ON BL. ANTHONY OF RIPOLI, MARTYR, OF THE ORDER OF THE FRIARS PREACHERS,
AT TUNIS IN AFRICA,
In the year 1460.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Anthony of Ripoli, M., of the Order of the Friars Preachers, at Tunis in Africa (Bl.)
BY J. P.
§ I. The Blessed man's noviceship under St. Antoninus; the latter's prophecy concerning him; the Blessed man's conversion ascribed to the merits of that Saint; the translation of his body; his cultus.
Tunetum (elsewhere called Tunis and Tunes), a most well-known city of Africa and the capital of the kingdom of Tunis named from it, afforded to posterity a most illustrious example of heroic fortitude in Bl. Anthony, who there, his blood being shed for the Christian faith, passed to the blessed above. But Ripulæ, the place of this martyr's birth (as will be said among the miracles, chapter 1, number 8), and to which his sacred body was afterwards translated and where it shone chiefly with cultus and miracles, commonly Rivoli, is thus described by Baudrand: A town of Italy in Piedmont, with a proud castle set on a hill, 8 miles west of Turin, toward Susa, near the river Dora: hence perhaps it is called ad Octavum, supply lapidem (at the eighth milestone). To this notice of the two places I subjoin the reason why this Blessed man was deferred from another day to this. Our Papebroch, among other things which he left written by him concerning him, says: On account of this information (which under the name of the notices of Rivoli we shall afterwards allege at number 10) Anthony has been transferred hither from the 2nd day of May, where he had been placed by me merely by accident, because I had forgotten him in April. Thus he, with his own candor. But that forgetfulness was happy, both because he would have given him on a day not his own, and because he afterwards received other documents concerning him. Moreover I read another name added to his name of Anthony. For in the Baldesano instrument of miracles to be mentioned later he is called Anthony Molinerius. See also among the miracles, chapter 1, number 8. But after our transcript of Friar Constantius, of whom more below, there is subjoined concerning the aforesaid Bl. Friar Anthony Neyroto (so far as I read) … a six-line poem, which we shall afterwards give.
[2] his inconstancy after entering the Order: St. Antoninus's prediction, Of Bl. Anthony's parents, the year of his birth, and the life he led in the world, I have nothing at hand;
that I might write. The most illustrious John Lopez, bishop of Monopoli, in the History of the Preachers, part 3, book 2, chapter 63, indicates that he was clothed with the religious habit in the convent of St. Mark at Florence, whose Prior was St. Antoninus, but that from the very beginnings of his noviceship he labored under great inconstancy, and thence set out into Sicily, that same holy Prior having been consulted, who strove in vain to draw him away from those thoughts, and forewarned him — not without a heavenly revelation, as the same author adds — that if he went aboard ship there would be terrible peril of soul and body. This inconstancy another and far worse followed, when at Tunis our Anthony, together with his religious habit, put off the faith of Christ, professing the Mahometan sect. But God, who wills not the death of a sinner, looked upon the prodigal son with eyes of mercy and strengthened him with a singular grace, that with heroic constancy he might undergo a cruel martyrdom for the orthodox faith.
[3] But that wondrous conversion of the blessed man is ascribed to the merits of St. Antoninus, archbishop of Florence, to whose merits is ascribed once his Prior, as I indicated, at Florence, whose Acts we illustrated on the 2nd day of May; where among the Analecta, from the printed summary of the Processes, number 43, page 344, this is written of the praised St. Antoninus, who is there and elsewhere called Antonius: Friar Bartholomew de' Cavalcanti of Florence … says this: When Antonius, then Prior of St. Mark's, had received to the habit of religion a certain man of Piedmont, on whom he had also bestowed his own name: who, being received, after some time, when he had come to the African parts of the unbelievers, at Tunis of the barbarians denied the Catholic faith. Afterwards, the precious death in the sight of the Lord of the prelate Antoninus being heard, and how he had shone with miracles — blessed Antoninus also appearing to him, according to the account of certain persons, and strongly reproving him for so grave a sin — he, being moved within and pricked in heart, and kindled with the fervor of a faith formed by charity, on the following day going forth in public where he had denied Him, again publicly and most constantly professed Christ and His faith, and utterly revoked that denial, not fearing death, and despising the friendship of the king which he had contracted, and all worldly prosperities with which the king had already begun to attend him, and greater ones promised for the future; and by the impious command of the wicked king, the Moorish Saracens being indignant and rushing upon him with stones, praying and persisting in the confession of Christ, being slain, he consummated a glorious martyrdom with the highest constancy. Whose body also was wondrously preserved by Jesus Christ in a sewer, and thence translated to Genoa by faithful Genoese.
[4] Of this deed, martyrdom, and miracles the lord Francis of Castiglione wrote a history, the wondrous conversion of Anthony containing all things at greater length. And Michael Christopher, aged 82, testifies that he had this from Friar Baptist, a senior of the Order of Preachers, who together with the aforesaid martyr had received the habit of religion from Antoninus himself, then Prior of St. Mark's. And Friar James the Sicilian of the said Order, aged 64, says the same, both because he saw the place of the martyrdom and because he learned the history. Friar Bartholomew, who thus seems to report St. Antoninus's apparition and Anthony's conversion as though the latter had not been separated from the former save by the interval of one night, does not rightly narrate the matter, as will be made plain from what is to be said in §2. Papebroch, besides this history described by Francis, brings forward from the said summary the 14th witness of the first examination, instituted in the year 1516, in these words: Michael Christopher, aged 82, testifies that he had this from Friar Baptist, a senior of the Order of Preachers, who together with the aforesaid martyr had received the habit of religion from Antoninus himself, then Prior of St. Mark's. Then, alleging the third examination, of which, he says, a report was made at Rome in the year 1519, he reports this: Friar James the Sicilian of the said Order, aged 64, the first witness, says the same, both because he saw the place of the martyrdom and because he learned the history. And the second witness, aged 54, Friar Robert of Florence, says that he heard the same from the aforesaid Friar Baptist, and afterwards read it in the history of the aforesaid lord Francis.
[5] after his apostasy: the translation of his body What pertains to the Blessed man's apostasy, penance, martyrdom, and burial we shall narrate below from the account of Friar Constantius, a witness beyond all exception; from which we also learn that this holy champion of Christ was held in veneration at Tunis after his death, the same Constantius writing: Thus far four Christians, worthy of all credit, have testified that, when they labored under all and various burdens of diseases, and devoutly commended themselves to that most faithful soldier of Christ, they were straightway made whole. But it seemed good to the divine providence to give His martyr another place. For, as Papebroch observes in the notices which he left us written in his own hand concerning this Blessed man — and which we wish to be understood whenever below we shall cite Papebroch, to say this once for all — Papebroch, I say, observes this: The honor of a tomb remained in Africa …; but as soon as this began to shine with miracles, the Christians not thinking it safe to keep that treasure under the eyes of the barbarians, the body was translated to Genoa; and we see no account taken of the short time in which it was kept in Africa, either in the Process of St. Antoninus or in the diploma in which Bl. Amadeus, duke of Savoy, indicates that his second translation to his own dominions is to be made. We have two transcripts of that same translation: one copied from Baldesano, the other afterwards sent, which I reckon among the notices of Rivoli. The latter we commit to the press, yet in such wise that we shall not altogether neglect the various readings of the former. Thus, then, it runs:
[6] by the effort of Amadeus, duke of Savoy, Amadeus, duke of Savoy, &c. Since we are affected with a certain singular affection toward that shining ray newly sent from above, Bl. Anthony of Ripoli of the Order of the Friars Preachers, who drew his origin from our dominion, whose body, after the dire things inflicted by the unbelievers within these ten years for the faith of Christ, lay laid up in the convent of his said Order at Genoa, and which at present, at our singular prayers, we have asked the Prior and friars of the said convent of Rivoli that it be translated hence to the convent of Rivoli of the diocese of Turin: to all and each of our officers, faithful stipendiaries, and subjects, mediate and immediate, wherever established, to whom these presents shall be exhibited, and to their lieutenants, to each severally, we most strictly charge and command, under the penalties of our indignation and of a hundred marks of silver.
