Procopius

ON ST. PROCOPIUS, ABBOT AND CONFESSOR, AT PRAGUE IN BOHEMIA.

IN THE YEAR 1053.

A PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Procopius, Abbot and Confessor, in Bohemia (S.)

BY THE AUTHOR J. P.

§ I. His sacred cult, relics, translation, the day of his annual festivity and death.

The glorious confessor of Christ and abbot Procopius, not a martyr (such as he is wrongly called by Menard in his Martyrology, on the Kalends of April), is thus announced by Greven: "In Bohemia, the feast of St. Procopius, abbot and confessor." His sacred cult, from the Martyrologies; With Greven agrees the Lübeck-Cologne edition on the same day, concerning which see the preface of the Usuardine Martyrology. Among the proper feasts of the archdiocese of Prague, the annual memory of St. Procopius is kept with the solemn rite of a double of the first class with an Octave, this proper prayer being added there: "Work in us, O eternal Savior, the full cure of thy power, that we who venerate the illustrious merits of Blessed Procopius, thy Confessor, aided by his suffrages, may be freed from all the languors of our souls." There follow proper lessons, which I do not think it worth the trouble to transcribe hither. The same lessons our Bohuslaus Balbinus inserted into his "Holy Bohemia."

[2] Moreover in the diocese of Olomouc St. Procopius is celebrated with a double rite. his celebrated memory in [the churches of Bohemia] His veneration is spread far and wide throughout the kingdom of Bohemia, so much indeed that the just-praised Balbinus wrote the following to the present purpose: "Many churches throughout Bohemia are called by the name of St. Procopius. Celebrated is [one] in the lesser city of Prague, which St. Procopius, appearing in sleep to the spouses Sulislaus and Dobromila in the year 1213, commanded to be dedicated in his name, affirming that from the threshold of his house Prague was named, and that this was the first house that stood at Prague. That house therefore the pious spouses converted into a church, and Daniel II, Bishop of Prague, consecrated [it], Přemysl Ottokar I the King with the nobles being present. His sacred body, lying hidden in the convent of Sázava, which then had few or no venerators, was in the year 1588, on the XXVIII of May, translated to Prague. Martin, Archbishop of Prague, laid [it] in a tomb in the collegiate church of All Saints in the castle of Prague, with solemn ceremonies, the Emperor Rudolf II being present with a most numerous crown of nobles. But already some centuries before, the metropolitan church of Prague had the solemn relics of St. Procopius: whence in its Martyrology we thus read: 'On the fourth Nones of July, the canonization of St. Procopius, abbot and confessor, patron of the kingdom of Bohemia, a man of wonderful holiness; whose arm is held in the church of Prague.'" Thus he.

[3] Our Crugerius, in the work which is entitled "Sacred Ashes," on the IV day of July, on the occasion of the canonization of St. Procopius, from which he takes his beginning in weaving the praises of that same Saint, thus speaks: "From that canonization he began to be more solemnly venerated in Bohemia, as the universal patron of the kingdom, as Patron; and his arm was then only delivered to the Cathedral church of Prague by the Benedictines, that, as by an august pledge, that church might be more closely bound to the whole world, and the kingdom more strongly defended by that member of defense." And these things indeed about the cult of St. Procopius. As to what concerns his relics and the venerable deposit of his body; his relics, and translation, we have already incidentally, as they say, touched some things on this subject by reason of the sacred cult. The aforesaid things can be somewhat illustrated from those which we subjoin from the aforesaid Crugerius. Having therefore spoken of the arm the few things which we cited, he thus then continues, in these words: "But the rest of the body remained at Sázava in the temple of the monastery, and went on to shine there with vast miracles. Of some Hagecus makes mention in his Chronicle, aided indeed by a most ancient Legend. But the hand of God abridged itself about these prodigies under the Hussite Zizka's disturbances, first on account of the heresy, then also on account of the barbarism, which upon this very church and its Benedictine inhabitants the heretical Bohemians exercised with sword and flame. Thence nevertheless for 160 years and more, the sacred body, though unhonored, continued its rest at Sázava: until Martin II the Archbishop judged that it should be raised from the old tomb, and Rudolf, the Emperor and King of the same number, ordered it to be translated to All Saints in the royal chapel. The first disturbance happened probably about the year of the Lord 1421. But the solemnity of the other translation the century just past saw toward its end."

[4] A little fragrant bone. The Reverend Father Joseph Dietrich, professed monk of the monastery of the Blessed Virgin of Einsiedeln among the people of Zurich, in a letter given in the month of October, in the year 1673, among other observations which he submitted for the Saints, thus makes mention of a particle of St. Procopius: "On the I of April

we celebrate the feast of St. Procopius, abbot, of the Order of St. Benedict, of whom Bucelin also treats, of whom we have a little bone of about one palm's length, which always breathes a supernatural most sweet odor, perceived only by those whose consciences a mortal sin does not accuse, which a long experience proved, and the confession of pilgrims making faith in this." We have in our possession, printed in the year 1679, a Catalogue of the holy Relics of Karlstein, which, sought out by Charles IV, father of the fatherland, with great zeal, and no less zeal of piety, and stored for two and more centuries in the royal castle of Karlstein, in the chapel of the Holy Cross, or of the royal crown, and at length in the year 1645, on the XX day of August, by the mandate of Ferdinand III of glorious memory translated to the holy Metropolitan church of Prague, are preserved in the chapel of St. Wenceslaus, at the high altar, in a chest of most elegant workmanship, in the order which is here expressed: there follow the relics each in its own order, and in a bone casket is recorded to be contained, besides other notable parts of other Saints, a notable part also of St. Procopius the abbot. In another class of the aforesaid catalogue mention is made of the arm of St. Procopius, whether of this our Procopius, or of another, I do not divine.

[5] But now let the discourse proceed to the miracles by which our Saint, The miracles wrought both living and dead, grew famous. For they are many in number, and excellent in dignity, as will be given to understand from the life, in which we shall afterward bring them forth one by one. Aptly Trithemius, book 3 on the Illustrious Men of the Order of St. Benedict, chapter 315, thus establishes: "Procopius, what and how great he was, he declared by the showing of many miracles, of which, O reader, you can be informed in his deeds." Besides these, I cull another miracle from Dubravius' book 7 of the Bohemian history, from which Mabillon also inserted it into the Benedictine Acts, 6th century, part 2, page 48: "Procopius therefore, recognizing that secrecy and the flight of men were sought by him in vain, made an end of hiding himself, and a little after, drawing the followers of his sect into fellowship, performed with them the sacred offices and the duty of vigils and prayers and fasts; although in his youth he could bear nothing more grievously than hunger. For which reason, the prior of Břevnov being once indignant, and doing this, that, Procopius being led off into the field, he should compel him to fast on account of the lack of food until the appointed hour, Procopius, hungry, a cornel tree being beheld, began to sigh from the inmost of his breast, and to complain of the winter, through which namely it came to pass that at that time he did not find cornel-berries ripe for eating. Suddenly at his sighs the tree put on both leaves and fruits, and turned upon itself the eyes of all by the novelty of the thing. But they marveled also at Procopius so eagerly falling upon the offered fruits. And from that time he was held more indulgently in continuing his fasts, until in the course of time and age he removed his ravenous appetite by counsel and reason, and thenceforth so cultivated abstinence, that he offered himself as an example of it to others. But not only surviving, but also sleeping in the tomb, he wrought many and illustrious miracles." But whence this miracle was received, I forbear to inquire, leaving its credit with the said author.

[6] Nor indeed are those things foreign to our purpose which, concerning the power of the body of Procopius, and wonderful matters; though absent and disjoined in place, the aforesaid Crugerius sprinkled into his "Sacred Ashes," when he narrates: "Even the sacred body being absent, the presence of the Procopian malediction the evil possessors of the domains of the monastery felt in palpable pains and misfortunes. There are," he says, "families noted in my papers, of which some incurred extreme poverty; some suffered detriments in sight; some left no offspring after them; more frequently some of these, their feet being broken by chance, could not walk. This most wonderful, that, after not so long ago someone did, as it seemed, enough, but not, so to say, most sufficiently to the matter, he was involved in a like misfortune."

