ON ST. PASCHASIUS, ABBOT, AT LESINA AND NAPLES.
CommentaryPaschasius, Abbot, at Lesina and Naples (Saint)
By I. B.
[1] Together with the bodies of SS. Sabinus and Eunomius the Bishops, of whom we treated on February 9, the relics of St. Paschasius the Abbot were also transferred from Lesina to Naples in the year 1598 by Aurelius Marra and placed in the basilica of the Most Holy Annunciation. the feast of St. Paschasius the Abbot His feast, on February 10, was decreed to be celebrated at Naples and throughout the entire diocese with a semi-double Office by Decius Carafa, Cardinal and Archbishop of Naples, in the year 1619. In that year a booklet on the new Offices instituted by that pious prelate was published by the press of Constantinus Vitalis, which says the following about St. Paschasius: relics "The relics of this Saint were also transferred from the same church of Lesina to the church of the Most Holy Annunciation. The Acts of the same holy Abbot have perished through the injury of time. That his cult once flourished in the city of Lesina, however, was attested by the inscription and the honorable entombment in the Confession of the aforesaid Cathedral church of Lesina, where the sacred bones of St. Paschasius were found, together with the relics of other Saints translated to Naples." the history of the Translation The history of the discovery and translation was committed to writing by Aurelius Marra himself, who carried out the transfer, which we gave on February 9. From it, moreover, it is clear that some part of the relics of St. Paschasius and of the others was left at Lesina.
[2] Who, moreover, this Paschasius was, of what monastery he was Abbot, and how his relics were brought to Lesina, no writer (that we have seen) explains. In an old Martyrology, written some centuries ago in Italy (as may be gathered from various indications), which is in our possession, the following is read under the Kalends of February: his name in the Martyrologies "On Monte Gargano, the deposition of Blessed Paschasius the Abbot." Since Lesina is not far from Monte Gargano, I do not hesitate to assert that his remains were carried thither. place of death
[3] What if he was the seventh Abbot of Monte Vergine? Felix Renda writes about him in the Life of St. William the Founder, published at Naples in the year 1581: "After the death of Lord Gabriel, the sixth Abbot, his institute the seventh to be elected, with the divine Spirit breathing, was the holy Paschasius, whose most holy body is found at present among the bodies of the Saints in the aforesaid sanctuary; for by the merit of his holiness, just as he fell asleep in the earth with the beloved of Christ, so he rejoices in heaven with the elect." The same author, elsewhere among the relics of the sacristy of the Guletum near the city of Miscum of the Hirpini, lists "the body of St. Paschasius, the seventh Abbot of Monte Vergine." He perhaps went to Monte Gargano for the purpose of venerating St. Michael and died there, or in the monastery of Pulsano of the same Order. The relics were brought to Lesina for some reason, with a part returned to the people of Guletum. If this is the man whom we conjecture (as is permitted in an obscure matter), his age he seems to have died around the year 1200.
ON BLESSED WILLIAM, PRIEST AND HERMIT, FOUNDER OF THE MONASTERY OF OLIVA IN HAINAUT
In the Year 1241.
Preliminary Commentary.
William, Priest, Hermit, Founder of the Monastery of Oliva in Belgium (Blessed)
By I. B.
Section I. The Monastery of St. Mary of Oliva Founded by Blessed William.
[1] Mariemont (the delight of our Princes in peacetime during the summer) — having obtained its name from Mary, Queen of Hungary and sister of the Emperor Charles V, and Governess of Belgium on his behalf — and adorned with a citadel... the monastery of Oliva near Mariemont
[8] When, however, he had fitted the place for the habitation of religious, the Augustinian ascetics sought to claim it. He himself, having turned aside to the recently founded Cistercian monastery of Fontenelle and considering the piety and religious austerity of the Virgins there serving God, given to the Virgins of Fontenelle as you have it in chapter 5, number 26, led some of them thence into the buildings he had constructed — but they, compelled by a shortage of necessary things, returned to Fontenelle shortly afterward. Jacobus Guisius errs — or certainly his translator — who in volume 3 of the Annals of Hainaut, chapter 139, writes that monks were brought from Fontenelle and returned whence they had come after a year spent there; for they were nuns. then to others who had been Canonesses He then drew seven others from the convent at Mons-sur-Sambre by the fame of his virtues, so that they might exchange the less strict discipline of Canonesses for the Cistercian institute; whom very many others then followed.
