ON BL. VILLANA BOTTIA,
AT FLORENCE IN ETRURIA,
In the year MCCCLX.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
The Blessed one's cult, the translations of her body, and her Acts.
Villana Bottia, at Florence in Etruria (Bl.)
BY J. S.
Blessed Villana, a Florentine woman conspicuous for holiness of life, The Blessed one's name is announced in the Fasti: few martyrologists announce, and those only more recent ones, so that I should have remained doubtful concerning the Blessed one's lawful cult, had there not been sent us from elsewhere documents by which the cult could be proved and established. Arthur du Monstier in his Sacred Gynæceum on the XXI of August has thus to our purpose: Of blessed Villana of Nazareth, of the third Order of St. Dominic, who was renowned for the exercise of virtues, for patience, fastings, prayers, love toward the poor, and other works of penance. Arthur is followed by Marchese in the Dominican Diary, recounting the same Blessed one on the XXI of August; but he wove her a longer eulogy, which is taken from Serafino Razzi, who in the Lives of the Saints and Blessed of the Order of Preachers from page 523 narrated the Life of Bl. Villana in Italian, and drew very much from the Acts which we are about to publish. But neither Serafino, nor Silvano Razzi, who reprinted the same Life in the Saints of Etruria, affixes the Blessed one's memory to the XXI of August; so that I do not know why Arthur chose the aforesaid day, unless perhaps he thought that she died not long after the feast of St. Lawrence, as seems to be intimated in the Life at number 12, and is more clearly suggested in Razzi, and therefore substituted this certain day for an uncertain one. But after a few words we shall prove that she died not in the month of August, but in January; nor do we refer her to this day save on account of the translation of her body, to be related below.
[2] she died on the 29th of January of the year 1360, Raffaele Badi, a learned man of the Order of Preachers, who toward the end of the preceding century dwelt at Florence and became known by the books he wrote, transmitted to our predecessors in the year 1691 various notices from the manuscripts of the convent of St. Mary the New, where he was living and where Bl. Villana is buried; and first of all concerning the Blessed one's death he notes thus: That she did not die in the month of August is clearly plain from the older Necrology of the convent of St. Mary the New, which is kept on parchment in the archive of the sacristy, and begins from the year MCCXXX down to MCDXXXVI; since at page 14 it is thus read, nor is any other Villana there named: "January, the XXIX day: The lady Villana, wife of … Peter of the People of Santa Felicita, MCCCLX, was renowned for miracles." The Chronicle of the aforesaid convent agrees, says Badi; for Fr. Modestus, a chronicler learned enough, writes thus in chapter 36, page 39: She died in the year MCCCLX, on the twenty-ninth day of January, over whose body, not yet borne out, they write that manna and flowers rained down. These things scarcely permit us to doubt concerning the day and year of her death; but the things in the Life which seem to agree less with them will be elucidated in the annotations.
[3] and began to be honored a few years after: Biliotti, as Badi witnesses, premised various things concerning the deeds of Bl. Villana, which are more fully related in the Life; but this concerning her holy death: She at last so holily ended her life that she is deservedly numbered among the Blessed. Then he thus goes on: Dying, she received the habit of our Sisters, in which also she was buried between the ancient bridge of the church and the side door, in a lowly and temporary sepulcher. Fr. Thomas Cavalcanti took care that her day should be kept with a certain pious observance; and, that it might hereafter be kept more conveniently and more festively, a certain Silvestra, formerly wife of a certain Ugo Altoviti, left to the confraternity a certain house situated in the new square, and a hundred florins of Lodi; to which afterward a certain Angela Gioti, wife of a certain Bonciani, bequeathed in her testament a hundred and fifty others, for buying lands for the monastery. And both this woman and Silvestra appointed that every year, on the day of that same Bl. Villana, a Mass of the most blessed Mother of God Mary should be sung before her sepulcher; on which day a procession of the Friars, carrying lighted candles, should be led thither. We have from this that the cult was begun not long after the Blessed one's death; for, as he adds, Silvestra's testament was written in the year 1367, and Angela's in 1365. But these things I should not believe were done without the consent of the bishop of Florence.
[4] Further, the aforesaid Biliotti thus goes on concerning the Blessed one's veneration: the cult renewed, and the sepulcher changed, But when with length of time those various offices had fallen into disuse, they were renewed by Fr. Sebastiano Aubino … after about seventy years. The sepulcher also of that same Bl. Villana was renewed by him; for when he had pulled down that old and very lowly one, he raised another, and indeed a worthier, in the same place, in which he laid those sacred bones — certain relics, however, being set apart, which, enclosed in silver cases, he placed in the sacristy. Most lately, about the year MCDLXXV, the pious confraternities of the Pilgrim and of the Temple laid the bones of that same blessed Woman in a marble and notable sepulcher, wrought by the hand of Desiderio da Settignano, a most worthy sculptor, as the large characters beneath the sepulcher indicate. Above this new and notable sepulcher they hung a certain ancient Crucifix, before which that most devout Woman, kneeling, had been long wont to pray in our church; which Crucifix indeed the same Fr. Sebastiano had before hung there.
