Martyrs of Gorcum

ON THE HOLY MARTYRS OF GORCUM: NICHOLAS PICHIUS OF GORCUM, GUARDIAN; HIERONYMUS OF WEERT, VICAR; THEODORIC OF EMDEN, OF AMERSFOORT; NICASIUS HEZIUS, SON OF JOHN; WILLEHAD THE DANE; GODFREY OF MERVEL; ANTHONY OF WEERT; ANTHONY OF HOORN; FRANCIS RODIUS OF BRUSSELS, PRIESTS; AND PETER OF ASSCHE AND CORNELIUS OF WIJK, LAY BROTHERS OF THE ORDER OF ST. FRANCIS OF THE OBSERVANCE; AND EIGHT OTHERS, NAMELY JOHN, PRIEST OF THE ORDER OF PREACHERS; ADRIAN OF HILVARENBEEK AND JAMES LACOPIUS OF OUDENAARDE, OF THE PREMONSTRATENSIAN ORDER; AND JOHN OF OOSTERWIJK, CANON REGULAR OF THE ORDER OF ST. AUGUSTINE; AS ALSO LEONARD VECHEL OF 'S-HERTOGENBOSCH; NICHOLAS POPPEL OF WELD; GODFREY VAN DUYNEN OF GORCUM; AND ANDREW WOUTERS, PRIESTS AND SECULAR PAROCHIAL PRIESTS,

AT BRIELLE IN HOLLAND.

In the year 1572.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Nicholas Pichius of Gorcum, Guardian, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brielle in Holland (S.)

Hieronymus of Weert, Vicar, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brielle in Holland (S.)

Theodoric of Emden, of Amersfoort, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brielle in Holland (S.)

Nicasius Hezius, son of John, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brielle in Holland (S.)

Willehad the Dane, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brielle in Holland (S.)

Godfrey of Mervel, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brielle in Holland (S.)

Anthony of Weert, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brielle in Holland (S.)

Anthony of Hoorn, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brielle in Holland (S.)

Francis Rodius of Brussels, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brielle in Holland (S.)

Peter of Assche, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brielle in Holland (S.)

Cornelius of Wijk, of the Order of St. Francis of the Observance: called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brielle in Holland (S.)

John, of the Order of Preachers, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brielle in Holland (S.)

Adrian of Hilvarenbeek, of the Premonstratensian Order, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brielle in Holland (S.)

James Lacopius, of the Premonstratensian Order, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brielle in Holland (S.)

John of Oosterwijk, Canon Regular, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brielle in Holland (S.)

Leonard Vechel, Parish Priest, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brielle in Holland (S.)

Nicholas Poppel, Parish Priest, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brielle in Holland (S.)

Godfrey van Duynen, secular Priest, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brielle in Holland (S.)

Andrew Wouters, Parish Priest, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brielle in Holland (S.)

BY THE AUTHOR J. B. S.

§ I. A brief outline of the calamities of Belgium in the sixteenth century is premised.

Our Acts are full of the victories of the bravest Martyrs, which they gloriously won over heathen and barbarous tyrants, or over the fury of the heretics infesting the Church, throughout the whole world. But that those contests, at least among the less fierce peoples of Europe, pertain almost to more remote ages, there is no one who is ignorant. A new scene, no less tragic than those ancient ones, was opened by the infamous apostasy of two men, which first deformed Germany and France with foul and horrible spectacles: but then in our Belgium the gathered filth of the impious seemed to surpass the cruelty of the ancient persecutors. The fury of the Belgian heretics What tumults, what slaughters the followers of Luther and Calvin there gave, how furiously the sacrilegious men raged against the temples and all holy things, with what monstrous ferocity they tortured especially the priests and religious, is so well known within the recent memory of our fathers that I do not think it necessary to premise an outline of so many most cruel deeds. Almost innumerable are those whom the Belgian annals record as slain by the rage of those sectaries, not yet lawfully endowed with the honors of the Saints, besides the nineteen sacred Champions, whose Acts we have here undertaken to illustrate. The pitiable face of Belgium, afflicted during that time, was sketched in few words by the writer of the Acts, William Estius, in chapter 1 of his history, which we undertake to elucidate a little.

[2] The Duke of Alba, governor of the provinces for King Philip, had brought the affairs of Belgium to such a point that, many rebels being removed from the midst and broken, somewhat inflamed by the Duke of Alba, by his skilled expertise in military matters, in the first years of the famous Orange, in the year

[1568] that he might reckon all things pacified by himself and tranquil. Hence, triumphing at Brussels, endowed with the hat and sword by the Supreme Pontiff St. Pius V, he set about to contrive those things which inflamed the minds of the Belgians—already too long exasperated—with new tinder of ill-will and hatred. And first indeed there sharply stung them the ignominious trophy erected in the citadel of Antwerp, over the subdued nobility and Belgic people; but then, the nail driven into the sore, the unheard-of tribute of the Tenth, the Twentieth, and even the Hundredth penny, to be extorted by force applied. And this was the specious cause of open defection, most greedily seized by the heretics, as our Famianus Strada elegantly describes, Decade 1, book 7, in these words: When by the vexatious question of tributes the cities of Spain, the faithful equally as the doubtful, began to be pressed, with the hatred of all swelling and overcoming fear, the audacity of the peoples increased especially from Alba's departure; then indeed did Orange understand that the storm was at hand for hastening the rebellion and for founding the dominion which he had long been contriving. And so, while Alba more earnestly bent his whole care to that concern, Orange, seizing the occasion of drawing the peoples back from obedience to the King, strengthened by the secret counsels of very many cities now looking toward defection, having levied soldiers at leisure, brought into Belgium those torches of war which through the space of so many years could not be crushed by any ruins of falling cities nor extinguished by any rivers of blood.

[3] The war began, so Strada continues, from the Batavian sea: it first appeared in the town of Brill, as though then they foresaw their own strength, and understood from the beginning in what quarter they would one day hold sway. And indeed the Geusii often aimed at and attempted it—both those who, dwelling in the city, were called urban; and those who beset the woodland passes, and were named sylvan; the aquatic alone at last (for so, and maritime geese too, they were commonly called) accomplished the matter with fortunate audacity. The leader of these aquatic Geusii was the Count de la Marck, Lord of Lumey, who, professing hatred against Alba, had ten coins painted on his standard, to instill in his soldiers the memory and the odium of the tenth penny. That foul beast and true butcher of our holy Martyrs the historiographer of the Belgic War had a little before so depicted, as one who, savagely hostile to the Catholic name, had bound himself by a barbarous vow (as once Claudius Civilis, himself too a leader of the Batavians against the Romans) not to lay aside his hair before he had avenged the death of Egmont and of Hoorn. With signal praise indeed and rich spoils, while upon unarmed priests and monks for the most part he left to posterity enormous examples of vengeance. But concerning that Rictius Varus and his end worthy of his crimes, there is more in the Acts, from the praised Estius, book 2, chapter 2, and book 4, chapters 2 and 4.

[4] For the rest, Lumey and very many equally villainous fellow-soldiers, obeying Orange, the town being taken by the aquatic Geusii; with a fleet of forty predatory ships fitted out in England, kept the coast of Holland and Frisia infested. They, says Strada, out of hatred of the Spaniards and desire of booty, of which they paid a fifth part to Orange, ran about with their piratical vessels over all the space that lies open from the mouth of the river Ems as far as the British strait: and they had, whenever they had to avoid either the meeting of a greater number or a storm, a refuge for the most part in the ports of Britain. From which station at length, being forbidden as common enemies—the Queen having been asked by Duke Alba—while they invade and plunder a Cantabrian ship, they are carried by the adverse force of the winds to Voorn, an island of Holland. There, taken for merchants cast thither by the storm, their peril turned into audacity, they attack Brill, the port of the island, and before the townsmen understood that war and not merchandise was being brought in; with inseparable success, no one resisting, they take it on Palm Sunday; and, Lumey leading the way, the images of the divine ones being broken, and no irreverence toward sacred things and the sacred order omitted, they so fortified the port that it was not left possible for Alba to snatch a firm station from those marine geese.

