Peter Thomas

ON S. PETER THOMAS, PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE, OF THE CARMELITE ORDER, AT FAMAGUSTA IN CYPRUS.

In the year of Christ 1366.

Peter Thomas, Patriarch of Constantinople, of the Carmelite Order (S.)

From various sources.

Section I. The multiple legations imposed upon S. Peter by the Apostolic See.

[1] S. Peter Thomas was an outstanding light of the Carmelite Order, whose distinctions were many, but especially the illustrious legations which he discharged in the name of the Supreme Pontiff -- so that in his Life we seem to behold the express and most perfect image of a Legate. Various legations discharged by Peter; For how many and how varied were the duties he performed for calming the disturbances of Italy, for propagating the Christian religion, and for restraining the tyranny of the Saracens and Turks? How many provinces did he visit? How great were the dangers he undertook? Various Bulls of Popes Innocent VI and Urban V issued on this matter are extant. Lucas Wadding, the Chronographer of the Order of Friars Minor, collected twenty-nine and published them with the Life of S. Peter.

[2] First he was sent by Innocent from Avignon on the Nones of October, In 1353, to the Genoese and Milanese, in the first year of his pontificate, the year of Christ 1353, to the city of Genoa (so the writers of the Middle Ages called it) and Milan, on certain business committed to him, as the first Bull indicates, addressed to Patriarchs, Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, Priors, Deans, Provosts, Archdeacons, Rectors, and other Prelates of Churches and Monasteries, etc., that they should be willing to assist him on his journey. Moreover, what business was committed to him at that time to be transacted with the Genoese and Milanese, neither those letters indicate, nor does Philip Mézières mention in the Life below. "With implacable hatred," says Wadding in the Life, no. 14, "the Genoese and Venetians were at odds, and rushed into mutual destruction with bloody wars. The latter called to their aid Peter, King of Aragon, and the Emperor of Constantinople, Cantacuzenus; the former called upon John Visconti, Bishop and Lord of Milan ... That they might enter upon a way of concord, Innocent sent Fortanerius Vassallus, Patriarch of Grado, to the Venetians, and dispatched Peter as legate to the Genoese and Milanese." So says Wadding, who in volume 4 of the Annals of the Friars Minor writes that this Fortanerius was sent by Clement VI, in the second year of his pontificate, the year of Christ 1352, on the Ides of July, to the Venetians, and William de Languillia, on the third day before the Ides of July, to the Genoese, nos. 9, 10, and 13, producing the Apostolic letters. But since in this year 1353 the Genoese, having suffered a defeat in the Sardinian Sea on 29 August, submitted to the Milanese, Peter could have been sent as legate to both on the Nones of October. He could also have been sent for another reason, since tyrants throughout Italy were seizing the property of the Church, for the vindication of which Innocent had dispatched Cardinal Albornoz (of whom below in the Life, no. 66) in this year 1353, on the day before the Kalends of June, as his letters in volume 1 of the Bullarium indicate.

[3] Whether he was sent to the King and Queen of Apulia on this same journey, and whether therefore the former legation was omitted by Mézières, And to Apulia, who is otherwise a most careful writer, may be questioned. His words, which would have him first appointed Nuncio when he was sent to Apulia, are these at no. 16: "The Lord Pope appointed Brother Peter as Nuncio of the Apostolic See, to go into Apulia, to King Louis of Apulia, and to Queen Joan his consort, on account of certain weighty matters concerning the Church of God and the kingdom of Apulia." Then he calls this his first legation. Wadding writes that this commission to Apulia was laid upon him shortly after the earlier legation to the Genoese.

[4] Second, he was sent by the same Innocent to the King of Rascia, Bulgaria, and Serbia, together with William, Bishop of Trau in Dalmatia, In 1354, to the King of Rascia, in the year of Christ 1354, in the month of December, Peter having been previously ordained Bishop of Patti. The sixth Bull of the Pontiff is extant, addressed to these Nuncios of the Apostolic See, by which they are sent to the kingdom of Rascia, Slavonia, and Albania, and other surrounding parts, concerning which places see below, nos. 17 and 18. Bulls 3 and 4 contain the letters of the same Innocent sent to Stephen, King of Rascia, Helena the Queen, and Orosius their son, conceived in nearly the same words. Others, in Bull 5, are addressed to Joannicius, Patriarch of Serbia, and these in the Annals of the Friars Minor for the year 1354, no. 3, are said to have been written in nearly the same manner to the Dean Savascottatore of Serbia, Gayko the Grand Logothete, Oliver the Despot of Serbia, Prebulus the Caesar of Serbia, Guilbe de Catara, Count Chamberlain of Serbia, Palmanius the Teuton, Captain of the armed host, and all the Princes, Counts, and Barons of Serbia, etc., all of whom the Pontiff exhorts to undertake the promotion of the Catholic faith, and to receive kindly these Nuncios of the Apostolic See, whom he commends for their learning, sanctity of life, and devout conduct. These letters are said in the Annals of the Friars Minor to have been given, the last indeed on the ninth day before the Ides of January, erroneously as is evident; the rest on the ninth day before the Kalends of January, which date mark seems also to be applied to those. The first, addressed to the Nuncios themselves, are said to have been given on the sixth day before the Kalends of January, in the third year of the pontificate of Innocent, beginning from the fifteenth day before the Kalends of January, although the second year is ascribed, perhaps erroneously corrected by someone who wished to accommodate that epoch to the Julian years. John Thuroczy writes in part 3, chapter 33 of his Chronicle of Hungary, that the kingdom of Rascia, or Bulgaria, was at that time subject to the Hungarian crown, and therefore King Louis of Hungary had to be approached first, as is clear from the Life. It was not, however, thought advisable to enter Rascia by that route, and he is said to have returned there by way of the Venetians, the Adriatic Sea, and Albania, at nos. 18 and 19. On this occasion Innocent wrote Bull 7 to King Louis of Hungary and Bull 8 to the Doge of Venice on the tenth day before the Kalends of January, not September, as is erroneously read in those documents, since Peter was not created Bishop of Patti until the sixteenth day before the Kalends of December. Moreover, because at that time the Emperor Charles IV had come to Italy, as will be said at no. 17, the matter having been deliberated in consistory, "the Pope, on the advice of the Brother Cardinals, appointed Brother Peter as Apostolic Nuncio to the Roman Emperor and the King of Rascia." His arrival in Italy therefore provides certain chronological light for the aforesaid Pontifical Bulls. The year of Christ 1355 was spent on this Rascian legation.

[5] Alegraeus in the Paradise of Carmelite Honor, state 4, age 15, chapter 123, asserts that the kingdom of Rhaetia was then gained, Not Rhaetia, which is a large province of Europe commonly called the land of the Grisons, and that its most haughty King was won to the faith. But anyone even slightly versed in history knows that at that time no kingdom or King of Rhaetia or the Grisons existed in the Alps. He should have written the kingdom of Rascia, or Bulgaria; whose King, however, could not be converted from schism to the true and orthodox faith by Peter, as will be said below in the Life, nos. 20 ff., and presently from the Pontifical Bulls.

[6] Third, he was sent by the same Innocent, together with Stephen, Bishop-elect of Zagreb, to Louis, King of Hungary, In 1356, to Venice and Hungary, and John Gradenigo, Doge of Venice. Bulls 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 deal with this legation, written on the sixteenth day before the Kalends of August, or on the third or fourth day before the Ides of August, in the fourth year of his pontificate, the year of Christ 1356. The cause of the legation was twofold: both to reconcile the minds of these Princes and, with the war stilled, to establish peace between them; and to appoint King Louis as the leader of a Christian army against the Rascian schismatics and against Francis de Ordelaffi and John and William de' Manfredi, rebels of the Church in Italy; and to that end also to persuade the Doge of Venice to refrain from entering into an alliance with the Rascians, and to urge the Patriarchs of Aquileia and Grado and the Archbishop of Salzburg to prohibit anyone from offering favor or aid to the schismatics or heretics against King Louis, under threat of excommunication. By this legation a truce of five months was procured from October 1356 to March 1357; then, when the war flared up again, Peter returned to the Pontiff.

[7] Fourth, together with William, Bishop of Chrysopolis, he was sent by the same Innocent to the Emperor of Constantinople, John Palaeologus, In 1357, to Constantinople, Apostolic letters having been written to him on the twelfth day before the Kalends of August, others to the Patriarch of the Greeks, and a third set to Francis Gattilusio, Lord of the Island of Lesbos, on the fifteenth day before the Kalends of September (unless the same month must everywhere be restored), in the year of Christ 1357, the fifth year of the pontificate of the same Innocent, though erroneously the fourth is read in the Bulls themselves, 14, 15, and 16. For below, at no. 27, he is said to have returned from his earlier legation to the Roman Curia, and at no. 28, after certain intervals of time, namely a few months, he was designated Apostolic Nuncio to be sent to Constantinople. Then he met the Emperor in the field, at the time when the latter captured Michael, son of John Cantacuzenus, and he accompanied the same Palaeologus on his return to Constantinople, and brought him back to concord with the Roman Church, Where he converted the Emperor, which was the purpose of the legation. The Emperor wrote back to the Pontiff on 7 November, Indiction II, in the year of the world 6866, according to the reckoning customary among the Greeks at that time, by which 5,508 years are added to the Latin era of Christ, so that this year of the world 6866 is the year of Christ 1358, in which the Indiction was XI. However, since the Greeks began the year and its Indiction from September, this date of 7 November is to be reckoned by the Latin calendar as belonging to the year of Christ 1357. Finally, if this entire chapter V on the Constantinopolitan legation is compared with the history of John Cantacuzenus, book 4, chapters 42, 43, and 44, it will be easy to see that John Palaeologus succeeded to the throne when Cantacuzenus abdicated, near the end of the year of Christ 1356, since the Greeks had already entered the following year and Indiction. For which reason chronologists of better repute -- Onuphrius, Spondanus, Petavius, and others -- refer this change of rule to the year of Christ 1357. But it is certain from Cantacuzenus himself that a winter intervened between the abdication of the empire by John Cantacuzenus and the captivity of his son. This is also confirmed by the letters written to the Pontiff by Palaeologus together with envoys sent on 15 December, which Bzovius, having transcribed them from the archive of the Mausoleum of Hadrian, cites in volume 14, year of Christ 1355, no. 39. Wadding in volume 4 of the Annals of the Friars Minor, year of Christ 1356, holds a different view about this legation; where he first enumerates this Constantinopolitan one at nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, and then adds the Hungarian one, treated above, at no. 5 and following. But in the Life of S. Peter, no. 18, having previously treated of the Hungarian legation, he adds: "Peter did not fully complete his business here with the Venetians and Hungarians, when he was assigned in the same year to undertake the longer and more burdensome legation to Constantinople." But that he did fully complete it and returned to the Roman Curia is better shown by Mézières; and matters transacted in very distant places during the same months require a different year. This legation having therefore been accomplished in 1357, he set out for Cyprus and Palestine in 1358 and returned thence to the Roman Curia.

[8] Fifth, he was sent by the same Innocent on the fifth day before the Ides of May, in the seventh year of his pontificate, the year of Christ 1359, as universal Apostolic Legate. In Bull 18 the Pontiff constitutes him Legate in the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the kingdom of Cyprus, and in the Archbishoprics of Crete, Smyrna, Patras, Athens, Thebes, Corinth, Colosse (i.e. Rhodes), Naxos, Corfu, Durazzo, Naupactus, and Neopatras, In 1359, to the East, and their provinces and those of the said Patriarchate, for the support of the faithful and of those regions. And the Pontiff soon adds: "Revoking every other Legate appointed by us in those parts, we commit to you the office of full legation by Apostolic authority," etc. And Bull 19 writes to the same Peter and the said Patriarch and Archbishops, that they should enlist an army of crusaders against the Turks. And Bull 20 warns Archbishop Ursus of Crete to yield to Blessed Peter the legation and government of the city of Smyrna. Finally, in Bull 21, Peter is constituted General Inquisitor of heretical depravity in the regions of his legation. This legation having been admirably administered for nearly four years, he returned with the King of Cyprus to Italy at the beginning of the year 1363.

[9] Sixth, when a bloody war was being waged between the Roman Pontiff and the Visconti of Milan over the lordship of the Bolognese territory, he was sent by Urban V in the year 1363 In 1363, to Milan, to Milan as a negotiator of peace, together with the envoys of King John of France. When they departed after the situation seemed hopeless, he remained with Mézières the Chancellor, and happily concluded the peace in February of the year 1364, and for some time governed the city of Bologna with its fortresses.

[10] Seventh, a crusading expedition having been decreed against the Turks and other followers of the impious Muhammad, In 1364, again to the East, he was constituted General Legate in place of the deceased Cardinal Talleyrand by the same Urban, in the second year of his pontificate, the year of Christ 1364, on the sixth day before the Ides of July -- or rather the sixth day before the Kalends should be read, for in the following Bull to the King of Cyprus, dated the day before the Kalends of July, mention is made of the legation already given to him, unless the Ides should rather be restored there. In Bull 22 the Pontiff thus among other things confirms him: "After careful deliberation, we commit to you the office of full legation by Apostolic authority in the Patriarchate of Constantinople (which he had previously conferred upon him) and the kingdom of Cyprus, and in the Archbishoprics of Crete, Smyrna, Patras, Athens, Thebes, Corinth, Colosse (i.e. Rhodes), Naxos, Corfu, Durazzo, Naupactus, and Neopatras, and their provinces and those of the said Patriarchate, and other overseas regions to which a passage has been proclaimed by us," etc.

[11] Those Archiepiscopal Sees at that time for the most part followed the Roman Church and had a Latin Patriarch, as will be said in the following section. In the Morea, or Peloponnesus, To the various Bishoprics, are the ancient Patras and Corinth; in greater Achaia are Athens, Thebes, and Naupactus (also called Neopactus); and not far thence Neopatras, or New Patras, a city joined to the Archbishopric of Thebes in the old Notice of Bishoprics by Aubert Le Mire. Its Metropolitan is listed as number LXII in the exposition of Andronicus Palaeologus the elder. Durazzo is a famous city of Albania or Macedonia, and the seat of its own Prince in that century. Corcyra, commonly called Corfu, in the Ionian Sea, which together with Crete is still subject to the Republic of Venice. Smyrna in Asia Minor. Rhodes, whose Metropolitan is called Colossian, and Naxos, are islands, the former in the Lycian Sea, the latter one of the Cyclades, also called Naxia or Paranaxia, whose Metropolitan is numbered XCIV in the exposition of Andronicus. To these regions he was sent by both Pontiffs, now moreover appointed Legate of the sacred expedition, as the same Pontiff also indicated in Apostolic letters written to the King of Cyprus on the day before the Kalends of July.

[12] Eighth, while the sacred crusading expedition was being prepared, the fear of a new war between the Genoese and the Cypriots arose; In 1365, to the Genoese, and to avert this he was sent by the same Urban as Peacemaker on the tenth day before the Kalends of March, in the third year of his pontificate, the year of Christ 1365. The same Pontiff urged him in two other letters, on the fourth day before the Nones of March and on the seventh day before the Kalends of April, to hasten the covenants of peace. Nor did he cease to exhort both Adorno the Doge and the Republic of Genoa, and the King of Cyprus himself, to enter into peace with Blessed Peter as mediator. The Bulls are found in Wadding, no. 24 and the four following.

Section II. The Bishopric, Archbishopric, and Patriarchate of S. Peter.

[13] Mézières says below, no. 17: "Because the embassy or legation was weighty, S. Peter was a Bishop, dangerous, authoritative, imperial, and royal, it was necessary that the Nuncio be authoritative and of high rank. Therefore he was created Bishop." Of what city and in what year, a needless controversy is raised by some in so clear a matter. Saracenus in the Menology of the Carmelites, no. 8, in the Life of S. Peter, says: "Whether he was Bishop of Patti or of Badajoz, manuscripts and printed books are not uniform." He does not specify which they are, nor do we guess about manuscripts. Alegraeus in the Paradise of the Carmelites, in the eulogy of S. Thomas, writes thus, following Diego de Coria: "Thomas, when he had come to Spain (to which he was sent by the Master General of the Order together with Philip of Ferrara, Not of Badajoz in Spain, so that in its provinces, especially Andalusia, Portugal, and Castile, he might nurture what was good, and guard and increase what had been nurtured with the zeal of piety, wisdom, and governance, as our Coria rightly infers), from being a Carmelite was first made Bishop of Badajoz, at the request of King Alfonso XI, as the Theatre of the Churches of Spain and Trithemius attest." So says Alegraeus from Coria. But Trithemius in his work on Ecclesiastical Writers calls him Bishop of Patti, not of Badajoz; what that Theatre is, and what its reliability, is unknown to us. King Alfonso died in the year of Christ 1350, by which time Peter was not yet a Bishop. About his journey to Spain, Mézières is silent; indeed, from his careful description, it seems possible to infer quite clearly, against Coria, that he was never in Spain. Wadding, in the Notes to the Life, no. 10, says: "Many read corruptly Badajoz for Patti; and that Bishopric is in Spain, commonly called Badajoz, in Latin Pax Julia. And for that reason the author of Cauria, book 1, chapter 10, erred in the Province of Baetica (on which see below in the Life, no. 4) so that he might more easily transfer him to the Church of the neighboring province of Extremadura. He fears, however, in book 11, chapter 11, lest an error of printing has crept in, and Badajoz has been written for Patti. Rodrigo de Osma of Badajoz falls into the same error in his discursus patriis." Silvester Marulus in the Great Sea of Religious Orders, under the title of the Carmelite Order, erring even further, inscribes him as "of Precata." So says Wadding.

[14] However, it is not our intention to investigate the errors of these and similar writers at greater length. Mézières writes below that the Church of Patti in Sicily was committed to him. Now Patti is an episcopal city of Sicily, But of Patti in Sicily, and Lipari, under the Archbishop of Messina, commonly called Patti, on the seashore, opposite the Aeolian or Vulcanian Islands, the chief of which is Lipari, also distinguished by a Bishop's See, but united to the Bishopric of Patti. Hence in the Apostolic Bull in Wadding, no. 2, he is named Bishop of Patti and Lipari. Whether John Bale in century 5 of his work on English Writers erroneously ascribed to him the Bishopric of Malta instead of Lipari is not worth discussing in the case of that author, for whom it is no more shameful to have been ignorant of the affairs of the Order he deserted than to assail all the holiness of the Church with the most groundless slanders.

[15] This regarding the location of his first Bishopric. Regarding the time at which he obtained the Bishopric, the more recent writers vary. Created by Innocent VI in the year 1354. Saracenus writes that he was created Bishop by Clement VI. Clement sat from 7 May 1342 to 6 December 1352. Coria and Alegraeus must agree with this, since they would have him created at the request of Alfonso XI, who died in 1350. The author of the Appendix to the Life, at no. 4, confuses everything even more: "By the Lord Pope Innocent VI he was first raised to the Bishopric of Patti in the kingdom of Sicily, around the year of the Lord 1348." Innocent VI succeeded Clement VI on 16 December 1352. Finally, in his second year, the year of Christ 1354, on the sixteenth day before the Kalends of December, Peter was appointed Bishop of Patti and Lipari -- so the Pontifical Bull states. His predecessor was another Peter, likewise called the Teuton, taken from the Order of Friars Minor and appointed by Clement VI on the fifteenth day before the Kalends of March, in the fourth year of his pontificate, the year of Christ 1346. Wadding produces the Pontifical Diploma of election for that year in volume 3 of the Annals of the Friars Minor, Bull 107. Hence an occasion of error seems to have been given to those who were hasty and careless.

[16] From this Bishopric of Patti and Lipari he ascended to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, according to Saracenus no. 9, Silvester Marulus above, John Palaeonyderus, book 3, On the Antiquity of Mount Carmel, chapter 12, and the Fascicle of Times under Urban. That he was elevated from Patti to the Archbishopric of Crete, and thence to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, is reported by Coria, book 11, chapter 11, Alegraeus above, William Eisengrein in his Catalogue of Witnesses of the Truth, year 1348, Thomas a Jesu, book 1 of Carmelite Antiquity, chapter 6, Trithemius, Peter Lucius, Possevinus, and Gesner, cited below, with no mention made of the Bishopric of Corone, In 1359, of Corone in the Peloponnesus, to which he was transferred from the Church of Patti by the same Innocent VI on the sixth day before the Ides of May, in the seventh year of Innocent's pontificate, the year of Christ 1359. The Bull is extant in Wadding, no. 17, in which the Pontiff thus addresses him: "Absolving you from the bond by which you were held to the aforesaid Church of Patti, over which you then presided, on the advice of the aforesaid Brothers and by the fullness of Apostolic power, we transfer you to the aforesaid Church of Corone, and set you over it as Bishop and Pastor," etc. Mézières says below, no. 39, that the Pope gave him the Church of Corone as an enhancement of his status when he destined him as Apostolic Legate to the East. Now Korone, as Ptolemy calls it in book 3, chapter 16 of his Geography, is a maritime city of the Peloponnesus, in the Messenian Gulf, distinguished by a Bishopric under the Archbishop of Patras, subject at that time to the Venetians. Peter succeeded Louis Torriani of Milan, who had been summoned to the Patriarchate of Aquileia. The location of the city of Corone and the fortress built by the Venetians is described at length in Sabellicus's Supplement, book 16. Having been made Patriarch of Constantinople, he held below, no. 80, And of Negroponte, the Church of Corone in commendam for his lifetime, and the Church of Negroponte; and so the latter can be considered as another of his Bishoprics, as it were. Now Negroponte is an island near Achaia, ancient Euboea, whose Bishop was subject to the Archbishop of Athens. The Turks seized this island from the Venetians an entire century later; the capture and a description of the island are given by Peter Giustiniani, book 8 of the History of Venice, and Sabellicus, decade 3, book 8, near the end.

[17] Afterward he was given the Archbishopric of Crete by Urban V in the first year of his pontificate, the year of Christ 1363, and he succeeded Ursus, In 1363, Archbishop of Crete, not of Cyprus, to whom Innocent had written in the year of Christ 1359 to yield to Peter, then Bishop of Corone, the legation and government of the city of Smyrna. The Archiepiscopal See is in the city of Candia on the island of Crete; for he was not Archbishop of Crete in Cyprus, as Alegraeus supposed, since the Archiepiscopal See of that island is in Nicosia, the principal and royal city. Peter Galesinius in his Martyrology, in the Notes to 8 January, makes him Bishop of Famagusta on the island of Cyprus, erroneously, being deceived by the place of his death and burial.

[18] In 1364, Patriarch of Constantinople. Finally he was elected to the Patriarchate of Constantinople by the same Urban V, in the second year of his pontificate, the year of Christ 1364, when he was about to designate him Legate of the sacred expedition, which he did on the sixth day before the Ides (or Kalends) of July of that year. He succeeded William, the third Latin Patriarch of Constantinople, who, as Genebrardus attests, held his legitimate but opposing chair for ten years against Callistus and Philotheus, the Greek and schismatic Patriarchs. Having recorded the death of Callistus and the restoration of Philotheus, Cantacuzenus concludes his history. Blessed Peter therefore sat together with Philotheus. Which Archbishops were then subject to him has been stated above. Alegraeus and Saracenus err greatly again when they assert he was made Patriarch by Innocent VI in the year 1352, in which very year Innocent himself was created Pontiff on 16 December. William was made Patriarch by Innocent, not our Peter.

[19] Saracenus describes the labors he endured at Constantinople from the year of Christ 1370 to 1376 as follows, at no. 16: "How much S. Peter Thomas endured and suffered in that city (Constantinople) for the salvation of souls, how much he accomplished, from the year 1370 to the year 1376, let the holy men tell, who, captivated by his holiness and admiration of his virtue, rose from the depths of sins and from the darkness of infidelity; since in the city of Constantinople itself, by ecclesiastical polity, there still dwell many Christian men of the Latin rite whom they call Caffaliucos, transported from the town of Caffa by Mehmed, King of the Turks, who embraced the faith of Christ through the help of Blessed Peter Thomas. The monastery in the city of Pera inhabited by the Carmelites bears witness." But by what reasoning do these things hold together? (In which city, however, he never was.) For Peter died in the year of Christ 1366, as will presently be said. He was never at all at Constantinople during the time he held the Bishopric of that city. At that time Christians, not Turks, held that empire. Furthermore, Caffa, a city of the Tauric Chersonese, called Theodosia by the ancients, was seized from the Genoese in the year of Christ 1474, 108 years after the death of Blessed Peter, after the same Mehmed had captured Constantinople 21 years before. At that time all the inhabitants of Latin name, whom he calls Caffaliucos, were ordered to be transported by ships to the city of Pera, as Uberto Foglietta narrates at length in book 9 of his History of Genoa.

[20] This regarding the Patriarchate of Constantinople, in place of which the Patriarchate of Alexandria is attributed to him by John Grosso, General of the Carmelites, in his Garden of the Carmelite Order, Not of Alexandria, and by the author of the Mirror of the Carmelite Order in Wadding, in the eulogies of Blessed Peter. But this error arose because, while he was Patriarch of Constantinople, he took part in the capture of Alexandria.

Section III. The time and manner of death. Sacred cult.

