Davanzato

ON BL. DAVANZATO, CONFESSOR

AT BARBERINO IN ETRURIA.

In the year 1295.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

On the obscure knowledge of the Blessed one, his cult, Acts, age, burial, miracles, and the little poems composed in his honor.

Davanzato, Confessor, at Barberino in Etruria (Bl.)

BHL Number: 2105

BY THE AUTHOR J. B. S.

Bl. Davanzato, Avanzato, or Neavanzato, must have been a little more obscure, and his memory obscure, even in Italy, toward the beginning of the seventeenth century; inasmuch as Ferrari neglected him, a not undiligent proclaimer of native Saints. Unknown to Ferrari and to Arturus, I had suspected the cause to be that of that Blessed one nothing perhaps had been published in print in Ferrari's time: but since the abbot Silvano Razzi, among his Saints and Blessed of Etruria, did not, from the year 1601, omit to place Bl. Davanzato in volume 2, it is altogether a wonder that that Blessed one was passed over by Ferrari, where he so solicitously searched the several corners of Italy. Nor less to be wondered at that the same Blessed one escaped the diligence of Arturus of the Monastery, that great collector of the Saints and Blessed of the Order of St. Francis, since it seems certain that he professed the third rule, under the institution and discipline of Bl. Luchesio, likewise a Tertiary, of whom it was treated on the twenty-eighth of April. So indeed hand down those who wrote of the Blessed one, Domenico of Prato, Silvano Razzi, Vincenzo Rufignani, and most recently Antonio da Terrinca, an Etruscan Minorite, in a long epistle given to Papebroch in the year 1683, although meanwhile neither in the Acts of Bl. Luchesio, nor in the Annals of the Minorites, does even the mere name of Bl. Davanzato anywhere appear.

[2] From time immemorial the cult is proved. That our Elders doubted of the cult, I gather from the letters given to them on that matter, especially from that longer Terrincian one, in which he himself, to remove all scruple, thus plainly testifies: From time immemorial, on the seventh of July, a feast is held at Barberino in honor of Bl. Davanzato, and with a great concourse of peoples solemnly celebrated. His sacred head, in another most ancient bronze one, but the rest of his bones, in a wooden chest, becomingly adorned, are preserved, and on his proper altar at fixed times are exposed to public veneration. The hymn, This Confessor, with the prayer from the Common of Confessors, etc. For three hundred years and more they lay in the parish church of St. Lucy, but when within the walls of Barberino they had erected an oratory under the title of St. Lucy, the only one for that church, they were many years ago translated into it; in which on the fifteenth of February 1683, I, F. Antonio Terrinca, an Etruscan Minorite, saw them with these eyes: Thence he adapts to him this proper announcement: Of Bl. Davanzato, Confessor, presbyter, of the third Order of St. Francis, a man of wonderful innocence, and illustrious for miracles before and after death. The testimony of Terrinca is irrefragable, in the aforesaid epistle, reporting an epitome of his life, confirmed in various ways, as also in the Acts, manuscript and printed, to be reported at once, in which the cult is so proved that no doubt is left concerning it.

[3] These things therefore settle the matter, and show that Bl. Davanzato was excepted from the bull of Urban VIII, The life written by the man of Prato, contracted by Razzi, concerning whom I see nothing here to be greatly discussed except the Acts themselves, first written in Latin, by the aforesaid Domenico of Prato, in a rude and contorted style, not sufficiently free from solecisms, and that from the mere relation of the elders of that place (Barberino), from whom he says he heard the things which he compendiously sets down concerning the Blessed one, since before there was no writing at all of his life among those to whom he directs his work. That he received his material from the man of Prato, Razzi candidly confesses, and that he reduced it into some compendium, no notes of time being anywhere added, which at any rate he had not found in his autograph. Vincenzo Rufignani the presbyter undertook to illustrate the matter anew, who judged that the Latin narration of the man of Prato should be rendered more fluidly and more fully into Italian, a new life being published in print at Florence in the year 1659, and dedicated to the most Eminent Cardinal Antonio Barberini, which I find sent to us from Florence, in the month of September of the year 1670, by some Belgian coadjutor of the Society, to whom one of our missionaries had committed it to be destined hither.

