Martyrs Berard of Carbio

ON THE HOLY MARTYRS BERARD OF CARBIO, OTTO THE PRIEST, PETER OF SAN GIMIGNANO, ADIUTUS, AND ACCURSIUS, OF THE ORDER OF ST. FRANCIS, IN MAURITANIA.

Year of Christ 1220.

Berard of Carbio, Martyr of the Order of St. Francis in Mauritania (Saint) Otto, Priest Martyr of the Order of St. Francis in Mauritania (Saint) Peter of San Gimignano, Martyr of the Order of St. Francis in Mauritania (Saint) Accursius, Martyr of the Order of St. Francis in Mauritania (Saint) Adiutus, Martyr of the Order of St. Francis in Mauritania (Saint)

From various sources.

Section I. The place and time of the martyrdom.

[1] Well known is that pronouncement of Martin of Azpilcueta the Navarrese, in his Commentary on the chapter "Statuimus," question 19, question 3, section 17: that those who observe that most lofty Rule of St. Francis to the letter and the mind of its author seem to be certain unbloody Martyrs of Christ. Nor are there lacking, however, very many who have won the laurel of martyrdom by shedding their blood: Martyrs from the Order of St. Francis. Vitalis of Algeciras the Capuchin counts more than nine hundred in his Epilogue of the Franciscan Family, which, divided by various reforms, extends most widely. The very beginnings were auspiciously consecrated by the five Heroes who were slain in Mauritania while the patriarch Francis himself still lived: Berard of Carbio, Otto, Peter of San Gimignano, Adiutus, and Accursius.

[2] Vitalis had been placed in charge of them by Francis, but illness stopped him in Aragon and cast him down from the hope of the glorious triumph prepared for his comrades-in-arms. Who these five were and whence. Berard was ordered by him to preside over the rest, as Marcus of Lisbon, Part 1 of the Chronicle of the Friars Minor, Book 4, chapter 3, attests. Berard, or as he is called elsewhere Beraldus or Gerard, was born in the town of Carbio or Corbio, in the County of Narni in Umbria, and joined St. Francis in the year 1213. Wadding reports in the Annals of the Friars Minor at the year 1219, number 48, that he was somewhat versed in the Arabic language and was an outstanding preacher. Only Otto, who is called Otho and Ottonus by others, had been ordained to the priesthood, as Pisanus, Book 1 of the Conformities, Part 2, fruit 8, and Marcus of Lisbon attest. Peter of San Gimignano received his surname from the town of San Gimignano, situated at the sources of the river Elsa in Tuscany, formerly of the Sienese and now of the Florentine territory. He had followed St. Francis, who was exhorting mortals to penance in that town in the year 1211, as Wadding observes at that year, number 26. Marcus asserts that he was a Deacon: which is entirely omitted in the Spanish and French translations; Which of them were Priests. and altered in the Italian. "Brother Otto," says Marcus, "was a Priest; Brother Peter a Deacon." The Italian interpreter: "Brother Otto and Brother Peter were Priests." Wadding followed this version. Arthur of the Monastery, in his Notes on the Franciscan Martyrology, writes that besides these, Berard also was a Priest. Adiutus, or Adiutor — erroneously called Avitus by Sabellicus — and Accursius, or Accurtius, were Lay Brothers, or Conversus: whom nevertheless Constantius Felicius in his Martyrology also calls Priests.

[3] Where they were slain. The arena of these illustrious champions was Tingitanian Mauritania, in the extreme west of Africa on the western Ocean, and in it the city of Marrakesh, or Marrochium — Marueccos to the Spaniards, Marrocco to others — in Ptolemy, Book 4, chapter 1, and Table 1 of Africa called Bokanos Hemeros (Bocanum Hemerum), as the concordant opinion of all holds. That city, formerly the most extensive and celebrated, reckoned among the greatest of the world, was the capital of the Kingdom of Morocco, to which it gave its name. This kingdom was administered by the Miramamolins, or Miramolins, after the Saracens and other rascals of the impious sect of Muhammad, having expelled or destroyed the Christians, invaded those regions, which on account of their barbarous customs began to be called Barbary. The kings, called Miramamolins — which word in their language signifies the Prince of believers — because, by the institution of the nation, the control of the state and of sacred matters rested with them, as elsewhere they were called Caliphs. This empire of the Miramamolins began around the year of Christ 666, as our Mariana reports, Book 6 of the History of Spain, chapter 11. Of these, The Saracen Kings of Mauritania. when the Miramamolin Abenzacob, son of Abdelmon, the first King of the Almohad sect, was slain in Lusitania by Sancho I in the year of Christ 1184, his brother the Miramamolin Sobamhecef succeeded him: who invaded Lusitania again in the year of Christ 1189, thirty years before the arrival of these Martyrs in Mauritania. When he was removed from the living in the year of Christ 1200, the Miramamolin Aben Mahomet succeeded him, who in the year of Christ 1212 entered Spain with a strong army but was compelled to return to Mauritania because of the treachery of his own people. Whether he was still alive in the year of Christ 1220, By whom these Martyrs were slain. and thus slew these Martyrs with his own impious hand, is not established: it seems rather to be attributed to his successor, his grandson, the Miramamolin Caid Arax, who was still reigning in the year of Christ 1252; since Marcus, from manuscript Chronicles and an old Legend, asserts that the Miramamolin — God avenging this crime against himself and his people for a full five years — enacted that Christians there should be permitted to have a Catholic Bishop of the Order of Friars Minor and to celebrate public worship according to the Roman rite. Agnellus the Bishop was sent there by Gregory IX in the year of Christ 1233, with two letters to the Miramamolin, which Wadding transcribes from the Vatican at that year, numbers 27 and 28. Lupus Ferdinandus Dain of the same Order succeeded Agnellus, and was called Legate of the Apostolic See by Innocent IV in the year of Christ 1246, concerning whom see Wadding, numbers 9, 10, and 11, and at the year of Christ 1247, number 27, and volume 2, year of Christ 1257, number 18. The former is inscribed in the Franciscan Martyrology of Arthur of the Monastery on May 1; the latter on March 14. Concerning the Miramamolins, see further Francis Belleforest, volume 2 of his Cosmography, Book 6, chapters 13 and 14; our Vasconcellius in the reign of Alphonso I, King of Portugal, number 17, and Sancho I, number 6; and Mariana in many places, and other writers, especially of Spanish affairs.

[4] In what year of Christ. The Saints completed their martyrdom in the year of Christ 1220, although (we know not by what error) the Carthusians of Cologne in their additions to Usuard wrote the year 1350, and Pelbartus, of whom presently, the year 1236, unless (as we suppose) there is a typographical error in both, as must be admitted also in Wadding and the Latin version of Ribadeneira: for the former assigns the day of martyrdom as January 16, the latter as January 18, when it was January 16, that is, the seventeenth before the Kalends of February. Moreover, it must be set forth what year this was of Pope Honorius III, What year of Honorius III, what year from the conversion of St. Francis, and how many years before his death. The cited Arthur says they were slain in the third or fourth year of Honorius III, as if this could not be known with certainty. Pisanus assigns the third year; Tisserand below, number 12, and Marcus of Lisbon, chapter 17, assign the fourth. In Wadding the fifth is prefixed in the title, but this was to begin on July 18 of that year of Christ; and so the fourth was in mid-course. For Honorius III was created on July 18 of the year 1216 and died on March 18 of the year 1227.

[5] What year from the conversion of St. Francis. The conversion of St. Francis was twofold: the first, to the eremitical habit and manner of life; the second, to the founding of a new Order. The latter is placed by Wadding in his Apparatus to the Annals as occurring in the year of Christ 1208; the former two years earlier, in 1206. They are said below in number 2 to have been sent in the thirteenth year from the first conversion. St. Bonaventure agrees, chapter 9 of the Life of St. Francis, where he asserts that in the thirteenth year of his conversion he went to the regions of Syria, in order to come into the presence of the Sultan of Babylon. That both St. Francis and the holy Martyrs departed from Italy in the same year is the unanimous opinion of all. Surius writes that they were sent in the eleventh year; he means the second conversion. Marcus, chapter 1, calls the year of Christ 1219 the eleventh of the confirmed Order; Wadding, the twelfth. But for the greater part of its duration it was the eleventh. For in the month of October he is said by the same Wadding in the Apparatus, section 5, number 16, to have been converted in a second and complete sense. And indeed, after the first General Chapter held at Assisi at Pentecost in the year 1219, they were immediately sent, and they arrived at Marrakesh that same year and underwent martyrdom on January 16 of the following year 1220, the fourteenth from the first conversion of St. Francis.

[6] How many years before his death. This time of martyrdom is called by Surius, and by Sedulius and Wadding who followed him, the sixth year before the death of St. Francis. Better, from the ancient Chronicles and Legend, Marcus of Lisbon and Tisserand establish that these men completed their martyrdom almost seven years before the death of St. Francis — excepting, that is, three months and twelve days. For St. Francis died on October 4, 1226, as St. Bonaventure writes in his Life, chapter 15, on Saturday evening, or on Sunday beginning from the setting of the sun, which in that year fell on October 4.

Section II. Sacred Veneration.