[7] For the rest, to the canonization … the benefits conferred through him from heaven on the needy conduced very much, his patronage through which indeed it was established to those imploring, of how great power with God Procopius was as Patron and most solemn benefactor, and of how great efficacy in obtaining. Then, a few clauses being interposed, he thus continues: "Procopius himself showed himself … a heavenly helper about the year of the Lord 1260, especially when to the army of King Ottokar fighting in Hungary against the infinite multitude of the Cumans and Tartars, together with SS. Wenceslaus, Adelbert, and five Benedictine Martyrs, he appeared as a helper, and freed the Bohemian nation from probable destruction and slaughter. For we were perishing, too unequal in number; and although Ottokar generally led [us] as victor and triumphant, yet we should have fallen: the barbarians had exceeded nearly two hundred thousand, our men scarcely numbered 20 thousand."

[8] proved by victory, But this band of helpers brought from heaven, as is clear from the epinician victory-poem of Hagecus (all the intimated Heavenly ones were visible in the air), effected the slaughter especially of the barbarian Cumans, and of the Hungarians who had called them into their aid, and vast heaps of corpses. Of this vast assertion Dubravius and Hagecus, from Pulckawa, an almost contemporary, or not much distant author, are the assertors. And this very thing the Fathers of the Clementinum of the Society of Jesus expressed in elegant verse, when they magnificently applauded Ferdinand III, first crowned at Prague, the matter being taken from the Bohemian histories.

[9] attested, What, that Ottokar himself, King of Bohemia, to Alexander the Roman Pontiff, the fourth of this name, in the aforesaid year 1260, on the VIII day of October, gave from Prague a letter, by which he signifies the far most glorious victory, by the favor of the God of hosts, and also the aforementioned Patrons of the Bohemian kingdom saving them, obtained over enemies barbarous in savagery and almost innumerable in multitude. That letter Bohuslaus Balbinus, already adduced, inserted into his Bohemian Chronicles, and, translated into the Latin tongue, published, in volume 2, citing for it a manuscript Codex of the capitular church of Prague.

[10] and set forth. Add that in the same letter the said Ottokar sets forth an apparition or ecstasy, in which a noble and devout man, in every way worthy of faith, John the soldier, son of Swoislaus, when he lay sick in his own house, is reported to have seen the said patrons, and the victory, heaven favoring, brought, complete in all numbers and adjuncts, which can be seen in the place already assigned. His command over demons and magpies; That our Saint prevailed also with a wonderful command over the Stygian enemies, as also over magpies, Balbinus, often named, is the author: "The evil demons," he says, "he so kept in duty, that they were compelled to plow rocks, of which diabolical labor there survive even today traces in the rocks near his cave, and plowings, which I myself saw. This also is a wonder, that he bade the magpies, drowning out his prayer, to depart, nor ever more to appear in that neighborhood." Thus he, adducing no witness.

[11] his feast; Just as concerning the year in which our Saint exchanged this mortal life for the immortal, both the writers of Bohemian affairs and others who expressly handed down the deeds of Procopius agree well enough, agreeably to our manuscript, reporting that he departed from life either in the year of Christ 1053, or thereabouts; so concerning the day on which he was loosed from the frame of his body they disagree. The life in Surius and Mabillon marks it on the Kalends of April. Which Bucelin and Menard follow. In the compendium of the life in a manuscript from the codex of the Carthusian house of Cologne, which plainly agrees with the compendium of the monastery of St. Salvator of Utrecht, of which afterward, Procopius is said to have migrated to Christ on the VIII Ides of July. The same Bucelin declares him on the same day, on which, he says, by the people of Olomouc, on account of the notable translation of the sacred body, his festivity is solemnly celebrated. Menard treats of him also on the 2nd day of July, as one then enrolled in the sodality of the holy Confessors; whereas that this happened on the fourth Nones of July is sufficiently established from elsewhere. What more? The matter comes to this, that, as Mabillon testifies in the preliminary Observations to the life of Procopius, "On various days in various Martyrologies the festivity of Procopius is celebrated." Wrongly writes Gonon, a Celestine monk, in the Notes on the life and sentences of the Fathers of the West: "Of this Procopius the Roman Martyrology with Baronius treats on the Kalends of April," whereas not even a syllable is there found concerning St. Procopius.

[12] Now the question is about the day of death. Mabillon establishes that the author of the more prolix life seems to be preferred, the day of death not the 1st of April, with whom agree Menard and the other writers of the Benedictine fasti, and so he judges it more probable that he died on the Kalends of April, following the day of the life published by Surius; since, as the same author says, "it was not permitted him to have the life of Blessed Procopius from a manuscript codex, as it was anciently written," and, destitute of other aids, he was compelled to bring forth that which Surius, on the IV day of July, adopted, patched together from a manuscript codex partly from the annals of the Bohemians by Nicolaus Salius of Prague.

[13] But in our four manuscript copies, of which a little later, but the 25th of March. the day of the said death is marked on the VIII Kalends of April; led by whose faith, we think it more probable that this is the true and genuine day of death. And what if anciently in the copy which Mabillon said he followed, that day too was expressed, the VIII Kalends of April, which afterward, the number VIII being perhaps worn away, passed into the Kalends of April. The body of St. Procopius rests at Prague in the middle of the church of All Saints in the castle, his tomb being raised, and strewn with a precious red cloth. Above is extended a wooden structure, leaning on many little columns, statues being disposed through the intercolumniations. And in the first place indeed after the altar, that is, in the sight of the celebrant, is the statue of St. Procopius; then of SS. Vitus, Norbert, Ludmilla, Sigismund, John Nepomucene, Adalbert, and Wenceslaus, as our Janning noted in writing, who saw these things, being at Prague.

§ II. The copy which we here give; compendiums of the life published by others; our manuscripts here suppressed.

The Prague manuscript is to be produced by us in the first place, excerpted by Master Johann Scholtz from a codex whose title is "Sermons on the Saints," On the Prague manuscript, and also collated with the autograph itself, transmitted in the year 1642 to our museum. It has reason why it should be commended for its antiquity: than which perhaps you could bring forth no other more ancient. Inasmuch as it was composed by a Writer contemporary with the Saint. That he lived together with the Saint is gathered not only from the prologue prefixed to the life presently to be given—not, as sometimes happens, added afterward by another hand, but even woven by the Author himself, in which the Author, having captured the benevolence of Bishop Severus, whom he addresses, commits to him to be corrected whatever he shall say of the life and morals of St. Procopius. He is handed down by Bohuslaus Balbinus, in the second part of the Miscellanies, decade 1, book VI, part 2, on the Bishops of Prague, to have sat 38 years, [and] died in the year 1067, on the XII of December, or, according to Pessina's reckoning, the IX; whom also our Life records to have performed the exequies for our Saint, chapter 3. The same Severus is adorned with the title of a most holy man by the said

Balbinus, who also described his deeds. But, to return to our manuscript, it is the offspring not of one writer. For that to the life, written continuously by the contemporary Author up to the narration of the Saint's death, as I think, some things were added from elsewhere which happened at a later time, is manifestly gathered from the history of the canonization, performed about 150 years after the Saint's death, as is narrated in the Life, chapter 4.

[15] the compendiums of the life, Of the copies of the life these things occur. In the first edition of Surius I read nothing on this day about St. Procopius. A compendium of the life, partly from the Annals of the Bohemians, partly from an ancient manuscript, Mosander inserted into the collection of the Saints, whence it passed to the third edition of Surius; and then to Mabillon in the Benedictine Acts, 6th century, part 2, page 42. If you compare the said compendiums of the life with the life presently to be given by us, you will find tokens whence you may judge that all reek of one source. The style differs; which, as ought to be the case in compendiums, in Mosander is more contracted than in our manuscript; whose Authors, as Mabillon reports in the preliminary Observations to the life of St. Procopius, "would have better consulted the interest of letters in this matter, if they had commended it to posterity as it was held in the codex." The narration of the miracles wrought after the Saint's death is briefer and more contracted in Surius; in our manuscript there is greater length and simplicity; in which Surius besides some things are passed over; namely the Prologue of the Author; the sight restored to a blind woman; the exequies of the holy Abbot celebrated by Severus, as was said above; the sacristan roused from sleep and reminded of his office.

[16] our manuscripts; A copy, besides that which we shall give, we have another, comprising an epitome of the life, copied from a Blaubeuren manuscript on parchment in royal folio, the tenth volume of the Passional of the Saints, and diligently collated by Johann Gamans in 1648, as the same Gamans wrote on the said copy. With this agrees very much another copy, from a Prague manuscript, designated by the same Johann Gamans, which the Reverend Father Johann Baptist van Hollandt, moderator of the secrets of conscience of the most serene Archduke Leopold, formerly Governor of the Belgians for the Catholic King, took care to have described; sent on the 19th day of July 1642 by Master Johann Scholtz; which in the wrapper of the copy is indicated to exist in the Blaubeuren manuscript. Finally there is at hand also a copy from the Utrecht manuscript of the Monastery of St. Salvator, which, as I said, agrees with the compendium published by Mabillon. It will suffice here to have committed to print one copy of the life of the uncertain Author, of whom in number 14, translated by the same, as he says in his preface to the reader, from the Slavonic idiom into Latin; which whoever knows, knows all the others, here suppressed by us; so little or nothing do they contain which is not contained in our said copy.