[4] This more verbose Legend I compared with the Latin autograph, more verbosely amplified by Rufignani. finding in it nothing, besides uncertain conjectures, amplifications, and digressions, which was not handed down by the man of Prato, except two miracles, of which below. Nowhere does the man of Prato intimate at what time he composed his life; but the mere reading of the obscure theme easily persuaded

that it is a work of the sixteenth century; and in that opinion I am more confirmed from the words of Terrinca reported above. For if the sacred bones of Bl. Davanzato lay in his parish church of St. Lucy for three hundred years, but the Blessed one died in the year 1295, they could not before the end of the sixteenth century have been translated to Barberino, to the aforesaid oratory of St. Lucy. But now, at the very beginning of his narration, the man of Prato indicates that he directs the history of Bl. Davanzato to the people of Barberino of the valley of the Elsa, among whom the body, while he wrote, rested. It is therefore manifest that that author composed his writing only toward the end of the sixteenth century, which soon came to Razzi, contracted by him into Italian. What credit further it deserves, will be the reader's judgment, about to give to the man of Prato only as much authority as he can deservedly require who, three centuries after the death of some Saint, tries to arrange his deeds from the relation of the elders, by what method he can.

[5] The age of Bl. Davanzato the man of Prato could not circumscribe, assigning neither the year of his birth nor of his death, The age is drawn out to some extent nor disputing anything about his origin or progeny. That he was of Semifonte tradition without doubt bore, but since they narrate that Semifonte, a most fortified town, was treacherously captured by its neighboring enemies the Florentines, and thereafter razed, in the year 1202, hence occasion was given to Rufignani and Terrinca of alluding to that destruction, from which the Blessed one, still an infant scarcely two years old, and so born in 1200, happily escaped safe. That he lived with Bl. Luchesio, the famous Tertiary of the Order of St. Francis, near Poggibonsi, and used him as instructor, I shall not difficultly admit, and that he survived him, who died in the year 1260, a whole thirty-five years, inasmuch as from the instruments, which the man of Prato had not seen, to be produced below, it is altogether established that he prolonged his life to the year 1295. Less probable are the things which Terrinca mentions in the praised letters, concerning some familiarity of Bl. Davanzato with St. Francis himself, and his discipleship under him: for these and other things of the kind are piously imagined rather than can be demonstrated by any sufficiently suitable argument. But it does not please to contend about conjectures of this kind: let Bl. Davanzato have lived, for all I care, nearly a whole century, and have been a disciple of St. Francis himself, there is nothing that involves a contradiction; this alone I wonder at, that those writers, plainly destitute of ancient monuments, wander so freely and easily into uncertain things.

[6] Concerning the year of his death and his burial an authentic instrument Henschenius found, from the Strozzi monuments, when he surveyed the libraries of Florence in the year 1662, which he described with his own hand from the Protocol of D. Bartolo di Ser Benincasa da Barberino, existing in the Florentine archive, in the Collections of the most illustrious Senator Carlo Strozzi TT folio 99, the seventh of July 1295. Behold the instrument: Likewise in the same year, indiction, and day. Let it appear manifestly to all that Guccio Procellotti and Talis, son of Ser Melliorati, and Talis, son of Manetti, renounced all right or custom which they, or any of them, had in a certain sepulcher which is at the church of St. Lucy of Casciano, which sepulcher was and is the Priest's of the said church, which sepulcher is near the bar [*], or door, of the said church on the lower part, in which is to be buried the presbyter Davanzato, formerly Rector of the aforesaid church: whose body was buried in the said sepulcher of his in the year of the Lord 1295, in the eighth indiction, on the seventh day of the month of July: for whom our Lord Jesus Christ showed himself to work many miracles and signs before the people, etc. … and they promised that they had done nothing against it, nor would do so in the future, under the obligation of all their goods … Done in the church of St. Mary Magdalene before the presbyter Curzo and the presbyter John and the presbyter Gualterio, witnesses asked for this.

