with the seven Canonical epistles. For our divine father Dominic had by a provident dispensation decreed that these should be carried, so that the preaching of his sons might both be strengthened by evangelical truth and confirmed by Apostolic authority. Thus the simple sons of God, contemning the knowledge of the princes of this world, which is destroyed and which puffs up, went forth through charity, which builds up, and through the knowledge of the Saints, which makes the wise of men most foolish*, and bore fruit, and their fruit remains. The mind of the preachers burned within itself with the fire of divine love, and therefore the words proceeding thence inflamed others.

[277] [and by the pious example of their life sought everywhere the salvation of their neighbor,] Nor did the ardor sparkle only in speech; nay, it blazed more in action: for when in general or provincial Chapters mention was made of Brethren to be sent overseas or to the Tartars, or indeed to other barbarous nations, how many offered themselves, with prostrations* and many tears and most devout prayers, no one avails to recount ^f: for there blazed in them a glorious ardor for the salvation of their neighbor and for the attaining of martyrdom. This fire of His love, sent upon the earth, the Savior had then kindled in the hearts of this Congregation, willing that it should burn and kindle, and be a great light and illumination of the darknesses of this world. They went therefore girded with virtues, burning with the flames of the Holy Spirit: for their appearance was as of burning coals of fire, and with the fiery utterance of God they vehemently kindled cold sinners to the grace of compunction, enlightening the devout, purer in mind, and were borne upward by the flame, higher than the rest in humility.

[278] which zeal the author wishes to grow hot again. O would that that fiery sun of fervor might shine forth, which now, alas, is under a cloud, and might devour us when kindled, as the fire sent from heaven of old consumed the mystical holocaust of the holy fathers! O Lord God, pour that thick water of Your blessing, conceived in the hidden place of the sacred fire, over those long since dry

and cold stones of greater dignity in this structure, so that the flame kindled from them may irradiate the darkened and rekindle the lukewarm, that, as of old, they may serve You with fervor and burn in Your love!

ANNOTATA.

* Here something seems to be lacking.

* that is, genuflections

CHAPTER XXIV.

Some miracles wrought through the intercession of St. Dominic before he was solemnly enrolled in the catalogue of the Saints.

Part VII.

Chap. I.

Meanwhile, while that holy father Jordan and other devout Brethren, like radiant stars, as has been said, Among the miracles proved before the Roman Pontiff were illuminating with the light of their preaching and the example of the manner of life they had adopted the still pilgrim church in the darknesses of this world, that glorious man, now shining in the kingdom of eternal brightness, breathing forth like a sun the fiery rays of charity, the most blessed Dominic scattered the flashes of benefits, and, unceasingly sending forth by his power the glittering lightnings of miracles, poured admiration and love and astonishment into the hearts of the faithful; who, just as, placed in this mortality, he never closed the bosom of charity to any, so now, made drunk at the fount of piety, he grants to all who invoke him what they desire, exalted by the power of His Majesty, by whose power through his merits health is restored to the sick, light to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to the mute, walking to the lame, and the limbs also of mortals — loosened by paralysis, useless from withering, monstrous from contraction, foul with a flux of putrefaction, languid with fevers, and diseased with various infirmities — are made firm with the remedies of the health desired: of which several, sifted by diligent inquiry, were recited before the lord Pope Gregory IX and approved by him.

II.

[280] A certain scholar, by name Nicholas of Bosco, there occurs the healing of Nicholas the Englishman, an Englishman of the diocese of Worcester* ^a, living at Bologna, vexed with a grave pain of the kidneys and knees from the feast of St. Michael until Pentecost, could neither rise by himself nor move about the house without a staff or the support of another's help. At length, the trouble of the disease growing strong, for fifteen days he did not rise from his bed. But also his left thigh, wasted with a vehement leanness, withered so far that all hope of cure departed from him according to the judgments of the physicians: for although very many remedies of medicine were applied, nothing profited him; but he was rather the worse.

[281] who was at once freed from a grave disease by the invocation of St. Dominic. And so, destitute of human help, he devoted himself to Christ the Lord and to blessed Dominic. Wishing also as a sign of devotion to offer a candle according to the measure of his own size, he began with a tow thread, of which the candle was to be made, to measure the length and thickness of his body. And when he had measured himself lengthwise, and had also girded his head and neck, and breast, then his loins and thighs, and at last his knee with the encircling thread, invoking at each measuring the name of Jesus Christ and of blessed Dominic, immediately feeling himself relieved, he exclaimed: I am freed. And rising he wept for joy, and running without a staff or any support he came without needing a conveyance to the church where the body of blessed Dominic rested. And the church was distant from his lodging about as far as a bow can shoot. He departed therefore restored to his former health, giving thanks to the name of Christ and bearing witness to the holiness of blessed Dominic ^b.

[282] Many others A certain girl of Bologna, by name Thomasina, suffered for fifteen days a grave and almost incurable disease in her left jaw. And since her ulcerated face was befouled with much matter of putrefaction, it seemed impossible that it should not be disfigured with some scar or deforming blemish. Various remedies of medicine therefore having been tried in vain, at the invocation of blessed Dominic she obtained the benefit of health: for on the morning of the following day not even a trace of the disease remained in her face, except a certain redness presenting no deformity at all, but only commending the memory of so great a miracle.

A certain lady of Bologna, Hilla by name, for eight years had utterly lost the strength of her right side from the girdle downward, so that she could move neither foot nor leg, unless perhaps with her hands, as a piece of wood. She, blessed Dominic being invoked, health being straightway received, was free of all disease, giving thanks to God.

[283] of both sexes A certain young man of Manzelino, by name Manfredinus, from the feast of St. Agatha until the feast of Pentecost, deprived of the strength of all his limbs, could neither walk by himself, nor lie upon his side, nor sit on the ground unless another set him down, nor raise himself unless another drew him. His own legs also he carried uselessly and as if they were another's. He, when he had found the medicaments applied to him empty and harmful, invoked blessed Dominic, and immediately obtained the gift of perfect health.

A certain woman Ghislina ^c, dwelling at Mansolinum, from the beginning of Lent until the translation of blessed Dominic, held by a grave infirmity of the whole body, had lost the use and equally the feeling of her left arm, which was so deadened and utterly withered that she could not feel even a wound inflicted in it for the sake of bleeding, and it emitted no blood from that wound: and that arm was thinner than the right, because a long disease had exceedingly wasted it. As soon as she devoted herself to blessed Dominic, she at once carried off the benefit of a perfect cure.

Another woman also dwelling at Mansolinum, by name Menatheta, had already for the space of a year been deprived of the use of her lip, so that she could neither speak nor take food without great difficulty, because that lip had swollen enormously and hung down as if dead. She invoked the help of blessed Dominic, and was straightway restored to the health long since lost. Nor is it a wonder if he heals the lips of the body, by whose lips the plagues of the mind were often cured.

[284] A certain Cambrius by name, of Bacicoribus at Pragatuli, and of various ages while he was cleaning a threshing floor, could not cast out an awn that had entered his throat and clung there. At length, weighed down for eight days with a grave pain of the throat, for four days, as the trouble increased, he neither took food nor uttered speech. And when he could not be helped by the remedy of medicine, at the invocation of blessed Dominic he was at once restored to health.

A certain woman, by name Joanna, having for five years scrofulous swellings and glandular swellings under her armpit, and blisters also about the breasts on the right side, with a very foul matter flowing down, was afflicted with a very grave pain, so that she could not even lie upon her right side. Her also, at the invocation of St. Dominic, the mercy of Jesus Christ immediately freed.

A certain woman, Joanna by name, from beyond the mountains, straightway received back the use of a finger lost for twenty years (for it had been incurably withered and contracted) by the devout invocation of St. Dominic.

A certain man by name Rafanelus, ruptured in the groin, the intestines also descending into the private parts, being vehemently afflicted, blessed Dominic being invoked, was immediately freed.

[285] Before the translation of the body of blessed Dominic a certain boy, afflicted with grave by name Petriolus, having suffered a rupture in the groin, for two years carried his intestines flowing down into the sac ^d; and since he could be cured by no work of physicians, his mother invoking blessed Dominic, beyond hope he recovered the health long despaired of.

To be added to these things, to the praises of the holy Man and for the crushing of the jaws of the reviling wicked one, is that a certain woman, by name Geyla, at Imola was pressed by a grave pain of the teeth. And so, driven by the stings of a most vehement torment, she could neither rest nor take sleep in her eyes; but like one frenzied she wailed with continual cries. But a vow being made to blessed Dominic, she obtained soundness in a moment.

III.

[286] But a certain young man also, by name Germinianus, held for four years and more by a grave sickness, or with incurable evils, so that, the hairs having fallen from his head and matter flowing down, he presented the tokens of a most grievous affliction, obtained by the merits of blessed Dominic the benefit of health: for since he could not be helped by physicians, blessed Dominic being invoked from afar, he was shortly cured of the disease.

Another also, by name Marsilius, despairing of his life, vexed with a continual fever and a grave pain of the breast, and as it were already set at the last limit of his life, commending himself to blessed Dominic, at once grew well, all marveling at the suddenness of the unhoped-for health.

[287] the help of St. Dominic being implored, A certain scholar, by name William, of the castle of Vaur* in the diocese of Toulouse, studying at Bologna, grievously tormented with a double tertian fever, when he had already fallen into despair of recovering a remedy of health, coming to the church of St. Nicholas, lay upon the stone placed over the tomb of blessed Dominic, and, health being immediately received, he rose up.

A certain woman, by name Bona-filia, was not moderately burdened with a swelling of the nose and upper lip: for the disease which had arisen, which is called the fig ^e, had so inflated her lip and nose that a thickness like that of a hen's egg overhung her mouth, and it exhaled a horrible stench. Having endured this evil, therefore, for two years, and never profiting by the help of physicians, she approached blessed Dominic with prayers, and immediately obtained the health long desired.

A certain boy, John by name, lay for three days with a most grave infirmity; and when the tokens of death evidently appeared, and all skilled in the art of medicine despaired of his life, his mother sought blessed Dominic, and, the boy being called back from the very gates of death, soon received him unharmed.

[288] or by a vow being uttered, A certain woman, by name Corthesina, broken by a grave infirmity for a year and a half and more, when she was almost deprived of the use of her limbs and rendered utterly useless, so that she could not perform any work — an invocation being made to blessed Dominic, she was immediately freed and recovered the strength and use of her body.

A certain boy, by name Henry, lying for eight days and more with a most grave sickness, could no longer speak, nor was he able to take food or drink, and his whole body, now almost frozen with a deadly chill, presented an evident token of near death. All therefore despairing of his safety, blessed Dominic was invoked, and health suddenly returned.

Another boy also, by name Petrinus, occupied for fifteen days and more with the troubles of a most grave infirmity, pitiably troubled the sight of those who beheld him: for from the navel downward he was inflated with a grave swelling, and was made powerless over himself, so that he could neither go nor stand, nor in any way help himself. Nor was there anyone who saw him who did not reckon him as one of the dead. But a vow being made to blessed Dominic, against the hope of all he obtained a swift effect of health.

[289] through the intercession of the same Saint Nor is the wonderful cure of the boy Rudolf to be passed over in silence, to the glory of Him who knows how to perfect praise out of the mouth of infants, that He may destroy the enemy, the defender of his own perfidy: for the said boy, languishing for three weeks and more, was evidently and, according to the reasoning of lower nature, irrevocably drawing near to the gates of death. At length for eight days he could neither take food nor suck the breast; and that little body was worn out with the utmost leanness and so destitute of natural heat that there was no one who trusted that he would return to the present life. But a vow being made for his health by his parents to blessed Dominic, they found him straightway freed.

That also is to be blotted out by no forgetfulness which a man by name Andulfus of Mazanellum experienced in himself, a miracle wrought: for, weighed down for a month and more with a very dangerous swelling of an abscess, he was judged by all who saw him about to die of the burden of that evil: for that abscess was greatly swollen on the inner part of the right side under the armpit, nor did it seem that any medicine could help him. But when, a vow being made, blessed Dominic was invoked, the power of God, the worker of health, was at once present: for straightway the sore subsided, and he of whose life men despaired escaped a sound man.

IV.

[290] Let these things also be written for another generation, that the people suddenly and wonderfully which shall be created may praise the Lord in Dominic His servant, and none the less may extol Dominic with praises in the Lord, who opens the mouth of the mute and makes the tongues of infants eloquent. Two boys, therefore, sons of a certain Albert of Casmatum*, remained mute from birth; one being of an age above five and a half, the other above three and a half years. But a vow being made, their father invoked blessed Dominic, and at once to both was divinely given the function of ready speech, and a new word broke an old silence.

To this is added also the speech of the girl Bertha, long lost indeed, but restored with wonderful swiftness: for her tongue, shattered across the throat by the blow of a butting ox, uselessly occupied the enclosure of a mute mouth, and, pressed with a forced silence, could form no words at all. But blessed Dominic being invoked, she made a vow, and recovered both the soundness and the use of her tongue.

[291] Nor indeed is that abundant and evident proof of holiness to be passed over, recovered the health they desired. that by the merits of blessed Dominic not only is health restored to the sick, walking to the lame, speech to the mute, but also light to the blind, and hearing to the deaf: for a certain woman, Druda by name, deprived of the light of her eyes, endured for three years and more the loss of sight taken away, nor could she be helped by the application of any medicament. But blessed Dominic being invoked, she made a vow, and at once received the light of her eyes.

But a certain girl, Gilborga by name, had fallen into deafness, so that for a month and more she could understand or hear nothing at all. Her mother therefore, crying to blessed Dominic, deserved to be heard, and obtained hearing for her daughter.

Likewise a certain woman, by name Riochaldina of Serra, of the diocese of Imola, for a year and more endured the disadvantages of so great a deafness that she perceived nothing by hearing unless someone shouted loudly over her into her ears. Blessed Dominic therefore being invoked by her, both lent his ears to her clamorous prayers and restored hearing to her deaf ears ^f.

ANNOTATA.

* elsewhere: Wigamensis

* elsewhere: a man

* elsewhere: the leg-guards

* elsewhere: Vaur

* elsewhere: Casinatum

CHAPTER XXV.

The translation of the sacred body to a more honorable place, and in that translation the most fragrant odor perceived by all the bystanders.

And so, as such evident miracles increased throughout all Italy through the merits of the holy confessor Dominic, Brother Stephen, who had been called to the Order in a wonderful manner, the devotion of the faithful judged it fitting reverently to transfer his body, first laid in a lowly place, to a higher place with due honor: for it was unworthy that the earth should cover, subject to human feet, the bones of him whose soul, already raised to the ethereal seats, reigned in heaven. There was then Prior Provincial of Lombardy Br. Stephen, a strenuous and proved man, whom blessed Dominic, while he studied at Bologna, had had in confession as a special and beloved son. To him, as he supped one evening with his companions, the holy Father sent two Brethren, saying: Brother Dominic bids you come to him at once. To whom he answered: When I have supped, I will come to him. Nay, said they, come at once. And rising, leaving all things, he came to him. And he found him with many Brethren, and the holy Father said: Instruct him how to make a prostration; and, the prostration being made, he handed himself into his hands, and he clothed him with the habit of the Friars Preachers, saying: I wish to give you arms with which you must fight all the time of your life against the devil, your enemy ^a. This was done by the Lord, and it was wonderful in his eyes: for the holy Father had discussed nothing about it with him.

[293] resolved to transfer the Saint's body to a more honored place, Drawn therefore by the holy Father out of this wicked world and joined to the fellowship of the good, the faithful son now repays the Father in turn, laboring and striving that he may be transferred from the reproach of mortality and enrolled in the catalogue of the Saints. For by his ordinance the day and manner of transferring the most sacred body of the most holy Confessor was appointed, and was attended with most celebrated devotion: for to the general Chapter which had then to be celebrated a copious multitude of Brethren had flowed together, among whom Br. Nicholas of Juvenacium, illustrious in virtue and repute, while he intently pondered whether the Lord would deign to exalt His Saint in this translation with some miracles, a certain one standing by said to him in a vision: This man shall receive a blessing from the Lord, and mercy from God his savior.

VI.

[294] But the aforesaid Prior of the province of Lombardy, Stephen, and before very many witnesses, both of the household and strangers, and the other Brethren of the Convent of Bologna, considering the lowly and depressed place of the tomb, where rainwaters had flowed together, and at the same time fearing the condition of human misery, if any corruption should exhale, were disposing to make the translation secretly, but were by no means able: for the Almighty was unwilling that His own glory and that of His Saint should be hidden; but by the command of the Podestà many honored citizens of Bologna, before the tomb was opened, guarded it for several days, fearing lest it should be stolen from them, and they should lose this priceless treasure.

[295] At the appointed hour, therefore, those who were reckoned worthy and fit to carry out and to behold this most sacred work came together; namely the lord archbishop of Ravenna and several other bishops, and also the Master of the Order, sweet father Jordan, with the definitors of the Chapter, and the Podestà also with many men of Bologna, and not a few honored citizens of other cities, with Brethren and clerics and laymen were present, and, surrounding the tomb of the kindly Confessor, stood about it: in the presence of all whom Br. Stephen the Prior provincial, and Brother Rudolf with other Brethren, approaching to open the tomb, found the earth most hard and the cement most strong, as having been made solid now for thirteen years. Yet they dug with picks and iron instruments; and with iron hammers Br. Rudolf broke the wall of the tomb, which he had ordered to be made very strong. Yet scarcely, with great difficulty, did they lift with iron bars the stone placed over the monument.

VII.

[296] The stone therefore being thus lifted, there came forth a sweet and delightful odor, from which came forth a most sweet fragrance of odor, so that not so much a tomb as a storeroom of spices seemed to have been opened; and it was so great and immense that it filled the senses of all who were present and the whole church, unknown and unlike every natural thing, and surpassing all spices. Then the archbishop with the bishops and all who were present, filled with astonishment and joy, prostrated themselves to the ground with devotion and tears, praising the Lord, who so magnificently glorified His Saint. And when the great upper stone was wholly rolled away, they found a wooden chest, carefully closed with nails

of iron and secured, in which the most sacred lifeless body had lain: and when it was disclosed, the sweet and good odor was also enlarged, and the bystanders, bowing themselves, kissed the chest, and there was a rush of a river and of tears, gladdening the city of God. Then, the iron nails being drawn out with which the chest had been secured, an inestimable odor breathed forth from the most sacred bones. Then Master Jordan and the other Brethren, with much devotion and reverence taking the sacred bones from the old chest, placed them in the new one which they had prepared, and, it being closed and secured with a key which the Podestà of Bologna held, and which the same Master and the Provincial Stephen hold, they carried it before all as far as the marble tomb.

VIII.

[297] When morning came, in the presence of the archbishop and the other bishops with the Brethren and many others, the chest was opened and unfastened again, which all present perceived, pouring forth its former odor, and by the hands of the bishops the chest with the sacred bones was laid in the new tomb, secured with bolts and keys. Then indeed on the eighth day after, the Podestà of Bologna with many honored citizens, at the instance of those who had not been present at the translation, opened the tomb again, so that the most sacred relics might be seen by devout sons. Then the sweet Master of the Order, Jordan, holding in his most pure hands the head of his most pious predecessor St. Dominic, offered it to the sons to be kissed. There were three hundred and more Brethren who, approaching this kiss of holiness, sensibly perceived that indescribable odor of sweetness of which we have spoken. And that sacred odor afterward remained for a long time in the former tomb, and in the things placed in it, and also in the garments and hands of those who had touched the holy relics, and to this day it wonderfully persists in the bones. And this translation was made in the year of the Lord one thousand two hundred thirty-three, in the sixth Indiction, in the sixth year of the Pontificate of the lord Gregory IX, in the eleventh year of Frederick, emperor of the Romans, in the seventeenth year from the confirmation of the Order; and in the thirteenth year from the passing of the blessed Dominic himself ^b. Blessed be God in all things. Amen.

IX.

[298] It is delightful to linger a little in recapitulating, and to recall by contemplating, that immaculate body and the manifold grace of healings on occasion of which odor the author digresses which this flower-bearing and odor-bearing and health-bearing translation of our Father sets before us. For indeed his virginal body, which had remained uncorrupted in unblemished integrity, whence so wondrous a fragrance of odor flowed, had been an organ of the Holy Spirit and the alabaster jar of a salutary ointment, a storeroom of virtues, a repository of graces; which, while the vital spirit quickened it in this world, flourished with a most gracious manner of life, was fragrant with the sweet perfume of good repute, put forth leaves with the word of preaching, withered in a precious death, and blossomed again in its translation, filling the outward senses with a wondrous odor, gladdening hearts, and healing languishing limbs: and that odor was so great and so wonderful that with an unwonted fragrance it surpassed all spices, nor did it seem like the odor of any natural thing: for that odor did not proceed from earth or earthly spices, nor naturally, but supernaturally and divinely did so sweet a fragrance flow from the bones and dust of a dead man.

[299] to the praising of the virtues of his holy Father, O glorious tomb, in which so precious a treasure of an immaculate body lay hidden, in which so holy a Father rested from his labors, from which breathes so sweet a delight of odor, and from which flows forth so wonderful and various a health for the sick! For he entered the tomb in abundance, and therefore the delights of graces overflow and stream forth from it to the faithful: for that delightful and divine odor had suffused not only the dust of the virginal body and the most sacred bones with the chest, but also clung so to whatever was heaped about it that, carried to distant regions, it retained the sacred odor for a long time. To the hands also of the Brethren who touched anything of the most sacred relics that fragrance so clung that, however much they were washed or rubbed, they kept a most sweet fragrance. In which matter it is to be weighed how immense are the delights which that spirit enjoys in heaven, whose body, still lying in the dust, is fragrant with so great a sweetness. For assuredly, while he yet lived, he had built in the temple of his body a golden altar to the Lord, upon which he continually kindled the incense of holy desires and the frankincense of sweet prayers; whose most sweet odor, ascending in the sight of the majesty, sprinkled the supercelestial citizens with wondrous fragrances. The Lord therefore, having smelled the sweetness of the odor, poured over the bones of the most faithful Preacher and most holy Confessor the blessing of this inestimable fragrance. And behold, a good odor was made in every place of His dominion, and all the faithful run in the odor of those salutary ointments, some receiving the benefits of health of spirit, others of body.

[300] There now comes to mind a remarkable miracle of the odor-bearing holiness of this glorious Father, and to the narrating of a miracle which happened in his life, which the Lord deigned to work by his hand while he was still in the flesh. For a certain scholar, foul with the slipperiness of carnal concupiscence, came on a solemn feast to hear a sermon and Mass at the Brethren's at Bologna; who, while St. Dominic was celebrating Mass, as he approached to make his offering, perceived in kissing his sacred hand so great a fragrance of most sweet odor as he had never felt in his life. A thing wonderful enough concerning the odor perceived; but more to be wondered at concerning the slipperiness of the flesh restrained in the man: for, as he confessed, that fragrance of divine odor wrought such a temperance of the flesh in him that afterward continence was easy for him, which before had seemed impossible ^c. If from the still-closed vessel so effective and so healthful a sweetness of odor burst forth, what wonder that from the broken and opened mouth of that alabaster jar of so many spiritual ointments there now flows forth, with the delight of odor, the curing of infirmities? For many of the people, running together in the odor of this poured-out ointment, received benefits of health. Truly altogether renowned is the tomb which for so long a time cherished the limbs of the most sacred body, from which so sweet a fragrance overflows; whence hearts are set aflame, languishing bodies are restored, and the heraldings of Christ are spread abroad.

[301] To this translation, therefore, of the most sacred bones of our most blessed father Dominic, beloved of God, there had come together with all reverence of devotion the great father, namely the lord archbishop of Ravenna; and at the same time he enumerates those who were present at this translation, and also the venerable men, the bishops of Salunnum, of Bologna, of Brescia, and of Cornatum. There was present also the most sweet and most happy and most worthy successor of that same holy father Dominic, Br. Jordan, Master of the Order, with the definitors of the Chapter and a devout multitude of Brethren; there stood by also reverently the Podestà of Bologna with his knights. All these, suffused with the blessing of a heavenly gift, when that inestimable treasure of the virginal body was dug out, rejoiced vehemently, finding the tomb endowed with such cleanness and sprinkled with so sweet a fragrance, and moreover filled with the magnificence of a heavenly power. Then the Brethren wept, and all devoted to God, out of the exultation of their heart and the joy of their spirit. The clergy jubilated and the people cried out together with a voice of exultation, and there resounded in the mouth of all thanksgiving and a voice of praise. And all were astounded and marveled that from the tomb the grace of the Holy Spirit was poured forth in a most sweet odor, and the tomb of a dead man was made a paradise of delights, a bed of spices, and a repository of aromatics. For assuredly this memorable translation was made in the days of Pentecost, when the grace of the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the Apostles, namely on the third day of the week, so that, as He then inflamed to love through fire, so now He might invite to grace through odor.

[302] And so, the most sacred relics being placed in an honorable place, which a great fruit of preachings followed. each returned to his own, praising Jesus Christ together in His servant, holy Dominic. So great at that time was the grace of preaching and the efficacy of so many wonderful works, not only in Italy but also in other provinces, through the Brethren of the Order, by the merits of this holy Father, that the whole world was astounded and blazed up into love and praise of the Savior: for Br. John Vincent ^d, assuredly a devout man, everywhere an excellent preacher of God, a son of the aforesaid Order, then began to glitter about Bologna with glorious miracles, so far that by the power of faith through mediating grace he raised ten dead men: and two hundred other admirable miracles the Lord deigned powerfully and mercifully to work through him: for after that same Br. John began to preach the revelation divinely made to him concerning the holy father Dominic, and to announce to the people his life and the holiness of his manner of living, and after Br. Stephen the Prior provincial began to treat of the translation of his most sacred body, from then a fuller grace of blessing manifestly shone forth both in the Brethren who preached these things and in the hearers: for in the cities of Lombardy a very great multitude of heretics unwilling to repent was burned with fire, and more than a hundred thousand men, who did not know whether they ought to adhere to the Roman Church or to the heretics, were converted to the Catholic faith through the Preachers; now they persecute the heretics and abominate those whom formerly they defended. Almost all the cities also of Lombardy and of the March hand over their affairs and statutes into the hands of the Brethren, to be ordered by their counsels and judgment. Concerning the rooting out of wars also and the composing of discords, concerning usuries and the restoring of ill-gotten goods, they submit themselves to the judgment of the Brethren ^e. These admirable things — the grace which is in the hearts of the faithful, and the astounding wonders of God which glittered throughout the world — came to the Apostolic hearing.

ANNOTATA.

* elsewhere: of Sabina

* elsewhere: of Tornatum

CHAPTER XXVI.

A summary of the juridical report of nine sworn witnesses concerning the Saint's virtues which they had seen, and some miracles which occurred about the time of this examination.

In the same year, therefore, in which the body of the holy father Dominic was translated, Nine Brethren of the Order of Preachers, the supreme Pontiff, the lord Gregory IX, delegated by Apostolic authority as inquisitors the honorable men master Tancred, archdeacon of Bologna, and the Prior of St. Mary of Reno, and also Brother Palmerius of the church of Campagnola of the dioceses of Bologna and Reggio, that they should diligently investigate concerning the life, manner of living, passing, and miracles of the aforesaid Confessor. And Brother Philip of Vercelli of the Order of Preachers, legitimately appointed procurator of this matter by Brother Ventura the Prior and the Convent of Bologna of the same Order, brought forward for testimony Brethren gathered from various Convents, those who survived and who had deserved to be adorned with the familiar fellowship and friendship of that same St. Dominic; who assuredly, of unimpaired standing and beyond every exception,

as being priests, Religious, and holy men, swore before the aforesaid inquisitors that they would render testimony of the truth concerning those things which they saw and heard and at which they were present, in the year of the Lord one thousand two hundred thirty-three, in the sixth Indiction; whose testimonies Olderandus, son of the late Theobald, notary by imperial authority, received in the presence of the aforementioned inquisitors, and by their mandate reduced to public form and subscribed.

[304] These most illustrious men and most trustworthy witnesses, bearing witness to the father's holiness before the aforesaid lords, who had lived familiarly with St. Dominic, produced on single days as it were single legends, out of which for the greater part the present little work has been composed: for the praise and heralding of so great a holiness could not be set forth in very few words. Of their lengthy testifications, uttered concerning so lengthy a holiness, certain very few words are here set down by way of brief repetition, and from the widely spreading and verdant meadows certain little flowers are plucked for delight, so that by these succinct and abbreviated words the exceptional holiness of the humble man Br. Dominic, and the venerable authority of the process of the matter, and also the religious worth of the witnesses, may be more closely impressed upon the memories of all the faithful, and especially of his sons.

[305] In the year of the Lord MCCXXXIII, in the sixth Indiction, namely Br. Ventura and Br. William, on the sixth day entering of August, Br. Ventura, Prior of Bologna, a God-fearing and devout man, bore witness, saying: "St. Dominic, our father, was of great authority over the Order of Preachers confirmed by the Apostolic See, having the full power of that same See, relying on which he deprived the Order which he founded of every carnal convenience, and appointed that it should lack all earthly possessions held and to be held. Leading an immaculate and very strict life, he died a virgin, from whose tomb, at the translation of his body, a most sweet odor came forth, which lasted a long time before and after." On the same day Br. William, a prudent and steadfast man, testified, saying: "The holy Father was very religious, keeping the ecclesiastical and regular fasts in health and in sickness, applying himself to vigils and prayers, always keeping silence according to the Order; he remained a virgin. At the opening of his tomb I perceived a delightful and admirable odor."

[306] Br. Amizo and Br. Bonvisus, On the eighth day entering of August, Br. Amizo, a pious and modest man, Prior of Padua, spoke thus: "Master Dominic was a man humble, meek, patient, and kindly; quiet, peaceable, sober, modest, and very mature in all his acts and words; a pious consoler of all, especially of the Brethren; a chief cultivator of regular observance, the highest lover of poverty in food and clothing and buildings; from whose bones I perceived a sweet odor." On the ninth day entering of August, Kanevisus*, a good and devout man, said: "I heard the Man of God frequently at night in the church praying with a strong cry and tears, and beseeching the Lord with the greatest groaning. He loved Religious and all Religions. Going from land to land, he walked with bare feet. In the psalmody frequently, and in the office of the Mass always, tears ran down his face in such abundance that scarcely did one drop wait for another. I perceived a wondrous odor from his bones."

[307] Br. John and Br. Rudolf, On the tenth day entering of August, Br. John the Spaniard, one of the first, an experienced man, testifying said: "Our Father, a contemner of the world, refused when elected bishop; he founded the Order of Preachers, because he most ardently longed for the salvation of souls. Often and frequently he preached, and induced the Brethren to preach by what means he could, asking and exhorting that they should be solicitous for the salvation of souls. He persuaded the Brethren by words and letters to place their study firmly in both divine Testaments. He rarely spoke except of God. Abstinent, always praying with tears, he remained a virgin, desiring to die for the faith." On the thirteenth day entering of August, Br. Rudolf of France, chaplain of the church of St. Nicholas, a holy and good man, spoke thus: "Our Father frequently prayed in the church with much groaning and tears. The Saint of God, girded at the loins with an iron chain, slept on the ground clothed, as he went by day. He never spoke any idle or evil or harmful word. Preaching, he wept. He was religious and devout above all, cheerful, joyful, patient, merciful, and kindly, a consoler of the Brethren, desiring the salvation of all men. From his tomb there came forth an odor surpassing all spices."