[17] and its proper Antiphons. From a Leaf of an old impression, distributed into lessons for the canonical hours, I excerpt the proper antiphons at the Magnificat: "Holy Confessor and our Patron Procopius, for whose merits we glorify God, may we feel you interceding with him for us." Another has thus: "O Procopius, glorious Confessor of Christ, precious Patron of the Bohemians, by your holy prayers, we ask, blot out our sins." The mentioned printed copy comprises besides the history of the canonization, divided into five lessons, from whose collation with our copy some things in it have been corrected; which nevertheless that same said printed copy wrongly places the canonization as having happened in the year one thousand two hundred, on the Nones of July; for which read, with the Life presently to be given, 1204, on the IV Nones of July.

LIFE

By an anonymous contemporary Author, from a Prague manuscript.

Procopius, Abbot and Confessor, in Bohemia (S.)

BHL Number: 6952

FROM A MANUSCRIPT

PROLOGUE.

To his Lord, the most holy Severus, by the grace of the highest Maker, most fitting Pontiff of the holy church of Prague according to the habit of each part of man, The Author, conscious of his slenderness his holiness's servant, though useless, prays so to act in the present, that he may be able to obtain, enrolled among the Saints, the future beatitude. While with the keener speculation of my mind I gaze upon the excellence of your holy dignity, and the unworthiness and rusticity of my person, I less dare to rise up to presume upon your pious kindness, most holy of Prelates. Since I judge it worthy and safe that my littleness ought to keep itself within its measure, and not thrust my triflingness or presumptuous folly, by word or writing, upon a Lord of such notable reverence. But because the force of necessity is constrained by so great a law, that it generally commands even difficult and impossible things; by these, indeed, reason dictating, I too am compelled to go out of myself above myself, while so tiny a manikin, and so contemptible a person, I try to set forth to the excellence of your holiness the business of my littleness.

[2] Compelled indeed by the frequent petition of the brethren, he submits this life to the censure of the Bishop, I have judged it worthy to present to your serenity the history of the life and compassion of the blessed Father Procopius, woven in a literal series, although I knew this to exceed my strength, weighing that it would be just and cautious that I should presume nothing in this work from my littleness which is not first supported and strengthened by your authority. Or also for this reason, because the life of that same Father was no less known to you, who in the time of your holy prelacy happily led the course of the present life, and more happily and praiseworthily, the divine clemency favoring, consummated [it], at whose burial exequies you were pleased to be present in your own person, to exhibit the office of pious humanity and the commendation of his soul to his Lord.

[3] Humbly therefore and confidently I beseech, that you cause the text of that same little work—altogether for ecclesiastical use, and necessary nowhere else but only in our convent—to be recited before you. to be read at least in a particular convent, And if anywhere, which is wont easily to happen to the unskilled, I have exceeded the line of rectitude either in the matter or in the composition; I earnestly beg that it may be corrected by the censure of your dignity, and commended to our Congregation, by the grace of your authority, to be kept forever. Therefore, bound both by the debt of obedience and by the bond of fraternal charity, nay supported by the patronage of your holiness and kindness, to the praise and glory of the name of Christ, to commend the memory of so wonderful a man to all the sons of the holy Church of God wishing to know the merit of his life, I have taken this beginning of the whole matter.

[4] to the praise of God. Let all our assembly of monks sing praise, let the rude sing, let the old sing with concordant jubilation, let all who are at leisure render thanks to Jesus Christ; O good Jesus, pious Christ, we ask, protect us. Increase the light of our sense, perfect our understanding, we can never do anything without you through them ourselves, grant [us] to propagate the life of father Procopius, may glory be to you through the discourse of the aforesaid; equal to the Father with the Spirit be praise and illustrious piety, honor, salvation, perpetual honor, virtue of every kind, now and always and everywhere pious benediction. At all hours and moments thanksgiving be to thee, who deignest to save us through all ages.

THE ANCIENT TITLES.

CHAPTER I.

The etymology of the name of Procopius; an address to the reader; the Saint's birth; his education, canonry, virtues; water changed into wine; a monastery built.

A proem on the etymology of the name. Procopius is so called, as it were "pious suitor" procus pius ^a, in literal speech, as in what follows appears through the effect of the deed done. For by the piety of his charity he was a pious suitor, by the speech of truth bearing zeal for souls on account of him whom he loved. Likewise from the Slavonic name he changes the exposition of his name, because in Latin he is called "digging through." For this too agrees also with his deeds, when he furrowed the dragons, digging the secrets of the heart, in which whatever of good work he could sow, the hearts humbly beg to be watered with the dew of the Holy Spirit, that the fruit of the seed might sprout for posterity, at last so coming to pass, that he could incline the divine aid to his own and all men's aid, and thus through the increments and moments of days, he may avail to confirm the increment of faith by his examples both in himself and in others; which now appears, and will appear, to those following the way of justice, and from now to those living through his followers: he digs the hard fields, when the hard hearts are roused by the zeal of the charity of the divine clemency, and thither the sound, the weak, the old, the young, and virgins flow together. Nor is there an end or number to those running to the tomb, as they run today, coming to the same, that they may be able to rise, now inveterate, from the disease of the evil seed vitiated; through which appears the exposition of the aforenoted name, because he first touched the hard hearts of the moderns, breaks them without a wound of pain, fixed and transfixed them, that by the aid of the divine clemency all may thus be cured, lest by the assault of the demon they be vitiated in any part of themselves.

[6] Blessed be the pious predestination of the sacrosanct Trinity and undivided unity, A prologue to the readers. governing the threefold frame of things, which crowns not the respect of persons, but the devotion of good will, out of all the tribes and tongues namely of the tripartite world, making the unity of the body of the holy mother Church, by whose grace dictating and granting, in what manner in the life of the body, agonizing in the armor of God in Christ, the blessed Abbot Procopius persevered, and how excellently his end agreed with his beginning, though in an altogether unskilled style, yet as the Author and Fount of light deigns to inspire, I shall in order deliver to the contemplation of the faithful. But I earnestly beg that no one, if he shall have detected any scrupulosity of incongruous lettering, impute it to my lack of learning and rashness, or be disgusted, but rather condescend by pardoning, although indeed the style is simple and in every part null in the prerogatives of the literary art; yet, God the all-knowing being witness, it is a truthful history, translated from Slavonic letters into Latinity; whose matter I succinctly undertake to explain.

O happy one, rejoice, holy Procopius our Patron, Thy virtue merited the immortal ornament of life. Enclosed thou goest forth, thou guardest the brethren and the cloister. Kindly Abbot, go to the place where the Lord places them. Be now and ever mindful of them [as] present, Praying for all thine, O kindly patron ^b.

[7] Blessed Procopius, a Bohemian by nation, of freeborn parents, and, as that most wise Solomon wishes for himself, St. Procopius's birth, parents suffering neither riches nor poverty, but living moderately and rightly and loving God, was begotten. Whose origin is from a certain territory, whose name commonly is Chotim. Who indeed from the very rudiments of infancy, thirsting for God, the fount of life, and despising all fleeting things, began to be eminent by the great prerogative of his merits, [and] sagaciously studied to shine with many virtues. For he then began to converse among his contemporaries, to have the fear of God, to render honor to his parents, to decline wantonness, and, as far as was possible for such an age still in the body, to show outwardly by movement, gesture, gait, such a disposition as was formed within in his mind by the dispensation of God.

[8] his instruction in letters, canonry, virtues, But the parents of this illustrious boy, seeing so great a grace of God glow in him, committed him in the castle of Vyšehrad to a Master of the liberal letters for study, that by their instruction he might be taught in the heavenly disciplines, where at that time a famous study of the Slavonic language flourished. And there he daily plucked the excellent fruits of the masters' theory, since

the words which he read in the sacred codices he presently, with God's aid, turned into works. By this therefore so praiseworthy conduct, the Canons of the aforesaid city, seeing blessed Procopius to walk thus, chose him, though refusing from excessive humility, as canon in the church of St. Peter the Prince of the Apostles, and ordained [him]. Then, constituted in the aforesaid office, how great perfection he showed in himself, it is long to narrate one by one. For he did not, like the other canons, seek his own advantage, but did not withdraw from the church day and night. Now he touched the summit of that ladder of Jacob, ascending by the steps of the virtues, when he had come gradually even to the dignity of the priesthood. But ordained a priest, how he humbled himself, and how praiseworthily he ruled himself, how honorable his life was, we think must be told by no mouth.