[5] After these things the aforesaid Badi subjoined what Biliotti narrated in chapter 51 concerning the more celebrated translation, another solemn translation of the body, which may be called the third, made in the year 1569, on the XXVI of August, by Angelo Malatesta, Prior of the convent of Bl. Mary the New. But he narrates in the same place that the bones of Bl. Villana with the bones of other Blessed ones were on the aforesaid day translated to the sacristy, until, the several altars and sepulchers being disposed in a new place, they might be more honorably laid up. Then Biliotti relates the translation of the body to the new sepulcher in chapter 52 thus, speaking of the next Prior, Zenobio of Villa Basilica of the dominion of Lucca: And when in the month of November he saw the sepulcher of Bl. Villana raised in an open place opposite the organs, on the twentieth day of the aforesaid November he shut up her sacred bones, which Fr. Angelo his predecessor had in the year MDLXIX, on the twenty-sixth day of August, deposited in the sacristy, in a wooden chest with spices; and binding that chest with cords, he hid it in another made of walnut wood, which presently, fastened with many nails and marked with the sign of the Crucifix, he enclosed in a cavity of the wall made for this purpose. Those who were present testify that this chest was enclosed behind the marble column on which a black sign of a cross appears, not far from that angel who, standing at the feet of the recumbent statue of Bl. Villana, lifts up the canopy, and with his left hand holds with the other angel the title which begins: The bones of Villana, a most holy woman, etc. Supply: THEY REST IN THIS FAMOUS TOMB, as Papebroch noted while he was at Florence.
[6] After these things Biliotti adduces the authority of Alessandro Capocchi, who lived in the same monastery; but it will be enough to recite Capocchi's own words, which the aforesaid Badi thus transcribed: the head being reserved apart, In the year of the Lord MDLXIX the sepulcher of Bl. Villana, daughter of lord Andrea de' Botti, was opened, whose sepulcher was in the wall where the altar of the Minerbetti now is; and it was translated to the chapel of the confraternity of the Pilgrim in the following year, that is MDLXX, on the twentieth day of November. Meanwhile it was exposed in the sacristy in a cupboard;\ for her bones were in one wooden case, wrapped nevertheless in three linen cloths with spices, namely musk, frankincense, saffron, calamus, and cloves, bound with cords; and the first case was placed in another second case of walnut, and made fast with nails, and set in a crypt of the wall, at the feet of the marble image of Bl. Villana, where there is such a sign of a cross ✠, and above the case is an image of the Crucified. And in the carrying of the body, both on the first occasion and on the second, the Friars accompanied it in procession with candles and vestments, as is done at great solemnities. Now she is buried for the third time, and a very great multitude of people was present, and the men of the confraternity of the Pilgrim were clothed in linen copes with lights and a cross; and thus we had solemnly sung Te Deum laudamus with the organs and with joy; and her holy head was reserved, that it might be laid up in a silver head. Through all things blessed be God, who is wonderful in his Saints. Amen.*
[7] a priest freed at the sepulcher from a long headache. This translation the above-praised Serafino Razzi also records at page 528, but assigns the year 1571 to it, against Capocchi, whose authority ought to be greater, because he then dwelt in that place, as you will understand from his eulogy in Échard, volume 2 of the Writers of the Order of Preachers, page 261, and because he was present at the event, as he himself intimates by the word we had sung. Others also relate this translation, whom it would be superfluous to bring forward. Receive, then, a benefit conferred not long after upon a Religious praying at the sepulcher, which after the preceding matters, from Capocchi, I suppose, Badi thus records: Fr. Dionysius Junctinus of Florence, a priest of the Order of Preachers, suffering a perpetual headache for three years, was freed by praying at the sepulcher in MDLXXI, on the XII day of February. Thus far from Biliotti and Capocchi that most courteous man Raffaele Badi, to whose diligence we set down as received almost everything that has been related concerning the Blessed one's cult.
[8] Of the cult of Bl. Villana persevering, The same Badi in the year 1691, on the XV of October, in another letter to Papebroch, relates certain things concerning the cult then in use, which I transfer thence hither: Her (Bl. Villana's) hands, joined together, are kept in a reliquary of bronze, or of gilded brass, wrought not unskillfully, in the sacristy; and on the last Sunday of January they are every year exposed with the head of the blessed Woman, in making a commemoration of her death, which befell on the XXIX day of that month; yet a Mass of the Bl. Virgin is no longer sung, as anciently; but before the celebration of the Offices there is made in the morning a private procession from the chapter-house of the convent, situated in the nearer cloister, as far as the altar near which the sepulcher of Bl. Villana stands, by twelve religious clerics of our convent, and accompanied by men of the confraternities of the Pilgrim and of the Temple without sacks. And
each of them being placed in the middle with lighted torches; and all going forward silently through the church, and coming before the steps of the aforesaid altar, devoutly kissing the reliquary which encloses the said sacred hands, they return whence they came, and to each is given a new wax torch of small weight at the almoner's charge. So for six years and more I have seen it observed, which is very different from what is recounted by the ancient chronicler (Biliotti), in whose time it was perhaps done otherwise; and he died after the year MDCVI, aged LXXVI. Finally Papebroch himself noted these things concerning the Blessed one's cult at Florence, after he had copied out the Life: Her feast is kept on the last Sunday of January, a temporary altar being built before her marble tomb, before which a lamp burns perpetually; the head is kept in a gilded bronze bust, the forearms in arms of like material, in the sacristy.