[7] From the same Protocol the praised Henschenius also transcribed two sworn miracles, whence also two miracles which the author of the Latin life, the man of Prato, did not know, but which Rufignani inserted into the Italian Legend of the year 1659, received from the same Strozzi papers, from page 70, which are nearly the only things superadded by him to the man of Prato. Thus has the transcript of Henschenius: Likewise in the same year, indiction, etc., on the twenty-fifth day of July, Nerus, who is called Sercosta, son of the late Barone, of the parish of St. Michael of Pozzano, said and asserted in the word of truth by his oath, the book being bodily touched with his hand, that when Contrino his son was sick in body, in such wise that he could not speak, nor was he in any way sensible, and the clothes of that same Contrino had been made for burying, since he was held for dead by all the men and women there present; the said Nerus, praying God that for the merits of Bl. Avanzato, formerly Rector of the church of St. Lucy of Casciano, he would free his said son, straightway and immediately the said boy Contrino, and son of the said Nerus, felt healing. our Lord Jesus Christ healed the said Contrino, and straightway he was freed and rose up: so that from the aforesaid day up to the third day coming, the said Contrino came to visit the body of Bl. Avanzato, where he was buried at the aforesaid church of St. Lucy on the seventh of July in the aforesaid years. It was done before the presbyter Donzello, Prior of the church of St. Philip, and Ser Danza the Deacon, and Giovannino, son … of Petrognano, witnesses asked for this.

[8] Likewise in the same year and indiction, the seventeenth of August. Henschenius described it. Let it be open to all reading this page, that Vivus, son of the late Michael of Montepulciano, sick in body in such wise that he could not walk, the said Vivus praying God and Bl. Davanzato, formerly Rector of the church of St. Lucy of Casciano, in the district of Barberino, that he would free him, Vivus, from the said sickness. The said Vivus, coming upon a certain she-ass, by the road near the fountain of Tedaldo, because he could not go on foot, since he was dropsical, there immediately the said Vivus descended from the ass on which he was, and began to walk, and came on his own feet to the sepulcher of Bl. Avanzato, which is in the aforesaid church of St. Lucy, and there caused one manna of three pounds of wax to be made, and on the aforesaid day, before me the notary and the undersigned witnesses, the said Vivus departed from the said sepulcher whole and freed on his own feet, and he himself swore that he had been sick for many seasons, etc. This instrument was done and asked for in the said church before Ser Benevenuto the presbyter, Rector of the said church, and Nerio Rannucci, and Villano Bonaccorsi, and several other witnesses.

[9] Rufignani concludes both these and his Legend with the aforesaid inscription, An inscription and verses in honor of the Blessed one. also found in the Strozzi monuments, which once hung on a tablet at the sepulcher of the Blessed one in the parish church of St. Lucy of Casciano, where Bl. Davanzato had been both Rector and, after death, entombed, and was of this tenor: For whom our Lord Jesus Christ showed himself to work many miracles and signs before the people. The little work of Rufignani is adorned with various little poems, most of them Italian, among which I cull one composed in Latin with the epitaph of the Blessed one, reported in the same place, to which I have wished neither anything added nor taken away. To these will be subjoined the life which we said was described by Domenico of Prato in whatever style. The first poem Angelo Antonio Ciucci sang, in this manner:

