Tozzo

ON ST. TOZZO, OR TOZO, BISHOP OF AUGSBURG.

Year of Christ 661.

Tozzo, Bishop of Augsburg (Saint)

From various sources.

[1] Tozzo, Bishop of Augsburg in Vindelicia, departed this life on the seventeenth day before the Kalends of February. He was formerly venerated among the Saints, says Raderus. Concerning him, Cratepolius writes in his book on the Saints of Germany The celebrated memory of St. Tozzo. and in his Catalogue of the Bishops of Germany, chapter 8: "St. Thozzo, Pastor of Waldorf, was appointed Bishop of the Church of Augsburg by Pippin, King of the Franks, moved by the prayers and commendations of St. Magnus, in the year of the Lord 753. He presided for twelve years. He is buried at St. Afra, where the church of St. Ulrich the Bishop is." Demochares, Book 2 on the Sacrifice of the Mass, and Bruschius on the Bishops of Germany, chapter 8, report the same things, adding that he died on January 16, in the year 765. He is counted the tenth Bishop of that church. So also in the catalogue of the Bishops of Augsburg printed in 1614: "X. Tozzo. He is venerated among the Saints: he succeeded Wichterp chiefly through the commendation of St. Magnus. He died in the year 676, on the seventeenth day before the Kalends of February." Bernard Hertfelder, in his Chronicle of the Basilica of Saints Ulrich and Afra, writes at the year 663: "Tosso the Priest, on the advice of St. Magnus the Abbot, is elected Bishop of Augsburg." And at the year 676: "Tosso the Bishop dies with a great reputation for holiness."

[2] Where the relics are. The same Hertfelder, in Part 2 of the Basilica of Saints Ulrich and Afra, at the image of the sacristy altar, writes: "At the front of the sanctuary," he says, "there is an altar distinguished by twelve sacred bodies — eight of Martyrs and four of Confessor Bishops — which, lost more than once through various mishaps and discovered again, were then translated in diverse ways; and finally in the year 1618, to augment their honor, they were placed in this location amid a great concourse of people." And further on: "The two sides of the altar are occupied, through their sacred relics, by four Bishop-Confessors of Augsburg, celebrated for their holiness. The first is St. Wichterp, predecessor of St. Tozzo. The second is Tozzo, from being Pastor of Waldhofen made Bishop." There follows a brief account of his life drawn mostly from the Book of Images entitled "The Saints of Augsburg," printed in the year of Christ 1601, and attributed to Marcus Welser by Ferrarius in his General Catalogue in the Notes at January 13. In it one reads thus:

[3] While still a Priest, when he went to the tomb of St. Gall for the sake of devotion, he is said to have used a candle Summary of his life. which, burning continuously at night, was neither consumed by the flame nor extinguished by blasts of wind; and when the sun rose, it immediately lost its light of its own accord. St. Magnus, admiring the appearance of the miracle and captivated by the man's outstanding probity, admitted him to his intimate company and took him as guide for his journey, which he was revolving in his mind by divine impulse toward the passes of the Alps. When Wichterp then died, he brought it about that Tozzo should be chosen to succeed him as Bishop. Tozzo in turn cherished Magnus with singular piety, stood by him as he was dying, addressed him as Father and Teacher, and lamented that he was being left an orphan by his departure. He survived Magnus by five years and some months; he died on the seventeenth day before the Kalends of February, around the year 676. Ferrarius in his General Catalogue reports his feast day on January 13: "At Augsburg in Vindelicia, Blessed Tosso the Bishop." He cites the tables of the Bishops of Augsburg; but which ones? For in those cited above he is said to have died on the seventeenth before the Kalends of February. He adds that he was the seventeenth Bishop and flourished under King Pippin, and he cites Demochares, by whom, as by others, he is counted the tenth Bishop.