[9] Hence we trust it is sufficiently proved that the veneration of Bl. Villana was already of old such that she can and ought to be inserted into our Work as Blessed. and of her Crucifix held in veneration. But since some things have been said of the image of the Crucifix which was formerly hung above the Blessed one's sepulcher, and which Badi testifies was in his own time exposed for public veneration in a nearer chapel, it will be useful in this place to append a further notice of that image. Modesto Biliotti in chapter 36 of his Chronicle writes these things, as Badi witnesses: They report that Bl. Villana was wont assiduously to pour out her prayers in our church before a certain ancient image of the Crucified, rising between the most blessed Virgin and the beloved John, apostle and evangelist, which also was renowned for miracles. This, on account of Bl. Villana's devotion to it, they hung above her sepulcher, above which also, renewed in the year MCDLXXV by the pious confraternities of the Pilgrim and of the Temple, and most lately in the years MDLXIX and MDLXX, on account of the new arrangement of the altars, translated from the lower to the upper part of the church, it always remained hanging, until in the time of the present prior, Fr. Timoteo Ricci, certain seculars, affected by I know not what distaste, caused it to be removed thence, grumbling that it was unseemly that so uncomely an image should be seen in so beautiful and renewed a church; and since they could not be opposed, the Prior hung that devout image in the little shrine of the Purity in a conspicuous place opposite the altar; beside which several hung tablets and many images (commonly called votives) hanging are a most fitting proof both that that Crucifix has from Bl. Villana's days down to our times been held in esteem by the peoples, and therefore is most worthy of any most beautiful place.
[10] We have the Acts of Bl. Villana written by an author of near the same time, of the Order of Preachers, The Life written who dwelt at Florence in the convent of Bl. Mary the New, and therefore could find there certain monuments out of which he might write the Life. Nevertheless the author himself does not seem altogether certain, since two men flourished there at nearly the same time to whom the Life is attributed, nor are reasons wanting for either. Échard, volume 1 of the Writers of the Order of Preachers, page 899, attributes it to Giovanni Caroli, because at the end of the Life, which he testifies that he read at Florence, these words are read: Here ends the Life of Bl. Villana of Florence, written by (me) brother Giovanni Caroli … in the year of the Lord MCDLII, etc.; which indeed seem to leave no doubt. Nevertheless Badi, already often praised, in the cited letter speaks thus: The Latin manuscript Life was composed in Latin by Master Fr. Girolamo Giovanni of the Order of Preachers, theologian of the university of Florence, who spoke in the council of Florence, and wrote other things, concerning which Altamura in the Dominican Library under the year MCDLIV, and I in the Catalogue of the illustrious men of the Florentine college, folio 101. Concerning the same also Échard, volume 1, page 812. Further, Badi was not ignorant of the last words of the Life already partly recited, for he himself also adduces them; yet he attributes the Life to Girolamo, who was an old man when Giovanni Caroli received the habit of the Order.
[11] by Giovanni Caroli, This opinion is favored above all by the preface of the Life, where the author is called Fr. Girolamo, and a little after says: In that history … which at the request of certain persons we are about to write concerning Bl. Villana. And so from the beginning of the Life Fr. Girolamo is its author; from the end, Fr. Giovanni. Then the author at number 16 says that he had himself seen some of those who had guarded the Blessed one's body before its burial, which points to Girolamo; for Giovanni Caroli, born … about the year MCDXXV, as Échard witnesses at page 898, could not have seen those who in the year MCCCLX were already religious; but Girolamo Giovanni could have seen them, who died, according to Échard, in the year 1454, at the age of 67 or 77; so that he must have been born about the year 1377 or 1387, and could easily have seen and known them. Hence I gather that the Life was written and published on the authority of Girolamo Giovanni, although he seems to have used Giovanni Caroli for the writing of it, to whom perhaps he supplied the material; whence it may have come about that the latter speaks in the person of Girolamo; for the last words of it altogether prove that the Life was written by Giovanni.
[12] and to be published from a manuscript. Our Papebroch copied out this Life with his own hand, from a parchment manuscript codex of the convent of St. Mary the New of Florence of the Order of Preachers, in which are the sermons of Bl. Jordan upon Genesis, as he notes, and as Échard also observes at page 899, adding this: I wonder that it has not been published (this Life); for that Blessed one, laid up among our brethren of St. Mary the New, is celebrated, and at her tomb a lamp continually burned. That she was a tertiary of any Order I do not remember to have read, but that she was, if I am not mistaken, the mother of one of our brethren of that same convent. Nevertheless Arthur, adduced at number 1, and Marchese will have it that she was enrolled in the third Order of Preachers, which in the annotations to the Life we shall briefly discuss, where certain things will also occur for the elucidating of the Blessed one's family. Now meanwhile we subjoin the Life itself, divided after our manner.