[9] his priesthood, For all the other priests thought this man not a canon, but a monk; for now he imitated the Lord, now he heard the Savior with the ear of his heart, saying to him: "Go, sell all that you have, and give to the poor, and come, follow me." Meanwhile it came into his mind how, leaving the world, and the things which are of the world, he might freely be at leisure for God; a divine revelation admonished his purpose, that he should take up the habit of the monastic conduct. And now confirming his purpose, taking up the order of St. Benedict from a certain religious monk, and diligently instructed by him, he withdrew to his own province, not that he wished to see his parents, but that, seeking a more secret place of the desert, he might expeditely love God, and securely escape the snares of Satan.

[10] the solitary life. He sought many places of the desert suitable for monks; at length he came to a certain cave which a thousand demons had beset; which the happy father inhabited for some time, and there, obstacles of virtues being constructed by which he could defend himself, against the dogs of vices, and the assault of spiritual wickednesses and suggestions, dashing his arrows against the rock, which is Christ, by prayers, vigils, fasts, he began manfully to fight. The aforesaid cave indeed is distant two leagues from the castle of Kurzim [*], which took its name from the river flowing there beneath, called Sázava. Where, while he himself, free from the shipwreck of secular tumult, and hidden from men, for a long time untiring agonized for God, the pious disposition of the Godhead willed that a city set on a mountain could not be hidden, and a lamp under a bushel could by no means lie concealed.

[11] By a wonderful chance For the Highest Maker and beholder of all secrets granted Duke Ulric so to perceive the light of this lamp. For while for the sake of hunting he had gone up into these highlands, it happened that he, from excessive fatigue of labor, left his followers together with the hunters and dogs, and at that same moment a stag met him, which on that same day he had nowhere seen. Whom, while, animated by the agility of his body and his horse, seeking the utmost, he pursues, they came to the place in which now the happy memory of the blessed Man is celebrated. In which place the Man of God, while after prayer he was at leisure for the work of his hands, and was cutting the branches of one oak for necessity, behind his back the stag, being outrun, leaped, and turned its face against the face of the prince who pursued it; and its feet being composed, placed itself behind the holy Father. Which being a wonder, immediately the Duke, astonished, feeling a revelation of divine grace, letting go the bow which he had drawn, his cloak being laid aside, prostrate on the ground, inquired who and what Procopius was.

[12] But the holy Father, as he was pious, in the manner of a dove, he is destined for the monastic government. with gentle and humble speech, thus answered the Prince: "I am unworthy and a sinner, yet a servant of God, warring under the rule of St. Benedict." Who immediately compunct, asked that the counsel of saving confession and penance be given him, with great sobs and sighs. Which being performed, deliberating with himself, he asks the pious father and modest provider of his salvation, that he would gather together for him brethren of that same religion. At which petition the holy Father, remaining under silence, asked that the divine aid be present to him, that he might fulfill the prince's purpose. Nor is there delay, but he who from excessive heat was somewhat parched, asks, to temper his thirst, that a supply of some drink be ministered to him by the blessed Man for the tempering of his thirst.

[13] Who, finding nothing else which he might more opportunely minister to him than this water which he kept for his own uses, ministers [it] in a small vessel. Water changed into wine, But in a wonderful manner, the sign of the cross being made, the liquid of the water changed itself into the likeness of most noble wine. What wonder? it is recognized to be by the benefit of him who at Cana of Galilee showed this by his power in the first of his signs. But the Duke, stupefied there at what he had seen with his eyes and proved by taste, offering himself wholly to God, promised to obey the counsel of the blessed Man for all his sins. Nor is there delay. The holy Man gives the form, that a church should be founded in honor of God and our Lord Jesus Christ, and of his Mother the Virgin Mary and all the Saints, under the title of blessed John the Baptist, [and] that a fellowship of brethren should be gathered, [and] a daily sustenance ministered.

[14] Who, obedient to the admonitions and counsel of the pious Father, returning to his own, he obtains the foundation of a monastery, of which he becomes abbot; supported also by the counsel of his nobles, founded the church, gathered the fellowship of brethren, endowed the church with his own goods; ordained the blessed man Procopius, protector and rector of this house, as Abbot. But this ordination was made after the childbearing of the glorious Virgin in the year of the Lord 1009, in the times of Henry the second, the Emperor, who after Otto the third governed the kingdom of the Romans; in the year following that in which blessed Stephen, King of Hungary, grew famous, under the aforesaid Duke of the Bohemians Ulric.

[15] And so, the heavenly grace dictating, the fame of the virtues of the blessed man Procopius grew so far and wide through all the crossways, he shines with virtues; running about with manifold report, that at his reputation the men of that same province by troops offered gifts, and devoutly commended themselves to his prayers. Who, full of the ardor of charity, piously endowed with hospitality, decently adorned with holy prudence, pure in chastity, provident with the modesty of humility, illustrious in temperance, full of the moisture of zeal and faith, who by the discourse of holy preaching watered the breasts of his hearers, as a seasonable shower poured at the opportune time, and by the plowshare of his doctrine most usefully reformed minds. Finally he received the poor with so great a largess of piety divinely inborn in him, and ministered to them with so prompt and glad solicitude of service, as if Christ were most manifestly present, that all the beggars and mendicants of the territory were fed by his industry. Indeed a multitude of the faithful hastened to him, having in the desire of their mind to renounce the letters affairs of the world, [and] to remain with him to the very end; which, kindly embracing, he cherished, as a hen cherishes her chicks under her wings.

[16] He founds a basilica and monastery. He built therefore a basilica in honor of the holy Mother of God Mary and St. John the Baptist, and gathered to himself certain brethren, religious in life and morals. Who spiritually agreeing, he established that the monastic governance and the divine mysteries should be performed with unanimous charity, according to the exemplar of the kindly father Benedict. But he himself was made the least among the least, of whom how prudent and effective was the diligence of his mind, and his industry and solicitude, and how pious the affluence of charity toward the brethren, must be told by no mouth; which was done not without the grace of the gift of God, who is wonderful and glorious in his Saints; who was unwilling that this man, loving him, [and] loving men diligently, should be unknown, by the working of miracles.

ANNOTATIONS.

* otherwise Kurym.

* otherwise "other men."

* perhaps "gains"?

CHAPTER II.

Other miracles of St. Procopius; the death of Duke Ulric; the vainglory of a monk punished by Procopius.

A boat miraculously At the time therefore in which, by the Roman custom, between Easter and Pentecost, by an authoritative rite, the litany is celebrated with a three-day fast, a certain man, Memio [*] by name, with ardent desire of mind wishing to be present at the prayer of his procession, came to the shore of the above-named river. When he was long awaiting, and by chance there was no one who might carry [him] across to the cell of the holy Man, and a boat was nowhere present, the holy Father meanwhile began seasonably, according to custom, to perform the mysteries of the sacred procession.

[18] drawn to the other part of the river; But he, beholding the boat to be held on the other bank of the river, drew out the deep sighs of his heart, [and] with this compunctionate voice cried to God, saying: "God, who through thy elect Procopius workest many great deeds of virtues, by thy holy effects, by whose munificence he excellently kindles us sinners to great devotion of faith, through his prayers also make the boat come from the other side, that I may deserve to be made a partaker of the prayer of his desired procession, to the praise and glory of thy name." When he had said these things, suddenly, with a flying rush, the boat, the pole to which it was fixed following, came to him, who, carried across, took part in the desired procession. Who when he had reported [it] to the holy Father in thanksgiving in due order, he answered him: "Do not think that on account of me, unworthy, but on account of the devotion of your faith, the piety of the Godhead did these things; for he himself says: If you have faith like a grain of mustard, all things shall be possible to you. This therefore the admirable power of God, that the firmness of your faith might remain unshaken, showed a miracle, who is blessed and glorious forever and ever. Amen."