[4] A fuller life from the Acts of St. Magnus. The time at which he lived must be determined from the Life of St. Magnus, which we shall illustrate on September 6: from it we excerpt here what pertains to St. Tozzo. Henry Canisius, in volume 1 of his Ancient Readings, published from the parchments of the monastery of St. Magnus at the foot of the bridge at Regensburg, the Life of St. Magnus which has been inserted in the third edition of the works of Surius. Both printed and in manuscripts. The same exists in manuscript at the monastery of St. Maximin near Trier, and at the monastery of Saints Ulrich and Afra at Augsburg. It has also been printed among the ancient writers of Alemannic affairs from the library of Melchior Goldast, divided into two books, with a few changes and some omissions.

[5] Briefly described by Theodore. The author in the Canisius edition is given as Theodore, a monk of St. Gall and the first Abbot of Kempten, a disciple of St. Magnus. Among the Alemannic writers he is called St. Theodore the Hermit. He is one and the same. He led an eremitical rather than a monastic life in a cell erected at Kempten, where long after his death a celebrated monastery was founded by Queen Hildegard, wife of Charlemagne, then not yet Emperor. Theodore, below at number 11, attests that he wrote the Life of St. Magnus, or rather a summary of his life, in a tablet or epitaph, as the Canisius copy has it, at the command of Bishop Tozzo. Whatever this was, if only someone could produce it!

[6] More fully by Ermenric of Ellwangen. In the Goldast edition, to the title of both books is added that it was emended and arranged by Ermenric, a monk of Ellwangen, and that Ermenric's supplement is what is added in the last chapters after the death of St. Magnus. Concerning Ermenric, our Possevinus writes thus: "Ermenric, a German monk and Abbot of Ellwangen, of the Seventh Congregation of Luxeuil, after the year of the Lord 800, wrote a Dialogue on the life and miracles of St. Hariolf, the first Abbot of Ellwangen," of whom we shall treat on August 13. The same Ermenric also described the Life of St. Sola the Abbot, which we shall give on December 3; in which he mentions Rabanus, then administering the monastery of Fulda, who later became Bishop of Mainz in the year of Christ 847, as we shall say on February 4. But needing correction. Certain blemishes are found in this Life of St. Magnus that conflict with legitimate chronology. St. Magnus is said to have been a disciple of St. Columbanus in the monastery of Luxeuil, to have built the monastery of Fussen in the time of Pippin, King of the Franks, and yet to have lived only seventy-three years; while St. Columbanus departed from Luxeuil around the year of Christ 610, and Pippin was proclaimed King in the year of Christ 752. Hence some wish Magnus, Wichterp, and Tozzo to have flourished in the seventh century, others in the eighth. This Pippin was not the King, but the Mayor of the Palace of the Kings of Austrasia, to whom Swabia was then subject — Lothar, Dagobert, and St. Sigebert — and he died in the year of Christ 646, February 21, on which day we shall give his life. Thus, therefore, the chronology may be described from this Life.

[7] Lothar obtained the kingdom of Austrasia at the death of Theodoric, the sons and grandmother Brunhild of the latter having been slain, in the year of Christ 613. Near the beginning of his reign, St. Columbanus, Chronology of the lives of Saints Magnus and Tozzo. having spent one year in the monastery of Bobbio, as Jonah attests in his Life, dies on the tenth day before the Kalends of December, around the year 615. About ten years after his death, St. Gall dies on October 16, around the year 625. Having stayed three years at his tomb, St. Magnus, with St. Tozzo, came to Kempten, then to Waldhofen, and at last reached the Passes, perhaps in the year 629. The monastery is built; Blessed Wichterp goes to Blessed Pippin and obtains privileges for the monastery. Blessed Pippin dies in the year of Christ 646. Twenty-five years after the first arrival of Saints Magnus and Tozzo at the Passes, St. Wichterp the Bishop dies, and St. Tozzo is appointed in his place around the year 654. But how is he then said to have been raised to the honor of the pontificate by King Pippin, when Blessed Pippin of Landen had died eight years earlier? Perhaps the name of Pippin was rashly repeated here and ascribed to him what either Grimoald his son or King St. Sigebert himself had arranged. On September 6 in the year 655, St. Magnus dies, in which year the Dominical letter D falls on September 6 as a Sunday, on which day he is written to have died. After his departure, St. Tozzo lived five years and three months, and therefore died on this day around the year 661.