Annotations\* That is, a cupboard.
THE LIFE
Written by Giovanni Caroli, of the Order of Preachers, the notices being supplied, as it seems, by Girolamo Giovanni, whose is the preface.
From a manuscript codex of the convent of St. Mary the New of the Order of Preachers at Florence.
Villana Bottia, at Florence in Etruria (Bl.)
BHL Number: 8615
A. By Giovanni Caroli.
PROLOGUE.
A preface concerning the peril of marriage. To all the faithful of Christ spread far and wide through the Church over the whole world, Fr. a Girolamo, least of the Preachers, greeting. Our Lord and Redeemer Jesus Christ, who of old sanctified marriage by his presence, in these latest days manifests by wondrous and stupendous prodigies with how great circumspection the married must live in that same state. For although matrimony is holy and marriage approved, nevertheless to those who walk less warily it is for the most part a ruin and an occasion of vices. Which, however, although it may be abundantly proved by many examples, yet in that history which at the b request of certain persons we are about to write concerning Bl. Villana it is to be seen more clearly than light, for the instruction of the faithful and the praise and glory of almighty God, who from every state of the Church militant does not cease to gather citizens for the heavenly Jerusalem.
ANNOTATIONS.
CHAPTER I.
The Blessed one's birth, pious childhood, marriage, and the vanity that followed thereupon; her wondrous conversion to a new fervor, the austerity of her life, her surpassing piety, her mercy toward the poor, her incredible patience, her revelations and predictions.
The Blessed one's father, her piety in childhood, That our a most flourishing city, filled from its origin with a great abundance of merchants, immortal fame and a most opulent abundance of riches and delights attest. In this, then, not long before these times, there was a certain man, b Andrea by name, most eagerly intent with no less zeal upon procuring eternal merchandise than earthly. Wherefore, when the Lord had blessed the works of his hands, like those of the most upright Job, so that he was most rich in the goods of this world and was strong in a stock of children and in very great felicity, he seemed at length, like the evangelical merchant, to have betaken himself wholly to seeking the precious pearl. For by the pious zeal of prayer he obtained among the rest an offspring most pleasing to God, whom by a name customary in his kindred he called Villana. She, then, from her most tender age was so absorbed with love of the Holy Spirit that already from very infancy all the delights of this world were a loathing to her. Whence, all those things being cut off with which that girlish age is wont to be soothed, she fed upon the assiduous meditation of the one true God and of her heavenly Spouse Jesus Christ alone.
[3] And that her mind might be able to ascend free into heaven without any weight of the flesh, and the austere life of the girl: she desires to enter Religion she first strove to chastise her most tender body with a most keen mortification. For, always using a most biting hair-shirt next to her flesh, she passed nearly every night sleepless with fastings, disciplines, and prayers. But if at any time a little rest had to be given to her weary little body, she was wont either to lie upon the bare ground, placing a very hard stone beneath her head, or, being forbidden by her parents to do this very thing, secretly to scatter sand through all the softness of her little bed, which, when morning came, gathering more secretly she hid away, that from her hidden couch her service might be known to God alone, who beholds all things. But foreseeing that her holy deeds could not long lie hid in an open house, her mind began wholly to aspire to the solitude of the most sacred religious life. Having therefore first taken mature deliberation, lest her father's blandishments should soften her holy purpose, she thought to depart secretly, and to bind herself for ever to the divine services in a certain most religious monastery of holy women.
[4] [secretly from her father; but, being discovered, is compelled to marriage. Fallen from marriage into vanity,] On a certain day, therefore, when evening was come, and her father with all the household had withdrawn to the accustomed places of rest, this Chosen one of God alone — her father's refreshment, the house's solace, Villana — is found to be absent from her bed. All are alarmed; the father is roused; and with vehement amazement the whole house is turned upside down c with lights kindled, until the lost drachma is found. For, that at a fitting time she might flee secretly without any noise whither we have said, she had hidden herself near the doors of the house in a certain d recess where the sweepings of the hall were thrown. When she was discovered, her father, whom worldly prosperity still more delighted, straightway betrothed her to a certain most noble youth, although she resisted in every way. The solemnities of the marriage, therefore, being celebrated after the custom, in the very embraces of marriage her mind by divine dispensation began so to wander that nearly all the fervor of her former life grew lukewarm in her. Whereupon, henceforth striving to please the perishing world rather than God, like a second Magdalene about to rise to the proclamations of a fuller life, her most comely body, which once exulted in ashes and hair-cloth,
she strives henceforth to cherish with gems and gold and with every softness of couch.