[7] whose diploma is given: But the other officers, and all others whatsoever not subject to us, we ask with singular affection that they permit that holy body to be freely, honorably, and becomingly translated through the places of our dominion and also through those not subject to us, as befits the Saints, affording help, aid, favor, and reverence, and offering in no way any obstacle, hindrance, or anything else whatever (which God forbid) of impediment or contrivance of evil; earnestly asking all and each of the prelates and other ecclesiastics to give credit to our letters, and, honoring God in His Saints, to receive that same body with honor, and to permit it to be received and freely translated even to the place appointed for it in their convent of Rivoli: which we shall reckon a singular service rendered to us on this account; and those who do the contrary we shall judge to be punished as having done us an injury, and we shall not doubt of the vengeance of God and of the Saint upon them. Given at Avigliana, the XII day of August 1468. Lamberti.
[8] This name I do not find in our other transcript; but after the year 1469 some — which is there set, as will presently be said, by way of correction for the year 1468, as the diploma adduced has it — after this year, I say, this is added: In the presence of John, bishop of Lausanne, chancellor of Savoy, and others. Moreover I have compared the diploma of Amadeus, duke of Savoy, with another copy from Baldesano, of which below; and from this transcript I have transferred not a few things into the other which I recited, yet enclosed in brackets []. The Papebroch indicated before saw a difficulty in the year 1468 just mentioned, and left the following noted upon the Baldesano transcript: If between this John and William, who died in the year 1467, Rudolph intervened according to the catalogue of the Sainte-Marthe brothers, Rudolph's episcopate was very brief; yet it seems to have been an error of the pen by which in Baldesano's paper this diploma was noted as of the year 1468, since the decade indicated at the beginning can only be verified by the year 1469, nor is it likely that a whole year passed between the day the translation was proclaimed and the day it was made.
[9] But the first of the miracles (which will be produced below in our text) is thus described as having been wrought at Chieri on the tenth day after the body's arrival, observations upon it. so that Baldesano noted in the margin the year 1469. But what the Sainte-Marthe brothers say, that the said John was in the year 1474 Cardinal of St. Peter ad Vincula, does not agree with Ciaconius, who gives this title to Julian Cardinal della Rovere, nor does he mention any John, bishop of Lausanne, among the Cardinals of that time. For the rest, Amadeus, by whose very pious and religious desire that translation of the sacred body befell, is the ninth among the others of the same name, more remarkable for integrity of manners and holiness of life than for earthly rule. Of his Acts, cultus, and miracles we treated on the XXX day of March.
[10] But this translation of Bl. Anthony's body was made more celebrated by his public cultus in Piedmont, The Blessed man's cultus. which we learn from the notices of Rivoli sent to Papebroch, which from the Italian run thus: His body is above the altar of his own chapel in a marble tomb. His feast is celebrated on the XXIX of August: a Mass is sung, and votive Masses are often said at that altar; but not a Mass or Office of him, which has thus far not been permitted, nor does usage obtain it. In the said notices, however, it is indicated that this does not stand in the way of a pious affection toward the Blessed man. And presently this is added: Before the chapel was restored, it was all surrounded with votive offerings, wax, and the spoils of the sick who had received favors from the Blessed man, and also with little tablets; but all were decayed with age. There are also there at present some painted little tablets, &c. To which add what we said by anticipation at number 5. By these testimonies of public cultus Papebroch was induced to defer the Blessed man from the 2nd day of May to this day. By spoils of the sick I understand the instruments which the sick use to supply in some measure the inconveniences of their miseries, and which they are wont to hang up at the altars of the Saints as testimonies of the graces obtained from their healers — such as crutches or others of the same or of a different kind. From the aforesaid we conclude that in the cultus of the blessed martyr this is a case excepted from the decree of Pope Urban VIII by an immemorial, or sufficiently long and lawful, time before that decree; and therefore that he can be inserted by us into our work among the other citizens of heaven of the present day. The public veneration of the Blessed man and the saving invocation of his patronage are corroborated also by miracles,
which we shall subjoin after his Martyrdom.
Annotationsin this manuscript faultily centesimo.*
perhaps supplicia* should be added.
so also elsewhere: perhaps nostras.*
elsewhere districte.*
elsewhere sanctum* is not added.
elsewhere libere* is not added.
elsewhere transferri permittant, obstaculum.*
elsewhere præpedicium.*
elsewhere transferri.*
elsewhere usque* is not added.
§ II. The writers who treated of this martyr; the chronological arrangement of his martyrdom; the authentic manuscript of his passion and miracles.
The first writer of the martyrdom, The first among them, and a writer of irrefragable authority, is Friar Constantius of the Order of the Hermits of St. Jerome, an eyewitness namely of the deeds, a familiar and helper of the Blessed man, &c., as he declares at length in his Martyrdom, which he set down in the letter of which below. I found it preserved among other notices of Turin, and headed with this title: The glorious contest and remarkable martyrdom of the divine and most unconquered soldier of Christ, blessed Anthony of Ripoli, of the sacred Order of Preachers, happily begins. And presently this follows: At Tunis, on the twentieth day of April, one thousand four hundred and sixty, there was produced a treatise on the martyrdom of a certain Reverend Father Friar Anthony of Ripoli, of the Order of Preachers, put forth by Friar Constantius of the Hermits of the most holy Jerome, of the monastery of St. Raphael of Venice. But in the letter which is subjoined to these, written chiefly to the Friars Preachers, Friar Constantius himself sets forth Bl. Anthony's martyrdom, of the island of Capri, of the society of the Hermits of Friar Peter of Pisa, at present a captive of the king of Tunis. So he of himself. St. Peter of Pisa, founder of the poor hermits of St. Jerome, we gave in vol. III of June, on the XVII day of that month, page 531 and following. There may also be consulted what Hippolyte Hélyot collected from various authors concerning that same Saint and his congregation and monasteries, in vol. 4 of the History of the Monastic, Religious, and Military Orders, chapter 1.