[21] Saracenus, at no. 17, describes the death of Peter thus: "Now let my discourse rise by divine aid. For when the pious Father was giving his sails to the winds for the visitation of the Holy Land, he put in at Alexandria, where he began to perform the offices of piety and the Catholic faith with the greatest zeal: Some write, erroneously, that he was crowned with martyrdom, for there was in him so great a candor of soul and body, such fervor of eloquence and warmth of spirit, that he attracted and won over the Alexandrian citizens to goodwill toward himself. But while he burned with the most intense zeal for propagating the Catholic religion and defending it against the Saracens, throngs of infidels rushed upon him in companies, and, as was their fierce and singular cruelty, they turned all the rage of their infidelity against him; and after many mockeries and many evils suffered in defense of the faith of Christ, at last having endured innumerable labors, full of days and good works, bound to a stake, afflicted with a thousand wounds by the missiles of the infidels, on the eighth day before the Ides of January, at the hour appointed by God, he fell asleep in the Lord, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1376, while the faithful wept together, and his soul was borne to heaven by Angelic choirs out of the hands of the infidels. The wounded body of the holy Martyr, having been rescued, was carried to the island of Cyprus and honorably buried in the convent of our Order at Famagusta." So says Saracenus from his own understanding. From another source he adds this: "But while I was meditating on these things at Bologna, the Reverend Provincial of Tours reported to me that in a manuscript of the Chancellor of the kingdom of Cyprus it is recorded that Blessed Peter Thomas was indeed pierced by arrows, but lived a long time after being wounded. God, in whose honor he underwent martyrdom, will also not disdain to reveal it in his own time." The same things, only with different phrasing, are written by Saussay in his Supplement to the Gallic Martyrology, 6 January. Alegraeus also says: "After the Emperor of Constantinople had been submitted to the sweet yoke of Christ (which occurred in the year of Christ 1357), fighting most valiantly for God and his faith, pierced by missiles or lances by the enemy in that very battle, he was placed half-alive in a small boat and brought to Famagusta in Cyprus, Boersio and Leo de S. John reporting that the illustrious Martyr of Christ was breathing his last, which spirit he immediately rendered to his Savior in the year 1366." John Palaeonyderus: "Having been made Legate to Alexandria, wounded by the missiles of the infidels, he departed to Christ in Famagusta of Cyprus on the day of the Epiphany, the city of Alexandria having been captured, in the year of the Lord 1366." Francis Marulus: "He was made Legate to Alexandria, and at Famagusta of Cyprus he was wounded by the infidels, and died on the day of the Epiphany in the year 1376." Similar things are written by Coria, book 11, chapter 11, and the recently published Carmelite Breviary; by which he is said to have died at Alexandria, pierced by many wounds and missiles, and his body carried to Famagusta. Stephen Lusignan of Cyprus, of the Order of Preachers, led the way; in the year of Christ 1577 he published in the Italian language a book On Crowns, in which at Crown 5 he writes thus: "Peter Thomas of the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, Patriarch of Constantinople, a man of most holy life, died a Martyr. He is buried at Famagusta and is regarded by all as Blessed."

[22] Wadding, at no. 2 of the Notes, suspects that this opinion of martyrdom gained strength because someone had corrupted a certain French copy of the Life, Whence that opinion arose, placing in the margin that he had been pierced by very many missiles of the infidels in the Alexandrian war, and afterward died at Famagusta with his wounds still fresh. But we rather suspect that, because the Life written by an eyewitness and companion of the Alexandrian expedition was not commonly available, these words taken from the Epilogue, no. 133, and read separately, could have persuaded some. There the author says he can be called Patriarch, Prophet, Apostle, Confessor, Doctor, Martyr, on account of the most grievous labors and dangers he undertook, but he indicates this by a kind of catachresis: "Martyr of God," he says, "if it be permitted to say so. How often he exposed his own body to martyrdom is clearly shown above. In the conflict, therefore, and the capture of the city of Alexandria, he was wounded by the missiles of the enemy and died" -- that is, he could have died, because he so thrust himself into dangers. He was therefore a Martyr both in will and in deed, on account of the danger actually faced.

[23] If one examines chapters 16 and 17, one will easily see that Alexandria was stormed at the beginning of October in the year of Christ 1365, Contradicted by the Life, that Peter never addressed the Saracens, much less was captured by them, bound to a stake, and pierced by missiles or lances, but returned unharmed with the fleet to Cyprus, was designated by the King as Legate to the Pontiff, fell into a fever on Christmas Day itself, and expired at Famagusta from a natural illness on 6 January of the year 1366. And Wadding writes that the entire Carmelite institute has always held this view: "for in the old ritual books," he says, "his feast was set forth under the name of Confessor. The Missal printed in the year 1509, another in the year 1544, a third in the year 1551, and the Calendar published by order of the General Chapter held at S. Martin in the Mountains in Rome in the year 1564, have it thus: S. Peter Thomas, Bishop and Confessor."

[24] Saracenus and Marulus, cited above, must also be corrected regarding the year of his death, since they would have him survive until the year 1376; likewise Marcus Guazzo in his Chronicle, In what year he died, who puts it at 1375; and Thomas a Jesu, book 1, Carmelite Antiquity, chapter 6, who says he died at Famagusta under the Emperor Charles IV and Clement VI in the year 1350 -- which is taken from a misunderstanding of Trithemius, who says he flourished at that time; at which time, if he published any books, as we shall shortly inquire, they must necessarily have been written before he was impeded as Bishop by the more weighty legations.

[25] His feast is celebrated on 6 January, in the manuscript Florarium of the Saints, in these words: Feast day, 6 January, "At Famagusta, a city of Cyprus, of Blessed Peter Thomas, Patriarch of Constantinople and most celebrated Doctor, Professed of the Carmelite Order. After writing many books and performing miracles, on a day and hour foretold by himself, he happily fell asleep in the year of salvation 1366." The Carthusians of Cologne in their additions to Usuard, and Canisius in the German Martyrology: "At Famagusta, a city of Cyprus, of Blessed Peter Thomas, Patriarch of Constantinople, of the Carmelite Order, who, distinguished in life, learning, and miracles, in the time of Charles IV, at an hour foretold by himself, rested in peace." The same is found in Molanus in his supplement to Usuard (for which supplement Saracenus cites Usuard himself, who died five centuries before S. Peter), Galesinius in the Notes to the Martyrology, Philip Ferrari in the Catalogue of Saints, and Octavian Caietanus in his Idea of the Sicilian Saints, whose words Wadding prefixed to the Life published by himself.

[26] But because the sixth of January is impeded by the feast of the Epiphany of the Lord, But it is celebrated on the 29th, by an Apostolic indult of Paul V, with a double office, it is celebrated by the entire Carmelite Order on this 29th of January, not the 23rd as is erroneously read in Alegraeus. Stephen Lusignan in his Chorography and Brief History of the Island of Cyprus writes thus of him: "Blessed Peter Thomas, Patriarch of Constantinople, Carmelite, buried among the Carmelites at Famagusta, with many miracles. He is invoked against the plague. Marulus adds that in that kingdom he is very much invoked in time of epidemic." That he is implored against the disease of epidemic and pestilence was also observed by Palaeonyderus and, from the ancient Breviary of the Order, by Saracenus, who in the title to the Life of S. Andrew of Fiesole, of whom we treat on 30 January, says that he died in the same year, month, and day as S. Peter Thomas was translated, whom he then asserts at no. 20 to have died in the year from the Incarnate Word 1373, on the eighth day before the Ides of January. But since he had previously several times referred the death of S. Peter to the year 1376, he collected these statements from various authors, not sufficiently mindful of his own consistency. Then what is this "translation"? From Alexandria to Cyprus? But it is established that he returned alive and unharmed.

Section IV. The Life and writings of S. Peter.

[27] The companion of S. Peter's journeys and labors in his last years was Philip Mézières, called by others Macerius or de Manseriis, Chancellor of the kingdom of Cyprus, below at no. 104, in the letter of S. Peter to Pope Urban V The Life of S. Peter written by Philip Mézières, his intimate companion; and to the Emperor Charles IV, a learned man and a philosopher in counsel, as well as a true and valiant soldier in war. He frequently saw S. Peter, then Bishop of Corone and Legate of the Apostolic See in the East, working wondrous miracles in Cyprus, he carefully observed his holiness, he visited him as the King's Referendary, and he embraced him with such charity that he adopted him as his spiritual Father, and in turn was adopted by him as a son with singular love. Hence both accompanied the King of Cyprus to Europe and incited the Pontiff and Christian Princes to the sacred expedition to Palestine; both, having endured many labors, brought about the peace of Bologna between the Visconti and the Roman Pontiff; both obtained military aid from the Venetians and labored greatly in fitting out the fleet; both showed a brave spirit in the perilous expedition and instilled it in others; both contended that Alexandria, once captured, could and should be held; both, when it was abandoned, felt the greatest grief; nor did the one seem willing to die except in the presence of the other. Peter had fallen into a fever; soon Philip, having been summoned, was present, since Peter, with his hands, arms, and legs already dead, declared he could not depart this life unless Philip were present. When he had entrusted his final words to him, he gave his soul to God. Philip faithfully executed his testament and last will, and showed his love even after death. This man, therefore, of such quality and stature, who had always been on the most intimate terms with our Peter and had full knowledge of all his secrets, embraced the deeds accomplished by him -- which he had either learned from Peter himself, or had seen with his own eyes, or had received from trustworthy men -- in a serious, if (as the times then were) unpolished, narrative.

[28] This Life, not yet published in print although sought by many, we give to the public light from the universal manuscript Chronicle compiled around the year of Christ 1480 by Theodoric Pauli, a priest of Gorinchem and Vice-Dean of the Church of SS. Martin and Vincent in the town of Gorinchem. Whence it is here published. He, in the proem of his Chronicle, in the catalogue of the Patriarchs of Constantinople, writes thus: "Peter Thomas, a Carmelite, presided as Patriarch in the year of the Lord 1366." Then, having described in the same miscellaneous work the origin of the construction of the city of Constantinople and produced the eulogies of the Emperors and Patriarchs, he appends the Life of S. Peter with this title: "The Original Legend of Blessed Peter Thomas, Patriarch of Constantinople, of the Order of the Mother of God Mary of Mount Carmel, compiled by Lord Thomas (correct to: Philip) de Manseriis, with his miracles." After the author's epilogue, certain things are subjoined, collected from John of Faenza (of whom presently), John of Hildesheim, and the register of the University of Bologna, in which some things need correction, as we shall note below. Titles or summaries of contents were interspersed, but often incomplete, and sometimes contradicting the narrative itself. Thus at no. 129 was inscribed: "Miracle of why the bells were rung by Angelic ministry," though nothing of the sort is said there. Wherefore, having omitted titles of this kind, which seem to have been added either by Theodoric himself or by another copyist, not by Mézières, we have divided the Life in our customary manner into chapters and sections, and have added Notes.

[29] John Grosso, elected General of the Carmelites in the year 1389, twenty-three years after the death of S. Peter, in his Garden of the Carmelite Order in Wadding, in the eulogies, reports the following: When it was written. "The Life of this Saint is found in many parts of the world, and especially in England; two Knights of that kingdom, Lord John de Grey and Lord de Stapylton, who were personally present with him at the capture of the aforesaid city of Alexandria, carried the written account of his glorious life, under a truthful investigation of both secular and religious persons, to the parts of England." From this it is established that the Life was written by Mézières soon after the death of S. Peter, before he was sent as Ambassador by his King to Pope Gregory XI, recently created. Gregory succeeded Urban V on 30 December of the year 1370. King Peter, however, was slain by his brothers in the year 1372, as Bizarus reports in book 7 of his History of Genoa. The death inflicted on him by his brother James Lusignan, whom the Emperor of the Turks had hired for that crime, is described at length by Theodoric Pauli after the Life of S. Peter, and again at the end of the book of the Wars of God, where he calls him a champion of the faith of Jesus Christ and writes that he was martyred.

[30] In the Athens of the Franciscans by Henry Willot, and in the Apparatus Sacer of Possevinus, it is said that John of Faenza, Guardian of Paphos (not Parchia) in the kingdom and island of Cyprus, flourished in the year of the Lord 1370 and wrote the life of Blessed Thomas, Patriarch of Constantinople, Carmelite, in one book. Was another Life written by John of Faenza? Others, in Wadding's Notes, no. 18, report that he wrote the life from Mézières. But Wadding contends that Mézières wrote later, because the latter in the Life composed by himself mentions that the same John of Faenza had written it. But Wadding is mistaken: Mézières does not mention the man of Faenza; he is mentioned in the appendix, not however in connection with a Life written by him, but with a quinsy cured through the merits of S. Peter; on account of which benefit he could have copied the Life from Mézières, perhaps with this miracle added. Wadding says in his Preface that he received some fragments of this little work, diligently sought out, which neither he himself produces nor have we seen elsewhere. Saracenus in the title cites the manuscript of Philip Mézières and of John of Faenza and of the Chancellor of Cyprus, as if the Chancellor were either the man of Faenza or certainly distinct from both. Francis Gonzaga, in the second part of the Origin of the Seraphic Religion, monastery 11 of the Province of Bologna, says that the bones of Blessed Father John of Faenza are preserved at Reggio Emilia in the monastery of the Poor Clares, whom Monstier records on 17 December in the Franciscan Martyrology. Whether he is different from the one under discussion, we do not know.

[31] Wadding composed a new Life of S. Peter, because (as he states in his preface to the reader, among other reasons) Mézières wrote a life that was "humble and very diminished, Another by Lucas Wadding, based on Mézières, and as that age brought forth." "I," he says, "having washed away the impurities and shed the old skin, have made it newer and fuller, adding only what I have received from the most approved sources. I have then added more copious notes, in which I have removed the numerous errors of authors who rather invent what they write than report what was done. Some labor grievously under this fault, who, succumbing to bias, lead the history where they wish and how they wish, and lead the unwary reader astray." So says Wadding. This indeed is the reason why we strive with such great labor to collect, examine, and publish in their original form the ancient and primitive records of authors.

[32] What Wadding produces is for the most part contained either in Mézières or in the Appendix, except this concerning his piety toward the Virgin Mother of God, at no. 6: "Bound to the most holy Virgin by these and other benefits received, he burned with incredible devotion toward her, His testimony concerning the piety of S. Peter toward the Mother of God, and resolved to omit no service that might redound to the honor of so great a benefactress. In a special treatise he steadfastly asserted her freedom from original sin, and celebrated the remaining privileges of the Virgin with learned encomia. Whenever he prayed, he mingled praises of Mary; whatever images of Mary he met he reverently saluted; when about to speak, he prefaced the name of Mary; before sitting down to table he uttered Marian encomia, and he considered food insipid if it were not seasoned with the memory of the holy Virgin. In labors, in hardships, he would fly to this sacred altar, and he countered the snares of the enemy by this art: that against each blow he opposed the shield of the name of Mary, whose present help he always felt. This immense ardor of piety so transformed his affection and possessed his mind that he seemed to savor nothing else, to speak nothing else, and to hear nothing else. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth spoke: for the most sacred name of Mary was seen to be inscribed on his heart, no differently than the divine name of Jesus appeared impressed on the heart of the Martyr Ignatius." So says he. We shall treat of S. Ignatius on 1 February, where we shall discuss why the name of Jesus inscribed on his heart is depicted by more recent artists.

[33] Among the most vigorous defenders of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, Peter Thomas is cited by Bernardine de Busti, a Franciscan, in his Mariale, The writings of S. Peter, sermon 4 on the Conception, part 3, and by our own Ferdinand Quirino de Salazar, On the Immaculate Conception, chapter 42, in the fifteenth century, in which he had written that Peter was crowned with martyrdom in the year of Christ 1468. Baptist of Mantua testifies in his Apology for the Carmelites that many other books were written by him with Catholic learning and skill. Trithemius lists these: On the Sentences, 4 books; Various Sermons, 4 books; and certain similar works. Trithemius is followed by Peter Lucius the Belgian in his Library of the Carmelites, Anthony Possevinus in the Apparatus Sacer, Conrad Gesner in his Library, and others. None of these have we yet been able to see, much less to pass judgment on them.

LIFE BY PHILIP MEZIERES, Chancellor of the Kingdom of Cyprus, from manuscripts.

Peter Thomas, Patriarch of Constantinople, of the Carmelite Order (S.)

BHL Number: 6778

By Philip Mézières, from manuscripts.

PROLOGUE OF THE AUTHOR.

[1] From the rising of the sun to its setting, praiseworthy is the name of the Lord; for God is wonderful in his Saints and holy in all his works. In the last world, truly, when evening draws near and the world lies in wickedness, the Lord God himself has been wonderful and truly benign in Brother Peter Thomas of the Order of the Blessed Mary of Mount Carmel, the most Reverend Patriarch of Constantinople and Legate of the Holy Apostolic See for the holy passage: through whom God willed to illuminate his Church Militant, especially in the East, by the power of the light of the inviolate Catholic faith and the exaltation of the holy Cross. And, lest so great a light that has arisen in our times be hidden in these eastern parts in the kingdom of Cyprus under a bushel, for the arousing of the devotion of the Catholic faithful, in praise of God and of his glorious Mother the Virgin, and in honor of the holy Cross, whose mystery the same glorious Patriarch triumphantly preached, I, the Chancellor of Cyprus, although unworthy The Author was uniquely dear to S. Peter, and, alas, a great sinner, who clearly knew the holy life of the same blessed Legate, in the Lord Jesus, and among all men of this world, and, if I may be permitted to say so, more specially loved by him above all others -- setting aside every carnal affection, inflamed with zeal for his holiness and piously compelled, by the grace of my Lord Jesus Christ, with the glorious Virgin inspiring and with the blessed Patriarch, my most reverend and most loving Father, for whose love I languish, aiding -- I shall describe and declare below in a plain narrative the happy course of so great an Apostolic Legate to the prize which he now obtains (I do not doubt), and certain wonderful deeds and miracles of God, shining forth in the light through him out of many. The truth of the praiseworthy life of so great a Father I obtained partly from him in closest confidence, partly from authentic and trustworthy persons. Whence he obtained what he writes. And what we have heard and seen, our eyes also have perceived, and our hands have handled concerning this word and the manifest life of the same Father, which we have seen, we testify and announce to you, faithful Christians, that you may rejoice, and that your joy in the fragrance of so great a Legate may be full in Christ Jesus our Lord.

CHAPTER I. The fatherland, education, monastic life, and learning of S. Peter.

[2] My most beloved Father was a native of Langue d'Oc, in the Duchy of Aquitaine, the province of Périgord, from the village called Salimosa de Thomas, in the diocese of Sarlat, S. Peter in Aquitaine, and of humble parentage. His father, a tenant farmer and cultivator of lands not his own, and a keeper of animals, most poor in his station, had two sons, namely Peter Thomas and one other, and one daughter. When one son had died, Peter Thomas remaining with his sister, they were left in the distress of poverty. Born of poor parents. But the young boy Peter, seeing the poverty of his father and his own house, inspired by God, left his father, mother, and sister, He studies by begging, and went to a certain fortress called Montpezat, there seeking bread for the love of God and sustenance for life, always attending school; He teaches children the rudiments, and in a short time he studied so well that he quite quickly became a teacher of children. After some time had passed, he came to the city of Agen, and there he studied for many years in Grammar, Logic, and Dialectic, Grammar and Logic, always sustained by alms and his own labor. For he taught the pupils of the province Grammar, and then Logic, up to his twentieth year of age, always provided by God with the necessities of life, and in his entire life he never received from his father or his own house the value of twenty florins.

[3] The Prior of the Convent, together with the Lector of the Blessed Mary of Carmel, seeing the said boy Peter to be capable, brought him to the school at Lectoure, and he stayed there for a year teaching boys Grammar and Logic. This done, the Prior of Condom of the same religious order, seeing him and admiring his subtlety and holy manner of life, brought him to the convent of Condom, He becomes a Carmelite, and clothed him in the habit of the Brothers of the Order of the Blessed Mary of Carmel, and there, having made his profession, he taught the young Brothers for two years. Then the Order, seeing his competence and devotion, ordained that he should lecture on Logic in the city of Agen, where he also heard Philosophy, and he stayed there for three years, Ordained priest, and was made a Priest, pure in body from all youthful defilement, and fervent in the ardor of devotion to the inviolate Virgin Mary, commending his struggle to her without ceasing. He piously venerates the Blessed Virgin.

[4] After some time had passed, he fell into such poverty that he could scarcely obtain vestments, candles, oil, or other small necessities. Nevertheless, he had such great devotion to the glorious Virgin from his boyhood, and served her so devoutly, that it came about that he could not be disappointed in his desire. At last, on one occasion after Matins, when he was in the dormitory and thinking about his poverty, He is refreshed by her with a promise of relief from poverty, praying to the Blessed Virgin Mary for help, greatly fearing lest he should lose his studies on account of his poverty, at that very hour the Virgin Mary visibly appeared to him as he was awake and walking through the dormitory, taking him by his cloak and leading him through the dormitory, and she said to him: "My son, do not be anxious about poverty, for I will not forsake you; study diligently, and serve my Son and me." Having said this, the Blessed Virgin Mary vanished from his sight. When morning came, Brother Peter celebrated a Mass of the Virgin Mary, giving thanks to her for the promise. When the Mass had been said, a certain Knight from that region arrived, whose name I have consigned to oblivion; the Knight said to Brother Peter: Which he receives the next day. "I wish to confess to you." When the confession had been made, the Knight gave him fifteen gold royals. And from that day forward he never suffered poverty. This miracle he revealed to me, an unworthy sinner, most secretly and devoutly, in praise of the Virgin, out of charity, together with certain other great works of the same Virgin, which on account of my frivolity, lukewarmness, coldness -- nay, iniquity -- have (alas!) flown from my memory. Would that my Lady herself might have mercy on me!

[5] His Order then ordained that he should lecture on the New Logic at the convent of Bordeaux, He teaches Philosophy in various places, which he did for one year. Then his Order again placed him at Albi, and he lectured on Natural Philosophy, and this for a year. And again he lectured at Agen for a year on Physics. Then the Order ordained that he should go to Paris. And from the time he entered the Religious life, he never slept without his tunic and scapular, nor on feathers. While at Paris he made wonderful progress, and he stayed at Paris for three years, and returned to his province, and was made Lector at Cahors, and began to preach wonderfully.

[6] While he was at Cahors, it happened that in a certain summer there was such a drought at Cahors In a time of drought, that all the crops were perishing, and every day a procession was made by all the Clergy and people to obtain rain. Then it was ordered that Brother Peter Thomas should preach on the appointed day. On the appointed day, Brother Peter led all the Clergy and people outside the city for half a league in procession, In a sermon, and there he began his sermon, first comforting the people most devoutly, promising rain to all with confidence, and that they should place such great hope in the glorious Virgin He promises rain by the help of the Blessed Virgin, and obtains it, and would have rain on that very day. While he was preaching, no cloud appeared in the sky, nor any sign of rain, but with God cooperating and the glorious Virgin interceding, before the sermon was finished it began to rain gradually; and it rained so much that the people could scarcely return to the city because of the abundance of rain. He is considered a saint. When they saw that miracle, those of the city and province regarded Brother Peter as a saint, also on account of his wonderful life and manner of living. Then from that hour he sought occasion to depart from that province on account of the honor He flees from honor, that they were paying him, abominating all human glory. At Cahors he remained lecturing, He becomes a Bachelor of Theology, preaching, and working wonders for three years, and he returned to Paris, where he studied for four years and was made a Bachelor of Theology.

p Concerning the metropolis of the Cadurci, which is commonly called Cahors, we have treated elsewhere.

CHAPTER II. The Doctoral Degree. Life at the Pontifical Court.

[7] Having returned to his province, he was made Procurator of his Order, He is appointed Procurator of the Order, and came to the Roman Curia. Then the General of his Order, being at the Curia and seeing Brother Peter to be small in body and of modest appearance, and that those of his province had appointed him Procurator of the Order, He is despised by his General, despised him in his heart and was unwilling to bring him, out of embarrassment, into the presence of the Cardinals. At length, by the prompting of God and the Blessed Mary, the Lord Cardinal Talleyrand of Périgord, hearing of his competence and that he was from his own province, wished to see him and have him at dinner. After dinner a certain question was raised, according to the custom of the Cardinals; He preaches at the Pontifical Court, and there Brother Peter was recognized and made wonderfully famous, and when his great knowledge and subtlety were recognized, he afterward began to preach and dispute at the Curia, in such manner that all marveled at him.

[8] At length, at the promotion of the most Reverend Father the Lord Cardinal of Périgord, it was ordained by the General Chapter of the Order of the Blessed Mary of Carmel that Brother Peter should go to Paris and complete his course, He is sent to Paris, so that he might receive the doctorate in sacred Scripture. He went to Paris, and there he lectured on sacred Scripture in his convent, and according to the constitutions for making Masters of Theology at Paris, To be honored with the Doctorate, Brother Peter could not be licensed unless he completed his course, namely that he should lecture for yet another five years or so. But it happened by the will of God, with the glorious Virgin disposing, that the Virgin wished to exalt her devoted servant, that around the third year of Brother Peter's lecturing there were at Paris about fourteen Bachelors of Theology, both Religious and secular, all aspiring and expecting each to receive the mastership that year, according to the order of the University. It so happened that a certain dispute had arisen between the Chancellor of the University and the aforesaid candidates for the mastership... so that one Religious had to be chosen beyond the aforesaid number on account of the aforesaid dispute, He becomes a Doctor before the appointed time, and be given the doctorate together with the others to be made doctors that year. Then by the will of God, about thirty-two Masters of Theology, considering the competence of Brother Peter among all the Religious at Paris, unanimously gave him their vote and elected him, and especially the Chancellor, notwithstanding that he had not completed his course according to the Parisian regulations. Brother Peter was therefore made a Doctor of Theology with the consent of all, and contrary to the Parisian constitutions, to the praise of God and the wonder of all.

[9] He returns to Avignon. And he immediately returned to the Roman Curia, namely at Avignon, with no small honor and infinite praises. Then he began to preach wonderfully before the Pope, and was made Regent in Theology at the Curia. He preaches before the Curia, He visited the Cardinals, preached before them, disputed, and solved questions; he sometimes preached to the people, and often gave two or three sermons to the Clergy and the people in a single day, not counting the collations of the Cardinals after dinner. And blessed was the Cardinal or Prelate who could have Brother Peter Thomas as a familiar friend and at his table. Agreeable to the Cardinals.

[10] This account of his mastership at Paris I had in substance from his own lips. Assiduous in the Ecclesiastical office, even while teaching. Moreover, he confessed that while he was at Paris and lecturing, he had never in his time lost a single Mass on account of his lecturing, but always celebrated before his lecture, nor had he missed Matins. And he confided to me secretly that, celebrating his Mass at about the break of day, and after Mass ascending the chair to lecture, God poured into his heart in his Masses more knowledge, He draws knowledge divinely in his Masses, understanding, and true exposition of sacred Scripture than he had previously obtained by studying the lesson; and that while he was lecturing in the chair after his Mass, such things occurred to him as he had never studied, and at which he himself marveled, always giving thanks to God and to the Blessed Mary.

[11] Although he had ascended to so great and high a rank while at the Curia, He avoids special treatment, he was always subject to his Prior and Convent, and always rose for Matins; and never in his life, as long as he was a Bishop and Legate of the Apostolic See, did he eat outside the refectory in his convent, nor did he wish to eat any food other than that of the poor Brothers. He moves women to lay aside vain adornment. On account of his holy manner of life and wonderful preaching, he was wonderfully loved and reverenced above all at the Curia, and especially by the townspeople, merchants, and women, whom by his preaching he caused to abandon the superfluous adornment of pearls on their heads and their superfluous ornaments.