[5] she is converted in a wondrous manner, For such is the e change of the right hand of the Most High, that it suffers its elect so often to fall into manifest disgrace, that at length, being struck with horror at their own foulness, like Peter weeping, he may join them the more familiarly to himself. For when on a certain day she was putting on a most precious robe, glittering with gems and purple, and was adorning herself with all the zeal she could with necklaces and gold, that at the appointed time she might with the other married women visit the churches in like array, having set up a mirror after her custom, she saw f as in a riddle how greatly the fullness of her inner soul had already been deformed before God; for indeed, when g again and again she fixed her eyes upon it more studiously, she manifestly perceived that she bore in those very garments the image of a most foul spirit, not of a human being.
[6] and increases her former austerity and piety. Wherefore, at once bathed in tears, and casting off that proud attire glittering with gems and gold, she presently betook herself to the church of the Friars Preachers, and there at the feet of a certain devout and religious man received a salutary penance for her sins; and thus, willing to begin an altogether new life, the former darkness being driven away, she girded herself with an iron band, long since prepared, next to her bare skin about the breasts, which clung with such tenacity to her poor body that, when she was dead, it could scarcely be torn away without the flesh. Then, content with a biting hair-shirt and with most rough and mean garments, she consumed the whole time of her life in fastings, vigils, and prayers. But if at any time she had leisure, she read the books of sacred Scripture, and the conferences of the Fathers, and the deeds of the Saints with such authority — but chiefly the epistles of Paul — that for the most part, absorbed in the very reading, she was almost deprived of the use of her bodily senses, perceiving no one, though he spoke, nor seeing one standing by, though her eyes were open; which very many who saw it testify h often befell her when praying and when assisting at the solemnities of Masses.
[7] But she was so kindled with love of serving God, Her love toward God, her desire of the solitary life, sometimes running through the Lives of the Fathers, that for a long time she desired to betake herself also wholly to the solitude of the desert; which she would have done, if i the seditions and evils which threatened the city of Florence had not followed. For by this one approach alone did she reckon that a way of flight could be prepared for her, on account of her parents forbidding that very thing. Moreover her mind was filled with such ardor, when discourse of the divine Scriptures arose, or the word of God was set forth in the holy churches, that even in her stiff body this fervor of the Holy Spirit seemed to boil over. For at once, casting off her cloak, she would frequently uncover her head because of the burning heat.
[8] But it is reported that she said to her confessor, who was blaming her for excessive austerity and sparingness of food: her fervor at sermons and in sacred meditations, apparitions When I read the epistles of Paul, or attend to the divine words, I am so refreshed in mind that all appetite for bodily food at once flees away; so am I absorbed in meditation upon Christ crucified that there is no harshness at all so hard that it does not seem to me most delightful. Nor were there wanting to her assiduous apparitions of the heavenly ones, and frequent consolations of the citizens above, by whose most delightful company her mind and afflicted flesh seemed to be refreshed; for she was frequently found to have sat a long while with Christ and the Bl. Virgin and innumerable other Saints within the inner rooms of her house with a great light. Whence on a certain day she said to a woman coming to her: Why didst thou not come sooner? For thou wouldst have found innumerable virgins who a little before were here together with me, shining with a wondrous brightness.
[9] On another day a certain little boy, bringing flowers that had by chance been sent to her, made to her, her mercy toward the poor, with which she adorned the images of the Saints, when he had suddenly thrust himself into her k chamber, saw manifestly the Son of God with the Bl. Virgin, and with Bl. Dominic, to whom she was most devoted, going together with her here and there through the chamber, with hands joined to one another, as is wont to be done in dances; to whom at length, when he asked who they were with whom she was speaking, she enjoined that he should disclose it to no man while she lived. But of how great loving-kindness the blessed Woman was toward the poor, the tongue could scarcely explain, since in each and every one of them she seemed to contemplate face to face her most beloved Jesus Christ, ever bearing in her most sacred mind that evangelical saying: What you have done to one of these least ones, you have done to me. On which account we do not doubt that Christ often met her in the appearance of a poor man. For when once she was returning from the church of the Preachers, in the very square of the church she met a certain sick poor man, whom, cherishing him with far greater zeal than she was wont the rest, with wondrous devotion she carried openly before the people upon her shoulders, until she placed him in the proper hospital which is called l of the Pinzochere. Who will doubt that this was that same Christ, transformed into the appearance of a poor man, whom the modest Woman was thus not ashamed to embrace before all? m
[10] She, because she knew from evangelical doctrine that Christ, being poor, had not a place where he might lay his head, her love of poverty, her prophetic spirit, burned with such desire of the strictest poverty that she often purposed altogether to beg from door to door, had she not been forbidden by her parents and her husband. Yet resisting them to the face, she said openly: I have long since trodden under foot all worldly regards, caring for nothing at all but my Lord Jesus Christ. Since therefore, all earthly things being subdued, her mind was fixed upon the heavens, she deserved to become a most magnificent searcher of heavenly secrets. For with a prophetic spirit she often foretold and announced beforehand things to come known to God alone. Whence she revealed to her father long before how many and how great evils and misfortunes of this world he must yet suffer; which were fulfilled as she said. For indeed, as merchants often are wont, having suffered shipwreck, from the greatest abundance of riches he was reduced to great want. To her kindred and family, which at that time flourished exceedingly, she assigned a term of the time of the life of one man, living in mortal life by the natural course; which the event at length proved, that noble stock of the n Botti being altogether extinguished. On another day also she foretold to certain bystanders the death of a certain acquaintance, whom report and the most certain opinion held to be still alive and well; wherefore, sending at once, they found that he had departed at that same hour at which she had said.