[12] and his country and authority: The praised Constantius called himself of the island of Capri, according to our transcript, by which I understand his native soil or country. Capreæ, as Baudrand has it, an island of Italy, adjoining Campania … today commonly Capri among the inhabitants … an island of the kingdom of Naples, in the Tyrrhenian Sea. Ughelli writes more, vol. 7 of Italia sacra, from column 351 of the earlier edition. Moreover what Friar Constantius records in the said letter concerning the contest and death of Bl. Anthony he records with the highest fidelity, so that in it the truth is not so much to be sought as it offers itself of its own accord, and straightway strikes, so to speak, the reader's eyes. But why I have added to that author's country just noted the words according to our transcript will presently appear.
[13] from this drew There is with us another copy from a Florentine manuscript of the convent of St. Mark, with this title: The Life and Martyrdom of Bl. Anthony of Piedmont, of the Order of Preachers, who was received into the Order by the holy man Antoninus, afterwards bishop of Florence, and was crowned with martyrdom in the year of the Lord 1459 (rather 1460, as will afterwards be shown). The writer expresses his name before the Prologue in these words: To the most reverend lord James, Cardinal of Pavia, Francis of Castiglione, priest, sends greeting. But from the aforesaid Prologue I take these few things to our purpose: Read then this new martyrdom, a pattern of great virtue, which with a gentle style and a running pen I set forth for exercise' sake. ἐπεξῆλθον. But I took it from a longer letter of a certain Friar Constantius of Cyprus, who was present and an eyewitness of this matter narrated. Which narrative he attested to be most true, together with the credit and attestation of most weighty witnesses. And this I did that the discourse might be shorter and clearer. But see how great was the virtue and grace of archbishop Antoninus after his death, which had such merit with the Lord that it recalled to penance a man lost in impiety and crime. For so much did the imposition of those holy hands avail, that what had been begun with so holy a beginning could not be closed with an evil end … Farewell.
[14] Observe first: James Ammannati, Cardinal, called of Pavia from his bishopric, his narrative the same to whom Pius II, who had given him the family and citizenship of Siena, had been raised in the year 1460, and who in the next year was endowed with the purple with the priestly title of St. Chrysogonus, died in 1479, according to Papebroch. Secondly: Friar Constantius, who above in our manuscript was called of the island of Capri, is here called the Cypriote. And in his narrative of the martyrdom Castiglione says: Friar Constantius, sprung from the island of Cyprus. Which is truer is not certainly established, although I cannot deny that the copy which I assigned before was sprinkled with very many errors. But whether here also he writes faultily of the island of Capri for of the island of Cyprus is not sufficiently ascertained by me. Now Cyprus is a most well-known island of Asia in the Mediterranean Sea. We have also a manuscript letter of the Cardinal of Pavia to Francis of Castiglione, priest, commending the martyrdom of Anthony and exhorting him to restore the old histories of the martyrs in a worthier style. This is the title which is prefixed to that letter. But the text of it thus begins: The martyrdom of Anthony which thou hast sent me has filled all my senses with great sweetness: for it is great and wonderful, and unheard of in these lukewarm ages.
[15] It is also related by thee in such a manner of speech that he underwent those torments with no greater faith Francis of Castiglione, who wrote other things also than thou hast expressed them in spirit. Thou hast done a thing befitting a priest, pleasing to God, and which may be an example to us, if not for undertaking the same, at least for bearing more patiently the things which press us against the flesh … I exhort thee, undertake other things, and make not here an end of thy industry, &c. It is signed at Rome on the XXV of January 1469. We have also another letter of the praised Francis to the same Cardinal, in which, as is noted at its head, he handsomely excuses himself from the work on the martyrs enjoined upon him. To these may be added another which I have at hand, with this title: Jerome, abbot of Santa Flora of Arezzo (see Lubin in the Notitia of the Abbeys of Italy, page 26), to his Francis of Castiglione, priest, greeting. There follows this argument of the letter in our copy: He commends the martyrdom of Anthony. These three letters … followed after this epitome of Castiglione of which I was treating, as I gather from Papebroch. Thirdly: the same Francis wrote other things concerning the Saints: for in vol. 1 of our April, on the V day of that month, page 478, I read that our predecessors found in a codex of the convent of St. Mark at Florence the Life of St. Vincent (Ferrer) published in the year 1470 by the lord Francis of Castiglione, priest, doctor of sacred theology, and most learned in the Greek and Latin letters of his time, canon of St. Laurence of Florence, and rector of Sant' Appiano.
[16] and Leander Alberti who followed him. And in the same place this is added by us: Who in the year 1471 composed the Life of St. Peter the martyr, and in the next following the Life of St. Thomas Aquinas. Papebroch adds to these lucubrations of Francis the Lives of St. Mark the Pope, of Christopher archbishop of Bologna, and of Orlando archbishop of Florence after St. Antoninus. The Life, or rather Martyrdom, of Bl. Anthony of Ripoli, composed by the oft-mentioned Francis, Leander Alberti, who flourished in the sixteenth century, inserted into his work On the Illustrious Men of the Order of Preachers, book 2, at the end, but the Prologue being omitted; and we, says Papebroch, have moreover seen it in manuscript, but without the Prologue, at Milan in vol. 1 of Ambrose Taegio, On the Distinctions of the said Order, folio 220. He was of the Order of Preachers, and lived in the 16th century. We have the miracles from authentic documents, headed with this title: Some miracles of Bl. Anthony of Ripoli. These we shall give after the Blessed man's Martyrdom. Besides, I have in hand another manuscript which contains the miracles drawn out by the Reverend Lord William Baldesano, from a paper written by his hand. He was a canon and theologian of the metropolitan church of Turin, on Papebroch's testimony, from whose learned pen we have the History of St. Maurice and the Theban Legion. But his writing, which had come into Papebroch's hands, he adds had this beginning: Friar Constantius the Cypriote, of the Order of the Hermits of the divine Jerome, monk of St. Raphael of Venice, wrote the martyrdom of the lord Anthony Mulinerio of Rivoli, a Dominican.
[17] Chronological errors, Various authors who after Friar Constantius wrote of this Blessed man have fallen into chronological errors. We shall first report his chronological arrangement, and then from it show their anachronisms. The Blessed man was taken … on the second day of the month of August 1458; but on the ninth day of the same month he and the other captives entered the city of Tunis, from chapter 1 in our text, number 2. Then befell the things which are there narrated from number 3. Which time being elapsed, on the second Friday after the Paschal feast of the year just past, 1459, and on the sixth day of the month of April … he denied the name of Christ … and the Catholic faith … and … professed the Mahometan sect, in the same place, number 6. The chronological reckonings agree. For in the year 1459 Easter fell on the XXV day of March. But he stood in that apostasy four months, as follows in the same place: after which he repented, first secretly and then openly, awaiting the king of Tunis, who was in camp, that before him before whom he had openly erred he might likewise before the same return to the faith …, and also, a year being come round, that he might await the day on which he had erred: in which purpose he most constantly continued about six months, number 8. On Palm Sunday (the XVI of April) he girds himself for martyrdom, goes to the king, professes the faith, numbers 8 and 9. Finally, after promises, threats, and stripes, that most holy Thursday came on which the Lord Jesus made His last supper with His disciples. On which day … he ate the heavenly banquets in the country above — having, that is, undergone a heroic martyrdom on the XX day of April in the year 1460, since Easter then fell on the XXIII day of the same month. This chronological arrangement of Constantius is very clear and well ordered; so that it is strange that some writers were so wretchedly deceived.
