Christiana of Lucca

ON BLESSED ORINGA, OR CHRISTIANA, VIRGIN, IN ETRURIA.

In the Year of Christ 1310.

Christiana, or Oringa, virgin in Italy (B.)

The Life of Blessed Oringa, or Christiana, from a manuscript codex of the convent of St. Clare at Florence, was published in Italian by Silvanus Razzi, a Camaldolese, in volume 1 of his Lives of Women Illustrious for Holiness; he relates that she died on this day. Another, somewhat more elegant (but not infrequently discrepant, as one who compares them will see), was published in the year 1636 by Cornelius Curtius, General Historiographer of the Augustinian Order, who cited at the end another writer, Friar Honorius, an Italian. He states, however, that Oringa died on January 4.

LIFE

Written in Italian by Silvanus Razzi.

Christiana, or Oringa, virgin in Italy (B.)

From the Italian of Silvanus Razzi.

CHAPTER I. The Holy Youth of Oringa.

[1] The homeland of Blessed Oringa Blessed Christiana was born in the municipality of the Arno valley called the Castle of Santa Croce, of humble birth indeed, but destined to be made illustrious by the outstanding splendor of virtues and divine grace. Her name When she was first purified by holy baptism according to Christian rite, she received the name of Oringa, which afterwards passed into that of Christiana.

[2] From her earliest years of childhood she began to contemplate heavenly things and to devote herself assiduously to prayer. Her holy childhood They say that while she was pasturing oxen, in order to give herself to prayer with a freer mind, she commanded them to feed only on wild grasses and to abstain from the crops and other plantings. The oxen she pastured, restrained by her word The brute animals obeyed so exactly and almost reverently that they neither trampled with their feet nor touched with their mouths a single leaf of the grain or of any other plant that the Virgin had forbidden them. She meanwhile devoted herself to the meditation of divine things and to prayer, no less securely than with ardent piety.

[3] Her birth, as we have said, was lowly, and her condition humble; Humility yet her soul, burning with the love of Christ and always desiring greater abasement, wished to place herself even below her own birth and station. Hence indeed from so sublime a humility began to spring the fountain of divine gifts, virtues, and miracles. From her earliest age such a horror of wanton and shameful things had seized her soul Her detestation of shameful, and even idle, words that if she heard any less than decent word spoken, she would immediately be provoked to vomiting; and indeed she contracted a serious illness from the frequent vomiting. At length, however, while suffering from such vomiting, a voice came to her from heaven, warning her to stop her ears with her hands, so that they would not be compelled to take in those obscene words. She obeyed the heavenly admonition, and not in vain: she immediately recovered her health. What is more, she abhorred not only immodest speech, but even vain and idle words; and if she had inadvertently heard them, she was so disturbed even in her very countenance that, though silently, she sharply reproved the one who had spoken them.

[4] When she had already reached marriageable age and had previously chosen Christ of her own accord as her spouse and pledged her faith to Him, Compelled toward marriage, she flees, crossing the river without getting wet her brothers began to insist importunely that she should consent to be joined to some mortal man, after the manner of her peers, assailing her with bitter reproaches and sometimes punishing her with blows. But she, lest she should either break the faith given to God or allow the flower of her virginity to be stained, very often leaped into the river (a) Gusciana, always emerging with garments as dry as if the water had not touched them. But when she perceived that not even thus did her brothers' efforts abate, she at last crossed the river entirely, her garments not even slightly dampened, and set out on the road toward Lucca.

[5] When she had arrived at the famous hospice commonly called (b) Altopascio, at sunset, the devil presented himself to her, She is defended by angels against the terrors of the devil riding on a fierce and terrible horse, hoping to recall her by sheer horror from the journey she had undertaken. But she, in no way frightened by his words or threats or other terrors, steadfastly raised and encouraged her spirit by confidence in divine assistance, and freed her heart from fear. Nor did the most benign Deity disappoint or delay her trust. For suddenly two men in the most brilliant white garments stood at her side; at whose appearance that foul specter was dispelled, and they too shortly withdrew from Oringa's sight.

[6] She therefore continued her journey with her mind always fixed in prayer and her eyes lifted toward heaven. At length she noticed that she had arrived in the middle of a most beautiful meadow, somewhat removed from the public road, planted with innumerable fragrant herbs and flowers and enclosed by the most fragrant trees arranged in wonderful order. There she also found a little hare, She is refreshed by a hare and led back to the road which began to frolic and gambol familiarly around her, as if it had been raised by her. It would lay its head in her lap and playfully spring about. She said to it: "Why, if I wished, I could keep you; why then do you stand so unafraid?" At last the twilight of day began to appear, and since Oringa could not find an exit from the meadow, surrounded as it was by such dense trees, the little hare began to go ahead and show the path that led her to the public road. Then the hare too vanished from sight. Oringa resumed her journey and at last arrived at the city of Lucca. There she hired herself out as a servant to a nobleman from the Aula Vecchia, a citizen of Lucca, She serves a citizen of Lucca an honest and pious man. She asked no other wage for her work than food, and that of the most meager sort, and a single cheap and worn cloak to clothe herself -- clean, however.

[7] Even in the middle of winter she walked barefoot and endured the harshest cold, She walks barefoot in winter so that sometimes blood, forced out by the intensity of the cold, would flow down. Most often, however tired she was, she slept on the bare ground. She sleeps on the ground She was so given to abstinence that she very often went the entire day without tasting food at all. She eats sparingly Sometimes, when asked and nearly compelled, she would take a small amount of food in the evening, roughly the weight and measure of a common apple. She admitted, meanwhile, that if she did not fear the tickling of vainglory, she would have gone even more days without taking any food.

[8] Since she was of elegant and beautiful face, lest her appearance should inflame anyone's soul with base love of her, She disfigures her face she studiously disfigured herself with some kind of juice and other arts, so that by this means she might be held in even greater contempt everywhere. She had made a pact with her eyes that, as far as possible, they should look humbly downward at the ground, She keeps her eyes lowered lest they should happen to gaze upon something by which the purity of her mind might be even slightly stained. She was, in short, so separated from all human company, and always so collected and intent upon heavenly things, that for a very long interval of time she recognized none of her neighbors. She speaks wisely of divine things If she was compelled to go outside for the sake of some task, she would place a stone at the threshold of the door so that she could then find her way back to her master's house. Her speech was gentle, devout, and mild. And although she had never applied herself to learning, if she happened to be among wise men, she would discuss grave and abstruse matters so profoundly, and would treat and explain them so lucidly, that all admired, loved, and venerated her, since she imparted heavenly doctrine and had the words of eternal life.

[9] She had attained such a degree of innocence that she seemed to possess an incorruptible body. She is a cause of temptation to no one Indeed, although she was of beautiful face and very young, and conversed quite familiarly with men, instructing them with salutary admonitions, yet she seemed to be an occasion of no dishonest temptation either to anyone else or to herself. Nor should it be wondered at that she was either so strong and prudent, or accustomed to deal with all kinds of people securely and without danger with such authority; She perceives the secrets of hearts for God Himself had promised her that, because she cast her eyes upon no man's face, she would thereafter perceive the innermost secrets of the heart through the face of any person whatsoever.

[10] In prayer her soul seemed to burn, whence abundant tears burst from her eyes, wrung by the meditation of the laborious life and death of Christ, She weeps in prayer which moistened her veil, her breast, and the very ground. She meditates on the Passion of Christ Every Friday she not only macerated herself with fasting but most attentively contemplated the ignominious passion and most bitter death of Christ. She seemed to be continually pierced by a certain sacred wound of incredible charity toward God and neighbor, seeing her Jesus defrauded of the greatest reward for which He had undertaken such great, arduous, and manifold labors, and so many souls rushing of their own accord to eternal ruin because of their sins.

[11] While she was on the upper floor of the house, where her room was, the devil attacked her at night, She is freed from the terrors of the devil by St. Michael with so vast a gaping mouth that it seemed like some immense doorway, and with such noise and crashing that everything in the vicinity was shaken. Terrified, with almost every hope of escape cut off, she commended herself to the Archangel Michael and prayed that he would be present to her in that crisis. Her prayers were not in vain. Not only was she snatched from danger by the protection of this most holy Archangel, but she was filled with a singular and varied consolation. For when that foul specter had been dispelled, Michael presented many things to her, most pleasant to the sight and most delightful in fragrance. And so he at last left her exulting with extraordinary joy and jubilation of the mind.

a This is perhaps the stream that Leander calls the Mitinola, which empties into the Arno below Fucecchio, opposite San Miniato.

b Altopascio is a town not far from Lucca, of which Leander makes mention in his description of Tuscany.

CHAPTER II.

Pilgrimages to Sacred Places.

[12] Thence, with some companions, she undertook a journey to (a) Mount Gargano, She makes a pilgrimage to Mount Gargano to venerate the church of that most sacred Archangel. On that journey they were led at nightfall by certain wicked men into pathless forests, who had pointed out to them what seemed to be the right path that led there. She is led back to the road by St. Michael and refreshed with food For the villains were planning to strip them of both their clothing and their honor. But Michael, whom Oringa devoutly venerated, suddenly appeared to them in the form of a most beautiful youth, and almost in the garb of a deacon, and addressed them with these words: "Daughters, depart from here at once; for those who led you into these deserted and vast places are plotting to despoil you not only of temporal but also of spiritual goods." Then a most brilliant light flashed forth to give credence to his words, and all that weariness was wiped away. The Archangel served as their guide. But before he restored them to the public road, he first led them to a most lovely fountain, where he produced a most elegant vessel, filled with various foods, and refreshed each of them with whatever kind of food she most desired. Then he led them to a certain tower that was situated on the public road, where they found a most convenient inn in which everything necessary for their journey was abundantly provided. Then he at last dismissed them, anointed with wonderful consolation. Often at other times on this journey the same holy Archangel presented himself to Blessed Oringa's sight and bestowed upon her heavenly consolation.

[13] After Oringa had visited that church of the Archangel with the deepest feeling of soul, She goes to Rome she went to Rome to venerate the most sacred churches and the relics of the Martyrs. While she was praying in the basilica of St. Peter, the devil caused her much disturbance, She overcomes the devil but she at last drove him away from her like an empty shadow. Shortly after, Friar (b) Rinaldo of the Order of Friars Minor, a man of singular prudence, seeing that Oringa wished to remain in Rome and was more beautiful in soul than in body, She lives with a pious widow arranged that a certain most noble and devout widow named Margarita, who had long desired the companionship of such an innocent soul, should most willingly receive her into her household. She soon gave Oringa garments suited to her station, though Oringa was unwilling and reluctant. She gives her garments to a poor woman But the Virgin did not wear them long; for within a few days she found a poor pilgrim woman nearly naked, clothed her in those garments, and herself resumed the former ones she had previously laid aside. Indeed, the excellent widow pursued the virgin of Christ with such love that she not only did not allow her to serve her, but rather served her herself in turn, seeing that her virtue merited it. She is called Christiana About this time Oringa began to be called by everyone, as though by antonomasia and a certain attestation of excellence, no longer Oringa but Christiana, and this name thenceforth adhered to her.