[5] And this fatal epoch of the foundation and seat of rebellion being set in the year 1572, whence the beginning of many persecutions at that very point of time in which, the men of Brussels refusing to pay the tribute and the shops of the tradesmen being closed, Alba had ordered some of them to be hanged before the doors of the taverns. And now the soldier was in arms, the lictor with the noose was at hand—I use again Strada's words—when the news of Brill taken by the Geusii, like a god from the machine, suddenly loosed the knot and noose of the entangled and mournful tragedy. For Alba, struck by the unexpected disaster, at length lets go the odious question, agitated two whole years with no other fruit than that, ill-will against the Spaniards being increased, it ripened the counsel of pursuing defection; at the report of the captured island, as at a signal raised to the provinces, an incredible change ensued throughout Belgium: so that Lumey soon drew to his own party most of the towns of Holland and Zeeland, no less hostile to the Catholic religion than to Alba, his forces being extended along the river Meuse as far as Dordrecht. And in this fashion at last there arose this new republic, sprung from the waters, ambition its parent, heresy its midwife, sent forth before its time like a terror or thunderclap.

[6] and the beginning of calamities. Here with Strada I complete the image of our calamities. And truly, says he, wretched, if ever, was Belgium at this season, assailed by four armies of enemies alike from sea and from land. Since Lumey harried the maritime provinces, Nassau those bordering on France, Bergen those adjoining the Germans, Orange the middle. Nor did they only subdue cities and slaughter those who resisted, and plunder houses with military license and avarice: but with barbarous cruelty, sparing no age or modesty, they raged against the tombs and the repose of the dead, held all equally guilty, and, fanatical, raged especially against sacred things and priests, and slew them (nor was there any value of life) with tortures devised for ignominy. Which butchery of the sacred Order, carried out by the Geusii, and by Lumey the most monstrous of the Geusii, in most cities, there were those who consigned to writing with no less reproach of these than praise of those. And although here and there the royal soldiers, if you except the injury to sacred things, themselves too used their victories afterward without clemency; yet because this was begun by the Geusii at Brill—Amersfoort too being plundered, against the faith bound by oath—the ferocity of the Spaniards could seem to earn some pardon, as if by example. Certainly on this account the soldiery of Orange, by the confession of the heretical Annals, was infamous.

§ II. The passion of the Saints most celebrated among the people, their private cult and eulogies.

The Martyrs hanged at Brill At that juncture of affairs the Gorcum scene took its beginning, when, toward the end of June, in the year already mentioned 1572, the rebels, having gone out from Dordrecht under the leader Marinus Brant, attacked Gorcum, and were easily admitted by the citizens—for the greater part infected with heresy and hatred of the Spaniards—all the clergy and religious, whose blood especially the Geusii thirsted for (we suppose the origin of the appellation to be known), retiring into the citadel. Which also being taken a little after, contrary to the sworn faith, the drunken soldiers exercised all those reproaches, mockeries, and butchery which are most accurately and faithfully described in the Acts. Led away thence by night, the holy Martyrs were delivered at Brill into the furious hands of Lumey, the avowed cutthroat of priests and monks, by whom, afflicted with new injuries, calumnies, and mockeries, they were compelled to perform a ludicrous procession about the gibbet, and thence thrust into a most foul dungeon; then called to disputations with certain apostates, where, having splendidly confounded them, at last condemned by a most iniquitous sentence, the most valiant heroes, driven to the gallows, consummated their glorious contest for the truth of the Catholic faith on this ninth day of July. In reckoning the order of the Martyrs, I would wish the readers advised that I ascribe to none a prerogative or preeminence of merits, following namely the series of names as it is reported in the Roman decrees, long since published concerning their canonization.

[8] When throughout the rest of Catholic Belgium the fame of the perpetrated slaughter was spread abroad, held for Saints by the Belgians scarcely to any was there doubt that precious in the sight of the Lord was the death of His Saints, and that they could accordingly be invoked as true Martyrs and intercessors with Him, which the private piety of many soon did not cease to render. Molanus will testify what was the opinion of the Belgians concerning the Martyrs of that time, thus writing in his Indiculus, page 78: For the rest, to us writing these things, especially in the year '72, so great is the persecution of the Geusii against pastors and ecclesiastics, and men of the Catholic name, that I think more perished by martyrdom among the Belgians in the past year '72 than in the space of all preceding years, up to the birth of Christ. But what the glory of the Martyrs of that time may be, and how horrible the punishments they endure for the integrity of the faith, cannot be written by me at present, both because the matter itself would require a whole book, and because many things are not yet sufficiently known, the persecution still being in force. But when, by God's condescension, the fury and persecution of these shall have an end, particular treatises will come forth, which are now being composed by various persons, by which the precious death of the holy Martyrs will be commended both to us and to all posterity. And that this may come to pass most speedily, God is to be entreated, through those same provincial Martyrs of ours, whom He Himself has crowned. For we do not doubt that such glorious Martyrs of their own Belgium, now established in heavenly glory, bear care and solicitude for that land, for whose salvation in this mortal life they both labored and sighed.

[9] Therefore to their patronage we commend the afflictions of our Belgium, and honored at least with private cult that by their prayers we may be quickly freed from them. Nor indeed does it seem at all to be doubted that the sacred relics at least of our men of Gorcum would soon have been brought to the altars, had not the continual tumults of wars succeeding, and fear of the Geusii, hindered their disinterment: for so through that calamity of the times it came to pass that no thought was given to promoting further a public and more general cult of the holy Martyrs; certainly those things could not be carried into execution which they who were eager for their glory had long meditated. Meanwhile through that time (that is, from the very anniversary day of the martyrdom), says Estius, book 4, number 332, many Catholics of Gorcum, who partly still dwelt in their own city, partly, fugitives thence, sojourned in foreign cities, as the anniversary day of the passion of the holy Martyrs drew near, with religious piety sanctified the vigil of that day by a voluntary fast, and kept the natal [day] itself festive and solemn; and both days they passed in pious prayers, suppliantly beseeching God that He would deign to overthrow the wicked attempts of the heretics, to scatter their counsels, to dissolve their forces, to cast down their pride, and finally to restore to the whole fatherland safety and the Catholic religion.

[10] And all these things they did not doubt to ask through the intercession and merits of the new Martyrs, invoked by many, being persuaded namely that they who, for the confession of the Catholic faith, had fallen by the hands of the heretics, were both truly Martyrs of Christ, and could most rightly be invoked as friends of God and advocates of our salvation with God. For the rest, how this religious and pious zeal of the Catholics in praying was by no means in vain, the outcome taught. Estius there describes it more fully in the signal victory, on the said anniversary day of the holy Martyrs, won at Haarlem by a Catholic soldiery, and in others looking to the same, so that now it is sufficiently

demonstrated—what we were lately saying—that the holy Martyrs of Gorcum, from the very glorious contest, began already then to be honored by the veneration first of the people privately, then of others also, the occasion being awaited on which by a more solemn cult they might lawfully be permitted to be invoked by the Universal Church. The delay was longer than the zeal of their devout clients would suffer, but at last the desired opportunity for the extension of the cult was afforded by the truce agreed upon with the Batavians at the beginning of the seventeenth century; using which, the Minorite Fathers—of whose sacred family eleven Martyrs in all were numbered—happily carried out those things which in the next following paragraph we shall set forth more fully.