[8] The Life of St. Magnus was recently published in an expanded form by Martin, Abbot of Fussen, from which our Raderus extracted his narrative about Saints Magnus and Tozzo at the end of volume 4 of his Holy Bavaria. A more recent Life of St. Magnus. An epitome of the life of both was published by Charles Stengelius in his Monasteriologia, when he treats of the monastery of St. Magnus at Fussen.

LIFE

Excerpted from the Acts of St. Magnus.

Tozzo, Bishop of Augsburg (Saint)

From the Life of St. Magnus.

CHAPTER I.

The companionship of Saints Tozzo and Magnus. The journey to Kempten.

[1] Agnoald and Theodore prostrated themselves together in prayer, When St. Magnus and Theodore were about to set out on their journey, imploring the Lord's mercy that he would dispose their journey according to his will toward the regions of the East; lest they should, as if departing fraudulently, leave behind the body of the blessed Father; mindful of the prophecy of Blessed Columbanus, who said that Blessed Magnoald would come into the Eastern wilderness, to the springs of the Julian Alps, where Blessed Narcissus, Bishop of the city of Toulouse, commanded the devil to slay a dragon, when he converted St. Afra to the faith. On the following night, it was shown to Blessed Magnoald through a vision that he should go forth confidently, knowing that the Lord's help would always be at hand. When morning came, therefore, they again prayed more earnestly that the Lord would show them the way and a suitable route, and how he wished them to go there.

[2] When noon came, a certain Priest arrived from that same district, Tozzo by name, who had already heard the fame of Blessed Gall, and therefore came for the sake of prayer to his tomb, St. Tozzo appears with a miraculously burning candle, carrying a burning candle in his hand. He had brought this candle there in a wondrous manner, namely: when he traveled at night, the candle burned and could by no means be extinguished by the wind; but when day came, the light was immediately withdrawn of its own accord from the candle. When Blessed Magnoald and Theodore saw him coming, marveling that the candle was by no means diminished by its burning, they went out to meet him and asked whence he came. And he explained in order where he was from and how it had been revealed to him that he should visit the tomb of St. Gall — nay, that he should lead those whom he would find wishing to travel to the regions of the East by a direct route, until they should come to the desired place. Hearing these things, they prostrated themselves in prayer, giving thanks to the Lord who had deigned to show them such a guide, A guide divinely given to them. that he would not permit them to stray along the narrow way. And then at last they received the Priest, kissing him, and led him into the church to the tomb of Blessed Gall; and having prayed, they led him into their guesthouse, providing him with necessities as best they could, and choosing him as their traveling companion.

[3] And so the aforesaid Priest, spending the night with them, praying at dawn before the tomb of Blessed Gall and blessing God and bidding farewell to the Brothers who were there, they set out together, taking the road along the Lake of Constance, all the way to the place called Brigantia, and there they stayed two days. While they were remaining there, a certain blind man, meeting Blessed Magnoald, They pass through Bregenz, received his sight from him ... and the blind man followed them, giving thanks to the Lord for the sight received; and the aforesaid Priest Tozzo accompanied them as guide of the journey.

[4] And so after some days they came to the place called Kempten, where they found a very famous town, but entirely deserted. They come to Kempten. Then Blessed Magnoald asked the Priest what that place was called and what the river that flowed there was called. He answered: "This place is very frequently visited by the inhabitants of this land, and is called Kempten, but they have not dared to stay here even one night on account of the various kinds of serpents that are here. The river is called Iller — which it is not, because it disturbs many people on account of its very swift current and turns them to grief rather than to gladness. But we must pass through more quickly, lest the serpents sense that we are here; for if they sense it, they will make a great assault upon us to devour us. For they have devoured very many people who came here for the sake of hunting, not allowing them to lie here even one night." ...