[12] And that this is true -- that they loved him -- he confessed to me that on one occasion, because of the not inconsiderable poverty of his Convent at Avignon, moved by piety for his Brothers, He collects an ample sum for the monastery, he once made a single collection in the city of Avignon alone. And in the evening he returned to his convent bringing a thousand florins from the collection of a single day -- so greatly was he loved on account of his virtue that no one denied him what he asked; and thus he nourished and sustained the Brothers of his Order wherever he was. The promise of the Blessed Mary previously made to him was gloriously fulfilled throughout his whole life.

[13] In his preaching he certainly spared no one, not the Lord Pope, In preaching he spares no one, not anyone. In the middle of his sermon he commonly made people laugh, by narrating certain beautiful moral tales; now he made them weep, now laugh; and at the end of his sermon every person departed from his presence edified and consoled. He moves to laughter and tears, and edifies all. Because the Holy Spirit, as I piously believe, spoke through his mouth from his youth, nor was he ever seen to fail in his sermons. And in his time there was no such preacher in the Church of God, whose works both preceded and followed his words; and certainly his life could be called not human but divine, because he desired nothing earthly except only the increase of the Catholic faith, of his Brothers, and of all with whom he spoke... And his words were burning in unfeigned charity.

[14] In hearing confessions, what a man he was! How he led sinners back to the way of God and to repentance, Prudent in hearing confessions, and how he explained doubts to laypeople and subtleties to the Clergy! Certainly I dare to say that for one single sinner who had recourse to him, and whom he had never before seen, if it had been necessary he would have joyfully given his body to martyrdom. What then would he have done for those close to him? It would be difficult to describe his charity and virtues.

[15] While he was thus becoming illustrious before God and thus ruling at the Curia, the Lord Pope Clement VI paid the debt of all flesh; and when the solemn funeral rites were completed, his body was carried to a certain monastery, by the provision of God; from Avignon to the aforesaid place there were twelve days' journey. Blessed Peter was chosen by all the Pope's relatives and the College to preach on the journey, At the conveyance of the body of Clement VI, and he gave twelve sermons on the journey, one each day, wonderful and more than wonderful. The Blessed Virgin Mary, therefore, who had so greatly exalted her devoted Brother Peter, wished again to honor him. For when the Pope's body was in the church of the Blessed Mary of Le Puy, Brother Peter ascended the pulpit He preaches for twelve days on the journey, to preach as was customary; and on account of the labors of the journey and the preceding sermons, he found himself so hoarse that he could not speak at all, nor be heard. But he, fearing the scandal of not being able to preach, and hesitant to begin, By the help of the Blessed Virgin he dispels his hoarseness, turned to the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary, pouring forth his prayer devoutly. When it was finished, with the Virgin helping and the people listening, he began his theme in a loud voice, and preached as clearly as he had ever given any other sermon. This grace bestowed on him by the Blessed Virgin Mary, Brother Peter himself, as he told me, attributed to the Blessed Mary and to the merits of the Pope Clement of blessed memory. A wonderful and praiseworthy thing: the inviolate Virgin wonderfully showed her sweetness in her servant Brother Peter.

c 6 December 1352.

CHAPTER III. The Bishopric. The Nunciature to the Emperor, the Kings of Apulia and Rascia.

[16] After some time had passed, Pope Innocent VI was created; in whose sight Brother Peter found favor. The Lord Pope was wonderfully delighted by the sermons of Brother Peter, and seeing the competence and holy manner of life of Brother Peter Thomas, He is sent as Apostolic Nuncio to the King of Apulia, and that he was useful, indeed necessary, to the Roman Church for bearing the name of God and the honor of the Church before Kings and Princes and the children of Christians, the Lord Pope appointed Brother Peter as Nuncio of the Apostolic See to go into Apulia, to King Louis of Apulia and to Queen Joan his consort, on account of certain weighty matters concerning the Church of God and the kingdom of Apulia. This he did, and he laudably carried out and completed the commission imposed on him by the Apostolic See, to the honor of God and the Church. And this was his first legation.

[17] And he returned to the Curia after an interval of time. And while Brother Peter was always preaching and reforming the people of Avignon, news came to the Curia, namely that the King of Rascia, who now called himself Emperor of Bulgaria, a schismatic, piously wished to come to the bosom of the Roman Church. At that time the Emperor Augustus Charles IV came to Italy and to Rome. The matter having been deliberated in Consistory, the Pope, on the advice of the Brothers, appointed Brother Peter as Apostolic Nuncio to the Emperor and to the King of Rascia. And because the embassy or legation was weighty, dangerous, authoritative, imperial, and royal, it was necessary that the Nuncio be authoritative and of high rank. The Lord Pope then gave Brother Peter Thomas the Church of Patti in Sicily, and he was made Bishop. Setting out on his journey, he first came to the Roman Emperor, to whom the Supreme Pontiff, through Brother Peter, Nuncio of the Apostolic See, sent many good things on behalf of the Lord Pope and the Church, and was also to negotiate between the Church and the Emperor himself matters of great praise and advantage to the Church, And, having previously been ordained Bishop of Patti in Sicily, the Commonwealth, and the honor of Christendom. This he did as far as was in his power; and he strengthened, confirmed, and comforted the Emperor in his love for the Church by words of wonderful preaching and devotion, always to the honor of the Church. To the Emperor Charles IV.

[18] When the Lord Brother Peter departed from the Emperor and set out toward Rascia, he passed through Italy, Hungary, He journeys toward Rascia through many perils, and Slavonia with such great dangers that his household expected bodily death from day to day. But he, firm, constant, and steadfast, neither valued labors nor feared death nor spared his own body; but strengthened in the Lord, cordially desiring the union of the Church and the salvation of souls, he regarded all the perils of the journey and toil as child's play. Among all the dangers through which he passed, I shall narrate some wonderful things below. For Brother Peter, at the request of the companion of the Lord Brother Peter, being questioned by the Lord Archbishop of Nicosia in the presence of many, said that while he was in the company of the Lord Brother Peter, his lord, on the road going to Rascia, it happened that the Papal Nuncio could not obtain a galley, but embarked in a rather small vessel with his household. And sailing from Venice toward Rascia, near the borders of Slavonia and Achaia, while the Lord Brother Peter was sailing on the sea, a large Turkish vessel approached and drew near to him, and by no human device could he escape. Then all the sailors and others, despairing of their lives, implored the Apostolic Nuncio to pour forth prayers to God for their deliverance. Then, while Brother Peter lay prostrate in prayer and the Turkish vessel was approaching, miraculously -- though the sky was clear, the sun was burning, and no cloud appeared -- suddenly a dense and thick cloud enveloped the vessel of the Lord Brother Peter, A cloud arising at his prayers, he escapes the Turkish ship, so that the Turkish vessel, rowing very close by, lost sight of the vessel of the Papal Nuncio; and the vessel of the Lord Brother Peter, sailing freely toward the land, escaped the Turks by the help of the God-sent cloud. A wonderful thing, and a stupendous miracle, clearly demonstrated by the most glorious Creator to one who served him faithfully.

[19] The same Brother Peter further reported, at the request of the aforesaid Lord Archbishop of Nicosia, that on the same journey the aforesaid vessel of his lord was once struck by so great a storm at sea that the despairing sailors without any steering drove the vessel among the waves wherever they wished. In danger of shipwreck, praying, It happened miraculously that when the vessel was approaching the land and all were expecting imminent death, He is transported with his ship out of the sea, while the Apostolic Nuncio was in the most fervent devotion, suddenly a certain wave or surge of the sea cast the aforesaid vessel, whole and safe, into a certain lake near the sea, unknown to the sailors. This is no small wonder; for when the storm had subsided, the vessel was found in the aforesaid lake, very far from the sea, and it was necessary to drag the vessel overland to the sea. For thus they were saved by God through the prayers of the Lord Brother Peter, rendering immense thanks to God.

[20] After many labors and dangers had been passed through, with God's help, the servant of God arrived in Rascia, and after some days had elapsed, he came into the presence of the King of Rascia. This King was, among all the men of the world in his time, the largest in body [He approaches the King of Rascia -- not with unworthy submission, after the custom of the nation --] and terrible in countenance. The custom of that kingdom and of royal magnificence is that whoever comes into the King's presence, before greeting him, kisses his foot and performs other not inconsiderably excessive reverences. Of these the Lord Brother Peter, Apostolic Nuncio, had been forewarned many times by many people, who told him that if he failed in this, he would incur the danger of death. But the Apostolic Nuncio, standing in the presence of the King without bowing or making any reverence, lest he derogate from the honors of the Church -- since a Papal Nuncio, at all times, But honors him with a fitting greeting, setting aside fear, trusting in God, greeted the King with authority and grace, as was fitting. The King, surrounded by his warriors and barons, proudly received the Papal Nuncio and had many grand and boastful words with him. On the appointed day for setting forth the legation, when Brother Peter arrived, clearly and vigorously in a certain sermon he set forth his Apostolic legation to the King. But in the King's responses the Papal Nuncio clearly perceived the pride, cunning, and falsehood of the King. He is treated with malice by the King. Then all of the household of the Lord Brother Peter considered the Apostolic Nuncio and themselves to be dead men, seeing the cruelty and malice of the King.

[21] After some days had passed, and many negotiations had been concluded in honor of the Roman Church and then maliciously broken off, the Lord Brother Peter always and daily had the divine office celebrated before him with authority, whether in the fields or in cities and fortresses. At last, the tyrant King being hardened, he showed no small malice against the Roman Church, and had it proclaimed His edict that no one should attend his sacred services, that no Christian of the Roman Church, under penalty of losing their eyes, should attend the Mass of the Lord Brother Peter, the Papal Nuncio. There were many noble Germans and other mercenaries of the King there. When they heard this, fear and trembling seized all the faithful of the Roman Church. But the faithful Nuncio, intrepid, piously and vigorously comforting them, and well knowing the danger in which he and the faithful of the Church were, setting aside all fear of death -- indeed, desiring death for the increase of the Catholic faith -- said to them with a serene countenance He defies the edict, that on the following day, at the usual hour, he would personally celebrate a solemn Mass by the grace of God, notwithstanding the King's edict; and whoever of our faithful wished to attend, that would please him well, and whoever did not, he would also be content. When morning came, the Lord Brother Peter, at the usual hour, piously expecting death, And celebrates before the Germans, prepared himself in an authoritative place to celebrate a solemn Mass. And behold, the faithful of the Church, as if rushing with joy to martyrdom, one not waiting for another, making light of the King's edict, all came to the Mass of the Legate They too rightly despising the same edict, and heard it most devoutly. There were three hundred Germans at Mass, besides others of Christian nations.

[22] When the Mass was completed with great devotion, and the King hearing of it was filled with fury at the breaking of the royal edict, he summoned all the Germans. When they arrived, the King, with a troubled face, filled with anger, said to them: "Why were you not afraid to break my edict? Did you not know that I had proclaimed that I would tear out all your eyes if you heard the Mass of our enemy?" Then a certain knight, a brave man and the Captain of all the others, whose name I have consigned to oblivion, inspired by the Holy Spirit and encouraged by my Father, Some of whom generously respond to the King, answered on behalf of all the others: "Lord, it is quite true that we heard your edict, but we fear God more than you. And how could we have left such a Father celebrating alone without us? You well know that we are all Catholics and faithful of the Roman Church, and since you would tear out our eyes, not only our eyes, but we are all prepared to die in defense of the Catholic faith." When the King heard such words, he was so softened that he began to laugh and to marvel at the great constancy of the Apostolic Nuncio and the Germans. From that hour the Lord Brother Peter received such great honor and reverence from the King for some time Having won his favor, that I could not describe it. After an interval of time, with the King remaining obstinate and persisting in his perfidy, the Lord Brother Peter reformed many Metropolitan and other Churches of that kingdom to union with the Roman Church, He reconciles many to the Church, which had previously been schismatic. And after many and countless dangers and snares craftily arranged by the King, with difficulty, and with God's help, the Papal Nuncio, the Lord Brother Peter, departed from the kingdom of Rascia in safety and returned to the Curia.

p Wadding adds in the Life that the King dealt deceitfully with the Pontiff, and sent his envoys not so much out of affection for the Roman religion as to avoid a Hungarian war. But that he later paid the just penalties of his fraud, having been crushed and humiliated by King Louis of Hungary. Ranzanus, Index 19, says the Bulgarians were subdued because they had revolted from Louis. Thuroczy, chapter 33, and Bonfini, Decade 2, book 10, add that the royal city of Bodon was captured and the King transported to Hungary, but they call him Strachmer or Stratimir -- is this the same one who is called Stephen in the Apostolic Bulls? Basil John Herold, in the Genealogical Table appended to Nicetas Gregoras and Chalcocondyles, holds that the Kings of Rascia were called by the generic name Stephen, just as elsewhere there were Ptolemies, Caesars, Abgars, and Pharaohs.

CHAPTER IV. The legation to the Venetians and the King of Hungary.

[23] He is sent as Legate for peace between the Hungarians and Venetians. After some time had passed, Pope Innocent, desiring the destruction of the enemies of the faith in the East and the liberation of the Holy Land, as a pious Father -- considering the wonderful victories, valor, wisdom, magnificence, power, and devotion of Louis, King of Hungary, whose fame was not undeservedly spreading throughout the whole world... Then he heard that the King was making a great war against the Venetians in those days. The Pope, indeed, wishing to bring the unity and peace of Christians and the aforesaid liberation to a good end, sent as Legate, Nuncio, or Ambassador -- but not only that, also a ready and faithful courier of the Church of God, fearing no dangers, namely the Lord Brother Peter, Bishop of Patti -- the Lord Apostolic sent him to restore peace between the Venetians and Hungarians; and to the aforesaid King of Hungary he sent the banner of the Holy Cross and of the Church, to the King as its illustrious standard-bearer, And to urge the King to the sacred war, and that he should undertake the holy passage, together with many temporal and spiritual graces, the Lord Pope sent through the same Lord Brother Peter.

[24] The Lord Brother Peter, therefore, fortified with Papal Bulls and having received the Apostolic blessing, set out on his journey, and crossing the mountains and Lombardy, arrived at Venice. There, magnificently and joyfully received by the Doge and the Nobles, he wonderfully set forth his Papal embassy to the Lord Doge and his council in a certain sermon, admonishing them to peace and piously exhorting them, concluding with many proofs and unanswerable arguments. He comes to Venice. Having received the response of the Venetians, he passed through the camps and encountered such great mortal dangers on the journey that it would be tedious to write of them. Thence through many dangers. For the mercenaries of both sides, moved by avarice, disturbed the feet of those who evangelized peace. For often and almost daily or continually they laid ambushes for him, mocked him, and some feigned peace with him deceitfully. But he, fearing nothing earthly, so constant and encouraged, passed through all dangers from men and rivers, etc., and arrived in Hungary, and was received by the gentle and Catholic King devoutly, in a Catholic manner, magnificently, and to the honor of the Church. To Hungary. So great a war was raging at that time between the Hungarians and the Venetians that the passage of the Lord Brother Peter through the camps of both sides was more rightly called miraculous and divine than human. After some days had passed, the Bishop of Patti, the Lord Brother Peter, set forth his Papal legation to the King of Hungary with authority, reverence, and glory, exalting the King, honoring him on behalf of the Church, offering many temporal and spiritual goods, piously comforting the King in the fear of God and in love of the Church. He is kindly and honorably received by the King. The King, devout and Catholic, responded to the Bishop and Papal Nuncio kindly, clearly, and sweetly on all points, invoking God, thanking the Lord Pope and Holy Church, offering many goods, and showing himself a true and devout son of the Church.

[25] From that hour the King greatly honored the Bishop, laudably and honorably caused necessities to be provided to him, willingly saw him, sweetly heard his words and his sermons, and the King greatly marveled at his wisdom and eloquence. At length the Lord Brother Peter, after many preceding demonstrations and exhortations and by means of divine words, piously converted the King -- who was like a roaring lion, He persuades the King to peace and the sacred expedition, proposing the destruction of the Venetians -- to peace. And not only to peace with the Venetians and the Christians, but to the destruction of the enemies of the faith and the liberation of Jerusalem, the Lord Brother Peter so persuaded the King, so humbly and devoutly, that the King received from the Lord Brother Peter, on behalf of the Pope, the venerable sign and banner of the Cross and of the Church; and in the hands of the Apostolic Nuncio the King solemnly swore that he would personally undertake the holy passage with a strong hand within the next ten years and set out on the journey toward the Holy Land. When all the aforesaid had been so laudably approved and confirmed, the Lord Brother Peter departed from the King with great honor to himself and the Church of God, and with the King's goodwill; and passing through the camps of the enemy, he found the Hungarians and Germans, who before like leopards had been seizing Venetian prey by shooting arrows, now pacified. For they had heard that the King's will had been turned to peace, and they paid the greatest honor to the Lord Brother Peter.

[26] At length, having escaped many dangers, he arrived at Venice with God's help, and being well received by some and less well by others, he ascended the Ducal Palace; and there, before the Doge and council, he announced the peace that had been negotiated, He proposes the conditions of peace to the Venetians, the power of the Hungarians, and their goodwill that was hostile toward them. The peace negotiated by the servant of God was such that the King of Hungary would leave all Dalmatia and Zadar to the Venetians, would forgive all injuries, and would become a friend of the Venetians; and that the peace and friendship might be perfect and eternal, the Venetians were to present to the King each year one white horse, solely as a token of friendship. But when the Venetians heard from the Lord Brother Peter the aforesaid peace in the council, no small tumult arose; and when the peace treaty was debated in the council, ill-advised, they rejected the peace. The Bishop, the Lord Brother Peter, groaning, introduced many good arguments in his proposals, and prophetically preached clearly to those who refused the honorable peace that evil would come from it. He is rebuffed. But it availed nothing.

[27] And because we ought to make manifest the works of those who love peace, so that disturbers of peace may recognize the judgments of God: it happened that while the Lord Brother Peter was announcing the aforesaid peace to the Venetians, who were obstinate for war, trusting in human power and abundance of riches, a certain nobleman of the Venetians, being in a certain court of Nobles and hearing the report of the Nobles concerning the Lord Brother Peter, evaded the aforesaid peace as much as he could, and burst forth in words of iniquity before all, and blaspheming, detracted from the Lord Brother Peter and the Church of God. And thus he recalled many Nobles from the good intention of peace, not heeding the prophetic word that says, "Blessed are the feet," etc. But God, the author of peace and lover of truth, The chief promoter of the war dies a sudden death, did not long dissemble his justice against the blasphemer. Isa. 52:7. For the aforesaid Nobleman, on that very day hastening to war and encouraging others, perished by a sudden death -- which is no small wonder. The Lord Brother Peter, seeing that he was making no progress and that he had done what was in his power, departed from Venice with grief and tears, and returned to the Roman Curia. Afterward, when the war between the Venetians and Hungarians was raging and shedding blood, The rest are defeated by the Hungarians, with the prophecy of the Lord Brother Peter being fulfilled, the Venetians lost and lost all of Dalmatia.

CHAPTER V. The Legation to Constantinople. The Eastern Church reconciled to the Roman.

[28] After certain intervals of time, news came to the Roman Curia, namely that the Emperor of Constantinople wished to come to the bosom of holy Mother Church. This was very difficult to believe, because the Greeks had been separated from the Church from ancient times, and had many times deluded the Roman Church in negotiations. Nevertheless Pope Innocent, desiring the union of the Churches and not remembering the sins of his children, as a pious Father, observing, considering, and concluding He is sent as Apostolic Legate to Constantinople, that if through the learning and preaching of some Prelate of the Roman Church the aforesaid Emperor and his Greek people should come, with God's inspiration, to true obedience to the Church -- through the Lord Brother Peter. So accustomed in such matters, and taking upon his shoulders the desperate burdens of Holy Church, trusting in God, supported by Apostolic authority, the Apostolic Nuncio departed from the Curia toward Constantinople. At length, after many labors and infinite dangers, he came to Constantinople. Then he came to a certain army where the Emperor was, He approaches the Emperor, and there he was received by the Emperor and his Barons with great praises and honors; and when his legation had been subtly, demonstratively, and devoutly set forth to the Emperor, he remained with the Emperor but received no response, because the Emperor at that time was impeded by feats of arms. But the words of the Lord Brother Peter had entered the Emperor's heart and had softened him, and also very many of the Greek Barons He is kindly received by the Emperor, honored the Lord Brother Peter greatly in honor and goodwill toward the Roman Church, and generously provided him with necessities.

[29] At length, after some interval of time, with the Lord Brother Peter always disputing with the Greeks about the Catholic faith and clearly resolving their doubts and blindness by demonstration from the Holy Spirit, he offered devout prayers to God and mortified his body with afflictions and fasts, that he might lead the blindness of the Greeks back to the true light of the Roman Church. What more? Some spoke ill and others well. He reconciles the Emperor to the Roman Church. But when the Emperor came to the city of Constantinople and the Lord Brother Peter was continually preaching to and teaching him, the Emperor became a true Catholic and obedient to the Roman Church, confessing the articles of faith one by one, and declaring that the Holy Roman Church was his mother; and this in the hands of the Lord Brother Peter, with hands touching the holy Gospels of God. He also swore to promise to observe, and to cause to be observed as far as he could, those things that pertain to the Holy Roman Church; and he promised that the perfidious Greek Patriarch, the enemy of the unity of the Church, would be deposed, and that another Catholic one ought to be elected. And lest the things that the Emperor was confessing and promising to observe be held invalid, through the pious and divine admonitions of the Lord Brother Peter, the Emperor, as a faithful Catholic and devout man, most devoutly received the Body of the Lord from the hand of the Lord Brother Peter, the Apostolic Nuncio. He gives him Holy Communion. It would take long to write what God accomplished there through the hand of his servant, the Lord Brother Peter, to the praise of God and the unity of his Church, and therefore for the sake of brevity I shall omit it. But so that the substance of the aforesaid may appear, I shall set forth below a certain Imperial instrument sent from the aforesaid to the Supreme Pontiff, to the praise of God, who through the same Lord Brother Peter accomplished such great goods in the Church of God. The form of the instrument is as follows:

[30] To the most holy Father in Christ and Lord Innocent, He sends the Emperor's letter to the Pontiff, by the grace of God most worthy Supreme Pontiff of the sacrosanct Roman and Catholic Church, John, in Christ God faithful Emperor and ruler of the Romans, the reverence that is due and devout. Most Holy Father, to our army, which was in the field against the enemy, came the most Reverend Father and Brother, the Lord Peter, Bishop of Patti, together with another Brother, Bishop William of Chrysopolis. And the said Lord Brother Peter, Nuncio of Your Holiness, presented his letters, in the reading of which our Empire rejoiced and exulted. For we found in them what Your Holiness writes: that we swore and declared that we are faithful, obedient, and devout, and reverent with many of our Barons, to you and your successors and to the Holy Roman and Catholic Church. And you asserted in your letters that you and the Lord Cardinals and your Bishops greatly rejoiced, and you exhorted us to complete in deed what we had begun. And that you would summon your Prelates and Barons to our aid against the Turks and other enemies of the faith. And that the said Lord Brother Peter would report to us your will. He prudently inquired of us our intention, whether we confessed what the Holy Roman and Catholic Church preaches and teaches. And since we could not respond at that time, we wished to go to Constantinople and respond there; we delayed on account of certain things that befell us. After this, coming to Constantinople, we gave our effort to respond fully.

[31] Know therefore, Most Holy Father, that with all the solicitude we can, we have labored and are laboring that our Church may be united with the Holy Roman Church, and with the counsel and deliberation of our Barons we responded to the said Lord Brother Peter that, as we promised, so we will, and we are obedient and faithful and devout to the Roman Church. In which he professes the Catholic faith, Indeed, we promise and swear, and I firmly promise and hold all things entirely that the Holy Roman Church holds, and in that faith I wish to live and die, and at no time will I depart from it. And so I promised the said Lord Brother Peter and swore in his hands, in the presence of many Bishops; and I will henceforth keep the faith and fidelity to the Supreme Pontiff that other Princes of the Roman Church keep. But now I cannot bring it about that the whole people should obey, because not all are faithful to me, nor do they obey, and many lie in wait to have an occasion against me. But I will fully accomplish and confirm to you, if you send the help I have sought, and no one will contradict. For I know that if your Legate comes with galleys and the aid I seek, all will be made subject and will be faithful to you. And now, And he implores aid against the Turks, Most Holy Father, do not despise me, your son; for my entire family from the beginning wished to obey the Roman and Catholic Church, and was faithful and subject, and also my great-grandfather to the end of his life; and in the aforesaid obedience, fidelity, and devotion he departed this life. And so I will do entirely, with God's help. Therefore do not despise me, your son, nor spurn my city and land; with but slight aid to it, all will be made subject to you. Having obtained victory through the Legate's blessing. God has done many good things for us since we received your blessing through the said Lord Peter. For immediately we captured alive a great Prince of the Turks, and many fortresses have submitted to us. Furthermore, the one who had made himself Emperor, we have in our prisons with his wife and children; and we believe all this was done on account of your blessing, in which we have great hope. All that we have written we wish to fulfill.

[32] We wished also to send to Your Holiness our son the Despot. He resolves to send his son to the Pontiff, But the Lord Legate did not judge it expedient to do this at present. I hope, however, that he will soon come to Your Holiness; and would that I myself could come to pay the reverence I owe. What we have omitted writing on account of verbosity, And to depose the schismatic Patriarch, we have committed to the said Lord Legate to be reported to Your Holiness. Regarding the Patriarch, do not be concerned; for I will depose him and appoint another whom I know to be faithful to the Holy Roman Church. I give you thanks for having sent us so wise and prudent a man, by whom our Empire has been greatly consoled, and all the Romans and Latins; for by his teaching they have been changed to a better life and confirmed. I commend myself and my Empire to Your Holiness. For the security of the aforesaid and their manifest fulfillment, our Empire has ordered the present document to be made, which he has signed in red letters in his own hand in the customary manner, and a golden bull has been affixed. It was written at Constantinople in our God-guarded palace of Blachernae, in the year from the creation of the world 6866, the seventh day of the month of November, in the eleventh Indiction.

[33] All these things having been laudably accomplished, not only were the Greeks reformed to the true faith and changed to a better life, S. Peter confirms the Latins dwelling at Constantinople, but also the Latins, Genoese, and other nations of Christians dwelling there were edified in devotion and in unity with the Roman Church through the holy preaching and teaching as well as the devout manner of life of the Lord Brother Peter, and they were joyfully encouraged against the Turks to sustain the wars of God in the peace of the Church.

CHAPTER VI. The journey to Cyprus and Palestine.