[11] Locrius and Miraeus make mention of them, Of all the Belgians there was one opinion concerning the Saints, which Ferreolus Locrius has embraced in few words in his Chronicle, at the year already mentioned 1572. On the ninth of July, says he, eleven Franciscan brethren and several other priests and religious men, natives of Gorcum, at Brill in Holland, for the cause of the Catholic religion having suffered very much, at last brought to the noose, carried off the glorious triumph of martyrdom. There were lacking in Catholic Belgium the remains of the holy Martyrs, which at length being disinterred in the year 1615 and following, then recognized by the Archbishop of Mechelen and in 1618 solemnly exalted, a public cult began to be rendered both at Brussels and in various other cities, as from the eyewitness Aubertus Miraeus in his Fasti you will understand, where, the town of Gorcum being first described, he thus subjoins: In this was a notable monastery of the Franciscans, from which eleven brethren, with some other priests, were led away to Brill, a town of Holland, by the Calvinists (whom the Belgians call Geusii), and there, hanged with nooses in the year 1572, on the ninth day of July, bravely met death for the Catholic faith… The bones of these Martyrs, secretly dug up and brought by faithful men to Brussels, are there for the greater part preserved in the church of the Franciscans, enclosed in gilded caskets. Other portions have been distributed through various towns, and are preserved with honor at Leuven, Ath, Cambrai, Valenciennes, Antwerp, Tienen, Sint-Truiden, and elsewhere.

[12] With a longer eulogy Arnoldus Raissius pursues the matter in his Auctarium to the Natales Sanctorum Belgii, Raissius from Estius, when from Guilielmus Estius and others he describes the whole history of the martyrdom—to be exhibited by us more fully below from the very source itself, so that those more diffuse discourses need not be inserted here. Then, reckoning the individual Martyrs in order, and composing for each his own brief encomium, concerning the sacred relics, soon after the disinterment exposed to veneration throughout Belgium, he adds this testimony: Their sacred remains, secretly dug up, and brought by faithful men to Brussels, are there for the greater part preserved in the church of the Franciscans, enclosed in gilded caskets. Various portions, dispersed in several places through Belgium, are held in veneration by all: as at Mons in Hainaut, Binche, Cambrai, Valenciennes, Antwerp, Ath, Leuven, Sint-Truiden, Tienen, and elsewhere; and thither they were conveyed with solemn pomp. What Raissius has in the same place about the marvelous plant, enclosed in a wooden box, which at the time of gathering was adorned with only three or four flowers, but after two years was found to have produced nineteen, pertains to the following paragraph.

[13] Much more fully do Petrus Opmerus—edited and illustrated with notes by Henricus Sedulius in the Historia Seraphica in the year 1613—treat of the holy Martyrs of Gorcum, Opmerus and Saussay: as also so many other writers recited in a long series in the Acts of Canonization. But since nearly all things, whether related historically or panegyrically, are culled from the oft-praised work of Estius, or at least agree with the most excellent Acts edited by him and to be reprinted by us, we have thought fit to forbear describing more here; let the annunciation of Saussay suffice, conceived in this manner: At Brill among the Batavians in Gallia Belgica, the martyrdom of nineteen holy athletes of Christ, slain by the heretics for the orthodox faith: who, commonly called the Gorcum Martyrs, as they, defending the sacred dogmas of the Catholic Church of Christ, gloriously entered upon and completed the contest, made them firm; so also they received the cult due to them—besides the heavenly reward which they happily obtained from the Lord—especially among the Belgians. For their most sacred bones, secretly dug up, and brought by pious men to Brussels, are there for the greater part preserved in the church of the Franciscan Fathers, enclosed in gilded caskets. But some portions, distributed into various places through Belgium, are preserved by the ascetics of the same institute (from whose Order eleven of these divine champions came forth) at Leuven, Ath, Cambrai, Valenciennes, Antwerp, Tienen, Sint-Truiden, and elsewhere with due veneration.

[14] That the things which both Saussay here and other writers everywhere assert concerning the singular veneration—especially of the Belgians—toward the holy Martyrs are true, and likewise of the Dutch Processes. can be demonstrated by very many arguments; and that not only after the relics were carried into Brabant and other provinces, but even before any thought was given to disinterring them. This the Processes manifestly show—those of Haarlem, Utrecht, Gorcum, and elsewhere through Holland, drawn up by the authority of the Apostolic Nuncio at Brussels, Lucius Sanseverinus, in the year 1619; in which again and again are reported the testimonies of those who, in their straits and diseases, had recourse to the tombs of the holy Martyrs, and by their merits and intercession obtained prompt healing, as the list of miracles, to be appended below to the Acts themselves, will show. Nor were there wanting those who undertook long pilgrimages to the aforesaid place of martyrdom, there to venerate the Saints, although this could not be done without grave peril from the Geusii. There are likewise those who affirm that they were accustomed to visit the same place twice, thrice, and four times in the year, out of devotion to pour forth prayers, etc. Nay more, witnesses depose that the barn itself was held in such honor that in it, out of reverence, the Catholics would not suffer anyone to play, or to run about for amusement. To say it in a word, so widespread was the fame of the cult—already from the very time of the passion—exhibited by many, that Rome itself tolerated it, although afterward, the decree of Urban VIII intervening, other Processes had to be instituted for the canonization, of which we shall treat in paragraph 4. Understand therefore what we were saying above, that the distribution of relics contributed very much not so much to the cult as to its extension: concerning its celebrity after the canonization, it will be said in paragraph 5.

§ III. The miracles that followed the passion of the holy Martyrs.

Among the miracles to be reckoned hereafter, The various signs flashing forth soon after the martyrdom, by which the Most High willed to make manifest the glory of the holy Martyrs, both through visions and through various benefits bestowed even upon the writer of the Acts himself and others, the faithful historian reckons in his book 4, to which we shall subjoin several others at the close of the Passion. Here we undertake to describe especially those things which are recorded concerning the marvelous flower, or shoot of flowers, sprung up (as is reported) at the tomb of the Saints and prodigiously multiplied. That Estius makes no mention of this matter may perhaps seem strange; but how easily could it have happened that in his age it was not yet so widely known; certainly the fame was not yet so constant, which, as will appear from what is next to be said, was only after Estius's death most widely diffused throughout Belgium. To Opmerus, of the last Belgian edition of the year 1700, volume 2, page 51, a note is added under the name of Sedulius, that after the martyrdom that unknown shoot grew up, in which, when at first only three or four flowers had appeared, being shut up in a casket, it was found in the year 1574 to have produced nineteen flowers in all, so many namely as had obtained the crown of the glorious contest in that place. And these things indeed [are] in the said edition, but which are not extant in Sedulius himself in the Historia Seraphica, where he adds a commentary to the sixteen chapters of Opmerus—so that not rashly do I judge them to have been added afterward by another, and by prolepsis or anticipation ascribed to the year of the passion.

[16] here only the shoot of little flowers is reported; A certain and definite time at which those little flowers grew up, or were first observed, I do not find handed down, but that at the beginning of the seventeenth century a most constant fame of the miracle was received, the above-praised Raissius expressly testifies in these words: In our age too, near Brill, where these noble athletes merited to obtain the crown of martyrdom, there was gathered a plant of unusual nature, which, enclosed in a certain box in the year 1615, two years after produced nineteen flowers—equal namely in number with the Martyrs—not without an evident miracle: whereas nevertheless at the time of gathering it was adorned with only three, at most four flowers. The matter is described and weighed at greater length by the Reverend Father Benignus Fremaut in his Belgian Legend of the Saints of the Order at this day. But hither will make especially the authentic deposition of a most upright man, as he is there called, and venerable old man, the Reverend Lord Adrianus Antonius of Oorschot, pastor of St. Gertrude at Utrecht, who from the beginning of the Belgian tumults to the year 1619, in the Dutch Processes praised above, is said to have labored faithfully in the church for the salvation of souls in the parts of the diocese of Utrecht.