[7] In the same year in which the Martyrs had fallen, or at the beginning of the following year, when St. Anthony of Padua entered the Order of Friars Minor, the sacred relics of these men were brought to Coimbra, then the seat of the Kings of Portugal, and by order of King Alphonso II were placed in the church of the monastery of the Holy Cross, of the Order of Canons Regular of St. Augustine, The relics of these Saints at Coimbra, in which their heads, covered with silver for elegance and piety, can still be viewed, as our Anthony Vasconcellius attests in his Description of the Kingdom of Portugal, under the heading on the Shrines of Saints, number 23. But two of their bodies, he says at number 24, are preserved at Lorvan near Coimbra in an old monastery of nuns under the discipline of St. Bernard, in which Theresa, sister of the same Alphonso II, lived and died a most holy life, to whom he sent these remains of the blessed as a truly royal gift. At Lorvan. Wadding, at the year of Christ 1220, number 45, writes that only one body was sent, together with the head of another. Francis Gonzaga, Part 3 of the Origin of the Seraphic Religion, convent 20 of the Province of Portugal, reports that Catherine Deza, Abbess of Lorvan, with the assent of the Supreme Pontiff, At Gouveia. in the year of the Lord 1515, gave from these relics a shoulder-blade to the Friars Minor in the Convent of the Holy Spirit at Gouveia, a village in the diocese of Coimbra. Of the three swords with which the Miramamolin killed them, one intact, with the point of another broken one, together with the scourge with which they were beaten and the horn comb with which their bodies were lacerated, are preserved at Valladolid in the sacristy of St. Francis. At Valladolid. Tradition there holds that this gift was received from the Catholic King Ferdinand. So Marcus of Lisbon, Part 3, Book 6, chapter 34.

[8] Moreover, how intensely those relics ought to be venerated has been shown by frequent miracles: indeed, it was divinely arranged that the veneration of them should not be prohibited. By diocesan statute, therefore, it was decreed that their feast day on January 16 should be celebrated solemnly, and various Pontiffs have known of this. Their public veneration. Finally, in the year of Christ 1481, Sixtus IV granted that their feast should be celebrated by the entire Franciscan Order with a major double office, which is still in force, as their Breviaries attest. Moreover, since at that time, when other Breviaries and Missals had been removed from the City, only the Breviaries of the Friars Minor were employed, as Gavantus writes from Radulph, Proposition 22, Section 7, Thesaurus of Sacred Rites, chapter 1, number 5, the office of these holy Martyrs as a major double is found recorded in the Roman Missal printed at Venice in the year of Christ 1508. This, afterwards abrogated, was retained by the diocese of Coimbra, in which they are venerated with a double office, as the proper feasts of Coimbra printed in the year of Christ 1588 by the authority of Alphonsus de Castelbranco, Bishop, attest.

[9] Various Martyrologies also support this public veneration. Bellini in the ancient Roman Martyrology: "On the same day (January 16) at Marrakesh, the passion of the blessed Martyrs Berard, Peter, Accursius, Adiutus, and Otto, of the Order of Friars Minor." Molanus adds: "Who, kindled with divine zeal Names in the Martyrologies. and burning with love of martyrdom, when they had crossed the sea to the lands of the infidels to preach the Gospel of Christ, were crowned for the name of Christ by the King of Morocco. Whose venerable relics the Lord Peter the Infante brought from Morocco and reverently placed in the monastery of the Holy Cross at Coimbra" — or rather, as will be said below, sent to be placed there. So Molanus, transcribed from the Additions of the Carthusians of Cologne to Usuard; from which was also taken the eulogy that is read in the German Martyrology, and which Galesinnius reported — in this, however, to be corrected, that he writes Dom Peter as the Infante of Spain, when he was of Portugal, as will presently be said. They are also celebrated in the Martyrology of Constantius Felicius, but not without errors: for they are all called Priests, and they are said to have been killed seventeen years before the death of St. Francis, when there were not even seven full years, as has been said. The manuscript Florarium reads: "At Marrakesh, of the holy five Martyrs of the Order of Friars Minor, namely Berard, Peter, Accursius, Adiutor (in other sources Adiutus) and Otto, whose feast the most holy Lord Sixtus IV instituted to be celebrated on this day in the year of salvation 1481." Maurolycus and the Viola Sanctorum have the same. The Roman Martyrology reads: "At Marrakesh in Africa, the passion of the holy Martyrs Berard, Peter, Accursius, Adiutus." It is added in the Franciscan Martyrology: "Who, for the free preaching of the Christian faith and the reproof of Muhammadan superstition, first experienced chains and prisons, reproaches, hunger, thirst, and beatings frequently repeated; their wounds were bathed with salt, vinegar, and boiling oil; and at last by the cutting off of their heads they received from the Lord the crown of martyrdom."

[10] Finally, the prayers that we have found in various places prove their veneration. A manuscript exists in the Legend of Saints of Corssendonk, Prayers from their office. of which presently: "Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that we who have known the glorious Martyrs Berald, Otto, Accursius, Peter, and Adiutus to be strong in their confession, may find them gracious with you in their intercession for us. Through the Lord." Another is found in the ancient Roman Missal of the year 1508 and in the modern Breviary of the Friars Minor: "Bestow upon us, we beseech you, O Lord, through the intercession of your blessed Martyrs Berald, Peter, Accursius, Adiutus, and Otto, always to love heavenly things and Christ, by whose glorious martyrdom you consecrated the beginnings of the Order of Friars Minor. Through the same Lord." A third is from the Common of Martyrs, "Deus qui nos concedis," in the office of the diocese of Coimbra. Indulgence. Cornelius Thielmanus, in his compendium of the lives of the Saints of the Order of St. Francis published in German, reports that on this very day indulgences of 356 years, 150 days, and 12 quarantines have been granted.

Section III. Writers of the Lives.

[11] The Acts of St. Anthony of Padua in Surius on June 13; Vincent of Beauvais, a contemporary of the Martyrs themselves, Book 30 The Acts, written by Peter, Infante of Portugal; of his Historical Mirror, chapter 131; and St. Antoninus, Part 3 of his Chronicle, title 24, chapter 13, report that the celebrated order of the passion of these Martyrs was made public by a certain famous man named Peter, who had brought their venerable relics from Morocco. Bartholomew of Pisa says that Peter the Infante narrated their passion. This Peter was the Infante of Portugal, son of Sancho I — not his uterine brother, as is erroneously read in the Notes to the Franciscan Martyrology; nor the firstborn (as the printed Acts of St. Anthony of Padua have, which is not found in the manuscripts in our possession), but the third in the male offspring: he had as older brothers Alphonso II the King and Ferdinand, Count of Flanders. He himself, having married Aurembiaix, was Count of Urgell, and in compensation for his maternal inheritance, Lord or King of the Balearics. He, at the time when the holy Martyrs arrived at Marrakesh, was living there as a bachelor, attached to the service of the barbarian King, an exile from his homeland on account of old quarrels with his brother the King. He, therefore, must be considered the first to have written the Acts of the Martyrs, which he sent with the sacred relics to his brother the King. For more on Peter, see Vasconcellius on Sancho I, number 12, and on Alphonso II, number 9, and on the causes of the quarrels, number 2; Duarte Nunes in the Genealogy of the Kings of Portugal; Jerome Zurita, volume 1 of the Annals of Aragon, Book 3, chapter 12; Martin Carillo in his Chronological Annals, Book 4, at the year of Christ 1232.

[12] By Matthew, Bishop of Lisbon. With this Prince was a noble soldier, Peter Stephen, surnamed Mangarado, a native of Santarem or Scalabis, who affirmed under public oath the struggles and miracles of the holy Martyrs before the Bishop of Lisbon, Matthew, and the Minister of the Friars Minor; both of whom wrote up the Acts of these Martyrs and sent them to the next general chapter. The history of Matthew is sincere and humble, but exact, in manuscript. So Wadding at the year of Christ 1220, numbers 41 and 51, by whom and by Marcus of Lisbon the manuscript History of Lisbon is frequently cited in these Acts: whether it is by this Bishop Matthew? Concerning him, see Mariana, Book 12, chapter 6.

[13] By another anonymous writer. Another, more diffuse Legend of these Saints was subsequently written, in which the miracles are more fully contained, as Tisserand reports below at number 23. This is cited everywhere by Marcus and Wadding, who, however, as if he himself had not seen it, cites Marcus as drawing from that ancient Legend at the year of Christ 1219, number 22. Mention of this seems to be made in the Bull of Sixtus IV, in that the miracles by which they shone both in their very death and afterward are said to be contained therein. It seems to be the same as what is cited by Marcus as the Legend of the Holy Cross of Coimbra, where it perhaps exists in manuscript. Another ancient Chronicle is also cited by the same Marcus. Galesinnius in his notes to the Martyrology says that the entire narrative of these Martyrs was first composed by Bartholomew of Pisa. By Bartholomew of Pisa. Certainly this man presented his Book of Conformities at the General Chapter at Assisi in the year of Christ 1399, to Henry the Minister General, by whom it was also approved: in it is reported a summary of the Acts, which at that time existed in a more prolix form. Contemporary with Pisanus was Marianus of Florence, who in an unpolished and humble, but therefore more sincere and faithful narration (the words are Wadding's at the year of Christ 1214, number 4) brought forth the beginnings of the Order of St. Francis. By Marianus of Florence.