[14] She goes to Assisi Christiana and Margarita went to Assisi to visit the tomb of the glorious Father Francis. While Christiana was pouring out her prayers in the church of that Patriarch, she experienced a certain divine ecstasy and seemed to herself to be carried to the Castle In ecstasy she sees the future where she had been born, and there to see, in the most worthless and abject spot, a house that had been built -- small and narrow, of entirely the same form in which, many years afterwards, a monastery was built for her on that spot by the inhabitants of that village. Here, moreover, she seemed to see religious virgins dwelling, and she believed that she alone would sustain them all (which in fact afterwards came to pass). She narrated this vision to a certain kinsman of hers who was serving as a judge not far from Assisi; and he, from whom she should have drawn spiritual consolation, attempted to seduce the virgin with wanton persuasions. The Angel of St. Cecilia guards her chastity against magical arts Having been repulsed, he began to attack her with diabolical enchantments and magical arts. Accordingly, transported to the place where the Virgin was, he lay with his head thrown back and began to beg the foul spirits to place him beside the virgin, who was surrounded by an immense light. They refused, saying they neither wished nor were able to attempt it, because the Angel who once defended Cecilia was now also guarding her purity with a most fervent zeal, brandishing a sword in his hand. Having spoken thus, they immediately departed with a horrifying howl. The Virgin fortified herself with the sign of the most holy Cross and rushed to the church of St. Francis, repeatedly imploring his aid against these cruel snares. Therefore, by the power of Christ and the patronage of St. Francis, she obtained the victory and attained the greatest tranquility of soul.

[15] Indeed, she was soon caught up into heaven, where she beheld Christ illuminating the immense spaces of that supernal city with His own immense splendor, In ecstasy she beholds the glory of heaven before whose radiance all the light of the bodily sun was in a certain way obscure. The splendor that proceeded from the garments and throne of Christ seemed to illuminate our material sun, just as the Sun itself communicates its light to the Moon. She also saw the glorious Virgin Mother of God sitting on one throne with her Son, conspicuous in the same splendor, clothed in a most precious white garment. This august Queen all the Angels and all the Saints venerated, exulting with singular joy. Then in groups they would withdraw from the throne; and having traversed that heavenly region, they would again prostrate themselves at her feet, and having received a token of favor and benevolence and been given her blessing, they would return, singing most sweetly and dancing most gracefully all the while; and this they did repeatedly. While these things were happening, Oringa, prostrate before the throne of God and full of wonder, was adoring Christ and the Mother of Christ together with those blessed citizens of heaven. And the joy of the Saints on the day of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Meanwhile Christ addressed her: "Do you marvel, Christiana, at the honor that is shown today by the Angels to my glorious Mother, and at the garment with which she is clothed? Know that today the feast of her Immaculate Conception is celebrated in heaven -- she who afterwards conceived and bore me, true God and man, her virginity always remaining inviolate. The whiteness of her garment is the prerogative of her singular innocence, for she alone merited to be both mother and virgin. Know, moreover, daughter, that when the time of your dissolution comes, you too will be transported into this same glory."

[16] When Oringa returned to herself, she noticed that three remarkable signs of that rapture had remained in her as a testimony to the vision: She long retains signs of this rapture a lightness of body, which for some time was so great that she often, feeling herself, seemed to herself to lack a body; a certain incredible fragrance breathed upon her nostrils during that rapture from the scent of heavenly trees and flowers; and an exquisite sweetness in her ears from the heavenly harmony, such that for nine whole months she seemed to dwell in that same glory and to enjoy the heavenly harmony of instruments and flowers. On account of this vision, Christiana wished the monastery that she afterwards erected to be named Santa Maria Novella. And she decreed that in it (with all due reverence to the sacred Apostolic See and the authority of the Supreme Pontiff) the feast of the Holy Conception should be celebrated every year.

a We shall treat more fully of this most famous mountain of Apulia on September 29, when we discuss the apparition of St. Michael.

b Curtius calls him Monaldus.

CHAPTER III.

The Monastery She Built. Prophecies and Other Miracles.

[17] Christiana left the church and city of St. Francis and came to the Castello Fiorentino She is divinely detained in her homeland to honor Blessed Viridiana. When Margarita learned from her how near they were to Christiana's homeland, she said she wished to visit it. Unwilling and almost compelled, Christiana led her to the village of Santa Croce. When shortly after they prepared to depart thence, their feet were held back by some kind of weight divinely added, as though they were fixed to the ground. When Christiana changed her mind and resolved not to leave, they were both freed from this weight. Margarita therefore returned to Rome; Christiana remained there, determined to embrace the religious life with other virgins, as the inhabitants of Castello Franco, Santa Croce, and the vicinity also urged her.

[18] One day, while she was going to the place where she afterwards built the monastery, She builds a monastery at a place divinely shown she beheld rays vibrating from heaven and flooding that entire area with a most sweet light. And shortly she obtained from the local inhabitants and the village of Santa Croce that a convent should be built there. She enclosed herself in it with some sisters, over whom, however, she did not wish to preside with any prerogative of office or rank; nor did she permit any sister, however inferior in rank or age, to serve her. Her humility If she happened to offend any of the sisters, even slightly, even a very young one, by a word, she would immediately accuse herself as a sinner and, confessing her fault on bended knees, would beg pardon.

[19] She always loved poverty, much more intensely (which is rare and distinguished) than even the avaricious love riches; and in that want she seemed, by a singular gift of God, Rich poverty to abound as though in the most ample abundance. For although for a very long time she had nothing but a gourd of wine, which was the entire store of the monastery, and a niche cut in the wall for storing food, yet all were provided with as much sustenance as the necessity of nature demanded, and respectable clothing. And what seems even more wonderful, to all the needy and servants of God who flocked in great numbers to their monastery, they generously bestowed whatever each one needed -- so that, though having nothing, they seemed at the same time, together with Him who is all in all, to possess all things. She gives her own garment and all her money to a poor woman There was an occasion when Christiana gave to a beggar woman her own tunic and a florin -- the only one she possessed -- and so, clothed in a few worthless rags, she was stripped of all the money by which she might provide necessities for herself and her community.

[20] In a time of famine she makes her beans public At another time, during a great scarcity of food, when she had beans in a small field -- the only one that monastery possessed -- she erected a sign like a banner, so that everyone might pick beans there, as if the field were public property. Many, moved by this act, imitated her example. They are divinely multiplied Very many people, who would otherwise have died of hunger, are believed to have sustained their lives with those beans, multiplied by a heavenly miracle.

[21] At another time, very little wine -- scarcely enough for a single day -- was left in a vessel, Wine increased by her prayers which was so augmented by God through Oringa's prayers that the excellent virgins suffered no lack of wine. This miracle, known only to the household, Oringa ordered to be absolutely kept secret from outsiders. But God Himself made it public; for when a certain man had brought them wine and began to pour it into the vessel, which seemed empty, he had scarcely poured in half of an ordinary pitcher when the vessel began to overflow on all sides. Seeing this, as soon as he went outside, he publicly proclaimed the miracle.

[22] She remains rapt for many days So inflamed and vehement was Oringa's prayer, and so close was the union of her mind with God, that she would persist continuously for many days, lacking all bodily food, alienated from her senses by a most sweet ecstasy, and so immersed and, as it were, absorbed in God Himself, that she often She predicts many things recognized the hearts and counsels of men in the mirror of divine clarity and predicted future events. And the fulfillment of her prophecies was generally as certain as it was swift -- as when she forewarned the inhabitants of Santa Croce that a defeat would be inflicted upon them by the people of (b) Fucecchio. A defeat inflicted on those who did not heed her counsel For there was a bitter hostility and hatred between those peoples, and one day at early dawn the people of Santa Croce were preparing to rush out with weapons and attack their enemies. Christiana asked that a council be convened; she dissuaded them from that expedition with many solid reasons; she declared that unless they desisted, many of them would be killed and many would fall into the power of their enemies. And so it happened. For, spurning the salutary counsels of Oringa, they attacked their adversaries that very day and were routed and put to flight; many were slain, many were led captive to Fucecchio. The man who had been the instigator of the people's rejection of Oringa's counsel had his tongue torn out backward after death, as did his son.

[23] The reconciliation of enemies She predicted that the arms of two families of Santa Croce, which had very often clashed with hostile weapons, would first be broken on both sides before any of them would perish in that strife; Offspring, way of life and this afterwards happened. To a citizen of Lucca she foretold that a daughter would be born to him who would afterwards embrace the religious life in her monastery. She was born, and became a religious there.

[24] She heard a baby wailing in its cradle. "Let it cry," she said, An infamous death for a child "the boy will lead the worst life and die an infamous death; for when he grows up he will add crimes to crimes, and at last will be hanged on the gallows." This prophecy too was fulfilled by the event.

[25] A group of devout pilgrims on their way to Assisi for the indulgences of St. Francis had greeted the holy virgin, She predicts the return of a man unknown to her, who was planning the contrary and when after a brief rest they were preparing to depart, she summoned Friar John, the chaplain of the convent, and said: "From this group, a certain young man named Thomasinus will alone return here" (she described by signs the man she had never seen with her eyes), "and he will remain here to serve God. Therefore show him every kindness and sign of goodwill." Thomasinus was thinking of going elsewhere with another companion, while the rest had resolved to return by that route. Shortly afterwards they separated from one another at a distance of about twenty miles; and Thomasinus, abandoning his former plan, returned alone to Oringa's monastery, where he was kindly received and remained, and was thereafter the chaplain of the nuns, as Oringa had foretold.

[26] Whatever she asks of God, she obtains Whatever Christiana asked of God (a great proof of divine favor) she immediately obtained. She was making a journey with a certain citizen of Castello Franco named Alexander to Monte Rapoli. On the way they were met by certain men from the village of Marzio, with whom the people of Castello Franco were in dispute. These men took Alexander and his companion captive, despite Christiana's entreaties. She at last entered a deserted church situated near the road and began to pray to God. She frees a captive by her prayers Coming out, she called to Alexander, made the sign of the holy Cross, and told him to go freely wherever he wished, fearing nothing. He obeyed, with absolutely no one opposing him -- which greatly vexed his adversaries, who marveled at how they had let him go unharmed.

[27] While she was still at the church of St. Francis at Assisi, there were present two outlaws, whom they call Bandits, [She frees another from the hands of soldiers, with the one who despised the Sacred Host being punished] who fell asleep during the celebration of the divine mysteries. At the time of the consecration she spoke to them, reproached them, and urged them to rise and show reverence to the august Sacrament. Both heard her warning, yet only one arose and adored the most sacred Host; the other, as though mocking the Virgin, gave himself to sleep again. Meanwhile the retinue of the Rector of the province entered the church; while pausing reverently before the Venerable Sacrament, they by chance caught sight of the one who had obeyed the Virgin's admonition, and clapped him in irons, to be put to death. When Christiana saw this, turning to God, she said: "My Lord Jesus Christ, why do you allow this -- that the one who, when admonished, immediately arose and adored you, should be seized and dragged to death? I beseech you, Lord, restore him to me free and unharmed." Scarcely had the Virgin spoken these words when the man slipped from the hands of those who held him tightly bound, and fled; and not long afterwards he was enrolled in the Order of St. Francis, in which he concluded his life piously and devoutly. The other, however, was captured and beheaded.