[19] A certain man was disturbed by so great a fury of an unclean spirit, freed from an unclean spirit, that he was scarcely restrained by the strongest men, [and] with great and disturbed outcries hugely raved, crying out. Who, while, bound by the care of his dear ones, he was led near to the holy Father, that by his prayers of intercession he might be saved, the demon cried out, saying: "What injury do I do you, Procopius, and why do you cast me out?" And saying these things, he vexed the man sharply, whom the blessed Father, a fast of penance being enjoined, committed to one of the brethren. Who, while he more attentively insisted on prayer and adjuration, afflicted himself for him, sleepless, with fasts and prayers. And so the week being completed, when the holy Father himself completed the exorcism over him according to custom, the unclean spirit was seen forthwith to fly out of his mouth in the likeness of a most black little bird, and to settle upon the roof of the church; whence, he persevering in prayer, it is said to have fallen to the ground, and as it were burst piecemeal into four parts. But from then, the grace of Almighty God supporting, in that man the domination of the demon had place never again in the whole course of his life.

[20] The presence of that Man of God the demons could not bear. demons put to flight There were heard also on a certain day demons crying out in the cave, and with a querulous voice saying: "Woe, woe! Why does this iniquitous and impious man dwell over this cave, full of envy? Now we cannot endure his sorceries, but, the Mylobus companions being taken, let us depart into the secret of the desert

of Lobec [*], where this accursed man will never be able to disturb us, who does not permit us to dwell here further." Which voices when the holy Father heard, immediately, armed with the sign of faith, he approached the place whence these voices were heard, and with a huge noise and most violent outcry drove them thence, lest the course of his devotion should be hindered. Perhaps we who write these things will be reproached, by someone saying: "Because this song raves presumptuously and rashly"; which God forbid; because we shall also discourse, according to our strength, of greater great deeds to the praise of God in what follows, if God grant.

[21] Many indeed of the inhabitants of the neighboring villages were accustomed to come frequently to him, The blindness of the eyes healed. and to obtain aids for their languors, whom he himself, following the Master of humility, threatened one by one that a report of this kind should not, while he lived, be divulged. There came also to him a certain little woman, whose sight the mist of long blindness had infected, asking his suffrages; whose eyes, when, a prayer being poured out to God, he sealed with the sign of the holy Cross, she at once received the pledge of light. No one indeed ought to doubt of the said virtues of the holy Man, whose compassion [*] was in truth such, that he deservedly ought to be distinguished with virtues.

[22] The Duke of Bohemia having died About these times Ulric, Duke of Bohemia, of whom we made mention above, migrated from this world, nor had he to the full, as he had promised the holy father Procopius, endowed his monastery, nor did that place yet excel in the investiture of an Abbacy; because the brethren with that same holy Father lived partly eremitically, partly cenobitically; after whose death his son Bretislaus [*] took up the government of the Duchy of Bohemia, and desiring in all things to obey the precepts of his father, when he heard to the full, from the report of certain worthy men, of the fame of the holiness of blessed Procopius, and of his father's promise which he had had with that same venerable Man; he rejoiced with immense dancing, beyond what can be believed, with his nobles; to whose prayers he gratefully commended himself, whom thereafter the aforesaid same Duke and the chief men of the court appointed to their own use to call Father, whom also they decently strove to love with paternal veneration.

[23] his son striving Whence the same Duke magnanimously, with the ingenuity of his satraps, a perspicacious and prudent counsel of discretion being entered upon, decreed that he ought to be promoted to the investiture of the abbacy, decently adapting certain things necessary for cenobitic use, promising certain things, which nevertheless he decently fulfilled. But he, greatly fearing to prefer himself to the rest, with the highest advantage of meekness and humility altogether refused, asserting himself an unskilled and unworthy man, by no means able to bestow the work of obedience on those subject to him, proposing God, who alone is the knower of all secrets, as the witness of his inmost inspection, who nevertheless, overcome by every temperament of prayers, and every admonition of love and affability of the nobles, is violently ordained Abbot in the church of Prague, by Severus the Bishop, upon whom afterward the grace of the Holy Spirit most fittingly rested.

[24] He then, founded upon a firm solitude [*] of virtues, Procopius becomes abbot. stabilized also by the constant excellence of humility and charity, was so cheerful and continent in the affection of benevolence, that he was held by his subjects rather for love than for fear, to whom, both publicly and one by one, he did not cease to minister saving admonitions, and many dogmas seasoned with the examples of the ancients. In his time indeed there was no lack of the abundance of all things, who nevertheless was sustained by the exercise of the labors of his hands, and refreshed the want of the poor, and, bearing the care of all set in sadness, refreshed them, as a prudent physician the sick with an antidote, with paternal solace; who therefore, while he led so blessed and illustrious a life, shone with the signs of virtues in the temple of God like the sun, even to the consummation of his life. Nay even, by the instruction of the Holy Spirit, he grew famous by the mystery of prophecy.

[25] A brother, desirous of vainglory, We have thought it worthy to insert into this work also, that the same holy Father, altogether fleeing the favor of popular praise, stopped his ears to the glorifications of the human voice, who, repressing the occasion to those flattering or praising both present and to come, offered a most magnificent example. There was indeed a definition, established by the customary institution among the brethren, of that same holy Father, that on every said festivity, as also now in that same place is established, after Prime, in the lay manner, one of the brethren should celebrate the solemnities of the Masses, that seasonably everyone might return to his own.

[26] One of the congregation, solemnizing the insignia of the Masses on a certain day, acted worthily, but by the outcry of his singing and the pronunciation of his reading, alas! badly, which he ought not to have done (O grief!) vaunted himself, and obtained from the people the extolling of praises; who would say that he had sung Mass like one of the Angels. Which matter, after it touched the ears of the holy Father, the same holy Father was constrained, because so great an elation of the unlawful praiseworthiness of mortals so tempted his brother, to hold him captive, deprived of his reward.

[27] Whence forthwith, the brethren being gathered into one, he severely chastises [him.] the blessed Abbot adjudges the fault of that brother, prayer being more readily mingled in, to be washed away by public discipline in the assembly of the brethren, and by regular vengeance, whom he convicted with such rebuke, saying: "We grieve, O dearest brother, because through yourself you lose the fruit of your reward of the divine office acquired, affected by popular praise; nay you cause your soul to incur harm through this. For against the discipline of our rule, you are found contumacious and a transgressor of the commands of God, and by this it is forbidden by the Lord, and you are guilty of no light fault, to be delighted by human praise, when you sang like every [*] Angel. Be silent therefore, prostrate, receive the scourges of the rods, that the bitterness of the blows may repress the boasting of worldly praise, which every Angel will cut off from you."

[28] For indeed they do not ever escape the vice of idolatry, He grows famous by signs. who from the divine office seek the unlawful appetite of human praise. For when we pray in secret to our Lord, the searcher of hearts, not of voices, it profits us to open our petitions to him only by the intention of the heart and the devotion of the mind; for thus we shall be able to fulfill his precept: "From her who sleeps in thy bosom keep the doors of thy mouth." But these and very many other miracles growing famous, by the merits of the blessed man Procopius many sick, blind, lame, dumb, possessed by demons, captives, through divine aid and his prayers were freed, and restored to their former functions. Who therefore, while he led so blessed and illustrious a life by the signs of virtues, shone in the temple of God like the sun, even to the consummation of his life. Nay even, by the instinct of the Holy Spirit, he grew famous by the spirit of prophecy, a foreteller of things to come.

[29] In the year therefore of the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ 1053, A forerunner of his death and of impending evils, two days before indeed, he foreknew, the grace of the Godhead revealing [it], the term of his dissolution. Who, his nephew Vitus of good quality, and his son of pious disposition Emerannius being summoned, set forth to them in order the future things (as also the event afterward proved the matter), with sobs, with such volubility of speech saying: "My dearest little sons, whom I have raised as a hen raises chicks, consider, that the time of my dissolution is at hand. On the third day most certainly, the Lord granting, I shall migrate from the tabernacle of this flesh, commending you to God. But to your circumspection I make known, that after my departure you shall be shaken by the impetuous variety of wave-wandering detractions, and by the pestilent shipwreck of persecutions, and shall be made exiles for six years in a foreign land, and this place shall by the authoritative hand of the Duke be delivered to the power of strangers.

[30] and having consoled his own, But you, most beloved little sons, do not therefore make shipwreck of the faith, confirm your brethren, expeditely praise God, in prosperity bless, in adversity supplicate, in glad events give thanks, in sad ones rest; by the munificence of whose piety you shall at last be consoled. For, six years being revolved, having mercy on your exile, he will repair to you the state of tranquillity, and will deservedly render retaliation to your detractors, and will lead you back to the port of consolation. For, the present pious Prince Bretislaus being dead, there will succeed Spitigneus, who will persecute you, at whose death Wratislaus will take up the government of the principate of Bohemia, an honored man. He will lead you back from exile, and our Lord Jesus Christ will give you in this place peace and security all the days of your life." On the following day therefore there entered to him a certain mendicant, whose want he had for a week kindly refreshed in the usual manner, obtaining leave to depart into his own country.