The town of the valley of the fleeing Elsa, retaining the honorable name of Barbarus, is adorned amid glad pastures by the light of a Pastor. Here Davanzato, made richer by the ruin of his country, shows with his rich merits by what great powers the high Olympus is seized. For, guardian of the flock, he takes upon himself the parts of a physician and a father, and restores the frail powers of him whom hell, by its savory poison, deceives. He surpasses the laws of nature, restores the sick to health when suddenly called; and as minister he brings the waters of the fountain, and pours out wine. Behold, horror troubles his faithful companions tasting the wines sprung from water, and all on bended knee venerate the Almighty. Who would attempt to celebrate with pious quill the famous triumphs of the unconquered Leader, his enemies being conquered? that the pious throng may reach the thresholds of heaven. Fame, flitting through the Christian world, made the wonders of his deeds resound, and thou too, O Vincent, addest with thy pen second wings.

Angelo Antonio Ciucci.

Behold, pious Reader, the gem of the priestly crown, as brightly radiant with supernal splendors, as obscurely shadowed with little letters. Bl. Davanzato is here. What more? The rest the heavenly citizens know. With whom, while in body he was an exile on earth, in soul he exulted in Heaven. Wherefore, as parish priest, he cared for nothing more than that he might endow the little people committed to his care with the citizenship of the heavenly court. As Pastor, he fattened his flock with divine food, that he might gather them to the inhabitants of the eternal mountains. A faithful and prudent steward, who, the tares being rooted out, would gather the wheat into the barn of the Lord: but his own, often emptied to want, he sometimes filled with a new miracle, that he might again empty it to the needy. But, deeming it more blessed to give than to receive, what is it that from those blinded with an impious mind he took away even the light of their eyes? That he might afterward restore both mind and eyes. His illustrious deeds, the more unknown to mortals, the more known to the heavenly ones: inasmuch as, while he made straight for his fatherland, not wishing to be plundered, he bore not the treasure of sanctity publicly on the way: but hiding it in the inmost of his heart, he laid up treasure in heaven. Whither after his sublime spirit had flown, the tokens of his inner candor the lilies produced from his mouth as the psalm was loosed. Thus the beloved is fed among the lilies; and his lips are lilies distilling the first myrrh. O how good an odor he must have been to Christ, for whom even the dry limbs bloom; for whom even the corpse itself breathes an ambrosial odor. Thou seest therefore how the lilies grow, in whose heart the root of charity cleaves, in whose mouth the praise of God, as a little rod of smoke happily germinating, like incense in the sight of the Most High may be directed.

* as if to say, a bar.

LIFE

By Domenico of Prato. From a Manuscript.

Davanzato, Confessor, at Barberino in Etruria (Bl.)

FROM A MANUSCRIPT.

The history of Bl. Davanzato the confessor, published to the praise and commemoration of that same Saint, The author's little preface. and directed to the people of Barberino of the valley of the Elsa by Domenico of Prato, begins happily.

[2] Known indeed to me seems to be your devotion, dearest brethren, which you bear to the sanctity and blessedness of the venerable religious Davanzato, or Neavanzato, worthy to be commemorated. Whose soul indeed flourishes in the heavens, but his body rests among you in the church of St. Lucy (which is founded under the patronage of those whose stock is called D'Aiali).

[3] I wonder not indeed that by your people of Barberino the day of the festivity of so great a Saint is most excellently celebrated; Nothing anciently written of the Blessed one. but I especially wonder (as it ought to be ^a) that of his life there is among you no writing at all. That therefore your faith may not fail, but rather that the truth

may rather be increased in him, although others are more learned than I; yet, moved by the charity of your fraternity, and likewise asked, I will compendiously set down, God favoring, the things which I have already heard of him from the elders of that place.

[4] The name of this most holy man was reported to me in two ways, The explanation of the name. the one indeed Davanzato, the other Neavanzato; but which of these two names is the truer, to know or to be ignorant I care not. Since these holy names have these interpretations, thus namely: for Davanzato, according to our idiom, is one and the same as "and a porch," but a porch is made from the smallness of a house, that the dwelling may be enlarged. And so he is rightly called Davanzato, namely the enlargement of our dwelling before God. But if Neavanzato: by the common corruption of words too, taking the substance of the intention, that adverb "ne" here includes necessity, and thus it is understood, that he was not superfluous or cast out; but rather numbered among the Saints of God, useful also to us, fit and necessary. These things I think substantially concerning names of this kind. But let us proceed, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, to the history of the holy Davanzato.