[28] Things lost are found by her merits and indication Certain brethren from the Order of (c) St. Dominic came to the monastery of Blessed Christiana, afflicted with grave sorrow of mind; for when they were about to set out for Tartary, they had lost on the journey certain Apostolic privileges and letters of their Master General, which contained the authority they would need in those barbarous regions. The Virgin poured out her prayers; the next day she told them to go to a certain place far from the monastery, where they would find their documents under a juniper bush -- and so it happened.

[29] She heals a wound for an architect A certain architect, attempting some kind of work, pierced his foot through with a nail, with great pain and danger. But when the Virgin bound his wound, moved by great compassion, she immediately took away all his pain and completely healed the wound.

a We shall give her Life on February 1.

b Albertus calls their town Phocetium, from the Phocensian Pelasgians.

c Curtius says they were Franciscans. Certainly both Dominicans and Franciscans were sent to the Cumans and other Eastern barbarians by Nicholas IV, as Bzovius reports at the year 1288, number 11.

CHAPTER IV.

Her Illness, Death, and Miracles.

[30] She is struck with paralysis At last, at the age of seventy, she was struck with paralysis and lay confined to her bed for three years, so wasted by the afflictions of the disease that she could rightly count death as gain, since this miserable life was for her a continual death. Although from that prolonged confinement her right side had become completely dead, and the rest of her body endured the most grievous pains, she nevertheless displayed such cheerfulness of spirit as scarcely anyone else could show even in the most robust and vigorous health.

[31] When the end of life was at hand, the Abbess forbade that she should any longer be carried to the oratory at the time of the elevation of the life-giving Host, as had been her custom, because it caused distress to the other sisters and more severe pain to herself. Christ appears to her frequently Thereafter (as she herself revealed to Friar John, her chaplain, under the seal of confession), each day when the sacred Host was elevated at the time of the sacrifice in the church, Christ offered Himself to her view in bodily form in the place where she lay. She predicts the day of her death and other things To the same Friar John, eight days before the day of her death, she predicted calamities that would come upon her homeland, and many other things pertaining to that monastery. At the very hour of her death, such joy, serenity, and splendor shone in her face that it was plain to see that that most happy soul was departing from this life to be eternally united with Christ in heaven. She dies, her face radiant Having therefore summoned all the sisters, she consoled them with the sweetest words and maternal affection, and happily rested in the Lord at the beginning of the month of January, in the year 1310.

[32] A certain devout matron named Tergia, while she was engaged in prayer in the cathedral of Pisa, at the very hour Christiana departed from life, saw her soul in the whitest garment being gloriously carried to heaven by angels, A certain woman sees her soul borne to heaven who also seemed to address her with these words: "Rejoice with me now, my friend Tergia, for, as you see, I am borne by the service of angels to the dwelling of eternal life." Her body remained after death much more beautiful and radiant than before; and it was necessary, in order to satisfy the piety of the people flocking from all sides in great numbers, to keep it unburied for seventeen days. Even in death she turns away from the unchaste It should not be passed over in silence that among the others there was present a certain woman of compromised reputation, and when she fixed her gaze upon the sacred body of the Virgin, Oringa immediately covered her own face with the cloth that had covered her, using her own hands.

[33] Besides the other innumerable signs and miracles wrought through her merits and intercession, Many were reconciled at the time of her death many thousands of people around the time of her death, as she herself had predicted, who had previously been at odds, were then, moved by the grace of the divine Spirit, mutually reconciled. A headache cured by her merits Some days after her death, the cleric Thomas, of whom we have spoken above, being tormented by a severe headache, commended himself to the blessed Virgin and was immediately freed.

[34] A certain man from the territory of Florence, blind for already fourteen years, Sight restored upon visiting the sacred body, recovered his sight.

[35] A certain little boy from the village of San Miniato al Tedesco, having fallen into a ditch full of water A dead boy raised and been submerged for an entire day, was pulled out at nightfall by his grieving parents and commended to the Virgin with a vow: he was immediately restored to life.

[36] Many other miracles occurred through the merits of this most blessed Virgin. The body of Oringa, long intact, was burned together with the church Her body remained intact and beautiful for a very long time, as though she had only just recently died. But, God permitting, in the year 1514, when a lighted candle had been left near the sacred relics, a great fire broke out on August 14, by which both that sacred treasure was entirely consumed and a large part of the monastery. Pray for us.

ANOTHER LIFE

BY CORNELIUS CURTIUS,

General Historiographer of the Augustinian Order.

By Cornelius Curtius.

Christiana, or Oringa, virgin in Italy (B.)

CHAPTER I.

Oringa, to preserve her virginity, flees from home.

[1] In the valley of Etruria, by the river (a) Arno, there is an ancient castle, famous by the name of Santa Croce, a few miles distant from Florence, (b) whose authority it has always borne. The homeland and birth of Christiana There our Virgin received the light, from obscure parents not known beyond their neighborhood. At the baptismal font the name of Oringa was given to her, which she afterwards lost through usage, the Roman people naming her from her virtues.

[2] She spent her earliest years in a purity purer than purity itself. Her most pure childhood Indecent words, which today children are taught to speak first, were so unpleasant to her hearing that they stirred her stomach from its depths to certain vomiting. That bright bridal chamber of the heavenly Bridegroom did not tolerate the sprinkling of even the smallest speck of dust. All impure speech was a disease to her; and because she could not always avoid hearing it, she was in very poor health. From this evil, therefore, while she was still feverish in her childhood, a priest was summoned to absolve her of whatever offenses she might have -- which could only have been the most trivial. But he almost absolved her from life first. For when he came before her eyes, Oringa shuddered all over, disturbed from the inmost recesses of her being, so that she all but vomited forth her soul -- so much did the priest, filthy with some hidden crime, stir up in her a continual storm of the stomach and perpetual vomiting. You would have called her a sea, intolerant of all impurities. To avoid these, she needed to be forewarned from heaven and fortified with that antidote from Ecclesiasticus: "Hedge your ears with thorns" Chapter 28:28. Therefore within the enclosure of her own house, she confined herself like a shell. The necessity had to be very great indeed that would drive her outdoors. Yet when she did have to go out, she would mark the threshold of her house and the last corner of the street with some sign, which she would recognize on returning -- so rarely did she go out into the neighborhood. You would have thought her blind, keeping her eyes fixed on the ground and never raising them while walking; not curious to look at others, but rather shy of being seen by them. Indeed, so that she might be despised by all, she disfigured her face with an affected uncleanliness. She took her bed and sleep on the bare ground, barefoot even in the snows of winter, which she everywhere stained with the purple of her blood.

[3] As soon as she learned to speak, she learned to address her Bridegroom, whom she had pleased from the very cradle. To Him she often gave entire nights; the days she could not, especially at a more mature age, when the hardships of domestic life pressed her to rustic labor. "Go, Oringa, take this staff in your hands and tend the pasturing of the oxen" -- such was her father's command. What was a girl of eight to reply? You would have seen this second Rebecca immediately gird herself at her father's nod, drive the oxen to pasture by voice and hand, The oxen she pastures obey her and bring them home at the Sun's bidding. But while the Virgin pastured the cattle in the fields, she meanwhile did not neglect her own Shepherd. In the forest or the fields she would designate for the oxen a certain space of pasture land, and command them not to touch the good grain even by licking it, but to feed only on grasses useful to themselves. She meanwhile would hide herself in some hollow or the trunk of a tree, and with repeated prayers invoke her Bridegroom, with whose love she burned. Who would not believe that this heavenly Lover would have immediately burst forth from the thickets and hastened to the fervent vows of His beloved? Indeed, while Oringa enjoyed the delights of her Bridegroom, the oxen kept perfectly the commands of their mistress, filled themselves with wild and uncultivated grasses, and did not step even a hoof's breadth beyond the prescribed space. Why should brute beasts not obey her, when He who had created them did not refuse to serve His Bride?

[4] She had scarcely passed the second lustrum of her life when her own brothers (her father, with her mother, had departed to the majority) wished to give her in marriage. She is vainly forced to marriage by her brothers What was this but speaking to stones and rocks? How could she, who had betrothed herself to heaven, love the mud? Who would persuade her to marry, when even wedding words provoked her vomiting? Oringa answered her brothers kindly: she was joined to Christ and could not be married to another. But they rebuked their sister as a fool and pressed her toward marriage with words, even compelling the obstinate girl with blows. Yet she was not a whit softer for all that; she had already put on the hardness of rock, and was steeled against all injuries of tongue and hand. Yet the daily storm with which the savage brothers raged monstrously against the tender girl threatened some shipwreck, unless she prudently withdrew her bark from this tempest. Tossed about therefore by a flood of anxious thoughts, she turned this way and that, seeking how she might escape. Being weak in age and sex, she needed the counsel and help of another. Both only her Bridegroom could give her -- and who would He refuse?

[5] The river parts for her as she flees At His inspiration she burst forth in flight, far from her ill-advising brothers. But her course was too quickly stopped by a river in her path without a bridge. Here, trembling like a doe at the barking of pursuing hounds, she turned to Him at whose instigation she had contrived so great a stratagem; and pouring forth prayers, she invoked Him as the guardian of her purity. It was enough to have commended herself to Him. No longer anxious, she went straight into the river; and behold, the waters parted and rose into crystal walls, and a way was opened for the Virgin, who crossed it with feet entirely unmoistened.

a The Arno flows through Florence and Pisa, noble cities of Etruria.

b Silvanus Razzi says it is in the district of Pisa. It is situated roughly midway between Pisa and Florence.

CHAPTER II.

She goes to Lucca, serves a citizen, makes a pilgrimage to Mount Gargano.

[6] Angels put to flight a demon threatening her with violence She did not yet think she had found a safe refuge from her brothers unless she went straight to Lucca. And she had already reached Altopascio, with the sun nearly extinct, when the devil, the rival of all good, contrived another obstacle for the Virgin. He had assumed, as was his custom, a foul and horrid shape and had mounted a terrible and thoroughly misshapen horse; and he seemed to be rushing upon Oringa in a furious charge. She indeed was suddenly terrified and believed she was about to be trampled by the monstrous hoofs of this horse -- had not two white horsemen, sent from heaven, dispelled this dark apparition with their very glance as with a thunderbolt. But they too gradually vanished like the gentlest of lambs. Then Oringa said: "The Lord is with me as a mighty warrior; they who persecute me shall fall and be confounded utterly." This tranquility was soon disturbed by a new and sudden tempest.