[14] Moreover, when the faculty of celebrating the annual feast of the Martyrs had been granted, the Life was contracted into an epitome from the ancient Legend and divided into nine Lessons By John Tisserand. to be read at Matins. Concerning which Molanus writes in his annotations to Usuard: "The Passion of the Five Friars Minor is contained in the antiquated Breviary of the Friars Minor, in the office published by John Tisserand, Doctor of Theology of the same Order; and in Surius." But the latter is far different from the former, as will presently appear. Henry Willot in his Athenae of the Franciscans writes: "John Tiserandi wrote the office of the five holy Martyr Fathers of the Friars Minor." Gonzaga, on the Origin of the Franciscan Religion, Part 1, on the Writers, calls him John Tirlandi, but otherwise agrees with Willot. Possevinus in his Sacred Apparatus reports and follows both. Tisserand himself is inscribed in the Franciscan Martyrology by Arthur of the Monastery on August 7, and is said to have been distinguished for his life, learning, and the word of preaching; and at Paris around the year 1494 or 1495 to have established the order of Penitent Women. That Life, thus distributed into Lessons, we here give for the first time to the light, from Part 4 of the manuscript Legend of the monastery of Corssendonk of Canons Regular near Turnhout. Pelbartus of Temesvar transcribed it word for word for the most part around the year of Christ 1500 in his Garden of Sermons, winter part on the Saints, sermon 46; and it was published in Dutch in the Vineyard of St. Francis in the year of Christ 1518, but in an expanded form. With this agree both what St. Antoninus published from that ancient Legend, Part 3 of the Chronicle, title 24, chapter 7, section 1, and what Marcus of Lisbon narrates at length, volume 1, Book 4, in the first 28 chapters — to such a degree that some things are either reported by one or the other that are omitted by the rest, or omitted that are reported by the rest. Alphonsus Villegas composed an epitome of the Life from Marcus in his Flos Sanctorum, treating of the Saints of Spain.

[15] Because these Acts had not yet been published in print, there was doubt whether what had been published by Surius was not written by Tisserand. This is asserted by Sedulius on account of the words of Molanus improperly understood, and also by Arthur in the Franciscan Martyrology and by Wadding, for whom at the year of Christ 1219, number 48, John Tisserand is called the ancient author of the life that Surius published, and at number 51 Tisserand in Surius is cited. The same is written in his Annotation to Collation 23 of St. Francis. But since a doubt arose, at the year of Christ 1220, number 21, Surius is cited, or John Tisserand, By Surius. or whoever else is the author of their life in the same work on January 16. It seems rather to have been fashioned by some more recent writer from the very Lessons of Tisserand, with the order sometimes changed, and some things added or omitted.

[16] By Peter of Natali. Nearly contemporary with Tisserand was Peter of Natali, who in the Appendix to his Catalogue treats of Saints most recently inscribed in the register of the Blessed, among whom he counts these five Martyrs; and he adds that from these relics a bloody liquor of the most fragrant kind still flows, providing healing for many infirmities. Whether a liquor flows from the relics. This very same thing is read in the Vineyard of St. Francis and in Surius. Marcus of Lisbon, Tisserand, and Vasconcellius report nothing of this matter, although the last carefully examined the decoration and placement of the relics. Finally, Wadding does not profess himself to be an eyewitness of this matter, as he often does elsewhere, when he inserts those words from Peter of Natali and Surius into his Annals at the year of Christ 1220, number 46.

[17] The Acts published in the triple edition of Surius were transcribed, with the ending cut short, by Thomas de Trujillo, volume 1 of the Thesaurus of Preachers. They were published in full, divided into chapters, and illustrated with annotations Who else have related their deeds; by Henry Sedulius in his Seraphic History. Abridged editions were produced by Zacharias Lippelous, Francis Haraeus, Abraham Bzovius, volume 13, at the year of Christ 1220, number 12; John de Marieta, Book 3, On the Saints of Spain, chapter 28; James Doublet; and Thielmanus. Ribadeneira also wrote their life in Spanish from various sources in his book On the Extravagant Saints. Finally, Peter Rodulphius Tossinianus, Book 1 of the Histories of the Seraphic Religion, pursued the Acts of these Martyrs at length, in which, however, not a few things may rightly be corrected -- such as the claim in section 4 that Urraca, daughter of Alfonso VI, King of Castile, married to Alfonso I of Aragon (which occurred in the year of Christ 1106), miserably perished according to the prophecy of these Martyrs, delivered in the following century in the year of Christ 1219. Concerning Urraca of Portugal, more will be said in the Acts. Similarly, what he narrates in section 5 concerning the peace concluded between the King of Marrakesh and another Saracen, and the lion as a companion on the journey, happened to other Friars Minor in the year of Christ 1246, as Wadding relates from Marianus, Marcus, and others in that year, number 11.

[18] Very many other writers treat of these Martyrs, of whom the following have been read by us. Hermann Schedel in his Chronicle, or have written about them. Age 6. Gilbert Genebrard, Book 4 of the Chronicle, at the year of Christ 1215. "At Marrakesh," he says, "certain Franciscans, wandering here and there for the sake of preaching, were killed for the name of Christ." Sedulius in his Notes to chapter 8 refutes the calumny inflicted upon the Saints by calling them wanderers, just as in chapter 4 he refutes those who would charge these Saints with some imprudence for having voluntarily thrown themselves into death. Finally, they are mentioned by Sabellicus, Ennead 9, Book 6, near the beginning; Marieta again, Book 16 of the History of the Saints of Spain, chapter 2, in the life of St. Anthony of Padua, and Book 22, in the description of the city of Coimbra; Gonzaga, On the Origin of the Seraphic Religion, Part 1, among the Saints of this Order, and Part 3, Convents 2 and 10 of Portugal; John Francis de Pavinis, in Relation 1 for the canonization of St. Bonaventure, in the preface near the end; Bernardine de Busti, volume 2 of the Rosary, sermon 27, part 2, section 4; Luke Wadding, besides his Annals (from which we supply the miracles omitted by Tisserand), treats of them in volume 3 of the Opuscula of St. Francis, Annotation to Collation 23 and Benediction 2; Algezira in the Epilogic Tree of the entire Franciscan Order; Thomas Bosius, On the Signs of the Church, volume 2, Book 15, chapter 7; Ignatius le Gault, On the Sanctity of the Roman Church, chapter 2, section 2; Elzearius l'Archer, Book 2 of the Sacred Mount Olivet of St. Francis, chapter 11; Victon, On the Canonization of Saints; Louis Zacconi in his Compendium of the Lives of All the Saints; Stephen de Garibay, volume 2 of the History of Spain, Book 12, chapter 47; Peter de Salazar, Book 2 of the Chronicle of the Province of Castile, chapter 12; Ferdinand de Castillo, Book 1 of the History of the Dominicans, chapter 51, where he says that St. Dominic, upon hearing the news of this martyrdom at the first General Chapter held at Bologna in the year 1220, exulted in spirit and urged his own to suffer bravely for the faith of Christ, after the example of these men. Marcus of Lisbon records certain miracles in volume 3 of the Chronicle of the Friars Minor, Book 6, chapters 33 and 34, which were published in more condensed form by Bzovius, volume 18, at the year of Christ 1476, number 24, and are here reported more fully by us. Finally, the Bull of canonization will conclude the Acts.

ACTS BY JOHN TISSERAND.

From the manuscript of the monastery of Corssendonk.

Berard of Carbio, Martyr of the Order of St. Francis in Mauretania (Saint) Otto, Priest-Martyr of the Order of St. Francis in Mauretania (Saint) Peter of San Gimignano, Martyr of the Order of St. Francis in Mauretania (Saint) Accursius, Martyr of the Order of St. Francis in Mauretania (Saint) Adiutus, Martyr of the Order of St. Francis in Mauretania (Saint)

BHL Number: 1170

By John Tisserand, from manuscripts.

PROLOGUE.

[1] It is not within human power (a) to narrate (b) -- since it cannot be expressed in any words whatsoever -- how wondrous is the sacred mystery of the Religion of the Friars Minor; and how the immortal, supreme, and most gracious God, when religion, holiness, every virtue, and the undefiled faith of Christ had been nearly overwhelmed, called forth the Patriarch Francis, marked with the stigmata of our redemption, as a second Christ to reconcile the fallen human race to Himself. The martyrdom of these Saints is an ornament to the Order of Friars Minor; His holy Religion the Almighty not only augmented with the most ample dignities and the highest honors in the course of time, but also adorned and confirmed it with a certain illustrious and most excellent gift in the very beginnings of its Rule. For by the most celebrated martyrdom of five Friars Minor -- while Francis their founder was still living -- endured for the worship of the true God and the promulgation and defense of the religion of Christ Jesus, we clearly understand that this Rule of the poor, instituted in the purity of the Gospel, was, by God's authorship and the inspiration of His supreme mercy, confirmed and approved. a stimulus for its candidates, To the strictest observance of this Rule, most illustrious Kings and Princes, most powerful nobles, the wealthiest citizens, and the most wicked of men, having cast aside and renounced all worldly things and their pleasures, struck as by a certain divine lightning bolt, wholly devoted themselves; some claimed the heavenly seats for themselves through the most pure virginity as a special ornament; others through the glory of their learning, their wondrous holiness, and the most steadfast preaching of the faith; and others still, sent forth as Apostles to preach, claimed them through the most savage martyrdom. Nearly all of these were invited and drawn by those five Protomartyrs of the Religion of the Friars Minor to the profession and observance of this Rule of St. Francis, by which one attains to immortal delights and eternal glory. This is undoubtedly proved by that great and stupendous light, St. Anthony of Padua, who, from being a Canon Regular, was transformed by their example into a Friar Minor, as is more fully contained in his Legend.