[5] While Magnoald and Theodore were praying, a great serpent, which is called a boa, came out from the town and made an assault upon the blessed men as they lay in prayer. The Priest Tozzo, therefore, They slay the boa. who was leading them, seeing it, cried out with a great voice, saying: "Woe is me, that I led you hither!" And turning to flight, he and the man who had been blind hastened to a tree to save themselves. But Blessed Magnoald and Theodore, trusting in God's mercy — Magnoald rose while Theodore prayed, and making the sign of the holy cross before himself and seizing the staff that he had received from Blessed Gall and the cross that he carried with him, he went forward to meet the serpent and said: "I command you in the name of my Lord Jesus Christ to lie down here, and may the devil who lurks in you himself slay you, adjured by the living and true God." And when he had said this, he struck it with the staff on the head, and immediately it burst asunder in the middle and died; and the rest of the serpents that dwelt in and around the town all turned to flight and were nowhere to be seen. And so the place was cleansed, and they remained there for one week, giving thanks to the Lord who had deigned to hear them.

[6] When Tozzo saw that both men were unharmed, he descended from the tree to which he had fled, and together with the man who had been blind, they prostrated themselves at their feet. And Tozzo said: "Truly the Lord is in this place, who has bestowed such great grace upon Blessed Magnus that with his staff he should perform so unheard-of a sign. Now therefore I will confidently lead you through the deserted and narrow places, all the way to the place that you have chosen for dwelling, because I see such great power granted to you by God that through your merits these various places may be purified, and what are now uninhabitable may, by the Lord's will, be made habitable." Blessed Magnus answered and said: "We will remain here this present week, and let us build a small oratory, that the people of this land may learn They erect a chapel. what mercy the Lord has deigned to bestow upon them in this place." And they remained there that week. Tozzo, however, ran through the neighboring places known to him to the people who dwelt there, spreading the news of this sign. They came to that place and brought food in abundance, marveling greatly at so great a power of God. They convert many. And very many, through the preaching of Blessed Magnus, were converted to the faith and baptized by the Priest Tozzo; and giving thanks to the Lord, they remained there cultivating that land and building a cell together with Blessed Magnus and Theodore — spending three days with them, keeping vigil by night in prayer and laboring by day.

[7] When on the third night they wished to rise at dawn to celebrate Matins, suddenly demons flying through the air, They put demons to flight. wailing with great noise and tumult, emitting voices as if making an assault upon the Priest Tozzo, cried out: "You, enemy of our master and ours — why did you bring this man with his companion into this place, so that he might uproot both us and our members, through which we were gaining many souls, from this place? For his master was always accustomed to conquer us with his spells, just as this one does by invoking the name of the Lord. But this one has conquered and expelled us not only in ourselves, but also in our members, with the terrible name Adonai." Hearing this, the aforesaid Priest Tozzo, trembling, but fortifying himself with the sign of the holy cross, hastened to the man of God and reported to him what he had seen and heard ... Moreover, from that day, by the command of St. Magnus, they departed so completely and turned to flight that they did not appear there again. And so it came about that from that day all people were permitted to dwell peacefully in that place.

"Tozzo bears a torch that no blasts weary: Nor can the flame, overwhelmed by waves, die. Nereus marvels, Aeolus is astonished. Therefore your torch, Tozzo, commands the winds; your torch, Tozzo, commands the sea."

CHAPTER II.

The pastorate of St. Tozzo at Waldhofen.