[17] which an eyewitness asserts, He, being then 75 or 76 years of age, lawfully asked by the deputies concerning a certain shoot of flowers given to him five years before by a certain person, marvelously multiplied in flowers (whose fame had already spread among many), answered: that about the year 1614, if he rightly remembers, he had received the said shoot, having three or about five white flowers, taken from the place of the sepulcher of the Gorcum Martyrs, near Brill, where flowers of this kind are found only in that place where the Martyrs were buried, or thereabout, and nowhere else: whence also in the city of Brill by the heretics themselves those very flowers are called Rugge flowers, from the monastery of Rugge, of the Order of Canons Regular, in whose monastery's barn the said Martyrs were hanged: which flowers also, dug up thence in veneration of the said Martyrs, are transported to other places and planted, which are even unknown to apothecaries and physicians themselves. When therefore the said deponent had received this shoot, in a little wooden box, at first esteeming it of little value, he laid it aside in his chamber; sometimes, however, he inspected it with some veneration, and found it in the same form as he had received it.

[18] Afterward, however, when for about eight or nine months he had not inspected it, preserved in a wooden box when by a certain theologian mention was made of those flowers, that they did not wither, but remained in their perpetual vigor, rising in the morning, from that account he inspected that shoot more curiously, and found with great amazement, nearly two years after he had received it plucked from the root, that it had so increased and multiplied in flowers that that very box, in which it had been until then, could not hold it, and the said shoot seemed likely to become larger, had not the narrowness of the box, in which it was enclosed, prevented it. Wherefore, wholly filled with wonder, he carried that shoot with its box to his oratory, and set it in a more seemly place. At which very time, when two pious young ladies, about to hear Mass, approached the oratory itself, to them the said deponent narrated the miracle with admiration,

and showed the shoot multiplied in flowers; of whom one immediately answered that there was found the number of the Gorcum Martyrs; and the said flowers being counted, there were found just as many flowers as there had been Martyrs hanged at one time in the said place of Rugge, namely nineteen.

[19] Which flowers were afterward seen by many throughout the whole diocese of Utrecht and throughout Holland and held in veneration, that it grew from three or four into 19, and afterward, by order of the Most Reverend Lord Vicar Apostolic, were engraved and represented in a picture, that the knowledge of the miracle, with the glory of the Martyrs, might reach more people. The shoot itself at last, miraculously increased in flowers, was given to the Most Serene Princes of Brabant, who received it with veneration and as a signal gift. Thus far the authentic deposition, to which it would be permitted to add others also, were not the matter supposed sufficiently proved from elsewhere. For the prodigy did not stand in a single shoot: for several little plants of this kind, taken from the place of martyrdom and translated elsewhere, rendered the miracle so celebrated that not only through the confederated provinces, but through all Belgium and other neighboring regions, they are called to this very day the flowers of the Gorcum Martyrs, although not all are of one kind, but on some, on account of some likeness, an adventitious name is imposed, I observe; for certain slender shoots, brought to me, are divided into six little branches, to each of which cling three little flowers rising by degrees, which, with another protruding in the middle, represent for the most part, but not constantly, the number nineteen.

[20] But more prudent Catholic Batavians have testified to me that this is not the shoot of the Gorcum little flowers of which here is the question; inasmuch as, differing much from the genuine one, it obtained such a name by the mere likeness of the number of little flowers, always equal. as the engraved image shows. Hence I, sticking in doubt, applied every effort that from somewhere I might seek out the true idea of the genuine little plant itself, which I knew to have been engraved in copper a hundred and more years ago, wherever it might be. But when I could not obtain it from the Religious Orders here whom it concerned, opportune aids were supplied by the very Reverend and most noble Lord Petrus Henricus Goos, Canon of our Cathedral church at the altar of Blessed Mary, by whose help I confess I at last obtained what in vain I had sought elsewhere: the delineation of the true shoot, described above, in a little Flemish book, printed at 's-Hertogenbosch in the year 1623, with a brief compendium of the history of fifteen out of the number of the Gorcum Martyrs, whose effigies are there exhibited to the life, to be here also engraved in copper, if the other four had been present, as below I shall indicate more fully. To the reader as well as to me it will be pleasant to contemplate with the eyes the form of the wondrous prodigy, so far as it could be rendered on a flat plate. The affixed inscription, which in the image itself, as it is here expressed, was represented, is a compendium of the related deposition.

Flowers have appeared in our land. Canticles 2.

This shoot, plucked in the place of martyrdom of the holy Gorcum Martyrs near Brill in Holland, and enclosed in a box, having 3 or 4 little flowers, two years after, in the year 1617, was found, not without a miracle, to have grown into as many as there were holy Martyrs, that is, nineteen.

§ IV. The procured disinterment of the sacred bodies.

The disinterment of the sacred bodies increased the cult, That the appended circumstances of the stupendous narration, already taken from the Processes, so accurately enumerated and divulged throughout the whole country in that time, contributed marvelously to the propagation of the cult of the Saints through Catholic Belgium, is beyond doubt. There was added this accumulation, as I had begun to say above, that when the bones of the holy Martyrs were dug up, very many other signs were straightway manifested, which incredibly increased and confirmed the veneration and the confidence of the faithful in the Saints. That a Brief and true narration of one or of several disinterments was once written, I find among those things pertaining to the holy Martyrs which, from the words of the Lord Chaplain de Outheusden, Papebroch noted in few words on the 16th of June 1690; but the narration itself, with however great diligence applied, repeatedly both in person and in writing among the Reverend Fathers Minor, I have not hitherto been able to dig out; unless it be that which I afterward obtained from the archives of the archbishopric of Mechelen and of the bishopric of Antwerp. This therefore remained, that the oft-mentioned Dutch Processes should supply it, from which both the identity of the place and of the sacred bodies I shall try to describe cursorily, the topographical map being set forth—delineated in them, but here engraved in copper—exhibiting most distinctly the ancient and the modern site, and thus determining the several places of the ancient monastery of Rugge—namely the church of the convent from the parochial one; the cemetery of the latter from the barn, in which the holy Martyrs were driven onto the beam—so that it may be plain to the eye that no confusion at all could arise from one into the other.

1619 Delineation of the Place in which formerly was the Monastery of Rugge, Order of Canons Regular of St. Augustine, as it now lies.

1572 Delineation of the Site of the Monastery formerly of Rugge, Order of Canons Regular of St. Augustine, as it once was.

[22] A scrupulous inquiry into this matter, if ever there was one, whose identity the most eminent men inserted into the Processes made by them—Nicolaus Nomius, Licentiate of sacred Theology and Dean of the Cathedral church of Haarlem, and Judocus Catius, himself too Licentiate of sacred Theology and Canon of the same church, lawfully deputed for this; who most accurately visited the place itself, and, various witnesses being heard, some of whom could have been present at the martyrdom, most skillfully discussed the whole matter. The chief aim of the severe examination turned on this, that there might be demonstrated the identity of the sacred bodies, not so long before disinterred, and such a distinction from the bones of other men, that not the least suspicion of intermixture might arise to anyone. There could not, in my judgment at least, a more rigid examination be instituted: from the depositions of very many were composed, as I was just now saying, those delineations which here I exhibit to the eyes, most exactly distinguished by their letters according to the diversity of places; the inspection of which demonstrates all but to evidence, that no intermixture (setting aside enormous fraud and malice) could have intervened, of bones from the old cemetery with the sacred bodies of the Martyrs, buried in the barn of turf, which is divided from the aforesaid cemetery by so great an interval of ground, a ditch formerly extending to 25 feet being interposed, which still now survives, but for the greater part diminished. The whole matter needs no explanation, since it is most openly plain from each map here expressed.