[2] And lest forgetfulness should efface a matter most diligently to be entrusted to memory, the most holy Lord Sixtus IV, in the tenth year of his most blessed Pontificate, declared and willed it to be established by universal decree that these five Martyrs of Christ should be venerated throughout the entire world by all the faithful as enrolled in the catalogue of Saints among all peoples: established in public worship by Pontifical authority. [as had long before been specifically decreed concerning these same Saints by his predecessors in the city of Coimbra of the kingdom of Portugal, where their bodies rest,] in the year from the birth of Christ 1480 (c), on the second day of the month of November.

(a) One may doubt whether this prologue is by Tisserand or rather by some more recent author -- Anthony Gentius, perhaps, or John Gilmannus, Canons Regular of Rouge-Cloitre, whose other works or collections of the Acts of Saints were copied in this codex by Anthony of Bergen, Canon of Corssendonk, around the year 1494. In the Vineyard of St. Francis a different prologue is prefixed, similar to that of Surius.

(b) There was an error in the manuscript. For in place of these words, "enarrare cum," it read "enim," so that we deemed it necessary to emend in this or a similar manner for the sense to hold.

(c) The year expressed in the Bull itself is 1481, and the day is August 7, since the tenth year of the Pontificate was due to expire on August 9, the day on which he was created Pontiff in the year of Christ 1471; he died on August 12, 1492. Perhaps on the day and year here indicated he had granted by a living-voice oracle the privilege of celebrating this feast, as is stated below in the Bull.

LESSON I.

The Journey of the Martyrs into Portugal.

[3] In the year of our Lord 1219, the thirteenth year from the first conversion of St. Francis, (a) Blessed Francis, by the will of the Lord, sent six Brothers of wondrous holiness to the kingdom of Morocco, namely Brother Vitalis, Berald, The Saints, having left Vitalis in Aragon, Otto, Accursius, Peter, and Adiutus; and he appointed Brother Vitalis as their Superior. When, however, they were in the kingdom of Aragon, Brother Vitalis began to fall gravely ill; and seeing that his illness was prolonged, not wishing his bodily disease to impede the work of God, he commanded the other five aforementioned Brothers arrive at Coimbra. to proceed to Morocco and fulfill the command of God and of Brother Francis. The holy Brothers then obeyed, and having left the sick Brother Vitalis (b) there, they arrived at Coimbra (c).

[4] The Lady Urraca (d), Queen of Portugal, who was then present there, calling them to her and speaking with them of God, and seeing in them so great a contempt for the world and so great a fervor for dying for Christ, judged them to be most perfect servants of God; and she earnestly begged them that they would petition the Lord in their prayers to reveal to them the end of her life. Future events, divinely known, they foretell. When they most humbly said that they were unworthy to seek divine secrets, at length, moved by the most devout prayers of the Queen with her tears, they promised to pray. And when they entreated with firm faith, not only what they had asked was revealed, but also their own martyrdom was made known by divine oracle. They themselves foretold to the Queen that her last day would come after a short time, and that their bodies, after their martyrdom, would be brought from Morocco to that place and received by her with the whole people with honor: which indeed came to pass.

(a) The address with which St. Francis exhorted them, already prepared for the journey, is reported by Marcus of Lisbon, chapter 1; by Wadding at the year of Christ 1219, number 49; and in Collation 23 among the Opuscula of St. Francis, Book 3.

(b) He survived that illness and finally died at Zaragoza, where he was buried among his own, as Wadding writes at the year of Christ 1220, number 38; by whom he is called Blessed, and is also inscribed in the Franciscan Martyrology on February 3.

(c) Called by others commonly Conimbrica, and by some Coimbria; at that time the seat of the Kings, and still a most celebrated city, adorned with a famous university.

(d) Others call her Urraca. She was the wife of Alfonso II, born of Alfonso VIII, King of Castile, and Eleanor, daughter of John, King of England. Chiefly through her efforts, the Friars Minor had been admitted into Portugal two years before, and outside Coimbra they had obtained a chapel dedicated to St. Anthony.

LESSON II.

Sudden Blows at Seville. The Journey into Mauretania.

[5] And proceeding thence, the Saints came to the fortress of Alanquer, and to the Lady Sanchia (b), sister of the King of Portugal, they revealed their entire purpose. She, approving their undertaking, clothed them over their habits with secular garments (c), because otherwise they could not cross over to the Saracens. Having set out from Alanquer to Seville, And thus, with their habit disguised, they reached the city of Seville, then belonging to the Saracens (d), which is now called Seville, and in the lodging of a certain Christian they lay hidden for eight days, having put aside their secular garments. But on a certain day, burning with the spirit, they came without any guide all the way to the principal Mosque -- that is, the temple of the Saracens. they are barred from entering the Mosque. When they wished to enter, the Saracens, indignant, assailed them with cries, pushings, and blows, and by no means permitted them to enter the Mosque. For this is their custom: that no Christian, nor anyone of any other sect whatsoever, be permitted to enter their temple.

[6] At length, approaching the gate of the palace, they declared themselves to be envoys sent by the King of Kings, the Lord Jesus Christ, to the King (e). And when they had set forth many things concerning the Catholic faith to the King, urging him to conversion and the reception of baptism, By the King's command they are imprisoned in a tower. and had exposed many shameful things about Muhammad and his damnable law, the King, blazing with fury, ordered their heads cut off. But the King, mollified by the words of his son, ordered them shut up at the top of a tower (f). From the height of the tower they preached the faith of Christ to those entering the court, declaring that Muhammad and the observers of his profane sect would be condemned to eternal punishment. Hearing this, the King commanded them to be shut up in the depths of the same tower. And afterward, by the counsel of the elders, he sent them (g) to Marrakesh, as they themselves desired, in the company of the Lord Peter, a noble Catholic Christian (h), and certain other Christians. And they entered the lodging in which the Lord Peter the Infante (i) aforesaid was residing; They are sent to Marrakesh. (for in Spain the sons of kings after the firstborn are called Infantes;) he had the holy Brothers received with great devotion, and provided them with the necessities of life.

(a) Alanquer, or Alanquera, commonly known as Alemquer, the birthplace of Damiao de Goes; which he thinks was so called as if from "Alan-kercke," that is, "temple of the Alans," because among the Teutons and therefore the Alans and Goths, "Kercke" signifies a temple. To Antoninus it is Ierabrica, or Hierabriga, as Vasconcellius, Resendius, Varrerius, and Ambrose de Morales believe. It is situated on the Tagus above Lisbon. From there, therefore, the Martyrs went to Lisbon, and thence sailed to Seville -- so Marcus of Lisbon, Book 4, chapter 4.

(b) This Sanchia was the sister of the King of Portugal, Alfonso II, not of the Queen, as was erroneously written here. She had received from her father Sancho the town of Alanquer, in which she had also begun to build a monastery for the Friars Minor. It still exists, as Vasconcellius attests; after which nearly innumerable others were built throughout almost all of Portugal. On the earliest of these, one may consult Francis Gonzaga, On the Origin of the Seraphic Religion of St. Francis, Part 3, in the province of Portugal; also Wadding at the year of Christ 1217, numbers 22, 23, 24, and 25; Marcus of Lisbon, Book 1, chapter 48, and Book 6, chapters 28 and 29. The virtues of this Sanchia, who is called a devout Virgin by Peter of Natali, are described by Marcus, Book 4, chapter 4; Ribadeneira in his Acts of these Martyrs; Gonzaga, Part 3, Convent 2 of Portugal.

(c) The inner chamber in which they are said to have put on these garments is now reported to be the novitiate of young men, and to breathe forth reverence and a sacred fragrance upon those who approach; and Wadding writes that he frequently experienced this, at the year of Christ 1219, number 51.

(d) Seville was besieged not long afterward, namely in the year 1247, on August 20, by King Ferdinand of Castile, and was captured after sixteen months. The last Saracen king there was Axataffus -- so our Mariana, Book 13, On the Affairs of Spain, chapter 7.

(e) Around this time Abenillate was reigning at Seville, whom Belleforest mentions in volume 2 of his Cosmography, Book 6, chapter 13.

(f) This place is called by some the Tower of the Martyrs, by others the Tower of Gold; situated on the bank of the river -- so Wadding, from Marianus and Rebolledo.

(g) Pisanus: "The King, angry, regarding them as fools, expelled and dismissed them from his kingdom."

(h) Rather: "a noble Castilian Catholic." By Marcus, chapter 9, from the ancient Legend, he is called a Castilian Knight, by the name of Peter Ferdinand de Castro. By Wadding, from Marianus and Marcus, a Castilian Knight, Ferdinand de Castro. Mariana, Book 12, On the Affairs of Spain, chapter 3, records that Peter de Castro, son of Ferdinand de Castro, died at Marrakesh on August 18, in the year of Christ 1214. This man, having rendered brave service to the King of Leon in wars, had gone to Africa, for what reason is uncertain. Between his father and that people there had been bonds of friendship and hospitality. Certainly the father had previously, in the year of Christ 1170, fled there, as the same Mariana records, Book 11, chapter 11. Therefore someone from this family would have been present -- unless an error is judged to exist in Marcus and Marianus of Florence.