[308] Br. Stephen, who was Prior Provincial of Lombardy, On the thirteenth day entering of August, Br. Stephen, Prior provincial of Lombardy, a reverend man, testified, saying: "After the prayer made in common by the Brethren, our holy father Dominic remained in the church, and praying he broke forth into such groaning and lamentation and movement that those sleeping nearby, roused from sleep, were moved to tears; and thus remaining until Matins, he none the less persisted in the Office, and, going round both sides of the choir, he beckoned that the Brethren should chant loudly, and sing the psalms with reverence. In preaching his words were so effective that they moved himself and others to weeping. While he celebrated Masses, his eyes and cheeks were bedewed with tears. He spurned possessions offered, the highest lover of poverty and zealot of the Order. I lifted his body from the earth, and with all who were present I perceived an inestimable sweetness of odor."

[309] On the thirteenth day Br. Paul of Venice, a prudent and just man, testified, saying: [Br. Paul and Br. Frigerius give testimonies concerning the virtues of their Founder,] "I did not hear an idle or malignant word proceed from the mouth of our holy Father. Loving poverty, he received bread from door to door as a poor man. He was always a virgin, and so excelled in all virtues that I do not believe there was a better man at that time; nor have I yet found his like. Just now, when I had come from Venice to Bologna to bear this testimony, a very great pain of the kidneys seized me, which used to afflict me for several days. Fearing therefore to be hindered in this holy act, praying at the Saint's tomb, I immediately obtained health." On the fourteenth day going out of August, Br. Frigerius of Penne, a humble and devout man, said: "Our holy Father was harsh to himself, keeping the fasts of the Order even on the road, and not taking food before the due hour, although he dispensed his companions. In summer and winter he was content with one tunic. From his confession I learned that he was never stained with a mortal crime; but always remained a virgin. Patient in tribulations, rejoicing in adversities, a merciful consoler of all, so adorned with all virtues that I have not known his like ^a."

[310] These are the disciples of the first master, blessed Dominic, [which being heard, the Pope resolved to enroll him in the catalogue of the Saints,] who bear witness of these things and have written these things, and we know that it is true (having indeed been done under oath), their conscience bearing them witness in the Holy Spirit, and their testimony was received and approved with effect by the Apostolic See. There is added to this the testimony of God, which is greater; namely the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, one God, who alone does great wonders, bears witness in the Church by signs and prodigies to the true holiness of His beloved servant Dominic. The supreme Pontiff therefore, who had known his holy manner of living in the Lord, and had bound him to himself with a special embrace of love while he yet lived, with equal devotion together with the Cardinals decreed to enroll the servant of Christ, Dominic, in the catalogue of the Saints in this Church militant, whom they most certainly knew to reign with them in the Church triumphant.

XI.

[311] In the year, therefore, of the Lord's Incarnation one thousand two hundred thirty-three, the Father of fathers, being at Perugia, which afterward he solemnly carried into execution. in the presence of archbishops and bishops and many other prelates of churches, with Brethren and peoples, named and invoked the faithful servant of Christ, humble Dominic, among the Saints of God, and commanded that his name be enrolled among the Saints, and his day celebrated by the universal Church. This office of canonization was solemnly consummated at Perugia by the lord Pope Gregory, Frederick, emperor of the Romans, reigning, in the eighteenth year from the confirmation of the Order of Preachers, in the thirteenth from the passing of the blessed Dominic himself, under the venerable and holy father Jordan, second Master of the Order of Preachers. Letters of the Apostolic See were also directed through all the kingdoms of the Church concerning the solemn canonization of this holy Father, in which the sincerity of his life and the sublimity of his glory is declared to all Christ's faithful ^b.

XII.

[312] There was at that time a certain Brother more than sixty years old in the Convent of Limoges, whom the holy father Dominic had commanded to be received into the Order. Meanwhile by the Saint's help a sixty-year-old Dominican He, before he was canonized, hearing the wonderful signs which the divine power was working at his tomb upon the sick, prostrating himself before the altar and praying humbly, said: Lord Jesus Christ, if these things are true, and if Your servant Dominic, through whom You called me to this Order, has any power, as I truly believe, I beseech You that by his merits You would deign to cure me of this shameful infirmity: for he was suffering the disease of hemorrhoids for many years. Being therefore at once healed, he gave thanks to God, nor was he ever afterward vexed by that infirmity, though he lived for seven years.

[313] twice recovers health, and a certain deaf nun her hearing, Afterward the same Brother, being placed in the Convent of Cahors, hearing that the holy Father had been canonized, when the Brethren, exulting for this, were singing the angelic hymn TE DEUM LAUDAMUS, the same old man with a humble heart said: O good father Dominic, free my old age also from this grave disease. This prayer being completed, he was immediately perfectly cured of a rupture which he had had for some years ^c.

In those same parts a certain nun who had been deaf for many years, when the miracles of the blessed father Dominic were known, devoutly invoking him, fully recovered her hearing ^d.

[314] the letters of canonization wonderfully remain dry in the waters, Brother ^e Bartholomew ^f, a very venerable man, crossing the sea, when he was carrying the letters of the canonization of the blessed father Dominic directed to the regions overseas, it happened that the ship, by the force of the winds and a tempest, suffered the loss of being broken against a certain harbor. Whence all the things which were joined above and below the letters were totally spoiled by the water; but the letters of the sacred canonization were harmed in no part of them, but remained entirely unblemished, although they could have been destroyed by the mere contact of things wet with water. But they were preserved by a miracle of God, lest those peoples should be deprived of the Saint's patronage, and that Christ might be magnified in him.

[315] a man of Bologna is at once freed from a grave disease, A certain man of great religion at Bologna was grievously tormented, his intestines flowing down to the lower parts; who, fearing to be a burden to those with whom he lived, entreated for a cure blessed James, whose thresholds he had visited, and other Saints whom he held familiar: and when he felt that help was afforded him by none, there came into his mind blessed Dominic, lately canonized; whom indeed he had known to be a good man and to reign with Christ

he believed, yet not of such merit that he could be a patron to those invoking him, as many asserted. Strengthening his mind at length to invoke him, he vowed that he would believe the wondrous works wrought through him, and would glorify God in him, if by his merits he were cured. Therefore, after a long prayer, as he slept blessed Dominic appeared to him, gathering into the front part of his scapular the intestines that were flowing down. Roused from sleep, the weak old man — say seventy years old and more — found himself free from all trouble of the infirmity ^g.

[316] and other benefits are conferred on many. There is no disease which St. Dominic does not cure, provided only that unbelief does not harden the diseased man. Many other miracles indeed became known, wrought both in the life of this glorious Father and also after his death, which have not been marked down by the office of the pen. But these have been briefly noted for the demonstration of his holiness, for the edification of the faithful, and also for the praise and glory of Him who does great wonders, who, three in persons and one in essence, lives and reigns through the infinite ages of ages. Amen.

ANNOTATA.

* read: Bonvisus

CHAPTER XXVII.

The apostolic labors of the Preachers among the Cumans and Hungarians, and various prodigies which were wrought in those regions by the patronage of St. Dominic.

Part VIII.

The miracles noted above were wrought by the power of God at the tomb of St. Dominic and in Italy through his merits before his translation: Into Hungary, bordering on the Cumans, because then the holy Father was known only in that land, and there his name was great; but, set upon the candlestick of canonization, his name shines to all who are in the house of the Church, and the splendors of his benefits and the rays of his wonders are diffused through all things: for from the rising of the sun to its setting children praise the name of the Lord in holy Dominic: for they find him propitious when invoked in their necessities. For in many diverse regions, but especially in those which lie next to unbelievers, he has glittered more gloriously with miracles. Whence in the kingdom of Hungary, on which the gentile people of the Cumans borders, whose faith and salvation the blessed Confessor had supremely desired, astounding and innumerable wonders occurred through his merits.

Chap. I.

[318] In the year of the Lord one thousand two hundred twenty-one, when master Paul the Hungarian, certain Preachers set out; who was then actually lecturing in canon law at Bologna, had entered the Order, he was sent into Hungary with four other Brethren by blessed Dominic in that same year ^a. And going out, they first came to the city of Győr; to whose preaching a multitude of men ran together, as to a new and unheard-of spectacle: where in that very preaching three of the good scholars were received into the Order. And because they did not yet have a place, going out thence they passed over into Pannonia, where on that very night to Brother Sadoch, who was one of the four, a man of great perfection, a multitude of demons appeared, crying with a loud voice and much howling: You have come here to take away our right. And turning to those three novices they said: Alas, by such little ones you confound us. These things Brother Sadoch, Matins having been said, recounted to his companions.

[319] two of whom a poor fisherman kindly receives into his hospitality, In those times two Brethren in the same province came to a certain village at the hour at which the Christian people is wont to come together to hear Mass. Which being celebrated, when all were returning to their own homes, and the sacristan was closing the church, the Brethren remained alone in the forecourt; nor was there anyone who opened to them the bowels of charity. A poor fisherman saw them, and, moved with mercy toward them, since he had not the means to feed them, he did not presume to draw them to his lodging. Yet running ahead to his house, he indicates to his wife his affection of compassion, saying: O if we had the means to feed two Brethren! I am greatly tormented for the pilgrim Brethren who stand in the forecourt of the church and are gathered in by no one. To whom the woman said: I have nothing but a little millet to eat. At her husband's bidding, therefore, turning out her purse, beyond hope she found two coins. Whereat the man, exceedingly rejoicing, said: Hasten, with one coin buy bread, and with the other wine. Cook the millet also, and the fish.

[320] and is therefore enriched from heaven. The woman obeyed her commanding husband, and he, returning, still found them where he had left them, standing in the forecourt, and humbly inviting them he led them and received them into his house, rejoicing. And when at the table of poverty they had been refreshed with the dishes of an immense charity, giving thanks they departed, praying a recompense from the Lord for their host. The Lord therefore gave that man a reward for the mercy which he had done, and from that day the two coins never failed in his purse for whatever necessities of his house. But when the two were given and spent, he soon had two others. The man was therefore enriched in houses and fields, having sheep and oxen and all other goods, and the Lord added to him an heir. And when he had enough for himself according to his station, the grace of the coin ministered to him from heaven was withdrawn. But thenceforth he was a receiver and lover of the Brethren.

II.

[321] After these things, the number of the Brethren increasing, certain men sent by Brother Paul entered the land which is called Feuriensis*, Afterward they go to the unbelieving Cumans. whose inhabitants were schismatics and public heretics: where, many tribulations having been endured, at length growing strong, they converted many from heresy to the true faith, and from schism to the unity of the Church. Then the faithful sons, mindful of the devotion and zeal of the holy father Dominic, who had resolved to go in person to the Cumans, who had no knowledge at all of God, ordained by the counsel of the Holy Spirit to send Brethren, men of virtue, to the aforesaid nation, where, afflicted with tribulations and scarcely credible miseries, driven off by the pagans, having brought back no fruit, they were compelled to return to their own.

[322] But, the Holy Spirit inflaming them and zeal for souls moving them, and after long patience and many tribulations, one, they returned a second time to that nation, and through many dangers of the ways came to them beside the river which is called the Dnieper; where, frequently afflicted with hunger and thirst and various persecution, some of them were led into captivity, others were slain by the unbelievers. Yet others remained constant in the office of preaching they had begun. At length the Most High regarded their constancy and labor, and gave them grace to be heard by the pagans; and thus first of all they baptized a duke, by name Brut, with some of his household; who, after some years, persevering in the confession of the true faith, fell asleep in the Lord, confession having first been made and communion received, as is the custom of Christians, and by the hands of the Brethren he was honorably buried in the chapel of the blessed Virgin which the Brethren, staying among that nation, had built, that they might sometimes gather there.

III.

[323] After these things they converted to the faith of Jesus Christ a nobler duke, Bernborch, with about a thousand of his household, and another of their dukes with his household, they convert to the faith. whom the illustrious king of Hungary, Andrew, father of St. Elizabeth, raised from the sacred font of baptism, not without great joy. This duke, when he was at his last, being set in his agony in the hands of the Brethren, said: Let all the pagan Cumans depart from me, because I see horrible demons about them; let only the Brethren and the baptized Cumans remain, because behold, I see about me the martyred Brethren, who await me, to lead me with them to the joys which they preached. And these things being said, he expired with wonderful joy, and was consigned to burial in the chapel of the blessed Virgin mentioned above. And so the Brethren made progress in those regions by preaching, converting heretics and schismatics and gentiles, as has been said, to the Catholic faith, the Lord working with them and confirming the word with effective signs ^b: for infinite miracles were wrought in Hungary by the grace of God through the merits of blessed Dominic in several of our Convents, so much so that they even exceed number: of which we have taken care to record some, which have been proved by faithful testimony, to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

IV.

[324] There is a certain region of that kingdom which is called Sumlu ^c, By the patronage of St. Dominic, whose relics rest in Hungary, a dead boy, where in the Convent of the Brethren the most sacred relics of the kindly Confessor are kept laid up, which the people, frequenting them with much devotion, venerate, carrying off by his merits the benefits of health they desire. There came, then, a certain nobleman

with his wife to the Convent of the Brethren, for devotion's sake, to visit the relics of the holy Father; whose son, a little boy whom he had brought with him, falling sick, came there by dying to the end of life: whom the mourning father, carrying to the church and placing before the altar of blessed Dominic, began to lament with a tearful voice and to say: Blessed Dominic, I came to you glad; behold, I return sad: I came with a son; behold, I go away bereaved. Give me back, I beseech you, my son; give me back the gladness of my heart. And when he persevered in mourning until night, about the middle of the night the boy came to life again, sucked milk, and walked about the church, and at length was carried back safe and sound to his own home by his parents with gladness.

[325] a young man drowned in a river, A certain young man, a servant of the lady Justina, wife of Count Micha, while he was applying himself less cautiously to fishing in the river Cris, slipping into the water, was drowned and disappeared. And after a great space of time, his body, sought in the depth of the river, was drawn out dead. But the aforesaid lady, grieving over the so pitiable death of the servant taken from her, invoked blessed Dominic for his raising, promising that she would go in person barefoot to visit his relics at Sumlu, and would give the raised servant his freedom. And at once he who had been dead leaped up into the midst, restored to life in the sight of all; whom the devout lady, coming to Sumlu as she had promised, both reported as raised to the Prior of the house and the Brethren, and presented as free.

[326] a boy killed by fevers: The little son of a certain nobleman, Ladissai by name, being overtaken by a deadly infirmity of fevers, departed from this life by the passage of death; whose little body, wrapped in cloths according to custom, had already been carried out of the house. But the mother, a noble lady, amid the excessive sadness by which she had been swallowed up, taking heart again, caused a priest to be summoned to her at once, before whom, a vow being uttered, when she had devoutly invoked blessed Dominic, she who was bewailing him dead received her son straightway restored to life; with whom, coming reverently to Sumlu, in the presence of the priest before whom the boy had been raised, and of her husband, she both set forth the truth of the deed and gave due thanks to the Savior in His holy Dominic.

[327] A certain man of the castle of Somuf, of the village of Lelei, Gothart by name, and another dead man came back to life, bereaved of his son Thomas, now dead, as night came on sat weeping and wailing about the body. At length, his companion who was with him going off to rest, when he had remained alone, a light being kindled, he placed himself beside the head of his dead youthful son, gave loose rein to his tears, and unceasingly entreated blessed Dominic with vows and voice alike that he would give back the son to the father. It came to pass therefore about cockcrow that he who had been dead moved himself: and, opening his eyes, said to his father: What is it, father, that I have my face thus wet? To whom he: They are the tears of your father, son, because you had been dead, and I had remained alone, destitute of all joy. And he said: You have wept much, father; but blessed Dominic, having compassion on your desolation, obtained by his merits that I should be given back to you alive.

[328] which prodigy two other men there, As the fame of the wonders which the hand of the Lord frequently wrought upon the living and the dead through the merits of blessed Dominic grew throughout all Hungary, a certain man remained utterly unbelieving and incredulous as to all of them. And it happened that a son whom he had fell gravely sick; in which sickness also he at length breathed forth his last breath. But one of those who had come together according to custom to console the father and to keep watch by night about the body of the dead son said to him: Believe that blessed Dominic is of great merit with God, and that the power of God truly works through him the miracles which are reported, and invoke him with your whole heart: perhaps he who by his merits has raised very many dead will raise your son also. Then he, stricken in heart concerning his past incredulity, bitterly reproached himself, and, taking confidence, did not cease that night from invoking blessed Dominic with groanings of heart and prayers of mouth. Therefore at the first hour of the day he who lay dead moved his hand, cast off the covering with which his face had been wrapped, and rose. And at length the father, hastening to Sumlu with his raised son, announced how great things the Lord had done for him, to the honor of His glorious confessor Dominic.

[329] A certain honorable man, Gentus* by name, of the village of Pinar, experienced in their sons, attest. which is under the castle of Crassu, came to the Brethren with his parishioners, bringing his little son with him and saying: This is my son, whom blessed Dominic, when he was already dead, raised from the dead by his merits: for when from early morning until after midday he lay lifeless in my house in the midst of my wailing household, I withdrew a little, and, remembering that God had conferred on blessed Dominic so great a grace over the raising of the dead, taking confidence, I went to the place in which I was accustomed to pray, and, pouring out most bitter tears, invoked the glorious Confessor of the Lord, that he would give back to the bereaved father his only son. And when I had returned to the body of the boy, and, weeping and wailing, had bent over his face, behold, the boy opened his eyes, made alive; whom I have joyfully brought to you, to the praise and glory of the Savior, who does not cease to exalt the merits of holy Dominic with so many and such great miracles ^d.

ANNOTATA.

* elsewhere: Furiensis

* elsewhere: Getus

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Some miracles which occurred by the intercession of the same Saint in Hungary and Sicily.

A certain sick man near to death, lying in bed, A certain sick man, at the same time blind, who also for eighteen years had lost the light of his eyes, when he had heard that a priest with his parishioners wished to set out to visit the relics of blessed Dominic, being strengthened in spirit, wished himself likewise to set out. But when the priest forbade him in every way, as one presuming an impossible thing, at length, overcoming the state of his body by desire, as though attempting to go, he rose from his bed, and suddenly felt so great a strength infused into him that he began to walk at a quick pace, advancing more and more in the recovery of his body and the enlightening of his eyes the more he went forward daily on the journey; until at length, coming to the appointed place, he received the perfect benefit of both healths.

[331] a woman monstrously contracted, A certain woman of the village of Corzordinem, having from an old time her back monstrously contracted, so that the rest of the stature of her body seemed as it were turned into her back, was being led on a cart to the relics of blessed Dominic. But it came into her mind that, so as to obtain more easily what she sought, she should out of devotion walk a little on foot, though not without much trouble. Therefore, being set down from the cart, when, scarcely drawing breath, she had begun to walk, suddenly her girdle broke and fell to the ground, and her body was stretched out straight and wonderfully restored to its due state. Whom her priest and the other neighbors who had come with her, coming to the place, presented to the Brethren, bearing witness both to her former infirmity and to the health that had thus followed.

[332] another afflicted with various infirmities, A certain man of the village of the church of Titel, Tequeren by name, when on account of the grave infirmities which he suffered in his back, shoulders, and arms he had visited the relics of blessed Dominic, carried back complete health from them all. But after a few days he began to be gnawed in conscience, because he had by no means revealed to the Brethren the benefit of the health he had received, whereby due thanks might be rendered to God. Whence he promised himself that he would return at once. But when again out of negligence he put off going, on a certain night blessed Dominic appeared to him and demanded of him the price of the health afforded. Wherefore, roused from sleep, he at once set out on the journey, came to the place, and, worthily reproaching himself before the Brethren for his ingratitude, set forth the whole of what had happened, both concerning the health formerly given and concerning the revelation afterward made, at once devoutly and diligently, a very great number of people who were then present hearing it and giving thanks to God.

[333] and many vexed with various evils, A certain young man, having his feet pitiably twisted so that he walked backward on the upper surface of his feet with no small affliction, his soles being contracted and turned inward, coming to the most sacred relics of blessed Dominic, obtained the entire grace of cure. To this not only his mother and kinsfolk and very many neighbors, but also the very surface of his feet afterward, retaining the shape of a thickened sole, bore witness of his former infirmity.

The son of a certain count of the court, gravely sick for several days, being at length led to the most sacred relics, and having touched them, received perfect health by the power of the Lord, so that after a few days he was killing beasts before the king.

VII.

A certain mute boy of the village of Ondon, whose father was called Morith, at the touch of the relics of blessed Dominic straightway carried off the benefit of speech.

A certain widow of Orod, Pita by name, after the third year of the marriage bed had utterly lost the use of speech, being made mute. She, now an old woman, having touched the most sacred relics, felt the function of her tongue at once entirely restored to her.

[334] A certain old cleric, who from of old had fallen into a grave deafness of the ears, among whom were mutes, deaf, and blind, came with his neighbors to visit the relics of blessed Dominic; which when he had kissed, and being touched by them again and again, he came by degrees to entire hearing.

Of the village of Reseud a certain man, by name Tybi, brought his son, entirely deaf, Gurtu by name, to the most sacred relics; which being touched, he immediately received the grace of hearing.

A certain blind man, Paul by name, of the village of Vrecha, on the feast of the blessed martyrs Abdon and Sennen, by the merits of blessed Dominic received the entire light of his eyes.

On the same day a certain woman, Leuseva by name, wife of Uvonet, a paralytic, obtained the grace of perfect health.

Of the village of Thyca a certain man, Bulchum by name, was vexed with so great a madness of heart that he rushed upon all the men he met like a rabid dog, and, eating almost nothing, was driven day and night by furies. He, being led to the relics of blessed Dominic, at their touch

was at once made master of a sound mind, restored to his former reason.

VIII.

[335] Of the village of Genen a certain young man, steward of the provost of Orod, at the relics of the Saint preserved in Hungary, was held by a certain most grave infirmity, in which he plainly saw an infinite multitude of demons rushing against him, now dragging him to be hanged, now afflicting him with various kinds of torments. But he, amid these things, pressed down by an inestimable fear, with vow and voice alike, as he could, commended himself to God and to blessed Dominic: and at once blessed Dominic was present in the form of a Brother, who, gathering up the fold of his cape, drove away from him the importunate troubles of the demons, and restrained their onset with virtuous power; nor was there delay, but at the same time he wholly freed him from the desperate burden of his infirmity. Wherefore, hastening to the relics of blessed Dominic, he both gave thanks before the Brethren for so great a benefit, and, humbly confessing his sins, purposed and promised amendment of life.

[336] A certain matron of the village of Pinar, advanced in age and equally in honorable standing, evidently experienced his prodigious help. disposing to have a votive Mass celebrated in honor of blessed Dominic, prepared three candles suitable for this; but at the due hour she did not find the priest who was to celebrate the Mass. Wherefore she laid up those candles in a certain vessel, wrapped together in a clean towel. But when she had turned aside for a little while, returning after an hour, she saw the candles burning with open flames. Astounded therefore, she went outside and called together the neighbor women from all sides. All run together to the wondrous spectacle, and stood there trembling and praying alike so long until the aforesaid candles, while they looked on, burned completely away. And they were thus consumed, burning little by little to the very end, in such a way that they did not harm the towel or anything else that was in the vessel ^a.

IX.

[337] To this is added what has been proved to have happened in Sicily at Augusta through the Brethren staying there at that time. [In Sicily a woman despising the Saint's feast is punished, but, repenting, is cured,] For on the feast of the translation of blessed Dominic, when certain matrons who had been present at the solemnities of the Masses in the church of the Brethren were returning home, they found a certain woman sitting before the doors of her house and spinning: whom, when they reproached with charitable words, why on the feast of so great a Father she had not ceased from servile work, she straightway with an indignant mind and troubled face said to them: You, who are the "bezozae" ^b of his Brethren, keep the feasts of your Saint. And at once her eyes were turned into a swelling with itching, and from them worms straightway began to swarm forth. And so a certain neighbor woman, whom in her terror she called to her, drew eighteen worms out of her eyes in an instant. Wherefore, contrite in spirit, she ran with wailing to the church of blessed Dominic; before whose door prostrating herself and confessing her sins to a certain Brother, and a vow being made that henceforth she would never disparage the holy Dominic of God, and would keep his feasts most devoutly, immediately the swelling with the itching disappeared, and there were no more worms in her eyes.

[338] [and there a girl laboring with the stone, and a certain dropsical man, are healed,] In the same city the daughter of a certain devout matron labored grievously for a long time with the affliction of the stone*. And since no counsel of medicine availed, there remained for her only the remedy of cutting. When therefore the day was appointed on which the girl had to be cut, her mother, fearing her daughter's peril, on the preceding day went to the church of blessed Dominic, betook herself to prayer, and commended her daughter to God and to blessed Dominic with what vow she could. On the following night, therefore, blessed Dominic stood by the sleeping girl, placed in her hand the stone by which she was tormented, and departed: which the girl, waking and finding herself freed, gave to her mother, and explained the vision in order. And the mother with immense gladness brought the stone to the Brethren and set forth before them what had been done; which the Brethren hung up in the church before the image of blessed Dominic for the future memory of so astounding a miracle.

A certain dropsical man, monstrously swollen, having heard of the miracles of blessed Dominic, devoutly invoking him, made a vow for the health of his body; to whom, as he slept, the holy Father appearing opened his belly, drew out the impurities without trouble or pain, and made him whole again with his holy hand: and he, waking and finding himself healed, gave worthy thanks to God and to holy Dominic.

[339] where also to a certain young man, In a castle of Sicily which is called John's, there was a certain young man having his belly distended with a wondrous swelling, his other limbs weakened with such thinness that he expected death near. Yet he, compelled by want, went to the fields to bring back a bundle of wood — he who could not carry himself. And when on a certain day, lying in the field, he was bewailing his misery with querulous voices, it came into his mind that blessed Dominic was clement to those who invoked him. Invoking him therefore, he made a vow that, if by his merits he were healed, he would serve his Brethren for a year without pay at Piazza ^c. Soon a Brother stood by, stretching out his hand to the tree under which he lay, and saying to him: Take the leaves of this elder, and drink its juice three times, and you shall be healed. Which being said, he disappeared. And the sick man, rising, pressed out the juice from the leaves with stones, drank three times, and soon his belly subsided and he was fully cured: and, being strengthened, he carried home a great bundle of wood unharmed, narrated the course of the miracle to all, and, bidding farewell to his mother, came to Piazza, to serve the Brethren as he had vowed.

[340] There at Piazza a certain poor woman, seeing the Brethren laboring at the work of the church, [and to the mother of another, remedies for recovering health are suggested from heaven.] vowed to holy Dominic that she would assign her son to the labors of the Brethren, if she were healed by his merits of the infirmity which she suffered. And behold, on that night holy Dominic appeared to the woman in the shape of a Brother, saying: Woman, do you know these things? And he named these; namely verdigris, pellitory, dock ^d, and the juice of leek. And the woman said: I know them. Then the Saint added: Take these, and make them up with the juice of leek, and place them upon cotton cloth ^e, and apply it to your son's neck, and he shall be healed. When morning came, the woman did as she had been taught, and her son was healed, and she presented him whole for the labors of the Brethren.

XI.

[341] In the same land, in the village which is called Placicia*, there was a woman very devoted to God and to the Brethren, The Saint multiplies wine in favor of a pious woman, though her ill-natured husband opposed; who, when wine was lacking in the Convent, without her husband's knowledge herself ministered it to the Brethren. And when it had run out, the husband demanded wine from that vessel from which the devout woman had given to the Convent. And when only six measures were found in the cask, the maidservant, astounded, announced it to her mistress. The mistress therefore sends the maidservant again. But meanwhile the mistress, her knees placed on the ground, invokes blessed Dominic, fearing her husband's malice and uproar. And taking confidence from the merits of the holy Father, she sends the maidservant a third time to the cask: and she, going with murmuring, found the vessel full to the top. This was done by the Lord: for the wine which was wont to suffice the Brethren and their household for six weeks only, this, the Lord multiplying it, abounded for the Brethren and the household for four months. And when the husband, marveling, had learned this from his wife, he was afterward made devoted to God and to the Brethren.

[342] In the county of Orvieto, in the patrimony of blessed Peter, [and elsewhere preserves from a storm the vineyard of his host, who had been accustomed to receive him while living.] in the city which is called at St. Christina's ^f, there was one of the citizens who used to receive blessed Dominic into hospitality as he passed through those places. At that time in the territory of that same city a very mighty storm arose which utterly crushed and destroyed all the vineyards round about it with their vines. Then, with all the people looking on and marveling, there appeared visibly a Brother in the habit of the Order of Preachers, who, standing in the air between heaven and earth, protected with his cape from the whirlwind the vineyard of the aforementioned host. Whence, although that scourge of the tempest terribly ravaged and struck all the vineyards and utterly destroyed them, that vineyard alone remained wholly unharmed, because the holy father Dominic had spread his mantle over it. Therefore this vineyard at that time produced abundant fruits and a more delicate wine. In memory therefore of so evident a miracle the lord of this vineyard ordained that the Friars Preachers should in perpetuity be kindly received by his successors, and, sufficiently refreshed with that wine, be more conveniently provided for: which the successors of the devout host faithfully observe to the present time. This so remarkable a miracle happened while the kindly Father was still living in this mortality and resting in the hospitality of this man. And although the other dwellings of that estate have been renewed on account of age, the little house of the holy man alone still remains out of reverence for him, in which the Brethren rest to this day.

ANNOTATA.

* that is, the stone

* elsewhere: Placita

CHAPTER XXIX.

The wonderful healing of a certain nun in Syria, and the raising of a dead boy in Hungary, who afterward entered the Order of Preachers

.

XII.

There was in Syria a certain nobleman, very devoted to blessed Dominic, When the nun Maria labored with various diseases, to whom he had commended himself with his children and his whole household. He dedicated two virgin daughters to the divine service in a monastery at Tripoli which is called the Magdalene's: of whom one, Maria by name, simple and innocent, after many infirmities, was vexed in her leg and foot with so great a suffering for five months that she could bear to be turned neither by herself nor by others, lying continually on her back, the flesh being now consumed by the clinging to the bed. In the first three months indeed she was tormented with such sharp pains that she disturbed the Sisters with pitiable cries; and from the vehemence of the pain she languished for seven days without food and drink; sometimes also, her face turned to pallor, lying without sense or motion, she was thought about to die on the spot: and at length her thigh with the leg and foot remained withered, like insensible wood.

[344] [and yet was unwilling to go out of the monastery for the sake of recovering health,] And when her mother and kinsfolk wished, by leave of the superiors, to lead her out of the monastery for the applying of the remedies of medicine, the Religious and modest girl utterly refused it. Whence her sister, angry, reproaching her, said: Now, on account of your holiness, the Lord will heal you. Her mother also, indignant, said: It is not the ancient time in which God worked miracles. Then she, fearing the peril, fled to the Lord, and, remembering her father's devotion with which he had loved blessed Dominic, humbly beseeching said: My Lord God, I am not worthy to ask You, nor do I deserve to be heard by Your mercy, and therefore I ask my lord holy Dominic, Your beloved servant, that he may be a mediator between You and me, and by his merits obtain for me the benefit of health.