[18] into which various writers have fallen: Francis of Castiglione, who nevertheless drew his own lucubration concerning the Blessed man's martyrdom from Constantius's letter, records thus according to our transcript: At last … before a great crowd of people, and in the presence of the barbarian king, he denied the glorious name of Christ and also the holy faith. This was on the VIII of the Kalends of April, that is, the XXV day of the month of March, the first Friday after the Lord's Easter, one thousand four hundred and fifty-nine. And afterwards he says: There was now at hand the appointed day on which he must die unless he changed his mind. It was the Thursday on which our Lord made supper with His disciples, the IV of the Ides of April (that is, the tenth of the same month); he is led to the governor, &c. But at that time the Lord's Supper could by no means have coincided with that day: for in the year 1458 (which I find to have been written in our transcript, but corrected, the year 1459 being set)
Easter was on the 2nd day of April; in the year 1459, on the XXV of March; in the year 1460, on the XXIII of April, as we have just indicated. To Castiglione add Leander Alberti, who places the blessed martyr's falling away from Christ as having befallen on the VIII of the Ides of March, that is, on the VIII day of that month; but marks his death on holy Thursday, the fourth of the Ides of April, from and with Castiglione. From what has been said Lopez also must be corrected, who attaches the lamentable fall of Bl. Anthony to the VIII day of March, and writes that his sentence of death was carried into execution on holy Thursday, the X day of April.
[19] Before we come to the publication of the Martyrdom, we say of the martyrdom that of it that copy has pleased us best which the Friar Constantius praised above composed in his letter, since it is the first and genuine, and therefore to be preferred to the others. Desirous, said Papebroch, of coming to the very fountain of the whole narrative, I wrote to Turin and took care that the aforesaid letter should be sought at Rivoli; although, as he had premised, what makes us secure concerning the truth of the whole history is that Francis (of Castiglione) professes in the Prologue … that he took the whole from the longer letter already mentioned. But what Papebroch then desired he afterwards obtained, and greatly to our good, since Francis of Castiglione says in his narrative: Which (letter) we have reduced, according to our own judgment and for the use of our friends, into the form of a commentary. But how much the genuine letter differs from his commentary! Moreover, in the notices of Rivoli transmitted hither, the Reverend Father Francis de Malines of the Society of Jesus, more than once Rector of the college of Turin, deserves great praise; and this is established from his letter to him, given at Turin on the XIX of December 1676, in which I read this: At last I send what has been found concerning Bl. Anthony of Ripoli. We owe much to the good Dominican fathers of Rivoli, who long allowed me to have whatever they found concerning that Blessed man, until I should find a man who could read and copy all of it.
[20] But in another transcript, which Papebroch wrote with his own hand, the transcripts, and to which he prefixed this title, An epitome by Friar Constantius the Cypriote, an eyewitness, subjoined to the treatise on the martyrdom of Anthony, transcribed by the Reverend Lord William Baldesano — in that transcript, I say, which Papebroch had when he had not yet received the aforesaid letter of that same Constantius, I find subjoined this metrical inscription, which is also found in another transcript of ours after the letter of Friar Constantius:
This Anthony, born of Liguria, is of Ripoli, Whose death in our time was holy: For while he duly confesses himself a worshiper of Christ, The impious African people slay the man with stones. They tried to burn his lifeless body with fires: Yet the flame did not use its own powers.
Nor do I know more with which I ought to detain the reader here; for account is taken of what remains in the Annotations to the Martyrdom and the miracles, which I subjoin. But since that document is exceedingly full of errors, especially against orthography, I shall correct it here and there for the reader's sake; and I shall give it under the name of the Preachers of Rivoli, on account of what was just premised from the letter of the Reverend Father Malines; and I shall divide it into chapters and numbers. The same I have done in the miracles.
Annotationsread Pisis.*
elsewhere Castilionensis.*
that is, I have narrated.*
THE MARTYRDOM
By Friar Constantius of the Order of St. Jerome.
From a manuscript of the Friars Preachers of Rivoli.
Anthony of Ripoli, M., of the Order of the Friars Preachers, at Tunis in Africa (Bl.)
BHL Number: 0606
By Constantius.
CHAPTER I.
The Blessed man's captivity, apostasy, and penance.
The author in a letter to the Fathers Preachers To all and each of Christ's faithful, and especially to all and whatsoever most reverend masters, bachelors, lectors, and the other Friars of the Order of Preachers, greeting and information from Friar Constantius of the island of Capri a, of the society of the Hermits of Friar Peter of Pisa, at present a captive of the king of Tunis. It has seemed to be of no small concern to me to make known to each of you all what has lately befallen in this city, worthy of all remembrance, not without the ministry of God — since I am both a Christian and a priest and a religious, though unworthy of all these.
[2] sets forth A certain Friar Anthony of Ripoli, a Piedmontese, of the Order of Preachers, who entered religion in past years at Florence in the convent of St. Mark b, whose Prior was then Friar Antoninus c — a man indeed most upright, who afterwards, his virtue and sincerity of mind altogether demanding it, was raised to the archbishopric of that same city — while Friar Anthony of Ripoli the Piedmontese was passing from Sicily to the kingdom of Naples d in a certain caravel e which John the Sardinian commanded, was taken by Nardo Anequino, who practices the pirate's art for that barbarian king against the Christians (although he is a Christian). Which indeed was done on the second day of the month of August 1458 f; but on the ninth of the same month the same Friar Anthony and the others taken in that same caravel, their necks bound with ropes, entered this city.
[3] Bl. Anthony's When they had been led about through the accustomed places of the city, and the spectacle made, as is the custom, that same Friar Anthony and the rest were sent to the common prison of the captives of all regions. Whither I, as soon as I could, went to see that same Friar Anthony; whom I exhorted with very many words, and relieved his need, if not as I ought, yet as I could; and I heard him most diligently in confession, and, while he dwelt in that prison, I conversed with him familiarly and amicably. Who indeed, although in other things he seemed of good enough behavior and such as befitted a religious, I observed to be lacking in one thing — and that indeed a most excellent one: namely, that he seemed to bear the scourge of prison too impatiently and with an unfair mind.
[4] Wherefore, a very few days having passed, he set about getting out of doors. captivity For that king permits captives, surety being given, to dwell outside the prison. And while he labored at this, he certainly bore himself too anxiously and impatiently. For when he wrote concerning his release from prison to the distinguished man the lord Clement Cicero, then Genoese consul, he assuredly said some things ineptly and scandalously; in which matter that same lord consul resolved not to trouble himself about this man; but, being asked and compelled by the prayers of a certain venerable Friar John of the same Order, chaplain of the Genoese, that same lord consul drew that same Friar Anthony from the said prison, and paid from his own purse the money which was needed for the said imprisonment. But before he went out, that distinguished lord consul Clement protested that the said Friar Anthony was a Genoese and therefore must be freed from captivity.