(i) Some words are missing, to be supplied in this or a similar manner: "The Lord Peter the Infante, brother of the aforesaid King of Portugal, Alfonso II."

LESSON III.

Public Preaching, Exile, Prison. Water Divinely Obtained.

[7] Then the Brothers preached most fervently to the Saracens wherever they saw them. When Brother Berald, having climbed upon a certain cart, was preaching to the people, the Miramolin King (a), passing by on his way to visit the tombs of the kings, which are outside the walls, They preach there. seeing the Brother preaching and not ceasing from his preaching in the King's presence, judging him to be a fool, commanded that all five Brothers be expelled from the city and sent back without delay through Christians to the lands of the faithful. Then the said Lord Peter the Infante assigned some of his servants to them, They are driven out. who should conduct them to Ceuta (b) and from there transport them across to the lands of the faithful.

[8] But the holy Brothers, having dismissed their escorts on the way, returned to Marrakesh; and having entered the city, they immediately began to preach to the Saracens who were in the marketplace. They return thither. Hearing this, the King commanded them to be shut up in prison, where they remained without food or drink for twenty days; but they were refreshed by divine consolation. In prison they fast for 20 days. Afterward it happened that an immoderate heat and a great disturbance of the air came upon them. When some supposed that this tempest had occurred on account of the imprisonment of the holy Brothers, the King, on the advice of Aboturim, who loved the Christians, freed them from prison, commanding the Christians to send them back to Christian lands without delay. Nevertheless he began to marvel, together with the other Saracens, when he saw them sound of body and firm of mind, though they had been in prison without food for twenty continuous days. And when they had been freed, Again expelled, they return once more. they immediately wished to set forth the word of God to the Saracens; but the Christians, out of fear of the King, by no means permitted it, but gave them guides with whom they might return toward the lands of the faithful. But the Brothers, having dismissed their escorts on the way, returned to Marrakesh once again. Then, after a council was held among the Christians, the Lord Peter the Infante kept them in his lodging and did not permit them to go out in public, having assigned guards to them.

[9] After this, the Lord Infante, with a great army of Christians and Saracens, set out to subdue certain Saracens (c) who were in rebellion against the King. On the return journey, for three days' march they were unable to find water anywhere for themselves and their horses to drink. Berald causes a spring to flow. When they despaired of their lives from the anguish of thirst, Brother Berald, after first praying, took a small stake and dug the earth, and immediately a spring burst forth, from which men and beasts drank their fill, and they also filled their water skins. And once this was done, the spring was immediately dried up. All who witnessed so great a miracle held them in greater reverence and devotion, and many kissed his feet.

(a) Pelbartus writes "of India" -- erroneously.

(b) Ceuta, situated in the very mouth of the Strait of Gibraltar, was in that era a most fortified and populous stronghold of the Moors, now a most secure bastion of the Portuguese; it was wrested from the Moors in the year of Christ 1415, in the month of August, from which point the crossing into Spain is very easy. See Vasconcellius on John I, number 11.

(c) Wadding, number 53, from the ancient Legend, calls them Arabs.

LESSON IV.

Various Tortures, Temptations, Martyrdom.

[10] (a) When, having returned to Marrakesh, they were being guarded, on a certain Friday, secretly leaving the house, They preach Christ publicly. they boldly presented themselves before the Miramolin King, who was going to visit the tombs of the kings. Brother Berald, climbing upon a cart, began to preach fearlessly in the King's presence. At this sight, the King, filled with wrath, commanded a certain Saracen Prince (b) -- who had witnessed the miracle of the water -- to punish them with capital punishment. Then all the Christians, out of fear of death, fled to their own lodgings, where they hid behind barred doors.

[11] Seized, they are struck with blows. The said Prince, having sent his officers, ordered them to be brought before him. When they had been brought twice to the Prince's house in his absence, the ministers of the devil, striking them with blows and punches, shut them up in the greater prison; and there the holy Brothers continually preached the word of God to Christians and heretics (c). Then the Prince had them brought forth. When he saw them confessing the Catholic faith most steadfastly and boldly exposing and reproving the iniquity of Muhammad and his law, he was inflamed with great anger and commanded them to be tortured with various torments, separated from one another in different houses, and flogged severely. Then the wicked ministers, having bound the hands and feet of the Saints and placed ropes around their necks, They are flogged. dragged and pulled them along the ground, and so grievously flogged them (d) that their very entrails were nearly exposed. Upon their wounds they poured boiling oil and vinegar, They are doused with boiling oil and vinegar. and placed them upon rough mats covered with the shards of vessels of boiling oil and vinegar, rolling them back and forth. And so, afflicted throughout the entire night, they were cruelly flogged by thirty Saracens.

[12] On that same night it seemed to the guards that a great light descended from heaven, and, receiving the holy Brothers, lifted them up to the heavens with an innumerable multitude. They are honored with heavenly light. Stunned and terrified, approaching the prison, they found them devoutly praying. But the King of Morocco, hearing these things, was inflamed with fury and commanded that they be brought before him. Accordingly, with their hands bound, barefoot, stripped, afflicted, wounded, and continuously beaten with clubs, the Saints were led before the King. When the King saw them most firm in their faith, They spurn honors and pleasures. having brought in certain women and excluded all others, he said to them: "Convert to our faith, and I will give you these women as wives, and great wealth, and you shall be honored in my kingdom." But the blessed Martyrs replied: "We do not want your women or your money; we despise all things for the sake of Christ." They are killed by the King. Then the King, inflamed with wrath, seizing a sword, with the Saints separated from one another, struck one after another through the middle of the forehead; and (e) grasping three swords bound together at once, with his own hand, with savage cruelty, he beheaded them. (f)

(a) Wadding assigns what follows to the year of Christ 1220.

(b) This man is called Abozaida by Marcus and Pisanus; in the office of Coimbra, Albuzaidus.

(c) Rather Saracens, or Muhammadans, as the following indicates.

(d) Surius, chapter 6: "There encountered them, while they were being dragged naked through the streets and beaten with incessant lashes, a certain Prince who urged the Muhammadan faith. But Otto, refuting his persuasion, even spat upon the ground in contempt of the profane law, and was struck with a heavy blow by the Prince. But he, not unmindful of the words of the Lord, offered the other cheek, saying: 'May God forgive you, for you know not what you do.'" Pisanus reports nearly the same.

(e) Pisanus: "he beheaded them, breaking three swords in the striking. That one whole sword was preserved has been said above."

(f) Marcus of Lisbon writes, and from him Wadding, that the Martyrs in the very hour of their martyrdom appeared to the Lady Sanchia the Infanta, who was praying at Alemquer, holding in their hands a sword reddened with blood as a sign of their martyrdom, and saying that they had now through martyrdom put an end to their cares and flown to heaven, and that there they would be her perpetual intercessors before God, who did not wish the kindness shown to them to go unrewarded.

LESSON V.

The Relics Collected. Miracles Performed at Marrakesh.

[13] They completed their martyrdom in the year of our Lord one thousand two hundred and twenty, on the seventeenth day before the Kalends of February, in the fourth year of the Lord Pope Honorius III, nearly seven years before the death of St. Francis. After this, when the bodies and heads of the Saints had been cast outside by women, The bodies of the Saints are cut apart and thrown away. the most wicked populace, tying ropes to their feet and arms, dragged them outside the walls of the city; and the sacred bodies, dragged with howlings and the greatest clamors around the circuit of the city, they finally, as night pressed on, left torn limb from limb in the fields. Then the Christians, raising their hands to heaven and praising the Lord for their triumphal martyrdom, began most devoutly and joyfully to collect the relics of the Saints. When the Saracens saw this, all of them, like rabid dogs, hurled so great a multitude of stones at the Christians those wishing to seize them are put to flight and killed. that it seemed a tempest of hail. But by the merits of the Saints, all the Christians fled safely back to their own dwellings; and thus, shut up in their own houses out of fear of death, they hid for three days. For at that time (a) Peter Ferdinand and Martin Alfonso, squires of the Lord Infante, were killed by the Saracens in the marketplace.

[14] Afterward, a great fire having been built in the open field, the bodies of the holy Brothers were cast into it so that they might be totally burned. Cast into fire, they are not harmed: But the fire, by divine power, recoiled from the holy relics as from a contrary substance and was completely extinguished: first, the head of one of the Martyrs, frequently cast into the fire, showed not the slightest sign of burning even in its hair, and it is still shown incorrupt with its skin and hair in the monastery of the Holy Cross of Coimbra (b). Certain Saracens out of friendship, others out of desire for profit, as well as Christians held captive there, collecting the relics of the Saints, they are handed over to the Infante Peter. offered them to the Lord Infante. Receiving them with great devotion, he entrusted them to John Robert (c), a Canon of the Holy Cross of Coimbra, a man of perfection, and to three innocent young attendants (d).

[15] No one, however, dared to enter the place where the sacred relics were kept whom the conscience of any misdeed accused, even in thought alone. Hence at that time a certain soldier named Peter Rosarius (e), who had a concubine named Rosaria, when he ascended the upper room They cannot be touched by a man keeping a concubine, where the sacred relics were kept, was rendered immobile in the middle of the room and cried out loudly, saying: "Help me, help me, give me confession!" And when he had made his confession to the aforesaid Canon and had abjured his concubine, he descended freely, his bodily strength restored. But he was unable to speak further until, by the command of the Infante, the said Canon placed the head of one of the Martyrs upon his chest (f); and immediately he recovered his speech and strength, as before.