[345] And with such insistence of prayers and such abundance of tears did she entreat blessed Dominic, St. Dominic, whose help she had implored, appears to her, to whom she was most devoted, that confidence of obtaining was given in her heart. And when health was still deferred for the testing of her, she addressed the Saint with a certain admirable expostulation, why he had so long put off hearing her prayers: and when on a certain night she entreated him more earnestly with repeated prayers in her pains, an ecstasy of mind being made, she saw him entering with two Brethren, the curtain which hung over the bed being opened. And she, since it was given her to recognize the Saint, began suppliantly to ask him for her health. To whom the Saint said: Why do you so greatly desire to be healed? She answered: That I may be able more devoutly to serve Christ, if however this befits my salvation. But he said: Stretch out your leg in the name of Christ. And when the virgin asserted that she could by no means do so, he, bringing out from under his cape an unction of wonderful and unwonted fragrance, anointed her with his hand. Immediately, perfectly healed, she stretched out her leg freely and drew it back.

[346] Afterward the blessed Father said to her: This healthful unction is precious and sweet, and restores her to health by a perceptible anointing. and therefore also very difficult. And when the girl asked the reason of this word, the Saint answered: This unction is a sign and figure of the love of God, which is truly precious, because it can be bought at no price, and there is nothing better among the gifts of God. Sweet, because nothing is sweeter than charity. Difficult, because it is quickly lost, unless it be very carefully guarded. On that same night the holy Father appeared to her sister in the dormitory, saying: I have cured your sister; and she, at once running to her, found her whole, giving thanks to the Lord and to holy Dominic. And the virgin, finding herself anointed also with a perceptible unction, out of humility kept it secretly with her for several days, wiped off on a cloth. At length, her conscience urging her, she disclosed it to her mother and her confessor, that they might teach her what she should do about so sacred an unction laid up with her. And when she had brought forth what had lain hidden with her, her confessor and mother and sister were suffused with so great and so unwonted a fragrance of most sweet odor that no spices could be compared to it ^a.

XIII.

[347] There were certain honorable people in Hungary whose son, in his infant years entering the way of all flesh, A dead boy comes back to life at the decision of St. Dominic, flew away to the heavenly places. Whence, being vehemently saddened, they besought the holy martyrs Cosmas and Damian for the raising of the boy with anxious and suppliant devotion: for they were accustomed to honor these martyrs especially above the other Saints with fasts, prayers, alms, and offerings. The holy martyrs therefore, the patronage of the blessed Mother of God standing by, offered the vows of their suppliants to the Lord; and they received from a divine oracle such an answer, that the counsel of the Most High had committed this to the decision of His servant Dominic. Being entreated therefore by the Queen of heaven and the holy Martyrs, the pious and wise Arbiter decreed that assent should be given to the prayers of such great intercessors. Soon the boy is given back to his parents, restored by angels to his body: and he as a youth joined himself to the Order of him by whose decision he had come to life again, telling no one what had been done concerning him; who, when he was studying at Paris, a certain notable novice was tempted to leave the Order, and could be retained by no persuasions.

[348] [who afterward, having embraced his Order, disclosed this miracle to a tempted novice.] Then, kindled with the zeal of charity, that he might gain for the Lord an imperiled Brother, he revealed to that tempted man what had been done concerning himself by God's counsel, affirming that he had seen blessed Dominic shining in the sight of the Lord with a beauty admirable above the rest, and the Order of Preachers exalted above all with an ineffable glory. And so what had long lain hidden was made plain, and the tempted Brother, consolation being received, remained. And that Brother who had come back to life was very devout and mature, and always intent with all his strength and suspended toward those things above which he had tasted: who, though rarely speaking, yet when pressed recounted certain things about the angels and about the Virgin, queen of heaven. And he said that an angel is a most bright and surpassing light, of which he could understand more than he could utter. He asserted also that the Virgin, Mother of God, glorified in body and soul, reigns with her Son in a surpassing manner ^b.

ANNOTATA.

CHAPTER XXX.

Certain revelations and punishments which the Friars Minor are said to have made known to the Friars Preachers to the glory of St. Dominic, and the sudden healing of a Cistercian abbot who loved the same Saint and his Order.

XIV.

Before the most sacred bones of blessed Dominic were transferred from the first tomb, [A Minorite, according to a compact entered upon, appearing after death to a Friar Preacher,] two Friars Minor met on the road with Br. John of Vicenza of the Order of Preachers: of whom Br. John, taking one, joined the other to his companion. And while they spoke of Jesus on the way, their heart was made burning within them, and there arose in their minds toward one another a certain confidence out of love. Those devout and holy men therefore entered between themselves a compact of charity in the Lord, that whichever should first depart from this world should, if the Lord granted it, appear to the survivor in this life. After these words, their companions being taken up again, they returned to their own Convents, and those two who had entered the compact together fell sick.

[350] And that Brother of the Minor Order died in the Lord, asserts that St. Dominic offers his sons to God in heaven, and is placed by angels in Abraham's bosom. But Br. John of Vicenza recovered from his infirmity; to whom, after his sickness, on a certain day at noon as he woke from sleep, the Friar Minor appeared sitting before his bed, to whom, terrified, he said: Who are you? I, said he, am that one who made a compact with you, and I have come as I promised. Then Br. John said: How has it gone with you? He said: The bitterness of death which I endured blotted out all fault and took away the penalty, and mercy has brought me into the glory of Christ. And Br. John said: Who presented you before the Lord? But he said: St. Francis offered me to the Lord, just as St. Dominic offers his Brethren.

[351] But after the translation of the most sacred body had been made, in which the Almighty wondrously declared the holiness of His Servant by a marvelous odor, as has been said, [and another Minorite, taking ill the praises of St. Dominic, is afflicted with a fever,] it happened that a certain Brother of the Order of Preachers exalted the heraldings of that Father. Brother Nicholas of Verona of the Order of Friars Minor, who was present, obstinately resisting him with angry words, contradicted him. But because God chastises whom He loves, a strong fever soon seized him and vexed him all night; and the aforesaid Brother, coming to visit him, said to him: Take heed, Brother, lest this scourge has come upon you because you blasphemed holy Dominic, the beloved of God. Then he, with blinded mind and obstinate heart, more sharply mocked the man who praised his glorious Father.

[352] And when about midday, the fever growing strong, he burned more vehemently, and at length, repenting of the deed, is suddenly healed. the vexation giving understanding, returning to himself he said: Truly I fear, because I have dishonored a Saint, the hand of the Lord has been made heavy upon me, striking me with a cruel scourge and laying me low. I vow therefore to God and to His servant holy Dominic that, if by his merits I shall be freed from this pain on this day, I will henceforth never derogate from his glory; nay, I will even contradict those who derogate from it. Scarcely had he finished the words, and he immediately felt himself wholly freed from all pain. O venerable mercy of God, which both so readily accepted the vow of the penitent by curing his pains, and enlarged the glory of His Saint by declaring it so plainly. And Brother Nicholas, having experienced God's power in himself, made known by letters to the Friars Preachers what had been done concerning him ^a. Certainly by a wonderful dispensation the inscrutable mercy of God sometimes permits His elect to be darkened in the light of truth, that afterward they may be more firmly strengthened in it, and the splendor of truth may shine forth more clearly.

[353] A certain honorable knight in Germany, by the counsel of a certain most approved Brother of the Order of Preachers, To another Minorite gravely sick taking up the Order and life of the Friars Minor, living very religiously and devoutly, handled the labors of his Brethren with all usefulness and humility, and was loved by all the Brethren. But the Order of Preachers, through whom he had come to his conversion, he followed with a special

love, and venerated it with honor, procuring for them, when they came to the house in which he was, what comforts he could, and showing them the services of charity. At length he fell so gravely sick that he was thought to be infected with the elephantine disease: whom, when his Brethren after Matins had communicated as one despaired of, being drowsy from exceeding weakness, he fell lightly asleep.

[354] But being rapt in a vision into a certain most beautiful house, he saw the Lord Jesus sitting, clothed in the habit of the Order of Preachers; and the habit was of wonderful comeliness, a wonderful vision is shown, and especially the white garment underneath shone forth delightfully with an exceeding whiteness*. There stood by the Lord all the Apostles and some of the prophets, and the holy bishops Martin and Nicholas, and many doctors. There was present also the most blessed Br. Francis with many Saints of his Order. In that rapture also that holy and simple Brother beheld the notable men Jordan and John the bishop, Masters and fathers of the Order of Preachers; besides, beside those Masters, looking on, he recognized John of Magdeburg, Zachary of Halberstadt, and Gotscalc of Leipzig, Priors. But he marveled within himself that in so copious a multitude of holy Preachers he did not see Br. Wichmann, Prior of Repin, who had then lately died, whom he had known to be holy. Then suddenly the said father Wichmann, rising, displayed in himself the excellent glory in which he was strong.

[355] in which St. Dominic And the Savior presiding said with a clear voice: Dominic, Dominic. And St. Dominic, rising, said: I am here, Lord. And the Lord, pointing out the sick man, said: Behold your lover, and the lover of your own. Take him, therefore, and twelve legions of angels, and apply to him the washing of a salutary bath, and remember always to procure the benefits of health for all who love your Order: and when you have washed him, clothe him with the garments of his Order. St. Dominic therefore, taking the sick man, washed him in a golden vat, the angels ministering; in which washing, as he testified, there was great delight for him. Thus, being washed according to the Lord's command and clothed with the garment of his Religion, blessed Dominic said: Take twelve letters, and carry them to the Chapter of Hyldense, that they may be sent to the twelve provinces of my Order, so that the miracle which has been wrought in you may become known to all. He had indeed heard that the Chapter had been assigned in the city of Soest; but now he learns that for a reason it was afterward transferred to Hyldense ^b.

[356] suddenly and entirely frees him from the disease. The letters therefore being laid up with him, waking, he returned to himself. And when, seeking the letters, he turned his hands this way and that, he felt that his body, which had been full of ulcers like a leper's, was restored in all things to health. Perceiving therefore health and strength in himself, he rose up unharmed, and, entering the church, gave thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of all. When morning came, the Brethren found him whom they had thought about to die at his accustomed labors: and when they inquired the cause of his health, he answered: The Saints have cured me. The course of this vision he who had been made whole revealed most secretly with great humility to the Friars Preachers. This sign happened in the diocese of Havelberg, in the city which is named Kyriz.

[357] [A certain man refusing to read in Mass the Gospel proper to this Saint is punished,] Br. Louis the German of holy memory, who had been Guardian in his Order, a sincere lover of the Preachers, related to them, saying: There was a certain priest in a certain Order of famous Religion, who, celebrating Masses on the festival of the blessed father Dominic, refused to pronounce at the oblation of the salutary Host that Gospel YOU ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH, noted in his Office, which properly befits doctors and apostolic Saints. And it happened on the anniversary day of that same Father that the said Brother, remaining in his obstinate error, indeed celebrated Mass of St. Dominic, yet omitting the aforesaid Gospel. But almighty God, the kindly corrector of the pious, by no means left His servant in the folly of this perverse error. And behold, when he should have taken the sacrament of the Lord's Body laid on the paten according to the custom of his Order, he found the paten wholly and terribly occupied with a mass of salt. Compelled therefore to take bitter salt in place of the sweet Sacrament, he learned that blessed Dominic was seasoned with the salt of divine wisdom and Apostolic doctrine. Stricken with compunction, therefore, he blazed up into love, who had gone astray through error.

[358] It happened in a certain Convent of the aforesaid Order that certain men, seduced by the spirit of a pernicious error, and some who disparaged the honor of the same Saint chattering with malignant words against holy Dominic of God, derogated from his merits. There was among them one Brother devout to God and good, who had kept his tongue from this evil of blasphemy. To him holy Dominic appearing said: Tell the Guardian and your Brethren to carry out from here all that they wish to preserve: for I will burn this house, avenging the blasphemy by which they disparage me. For on account of this the sentence of divine judgment abides over them. And when he had reported these things to the Brethren, they mocked him, asserting that he was fanciful. Therefore on the day on which they did not believe, and at the hour in which they did not think, fire came, as had been foretold, and burned all things.

[359] Judging therefore that this had been done not by divine vengeance but by chance, after previous warnings vainly repeated, impenitent over their sin, they began to rebuild: and when they had raised mean cottages and lowly little houses in which they could somehow dwell, and yet, not contrite for what they had committed, had not returned to their heart, holy Dominic appeared a second time to him to whom he had formerly appeared, saying: Tell the Brethren to carry out of these cottages whatever they have: for I will destroy these dwellings by fire in vengeance for the blasphemy. And when he reported these things to the Brethren, these words seemed to them as it were ravings. Then, because they did not believe God, an unforeseen fire blazed up as before, and the flame consumed them, raging and devastating far more. But not even then did they return to their heart, ascribing the scourge of blasphemy to chance.

[360] They built therefore again what could not stand, are chastised by a threefold burning of their house; because they lacked the foundation of penance for what they had committed. And so, suitable structures being restored, a third time the holy father Dominic appeared to that devout Brother, saying: It is still necessary that I punish and avenge my injury upon you. Then that good Brother said: Spare us, pious Father; for we have now been made exceedingly poor. To whom the holy Father said: God's justice demands that I take a threefold vengeance upon you. After these things a fire going forth from the Lord consumed all that they had, even to the foundations, leaving absolutely nothing. If they had heard the voice of the Lord and had not hardened their hearts, and, being converted, had done penance, God would have been propitious to their sins and would not have destroyed their dwellings with fire ^c. Let not, therefore, earthly man set his mouth against heaven, so as to disparage God's Saints: for they have entered into the powers of the Lord, holding swords in their hands, to work vengeance upon their enemies and to tread down with their feet the necks of kings. For they shall judge the nations and shall rule over peoples; whom assuredly, if we will, we can make our friends by humble devotion and suppliant reverence, and our propitious patrons, so that, received by them and with them into eternal tabernacles, we may rejoice in an opulent rest.

XVI.

[361] In Thuringia, a province of Germany, in a certain monastery of the Cistercian Order which is called Volkenroda*, of the diocese of Mainz, there was a very venerable man, an abbot, Dithmar by name, exceedingly religious and devout, but on the contrary a Cistercian abbot, and adorned with most gentle manners. Him ecclesiastical and secular persons, princes and nobles, clergy and people honored out of reverence for his holiness, and all generally loved him: for among all the fathers and Brethren of that Religion in this land he shone as the sun above the stars: for he stood out conspicuous with an elegant stature, endowed with much kindness, sweet and affable in speech, merciful toward the poor and afflicted, devout and humble toward the monks, and solicitous for the observance of the Order and for peace, and industrious and discreet in procuring the benefit of the monastery.

[362] who loved St. Dominic and his Order, that Saint appearing to him, This glorious father, beloved of God and equally acceptable to men, was borne with a certain singular devotion toward blessed Dominic, embracing all the persons of the Order founded by him with a sincere heart and beneficent charity. Whence he frequently conferred generous alms upon the Convents of the aforesaid Order near him, and none the less bestowed several comforts upon the Brethren of his household. While he did these things untiringly, it happened that, as he was going to the general Chapter, he fell gravely sick in a certain monastery of his Order: whom, when the physician had visited and had considered the circumstances of the infirmity, despairing of the man's life, he pronounced that he would shortly die. Although he spoke thus, yet the abbot's heart had confidence in the Lord and in the merits of holy Dominic, His servant. And when he lay anxious, oppressed with exceeding weakness, he saw, being awake, holy Dominic entering to him with a companion. And holy Dominic sat at the head of the little bed, his companion opposite at the feet. But the abbot thought that some Brethren had come to him for the sake of visiting him, and did not recognize holy Dominic. Then holy Dominic said to the sick man: Be strengthened, abbot, in the Lord, and let not your heart be afraid, for you shall not die; but you shall live, and shall straightway recover from this infirmity. The sick man says to him: Whence do you know this, my beloved? The Saint answered: I am Dominic, servant of the Most High, who was the founder of the Order of Friars Preachers, whom you have hitherto loved with a sincere heart; and now I have been sent by the Lord to announce to you these joys of your health.

[363] is at once freed from a dangerous disease. Hearing that holy Dominic was present, the abbot, exceedingly gladdened, hoped that he would speak more at length with so beloved a Father. But he had turned aside and passed on without delay. And the abbot, strengthened by holy Dominic, full health being received, grew well. On the following day the physician, who had declared that he would die, came up and asked how he had escaped the peril of death. And the abbot said to him: Not the industry of carnal medicine, but the grace of a supercelestial unction has healed me. And abbot Dithmar lived afterward for several years, a special lover and most devout servant of the most blessed virgin Mary of God, advancing in all goodness and in friendly charity toward the Friars Preachers, whom also, when set at his last, he most diligently commended to his successor. He died at length in a good old age, of exceptional manner of life and devotion, in the year of the Lord one thousand two hundred ninety-three, on the fifth of the Ides of October.

ANNOTATA.

to be given him: for although we may without difficulty believe that some private person was so impious, yet we do not admit so great and so impious a pertinacity of a whole Religious Convent without evident testimony.

* elsewhere: snowy

* elsewhere: Solatum

* elsewhere: Volbrorde

* elsewhere: I have been

CHAPTER XXXI.

The Bull of Pope Gregory IX, by which he inscribes the outstanding Founder of the Preachers in the roll of the Saints.

XVII.

A copy of the letter which the lord Pope Gregory IX directed through the whole Church concerning the canonization of our most holy father Dominic, the kindly confessor. The Pope directs a letter to men established in ecclesiastical dignity, "Gregory, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his venerable Brothers the archbishops and bishops, and to his chosen* sons the abbots, deans, archdeacons, provosts, Priors, and the other prelates of churches to whom these letters shall come, greeting and Apostolic benediction ^a.

[365] The fountain of wisdom, the Word of the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and, comparisons being taken from sacred Scripture, signifies whose nature is goodness and whose work is mercy, redeeming and renewing those whom He created; who does not abandon until the consummation of the world the vineyard which He brought over out of Egypt, wisely renews signs on account of unstable minds, and changes wonders on account of the diffidence of unbelief — when, at the beginning of the nascent Church, after the death of Moses, namely the end of the law, about to mount His horses in the chariots of the Gospels, which are truly salvation*, with the bow of sacred eloquence which He had bent until the Jew should be made weak, and with the oaths raised up which He had disposed for us in the fathers, about to tread down the confidence of Jericho, the glory of the world, which He had conquered by the roaring of preaching, the nations being astounded, He made a way for His horses in the sea, and in Rahab figured by the scarlet sign the salvation of the breadth of the nations.

[366] In the first of the four chariots going forth in Zechariah, how God, after the first preachers of the new Law, He brought forth from between two mountains of brass red horses, princes of peoples, the strong of the earth: who, by the obedience of faith clinging to the God of Abraham, the father of believers, as the foundation of the new covenant, after the likeness of their leader, with garments dyed from Bozrah — that is, from the straitness of tribulation — reddened all the standards of their warfare, so that, not fearing the present sword for the joy of future glory, being made martyrs, that is witnesses of the new law, they might subscribe with their voice to the book of confession, and, with outward signs of miracles set to the strengthening of their stipulations, might dye the book and the tabernacle which God, and not man, has fixed, and the vessels of the evangelical ministry, with the blood not of brute but of rational victims, and, the net of preaching being spread over the whole face of the wide sea, might gather from all the nations that are under heaven a Church multiplied beyond the number of the sand of the sea.

[367] and other Religious congregations But because presumption followed upon multitude, and malice upon liberty, in the second chariot, under a color which befits mourners and penitents, He appointed a squadron of horse, which, led by the Spirit into the cloistral desert under a new charioteer of Israel, the most holy Benedict, as under another Elisha, restored the sons of the prophets, the good of the common life lost by occasion of the multitude, in the pleasing fellowship of a joyful dwelling together, and thus, repairing the torn net of unity, and going forth through the good works of piety to the land of the North, whence every evil is spread abroad, He made it rest among those who had entered into the treasures of the snow, and among the contrite of heart: He who disdains to dwell in a body subject to sins: after whom, as if to renew a wearied army and to give back jubilation after lamentation, white horses being joined to the third chariot — the Brethren of the Cistercian Order and of Fiore ^b, like flocks of shorn sheep, fruitful with the offspring of a twofold charity — He made them come up from the washing of penance, holy Bernard, the ram of the sheep, going before in the power of the spirit with which he was clothed from on high, and in the abundance of the corn of the valleys, so that those passing over, freed through him, might cry to the Lord in strength, might say a hymn, and might set the camps of the God of hosts upon the sea.

[368] raised up the Order of Preachers, The new Israel, therefore, meeting with these three bands the same number of troops which the Philistines had made, at the eleventh hour, when the day had already declined toward evening, and, on account of the abundance of iniquity, charity growing very cold, the ray of justice was sinking to the West — because the vineyard to which the householder had sent forward workmen at various times, hired by agreement for a denarius, and which His right hand had planted, not only the briars and thorns of vices had overrun, but now the little foxes, demolishing it, were nearly setting themselves to turn it into the bitterness of an alien vine — He willed to gather a readier soldiery against a most hostile multitude. And, as we behold at present, after the training of three chariots differing in their signs, in the fourth chariot, about to direct into battle at once the dappled and robust horses, the bands of the Friars Preachers and Minor with their chosen leaders, He raised up the spirit of holy Dominic, and, giving him, as to the horse of His glory, the fortitude and fervor of faith, He clothed his neck with the neighing of divine preaching: who, bearing from boyhood an aged heart, and choosing to live in the mortification of the flesh, sought after the author of life, and, given to God and consecrated as a Nazarite under the rule of blessed Augustine, imitating the sedulous service of Samuel about holy things, continued in the chastisement of desire the most pious affection of Daniel, a strenuous athlete keeping the paths of justice and the ways of the Saints, and, as if for a moment, not departing from the tabernacle of the Lord, from the mastership and ministry of the Church militant, subjecting the flesh to the spirit and sensuality to reason, and being made one spirit with God, he strove to go wholly into Him by an excess of mind, and by the pursuits of sober compassion he did not withdraw from charity toward his neighbor: at whose shooting down the delights of the flesh and wounding* the stony minds of the impious, every sect of heretics trembled, and every Church of the faithful exulted.

[369] As his age grew, grace also grew; since, conceiving an inexplicable joy from zeal for souls, whose pious Founder, for his virtues and miracles, he gave his mind to the eloquences of God, and, begetting many through the Gospel of Christ, in the conversion of so strenuous a multitude fulfilling the office of evangelical dignity, he deserved to obtain on earth the name and work of the great. Made a shepherd and renowned leader among the people of God, he founded a new Order of Preachers by his merits, ordered it by his examples, and did not cease to confirm it by evident and proved miracles: for besides the works of holiness and the signs of power by which he shone while placed in the flesh — the sicknesses of divers persons being cured, speech restored to the mute, sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, walking to paralytics, and former health to persons afflicted with many kinds of illnesses — it plainly appeared what manner of spirit dwelt in the clay of that most holy body.

[370] Since therefore, from the much familiarity which he had with us he enrolls in the number of the Saints, while we were established in a lesser office, the proofs of his holiness had been established from the testimony of his notable life, and since afterward full credit was given us by suitable witnesses concerning the truth of the miracles reported; We, together with the flock of the Lord committed to us, trusting that we may be helped by his suffrages through God's mercy, so that we may rejoice in the powerful patronage in heaven of him whose solace of gracious familiarity we deserved to have on earth, have decreed, by the counsel and assent of our brothers and of all the prelates then residing at the Apostolic See, that he be enrolled in the catalogue of the Saints, firmly establishing, and by these presents enjoining upon your whole body, that on the Nones of August, before the day on which, the burden of the flesh being laid aside, rich in merits he entered into the holy places, being made like to the Saints in glory, you celebrate his birthday and cause it to be solemnly celebrated, so that God, entreated by his prayers, whom while living he worshipped, may grant us grace in the present world and glory in the world to come.

[371] But we, desiring that the venerable burial place of so great a Confessor, and grants indulgences on the day of his feast. which illumines the universal Church with the flashes of miracles, be frequented with the worthy honors of Christian devotion, to those truly penitent and confessed who visit it on the aforesaid festival each year with devotion and due reverence, trusting in the mercy of almighty God and in the authority of His blessed apostles Peter and Paul, mercifully relax one year of the penance enjoined upon them. Given at Spoleto, the V of the Kalends of September, in the VIII year of our Pontificate" ^c.

ANNOTATA.

* elsewhere: beloved

* elsewhere: against

* elsewhere: arrows shot

* elsewhere: flashing like lightning

CHAPTER XXXII.

A certain mystical vision and revelation concerning St. Dominic and St. Francis and their Orders.

XVIII.

In this place I judged it altogether opportune and fitting to insert those things A certain hermit is said to have seen which the Holy Spirit deigned to reveal to His faithful for the commendation of His Saints, our fathers Dominic and Francis, and also of the Orders which He established through them. From the deeds of St. Isidore of Seville the following revelation has been written ^a, which about the beginning of the Orders of Friars Minor and Preachers, while St. Francis and St. Dominic were still living in the flesh, was shown from heaven for the commendation and strengthening of both; which the writer of the miracles of blessed Isidore, who at that time was glittering with great prodigies, sent to the lord James, bishop of Tusculum ^b, writing thus:

[373] a winged likeness or figure There came a certain hermit from the parts of Asturias, by name John ^c, who is held famous in our region for his wonderful abstinence, who declared that he had been sent by blessed Isidore, and commanded that I should write down what he asserted in the presence of certain Friars Preachers, saying: When I was at prayer at the ninth hour of the day, I saw the likeness of a body of a certain venerable beauty having six wings; of which two rose above the head, with two it flew, and with two the whole body was covered. The head of this likeness was Christ the Son of God, and His face shone red like the brightest sun: in its circumference a golden diadem gleamed. In the upper part of the diadem shone the faces of blessed Peter, prince of the Apostles, and of his successors the Roman Pontiffs; and at His back the comely faces of Paul, James, and the other Apostles and Evangelists appeared in order in glory. But on the left stood the faces of the patriarchs and prophets of the old Testament, among whom Abraham, Moses, and David were more beautiful than the rest. But the place of Solomon was held empty; yet it was inscribed with the adornment of various gems.

[374] in which Christ and the Mother of God Between the face and the breast of the likeness, the face of Mary the Mother of God stood higher with ineffable brightness and glory: on either side John the Baptist

and John the Apostle and Evangelist. In each of the wings also were twelve doctors of the church; in the higher wings Augustine and Jerome, holding books and golden vials; in the middle wings Gregory, having fiery arrows and a bent bow, and Isidore of Seville with fire and an exceedingly gleaming sword, sharp on both sides. But in those wings with which the body was covered were Ambrose and Hilary, holding golden censers, and the smoke of spices of the sweetest odor ascended into the sight of the Lord. From the censer and the odor of the incense that sank down to the earth many dead rose again.

[375] were represented with innumerable Saints, Each of these doctors was in one of the wings, and with each of them were the faces of the Saints who rest in the provinces where those doctors chiefly taught the words of life. All the wings were marked with various gems and colors, and in them was a multitude of faces of Saints. Where also above the shoulders the upper wings were joined to the middle ones, Martin the bishop stood out, holding the Gospel of Christ, and Nicholas of Myra the old Testament: and where the middle wings were joined to those which covered the body were Benedict and Bernard, holding most splendid lamps in their hands. The likeness was of wonderful greatness and beauty, and its hands were stretched out and white, and its feet were straight and fiery, and beneath its feet were two fiery wheels, sending forth splendid rays on every side. The spirit of life and the face of a man was in the wheels.

[376] When the likeness flew through the air, in a moment it was carried from the West to the East, which St. Dominic and St. Francis from the North to the South, and again returned to its former place; but when it descended to the earth, the most blessed Francis and Dominic, themselves also having six wings, the first of the Order of the Friars Preachers and Minor, led the likeness; for Francis had a rope inwardly bound to the wheels, and Dominic a golden chain likewise bound to the wheels. The little cord of Francis was threefold and of three colors, namely red, white, and green: its appearance was as lightning; Dominic's was white as snow: their working was for the life of the dead, the health of the sick, and the adorning of the Church of Christ. And the eyes of the Lord, of the Apostles and Evangelists, of the patriarchs and of the six doctors ruling the six wings, were continually fixed upon Francis and Dominic.

[377] The wheels were rolling, and were moved along the earth with as great swiftness accompanied everywhere, as they were borne in flight through the air. When the likeness was led along the earth, the tracks of the wheels were impressed upon stones, and they melted like wax: when it was led through full and dry places, the tracks of the wheels were wet, as if a most abundant water flowed from the wheels; but when through seas and rivers, the tracks of the wheels remained fiery; but when through muddy places, no traces of impression appeared at all, unless, the mud being dried up, they were turned into dry ground. If the likeness was borne in flight, Francis and Dominic followed the likeness, themselves also helping with all their strength. And the sound of the higher wings was as the sound of musicians; the sound of the middle wings as the sound of trumpets and horns exhorting to war; and the sound of those wings which cover the body as the sound of many waters. The sound of the wheels was as the sound of drums, and of smiths striking against an anvil.

[378] I was beholding; and lo, a dragon of immense size, a cock, and whom they defended against a dragon and other beasts. and many foxes, having the faces of women and of divers beasts, were pursuing the likeness: and there was one labor of these, namely to destroy and trample down with all their strength the tracks and impressions of the wheels. While therefore Francis and Dominic with the utmost diligence and a most sweet harmony were leading the likeness through the whole world, and over the earth and through all the streets all were sweetly singing alleluia, the dragon clung to the wheels and held back the course of the likeness for nearly half an hour. Then Francis and Dominic, as if grieving, stirred up in the likeness a tumult against the dragon, and in all the wings and wheels there sounded the blare of the trumpet and the shout of war, and to Francis and Dominic there grew an army of peoples and an innumerable multitude of princes; who, driving the likeness against the dragon, its head being crushed, the dragon perished. From the dragon's head Francis and Dominic shook out innumerable stars, which brought exceeding beauty to the likeness: which when the cock saw, grieving that he had destroyed the tracks of the wheels as far as he could, he flew to the place from which he had fallen, and received a place in the breast of the likeness, and all the Saints with a voice of exultation praised God, saying in Latin and Greek: For the kingdom is the Lord's, and He shall rule over the nations.

[379] Then they wound a terrible beast of the abyss, After these things, while all seemed to enjoy tranquillity, a terrible beast rose up out of the abyss. Its fore parts were like a woman's, its hinder parts like a lion's, and there were gilded iron horns on its head. It spoke sweet and pleasing things, and with a viper's tongue secretly poured in poisons. It approached the likeness deceitfully, broke Dominic's chain and Francis's rope, and overturned the wheels in part. The ram rejoiced over the beast, and received from it a gilded bronze crown. The foxes clung to the beast and placed their hope in it. The likeness was darkened, and the beast slew part of the army of the Saints; but Francis and Dominic, mindful of the beast's deceits, taking the bow and arrows from the hand of Gregory, and the sword of Isidore, assailed the beast with a strong hand. The days of the beast were shortened, and a fire going out from the Lord, devouring, consumed the beast and many of the foxes.