[5] This Saint indeed, and truly the servant of our Lord Jesus Christ, His adolescence spent under Bl. Luchesio. of the town of Semifonte, born also of good connection; from his ^c adolescence, indeed, consecrated his soul by good works to almighty God. For he was a disciple of Bl. Luchesio [*], of the Order of the Friars Minor, from whose most devout habit, of the third Order of Bl. Francis: and thence at a fitting time he was made a presbyter; and truly he shall be called a presbyter and a priest, since in his days he pleased God, and took up his cross in his heart, and followed Jesus.

[6] He was therefore appointed ^d as rector of that church of St. Lucy (as I said above). Further, he was a fit oracle to the orator, Rector of the church of St. Lucy, and the orator too to the oracle; since, all leisure being set aside, he prayed day and night. And so that solitary place, and the frequent prayers and penances of this true anchorite, the hierarchies of the angels of heaven accompanied. But the manners of his adolescence were in all things honorable, founded on holy humility and perfect charity of neighbor; at each hour indeed he said the hours; with vigils and fastings and prayers he consumed the course of his life.

[7] very merciful toward the poor, The sick of his neighbors he often visited in the country; poor pilgrims he most gladly lodged in his little dwelling, to whom he gave his own pallet, and the bare ground served him for resting. But to the begging and the needy he peaceably dispensed grain and wine, and all that he gathered. And it happened in many ways that on solemn days, and at the hour of dinner, the poor of God came to him, to whom he bestowed whole those small pieces of meat which he cooked for himself; but he fed himself with bread only.

[8] beans several times Bl. Davanzato now growing old, took as his clerk a certain boy of good nature, delivered to him by his parents, whom he continually and solicitously instructed in the divine offices, in such wise that the boy, dwelling with him for two years, Davanzato directed by his own footsteps and by sincerity of soul. This Saint of God, although he rarely used wine, yet once filled a certain little cask ^e with wine, that when the poor came there, they might find pottage and wine. Likewise in a certain chest or coffer he put not many beans; and of that wine and those beans, and of the other things too, he commanded the clerk to give to anyone needy and asking. The clerk therefore did as his master had commanded him. But as he gave more of the beans, the more of them he found in the coffer. The clerk marveled, and often related this to Davanzato; to whom Davanzato said: Knowest thou not the words of the Lord, saying: Give, and it shall be given unto you. And elsewhere: You who have left all things, and have followed me, shall receive a hundredfold and shall possess eternal life.

[9] and multiplies wine; That blessed confessor, when a certain beggar asked for a little wine for the love of God, commanded his clerk to give it to him, to whom the boy answered: My father, now four months and more having elapsed, we have had no wine, and the cask is empty. Davanzato said to him: Go and draw of the wine, and give it to this poor man. I know, said the clerk, Lord, that I shall go foolishly; not only is the cask empty, but now long dry. He went therefore, and drew, and found it pouring out most excellent wine. Who, wholly astonished, returned to the blessed Davanzato and to that beggar, crying: Behold wine from the dry cask. And all who were there marveled, and, praising and blessing God, who from the merits of his servant Davanzato did great things.