[9] Concerning the origins of the same monastery, Barius recites the following from Jacobus Lessabaeus, without indicating in what book he writes these things, nor whether it has been published: we have seen only his declamation entitled "Peniada" and his rough collection of poems, printed at Antwerp by the press of Michael Hillenius in the year 1534. From another of his works, Barius draws the following: "The monastery of Oliva first had as its resident a man of uncertain name, but of German nationality, devoted to the eremitical life; who, aided by popular generosity, erected buildings according to his means, when John was raised to the bishopric of Cambrai and Joan was inaugurated in the County of Flanders and Hainaut. Afterward, the Cistercian Virgins wrested that place from the aforementioned Hermit by holy prayers; whence it was called 'of the Olive'? and soon the name of Oliva was given to the previously unnamed place, on account of the new planting for Christ the Lord." But the founder of Oliva was not of uncertain name, nor did the Cistercian Virgins wrest the place from him; rather, they deserted what had been offered. Those who came thither from elsewhere, to be instructed in piety by his precepts, embraced the Cistercian institutes at his direction. Whence the place got the name of Oliva is not certainly established. Some think it came about because ulcers on the fingers are customarily healed by the oil of a lamp hanging before a statue of the Mother of God — the concourse of pilgrims there for which reason many flock there, even from remote places.
[10] Let these things said about the origins of Oliva suffice. For what is said in the Itinerary of Aegidius de Trasignies, chapter 70, and in the French translator's prologue to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy — that three tombs raised from the ground and erected in the temple of Oliva were customarily beheld, there were formerly the tombs of Aegidius de Trasignies and his two wives of which the middle one contained the heart of the same Aegidius, and the others the bodies of his two wives: Mary, daughter of the Count of Ostrevant, and Gratiana, daughter of the Sultan of Babylon, whom he had married after a false report of Mary's death, and both of whom were nuns there together — that has nothing to do with Blessed William. That Itinerary seems more like a fable than a history, sprinkled throughout with fictitious names of kings and kingdoms. It was translated into Latin by John Gilmannus (as I think) or Antonius Gentius; for he confesses in the prologue that he wished to insert it among other Brabantine histories and endeavors to assert its probability with these arguments: that nothing impossible is found in it; that it exists in Italian and French; that the French translation is dedicated to the Duke we mentioned. But these have little weight with us for establishing historical credibility. We wish, however, to detract nothing from the virtue of this hero, nor from the piety of his wives, although we judge many of his and his brother's exploits to be by no means credible. Moreover, Miraeus writes, from the account of the nuns of the same monastery, that those tombs and the entire temple were burned with Mariemont by the French; and we have also learned from them that it was burned on July 21, 1554, then rebuilt by the efforts of Abbess Catherine de Lannoy and dedicated by Martin Cuper, Abbot of Crespin, Bishop of Chalcedon and suffragan of the Archbishop of Cambrai, on September 3, 1564. But since afterward, through military insolence, the three altars were again thought to be profaned, Francis vander Burcht, Archbishop of Cambrai, reconsecrated them on July 8, 1619, in the presence of Albert and Isabella, Princes of Belgium.
Section II. The Life of Blessed William, His Title of Blessed, and His Feast Day.