[16] (g) A certain squire also, who sometimes devoutly handled the relics of the Saints that were drying upon a shield, or by a fornicator. once gave himself over to the act of fornication. And when, on returning, he wished, as before, to arrange the sacred relics, the shield on which they rested suddenly rose up into the air so that he could not touch it. But being moved to repentance, as soon as he had confessed and was contrite, the relics descended to their accustomed place and allowed themselves to be handled by the hands of that same squire.

(a) Marcus of Lisbon, chapter 18, and after him Wadding, number 39, report that Martin Alfonso Tellius, a kinsman of the Infante, and Peter Ferdinand de Castro, sent by the Infante to redeem the sacred relics either by entreaty or by payment, were killed by the Saracens in the marketplace. Rodulphius is again to be corrected, in that he would have the relics brought to Coimbra by Alonso Telio, a cousin of the Lord Infante.

(b) Vasconcellius, in his description of the kingdom of Portugal, treatise on the more notable shrines of the Saints, number 23, says that the head of one of these Martyrs has the curls of its crown so perfectly intact and arranged in a circle that not a single hair seems to be missing -- which casts light on that oracle of sacred Scripture: "And not a hair of your head shall perish." Wadding inserts these words into his history at number 39, where he testifies that he frequently saw that head and observed it with close attention. Luke 21:18.

(c) He was the chaplain of the Lord Peter the Infante -- by which title alone, the name being omitted, he is referred to in Surius.

(d) Pages, or honorable young male attendants, as is gathered from other sources.

(e) This Peter was a familiar of the Infante Peter, surnamed Rosarius from Rosa, or Rosaria of Burgos, his concubine. Wadding, number 40.

(f) Ribadeneira: "placed upon his head."

(g) This miracle was referred to the following lesson in the manuscript.

LESSON VI.

The Relics Brought to Spain. Miracles on the Journey.

[17] After this the Lord Infante had two silver chests made, They are enclosed in silver caskets. so that in one were the heads and in the other the bones of the bodies. He placed them in his own chapel and there continually prayed most devoutly to the Saints, that they might obtain for him the ability to return to his homeland, since he had unwillingly endured a long detention there. Then the Miramolin King gave him free permission to depart, against the advice of his own counselors, who had previously urged him to kill the Infante. They free the Infante Peter from the attack of lions, When the Infante with his company had departed with permission, after a day and a night they came to a certain place where nearby they heard the roaring of lions and terrible howlings. Terrified, they placed the relics between themselves and the place to which they saw the lions converging; and at once the lions disappeared, so that they neither saw the lions nor heard their roaring.

[18] When, proceeding further, they came to a crossroads and were entirely ignorant of which road to choose, the Lord Infante ordered the mule from ambush of the patron, that was carrying the sacred relics to go ahead, and all should follow it. The mule, with the Lord directing it, immediately turned aside from the road on which ambushes of Saracens had been prepared for the Infante, as he was afterward told; and going by a certain unaccustomed and rough road, it turned through mountains and valleys; and so the brute animal led them by the safer road all the way to Ceuta. There, finding ships prepared, by the Lord's arrangement, they embarked and sailed. and from the perils of the sea. And on the first night, when darkness came upon them, the sailors feared that they might crash upon certain rocks and perish; and then all, prostrate before the relics, implored the holy Martyrs to free them from so great a danger. And behold, suddenly a certain brightness shone forth, so that the sailors could see the sea on every side; and then they clearly saw that the ships were being driven toward those rocks; but by the benefit of the light, turning aside from them, with all safe, they reached the desired shores of Algeciras (a) and Tarifa (b). Thence they proceeded to Seville; They are conveyed to Spain. where the Infante was informed by Christians that Saracens had been sent by the King to capture him. Hearing this, they all betook themselves as quickly as possible into Castile (c). And scarcely had the sailors raised the sails when behold, the soldiers of the King of Morocco arrived, to bring back the Infante even against his will and to behead his companions. But by the merits of the Saints, they entered Spain in safety.

(a) Algeciras, opposite Ceuta, on the coast of Cadiz in Spain, is a port of Baetica, or Andalusia. Wadding, number 43, writes "Algelira," a name unknown to geographers. Marcus also reads "Algizire." The most distinguished Louis Nonius calls it Algeriza.

(b) Tarifa is so called, as they relate, from Tarif, a Moorish commander, who first, with the traitor Julian, under King Roderic in the year of Christ 713, led the Moors into those parts of Spain. His forces first occupied Mount Calpe and the city of Heraclea situated upon that mountain, called Gibraltar from "Tarif" and "Gebal," which word signifies "mountain." So, nearly, Mariana, Book 6, chapter 22. Some write that the ancient Tarifa was Tartessus, though Nonius disagrees. Marcus here has "Palma" in place of "Tarife." "Taryse" is the reading in the Vineyard of St. Francis.

(c) Marcus and Wadding say "into Galicia" -- that is, circumnavigating Portugal, which the Infante Peter did not yet dare to enter; he remained in the kingdom of Leon with King Alfonso, and transmitted the sacred relics to his brother Alfonso II, then residing at Coimbra, to be placed in Portugal. Vasconcellius, on Alfonso II, number 9.

LESSON VII.

The Relics Brought to Coimbra.

[19] When they had arrived at Astorga (a), and the host in whose house they were lodging had been afflicted for thirty years with the disease of paralysis -- so that he was deprived of speech and the use of his limbs -- and had heard of so many wonders of the Saints, They heal a paralytic. he prostrated himself before the chest where the relics of the Saints were kept, praying to the holy Brothers for a remedy; and there, in the sight of all, he obtained his speech and the health of all his limbs.

[20] When they had drawn near to Coimbra (b), where the fame of the holy Martyrs had already arrived, the Lady Urraca, Queen of Portugal aforesaid, with the entire people went out to meet the holy relics, They are borne to Coimbra. and with great solemnity and devotion, escorting them to the monastery of the Holy Cross of Coimbra (c), they placed them there with honor. When Blessed Francis had heard of their martyrdom, exulting in spirit, he said: "Now I can truly say that I have five Brothers."

[21] (d) And in the same year in which the Saints were killed, the indignation of God blazed forth against the King of Morocco and his kingdom in vengeance for the Saints. The Miramolin is punished together with his subjects. For his right hand and arm, with which he had killed the holy Brothers, and all the limbs on that same side down to the right foot, were withered. Moreover, in that land (e) for the three years immediately following it did not rain at all, from which there followed so great a barrenness of crops and a pestilence among the people, continuing for five years, that the greater part of that nation was destroyed by death, so that the number of pestilential years might match the number of the Brothers in their vengeance.

(a) Astorga -- in Ptolemy, Astourika Augusta; in Pliny and Antoninus, Asturica -- commonly called Astorga, a city of Asturias and the proper seat of the Astures. The river Astura, beside which it lies, gave its name to the city and the people.

(b) Add from Marcus, chapter 21, and Wadding, number 44: those who were carrying the relics were many horsemen and nobles, among whom the noble man Alfonso Perez de Argunia was prominent.

(c) Marcus, chapter 22, from the ancient Chronicles, writes, as do Ribadeneira and Wadding, number 45, that when the King and the Clergy wished the relics to be carried to the cathedral church, those who had brought them objecting, the mule went straight ahead through the street of Samson -- otherwise called the street of the Old Fig Tree -- to the church of the Holy Cross, and stood at its closed doors; and when they were opened, it advanced to the main chapel, and before its altar, having bent both knees, it did not rise until its burden was lifted.

(d) What follows is narrated in the same words by St. Antoninus, Part 3 of the Chronicle, title 24, chapter 7, section 1.

(e) Pisanus: "to this day it has never rained" -- a most egregious error.

LESSON VIII.

A Vision at the Death of Queen Urraca.

[22] Queen Urraca dies. And so that the aforementioned prophecy of the holy Brothers might be fulfilled, the Queen of Portugal, the aforesaid Urraca, a short time after the burial of the holy Martyrs, full of virtues, departed this life. And at the very same hour, in the deep of night, the Lord Peter Nunes, a Canon and sacristan, distinguished by every holiness, A procession of Friars Minor is seen, in which St. Francis and the Five Martyrs. and the Confessor of that same Queen, saw innumerable Friars Minor entering the choir, among whom one was preceding with great solemnity, and after him five others, excelling among the rest with a certain singular honor. And immediately, as they entered the choir in procession, they sang Matins with indescribable melody. The Lord Peter, wholly astonished, asked one of them for what purpose and by what entrance so many Brothers had entered at such an hour, since all the doors of the monastery were closed. He replied: "All of us whom you see here were Friars Minor, and now we reign in glory with Christ. The one who precedes with such great glory is Francis, whom you so greatly desired to see in this life. The other five who excel among the rest are the Brothers killed for Christ in Morocco and entombed in this monastery. And know that the Lady Urraca the Queen has departed this life; Matins sung by them. and because she loved our Order with her whole heart, the Lord Jesus Christ has sent all of us here, so that for her honor we might here solemnly celebrate Matins. And because you were her Confessor, God has willed that you should see these things. The Queen is dead. Concerning the death of the Queen, do not doubt, for immediately, when we depart, you will hear certain news of this." Then that procession left the monastery, the doors being closed; and immediately those of the household of the said Queen knocked at the gate and announced that the Queen had just now paid her debt to nature.