[5] To ask which he deferred, since he had written concerning such a matter to the doge and the republic of Genoa; and prison, from whom he awaited an answer, being more certainly informed by which he might pursue the matter more safely and truly. And the aforesaid Friar John received that Friar Anthony, when released, into his own little house, and they dwelt together both in the house and in the church situated in the fondaco g of the said Genoese; who, although the garments necessary and fitting for a religious and a captive were provided him at their expense, nor was anything else necessary for life wanting to him, yet, as he had been wont, he bore himself impatiently enough, and took his lot ill; and in this way he remained outside the said prison five months or thereabouts, a Christian.
[6] Which time being elapsed, on the second Friday after the Paschal feast of the year just past, 1459 h, his abjuration of the faith and on the sixth day of the month of April, whether overcome by diabolical suggestion or driven by his own unbelief and perfidy, in the presence of that barbarian king he denied the most glorious name of Christ and His most holy Catholic and apostolic faith, and confessed the detestable, false, and most foul Mahometan sect; and as a perfidious Moor and a most hostile enemy of the Christian name he stood four months, ever with full mouth reproving our Christian faith and extolling to heaven with wondrous praises that accursed sect of Mahomet.
[7] But at that time, namely of the said four months, the Catholic faith, he began to translate the book which they call the Koran i from the barbarian tongue into the Latin or Italian tongue, employing a certain man who knew both the Latin and the Italian tongue very well: in which book are contained all things which pertain to that most abandoned sect; in which book he saw and clearly recognized that there is nothing but errors and falsehoods, and that all is utterly to be held for mockery, and by the very hearing either to be shuddered at or laughed at k.
[8] And so, his error being seen and his sin recognized, aided by the Lord God living and true, his repentance. who rejects no one returning to Him, he grieved; and being smitten, that he might wondrously be healed, like Paul the Apostle, a persecutor of the faith, he resolved to drink the chalice of the passion; and first of all he drove out his wife, and daily said the Office as a Christian and a religious, and all the rest which he could do in secret. For as to those things which were to be done openly, it was his counsel to await that king, who was in camp, that before him before whom he had openly erred he might likewise before the same return to the faith and to life; and also that, a year being come round, he might await the day on which he had erred: in which purpose he most constantly continued about six months.
ANNOTATIONS.
he had found. But when some merchants from Italy had put in there, it is reported that he asked of them what news they brought; and when among other things they told him that the most holy archbishop Antoninus had departed this life, and that from him manifest signs of sanctity and miracles were being wrought, straightway, being struck in mind, he was changed; and, led by penitence, he began first to cast off from him the wife whom he had married by the barbarian law, &c.
CHAPTER II.
His public profession of the orthodox faith, his martyrdom, burial, and the graces conferred upon others through the martyr.
He prepares himself undaunted to profess the faith of Christ: And behold, the king arrived. But the good soldier of Christ straightway put on the arms necessary for his victory: he received all the most sacred Sacraments of the Church; all which being performed, he said a few things indeed, but with wondrous gravity, in detestation of that most abandoned sect and in commendation of our most sacred faith, before all Christ's faithful who on that Palm Sunday a were gathered in the church, where I myself was then preaching the faith of Christ; and taking up his most holy habit, granted by the said Friar John, and his head being shaved and the crown remaining, he departed thence with a most joyful mind, and with swiftest step hastened to the place where he was to meet the king, that by the greatest and final punishment he might atone for his error, and might openly confess with words and blood Jesus Christ, true God and man, whom with words and blood b he had openly denied. O wondrous goodness of God! O clemency inexplicable by the tongues of all men! which never refuses to bring help to His servants, which at all times opens the door to those who knock. For that most faithful servant of God knew that he would die most cruelly, and yet he persisted with so brave and secure a mind that he seemed to approach not a most violent death but as it were a sweet joy — nor was the color of his face at all changed, which among the rest I noted as most especially wonderful: for I was present and saw it.
[10] And so alone, but with the counsel of the great God as his companion, he goes to the king, he went to the castle; and addressing the king, a great circle of magnates standing by, with eager and undaunted mind, with loud and clear voice he confessed that he was a Christian, and that by confessing the faith of Christ he was ready to die, ever magnifying the name of Christ and wondrously detesting his own wicked error. Which the king hearing, marveling at the man's constancy and fervor, began to flatter him mildly and gently, and to admonish him to return to his former error; otherwise he would exchange his life, which he might lead most joyfully and delightfully, for a most bitter death; and that, if he would return to the sect of Mahomet, he would not hesitate to bestow great gifts upon him.
[11] To which king that most constant man answered that he had no need of his gifts; and despising his gifts is consigned to prison: but he exhorted and admonished him that, for the obtaining of divine and eternal gifts, he should run to Jesus Christ, the most abundant fount of mercy, and should draw with him all his subjects and dependents, and so would be a most excellent king and leader; and that he should think no way right which leads to our country save the faith of Christ. All which, and many other things tending to the same, the king hearing, on the one hand confounded with amazement, on the other burning with anger, he ordered him to be led to prison, and the case to be referred to the president c, or chief of the said sect, who should punish the man with deserved punishment.
[12] O happy man! O deed to be proclaimed through all the places of the world! Who among men could tell he is cruelly raged against: with what fury, with what raging, he was then seized, with how many blows and how many stripes he was most cruelly struck both on the face and on the head! For he believed himself the more fortunate the more cruelly and fiercely any one could deal with him. But it is harder to tell and to believe with what constancy and fortitude he bore all the aforesaid, ever confessing and praising the name of Christ. And so he was brought into prison; and straightway I — not because there was need, but that I might render some service in so great a matter — exhorted him by my letters, and some Genoese merchants did the same, and sent all things necessary for life and for clothing; but he took only a little bread and water, and the rest he distributed to the poor Christians and to the captives held in that same prison.
[13] he is assailed in vain by promises and threats, But on the next day he was led to the president of the aforesaid sect, which president strove wondrously to lead him back to his former error, acting now with blandishments, now with the greatest promises; and at last set before his eyes the terrible and bloody death by which he was to end his life. But the good and faithful soldier laid low this president with the same arms with which he had before conquered the king, and utterly shattered him: to which the president, being unable to resist, ordered him to be taken from his presence and led to prison, and it to be announced to him that if within three days he did not return to his former error and openly confess the name of Mahomet, he should hold it for certain that he must die by a most horrible kind of death.
[14] and, most bitterly beaten, Which words being said, he was led back to prison, and while being led back was often torn with blows and other stripes. After which three days, behold, that most holy Thursday following came, on which the Lord Jesus made His last supper with His disciples. On which day the true disciple of Christ ate the heavenly banquets with his Master in the country above. For on that last day and time he was led before the aforesaid president. Whom, after the president had admonished and terrified him in vain, and had judged that by no force and by no device he could be moved from his purpose, he condemned by his wicked sentence to offer his neck to the slaughter and to have his whole body shattered with stones.