[23] Thus speak the most eminent Men named above in the Process, manuscript page 13: it is demonstrated from the topographical map. Furthermore, we took care that the place itself, as it was described to us to have once lain, and then as it was found by us to lie, should be depicted and delineated, that the truth might thence more appear and become known; especially if two distances be observed: one from the ditch, full of water, contiguous to the parochial cemetery, up to the place of the barn, in which the aforesaid Martyrs were buried, which measuring, we found to be ninety-six feet; the other on the other side, from the place of the said barn up to the place where the church of the monastery of Rugge stood; which measuring, we found to be above three hundred feet: which distances, in our judgment, remove all doubt of the intermixture of the bones of which is the question, with the bones of those buried in the neighboring places already mentioned. Given at Haarlem under our signature and the seal of the Chapter of Haarlem, on the 20th day of the month of November, in the year from Christ's birth 1619, and it was signed, etc. And these things lead us to that which was proposed, namely to the disinterments of the sacred bones, of which the praised men Nomius and Catius treat from page 17, which, although they are reckoned rather in the order of witnesses than of times, explain sufficiently clearly the deed done and the disinterments themselves, oftener and by various men repeated.

[24] The chief designers and authors of these seem to have been Lendert Dirckse, or Leonardus son of Theodore, The disinterrers Leonardus son of Theodore, and Petrus Geritse (son of Gerard) van Dueren, a printer of Utrecht, who on page 25 testifies that he dug there about eight times, I suppose with the aforesaid Leonardus, the Fathers Minor deputed for this being sometimes present, that the relics found might be carried away into Catholic parts. Papebroch described a modest instrument, which brings light to the whole matter. It is a copy of the receipt of the said Leonardus, in which he thus speaks: I, Lendert Dirckse, dwelling at Brill, confess to have received from the hands of Petrus Geritse van Dueren, printer of Utrecht, the sum of five Flemish pounds, at six pounds and 40 groats each, due and promised to me for the disinterment of certain bones, which were of the deceased Martyrs, from the convent of the Regulars called Rugge, which formerly stood outside the southern gate of Brill. I promise moreover, at the better opportunity that I shall be able to obtain, to dig in two other places, if perchance I may there still be able to find any of the said bones, and that for the same already mentioned sum, having positively covenanted this very thing. Done by night between the 12th and 13th of November in the year 1617, in the presence of the aforesaid Petrus Geritse, new style. It was signed: By me, Lendert Dirckse Couwenburch. We return to the Process.

[25] The Fathers Arnoldus de Witte and Joannes Tyras; There on page 17 appears fifth in order as witness the Venerable Father Arnoldus de Witte, priest of the Order of Minors, preacher and confessor, who testifies that he visited the place of martyrdom seven or eight times, judging the delineation made most correct, from the consent of three witnesses, inhabitants, examined by him more than once. Here, being asked—the words are of the Process—whether he had dug up the bones of the aforesaid Martyrs, and in whose presence? He answered that on two distinct occasions he had sought and found the same, and with his own hands extracted quite notable portions, and that he had done this by the mandate of his Superiors (desiring to place those bones in a more honorable place), and that he had sought and found the same bones and notable portions in the place shown by the three aforesaid persons, and designated in the aforesaid delineation by the letter E, and nowhere else: and that the first time there were present the Venerable Father Friar Joannes Tyras, and Leonardus son of Theodore, son of Anna Vincentii; but the second time that Leonardus son of Theodore alone; and that he found the earth so solid, and the bones so cohering to him, that there is no doubt that the same had lain there for many courses of years. Being asked what he did with the bones thus found? He affirmed that the same, collected together, in his own person accompanying, together with the Venerable and Reverend Father Friar Jacobus Nesseus, he had carried to Brussels in Brabant, and had faithfully delivered to the Most Reverend Father Friar Andreas a Soto, Commissary General of his Order over the Belgian provinces, of Cologne, of Ireland, and of England, and Confessor of the Most Serene Infanta of Spain.

[26] but the chief actor Petrus Gerardi, Concerning other bones, dug up also by himself, the Venerable Father Friar Joannes Tyras testified in the same place; but no one could bear more certain testimony than the aforesaid, and lawfully interrogated on page 25, Petrus Gerardi van Dueren of Utrecht, who, being then more or less fifty years of age, asserted that he

had been at least twelve times in the place where the Gorcum Martyrs were afflicted with martyrdom and buried: accordingly, the delineation of the place being exhibited to him, he affirmed that it seemed to him well made, pointing with his finger to the place designated in the delineation itself by the letter E, as the place of the martyrdom and burial of the same: adding that he knew the site of the place very well, from the fact that he had dug there about eight times, seeking the bones and relics of the aforesaid Martyrs, which also he there found and extracted, and not from another place. Being asked how he knew that in that place the relics of these Martyrs rested? He answered that, before he dug the first time in the said place, he had understood that there was at Brill a certain man, called Vincentius Cornelii, magistrate of the city, from whom he could be made more certain about the place of their burial; whence, meeting the aforesaid Vincentius Cornelii, he was informed by him that the place of the barn (in which the Martyrs were hanged and buried) was situated between the pond, in which the fish of the once monastery of Rugge were wont to be kept, and the ditch of the aforesaid monastery, dividing the place from the church and the parochial cemetery.

[27] With which designation or demonstration of the place not yet content, the whole matter going out of the city, he met a certain woman, dwelling in a certain house near the place designated to him, which house in the delineation already mentioned is marked with the letter B, and the woman's name was Anna Vincentii, from whom he seriously inquired concerning the place in which formerly the priests and monks, brought from Gorcum to Brill, had been hanged and buried: but she showed and designated to him the same place which the said Vincentius Cornelii had before, as already said, demonstrated to him; and for the sake of greater certainty, he asserted that the said woman affirmed that she had certainly learned the same place from a certain little old woman of ninety years, now deceased, who, while she lived, had with her own eyes seen the aforesaid Martyrs hanged in the same place, and had seriously admonished the same Anna Vincentii to observe the said place; acquiescing in whose admonition she had made a little ditch, to the width of one foot in circuit, in the place demonstrated to her by the little old woman, and had always marked it; which same she showed to the deponent, saying: dig there, and you will find the relics of the Martyrs there, and in no other place. The said deponent therefore affirmed that this same place is the one which in the delineation or description of the whole monastery and neighboring places is designated by the letter E, and that on the following night, on account of the fear and perils which threatened him from the heretics if it had been known, he dug in the same place and found and dug up the relics; and that as often as he afterward dug there, seeking the bones of the aforesaid Martyrs, nowhere else than in the said place, designated by the letter E, did he find the same. And likewise that in digging there he found some particles and fragments of turf under the earth, a certain indication that there had once been a barn there, in which the turf of the monastery was wont to be stored.

[28] Being asked in whose presence he had sought and dug up the aforesaid bones or relics? and describing the distribution of the relics; He answered that there was always present to him, and sought with him in digging, a certain Leonardus son of Theodore, dwelling in the neighborhood, in the house designated in the aforesaid delineation by the letter B, and no other except the last time, when he dug, at which the Reverend Lord Joannes Cauchius, priest and vicar of the metropolitan church of Utrecht, and the noble Lord Jacobus van Hoof van Zyll were present. Being further asked what he did with the relics dug up by himself, or to whom he gave them? He answered that those which he dug up the first, second, and third time, he had given to Everardus Botterus; but those which he dug up on the two following occasions, he had given to the generous Lord in Roon, and to the Lord de Heuter; the relics finally which on the other following occasions he found and dug up, he had, by the ordination of the Most Reverend Lord Philippus Rovenius, Vicar Apostolic, delivered to the Reverend Lord Joannes Cauchius named above. And he too, in his own order, being juridically interrogated by the deputies, confirmed the aforesaid, so far as they pertained to himself, on page 29, adding that he kept all those notable portions of the relics, by the mandate of the Reverend Lord Vicar Apostolic above said (which, in writing, furnished with his signature and seal, he showed to us), with himself in his own house, whence without doubt they were distributed into various oratories throughout Holland.