[380] and when the likeness had thus been made more beautiful, The likeness was made more beautiful than usual, and spread out its wings to the ends of the whole earth. The wheels were restored, and the little cord of Francis and the chain of Dominic were inseparably inserted into them, and their splendor glittered sevenfold. The foxes vanished, and not even one was left. The people of the Saints rejoiced with everlasting gladness in Francis and Dominic, and applauded them with praises and canticles. But the ram, considering that he had hitherto erred, blushed with sorrow of heart, and broke the crown received from the beast and trampled it underfoot. The Lord looked upon the ram, and showed him a living perennial fountain, into which descending he was made whiter than snow. Wings were given him by the Lord, and a golden crown. The ram flew, and obtained a place in the breast of the likeness. And there was made a multitude innumerable as the sand of the sea, praising God in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and saying alleluia. And, a trumpet bellowing from heaven, a voice partly sweet and partly terrible was heard, saying: You dead who sleep in the dust of the earth, arise: for the hour of mercy and of judgment shall draw near. And straightway they rose, and stood in the sight of God and of the likeness. And the books were opened, and the merits of each were sifted; and many deserved a dwelling in the likeness, and others were sent into the pool of burning fire. From the likeness a fire went forth, and, burning up the whole earth, rendered it more splendid than gold.

[381] the angels congratulated both Saints, Therefore the likeness was perfected with an ineffable beauty, and by an unspeakable multitude of angels congratulating Francis and Dominic and praising God, because in these soldiers He had triumphed in the Church, it was borne into heaven. And the color of heaven and earth was made inestimably delightful, and a most sweet voice continually resounded on every side of those praising and saying: God almighty is all things in all, and He shall reign forever, and all His Saints with Him. The revelation of this vision was made in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord one thousand two hundred sixteen.

[382] to which is added a certain obscure prediction of things to come. Besides, being asked by us what is the cause or occasion why the rope of Francis or the chain of Dominic should be separated from the wheels, or how Antichrist will be able to have dominion: The Saints, he said, will be affected with weariness on account of the luxury of Religious, cupidity, and the avarice of prelates. Religious will rise up against bishops on account of their monasteries oppressed and their privileges annulled: kings and princes against the Clergy on account of the abundance of possessions and riches, and a kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste. Then the man of sin, the son of betrayal, will be revealed; he will obtain kingdom and priesthood and empire; he will divide the land freely; he will speak against God and the Roman Prelate, and will overthrow the traditions of the holy Fathers. But by the harmonious zeal of the Saints all things will be turned back into their due state, so that each is content with his own grade, and the Roman Pontiff glories that he is the vicar of Christ. These things I have therefore written to your paternity, because you, being prudent, know how to gather flowers among the grasses.

XIX.

[383] From most secret and most true revelations are taken the things which follow. Another revelation explains When our Lord Jesus Christ, as He had promised, had received to Himself His chosen disciples the Apostles, and they were where He is, living as He also lives, in glory, in the lapse of time the masters began to act more negligently, and the people, unmindful of the multitude of God's mercy, to stray from the rectitude of His commandments. But the merciful God, the father of us all, having care for His elect, at one time begot through grace two sons, as it were twins, from His bride, namely the Church, for the salvation of their faithful brothers; whom their mother the Church faithfully nourished at breasts filled from heaven with so copious a sweetness that it cannot be exhausted. These are the two testaments by which all the sons of God are brought up through mother Church. The twins of this mother are the two Orders of Friars Minor and Preachers, whose roots and origins were the most blessed Francis and Dominic.

[384] But as I marveled at the divine providence, the Lord said to me: why God sent St. Dominic and St. Francis into the world, I destined My chosen servant Francis for the world for this, that I might display the evil, irrational, and detestable avarice of clerics, and, by confuting their useless and damnable gain, might declare an imitable freedom of mercy, and, in his manner of life, that humility, most excellent of all virtues, which is pleasing to Me, and might prove evangelical poverty venerable to all and acceptable in My sight. And to laymen swollen and proud with vain glory and the pomp of the world I appointed him, bearing the stigmata of the cross, to be shown as a pattern and a mirror for recognizing the depravity of their own weakness. And My servant Dominic, the bearer of My word and a renowned preacher, I directed to crush the hardness of unbelievers and the perfidy of heretics, and to cleanse the threshing floor of My Church from errors with the winnowing fan of doctrine and example. I gave him for a light of the nations, that, being a debtor to the wise and the foolish, he might enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, giving the knowledge of salvation to My people, and that the words of his mouth might become the support of the weary, the consolation of the afflicted, and the most healthful medicine of sinners.

[385] These are the two youngest sons of the aging patriarch Jacob, and, after He had praised their virtues, who by the lateness of their birth, the singularity of love, and the significations of their names prefigure the two Orders: for they are called the increase of sorrow and the son of the right hand; for the right hand of the Lord, working power, exalting them from the tribulation of evils and from sorrow, increases and multiplies

them beyond number, gladdening their souls in every tribulation with His consolations. These sons of His love, therefore, the eternal Father honored in their sons, having made them fathers of a multitude of Saints, setting them over all the earth. And their generation and glory shall not be forsaken by the Lord, and with their seed good things shall remain forever. In the present life also, who shall recount with how great a benevolence these heartfelt sons are cherished by the Father of mercies? He took away from their hearts the most heavy yoke of solicitude, willing that they should walk solicitous only with their Lord, and exercise in heart and in work the solicitude of all the churches. He sent accordingly His spirit into the hearts of the sons of men, that they might honor them, receiving them as angels when they come to them for the grace of the word of God.

[386] authority, power, The Most High also, making a memorial of His ancient wonders, who for forty years fed Israel with manna in the wilderness, Himself through all the climes of the world bestows freely on these His children the necessaries for food, and nothing is lacking to them. And, what is more abundant, He feeds them with the bread of life and understanding, of the word which proceeds from the mouth of God, in which alone man lives, which is the solid food of the perfect, and the bread that strengthens man's heart, which, received from the hand of the Lord, they eat, and, being satisfied, distribute to the peoples in due season. And that nothing may be lacking to the glory of the sons of God, two-edged swords of authority and knowledge are in their hands: for they bind kings and nobles with the salutary binding of penance; and they work vengeance upon the nations, rebukes among the peoples, by judging sins and thundering forth God's justice. This is the inheritance of God's servants, and the glory by which the sons of the Saints are exalted throughout the universal Church, which the humility, devotion, and charity of the Fathers prevailed to obtain for posterity.

[387] and the Orders founded by them, These glorious men, renowned leaders and fathers, an innumerable multitude of pious sons and ready soldiers follows. Nevertheless there have not been found men like them, who might attain to so eminent a prerogative of purity, holiness of life, rigor of discipline, observance of Religion, and frugality of abstinence, and who could equal the fervor of so inestimable a charity and zeal for the salvation of their neighbors, their zeal of devotion, and the perfection of all virtues. Alas, alas, alas! How many most holy customs, how many exercises of piety and humility, how many pursuits of spiritual discipline and most healthful regular observances have failed; all which those Fathers preserved with most faithful devotion, and taught to posterity by a most effective example that they should be preserved, and commanded with most firm authority!

[388] he obscurely foretells certain things to come, But by how much the devotion of a fiery fervor and the desirable and affectionate imitation of Christ's poverty begins to grow lukewarm and not to take increase, by so much the more perilously does destruction threaten: for as, when the Babylonian overthrow was at hand, the synagogue of Moses brought forth the holy king Josiah, a zealot of legal justice, so, when the tyranny of Antichrist is at hand, the Church, Bride of the Lamb, will beget the state of two Orders of the loftiest perfection, who will strengthen the faithful against the venomous dragon, and will be crushed by that most wicked beast, crowned with martyrdom. And the dignity of the Roman empire will be their beginning, and their lofty and holy Religion will be bounded by the small number of years of three tens. Let the rulers of the present Orders meanwhile cease to command their subjects with austerity: for harsh command provokes contempt and brings on division ^d.

ANNOTATA.

* elsewhere: of Austria

* elsewhere: religion

CHAPTER XXXIII.

Other wonderful visions concerning the primitive holiness of the Preachers, and their great glory in heaven.

The primitive beginning of this Order glowed with the ardent heat of a deifying charity, and, white with the cleanness of an exceptional purity, A certain man sees that the primitive holiness of the Preachers was fragrant with odor like a lily, and, knowing nothing of pretense and hypocrisy, shone forth with the beauty of a true simplicity. And so the Lord said to me: In this Order of Preachers I so love and embrace two things, that is, an established observance and much fruit, that, rejoicing together with them, I always smile upon them out of the great good pleasure of My heart. For they with all the powers of both the inner and outer man zealously preach the glory of My majesty: for there goes forth from their inmost parts a vehement groaning, a heartfelt weeping, a clean desire, a solicitous restraining of thoughts, a faithful humility, a joyful charity, a frequent change of place as pilgrims. Further, there shines outwardly the devout solemnity of the sacred ministry, the usefulness of preaching, the authority of absolving sinners, the pious and sweet consolation of the afflicted, the strengthening of the wavering, and the salutary bond of Catholic unity. This also the Lord said: The alms which their generous want bestows for My name, and which their poverty prodigally gives, washes away and diminishes the faults of those who receive them, and, striking down the devil, drives him out through the power of evangelical poverty ^a.

XXI.

[390] But behold, to me, an exile who did not desire it, the Almighty graciously revealed the future glory of the Preachers, is abundantly recompensed in heaven, and I saw in the choir of the Cherubim their admirable seats and the singular rewards of their merits. In the front part of the seats were two shining candlesticks, which are burning charity and the brightness of example with a sincere intention; but in the inner part of the seat and its resting place was an ineffable repose and an admirable sweetness of rest. For the labor of their running and journeying their feet were made beautiful, adorned with pearls and stones, of which I would wish a crown to be set upon my head. O Preachers, why do you so unwillingly loosen your mouths and open your lips to preach? Why are you so heavy to hear the faults of the poor and to incline your ear to the mouths of sinners? I have seen the breath of your mouth going forth like the smoke of spices to the throne of eternal majesty, which breathed wisdom into you, glorifying with the Holy Spirit the Son of God, the sharer of your office, who is the most generous distributor of all graces.

[391] and that their Order will endure to the last times. There arose at one time a grave persecution by certain deceitful doctors and by others, sinners who pursue avarice, against the Order of the elect Preachers of the shining truth; with whom, having compassion from the inmost bowels of my soul, I prayed the Lord that He would preserve His glory in an Order so necessary to the Church. And the Lord said to me: As long as it shall please My will to keep them, it is impossible that they should be abolished by any man's malice, however great. And I said to the Lord: Will this Order, my Lord, remain until the consummation of the world? And the Lord answered me: It will remain until the last times.

XXII.

[392] It was my custom to approach the tombs of pious departed persons, Then he narrates how a priest of the same Order and to greet them as members of God's household. And it happened that a certain priest of the Order of Preachers, being greeted by me in his tomb after my accustomed manner, invited me to the solemnities of his heavenly reception. And behold, all that multitude of the citizens above was drawing itself up in its cohorts and troops to meet that happy soul, about to go forth with joy. There came, then, the leader and prince of the sacred army of the Order of Preachers, glorious Dominic, with a copious multitude of his sons, who each bore golden garlands ineffably glittering, according as the merciful clemency of God had granted them to merit while placed in the flesh. And the Father, meeting his son returning from exile, the leader meeting the soldier triumphing from battle, brought forth a crown wondrously radiant after the manner of the sun, because he had imitated the traces of his examples.

[393] was received by his holy Founder Yet the lofty Father incomparably excelled all his sons in glory: for the merits of all are the increases of his beatitude. For fine linen and purple and the joyfulness of a green color adorned his garment, expressing the doctrine of truth with the desire of suffering, and virginal innocence. And there followed the Preachers, and those adhering to their counsels, a certain notable banner which was borne before them, which befitted no dignity but theirs. Thus that blessed soul of the Brother, offered to Him who sat upon the throne, for its welcome obedience, for its voluntary poverty, for its accepted abjection, received from His hand riches and glory and perpetual liberty.

[394] into glory, Giving thanks therefore, he said: Glory to You, Lord, for the talents delivered to me, and for those preserved by Your grace, and because Your Majesty has mercifully condescended to me. And bowing to the Majesty, turning to the Brethren, he is received with much exultation. And the glorious father Dominic said to him: Welcome, beloved son; enter into the joy of your Lord, alleluia. Then, in a jubilation divinely flowing into me, I saw that happy soul sweetly and inseparably clinging to the blessed embraces of the supreme Trinity. Truly there is no respect of persons with God: for behold, a beggar received with glory is delighted, set like a seal between the arms of the Most High.

XXIII.

[395] I saw; and behold, a threefold army of privileged Saints, and how at the same time he saw splendid in garment, joyful in song, wreathed with a garland, appeared glorious in the sight of the Lord. The garment of the virgins was of the whiteness of the lily, that of the Preachers fiery, presenting the brightness of the sun, that of the martyrs rosy and glowing red exceedingly. The garlands of the virgins were of many forms, those of the martyrs great and conspicuous, those of the Preachers flowery and fragrant, which are the words of God. These preeminent bands, joined together, leading their choirs with ineffable gladness, uttered their melodies before the throne. And from thence there went forth a threefold rush of a river, which, making their minds drunk with delight, filled their mouths with joyfulness.

[396] Then the company of the Preachers, thundering with a high-sounding voice, cried out, saying: a threefold band of the privileged, We praise You, great Lord, because we have been found worthy to follow Your footsteps, being made voluntarily poor and abject. We adore You, eternal and good Shepherd, because we have deserved to gather, to lead back, to feed, and to place in Your sheepfold the sheep for which You laid down Your life, forsaken by hirelings and wandering. There was borne before these a banner of wonderful comeliness and exceptional ornament, unexchangeable with all the other Saints, which those beheld and followed with joy who, while placed in the flesh, adhered by faith and love to the counsels of the Preachers. And the holy martyrs also cried out, saying: Blessed are You, Lord Jesus, Son of God, the immaculate lamb, whose innocent blood, purifying us, sanctified our death, making us conformed and companions to Your beatifying and most divine passion. To You be praise and glory, alleluia.

[397] There sounded also the sweet-sounding voice of virginal modesty, that is, of the glorious Preachers. echoing back* a honeyed harmony in the eternal tabernacles, saying: Your undefiled blood, sweet Jesus, and mine are one in an ineffable union. Your love and mine are one in an inaccessible charity. Your mouth and mine are one, not to be kissed, on account of the inscrutable truth. Your

breast and mine, untouched, are one on account of the holiness of a most entire incorruption. These words of this harmony I was able to grasp; but the sweetness of the melody and the sweetness of the resounding affection are not expressed in words, nor depicted with ink ^b.

ANNOTATA.

* elsewhere: resounding

CHAPTER XXXIV.

The nine manners of praying which the Saint used, and two examples which have been omitted elsewhere.

XXIV.

By the holy doctors Augustine, Leo, Ambrose, Gregory, Concerning prayer, on which the doctors treat at length Hilary, Isidore, John Chrysostom, and John Damascene, and Bernard, and other most learned doctors, Greek and Latin, very much has been said concerning prayer, as to its commendation, description, necessity, usefulness, and manner, and preparation, and moreover its impediments; but the glorious and venerable doctor St. Thomas also, and William, and Albert of the Order of Preachers, in their books in the treatise on the virtues, have pursued it nobly and scientifically and devoutly and beautifully. Yet concerning the manner of praying according as the soul employs the members of the body, so that it may be borne more devoutly into God, so that the soul, moving the body, may be removed from the body, and may sometimes be in ecstasy, as Paul; sometimes in agony, as the Savior; in an excess of mind, as the prophet David — in the manner in which blessed Dominic often prayed, something must here be said for the completing of the work ^a.

[399] besides other manners, For the Saints also of the old and the new Testament are found sometimes to have prayed thus: for such a manner of praying stirs up devotion alternately from the soul into the body, and from the body into the soul: and this manner made St. Dominic dissolve vehemently into tears, and kindled the fervor of a good will so far that his mind could not be restrained but that the members of the body should manifest his devotion by certain tokens. Whence by the very force of the mind of one praying he sometimes rose up into petitions, supplications, and thanksgivings. But the manners of praying, besides those most devout manners which he had, and all of them in the celebration of Mass and in the chanting of the psalmody, where he often seemed suddenly to be rapt above himself and to converse with God and the angels, at the canonical hours, whether in choir or on a journey, were these.

[400] The Saint sometimes prayed deeply bowed, The first manner, namely, was by humbling himself before the altar, as if Christ, signified by the altar, were there really and personally, and not only in a sign, according to that saying: The prayer of humility shall pierce the clouds. He sometimes said to the Brethren that word of Judith: The prayer of the humble and the meek has always pleased You; by humility the Canaanite woman obtained what she wished, and the prodigal son; but I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof. Humble my spirit greatly, O Lord: for, Lord, before You I have been humbled in every way. And thus the Saint, his body erect, bowed his head and his loins to Christ his head, considering his own servitude and Christ's excellence, and giving himself wholly in reverence to Him. And he taught this to be done by the Brethren, when they passed before the humiliation of the Crucified, so that Christ, humbled for us, might especially see us humbled before His Majesty. Likewise he commanded the Brethren thus to be humbled before the whole Trinity, when there was said solemnly: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. And this manner, as it is described in the figure, was the beginning of his devotion, thus bowing himself deeply ^b.

[401] prostrate on the ground, Blessed Dominic also often prayed by casting himself wholly to the ground, face down upon his face, and he was stricken with compunction in his heart, and blushed for himself, and sometimes said so loudly that he was even heard that word of the Gospel: God, be merciful to me a sinner; and piously and with much shame he recalled the word of David saying: I, who have sinned, and who have done wickedly. And he wept and groaned strongly, and afterward said: I am not worthy to look upon the height of heaven because of the multitude of my iniquity, since I have provoked Your wrath and done evil before You. And of that psalm, O God, we have heard with our ears, he said strongly and devoutly: For my soul is humbled in the dust; our belly has cleaved to the earth. And again: My soul has cleaved to the pavement; quicken me according to Your word.

[402] teaching his Brethren reverence in prayer, And wishing sometimes to teach the Brethren how reverently they ought to pray, he said to them: Those devout kings, the Magi, entering the house found the child with Mary His mother. But it is certain that we find the God-man with Mary His handmaid. Come, let us adore and fall down before God; let us weep before the Lord who made us. He also exhorted the young, saying: If you cannot weep for your own sins, because you have none, yet there are many sinners who may be ordered toward mercy and charity, for whom the prophets and Apostles groaned, whom Jesus, seeing them, wept over bitterly, and holy David likewise wept, saying: I saw the transgressors, and I pined away. Whence he stood thus.

[403] For this cause, rising from the ground, he took the discipline with the iron chain, and striking himself with an iron chain, of which it has been said above, saying: Your discipline has corrected me unto the end. Whence also the whole Order decreed that all the Brethren, in memory of the example of St. Dominic, should be praying and saying: Have mercy on me, O God, and the rest, or Out of the depths, and the rest; and should take on all non-feast days after Compline the discipline with wooden rods upon the bare back, either for their own faults or for those of others, on whose alms they live. Whence from this holy example no one, however innocent, ought to withdraw himself; the figure of which example is such.

[404] After these things St. Dominic, before the altar or in the Chapter house, with his face fixed on the Crucified, often bending his knees, gazed upon Him with a steady look, bending his knees again and again, or even a hundred times; nay, sometimes from after Compline until midnight he now raised himself, now bent his knees, like James the Apostle, like the leper of the Gospel, who said on bended knee: Lord, if You will, You can make me clean. And like Stephen, who, kneeling down, cried with a loud voice, saying: Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And there arose in the holy father Dominic a great confidence in God's mercy for himself and for all sinners, and for the preservation of the novice Brethren whom he sent out to preach: and sometimes he could not contain his voice, but was heard by the Brethren saying: To You, O Lord, will I cry; be not silent to me, lest at any time You be silent to me, and I shall be like those going down into the pit: and certain like words of divine Scripture.

[405] But sometimes he spoke in his heart, and pouring out tears, and his voice was not heard at all, and he rested in genuflection, astounded in mind, sometimes for a very long time; and sometimes in that very manner the gaze of his understanding seemed to have penetrated heaven, and quickly he seemed gladdened with joy, and wiping away his flowing tears. And he was in great desire, like one thirsting when he comes to a fountain, and like a pilgrim when he is now near his fatherland. And he prevailed and grew strong, and moved himself very composedly and nimbly, both raising himself up and bending his knee: and he was so accustomed to bend his knees that on a journey, and in lodgings after the labors of the roads, and even on the roads, while others slept and rested, he returned to his genuflections as to a certain art of his and his singular ministry. And by this example, doing more than saying, he taught the Brethren in this manner.

[406] Sometimes the holy father Dominic stood erect before the altar when he was in a Convent, sometimes standing and leaning on nothing, his whole body straight upon his feet, not propped up nor clinging to anything, having sometimes his hands spread out before his breast after the manner of an open book; and he bore himself in that manner of standing as though he were reading before God very reverently and devoutly. And he seemed then in prayer to meditate on the eloquences of God, and as it were sweetly to recount them to himself: for he had made habitual to himself that manner of the Lord which is read in Luke; namely, that Jesus entered according to His custom on the sabbath day into the synagogue, and rose up to read. And in the psalm it is said: Phinehas stood up and prayed, and the plague ceased.

[407] ordering his hands in various ways, Sometimes he joined his hands together, stretching them out strongly clasped before his eyes, constraining himself; and sometimes he raised his hands to his shoulders, as is the custom of a priest when he celebrates Mass, as if he wished to fix his ears to perceive more diligently something that was being said by another. Then, if you had seen the devotion of him standing erect and praying, you would have thought you saw a prophet now speaking with an angel or with God, now hearing, now silently pondering upon those things which had been revealed to him. But if at any time the time for prayer came while he was on a journey, standing with his whole mind he suddenly was intent upon heaven; and quickly you would have heard him speaking most sweetly, and most delicately uttering some gentle word from the marrow and fatness of sacred Scripture, which he seemed to have drawn from the fountains of the Savior. And by this example the Brethren were greatly moved at the sight of their Father and Master; and by that devotion they were excellently instructed to pray reverently and continually, as the eyes of a handmaid on the hands of her mistress, and as the eyes of servants on the hands of their masters, as here appears.

[408] sometimes with arms outstretched, Sometimes also the holy father Dominic was seen to pray, as I heard with my own ears from one who saw it, with his hands and arms spread out, vehemently stretched after the likeness of a cross, and upright according to his ability. In this manner he prayed when God by his prayer raised the boy Napoleon at Rome at St. Sixtus, in the place of the sacristy, and in the church at the celebration of Mass, when he was raised from the ground, as that devout and holy Sister Cecilia narrated to me, who was present and saw it with a multitude of others ^c. As Elijah, when he raised the widow's son, stretched himself out and measured himself upon the boy. He prayed likewise when near Toulouse he freed the pilgrims from England from the peril of drowning in the river, as has been written above. In this manner the Lord prayed hanging on the cross, namely with hands and arms outstretched, and with a strong cry and tears He was heard for His reverence.

[409] when he foresaw that some difficult thing Nor did the holy man of God, Dominic, frequent this manner; but when he had known that something great and wonderful was to be done, being inspired by God,

by the power of prayer. Nor indeed did he forbid the Brethren to pray thus, nor did he urge it. And when he raised that boy — namely by praying and standing with arms and hands spread out after the manner of a cross — we do not know what he said. Perhaps he said that word of Elijah: Lord my God, let the soul of this boy, I beseech You, return into his body, just as he also kept his manner in praying. But the Brethren and Sisters, and the lord Cardinals, and the rest, attending to a manner of praying unwonted and wonderful to them, did not gather the words which he said: nor was it afterward permitted them to ask about these things that holy and admirable Dominic, who in this deed showed himself to them all very awesome and reverend.

[410] or asked a singular grace from God, But those words which in the Psalter make mention of that manner of praying he uttered weightily and gravely and maturely and attentively, namely: Lord God of my salvation, I have cried by day and in the night before You, as far as: I have cried to You, O Lord; all the day I have spread out my hands to You, and the rest to the end. Likewise: Lord, hear my prayer; give ear to my supplication; in Your truth hear me in Your justice, as far as this: I stretched out my hands to You; my soul is as earth without water to You; hear me speedily. By this any devout suppliant will be able to understand this Father's teaching in praying in this manner, when he wished wonderfully to move God by the power of prayer, or rather when he felt from a hidden inspiration that he was magnificently moved by God to ask a singular grace, whether for himself or for another, being supported by the teaching of David, by the signification of Elijah, by the charity of Christ, by the devotion of Dominic, as appears in this figure.

[411] Nevertheless he was often found in praying to be raised wholly toward heaven, raised up and rapt out of himself, after the manner of a chosen arrow shot from a bent bow, straight upward, with hands raised above his head, strongly stretched and joined together, or somewhat widened, as if to receive something from heaven. And it is believed that grace was then increased in him, and that he was rapt, and obtained from God, for the Order which he had begun, the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the delightful sweetnesses in the acts of the beatitudes for himself and for the Brethren, so that in the loftiest poverty, in bitter mourning, in heavy persecution, in much hunger and thirst for justice, in anxious mercy, each might reckon himself blessed, and that in keeping the precepts and in fulfilling the evangelical counsels the devout might bear themselves with delight. The holy Father then seemed to enter suddenly into the holy of holies and into the third heaven. Whence also after that prayer, whether in correcting, or in dispensing, or in preaching, he bore himself after a prophetic manner, as has been recorded in the miracles.

[412] But one thing must here be set down briefly for edification. After such a prayer the holy master Dominic at Bologna sought, according to his custom, the counsel of the elders concerning certain matters to be done, after which manner of prayer he rebukes a delinquent Brother, because, as he said, it is revealed to one of the good which is not revealed to another, as appears in the prophets. And then the sacristan called one of those attending that council to the church of the women, for the sake, as I think, of hearing a confession, and added foolishly (yet not so that he thought he would be heard by the holy master Dominic): A beautiful lady has asked for you; come quickly. But holy Dominic, being made in the Spirit, was stirred within himself, and the counselors revered him. Then he ordered the sacristan to come, and said to him: What did you say? But he said: I asked for a priest for the church. And the Father said: Rebuke yourself, and confess the guilt which has come even to your mouth. God, who made all things, brought it about that these words of yours, which you thought hidden, should not be hidden from me. And he disciplined him there strongly and long, so that the bystanders were moved to compassion because of the bruises. And he said: Go, son, you have learned henceforth how you should gaze with a fixed look upon a woman, that you may not judge of her complexion. Pray also yourself that God may make you chaste in your eyes ^d. Thus he knew a hidden thing, thus he rebuked a foolish one, thus he taught one chastised, thus in prayer he had foreseen; and the Brethren marveled, because he said that it should be so done*.

[413] And the holy Master said: Our justices, compared with the divine justice, are uncleannesses. And so the holy Father did not stand long in that manner of praying; and he was accustomed shortly to return to himself. but he returned into himself, as though coming from afar, and seemed like a pilgrim to the world: which could easily be weighed in his look and manners. Nevertheless, praying, he was sometimes clearly heard by the Brethren saying, as the Prophet said: Hear the voice of my supplication while I pray to You, and while I lift up my hands to Your holy temple. And the holy Master taught the Brethren by word and example so to pray, saying that of the Psalmist: Behold now, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord. And that: Lord, I have cried to You, hear me; give ear to my voice when I shall cry to You; the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice. Which, that it may be better understood, the figure examined teaches.

[414] Finally, reading a pious book For the holy father Dominic had also another manner of praying, beautiful and devout and pleasing: for after the canonical hours, and after the thanksgivings which are commonly made after the taking of food, the Father, sober and anointed with the spirit of devotion, which spirit he had drawn from the divine words which were sung in choir or at the meal, quickly placed himself in some place of solitude in a cell or elsewhere, that he might read or pray, abiding with himself and standing with God; and he sat quiet; and he spread out some book before his face, fortified with the sign of the cross: and he read, and was sweetly affected in mind, as if he heard the Lord speaking, as it is said in the psalm: I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me; for He will speak peace unto His people, and upon His saints, and upon those who are converted to the heart. And as if he were disputing with a companion, by his gestures and in mind he seemed now impatient, now a quiet hearer, to debate and to wrestle, and to smile and weep at once, and to fix his gaze and to lower it, and again to speak silently, and to beat his breast.

[415] he conversed as it were with God, If any curious person had wished to see him secretly, the holy father Dominic seemed like Moses, who had entered into the inner parts of the desert and beheld the burning bush, and the Lord speaking, and humbling Himself: for this prophetic custom was in the man of God, quickly to be carried over from reading to prayer, and from meditation to contemplation. And when he thus read alone, he venerated the book, and bowed to the book, and also kissed the book; especially if it were a codex of the Gospels, or if he read words which Christ had uttered with His own mouth. But sometimes he hid his face, and turned it elsewhere, or laid his face in his hands, or veiled it a little with his hood: and even then he became wholly anxious and full of desire, and also, as if he were giving thanks to an excellent person for benefits received, he rose a little reverently and bowed, and, wholly filled and made quiet within himself, he read again in the book.

[416] and from meditation drew the spirit of prophecy, Such a manner he observed also in going from country to country, when he was in some solitude, and he played with his meditations in his contemplation, and said sometimes to his companions on the journey: It is written in Hosea: I will lead her into the wilderness, and I will speak to her heart. Whence sometimes he turned aside from his companion, or went before, or rather followed at a distance, and, going apart, prayed and walked, and in his meditation a fire was kindled. And there was in him in such prayer a gesture as though he were driving away sparks or flies from his face. And on account of this he often fortified himself with the sign of the cross. And the Brethren thought that in that manner of praying the Saint attained the fullness of sacred Scripture, and the marrow of the understanding of the divine eloquences, and a bold power of preaching fervently, and a hidden familiarity of the Holy Spirit in knowing hidden things.

[417] Whence it once happened — that we may bring forward one of the many things which have been omitted — that the devil came to the church of the Friars Preachers at Bologna in the shape of a young man having vain and wanton manners, by which once he knew and drove away a demon plotting against the Brethren, and asked for a confessor: and there were brought to him five priests in turn, now one, now another; and this was the cause, because he so affected and evilly inflamed the first confessor by his words that he rose up from hearing the confession and would not hear those abominations to the end. Likewise did the second, and the third, and the fourth, and the fifth. And they withdrew silently, and never would reveal this confession, because on the part of those who had heard it that confession was sacramental, although it was not so from the devil.

[418] Then holy Dominic, being present in the Convent, and feigning that he came for the sake of confession. was summoned by the sacristan, who complained against the priests because five could not hear one sin, and he told this to the holy Father and added: It is a great scandal; the priests, the Brethren, preach penance, and are unwilling to impose penance on sinners. And the holy father Dominic rose from his reading and prayer and contemplation (not ignorant of the business, I think), and came to hear the devil's confession. When therefore he had entered the church, the devil approached him, and the holy Father at once recognized him and said to him: Why, malignant spirit, do you tempt the servants of God under this show of piety? And he most severely rebuked him. And the devil at once vanished there, and left the church stinking with the odor of sulphur; and the sacristan was appeased concerning his indignation against the priests ^e.

ANNOTATA.

* perhaps: to be done

JURIDICAL REPORT,

in which nine sworn eyewitnesses of the Order of Preachers narrate the pious deeds and miracles of St. Dominic which they had observed in his life, at his death, or after his death.

From what was published by the Rev. Fr. James Echard, who lately brought this authentic instrument to light from a Ms. codex of Carcassonne among the Writers of the Order of Preachers reviewed in volume 1, page 44 and following.

Dominic, confessor, at Bologna (St.)