[11] her flight from vainglory, Whereupon, her fame growing, lest her mind should be lifted up by any opinion of sanctity, when for the rest she was acted upon by a prophetic spirit, she thought so to pronounce things to come that she might be thought not so much a prophetess as a foolish woman and one somewhat silly. Whence it came about that, being compelled to foretell the death of a certain stepmother of hers, lest she should seem to say it prophesying, at the corners of the squares, as o criers are wont, she announced her stepmother's coming death as already [p] past. For she had said within herself: I shall be reckoned a liar by this woman, but to myself\* indeed raving, and by proclaiming it I shall appear foolish; which nevertheless, as she had foretold, changing the times after the prophetic manner, came to pass within very few days. And since we do not doubt that God's Chosen one has been gathered in heaven into the ranks of the prophets, I shall not fear to place this same woman among the white-robed armies of the martyrs. For although she did not pour out her life with her blood by the swords of tyrants, yet by very much sickness and by the long torment of her body she truly endured a passion; for she very often and long lay sick with fevers, and labored under most acute pains, which with how great patience and eagerness she bore is incredible to relate.
[12] her love of suffering. For she is reported often to have forbidden her confessor to pray for her that she might be healed of these sicknesses. At other times also, feeling herself relieved in her sickness, she was suddenly heard with groans to beseech God that it should not be so, but that she should be afflicted with a sickness twice as great. Whose prayers the Lord hearkening to from heaven, straightway afflicted her poor body with so great a heat of fevers that she was brought almost to the last extremity. In which straits, continually rendering thanksgivings to the Lord, she often even broke forth with a jubilant voice into most devout praises. Nor is it strange; for she saw manifestly Christ crucified in the flesh standing by her, with whose sorrows suffering, she seemed to have forgotten her own suffering. And when he had disappeared, she suddenly saw the Virgin Mary present with a great light, accompanied by innumerable virgins, among whom the devout Catherine bore in her hands a most beautiful crown, at length to be conferred upon her persevering in patience. For she said: Be constant, most beloved, for I reserve this crown for thee in heaven. She consoled her indeed, yet not for the affliction of her pains, but because a little before she had beheld a horrid multitude of demons. Moreover on a certain day, [r] impatient of her own health, when she perceived that the solemnity of St. Lawrence the martyr was at hand, she besought the Lord to be made a partaker in her own body of the sorrows and pains of his martyr suffering upon the gridiron. Whence, being suddenly seized with most burning fevers, she never felt such a burning of her flesh; and thus, by various kinds of pains voluntarily taken upon herself, she consummated her sacred little body with a martyrdom.
ANNOTATIONS.
[b.] Andrea, surnamed Botti, or de' Botti, although below at number 9 there is read de Boctis, faultily, I suppose; for the authors who have treated of Bl. Villana nearly all agree that she was born of the noble stock of the Botti, or of the Bottii. Serafino Razzi at page 523 says she was born of a most noble merchant of the stock of the Botti. By Biliotti, often alleged, in chapter 36, she is called Villana Bottia, a Florentine noblewoman. But by Capocchi in the Commentary, number 6, is said the sepulcher of Bl. Villana, daughter of lord Andrea de' Botti. There may be added Marchese, and Paolo Mini in his Discourse on the Nobility of Florence, and others who have named the Blessed one de' Botti; so that the matter appears in no wise doubtful. Nevertheless Ugolino Verino, the Florentine poet, as Badi witnesses in his letter, affirms that Bl. Villana sprang from the family de' Stradi, when in book 3, page 81, he sings thus:
There is an ancient Stradensian stock, from the near town of Strada: Of that stock my wife was born; And holy Villana, sprung of Stradensian seed, How pleasing she is to God let her miracles bear witness.
But these things do not conflict with the foregoing; for the Blessed one may have had a mother of the Stradensian stock, or by the kinship of this with the Bottian have descended from the same stock.
did that writer mean, as I think, although he applied the sacred text out of its proper place.
p. As though past, after the manner usual with prophets.
q. Illi, I suppose, should be read.
r. That is referred to an uncertain time, so that it cannot hence be gathered that she died not long after the feast of St. Lawrence, as some have supposed, to whom, the matter not yet having been examined, our Janning assented, in the Passed Over at the 21st of August, or volume 4 of that month, page 399, as mentioned. For that the Blessed one died on the 29th of January we have proved in the Commentary, number 2.