[31] he departs from life. To whom the holy Father, since he had nothing which he might give him under the pretext of charity, said to him with cheerful countenance: "Do not be irked, I beseech, to delay, because the day of the Lord which I await will come tomorrow, and after my death my tunic will be given you." The next day therefore passing, when, the canonical evening synaxis and Compline being finished, he sat on his little bed, he was seized by a vehement infirmity, who, set in the moment of death, although he drew his last breath, yet did not cease to hurl darts at the ancient enemy with the sword of prayer, his arm being manfully extended. He bids the brethren be present forthwith, whom, turned to the affliction of sorrow and inconsolable weeping, he strengthens by the paternal instruction of consolation, and admonishing them concerning his body, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1053, on the eighth Kalends of April, he migrated from the shipwreck of this world to the Lord, from service to the kingdom, from labor to rest, from death to eternal life, our Lord Jesus Christ working it, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit in the perfect Trinity lives and is glorified, one God through the infinite ages of ages. Amen.

* Mabillon reads Memnon.

* otherwise Lobek.

* otherwise "conduct" conversatio.

* otherwise Wratislaus.

* otherwise "solidity" soliditate.

* "one" unus.

* otherwise "will render according to their merits."

* otherwise Wratislaus.

CHAPTER III.

The death of St. Procopius, his exequies, an epileptic healed; a prophecy fulfilled; one falsely accused snatched from peril, a woman freed from infirmity.

For whose blessed body Severus, Bishop of Prague, [Exequies; an epileptic, clad in the Saint's tunic, is healed, as also a blind man.] celebrated the exequies with great devotion, committing his most holy body to the earth. In whose sight an epileptic there present, as soon as he was clad in his tunic, was forthwith also healed. At that same hour also a certain blind man, Palpo by name, asked that the light be restored to his eyes, by the merits of the most blessed Father; and immediately, in the presence of all standing there, he received the light. Blessed therefore be God, who thus confers on his own, after the palm of victory, glory and honor, crowning them with a golden crown in the kingdom of his glory.

[33] Now therefore we think it worth the trouble, by treating with soft and compendious wordiness, to cherish the miracles of that same holy Father, The prophecy fulfilled and by a truthful report charitably to hand them down to the memory of the faithful, which miracles deigned to make wonderful the magnificence of our Lord through his merits after his death. After the departure therefore of the most blessed father Procopius, the concordant society of the brethren, of its own will, chose from the congregation Vitus his nephew, who, chosen without guile, without venality, was ordained, a man fit in human and divine affairs, an enemy of this world, illustriously well-mannered, wakeful in wisdom, reverend in countenance, affable in speech, placable in gentleness. He expeditely abiding in the abbacy, Duke Bretislaus bade his last farewell to the world, in whose place Spitigneus took up the governance of the monarchy. At which time the order of the prophecy of the holy father Procopius is fulfilled.

For, the zeal of the devil instigating, many rivals, of St. Procopius conspiring in the venomous fictions of detractions, began to build up snares of cavillings in the court of the Duke against Vitus the Abbot and his brethren, and, beating upon the ears of the Prince with favorably composed lies, published them with manifold reproaches, saying namely that through the Slavonic letters they were ensnared in the sect of heresy and manifest hypocrisy, and altogether perverse. Wherefore, they being ejected, in their place they constantly affirmed it to be honorable to constitute an Abbot and brethren of Latin authority. O the inextricable zeal of the envy of malice! O detestable envy, malice of every kind conglobed, inextinguishable fire! But truly as a garment is consumed by the moth, so he who is jealous of it; but him whom he envies, he renders more illustrious.

[35] Vitus therefore the Abbot, his brethren being taken, the prophecy whom the unity of charity had made concordant, set out abroad into the land of the Huns. But the said Duke, using the counsel-decision of himself and his Franks, constituted in that place an Abbot of German race, a man full of trembling indignation. Where, on the first night of his coming, going according to custom to the matin synaxis, when he drew near to the doors of the church, the holy man Procopius appeared, leaning within the door of the oratory and saying to him: "Whence have you the power of dwelling here? What do you seek?" And he: "The authoritative majesty of the Duke," he said, "and the unshaken loftiness of his chief men, delivered the government of my power, this convent, to the end of my life." To whom the holy Father said: "Most swiftly, without the shame of confusion, depart; which if you do not, vengeance will come divinely upon you," and saying these things, he vanished. But he, judging these to be delusions of Satan, altogether made light of them. But the holy Father, fulfilling the evangelical precept, appeared to that same Abbot with his brethren, a threefold admonition being premised, on the fourth night to him going to the matin service, the holy Man, saying: "Why have you refused to obey my friendly admonitions? For my spiritual sons I obtained this place from the Lord, not for you, who have entered by supplanting, and if by your Lord the Duke this power has hitherto been held by you, let it now be forbidden by me." And saying these things, impetuously with most violent blows with the pastoral staff which he carried in his hand, he began to strike him. Who presently, as if struck by a stake [*] or by the frenzy of Bellona, without delay changed his place, and with flying course came to the Duke of the land, and disclosed to him the whole event of the matter. But he, astonished by the vehement admonition, began to waver, and, ensnared by the snare of ambiguity, so remained to the end of his life.

[37] and the return from exile. Duke Spitigneus therefore being dead, the Lord divinely delivered the government of the duchy to his faithful servant Wratislaus of memorable title. Who, since he singularly loved the divine cult, loved also this place with all the affection of his heart. Who, legates being sent to the king of the Huns, brought back from exile Vitus the abbot, and his brethren, with honor, and decently restored them in their place. To whom, by the merits and prayers of the holy patron Procopius, the propitious consolation of Almighty God was present, which dedicated that place—moist and overflowing with the advances of all things—into its former, nay into an ampler honor.

[38] A certain man falsely accused, It pleased therefore still to make known a miracle to the contemplative memory of the faithful. A certain one therefore of the retinue of the said Duke, Labessa by name, was altogether accused before his Lord by iniquitous detractions, who, secretly fleeing the condemnation of the public function, with rolling course came to the bank of the river Sázava. He, while, fearing his pursuers, he could not flee elsewhere, and by the difficulty of the inundation of the swollen water of the river could by no means come to the cell of the holy Man; doubtful on every side, with mournful contrition of heart cried to the Lord, saying: "O God, fount of immense piety and modesty, by the merits and prayers of holy Procopius thy elect, attend to my aid, and from the immensities of anguish which surround me, snatch [me], that to thy magnificent clemency and to thy holy Confessor Procopius, from now and even to the end of my life, untiring I may offer the vows of praise at all times, who art blessed forever and ever. Amen."

[39] through the river congealed in the summertime, For then, in the summertime, the sun was strong in Leo. When therefore, sighing, holding his horse by the bridle, he looked around with turned glances, gazing more sharply, he beheld the water of the river altogether congealed. Whence astonished, and made as if in an ecstasy out of his mind, he deliberates with himself, considering what so great and unheard-of a miracle might signify, and unseen for ages past. Who at length, conceiving or beholding in mind, understood the mercy of the Godhead to have wrought, for the merit of the holy father Procopius, this power of so great a miracle, and hesitating nothing in faith, leading his horse behind him, with dry feet crossed the river. Who presently, his eyes turned back, beholds the water flow as usual.

[40] he is snatched from peril. O good Jesus! how magnified are these works of thy magnificence, who declarest thy ancient wonders powerfully even now through the merits of thy Saint. For thou formerly, as in the Israelite people, the Red Sea being divided, grantedst a dry way, so also to this man, by the intercession of thy elect Procopius, thou grantedst to cross with dry feet the waves of the congealed waters, without loss, with his horse. To thee therefore be benediction and glory of every kind and thanksgiving with the Father and the Holy Spirit through all ages of ages. Amen.

[41] Another miracle also we have thought worthy to publish. A sick woman is healed. The wife of a certain Official, seized by grave infirmities, was failing. To her the holy Father appeared, saying: "Send in haste to the Abbot of Sázava, Vitus, my nephew, and ask that he visit you in your infirmity; who if, his own languor prevailing, he shall not be able to come, let him send in his stead my son Emerannius, a brother of his convent. He, when, holding your hand, he shall have finished the prayer, you shall forthwith receive the pledge of health." And so to her the things promised were effectually fulfilled: for when Emerannius, in the stead of Vitus the Abbot, had completed the prayer of visitation, and held the hand of the languishing woman, presently she received the health of all her members, to the praise and glory of the magnificence of Almighty God, who works wonderful benefits through the merits of holy Procopius his Confessor.