[7] Those same angels refresh her as she spends the night in the forest Dense shadows had fallen from the high mountains and had stolen the light from the world; thick undergrowth of the forests arose, which would obstruct the way even at high noon. Here Oringa had to stay, here spend the night in the open air and take free lodging, exposed to the jaws of every wild beast. Who would not be daunted by this, even a manly spirit? But lest it should disturb her virginal courage, a heavenly guide went before her, illuminated that part of the grove with abundant splendor, and tempered it with flowery beauty. Trees rose in a continuous row on either side, as though planted by a skilled hand; sweet-smelling herbs were fragrant underfoot; a pavement, variegated with multicolored flowers, smiled everywhere; you would have said the entire place was the work of Him who planted Paradise. Added to these great delights was another solace, by which the Virgin might while away the night and her cares. A little hare, which trembles even at a man's shadow, dared to approach Oringa fearlessly and to sport; no differently than a puppy in a nurse's hand, it would fondle her familiarly, recline its head in her lap, and be entirely caressing. The Virgin, marveling at the creature's boldness, said: "Why do you not take to swift flight, poor little hare? What if I should catch you? I could, if I wished. Do you think yourself safe in this lap of mine, I who am myself in fearful flight?" Amid these gentle frolics of the girl and the hare, Aurora raised her head from the sea and announced the sun and the near approach of day. But where now was that heavenly guide to set Oringa upon the royal road? For no footprint appeared, no straight path she could follow. Then that charming little hare assumed the office of guide, and signaled with a nod -- more than animal -- to the hesitating girl to follow. And when the Luccan path could be seen, the hare -- whoever he was, whether an angel or an angelic hare -- likewise ceased to be seen.

[8] She serves as a maid When she arrived at Lucca, she found there by chance -- but not without divine providence -- a certain citizen of the first rank, to whom she devoted herself in service, bargaining for nothing in return for her service except some space of extra free time, which she might spend with her Supreme Lord. It is easy to obtain what is just from just people. Therefore not only was a good portion of each full day granted to her, but entire nights as well, which she often spent wholly on her knees in prayer.

[9] St. Michael repels the demon who again lies in wait for her She chose, moreover, a secret place at the top of the house, where, far from noise, she might speak with her God. It was well that she fled the crowd of men; but she could not escape even there the assault of demons. First, the infernal enemy waged hidden warfare and did violence to her mind with the fiery darts of suggestions; then, when that attempt proved vain, he waged open war. He attacked her while praying at night, gaping horribly, with his mouth stretched so wide that you would have thought it the very gate of hell. He added a roar and emitted one so immense that the neighboring houses seemed to be shaken from their foundations and turned upside down. The Virgin at first trembled, as was natural to her weakness, at the so horrible gaping of the infernal monster; but shortly after she recovered her courage, and turned to the Prince of the heavenly host, the Archangel, whom she had been accustomed to invoke in sudden fear. He was present at once, and merely by his glance commanding the empty terror to depart far away, he flooded Oringa with the full joys of consolation.

[10] She is divinely commanded to move elsewhere Thus daily refreshed by divine signs, she began more and more to bind herself to her Bridegroom Jesus; and when He then commanded her to seek another corner of the earth to dwell in, she immediately went to her master and besought him to add his consent to the heavenly command. And he, for whom it was a matter of conscience not to comply at once with God's will, bade her farewell with eyes that were indeed willing but moist.

[11] She makes a pilgrimage to Mount Gargano Setting forth a little further, she found some women of her own sex as companions, prepared to go to Mount Gargano, where she might render special thanks to the supreme Michael of the Angels, to whom she had long been devoutly attached, for the help recently given. And already this defenseless band had spent several days on this journey, when another group of the opposite sex overtook them, apparently undertaking the same journey for a similar purpose of piety. But in reality they were robbers who had a fixed intention of despoiling them of both body and soul. So they traveled together until they reached a certain ambiguous path by which the unsuspecting women could be led into a trap -- with the Sun also conniving, as it went to its rest.

[12] By the aid of St. Michael she escapes the hands of the brigands The robbers drew this female company along a pathless way to a deserted hut -- a den designated for their crime -- about to exercise their arms for violence, had not the one to whom they had consecrated this toilsome pilgrimage been present in time with new help. For behold, a certain youth, clad in the garb of a dragon-slayer, taller than a man, having illuminated the darkness with a brilliant ray (pagans would have adored him as their Hercules), said in a stentorian voice: "Go out, go out, daughters! The deadly robber of souls and bodies is deceiving you and burns to snatch from you the good of both." He spoke, and refreshed the women, weary from the road, inwardly and outwardly, and bade them follow him. Then, withdrawing with them to a fountain gushing with waters sweeter than any ambrosia, he brought forth what he carried hidden under his garment -- a vessel and certain cakes -- and served these with the spring water as their food and drink. They said they had consumed manna, which, according to the diversity of each palate, kindled their appetites with different sweetness of flavor rather than satisfying them. Thence they were led to a respectable inn where they might tend to their bodies in the customary human manner -- if anything remained to be tended after the angelic feast of that divine innkeeper. There St. Michael vanished, though afterwards he refreshed them again and again on the road with his presence.

CHAPTER III.

Having gone from Rome to Assisi, she is repeatedly defended and enlightened by divine aid.

[13] From Mount Gargano she descended to the sacred thresholds of the Apostles, At Rome she enters the household of a certain matron which, and other churches of the City, she devoutly venerated. During these exercises of piety, she conceived the plan of building a monastery -- which was thwarted, doubtless by divine direction, by Monaldus the Franciscan, who commended her to a certain Margarita, a pious and wealthy widow. The matron was pleased by the Virgin's outstanding character; treating her kindly, she clothed her in splendid garments according to the custom of the City and of her household. But Oringa, who took no more delight in gilded clothing than a horse in a decorated harness, gave this precious garment to the first beggar she met, content with her own poor and simple covering. This she did more than once, urged by the charity with which she burned toward the poor. And this Margarita not only witnessed with eyes that were not unfavorable, but even flattered herself and rejoiced in spirit at this prodigality of her servant.

[14] Indeed, she herself, who as a matron could have demanded more menial services from Oringa, There she receives the name Christiana from her virtues counted it among her blessings if she could be a servant to her Oringa. In short, such rare specimens of Christian virtues were conspicuous in this Virgin that she was everywhere in Rome called by no other name than Christiana. This name came to be so established by usage that no one any longer knew her as Oringa.

[15] She had not tarried in Rome very long when meanwhile she felt herself kindled with the desire to visit Assisi, a town in Umbria, She goes to Assisi famous for its celebrated reputation and the religious devotion of St. Francis. After she had seriously deliberated the matter first with herself, then with God, she drew along as companion on the pilgrimage the widow, whom she had bound to herself most closely by the pious bond of holy friendship. As soon as they arrived there, she entered the church with reverence. What then happened to her while praying is well worth knowing.

[16] She had wearied heaven and herself with long and fervent prayers, when suddenly a sweet sleep crept over her, a clear image of things to come. She saw the prototype and model of the monastery (which the townspeople of Castello della Croce afterwards erected for their fellow citizen); In her sleep she sees the design of a monastery to be built and in it a distinguished flock of virgins whom God received into His protection and guardianship, giving the pledge of a faithful promise. She also saw the corner of the town -- a worthless and hidden place -- being celebrated as the site for founding the convent, and immediately growing famous with rich profit of souls. It is incredible to relate how much joy this vision -- no empty phantom of sleep -- poured over her, so much that she wished to share part of it with a certain countryman of hers who was at that time serving as a judge at Assisi. But he, taking the whole thing with a laugh as an old wives' tale and a mere dream, began to turn this spiritual sowing into carnal tares. A certain man tempts her chastity He was captivated, I say, by the Virgin's beauty, and, seized by the insane fire of love, seemed to burn in a furious manner. The sparks of this conflagration -- nay rather, the torches -- were the foul enticements of a shameless tongue, which that mad suitor spewed forth with a mouth utterly brazen and entirely given over to all lasciviousness. The Virgin at first marveled at the man's folly and impertinence; then she returned harsh words for his flattering ones, and threatening and biting words for his lustful ones, and kindled his whole being with indignation, who had previously been burning with love.

[18] The judge, therefore, burning with a double fire -- of love and of fury -- When he could accomplish nothing, he calls upon the devil's help since he divined that all human contrivances would be in vain, called upon diabolical ones, with which he harassed the Virgin in pitiable ways. She, when she felt the monstrous assault of the hidden enemy, despaired of victory unless she should find some other protection from elsewhere. So at a single bound she took refuge in the sacred church, where she invoked the helping hand of St. Francis and above all the protecting hand of her Bridegroom. While she fights and wins this battle, Christiana is invited to the crown of immortality by a wonderful marvel.

[19] Rapt outside herself in an ecstatic motion of the soul, she saw with the eyes of the mind the new city of Jerusalem, She is honored by God with a wonderful marvel which the Angel so clearly illuminated with the memorable ray of his splendor that the Sun, which makes day for us, could seem like night compared to this light of the Angel. She also saw the Mother-Virgin of her Bridegroom sitting on the august throne of her Son, wearing a starry garment woven as though from silver stars by a divine hand, displaying a majesty greater than all human grandeur. Moreover, the citizens of that new Jerusalem, like certain sacred dancers, were dancing in measure and in a circle throughout the whole city in an unceasing dance, except when they returned to the throne having completed a full circle; where they then bowed before the Queen with humble and modest veneration. Christiana, while on the ground with knees humbly bent, and with her heart, such as it was, poured out in prayer, adoring her Bridegroom and His Mother and the holy choir of those dancers, heard Christ speaking these sweetest words: "My dear bride Christiana, you marvel with astonished mind that so much honor is shown to my Mother by the inhabitants of heaven; you are amazed at the ornament of the robe in which she shines. But you should know that today the feast of the Conception is solemnly celebrated in heaven -- of her who bore me, God and man, by the cooperation of the Holy Spirit; that her garment, too, bright with a singular whiteness, signifies the privilege of her virginity, incommunicable to others, by which she merited to be always the Virgin Mother." And He added: "You, moreover, will receive from me the promised share of this glory, when you have paid to nature what you owe." And when with open mouth, as though gaping, she tried to speak due thanks to her Creator, behold, she grieved to see herself alone in the same place where she had begun her prayer -- she who a little before had rejoiced that she enjoyed the company of the Blessed in heaven. Nor could she immediately believe herself to be Christiana, because a certain heavenly splendor lingered on her face, her nostrils still breathed a flowery fragrance, her ears rang with the musical sound of angelic harmony, and her very body, as though having shaken off the mass of flesh, had put on a spiritual agility. From this vision she named her convent Santa Maria Novella, and by a perpetual decree ordained that the feast of the Holy Conception should be celebrated with great solemnity each year. But I return from this digression to that shameless and unchaste lover, the Judge of Assisi.