CHAPTER II.
Her last illness, her blessed death, the marvels which followed after her death, and her burial in the church of the Preachers and in the habit of that Order.
The Blessed one's last illness, and the temptations overcome in it, And since a little before mention had been made of a crown to be given, it was given to be understood that an end was soon to be a set to her labors. Whence at length, lying sick with fevers, she was at last deprived of all use of her limbs. And so, when she perceived that she would die on the next day, she desired to be marked with the sacrament of extreme unction. To whom the ancient enemy stood ready at hand, in the feigned habit of a certain hermit, declaring that he had brought the holy oil; whom, when with eyes a little opened she recognized, gathering her whole spirit within herself, with what voice she could she cried out: Depart, depart, bloody beast, knowing that Christ, the most sweet Spouse of my soul, is present; otherwise I will strike thee with a blow. Who at once, confounded, vanished, and girds himself more studiously to the ancient snares of temptations. For when he saw her set at the last extremity, he returns again, and strives to persuade her that she is utterly forsaken by the Lord; adding that, if she would but commend herself to him, adoring him, he would zealously afford her help in adversities. But she, not unmindful of the Gospel text, at once convicted him of being Satan, who, tempting the Lord Jesus Christ, said: All these things will I give thee, if falling down thou wilt adore me; and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and all the glory of it. Wherefore, standing firm in herself with a steadfast mind, she compelled him to go from her, overcome with wondrous confusion.
[14] her blessed death, and the most sweet odor that presently followed. But as the time of her consummation drew near, religious men were present, reading aloud the passion of Christ; who, when they came to that place where it is said that Jesus, having bowed his head, gave up the ghost, God's Chosen one, with her hands folded in a cross, which before she could not move, at that same moment departed from this light. But presently there began to breathe forth from the sacred body an odor of holy sweetness, so that that chamber seemed not one of a sick or dead body, but a storehouse of all spices; with which most sweet odor that chamber, breathing fragrance for many days, conferred wondrous solaces of gladness upon all who entered. Whence her husband was wont to say that he was never so sorrowful but that, on entering the aforesaid chamber, he felt himself wholly cheered.
[15] And because while she lived she had been most devoted to the blessed Patriarch Dominic, [The body, clothed in a Religious garment as she had willed before her death, shines,] she gave orders that her body be entombed with the habit of that same [b] Order at the church of the Friars Preachers of St. Mary the New of Florence. For she was affected with such love toward the aforesaid church that, if at any time by some occurring chance she could not visit it in person, on that day she remained nowhere at rest in mind until from the highest tower of her house she contemplated it for a long while. When therefore she had been clothed in the said habit by the prioress and by other women of the Penance of St. Dominic, at once all the bystanders saw her body transformed with such brightness that they could scarcely fix their eyes upon it. Whereupon they began to venerate the sacred body with wondrous devotion.
[16] Whence, guarding it many days and nights, and growing famous by other marvels, they experienced great testimonies of her sanctity. For indeed, among the rest, a certain most devout woman of the Penance of Bl. Francis, who with the other devout women was keeping the sacred vigils about the said body, saw a multitude of flowers dropping like dew from the heavens upon the bier on which she lay. Wherefore, rendering innumerable thanks to the Most High, with hands lifted to heaven she said: Now indeed, Villana, I have known that thou enjoyest blessed delight in heaven; for these are thy words, by which, when I asked what thou wouldst send from heaven, thou didst promise, saying: When I shall have come, God leading me, to those green meadows of the heavenly Jerusalem, I will send thee gifts of roses and lilies.
[17] The sacred body, therefore, having at length been carried to the church of the Friars Preachers, it is kept incorrupt for a long time before burial. it lay unburied in the chapel of Bl. Catherine the virgin for thirty-seven days, wholly free from every stain of corruption, until the tomb being entirely completed it might be given over to it. Of which matter we have seen that there still survive as most truthful witnesses some professed members of our Religion, to whose keeping the sacred body had at that time been entrusted. But there were those who, on account of the most firm opinion of her sanctity, cut off partly her garments, partly the very limbs; which limbs indeed (so great is the power of her sanctity) are still untouched and unharmed.
[18] Nor is it to be passed over in silence that at the hour of her passing certain devout women, A wondrous vision, or apparition of the Blessed one, leading an anchoritic life upon a certain bridge of the river near the church of Bl. Gregory of Florence, testified that they saw. For they asserted that on that very night, while they were watching in prayer, there stood before them, with a great light and a fragrance of odor, a certain woman in royal adornment, raised as it were two cubits from the ground; whom, though at first sight they believed to be the blessed Mother of God, yet, observing more diligently, they learned to be Villana, God's chosen one, with whom they had often had most devout companionship. But being often asked whether it were she, she is reported to have answered: c I am now called in heaven Margaret, no longer Villana. When, therefore, they wished to hold her most holy feet, they saw her raised into the air, and continually withdrawn further from their sight; and thus at length, going out through the window of the house, she seemed to fly away to the heights with wondrous brightness, leaving behind her, after the manner of a comet, an inestimable radiance. They testified also that they heard Seraphim crying out and saying: Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts; heaven and earth are full of thy glory, etc.