[8] From Kempten, Blessed Magnus set out, taking with him as traveling companion and guide the Priest Tozzo, leaving with Theodore the blind man who had received his sight. Setting out on the journey, therefore, and having crossed the river, he went by a direct path, as his guide led him: and so they came to the place called Eptaticus, and there they found the Bishop of the holy Church of Augsburg in Vindelicia, named Wichterp. Tozzo, therefore, on account of his acquaintance with the Bishop, They meet St. Wichterp, Bishop of Augsburg. went ahead of Blessed Magnus and came to the aforesaid Bishop, and narrated to him all the things about the holy man that he had seen and heard. The aforesaid Bishop asked of what origin he was. And the Priest replied: "My Lord, as I have heard from Theodore, who is now left at Kempten, he is a native of the province of Ireland." When the Bishop heard his good reputation, he received him kindly and began to converse with him and to cherish him with honor; and he remained with him a few days ... He assented to his words and gave him provisions of food, providing him with the Priest Tozzo as a traveling companion and guides for the journey who would lead him to the place destined for him by God.

[9] When they had come to the place called Caput Equi Horse's Head, a great dragon lay there in a narrow place, which did not permit any person to pass through that way, nor any horse; and therefore that place was called Horse's Head, because all the hunters left their horses there and went on foot wherever they could to hunt. When Blessed Magnus was already near that place, They slay the dragon. he said to the Priest Tozzo: "Brother, let us build ourselves a shelter here to stay this night, and let us pray to God to expel this present limb of the devil from this place, and to deign to grant us passage to press forward." They did therefore as he had commanded, and they remained there. Throughout that entire night Blessed Magnus did not cease to pray and implore the Lord's mercy to deign to overthrow the dragon. Around midnight, Blessed Magnus, rising, said to Tozzo: "Send a man with me to lead me to the place where the dragon lies." Tozzo replied: "I fear that if I bring you there, you will be devoured by it." To this the holy man replied: "If God is for us, who is against us?" He went and slew it. When they saw the dragon slain, they descended to the cliff from which the same dragon had appeared to make an assault upon the holy man; the Priest Tozzo said: "We give you thanks, Lord, who have deigned to show us such a man, so great, that through his merits these places may be purified and made habitable which before were useless."

[10] Having prayed, they crossed that narrow place and came by the road along the river Lech to a fair place that had no name, but was a good plain. They arrive at Waldhofen. Blessed Magnus the Deacon had hanging from his neck a Cross in which were contained relics of the blessed Mother of God, Mary, and of the wood of the holy Cross, and of the holy Martyrs Maurice and his companions, and also of the blessed Confessors Columbanus and Gall. He found, therefore, above the aforesaid river, a very fine and beautiful place, in which, at a distance of about thirty cubits from the bank of the aforesaid river, he found a fruit-bearing tree standing, very fair; and he hung his small cross on that tree, and he called the Priest Tozzo, and they prostrated themselves in prayer before the small cross. Then the venerable man Blessed Magnus uttered prayers of this kind: "Lord Jesus Christ, who for the salvation of the human race deigned to be born of the Virgin and to die, do not despise my prayer, but permit us to build in this place an oratory in honor of your Mother; and prepare here a dwelling suited to your service." When the prayer was finished, they began to build the foundation and built a church. When it was built, they invited Bishop Wichterp to come and dedicate it to the Lord and to St. Mary. There they build a chapel, over which St. Tozzo is placed. The aforesaid Bishop therefore came to that place, marveling greatly how they could have come there except by the grace of God, and he dedicated the church in honor of God's Mother Mary and of St. Florian, Martyr of Christ; and so they began to conduct the divine offices in praise of Christ in that place. Therefore, when the fame of the virtues which the Lord, through the merits of his blessed Confessor, deigned to display to those who piously sought them, had soothed the ears of peoples far and wide all around, they began from every quarter to hasten with eager devotion to seek the patronage of so great a Father, and to call that same place the Cell of St. Magnus, and to enlarge it with manifold gifts of substance and possessions.