BHL Number: 2208

FROM THE PRINTED EDITIONS.

PREFACE OF THE NOTARY.

Before the inquisitors delegated by Pope Gregory IX, Witnesses received concerning the life, manner of living, and passing of Brother Dominic, planter and founder of the Order of Friars Preachers and first Master, by the authority of the lord Pope Gregory IX, through master Tancred, archdeacon of Bologna, and Thomas, Prior of St. Mary of Reno, and Brother Palmerius of the church of Campagnola of the dioceses of Bologna and Reggio: and they were brought forward by Brother Philip ^a, a Canon ^b of the same Order, appointed procurator by Brother Ventura, Prior of the Convent of the church of St. Nicholas of the Order of Friars Preachers, and by the Chapter of that same church gathered after the accustomed manner at the sound of the bell in that Chapter: and concerning the miracles which God wrought through the merits of Br. Dominic before his death and after. And they swore before the said inquisitors in the year of the Lord MCCXXXIII, in the sixth Indiction ^c.

ANNOTATA.

CHAPTER I.

The testimony of the Prior of Bologna concerning those things which he beheld in the Saint's manner of living, his last sickness, and after his death.

Brother Ventura, a familiar of St. Dominic, Brother Ventura of Verona, priest and Prior of the Convent of the Friars Preachers of Bologna, being sworn, said that it is thirteen years and more that he, the witness, entered the Order of the Friars Preachers at the inducement and admonition of Brother Dominic, founder and first Master of the Order of Friars Preachers, and made his profession into his hand and received the habit from him. And at that time that Br. Dominic had full power and dispensation and ordering and correction of the whole Order of Friars Preachers after the lord Pope. And in the same year the first general Chapter of the Order was celebrated, the witness himself being present, at Bologna. And then it pleased that Br. Dominic that definitors should be appointed in the Chapter, who should have full power over the whole Order and over the Master himself and the definitors of that Order, namely of defining, establishing, ordaining, and punishing, the reverence due to the master being preserved. And he stayed with that Br. Dominic in the city of Bologna, and in going with him outside the city through the province of Lombardy, and he was united to that Br. Dominic with much familiarity in going, returning, staying, eating and drinking, and lying down, and praying.

[3] Likewise he said that, going along the way, he wished to set forth the word of God, by himself or by others, to nearly all who went with him; gives testimony concerning his ardent zeal for prayer, and this he knows, because he often saw the aforesaid. And he always wished either to dispute about God, or to confer, or to teach, or to read while he was on the way, or to pray. And also, as he went, he celebrated Mass almost every day, if he found a church. And when he sang Mass, he poured out many tears, as the witness himself saw. And when he came to a lodging, if there was a church there, he always went to pray in the church. And almost always, when he was outside a Convent, when he had heard the first ringing of Matins of the monasteries, he rose and roused the Brethren, and celebrated with much devotion the whole divine Office, of the day and of the night, so that he omitted nothing: and after Compline he was, and made his companions be, in silence on the journey, as if they were in a Convent. And in the morning as he went, he kept and made his men keep silence almost every day until Terce. And while he was on a journey, he lay on straw clothed and shod, as he walked by day; yet he believes that he took off his shoes ^a.

[4] Likewise he said that, going along the roads, he observed a continuous fast from the feast of the Exaltation of the holy Cross until the feast of the Resurrection, his fasts, and also in summer all the fasts instituted by the Church, and all Fridays: and on a journey he ate patiently those things which were given him to eat, except that he did not eat meat, nor any foods seasoned with meat or fat knowingly. And if at any time he was ill provided for on the way in food and drink, he did not complain of it; but seemed rather to rejoice at it. And when he was on a journey, when he came to a place where the Brethren had a Convent, he did not go to rest, as some do; but, the Brethren being called together, he made them a sermon, and set forth to them the word of the Lord and much consolation.

[5] and other pious exercises, Likewise he said that when Br. Dominic was in a Convent where he had to make a stay, he conformed himself to the Convent in food and at table, and observed the rule entirely and most fully, and labored as he could that his Brethren should observe it. And all the aforesaid he knows because he saw it, and he does not at all remember that he ever saw or heard him doing or saying the contrary: nor did he ever hear or see that he spoke an idle or injurious word, or disparaged anyone. Likewise he said that the same Br. Dominic was wise, discreet, patient, kindly, and very merciful, and very affable, sober, and just, so that in all the time of his life he does not believe that he has seen any man who, all conditions being considered, excelled more in all virtues, although he has seen and known many good Religious men in various parts of the world. And he said that he heard his confession in the sickness in which he passed to the Lord, generally of all his acts, with many priests present and hearing, and he believes that he never sinned mortally: and he believes that he was always a virgin, and this he believes through the aforesaid general confession which he heard from him: and afterward he said to that Brother in secret: Brother, I have sinned, because I said publicly concerning my virginity before the Brethren what I ought not to have said ^b.

[6] gives testimony, Likewise he said that when he was on a journey he visited religious houses, of whatever Order they were, and preached to them and exhorted them to good, and this he very often saw. Likewise he said that if any Brother of his Order or of another had a temptation or disturbance and went to him to speak about it, he exhorted them very well, so that nearly all departed from him well consoled: and this he very often saw throughout the province of Lombardy, namely at Milan and at Colomba ^c, and elsewhere in many places. Likewise he said that almost every day, unless hindered by great necessity, he made a preaching and a conference to the Brethren, and wept much, and provoked others to weep. Likewise he said that he was a zealot for the rule and strictly punished the faults of the Brethren; yet he enjoined penances with such sweetness and kindness that the Brethren bore them patiently. Likewise he said that he was assiduous at the Office and followed the choir in the Office. Likewise he said that he never knew that he had his own place for lying down, except in sickness, nor could he easily have had one without his knowing it. Likewise he said that for the greater part of the night he was in prayer, and very often passed the night in the church, and wept much in prayer. Being asked how he knew, he answered that he very often found him in the church praying and weeping, and sometimes, overcome by sleep, sleeping: and on account of the many preceding vigils he very often dozed at table.

[7] and especially narrates those things Likewise he said that about the end of the month of July, as he believes concerning the time, he had returned from the court of the lord Hugolino, then bishop of Ostia and legate of the Apostolic See, and now supreme Pontiff, who was at Venice, as he most certainly believes concerning the place, and Br. Dominic returned very weary, and although he was so wearied, he spoke with the witness, who was then the new Prior, and with Br. Rudolf, until a great part of the night about the affairs of the Order: and when he wished to sleep, he asked the said Br. Dominic to go to sleep and not to rise in the night for Matins; but he did not acquiesce in his prayers, but entered the church and passed the night in prayer, and none the less was present at Matins, as he heard from the Brethren and from Br. Dominic himself; and after Matins he heard from him that his head ached, and from then he began plainly to languish with that sickness in which he passed to the Lord. Likewise he said that, while he lay in that sickness, he would not lie in a bed, but on a sack ^d, and he had the novice Brethren called to him, and with most sweet words and cheerful countenance consoled them and exhorted them to good: and he bore that sickness, and others also, so patiently that he neither complained nor uttered a groan; nay, he seemed always cheerful and joyful.

[8] Likewise he said that, when he was gravely sick, they had him carried to St. Mary on the Mount, which happened in the Saint's last illness, which was a healthier place, and when he believed that he was dying, he called this Prior and the Brethren: and there came thither nearly twenty Brethren with the said Prior, and when they were about him, he, thus lying, began to preach to them, and made them a very good and compunction-stirring sermon, and he never heard a more edifying sermon from his mouth; and, as he believes, they then anointed him. And he heard then from certain persons that the monk who was then rector in the said church said that, if he died there, he would not allow him to be carried away, but would have him buried in the said church. But when the Prior himself had reported the aforesaid to Br. Dominic, that Br. Dominic answered: Far be it that I be buried anywhere but under the feet of my Brethren: carry me outside, that I may die in that vineyard, so that you may be able to bury me at our own church. And then

taking him up, they brought him back to Bologna to the church of St. Nicholas, fearing lest he should die on the way.

[9] And when he had been there, he remained for a good hour, and afterward had the Prior called, when the time of death was at hand, and said to him: Prepare yourselves. And when this Prior and the other Brethren had solemnly prepared themselves for the commendation of the soul, and when they had come about him, that Br. Dominic said to this Prior and to the Brethren: Wait yet a while. And while these things were being done, the Prior himself said to him: Father, you know how you leave us desolate and sad; remember us, that you may pray for us to the Lord. And Br. Dominic himself, his eyes and hands raised to heaven, said: Holy Father, because I have gladly persisted in Your will, and have guarded and preserved those whom You gave me, I commend them to You; preserve and guard them. And he said that he had heard from the Brethren that, when they asked him concerning himself, he answered them: I shall be more useful and more fruitful to you after death than I have been in my life. And after a little while Br. Dominic himself said to him and to the Brethren: Begin. And they began solemnly to perform the Office of the commendation of the soul. And, as he believes, Br. Dominic himself was saying the Office with them, because he moved his lips: and while they were performing the Office, he ended his life, and he firmly believes that while they were saying those words, Come to his aid, saints of God, run to meet him, angels of the Lord, receiving his soul, offering it in the sight of the Most High — that then he gave up his spirit. And thus he believes that it was done by the kindness and providence of God, that the lord Hugolino, bishop of Ostia, and now the Apostolic Pontiff, and the lord patriarch of Aquileia, and many venerable bishops and abbots were present at his burial. And the lord bishop of Ostia himself, now the Apostolic Pontiff, celebrated Mass and commended his soul and performed the obsequies. And he said that on the feast of St. Sixtus ^e last past it was twelve years since he passed to the Lord.

[10] his honorable obsequies, Likewise he said that in the same year in which he died, in the following winter a very great odor was perceived in the old church in which he was buried, and throughout the whole church; but especially about the burial place, and the witness himself perceived that odor, and many Brethren perceived it who are still living, as he heard them saying, and it lasted for many days; but they did not know what odor it was, believing firmly that it came forth from the burial place. Likewise he said that, as he has heard and firmly believes, God worked many miracles through the same Brother Dominic at his death and after his death in that year and in the following years. And he believes and says this for this reason, because many men and women came to his burial place with candles and images and votive offerings, saying that God had worked miracles about them or their own through the merits of blessed Dominic. And some wished to enclose the burial place of that Br. Dominic and to cover it with silken cloths; but the Brethren forbade it, lest the Order should thereby be disturbed on account of the multitude, and lest some should say that the Brethren did it, or suffered it to be done, out of cupidity and boasting.

[11] the translation of the sacred body Likewise he said that, when the body of the aforesaid Br. Dominic had to be transferred from the place in which it was to the place in which it now is, by command of the Podestà of Bologna many honored citizens guarded the chest for many days, fearing lest it should be stolen from them. Whence, when at night the Brethren came to open the chest, in the presence of the Podestà ^f and many citizens of Bologna and other honored and religious men, clerics and laymen, they found the tomb well closed and the cement hard and very strong, so that they scarcely lifted the upper stone. And when the stone had been lifted, there came forth from it a wonderful and most sweet odor, unknown to all who were there, and such as seemed to surpass all spices; nor did it seem to have the odor of any human thing. And, the said stone being lifted, they found a wooden chest well closed and secured with iron nails, in which the said body of Br. Dominic rested, which likewise they opened, and they at once perceived a far greater fragrance of odor: and the bones of that body, which were in the old chest, they placed in a new one, well secured with a key, which the Podestà always held and holds; which afterward at dawn, at the coming of the archbishop and of many bishops, was opened, and gave forth the same odor, and was laid with the bones by the archbishop and the other bishops in the new tomb: which being closed, that same tomb was opened on the eighth day, in the presence of the Podestà of Bologna and many other citizens, and of Master Jordan, the Prior of the province, and many other Priors and Brethren of the Order of Preachers: and then, Master Jordan holding the head of the said Br. Dominic in his hands, nearly three hundred Brethren of the Order of Preachers and more kissed the head, perceiving the same indescribable odor: and a wonderful and indescribable odor remained on the hands of Master Jordan and of this witness, and of all those who touched any of his bones.

[12] Being asked how he knows all the aforesaid, he answered: because he was present at all the aforesaid, and saw it, and perceived the odor not only in the bones and garments in which he perceived a great fragrance of odor. and chest and dust, but also on his own hands and those of the Brethren who touched the above-mentioned things, or anything of the aforesaid. Likewise he said that many times up to this time he has perceived that unknown odor. Likewise he said that he was so great a zealot for souls that he extended his charity and compassion not only to the faithful, but also to the gentiles and unbelievers, and to the damned in hell, and he wept much for them, and was very fervent as regards himself in preaching, and as regards others in sending preachers, so far indeed that he desired to go to preach to the gentiles. Being asked how he knows this, he answered: because he heard it from him and from other Brethren, and he was often with him in such discussions, and also in conferences.

ANNOTATA.

* perhaps: lest

CHAPTER II.

A narration of the things which Br. William of Montferrat and Br. Amizo, Prior of Padua, observed in the Saint's life and after his death.

William of Montferrat Brother William of Montferrat of the Order of Preachers, priest, being sworn, said that it is sixteen years, or about that time, since he came to the city of Rome to keep Lent there, and the lord Pope who now is, who then was bishop of Ostia, received him into his house: and in those days Br. Dominic, the discoverer and first Master of the Order of Preachers, was in the Roman court, and often came to the house of the lord bishop of Ostia: whence from then he had acquaintance with him, and the manner of life of the said Brother pleased him, and he began to love him, and many times he treated with him of those things which pertained to the salvation of themselves and of other men. And it seemed to him, the witness, that Br. Dominic was more religious than any man whom he had ever seen, although the witness himself had spoken with many Religious. And it seemed to him that he was a greater zealot for the salvation of the human race than anyone whom he had seen. And in the same year the witness himself went to Paris to hear theology, because he had first promised it, and he agreed with him that, after he had heard theology for two years, and he had set his Brethren in order, both should go together to convert the pagans who dwelt in Pcia ^a and in other parts of the North.

[14] praises his careful observance of the rules, And while he was studying at Paris, the aforesaid Br. Dominic came thither from Spain, and then he received the habit of the Friars Preachers and entered the Order, and from then he lived with him at several times, in various places, in going to the Roman court and elsewhere, in going, staying, and returning, eating, drinking, lying down, praying, with the same Brother Dominic in health and in sickness. And he said that all the time in which he was with him, he saw him keeping the rule of the Friars Preachers and the Order very strictly; and he dispensed his Brethren well, but did not dispense himself. And he saw that he kept all the fasts appointed in the rule, both in health and in sickness. And he saw him, going with him to Rome, suffering a grave infirmity, namely a flux of the belly, and yet on that account he did not break the fast, nor eat meat, nor make himself an extra portion, except sometimes of apples or of turnips: and this he knows because he was always at meals with him; and in the sicknesses in which he saw him he bore himself in the same manner. Being asked where else he saw him sick, he answered: at Viterbo, but he does not remember what infirmity he was suffering.

[15] his patience, his zeal for prayer and penance, Likewise he said that as long as he was with him, although they were often ill provided in food and in drink, and were ill received, and lay ill, he never heard him complaining of these things, neither in sickness nor in health. Likewise he said that as often as he had to place himself in bed, he first applied himself much to prayer, and several times with groaning and tears, so that he often roused the witness himself and others from sleep with his groaning and weeping. And he firmly believes that he was in prayer for a greater space of time than in sleeping:

and he always lay clothed and with his cape, and girded, and shod with his hose, while he was with him, and always without a mattress, namely on the ground, on a board, or on straw, or other litter. He always observed silence at the accustomed and due hours according to the Order; he abstained from idle words, and always spoke of God or with God. Being asked how he knows these things, he answered: that as his chief companion he lived with him by day and night, going and staying, and saw and heard the aforesaid, as has been set forth.

[16] Likewise he said that he firmly believes that the same Br. Dominic always preserved virginity; and other things which in the Saint, living and this he believes on account of the good manner of life which he saw him have, and because he heard this from many religious men and from others worthy of trust, who lived with him a long time. Being asked from whom he heard this, he answered: From the bishop of Osma, whose Canon he had been, and from his Canons, with whom he had lived in the world, and from others whose names he does not remember.

[17] Likewise he said that he was present at the translation of the aforesaid Br. Dominic, when his body was transferred from the first burial place into the church to the place and dead, he saw or heard, in which it now is. And he said that the Prior provincial and the Brethren of the church of St. Nicholas feared lest there should be a stench in the church where the body lay, and that because the place was very low, and much rainwater had flowed down to the place of the burial; and on account of this they did not wish that laymen and strangers should be present when they opened the burial place: but they could not manage but that the Podestà with twenty-four noble and honored citizens of Bologna should be present at the opening of the said burial place, some of whom had guarded that burial place several nights before it was opened. And when the stone which had been placed over the said burial place was lifted, and the chest appeared in which the body of the said Br. Dominic lay, there came forth then from that tomb a sweet and delightful odor, nor could he ever determine of what aromatic thing that odor was. And he and all the others perceived that odor: and he bowed himself and kissed the chest, and perceived a greater odor. This also others did, both Brethren and seculars who were there, and they perceived the same odor, and for joy and devotion wept much. At length the body was transferred to the place in which it now lies. Likewise he said that he afterward saw several persons who said that they had suffered grave and various infirmities, and that they had been freed through the merits of Blessed Dominic; but he does not remember who they were, that is, by what names they were called, because he had not known them before, since he was one of the definitors and could not attend to them.

[18] Brother Amizo ^b of Milan, prior of Padua and priest, and the Prior of Padua being sworn, said that master Dominic was a man humble, meek, patient, and kindly, and quiet, peaceable, sober, and modest, and very mature in all his acts and words, a pious consoler of others, and especially of his Brethren, a chief zealot of regular observance, the highest lover of poverty both in the food and clothing of the Brethren of his Order, and in his buildings and the churches of the Brethren, and also in the adornment and ornament of ecclesiastical garments. For he strove much for this in his days and gave his effort that the Brethren in the churches should not use purple or silken vestments, either upon themselves or upon the altars, nor have gold or silver vessels, except in chalices.

[19] Likewise he said that he was assiduous in prayer, both by day, confirms by his testimony similar things seen by himself. when he was free, and by night, and he frequently passed the night in prayer, so that he was received little or not at all into a bed. Likewise he said that he kept his Order entirely above all his men, nor did he easily spare himself in anything, but fully kept with his Convent in choir and in the refectory and in other things. Likewise he said that he was very frequent in preaching and a zealot for souls, and he zealously invited his Brethren to this very thing. Likewise he said that he greatly loved and commended Religions and Religious men. Being asked how he knew this, he answered: because he lived with him some time, and of the aforesaid he saw and knew many things in him, and heard many, and firmly believes that it was so.

[20] Likewise he said that he heard and believes that he persevered always a virgin to the end, and of this there was a public report among the Brethren. Likewise he said that after the translation of Br. Dominic lately made, on a certain night, in the presence of the Podestà of Bologna with many knights, and of the Master of the Order and the Prior provincial and many other Brethren and Priors urging this, the chest and the casket were opened, and the bones were shown to the Brethren, among whom he himself was one, and he perceived there a sweetness of great odor in kissing the bones, and in beholding and venerating them, and he does not remember ever to have perceived such an odor.

ANNOTATA.

CHAPTER III.

The testification of Br. Bonvisus and Br. John the Spaniard concerning various virtues of the Saint which they saw or heard.

Brother Bonvisus narrates those things Brother Bonvisus of Piacenza ^a, priest of the Order of Preachers, being sworn, said that it is fourteen ^b years and more since he entered the Order of the Friars Preachers, and he lived with Br. Dominic for about the space of four ^c months at Bologna in the cloister of Blessed Nicholas, and also at Rome, and in going to Rome and Milan he lived with him, and in sickness he took care of him. And he said that he had this custom, namely that when his Brethren after Compline went out of the church to go to sleep, that Br. Dominic hid himself in the church, that he might pray. And since he wished to know what the said Br. Dominic did in the church, he often hid himself in the church, and heard him praying to the Lord with a very great cry and with tears, and with a very great groaning. Being asked how he knows that it was Br. Dominic, he answered: because he saw him, since there was a light in the church, and likewise recognized him by his voice, so that he is quite certain that it was Br. Dominic. Likewise he said that he firmly believes that he often passed the night in prayer to God, and this was well known among the Brethren: and when he wished to know the place where he lay, he could not find what place he had of his own for lying down, as the other Brethren had: but sometimes he was found sleeping on a bench ^d, sometimes on the ground, and sometimes on the cords of a chair ^e or of a little bed ^f. Likewise he said that he lay clothed at night just as he walked by day. Being asked how he knows this, he answered: because he saw it, and it was the common report among the Brethren.

[22] which he saw on a journey, Likewise he said that, coming to Rome with him, when Br. Dominic went out of any city or town or castle, he took off his shoes and walked with bare feet, and himself carried his shoes upon his shoulders ^g, and would not give them to the witness, who was ready to carry them, until they came near some city or town or castle; and then he put on his shoes, and going out again took them off, and went unshod until they came to the appointed place. And when they had come to a certain place where the stones were very sharp, then he said to the witness: Alas, wretched me! here I was once compelled to put on shoes. And the said witness asked why; and Br. Dominic himself answered, because then it had rained. Being asked how he knows this, he answered: because he was present and saw it. Likewise, that when the said witness was walking with the said Brother Dominic on the same road, floods of waters and rains assailed him, so that the brooks and rivers rose greatly, and then he, since he was rejoicing in tribulations, praised and blessed the Lord, singing with a loud voice, Ave maris stella; and when that hymn was finished, he began another hymn, namely Veni creator Spiritus, and sang it with a loud voice to the end. Likewise he said that when they came to great waters which had risen on account of the floods and rains, the said Br. Dominic signed the waters and told the witness, who was very fearful in waters, to enter in the name of the Lord: and he, trusting in the sign of the cross made by him, and secure in obedience, entered the waters, which seemed perilous, and prosperously believed him. Likewise he said that sometimes he assisted him in the celebration of Mass, and then he looked at his face and saw the tears running down his face in such quantity that one drop did not wait for another: and this also he saw happen to him in the psalmody.

[23] Likewise he said that when they had to lodge or eat anywhere, which he had done with the Saint, he did not follow his own will, but the will of his Brethren who were with him: and if he was ill provided for, he showed greater signs of joy than if he were well provided for. Being asked how he knows these things, he answered: because he saw them and was present at the aforesaid. Likewise he said that when he was at Milan, and was taking care of the same Br. Dominic when he was set in sickness, and he had a fit of fever, he did not complain of the infirmity; but it seemed to the witness that he was in prayer and contemplation: and this appeared from certain signs which he saw in his face, which signs indeed he was accustomed to have in time of health when he was in prayer and contemplation, as he well knew. Likewise he said that when the fever had withdrawn, then he spoke of God with the Brethren, or held a book, or had it read to him, and praised God, and rejoiced in the infirmity, as it was his custom always to rejoice rather in tribulations than in prosperity.

[24] Likewise he said that, when the same witness was procurator at Bologna, and he testifies concerning bread wonderfully supplied, and was providing for the Brethren in

the Convent of Bologna in the refectory, and bread was lacking in the refectory on a certain fast day, then Br. Dominic gave the signal that bread should be set before the Brethren: and the witness told him that there was no bread there. Then Br. Dominic with a cheerful face lifted his hands and praised and blessed the Lord, and at once immediately there entered two men who carried two baskets, one of bread and the other of dried figs, so that the Brethren had abundantly: and this he said that he knows, because he was present at these things. Likewise he said that he was very humble, kindly, pious, and merciful, patient, sober, a zealot for poverty and for the salvation of souls, a lover of Religious and of all Religions. Likewise he said that he strictly observed the rule in himself; and he said that he did not render evil for evil, nor a curse for a curse, but blessed those who cursed him. Being asked how he knows this, he answered: because he lived with him in going and returning, in staying, in health, in sickness, in eating and in lying down.

[25] and concerning the odor perceived after his death Likewise he said that after the translation of the body of blessed Dominic from the former place in which it lay to the place in which it now is, the bones of the said Br. Dominic were shown by the Master of the Order to the Brethren who had not been present at the translation, because they greatly desired to see them: and the witness himself was then present when the said bones were shown, in the presence of the Podestà of Bologna and certain other citizens, and of the Prior provincial and all the other Brethren: and he perceived a wonderful and most sweet odor coming forth from the bones; but of what aromatic thing it was he did not know, but it seemed to him that it surpassed the odor of every aromatic thing; nor does he believe that such and so great an odor could be there unless it had been given miraculously from heaven by the Lord. And not only did this witness perceive that odor, but many others perceived it, as they told him, being placed at a distance.

[26] and the fruit of his sermon preached at the Saint's bidding. Likewise the witness himself said that, when he was a novice and had no skill in preaching, since he had not yet studied in sacred Scripture, the aforesaid Br. Dominic commanded him, when he was at Bologna, that he should go to Piacenza to preach there: and when he excused himself on account of his inexperience, he induced him with most sweet words that he should go, and said: Go securely, for the Lord will be with you, and will put the word of preaching in your mouth. And the witness himself, obeying, went to Piacenza and preached, and God conferred so great a grace upon him in preaching that at his preaching three Brethren entered the Order of Preachers.

[27] Brother John the Spaniard, Brother John the Spaniard, priest of the Order of Preachers, being sworn, said that in that year in which the Order of Preachers was confirmed in the council of the lord Pope Innocent III ^h, the witness himself entered that Order, and on the feast of St. Augustine next coming it will be eighteen years ⁱ, as the Brother believes concerning the time, since he received the habit from the hand of Brother Dominic, the planter of that Order and first Master, and on that same day he made his profession into the hand of the aforesaid Brother in the church of St. Romanus at Toulouse: and from then he lived with the said Br. Dominic, and stayed and went with him through various places and through various lands, both by day and by night.

[28] who often lived with the Saint And he said that the aforesaid Br. Dominic was assiduous in prayer day and night. Likewise he said that he prayed more than the other Brethren with whom he lived, and also watched more, and took greater and more frequent disciplines upon his body; and this he knows because he very often saw him doing the aforesaid. Likewise he said that he also heard from certain of the Brethren that the same Master Dominic had himself disciplined, and also disciplined himself with an iron chain which had three branches; and of this there was a public report among the Brethren: and he said that he heard this from the Brethren who gave him the disciplines. Likewise he said that he punished the Brethren who sinned according to the rule; yet he had compassion on sinners, and grieved much when he punished anyone for a fault.

[29] Likewise he said that he had compassion on his neighbors, and most ardently desired their salvation. Often and frequently he himself preached, and induced the Brethren to preach by what means he could, and was sent by him to Paris, and sent them to preach, asking and admonishing that they should be solicitous for the salvation of souls, and, trusting greatly in God, he sent even simple men to preach, saying: Go securely, for the Lord will give you the word of preaching, and will be with you, and nothing shall be lacking to you. And they went, and it turned out for them as he said. Likewise he said that, when he was with the said Brother Dominic at Toulouse in the Convent of the above-mentioned church, that Br. Dominic, against the will of the Count of Montfort and of the archbishop of Narbonne and the bishop of Toulouse, and of certain other prelates, sent this witness, though unwilling, to Paris with some Brethren, clerics, and one lay-brother, that they might study and preach and make a Convent there, and that they should not fear, because all things would turn out prosperously for them; and to the aforesaid prelates and the Count and the Brethren he said: Do not gainsay me, I well know what I am doing. And then he sent others also into Spain, and said and commanded like things to them. And while the witness himself and his companions were studying at Paris, there was given to him and his companions, by master John, dean of St. Quentin, then teaching in theology at Paris, and by the University of the masters and scholars of Paris, the church of St. James, situated at the Orléans gate, where they stayed and made a Convent, where they received many good clerics who entered the Order of Friars Preachers, and many possessions and revenues were then given them, and all things turned out prosperously for them, as Br. Dominic had foretold them: and also in his times there were given to the Order of Preachers castles and many possessions in the regions of Toulouse and of the Albigenses.

[30] Likewise he said that, when the Order of Friars Preachers had castles and many possessions in the above-mentioned regions, he indicates his aversion from possessions of temporal things, and they carried money with them on the road, and rode on horseback, and wore surplices, the aforesaid Br. Dominic labored and brought it about that the Brethren of that Order should give up and contemn all temporal things, and apply themselves to poverty, and not ride, and live on alms, and carry nothing with them on the road; and thus the possessions in France were given to the nuns of the Cistercian Order, and others to others. And that the Brethren might apply themselves more strongly to study and to preachings, the said Br. Dominic wished that the unlettered lay-brothers of his Order should preside over the lettered Brethren in the administration and provision of temporal things: but the Clerical Brethren were unwilling that the lay-brothers should preside over them, lest there should happen to them what happened to the Brethren of the Order of Grandmont with their own Brothers ^k. Being asked how he knows all the aforesaid, he answered: because he lived a long time with the said Br. Dominic, and saw those things which he had said about him, except the discipline with the iron chain, of which he had spoken above: and the rest he knows because he saw it and was present at the aforesaid, and they happened to him and to his companions.

[31] Likewise he said that to all — rich, poor, Jews, and gentiles, his zeal for souls, of whom there are many in Spain — he showed himself amiable, and, as he saw, he was loved by all, except by the heretics and enemies of the Church, whom in his disputations and preachings he pursued and convinced: and yet he charitably exhorted and admonished them to penance and to conversion to the faith, as he heard and saw the aforesaid. Likewise he said that as he went by day, so he lay by night, except that he took off his shoes; and he said that he very often saw this. Likewise he said that when the same Br. Dominic went from one land to another land, he took off his shoes and went unshod to the other land, and then put on his shoes, and again on going out took them off, and himself carried his shoes, and would not that anyone should help him in carrying them. Being asked how he knows this, he answered: because he heard this from the Brethren, and often saw these things. And if at any time he struck his foot against a stone, he bore it with a cheerful face and was not disturbed, and said: This is penance, like a man who always rejoiced in his tribulations.

[32] his love of poverty, Likewise he said that he greatly loved poverty, and zealously admonished the Brethren that they should love it. Being asked how he knows, he answered: because he gloried in mean garments, and because he gave up all temporal things, and, in his presence, very often exhorted the Brethren to poverty.

Likewise he said that in food and drink he was sparing, and most of all in extra portions, yet in such wise that, although he dispensed with others, he was nevertheless unwilling to dispense with himself; nay, he strictly observed the whole rule in himself. Being asked how he knows, he answered: because he saw this. Likewise he said that when he walked through cities and towns he scarcely lifted his eyes from the ground, and this he knows because he walked with him through cities and towns and saw these things. Likewise he said that he did not have his own bed for lying down, as the other Brethren had: and being asked how he knew this, he answered: because if he had had a place of his own, he would well have known it, especially since he was diligent in seeking it out.

[33] his humility in refusing the episcopal dignity, Likewise he said that twice or three times he was elected bishop, and he always refused, wishing rather to live in poverty with his Brethren than to have any bishopric. Being asked how he knows, he answered: because not only was there a common report of this at that time among the Brethren, but also among all others, laymen and clerics. Being asked to what bishoprics he was elected, he answered: to Béziers and Comminges ^l. Being asked when he knew this, he answered: before he entered the Order of Preachers.