[34] At the appointed time, the Lord Brother Peter, bidding farewell to the Emperor with tears, sailed toward the kingdom of Cyprus. And when he arrived at the city of Famagusta, King Hugo of good memory, most illustrious and Catholic King of Jerusalem and Cyprus among all the Christian Kings, He is magnificently received by King Hugo of Cyprus, hearing of the arrival of the Lord Brother Peter in his kingdom, went in person to meet him with such great honors and solemnities as would have sufficed for a greater Prelate of the Church of God, and he led the Bishop to his city of Nicosia. The Lord Brother Peter, seeing that honors were being bestowed upon him beyond measure by the King, refused them as much as he could, saying kindly to the King: He declines the honor. "I am not a Nuncio or Legate of the Pope, but a certain poor pilgrim Brother, desiring to visit the Sepulchre of the Lord; and therefore may it please Your Royal Majesty not to bestow these honors upon me, because I am not worthy of such great honors." On the contrary, the King said: "Lord Bishop, we know you well, and what the Lord has wished to do through your hands; even if you were not the Pope's Nuncio, nor a Bishop, nonetheless because you are a Master of Theology and on account of your virtues, we would wish to honor you." In response, the Lord Brother Peter, humbling himself and piously citing sacred Scripture, would answer; and thus a pious contest arose between him and the King. At length, when the Lord Brother Peter preached before the King, the King praised him greatly, honored him even more, and showed him all the signs of friendship in a familiar manner.

[35] But by God's permission the Lord Brother Peter contracted a serious illness in Cyprus; Seized by illness, at which the King himself and all his people grieved immensely, which they well showed. For every day of Brother Peter's illness the Queen of Jerusalem and Cyprus prepared his food with her own hands, He receives food prepared daily by the Queen's own hands, nor did he eat any food otherwise. This is no small wonder. For his illness lasted many days, but with God's favor and the Queen ministering to him, he recovered and was healed.

[36] Therefore, bidding farewell to the King and Queen, giving them thanks for their benefits, he prepared himself for the journey to Jerusalem; and against the counsel of the King, He goes to Jerusalem, who well knew the danger to the Lord Brother Peter and the malice of the Saracens, and warned him that his route would be made known to the Saracens by false Christian merchants. But he, not acquiescing in the King's admonitions, trusting in God, crossed the sea and arrived at Jerusalem. How he was received by the faithful Christians would be long to write. He visited the Sepulchre of the Lord and the other holy places with such devotion and shedding of tears that he provoked all the faithful to tears. How devoutly he celebrated upon the Sepulchre of the Lord; He visits the holy places, how devoutly he prayed to God for the Christian Brothers; how piously he comforted the Christians inhabiting Jerusalem and the Holy Land, even to endure death for Christ; how he longed for martyrdom -- I could not express in words. What more? Many and many said to him: "Father, you cannot escape bodily death, for you have been recognized as the Papal Nuncio." But he, strengthened in the Lord Jesus, making light of such words, desiring martyrdom with all his heart, if it were from God, like another Francis -- for he gathered all the Christians of whatever nation whom he could find on Mount Zion, around the third hour, and in the presence of all the Saracens who were always coming, He preaches publicly, setting aside fear, he gloriously and authoritatively preached. Then the Saracens murmured, and fear seized all the Christians. But some Saracens and false Christians said, "He is a good man"; others, however, "He is evil."

[37] When his pilgrimage was completed, giving thanks to God, he went through the midst of them, and no one laid a hand upon him, He returns to Cyprus, and he returned to Cyprus without any hindrance. The King, seeing him and hearing what he had done among the Saracens, received him sweetly with wonder, and more than wonder, and giving thanks to God that he had escaped alive from the Saracens. He, remaining for some time in Famagusta due to certain causes preventing his departure, served his Creator and the glorious Virgin so humbly with all his strength that every midnight or thereabouts, prostrate on the ground in his chamber, he broke forth into prayers so devoutly, so fervently, and so intently He prays fervently at night, that, as if rapt, he felt nothing of the world. Whence a certain Chaplain of his, on one occasion, while passing through his chamber with the light extinguished, stepped over the Lord Brother Peter himself without being perceived by him, as he related. And at the same hours, while he was thus prostrate in prayer, Fire appearing above his chamber, fire was seen descending from heaven above his chamber very many times by the Armenians and others who were neighbors and nearby. This miracle was confirmed without doubt not only by the aforesaid Armenians and Greeks, but also by schismatics and those alien to the Catholic faith, who had seen this, as has been said. In reverence of this and for perpetual memory, the Carmelite Brothers of that house in Famagusta established that a Mass should be celebrated at the break of day every day.

[38] When all his purpose had been accomplished, and the King and his people had been edified by the preaching and holy manner of life of the Lord Brother Peter, He returns to Avignon, bidding farewell to the King, he returned to the Roman Curia, and was gloriously received by Pope Innocent and all the Cardinals. After some time, the most illustrious King Hugo of Jerusalem and Cyprus sent letters to Pope Innocent, in which it was contained that the Sultan, hearing of the arrival of the Lord Brother Peter, the Papal Nuncio, in Jerusalem, his preaching, and his departure from his land, was afraid and grieved, and immediately sent for the Governor of Jerusalem, and had him beheaded because he had allowed the Lord Brother Peter to leave his land.

CHAPTER VII. Universal Apostolic Legation in the East. Crete purged from heresy.

[39] Pope Innocent, informed of the diligence, wisdom, and virtues of the Lord Brother Peter, and how the Lord was working through his hand in all his ways and legations, multiplying and exalting his Holy Church; informed also by the letters of the King of Jerusalem and Cyprus and of the Emperor of Constantinople himself concerning his virtues; the Pope, on the advice of the Cardinals, He is sent as universal Apostolic Legate to the East, determined to send the Lord Brother Peter, Bishop of Patti, to the parts of Romania and Cyprus, not merely as a particular Papal Nuncio, but as a special and universal Legate of the Apostolic See, so that in the aforesaid parts he might build, plant, root out, wage war against the enemies of the faith, bring schismatics back to the union of the Church, and do all other things that should pertain to the office of a full Apostolic legation. He was previously created Bishop of Corone. And the Pope gave him, as an enhancement of his status, the Church of Corone. The Legate, fortified with Apostolic privileges and having received the Apostolic blessing, reached the parts assigned to him. And exercising the office of his legation, he assembled the galleys of the Venetians, of the Hospital, and of other faithful. And visiting the city of Smyrna, committed to him, and the other places of his legation inhabited by Christians, piously and vigorously, he reached Constantinople. And the Emperor, who was making war against the Turk and needed help, He aids the Emperor against the Turks, was visited by the Legate, accompanied by a retinue of very many galleys, and he comforted him as he had previously promised. And he piously encouraged all the Christians of his legation to the war against the Turks, offering and promising many spiritual and temporal goods to the aforesaid Emperor and all the Magnates, and edifying the people of his legation by preaching, holy conduct, and bodily fighting. He endured many reproaches from the envious, detractors, and false Christians, and incurred many bodily labors and infinite dangers for the multiplication of the faith; and God gave him many great victories both internally and externally against the Turks.

[40] For among other things, he himself with the aforesaid galleys and the galleys of the Emperor, after deliberation, went to a certain Turkish fortress He storms the fortress of Lampsacus, called Lampsacus, situated quite far from the sea. He and his men attacked the fortress vigorously with a strong hand, and at last, with the help of God and the fervent exhortations of the Legate, after many labors and dangers, they vigorously captured the fortress; and giving thanks to God, they despoiled and burned the fortress, and by common decision set out on the road to the galleys. When this was done, the Turks, seeing the flames of their habitation and grieving, gathered in great companies and lay in ambush between the sea and the fortress, desiring to take vengeance on the Christians. But the Lord Legate, strengthened in the Lord regarding life and death, accompanied by a troop of fifty Knights of the Hospital and many Venetians, Genoese, English, Greeks, and other Christians, with his column in order, advanced in formation toward the galleys. And behold, the Turks, sallying forth from their ambushes in various companies, howling and shouting, made a most fierce assault upon our Christians with one accord. And immediately, one not waiting for another, all the Christian sailors and many others, As the Turks rush from ambush, abandoning their standards, basely and to the disgrace of the Christian faith, fled to the galleys. But the Lord Legate, grieving inwardly, with the Knights of the Hospital and a few other Westerners, resisted the Turks and did not change his expression. Then the battle grew heavy, because our Christians were very few and the Turks innumerable; always defending and attacking the Turks, our Christians drew themselves toward the galleys. He resists generously with a small band of his men. At length, by the valor of the Knights of the Hospital, and of the few others, and by the valor and blessing of the Lord Legate, with the Turks defeated and driven back, by God's working they boarded the galleys. In the aforesaid battle, seven of the Lord Legate's household were killed fighting valiantly, and many other fleeing Christians. Of the Turks, three hundred were killed, including their Captain. And thus God willed to give his Legate victory in the capture of the fortress, and also to show his virtue and constancy in battle, and at the end of the battle to take vengeance upon his enemies.

[41] With such works, namely preaching, teaching, fighting, baptizing infidels, bringing back schismatics, and multiplying the Church of God, the Lord Legate continually labored, now at Smyrna, now at Rhodes, now at Constantinople, now in Cyprus, now on the island of Crete, now in Turkey, now with many galleys, now with a few; and sometimes, sparing not even his own body alone, sailing and waging war, in season and out of season, in winter as in summer, in perils of the sea, in perils of wars, in perils of men, He makes a certain Turk a tributary of the Church, and continually among false brethren, he joyfully endured all things. And he labored so much, with God's help, that during the time of his legation the Turks generally lost. For one of the greatest of the Turkish Princes, namely the Lord of Theologo, paid tribute, which he had never before done to any Legate or Christian, Intending to suppress a certain heresy, he goes to Crete, and from that time onward always honored Christians in his land.

[42] But afterward, while the Lord Legate was thus making progress in his legation, he heard news from the island of Crete that greatly troubled his heart, namely that a certain abominable heresy was sprouting on the aforesaid island, and especially among the Nobles and leading men of that island. The Lord Legate, desiring to extinguish the heresy before it was strengthened, postponed all other business of his legation and arrived at Candia with only a small galley; and this against the advice of all his friends, for two reasons. For the Legate had retained several Venetian galleys in the service of God against the Turks, by the words of his wonderful preaching, for some time beyond the term given to the galleys by their government. And the friends of the Legate feared that, if he came to Crete, the Duke of Crete would demand from the Legate the wages for the aforesaid galleys, Despising the proposed dangers, which it was impossible for the Legate to pay. The other reason not to go to Crete was that the leader of that heresy was a first cousin of the wife of the Duke of Crete; and therefore his friends were afraid. But the Legate, fearing God more than men, and making light of the death of his own body and of his friends, trusting in God and vigorously discharging his office, setting aside all fear, he entered the city of Candia, and there he was received by the Duke not as a Legate or a friend, but almost as an enemy. And therefore the aforesaid fears of the Legate's friends came to pass, and more. For the aforesaid Duke, not knowing the way of God, demanded the wages of the aforesaid galleys from the Legate importunately, proudly, and with threats. But the Legate, wisely dissembling his words, was subtly inquiring into the heresy, and time passed.

[43] When the heresy had been discovered, the Legate summoned before him the heretics dwelling in the city of Candia, among whom the cousin of the Duke's wife was one of them and the chief. The heretics had already established their heresy and corrupted the island and many of the faithful. The heretics, having held a conference, came into the presence of the Legate with pride, arrogance, He summons the heretics, and indignation. The Legate sweetly and piously examined them on the faith in a certain sermon. But they, making light of the Legate's good and sweet words, responded arrogantly and off the point. Then the Legate wished to separate them and examine each one individually, requesting for the part of the Roman Church the aid of the secular arm, namely from the Duke. But the Duke, hearing this, furious and ill-disposed and agitated by his wife, came to the Legate and said many reproachful things to him, denying him aid and threatening him. He is assailed with insults. At which, a certain murmuring, at the instigation of the friends of the heretics, arose in the city and island, and against him and his Latins of the Roman Church, even to their death. And then all the household of the Legate considered themselves dead men, expecting the hour of their lord's death. But the Legate, seeing these things, strengthened in the Lord and fearing nothing, piously comforted all his Latins of his Roman Church, and labored to endure even to death for them in defense of the Catholic faith, if it were expedient.

[44] On the next day the Legate, showing the power of God and his Church, with the bells rung, placed the Duke and the entire city under interdict and excommunication, suspended the divine office, [He excommunicates the Duke and lays the city under interdict, adding other threats,] and caused the doors of all Latin churches to be shut, and spoke such words to the Duke that all marveled, saying that the Roman Church gave kingdoms to the faithful and took kingdoms from the unfaithful; and that in the event that they were disobedient and sustained the heresy, the Lord Pope would take the dominion of Crete from the Venetians and give it to another.

[45] The Duke, hearing the great works of God and the things that God was doing, having taken counsel, the fear of God struck his heart, He receives the repentant into grace, and he began to fear the Pope and his own Venetian government. Then, softened by God, he came personally to the Legate, asking forgiveness for the foregoing. The Legate humbly received him, and by holy words recalled him and the others from all malice. And so it happened that the Duke and his council were present at the examination of the heretics, and they were condemned by the Legate in the presence of the Duke to death by fire. The heretics, justly condemned, confessed their heresy before all, which they revoked before the Legate and all, and devoutly asked forgiveness. But the cousin of the Duke's wife persisted in heresy, and was burned by the Duke himself, the secular arm. A wonderful thing, He causes the obstinate heresiarch to be burned, and more than wonderful. For the Cretans, who were then supporters of the heretics and had previously gnashed their teeth against the Legate, now almost adored and venerated him, and he was wonderfully honored by the Duke and the Nobles of the island; whatever he asked was fulfilled.

[46] The Legate, the heresy having been extirpated and uprooted, the Holy Roman Church triumphant, and the Legate illuminating the island of Crete with the light of holy faith, departed from Candia with goodwill and praises, and on his journey, putting in at a certain city of Crete called Canea, he caused the bones of a certain heretic of the aforesaid heresy to be dug up and burned. Likewise the bones of a heretical man to be dug up and burned. And passing through his legation toward the city of Smyrna, he came to its defense, for which the Legate endured labors and dangers beyond what can be expressed -- now paying the mercenaries of Smyrna with his own money and by the sweat of his brow, now sweetly admonishing and preaching to them, and on many occasions personally fighting with them against the Turks. And in short, all the money he could obtain, whether from his own stipends or from preaching or by whatever means, he joyfully applied to the defense of Smyrna and the war against the Turks, living frugally. And whatever he could obtain from Cyprus, He devotes all his resources to the sacred war, from Rhodes, and from the Genoese and Venetian communities, he gloried in applying to this use.

CHAPTER VIII. The inauguration of King Peter of Cyprus. The reduction of the Schismatics.

[47] After an interval of time, when Hugo, King of Jerusalem and Cyprus, of good memory, had gone the way of all flesh, Peter his firstborn arrived at the royal scepter truly and by hereditary right. And because the Legate was of such great fame, and his works proclaimed it, the illustrious and devout Prince, desiring the crown of Jerusalem and the sacred royal unction, sent for the Legate, that he might be consecrated and crowned by him. The Legate was at Rhodes and was most severely ill with fevers from his preceding labors. For he lay in that place around the Nativity of the Lord until about the feast of Easter next following. Summoned to crown the King of Cyprus, he hastens there though ill. As that feast approached and the date of the King's coronation was imminent, the Legate, making light of his own illness and desiring the honor of the Church, namely the aforesaid coronation, being unable to stand on his own feet, caused himself to be carried into a galley. And while sailing toward Cyprus, his illness was so greatly aggravated that his followers despaired of his being able to reach Cyprus alive. But God, who knew the holy purpose of the Legate, who searches hearts and minds, showed a most evident miracle in the Legate. For when the galley put in at the port of Paphos, with the Legate appearing in his bed as if dead, Lord Berengar of Gregoren, Dean of Nicosia, his companion, disembarked from the galley through a small gate, shut it behind him, and went into the city to prepare a lodging in which the Legate's frail body might rest. When the lodging was prepared, Lord Berengar returned to the galley within almost an hour of his departure from it. And behold the works of God and his wonders! For in the same hour that Lord Berengar of Gregoren departed, He is suddenly healed by the help of S. Gregory, the Legate rose from his bed in full health, without any fever or any illness, and mounted the stern of the galley, joyful and cheerful, giving immense thanks to God. When Lord Berengar saw him standing upon the stern, he asked the Legate with no little amazement how he was. He replied, "Very well." "And how are you standing?" He said: "Blessed Gregory healed me."

[48] He descended from the galley and came to the city and the lodging prepared for him, and from that time he had no illness. A wonderful thing and a most glorious miracle, made manifest to all by the Lord; of which Lord Berengar his companion reported to me with no little devotion, consoling him in a friendly manner. The Legate then coming to the King, if he had received honors and friendship from the father in his time, from the son no less. King Peter went out to meet him with praises and magnificence, He is magnificently received, and devoutly and humbly received him, showing him due honors. And by the Queen his mother and the Queen his consort, and by all the Nobles, Lords, and Ladies, he was received with joy and honor. At the appointed and determined time of the King's coronation, after many sermons and divine admonitions of the Legate had preceded, the King, the Queen, the Legate, the whole army, and the people of both sexes came to Famagusta with great solemnity; and after certain solemnities pertaining to such an act had been performed, at the request of all the Barons and nobles of the kingdom, and also of the entire people, crying out with one voice, the Legate, vested in Pontificals, with all the Clergy solemnly accompanying, the ceremonies pertaining thereto having been laudably and devoutly performed, with all joy and praise of God, in the Cathedral Church of Famagusta, He crowns and anoints the King, before all, to the honor of God and his Holy Church, the multiplication of the faith, and the destruction of the enemies of the Cross, he anointed and consecrated Peter of Lusignan, already crowned with the crown of Cyprus, with holy oil, and placed upon his head the crown of Jerusalem legitimately belonging to him by hereditary right, and solemnly crowned him. And there was universal joy among all the Eastern Christians, and especially among those receiving. And the solemnity lasted for many and many days after the coronation at Famagusta, and afterward at Nicosia; with the Legate always preaching, teaching, and comforting the Kings and others in the way of God and the destruction of the enemies of the faith.

[49] After many days had passed, it came to the ears of the Legate how the Greek Bishops and Priests and all the Greek people of Cyprus were schismatic and did not reverence the Roman Church; indeed, they led our faithful to their own rite as much as they could. The Legate, hearing this and clearly seeing the loss to the Catholic Church, groaned and lamented with sighs. Desiring the union of the Churches and to bring the blind back to the true light of the Church, having made an investigation and asked permission of the King, he caused the chief Bishop of the Greeks and all his Priests whom he could find to be summoned to him in the great church of Nicosia. He summons the Schismatics to the church. There the Legate, accompanied by a company of Latin Clergy and scholars, with all the doors of the church closed lest a tumult of the Greeks arise, sitting before the high altar, caused the Greek Bishop and all his Priests to be called before him. He convicts them of errors. There, sweetly and demonstratively setting forth sacred Scripture to them and clearly showing their error, he kindly instructed them in the true faith and the true obedience of the Roman Church. And converts some. And already many and many confessed their error and were reformed.

[50] But the devil, envying such great benefit to the Church, inflamed the heart of a certain obstinate and perfidious Priest against the others, and stirred those in the church to wicked and unwilling words, A tumult being stirred up against him, and he burst forth in a loud voice against the Legate. The people gathered at the doors of the church, hearing the noise of the aforesaid words in the church, began to murmur and cry out against the Legate. And suddenly there was a rush of the entire people of Nicosia to the church with an outcry, saying: "Let the Legate die!" The wicked Greek Priests in the church, hearing the tumult of the raging people, opened the doors of the church. And behold, the entire furious populace entered the church with a mighty shout. The Legate, seeing this, while many of the Latins fled and hid themselves, said to those Latins who had remained with him: He fearlessly offers himself to death. "Be strengthened in the Lord; bring the Cross before me, and let us joyfully die for the Catholic faith." Unmoved, he rose to his feet from the place where he was sitting before the high altar, and with unchanged face he stood firm, facing his enemies, and sweetly awaited death. While the people were gathering, news came immediately to the palace. And behold, suddenly, at the King's command, the Prince of Antioch, the King's brother, armed himself, Soldiers being sent, he is snatched from the hands of the raging people, and many knights with him, and they immediately mounted their horses and ran to the church. The Prince, a true Catholic and devout man, striking the people with a staff in his hand, suddenly drove them out of the church; and thus by the grace of God the pious Legate was freed from death. Then all the faithful Christians gave thanks to God and regarded the Legate as a voluntary Martyr.

[51] The Legate, comforted by the Holy Spirit, had no fear, nor did he show any, and against the advice of his friends he did not cease from what he had begun. For afterward, preaching to the Greeks, instructing them, now with threats, now with kind words, vigorously discharging his office of legation, and with the Catholic and most devout King consenting and giving his support, He converts the Bishops and other Greeks, the Legate, in season and out of season, with God working, confirmed the chief Bishop of the Greeks and the other Bishops and nearly all the Greek Priests of the island of the kingdom of Cyprus in obedience to the Roman Church. What had never been done by any Legate or Prelate -- and to this day they are confirmed through the hands of the Archbishop of Nicosia, and they obey the Pope and the Roman Church. A wonderful and wondrous thing: how great were the mortal dangers he endured for the Church, how great the goods he accomplished in the Church, and how many lost souls God recalled to heaven through him. The Catholic Church in Cyprus having been thus multiplied and adorned, and the divine law having been given by the Legate to the Latin, Greek, Armenian, Nestorian, and other Churches and their Priests, he himself bade farewell to the King and Queen and all the others, He departs for Rhodes, and having given them many instructions, he departed from the King -- who had conferred upon him many honors and friendships, at the beginning, middle, and end -- with tears of piety, and directed his steps toward Rhodes and Turkey, as was his custom.

c Or Rhodes.

CHAPTER IX. Visitation of the Bishopric of Corone. Return to Cyprus.

[52] He desired to visit his own Church of Corone and Achaia; but his friends raised a difficulty, saying that the Princess of Achaia, who had formerly been the wife of the firstborn brother of King Peter of Jerusalem and Cyprus -- from which brother she had Lord Hugo of Lusignan -- and that the Lady, ill-informed by some, was aspiring to the scepter of the kingdom of Cyprus for her son Lord Hugo, against right. And the friends of the Legate told him that because he had crowned King Peter, they feared the indignation of the Lady Princess against the Lord Legate on account of her son, He visits the Church of Corone, despising the dangers, since she also held certain strong fortresses near the Church of Corone; and therefore they did not advise the Legate to go in person to his Bishopric, nor into the power of the Princess, for the aforesaid reason. But the Legate, caring little for such doubts, desiring to visit the flock committed to him, trusting in God, he set himself on his way, and sailing, arrived at Corone. There he was sweetly received by his own people and was seen with joy by all the Barons and Nobles of Achaia, and was honored immensely. The Legate, exercising his office diligently, He preaches zealously there, as was his custom, began to preach in the province of Achaia, to teach, to bring the schismatic Greeks piously back to obedience to the Church, to reform the Latin Churches and their Rectors, to comfort the Princes, and to nourish the people with the word of God, and to do many good and divine things there. The Nobles of that province, seeing his holy manner of life and hearing the divine words of the Legate, were converted to a better and more devout life.

[53] And because in all the provinces where the Legate exercised his office, in all his legations, God among all the common goods that he accomplished through him wished mercifully to show some singular miracle for his servant the Legate, as appears above, he wished to show the same in Achaia. For in Achaia there was a certain Baron, one of the greatest of that province, who was called the Lord of Arcadia, and the Legate went to him. The Lord of Arcadia, having a good and devout wife, He is kindly received by the Lord of Arcadia, also had several daughters, but could not have any son from God for many years. He and his wife, considering the holiness of the Legate so greatly, thought that if the Lord Legate would bless the Lady, he would obtain this for them. Then the Lord of Arcadia invited the Lord Legate to his own house, and there honored him magnificently, for he was exceedingly powerful and rich; and afterward he revealed to the Legate before all the reason for the invitation. The Legate, hearing the devotion of his host and hostess, sweetly comforted them in the Lord. And remembering the word of the Savior, who says, "Whatever you shall ask the Father in my name, it shall be done for you," at his departure, and after a feast had been given, the Legate called the Lord and all his household to him, Having poured forth prayers, he promises and obtains a male child for him, and composed a certain most devout and lengthy blessing, citing sacred Scripture in many ways, invoking divine aid on bended knees for the obtaining of a son. John 14:13. And when the blessing was completed, trusting in God, he firmly promised his hostess that she would have a son from God; and bidding farewell, he returned to his Church of Corone. And behold, after some days had passed, with God working, and the Lord of Arcadia and his wife preparing in faith in the Legate's promise, the Lady conceived and bore a son, and they were not defrauded of their desire. This is no small wonder.

[54] On another occasion, the Legate once wished to come from Rhodes to Cyprus, and he embarked on a great ship of France which had happened to put in there on its way to Cyprus. While the ship was sailing, so great a storm seized it that they expected nothing other than shipwreck. But by God's will, as the storm swelled, the ship reached the coast of Paphos in Cyprus -- not in the harbor, but in a most dangerous place. The sailors, expecting imminent death, having made a holy conference, and human help failing, and crying to heaven for aid, cast sixteen of the strongest anchors into the sea, but as the storm grew stronger it availed nothing. Then all had recourse to the Legate for divine help. He calms the storm by lowering the Cross into the sea. The Legate, prostrate in prayer and heard by God, suddenly rose, and devoutly cast a certain cross of his, attached to a rope, into the sea from the endangered ship. And behold, at once so great a calm of the sea was given as there ever had been before. All, stupefied and as if out of their minds, rendered no small thanks to God for their deliverance; and afterward they likewise gave thanks to the Legate. A wonderful thing from our God, who saves those who hope in him.

[55] The Legate, thus continually making progress in the office committed to him, as above, was going around his legation. And behold, Peter, King of Jerusalem and Cyprus, brought to light what he had desired from his youth, namely the destruction of the enemies of the faith. For with a strong army, by force of arms, at his own expense, he personally approached the most unconquerable city of Satalia, and by attacking it most vigorously, he triumphed so gloriously. Satalia conquered by the King of Cyprus. And when the city had been organized and fortified, he returned with no small triumph to his kingdom of Cyprus. The Legate, hearing with joy of such an unheard-of victory, came to Satalia, consecrated a church, appointed Priests and Religious to celebrate the divine office, and encouraged and strengthened in the Lord the Christians who were guarding the city on the King's behalf, and piously left many spiritual privileges there. And afterward he came to Cyprus, and piously strengthening the King's hands, He institutes processions and Masses of thanksgiving, he caused the slaughter of the enemies of the faith to be laudably given thanks to God, he established processions and solemn Masses for the victory of Satalia, and wonderfully inspired the King, the Nobles, and the Cyprian people in God for the destruction of the enemies of the faith.