[10] water also changed into wine. By these and very many deeds of this kind, some time after, a congregation of certain priests being made, that some office might be solemnly performed in his church, as is often the custom of the presbyters of that province; and the divine office being celebrated, and the presbyters now reclining at table, he commanded his clerk to bring there a water-pot full of water. The clerk therefore went to the fountain rising near in the place which is called Aiali, from which indeed the D'Aiali family, patron of the said church in that place, is named; for from it they took that surname. But the clerk, returning, carrying the water-pot from that fountain, while he emptied it before those reclining into the other vessels and cups, the water was turned into most excellent wine. But the holy and just man said to him: Son, why didst thou not bring of the water of the fountain of Aiali, as I commanded thee? The clerk answered him: Father, I did nothing but as thou didst command. Return, he says, clerk, and bring us of the water. For Davanzato knew of the petition made to God, since he hoped in him, while their dinner lacked wine, that thereby the grace of God might abound; and again returning, the water-pot being full, that water too is made wine. All the reclining therefore, marveling greatly, threw themselves humbly at the feet of Bl. Davanzato, magnifying the Lord and all his works, and asking the blessed Davanzato to entreat God for them.

[11] But this servant of God had now come to the age of decrepitude [g], but was especially strengthened with sanctity and constancy, Often refreshed with angelic song before his death, and awaited the last day of his departure with great cheerfulness. But when daily, at the hour sometimes of terce, sometimes of vespers, he and his clerk together were in the aforesaid church, saying the psalms and hours, with eyes lifted to heaven, and with fixed mind he was silent; to whom nevertheless the servant said: Father, what dost thou, dost thou not speak? But he answered the servant, saying: Hear, my son, hear. I hear nothing, answered that clerk. Davanzato took the servant by the hand, and set his own foot upon the clerk's foot, saying to him: Hearken, my son, if thou hearest anything. Straightway the servant, filled with the greatest amazement, surveyed the whole church; I hear indeed, father, he says, the supernal song of the angels, and the whole sound of the heavenly court, and the sweetness of divine harmony; but I see nothing. What is this? Which said and heard, Davanzato, the clerk being released, and his foot lifted, the clerk heard nothing more; and this, as I said before, happened daily; so that that servant hastily roused the aforesaid father and confessor, that he might hear that melody. For this lasted until the end of his life began. The pious and merciful Lord indeed, who was never forgetful of his merits and of his Saints, showed to the blessed Davanzato the coming of his passing. Who, a faithful and good servant, without intermission of time said: Lord Jesus Christ, I desire to be dissolved, and to be with thee.

[12] Drawing near therefore to his end, he called together his servant and the other neighbors, he dies most piously, to whom he humbly said: We all indeed in this miserable life are called and are pilgrims and wayfarers; and we ought always to be ready at the will of our host; because we know not the time nor the hour, lest we be shut out from the lodging of eternal life; and I, a wretched sinner, whom the supreme and just judge rouses and requires to judgment, ask your charity, that by divine piety, with one mouth you deign to entreat our Lord Jesus Christ for me. This said, and those standing around being blessed, and his eyes lifted to heaven: Lord, he says, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And silence being made, and the toil of this world being left, he passed to the glory of eternal beatitude.

[13] a lily springing up in his mouth. And so on the seventh day of the month of July he rested in the Lord. At the hour indeed of his passing an angelic song was wonderfully heard there, and all standing around, suddenly filled with a splendor, were astonished, and, night coming on, in the church of St. Lucy they solemnly buried the body of St. Davanzato. But when morning came, they found a lily graciously sprung from the mouth of this blessed man, signifying the chastity of his mind and body, and the purity of his soul, and the faith of his heart. Which things being seen and done, the fame was carried through the whole region of the valley of the Elsa, and persons coming from every part, hearing these things, for very many days ran to the sepulcher of this Saint with the greatest devotion.

[14] Various miracles. These and other miracles, which are not here set down, done in the time of his life, I heard from himself, but I cannot be silent about some signs also heard after his death: for I will tell of certain prodigies perhaps, as I think, known to your charity, and brought forward to me too; nor does the power of God, which is displayed in the life of his Saints, cease at their death, nay indeed afterward shines the more illustrious on our dark ways ^h.