[15] he is condemned to death, Which sentence being promulgated, the executioners, dragging with them with furious rush the meek servant of Christ, went away to the place appointed for such things; and certain of these executioners being secretly called, who both knew our tongue and seemed to have greater force of wit, that same president ordered that, while they were going to the place appointed for the martyrdom, they should not cease, so far as they could, to draw the man from his purpose; and if they should see that even to that last moment of his life he was in any way moved from his purpose, they should straightway bring him back to him, and thereafter should inflict no trouble upon him. All which those lictors most diligently performed; but they labored in vain.
[16] For he who had given himself wholly to God cared neither for the prayers nor for the threats of men; and with great constancy and piety and the more harshly he was beaten, the more fervently he prayed to God and forgave those who struck him. And when he was now near the appointed place, at the Christians' burial-ground, he stripped off his habit, which he gave to those lictors, saying: Keep this habit lest it be soaked in blood: which, if you give it to the Christians pure from every stain and filth, you shall have a welcome price from them. Which they received, and promised that they would so do, and did so. And behold, they came to the proper place, where the most faithful soldier of Christ besought those executioners for space to pray to God; and, his knees being placed upon the ground and his hands lifted to heaven toward the East, he prayed with immense fervor, a great multitude of Moors there beholding and marveling, and very many Christians also, since that place is near the burial-ground of the Christians. And him thus praying, and as it were rapt to heaven, all those executioners, and also very many of the other Moors standing by there, with great uproar, shouting, and tumult, some with stones, some with swords, began to strike.
[17] O thing to be marveled at and to be kept in the most tenacious memory of all men! he undergoes martyrdom, wondrously how piously and kindly God deals with His servants, and with how great strength He fortifies and confirms them. There was none who heard that excellent man either cry out or complain, or by bending or motion or any nod avoid those most violent blows and especially of the stones, or in any way give way to them; nay, since he was bound with no chains or ropes, but was free in his whole body, he stood so unmoved that he seemed not bound but fastened with nails: until the exceeding force and abundance of stones cast him to the ground and utterly overwhelmed him; and so he rendered that most blessed soul to his Creator. Which being done, a great heap of wood was brought thither, and, this being kindled, the body was set to the fire that it might be burned. Wondrous to tell — but what I myself saw I can and ought to tell openly — that corpse lay a long space of time amid the flames; and after they had removed it thence, there was not found a single hair of his head and beard harmed by the fire.
[18] For a great part of his hairs, both of his head and of his beard, are at present kept by the Christians. honored from heaven: And that corpse, drawn from the flames, all as it was torn and shattered by the strokes of stones and pierced through with wounds of stones or swords, they carried about through all the more frequented places of the city for disgrace and also for terror, and at last cast it into a certain pit full of unclean filth and exhaling a most vile stench; whence by the effort of the Genoese merchants, and not without abundance of money, it was drawn out; and being carried to their church situated in their fondaco, all the Genoese merchants received it with great fervor of charity and devotion, with lighted tapers; and first they removed the mud and the other filth which clung to the corpse; and, being washed with pure water, and that only warm, and then cold, it smelled most sweetly: which then it was the counsel of all should be wholly sprinkled with most fragrant rose-water and buried in the earth; and so it was done.
[19] For with my own hands I clothed that corpse in its habit, his burial: and in a certain closed wooden chest we buried it beneath the feet of the Crucifix in the said church of the Genoese. For he himself had chosen that place for his tomb d. All who were present at this new and greatest event marvel at so great a constancy of the man and at so great an unconquerableness; nor can any one doubt that as a true martyr of Christ he happily ended his last day, and by his precious death obtained eternal life.
[20] That this is so, that immense bestower of gifts, God, has already shown; since thus far four Christians worthy of all credit have testified that, when they labored under all and various kinds of diseases and devoutly commended themselves to that same most faithful soldier of Christ, four Christians healed through the Blessed man. they were straightway made whole e. Farewell in the Lord, most reverend Fathers, my lords. But whatever useful or good thing I have said in this letter, let it be imputed not to my merits but to those of this holy man. But if anything superfluous and not good is in it, let it be judged by all to have come about only from my ignorance and negligence. But do you,
Fathers, pray God for me, I beseech you, to the praise of our Lord Jesus Christ through the infinite ages of ages. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
perhaps regnicolas.*
perhaps gladio.*
nequidquam.*
perhaps permanentem.*
perhaps quantoque.*
perhaps robur* should be added.
AUTHENTIC MIRACLES
From the manuscript records of the Fathers Preachers of Rivoli.
Anthony of Ripoli, M., of the Order of the Friars Preachers, at Tunis in Africa (Bl.)
BHL Number: 0608
FROM A MANUSCRIPT.
CHAPTER I.
A wondrous storm at sea; deafness healed, an eye grievously afflicted, paralysis.
A storm arising at sea is said to have been To the miracles which I am presently to give from the said records I premise a wondrous matter from elsewhere. Francis of Castiglione, most often cited above, records this: And not long after (the Blessed man's body being buried) the Lord began to show through His martyr Anthony not a few signs and miracles in testimony of so great a virtue, and he is still held by the faithful who dwell there in no small honor and reverence. Nay, what I myself received from Borzanno Janifiglazio, our fellow-citizen, a man indeed noble in birth and glorious in wealth and in maritime renown, must not be passed over. For he had gone thither both at other times often for the sake of trade, and not long after the death of this blessed martyr. And while he tarried there some days, it happened that some of those unbelievers set sail from the harbor into the deep, with great calm of sky and sea; and not long after returned into the same harbor, driven by a very grievous storm. Marveling at which, this our citizen asked of a certain acquaintance of his, who was one of those who had been in that ship, what was the cause for which they had returned so quickly, and what that vexation of the sea had been, since nowhere save calm had appeared on every side in sky and sea on that day.
[2] To whom he answered that he knew not at all whence this had come about; [because of the stones with which the Blessed man had been assailed, treated irreverently.] but he warned him to publish this nowhere: that this had been the opinion of those who had been in the ship, that that storm and motion of the sea had arisen upon them for this cause, that, when they were carrying sand and stones into the ship, as is wont to be done for the sake of easier sailing, they judged that they had brought aboard some of those stones with which the holy man had been struck. And when they were pressed by a harsh and heavy storm suddenly arisen, being led by penitence they began to acknowledge and confess among themselves the crime which they had committed; and so, fearing lest they should go to destruction, they resolved not to go on whither they had purposed, but to return into harbor. And for that cause there arose even in their blind minds, and in those of others who had heard it, no small fear and reverence of the blessed martyr.
[3] The following miracles we give from our manuscript copy, A deaf man receives hearing: which was taken from the records of the Dominican Fathers of Rivoli. In the year of the Lord one thousand four hundred and seventy, in the third indiction, on the twenty-fifth day of the month of April, done at Rivoli in the sacristy of the church of the Friars Preachers of Rivoli, there being present N. Valerian Provana and Simondinus Grande as witnesses, &c. Be it known to all that, at the instance and request of the venerable Friar Laurence Barsotti, Friar Claude Carselli, and Friar Martin Rughetti, and the friars of the convent of that same place of the church there, the honorable woman Catherine, wife of James Pistoni of Cargnano, said and in truth attested that the said James Pistoni her husband, in the present year, after the feast of the Lord's Nativity and before Carnival a, was deaf, so much that he heard nothing for the space of fifteen days; and that he vowed to Bl. Anthony of Ripoli that if he could be freed he would come or would send to visit the body of the said Bl. Anthony; and that straightway, when he vowed, he was freed, so much that he heard as well, by the divine grace intervening, as if he had never suffered deafness, and as he heard before. Of which premises the said venerable friars received an instrument, &c.