CHAPTER X. The plague miraculously averted from Cyprus.

[56] While the Legate was thus reforming the kingdom of Cyprus in the love of God, and the King was glorying in God for the victory of Satalia, With plague raging all around, behold the scourge of the Lord in the vicinity of the kingdom of Cyprus. For mortality and pestilence were almost everywhere, with Cyprus excepted, and especially it was already pressing hard upon Rhodes, Turkey, and Syria. When the Legate heard that the rod of God was approaching Cyprus, he immediately went to the King and asked him to descend from his royal throne, assemble the people, He exhorts the King to works of penitence, do penance, and cry to heaven, to see if God would placate his wrath and spare the people. The King, devout, Catholic, and God-fearing, piously heard the Legate and fulfilled whatever pleased the Legate. Then the Legate, desiring to appease the wrath of God and to prevent the mortality from coming to Cyprus, The Clergy and people, put his hand to penance, assembled the Clergy and the people, made a procession, established propitiatory Masses, and began many good works.

[57] But God, whose judgments are hidden, searching the hearts of men, And with Cyprus now infected by the same evil, to test the Cypriots and to manifest his glory in his Legate, permitted the mortality to reach Famagusta. And immediately people struck by the epidemic were dissolved after two or three days. The news, spreading through the kingdom, reached the King and the Legate. And behold, the fear and trembling of death seized everyone, and our joy was turned to mourning. The Legate, touched with inward grief, trusting in God, assembled the King, Queen, Nobles, and people, and began to preach, leading all to penance and provoking them to tears, always affirming that if they wished to stand well with God and amend their lives for the better, the pestilence would depart from the kingdom. He institutes a fast on bread and water. Then the Legate, perceiving the devotion of the King and the others, established a general procession for the appointed day, and ordered all to walk barefoot and fast on bread and water. The mortality in Famagusta was gradually increasing. When the day of the procession arrived, behold the King with all his family, Nobles, A supplication to be made barefoot and in humble garments, townspeople, and people, together with the Queens and the women of the King's palace, all fasting on bread and water and walking barefoot with great humility and devotion, dressed in simple garments, arrived in orderly groups at prayers at the great Cathedral church. And behold the Legate, vested in Pontificals, with all the Clergy and the various nations of Christians accompanying him, went barefoot in procession into the church to meet the King. And all gathered together before the Crucifix, with all kneeling, the Legate with tears in a loud voice, as best he could, the Clergy responding and the people weeping, began to cry to heaven and to sing: "Holy God, Holy mighty, Holy and immortal," etc. When he saw the tears flowing, the crying to heaven, and the petitions for mercy from God in various tongues, And he prays against the plague, he too could not restrain himself from tears. And God, moved with mercy, piously delivered them from that mortality.

[58] When I recall to my memory the wonderful devotion of my blessed Father the Legate, as well as the devotion of the King and all the people, I cannot refrain from tears. The Legate, passing through Nicosia with the procession and the multitude, went to the cemetery and ascended the pulpit to preach. When all were seated and silence was made, He preaches movingly, the Legate opened his mouth and began to preach wonderful things, and more than wonderful to men; with God as witness, the King and all who understood, he declared briefly in his sermon, with the grace of the Holy Spirit strengthening him, he provoked all to tears, comforted all concerning the pestilence, and turned the hearts of his hearers to spiritual joy. Why multiply words about the sermon? For if it is permitted to say, if Augustine or any of the holy Doctors had given the same sermon, it would have sufficed. When the sermon was finished, and the fear of death among the people was loosed by God, the Legate, the King, and the whole multitude returned to the great church, where a solemn Mass was celebrated by the Legate, and all invoked God, giving thanks for the teaching of the Legate and the mercy of God, seeking pardon for sins, and escaping the pestilence. When the Mass was completed, the King and the whole multitude returned to their own homes. The Legate, exhausted by fasts and struck by the labor of the day, having put off the sacred vestments, scarcely able to support himself, almost gave up his spirit to God. But having taken refreshment of bread and water, he recovered his strength in God.

[59] And so Nicosia, comforted in God and piously recalled to penance and left to the mercy of God. The Legate, fearing the pestilence little and desiring the salvation of the people committed to him, went in person into the furnace of pestilence and mortality, namely to Famagusta. And already the pestilence was prevailing and growing from day to day, so that thirty or forty died every day. The Legate, touched with grief at the perdition of his brothers, seeing the losses of the Christians and the danger of losing the Catholic faith in Cyprus, raised his tearful mind to God, devoutly imploring the mercy of God. He gathered the people from the elder to the nursing infant, He proclaims a supplication also at Famagusta, comforting them in God, proclaiming penance, and crying to heaven for mercy; and as he had done in Nicosia, he proclaimed a general procession for the appointed day at Famagusta. When the day of the procession arrived, behold, each nation of Christians in their own groups and order, in their mother tongue with hymns, canticles, and lamentations, was making its way toward the church. But someone might ask, what were these nations of Christians? Certainly there were Greeks, Armenians, Nestorians, Jacobites, Georgians, Nubians, Indians, Ethiopians, and many other Christians, Which was taken up barefoot by various nations, each of whom had a different rite and a different language; and also Latins and Jews. The Legate gathered all these peoples humbly into the church of God, all invoking the mercy of God, all fasting on bread and water and walking barefoot, lighting innumerable candles, and with the whole multitude through the city of Famagusta he gradually began a most devout procession; and in brief he provoked the people to such great devotion Even the infidels, that by the will of God the infidel Saracens, Turks, and Jews present there burst into tears and walked barefoot most devoutly in the procession of the Christians. At length, when the procession was finished and all the people were in the greatest contrition and devotion, the Legate began his sermon and produced such great fruit in his sermon that he provoked to tears not only the Latins faithful to the Roman Church who understood him, and the other nations that did not understand him, but even the infidels. What more? That whole day was a day of tears, fasting, and affliction. And God, merciful, patient, and placable, who does not wish the death of sinners but rather that they be converted and live, heard the cry of the Legate and the tears of the people, and showed his wonderful mercy to his people through the merits of the Legate, as I piously believe. For on that day in the city of Famagusta, those struck by the epidemic and expecting death without end, about two hundred lay in their beds, With the desired outcome, and indeed the moon was in its revolution, so that according to the physicians few could escape. But Jesus Christ, our supreme physician, not looking at the revolution of the moon -- that is, at the sins of the people -- healed all the sick, and not a single one died, whereas in the preceding days more than thirty or forty were dying. And from that day of mercy, in Famagusta and in all the kingdoms of Cyprus, the mortality, with God showing mercy and the Legate praying, departed. A wonderful thing and more than wonderful.

[60] While the Legate was thus wonderfully working divine works by God in Cyprus, By Mézières, then present there, I, the unworthy Chancellor of the kingdom of Cyprus, seeing and hearing the aforesaid wonders wrought through the hand of his Legate, and considering his holiness -- I was sometimes, and commonly, the unworthy referendary of my Lord King to the Legate, and of the Legate to my Lord in their secret and lofty affairs. I declared my state and intention to the Legate, and found such great charity in his sweetest fatherhood that if I wished to write, I would not have the time, nor would I be able to fully express my mind with my pen; and therefore I shall pass over the works of God accomplished through him. I shall write one thing, and with God as witness I shall speak the truth: He is chosen as his Father, that from that time onward I chose him, by the grace of God, as my most singular Father, and he chose me as his son, though unworthy. And would that I had fully recognized the grace of God in him and fully paid my debt to him, as his most ardent charity paid and fulfilled it in me -- which clearly appeared at his passing from this world.

CHAPTER XI. The journey of S. Peter and the King of Cyprus to the Pope and the Christian Princes. The sacred expedition to Palestine decreed.

[61] Peter, King of Jerusalem and Cyprus, from his youth had desired with great longing the liberation of his paternal inheritance, the kingdom of Jerusalem, and also the liberation and cleansing of the holy city, proposing in his heart that if God granted him the scepter of the kingdom of Cyprus, he would expose his person, goods, and kingdom in the acquisition of the Holy Land. Crowned by God through the hand of the Legate, encouraged by God through the victory of Satalia, and as death, as was previously said, remained away from his kingdom of Cyprus, he could no longer contain himself from showing his holy desire from his youth in the light. For always strengthened in the Lord by the Legate concerning his holy and devout intention, the King wisely and discreetly considering that he did not have from himself or from his own kingdom a sufficient quantity of men and arms to acquire the Holy Land, He accompanies the King of Cyprus seeking aid in the West, he therefore proposed, by divine inspiration, to go to the Kings and Emperor of the West to seek assistance and aid. This he did. And having wisely arranged his kingdom of Cyprus and fortified and strengthened the city of Satalia, the King set out from his kingdom toward the Western regions for the aforesaid purpose. The Legate, desiring the same as the King and seeing in fact the devout purpose of the King, gave thanks to God with tears, and setting aside all the honor and advantage of his legation, Peter the Legate attached himself to Peter the King and promised to help him with all his strength.

[62] The King, setting aside all royal magnificence and the delights of his own birth, seeking the holy passage and the mystery of the Cross and help for the acquisition of the Holy Cross, accompanied by the Papal Legate, crossed the sea and arrived at Venice; there he was received honorably and magnificently by the Doge and the Venetians. But first, passing through Rhodes, by the divine admonitions of the Legate and the request of the King, the King obtained in authentic writings the consent of the Master of the Hospital and the Convent for the passage. He is honorably received everywhere in Italy. The King and the Legate, passing from Venice through Lombardy toward the Roman Curia, visiting the Communities, Lords, and Tyrants on the way, received unusual and wonderful honors never before seen, which the King received as the herald of the just war of God; and especially at Venice, where he found the foundation for the passage in the matter of obtaining ships, and the Venetians magnificently and devoutly offered their consent for ships for the passage, as to a Catholic King. But who among mortals could write what and how much the Legate worked in aid of the King and in the ministry of the passage; He works vigorously to obtain assistance, how he clearly showed to the communities of the Venetians and Genoese, to the Lords and Tyrants, both the possibility and the necessity of the passage, showing the reproach of Christian negligence and demonstratively proving their obligations to the passage; how he gloriously and devoutly declared the word of the King to the aforesaid, and piously responded to their replies, and clearly resolved the doubts about the passage? In brief, with the King seeking help and the Holy Spirit instructing, admonishing, and working through the mouth of the Legate, the aforesaid communities and the lordship of Milan, and the other Tyrants and Lords, through their authentic writings, all offered great assistance for the passage to the King.

[63] The King, seeing that God was prospering his way, having conferred with the Legate, remained at Genoa for certain personal affairs and sent the Legate ahead to the Roman Curia as a precursor. The Legate, arriving at the Curia, found Pope Urban V, newly created, and indicated to him the reason for his arrival and the King's, He goes ahead to Avignon and negotiates with Urban V, magnifying the King and his devotion, demonstrating his holy purpose to the Pope, and sanctifying the King out of charity and affection for the passage. And as Paul bore the name of Christ before Kings and Princes, so the Legate magnified the name of the King before the Pope and Cardinals and Princes, and announced the passage. The Pope, knowing the Legate's competence and manner of life from long acquaintance, and now hearing him, informed of his labors and of the things he had so accomplished in his legations for the exaltation of the Catholic faith, saw him with no little joy, and his spirit exulted in his words concerning God and the holy passage, desiring to see the King of Cyprus and commending him for his good purpose. How the Legate was seen and received by the Lord Cardinals and other friends at the Curia with joy and charity, and even by detractors, I could not write. The Pope, justly and worthily considering the holy manner of life of the Legate and the expenses he had incurred in his legation, He is created Archbishop of Crete, and that those who labor faithfully and work so faithfully ought to be piously rewarded -- without the Legate's knowledge (the Lord lives!) or procurement -- the Pope, bound by zeal of charity, deservedly gave him the Archbishopric of Crete as an enhancement of his status.

[64] At that time the most excellent Prince John, King of France, was at the Roman Curia, and was piously waiting there for Peter, King of Jerusalem and Cyprus, his kinsman, desiring to see him and supporting his passage. What more? When all at the Curia had been fully informed by the Legate of the good intention of the King of Cyprus and his desire for the passage -- with reprobate detractors speaking ill and God's elect speaking well -- Summoned by the Legate's letters, the King of Cyprus desiring to see the King and his passage; behold the King, having seen the Legate's letters, set himself on his way and arrived at the Curia on Wednesday of the Passion of Christ with joy. There he was received by the Pope, the King of France, He comes to Avignon, and the Cardinals, piously and charitably. And briefly, the intention of the King of Cyprus having been set forth in brief to the Pope, and a conference having been held among the Pope, the King of France, the King of Cyprus, and the Cardinals in a short time, with the Legate always urging and admonishing, the business of God and the passage grew so much that all who heard marveled. For on Good Friday, the third day after the arrival of the King of Cyprus, the Pope, celebrating the sacred office personally with authority and honor, gave with his own hands the venerable sign of the Cross to the King of France, the King of Cyprus, and innumerable noble Barons. The sacred expedition is proclaimed by the Pontiff. And after a few days the Pope in a certain public sermon before the King and others proclaimed the general passage, named the fixed date, appointed the King of France as General Captain, the Cardinal of Périgord as Legate, and the King of Cyprus as General Precursor of the passage, With the King of France appointed General, as a faithful champion to direct the Christians of the East for the invasion of the infidels. Whoever at that time had seen my Father, the Archbishop of Crete, among the faithful who desired Jerusalem, rejoicing and exulting and giving thanks to God -- certainly he would have spiritually exulted in his joy, as well as the joy of the King of Cyprus. For what in an entire year or more, namely by procuring the passage, he would have obtained from the Pope, in three days they obtained so great a business with little labor, and were not defrauded of their desire.

[65] And because the desire for the passage already proclaimed seemed to pertain not only to the King of France and the King of Cyprus, but also to the Roman Emperor and the other Christian Kings, since it was the war of God and of all Christendom, and neither the Emperor nor the other Kings had been summoned to the proclamation of the passage already declared, therefore the King of Cyprus, divinely inspired, desiring a good end to the passage, personally visited the King of England, the Roman Emperor, The King of Cyprus visits the Emperor and other Kings, the King of Poland, and the King of Hungary, and devoutly visited them for the banquet of the holy passage already proclaimed, always planning to be able to come to Venice by his appointed date and, as the precursor of the passage as had been arranged, to be able to cross the sea.

CHAPTER XII. The Peace of Bologna procured.

[66] But to return to my sweetest Father and his wonderful works for the benefit of the passage, to the honor and praise of God: it happened that, by God's permission and at the devil's instigation, in those times so great a scourge of war and shedding of blood between the Roman Church on one side and Lord Barnabo of the Visconti of Milan on the other, In the war between the Pope and the Duke of Milan over Bologna, on account of the city of Bologna, was raging that the proclaimed passage was entirely impeded by that war as long as it lasted, nor could it reach its desired end. The King of Cyprus, on his passage through Milan, had treated of peace with the aforesaid Lord Barnabo, and also at the Curia with the Pope. And when the King's words about the necessity of the passage were heard, it was concluded at the Curia that, with the Pope's consent, the King of France should send his solemn Ambassadors, and the King of Cyprus likewise, to Milan to Lord Barnabo to negotiate peace. The King of France designated a great Count and a Bishop, brother of the same Cardinal, to be sent. [He is sent with the Chancellor of Cyprus and the French Legates to the Duke of Milan to negotiate peace.] And the King of Cyprus imposed the aforesaid business upon my Father the Archbishop and myself, the unworthy Chancellor. When the King of Cyprus departed from the Curia and headed toward the aforesaid Princes, the aforesaid Ambassadors of the King of France, my Father, and I set out toward Milan. And after months had passed and days been completed, we arrived together at Milan and were honorably received by Lord Barnabo; the reason for our arrival having been sufficiently set forth to Lord Barnabo, and a response received, for brevity's sake we went to the Spanish Cardinal, Legate of the Apostolic See in Italy, who was governing the Church Militant at war and residing in the Romagna; and there we negotiated with him in part about peace in favor of the passage; and having received a response, we returned together to Milan and reported to Lord Barnabo what had been negotiated.

[67] Now I am compelled to magnify the works of God in my Father, and how God wished to magnify him because he proceeded humbly in all things, and I shall narrate what I saw, not in a spirit of detraction but in fitting praise of my Father and in honor of God, who has put down the mighty from their seats and exalted the humble; because he reproves the counsels of Princes and does not hear the voice of sinners. For the Ambassadors of the King of France, presuming upon the royal majesty of France, He is proudly despised by them, and making light of the King of Cyprus as the messenger of the passage and of God, in the aforesaid negotiations despised my most wise Father, illuminated by God, who had accomplished such great goods in the Church of God, not having regard that he was an Archbishop and an outstanding Doctor of Theology; they despised him, and hoping for glory from the peace which they considered already made by them, and attributing its fruits to the King of France, they cared little for my Father, almost despising him. About myself I do not speak, except regarding the injury to my Father, because I was not worthy to be the companion of so great a Father in the legation, nor even his servant. But God, knowing the thoughts of men and scattering their counsels, destroyed and annihilated the whole negotiation. For we found the Spanish Legate harsh, embittered, inflamed to make war, and indignant against Lord Barnabo, and not to be trusted in the pacts to be made; we found Lord Barnabo furious and plotting many evils against the Church, threatening it, and like a roaring lion, despising peace. Then, by God's permission, those who were fierce at the beginning became at the end... not at the end, but as at the beginning. After they departed with the affair unresolved and desperate, For the Ambassadors of the King of France, having conferred among themselves, despairing of their labor and its conclusion, empty-handed and discontented with Lord Barnabo, departed from Milan toward France.

[68] But my Father, trusting in God, recognizing well the cunning of the devil, and wisely considering that a great and arduous work, especially of God, cannot be accomplished in a short time, took refuge with his whole heart in prayer, determining that we should wait at Milan for some days for the wrath of Lord Barnabo to be appeased by God. He remains with the Chancellor. But suddenly, what a miracle God wished to show and did show! For God, disposing through the King of Cyprus his preacher for the Cross to be exalted, heard the tears and prayers of my Father and suddenly converted the heart of Lord Barnabo. For within two days of the departure of the Ambassadors of the King of France, Lord Barnabo ordered my Father and me to be called to him, and sitting in a private place between my Father and me (this lion was made a lamb of God), with a serene countenance he said to my Father and me: "Now speak boldly with me about peace, and say whatever seems right to you." Then, not with human words but through the mouth of the Holy Spirit, like a certain Angel of God, with holy and divine admonitions, my Father, sounding with pious voice as an angelic trumpet, sweetly converted the mild and listening Lord Barnabo to peace. But who am I to commend the words, deeds, And persuades the Duke to peace, and unheard-of admonitions of my Father to Lord Barnabo? Certainly I am not worthy, and I would labor in vain. How he placated monsters with his words, how he guarded the honor of the Church, demonstrating its spiritual power, how he corrected Duke Barnabo about the war waged without fear, showing the dangers, how he magnified him in his conversion and peace, and exalted him by promising many things; how he declared the goods of peace and the evils of war, the harm of the passage in wartime and its advantage in peace, wonderfully citing sacred Scripture in many ways, procuring the honor of the King of Cyprus and exalting him -- I could not and would not know how to write.

[69] The whole matter being left to his arbitration by the Duke, When the words were finished, Lord Barnabo, touched by God and sweetly instructed by my Father, pondered for a little while, and then said with a great sigh: "I gladly heard you, and I wish for peace entirely with the Church, and to be henceforth her subject and faithful son. Go immediately to the Cardinal, and negotiate peace; I place my war and my peace in your hands." A wonderful thing, stupendous, and almost incredible to men, with God working and the virtue of my Father laboring! For he who before had gnashed his teeth against the Church, destroyed her inheritance, drunk her blood, annihilated the Catholic faith, sowed error among Christians, reverenced no man and feared not God, not acquiescing in the prayers of the Emperor, the King of France, the King of Hungary, the King of Apulia, and many Magnates and Counts, and making light of their threats -- at the voice of my one Father he became obedient to the Church and penitent for his sins, by the sole labor of my Father, with God confirming. Now to the Cardinal, now returning to Lord Barnabo; thence to the Roman Curia to confirm the peace. He concludes it. Afterward we came to Bologna with infinite labors, expenses, and infinite dangers, for the benefit of the Church. With Bologna remaining in the hand of the Church, within a year the peace was completed and confirmed, which to this present day laudably endures. And no one living remembers peace in Lombardy having lasted so long as the present peace, desired by the King of Cyprus and negotiated by my Father in his name, and confirmed in my presence.

CHAPTER XIII. Dangers at Bologna despised and overcome.

[70] The malevolent, who desired war, But continuing among the dangers that we incurred while negotiating the peace, I shall relate some things to the praise of God and of my Father. For many tyrants, castellans, and mercenaries, desiring the continuation of the war and living from it, obstructors and disturbers of peace, were continually seeking and desiring our death. For once, while passing from one fortress to another, we were passing peaceably before a certain fortress; and behold, nearly thirty Hungarians and other mercenaries, grieving at the peace and planning to take vengeance on us, suddenly with spurs urging and swords drawn, came upon us as if upon enemies, when we were not expecting it. And therefore he repels those who rush upon them by his voice alone. I, fearing imminent death, could see no remedy. But my Father, strengthened by God, doubting nothing, stood firm, and turning his face toward the enemy said in a loud voice: "What do you want?" When they heard the voice, as if struck by God, they returned their swords to their sheaths and immediately retreated, and thus we escaped their hands. It happened many and many times that while the war was raging and we were negotiating peace, and riding unarmed among the camps, on the road before us He often escapes dangers, and behind us men were continually despoiled and killed by the enemy; but we, passing through the midst of them, by the virtue of my Father, as I piously believe, passed through all dangers free and without loss.

[71] We incurred another great danger worthy of record. For when the peace was confirmed and Bologna, by the Pope's command, was placed in our hands on behalf of the King of Cyprus, according to the terms of the peace treaty; with the previous Rector of Bologna departing, and with us ruling and governing the city and the fortresses pertaining to it, the devil, provoked by so unusual a peace, seeing that many Nobles and citizens of the city of Bologna who were living from the war The Bolognese conspiring against his death, and receiving large provisions during the war from the Spanish Cardinal, inflamed them and incited them to our death. Having held a conference about our death, going through the city from street to street, from guild to guild, they sowed a certain false rumor, whispering in the ears of the citizens: "Treachery, treachery! For the Archbishop and the Chancellor certainly intend to betray this city to Lord Barnabo." And thus by false suggestion they incited the people to our death. And behold, suddenly in the city of Bologna a considerable tumult and outcry of the people arose at the instigation of the devil: the bell is rung, the people gather, the greater part said: "Let the traitors die." Others said: "No." But it was by God's providence that on that day we had entered a certain fortress to pacify it, which fortress was conducting a kind of war against the Bolognese. For if we had been in Bologna on that day, according to the words of the citizens we would without doubt have been in danger of death.

[72] When morning came, knowing nothing of this, having joyfully pacified the fortress, we came to the city. The custom in Bologna was that whenever we came to the city, a great number of Nobles and citizens would come out to meet us outside the city, to receive and honor my Father. But on that day we saw no one outside the city, and we were somewhat surprised. As we approached the city and heard such news, God lives, I was not a little afraid, because some friends from outside came to meet us and, grieving, told us of our danger and what had happened, advising us not to enter the city. Notwithstanding these things, having conferred between my Father and myself, my Father said innocently: "With God as witness, we are innocent of all treachery. Despising the danger he comes to Bologna. The devil again strives to disturb the peace, striking fear into us; but with God's help he will not prevail. In the name of the Lord, let us go." We entered the city, not accompanied as we were accustomed. And the Nobles and citizens, receiving us deceitfully from both sides, not greeting us but murmuring, so we came to our lodging. And standing there with no little fear, from hour to hour bad news came to us from the city through our friends. With the malevolence and murmuring of the citizens growing against us, then my Father, despairing of human help and seeing the danger approaching, took refuge in divine prayer. I could see no remedy for escape; with open ears I continually expected that voice saying: "Let them die." But the Lord Jesus, who delivers the poor and the innocent from the fury of the people and does not despise those who hope in him, piously regarded my fear and the prayers of my Father.

[73] For my Father, having most devoutly celebrated Mass, called me into his chamber and told me what he had determined from God. He rings the bell and convokes the people, And immediately, setting aside all fear, he sent to the palace and unexpectedly ordered the great bell of the assembly of the whole people to be rung most forcefully, saying that he wished to speak openly before all the people in the palace. With the bell ringing and the people murmuring and going toward the palace, my Father and I, with a few others and as if going to judgment, came to the palace, and there found so great a crowd assembled that we could scarcely ascend to our accustomed seat. And those Nobles who had stirred up all the commotion were sitting on the seats next to us on both sides, looking with averted faces now at us, now at the people, deceitfully. When silence was made, my Father began clearly and vigorously to deliver a certain address, and to say such wonderful unheard-of things, continually citing sacred Scripture, that the ears of the listeners were ringing; and especially by exposing the tumult of the foolish, And having given a speech he composes it, how the iniquity committed was directed not against us but against the person of the Pope and the King of Cyprus; how he beautifully corrected and reproved the people with his words, and afterward excused and justified and praised them; how he sharply reproved, speaking in general terms, the authors of so great a crime and the poison they had sown, condemned them, and then piously recalled them to penance and obedience to the Church; how he proved that this was clearly the work of the devil, demonstrating our innocence, and leading all to keep the peace that had been made and to true obedience to the Church. What more? His divine and burning words inflamed the hearts of his hearers with true charity, acknowledgment, and contrition for the crime committed. And those who before had been our enemies became our friends.

[74] And behold, a certain Doctor of Laws, one of the leading men of the city, rose in the midst of the people A certain Doctor of Laws publicly asks pardon from him on behalf of the people, and, as best he could and knew, gracefully summarized the substance of my Father's words, and praising and commending my Father and approving his fidelity and labor, on behalf of the whole people asked pardon of him and me, who were innocent, excusing the people, glorifying my Father, and demonstrating true and heartfelt obedience to the Church. And from that hour such great tranquility and obedience reigned in the city that at the voice of my Father all unanimously obeyed with their hearts. For on that day I freely held and governed in my hand, on behalf of my Father, the liberal custody, the keys of the city, of its fortress, and the keys of one hundred and twenty fortresses. And I, seeing such great wonders, such great danger, and such great security in a single whole day, gave thanks to God Most High for our deliverance, and attributed everything to him and to the merits of my Father.