[11] When things had been thus assembled through the generosity of the faithful, St. Magnus departs for the Passes; the blessed man withdrew on account of the multitude of peoples, and proceeded to the neighboring places called Fussen, in order to build for himself there, by the Lord's will, a familiar dwelling place; leaving behind the aforesaid Priest Tozzo in the church of St. Mary to take care of the people who would come there, and he called that place a Synagogue, that is, a gathering of peoples. St. Magnus went, and soon, hearing the complaints of demons protesting that they were being driven away from every side by him, he swiftly returned to the church of St. Mary which he had built; and he narrated to the Priest Tozzo all that he had heard in that place. When they wished to sing the Vesper office, terrible voices of demons were heard through the summits of the mountains, as if the wailings of those departing were poured forth with terror. And hearing these things, the servants of God prostrated themselves in prayer, offering praises and thanks to the Lord, who had deigned to deliver them from the terror of evil spirits. He erects a chapel. On the following day, Blessed Magnus with the Priest Tozzo returned to the aforesaid place, and there they began to build with the help of their people a very small oratory; and Bishop Wichterp was summoned by Tozzo and dedicated the oratory in honor of our Lord Jesus Christ, under the name of the holy Savior.

CHAPTER III.

The episcopate of St. Tozzo. The death of him and of St. Magnus.

[12] When twenty-five years had passed, and the Lord had deigned to exalt and enlarge that place through the merits of so great a man, St. Tozzo becomes Bishop of Augsburg. Bishop Wichterp having died on the fourteenth day before the Kalends of May, Tozzo was raised to the honor of the pontificate by the election of Blessed Magnus, by the glorious King Pippin, already in his last days. But when twenty-six years were completed, the blessed Father began to grow ill and to languish with the weakness of fevers; he therefore sent to his companion Theodore, who at that time was staying in the cell at Kempten, and summoned him to hasten and visit him, and by his visitation to refresh his most faithful friend. Hearing this, Theodore, with the greatest distress about the infirmity of so great a man, and with a sorrowful heart, swiftly set out for those parts, taking with him as best he could the things that he knew to be suitable for one laboring in illness.

[13] Coming to the aforesaid cell, he found the blessed man held by a most severe illness. He visits St. Magnus on his deathbed; And he sent swiftly to Bishop Tozzo, informing him to hasten and come to visit so great a Patron before he departed from this worldly light. When the aforesaid Bishop heard this, he swiftly set out for those parts and came to the monastery of the blessed man. When the great Patron was laboring in the greatest illness, Bishop Tozzo, seeing him, began to weep and to say: "Alas, alas, beloved Father! Alas, distinguished Teacher! In these perils do you leave me as an orphan?" To this the blessed man Magnus said: "Do not weep, venerable Bishop, because you see me laboring in so many storms of worldly disturbances; for I believe in the mercy of God that my soul shall rejoice in the freedom of immortality; yet I beseech you that you do not cease to aid me, a sinner, and my soul with your holy prayers."

[14] Amid these words, Blessed Magnus, laboring for thirteen days, He understands that the soul of the dead man has been received into heaven. having completed twenty-six years of his stay in that monastery, and seventy-three years of his age, on the holy Lord's day, on the eighth day before the Ides of September, commending himself to the Lord and to the venerable Bishop in good old age, around the ninth hour of that Lord's day, he rendered his holy soul to God, freed from the prison of this life. As the Bishop and Theodore wept before his bed, a voice was heard: "Come, Magnus, come and receive the crown that the Lord has prepared for you." Having heard this voice, therefore, Tozzo said to Theodore: "Let us cease weeping, brother, because it is more fitting for us to rejoice at his soul having been received into immortality, as this heard sign indicates, than to mourn. But let us go to the church and strive to offer the saving sacrifice to the Lord for so dearest a friend."