[20] He had obstinately set his impure mind upon plucking this precious lily of chastity, by whatever means of force or cunning. The man who tries to assault the Virgin's virtue is seized by a demon He decided therefore to summon the infernal spirits with a dreadful incantation, and by a stern edict of magical command ordered them to transport him to the Virgin's oratory. The demons seized the wretched man and carried him head over heels to a place near where Christiana, surrounded by the most brilliant ray of wonderful light, was speaking with God. Unable either to look upon the Virgin or to approach any nearer, they cried out with dreadful howling that they were laboring in vain and wasting their efforts -- that the Angel who once guarded Cecilia now stood beside Christiana, stretching forth his hand and threatening with a flashing sword any who should approach. Having said this, they repeated their monstrous howl, and snatched away with them the wicked judge whom they had brought, to the prisons of eternal punishment.

[21] Around the same time at Assisi, while Christiana was a regular presence in the church of St. Francis, [She rescues a man proscribed by law from the hands of soldiers and converts him to God] a most memorable event occurred that made publicly known her devotion toward God and men. While she happened to be attending the sacred rites there, two men proscribed by law slipped in and, contrary to all reverence for the place and the office the priest was performing at the altar, settled themselves down to sit and sleep, and fell fast asleep. The mystery of the holy transubstantiation had been reached, and they did not stir. The Virgin noticed this out of the corner of her eye, confronted the impious men, rebuked them with sharp words, and at once commanded them to raise both body and heart to God, who would shortly be visible under the appearance of bread. The same words did not sting them both in the same way. For one, having rubbed the sleep from his struggling eyes, bent his knee in devotion and adored the Creator of the world hidden beneath the little disk. The other, however, inclined his head again to his snoring, heedless of God and of himself. The penalty pressed hard upon the heels of the fault. Behold, the magistrate entered the church with his officers, summoned by the church bell to the dutiful service of Christian piety -- or was he rather divinely sent to avenge so great a crime? He immediately recognized these proscribed men by their faces and other marks, and ordered them to be dragged off to chains and to the supreme penalty. The Virgin, stunned as it were by this violence, said: "Good Jesus, is this man to be dragged to death whom I snatched from impious lethargy and roused to the true worship of you? I beseech you, most merciful Lord, restore this man -- whom in a sense I bore for you -- as a son to me." No sooner said than done. This proscribed man freed himself from the chains of the soldiers, leaving his cloak behind, and escaped by the power of Him to whom all things are obedient. He found sanctuary in the same church of St. Francis, where he also assumed the monastic habit and ended his religious life with a holy death. The other, however, who had refused to give ear to the Virgin when she rightly admonished him and to acknowledge his God, acknowledged the Judge and gave his head to the executioner to be cut off.

CHAPTER IV.

She Builds a Monastery: She Breaks Through Obstacles.

[22] Moreover, as she was about to leave Assisi, she resolved to go to Castelfiorentino, She visits Blessed Verdiana a place of some note in the Elsa valley, in order to greet Blessed Verdiana, who, having professed to live conformably to the rule of the Vallombrosan Order, lived there secluded from human sight. Since the Castle of the Holy Cross, Christiana's native soil, was not many miles from there, the Roman widow began to be pressed with a desire to see it. At first Christiana seemed to resist; but since heaven was impelling her in the same direction, she had at length to go.

[23] After both had tarried there for some days, both tried in vain to leave; for Christiana's feet failed her. [When she wishes to leave the town of Santa Croce, she is held back by a hidden force] So that she might know this infirmity was no trifling matter, she could walk within the town with a free step; but no sooner had she thought of leaving than her feet would stiffen, as though nailed to the ground. Both were amazed and marveled at the miracle. What were they to do? The Virgin was compelled to follow God's call; the widow thought it impious not to comply with Him. Seeing herself torn from the one whom Christ held, she embraced her Christiana with the tenderest kiss, affectionately commended herself to her prayers, and departed whence she had come.

[24] There she establishes a convent, following the design previously seen The Virgin, now alone, immediately reflected among her first cares by what outstanding devotions she might best endear herself to her Bridegroom. The memory of establishing a convent returned -- a vow with which she had long been burning. The love of the citizens, warmly favoring her desire, was also added and kindled the flame. She therefore resolved to examine God's will more carefully, and to ask Him to make manifest what He wished her to do. In the heat of these anxieties, her mind fluctuating in various ways, she saw luminous rays descending from heaven, which illuminated with incredible splendor the entire area that is now the extent of the monastery. There was no need for long deliberation about what this guiding light was teaching. She asked and obtained from the citizens of Santa Croce the tract of land where she might lay the cradle of the family to be born.

[25] The new building was coming along beautifully, admirable not so much for its mass of stone [When a neighboring property's heir will not sell at any price, she obtains it for free] as for the holiness of the virgins she had gathered. But a small dwelling in the vicinity, possessed by a certain citizen named Tridianus, was causing inconvenience to this new community. The Virgin appealed to the heir -- not a man but a stone, indeed harder than any stone -- neither by prayer nor by any price to be bent. Turning therefore to heaven, which she had often found to be much softer, she invoked the Son together with the Virgin Mother, that they might bend this rigid man by heavenly power, or at least break him. Heaven heard. The next day, very early in the morning, Tridianus hastened to the monastery gate, and having summoned the sisters with loud and repeated knocking, he offered of his own accord the little house he had previously denied. "Take it," he said, "if you please, even without payment. For in this very place the Queen of Heaven showed herself to me this night, and put into my mind the resolution I now firmly hold." And so that Christiana might render thanks for the benefit, she ordered an altar to be erected there to Mary the Benefactress.

[26] Scarcely had this stormy wind of obstinacy subsided The Mother of God terrifies the Bishop of Lucca when he opposes the Virgin when another far more dangerous tempest arose from the sacred order. For she found a powerful adversary in the Bishop of Lucca, who would not yield an inch of his jurisdiction, which he said would be in some measure lost through this oratory. But the same one who had broken Tridianus also broke the Bishop's stubbornness -- by threatening him most harshly if he placed even the smallest obstacle in the way of her handmaid's holy purpose.

[27] And yet a certain curate of St. Vitus was not afraid to stir up a new and far fiercer tempest against her. She reconciles a parish priest who was hostile to her by her prayers In those times there were in the town of Santa Croce four parishes -- St. Vitus, St. Andrew, St. Thomas, and St. Donatus -- which afterwards merged into a single college of Canons. The convent was situated in the parish of St. Vitus. This curate, I say, often contended sharply and harshly with Blessed Christiana, wishing to assert and maintain the fullest jurisdiction over the entire territory of his church. The kind Virgin would return soft words, by which she not only failed to mollify the man's implacable anger but even provoked it further, and kindled him with such hatred that he now openly and publicly declared himself an enemy of the monastery. Grieving at this more-than-iron obstinacy of a stubborn mind (for in other respects the man was upright), the Virgin prescribed fervent prayers for the parish priest to her community, persuading herself and her sisters with certainty that this intestine hatred would one day be converted into sincere love. Prayers were poured forth from the inmost heart, which, surging with a kind of divine force into the very depths of the man's heart, so disturbed and changed it that, to the degree he had formerly hated the convent, to that same degree he afterwards wished to protect and defend it, both in word and in deed.

CHAPTER V.

She Organizes the Monastery. She Obtains Knowledge of Letters and Singing for Herself and Her Community.

[28] Having successfully weathered all these troubles, she turned her attention to the virgins she had chosen, She learns the condition of her convent through a vision whose company seemed outstanding, and of which Christiana could well be proud. But here it was merit, not numbers, that counted, as she learned quite clearly in the darkness of midnight: when her senses were buried in deep sleep, the eyes of her mind opened and she saw that in the courtyard of her convent a walnut tree had grown with many spreading branches; and under it lay scattered in great number walnuts; and one of the virgins, among the first who had placed themselves under Christiana's discipline, named Maria, was gathering all the nuts into one pile, then selecting the good ones and throwing the rotten or empty ones out of the monastery. Christiana had scarcely rubbed the sleep from her eyes when she recounted this portentous dream in order to the Maria I have mentioned, and asked her opinion on the mystery, which she knew full well was not hidden from her. Then Maria said: "You should know, my Christiana, that the rotten nuts which you saw cast out by my hand signify the foolish virgins who, according to the Gospel parable, have no oil in the vessels of their lamps and await their Bridegroom yawning or sleeping; the good ones, however, which you saw me gathering and preserving, are the wise virgins, who in this sacred community will lead the religious life, anxiously and eagerly longing for their Bridegroom, whose nuptials they will be found most worthy of." "But alas," she added, "wretched and thrice wretched me, who am among the number of the foolish, and therefore am to be cast out of this holy college of virgins." The event corresponded to the prophecy; for not long after, having departed with several other girls to the pleasures of the world and to marriage, she refused to wait for the heavenly Bridegroom. Thus the community, refined, began to enjoy and experience a wonderful tranquility of souls in Christ; but above all Christiana surpassed them all -- she who, whenever she had begun a discourse on divine things, seemed to have laid aside the garment of burdensome flesh and put on entirely the nature of an angel.

[29] She was, nevertheless, of such modesty that she who was truly the mother of the others She considers herself below all her sisters and the founder of the convent, judged herself unworthy to bear the name of Abbess; and the more she surpassed all, the more she wished to be placed behind all -- the slave of all, as one bought from the stone, ready to serve at a nod, and to confess her fault and beg pardon with prostrate body from whomever she had not pleased with sufficiently apt service. But this lowliness of mind did not lack its fruit. The Lady of the world had regard for the humility of her handmaid.

[30] She has the Mother of God as her teacher of letters At the request of the virgins (who always honored her as a mother), she had assigned a quota of familiar prayers to be completed from memory each day by a fixed number; for they were all unlearned and untaught in reading. How important it is that nuns should not be entirely uneducated, the Virgin learned from a nocturnal spectacle. The Mother of God was seated in the place where Christiana was accustomed to grant her presence to outside friends or to give ear to those with business. She held in one hand a codex inscribed in golden letters, which she offered to Christiana as she fell upon her knees, with a face neither smiling nor stern, saying: "Read, Christiana." She replied with profound humility of soul: "My Lady, I do not know how to read." When the Mother of God repeated her command again and again, Christiana again and again gave back her three words: "My Lady, I do not know how to read." Then the Mother of God said: "I will cause you to know." As soon as she said this, she disappeared. The Virgin, restored to her senses, pondered this dream more carefully, examining the unfitness of her age, which was by now considerable; and yet she judged it would be a good thing for the convent if it had an Abbess skilled in letters, by whom the other virgins could be instructed. Behold, the opportunity for the desired advantage immediately presented itself at the door. Six girls, initiated in the sacred monastic rites, were enrolled in the list of nuns; two of whom had once looked at a psalter, and the little they had tasted in learning it they began to teach to the others in turn; then, daring a crowning feat, they ventured to peruse the Roman Breviary and to stammer out something of the Canonical Hours. The desire for knowledge grew so much, with God as its author, that when words commonly contracted into abbreviations with a few consonants required the help of a teacher, a teacher was given from heaven to one of them -- a certain venerable priest, from whom she had once obtained the beginning of her reading, who would explain doubtful points to her while she slept and untangle the more difficult knots. A more vigilant teacher could not have been given to one who was awake. For she observed all his instructions so studiously and retained them so faithfully that she could impart the same to her sisters and impress them upon them thoroughly. And yet much still remained hidden from her and the others. Therefore Christiana asked God and the Mother of God for complete knowledge with frequent but unavailing prayer. At last, therefore, with the most effusive heart, she cried out thus: "Queen of both worlds and best Mother of my best Bridegroom, since I see and acknowledge that I am unworthy of this grace I ask, may it please you, I beseech, to open to my sisters at least a little of what it has pleased you to keep hidden from your handmaid." Having said this, she took a codex, explained it to a neighboring sister, and learned from her at that very moment what before neither of them had known. The Lady of the world therefore had regard for the humility of her handmaid, because the one who was the teacher of all had with equanimity admitted the least of her sisters to teach her.