[29] Of which also Father Andreas a Soto testifies. Finally, on page 79 are adduced the words of the Most Reverend Father Friar Andreas a Soto himself, testifying before God and Christ Jesus on the 20th of January 1620, that all the bones or relics, which to many and various persons—especially the Fathers of his Order of various convents, in the various provinces subject to him—he had given to be exposed to public veneration, with the prior approbation of the ordinary Bishops, as relics of the holy Martyrs of Gorcum; that the same are in number those which, after their approbation by the Most Reverend and Most Illustrious Archbishop of Mechelen, we received from the hands of the generous Lord Everardus Botterus, of the Venerable Father Jacobus Nesseus, and of Arnoldus de Witte, priests of our Order laboring in Holland among the Catholics, by whose industry and labors the same (from the place in which the bodies of the said holy Martyrs were first buried) were dug out and disinterred, as is established from their own depositions. Besides, that to each of them, together with the said relics, he delivered an authentic copy of the said approbation of the Most Illustrious Archbishop of Mechelen, with his own testimony added. From what has been said it is sufficiently plain to the series of the history, that, chiefly at the urging of the Most Reverend Father Andreas, the disinterment of the sacred relics was undertaken, procured by Everardus Botterus, whose instruments were Petrus Gerardi van Dueren and Leonardus Theodori van Couwenburch: to the greater elucidation of the whole matter the following paragraph will serve, concerning the lawful recognition, approbation, and most solemn exaltation of the aforesaid relics.

§ V. The recognition, approbation, exaltation of the aforesaid relics, and their distribution into various parts.

The recognition of the holy Relics, The instrument of the first recognition and approbation, mutilated, the above-praised Miraeus reported in his Fasti, page 387, which entire—long sought by me—the very Reverend Lord Urbanus Albertus Bechemont, Canon of the Cathedral church of Antwerp, Seal-bearer and secretary to the Most Illustrious Bishop, opportunely supplied from the archive of the bishopric of Antwerp; while these things were being printed, he was snatched from the living; but afterward it was also sent from Mechelen by the Reverend Lord Benedictus de Ruddere, secretary of the Most Eminent Cardinal of Alsace, Archbishop, from which the historical narration of the disinterments proposed above will be not a little illustrated: Matthias, by the grace of God and of the Apostolic See, Archbishop of Mechelen, to all the faithful of Christ who shall see these letters or hear them read, we make known, that on the 18th day of June of the present year 1616 the Most Reverend Father in Christ Andreas a Soto, Confessor to the Most Serene Isabella Clara Eugenia, Infanta of Spain, our Princess, and general Commissary of the Brothers of the Order of Minors throughout Belgium and other provinces, sent to us two upright men, namely the venerable Father Jacobus Nesseus, religious of the Order of Minors of the Observance, and another, the generous Lord Everardus Botterus, of the Gelderland nation, bringing to us certain bones, namely one head, with fragments of other heads, and other bones large enough and oblong, as, and as it were, relics of the Gorcum Martyrs, slain under Count Lumey, at the town of Brill on account of the Christian religion, that we might be willing to visit the same relics, and to examine and judge the narration of the said Everardus Botterus, and to render those offices which should seem to be done by the Ordinary Prelate concerning a matter of this kind: but the narration itself, which the said Lord Everardus Botterus exhibited to us, was of the following tenor.

[31] A not ill-founded suspicion arises to me, that this very narration is the Brief and true narration of which we before made mention, in which is inserted the narration of Everardus Botterus, and which Papebroch had indicated in his notes. However it be, it certainly seems most worthy to be here subjoined whole from the authentic instrument of the Most Illustrious Hovius. Thus it runs: I, Everardus Botterus, of the Gelderland nation, in the year 1615, in September, departed from Utrecht, accompanied by three religious men, and after various perils of storms, on the fourth of the same month, about the morning hour, I came to the place of burial of the Gorcum Martyrs, situated near the walls of Brill, once a barn of the monastery of Rugge, of the Order of Regulars, in which, hanged from a beam, they were put to death under Count Lumey; and I took care to dig up, we being present, rubble mixed with remains of turf, to the space of twelve feet square, and I found a whole head with fragments of other heads, and with several bones. I then went to the neighboring house of the woman Anna Centens, seventy years old, who first had indicated to me the place of the burial of the said Martyrs, otherwise most well known to many Catholics, who out of devotion or vow visited it. Whence are marvelously confirmed the things which we said in paragraph 1 concerning the cult, begun there by the pious faithful, before the bodies were disinterred. The narration proceeds in the deposition of the woman.

[32] She, confession having been made first, affirmed that she had dwelt there for forty years; of the first procurer of the disinterments, and that when she was a young woman of about 26 years, and was running less reverently along the beam of the said barn, she had been admonished by another neighbor, Helena Jacobi by name, who had been present at the martyrdom and burial of those Martyrs, that it was not fitting so to run along such a beam, from which for the Catholic faith pious men had been hanged; to which admonition occasion was also given by the brother of the husband of this woman, 24 years old, saying of her: Behold the wanton young girl on the beam, from which the monks hung and were buried. And not far thence (the place of burial being shown) he added that the said Helena had been accustomed to demonstrate the place to Catholics; and, Helena being dead, that she herself had done the same to those asking: and all and each of these things she confirmed by oath. Departing hence therefore, I carried away with me the sacred relics of the Martyrs found, and in the presence of good and pious men, nay of priests (whose names I purposely do not here write down), enclosed in two caskets, in good faith I delivered them to the Most Reverend Father Andreas a Soto, Confessor to the Most Serene Isabella Clara Eugenia, Infanta of Spain, and general Commissary of the Brothers of the Order of Minors throughout Belgium and other provinces. So done and approved by the testimonies of which mention is made above, and secured by the appended seal of the oft-mentioned Lord Everardus, at Utrecht in the year 1616, the 26th of February.

[33] The approbation by Archbishop Hovius, Thus far the narration inserted in the instrument of the Most Illustrious Hovius, which there follows the approbation of the aforesaid relics in this manner: We therefore, unwilling to fail in our office, diligently inspected these bones, the series of the aforesaid narration being examined, and the qualities of its author weighed, the gravity also of various trustworthy witnesses being pondered, have judged, and by the tenor of the present letters we declare that we judge, these to be true bones of the Gorcum Martyrs; the narration likewise of the generous and zealous Lord Everardus named to be true, and therefore we decree that these holy bones, as true relics of the Martyrs, are to be exposed to the public veneration of the faithful, by our archiepiscopal and ordinary authority. In faith of which we have signed these with our hand and seal at Mechelen, the 22nd of June in the year 1616.

All which are plainly conformable to those which we reported above from the Processes. Further, the disinterments of the sacred bodies, oftener repeated by Petrus Gerardi and Leonardus Theodori, they confirmed to me by a new Belgian instrument, which is in my possession, before a notary and witnesses on the 7th of July in the year 1618, in which followed the solemn exaltation of the relics held at Brussels on the 18th of October, whose more accurate description, since I could not obtain it from elsewhere, I shall cull in few words from the already mentioned Belgian Legend of the Saints of the Order, by the author the Reverend Father Benignus Fremaut, whose not the words but the sense I shall render in Latin.