[19] which by another vision But because she had a little before foretold that she would be called Margaret in heaven, it must now with devout d meditation be considered whence such a name came to her. A certain most devout woman of her family used to relate that once, as she was praying the holy angels that they would deign to make manifest to her with how great glory they had borne Bl. Villana to the heights, suddenly one of the heavenly spirits was present with her, who said: Not because kinship of blood joins thee to her, but because God's chosen one Villana is greatly attached to thee, I will disclose the whole course of her departure and the glory of her assumption. Now, as the term of her life drew near, the holy Patriarch Dominic, accompanied by an innumerable multitude of angels, lest at the hour of the utmost need he should seem to fail his most devout Pupil, whom he had ever protected with watchful care, bringing help from heaven, was straightway present in the sick woman's chamber, comforting her that she should not tremble with any dread of the ancient enemy. All these standing by, at length that most holy soul was loosed from the flesh; which we, at once receiving it, began joyfully to hasten to the heavenly kingdoms whence we had come.
[20] more marvelous still But there remained with the sacred body our illustrious leader and charioteer Dominic, willing to guard it so long until he should see it clothed in the habit of his Religion. When therefore, going forward, we began to enter the orb of the sun, with eyes lifted upward we saw an innumerable multitude of women coming to meet us, among whom Magdalene, most beloved by Jesus Christ, bore herself as first of all, saying: This is that Spouse of almighty God whom I day by day renewed with a love of Christ ever new; and saying these things, she placed the most holy soul beside herself with wondrous honor, setting out on the journey begun, not without songs and resounding melodies of voices; upon which, going forward a little higher, we perceived from another sphere far sweeter harmonies. For a copious multitude of the citizens above was hastening to meet her; before all of whom Paul, the teacher of the gentiles, whose epistles she once read with so great eagerness, thrust himself forward; whom as soon as she saw, straightway leaping forth from our ranks she ran, and clung to his most holy breast until our ranks were joined to that venerable company. The cohorts, therefore, being gathered, the Apostle said thus to her: My doctrine has been scattered abroad by many, but by this woman most fully observed; and after this manner he prolonged a long discourse concerning that most holy soul.
[21] and wholly to be understood symbolically Which being finished, looking upward we saw the Queen of the heavens waiting at the very threshold of paradise; whence that whole assembly, breaking forth into a festive hymn of her praise, led the holy soul thither with hurried step. But near her was the illustrious doctor Thomas Aquinas, whose habit Villana beholding, she was made mindful of her Religious confessor, who once with great urgency had asked that she would deign most attentively to commend him to the Queen of the heavens. Wherefore, at once bending her knees, she fulfilled what she had promised; and straightway rising, she walked together with the Bl. Virgin and Thomas Aquinas, hearing them and asking questions, and at the same time as she walked discoursing of the hidden mysteries of the eternal Trinity. Which discourse being completed, it pleased the triumphant Queen that that precious soul, together with the beloved Magdalene, as the Bride of the Lamb, should go last, and should present herself before all to the supreme King. They, therefore, running before, and the rest of the company following, we were straightway at the throne of the divine Majesty, at which thousands of thousands of angels stood, with whom, continuing the hymn we had begun, we too together with a jubilant voice began to resound, saying: Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts, God of Israel; heaven and earth are full of the glory of thy majesty.
[22] And the hymn being said, there was made a great silence in heaven, is expounded. in which that most holy soul, after the kisses of peace offered by him who sat above the seat upon the throne of majesty, heard this voice uttered more clearly: Come, my chosen one; because for the unsupportable constancy of thy patience thou shalt no longer be called Villana, but shalt be one precious pearl fixed continually in the bracelet of my breast. And he added: I will, for the solace of those who love thee, that thou now descend with her to the lower region of the world, to show to thy companions the glory which thou hast just obtained. Wherefore, a becoming company of angels being taken, together with her most blessed protectors, Paul the Apostle, Peter the martyr, and e Thomas Aquinas, with the splendor which we described before she showed herself to the devout women upon the bridge, leading an eremitical life. Then, the gift of a blessing being imparted to her house and to the inhabitants of the city of Florence, she was returning to heavenly things. To whom, returning, the patriarch Dominic joined himself, asserting that he had stood by her sacred body until he saw it, clothed in his habit, carried with due honor to the church of the Preachers. And so again within the palaces of heaven, the citizens of heaven meeting them anew, she was brought in with a wondrous fragrance; where her most beloved Spouse Jesus Christ lives and reigns unto the ages of ages, blessed through the infinite ages of ages. Amen.
[23] Here ends the Life of Villana of Florence, written by me, Fr. Giovanni Caroli of Florence, of the Order of Preachers, in the year of the Lord MCDLII, The author and the time of the writing of the Life. happily completed on the IX day of August.