* that is, a stake or pole.

CHAPTER IV.

A thief freed, another's goods restored, women saved, the wonderful obtaining of the canonization of St. Procopius, apparitions and miracles.

And another sign we report to be intimated to the memory. A certain shepherd in the territory of that same abbey A thief had stolen the tunic of his host. When, after some days, the host found him clad in it, and, under the testimony of the neighbors, by argumentative reasoning stripped him, he put a rope on his neck, and, his hands being bound behind his back, without delay began to drag him to the judge of Kurzim. But the Abbot Vitus, when he heard [it], sent a messenger, interceding for the culprit. But the accuser refused his petitions, saying that he would undergo the sentence of public vengeance, if he should dismiss the guilty man unpunished without the discussion of the common judgment. Who nevertheless led the bound man back to his own house, and shackled his foot with a strait and immense stocks, and by night, guards being applied, kept him shut in, wishing to fulfill the will of vengeance, anger instigating, on the morrow: who, bound, unceasingly began with sobbing sighs to implore the aids of the holy Father.

[43] At midnight therefore, while the eyes of the guards were oppressed by the violence of a deadly sleep, he is freed. there appeared in the brightness of a light a Man of venerable gray hair, comely in countenance, in monastic habit, mitred, holding a crozier in his hand, who said to the bound man: "I am present for your help; for you have called me": and as he touched the stocks with the crozier, saying: "Be freed from this log, and now sin no more"; it was broken with such swiftness, that presently the middle part of it, leaping, constrained the foot of the host's house: but he who had appeared vanished. But he, his hands and feet being untied, like a sparrow snatched from the snare, with the immense praises of the piety of God extols the inmost parts viscera to the glory of God, the guards being terrified, of whom thereafter there was no accuser in that cause.

[44] Again we make known another benefit of divine efficacy. A certain man, Martin by name, Thieves a Convert by profession, fearing God, dwelt in his own little cell beside the often-mentioned convent. When on a certain night he was departing in haste, according to custom, to the matin night-vigil of the synaxis, thieves, the doors of his little cell being broken, carried off all his furniture. The matin office being performed, when he returned, and found by no means in the cell the things which he had left, mourning and saddened he ran to the tomb of the holy Man, and on bent knees, over his impending misfortune, wailing, began to complain, saying: "Unless, O venerable Father, by the intercession of thy merit, to me thy foster-child, deserving under the rod of thy government from a boy, the solace of the recovery of my furniture be restored, I will both change this place in despair, and never be established in another, despairing in the whole course of my life." Who, while at length, mournful, he returned to the cell, forthwith the thieves, terrified by a vision of God, meet him, who, led by penance, restored all which they had snatched. Who, while he lived, did not cease to pay to God the vows of praise, who grants such benefits through his holy Confessor.

[45] restore the things carried off. Certain sisters also beside that same monastery dwelt expeditely under the yoke of Christ, whose whole household goods thieves carried off by night. Of which event when they, with the very inmost sob of the heart, groaned to one another with querulous words, entreating the solace of the aid of the holy Father Procopius, on the following night the same Saint appeared to them, saying: "Do not bear sadness in your hearts, because after two days you shall have all your things again," and saying these things, he vanished. Therefore the effect of this promise is presently fulfilled, for both the thief was brought to them a captive, and the things were restored to them.

[46] The manner of a cure is manifested. We bring forth also another prodigy in the sight of the faithful. The same Saint appeared to a certain little widow woman sleeping in the city which is called Vyšehrad, saying: "Rise and go in haste, and say to the wife of Gezlio, your friend: Go to the monastery which is called Sázava, in haste, and commend yourself to the prayers of one of the brethren, and do penance, things which will lead you to destruction [*], if you do not so."

[47] A woman [freed from the stocks,] The wife of a certain Count of Liburnia, by the instinct of the jealous Babylonian King, kindling the furnace of the mind, burned into love of a certain young man; with whom, and her husband's goods being snatched, she furtively fled. Whom, being seized, her husband handled with many beatings, and at last, her foot being shackled with an immense stocks, delivered to custody. Who by night, drawing long sighs with rheumy eyes, with flooding tears, began with all her breath everywhere to implore the suffrages of the holy Father, promising that she would no longer wish thus to sin; until the holy Father appeared, saying: "You are freed from this stocks; but beware, as you promise, that you sin not, lest worse befall you."

[48] others are freed from blindness and disease. It seems another prodigy also must necessarily be inserted into this work. A certain woman

seized for four years by a cloud of blindness, and lacking the function of almost all her members, came to the monastery of the holy Man, where, when she had long persevered untiring in fasts and prayers, on the day of the illustrious Lord's Nativity, during the sacred solemnities of the Masses in the church of the life-giving Cross, the Godhead, through the holy Father Procopius, granted her the light of her eyes and the soundness of her members, who, filled with inestimable joy, as if coming forth from the shadow of death, cried out, saying: "O holy Procopius, O holy Procopius!" Whom, when the people present, astonished, asked what had happened to her, she reported that the same holy Father had come, and sealed her eyes with the sign of the holy Cross, and forthwith she had received sight and the health of her body; whence presently the people are gathered into one, praising and glorifying God, who thus glorifies his holy confessor. We ought therefore to consider with what glory of honor that same Saint shone in heaven, through whom God causes so many miracles to flash in the earth, who is blessed and glorious and superexalted forever and ever. Amen.

[49] Therefore, these and very many other miracles of the blessed Father growing famous, Procopius and coming to the knowledge of bishops and all Prelates, dukes and barons, noble and ignoble, which were done about his tomb in the church of St. John the Baptist for the space of many years; yet no one bringing aid to this, that the clod of the most holy body should be solemnly canonized. But he who by his merits, through the grace of the Godhead, worked these signs, provided also the glorification of his body.

[50] For in the year of the Lord's Incarnation one thousand two hundred and three, appearing to the abbot, Blasius by name, illustrious for miracles, provider and rector of his brethren, he admonished and commanded, first and second and third time, that, the testimony of all spiritual and secular men being received, the miracles being written down which he himself had wrought there, he should hasten as soon as possible to the Roman court, for the canonization of his body, promising aid, if counsel should be lacking, with the Apostolic [See], for the honor of his body. Which Abbot Blasius, two brethren being joined to him, relying on the sufficient testimony of the natives, approached the Lord Pope, Innocent the third; to whom when he had set forth the whole business of blessed Procopius under the attestation of letters: but the Pope, holding for nothing the sayings and writings, made light of the holiness of so great a Man. But the Abbot, making many admonitions for the business committed to him, continued there one year.

[51] And when now he was failing in expenses, and profited nothing, and appearing to Innocent III, the thresholds of the Apostles being adored, he committed to blessed Procopius to terminate his business further. And rising that same night, he began secretly to withdraw. Why delay? Immediately the holy Man, as he had promised, came to [his] aid. For at that same hour at which Abbot Blasius was going out beyond the walls of the city, the holy Father himself, appearing to Pope Innocent in his chamber, with the pastoral staff, said: "Why have you hesitated, why have you made delay, so long as you have permitted my body thus buried to lie, why have you permitted my chaplain to go away thus empty? Unless quickly you shall bid him return by the way, going to St. Lawrence outside the walls of the city, and shall assent to the testimony of my body, and shall pay me due honor," lifting the pastoral staff, he said: "Thus by digging I will dig you through."

[52] But the Pope, awakened, asked, as with half-living voice, who or what he was, he urges his canonization, and how he was called. To whom the Man of God answered: "I am called Procopius," and disappeared. But the Pope, rising, the Cardinals being convoked, who were present, thirteen in number, whose names are impressed in the privilege of that same Pope; immediately recalled the Abbot, the testimony being more attentively examined; celebrated Mass for our blessed Father Procopius: then, authority being given with the strength of his privileges, he sent Guido, presbyter and Cardinal of St. Mary across the Tiber, of St. Calixtus, his legate a latere, that the body of the blessed Man, being solemnized, should be canonized. But this canonization was performed in the year of the Lord 1204, on the IV Nones of July.