[34] and other examples of various virtues. Likewise he said that he rarely spoke, except with God, namely in praying, or of God, and he admonished the Brethren of this. Likewise he said that he always saw him glad in the presence of men; but in his prayers he frequently wept, and this he knows because he saw and heard him weeping. Likewise he said that he heard in the lifetime of Br. Dominic, and also afterward, that he remained in virginity until death; and of this there is a public report among the Brethren. Likewise he said that he heard him sometimes say that he desired to be scourged and cut piece by piece,

and to die for the faith of Christ. Likewise he said that the aforesaid Br. Dominic often admonished and exhorted the Brethren of the said Order by his words and letters that they should always study in the New and the Old Testament: and this he knows because he heard him saying those things and saw his letters. Likewise he said that he always carried with him the Gospel of Matthew and the Epistles of Paul, and studied much in them, so that he knew them almost by heart. Likewise he said that he heard from the fellow-canons of the said Br. Dominic, and from many other men worthy of trust, that when Br. Dominic himself was in the world ^m and was studying at Palencia, a famine grew strong in that region, so that the poor were afflicted with hunger and many were dying: whence the said Br. Dominic, moved with piety and charity, sold his books and all that he had, and gave it for the food of the poor, by whose example, as I heard, many gave much.

ANNOTATA.

CHAPTER IV.

An exposition of those things which Br. Rudolf declared concerning the Saint's manner of living, his death, and his burial.

The procurator of the monastery of Bologna Brother Rudolf, who was of Faenza, of the Order of Preachers, being sworn, said that he was rector and chaplain of the church of St. Nicholas of Bologna when the said church of St. Nicholas was given to the Friars Preachers by the lord bishop of Bologna at the prayers of the venerable father Hugolino, at that time bishop of Ostia and legate of the Apostolic See, and now supreme Pontiff: and it is fourteen years and more since this was. And in the same year Br. Dominic came, the first master of the Order of Preachers and the discoverer of that same Order: and from the said time in which he came to Bologna until the end of his life he stayed in the said city of Bologna, except when he went to the Roman court and visited certain towns of the land of Lombardy, and also the city of Venice. And all the time in which Br. Dominic stayed in the city of Bologna, the witness himself lived with him in the church, in the Office, in the dormitory, in the refectory, day and night, since the witness himself was procurator of the house and of the Brethren, and one of the Order who had made profession before the said Br. Dominic came to Bologna, and he well knew the person and life of the said Br. Dominic.

[36] often saw the Saint passing the night in the church, Likewise he said that the said Br. Dominic had the custom of very often passing the night in the church, and he prayed, and in prayer wept with tears and much groaning. Being asked how he knows the aforesaid, he answered: because he very often followed him into the church and saw him, and often stood with him by night, and often saw him thus praying, and heard him weeping: and he often saw him standing in prayer with an infirmity of the feet, and he held his hands raised, as if he were in prayer. Being asked how he saw him, since it was night, he answered: because there was always a light in the church, and the witness himself placed himself to pray near him, because he was very familiar with him. And he said for certain that he was very devout and assiduous in prayer, more than any man whom he had ever seen.

[37] and found him dead girded with an iron chain, Likewise he said that the said Br. Dominic always wore an iron chain girded next to the flesh over his loins, and wore it thus girded until death. Being asked how he knows this, he answered: because, when he was dead, he found him girded with the said chain, and he himself took it and had it; but afterward he gave it to the Master of the Order, namely to master Jordan. Likewise he said that he always lay at night clothed just as he walked by day, except that he took off his shoes; and sometimes he lay on the ground, sometimes upon a certain hurdle, over which the witness himself was accustomed to spread a certain cloth, upon which he lay, and very often he slept sitting. Likewise he said that he often slept at table on account of the many vigils and nightlong watches which he made in prayer.

[38] and he testifies that he was most devoted to temperance and fasts, Likewise he said that he was assiduous at the Office, and always followed the Convent, both in the Office and at table, and was refreshed with the same foods which the Convent ate. And when the witness himself, who was procurator, made some extra portion for the Brethren, Br. Dominic himself called him and said to him in silence: Why do you kill the Brethren by giving them extra portions? Likewise he said that when bread or other foods or wine was lacking in the house, he went to the said Br. Dominic and said to him: We have no bread or wine. And he said: Go and pray, for God will provide. And the witness himself went into the church to pray, and the said Br. Dominic often followed him: and thus God brought it about that they always had suitable sustenance, and sometimes that little bread which they had he placed at his command upon the table, and the Lord supplied their lack. Likewise he said that Br. Dominic himself most fully kept the rule and Order of the Friars Preachers, as regards himself and as regards others, in garments, in food and drink, in fasts, and in all other things. And this he knows because he lived with him and very often saw the aforesaid.

[39] Likewise he firmly said that he never saw a man who pleased him so much in religion and devotion to the salvation of souls, as the said Br. Dominic. Likewise he said that he desired the salvation of all souls, both of Christians and also of Saracens, and especially of the Cumans and others: and he was a greater zealot for souls than any man whom he had ever seen, and he often said that he desired to go to the Cumans and other unbelieving nations. Likewise he said that he was joyful, cheerful, patient, merciful and kindly, and a consoler of the Brethren; and if he saw any Brother offending in anything, he passed by as though he did not see; but afterward with a pleasant countenance and gentle words he said: Brother, you have done ill, confess it; and with kindly words he induced all to the confession of penance: and although with humility of words he grievously punished their excesses, yet they departed from him consoled.

[40] Likewise he said that the said Br. Dominic greatly loved poverty and exhorted the Brethren to poverty. to poverty And he knows this because, when the said Br. Dominic came to Bologna, the lord Odoricus Galiciani wished to give the Brethren certain possessions of his, which were well worth more than five hundred Bolognese pounds, and a charter had been made thereupon before the lord bishop of Bologna; but Br. Dominic himself caused the contract to be rescinded, and would not that they should have those or certain other possessions; but that they should live only on alms and sparingly; since if they had in the house whereby they could live for the day, he would not that they should receive anything that day, nor send for alms. And he wished that they should have small houses and mean garments, and also in the church he would not that there should be silken cloths, but that the vestments should be of buckram ^a, or of some other cloth. Likewise he said that he would not that the Brethren should involve themselves in temporal things, nor in the business of the house, nor in counsels about temporal things, except those to whom the care of the house had been committed; but he wished that the others should always be intent upon reading, prayer, and preaching: and if he knew any Brother useful for preaching, he would not that another office should be enjoined upon him.

[41] Likewise he said that he always wished at home and on the road to speak of God or of the salvation of souls; and he never heard an idle or harmful word or one of detraction go out of his mouth. and other pious works, And all the aforesaid he said that he knows, because he lived with

him by day and by night, and saw and heard him doing and saying the aforesaid. Likewise he said that he was very solicitous and devout and assiduous in preachings and confessions; and he often wept in his preachings, and moved his hearers to weep. Likewise, that at the time when the first Chapter of the Friars Preachers was celebrated in the city of Bologna, the said Br. Dominic said among the Brethren: I am worthy of deposition, because I am useless and slack; and he humbled himself much in all things: and when the Brethren were unwilling to depose him, it pleased Br. Dominic himself that definitors should be appointed who should have power both over him and over the others, and over the whole Chapter, of establishing, defining, and ordaining, so long as the Chapter should last.

[42] that he passed out of this life with great trust in God, Likewise he said that, when the said Br. Dominic was in the sickness of which he died, the Brethren were about him and were weeping; and the witness himself held his head with a certain cloth ^b and wiped the sweat from his face, and Br. Dominic said: Do not weep, for I shall be more useful to you in the place to which I go than I have been here. Being asked who were present, he answered: many Brethren, whose names he does not remember. Likewise he said that one Brother then asked him and said to him: Father, where do you wish your body to be buried? And he said: Under the feet of the Brethren. Likewise he said that he firmly believes that when the Brethren who were performing the Office of the commendation of Br. Dominic were saying those words: Come to his aid, saints of God, run to meet him, angels of the Lord, receiving his soul, offering it in the sight of the Most High — that then he gave up his spirit. And he said that these things were said and done in a certain cell at St. Nicholas's. Likewise he said that he never saw him lying on a feather bed, nor even on a sack, except then when he was dead, because he was lying on a sack. Likewise he said that the same Br. Dominic, when he was at the point of death, said to the Brethren: Prepare yourselves; and the Brethren went and prepared themselves, and while the commendation of the soul was being made he gave up his spirit, holding his hands raised toward heaven.

[43] and that from his tomb, which the witness himself had taken care to have made, Likewise he said that the witness himself had the burial place made, and found the stone which was placed over the burial place, and had a wooden chest made in which the body was enclosed with iron nails, and he himself enclosed that body in the wooden chest with iron nails, and diligently guarded it until it was buried. And no spices ^c and no aromatic things were placed in the chest or the burial place, nor could they have been without his seeing it, since he himself was procurator of the house, and all things were done at his bidding. Likewise he said that he was one of those who opened the burial place of that Br. Dominic, in which he was first buried, when the body was transferred to the place in which it now is, and he himself with iron hammers broke the wall of the burial place, which wall was very strong and made with strong and hard cement, and with an iron bar he lifted the upper stone, because the tomb was fortified with very great stones and secured with cement: which he had diligently caused to be done from the beginning, lest any should steal that body.

[44] at the translation a fragrant odor came forth. And when the said witness lifted that stone with the iron bar and the burial place was opened, a great, nay a very great, and sweet and delightful odor, unknown to him, came forth from the burial place, and he does not believe that it was like the odor of any aromatic thing: and he perceived so great an odor that neither in a spice-merchant's shop nor in any place had he perceived so great or so delightful or a like odor. And this same thing all who were there testified, namely the bishops, the clerics, the Podestà of Bologna, and many honored citizens who were guarding the tomb; and that odor remained many days in the former burial place, and in the things placed in it, and in the garments and on the hands of those who had touched them; and to this day it lasts in the bones of the aforesaid Br. Dominic. And the aforesaid he knows because he saw it, and was present, and handled it with his own hands.

ANNOTATA.

CHAPTER V.

A declaration of those things which Br. Stephen, Prior provincial of Lombardy, knew concerning the Saint's life, patronage, and translation.

Brother Stephen, Prior provincial of the Order of Preachers of the province of Lombardy, being sworn, said The Prior provincial of Lombardy, that it is fifteen years and more since he knew Master Dominic, founder and planter of the Order of Friars Preachers and first Master; but before he had knowledge of his person by sight, he heard many good things of him from great men worthy of trust, namely that, when he was Prior or Subprior of the church of Osma, of which he was a Canon, he was studying at Palencia in sacred Scripture, and at that time a most grievous famine began to grow strong in that region, so that many poor there were dying of hunger; whence Br. Dominic, moved with compassion and mercy, sold his books ^a, glossed with his own hand ^b, and gave their price, and other things which he had, to the poor, saying: I do not wish to study upon dead skins while men die of hunger: by whose example certain men of great authority did the like, and from then began to preach with him. And, as he understood, after a few days Br. Dominic came to the regions of Toulouse with the bishop of Osma to preach, and especially against the heretics, and there he founded and ordained the Order of Preachers.

[46] Likewise he said that, when the witness himself was studying at Bologna, who was wonderfully admitted to the Order by St. Dominic himself, the aforesaid Master Dominic came to Bologna and was preaching to the scholars and to other good men; and the witness himself confessed his sins to him, and it seemed to him that he loved him. And on a certain evening, when the witness himself was about to sup in his lodging with his companions, the aforesaid Br. Dominic sent two Brethren, saying to him: Brother Dominic bids you come to him at once. And he said: When I have supped, I will come to him at once. And they said: Nay, come at once. And rising, leaving all things, he came to him, and found him with many Brethren at the church of St. Nicholas. And the said Br. Dominic said to the Brethren: Instruct him how he should make a prostration. And, the prostration being made, he put himself into his hands, and before he withdrew he clothed him with the habit of the Order of Friars Preachers, saying: I wish to give you arms with which you must fight all the time of your life against the devil. And the witness himself then, and afterward also, greatly marveled by what prompting Br. Dominic thus called him and clothed him with the habit of the Friars Preachers, because he had first discussed nothing with him about his conversion to Religion; yet he believes that he did this by divine inspiration or revelation.

[47] gives testimony concerning the Saint's effective preachings, Likewise he said that the said Br. Dominic was the best and highest consoler of the Brethren, in the temptations of the Brethren and of others; and this he knows because, when at the beginning of his conversion he was a novice, he had many and various temptations, from which by his admonition and preaching he received full consolation. This same thing happened to many other novice Brethren, as he heard from them. And the witness himself said that after his conversion he stayed with the said Br. Dominic in the cloister of St. Nicholas of Bologna for nearly a year, and had great familiarity with him: and in all the aforesaid time in which he lived with the aforesaid Br. Dominic, he said that he did not hear an evil or harmful or idle word from the mouth of that Br. Dominic. Likewise he said that in preachings he was assiduous and solicitous, and had words so moving that very often he moved himself and his hearers to weeping: so that he never heard a man whose words so moved the Brethren to compunction and weeping. Likewise he said that it was his custom always to speak of God or with God, at home and outside the house and on the road: and he exhorted the Brethren to this same thing, and also put it in his constitutions: and this he knows because he saw it and was present and heard it and lived with him.

[48] his assiduity in prayer, Likewise he said that he was assiduous and devout in prayer above all men whom he ever saw: he had this custom, as he said that he saw, that after Compline and the prayer made in common by the Brethren, he made us enter the dormitory, and he himself remained in the church in prayer; and at night, while he prayed, he broke forth and was moved into such groaning and lamentation that the Brethren who were nearby were roused from sleep, and some of them were moved to tears; and very often he passed the night in prayer until Matins, and none the less he stood at Matins, going round both sides of the choir, admonishing and urging them to sing loudly and devoutly: and he so passed the night in prayer that he does not recall that he ever saw him sleeping in a bed at night, although a certain place was appropriated to him for lying down, where there was only a coverlet spread over one little bed-frame ^c without straw and without a sack — although he had stayed so long a time in one cloister with him, and had solicitously and very often searched whether he could find him in bed.

[49] the tears shed at Mass, Likewise he said that he very often saw him celebrate Mass, and always in the Canon of the Mass he saw his eyes and cheeks bedewed with tears: and he celebrated with such devotion, and said the Lord's prayer in the Mass in such a way, that the bystanders could well understand his devotion: and he does not recall that he ever saw him celebrating without his being so moved to tears, as he said above. And all these things he said that he saw and heard, as he has testified above. Likewise he said that he was a zealot and preserver of the Order and

of the rule, and a consoler of the Brethren more than anyone whom he ever saw; and he scarcely believes that he will ever have a successor like himself in the aforesaid things. Likewise he said that Br. Dominic himself was a lover of poverty, and this he heard him very often preaching, and exhorting the Brethren to poverty: and if at any time possessions were offered to him or to the college of Brethren, he would not receive them, nor did he permit the Brethren to receive them: and he wished that they should have mean and small houses, and he himself wore a very mean habit and mean garments. Being asked how he knows this, he answered: because he very often saw him wearing a very mean habit and a short scapular, nor would he cover it with his cape even in the presence of great men.

[50] Likewise he said that the Brethren had at St. Nicholas's very mean and small cells, his zeal for poverty, and Br. Rudolf, who was procurator of the Brethren, in the absence of that Br. Dominic began to raise certain little cells by an arm's length. But Br. Dominic, returning, when he saw the little cells raised, began several times with weeping to rebuke the aforesaid Brother Rudolf and the other Brethren, saying to him and to the other Brethren: Do you wish so quickly to abandon poverty and to build great palaces? Whence he enjoined them to give up the aforesaid work, and thus it remained unfinished as long as he lived. Likewise he said that, as he had loved poverty in himself, so he loved it in his Brethren; whence he enjoined them to use mean garments and never to carry money on the road, but everywhere to live on alms, and he caused this to be written in his rule or constitutions. Likewise the said witness said that he was sparing in food and drink. Being asked how he knows, he answered: because he saw many times in the refectory that, when the Brethren had two cooked dishes or two courses, he was content with one, and while the other Brethren ate, Br. Dominic himself almost always slept at the table on account of his excessive vigils, by which he was so wearied, since he both ate little and drank little, and thus was seized as it were by force by sleep at the table.

[51] Likewise he said that he firmly believes that the said Br. Dominic was a virgin in mind and body to the end of his life. his virginity, his powerful patronage, Being asked how he believes this, he answered: because the aforesaid Br. Dominic made his confession to him, and from his confession he could never understand that he had sinned mortally. Likewise he said that he was patient and rejoicing in tribulation. Being asked how he knows, he answered: because he saw him in his necessities and wants and those of the Brethren, which he suffered at that time in food and clothing, being glad and rejoicing. Likewise the aforesaid witness said that he firmly believes that the grace which in these times has been conferred on the Friars Preachers in Lombardy and in other provinces was conferred, or also increased, by the prayers and merits of Br. Dominic. Being asked why he believes this, he answered: that from that time after Br. John of Vicenza began to preach the revelation divinely made to him concerning Br. Dominic, and to announce to the people his life and manner of living and holiness, and the witness himself with some Brethren began to treat of the translation of the body of the aforesaid Br. Dominic, from then a fuller grace manifestly shone forth and appeared, both in the Brethren who preached his holiness and also in the peoples who heard them, as is plain by the effect in the cities of Lombardy, in which a very great multitude of heretics has been burned, and more than a hundred thousand men, who did not know whether they ought to adhere to the Roman Church or to the heretics, have been converted from the heart to the Catholic faith of the Roman Church through the preachings of the Friars Preachers: and this, because those converts now persecute and abominate the heretics whom they formerly defended. And nearly all the cities of Lombardy and of the March hand over into their hands their affairs and statutes to be ordered and changed at the will of the Brethren, that they may erase, add, diminish, and change according as it shall seem expedient to them. And they also do this concerning the rooting out of wars and the making and composing of peace among them, and concerning the restoring of usuries ill taken, and the hearing of confessions, and many other good things which it would be long to recount.

[52] and the sweet odor which he perceived at his translation. Likewise the aforesaid witness said that he himself arranged the day and manner of transferring the body of the aforesaid Master Dominic, and was present at that translation with many Brethren and with the Podestà of Bologna and many honored citizens of that city, and many others of other cities, in whose presence the witness himself with other Brethren began to dig with iron bars and picks ^d, and they found the earth hard and the cement very strong and hard with which the tomb was closed. And lifting the stone which was placed over the tomb, they perceived so great a fragrance of odor, both he himself and all the bystanders, that he, as he asserted, could not describe it, since it seemed to have the odor of no worldly thing. On account of the fragrance of which odor, both the Brethren and all the bystanders prostrated themselves on the ground, with tears praising and blessing God, who so wondrously showed that His Saint was to be glorified. And they found a wooden chest, in which the body of the aforesaid Br. Dominic had been laid up, strongly closed and secured with iron nails, which likewise they opened, and then from it a greater odor breathed forth than the first odor. And then with reverence and devotion the Master of the Order with the other Brethren, in the presence of the lord archbishop of Ravenna and several other bishops and clerics, and of the Podestà of Bologna with many other citizens of Bologna, transferred it to the marble tomb in which it now is. Likewise the aforesaid witness said that for several days afterward he perceived traces of the first odor, both on his own hands and on those of others who handled the bones of the said Br. Dominic. And all these aforesaid things he knows because he saw them and was present, and handled them with his own hands, and afterward several times perceived the odor on his own hands and on those of the other Brethren who had handled and touched the aforesaid.

ANNOTATA.

CHAPTER VI.

An account of those things which Br. Paul of Venice and Br. Frugerius of Penne testified concerning the Saint's deeds and his miracles.

Brother Paul of Venice, priest of the Order of Preachers, being sworn, said that it is fourteen years and more This witness sets forth the Saint's charity toward God, since he entered the Order of Preachers at Bologna, and made his profession into the hands of Master Reginald, and received the habit on the Sunday on which the Gospel of the Canaanite woman is sung ^a. And Master Dominic came to Bologna in the following summer. And from the time when the said Master Dominic came into the city of Bologna, the said witness had great familiarity with him, and lived with him a long time, staying in the convent of Bologna and going with him through nearly the whole March of Treviso, eating, drinking, staying, going, and in the Offices both by day and by night, for nearly two years. Likewise he said that he does not remember having heard from him an idle word, or one of detraction, or of flattery, or a harmful one: nay, when he was with him on a journey, he saw him either praying or preaching, or he gave himself to prayer or to meditation on God. Being asked how he knows, he answered: because the said Master Dominic said to the witness himself and to the others who were with him: Go forward, and let us think about our Savior; and he heard him groaning and sighing. Likewise he said that, wherever the said Master was, he always spoke of God or with God, and exhorted his Brethren to this, and caused it to be written in the rule, that is, in the constitutions of the Friars Preachers. Being asked how he knows, he answered: because he lived a long time with him, and saw and heard this. Likewise he said that he never saw him angry, nor stirred, nor disturbed, neither in the labor of a journey, nor in the heat of passion, nor elsewhere; but he saw him rejoicing in tribulations and patient in adversities.

[54] Likewise he said that he loved to have poverty in himself and in the Order, his affection for poverty, and exhorted the Brethren to this. Likewise he said that when the said Master was at Bologna, certain men of Bologna wished to give possessions to the Order, and he would not receive them, and forbade the Brethren to receive them, and put it in his constitutions that possessions should not be received in the Order. Likewise he said that he wore a very mean habit, and at the going out of roads and cities he took off his shoes, and walked with bare feet when journeying, and this he very often saw, going with him on the way. Likewise he said that he saw Br. Dominic himself sometimes going from door to door seeking alms, and receiving bread like a poor man: and at Duliolum ^b, while he was seeking alms, a certain man offered him one whole loaf, which the Father himself received on bended knees with much humility and devotion. And he wished and said to the Brethren, as he often heard, that they should live on alms.

[55] Likewise he said that, going along the way with him, he never saw that he lay in a bed; but sometimes he lay on straw; the rigor of his penance, and that, when he had come with him on a long journey and they had lodged — he, blessed Dominic, and the witness himself with a companion — at the parish of Porto Lignatico ^c, Br. Dominic himself caused a place to be prepared in which his companions should lie, and he himself entered the church and passed the night in it in prayer; and none the less he was at Matins with the clerics of the church and his companions. Likewise he said that when journeying blessed Dominic himself fasted, and made the companions who went with him eat on account of the labor of the journey. Likewise he said that, although he stayed with him at the church of St. Nicholas, as has been set forth, he does not recall that he had a fixed place in which he lay at night; but sometimes he lay on the ground, sometimes on a hurdle of osiers, sometimes on a plank, and very often he passed the night in prayer in the church, and in praying wept much. And this he knows because he saw it

him doing so several times. And once he called him from prayer, and saw his face suffused with tears. And he said that he was devout and assiduous in prayer even when going along the way, and every day he wished to sing Mass, if he found a church suitable for it.

[56] his zeal for souls, Likewise he said that he greatly desired the salvation of souls, both of the faithful and of unbelievers, and often said to this witness: After we shall have ordered and instructed our Order, we will go to the Cumans, and will preach to them the faith of Christ, and will win them for the Lord. Likewise he said that he strictly and perfectly kept the rule as regards himself, and exhorted the Brethren and commanded them to observe the rule fully, and strictly punished delinquents; yet he rebuked them with such patience and kindliness of words that no one was stirred or disturbed at the correction. Likewise he said that he followed the Convent both in food and in the Offices, and although he very often passed the night in the church and in prayers, yet he was always with the Brethren at Matins, and went round both sides of the choir, and exhorted them by words and deeds that they should sing well and attentively and say the psalms devoutly; and he so devoutly applied himself to prayers that he was not moved from prayer by any tumult or any disturbance. Likewise he said that he was the highest consoler of the Brethren and of others set in tribulations and storms; and this he knows, because he proved it in himself and heard it from others. Likewise he said that he was patient and merciful, sober, pious, humble, kindly, chaste, and, as he firmly believes and has heard, he was always a virgin; and he so excelled in the aforesaid virtues and in others that he does not believe that any man in the time of his life was better, nor does he know anyone to be his equal. Likewise he said that when he went along the way he preached to all who joined themselves to go with him, and exhorted them to good and to penance.

[57] the fragrance perceived from the sacred body, Likewise he said that he was present at the translation of the body of Master Dominic from the burial place in which, when he died, he was buried (at which burial the witness himself was present) to the place in which it now rests; and when the first burial place had to be opened, in which it had been placed at the beginning, there were present there many bishops and many other clerics, and the Podestà of Bologna with many other honored citizens: and beginning to dig, they found the earth most hard, and a strong wall, and cement very strong and hard, so that they scarcely broke it with hammers and iron bars, and with difficulty they lifted the stone which had been placed over the burial place: and when that stone was separated from the wall, and the tomb began to be opened, a very great and delightful and sweet odor came forth from that burial place, so great that it filled the whole church, so that, when the witness himself and the others who were there perceived it, they prostrated themselves with tears, giving thanks to the Lord for the odor which they had perceived; and he never perceived so great an odor in a spice-shop, or in a multitude of flowers, or in any place; and that odor was unknown to him and to the others, as they said, nor did it seem like the odor of any temporal thing. And this he knows because he was present at the opening, and saw and perceived the odor, as he said before.

[58] Likewise the said witness said that on the Sunday last past he came from Venice to Bologna to give this testimony, and the health at once restored to him by his patronage. and on that same day in the evening a very great pain of the kidneys and loins assailed him, which was wont to afflict him for several days: whence he, fearing lest he should be unable to give this testimony, went to the chest of blessed Dominic, and most devoutly asked that he would help him and deign to free him, and almost immediately he was most fully freed.

[59] Brother Frugerius of Penne, of the Order of Preachers, being sworn, said Finally the ninth witness observed similar examples of virtues, that it was fourteen years in the Lent last past since he entered the Order of Preachers, and made his profession into the hands of Br. Reginald, and received the habit from him at the church of Mascarella, where the Order of Preachers of Bologna first was: and in the same year, in the following summer, Br. Dominic, founder of the Order of St. Nicholas and first Master, came to Bologna. And because by leave of master Reginald he visited his own home, and on the Kalends of September ^d returned to Bologna, and found at the church of St. Nicholas of Bologna, of the Order of Preachers, the said Master Dominic. And he said that he lived with him four months and more in the Convent of Bologna, and in the Convent of Florence, and in the Convent of Rome, in going with him to Rome and through other cities, and in staying with him both in the Office and in eating, speaking, hearing his confessions, and in prayers, and in conferring with him about God, both by day and by night. Likewise he said that he was assiduous and devout in prayer, both on a journey and in a Convent, so much so that he could never perceive that he lay in a bed, although one was sometimes prepared for him, neither on the road nor in a Convent; but sometimes, wearied by too much passing of the night, he slept upon himself, or upon the ground, or sometimes upon a piece of wood. Being asked how he knows, he answered: because he saw it. Likewise he said that, although he heard several Masses from him in the Convent and on a journey, he did not hear any in which he did not pour out many tears; and this he knows, because he saw it.

[60] Likewise he said that he passed the night in prayer, and prayed with groaning and tears, and exercises of piety and when he made a sermon to the Brethren he poured out tears, and on account of this the Brethren were rather often moved to tears. Likewise he said that he never heard an idle or harmful word, of flattery or of detraction, from him; but he always spoke of God or with God, and to whomever joined him on the way he preached of God, and he exhorted his Brethren to this same thing, and caused this to be placed in the rule of the Friars Preachers. Likewise he said that he greatly was zealous for the salvation of souls; that he, his Brethren being set in order, had disposed to go to the gentiles and to die for the faith, if it were expedient. Being asked how he knows this, he answered: because he saw him saying and doing the above-mentioned things. Likewise he said that he was harsh to himself so far that, when he was on the road, he kept entirely the fasts of the Order, nor would he eat before the hour; yet he made his companions eat twice. He used one tunic in winter and summer. Likewise he said that he loved poverty, and exhorted his Brethren to it. Being asked how he knows, he answered: because he saw him wearing a mean habit, and heard him exhorting his Brethren to embrace and love poverty. And if he found any Brother having garments worthy of reproof as to costliness or as to form, he at once corrected and amended it. And he so loved poverty that he would not that the Brethren should receive possessions; but that they should live on alms, and he caused this to be written in the rule of the Brethren. He wished that they should have mean houses and mean desks ^e for reading, so that in almost all things they should display meanness and poverty.

[61] in the same Saint, Likewise he said that the said Br. Dominic kept the rule in himself entirely and strictly, and wished it to be observed by the Brethren. And if he sometimes found any transgressors of the rule, he punished them with the greatest gentleness and sweetness of words, so that no one was scandalized, although the penance was very heavy. Being asked how he knows, he answered: because he lived a long time with him, and saw, and heard it from him. Likewise he said that he heard his confession, and from it perceived, and thus firmly believes, that he was never stained with any mortal sin. Likewise he said that he was humble, kindly, patient in tribulations, and rejoicing in adversities, pious, merciful, a consoler of the Brethren and of others, and so adorned with all virtues that, by those things which he saw and knew in him, he firmly believes that he had no one like himself whom he has seen or known.

EPILOGUE OF THE NOTARY.

[62] as the notary juridically attests Andrevander ^f, son of the late Tebaldus, notary by imperial authority, received these witnesses by the mandate of the lords master Tancred, archdeacon of Bologna, Thomas prior of Reno, and Brother Palmerius of Campagnola, judges delegated by the lord Pope Gregory IX, and reduced their testimony to public form and wrote it. Thanks be to God. Amen.

ANNOTATA.

AN AUTHENTIC LETTER,

by which the subdelegated inquisitors of Toulouse set forth those things which they had heard from sworn eyewitnesses concerning the virtues and miracles of St. Dominic.

From the edition of the Rev. Fr. James Echard among the writers of the Order of Preachers reviewed, volume 1, page 56 and following.

Dominic, confessor, at Bologna (St.)

BHL Number: 2209

FROM THE PRINTED EDITIONS.

The inquisitors of Toulouse, to the judges appointed by the Apostolic See, To the venerable and discreet men, master Tancred, archdeacon of the church of Bologna, and Thomas, prior of St. Mary of Reno, and Br. Palmerius, Canon of the Holy Trinity, judges or inquisitors delegated by the Apostolic See, P., called abbot of St. Sernin of Toulouse, Raymond Donatus, archdeacon of St. Stephen of Toulouse, and

Pontius, archdeacon of the church of St. Sernin of Toulouse, greeting and reverence. As you commanded us by your letters, by Apostolic authority, concerning the life and manner of living of blessed Dominic, we have judged that the truth, diligently inquired into through the reverend men Raymond, Prior of Prouille, and P. of Agen, Brethren of the Order of Preachers, and also R. de Aura, Prior of St. Antoninus, and R. de Villario, cellarer of St. Antoninus, should be transmitted to your discretion with our seals appended.

[2] The lord P., abbot of Boulbonne ^a, of the Cistercian Order, being sworn, said they send the sworn testimonies of the abbot of Boulbonne that he was archdeacon of Toulouse, and in that same city he also heard from the lord Fulk of good memory, then bishop of Toulouse, and from blessed Dominic himself, and from many others, that the archbishop of Auch presented to the aforesaid blessed Dominic the bishopric of Couserans, which pertained to his care; and he would not receive it, and against his urging he set forth the excuse of the new plantation of the Preachers and of the nuns of Prouille, which belonged to him; and he believes that his election was canonical and harmonious. And he knew that he was a zealot for souls, fervent in prayer and preaching, and a persecutor of heretics ^b, a lover of poverty, sparing to himself, kindly to others, chaste, humble, patient, secure in persecutions, glad in tribulations, religious, despised in his own eyes, a father and consoler of sick Brethren and of those who were in tribulations, a lover of discipline, an example to the Brethren in all things, fleeing the glory of the world, generous, hospitable, a lover of all Religious, mean in his garments, a lover of the business of the faith and of peace, and that the sins of others tormented him, so that of him could be said what was said of the Apostle: Who is weak, and I am not weak? And he believes that he was a virgin.