[11] There exists a Life of Blessed William in the Chronicles of Hainaut, which Jacobus Guisius of Mons, a Doctor of Theology of the Order of Friars Minor, wrote in Latin, arranged in three volumes. We were not permitted to see these, the Life of Blessed William in the Annals of Jacobus Guisius since they have not yet been published. We saw what was translated into French by order of Philip the Good in the year 1446, and then printed at Paris in the years 1531 and 1532. In the third volume, therefore, of these Chronicles, chapter 136 and the three following, the deeds of the founder of the monastery of Oliva are commemorated — whose name, says the author, is not found.
[12] The Life that we give here, therefore, Guisius had not seen, since in it William is expressly named many times. another, more ancient Life Nor does Guisius mention the town of Vervins, nor name Thenolium, which are found in the Life, chapter 1, number 5. He reports that monks were called from Fontenelle — who were actually nuns — and he diverges from the Life in many other respects. Miraeus writes in his book on Ecclesiastical Writers, chapter 136, that Guisius died at Valenciennes in the year 1399. We believe, however, that the Life was written earlier. For in its prologue the author professes that he was asked to narrate in Latin the pious manner of life of Brother William the most holy Hermit, "so that what has long lain hidden, as it were, under a bushel, may be placed upon a candlestick and shine for all who are in the house of God." Therefore the work of Guisius did not yet exist. For neither to the writer himself, nor to the nobles who were demanding that William's Acts be written in Latin, could that work have been unknown — being, as was the case in those times, an object of curiosity and labored upon by a man of celebrated erudition. It is more likely that the Life already written before...
"You compel me, most loving Mother — indeed your holiness urges, and the devotion of the most holy community entrusted to you inspires — that I should undertake a certain little work: the author writes this Life at the request of the Abbess and her community namely, to narrate in Latin the pious manner of life of Brother William, the most holy hermit, so that what has long lain hidden, as it were, under a bushel, may be placed upon a candlestick and shine for all who are in the house of God. For as I learned from you, my Mother devoted in the Lord, the admonition of certain nobles and the supreme desire that you bear toward the promotion of the same Saint have compelled you to see to it with a vigilant mind that this be brought to the desired end. Therefore, that the devotion of all and the salvation of souls may be increased through this work, overcome by your prayers I take upon myself a burden that surely exceeds my strength, since neither the resources of knowledge nor of eloquence suffice me; but I can cry out well enough with the Prophet: 'Ah, ah, ah, Lord God, I know not how to speak, for I am a child' Jer. 1:6 — a child indeed not in age but in understanding, fearing not a little the definitive judgment of that curse which says: 'Cursed is the child of a hundred years.' Isa. 65:20 having excused his slender abilities, he implores their prayers Let therefore your prayers and those of the humble flock subject to you come to my aid, which, as in battle, may knock at the citadel of divine mercy, that His condescension may remove from me childish limitations, direct my actions, and bathe the sincerity of my breast with heavenly dew. For in Him are all the treasures of knowledge and wisdom hidden, nor without Him — as He Himself attests — can we do anything. John 15:5 Let the mouths of detractors, I pray, be stopped, and let them not reprove the ignorance of simplicity nor bring a poisonous judgment against one who is absent; but rather, I beseech, let them be zealous to magnify the magnificence of almighty God, who chooses the weak things of the world to confound the strong; and let them correct with sincere charity whatever they find in this work that needs correcting — since I know nothing among good people except Jesus alone, and Him crucified."
AnnotationsCHAPTER I. The Birth of Blessed William, His Dissolute Youth, and His Conversion.
[2] In the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ, under John of Bethune, Bishop of Cambrai, and Joan, daughter of Baldwin, Emperor of Constantinople, Countess of Flanders and Hainaut, this man of whom the present account treats had his beginning. He, therefore, a Brabantine by nationality, William a Brabantine by birth was born in those parts of that same region in which the people use the German tongue. And although he was not born of noble parents, he did not take his origin from the lowest class either. While he was being nurtured among his peers, still little children, he began to be quite commendable in appearance, an agile boy and he progressed from day to day, and the strength of human vigor grew with him, and the agility of his limbs increased, and gradually, as his understanding developed, he vigorously suppressed childish behaviors.