[15] He buries the body. When the rites of fraternal commemoration were finished, they both found an excellent stone sarcophagus, built in ancient times by a certain Duke named Abuzac, who had also built that very fortress and similarly called it Abuzac after his own name. But no one had been placed or buried in that sarcophagus. Having cleaned the sarcophagus, therefore, they took the holy body Theodore writes the Life of St. Magnus at Tozzo's command. and laid it to rest in the place where the Father himself had built his oratory, and they covered it with earth; placing at his head his life, written and full of virtues, under the authority of Theodore, thus: "I, Theodore, monk of the monastery of St. Gall, by the command of Bishop Tozzo, as I learned from Theodegisil, a monk of St. Columbanus, concerning the deeds of so great a man together with Blessed Columbanus, and as I myself saw with my own eyes and heard with my own ears, and also after he left me in the cell at Kempten, as I afterward learned very many but not all things about his virtues from the aforesaid venerable Bishop Tozzo, I took care to write them in my tablet and placed it at his head, hidden in the tomb," etc.

[16] The venerable Bishop Tozzo, therefore, after the death of the blessed patron Magnus, guarded that same monastery with its guardians as best he could, ruling and governing according to the resources of the place, and arranging the things that ought by right to pertain to that monastery, guarding the holy body with the clergy and divine offices and lights until his own death. St. Tozzo dies, January 16. He survived after the departure of Blessed Magnus in the episcopate for five years and three months, and on the seventeenth day before the Kalends of February he ended his worldly life, handing over before his death his inheritance to the tomb of Blessed Magnus with firmness and attestation according to the law of the Alemanni, and was buried by his clergy at Augsburg under testimony in that same inheritance.

ON BLESSED JOANNA, VIRGIN, AT BAGNO IN ITALY.

Joanna, of the Camaldolese order, at Bagno in Italy (Blessed)

[1] Ferrarius, in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, attests that Joanna, a Virgin of the Camaldolese order, has not yet been enrolled in the college of holy Virgins; nevertheless, her feast day is celebrated on this day with the permission of the Apostolic See. Concerning her, the same Ferrarius writes in his General Catalogue of Saints: The feast of Blessed Joanna. "At Bagno in Emilia, Blessed Joanna, a virgin and nun of the Camaldolese order." Arnold Wion writes: "At Bagno, St. Joanna, a nun of the Camaldolese order, at whose passing the bells rang without human assistance." Dorgani and Menard say the same, except that the latter calls her Blessed, not Saint. The same authors record her Translation on May 1, Translation. of which more below, thus: "On the same day, at Bagno, the translation of St. Joanna, of the Camaldolese order."

[2] The town of Bagno is described by Leander in his Romagna: "Further along the Savio the road leads to the town of S. Maria in Bagno, The town of Bagno. overlooking the right bank of the river, so named from the baths of medicinal waters, salutary for many infirmities both for drinking and bathing, which are here, and which are commemorated by Fazio:

'At the foot of certain Alps, in a bath I saw, Enclosed by a wall and with stones set therein, Which by night are a great aid to others.'

It is a quite handsome fortress. Not far from here the source of the Savio follows in the roots of the Alps. The valley through which it flows is very beautiful and frequented by settlers: it has many villages, and notably the very fine one of S. Pietro in Bagno, a thousand paces from the town of S. Maria. Once this entire valley was the possession of Counts who were named from Bagno and Iacciolo: but now it is largely under Florentine authority." So he writes. The Savio is now commonly called the Savio, and flows into the Adriatic Sea between Ravenna and Rimini.

[3] The Life of Blessed Joanna. We give a double Life of Blessed Joanna, both brief. The former was written in Italian by Silvano Razzi, volume 1, on women illustrious for holiness: the other was published by Philip Ferrarius in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, from the records of the Church of Bagno and the Camaldolese history of Antoninus of Florence, not yet seen by us.

LIFE

Written in Italian by Seraphino Razzi.

Joanna, of the Camaldolese order, at Bagno in Italy (Blessed)

From Seraphino Razzi.