[4] In the year of the Lord one thousand four hundred and sixty-nine, an eye in the second indiction, on the twenty-eighth day of the month of December, done at Rivoli in the cloister of the church of St. Dominic of the Order of Friars Preachers, beside the door of the said church of St. Dominic, there being present Andrew Grassi, Constantine Grayloto, Bartholomew Batuelli, Gaspard and Baldusard, brothers, of the Batuelli of Rivoli, and Matthew Roda of Malezeto of the jurisdiction b of Bardonecchia c, as witnesses, &c.
[5] Be it known to all that, being set before the presence of those witnesses and of me the notary underwritten, and at the request of the venerable grievously afflicted Friar Bernardine Allani of the Friars Preachers of Rivoli, namely Andrew Forneri of Malezeto of the jurisdiction of Bardonecchia said there, and really attested with an oath taken by him into the hands of me the notary underwritten, that four years or thereabouts are past in which that same Andrew suffered the greatest pain in his eyes; and that for a certain space the pain of his left eye was turned to his right eye, so much that his said right eye pained him so and gave him such pain that he could not endure nor bear that evil; and that it is now many days that the said right eye caused him such pain that he knew not what to do, and it was already all covered with a film, and he had a great web upon it, nor for many days could he see with it.
[6] is healed: Whence it came to his knowledge that blessed Anthony of Ripoli was working many miracles: which being heard, he vowed and made a devotion to the said Bl. Anthony that if he could be freed of the said eye he would come to Rivoli to visit the body of the said Bl. Anthony of Ripoli: which devotion and promise being made, he was straightway freed of the said eye, so much that thereafter nothing pained him, and he saw and sees so well with the said eye as if he had suffered no evil in it; for which cause he came hither to visit the said body of Bl. Anthony: of which premises the aforesaid Friar Bernardine, in the name of the aforesaid convent, received an instrument, or several, &c.
[7] testimony In the year of the Lord one thousand four hundred and sixty-nine, in the second indiction, on Tuesday the twenty-ninth day of the month of August, a little before the hour of None, done in the borders of Rivoli, on the public road by which one goes toward Beinasco e, before the meadow of the noble Vincent Felixi, there being present the noble and excellent lord Philip de Opeciis of Vico-novo, master of the household of the most illustrious lady Maria of Savoy f, duchess of Milan, and lady of Rivoli and Vigone, &c., and the excellent lord Martin de Ripa of Villafranca, castellan of Rivoli and of the aforesaid most illustrious lady duchess, the noble and excellent John de Monte-majori, priest, lord Andrew Naxy, John Pegeoqui of Rivoli, and very many others there present, as witnesses.
[8] concerning a woman Be it known to all that when the body of blessed Friar Anthony Mulinerio of Rivoli was being conducted from the city of Genoa to the place of Rivoli, whence he was sprung; and when it had come thither, and with a certain multitude of people, in which multitude indeed there were among others two upright men of the place of Chieri, who are called Bartholomew, son of the late Jacobinus Bocha, and John Mochani, who came to accompany the said body from the said place of Chieri as far as the place of Rivoli, for the sake of making known the miracle which the said Bl. Anthony wrought.
[9] through the intercession These same Bartholomew Bocha and John Mochani, agreeing together, there said, and with an oath taken by them into the hands of me the notary underwritten swore and attested in truth, that they had seen a certain woman of Chieri g who is called Helen, wife of Facinus Gaudini of that same place of Chieri, who was a paralytic and could not help herself in her whole person save with her right shin, nor could she go through the streets and the town save with one crutch h or scatia, and one staff; which scatia and staff the said Bartholomew and John were carrying after the said body to make it known to the peoples; and thus the said Helen had continued with the said infirmity for the space of three years last past, and until the conveying of the said body of Bl. Anthony came to her knowledge.
[10] Wherefore she made her devotion and prayer k to the said Bl. Anthony on the Saturday last past, of Bl. Anthony which was the twenty-sixth of this month of August; and on the following Sunday she had herself carried with the said crutch and wooden staff about the hour of Vespers to the church of St. Dominic of the Order of Preachers of Chieri, where the said body of Bl. Anthony had been laid in the sacristy of the said church; and prayer being made by the said Helen, she being before the chest where the said body had been laid, the crutch which the said Helen had, by the divine grace intervening, moved itself from the hands of the said Helen and leapt upon the said chest, the said Helen remaining there as it were free from the said infirmity, before the people gathered there, who openly saw the aforesaid, and before those same Bartholomew and John, who attested that they had seen the aforesaid.
[11] But afterwards, on yesterday, which was Monday healed and the 28th of this month of August, the said Helen, wishing to go to visit the said body, went with the said staff to the said church of
in the morning, and made her prayer in the said church and before the great altar of the said church, where the said body of Bl. Anthony was in the said chest, with a very great multitude of people present there; and her prayer being made, as she stood there with the said staff in the said church, the said staff moved itself, by the divine grace intervening, from the hands of the said Helen, and leapt beneath the said chest where the said body of blessed Anthony had been laid; and straightway she was healed and freed from the said infirmity; and the said Helen walked freely before the people and whole, as if she had never suffered the said infirmity.
[12] Of which miracle they asserted that an instrument had been received by Anthony Besson, notary of Pecetto; from paralysis. and of all which premises they ordered a public instrument to be made by Anthony Bolonus, Bartholomew Capella, Peter Boxy Bauzani, and by me John Query, notaries, &c.
Which three aforesaid instruments of testimony I, Michael Garomey, notary of Rivoli, undersigned, drew out from the abridgments of the late John Query, notary of Rivoli. And in faith of the aforesaid testimonies I have here subscribed myself. De Garomey. Extracted by me, N. Soleri.
ANNOTATIONS.
quod* is superfluous, as also below.
elsewhere Bardonischæ.*
that is, of men; in French gens.*
in French eschaces.*
that is, capsam.*
that is, hesterna.*
CHAPTER II.
A leper and a blind man, and another suffering in the kidneys and bladder, are made whole.
A leper for many years In the year of the Lord 1471, in the fourth indiction, on the 28th day of the month of April, done at Rivoli in the middle of the church of St. Dominic of the Order of the Friars Preachers of Rivoli, before the people gathered there to hear the preaching of the venerable master in sacred theology Friar Francis Bettory of Racconigi, there being present Peter Francis, Constantine Giaioti, and Stephen Canavery, and very many others of Rivoli as witnesses called and asked for this. By this present public instrument let it be publicly manifest to all who shall inspect it, that Michael Rubioni of Trana, dwelling at Turin, said, and in truth attested before the said people, that already nine or ten years or thereabouts having elapsed, he suffered the infirmity of St. Lazarus a; and that he had by a vow taken care, according to his ability, to build a hospital on the road b near the church of Blessed Mary Magdalen, where it is called at St. Lazarus's; and that while making that hospital he lost the sight of one eye, now two years elapsed or thereabouts.