[3] Having passed through boyhood, therefore, he entered a petulant adolescence, in which, giving no little rein to illicit pleasure a dissolute youth (for "each is drawn by his own pleasure"), he carried himself headlong like an untamed creature, having before his eyes no consideration of what outcome such a beginning would bring about. So greatly did the strength of his spirit extend that he no longer made himself equal to his peers, but preferring himself in all things, he displayed himself as lord and master.
[4] Meanwhile, like a little bird deserting its nest and being borne aloft into the air of various opinions, with feathers not yet mature, his parents, wishing to provide for his advancement, decided to arrange for him in some art or trade. he becomes a baker Applied therefore to a mechanical craft, he learned the baker's art; but not wishing to remain with his parents, he transferred himself to foreign parts, where, going about hither and thither at his own discretion, now here, now there, he acquired various lodgings for himself. he goes to France At last he went to France, persuaded that if he knew how to use the French language, he could more conveniently involve himself in secular affairs.
[5] Finally, having completed the journey that he made after his first departure from his parents, like a doe that, spread out in the swiftness of its running, wearily seeks the shade of a valley, he desired to find a place in which he might both change his mother tongue he serves in the monastery of Thenolium and be able to exercise his art with a somewhat peaceful mind. He came at last to a certain monastery of the Premonstratensian Order near Vervins, which is called Thenolium, in which he kept himself bound and quiet for some time, serving in the art of baking, hiding and resting under the shade of the Beloved from the heat of the world — yet not bound to the Order.
[9] Our neophyte, therefore, rejoiced more abundantly because he had found the place prepared for him by the Lord. Not wishing, however, to derogate from anyone's tranquility, peace, or right, but rather desiring to lay his first foundation in peace and charity, he went to the aforesaid village, earnestly asking who was the Pastor of that place and where he dwelt. When he learned this, he approached him, he confesses to the Pastor of Morlanwez earnestly praying that he would grant him the ears of his kindness. The Pastor, seeing him bearing weapons and presenting the image of a fierce spirit, was somewhat afraid to admit him to a private conversation. At last, overcome by William's prayers and humility, he sat down, lent his ears, and awaited the outcome of the matter. But William, having laid aside the ferocity of his spirit and with downcast face (for he did not dare to look up to heaven), began to wet his cheeks with tears, to confess the sins of his past life, and finally to narrate the revelation described above. The Priest, hearing his intention and the revelation that he asserted was divine, with his permission he dwells in the said place not wishing to oppose in anything either God's ordinance or the pious intention of the penitent, granted him permission to place his dwelling in the aforesaid place, which was situated within the boundaries of his church — keeping in mind that if it were from God, it would endure; but if not, it would shortly be dissolved.
[10] He, having obtained the permission and having laid down the burden of his sins, returned rejoicing and giving thanks to God to the said place, carrying with him three loaves which he had received in the same town, protesting in his heart and bearing a firm resolution that when those loaves ran out he would seek no others, but using herbs and roots would sustain the body of his infirmity as long as he lived. Arriving, therefore, at the hermitage and established in the aforesaid place, he began to consider in his mind crawling on his hands like a brute animal what manner of penance he might practice and what might be more profitable. He therefore judged it fitting, and it seemed good in his sight, that since he had lived like a beast in the world, he should go crawling on hands and feet in the manner of beasts. And because he had offended the Lord through the ministry of his eyes, he should keep them fixed on the ground — always revolving in his mind that he was earth and would in the end be turned to earth. This he pondered by constant meditation, not daring, from excessive confusion and grief, to lift his eyes upward.
[11] The loaves, moreover, which he had carried in his bag for his sustenance, he placed in a certain tree — mystically demonstrating that he was hanging his entire life on the tree of the Cross. While he was hiding among the thorns shepherds steal his provisions and was endeavoring to make a certain hut in which to shelter himself, shepherds who pastured their flocks in those same woods arrived...