[53] illustrated by miracles In this canonization God showed many wonderful and stupendous signs of his power; for many blind were enlightened, lepers cleansed, sick healed, possessed freed, captives loosed, the deaf restored to hearing, many obtained speech, and the other diseased were cured through the merits of the holy father Procopius. But when his tomb was opened, a most sweet odor emanated thence, so that all who were present were turned to amazement and wonder. But the aforesaid Cardinal Guido, these miracles being seen, and them being written down, exalted that monastery in full [*], namely by conferring an indulgence; leaving also his apparatus, in which he had sung Mass, for a memorial; commending the aforesaid place to the bishops who were present, returned to the mother of the world, namely Rome.

[54] and continued, Still we write down, briefly comprising, certain things of the miracles which, through the merits of the father Procopius of happy memory, after the holy canonization, at his tomb, and in other places even today the Lord deigns to work, and by which he is glorified by his faithful, some things often learned by the report of our elders, some more certainly experienced by the gaze of our eyes; and we commit them to all the faithful to be read from memory and even to be proclaimed. On a certain year therefore, on the birthday of the forerunner of the Lord and Patron of that same church, the solemn day was at hand, a multitude both of the Clergy and of the common people of both sexes had come together, and when the assemblies had prepared themselves as usual for the procession, and had now proceeded outside the monastery, certain faithful saw one religious person proceeding there with a pastoral staff, and not sufficiently understanding who that person was, as they afterward testified, believed that some Abbot of another monastery had been present.

[55] and also by apparitions But now, the assembly returning to the oratory, and diligently gazing at the same, they beheld the aforesaid person touch certain of the languishing with the pastoral staff; thereupon, the assembly entering the choir, the door opened of its own accord, [and] he also, entering, disappeared. And now the mysteries of the Masses being duly performed, two of those languishing were cured, and now narrating the said vision of the same, and those who had been cured testifying this very thing, without doubt we believe that the Lord and father Procopius were present to us, and we praise Almighty God with astonished voice, at the signs of the bells, with the shedding of tears.

[56] various Hence, the usual course being again revolved, when the festive day was kept with celebrated vow, and the sacred text of the Gospel was being read, among the languishing or those lying there a noise was made and a huge cry arose, at which cry all who were present had been turned to amazement, we ourselves disturbed hoped that some prodigy was there happening, as afterward we proved.

[57] For, we asking them whence the sudden noise and cry had happened, for the solace of the wretched they reported this cause, namely that they had seen a white cloud about the altar, and two illustrious men come forth from it, who, proceeding through the oratory, offered a blessing to the people standing by; but to them, administering the consolation of healings, they touched them with their hands: at last indeed in that same hour three of them, held by various and combined labor of languor, were cured; the rest also, at various times, but in the same church, obtained health. And thus by an event so happy and health-giving an effect, this vision was made more fully certain to us.

[58] At another time, when the sacristan Pamonarius of that same church, on a festivity day, before the nocturns had placed himself again on his bed, that he might for some time refresh his weary limbs, suddenly seized as much by amazement as by heavy sleep, and set as if in an ecstasy, saw the blessed Man rise from the tomb, and proceed toward the oratory even to the altar of the holy Cross, where, standing a little as if for prayer, beholding one blind man, he began to sign him; who immediately received the light. Meanwhile, roused by the noise of the popular voice praising God, the same sacristan rose, and diligently exploring the event of the dream, understood his vision to be certain, and himself, blessing God, rang for lauds, and on the morrow narrated to all the deed done.

[59] On another night, while the same keeper of the church rested in bed, frequented. and a heavier sleep oppressed him, and now the accustomed hour of ringing for Nocturns had passed, the Man of God stood close by his bed, and touching him with the pastoral staff, said such things: "Why are you oppressed by so great a sleep? Why do you not keep the hour designated to you? Now rising more quickly, cause the brethren to be rung [for] by the bell." At whose voice the same sacristan rose in haste, and marveling, blessed God, and hastened to ring for Lauds, and, reporting his vision in public, made [it] manifest.

[60] A certain parricide from distant parts had come to the aforesaid church in the time of Lent, A chain inserted into the flesh loosed; whose body a dire chain, wrapped in a circuit around his belly, had cruelly constrained, which, the flesh growing over [it] and the blood flowing, scarcely appeared, and, lacerating, inflicted a deadly pain. He, when he had entered the church dedicated in honor of St. Peter the Apostle, on the Lord's day, and had stood devout in prayer at Mass with the crowd of the faithful, and now, the priest reciting the holy Gospel, suddenly that chain, as wax dissolved from the face of the fire, and as if cast on high by someone, leaping from his body, strongly struck the pavement of the church, and shook the hearts of all the bystanders with its sound and clang: and thus he held his way safe, who had come as a guest.

[61] A certain brother lived in our congregation, A religious brother by name Fabian, who, devoted to the highest obedience, whatever was commanded by his Lord Abbot, he faithfully and humbly wrought the whole. But when once a wall of the church was being demolished, that it might be repaired to the level of the other wall, and he alone insisted on that work, and acted less cautiously; a scaffolding, which contained a great heap of stones, was suddenly destroyed, and he himself with the falling stones slipped down. A wonderful thing, and very stupendous! For from the collision of the stones so great a sound was rendered, as if a thunder had happened. But those who stood on the other side of the wall, now despairing of his life, cried out that he should breathe out his spirit, [and] be cast out of the church.

[62] overwhelmed by stones, he is saved from death. At whose cry we, very much astonished, ran up more quickly, and found him lying half-alive among the stones, and with haste lifting [him] among our hands, we carried [him] out, and placed [him] again in a bed as if lifeless. Moreover, an interval being made, it was rung for the evening synaxis, at whose sound he moved his weary limbs, and gradually, strength being resumed and his eyes being opened, he sighed, and as if roused from a deep sleep rose, and marveling within himself what had happened to him, and as if he had suffered no trouble of any pain, giving thanks to God, went to the begun work. But the same brother testified to us, [we] asking him, that at that hour a certain man of venerable gray hair had been present, who, extending his habit over him, received all the falling stones into his bosom, and in this manner he had escaped the peril of death.

[63] Vexed by a demon; The retainer of a certain noble man had been held by so great a trouble of a demon, that he could neither stand,

nor sit, nor walk, nor in any way rest. At length, coming to the aforesaid monastery, he entered the church, and stretching out his hands in the manner of wings, and going backward with a horrible cry, ran hither and thither, and had no rest. Meanwhile the anniversary day of the blessed Father was at hand, and the common people had come together to the solemnities of the Masses; he too approached the tomb to adore with tears, and immediately made whole, the people and we praising God, departed thence.

[64] cast headlong into the water; A certain youth, exhorted by his parents to go with them to the sacred solemnities of the Masses on the Lord's day, refused, but rather hastened to exercise childish games; whom, now returning home, the devil seizing, bound, and cast headlong into a marsh, that he might be suffocated. But he gave forth the voices which he could, and to his aid invoked the divine grace and the names of the other Saints. Meanwhile by his parents, coming home from the church, he was awaited, and was not present. There is immediately sent one boy to seek him, who, running by the same way by which he was accustomed to proceed, heard him crying out, and turning aside to the marsh, saw him floating upon the waters: at which, stupefied, he ran back, and narrated the deed done to his parents.

[65] half-alive and lacking sense; Who, coming, drew out the youth half-alive and lacking sense, and led [him] to the tomb of the Man of God; and insisting on prayers, afflicted themselves with fasts and vigils, where on the eighth day he deserved to receive the health of mind and body. Likewise another youth had committed a certain crime, and, drinking one night, had lost his senses: who was immediately led to the tomb of the blessed man Procopius, where after some days, drinking from his chalice, he was saved.

[66] a girl seized by the devil, There was a certain girl, to whom the devil was adverse, and by whom she was often assailed, which she neglected to intimate to her parents. When on a certain night, while she lay alone on her couch, the devil was present to her and, seizing her, cast her out beyond the court. But morning being come, her mother, to rouse her, came, and not finding her, was astonished. Running indeed the roofs of her house, she diligently sought her, and she nowhere appeared. Meanwhile certain persons, going to the fount to draw water, saw her sitting by the marsh, with open eyes seeing nothing nor speaking.

[67] When her mother heard this, greatly astonished, they are freed by the help of St. Procopius. she ran, and, taking her up, led her home, and in haste went with her to the nearest church. Where, by the priest, a three-day fast being enjoined, set in prayers, she remained a long time with tears, but the girl remained in the same trouble of infirmity. Then the aforesaid mother of the girl, hearing the celebrated fame of the blessed Man, hastened to come as soon as possible with that same girl to his tomb; and, insisting with panting prayers, deserved to receive the health of her whole mind and body, our Lord Jesus Christ granting it, to whom is honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

* "destruction" interitum.

* otherwise "very much" plurimum.