[34] He himself testifies, with others, that the aforesaid relics were religiously placed in two skillfully made and gilded reliquaries. and their most solemn exaltation A solemn Mass on that very day in the church of the Fathers Minor the Most Illustrious Archbishop sang, the most eminent Abbot of Parc and the Provost of Frigidus Mons assisting. At the Mass and procession were present their Most Serene Highnesses Albert and Isabella, Princes of Belgium, the Chapter of St. Gudula, all the Pastors with the whole Clergy, and besides the Mendicant Orders, also the Canons Regular of St. Augustine, the Bogards, the Capuchins, the Minims, and the monks of Frigidus Mons, each under his own Cross. In the procession itself, after the Cross was carried the image of St. Francis, adorned with most precious gems and pearls, and behind it followed the effigies of the holy Martyrs, expressed to the life, which, fixed on spears, boys carried, representing angels in seemly attire. Then conspicuous stood forth the first reliquary, with the image of the Queen of Martyrs immaculately conceived: then the Councils—of Finances, as they call them—of the Chancery of Brabant, of the Chamber of Accounts, both orders of magistrates, the crafts, the confraternities, each carrying a torch, which are said to have burned that day above five thousand.

[35] That ordered series was received by the other reliquary, at Brussels in the year 1618. carried by four Minorites, like the former, amid the sweetest concerts of the musicians of the court, the King and eternal Rewarder of Martyrs in the venerable Sacrament closing the train, adored by a most crowded multitude of people. He goes on to describe what was done in St. Gudula's, whence the procession being led back to the church of the Fathers Minor, the relics were placed on the altar destined for it, the eucharistic hymn Te Deum laudamus being sung, when now to the second hour after noon the ceremony of the solemnity had been protracted. It was ascribed to a miracle that a nearly continual rain ceased when the Mass was begun, until, the procession completed, the showers again fell. The solemnity lasted as many days as there were Martyrs from the Order of Minors, the people flowing together from all sides, poured out into tears through tenderness of soul. This was especially counted among the benefits of the holy Martyrs, that a most grievous epidemic plague, which had long afflicted the men of Brussels, ceased to rage from that day of the exaltation of the relics. Other relics, distributed through Brabant, Flanders, Artois, Hainaut, nay even into Germany and Spain, were everywhere received with equal veneration, so that in a short time twenty-four miracles, wrought at Mons, Valenciennes, Cambrai, Binche, Bapaume, Hesdin, Tournai, Sluis, and Ath, are reckoned; but these elsewhere.

[36] I forbear to describe the more celebrated elevations of each of those cities, The approbation of Malderus, Bishop of Antwerp it will be more to the purpose to adduce in few words their recognitions, approbations, and visitations, which were exhibited in the Processes at Rome, as is plain from the Position on the doubt whether the validity of the most recent Process of Namur, both Remissorial and Compulsorial, be established; and also whether the witnesses examined and respectively compelled in it were duly and rightly examined, and whether the rights examined in the same were lawfully compelled. There from page 22 are enumerated the diploma and testimonies of various Bishops, who in their respective dioceses examined and approved the aforesaid relics. In the first place is set the diploma of the Most Reverend Lord Joannes Malderus, Bishop of Antwerp, concerning the identity of the relics of the said Servants of God exposed in the church of the Friars Minor of the Regular Observance in the city of Antwerp, subscribed by Adrianus Spirinck, secretary, and secured by the seal of the aforesaid Most Reverend Lord Bishop. Further, the same testimony was recognized in another visitation of the relics, instituted on the 27th of July 1629, by the most eminent men, the Lords Franciscus vander Zypen, Archdeacon, and Godefridus a Diepenbeeck, Archpriest of the church of Antwerp, lawfully deputed for the recognition of these and other relics, whose instrument I have before my eyes. Thus there the praised most eminent [men] testify:

[37] Moreover, the same Reverend Father Cornelius a Borre exhibited, recognized by the deputies. Procurator as above, other letters of the Most Reverend Lord Joannes Malderus, Bishop of Antwerp, given on the 15th of July 1629, subscribed by the hand of the same Most Reverend, and also by the mandate of the same A. Spirinx, Secretary, and confirmed by the seal of the same Most Reverend, by which he attests that on the aforesaid day and year, before his Most Reverend Lordship, appeared the Reverend Father Sedulius, Ex-provincial of the Minors, bringing Petrus Geeraerts van Dueren, citizen of Utrecht, testifying that he had dug up a certain portion of a bone (which the said Father exhibited, Petrus recognizing it and asserting the same to be genuine) from the place of the sepulcher, well known to him, at Brill, of the Gorcum Martyrs, and had delivered it to Lord Alexander Axelius, priest of Utrecht, which Axelius had sent that to the said Father Sedulius, as he attests to have been plain by his letters given on the 6th of January 1619, old style, exhibited to the same Most Reverend, etc. Then various witnesses were heard, after whose depositions the relics were enclosed in two gilded wooden caskets, together with the letters of the Most Reverend Malderus and of Father a Soto, Commissary General, and the most eminent deputies sealed the same caskets with their seals, etc.

[38] Likewise of the Archbishop of Cambrai, Lest in describing similar things I be excessive or tedious, let it suffice to set forth in few words those things which in the mentioned Position are briefly but authentically narrated. There from number 8 are said to be exhibited two diplomas or original testimonies of blessed memory Franciscus vander Burch, Archbishop of Cambrai, concerning the identity of the relics of the aforesaid Servants of God, for the public veneration of the faithful in the towns of Valenciennes and Condé. Likewise another diploma of the aforesaid Archbishop of Cambrai, printed and subscribed alike, concerning the identity and permitted exposition of the relics of the aforesaid Servants of God in the church of the Friars Minor Recollect. Besides, an authentic copy of another diploma of the aforesaid Archbishop of Cambrai, concerning the identity and permitted exposition of the relics of the said Servants of God, in the church of the same Friars Minor of the town of Ath. There is mentioned in the same Position, page 32, number 21, an extract of the visitation of the relics of the said Servants of God from the Remissorial Process of Ath, drawn up by Apostolic authority in the year 1632, concerning the same identity and public exposition of the relics, in the aforesaid town, before the Reverend Lord Philippus le Grand, Dean of Chièvres, and the Reverend Lord Petrus de Namur, Regent of the College of Ath.

[39] Of the Bishop of Namur, At number 11 it is thus had: Two diplomas of the Most Reverend Lord Joannes Dauvin, Bishop of Namur, concerning the identity and permitted exposition of the relics of the said Servants of God, respectively resting in the church of the Friars Minor in the town of Nivelles and in the castle chapel of the village of Rixensart, of the diocese of Namur. Which are immediately confirmed by the original instruments of the Most Reverend Father Friar Andreas a Soto, by which he testifies to have given the same relics. But then at number 24 is alleged a public instrument concerning the solemn procession of the introduction of the relics into the town of Nivelles, of the date the 26th of April 1619. At number 18 is cited an extract of the visitation of the relics of the said Servants of God from the Remissorial process, carried out by Apostolic authority at Mechelen in the year 1629, before the Reverend Lords Petrus vander Wielen, Vicar General, and Joannes le Roy, Official of Mechelen, delegated judges, concerning the identity of the relics of the said nineteen Servants of God, respectively exposed in the church of the Friars Minor of the Regular Observance, and among the Poor Clare nuns of the said city. In the number next following there is treatment of an extract of the visitation of the relics made at Antwerp in the same year 1629, of which we said abundantly above.