[75] After some time had passed, with my Father wisely governing the city and fortresses in peace and without murmuring in honor of the Church, the Legate of Cluny, The Legate of Cluny governs Bologna in the Pope's name, coming to rule and govern Bologna and the lands of the Church on behalf of the Pope, arrived at Bologna; and by my Father's command I gave him the keys of the city and fortresses with great joy and in honor of the King of Cyprus and commendation of my Father. A wonderful thing: for such great power went forth from the words of my Father that no one could resist his words. And deservedly could the word of Peter to the Lord be said to him: "To whom shall we go? You teach the words of life." John 6:69. How many other dangers worthy of report, how many labors, how many snares both bodily and spiritual, how many insults and reproaches he suffered while seeking the unity and peace of the Church and the accomplishment of the holy passage, I omit for brevity's sake, because I would not be able to describe them.

CHAPTER XIV. Meager military aid granted by the Venetians, denied by the remaining Princes.

[76] But because I said above that no one could resist the words of my Father, to show this more clearly, and the divine affection that he had for the passage: after the peace was made and confirmed by God through him, and the way of the holy passage was opened to all, while we were in Bologna, my most feared and most beloved Lord, the King of Jerusalem and Cyprus, while visiting the aforesaid Kings in the Western parts as has been said, first sent me certain letters written in his own hand, ordering me to transfer myself personally to Venice to prepare ships for the crossing and passage of himself and certain Princes and armed men, to be prepared by the appointed date. The King of Cyprus did not then write to my Father about this, because he was reluctant to burden him with labors. But the time imposed on me for preparing the ships was so short that I scarcely had a space of two months, which was entirely impossible for me. He departs with the Chancellor for Venice and finds the expedition obstructed. I, not a little saddened and fearing rebuke from my Lord for disobedience, and for his passage (God knows!), took refuge with my most loving Father and informed him of the business. He, inflamed with charity, sought no delay, did not wait for me to ask, but sweetly comforting me, immediately set out on the road toward Venice.

[77] When we arrived at Venice and had set forth to the Doge and Council the reason for our coming, and received a weak response, On account of the narrow time, we found great opposition to our petition and to the passage, and we were greatly troubled. The first difficulty was that the time until the deadline and the arrival of my Lord the King was too short, as was said before. The second was that the King of France, who was the General Captain of the passage, The death of the King of France, had gone the way of all flesh; and for this reason the Venetians, altogether despairing of the passage, refused to wage war against the Sultan or to be the cause of such a war, fearing for their merchandise. The third was That assistance had not been sent by the Princes, that they saw and had seen no agents of the Western Lords making preparation or provision for the passage. The fourth and greatest impediment: for, by God's permission, the island of Crete had in those days completely rebelled against the Venetian government. And the Venetians, disregarding the passage and every other business, And Crete rebelling against the Venetians, were mounting a certain armed expedition of cavalry for the recovery of their island of Crete. And being so impeded, by nearly the unanimous voice of all the Venetians, they could attend to neither a general passage nor a particular passage, nor were they disposed to give ships or lend them for money.

[78] Then my Father the Archbishop of Crete, who in such matters was not a disciple but a master, not despairing at the weak response of the Doge and the aforesaid difficulties, but trusting in God, put his hand to the plow as was his custom; gradually he clearly demonstrated to the Doge, the Nobles, and the merchants the opposite of their opinions with demonstrable arguments. He treats the business with four men deputed by the Republic. They, replying to the contrary as best they could and knew, were in no way able to contradict his conclusions, as I was listening. Then the aforesaid government, having taken counsel, chose four of the most ancient, wisest, and most experienced Nobles of the entire city, two learned and two laymen. And in order that our petition might be annihilated and they might defeat my Father in debate, as it conceived and ordained -- which was difficult. For nearly forty days, once or twice every day, the aforesaid four wise men met with my Father in the arena of that deputation, in my presence. But for anyone to commit to memory the divine and moral arguments of both sides would certainly be difficult, and for me impossible. At length in the end, with God -- whose work it was -- working, that which in those days seemed impossible to all the Venetians, they as Catholics and devout men offered to my Father on behalf of the King by his appointed date. Which offer certainly ought to be committed to writing in praise of the Venetians and of my Father, who procured it beyond human understanding. For the Venetians, notwithstanding the death of the King of France and the treachery of their island of Crete, He obtains ships from the Venetians, as well as many other impediments, offered in honor of the holy passage and out of reverence and friendship for the King of Cyprus ships by the appointed date for two thousand knights with their horses, arms, servants, and provisions for three months, to be transported to the land of the Sultan or of any enemy of the faith according to the will of the Lord King. On the condition, however, that the Venetians would pay for half of the aforesaid ships at their own expense, and the other half was to be paid by the King and the crusaders.

[79] Behold the fair beginning of the passage, procured with difficulty and the wonderful admonition of my Father, by the power of God. He showed his holy desire for the passage wonderfully, and did in full what was in his power, opening to all in deed the way of the passage. And, as I truly believe, he obtained before God the ministry of the first passage. When these things had been laudably accomplished, I immediately sent the authentic Bulls of the aforesaid offer of the Venetian government to my Lord the King in the Western parts, He reports these things to the King and the Pope, and with joy I made known to the King the wonders of God that my Father had accomplished for his honor and the praise of the passage. Then my Father, rejoicing in the Lord and continually most excellently ... having completed all the business committed to him, and more, in order to report the aforesaid merits to the Pope and to sustain the passage, leaving me bodily but not mentally, he set out on his way toward the Curia. When he arrived at the Curia and reported to the Pope what had been done, confirming the passage, the Pope saw him sweetly, praised, commended, and approved his labors and works; and he was received by the Cardinals and friends as an Angel of God. For all who heard the works accomplished through him not only marveled but were turned to stupefaction.

[80] Some time before his arrival at the Curia, as it pleased God, the Cardinal of Périgord, Legate of the Passage, had followed the Captain, namely the King of France, The Cardinal of Périgord, Legate of the sacred expedition, having died, paying the debt of the human condition. But Almighty God, who rewards each according to his works, and who not only glorifies in the fatherland those who exalt the Catholic faith and the mystery of the Cross, but also honors and exalts them in this age, wished my Father to ascend to a higher rank. For the Pope, recognizing that competence and the virtue of God shone in my Father, on the advice of the Cardinals, solemnly gave to my most beloved Father the greater dignity in the Church Militant after the Pope himself, He is created Patriarch of Constantinople and Legate of the expedition, namely the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and in addition the Church of Corone in commendam for his lifetime, and the Church of Negroponte; and in place of the Cardinal of Périgord, the Pope appointed my Father as Legate of the Apostolic See for the passage, and allotted ten florins daily as an augmentation of his expenses. O how good it is to hope in the Lord, to keep his commandments, and to place one's hope in God! Truly my Father revealed his way to God, placed all his hope in him, ardently sought the things of God, announced and preached the mystery of the Cross and the passage, and truly fulfilled it as far as was in his power; and therefore God thus exalted and magnified him.

[81] My Father, Patriarch of Constantinople and Legate of the passage, fortified with considerable Apostolic graces and privileges, He returns to Venice, having received the Apostolic blessing, set out toward Venice to pursue the passage of the faithful and the King of Cyprus. He rouses many to the sacred war. And on his way, admonishing the faithful and placing the venerable sign of the Cross upon their shoulders, inviting all to the passage of the King of Cyprus and pursuing the mystery of the Cross, he arrived at Venice. And he was graciously received by the Venetians with considerable honor and reverence to the Church. Some Princes and Nobles of the West had come to Venice by the appointed date of the King of Cyprus for the sake of the passage, in a fairly good number; they most gladly saw my Father the Legate and were comforted by him. The Venetians, ready in their promises regarding the offer made to my Father on behalf of the King by the appointed date, never withdrew.

[82] But (alas! alas!) who among mortals could fully narrate the intimate grief of my Father and my own bitterness? Our hope was turned to nothing: my Father had planted a vineyard with such great labors and dangers, but the wine that should have been sweeter than honey was turned to vinegar mixed with gall. For that ancient venomous serpent (whose head the Virgin crushed), which deceives the human race, envying the vow of so great a future good and unable to bear the salvation of souls, poisoned our wine by destroying the passage. Because of the King's delay, For my Lord the King, seeking help for the passage from the Western Princes, was hindered on account of the lamentable sins of those to whom the business of the passage more reasonably pertained, and could not come to Venice by his appointed date -- O grief! Many departing, When the date had passed and my Father was waiting and weeping at Venice, the aforesaid Nobles waiting at Venice for the passage, doubting the arrival of the King, departed in despair, abandoning the passage. O grief of the soul! Now that the date had passed, the Venetians were absolved from their aforesaid offer, and the soldiers departed with grief, with sad faces, despairing of the passage. Then the wicked merchants rejoiced and mocked the passage. Then my Father, sad and desolate, well recognizing the works of the devil, not despairing of God, comforting in the Lord the few chosen ones for the passage He has recourse to God, whom he could find, betook himself to tears and prayers, waiting at Venice for the King and praying to God for him. For it was his custom that in all his affairs, when human sense failed, he would have recourse to God and his Mother the Virgin. And whatever he implored, he commonly obtained. I experienced this many times and was never disappointed, even in arduous and seemingly impossible affairs.

[83] The King of Cyprus was visiting the Roman Emperor and the other Kings and Princes of the West, When aid was denied by the Western Princes, with great dangers, labors, and expenses, for nearly a year and a half, daily seeking help for the passage. But alas, with the sins of the world pressing and the envy of Princes reigning, he found no one who would give praise to God, nor who would care about the passage, except in boastful words devoid of effect. There was no one who would have pity on the Holy Land, nor who would compassionate its reproach. O grief! All excused themselves to the King of Cyprus and sent him away empty and weeping. The King coming to Venice, Then the King, despairing of the Christian Princes, his deadline long since passed and without aid, trusting in God, with all his expenses exhausted, despairing of the passage, returned to Venice and was magnificently received by the Venetians. But he who was stronger in desperate situations and, with God working, brought them to a good end -- namely my Father the Legate -- went to meet the King He consoles him, and found him weeping and lamenting the loss of his labor and his deadline. The Legate, compassionating the King, instructed by the Holy Spirit, sweetly comforted him with many arguments, and piously admonished him to place all his hope in God, not to look back, to put a strong hand to the plow, and God would help him. The King, comforted by God and the words of the Legate, thinking great things in honor of God, recovered his strength, and at his own expense gathered to himself some faithful but not many, to cross the sea for the sake of not abandoning the passage. But what did the Legate do? He unceasingly comforted the King, encouraged all to the ministry of the Cross, demonstrating that the victory of God lies not in the multitude of people, but showing that strength comes from heaven, and that God would help even the few in the passage, and thus he encouraged the King and piously admonished him.

CHAPTER XV. The fear of Genoese war removed. The fleet sent for the expedition.

[84] With the King prepared to cross the sea with his small army, placing his own person in great danger but determined for the service of God, and the Legate ardently pursuing the business of God -- behold, the ancient enemy of the human race, the father of lies and enemy of the Cross, not yet content with the impediment of the aforesaid general passage, envying the holy works of my Father and the good intention of the King, impeded even our small and particular passage with difficulty, and threw a bone into the King's mouth to gnaw. For those who seemed to be faithful guardians of the kingdom of Cyprus and had offered great aid to the King, namely the Genoese, The Genoese plotting war against Cyprus, on account of a certain dispute made in Cyprus between the King's officers and the Genoese themselves, departed from the kingdom ill-content. And having conferred at Genoa, they prepared for war against the kingdom of Cyprus, for the destruction of the passage. The King, hearing this and impeded from his purpose, was not a little disturbed. But lest the work of God be impeded, he sent many good words of peace to the Genoese through messengers, and promised what was to be done by him. But they did not acquiesce in the King's words; indeed, they prepared many galleys to wage war on the King and to turn about the reproach of the Cross. Then he who had changed the lion to a lamb and had made the peace of the Church with God working, Peter goes to them, namely my Father the Legate, trusting in God and accustomed to such things, went personally to Genoa to restore peace; and he was received by the Genoese -- who had always been his friends before -- with reproach, at the devil's instigation. For the Genoese, indignant against the Cypriots, had proclaimed that no Genoese should go out to meet the Legate, the King's envoy, nor provide him hospitality, He is received contemptuously, with great and unheard-of cruelty. When the Legate entered Genoa he was almost stoned, nor did he find in the city where to lay his head; murmuring and throwing stones at the Legate's household, with one voice they cried for the Cyprian war. The Legate's household despaired of their own lives and the Lord Legate's, and expected death, seeing the tumult and ill will of the people. At last my Father, fearing nothing, in the spirit and as the Pope's Legate, was received with difficulty in a certain hospital church, and scarcely obtained refreshment.

[85] When the fury of the Genoese had somewhat passed, the Legate went to the palace and first humbly explained to the Doge and council the reason for his arrival. And in their response he recognized embittered hearts; for the Pope, piously admonishing that the King's passage not be impeded, had written to them affectionately about peace, as had some other Princes and Counts. But the Genoese cared nothing for this and responded proudly, With the greatest skill he soothes them, threatening the kingdom of Cyprus and caring little about the fear of God. But the Legate, who had never begun any negotiation without completing it as far as lay in his power, as is clearly evident from the preceding, now with threats, now with unanswerable arguments, now with honeyed words, with human sorrows, unheard-of patience, and infinite preceding labors, in no short time softened the hearts of the Genoese and converted them to peace. And having made peace, he returned to Venice to the King, with no small joy, the ancient serpent having been thus defeated. He returns to Venice.

[86] Then the King, rejoicing at the peace on account of the passage, gathered whatever faithful he could find, at his own expense and without the aid of any Prince or Christian community. He encourages those prepared for the expedition. The Legate piously comforted the King's army for the ministry of the Cross and the Lord's Passion, giving the venerable sign of the Cross to all those to be transported, absolving sinners, and by continual prayers and the divine office, piously and devoutly setting forth the divine commands to those being transported. [The King vows not to return to his kingdom until he has first marched against the enemy.] The King, moved by piety and devotion, and continually admonished and consoled by the words of the Legate, trusting in God, publicly made a vow: namely, that he would never enter his kingdom unless he had first personally entered the land of the enemies of the faith with his army, even if he should die. Then the detractors of the passage, seeing the King's preparation and the Legate's firm purpose, were confounded and somewhat fell silent. News then flew to the Christian Princes, Even though destitute of the help of other Princes, rousing them to the war of God, but they, as if drunk with wine and sleeping, caring little about the passage, gave no help, nor even stirred a foot to come to the King's passage, already begun and publicly proclaimed by the Supreme Pontiff.

[87] The King, with God working and the Legate advising, having sent ahead to Rhodes several ships laden with armed men and nearly five hundred horses, in the third year from his departure from his kingdom, set out from Venice toward the Eastern region with only two galleys, and all the ships of his army -- about six hundred armed men and all the sailors and the aforesaid horses -- were all at the King's expense and pay, with one single galley received from the Venetian government, marked for the King by the commune. The fleet puts in at Rhodes. The King, accompanied by the Legate, with a favorable wind, arrived at Rhodes in a fairly short time and was magnificently received by the Master of the Hospital. The King had written orders many months before to the Prince of Antioch, his brother, governing the kingdom of Cyprus, that the army of his kingdom of Cyprus, with the kingdom remaining in good custody, should come to meet him at Rhodes. This was done. For while the King was waiting some time at Rhodes, Cypriot forces arrive, the army of Cyprus came, namely sixty ships, including galleys, transports, and other vessels, laden with a good quantity of armed soldiers, archers, and crossbowmen. Whoever would have seen my Father rejoicing, blessing the army, and glorifying God And the Rhodians, would have been turned to devotion and to the destruction of the enemies of the faith. Then the Master of the Hospital chose one hundred knights of his Order for the service of God and the aid of the King, and ordered and caused his ships to be armed.

[88] And the King and the whole army, rejoicing in the Lord and encouraged for battle, desired to invade the enemies of the faith. The Legate joyfully put his strong hand to his divine art, Blessed Peter prepares the spirits of all for war, giving the law, preaching, giving crosses to our pilgrims and even to schismatics, hearing confessions, absolving and reconciling sinners, now in the King's council, now among the sailors and the poor, now among the Barons and knights, now laboring in humility and divine admonition with the Master of Rhodes and his knights; now visiting the sick, now pacifying quarrels, now conversing among the English, Cypriots, French, and Germans; always exhorting unity, charity, and the war of God. What more? God poured forth such great grace in my Father the Legate that all in the army almost adored him, and whoever could kiss his hand or had even received a blessing considered himself safe from every chance of danger. He institutes pious exercises. What devout processions and solemn Masses he celebrated personally, what sermons about the Cross he delivered! For in his sermons he provoked all to tears, elevated the minds of all, and encouraged and prepared all to endure even death for Christ. He labored so much and was so burning that he scarcely ate and slept little, almost nothing, desiring the exaltation of the Cross and the Catholic faith, and informing and illuminating the army.

[89] And briefly, by means of the labors of his holy words and his holy manner of life shining before all, The King and all the other soldiers confess and receive Communion, he accomplished so much that a few days before the King's departure from Rhodes, the King and all the Barons and Nobles most devoutly and in a Catholic manner received the most sacred Body of the Lord from the hand of the Legate. And in the army there remained no faithful Catholic who did not receive the Body of the Lord before departure; and even unfaithful Christian servants were converted to great devotion, doing penance. How many and how great were those men of arms who had not confessed in ten or twenty years, more or less! How many also were those who had come to the passage not from devotion but from vanity and avarice and desire for the King's favor -- certainly the greater part of the army. Truly, with God mercifully inspiring and the Legate instructing, in the army every valley was filled and every mountain was humbled.

[90] Turkish Princes pay tribute to the King. But what did God do in his small army? For as the King's power flew among the Turks, God struck such fear and terror into the hearts of the Turks that the greatest of the Turkish Princes, namely the Lord of Theologo and he of Palatia, sent their solemn ambassadors to the King at Rhodes and presented to the King through messengers their fortresses, men, provisions, and friendship, and offered to serve him under tribute. This was done. Great is the power and goodness of God, who so honored his servant the King and turned the hearts of his enemies to peace.

[91] When the time for departure arrived, the King, after secretly deliberating in council about the place of the enemies of the faith to be invaded, with God's help and the Legate's blessing, resolved to invade not the tail but the head of the Sultan of Babylon, who was occupying the holy city of Jerusalem and his inheritance, and to direct his and God's army toward Alexandria. And bidding farewell to the Master of the Hospital, he boarded his galley. The Legate and the whole army boarded their galleys and ships and gathered together in the harbor of Rhodes beside the King's galley. A wonderful thing from the wonderful God, and great is the glory of the Lord to narrate, and wondrous, who strengthens, increases, and confirms those who put their hand to the plow and do not look back in the multitude of the Catholic faith. The fleet sails from Rhodes. For the King of Cyprus, abandoned and despised by the Western Princes and Christians, now strengthened by God and divinely instructed by the Legate, about to pursue the passage against the opinion of almost everyone, found himself so powerful. For he had with him about one hundred vessels of galleys, transports, ships, and other craft, at his own expense, along with four transports and some other small ships. There were about one thousand armed Nobles, crossbowmen, and archers, and all the sailors were prepared for battle. The King's whole army was about ten thousand fighting men and about fourteen hundred horses. But what were these against the Sultan and so many Saracens? Certainly enough, because the Lord Jesus was with us, with the Cross going before, preparing our way in all things.

[92] The Legate, accompanied by the ecclesiastical persons of the whole army, boarded the King's galley to give a general blessing to the army of God. And having ascended to a more prominent place on the galley, so that he could be seen by the whole army, with the King standing near him and all standing and looking at the Legate, Blessed Peter solemnly blesses the fleet, with all the standards and flags of the galleys and other ships lowered, the Legate began, inspired by the Holy Spirit, a broad, unheard-of, and most beautiful blessing, citing the Old and New Testaments in the blessing, now blessing the ships, now the arms, now the persons, now the sea, now the whole army, in honor of the Cross and for the destruction of the Saracens, invoking the aid of God. The King and the whole army most devoutly responded to the Legate at every blessing with bowed heads, and were in great devotion. When the blessing was finished, the royal standard -- namely a great red lion -- was suddenly raised on the King's galley, and with the trumpets of the whole army sounding and infinite flags raised, with one terrible voice they cried to heaven, giving thanks to God, shouting and saying: "Long live, With the whole army acclaiming, long live Peter, King of Jerusalem and Cyprus, against the infidel Saracens!" Then the Legate, bidding farewell to the King and blessing him, returned to his own galley, with me always accompanying him in everything.

b Gabriel Adorno.

CHAPTER XVI. Alexandria captured and abandoned.

[93] The army still did not know where the King wished to go -- whether to Turkey, Syria, or Egypt. But the Legate and the King's secret council knew his will and purpose. The King, departing from the harbor of Rhodes, wisely setting sail, led the whole army toward Turkey, The King announces that Alexandria is the target, and having taken on as much fresh water as our men wished in Turkey, the King made his way toward the open sea. When all the ships were distant from every land, he had his will made known to all, namely that, God permitting, he was heading toward Alexandria, and he gave orders that all should follow his galleys, maintaining their assigned formations. Then all, rejoicing and shouting "Alexandria!" considered it as if it were a small fortress or town already captured. But what did God do, wonderful in our sight, lest it appear to be the work of our hand or of human effort? Going along and with ships preceding the King on the way, separated from one another Within four days he reaches that place, so that they were not seen for many days, all having a favorable wind and sails raised high as if playing with us, God wonderfully on the fourth day from departure from land, early in the morning, gathered the whole army in the harbor of Alexandria. A wonderful thing from God; for the sailors accustomed to the route to Egypt were astonished, for they had never seen such things and believed they were still very far away. The Saracens, seeing the Christian army in their harbor, were not a little astonished and disturbed. The Saracens draw up a battle line. The Saracens, coming out of the city of Alexandria with an infinite multitude of people, to defend the harbor against us, drew up their battle lines before us in the field.

[94] It was Thursday, and about the sixth hour. But the King, so that he might invade the enemies of the Cross in distinct and good order, give his signals and the method of fighting, and arrange what pertained to the military, after deliberation, rested on that Thursday The Christians rest, and did not descend to land. When the Saracens saw that the Christian army was not descending to land, they took heart and considered it a cause for terror to us. But God, being with us, manifestly did this to obtain a greater victory and glory for his name. While we thus stood, I could not be silent about the valor of my Father the Legate and his burning desire for martyrdom. For the Saracens, wisely and vigorously arranged on the shore of the harbor in their multiplied companies, shouting and waiting for us to descend to land, the Legate, still not knowing the reason for our delay in invading the enemy, Blessed Peter urges the Chancellor to fight, cried out to me with great fervor of desire: "O my sweetest brother Chancellor, in memory of the Lord's Passion, let us go with our galley, let us go to land; I cannot endure such great reproach! Let us invade the Saracens with the Cross going before, and let all our galleys follow the Cross." But I, considering and not a little admiring his boldness and his desire to die for Christ, answered him with a smile: "My Father, the hour of our death has not yet come; it is not the hour to descend to land. With all respect, I will not do this." He was so saddened that I could not describe it. For I had to obey my King and the regular orders of my Father's galley, to which we all had to be obedient. The Saracens fortify the city. Then the Saracens, fortifying the city all day and night and multiplying their army without number on the shore, seemed to care little about our army, and with horns, banners raised, and infinite lights, they kept watch over us all night on the shore of the harbor, with the city surrounded on the walls by guards and infinite lights.

[95] The King and the whole Christian army stood in the harbor at about a crossbow shot and a half from the Saracens, and rested in the Lord, joyfully awaiting the coming day and hoping for victory from God. When morning came, with the sun shining on the shields, arms, and helmets of the Christians, to the terror of the enemies of the Cross, it was determined by the King and council, with God's help, to descend to land at the third hour and to begin the war of God. Blessed Peter encourages the Cypriots preparing to disembark. Whoever would then have seen my Father, nobly armed within and without, standing on the highest place of our galley, holding the Cross with the wood of the Lord in his hands, and blessing the army to the right and to the left! He encourages them, Crying out in a loud voice to all, he said: "O soldiers of God, chosen in the Lord and strengthened by his Holy Cross, do not fear his enemies, hope for victory from God, wage the war of God manfully, for today the gates of paradise are opened!" He blessed and cried out so much that he comforted the hearts of all who heard. But when the battle came and the arrows rained, did he fear to go? Certainly not. God knows: I never saw his face changed, nor any sign of fear in him, either at sea or on land, and he had such great ardor for descending to land that he would not cover himself with a shield against the arrows flying infinitely, Nor does he wish to cover himself with a shield against the arrows, though I admonished him many times. When the King's trumpet sounded, gradually and little by little, according to the order given, the galleys and other ships began to row toward land. And as they approached the land, with the Saracens defending the harbor more vigorously than can be believed, they covered our ships with arrows. For such a multitude of arrows was then falling upon the Christians as rain upon the earth. But contrary to human experience, with God defending, they wounded few and almost none, as the Psalmist says: "A thousand shall fall at your side," etc. Ps. 91:7.

[96] As the galleys approached land, they threw ladders into the sea near the shore by force of arms so that they might descend to land. But the Saracens, not fearing our crossbows, entered the sea up to their chests The Christians disembark, and, covered by their shields, vigorously defended our exit. At length, after the battle had lasted about an hour and with God's blessing, a few of our Legation's men descended to land and began to gain victory by winning the ground with fierce fighting. Then our Christians descended to land as quickly as they could, The Saracens flee into the city, and the Saracens, fleeing toward the city, turned their backs. Our men, pursuing and killing them, chased them to the gate of the city. The Saracens with difficulty shut the gates of the city against us, and then ascended the walls for defense. Great is the glory of the Lord, and his mercy and his victory forever. Certainly here one of ours pursued a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight. What more? Our Lord Jesus Christ, for the sake of his name, showed us greater and unheard-of things. For with the King surrounded by a wall of armed faithful, Soon the city is abandoned, toward Babylon, approaching the city wall, with the city somewhat assailed without engines or order, a small fire having been set at the iron gates, within an hour the Saracens, struck by God, abandoned the walls and towers; and their courage failing, they abandoned the city and fled toward Babylon.