[31] But it was not enough for the sacred virgins to be skilled in letters unless they also knew how to modulate their voices in a melodious manner for the ecclesiastical hymns. She and the other virgins learn to sing without a teacher He, therefore, who gives birds the tuneful tongue and a throat skilled in song, also gave to this pious choir such an art of singing that they seemed equipped with more than human powers for charming the ears. So that all may believe this is so, I shall furnish the matter from an authority. Religious men had gathered at Christiana's oratory on the vigil of St. John the Baptist to perform the evening prayers with solemn chant. In the hymn, they were all sounding badly with discordant voices, and though the beginning had been repeated many times, they could not render it in the proper tone. Then the nuns, animated by divine inspiration, began to weave so sweet a harmony of voices and to sing the hymn -- which they had scarcely ever read before -- that more than one person believed they had heard the music of angels.

CHAPTER VI.

She Knows and Foretells Hidden and Future Things.

[32] I pass to another instructive marvel, She explains to her virgins mysteries shown to her from heaven by which God not so much instructed as delighted His handmaid. She saw flowing down from heaven to earth a most ample canopy, the greater part of which was spread most widely over the entire sky, while the part where it touched her oratory was very narrow. There was no need for another interpreter to explain these dreams: Christiana herself disclosed their meaning to her sisters thus. She asserted that the way that leads to heaven is narrow and difficult; and that he is not worthy to pluck the rose who shrinks from thorns; nor will he enjoy spiritual delights who refuses to taste the bitterness of temporal sufferings. He is deceived who believes he will be comfortably conveyed to the joys of the Blessed in a sedan chair or on a soft litter: one must constantly struggle with a most powerful enemy; the life of man is a warfare. With these spectacles and daily incitements to virtue she was accustomed to console her companions, meanwhile forbidding all of them that anything of what she had candidly related as having happened to her should reach outside ears while she was still alive.

[33] Men ask to be instructed by her teaching Nor did she preach these salutary lessons only within the walls of the cloister to innocent maidens; she also captivated shrewd and learned men with her eloquent speech and moved them, as it were by hand, at her pleasure. She, I say, who had never heard any human teacher, gave such a specimen of doctrine and of the wisdom dwelling in her that she could unravel without difficulty any question however perplexed and intricate. Therefore there was a frequent concourse of distinguished and learned men, burning with the desire to hear her and professing that from her mouth there breathed a certain heavenly breeze of divine wisdom which would direct wavering souls to the port of salvation.

[34] She sees the thoughts of men What wonder? Anointed almost daily with heavenly pleasure, often with her senses suspended and seemingly lifeless, rapt I know not where, she gazed upon the most beautiful mirror of divine clarity, from which she drew no obscure knowledge of human minds -- so that whenever she fixed her eyes upon the face of any person, she simultaneously penetrated to that person's innermost being and searched out the most secret recesses of the heart with curious inquiry. From the same source she became distinguished with the spirit of prophecy, so that she saw future things no less certainly than those that were present.

[35] She foretells a defeat to the people of Santa Croce She would certainly have been a timely prophetess for her fellow citizens, had she been believed. For a long time there had been a longstanding and mortal enmity between them and the people of Fucecchio (they live nearby). To rage against each other with sword and flame was a daily sport. Seeing therefore that her fellow townsmen of Santa Croce were burning with eagerness and preparing arms with which to make an incursion the next day into enemy territory with widespread devastation, she wished to warn them and avert the disaster she foresaw. At the first rays of dawn, she had a signal given and assembled the magistrates, to whom she spoke words few in number but weighty with the gravity of wisdom and substance: They should not rush headlong where a wicked spirit, always the author of the worst counsel, impelled them; they should not rashly attempt what could be followed by repentance and punishment itself. If, moreover, they wished to go where they had proposed, the chains they had prepared for others awaited them, and the most certain and grievous losses. Thereupon one man, more impudent than the rest, said: "It is never safe to trust a woman." And immediately, having laughed to scorn the Virgin's counsel, they seized their weapons and marched at a rapid pace against the enemy. They had already crossed the river Arno (meanwhile Christiana pointed out to a companion a serpent horrifying to see, which from the other bank of the river had placed itself in the path of the men of Santa Croce), and they were ravaging the territory that had long before been marked for plunder. The people of Fucecchio, learning of the enemy's attack, were not slow to arm themselves either, and hurled themselves upon their adversaries so monstrously that, without seeking a ford -- which the flood of the river did not offer -- and undeterred by the men of Santa Croce who held the entire bank as a defense, they swam across without any loss, struck down the enemy, and dragged off a great many in chains. Among the rest, that loud-mouthed boaster who had stupidly cried out that one should not trust a woman was slain with his son, their tongues torn out through the back of their necks from the root. This was held by all as a miracle, and it was believed that the Deity had exacted punishment from that member which had sinned for the contempt shown to the Virgin.

[36] She made more favorable predictions to a certain Umbronicus A certain Umbronicus heard from the same a prophecy more favorable to himself and his family. An internecine hatred was troubling two illustrious families, with no hope that it could be extinguished. The father of one was this Umbronicus I have mentioned, who, detesting so long and dangerous a quarrel, asked Christiana to uproot by prayer the very root of this discord. She, when frequently and importunately pressed, at last told the anxious parent in kind words to sleep soundly in both ears: the families would indeed rush forth to many bloody encounters, but none would be fatal, and therefore no one would perish; the weapons would first be shattered in the very hands of the combatants. All of which happened exactly. For when both sides rushed into battle, one man saw the sword he was wielding shatter in his hand, another had his throat run through, another suffered a grievous wound -- but all without danger to life, in conformity with the holy Virgin's prediction.

[37] She restores lost letters to Franciscans going to Tartary What I add pertains to the same theme. Certain grave Fathers of the Seraphic family, destined as apostles to the Tartars (men who were almost infernal), greeted Blessed Christiana on their way. There they held long discourses about their very long journey, speaking many words about the most ample dignity and authority of their evangelical office; they were also eager to display certain unusual privileges for duly carrying out that mission. They searched their sleeves, their purses, their bags -- in vain; the documents had fallen out somewhere on the road. A heavy grief suddenly seized them all, and they nearly fainted. But Christiana said: "Be of good heart, good Fathers; your privileges are safe." And having dismissed all witnesses, she immediately fell to her prayers, which she continued throughout the night, until heaven showed her that the documents lay under a juniper bush. A servant sent the next morning found them intact and uncorrupted by the rain that had fallen heavily that night. She foretells that one of them, the most fervent, will not persevere While restoring them, however, she fixed her gaze upon a Father named James, who seemed to be burning with the readiest feet for the journey and the harvest of the Gospel, and she pronounced that he would not persevere. He heard this at the time with astonishment indeed; but afterward all saw with even greater astonishment that the prophetess had not been false.

[38] She foresees the evil life and infamous death of a newborn boy Indeed, she foresaw and predicted many things scarcely yet born. Among these is the following. She was visiting a woman who had just given birth, and with her gaze fixed upon the wailing infant, she said, weeping tears of pity: "O unhappy little one, how I pity you!" And to the bystanders: "This one will lead a life infamous for its crimes, and will end it most infamously; for spurning God and trampling upon the laws, he will cover himself entirely with nefarious crimes, and in place of a tomb will have a cross." She seemed to have recited a leaf of the Sibyl. For at a mature age, found guilty and condemned for abominable crimes, the executioner broke his neck.

[39] She also saw a young man named Thomasinus, who out of devotion had followed a certain band of pilgrims She predicts the priesthood of Thomasinus and had solemnly saluted St. Francis at Assisi, by chance leaving the right road and wandering aimlessly. She therefore told John, the venerable Father entrusted with her conscience, to receive kindly the man who would be returning bashfully and modestly to the monastery; and that the same Thomasinus would one day serve in the convent in the capacity of a priest. He came; and what she had predicted came to pass. But who could embrace in writing all the things she predicted? It is better to turn hand and mind to her virtues, and to pursue briefly certain remarkable ones among them, from which each of us may take the best example for living.

CHAPTER VII.

Her Virtues and Miracles.

[40] She always honored the great Virgin with a foremost devotion, and always wished earnestly to commend love of her to her virgins, and also warmly to recommend it to us who seek or hope for the reward of chastity. A distinguished proof of this was what I shall here relate. The nuns, preparing to adorn the feast day of the Mother of God assumed into heaven, had spent a great part of the preceding night in labor. Already so profoundly did sleep bind them, utterly exhausted, that they seemed to be sleeping not merely in one ear but in both eyes at once. When the thicker darkness had been dispelled, She halts the rising sun the reddening dawn had been running ahead of the sun -- which was about to make full day -- for some time before the virgins had shaken off their sleep. Stricken with shame no less -- on account of the great concourse of visitors from every side -- than with grief on account of the reverence due to the feast, they were utterly at a loss as to what to do. Christiana, although she was struggling with a difficult illness (which proved fatal to her), immediately rushed to them, bidding them be free from all anxiety of mind. "Give, my daughters," she said, "the solemn signal of the bell, and perform the morning prayers with a chant worthy of so great a festivity; for the dawn will not move from where it is, and just as it has now once risen, it will remain so until you have rested after completing your office." Christiana spoke in good faith; the virgins acted on the same. Do you know how? Joshua once (the world marveled) halted the Sun as it hastened toward its setting by his command. This Virgin of ours (let our world too be amazed) forbade the dawn to advance further, until the sisters had paid their due homage to her who has the Moon beneath her feet.

[41] Remarkable in her was her zeal for prayer, She joins nights to days in prayer in which she more than once joined the night to the day. So frequently intent upon her prayers that for whole days -- and those many -- she did not remember, or at any rate neglected, to take food or drink. When asked by the nuns, who were excessively anxious for her health, to taste a little for the sustenance of her poor body, it was her custom to take a morsel of coarse bread before she poured herself out in prayer, so as to give something to the sisters' affection and not be blown upon by the smoke of empty vainglory -- which, had she not believed she must guard against most carefully, she often declared that she would never have taken any food at all. For the things she had tasted of the spirit could not allow the things of the flesh to appeal to her.