[18] The man of God, therefore, worked diligently: he cut down trees, and builds a temple uprooted thorns, pulled out thistles, and prepared for himself a new clearing on the outside, who had already created a new interior for the Lord. Nor did this alone, which he had granted, suffice for the good lady; but so that the divine worship might be increased in that place, she erected at her own expense a basilica in which the divine offices might be celebrated — in which also, while he was yet in the body, William saw many things that it is not permitted for a man to speak of.
AnnotationsCHAPTER IV. The Struggles of Blessed William with Demons, His Visions, and His Priesthood.
[19] It frequently happened that, while in the same temple, after completing his labor, he was extending his prayers at length, the demons — who envied his good deeds — assumed the forms of the most beautiful women, who, while praying in it, he is tempted by demons in the form of women carrying garlands of flowers and green branches on their heads, sang songs in the manner of the worldly, walking with outstretched necks and with winks of their eyes and with a composed gait, leading dances in a marvelous manner, and spent entire hours in this detestable exercise. They addressed him with flattering words, he resists them with prayer and the sign of the Cross adorning their own beauty in every way they could, and coloring their appearance with the gestures of harlots, so that they might break his holy resolution. But the man of God, knowing in spirit that these things were reserved for him by the Lord so that his unfading crown might be increased thereby, fled from their sight as from something foul, placed the sign of the saving Cross upon his heart, hastened quickly to prayer, and prostrate endeavored to overcome the fierce snares of the enemy.
[20] But while he fought by praying for a long time, it often happened he enters freezing water in winter that he could not overcome the enemies so easily. Whence, to afflict himself with a greater torment and by afflicting himself to overcome those attacking...
[27] Wherefore, the blessed Hermit, seized with the greatest grief, thought of calling other Virgins from some monastery of the same institute, and divine Providence did not fail his pious desire. In the diocese of Liege there is a certain monastery of noble Virgins, situated above the Sambre, from whom he drew seven young ladies to his place by the fame of his virtues. he brings seven from elsewhere These, therefore, desiring to avoid the defilements of this world and despising worldly riches, embraced the strict poverty of the Cistercian Order, and following naked the footsteps of the Lord's Cross, entering with bare hearts the cross of the same institute, they entered the poorest place of the man of God.
[28] In this solitude, therefore, consecrating their hearts and all their actions to God alone, they live austerely and in holiness they endured so many and such great crises of poverty that scarcely the strongest men could have sustained so many labors, unless they had crucified themselves to the world entirely. For they served God, persisting day and night in prayer and vigils — He who granted them grace before men — so that many noble virgins who abounded in great riches, despising earthly marriages, many join them moved by the example of these religious women, attached themselves to the heavenly Bridegroom. And thus the number of the sacred virgins increased from day to day, and an Abbess was placed over them according to the institutes of the Order, and the monastery was consecrated to the Mother of God under the title of Blessed Mary of Oliva. he provides for their necessities Meanwhile, the man of God, rejoicing in the progress of his daughters, loved them uniquely, and as a pious father, he generously supplied all their needs.
[29] He was also bound by the strictest bond of charity to the Blessed Mary of Oignies, a familiar of Blessed Mary of Oignies who, when at last she was laboring in her final illness, knew that the time of her dissolution was at hand. The pious matron, not wishing to desert the body of this mortality without having saluted her special beloved, appeared to him in spirit, adorned with the whitest garment, which was sprinkled with golden flowers on both its front and back. From this vision William clearly knew that the end of the blessed woman was near. in a vision he learns of her imminent death Rising quickly, he came to the place where she lay; but entrance was denied to him. Mary, however, inwardly sensing that he had arrived, said to those standing around: "The holy hermit is at the door." And with all marveling, he was introduced. Sitting together, they conversed alone about the heavenly homeland, about future glory, and about the misery of the present life, yearning together with the mouth of the heart for the flowing streams above of the fountain of life. he bids her farewell And when the spiritual conversation was finished, rejoicing in the Lord and bidding farewell to each other, William returned to his own place, and Mary, not long after, gave back her spirit to the Lord.