[97] Then our Christians freely ascended the walls with their banners, and the gates being thus burned, without hindrance and with little damage and almost none, the King, the Legate, and the whole multitude of Christians, with the Cross going before, entered the city. Alexandria is captured by Christians in the year 1365. And the great city of Alexandria was taken by the Christians, with God working, about the ninth hour on Friday, in the month of October, in the year sixty-five, the fourth day. Who shall speak the powers of the Lord? The ears of the infidels trembled. Make known among the peoples his powers and the wonders that he wrought in Egypt before us, that you may tell it to another generation. Let old things depart from your mouth, because the Lord Jesus in our times has exalted his Christian people and turned those who hated him to flight.

[98] But woe, woe, woe! How shall I begin to narrate the grief of my Father and mine, and the reproach of the Christians? I cannot write: our hand is dry, for my strength fails me. The joy and honor of the Christians have been turned to reproach. The exaltation of the Holy Cross to the ignominy of tears and sorrow. The gate of paradise, opened to all by the mercy of God and the mystery of the Holy Cross, has been shut again by avarice, vainglory, and little faith. For such grief, what shall I cry? What shall I weep, and lament? Moses struck the stones and the waters flowed, but he did not sanctify God, and therefore he did not deserve to enter the Holy Land shown to him by God. But alas, alas! Not water, but all the goods of the world given by God to Christians, and the way of paradise laid open -- the Christians had possessed the Mistress of Egypt; but they did not glorify God: and therefore they deserved to lose so great a good and to abandon the city of Alexandria shamefully. The soldiers refuse to remain at Alexandria. For when the city was captured, the most victorious King held a general council for the custody of the city; but he found few or no helpers and servants of God. The King with tears implored the soldiers, great, small, and middling, to remain with him. But they, excusing themselves to the King and abandoning the Holy Cross, he found them ready for departure. Whoever would then have seen my Father the Legate grieving, weeping, and almost despairing, crying to heaven and admonishing the soldiers to remain, and heard them refusing -- he would certainly have grieved at the scandal to the Catholic faith. How he clearly showed the honor of God, the benefit of the Christians, Blessed Peter exhorts them to remain, in vain, and that the city of Jerusalem, now as good as acquired, lay in the retention of Alexandria. And he demonstrated with infinite arguments the damage and reproach that would follow for Christians from abandoning it. Some in our army readily offered to remain with the King and the Legate, but at the devil's instigation their superiors prevented them. What more? Their hearts were hardened and struck with iniquity; and the wicked overcame the grieving King and the Legate, almost dying of grief, by insisting on departure, despairing of God, not trusting in his power, and utterly forgetting his unheard-of victories. The damage to the Christians and our reproach I could not write, and I would renew my sadness; but in a certain authentic letter, written by the hand of my Father the Legate, to be directed to the Pope and the Emperor, whose tenor follows below, it can be more clearly perceived.

[99] The King, defeated in his council, by God's permission, abandoning Alexandria, The King is compelled by his men, grieving, to abandon Alexandria, with no enemy pursuing, quietly boarded his galley, and our army collected itself into its ships, and heading toward Cyprus, abandoning paradise, they sailed into the deep. But what did God do to us? He sent such a great storm at sea that all our ships were separated, fleeing the storm and almost perishing. But those who before, struck by fear, had abandoned Alexandria without cause, The fleet is tossed by a great storm, had such great fear at sea that they could scarcely breathe. They so feared the sea that they wished they had remained at Alexandria, and they recognized their sin. My Father said to me every day: "This storm is God's vengeance because Alexandria was abandoned. For you will see greater things in time; do not doubt." A wonderful thing: for as the storm swelled and no one could help himself, my Father, touched with grief, wrote the aforesaid letter in his own hand and brought it to completion, and showed it to me, whose tenor follows in these words.

CHAPTER XVII. The letter of S. Peter to the Pope and Emperor, on the outcome of the expedition.

[100] Although common grief is recognized by common lamentation, yet that which touches more, communicates more sorrow and induces feelings of compunction. And because I have labored even to old age, and crying out I have become hoarse, frequently striking with my tongue when I could not with arms, that the faithful soldiers of Christ, the champions of Jesus Christ, should take up arms, proceed protected by the shield of faith, and free Jerusalem our mother, long held under the rites -- or rather the dregs -- of the Hagarenes, through the great negligence and stubborn indolence of the Christians. Since now in the last hour and at the end of the ages, and at the appointed time, the most illustrious Prince Peter, King of Jerusalem and Cyprus, with laborious travel and most grievous expenses, procured the passage with the most holy Lord Urban, Pope V, of whose legation I unworthily discharged the office, and we came with a copious multitude, with the aforesaid armed King presiding as Captain, The fleet happily puts in at the harbor of Alexandria, with devotion of spirit, with sails spread, the sea calm, and with a favorable wind that God had brought forth from his treasures -- and they did not seem to go by sea, but rather to be carried by the hand of God without hindrance; the various ships, divided and not seen by one another night and day, were enclosed in one day in the harbor of Alexandria, rather by the will of him who made Peter walk on the sea than by human guidance.

[101] Rest being declared from noon until the third hour of the following day, before the disembarkation from the sea, with a multitude of infidels resisting the disembarkation, so that the Lord might test our strength, who by his power led a few of our men to the shore. The infidels turned their backs on them, for whom flight was the remedy and enclosure within the walls. They disembark on the shore. And from then quickly enough the prophecies of the Prophet Ezekiel were fulfilled, that judgments should be executed in Alexandria -- judgments, I say, of God, unknown to men, known to God -- so that they could not, weighed down with arms, advance, scale the walls, hurl stones, or draw arrows with crossbows, though the enemy were found everywhere, on the walls, in the towers, and in the lodgings, in excessive numbers. Ezek. 30:14. But our battle was not ours, but the Lord's, who among all wonders was here the most wonderful; it shall be told forever. The people of Israel fought against Amalek, who was not protected by a wall; Moses grew weary, and when he lowered his hands the people died. With not a single Christian killed, Alexandria is captured. But here neither the Priest nor the people could grow weary, because the battle was scarcely of one hour's duration, nor in the fighting was any of our men killed, since they were unconquerable... The men ascended first, nor did those who seek vain things boast of being first in battles seeking combat, because they were not the first in acquiring, though in abandoning, alas. When Joshua fought, the walls were broken and the people entered. But here (O God!) towers are abandoned like camps, walls are abandoned like camps, and an indiscriminate crowd enters the empty city. What Scripture could describe this? There was no clash of the faithful here. The iron gates are burned, peoples are delivered to death, whom God did not preserve by the lot of flight. And so the city is captured, as populous as Paris, A most celebrated city, as pleasant as Venice, as established as Genoa, full of riches, delightful with pleasures, abounding in fruits, watered by rivers of paradise, frequented by merchants -- which was the Queen of Egypt, the staff of the infidels, and the gate of the faithful, if they had held it.

[102] It is abandoned, to the immense grief of Blessed Peter. But our joy was turned to mourning; whence my bowels were troubled, and at the voice my lips trembled. I suffer, I suffer vehemently, and there is none to compassionate the afflicted. Long have I labored, I have labored in my groaning. But now I bring forth the matter, I publish my groans, therefore my words are full of grief. My eyes shall pour forth streams of water, and torrents of tears shall flow. For the arrows of the Lord are in me, whose indignation has drunk up my spirit. But the torrents of others' iniquity have troubled me. Would that the cataracts of my wretched head might be opened, and I might be entirely a river of tears. For to many, tears are a consolation. Grief indeed bears the form of fire, because the more it is covered the more it revives. If the Lord had scourged me in the loss of temporal things, or the death of friends, or in the affliction of my own body, I would endure it with equanimity. But I feel a wound that penetrates to my inward parts. Nor am I less tormented than if someone were violently tearing my entrails from me. And what wonder? Indeed I wonder that I do not die: because I saw wounds inflicted, covenants broken, crimes perpetrated. O wounds inflicted! A wound and a bruise and a swelling sore: a wound in the face, a bruise of infamy, a swelling sore with madness. O wound in the face! For the principals were wounded, those making counsel together -- the soldiers who seemed the most capable, the highest, the strongest, like the face in the body. Matt. 26:35. Who, like Peter, said to Christ the King: "If we must die with you, we will not abandon you." But struck with fear, On account of the shameful cowardice of those who compelled the King to return, not at the voice of a maidservant, for none was present, nor at the power of adversaries, for none could harm them -- they abandoned it, not trusting in God, provided for in nothing, but wholly distrustful, as if God, who had already led them in, were not strong enough for its defense; not considering that he had placed watchmen upon its walls. O bruise of infamy! Will not the nations say: "Where is their God?" -- who before were saying, as I truly learned by report: "God fought for them. Our Muhammad is defeated. The God of the Christians is great and strong," mocking him who appeared glorious in his soldiers. And they bore witness With great ignominy to the Christian religion, who did not know nor seek your name. Our glory has been turned to ignominy. The feast days have been turned to mourning, the Sabbath to reproach, her men to nothing. According to her glory, her ignominy has been multiplied. Her sublimity has been turned to mourning. And I saw -- alas! And why should I live, when there is such a bruise of infamy, a swelling sore with madness?

[103] O wound of the Church with madness, which cannot be healed by any medicine! Alas, who shall heal the snake-charmer bitten by the serpent? They who ought now to silence the charmers, the serpentine men, the limbs of the serpent who deceived our parents -- struck by poison, say in your hearts: Those whom the Lord cursed could not stand. The Princes of the army are the chief agitators. O sinful nation, wicked sons, the seed of Princes, a people heavy with iniquity! They forsook you, they have gone backward. And there is great lamentation in the Church, because she saw wounds; and no less, because she considers the broken covenants. Alas, intolerable grief! Never was its like heard. Those whom God had joined together to capture the city, iniquity divided. One withdrew from the other, and division and contention arose among the Princes. And the English withdrew, who seemed the strongest, The English follow a certain Prince and depart, having made a conspiracy with a Prince, whose name I must be silent about out of regard for his family and deceitful following. But I grieve, because there is a complaint against him; he will always lack remedy, because it is reported and spread abroad that he did such things as caused Alexandria to be abandoned. Many Catholics curse him, believe it, both French and very many Germans and all Italians, crying: "Woe to that man through whom the scandal comes. It would have been better for that man if he had not been born." For when the head -- the King -- wished to recover his strength, like a brave soldier, these men refused to resist; but with their English, who were unwilling to spend the night in the conquered city on the morrow, you can note by their sins he showed himself to be absenting himself and altogether separating from the King's company.

[104] O grief! In the midst, with hands clasped, together with the Chancellor, The Chancellor generously undertakes the custody of a tower, a true knight, valiant, learned, a philosopher in counsel, de Manseriis, grieving for the miseries of the Christians and their sighs, who readily offered himself for the custody of the tower, which was the most doubtful, with fifty arms, with forty companions, at his own expense, most urgently and with tears, urging us to stand without fear, with examples and many arguments, showing that our position and wall could be defended. And they pressed the King, offering a rule for defense. But our words were not heeded; rather, excessively harsh things followed: no confidence in God's power; indeed, the Admirals began to speak against us and to murmur. But the murmur was not against me, which grieves me the most, but against the Lord; for which, I believe, God himself is angry and troubled, and the Admiral of the Military Hospital will feel it, The leader of the Hospitallers strikes vain fear into the others, who could by no arguments or words be induced to remain for the sake of maintaining order in the defense, except in the King's column; and by granting he denied, and thus he obtained flight. And because he alone had more than a thousand men, he not undeservedly disturbed many from their purpose. And thus the whole army, agitated by his words, departed as if routed. For by striking fear into them, he predicted many times that the Sultan would come without delay, as if watching for the hour. And yet, although standing shamefully before the walls, not joyfully, on the sixth day we withdrew; nor did we perceive that anyone had come. Indeed, they did not dare to enter the walls: so much did they fear our men. But since it is written, "The wicked flee when no one pursues," we know he spoke truly, and we perceived it in our own case. Prov. 28:1. We saw covenants thus broken and crimes displayed. Alexandria is abandoned. In the departure we saw vanity; but God struck them. And the sailors went before, rejoicing with hymns in that departure; but God struck them, so that like blind men groping at a wall, they did not find precious things, and they left behind what was their own, in the departure to infidelity with foreigners, because they did not know God; and therefore God himself complains.

[105] Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken: I have raised up and nourished sons, and they have despised me. Isa. 1:2. The ox knows its owner and the ass its master's manger; but Israel did not know me -- that is, the Christian people, who had seen wonders at sea without danger, in the departure with the people conquered, in the capture of the city almost without obstacle. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth -- that is, Presiding Prelates in the Church, and earth, that is, earthly Princes: Peter exhorts the Pontiff to incite all to the sacred expedition, how great things the Lord has done for us, and go before, you, Supreme Pontiff, exhorting the people, granting indulgences, expending the treasure of the Church, because the present wound is laid, as it were, upon you. For if the people had come in sufficiency, and the Church had provided something, there would have been no excuse regarding the custody of so great a place. See, Lord, our reproach in the place abandoned, and attend to the power of God; for with a few, and with almost none in comparison with the enemy, God delivered to you a city surrounded by walls and adorned with towers, where are the riches of Egypt, the delights of Egypt, where is the unshaken fear of the Hagarenes, which will never be shaken. Be instant in season and out of season, for nothing else remains except that we lift our eyes to you, that you may come to our aid and immediately do battle with the Hagarene nation, for fear weakens them and God helps us.

[106] And the Emperor, that he himself might undertake it, And you, most unconquerable Emperor, to whom the eyes of all Israel look, that you may begin, you King of Kings and Lord of Lords, to whom God has granted more wisdom than Solomon, more power than Pharaoh, and, as report has it, sufficient wealth; to whom Kings will offer aid, the Venetians and Genoese and maritime peoples sufficient ships, the Lord Pope the support of indulgences; and the people will be free, moved by devotion, the Clergy by fasts and prayer, the whole world in conference. Show, Lord, your power, and come, and deliver us. Deliver the holy city of Jerusalem, which for so long has been a handmaid. She has cried to you, and her cry has come to the ears of the Lord of Hosts; for if you do not hear and listen, I fear, Otherwise he threatens divine vengeance, and not I alone, but many with me, that the Lord will be angry against you and you will perish before your time. For the Lord has marked you with so many marks of honor, endowed you with so many privileges, beyond and above all your predecessors, that deservedly and by obligation you ought to recognize him, and in that which is most pleasing to him, recover his place in Jerusalem, and there let there be offered an unblemished and evening sacrifice. May this be granted to you by the living and triune God. Amen.

c These do not cohere.

CHAPTER XVIII. Return to Cyprus. The illness of S. Peter.

[107] He returns to Cyprus. At length, with our army divided and not seeing each other, with infinite danger, the King reached Cyprus and went up to Nicosia together with the Legate. Then the Legate soon after took up his art, and admonished the King and all to render thanks to God, organizing a universal procession He proclaims supplications of thanksgiving, and there, preaching and giving thanks to God for the victory of Alexandria, he piously comforted the kingdom of Cyprus regarding the war begun with the Sultan and the passage undertaken. Then the King, after deliberation, asked the Legate sweetly to go to the Supreme Pontiff, report what had been done, and seek help. The Legate is sent to the Pontiff. The Legate, willingly assenting and always desiring to labor for the faith, having fully received his embassy from the King and bidden farewell to the King, set sail.

[108] Then false and avaricious merchants wished to go to Alexandria and proposed to make a separate peace with the Sultan. The Legate, hearing this, He excommunicates those trading in the Sultan's lands, vexed and deeply grieved, generally excommunicated all who engaged in trade in the land of the Sultan. But behold a great miracle soon following. For a certain Venetian, making light of the Legate's sentence, set out with one galley toward Alexandria, but God sent such a storm upon him Those who despise the sentence are divinely punished, that he returned to Cyprus and there came to grief, suffering shipwreck, losing his galley and whatever he had, and barely escaping. And to this day, with the aforesaid sentence working, very many ships coming from all directions to Alexandria for the sake of trade went and nearly all came to grief, and those who escaped alive were captured by the Saracens.

[109] Another wonderful miracle. For my Father had said to me in the great storm that I would see greater things regarding those who had been the cause of Alexandria being abandoned. For those returning from the kingdom of Cyprus toward the Pontus Those who had caused the abandonment of Alexandria are variously tossed about, sailed for nearly a thousand miles, and being so struck by the storm and driven by it, they went before Alexandria again, and returned to Cyprus for safety. And after that they departed from Cyprus three or four times, but with the storm growing and God troubling the sea and showing his fury to the aforesaid, they returned again to Cyprus. They passed through such great fear and such great dangers that they would first have chosen, I believe, to remain at Alexandria for seven years in their hearts. And they could scarcely depart entirely from the kingdom of Cyprus in four months; nor is it to be believed that they will ever have heartfelt joy, their conscience remorsing. I have thought these things worthy of being written down, so that the works of God may be made manifest, and those who seek God and the mystery of the Cross with a whole and pure heart, as my Father the Legate did in his time, may be exalted and glorified in God.

[110] For the time is near for me to return to my sadness, renewing my grief and writing with tears. O fortune, filled with all bitterness! My heart and my inward parts it now penetrates with bitterness, as it did to my Lord at Alexandria. Not you, fortune, but the Lord Jesus Christ, almighty, merciful, and to be feared, who separates the souls of his faithful who conquer this polluted world from the frail body and glorifies them in heaven. For God piously regarded the labor of my Father the Legate, and how, like another Paul, he vigorously bore his name before Kings and Princes, exalting the Holy Cross and multiplying his Church. For with our sins pressing upon us and not recognizing the graces of God, he took our Father from us and left me, his son, desolate. But so that his glorious end, unheard of in our times, may be made manifest to all the faithful, I shall declare it below, to the praise and honor of my Lord Jesus Christ Blessed Peter mourns unceasingly after the abandonment of Alexandria, and in memory of the Legate and for the instruction of his neighbor. My Father, from the time Alexandria was abandoned until his glorious end, was never joyful as had been his custom; he bore such bitterness in his heart that he desired death, if it were from God. He was preparing himself at Famagusta for the journey to the Roman Curia and was waiting for his galley to be made ready. I had been ordered by my Lord the King to go with him; while staying with the King I was having my Father's letters prepared.

[111] When the day of the Nativity of the Savior arrived, my Father, always personally celebrating the great divine offices, on the vigil of the Nativity of the Lord, went on foot from the church of the Carmelites at Famagusta, where he was lodging, He solemnly celebrates the Ecclesiastical offices at the Nativity of Christ, to the great church through deep mud, to celebrate Matins solemnly. And vested in Pontificals, with the mitre always on his head, he celebrated Matins and three solemn Masses with chant festively; and going, celebrating, and returning, he was struck by the cold. For he was wholly wasted by fasts, vigils, and grief. And he would not wear any other garments against the cold than what he wore in summer. Then, struck by the cold, In the great cold, he felt himself somewhat changed, and paid no heed to it. But what did he do? On all the feasts following Christmas he celebrated Masses in Pontificals, and wholly burning in divine worship, not sparing his already stricken person, on the Saturday following the Lord's Nativity he went barefoot from the church of the Carmelites through deep mud outside the city to the church of the Blessed Mary of Cana. And there, in Pontificals and with bare feet, standing on stone, He walks with bare feet, he celebrated a solemn Mass. And when he was often reproved by his household, he would answer them saying: "How did the ancient Fathers in the desert always walk with bare feet?" He contracts an illness. When Sunday and Monday came, though aggravated, he celebrated Mass daily and seemed to wish to conceal his illness from his household.

[112] On Tuesday the fever seized him violently, and with his face changed, his household feared for him, and immediately they sent for me. He is visited by the Chancellor with the royal physician. I came to Famagusta with moderate joy as quickly as I could on the following Wednesday, and I brought the royal physician with me. My Father was then fairly well, and I did not find him as gravely ill as I had been told. And I stayed with him until Saturday, and I entrusted his care to the royal physician. On Saturday he compelled me to return to the King and to expedite his affairs and mine for the journey and the letters, saying to me that he was well and that we would soon depart. I unwillingly left him -- may God pardon me, for I did wrong; but I always desired to fulfill his will, as God knows. Before my departure from him, he called me alone, and with a certain fervent charity with which he loved me, unworthy and not fully knowing, He narrates his life to the Chancellor, he familiarly narrated to me his life and sins with wonderful contrition. Which sins of his, in my judgment, I did not and do not consider sins, given the circumstances. I said to him in consolation what God inspired me to say. Then he said to me familiarly: "My brother, I am a great sinner, but I have a good Judge, my pious and merciful God, to whom I have recourse, and I do not despair of pardon." Hearing these words I feared greatly for him; but because he told me he was well, I did not presume to speak to him about the disposition of his household. But he then said to me prophetically: "Go, so that you may quickly return, because throughout this coming week I intend to depart" -- as indeed, at God's command, he did.

c Wadding: Cana.

CHAPTER XIX. Preparation for death. The Testament.

[113] He divinely foreknows his death. On that Saturday, when I departed from him, he began to grow worse; and by the revelation of the Holy Spirit he clearly knew his death. From that hour there was no one who could discern in him even a single sign of the terror of death in his words; indeed, he then showed such wisdom, discretion, and confidence to be vigorous and growing in him as he had never shown in his life. Then the Magnates of the city visited him, among whom Lord Peter Marcello, Chamberlain of the King of Cyprus, was present; to whom my Father prophetically and clearly said: "Lord Peter, have the galley prepared, because on Wednesday I shall depart entirely." When Sunday came, around the third hour, he called Brother Arnold de Solino of his own Order, his Confessor, He makes a general confession, and with great diligence, wonderful contrition, and an outpouring of tears, he made a long general and particular confession. Afterward he most devoutly heard Mass from his Confessor, and caused his whole household to receive Communion in his presence, He exhorts his household for the last time, and gave them a wonderful sermon, sweetly admonishing them to stand well with God. But who could write his divine words? Certainly it would be impossible.

[114] When the sermon to the household was completed, with all weeping, he ordered a vile and contemptible sack to be brought, and said in a clear voice: "This is the white and joyful garment in which Christians ought to be buried," placing the sack like a jewel upon his head, saying such wonderful things of devotion and contrition that all flowed with a flood of tears. He ties a rope around his neck. And then he himself, compelled by human piety, wept most forcefully. Then in the presence of all he had a cord brought, and he placed it around his neck, tying and tightening the cord across his mouth, saying with great contrition: "This cord is not sufficient for such a sinner as I am; for it is too small to chastise such a sinner." He is placed upon the ground. "O how often," he said, "with my lying tongue have I offended my God!" Then he ordered himself to be placed upon the ground, and lying on the ground he gave his household another sermon, always wonderfully concluding that they should stand well with God; and that if they did this, God would provide well for them, he sweetly promised. Then he turned to the wood of the Cross, adoring, kissing, and saying wonderful things, and with hands joined he most devoutly asked pardon of all his household, He asks pardon of his household, provoking all to tears and saying: "O my brothers and friends, how many labors and dangers you have endured in my service -- hunger, thirst, and cold, storms and tribulations. I did not honor you, nor treat you, nor provide for you as I should have; you have sweetly endured me and my ways. O how often I placed you in danger of death! How can I repay you? Pardon me, pardon me." But his household, from the abundance of their tears, could not answer him.

[115] Then he ordered the most sacred Body of the Lord, which was on the altar before him, to be brought to him He has the Body of Christ brought to him, by his Confessor, and with hands joined before the Sacrament he read this prayer: "God be merciful to me, a sinner." And most devoutly he afterward said the articles of faith one by one, maturely and with a certain great reverence, confessing aloud with ardent and weeping contrition, saying that if in anything he had taught or raised any question or said anything against the Catholic faith or the precepts of Holy Church, in disputing, He makes a profession of faith, speaking, conferring, or in any other manner out of vanity or simplicity, before his God he revoked it with his whole heart. Having said these things, he said: "Lord, I am not worthy," etc.; "Hail, salvation," etc.; all of which he said with great devotion; and reverently and most devoutly, in unfeigned faith, he received Communion. He receives Communion. This done, quite quickly they placed him sitting upon his bed. His Confessor and the nobleman Huguet de Maimmon, my Father's master of the household, wishing to console the Lord Legate, wished to remove the cord or rope from his neck. To whom he said: "Far be it, far be it; do not remove it. This is not condign retribution for my sins. If I did not fear my God, I would do something else to my body, which has sinned so greatly against its God." And he ordered his household to let him rest a little and told them he was very well. This was done.

[116] From that hour he always kept his eyes raised upward in contemplation, and he said: "Alas, why has the Chancellor departed?" Then two devout Priests came to him to visit, namely Lord Bernard, the Pope's chaplain, and Lord Peter, his companion. To whom my Father said: "I am well, but pray to God for me, and that it may please him to free me from these little thieves" -- that is, the demons. He saw them in battle array at the foot of the bed. He sees a throng of demons. Again he said: "The Blessed Virgin Mary frightened them; pray for me." He ordered them to take his Cross, which was carried before him, at the head of the bed, and had it placed against the wall at the foot of the bed, where he saw the little thieves, Who are put to flight by the Blessed Virgin and the Cross, and immediately they departed from his sight.

[117] Then, having summoned his household, with all doors opened, before all, through an authentic Notary, distinctly, maturely, and most wisely, he made and ordained his disposition and last will, sound in mind and vigorous in understanding. He draws up his testament most wisely. As appears wonderfully in his testament, in which his memory, wisdom, devotion, and the grace of the Holy Spirit are manifestly declared. And truly, according to the opinion of the Archbishop of Nicosia, who said that the Legate in full health would not have arranged the disposition of his goods so completely as he did. His Confessor asked him whom he wished to have as Executors. He answered with a certain great and heartfelt sigh, saying: He appoints the Chancellor as executor of his testament, "Previously I made and appointed my champion the Chancellor, and to him I commended the goods committed to me by God, body and soul, and again I wish him." O my most loving Father, how could I write these things without a flood of tears, recalling the charity bestowed on me? Certainly not. Then, at the holy admonition of his Confessor, he appointed the Lord Archbishop of Nicosia, and Lord Berengar of Gregoren, Dean of Nicosia and Papal Collector, as his Executors, as well as myself, his grieving and wretched son.