[1] The body of Blessed Joanna rests in the sacred church of the abbey of S. Maria in Bagno. The town of Bagno. It is a celebrated town, because an enormous throng of people of every age and sex flocks there in the summer season, seeking, on the advice of physicians, a remedy against diseases from the baths of the salutary waters that spring up there.

[2] The people of Bagno contend that this blessed virgin was born there, The homeland of Blessed Joanna; and that from her earliest age she devoted her chastity to God and became a nun in the convent of St. Lucy, which at that time was not far removed from the town. Others assert that she was born in the village called Fontecluso, near the village of San Benedetto in the ridges of the Apennines, mentioned by the poet Dante; and that from there she went forth and devoted herself to the religious life in the convent of St. Lucy. Canto 16 of the Inferno.

[3] Be that as it may, since she had lived there for many years in holiness and had given many proofs of extraordinary sanctity, Her sanctity confirmed by miracle; (which, however, have not been committed to writing, or at least have perished, only the tradition handed down from ancestors preserving the memory that she was a holy woman) she at last obtained at her death this public testimony of divine power: that all the bells of that place rang of their own accord, with no mortal hand setting them in motion. The townspeople, therefore, with the greatest piety of spirit and the splendor of funeral rites that they could, laid her body in a stone chest.

[4] But when the monastery was afterward destroyed (which after her death had been called the monastery of Blessed Joanna), the sacred body was translated to the church of the town itself (which today is an abbey), enclosed in the same casket, The relics translated. on which a cross was engraved, along with certain characters expressing the year in which she departed this life, namely the thousandth. But since these are not sufficiently clear and distinct, others suppose that the year 1105 is signified by them. This at least is certain: that her body, as the remains of the Blessed customarily are, was solemnly translated in the year 1287, and an altar was dedicated to her by William, Bishop of Arezzo, and James, Bishop of Citta di Castello, on the Kalends of May. Both of them had invited, eight days before, all the neighbors to that translation and dedication, and specifically Gerard, then Prior of the hermitage of Camaldoli. Their Latin letter survives. Nor is it right to suppose that these things were done by them without the holiness of Joanna having been first legitimately investigated and proven.

[5] The people of Bagno profess that they have obtained many benefits by divine favor through her merits: Plague driven away by her aid. and the many votive offerings suspended at her tomb bear witness. On August 20, 1506, a new casket was fashioned for her and a new chapel was erected, with this inscription: "To the divine Joanna, for their homeland vindicated from the plague, the townspeople erected this urn. And here, translated, she lies."

"The blessed and distinguished virgin Joanna lies in this tomb."

ANOTHER LIFE FROM PHILIP FERRARIUS.

Joanna, of the Camaldolese order, at Bagno in Italy (Blessed)

[1] The homeland of Blessed Joanna. Joanna, born in a village of the territory of Bagno called Fontecluso, was received among the Lay Sisters in the monastery of nuns of St. Lucy, and shone especially for obedience and humility. Her virtues. God confirmed her sanctity with miracles. For when she had died, the bells of the churches of Bagno sounded with no one ringing them. Moved by which miracle, the clergy and people of Bagno Miracles after death. carried her body in a solemn procession and laid it in the principal church, with many miracles following after death.

[2] For when Bagno was most grievously afflicted by plague, as soon as the people, bound by a public vow, promised to build a chapel to Blessed Joanna, that pestilence immediately ceased. The plague extinguished. When the chapel was built, an altar was dedicated to her, with this inscription: "To the divine Joanna, for their homeland vindicated from the plague."

[3] This should not be wrapped in silence: that when certain persons secretly carried off a part of the relics by night, to be brought to their own homeland, Thieves of relics punished. though they walked throughout the entire night and believed themselves to be far from Bagno, in the morning they found themselves at the door of the church of Bagno. Wherefore, terrified by this event, they confessed their crime and restored the arm they had taken. She died on the seventeenth day before the Kalends of February, in the year after Christ's birth 1105.