[3] and of other men most worthy of trust, Brother William, sacristan of the same place, being sworn, said the same, except as to the election to the bishopric, and except as to hospitality. He said that he was poor while he went with him. He said that he was generous in conferring on the Brethren the tunics which were given him.

Br. B. Claret, a monk of the same place, being sworn as witness, said the same as the sacristan; and he added that he heard that he had been elected bishop of Couserans, and that, while he was a Canon of Osma, he did not eat meat with the Brethren, nor did he refuse it; but hid it among the pottages.

The lord M., abbot of Pamiers, said the same as the abbot of Boulbonne, adding that he knew by sight and hearing his wailing and outpouring of tears in prayers, and that he wore a single tunic.

[4] concerning the virtues and miracles of St. Dominic, Master A. de Campranhano, sacristan of the same place, being sworn, said that he saw and heard the divine Dominic to be an assiduous persecutor and refuter of heretics, both by word and by the example of a good life; and he labored with as it were unwearied strength for the advancement of peace and of the faith, and on this account exposed himself to various perils: and he believes that all the aforesaid articles are true.

Raymond Major, canon, being sworn as witness, said that he knows the aforesaid articles to be true, and believes that he was a virgin: and he said that at the imposition of his hand he himself was healed of fevers.

Raymond Gerald, being sworn as witness, said that he knew and believes all the articles to be true, adding that, when he went with him and others through the woods, he remained last, and when he was sought, he was rather often found on bended knees, notwithstanding the fear of ravening* wolves, which attacked many.

[5] which by other eyewitnesses William de Varnhola, being sworn as witness, said that he knew him by sight and hearing to be fervent in prayer and preaching, religious, despised in his own eyes, chaste, humble, a lover of poverty, whose bed was chiefly the church, a persecutor of heretics; and he believes the other articles to be true.

Gerald de Oleris, being sworn as witness, said that he knows the aforesaid articles to be true, and believes that he was a virgin, and that, though he had him as a familiar, he never knew or heard anything suspect or sinister concerning him.

Bernard de Baulhanis, being sworn as witness, said that blessed Dominic was a zealot for souls, fervent in prayer and preaching, an assiduous persecutor of heretics, a lover of poverty, sparing to himself and kindly to others, patient, humble, religious, and despised in his own eyes, a lover of discipline, and fleeing the glory of the world, mean in habit, a lover of the business of the faith and of peace; all the other articles he believes to be true.

Peter Brunetus, being sworn as witness, said that he knows and believes all the aforesaid articles to be true: and he added that, when on a certain day he had crossed a water by boat, the boatmen asked a penny for their fare: and when he had not the means to pay, they, insisting, demanded a pledge or a penny, and on this account detained him: but he, fixing his eyes upon the ground, showed them a penny, saying: Take from the ground what you ask of me; and taking the penny, they let him go.

[6] Guilielma, wife of Elias Martinus, being sworn as witness, said of both sexes that she spun for the hair-shirt which was being prepared for him to wear: and she knows and believes that the aforesaid articles are true, and believes him a virgin: and two hundred times and more she ate with him; but she does not believe that he ate a fourth part of a piece of fish at one meal, or more than two yolks of eggs, nor that he drank more than one cup of wine watered with three parts of water: nor did she ever see him eat more than one slice ^c of bread. She saw also that, when he was very often afflicted with the gravest pain, the bystanders placed him in a bed, and he at once prostrated himself on the ground, because he was not accustomed to lie in a bed.

Tolosana Neguesa, being sworn as witness, said that she knew the above-mentioned articles to be true, and believes him a virgin: and she said that she spun a hair-shirt of the hairs of leopards and goats for his use.

[7] Beceda, a nun of Holy Cross, being sworn as witness, said familiar with him, that she knew the above-mentioned articles to be true, and him a virgin: and she gathered oxen's tails for making a hair-shirt for his use and for that of the lord Fulk, bishop of Toulouse: and she never heard a vain word from him, although she was very familiar with him: and although she often made a bed for him, he did not lie there, nay in the morning she found it as prepared as she had left it when she had spread it: and he did this even when he was sick; nay, she also often found him sleeping on the floor uncovered, and when she had covered him, when she returned she found him praying or standing [or] prostrate: for she had great care about him. She said also that, though he had eaten more than two hundred times in the house in which she lived, at most he ate two eggs, although several foods were prepared for him. And of all the above-mentioned articles there is a public and famed report throughout the whole bishopric of Toulouse and of Couserans, and wherever he made his passage, if however he made any stay there, among Religious, clerics, and laymen, men and women, who knew him.

[8] The lord William Peter, abbot of the monastery of St. Paul, and by the abbot of St. Paul, being sworn as witness, said that blessed Dominic most ardently thirsted for the salvation of souls, and was the greatest zealot for souls: likewise fervent in preaching, so far that by day and by night, in churches, in houses, in fields, on roads, and everywhere he willed and exhorted the Brethren to preach the word of the Lord and to speak of nothing but God. Likewise he said that he was a persecutor of heretics, and opposed them by preaching, by disputing, and in all ways he could. Likewise he said that he was a lover of poverty so far that he spurned and renounced the possessions, towns, castles, and revenues with which the Order had been enriched in various parts. Likewise he said that he was very sparing to himself in food, and ate nothing besides bread and one pottage, unless for the sake of the Brethren or the bystanders he tasted a little of the extra portions. But he always wished the others to have abundance according to the resources of the house and as possibility permitted. Likewise he said that he was a virgin, as he heard from many. Likewise he said that he spurned the bishopric of Couserans, nor would he preside over that church, although he had been elected as shepherd and prelate. Likewise he said that he never in all things saw so humble a man, nor one more contemning the glory of the world and the things which pertained to temporal glory. Likewise he said that he received insults and curses and reproaches most patiently and with joy, as a gift and a great present ^d. Likewise he said that in persecutions he was never troubled; but secure and undaunted he frequently went amid dangers, and, never terrified by fear, turned aside from the highway ^e. Nay, when sleep seized him, he cast himself down on the road or beside the road, and slept.

[9] who reports very many of the Saint's deeds, Likewise he said that he excelled all whom he saw in Religion. Likewise he said that he greatly despised himself, and reckoned himself as nothing. Likewise he consoled sick Brethren in a fatherly way, and was a wonderful bearer of their infirmities. Likewise he said that, when he knew any to be constrained in tribulations, he admonished them to patience, and, when he could, consoled them. Likewise he said that he was a lover of discipline, and rebuked delinquents in a fatherly way. Likewise he said that he showed himself to the Brethren an example in all things, in words and deeds, in food and in clothing, and in good manners. Likewise he said that he did not see a man so frequent in prayer, nor one who abounded so much in tears. Likewise he said that when he was in prayer he cried out so loudly that he was heard on every side, and in his cry he said: Lord, have mercy on the people. What will sinners do? And thus he passed the nights sleepless, weeping and wailing for the sins of others. Likewise he said that he was generous and hospitable, and most gladly shared what he had with the poor. Likewise he said that he loved and honored Religious and lovers of Religion. Likewise he said that he never heard or knew that he had a bed, except the church, where he could conveniently find a church. But where he had no church, he always lay either on the ground, or on a bench, or on the cords of a bed, the mattress and cloths which they had placed on the bed for lying being removed. Likewise he said that he never saw him except with one tunic, and that was patched ^f. Likewise he said that he always wished to wear meaner capes than the other Brethren. Likewise he said that he was a lover of the business of the faith and of peace, and, as far as he could, a most faithful promoter and helper.

[10] and by like witnesses beyond every exception All these things said and granted, an oath being given and taken, A., chaplain of Villar, who also saw a demoniac woman freed from a demon at Fanjeaux, by the prayers of blessed

Dominic. And A. Pontius the chaplain, and Raymond also de Villario, priest of Fanjeaux, and R. the cleric, who also believes that by his merits he was freed from fevers: and all these and several others of Fanjeaux, saying with one voice that they never saw so holy and so upright a man in the flesh.

Brother Michael, being sworn, said that all the above-mentioned things are true, namely what he saw and heard. Likewise he said that blessed Dominic knew by a prophetic spirit that it was necessary for the Brethren to withdraw from Toulouse.

Brother R. said the same as the one set forth above: and he heard concerning his virginity from the lord Fulk, bishop of Toulouse, from Brother D. Aniaminus, and from Brother John of Calahorra, and that he spurned the bishopric of Béziers, and that he saw a certain man freed from a demon through him.

Mark the deacon, being sworn, said that he spurned a bishopric, and that where he had prayed he found tears, and the place wet with tears.

[11] Berengaria ^g, being sworn, said that she saw with her eyes and heard with her ears are confirmed by oath. when blessed Dominic bade nine heretical women, converted from their error, to look upon the demon which possessed them in the shape of a cat, whose eyes were as it were an ox's, and like a flame of fire, and putting out its tongue for half a foot, like fire, and having a tail like half a branch ^h, and great as a … dog: and at his command it went out through the hole of the bell rope and vanished from their eyes: yet he had first foretold them that they should not fear, because he would show them what lord they had served.

Raymond de Sanchis said that at his prayer the daughter of a certain woman was restored to health: for she had asked him to visit her, to whom he had said: Depart, and I will pray for her; and on the morrow, as the mother said, her daughter was healed.

Raymond and Zonzamias said that they heard from him that he would sooner flee by night with his staff than accept a bishopric or another dignity ⁱ.

ANNOTATA.

* perhaps: rabid

A PREVIOUS ADVERTISEMENT CONCERNING CERTAIN MIRACLES, NOW TO BE PRINTED FORTHWITH.

After the preliminary Commentary on St. Dominic, and most of his Acts, had already been printed by our press, the Rev. Fr. Thomas Turpin of the Order of Preachers, together with a most courteous letter in French dated at Saint-Omer on the XV day of May in the year of Christ 1733, sent to us an old little book written on parchment, in which about the beginning and end some leaves were lacking, and which damp and rot had so eaten away that in various places it could scarcely, or not even scarcely, be read. That little book, which we conjecture was written in the XIV century, contains first the Life of St. Dominic, composed by the venerable Humbert; then some miracles which are related by Theodoric of Apolda and others; thirdly the miracles which occurred at Rouen from the year of Christ 1261 until the year 1270 by the intercession of St. Dominic; and fourthly the deeds of the same Saint which Gerard de Frachet collected by way of gleaning, and which constitute the second part of the Lives of the Brethren. Although we keep most works of this kind in the manuscript codices of our Museum, as is clear from our preliminary Commentary, yet in them we have nowhere found the Rouen miracles, which accordingly we had resolved to reprint from Echard's edition; but the praised Fr. Thomas Turpin happily discovered them in a certain library of his Order and opportunely transmitted them to us, before the Echardian edition should again be put to press. Wherefore we shall give the aforesaid miracles from that Ms. little book, which we shall hereafter call the Saint-Omer codex, because we received it from Saint-Omer. Having quickly perused this old monument, the knowledge of which we gladly owe to the courtesy and diligence of the Rev. Fr. Turpin, we soon collated the mentioned part of the little book with the same miracles which the Rev. Fr. James Echard had ordered to be printed among the Writers of the Order of Preachers reviewed, volume 1, page 63 and following, from another Ms. codex. And so we shall briefly indicate the variant readings of both codices, where it shall seem worth the effort, in the margin or in the Annotations.

MIRACLES

which occurred at Rouen in Normandy from the year of Christ MCCLXI until the year MCCLXX.

From the small Saint-Omer Ms. codex, written on parchment, which we have collated with the edition of the Rev. Fr. James Echard.

Dominic, confessor, at Bologna (St.)

BHL Number: 2225

FROM THE MS.

FIRST SECTION.

A boy, on account of a whorl, or spindle-weight, lodged in his throat, In the year of the Lord MCCLXI, it pleased the Most High to make blessed father Dominic illustrious with miracles at Rouen in Normandy, and to make his name famous; of which many, a few, which have come to the fuller knowledge of the Brethren, have been written in a rude indeed but truthful style, a diligent examination having gone before. At Rouen, in the parish of St. Eloi ^a, there was a certain little boy, John by name, about one year old, who, when on the second day of the week in the morning within the Octave of blessed Dominic he was playing before his mother with a certain wooden whorl* ^b, which is the weight of the spindle of spinning women, of about the size of a rather large nut, he thrust it with the spindle into his throat; and, the spindle being drawn out, the whorl remained lodged in his throat. And the mother, seeing the little boy rolling before her in his distress, thrust her fingers into his throat and drove the whorl in more firmly, which many who ran up did to him, not being able to do anything else; and they beat the little boy, hung up by his feet, under the throat and upon the neck, and the whorl could by no means be either drawn out or pushed in.

[2] And a certain surgeon came up, who, having tried every skill of his art, near to death, at length said that this only remedy remained, that the boy's throat should be cut open: which being heard and seen, his mother fled away as though out of her mind. But the boy's grandmother, running up, recalling to mind the miracles which she had heard were wrought through blessed Dominic, cried out: Holy Dominic, give me back my son. And the little boy, taken up by one of the neighbor women, was carried to the church of the Brethren, the grandmother crying out all the while through the streets: Blessed Dominic, give me back my son. And so, the little boy being brought to the altar of blessed Dominic, the Convent of the Brethren solemnly beginning the Mass of blessed Dominic, there is a concourse of the people to the church, weeping and having compassion on the little boy of so comely a form set in so great a peril, whom by human help it was altogether impossible to succor. For the whorl so clung to the boy's throat, and was so constricted within the narrows of the throat, that, the flesh being driven into the holes of the whorl, it turned in his throat at the fingers of those who touched it, as a wheel on its axle. And so, Mass being solemnly celebrated and Sext said, his flesh being now as it were dead beforehand, his color changed, his limbs now made stiff and cold, his teeth clenched together, his breath shut off, and blood flowing down through his mouth, nostrils, and ears, when he now seemed utterly deprived of all motion and sense, and by many was cried out as beyond doubt dead, and all men despaired of his life: behold, while all marveled, suddenly life returns, and immediately, in the sight of all, he vomited into the hand of a Brother who stood by the whorl stained with much blood, and, his countenance being quickened and gladdened, he as it were sent forth a laugh, fully freed. Which being seen, the shout of the people is raised, praises and thanks are rendered to God and to blessed Dominic by the people and the Brethren, not without tears: and the whorl is hung up above the altar of blessed Dominic in testimony of so great a miracle, to the praise and glory of Him who is wonderfully set forth* in His Saints.

[3] A certain woman advanced in age and in honorable standing, Agnes by name, wife of a certain sergeant ^c of the king, a woman with arthritis of the parish of St. Laurence ^d of Rouen, was held by a certain grave gout ^e which is called arthritic*, in all her limbs, being grievously tormented for half a year and more, so that she could neither stand, nor rise, nor move by herself any of her limbs, except her tongue, for a moment; but neither could she be moved by another without burden and pain. And when many and various remedies of physicians had been applied in vain, since the woman felt that none of them profited her, but rather harmed her, as one utterly despairing of recovering health, she cast away and rejected all medicaments entirely. And so, being thus destitute of all human help and counsel as to the benefit of recovering health, and all things being duly disposed, and being ready to die, she devoutly invoked blessed Dominic with poured-out tears, and vowed a vow that she would henceforth be his servant and handmaid, if he would free her from so great a peril. A faithful word. For as soon as she had completed her prayer and her vow, she began to move her hands by herself, and, taking confidence, crying with a loud voice, Blessed Dominic has freed me, she rose by herself from the bath in which she had been placed by the hands of her own,

and by herself, all who were present being astounded, entered her bed — she who a little before, if she had been leaned a little into the water, would have let herself be drowned, unless she were helped by another's aid. And thus, after a short while, her strength being fully recovered from God through blessed Dominic, she devoutly visited the altar of blessed Dominic and fulfilled her vow, and, being in a short time freed from a long disease, gave devout thanks for the benefit received of full and entire health.

[4] and a frenzied youth A certain youth, William by name, of the age of fifteen years, of the parish of St. Peter the Gatekeeper ^f of Rouen, on the Sunday of Quinquagesima* making a journey through a certain place in which was a multitude of hanged men ^g, struck with excessive horror and trembling, fell into a certain alienation of mind: whence, returning home as though alienated, he lay sick in bed for eight days. But on the eighth day, when he had received the body of Christ, taking certain shears ^h, he wished to thrust them into his belly and to kill himself, had he not been prevented by a certain matron appointed to keep watch over him. And straightway he was deprived of sense, speech, and hearing, and of the use of all his limbs entirely. Him therefore, made as it were a brute and useless animal, and remaining continuously in such misery for ten days, the aforesaid woman devoted to many Saints. But when the youth still remained always in the same wretched state, the woman, as one despairing of recovering that youth's health, said that she would henceforth devote him to no Saint.

[5] But on the tenth day, recalling to mind the miracles are wonderfully healed. which God at that time was working through blessed Dominic, being kindled with the warmth of faith, she said: I trust in the Lord that God will work a miracle in this man through blessed Dominic, and she added: Blessed Dominic, if you have ever done what pleased God, and if you can do anything with Him, give back to this youth his sense and his speech. And when morning came, the woman, standing before the sick man, said: William, I have vowed you to blessed Dominic, and I will lead you to him if he gives you health. Do you not wish to go, my son? Speak to me in charity. And when she had repeated the same word again, behold, suddenly the youth, his sense being restored to him, his hearing recovered, and the bond of his tongue loosed, answered with a clear voice: Give me then my clothes in the name of the Lord, and we will go to blessed Dominic. Straightway the woman, running, joyfully brought a candle of his length. And immediately the youth, rising, clothed himself and put on his own shoes by himself — he who a little before could not move a foot or hand even a little — fortifying himself with the sign of the cross and commending himself to God and to blessed Dominic; and thus he is led by his friends with immense gladness to the altar of blessed Dominic, restored to his own sense and health.

[6] At the same hour, when the aforesaid miracle was being related before the altar of blessed Dominic with many standing by, A certain citizen of Rouen, from a disease of the leg, and thanks were being given to God and to blessed Dominic, there was present a certain citizen of Rouen, an honorable man, likewise giving thanks to God and to blessed Dominic for himself, asserting that he had been freed through him from a grave pain and disease of the leg, shut up in the marrow, which could neither be cured by physicians nor recognized. For a little before he had devoted himself to blessed Dominic, and in sign of devotion had offered a waxen leg, placing his hope in God and in blessed Dominic, no help having been found in men.

[7] A certain Brother of the Convent of Rouen, a religious man and old in the Order, a Brother of the Order of Preachers, from a pain of the teeth, Brother John of Ergolium by name, of the city of Rouen, was tormented with a grave pain of a certain jaw-tooth: and a certain man skilled in the art of extracting teeth being called, when in drawing out the tooth with an iron forceps ⁱ, not without the Brother's anguish, he had three times exerted his whole effort in vain, at the fourth time he drew out the tooth broken in the middle, the other half part remaining by the root. But when he had twice attempted with all his effort to draw out that part, and could not, the tooth remained with the anguish of a most vehement pain, an excessive swelling of the face and throat following. And a few days having passed, when the pain still did not cease, but rather the tooth infected his mouth with corruption and stench, the same Brother sent for a certain other man who said that he was more skilled in this art. But while he awaited his coming in trepidation, not forgetful of his former and still recent most vehement torment, and expecting a like or greater one, he turned to the blessed father Dominic as to a safe refuge, devoutly invoking him and praying in these words: Blessed father Dominic, have mercy on me, your servant, serving God and you in your Order, and deign mercifully to free me from so great a pain, which I have already experienced so anxiously, and which I again fearfully expect. And as soon as he had completed his prayer, that tooth, plucked out by the root without any pain — nay, all pain being utterly put to flight — leaped forth straightway with wonderful swiftness into his hand: and the Brother, running with immense gladness to the altar of blessed Dominic, rendered worthy praises to God and to the blessed father Dominic for so great a benefit. And this was done at that time when the Brethren were still staying at St. Matthew's beyond the Seine ^k.

[8] In the parish of Holy Cross ^l of Rouen there was a certain boy, a boy from a contraction of the legs, Garner by name, having his legs contracted and cleaving to his buttocks; which, if they were sometimes stretched out a little by force, soon returned to the buttocks. And it happened on a certain day that a certain woman who had raised the little boy from the sacred font, holding him on her lap, having compassion on her contracted little godson, said to his mother: Fellow-godmother, let us vow my little godson to blessed Dominic, who is at St. James's ^m (for so the church of the Brethren is called), who, as is said, heals boys, that he may heal him. It pleases me, said the mother. Then she: Little godson, I vow you to blessed Dominic, asking him to grant you health in your legs, and I will lead you to him with a candle of your length. As soon as she had completed the word, the little boy stretched out one leg, with which he began to support himself. Then she, taking confidence, cried out: Blessed Dominic, who have given back one leg, give back the other also. Straightway the little boy stretched out the other leg, and began to walk according to the measure of his age. Whom his mother and godmother brought rejoicing to the church of the Brethren, rendering worthy thanks to God and to blessed Dominic.

[9] a girl from a grave infirmity, A certain girl, Amelina by name, of three years, of the parish of St. Saviour ^o of Rouen, on a certain Saturday was suddenly assailed by a horrible infirmity, so that she was horribly distended and trembled in her whole body and in each of her limbs, and, without voice, with open eyes seeing nothing, was changed into a foul and earthy* color. Whose mother, exceedingly stupefied, after a long delay, the trouble continually growing strong, so that the girl seemed to be dying a horrible death, being admonished by a certain neighbor of hers, a little before Compline brought the girl with tears to the church of the Brethren before the altar of blessed Dominic. And she soon began to cry out with a horrible voice, so that with her terrible cry and the motions of her limbs she struck terror and horror into those who beheld and heard. But when the relics of blessed Dominic had been placed upon her, after a short space, before Compline was finished, she grew quiet, sucked the breast, and in sucking sweetly fell asleep. And sleeping sweetly all night, when morning came she rose up sound and unharmed, and her mother, giving thanks to God and to blessed Dominic, presented the girl sound and cheerful to the Brethren.

[10] and another boy are freed from a straitness of the throat. A certain little boy, Durand by name, the son of a certain rich man, of the parish of St. Eloi of Rouen, had half the shell of a sea-mussel, which in French they call moules [p], lodged deeply in his throat, so that neither by clippings upon the neck and throat, nor by any other remedy, could it in any way be drawn out or pushed in. The boy's death therefore being at hand, and the color of his face being changed, when human help was now altogether lacking, the mother invoked blessed Dominic, that he would give her back her son. Immediately the little boy vomited forth the bloodstained shell, and is at once carried with joy to the altar of blessed Dominic, restored to his former soundness*.

ANNOTATA.

the Sisters of the same Order, whom they commonly call the walled-in. But the Brethren removed to the place which they now inhabit, in the street called Brasiere, about the year 1248, as the same writer attests. Hence it follows that this miracle happened before the year of Christ 1248, and is narrated out of order.

p. It is a common kind of sea-shell, in which are little fish which the French call moules, the Latins mutili.

* Edition: "urceolo," and so hereafter.

* Edition: cries out:

* Edition: hand

* Edition: is proclaimed wonderful.

* Edition: arthritica

* Edition: all

* Edition: in Sexagesima

* Edition: had exercised

* Edition: Sequanam

* Edition: earthen

* Edition: to health

SECOND SECTION.

A nun dangerously fever-stricken, A certain nun of Bondeville ^a of the diocese of Rouen, Mabilia by name, an aged and devout woman, laboring at Rouen with a sharp fever, the most grievous trouble of the disease growing strong, was despaired of by the physicians on account of evident signs of death, in which infirmity indeed she devoutly devoted herself to God and to blessed Dominic. Being set therefore in that peril, when she had begun to sweat a little on the breast, she rose from her bed, and afterward, returning to bed, found that she had wholly lost her sweat. But when she complained exceedingly and grieved over the lost sweat, and tried to recover it and could not, she is seized with a certain light sleep, and it seemed to her that a certain Friar Preacher, having the likeness of the image of blessed Dominic which is fittingly carved above his altar in the church of the Brethren, was lightly sprinkling her with water with his fingers, and consoling her with gentle words, saying: Trust, daughter, do not be desolate, for I will give you water enough: in which sprinkling and joyful vision she was delighted in a wonderful manner. But waking, she found herself so wet with sweat that she seemed wholly immersed in water, and in that sweat she grew well, and gave worthy thanks to God and to blessed Dominic.

[12] a merchant with a heart complaint, A certain merchant of the parish of St. Eloi of Rouen, being at certain fairs fifty leagues distant from Rouen, was vexed for three days with a grave pain of the heart, and it seemed to him that his heart was pricked with the points of needles, so that he could not rest for a moment. On the third day, therefore, recalling to mind the benefits which God was bestowing at Rouen through blessed Dominic upon those who invoked him, he invoked blessed Dominic and devoutly devoted himself to him, and at once felt himself relieved and freed. And after he returned to Rouen he went to blessed Dominic, fulfilled his vow, and gave thanks to his liberator.

[13] and others, both men and women, On the feast of blessed Mary Magdalene a certain fuller of the parish of St. Maclou of Rouen came to visit the relics of blessed Dominic, which, when he devoutly kissed them, he devoutly rendered thanks to God and to blessed Dominic, asserting that he had been freed from great and grievous pains which had vexed him for three days. He testified also that, as soon as he devoted her to blessed Dominic, he wholly freed his wife from a quartan fever which had vexed her for a whole year.

At the same hour there stood by a certain matron of Rouen, giving thanks and bearing witness to the holiness of blessed Dominic, asserting that on the preceding Sunday in the evening she was grievously tormented on account of a dangerous and great ulcer which she had upon her ear; who, blessed Dominic being invoked, obtained the benefit of health in a moment.

[14] On the same day after dinner two women entered the church, one of whom, a matron, was carrying a little boy in her bosom, afflicted with various diseases, whom, drawing him out from there, she laid upon the altar of blessed Dominic. And when it was asked by the Brethren who stood by whether the little boy was dead (for no voice of his was heard), they answered: Far be it, they say; but by blessed Dominic he lives with life: for when his mother labored in childbirth for three days, she drew off more than ten gallons of water, or quarts ^b, on each day, so that we beyond doubt believed the little boy drowned in the womb. Yesterday, therefore, we devoted her and the little boy to blessed Dominic, and immediately we received this little boy sound and unharmed from his mother's womb, on account of which we not undeservedly give thanks to God and to blessed Dominic.

[15] About three weeks before the feast of blessed Dominic, the help of St. Dominic being implored, Robert the fishmonger, of the parish of St. Michael ^c of Rouen, tormented with a grave pain of the teeth, blessed Dominic being invoked, was immediately freed; who nevertheless from forgetfulness or negligence put off rendering his vow to his Liberator: whence it came about that on the third day of the week before the said feast the same pain returned more savage and so much graver that from that day until the sixth day of the week he could neither sleep, nor take food save with difficulty, nor rest for a moment, the pain growing exceedingly heavy, his face being horribly turned into a swelling. On the aforesaid sixth day of the week, therefore, on which was the vigil of blessed Dominic ^d, the sick man, returning to himself, said to his wife: I believe that this so grave an infirmity has happened to me because for the health of the former pain of the teeth, restored to me through blessed Dominic, I did not give him worthy thanks nor fulfill my vow. Go, he said, quickly, and have a waxen face made for me, if perhaps I may find him appeased toward me. Which being done, he came to the church of the Brethren, devoutly offered his vow upon the altar of blessed Dominic, and, before he returned to his own house, obtained the benefit of health. And on the morrow he returned to the church of the Brethren, gave thanks to God and to blessed Dominic, and announced the aforesaid to the Brethren.

[16] A certain woman, Joanna by name, of the parish of St. Eloi of Rouen, at once recovered health. labored in childbirth for fifteen days: being therefore utterly destitute of bodily strength, nature wholly succumbing and her voice failing, when she now felt herself set at her last breath, the memory of blessed Dominic came into her mind. And when she had devoutly invoked him as she could, and had vowed him a vow if she were freed from the present peril, immediately she prosperously brought forth the child, and, being freed, joyfully rendered worthy praises to her Liberator.

[17] A certain noble matron, the lady Elizabeth de Perches by name, [A noble woman is punished with a grave disease for despising the miracles of St. Dominic,] of the parish of St. Gervase ^e of Rouen, being at one time in the church of the Brethren, seeing the people devoutly flocking to the altar of blessed Dominic and offering very many signs of devotion, and hearing that God there wrought through blessed Dominic very many miracles and wonders, contemned and derided such devotion and miracles, and was in all respects unbelieving, and could by no means retain the name of blessed Dominic; but however frequently it was named to her, she at once gave it to oblivion. While she therefore persisted in such hardness of heart, about twelve days before the feast of blessed Dominic there suddenly assailed her a most grievous pain of the leg, which was suddenly turned into an excessive swelling, so that the leg equaled the thigh in thickness, with livid and red ulcers scattered over the whole leg. Surgeons are called; they apply remedies and increase the torments: and the more remedies were applied, the more from day to day the intolerable pain increased.

[18] and afterward, repenting, Tormented therefore with a scourge of this kind for about twelve days, so that she could not rest at all for a moment, on a certain evening, on which was the vigil of blessed Dominic, feeling in herself so manifestly the severity of divine justice that she judged her leg to be burned with infernal fire, she returned to herself and devoutly invoked the blessed Virgin, truly confessing and judging that so great and so grave a scourge had happened to her on account of some sin. And she began devoutly to salute her about a hundred times with the angelic salutation: in which prayer, suddenly falling asleep, she saw herself in the church of the Brethren before the altar of blessed Dominic praying in these words — although she had never in any way thought of this, and was wholly ignorant of the feast: Blessed Dominic, be propitious to me a sinner, who disparaged you and your miracles, and like a fool derided those devoted to you: have mercy, I beseech, on me, and pardon me. Being roused amid these words, she cried out to her household to know whether it was yet day. And having found that it was not day, awaiting the light with desire, she at once ordered a waxen leg to be made for her; which taking, she began to rise, saying that she wished to go to St. James's to blessed Dominic, all who were present being astounded and crying out that she could by no means do this.

[19] is restored to health by the help of the same Saint, When therefore, having gone out of the house, she had proceeded a little, soon she felt in her leg an itching and as it were the heavy stings of ants. But when she had entered the first gate of the Brethren, such prickings and itching wholly ceased; and when she approached the relics of blessed Dominic and venerated them, all pain utterly fled away: and returning home with joy without difficulty, she found the leg wholly freed from all ulcers and pains. Her friends, neighbors, and moreover the surgeons marvel, giving thanks to God and to blessed Dominic, who, as He wills, healthfully strikes and heals, instructs and scourges. Nevertheless the aforesaid lady, perhaps out of a certain shame, because she had disparaged the Saint, did not at once make known the deed to the Brethren: but afterward, being frequently admonished in sleep, she diligently inquired of the Brethren about the life of blessed Dominic, heard it devoutly and with tears, and acknowledged the whole course of the matter, professing herself thenceforth the servant and handmaid of blessed Dominic.