[42] She teaches others to pray Indeed you would have said the Virgin's breast was a kind of Etnaean furnace that belched forth flames and burned with the fires of prayer all who had approached her closely. For no one greeted her with even the most perfunctory address without immediately receiving from her a daily exercise of prayer and being compelled, as though by dictatorial command, to observe it through her soul-bending speech.

[43] Her mercy toward the poor She was most generous toward the needy, to whom she distributed without discrimination whatever she had at hand. To a certain ragged beggar at the monastery gate, begging for alms to relieve his misery, she gave the tunic she was wearing together with the gold coin -- the only one she had.

[44] She miraculously aids her citizens during a famine The Castle of Santa Croce and the places around it were being fiercely harassed by famine. A common remedy had to be sought for the common evil: Christiana found it. For in the midst of her convent's field, planted thick with beans, she set up a tall cross, which invited everyone to their common use. God was present with a new prodigy as well. All came running in groups and seized as much as they wished according to the emptiness of their stomachs; yet the harvest of beans did not seem to decrease, so that this one little field gave salvation from mortal famine to all.

[45] She was not only compassionate toward the poor but was carried with a singular love toward all mortals everywhere, so that she would most gladly do a service for anyone if she could. She had once set out on a sacred journey to Monte Topario with Alexander, a pious and wealthy youth, and another citizen of Castello Franco. While Christiana was discoursing as they walked about more divine matters and the love of heavenly things, She miraculously frees a captive youth behold, some men of Castel del Marzi, who had obtained the right of reprisal (as they call it) against the people of Castello Franco, met them on the road, fell upon Alexander and his companion, and dragged them both off into captivity. Our Virgin followed the fleeing captors, praying and beseeching them by the most sacred heart of Jesus Christ to let them go free, so that she might finish the journey she had begun with them. She was singing her tale to a deaf donkey. She therefore entered a nearby chapel, and with a brief but ardent dart of prayer she struck and pierced heaven. Again she quickened her pace and cried out at the top of her voice, telling Alexander to turn his freed feet back. He heard, turned, and returned to Christiana and to Monte Topario. Moreover, so that you may know this was done by a hidden force: the exultant robbers had reached Castel del Marzi before they realized Alexander was missing. There, each accusing the others' negligence with an indignant countenance, since they had lost the wealthy one, they also let the poorer one go -- not unwillingly.

[46] She instantly heals a wound No less timely was the help that a certain Sabbatinus, a Pisan architect, received from her. He, applying a diligent hand to building the monastery, struck his foot badly on a nail, whose dangerous point he had inadvertently stepped upon. But the wound pained him less than the thought that he could not go to Pisa, where he had to travel on business. The Virgin sympathized, and having offered a prayer to God, bound his wound with a light bandage, and encouraged him to walk fearlessly to Pisa the next day. As soon as he reached the city, he anxiously looked for the wound. But the bandage -- or was it the Virgin's hand? Neither, however, without the Deity -- had wiped away even its trace.

[47] She obtains offspring for a barren woman These frequent and astonishing benefits toward many, which were being spread throughout all of Etruria with great rumor, also fired a citizen of Lucca named Francuccio to ask Christiana for something himself, certain that he would obtain it. His wife was childless, but his desire for children was most keen. He therefore came to Santa Croce and explained to the Virgin his wife's deficiency and his own desire, beseeching her that he might obtain his wish. He said he would not doubt the outcome if she, who had always hitherto found heaven willing to grant her requests, would only agree. He had wearied the Virgin with such entreaties for several days, when, having prepared for his journey to Lucca, he again commended his hopes to her. Then the Virgin (she knew that God had not lent deaf ears to her petition) said to Francuccio: "Will it be enough for you if your wife bears you a daughter, whom you will afterwards offer to this monastery?" He replied: "I desire this very thing far more than anything else." "God has heard you," said Christiana. "Return in His name, and remember to live in conformity with His will." Shortly after, the wife of Francuccio conceived, and he then brought the daughter (they called her Jacoba) to Christiana. When her age permitted it, she assumed the monastic habit and lived so devoutly that she seemed not so much obtained by prayers as chosen and received by God into His special care.

[48] She miraculously fills empty vessels with wine She could not fail her own community, who was so generous toward strangers. Attracted by the sweet fragrance of her glorious fame, virgins flocked from all sides and had given themselves to Christiana to be initiated in the monastic life in such numbers that their count had already grown larger than could all be comfortably fed. One day, therefore, the wine in the vessels ran out, so that nothing was left to serve the sisters the next day. The Virgin, anxious for her tender lambs, for whom she foresaw that pasture would be lacking unless the Supreme Shepherd should provide, entreated Him with her vows not to forget His own in their time of need. To have hinted this in a single word was more than enough. Behold, He was immediately there, and filled the cellar with an abundant vintage. Lest this wonder should pass through the mouths of the crowd, she had bound all the nuns with strict laws of silence. Yet it broke out. For when a certain man, about to refill a vessel which he knew had been empty a moment before, brought a jug near, he saw wine bubbling up with great force and flowing abundantly onto the ground. Astonished therefore at his first sight of this never before seen prodigy, he rushed outside and immediately published what he had seen throughout the whole town.

CHAPTER VIII.

She Predicts Her Own Death and Other Things: She Dies: She Is Buried.

[49] She suffers from paralysis for three years Disease attacked her while she was occupied in these pursuits -- but it did not find her unprepared. For it was not enough for the Lord to have a bride diligently following in the footsteps of all the great virtues, unless He also subjected her to the wine-press of His own Passion, and having squeezed out even the tiny specks of all impurities, consumed her as a worthy holocaust in the fire of His love. He therefore afflicted her with paralysis and confined her to bed for three full years, and afflicted her so severely that, with her right side entirely deadened, she seemed to die a thousand deaths each day in the rest of her body. Nevertheless, with a cheerful and smooth brow and a smiling face, she praised amid her torments Him who, she said, had not unwillingly tasted the bitterness of death for her sake. She taught her own sisters, who were grieving in sympathy, to be strong of soul in suffering for the sweet Jesus whatever storm should break upon them. Certainly no suffering ever weighed upon her so heavily as to be able to disturb her mind, which she had fixed on heaven, or to bend it toward the failing of human weakness. But the greater the storm of pains, the higher and more firmly she anchored her trust in God; and she seemed to experience the truest calm of soul at that very time, and to rest more tranquilly upon her Beloved in meditation and prayer. Yet the Abbess did not allow her to go any further to the oratory, where she had been accustomed to attend the priest performing the sacred rites and to adore God present in the sacred Host. For she had noted that her strength was entirely failing. She therefore gave her a strict order and commanded her to be at rest: God, she said, is the All-Seeing One and penetrates the innermost heart and the mind itself. Not daring to speak against this, she obeyed the Abbess all the more willingly since she knew she had been adding a greater burden to her sisters, on whose shoulders she was carried to the chapel. But so prompt an obedience was not without its reward.

[50] She sees Christ For He whom she was not permitted to see hidden under the veil of bread, she beheld conspicuous beyond all cloud every time the priest celebrated Mass. This she revealed to Father John, the guardian of her conscience, but under the same seal under which she was accustomed to confess her sins -- from which he did not pronounce her free until she had ceased to be among the living.

[51] She predicts the hour of her death, and many other things to follow When her Bridegroom, most sweet, knocked at her door and called her to the unfading crown and the final nuptials, she began to conceive, as it were, the approaching happiness of eternal joy, sending forth from her whole body rays that dazzled the eyes of the bystanders with their brilliance. And so she predicted the final hour of her life, as well as very many things concerning the turmoils of her homeland, remarkable events of the monastery, and other matters, which subsequent times discovered had not been spoken in vain. The entire community of nuns with the Abbess was summoned. From the Abbess first, then from the rest individually, Christiana besought pardon with a humble spirit if she had in any way offended, seeking the embraces of all; then she admonished them all together with pious tears to willingly render the vows they had made to God; to hold humility, the foundation of all virtues, among their dear and foremost possessions; to follow eagerly the Bridegroom of souls where He had gone before, with the cross taken up upon their shoulders; finally, to love their neighbor, but above all God, and to write this as the testament of her last will for her sister-disciples. Thereupon all immediately burst into weeping and feminine wailing. She, however, She departs this life saluting the name of Jesus again and again, freed from the impediment of the body, flew to the heavens on the fourth day before the Nones of January, 1310, having lived seventy years, all of which, from her very mother's breast, she devoted to God and His service. That St. Augustine and the saintly Augustinians were present at Christiana's passing is the firm opinion of the writers; I believe, so that they might show her the way to heaven, as they had often done for others.

[53] Fregia sees her soul borne to heaven by angels About the angels there is no doubt at all; in whose arms she was seen being carried to the heights by Fregia, a woman noble among the Pisans, while she was intent upon her prayers in the cathedral. To her, in a voice already more than human, she said: "Rejoice, my friend Fregia, because I am being borne by the happy hands of the heavenly citizens to eternal delights."

[54] Her body is illuminated by rays Her body, illustrious with the radiant beams shining around it as signs of blessedness, summoned to its spectacle neighboring and distant towns, which poured themselves out in waves -- so that for ten whole days it could neither be buried nor corrupted by the air vitiated by the breath of the throngs.

[55] On the evening of the first day on which she gave up her soul, her body, clothed in its customary garments, was carried to a place where it could easily be seen by all, placed on a high bier and surrounded by a dense array of shining torches. And behold, a new marvel. While all the people watched, five pairs of nuns emerged from the monastery cloister, all of serene countenance and beautiful, equal in bodily stature and youthful age, which seemed not to exceed twenty-two years, clothed in a garment almost angelic, of the same color as that which Christiana had been accustomed to wear, their heads covered with a long veil. They surrounded the bier and reverently arranged the body in a seated position. The people marveled that this community, usually withdrawn from public view, should appear; they stood transfixed before the brilliant beauty of their faces, like statues, as though petrified by a Medusan wonder. Nuns long deceased are seen to attend her funeral The suspicion was that they had come to perform the funeral office for the deceased and had been given such splendid garments for this purpose by Agnolo, a benevolent patron of the convent. There was therefore one who wished to keep the crowd away and exclude them from the oratory, lest they be any impediment to the sisters performing the rites. But when, with faces composed to gravity yet silent, they had maintained their devout station for a rather long time, as the darkness of deep night closed in, they returned whence they had come. Everyone long remained convinced of this explanation, until, when inquiry was made of the priests together with the Abbess of the virgins, they replied that the sisters had never assembled for that office; that there were not even three in the entire convent of that age and beauty; moreover, that the garments of each were old and tattered, so that they could not have decently presented themselves to the eyes of the crowd. They believed instead (if those people were willing to trust their own eyes) that they had been the companions of Blessed Christiana who had long since died (they were ten in number), who had come to pay that public honor to their mother and teacher. But nothing of this seems remarkable in comparison with the many and very great things she performed after her death.

CHAPTER IX.

Various Miracles Wrought by Her Merits.