[15] A gambler driven to despair is converted. For the body of Bl. Davanzato had now for some time been buried, as I said before, when a certain gambler, having lost his money and his goods at the game of dice, led and exhorted by a diabolical spirit, came to the sepulcher of this saint, especially spurning the name and majesty of God, and thence blaspheming the name and life of that Saint, injuriously dug up the bones; wishing, driven by despair at the loss he had suffered, to cast them into a certain river, being unmindful of the fear of God and of justice; but rather, blinded by the most wicked perfidy of unbelief, by the conception of sin he presumed to take vengeance upon the relics of the innocent. And so, when he had taken the bones, and wished with them to go out of the church of St. Lucy, where he had been buried, the light of his mind being first lost, straightway then also he lost the light of his eyes, and knew not, nay was not able, either to go back or to go forward. From which miracle indeed, and his iniquity being known, being turned to true contrition, he overflowed with tears, and, prostrating himself, cried with a loud voice, saying: Have mercy on me, O Lord, according to thy great mercy, and according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my iniquity. Wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For my iniquity

I acknowledge, and my sin is ever against me. Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me. And of thee, St. Davanzato, I ask pardon and the remission of my sin, and I seek indulgence by thy piety, because to thee alone I have sinned, and have done evil before God and thee. Deign thou to ask for me our Lord Jesus Christ, that as he has restored light to my mind, so he may bestow light upon my eyes. And indeed many passing by on the way, and especially the presbyter of that church, and his parishioners, having heard the voice and running, entered the church, and finding him weeping, blind, and praying, marveled greatly. But the merciful God, at the entreaty of his holy Davanzato, and the contrition of that sinner being seen, restored to him the light of his eyes and of his understanding. Who, prostrate there before the people at the feet of the presbyter, straightway knelt down, and confessed his sins; then also, taking his way, entered a certain monastery.

[16] To these blessed bones daily, on account of the miracles produced [*], the sick came and were led, who straightway, those bones being touched, were cured of their infirmities, A possessed woman and were healed. Likewise those who were vexed by unclean spirits were freed, and among the other afflicted a certain woman still living, by name the lady Bartola Lapuccii, cruelly oppressed by a diabolical spirit, and led to the aforesaid bones of the Blessed one, raging, wonderfully struggled. But the priest of the aforesaid church, holding over the head of that fierce woman the aforesaid bones, said prayers and psalms, which said, and compelling the malign spirit to speak, the priest said: Wicked spirit, he says, go out by the merits of Bl. Davanzato from the body or back of this woman, and loose her from thy bonds, and leave her freed. But the spirit answered: Great indeed is thy power, Davanzato, we, compelled, must obey thy commands, I will therefore dismiss this woman, as by thy authority it has been commanded me, and will shut myself up in the eternal pit.

[17] Then, said the presbyter, what will be to us, she is freed from an evil demon. O malign spirit, the sign of thy departure? For you shall see, he answered him, this woman remain as if sleeping. This said, the woman, roaring, and gnashing with her teeth, and roaring like a boar, and foaming at her mouth with the greatest grief, fell prostrate on the ground, half-dead, with closed eyes; but after the space of half an hour, with opened eyes, she rose free from sleep: but she and the others who were present, venerating the merits of Davanzato, magnified God and all his works.

[18] What more? Did you not see, in the course of a certain disease, He heals the cold disease. in whose time all bodies suffered from an impressed cold, the great wonders of the bones of Davanzato? For if anyone was oppressed by cold, and drank [*] cups of the water in which those bones had been washed, he was straightway healed. This experiment was truly proved in not a few men and persons of the land.

[19] The Epilogue. Therefore, dearest brethren, let your devotion be confirmed by the good merits of this most devout Saint, and in the present and future time may he be our intercessor and advocate before the divine throne, and continual protector to our Lord Jesus Christ, whose name indeed is blessed forever and ever. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

g. An Italian phrase.

* elsewhere: Luchesio.

* read "following."

* read "drank."