This chunk continues the Vita of Blessed William of Oliva but transitions to material about the monastery of St. Justina at Padua; the Latin text opens mid-narrative with chronological entries.
[27] (continued from previous chunk, dealing with the summoning of Cistercian virgins and their establishment at Oliva)
The remaining text shifts to chronological entries from a monastic chronicle:
[2] In the year of the Lord 1211. In those times Frederick, the young King of Sicily, Frederick II son of the late Emperor Henry and of Queen Constance — who was the daughter of King Roger of Sicily — at the command of the magnificent Pope Innocent, ascended through Lombardy into Germany with confidence, with the aid of the Marquis of Este. constituted King of Germany The prelates and princes of Germany received him so most graciously that few of the princes remained with Otto. At length they concordantly elected him as King of Germany and future Emperor... and Emperor
In the year of the Lord 1220, Frederick II, King of Sicily and Apulia and Duke of Swabia, descending from Germany, went to Rome and there received the crown of the Empire from Pope Honorius on the day of Blessed Cecilia...
In the year of the Lord 1228, the venerable Abbot Arnold caused a ditch to be made and brought in the waters of the river Blessed Arnold restores the monastery with new buildings which is that of St. Justina, and there he caused excellent mills to be built. This was an outstanding work and one to be diligently committed to the memory of the brethren of the monastery...
In the year of the Lord 1236, the honorable Abbot Arnold caused our dormitory to be built, with the chapter house and the chambers placed below and adjacent, and at the same time he caused the chambers of the palace with the hall to be excellently restored...
[3] In the year of the Lord 1237, when the city of Padua was enjoying a peaceful state — and was very greatly adorned with an abundance of people and vigorous soldiery, as well as riches and glory — Padua occupied by Ezzelino the father of betrayals and crimes, namely the enemy of the human race, put it into the hearts of certain magistrates to hand it over to the representatives of the Emperor and to Ezzelino de Romano, whom the Paduans were accustomed to detest and pursue like a wolf. The evil, therefore, which they had conceived in their hearts, they perpetrated in deed — suddenly making of the wolf a shepherd of sheep, to their own and their country's destruction and burden. For they caused Ezzelino, the enemy of Padua, to come in the month of February, and they surrendered the city and the people into his most cruel hands... After Ezzelino, under the pretext of the Empire, had obtained the lordship of Padua, and the leading citizens vexed with exile and prisons he immediately sent the leading citizens of the city with their sons into exile; all of whom he afterward handed over to the most wicked Prince Frederick, who, sending them into Apulia, caused them to be kept in harsh prisons and underground cages, where for the most part they perished miserably. The perfidious Ezzelino also bound in prison Lord Jordan, whom the Paduans called, as it were, the Father of the Country. At the same time the Tyrant, seeing the Abbot of St. Justina, Blessed Arnold escapes distinguished both by the nobility of his origin...
[2] In the year of the Lord 1211. In those times Frederick, the young King of Sicily, Frederick II son of the late Emperor Henry and of Queen Constance — who was the daughter of King Roger of Sicily — at the command of the magnificent Pope Innocent, ascended through Lombardy into Germany with confidence, with the aid of the Marquis of Este. constituted King of Germany The prelates and princes of Germany received him so most graciously that few of the princes remained with Otto. At length they concordantly elected him as King of Germany and future Emperor... and Emperor
In the year of the Lord 1220, Frederick II, King of Sicily and Apulia and Duke of Swabia, descending from Germany, went to Rome and there received the crown of the Empire from Pope Honorius on the day of Blessed Cecilia...
In the year of the Lord 1228, the venerable Abbot Arnold caused a ditch to be made and brought in the waters of the river Blessed Arnold restores the monastery with new buildings which is that of St. Justina, and there he caused excellent mills to be built. This was an outstanding work and one to be diligently committed to the memory of the brethren of the monastery...