[118] What then did he ordain concerning his burial? Let the humble hear. He who by all the Eastern Christians was regarded as the Pope, if it is permitted to say so, because he held his place, on account of his holy manner of life, and was almost adored -- humble always in life, [He orders himself to be buried at the entrance of the choir, so that he may be trodden upon by all,] he showed no small humility at the end, abominating a pompous burial, saying: "Bury me at the entrance of the choir, so that all men may and ought to tread upon my body, and even, if possible, goats and dogs." O what great humility! When all things pertaining to that Sunday had been wisely ordered by him, my Father rested that night, and the household went to rest. On Monday morning, the aforesaid Huguet, master of the household, came to him. To whom my Father, taking him by the hands, moved by human piety because he loved him, said: "It is done with me according to the will of my God; we shall go together no more. Send, send for my brother the Chancellor." That whole day he grew worse with a double tertian fever, and was visited that day by many who greatly burdened him, because he answered all. Among whom, recognizing the deceits of the world, he said to Constantino Chiquoli and his friend the Venetian: "Henceforth I am not well in this world: it is time to depart." It is to be noted that in his illness, until the end, He never says he is going to die, but to depart, the word that he was going to die never left his mouth, but he always said: "I shall depart, I intend to depart, I must depart."

[119] O how often he had said to God the word of Blessed Martin: "Lord, if I am still necessary to your people, I do not refuse the labor." O how often, with many consoling him, comforted by the Holy Spirit Admirably resigned to death, and making light of bodily death, he would say: "Death and life are the same to me. For if I am necessary to God for the passage and must labor, I am content to live; and if I am not necessary, I am content with death. It is the same to me; let the will of my God Jesus Christ be done." On that day he began three times to say his hours, and as the illness grew stronger, He tries to read the hours, which he had never omitted, his understanding always remaining clear, he could not complete them, and said to his Confessor that he should say his hours for him and in his presence, which he did. And with a certain grief he openly confessed that from the day of his profession in his Order of the Blessed Mary, Mother of God, of Mount Carmel, he had never omitted his hours, neither for illness, nor on land, nor at sea, nor for any imminent danger.

[120] When that day had passed, on the following night about the fifth hour he had two white blessed candles lit before him. At the sixth hour of the night he sent his Confessor for the Bishop of Laon, Vicar at Famagusta, He asks for the Last Anointing, that he should come to him with all the Clergy of the great church, and bring the holy oil, vested in Pontificals. Meanwhile he had all his household called before him and ordered all doors of the house and chamber to be opened. Then he ordered the Pontifical to be brought to him, and as if unaware of his illness, with his own hand he sought and found the office of Anointing. He had the entire office of Anointing read distinctly before the Vicar Bishop arrived, and had himself placed on the ground with the aforesaid sack upon his head, peacefully awaiting the Bishop. He arranges everything himself. When he heard the approach of the Bishop, he ordered all the lights in the house to be lit, and had holy water and the Cross brought near him. When the Bishop arrived with all the Clergy, as he had ordered, and entered the chamber, the Bishop on bended knees greeted the Lord Legate. My Father did not respond but began, as if wholly healthy, to say in a loud voice: "O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger," etc.; and alone, with the others responding, he said up to the middle of the seven Penitential Psalms, He himself reads the seven Psalms with the litanies, and with his understanding of mind brightening and vigorous but human power somewhat failing, he made a sign with his hand to the Lord Bishop to say them with him. This he did. And so with many tears and unheard-of devotion he completed all seven Psalms with the Litany, with all groaning and lamenting. Then the Bishop solemnly and completely anointed him, with the Lord Legate responding to him, Clad in a vile tunic and scapular against the skin, he is anointed, and that vile tunic and dirty scapular with which he was clothed against the skin he covered and hid as best he could, lest people see them. When the office of Anointing was completed, my Father most devoutly said the Confiteor, and the Bishop gave him absolution.

[121] He asks pardon of all. He humbly asked pardon of the Bishop, Clergy, household, and all, saying: "If I have ever burdened you or displeased you in exercising the office committed to me, pardon me, pardon me, pardon me; and of all those in Cyprus and elsewhere, as occasion presents, ask pardon in my name." When they heard this, his Confessor and all who stood by, hearing the holy Father, flowing with tears, began unanimously to cry out, saying: "Father, Father, He gives all his blessing, give us your blessing." And he, with the Bishop and all standing by kneeling on the ground, gave the holy blessing, saying: "May the blessing of God the Father Almighty, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, descend upon you and remain forever," and he sprinkled holy water with his own hand. Then the Bishop, with not a few tears, exhorted my Father to have himself carried onto his bed. He responded in a loud voice, and almost singing, saying: "It is not fitting for a Christian man to die except in ashes and sackcloth" -- and he said this twice. Afterward he said to the Bishop: "Depart, for I am consoled and I am well." He raised his eyes upward and made a sign with his hand and said: "O you other accursed ones, now you have no power over me, for now I am well with my Creator Jesus Christ." Having said this, the Bishop and all the Clergy departed, piously weeping and lamenting so great a Father, and he was placed upon his bed.

a Wadding: de Solinis.

CHAPTER XX. The death of S. Peter.

[122] He orders the Passions to be read to him. Then he ordered the Passions to be read before him, and he many times soundly corrected and emended the Priest who was reading, with such discretion and maturity that all who saw and heard were as if out of their minds. Then his household withdrew from him and left him resting. Before daybreak of that night, my Father, remembering the word of the Wise Man, "The wages of your servant shall not remain with you until the evening," had his whole household summoned before him, and had a little chest brought, in which were a thousand florins less five or six, which money he distributed with his own hand to all his household, according as he had ordained for each in his testament, or in his last will. Deut. 24:14. He distributes 1,000 florins to his servants. And this with such discretion, piety, and maturity that all marveled; and he again sent them away from him and rested, always growing weaker. All marveled at two things in him: first, at such wisdom and discretion in a dying man; second, that that blessed soul remained so long in that little body empty of human power -- there was nothing left of him but skin, nerves, and bones. But why did God wish to do this and to retain the soul so long in that little body? Certainly I piously believe, so that his faithful prophet might be found true; for he had prophesied the day of his departure to the Lord; and also so that by the special mercy of God I might deserve to see, before his glorious death, him whom I so loved, as he had foretold; and so that in his wonderful passing I, a sinner and his unworthy son, and all who saw and heard his departure from this world, might be edified.

[123] On Tuesday, which was the day of the Epiphany, the royal physicians came, comforting and consoling him; He dismisses the physicians, but he took no notice of them, as if saying: "I have no need of temporal physicians; for I have my spiritual physician, Jesus Christ, with me, who has already healed me; him I desire, and with him I am well." Truly, by every account, he feared temporal death He does not fear death, as much as one who goes to a banquet. For he was invited by Christ, as will soon appear. The physicians departed.

[124] Then all the Magnates of the city of Famagusta came to visit him throughout the day, He responds by name to each one who visits him, and he answered almost all of them by name, saying with a certain intimate charity: "Welcome, I am well, very well"; and he gave each one individually his blessing. Some came and others departed; and there was such great admiration and grief in the city among the faithful of the Roman Church at the departure of so great a Father that it would be tearful to write. At the evening hour Huguet, master of his household, entered the chamber, and my Father, calling him, had him sit beside him and said to him: "Has my brother the Chancellor not yet come?" Huguet replied: "My Lord, he will come immediately. For a messenger has arrived who said that he will presently be with us." Then my Father said with grief, and almost lamenting about me, the most wretched and unhappy sinner, who through my negligence waited too long (may God pardon me, and my Father himself), saying: He predicts how long he will wait for the arrival of the Chancellor. "I have waited a long time for him." And he said prophetically: "I will still wait for him for two hours." For he loved me, his unworthy self, so much in his God, as his own soul. And as I piously believe, he had obtained from God not to depart until he had first seen me and revealed his will to me. When these things were done, the magnificent Lord James de' Rossi, his beloved, came and stood before him. My Father, looking at the sad Lord James on his account, said to him: "O son, I am well; do not grieve. Many are called, but few are chosen. I am called, and am among the chosen; Christ calls me; I go to Christ. Do not grieve, my son, do not grieve." And he gave him his blessing, and the man departed.

[125] Then my Father asked Lord Geoffrey, his Chaplain, who held the Cross before him: "Tell me, has my brother the Chancellor not yet come?" The Chaplain replied: "Father, he will come immediately." The Legate said: "Now let me rest a little, for I will wait for no one else except the Chancellor." The Chaplain said to him: "Father, would it please you that the Passions be read before you?" He replied: "It is not yet the hour." After some time the King's bailiff entered the chamber with a multitude of Magnates, and sweetly comforting and consoling the Lord Legate, admonished him to take some refreshment. But my Father did not answer directly, but putting his hand on the Cross, he answered: "I take of this fruit of life, He lovingly embraces the Cross, which rules and sustains me, in whom I trust; him I wish, and nothing else." Then he drew the Cross between his arms, embracing it before his face as best he could. And he could not hold the Cross without help. Weakened further, he spoke no more.

[126] It was then about half an hour before sunset. And at that hour, by God's command and by his grace to me, coming from Nicosia I entered Famagusta and came to my Father's lodging not without grief. My Father's household said to me: When the Chancellor returns from the King, "Hurry, hurry! My Father is in his last agony; he is waiting for you; he has lost his speech; he cannot die." I hastily entered the chamber and came before him. To whom the Chaplain said: "Father, behold the Chancellor." He, laboring in his last agony, with his hands, arms, and legs already dead, looking at me, immediately drew his right hand out of the bed, and taking my hand, he spoke to me soundly and at length, not a few words, He gives his hand and says various things, but rather declared to me under a brief summary his entire disposition, as if he were not ill. I, fearing that so much speaking with me might harm him, said to him as best I knew: "My Father, now is the time for you to contemplate that excellent divinity which you have so greatly preached in your life." He answered me: "Brother, so I do. Go, go, attend to my affairs and my household, and do not return to me again." He said this on account of the grief which he knew I would have at his labor and passing. A wonderful thing from God, and God showed great clemency to me, a sinner: how my Father, who was considered as dead by all, his limbs cold and not speaking, when he beheld me, his unworthy self, recovered strength from God, extended to me his dry and withered hand, and opened his heart to me. What more shall I say of him, except that I give thanks to my God, and that I shall be edified by the grace of the Holy Spirit in his charity, his passing, and his life? And deservedly: for it shall be planted in my heart and my memory. Then I departed from him according to his command, and I called the household and the Notary, and I saw in writing, in substance, everything that he had said to me, gloriously ordered.

[127] And I immediately returned to my Father to console him; and I said: "Father, I have seen your disposition fully made," and I consoled him spiritually as best I knew. For he was already almost entirely cold and about to depart, laboring continually in his last agony; at my spiritual admonition he quietly answered: "Good, good." And alas, he spoke no more, neither to me nor to anyone. And he lay thus laboring inwardly, his little body not moving, He dies most peacefully and imperceptibly, showing no sign of death except a peaceful one, until about the second hour of the night. And with the chamber filled with men and women wailing and lamenting, with me standing before him, he delivered his spirit to God who made him, in the year of the nativity of the same Lord 1366, the sixth day of the month of January. For God lives and his soul lives: there was no man or woman looking at him who could perceive by any sign when the blessed soul departed from the body; indeed, many of those standing by, looking at him after a long interval from the departure of his soul, believed him still living and did not presume to close his eyes. Some said: "He has departed"; others: "No." And yet truly the soul had already departed long before. With the immense lamentation of all. When we recognized his glorious passing, all who stood by had recourse to tears. And there was such great clamor and wailing in the chamber at the departure of my Father, and such pious lamentation, that whoever had seen us would have had a hard and stony heart if he had not felt compassion. When the tears, which will have no end, were finished, and the little body of my Father was clothed in the habit of his religious order, namely the white cloak, as he had commanded, with Pontifical gloves on his hands and sandals on his feet, his face uncovered and the mitre placed beneath his feet, he was carried to the church with many tears and lamentations, as a simple Brother according to his most humble ordinance.

CHAPTER XXI. Miracles. Burial.

[128] When the little body of the blessed Legate had been placed in the middle of the choir, we withdrew to the secrecy of our tears, the shepherd having been struck. When we withdrew, very many devout women remained to keep vigil around my Father. But the Lord Jesus, whose inviolate faith and the brightness of the Holy Cross the same true Pontiff and Legate had preached, did not long delay in manifesting to the world the brightness, purity of life and body of the blessed Patriarch, so that as he had been during his whole life a certain light in the Church of God, so after death he might begin miracles from the heavenly light and show his holiness. For about the fourth watch of that night, A certain heavenly splendor is seen above his body, with the women sleeping around the servant of God from sadness and grief, a certain nun -- indeed a truly holy woman, most devoted to him -- prostrate in prayer, by chance directed her face upward toward the Father. And suddenly she beheld a certain splendid and luminous ray standing firmly from the top of the church down to the body of my blessed Father. Greatly marveling, struck by the light and turned to stupefaction, she roused the other women, and as she narrated the vision, that heavenly brightness suddenly disappeared. When the women came together to my Father, they found a clear and unheard-of sign of the aforesaid light. And looking closely at the face of the holy Father and his whole body, soaked and fresh, His body moist, as if fresh from a bath, like a man coming from the baths, they saw it not without admiration. The prudent women took cotton in good quantity, with which they wiped his face and whole breast. With that cotton afterward, through the merits and intercessions of the same Legate, Many miracles wrought with that moisture, God wonderfully showed many miracles to very many persons of both sexes.

[129] And because his passing from this world to the Father had been at night, his pious departure was generally unknown throughout the city of Famagusta. Wonderful indeed are the things of God that I shall narrate. For when morning came and the bells rang, as if individual Angels of God had divinely announced the Legate's death to individual houses of the city, The whole city flocks to his body, suddenly and at once the entire city was stirred, from the least to the greatest, and setting aside every burden and delay, in groups, one not waiting for another, they came running to the church of the Carmelites. And the church was filled with people of both sexes, both Catholics, schismatics, and infidels. They venerated the body of the Legate unanimously and most devoutly as that of a saint. O wonderful thing! For the schismatic nations of Christians, namely the Greeks, Armenians, Georgians, Jacobites, Copts, Maronites, and others separated from the Catholic Church, especially the Greeks and their monks, some of whom while the Legate lived would gladly have drunk his blood as a sacrificial offering, because he confounded their errors with clear demonstrations and admonished them that they ought to come to the bosom of the Holy Roman Church; Even the schismatics come reverently, now, forgetting all injuries, and as if converted from their errors, or like his most devoted children, with heads uncovered against their custom, with profound reverence, one not waiting for another, they kissed the feet and hands of the holy Legate. And blessed was he who could have any least particle of his garments as relics. Nor is this surprising. For while he was alive, on account of his harsh penance and the vile rags His face appears radiant after death, which he wore against his skin daily -- I am a witness -- his body gave off a foul odor; but after his death, with a radiant face, more radiant beyond comparison than in life, no bad odor came from him; indeed, rather a good one; and what is more wonderful and rarely heard, his limbs and joints, beyond the nature and custom of a dead man, And it breathes forth a sweet odor, presented themselves as flexible and tractable to those who touched them, with absolutely no rigidity appearing, just as when he was alive.

[130] When the most Reverend Lord Father Raymond, Archbishop of Nicosia, arrived with the other Prelates, The obsequies are celebrated, the most solemn office of the dead was celebrated, as befitted. So great was the crowd of men and women who had come to the church, and such was the pressure, that the divine office could scarcely be completed. And blessed was he or she who could manage to kiss the holy body. And also those not few and powerful Catholics, who, ill-informed, had considered the Legate a sinner during his lifetime and had detracted from him, venerated his holy body, publicly confessing their sin of detraction.

[131] Let another sign of his holiness also come forward, which should not be kept silent. For when it came to preaching for the funeral, as is customary, by the Lord Archbishop of Nicosia, the task was committed to Brother John Camerson, a most solemn Master in sacred Scripture, Minister of the Friars Minor of the Holy Land, from the kingdom of Aragon, A Franciscan in the funeral oration, on the evening preceding the aforesaid office. This Minister, although he had little time, apparently by the merits of the Legate and fully taught by the Holy Spirit, gave a wonderful sermon to the stupefaction of all who heard, showing the holiness of the Patriarch and Apostolic Legate with many true arguments and most clear demonstrations, and against the custom of the Church, overcome in his sermon, he continually called him a Saint. He calls him a Saint. For no one in the Roman and Catholic Church is preached as a Saint unless he has been canonized by the Church itself. A person may piously be regarded as a Saint before canonization, but not preached as one. When the office was completed, in the presence of the Archbishop and all who stood by, the said Master John the Minister was examined and questioned in my presence, why he had so publicly called the Lord Legate a Saint in his sermon. With an oath, reverence, and devotion he replied Being interiorly compelled to do so, that he had been compelled to do so, and as he believed, by the Holy Spirit and the merits of the same Legate, he could not refrain from calling him a Saint. And he truthfully confessed that in preparing his sermon he had proposed not to call him a Saint. But now he piously believed him to be a saint. And thus God, wonderful in his Saints, wished to show the holiness of the preacher of the life-giving Cross and of the faith to the Eastern Church with many proofs, so that by the example of so great a light the Catholics might exult in the Lord, the schismatics might return to their own mother, and the infidels might be invited to the faith.

[132] My most beloved Father remained in the church unburied for six days, with all his limbs, He remains six days unburied, as above, flexible, and there was a continuous flow of people day and night venerating him as a Saint. And from that time he began to shine with miracles. All desired to have his relics, and where they could not, they drew cotton across his body and limbs and kept it with the greatest devotion. This cotton afterward conferred health on many persons of various infirmities, God glorifying his Saint, who sought his benefits, to whom he granted a salutary effect and heard those who cried to him. He shines with miracles.

b Wadding: Lamerson.

CHAPTER XXII. Epilogue of the writer. Encomia of Blessed Peter.

[133] But, O dearest ones, if Jeremiah, whose lamentations all singers repeat over Josiah to the present day, and it has become almost a law in Israel, ought not I, like another Jeremiah, to repeat my lamentations over the departure of my most beloved Father? 2 Chron. 35:25. I am an orphan and bereft, I remain without a father; and lamentation and tears shall return to my bosom. Hear therefore, all you Catholics, and see my grief and the damage to the Church. Truly the lamp of the Eastern Christians has been extinguished, and in the hearts of very many laboring in the faith, darkness has been made. May God blot out impiety and console the Holy Land of Jerusalem. For if it be asked, "Who is this who has vanished from us, of whom I write such things?" -- I do not say such things, but rather too few. I answer that a great and praiseworthy Bishop and the greatest Patriarch has departed from us. S. Peter was a Patriarch. Was he not the Father of all the Eastern Christians, who begot for himself children in infinite number in the Gospel of God and the ministry of the Holy Cross? But what more? Certainly he was a great Prophet of God. O how often and how often I heard him prophesy with my own ears, A Prophet, and saw the things he said come true! Did he not, as appears above, prophesy the day and hour of his death? Did he not in his final labors clearly prophesy that he would wait for me and not depart from this world for two hours -- which was done? But what more? Truly an Apostle of God, that is, one sent. Was he not sent by God through the Supreme Pontiff to evangelize the holy passage and to plant the Catholic faith, to uproot, to bind, An Apostle, to loose, as the Apostles? This he piously did, with God working, as clearly appears above. But what more? A Martyr of God, if it is permitted to say so. How often he exposed his own body to martyrdom is clearly shown above. In the conflict, therefore, and the capture of the city of Alexandria, wounded by the missiles of the enemy, he died. A Martyr. He was therefore a Martyr both in will and in deed. But what more? He was a Confessor. Did not he, for twelve years a most noble Nuncio and Apostolic Legate, like another Paul, before Kings and Princes, heretics, A Confessor, schismatics, peoples, and infidels, vigorously confess the name of our Lord Jesus Christ until the end of his life? A Doctor. He was also a Doctor of sacred Scripture, rooting out errors and clearly resolving doubts, an unheard-of and wonderful preacher of the Cross and of truth.

[134] Who shall tell my grief? How can I express my bitterness with a pen? Wait here, Eastern Christians; eat the bread of tears and mingle your cup with weeping. What shall I say? To whom shall I complain? Whence shall help come to me in this, to console me? I grieve, and I grieve that the Church has suffered such great damage at his departure. O God, would that you would restore him, and he would establish your King and defend the Church. What henceforth shall the children of the Eastern Church do, hungering and going about the city famished like dogs, The Chancellor mourns his departure, not having anyone to break for them the bread of life, and like wandering sheep without a shepherd, and disciples without a teacher, the blind without a guide? Alas, pious Father, Patriarch, and Legate, the staff of my sustenance, where are you? What shall your son do without you, sweet Father, my lover? Where do you rest? Tell me. Why are you now the companion of the earth, you who wished nothing earthly within you? Famagusta, Jerusalem, royal city, which holds a Prince of the Church no less than other cities, what have you done? Give me back my Father, Famagusta, the fame of my Father, the deeds of his virtues. But what mortal tongue could express how great a benefit his life was to the Church and the holy passage, and how great a destruction and desperation to the heretics? He was certainly beloved and dear to all Christians of the East in his life, and therefore it is permitted to each to weep at his departure.

[135] Therefore, lest my words be drawn out too long, let all grief cease, let sadness depart -- though we cannot reach He rejoices at the eternal glory conferred upon him, what we desire; which not only provides no remedy but increases the pain. For if we love our Father, let us rejoice in his joy. For he does not love who loves only for his own advantage. Therefore, although we grieve for the loss that has befallen us, let us rejoice together for the joys which he has received, as I piously believe. Let there be with us today, therefore, a cause of great joy. Let us sing to the Lord a new song. Let mother Church jubilate with sonorous voices. Today, as I piously believe, the pious Patriarch and Legate has obtained what he burned with such great desire. Today, having vanquished his enemies and the little thieves, he has obtained the triumph. Now he shall hunger no more, nor thirst any more, neither shall the sun fall upon him, nor any heat; the tear has been wiped from his eyes; and the reward for which he labored throughout his whole life, he obtains. Let us therefore be consoled; let us give glory to our God, for the works of God are perfect, and all his ways are judgments. For we were not worthy to enjoy so great a Father any longer, because our sins divided between him and us. Let us confess to the Lord and praise God our Savior, who did not abandon the holy Patriarch in the tribulations that surrounded him in the struggle of this most wretched life. But God became his helper and freed his body from perdition, from the snare of the wicked tongue and from the lips of those who work iniquity, and sublimely placed him on the way of peace and of his homeland, where is all joy, all sweetness, all that can be desired; where there is the happy and glorious refreshment of souls after labors and afflictions; where is the charity of all the citizens of heaven. For no one there is cheated of his desire, and death is far distant. But what Angel or man would be sufficient to narrate how great are the joys and glories that are there? What understanding would be fit to comprehend what eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man? Certainly if these joys, how great they are, be considered, all earthly things will appear better, all will appear more vile than dung. All the joy of the world is false and vain, and afterward most bitter and a heavy burden. This burden, indeed, the most holy Patriarch, laying it down, chose that best part which shall never be taken from him.

[136] Therefore, Eastern Catholics, and especially Cypriots, rejoice and exult He invites others to rejoice with him, and sing praises, for our Father the Legate now obtains the prize for which, in the arena of this world, abstaining from almost all unlawful things, he ran. Now he has received the denarius for which he labored with such great toil in the vineyard of Holy Church. Now he has returned his talent to the Lord doubled, for whose reward he has merited to enter into the joy of the Lord. For these things, rejoicing I shall rejoice, and I shall sing to my beloved Father a new song, that his praise may be in the Church of the Saints. Behold the cypress, planted in Cyprus, shows itself in the height of heaven; let his name be spread far to the islands and Western parts, that his memory may be forever in blessing. Let the false heretics, detractors, and enemies of the holy passage be ashamed. Certainly he is not dead, as his enemies suppose, but truly as a victor he reigns in the land of the living. Today let there be joy throughout the Christian people. Let holy Mother Church especially exult, whose glorious son and cultivator and champion of the field of the Catholic faith today shines like the sun among the hosts of the Blessed, with his most holy teachings and most resplendent signs and wonders. Farewell, therefore, my most beloved Father, ever making mention of us before God, that by your most pious intercession we may be able both to be protected in the present from all harms and to attain in the future the joys which you already possess. Amen.

APPENDIX TO THE LIFE OF S. PETER by an unknown Author.

Peter Thomas, Patriarch of Constantinople, of the Carmelite Order (S.)

BHL Number: 6779

By Philip Mézières, from manuscripts.

[1] A certain Brother of the Order of Friars Minor, named John, from Faenza, A certain man is freed from quinsy by his merits, Guardian of the Convent of Paphos, while the body of our blessed Father still lay unburied, was suddenly seized by a severe pain of quinsy, greatly afflicted in the throat, and unable to rest on account of it. Trusting in the merits of our Father, he came to the body and applied the right hand of the blessed man to his throat, and immediately obtained health by the grace of God.

[2] Brother Stephen, Provincial of the Holy Land of the Order of the Blessed Mother of God Mary of Carmel, Another is cleansed of an inveterate skin disease, having a deeply rooted and long-standing skin disease in his private parts, came to the place of our Father's burial, placed his hand upon the earth where the body of so great a man had been interred, then touching the place of his infirmity, he was healed. Many great things not contained here did God do and show to men, various benefits through the merits of our blessed Father. Wherefore blessed be the triune God and one. Amen.

[3] This Blessed Peter founded the University of Bologna, with others registered there, originally in his Faculty, namely in sacred Scripture or Theology. He establishes the Theological Faculty at Bologna. While in that city one night after Matins he was keeping vigil and earnestly praying to the Virgin Mary to stabilize his Order, marked with her title, with suitable persons, to foster it, and not to permit it to be destroyed -- for certain Religious were trying to procure this from the Supreme Pontiff. The Virgin Mary, Mother of God, appeared to him, consoling him and predicting that he should not fear about this, The Blessed Virgin promises him that the Carmelite Order will endure forever, because it was decreed before God that his Order would remain until the end of the world. For Elijah, the first Father of the Carmelites, when he was on Mount Tabor with her Son Jesus Christ, asked that his Order, which he had begun on Mount Carmel, should remain until his coming against the Antichrist; and this was promised to him. Having said this, the Virgin Mary immediately disappeared. His brother servant of the Order heard this, and early the next morning came to him, falling at his knees and asking that what he had heard be revealed to him. He told him everything, asking that he tell no one as long as he lived. And S. Peter, giving thanks to God and the Virgin Mary, celebrated a Mass of her, and on the second day one of the Transfiguration of the Lord, because the remembrance of his Order had then been made.

[4] On account of his very great holiness, he was first raised by the Lord Pope Innocent VI to the Bishopric of Patti in the kingdom of Sicily, around the year of the Lord 1348; afterward to the Bishopric of Corone; then to the Archbishopric of Crete; finally to the Patriarchate of Constantinople; and afterward and lastly to be Apostolic Legate for the passage to the Holy Land.