[56] The falling sickness is cured From the domestic household of the convent, a serving woman named Laurentia, who handled the business that needed to be managed outside, was subject to the falling sickness, and sometimes suffered so cruel a paroxysm that, with her body tossed about monstrously, she would lacerate her face or other limbs, being useless for all work for many days following. When, at the very moment Christiana ceased to live, she commended herself to Blessed Christiana, she never afterward experienced any inconvenience of health, no disease, and gave thanks to her savioress.

[57] A boy who had taken a candle offered to her is punished During those days, a certain boy, either innocently or mischievously, had carried off with him one of the candles that had been offered. At home, when ordered that same evening to light his father's way down to the cellar to draw wine, he did not hesitate to light this sacred candle. But he could not approach the cask itself: for the hoops burst with a great crash, and with the joints of the staves loosened, wine was flowing everywhere. His father, who was following behind the boy, being anxious with some kind of religious scruple, asked in a harsh voice what fault he had committed that day. The boy, without beating around the bush, confessed in plain words that he had today taken the candle from the altar of the monastery. Immediately the father fell on his knees and implored heaven to pardon his son's offense, conceiving a vow to restore the candle. And behold, a new prodigy: suddenly, as though frozen, the wine stopped, unable to flow further from the cask however loosened.

[58] When invoked, she stops a flow of blood By the same power she also stopped a hemorrhage. I shall relate the matter in three words. A certain woman suffered from a hemorrhoid incurable by any medical remedies. For no physician could check the flowing blood, no one could arrest the approaching death. She had already lost the use of her tongue and was at the very point of death, with her soul standing on the threshold about to depart. The undertaker was present to wash the corpse; the pallbearers were being summoned to carry her to burial, when the parents cast their daughter at the tomb of Christiana, who, being piously invoked, immediately stopped the blood and recalled the fleeing soul. But why should we marvel that wine or blood stands still at the Virgin's bidding, when we have seen the rising sun stand still at her command?

[59] She frees ten possessed women Nor is it surprising that the rebellious spirits acknowledged the Virgin's great power over them, since on the very day she passed to the heavenly realm, they were compelled to lift the siege by which they had long and violently oppressed ten women of Santa Croce.

[60] Hence the growing fame of such rare miracles She restores sight to a blind man added a wonderful amount of both confidence and devotion among the neighboring Florentines. Among them, a certain citizen had been deprived of the use of his eyes for fourteen years, bereft of all hope of seeing in the future -- except that he saw there was more help for him in the merits of Christiana than in the art of all physicians. He wished to be led to her altar. He came, he saw, and by his pious prayer he conquered the power of all surgeons. A grave priest of the Order of Preachers, who had been present and had noted this miraculous transition from deprivation to restoration, explained the prodigy at that same place in a sermon, after having thoroughly re-examined it, and stirred the people -- about two thousand had gathered -- to the praise of God and the veneration of the Blessed, with a splendid proclamation.

[61] She cures an abscess Another Florentine, around the year 1328, was tormented by an abscess -- a restless ailment. He was Lippo Adimari, a man of noble blood, whom this malady in his right side so cruelly afflicted that it disturbed all his rest day and night. Now Adimari's wife held in high esteem a coral cross that had once hung as an ornament from the venerable relics of Christiana; for she believed (as this sex is always more inclined to piety) that from contact with so holy a body some supernatural power had adhered to her cross. She therefore applied it as a poultice to the affliction, and in fervent prayer the woman committed her husband to Christiana's protection. That confidence was not empty. In a moment of time the abscess burst, all pain was also broken, and Lippo clearly saw that he had completely recovered.

[62] She restores strength to a paralytic A monk of Altopascio likewise believed he would find this holy nun, who rained down such rare benefits upon others, easy toward himself if he should approach her. This man, badly afflicted by a prolonged paralysis, carried one hand as though it were a stump, useless even for taking food. Weighed down by the grave tedium of this infirmity, he visited the tomb of Christiana; there, divinely prompted during his prayer, he remained for three days and three nights, piously expecting and fully obtaining complete health.

[63] Far the most illustrious and most astonishing is what the town of San Miniato witnessed. She recalls a dead boy to life There a little boy named Peter had accidentally plunged himself into a ditch full of water. Suffocated, he lay in it for a full day -- who would doubt he was dead? His parents found him thus after a long search. They decided to lift him from the water so that he might be committed to the earth. His eyes had left their sockets, so that no one failed to believe that his soul too had departed its own. Nothing was left to the parents but to weep. When this had been done to a notable degree, the abundance of prodigies that were everywhere proclaimed at the invocation of Blessed Christiana came to their memory. They promised themselves certain health for their son if they should commend him to the holy Virgin's care. They therefore made a vow that, if the boy should return to life, they would devote him forever to the service of the monastery, and then offer a wax figure of the boy at her altar as a testimony of the miracle. The outcome did not disappoint them. The dead boy breathed again, and with him the parents, who had themselves been nearly dead.

[64] No less pitiable a spectacle to her own parents was a certain girl of Santa Croce, She casts a demon out of a girl whom an infernal guest had tormented by his prolonged occupation and had treated in the worst possible ways. For whose life is not more miserable than death itself with such an inmate -- especially when no remedy for expelling this evil is found? Sacred prayers were applied in vain; ordinary devotions were powerless. The obstinate demon could not be moved by any devotions. No hope of human aid remained. Hence, as is accustomed to happen when this fails, they went to God and to the altar of Blessed Christiana. They threw the belt of the Virgin (the distinguishing sign of the Augustinian religious) over the afflicted girl; and behold (what great power in so small a thing!), the Stygian occupant immediately began to wail, to leave his lodging, and to leave the girl thenceforth free and well.

CHAPTER X.

Other Miracles of Oringa.

[65] Two years later, in the year 1330 to be precise, a certain priest of the Carmelite family (his name was Father Henricus) had come from Pisa to Santa Croce with another friar as a travel companion to venerate the sacred relics of Blessed Christiana. Having finished the prayers he had conceived, he was hastening homeward. The river Era had to be crossed. The ferryman was absent from his boat, and there was no one else who would dare to take his place in ferrying them to the other bank. For the river, greatly swollen by the monthly rains, had overflowed into the neighboring fields and was rolling more rapidly than any inexperienced person could steer the rudder of a small boat. The Carmelites nonetheless asked two men standing there near the water to do them this favor. They refused at first and made excuses about the insurmountable force of the rushing waters; She rescues the Carmelites from danger of shipwreck until, overcome by the unrelenting importunity of the monks, they at last boarded the vessel and attempted to cross -- but the river was angry. For, irritated by fresh rain falling from the clouds, it rose and attacked the boat with waves so heavy that, overwhelmed by the turbulent rush of water, it clearly seemed to be lurching and sinking. Their wives, standing on the bank, saw their husbands in danger and cried out pitiably. Warned by the wailing of these mourning women, Father Henricus became aware of the mortal danger in which he was being tossed with the others. With all hope of human aid abandoned, he turned his tearful eyes toward heaven and in the most formal words said: "Glorious Virgin Christiana, you are not unaware that this journey was undertaken by me for your sake. Lend me your helping hand in these straits, and I promise you the perpetual tribute of an annual fast on bread and water alone, by which I shall honor and venerate the vigil of your feast day." He had not yet finished his entire vow when they found themselves -- by what favorable wind they knew not -- brought to shore on the bank of the Era.

[66] Had this happy breeze not blown upon Saccucius Likewise a Saccucius of Livorno in the middle of the ocean, he would certainly have been a plaything of sea and winds in the year 1445. He had set sail from Italy, from his own port (he was from Livorno), setting out on a voyage to Flanders. He had maintained a fairly prosperous course for some time, when a fearsome storm of winds began to rise, to press down upon the ship, and in a moment to toss it hither and thither. Before the eyes of all, death was most imminent. Saccucius invoked Blessed Christiana as the anchor of his salvation. He vowed a pilgrimage to her if he should escape this danger alive. Once the vow was made, the winds subsided and the fury of the angry sea abated. He, having returned to Santa Croce, visited the tomb of the blessed Virgin and offered a candle as a witness of his gratitude at her altar.

[67] While there is no corner of Etruria that does not acknowledge some benefit received from Blessed Christiana, Santa Croce in particular confesses itself bound to its fellow citizen by the greatest bonds of patronage, so that it owes her not only the title of Savioress but also the name of Guardian and Averter of Evil. I shall set forth the proofs of this. A great force of enemies was holding the road to Santa Croce, plundering it, intending to burst into the town with a sudden attack and pillage everything. They had approached almost to the very walls, gaping for plunder, when the rebellious and refractory horses could not be driven by any spurs to advance; She preserves Santa Croce from plunderers but with bent knees, as though in veneration, they seemed to adore the place they were going to sack. A kind of religious awe seized the soldiers, making them afraid to approach a town that even brute beasts venerated. The commanders were ordered to assemble and were asked their opinion as to what should be done. It was decided to send scouts into the town to investigate whether there was within the walls anything worthy of extraordinary honor or veneration. They heard that the sacred remains of Christiana were shining there with miracles and that among the citizens and neighbors she was counted in the number of the heavenly saints. The military commander, having first sworn an oath that he would inflict no damage upon the town or its inhabitants, obtained permission to visit the tomb. He entered the Virgin's oratory with reverence, and having humbly offered his prayers to God and the Saint, he left to posterity as a memorial of this most well-attested miracle the iron horseshoe of his horse, which, affixed to the door of the church with iron nails, is still shown to this day.

[68] Another more recent proof of her patronage is what the histories record as having happened in the time of Clement VII. A troop of Spanish soldiers was wintering at Santa Croce, and, no differently than once at Saguntum, they were simultaneously fighting the cruelest and most hostile enemy -- a most dire famine -- which, with all the granaries exhausted and the storehouses stripped, threatened mortal starvation for the entire town. Means and remedies were sought to resist it bravely, but none could be found. A certain informer, whose hunger had settled in the bottom of his belly, cried out to find some filling for his emptiness, claiming that a notable store of provisions abounded in the convent. [She punishes a Spanish military tribune who was preparing to carry off the monastery's provisions with blindness] Hungry wolves were easily persuaded of prey. Without delay, the military tribune rushed there. The citizens of Santa Croce saw, ran up, and he began to take stock of the commotion. He made many excuses: he had no harmful intent; not only would he inflict no damage upon the virgins, but he would also prevent all violence and would punish it seriously and severely. He only asked permission to judge for himself, by the testimony of his own eyes, the truth of the rumor. With such soft words he was easily able to occupy the first door; but so that he should not see the second, a divine hand cast a cataract before his eyes. She heals him again when he repents The shouting tribune was seized by his soldiers, who cried "Lead me out!" Now blind, when he saw his crime, he forbade his soldiers with a stern edict to approach the monastery, and after pouring out prayers to the Virgin, he again saw the light with darkness banished -- so that he might recognize in Christiana the Sun who could take away and restore daylight to his eyes at her pleasure.

These few things out of many; for whoever finds them insufficient, he may go to Friar Honorius of Santa Croce, a fuller writer on the miracles of Blessed Christiana in the Italian pen.