In the year of the Lord 1236, the honorable Abbot Arnold caused our dormitory to be built, with the chapter house and the chambers placed below and adjacent, and at the same time he caused the chambers of the palace with the hall to be excellently restored...
[3] In the year of the Lord 1237, when the city of Padua was enjoying a peaceful state — and was very greatly adorned with an abundance of people and vigorous soldiery, as well as riches and glory — Padua occupied by Ezzelino the father of betrayals and crimes, namely the enemy of the human race, put it into the hearts of certain magistrates to hand it over to the representatives of the Emperor and to Ezzelino de Romano, whom the Paduans were accustomed to detest and pursue like a wolf. The evil, therefore, which they had conceived in their hearts, they perpetrated in deed — suddenly making of the wolf a shepherd of sheep, to their own and their country's destruction and burden. For they caused Ezzelino, the enemy of Padua, to come in the month of February, and they surrendered the city and the people into his most cruel hands... After Ezzelino, under the pretext of the Empire, had obtained the lordship of Padua, and the leading citizens vexed with exile and prisons he immediately sent the leading citizens of the city with their sons into exile; all of whom he afterward handed over to the most wicked Prince Frederick, who, sending them into Apulia, caused them to be kept in harsh prisons and underground cages, where for the most part they perished miserably. The perfidious Ezzelino also bound in prison Lord Jordan, whom the Paduans called, as it were, the Father of the Country. At the same time the Tyrant, seeing the Abbot of St. Justina, Blessed Arnold escapes distinguished both by the nobility of his origin...
[7] In the year of the Lord 1253, Ezzelino — rejoicing in having no pathways except those stained with blood — both at Verona and throughout the entire March once again violently extended his hand to imprison and kill, they die of hunger and the squalor of prisons and he filled the cities and fortresses with a multitude of captives whom he afflicted with horrible hunger. And from the anguish of hunger and thirst (alas!), the wretches ate whatever was unclean, and were compelled to drink urine with incredible eagerness. And it was considered no small act of kindness for one who deigned to share with his companions the drink of his own urine. Moreover, the intolerable stench and the corrupted air, the excessive heat, and the darkness were so horrible in the prisons of Ezzelino that the captives could scarcely breathe, and many expired from these causes. Furthermore, so great was the multitude of wretched people in these prisons that one pressed upon another to such a degree that no one could lie down or sit; yet the weakness of the body by no means permitted them to stand on their feet. The cry of those lamenting and saying "Woe! Woe!" and the clapping of hands resounded so horribly that they were rightly thought to be not man-made prisons but infernal dungeons and punishments inflicted by demons — because there was no rest, no consolation, no prospect of redemption from the evils inflicted and impending. Death was sought there with the greatest desire, that it might put an end to such great evils. For one dying in such a state was believed to be happier than one living. And those placed at the point of death could by no means obtain permission to confess with Priests or to dispose of their affairs...
[8] In the year of the Lord 1255, on February 10, when the most devout man, Abbot Arnold — the pattern of virtue, the mirror and exemplar of monastic religion — as also Blessed Arnold in the year 1255, on February 10 had spent eight years and three months in a dark prison and in chains, around the seventieth year of his life, on the tenth day of February — which was then the first day of Lent — at Asolo, he happily departed to the Lord. When the hour of his passing was approaching — which was around dawn (as the Friars Minor, most devout men, faithfully reported to us) — many who were stationed in the nearby camps saw clearly fiery signs descending from heaven, in the likeness of two burning torches, the prison illuminated by fiery torches which stood above his prison for as long as that holy soul, beloved of God, was being loosed from the bond of the flesh. Truly significant, as we firmly believe, those two signs were of the double crown with which the blessed man was crowned by the Lord in the heavenly court among the Martyrs and Virgins. For he was a Virgin in both body and soul, as the Priests to whom he confessed clearly profess. For never by word or deed...