(a) Pelbartus: "to carry her soul to heaven." But Marcus entirely agrees with Tisserand.

LESSON IX.

The Conversion of St. Anthony of Padua. The Journey of St. Francis to Syria.

[23] Afterward the Saints began to shine forth with great miracles, some of which are more fully contained in their more extensive Legend (a). By the example of these Saints, Blessed Anthony, St. Anthony of Padua is converted. then a Canon in that same monastery of the Holy Cross, who was called Ferdinand Martin, burning with zeal for martyrdom, entered the Order of Friars Minor in the twenty-fifth year of his age; and he completed ten years in the Order, full of holiness and distinguished by his learning and miracles (b).

[24] Moreover, in that dispersal (c) of the Brothers, Blessed Francis, out of his fervor for martyrdom, betook himself with twelve Brothers to the regions of Syria and to the Sultan; St. Francis sets out for Syria. and the Sultan, with all reverence, the Lord so disposing, sent him back to his homeland, as he preached the faith of Christ most steadfastly.

(a) Some of these will be appended below.

(b) St. Anthony of Padua died in the year of Christ 1231, having entered the Order of Friars Minor in the year of Christ 1221. We shall treat of him on June 13.

(c) Concerning this journey of St. Francis, which he undertook in the year of Christ 1219, and his other Seraphic virtues, we shall treat on October 4.

MIRACLES

From the Annals of Luke Wadding.

Berard of Carbio, Martyr of the Order of St. Francis in Mauretania (Saint) Otto, Priest-Martyr of the Order of St. Francis in Mauretania (Saint) Peter of San Gimignano, Martyr of the Order of St. Francis in Mauretania (Saint) Accursius, Martyr of the Order of St. Francis in Mauretania (Saint) Adiutus, Martyr of the Order of St. Francis in Mauretania (Saint)

From Luke Wadding.

[1] (a) A certain young Saracen woman, but imbued with the Christian faith A possessed woman is freed. and secretly baptized by the aforesaid Prince's Chaplain, was possessed by a demon, who grieved that this prey had been snatched from him. When she was brought before the casket where a portion of the relics was reverently kept, as soon as they were uncovered, the demon departed with a tremendous cry. Also a young household servant, oppressed by a prolonged and severe illness, when no human remedy remained, asked the Chaplain to apply some part of the relics to him. A sick man is healed. The Chaplain, having dipped one of the bones in water, gave it to the feverish man to drink, and immediately he escaped free from every disease. A wound is cured, Another man sprinkled his wounded shin with water in which the sacred relics had been washed, and it was made whole. The same water dispelled the pain of the eyes from yet another. pain of the eyes, And finally a certain priest, suffering in his face from a swelling, after handling the relics, applied to his swollen face with confidence the hand a swelling of the face: with which he had touched the holy objects, and rendered it fresh and fair.

[2] (b) Assassins fell upon a certain nobleman of Coimbra near the said church of the Holy Cross in order to kill him. Lethal wounds: They seized him as he fled at the door of the church, and inflicted so many wounds upon him that they judged him dead. Those who wished to aid the dying man, thinking him completely dead, covered him with his cloak and brought him into the church to be buried there. But he did not lie there long; for with no one helping him, he rose to his feet whole, without wounds, publicly proclaiming that the power of the holy Martyrs was great, who had freed him from so many lethal blows.

[3] Rare and singular is the spectacle that I now relate. There is a town in the diocese of Coimbra called Fala, whose inhabitants, Plague. while they were perishing from a most savage plague (c), all died, with only one man, himself already pestilent, left in the jaws of death. He, seeing no remedy for his life remaining except the divine, invoked the Martyrs, whose devoted worshipper he was, with urgency; and he added a vow that if they freed him from that contagious disease, he would visit their relics naked (d) and would exhort others to do likewise. He recovered from his illness miraculously, and so effectively did he persuade the returning neighbors that what he had vowed they did voluntarily, so that he completely convinced them, and all come each year naked to the tombs of the Martyrs in a public and organized procession.

[4] They come on the very feast day of the Martyrs to the church of St. Francis, situated across the river Mondego (e), in great number, not only from that town but also from other neighboring ones situated four and five miles from the city, They come naked to supplicate at the relics of the Saints. and there, having removed their garments -- some having already stripped in their own homes -- they hear Mass. When this is finished, they all proceed in procession, bearing nothing on their whole bodies except breeches or loincloths, with the Cross going before, their Rectors following behind or placed in the middle, carrying their rods of office and keeping the rest in order. Behind them come all the Franciscans, chanting psalms in triumph of the Martyrs. Sometimes these naked townspeople, together with certain citizens and small children who with great devotion mingle with them, also naked, exceed the number of two hundred; I myself counted nearly three hundred in the year 1610, while for over three years I had been devoted to the study of Theology at the College of St. Bonaventure in Coimbra, being summoned each year to this devout spectacle. The monastery of the Holy Cross is about a thousand paces from the Franciscan house, and one crosses a bridge of two hundred paces to reach the city in the coldest of all months. The rite of the procession. When they approach the Holy Cross, either a preacher stands in the pulpit or a priest at the altar, while they are received by the noble crowd of bystanders -- consisting of the higher secular and regular clergy, the leading men of the city, and the Canons of that same church -- with hymns, organs, and immense jubilation, and each one is admitted to the kissing and veneration of the sacred relics. Then all stand naked before the relics in the main chapel, which is very spacious, until the sacred rites are concluded; then they are led into a large hall, into which their garments have been brought, and each one resumes his own.

[5] Many of the more noble citizens and other pious men, emulating their devotion, come similarly with bared bodies but covered faces on the night of the feast day, when the Canons keep sacred vigil with the doors thrown wide open, and devoutly invoke the aid of the holy Martyrs. There was, however, a certain Apostolic Nuncio, whom in that kingdom they call the Collector, who, seeing so great a veneration paid to Martyrs not yet canonized by the Church, forbade in their very church that they should any longer be honored with such solemnity without consulting the Roman Church and without obtaining a particular license. The moment he said this, the mule on which he was riding dropped dead at the doors of the temple, That devotion confirmed by a twofold miracle. and the Prelate himself was seized by a burning and sudden fever. Suspecting that these evils arose from heavenly displeasure, he humbly prostrated himself before the relics of the sacred Martyrs, promising that in the future he would render them all homage and reverence and would commend their solemnity. A contrite and humbled heart God did not despise; and He restored both him to health and the mule to life. These two miracles, so manifest in the sight of the whole people who accompanied the Prelate, kindled that entire region all the more in devotion to the holy Martyrs, since they clearly understood that the friends of God are to be honored exceedingly, and that their principality has been confirmed in heaven. Nor long afterward was it established by diocesan statute that their feast day should be observed as a holy day.

[6] The people of Coimbra relate another miracle similar to this one: that when a certain Bishop of the city, somewhat fastidious, Intermission is avenged. out of the great modesty that he displayed, forbade those processions of the naked to take place, deeming it unworthy and indecorous for men to walk naked through the middle of the streets -- immediately in that year in which the aforesaid townspeople abandoned their pious custom, at a time that was wintry and healthful, with no plague raging in any place in the whole kingdom, it raged against them, and together with the Bishop they felt the divine vengeance. Moved by this, they renewed their vow that by no agreement or law would they at any time ever omit the aforesaid procession on the solemnity of the Martyrs -- which they are most faithfully careful to fulfill to this day.

(a) These are reported at number 42, from the manuscript History of Lisbon.

(b) What follows is reported at numbers 48, 49, and 50, from Marcus of Lisbon, chapters 26, 27, and 28.

(c) Rodulphius again dissents from the others: for he says that all except this one man were killed by hail; Marcus and Bzovius say that a father and five children were saved from the plague.

(d) Marcus: "each year as long as he lived he would visit naked, and would arrange for someone from his household to visit after his death."

(e) The Mondego, a river of Portugal between the Tagus and the Douro, commonly called the Mondego, flows past Coimbra. See Nonius on Spain.

OTHER MIRACLES

From Marcus of Lisbon.

Berard of Carbio, Martyr of the Order of St. Francis in Mauretania (Saint) Otto, Priest-Martyr of the Order of St. Francis in Mauretania (Saint) Peter of San Gimignano, Martyr of the Order of St. Francis in Mauretania (Saint) Accursius, Martyr of the Order of St. Francis in Mauretania (Saint) Adiutus, Martyr of the Order of St. Francis in Mauretania (Saint)

From Marcus of Lisbon.

[1] (a) At Coimbra, Maria Vasquez, wife of Peter Danfins, had lost her sight. Sight recovered through the aid of the Saints: Inflamed therefore with the ardor of faith and piety, she went to the monastery of the Holy Cross; she asked for water in which the sacred relics had been dipped; with it she bathed her eyes and recovered her sight (b). The miracle was immediately spread throughout the whole city.

[2] A Canon of the same monastery inadvertently swallowed a leech (c) while drinking, and did not even notice it at first, until he began to bleed from the nose -- and indeed so copiously, A flow of blood staunched: for twenty-one days, that his recovery was despaired of and his funeral arrangements were being discussed. A certain honorable woman, the same Canon's godmother (d) or sponsor, devoted to the cult of the holy Martyrs, implored their aid and made a vow. The Canon immediately vomited up the leech and was freed from all danger.