[14] and blind And before he lost his sight, he was in so great an infirmity that he could scarcely help himself with his body, and could scarcely speak because of that very infirmity of St. Lazarus. Then he made a vow to our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the blessed Virgin Mary, and to St. Lazarus, and to St. Peter of Rome, that they would be willing to give him so great a grace that he might be able to finish the work he had begun of the said hospital. Which vow being made, he began to be somewhat freed from the said infirmity of St. Lazarus, so much that little by little he helped himself in his own person. And after he had been somewhat freed, he lost the sight of both eyes.
[15] These things being thus done, there came to him afterwards certain men and women, implores the help who told him that a certain holy body had been brought to Rivoli which was working many miracles, which had been martyred for the faith, named Bl. Friar Anthony of Ripoli of the Order of Friars Preachers; to whom he should vow himself, because perhaps he might obtain some grace from him. Which being heard, recalling that he had been a servant of the holy faith, he vowed himself to the aforesaid blessed Anthony of Ripoli, humbly offering prayers that, if it were for the better of his body and of his soul, and if it pleased him to be his advocate with our Lord Jesus Christ, he would free him from that infirmity of his of St. Lazarus and restore his sight to him.
[16] Then he had himself led upon a horse to the place of Rivoli to visit the said body of Bl. Anthony: of Bl. Anthony where he made a certain lighting of candles c. Afterwards, on the following day, which was Friday, he departed and went upon the said horse toward Turin. But on the next following day, which was Saturday, there at Turin fevers seized him, which as it were broke all his bones. He reflected that he had not been well confessed: straightway he went to the lord James, rector of the church of St. Mary of Turin, to whom he confessed his sins; and that because of those fevers he had his whole body ill disposed and set apart; and he began straightway to swell in his face from the said infirmity of St. Lazarus.
[17] Afterwards that swelling turned itself very strongly to his forehead, of Rivoli, and, the vow and then to the back of his head above the hood; and there that swelling dried up, and the swelling withdrew, and the shells e of that great infirmity which he had in his shins went down through his shins and feet, so much that within three or four days after his vow made to the aforesaid Bl. Anthony he remained free of that infirmity of St. Lazarus, in face, head, shins, and his whole person, save that he remained with a pain of the stomach very grievously afflicted.
[18] Which deliverance being made through the divine grace and the intercession of the aforesaid Bl. Anthony, it seemed to him being made to him that he saw a great brightness before his eyes: on account of which pain of the stomach he sometimes fainted f, so much that he believed he would die; and he sent to fetch a religious to be reconciled: which religious asked him what request he had made to the aforesaid Bl. Anthony. He answered, that he might be able to work some good for the love of God in this world. Which religious told him that he was foolish to make such a request, seeing that he was in a state of grace; that he ought not to seek to sin again in this world.
[19] Which religious also said that he ought to hold acceptable all that our Lord Jesus Christ willed altogether to give, and that he should have patience. Which words being thus said to him and heard, that same Michael was ill content that he had made the said vow and request, and began to weep; and as soon as he repented, he saw no brightness such as he had seen above, but it vanished from his eyes. Then he felt himself free and clean of the said infirmity of St. Lazarus, both within and without his body. And these things were done in the year of the Lord 1469, about the feast of St. Michael. Of all and each of which it was commanded to me the notary underwritten that public instruments be made, which were required of me.
[20] The following miracles in this manuscript I render into Latin from the Italian to this effect: another with kidneys and bladder ill affected In the year of the Lord current one thousand six hundred and sixty-four, and on the fifth day of the month of October, at Rivoli, before me John Francis Bo, ducal notary of the said place, being personally present the lord captain John Francis Bogliani of Rivoli, in the word of truth, by his oath taken, the Scriptures being touched in my hands, notary aforesaid and underwritten, said and declared, says and declares as follows: In the year now last past, one thousand six hundred and sixty-three, I felt myself burdened with an intense malady of the kidneys with an inflammation in the bladder, so that I could scarcely, or at least only with great difficulty, pass water: which malady had already lasted about fifteen days before the feast of Bl. Anthony the martyr, whose body is preserved in the church of the very reverend fathers of St. Dominic of this place, because this Bl. Anthony was of that same religious Order.
[21] is made whole: Burdened with which malady, I made a vow to the said Bl. Anthony, and on the day of his feast, which falls at the end of August every year; and when by his help I had betaken myself to the said church of St. Dominic and had been present there at Mass at the altar of the said Bl. Anthony, and had earnestly prayed that he would free me from the said malady which was bringing death upon me, suddenly, the Mass being heard, I felt myself better of the said malady, and came home, by the grace of God and the intercession of the said Saint, free of the said malady; and I was never seized with that malady again. And this is whatever I can testify. Which writings I, the notary aforesaid and underwritten, received in the presence of the reverend John Anthony Bariglieti and of Anthony Botesty, standing by and required, &c. I, John Francis Bogliani, declare and attest as much as above … Anthony Bariglieto, witness … Anthony Bo, witness. And it is added: Under Bo the notary, extracted by me, N. Soleri.
[22] to another In the year of the Lord current one thousand six hundred and sixty-four, and on the twelfth day of September, at Rivoli, before me John Francis Bo, ducal notary of this place, being personally present master Michael Mantano of Rivoli, in the word of truth, by his oath taken, the Scriptures being touched in my hands, notary
aforesaid and underwritten, said and attested, says and attests that he knows, and that it is true, as follows: I remember that about fifty years ago, while I was in the household of John Francis Mantano, my late father, when I had not yet taken a wife, my said father was once burdened with so terrible a malady that through it he remained motionless in bed, in which he could in no way move himself unless our household servants helped him. And when that same John Francis Mantano, my late father, on account of such an infirmity of his had vowed himself to Bl. Anthony, whose body is in the church of St. Dominic of this place, and had ordered a Mass to be celebrated in his honor, on a certain day which I do not remember he ordered himself to be carried in a chair to the said church, where, the Mass being heard, through the intercession of the said Saint with His Divine Majesty, that same late father of mine recovered his health, and free went back home upon his own feet, leaving behind the crutches and staves which he had used to support himself, at the very moment when he was in the said church.
[23] walking restored. And that miraculous event I know, as his son, who was present at the event, and who am now of the age of seventy-three years. Of all which the very reverend Father Augustine Loche, of the convent of the aforesaid fathers, required testimonials, which I, the notary and vicar aforesaid and underwritten, received, in the presence of … the very reverend lord canon Mark Margarina, and Anthony Bo as witness. And there are subscribed John Michael Mantano; Mark Margarina, canon, witness; Anthony Bo, witness. And N. Soleri attests his extract, noted under Bo.
ANNOTATIONS.
perhaps totale.*
that is, he ordered to be summoned.*
that is, His Divine Majesty.*