[20] which also a woman, imperiled by a bone lodged in her throat, A certain woman, Petronilla de Chaumont by name, of the parish of St. Candidus the younger ^f of Rouen, on the feast of blessed Augustine in the evening, eating meat, swallowed a certain bone sharp on both sides and long, of nearly the breadth of two fingers: but it remained deeply* lodged crosswise in her throat, so that it could by no means be drawn out or pushed in. And when, driven by the stings of a most vehement torment, she had devoted herself to many Saints, none the less the peril of death still pressed. Being therefore laid in bed by the hands of her own people, since she in no way rested, as one who felt in herself the tokens of imminent death, she was admonished by her daughter to devote herself to blessed Dominic. And she, soon rising from her bed, placed her elbows and knees with her daughter upon the ground, invoked blessed Dominic with what devotion she could, and vowed to him that she would visit his relics barefoot and without a shift ^g, if he would free her from the imminent peril of death. In a wonderful manner, as soon as the word

was completed, she vomited forth the bone with wonderful swiftness, and she, of whose life men utterly despaired, escaped sound and rejoicing. When morning came, therefore, as she had vowed, she came devoutly to the altar of blessed Dominic, related the deed before many, gave thanks to God and to blessed Dominic, and presented the aforesaid bone to the Brethren.

[21] A certain girl of seven years, Joanna by name, of the parish of St. Hermeland ^h of Rouen, had for some time lost the use of her tongue: and a mute girl profitably implored. but, being led by her mother to the relics of blessed Dominic, as soon as she tasted of the wine in which the relics of blessed Dominic had been dipped, she recovered both the soundness and the use of her tongue.

ANNOTATA.

* Edition: deep

THIRD SECTION.

A certain young man from a straitness of the throat, A certain young man, William by name, of the parish of St. Gildard ^a of Rouen, on the Saturday after the nativity of the blessed Virgin swallowed a certain stone of a large peach ^b as far as the mouth of the stomach; but, being unable by any means to pass further, it remained lodged there. He, soon almost lifeless and suffering a spasm, fell down, but, being struck and shaken upon the neck by the bystanders, he was roused, and, being admonished by those standing round, he ran as quickly as he could to the altar of blessed Dominic. And when some of the wine of the relics had been dropped into his mouth, he could not swallow even one drop. And so he rolled pitiably before the altar of blessed Dominic, many beholding him and having compassion on him, set in so great an anguish and in the peril of imminent death. But being admonished by a certain Brother, he confessed his sins as one about soon to die, as best he could. And, confession being made, he promised amendment of life to God and to blessed Dominic, as far as he could speak, and devoutly devoted himself, if he would free him from the peril of imminent death. And after a short interval, the people and the Brethren devoutly praying God and blessed Dominic for him, when he now felt himself being choked and extinguished, and his breath now wholly shut off, and, as one dying, was commending his soul to God, and utterly despaired of life, some of the wine of the relics was again dropped into his mouth. A faithful word: for as soon as he swallowed the wine, with wonderful ease, many standing by before the altar, he vomited forth that stone upon the pavement so suddenly that he did not even feel it. The shout of the people is raised with tears for joy, and God is devoutly praised by the people and the Brethren in His saint Dominic.

[23] and another are freed from a grave sickness In the parish of Doudeville ^c toward Fécamp ^d there was a certain young cleric, William de Fraxino by name, whose father was called by the same name, and his mother's name was Joanna. He, when he had labored with a long infirmity of fevers and of the side, at length fell into a wasting sickness. And when he saw that no human medicaments had at all profited him, either in the fever or in the sickness, although many such had been applied to him, being now destitute of all hope of cure, neither he nor his parents expected anything of him but death, especially since he stank so much that he could scarcely be endured, and he was now so wasted that his haunches ^e seemed pierced through, and for a long time he cast up through his mouth all that he ate, even what had already been received into his intestines. And it happened on a certain day, the Lord willing, that a certain woman of Rouen, familiar with them, was coming through that place, setting out on a pilgrimage to Fécamp: and when the sick man's mother desired to go with her, the son, hearing this, forbade it, saying that death was at hand for him, so that he was as it were certain that he would die that night.

[24] through the intercession of St. Dominic, But then the merciful Lord, who does not will the death of a sinner, put into the mind of the newly arrived woman the miracles of blessed Dominic: and she said: Ah! why should this young man die? And, turning to the sick man, she said: Come, dearest, devote yourself to holy Dominic, whose altar and relics are in the church of the Friars Preachers of Rouen*, who works such frequent miracles among us. And he, desiring the health of his own body, immediately uttered a vow that he would seek him out and would henceforth be his servant; and at once he was better, and — what is astounding — he felt as it were a certain dry piece of wood break within his body, and he said with a clear voice: I am wholly sound. And he came to render thanks to God and to blessed Dominic with a certain honorable priest, known to the Brethren.

[25] whom also other persons invoked At Neufchâtel ^f in Bray ^g a certain woman, by name Ydonia, had a certain male child who was ill-natured ^h and wonderfully hard to bring up. And when she was burdened beyond measure by very often losing her sleep, and in many other ways, on a certain night by diabolical prompting, although she was a devout woman, being greatly affected with weariness on account of the burden, as if unbridled, she cursed the boy with that most evil affliction to which many are ill accustomed; and — what is horrible — at once that affliction seized the boy, vexing him perhaps thirty or forty times that night and the following day. And when her sister, a very devout woman, knew this, remembering the miracles of blessed Dominic, she uttered a vow for her little nephew to the Saint of God, Dominic, and from then he was freed from that falling sickness. But not long after, the mother of the above-mentioned boy, being seized by a very sharp fever, was so vexed that, death, as is said, being at hand, as was believed, she was made mute. Seeing which, her said sister Beatrice, being of a tender conscience, greatly feared lest her said sister should die insufficiently prepared. Whence she most devoutly asked blessed Dominic for the restoring of speech to her sister, that at least she might be able sufficiently to confess her sins, or, what she would rather, that he would obtain for her perfect health. Which was at once done, because she spoke to her on the spot, and in a short time recovered health.

[26] A certain girl of about thirteen years of age, Marota ⁱ by name, in various necessities, of the parish of St. Eloi of Rouen, when she had already been vexed with a daily fever for nearly all of Lent, about Easter, remembering the miracles of blessed Dominic, came to his altar, and, as she saw and heard was done by others, a candle being bought, asked the Saint of God to heal her; and at once she was cured, so that from then she felt no trace whatever of that disease.

[27] There was a certain woman at Rouen who had a little son and found him propitious to themselves or their own. whom she loved very much, especially because it seemed to her that on account of that boy her husband loved her more, whereas before he rather held her in contempt*; but the devil, the envier of all good, brought it about that the boy suddenly died. But the mother herself, coming from elsewhere and finding the boy dead, calling together the neighbor women and wailing aloud for grief, devoted him to blessed Dominic, and brought him, and he came to life again.

A certain other woman brought her son of about three years to the altar of blessed Dominic, whose right arm was dead, so that it hung at his side like a certain leather sleeve. But when the mother wished to offer a lighted candle for her son, soon the boy stretched out the hand formerly dead toward the candle, and took it from his mother's hand, and from then he was cured.

[28] Another woman of the parish of St. Gervase had a little son, whom, having been fed with the milk of her breasts, the mother had need to go into the city: and not having conveniently and readily anyone to whom she might leave her son to be guarded, except God and blessed Dominic, she left him, securely commending him to the guardianship of blessed Dominic. But when after a great space of time, yet on the same day, she returned, she perceived a great smoke coming out of the house and of the place where the boy lay, and when she entered, finding her bed already in flames, crying out as if frenzied: Blessed Dominic, give me back my son, she approached the boy, and, drawing him out of the bed, found the boy sound and unharmed, although the fire had consumed almost everything about the boy, namely the straw, the mattress, and the cloths upon which he lay, and also the sleeve about the boy's arm, that arm itself remaining unharmed.

[29] A certain nun of Bondeville, Maria by name, A certain nun, a kinswoman of Vernon, when for nearly twelve years inwardly, and at least ten in body, she was sick as it were with the disease which is called the fig ^k, or rather dropsy, and her face always remaining pale, and she was weak and very burdensome to others, and no medicines had availed her, although many had been applied, at length it was confirmed into dropsy, and then she came to Rouen and stayed there for nearly three months, that she might have the counsel of physicians. But when she was now affected with weariness in seeking and enduring various medicines, and did not hope that any human medicines would avail her, especially since from day to day she grew worse, she returned to her house, and daily felt herself more and more weakened and swollen, and in her girdle the swelling was perceived to have increased by about the measure of a foot. The physicians also said that she would shortly die.

[30] at the urging of a certain Friar Preacher; But because the supreme Physician was reserving her to be healed by Himself through the merits of His holy Dominic, when it pleased Him, an occasion being sent to her, there came

there a certain devout Brother, Amicus by name, then lecturer in the Convent of the Friars Preachers of Rouen, who admonished her about making a vow to the Saint of God, Dominic. Which being done, she at once felt herself lifted up into the hope of recovering health, and that she was already bettered, and in a short time, in about three days, she was perfectly cured: for within three days after the vow she felt that the disease had as it were wholly left her. But from then she began to have such trust in blessed Dominic that in all her necessities, whether bodily or spiritual, and in her straits, entreating him, she always felt herself succored by him.

[31] invoking St. Dominic with her disciple, But a certain other nun, a disciple of the above-mentioned woman who was cured, Ascelina by name, having seen so great a miracle, when she was afflicted with a quartan fever, and a quartan fever had vexed her for about eight months, a vow being made to blessed Dominic, from then recovered perfect health. For both the mistress and the disciple vowed that, if blessed Dominic obtained health for them, they would henceforth perform his Office on his yearly feasts.

[32] is twice healed by the intercession of the same Saint. Also in the year of the Lord MCCLXVII about the Nativity* of the Lord, the above-mentioned Maria, nun of Bondeville, being wholly deprived of the use of her limbs for three days, when she had devoted herself to blessed Dominic, whom she had many times found beneficent to her in her infirmities, both spiritual and bodily, immediately a most gentle sweat seized her, lasting for three days, and in those three days she was perfectly cured, although she was judged by many to be a paralytic. But her above-mentioned disciple also, having seen this, and being rebuked by her mistress for lack of devotion to the Saint of God, Dominic, a vow being made, was freed from a very great temptation and tribulation, though she had long before been vexed by such things. And she also, when she was in anxiety and great weeping for herself and for her mistress, being somewhat drowsy from weariness, there appeared to her a certain beautiful and venerable old man in the shape of a Brother, saying to her: Do not fear, for I will help you.

ANNOTATA.

* Edition: at Rouen

* Edition: in contempt;

* Edition: Nativity

FOURTH SECTION.

There was at Vallée de Rodolium ^a a certain devout woman, for a long time most sharply vexed with a pain of the teeth, St. Dominic frees a certain woman from toothache, Ada by name; and she was Prioress of the Hospital of God, and had one companion of the Beguines ^b of Rouen, Aelesia by name, who exhorted her about making a vow to blessed Dominic. And when she did not assent to her, she had a jaw-tooth drawn out by a certain surgeon of teeth; who nearly drew out the jaw; yet the cheek remained as it were disjoined, with the middle part of the tooth in which she had felt the pain, and the pain being increased beyond measure. But at length, stricken with compunction, by the counsel of the castellan's wife ^c of Vallée de Rodolium she devoted herself to the Saint of God, Dominic, and immediately she was cured, and came at once to Rouen to the memorial of the Saint, rendering worthy thanks to God and to His holy Dominic.

[34] A certain young Beguine, who is believed to be very simple and devout, frees another from a long-continued fever; Joanna by name, when she was most grievously sick with a tertian fever, and the fever had now continued with her for six weeks, and she now expected nothing but death drawing near to her, all appetite for any food utterly failing her, and being as it were destitute of all strength of her limbs, came with confidence to blessed Dominic, prostrating herself before his altar, pouring out her prayers and devotions to God and to His Saint, and vowed that, if she were freed from that fever, she would henceforth keep the feast of blessed Dominic. A wonderful thing, for at once she was cured of the fever, although at that hour she was in the heat of her fit, nor did she thereafter have another fit.

[35] In the city of Rouen there was a certain burgher woman, but another, upon whom the prosperity of this world smiled well enough, by name Joanna de Boutelles, who had a certain little son whom she most tenderly loved, Thomas by name; who often labored with a grave infirmity, and once and again it grew strong in him, so that nothing else was expected in him but death. And when she bewailed her son as though dead, and would receive no consolation, the boy's nurse, Matilda by name, said to the mother: My lady, vow your son to blessed Dominic, through whose merits the Lord is a patron to many. She answered: Why should I ask what I cannot obtain? Behold, the boy is dying. Vow securely, said the nurse, for from it you can lose nothing. Then the mother said: Lord holy Dominic, succor this wretched mother, and give me back my son, if you can, and he will be your man, rendering four pence each year to your altar. A wonderful thing! Scarcely had she finished those words, and the boy himself was at once restored to his former health.

[36] who had neglected to stand by her promises, he mercifully punishes. But an ungrateful forgetfulness so hindered the mother's purpose that within a year she put off bringing the boy to blessed Dominic. Whence it happened that a most grave infirmity seized that same boy, which vexed him so much that those attending now thought of nothing but the burial and the bier. Yet the mother, returning to herself, considered that she had not discharged the vow long since made for the boy, and that therefore this deservedly had to happen to her. And she, running with great wailing, came to the church of the Brethren, but could not enter, because it was too late; yet she satisfied the vow: and she, returning home, thought to find the boy dead, but by God's power and the merits of blessed Dominic found him wholly restored to his former health.

[37] Parents, after the help of St. Dominic had been invoked, Likewise it is not to be passed over in silence what happened in the parish of St. Andrew outside the gate ^d. For a certain citizen of Rouen, Walter of Amiens by name, and his wife Gemmina had a certain little daughter whom they most tenderly loved. She, when on a certain day she went up to the upper floor of the house, in which upper floor there was a certain opening through which one could look down into the house below — and the father, fearing his daughter's fall, had many times on that day had the little girl carried away from that opening; yet, the enemy of the human race prompting it, her parents being occupied, his daughter went up again, and, looking through the said opening of the upper floor, fell into the floor of the house, which was distant from the upper story more than twenty-five feet, and lay on the ground as if lifeless: and the father, learning of the fall, running up and wailing and swearing, said to the mother: Truly what I feared has happened; your daughter is dead. But the mother, placing all her trust in the Lord and in blessed Dominic, made a vow to blessed Dominic that, if he would give back to her that daughter of hers sound, the daughter would offer a waxen face to him each year. Which being done, God, who shows Himself wonderful in His Saints, to His own honor and to the exaltation of His holy Dominic, restored the said girl, before deprived of all motion and sense, to her former health, no injury or bruise appearing.

[38] obtained wonderful benefits for their offspring, In the year of the Lord MCCLXX*, on a certain Saturday, Stephen le Danois of the parish of St. Maclou (his wife is called Joanna) had a daughter, by name Petronilla, who monstrously and deformedly had her hands turned inward and utterly useless for working: whose father, recalling that many miracles through the merits of blessed Dominic had sounded in his ears, taking confidence devoted his daughter to him, and promised that he would render his offering to blessed Dominic. In a wonderful manner, scarcely had he finished the words, and behold, the girl at once wholly recovered the use of her right hand; and on the morrow, namely on Sunday, she received the use of her left, and full health of both hands, to the glory of God and of His holy Dominic.

[39] But in the year of the Lord MCCLXVI it happened in the parish of St. Mary called la petite ^e that a certain woman, by name Aviegne, had a certain boy not yet a year old, Robin: to him his mother gave her copper ring, which the boy, putting it to his mouth, took into his throat; which, when he could neither push in nor draw out, his color now being changed, on account of the constriction, the narrowness of the throat, and the shutting off of his breath, being as it were set at his last breath, feeling the coming of a near death, he was expiring. Which being learned by the parents, and the mother saying that she believed he had her ring in his throat, the father, putting in his finger, tried to snatch out the ring. And when he could not, they devoted themselves and the boy to the Blood [at] Fécamp ^f. And when they saw that this did not profit them, by the counsel of a certain devout woman they devoted him to blessed Dominic. Which being done, scarcely even had the vow been uttered when the boy vomited forth the bloodstained ring, health being wholly recovered.

[40] On the same day and year in the parish of St. Peter Honoré ^g there was a certain girl of about fifteen years, and other clients of both sexes Aeliesa by name, who wholly lost the use of her tongue as to speech, and for the sake of a cure in her city of Rouen sought, by the counsel of her friends, the thresholds of many Saints, men and women, and did not profit: at length, coming to the relics of blessed Dominic, prayer and an offering being made,

she immediately recovered her speech.

[41] At Bondeville ^h, toward Fécamp, there was a certain woman By the intercession of the same Saint who unknowingly took with her leek-broth ⁱ a certain rather large bone, which so strongly clung to her throat that she could neither push it in, nor take food except in liquid substance, and she was almost failing: and, vows being made to several Saints, seeing that she profited in nothing, by the counsel of a certain other woman devoting herself to blessed Dominic, she at once received the use of eating, and no longer felt her former pain: and, an interval of time having passed, having forgotten the former pain, that bone, which had so long clung to her throat, fell without human aid into her hand, full health following. All these things the said woman with her husband, several of both sexes being joined to them, asserted to be true in the church of the Brethren before several Brethren, and with the testimony of very many neighbors. She had also in her company a certain woman with a little boy and its father, who, a vow being uttered to the Saint of God, Dominic, his wife was straightway freed from a quartan fever and the boy from a tertian. And these things were done about the nativity of blessed John the Baptist in the aforesaid year of the Lord MCCLVI ^k.

[42] for themselves or their friends Of the parish of Sotteville next to Rouen a certain man, by name William le Pilouer, whom a grave pain of the gout seized on the road to St. James's, vowed himself to blessed Dominic and was wholly freed.

A certain woman of Bois-Guillaume ^l, whose son was grievously sick, vowed him to blessed Dominic, and he immediately received health, and thereupon, rendering thanks to God and to the Saint, she offered on the altar of blessed Dominic one pall ^m.

[43] In the house of the Sisters of the Order of blessed Dominic at Rouen obtained like benefits, or health a certain young Sister, Perreta by name, niece of Brother Geoffrey of Beaulieu ⁿ, was struck with a grave disease of the hand about the knuckle: and, the trouble growing strong, the disease spread grievously through the whole arm, and finally as far as the shoulder. Many and various remedies of physicians therefore being applied through the solicitude of a certain Sister, her mistress, not only did she not grow well, but rather the disease, growing more strongly, was continually increased, and at last so prevailed that the arm remained dead and wholly powerless. The physicians therefore despairing of the girl's recovery, the aforesaid Sister, seeing that human helps were wholly lacking, betook herself to divine ones.

[44] Whence by the counsel and leave of her confessor she handed over and devoted the girl to God and to the blessed father Dominic with what devotion she could. And while she had converse with the girl, in a wonderful manner. admonishing her and instructing her how she should ask leave of the Prioress to vow herself to blessed Dominic, suddenly she stretched out the hand which before, as being wholly powerless, she could not move even a little. Seeing which, the said sister was filled with such joy and equally astonishment that she scarcely knew, being as it were placed outside herself, where she was. And when she had led the girl to the Prioress, they found the arm sound. The convent therefore being gathered, the Sisters rang the bell, and, giving thanks to God, sang Te Deum laudamus with devout minds. But meanwhile, while they sang, the girl on bended knees, frequently repeating the salutation of the blessed Virgin, felt certain tinglings ^o in her arm. And when the Te Deum was finished by the Sisters, and the Virgin's salutation a hundred times by the girl, the arm was found totally freed from all infirmity, all pains being utterly put to flight. And these things I heard from the Prioress of the said place and from the aforesaid persons, namely the girl of whom we treat and her mistress, worthy of trust in all things, and faithfully committed them to writing. This was done in the year of grace MCCLXX.

ANNOTATA.

* for "mea"

* Edition: MCCLXV

OTHER MIRACLES,

which were wrought in various places and times, and which are read neither in the preliminary Commentary nor in the collection of Theodoric of Apolda.

We have excerpted them from the Life of St. Dominic in John Anthony Flaminio, folio 86 verso and following.

Dominic, confessor, at Bologna (St.)

FROM THE PRINTED EDITIONS.

In the monastery of the Preachers at Metz a certain monk of those who are called Lay-brothers had long been sick By the intercession of this Saint a certain man is freed from a fever, with a grave quartan fever and a swelling of the head. It happened to be the vigil of the first feast of blessed Dominic, lately enrolled in the catalogue of the Saints. The superior of the monastery came to the sick man; and he said: How are you, Brother? He said: I am soon expecting a fit of fever. But he said: Almighty God can free you from that sickness by the merits of our blessed father Dominic. He said: I indeed do not at all doubt that the fever will go away immediately, if in His name and in the power of the merits of blessed Dominic you bid it go. Hearing these things, the abbot took confidence and commanded the fever, which with that swelling of the head so departed that it never returned again ^a …

[2] Certain men were sailing from Trapani, a city of Sicily, to Genoa. others are snatched from the peril of shipwreck, A fierce storm arose, and, the rudder and sail being now lost, there was no hope of safety but in divine help. All therefore with groaning and tears invoked the Saints whom it is the custom of sailors to invoke. And when their prayers seemed not to be heard, a certain monk of the Preachers who was with them began to exhort them to invoke blessed Dominic, lately enrolled in the number of the Saints. But they, because they did not know the Saint, at first contemned the monk's counsel. But as the storm grew much stronger, and he again and again admonished them to invoke him, all with raised voice implored his help. Immediately a wonderful thing happened: the sky soon began to grow clear, the winds ceased to blow, and the greatest calm arose on the sea, and all arrived safe at Genoa; and at once, the monk going before barefoot, and with candles lighted, because they had vowed that they would so do, with immense gladness attesting the Saint's help and extolling it with wondrous praises, in order to render to God and to him the thanks which were fitting, they proceeded through the middle of the city to his church ^b.

[3] and a female birth is changed into a male. Great and worthy of all admiration are the things which I have related; but somewhat more admirable is that which I shall now relate. The illustrious man Munio, who held the general Mastership over the Preachers, used to relate that in Spain a matron, noble in birth and in wealth, who followed blessed Dominic and the whole Order with especial devotion, wished for and sought from him with the highest prayers a male son whom, when he had grown up, she might dedicate to him in his Order: that she indeed conceived, and believed herself heard; but, the birth being now come to term, she brought forth not a male but a female; which after the midwives announced to her, she both marveled and grieved exceedingly; and, no otherwise than as members of a household are wont, she complained to blessed Dominic, as though present, that her prayers had been of little effect with him; yet that he could by his prayers with God make a male out of a female; and this, with wonderful confidence and no less hope of obtaining, while she asked, she was heard: for when she had asked that the infant be handed to her by the midwives, all being astounded who a little before had seen it to be a female, she found it to be a male; whom, brought up in holy manners, when he grew up, she dedicated in a monastery of the Preachers to God and to blessed Dominic ^c.

[4] By the help of the same Saint a girl, in her purpose of virginity, There was a Roman girl who had resolved to preserve her virginity, and to have no other spouse than Christ. But when she had now become marriageable, her father betrothed her to a noble youth. Sad and beyond

measure anxious, because she saw herself compelled to marriage by her father, on the night which preceded the day on which the espousals were to be celebrated, the virgin implored the help of blessed Dominic, that she might not be violently thrust out from her holy purpose. Her prayers were immediately heard: for on that same night her lower lip swelled in a wonderful manner and was split, which greatly disfigured the girl's face. On the day that followed, her father, seeing what had suddenly happened, and understanding that he was divinely admonished not to compel his daughter to marry, permitted her to remain a virgin.

[5] and a novice in the Order of Preachers wonderfully persevere. A certain youth brought up in delights had lately been admitted into the Order of Preachers; but after a few days, his mind being changed, he grieved that he had left the softness and delights of his former life, being offended at the austerity of the monastic life. Nevertheless he followed blessed Dominic with great veneration and especial devotion, and day and night frequented his sacred altar. But he was assiduously urged with sharp goads to go out of the monastery; which when he could no longer bear, he chose a certain night, privy to his evil counsel, on which he might go out with all unaware. Wherefore, the keys of the church being stealthily taken, he was preparing to go out: and while he did this, he approached with veneration, as he was accustomed, the sacred image of Christ affixed to the cross and the altar of holy Dominic, as though about to ask leave to depart. When he had prayed, he went to the door of the church, before which he saw the image of Christ which he had just adored, and a monk, I know not who, following him. Full of amazement he drew back, and, seeing the image of Christ restored to its own place, he thought that he had been deluded by false images, and returned to the door. But he saw there the same image, and a monk following him, full of astonishment. Yet, obstinate in his intention, submitting himself under the arm of Christ, whose image had attached itself to the door, he tried to go out. But that arm, divinely unfastened from the cross, struck the obstinate man a heavy blow. Then at last, as though roused from a deep sleep, the youth came to his senses, and, understanding the divine counsel that he should not leave the Religion lately entered upon, he remained in the monastery ^d …

[6] At Reggio Lepidi a noble matron long barren, St. Dominic, invoked by parents, by the prayers with God of blessed Dominic, whom she especially honored and for this reason had entreated, at length bore a son, who, when he was already in his twelfth year, died. Everyone can make a conjecture how great was the mother's grief; who in so great a mourning and bereavement of hers, yet not forgetting blessed Dominic, hoped that her son could be recalled to life by his help. Nor did her hope deceive her: for, amid many prayers having promised that she would each year bring her son to his church and would offer as much wheat as he weighed, to the astonishment of all who were present, she obtained her wish.

[7] A woman of Bologna was washing in the Reno, on whose bank she had placed her infant daughter, restored certain dead children who, crawling while her mother was intent upon her work, fell into the river. The mother, helpless of counsel (nor was there anyone there from whom she could hope for help, and the river was deep), fled to divine help, and, commending her daughter again and again to blessed Dominic with an anxious cry — whose fame was then most of all illustrious for miracles — she saw her daughter, whom the force of the stream had already carried far away with it, lift up her head, and soon raised wholly above the water: seeing which, the mother, and understanding the divine help present, called her daughter to herself, who came thus through the waters to the bank, so that she seemed to tread solid ground beneath her feet.

At Ganzanico, which is a village of the territory of Bologna, a boy, having fallen into a great ditch, was drowned and died, and after a long space was found with difficulty. The mother, after long lamentation, after long weeping and pitiable cries, since she knew that blessed Dominic was already illustrious with many miracles, invoked him with great faith and hope of obtaining help, and soon the boy came to life again. But far more admirable is what I shall relate.

[8] A nobleman in the region which they call Provence ^e prodigiously to life. followed blessed Dominic and the holy Peter Martyr with peculiar devotion and honor, he together with his wife; by whose favor they had obtained a son from God, when they had long been without children. But the ancient enemy, envying their piety and desiring to draw them back from so great a devotion, transformed himself into a pilgrim man, and, coming to this house, was received with kindly hospitality. On the next day the boy's mother betook herself to church according to custom. Then the fraud of the old trickster was disclosed, who had watched for the time, and, seizing the boy, not only killed him, but also, cutting him into pieces, cast him into a cauldron of boiling water and departed. A maidservant, coming, found the half-cooked limbs and keeps them for her mistress's arrival. When she returned home and learned what had happened to her son, she suppressed her wailing and restrained her tears, lest her husband should learn of it, and hid the boy's limbs in an inner part of the house. The husband returns home, and, while dinner is being prepared, he saw two monks of the Order of Preachers, as though setting out on a journey. He orders them to be called to him to dinner. They come, and, while they converse, they ask that what he has dearer and more precious to him be shown. He immediately orders his son to be brought. The mother was struck lifeless, and, not knowing how she might further conceal the matter, hesitated at her husband's command and put the matter off. Then the monks exhort her to go, not to tremble, and to place her hope in the Lord. Her fear being driven out by these words, she brought forth her son's mangled limbs; and when they had been brought into the father's sight, as he was preparing to raise mournful cries at so dreadful a spectacle, the holy monks restrained him, promising that he would soon experience God's kindness and liberality toward himself; and, composing the limbs pitiably torn apart, they restored him to life: and, lest he should not know who they were, the elder said that he was Dominic, the younger, Peter Martyr. Which being said, they vanished …

[9] Some who contemn the feast of St. Dominic are chastised with diseases, The city of Reggio ^f was celebrating with great honor the feast day of blessed Dominic, and a multitude of both sexes was coming together to his church. A woman went to a neighbor matron and asked whether she too wished to go; who, since she was preparing to wash her head, said indignantly: Go you, if you please; meanwhile I will wash my head. Truly these monks with their so many feasts are too troublesome to the peoples. Scarcely had she said these things, when a sudden pain of the skin assailed her, so that all the hairs of her head seemed to be torn out by force. Nor was that enough: her hairs so clung to her as if smeared with birdlime or pitch, and were so thickened and clotted into one, that by no means could one be separated from another, and it was necessary to shear and shave her head. Wherefore, understanding the divine vengeance, and repenting of her impiety, that pain of the skin continuing, she implored with groaning and tears the help of the Saint whom she had slighted, confessing her impiety and promising that she would each year celebrate his feast days. At which vow all the pain was at once allayed, and she immediately carried her hair to his church and hung it before his altar, to be for a long time a witness of so great a miracle.

[10] and, coming to their senses, The same feast day was celebrated in Denmark ^g in the diocese of Odense ^h, also by episcopal edict. On this account, on the day before that day a multitude came together into the city from the fields on every side. There was then by chance in his estate with his reapers a certain householder, who, seeing so great a multitude, asked where they were going. To the feast of blessed Dominic, was the answer. He derided those going, and said to his men: Let none of you go; but let each attend to me and to the present work. When he said this, a sudden sickness assailed him, with which he labored all that year, so that he did not rise from his bed. When the feast day of blessed Dominic returned, and he perceived the multitude passing by as in the former year, remembering that on that day, because he had contemned the Saint, he had fallen into that sickness, drawing sighs from the bottom of his breast and accusing his own impiety, he said: Great Saint of God, whose injury God has so grievously avenged upon me, I beseech you, have mercy on me, who, from a contemner made a suppliant, implore your help, and I promise that hereafter I will most devoutly celebrate and venerate this day sacred to you — and not I alone, but my whole household. Blessed Dominic was present to him as he prayed, and at once drove away all disease from the long-sick man.

[11] recover health. Another peasant in the territory of Toulouse, who was going out to work in his field with his oxen, himself also seeing a multitude walking into the city on the day of the translation of blessed Dominic, and hearing that they were going for this, that they might honor with such a day the Saint of great merit with God and familiar to the people of Toulouse, derided them, and much more sharply goaded his oxen to work. And when he thus hastened in contempt of the Saint, he immediately felt the divine anger upon him: for his feet were at once so twisted and turned back that the toes were turned into the place of the heels and the heels into that of the toes. When the wretched man perceived this, being suddenly touched with sorrow and with repentance for his impiety, he experienced the help and kindness of the most illustrious Saint, prompt and generous to all his suppliants, his feet being restored to their former state ⁱ.

ANNOTATA.

Further Calabria. Which is here assigned, we do not know.