[3] A hernia cured: A difficult hernia (e) tormented the son of a noble man, John Vasquez of Coimbra. When many remedies had been tried in vain, he had recourse to the patronage of the Martyrs, and pledged that he would spend one night with his son in prayer in their chapel. The hernia was immediately cured.

[4] Not far from the town of Fala, where we said that the father and five children cured of the plague gave rise to the procession that is annually conducted to the chapel of the Martyrs with bodies bared (f) from the waist, and the falling sickness: there lived a farmer named John Capillo (g). He had long suffered from the falling sickness. When he had learned how many miracles were wrought through the invocation of the holy Martyrs, seized with great anguish of soul, he vowed that he would be present at the processions of the people of Fala each year in the same manner. Thereafter he piously fulfilled his vow, free from every trouble of his former ailment.

[5] The parents and husband of a certain woman possessed by a demon brought her to the chapel of the Martyrs; A possessed woman freed: and they spent three days there, engaged in procuring sacred rites and pouring forth prayers. At last the wretched tenant was expelled by the power of the Martyrs, and she was freed.

[6] Another possessed woman from the district of Beira, while she was being led to the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary likewise another: whose name is "of the Virtues" (h), as she reached Coimbra, was fiercely tormented by her infernal guest. Therefore the chapel of the holy Martyrs was visited, and when prayers were offered, the evil demon was put to flight.

[7] An inhabitant of the village of Petroso (i) had a ferret, which, having been seized by rabies, bit his son. The boy, driven into madness as well, A rabid person cured: tried to lay violent hands upon himself; nor could any remedy overcome the malady. In the father's sleep there appeared one dressed in the Franciscan habit, who told him to go with his son to the monastery of the Holy Cross, and to ask the sacristan for water consecrated by the immersion of the relics of the holy Martyrs; and that drinking it would restore his son to health. Nor did the outcome deceive his faith.

[8] (k) The parents of a boy who had suffered from a hernia since birth brought him to the chapel of the Martyrs; A hernia healed: and when he was offered to the Saints with gifts and fervent prayer, he was completely cured.

[9] A certain man in the same city was so tormented by toothache that he could neither take food Toothache. nor obtain any rest at all. Without any remedy, he devoutly invoked the holy Martyrs, adding vows. On the following night, the pain not yet relenting, he fell asleep, and in that sleep he seemed to see the five holy Martyrs standing beside him, and one of them stroking his jaw with his hand. On waking, he felt that all pain had been removed from him.

[10] (l) Roderic Lawrence de las Puntas, a noble man, while in the King's service, was by chance thrown into prison A certain man freed from prison. and condemned to death. He vowed to the Martyrs that, if through them he were rescued from danger, he would visit their chapel with the very shackles with which he was bound. Immediately a safe exit was opened to him. Therefore, dragging his heavy chains, he came to the monastery of the Holy Cross and had the sacrifice of the Mass offered at the altar of the Martyrs. When the Mass was finished, the chains spontaneously fell from his feet of their own accord, and were hung there as a memorial.

[11] A certain Ferdinand was so weak in his stomach that for fifteen whole days he had gone without any food, Weakness of the stomach cured. and could no longer even open his eyes; and already preparations pertaining to the arrangement of his funeral had begun to be made. His mother, with a certain great impulse of soul, implored the aid of the Martyrs and made a vow. Soon the son began to improve; the following day he sprang from his bed and walked on his own feet, sound and whole, and visited the chapel of the Saints with his parents and fulfilled his mother's vows.

[12] James Perez de la Curta of Coimbra, on the feast day of the holy Martyrs, set out at early morning to prune a vine The observance of the feast day sanctioned by a double miracle. that was situated behind the Franciscan monastery. A certain man passed by that way and said: "Do you not know, James Perez, that today the holy Martyrs are honored, whose bodies are in the Holy Cross?" "What of it?" he replied. "This feast is not of such a kind that it need be observed with a public holiday." And at once, looking back, he saw nowhere the man who had warned him. He therefore continued his work; but instantly, struck with a tremendous trembling of his whole body, especially his hands, he was forced to abandon it. He therefore realized that this had happened to him by divine agency, and he sought the church of the Holy Cross and made a vow that as long as he lived he would religiously observe that day, attending Mass, the sermon, and Vespers (m). The moment he made his vow, he recovered his health. He afterward testified that however many shoots he had pruned that day (he had pruned about eighty), they bore no grapes that year, though the rest were exceedingly fruitful.

[13] Deaf persons healed. A certain woman, and also a certain young man, through the merits of the Saints received from heaven a remedy for their deafness.

[14] In the year 1466, on January 16, when the Bishop of Coimbra was in the chapel of the Saints, an immense throng of people flocked there to fulfill their vows, and a good many were half-naked. The Bishop inquired what reason had impelled each one to make vows and to adopt that manner of supplication. Various infirmities cured, Some declared that they had been freed from hernia, others from deafness, others from some other infirmity, as soon as they had bound themselves by a vow of such a pilgrimage. There stood by the Bishop's side his nephew, a boy of eleven years, afflicted by so troublesome a hernia (n) that the physicians declared it could be cured by no art whatsoever. The Bishop ordered the boy to retire to the sacristy, and, having removed his garments, to supplicate the Martyrs in the manner of the others, naked. The boy obeyed. The Bishop himself, together with those present, also offered prayers. A hernia. While therefore, naked, on his knees fixed to the ground, holding a candle in his hand, he prayed to the Saints -- wondrous to tell! -- he instantly became as whole as if he had never suffered any affliction. The Bishop, leaping with joy, both allowed those who wished to observe to become witnesses of the miracle and gave thanks to God and the holy Martyrs.

(a) Marcus narrates these things in Part 3, Book 6, chapter 33.

(b) John Blanconius, the French translator, adds: "in the presence of the Canons."

(c) Blanconius: "a spider."

(d) Blanconius omits this. Moreover, by the ecclesiastical term, those who stand as sponsors for one being baptized or confirmed and receive him are called "godparents" (patrinos).

(e) The French translator: "sores and ulcers." Bzovius agrees.

(f) Blanconius: "with bare feet."

(g) In Spanish it is "Cabelos." In French, "Capelli"; in Bzovius, "Capellus."

(h) In Spanish: "Nuestra Senora de las Virtudes."

(i) A ferret is a species of weasel. Bzovius has "a rabid dog."

(k) What follows is narrated by Marcus, chapter 34.

(l) In Bzovius: "Lawrence Ruizius."

(m) Blanconius: "at the solemn Mass, at first and second Vespers"; he omits the sermon.

(n) Blanconius: "sores"; Bzovius: "a hopeless malady."

BULL OF POPE SIXTUS IV

Concerning the Veneration of the Holy Martyrs.

Berard of Carbio, Martyr of the Order of St. Francis in Mauretania (Saint) Otto, Priest-Martyr of the Order of St. Francis in Mauretania (Saint) Peter of San Gimignano, Martyr of the Order of St. Francis in Mauretania (Saint) Accursius, Martyr of the Order of St. Francis in Mauretania (Saint) Adiutus, Martyr of the Order of St. Francis in Mauretania (Saint)

(a) Sixtus, Bishop, servant of the servants of God, to all the Brothers of the Order of Friars Minor, beloved sons, wherever they may be dwelling or shall dwell, greeting and the Apostolic blessing.

When on a former occasion we were revolving in our mind the merits of the blessed Martyrs Berard, Peter, Otto, Accursius, and Adiutus, who were of the Order of Friars Minor (under which we ourselves also grew up), who after many torments under the King of Morocco underwent death for Christ and, gloriously winning the palm of martyrdom, shone forth with very many miracles both in death itself and afterward -- by which example the Blessed Anthony of Padua is recorded to have transferred himself from the Order of Canons Regular, in which he then was, to the same Order of Friars Minor -- we granted by Apostolic authority and kindness, by a living-voice oracle, that the Brothers of the aforesaid Order of Friars Minor might publicly and solemnly celebrate in their churches the office of the Mass and the Hours in honor of the above-mentioned holy Martyrs. But since the adversary of the human race frequently strives to disturb good and holy works, lest anyone might hereafter impede so divine and pious a work, by the tenor of these presents, of our certain knowledge and by Apostolic authority, we grant that the aforesaid Friars Minor may everywhere, solemnly and publicly, freely and with a clear and serene conscience, recite and celebrate the office of several Martyrs for these same Berard, Peter, Accursius, Adiutus, and Otto under a major double office, and also on January 16, the day on which they departed this world through martyrdom. We prohibit by the aforesaid Apostolic authority that anyone should dare to oppose this our concession, notwithstanding anything whatsoever to the contrary. Moreover, because it would be difficult for the present Brief to be conveyed to all places, we will that the same full faith be given to a copy of it subscribed by the hand of some public Notary and sealed with the seal of the General of the said Order, or of the Vicar General of the Friars Minor of the Observance, as would be given if the same present Brief were shown in the original. Given at Rome at St. Peter's under the ring of the fisherman, on the seventh day of August, in the year of the Lord 1481, in the tenth year of our Pontificate.

(a) The original diploma is preserved at Rome in the archive of the convent of Santa Maria in Aracoeli.