[3] After his death he also shone with miracles. For those who were oppressed by various, long-lasting, and difficult diseases — for whom there was no hope of health — fleeing to the patronage of William, he is renowned for miracles after death were immediately healed by divine power. Which also happened to those in calamitous circumstances, who after imploring his aid returned to a better state of fortune. He lived around the year of our salvation 1377. His body was deposited in the church of St. Mark, which belongs to the Friars Preachers; and when it was being transferred to a more suitable place, a wondrous and most sweet fragrance exhaled from it. Thus far the Life; to which is added this annotation:
[4] His image — which indicates a habit similar to a monastic one — his image in the Cathedral church with a purse and a surrounding crowd of the poor, is to be seen in many places, especially in the Cathedral basilica, painted in the year of the Lord 1388 with an inscription of this kind: "Blessed William Zucchi, citizen of Alexandria, sacristan of this church."
Since the day of his death is unknown, he has been noted at will under the day of February 10, on which St. William the hermit is venerated. So far the source. A "massarius" is a custodian of furnishings or movable goods; for from the Latin word "massa," the Italians form "massaio" (custodian) and "masseria" (furnishings).
[5] The Life which we add, received from Alexandria, was published by Lord Bartholomew Zucchi of Monza among his other literary works — the Life written sprung, as he prefaces, from the same family from which Blessed William came.
LIFE by the author Bartholomew Zucchi.
William Zucchi, at Alexandria in Italy (Blessed)
By the author Bartholomew Zucchi.
[1] Neither should the vices of the dead be published broadcast, nor should their praises be kept silent, since the one would be inhumanity and the other malice. Therefore, just as the vices of the wicked are to be buried, so the praises of the Saints are to be recalled from the tomb and from destruction; for since the wicked perish utterly, it is not right that even their vices should live; but since the just live wholly, it is not right that even their praises should perish. Prologue of the author I say this here lest anyone should judge this labor to be ambitious rather than pious, because I undertake to commemorate the praises of Blessed William Zucchi. For since from the same stock and family the noble name of the Zucchi has come both to many provinces of Italy and to me, there will be someone who thinks not without some...
[6] And so this man, so distinguished and singular, having most holily completed his entire life and being now worn out from doing good, death, and miracles when his strength had been rebellious neither in spirit nor in labors, in the year one thousand three hundred and seventy-seven, with a mind still vigorous and full of God, greeting his most sorrowful followers with a serene and pleasing countenance, with eyes raised and fixed on heaven, with the greatest tranquility and delight, heard repeatedly commending himself to Christ and to Mary His Mother, with his eyes sinking as into the sweetest sleep, and with the strength of his body gradually exhausted, breathing forth his soul most gently — or rather breathing anew — he restored his spirit to heaven and his body to his homeland. A man truly praiseworthy in all things, whose life was most holy and whose death was most precious; for as he was pleasant to many while living, so he was useful to all when dead. Some dragged to his sacred buried ashes a half-living and nerveless body; others a body broken with loosened joints of the bones; others one driven by furies and passions; others presented a soul marked with some notable vice; and many indeed offered a mind contaminated and consumed by sins — of whom the former marveled that sound bodies were suddenly restored to sound minds, and the latter that a sound mind was suddenly restored to the body. His sacred body was first deposited at Alexandria, his homeland, in the church of St. Mark of the Order of Preachers. And when it was being transferred to a more suitable place, it poured forth from itself a most sweet and almost divine fragrance all around. The image of this man, skillfully painted, is to be seen in very many places — especially in the Cathedral church, with a purse and a surrounding crowd of the needy — adorned with vestments almost like those of monks, a kind of garment that in those times was commonly used by anyone who had been initiated into sacred orders, as the painted portraits of Francesco Petrarca, Archdeacon of the Church of Padua, will indicate. The day consecrated to Blessed William is the tenth of February.