[40] At number 20 is adduced the Remissorial Process of Lille, and of the deputies of Lille. fabricated by Apostolic authority in the year 1632, before the Reverend Lord Robertus Imbert, Scholastic of the collegiate church of St. Peter, and the Reverend Lord Bernardus Vervianus, canon of the said collegiate church, legalized by the Reverend Dean and chapter of the aforesaid church and town of Lille, concerning the identity and public exposition respectively of the relics of the said Servants of God in the churches of the Friars Minor Recollect and of the Poor Clare nuns of the said town of Lille, and also in the towns of Douai, Comines, and Bapaume. To pursue the rest in compendium, it will have sufficed to have noted that there is indicated at number 22 an extract of the visitation of the relics at Mons in Hainaut, concerning the identity and public exposition respectively in the churches of the Friars Minor Recollect, and of St. Waltrude, and of the Poor Clare nuns of the said town. Finally at number 23 another extract of the visitation of the relics made at Valenciennes concerning their identity and public exposition respectively, both in the church of the Friars Minor Recollect and in the abbey of St. John of the said town, and in the towns of Condé and Le Quesnoy. From all which it manifestly appears how widely through Belgium the aforesaid relics of the Saints were distributed. Not to run further, hear Gelenius at this day: Likewise at Cologne in the church of the Fathers of the Observance of the Order of St. Francis, a festive commemoration of the Gorcum Martyrs, whose relics are preserved among the said Fathers.

[41] Thus far concerning the dispersion of the sacred relics, made chiefly by the oft-mentioned Commissary General, [Relics at St. Michael's and in the Professed House of the Society of Jesus at Antwerp.] to whom certainly all Catholic Belgium owes very much in this part. Of others, doubtless more and notable, which are venerated in various places through confederated Belgium, I have no sufficiently distinct knowledge, although from the faith of approved men it is established that at Gorcum, Utrecht, and in other cities precious pledges are preserved and honored with that cult with which under acatholic powers our rites can be exercised. Let not that escape which the Echo of St. Norbert Triumphant noted on page 63, namely that Matthaeus, abbot at St. Michael's of Antwerp, obtained a large bone from the Most Reverend Father Andreas a Soto, formerly Confessor to the Most Serene Isabella the Infanta, from the fellowship of the Brill Martyrs, among whom the Premonstratensian Order, and especially St. Michael's of Antwerp, had two sons from Middelburg, Hadrianus and Jacobillus, excellent Martyrs. Nor also is to be passed over a not small part of the sacred treasure in the restored church there of our Professed House; where in two gilded wooden caskets are placed two larger bones, which, lawfully approved by the authority of the Most Illustrious, of good memory, Joannes Ferdinandus, Bishop of Antwerp, on this very day were wont to be exposed to the veneration of the people, and the annual festivity of those same holy Gorcum Martyrs to be celebratedly observed of old.

§ VI. Various processes for the canonization of the holy Gorcum Martyrs instituted from the year 1619.

The sacred relics, as we have just now narrated, being recognized and approved from the year 1616, and more solemnly exalted in the year 1618 and following, it began to be seriously treated of the Gorcum Martyrs being enrolled in the number of the Saints, according to the received custom of the Church, The first process sent to Rome in the year 1620, and therefore the first care of inquiring was committed to the Most Illustrious Lord Lucius Sanseverinus, Archbishop of Salerno, with the power of a Legate a latere among the Most Serene Princes of Belgium as Apostolic Nuncio,

by whose authority, through letters given on the 14th of October in the year 1619 and inserted in the Process, the matter was undertaken by the Most Illustrious Lord Philippus Rovenius, Vicar Apostolic through the confederated provinces of Belgium, by whom were deputed and subdelegated on the 16th of December of the same year the already above-named most eminent Nicolaus Nomius and Judocus Catius, with the Reverend and excellent Lord Jacobus Boolius, Canon of the metropolitan church of Utrecht, who formed the first process, often cited by us above, through Holland and the dominion of Utrecht in the aforesaid year 1619, whose title I here append: The Process of the martyrdom and of the identity of the relics of the holy Gorcum Martyrs, whose original acts were sent to Rome on the 8th day of February 1620.

[43] from which the toleration of the cult was obtained, Hence it is plainly clear that already then recourse was had to the sacred Congregation of Rites, from which this was first obtained, that the veneration of the relics could be tolerated, as the letter of Cardinal de Monte teaches, given to the Archbishop of Mechelen on the 13th of November 1621, part of which I here subjoin. From the letters of the Most Illustrious Cardinal of Santa Severina first, soon also from himself in person, was received the report which was desired, concerning those two things, namely the martyrdom and the identity of the relics of the Gorcum Martyrs. And when afterward, by the mandate of our most holy Lord, in the Congregation of Rites, several sessions being held thereon, this business was maturely weighed, and diligently, as the quality and gravity of the matter demands, considered: at length my Lords, set over the same Congregation, came to this opinion; that the proofs transmitted hither were not so conclusive that from them they could be moved to define the matter altogether, and to put the supreme hand to it: but from the information of the same Most Illustrious Cardinal of Santa Severina, and also from the esteem, devotion, and veneration in which the said Martyrs and their relics are held by the Belgian peoples, the same my Most Illustrious Lords, moved, remit to the prudence of Your Most Reverend Lordship, that by way of connivance the same devotion and veneration of the peoples toward the aforesaid Martyrs and their relics be permitted to be continued, until something else be decreed and determined by this holy See.

[44] which some Bishops had approved, The whole matter is repeated a little higher up in a certain manuscript Register of the Roman Processes from the 6th of May 1645 to March 1648, in which are resumed the things done before, which here for a clearer explanation of matters will opportunely be inserted. Thus there the promoter of the resumed cause, speaking from page 5 of the place of martyrdom and the disinterment of the sacred bodies: At that time, says he, a truce being published between the Catholic King and the confederated provinces of Belgium, and commerce being granted between the parties, since that place had always been in the greatest veneration of the Catholics, and many professed themselves freed by their intercessions from various infirmities, that those relics might be held in greater devotion, they were dug up from the aforesaid ditches by certain pious persons by night, in the month of September 1615, and secretly carried away to the Catholic state, and presented to various Bishops of Belgium, some of whom, namely the Archbishop of Mechelen and of Cambrai and the Bishop of Namur, decreed public veneration for them, as for relics of Martyrs, as appears from their decrees. Of these we said enough above. Thus the Register proceeds.

[45] Other bishops, however, as of Ypres (the same to me is established concerning the Bishop of Antwerp, Joannes Malderus, from his authentic letters), some however dissenting. were of the mind that without the authority of the Apostolic See this publication could not be made: and besides, upon this Paul V was consulted by the Apostolic Nuncio dwelling in those parts, who was afterward Cardinal of Santa Severina; and because the gravity of the matter required mature consultation, therefore by the Pontiff himself the business was remitted to the sacred Congregation of Rites; which then would decree nothing, but required two things from the Nuncio himself. First indeed the history of the martyrdom, second the identity of the relics; concerning which, that he might inform, it was written back through the Most Eminent Lord Cardinal Borghese, on the 24th of August in the year 1619. The Apostolic Nuncio, however, by his ordinary authority compiled several Processes, that he might clearly prove the aforesaid two things, which he transmitted to Rome, together with his own missive letters, and he himself also, returned to Rome, informed the sacred Congregation in person concerning the two aforesaid: and although from that information the sacred Congregation did not judge that the Servants of God could be declared Blessed and Martyrs, it judged nevertheless that the veneration and exposition of the relics could be tolerated, until the holy Apostolic See should declare something else, as appears from the letters given to the same Archbishop of Mechelen, which we gave above.

[46] Thereupon in the sacred Congregation, together with the instances, both of regulars and of seculars, Other processes after the year 1625: and the lawful mandate of procuration, the aforesaid Processes were produced, opened, and examined, which are said to have been made by ordinary authority, the Most Eminent Lord Cardinal Muto proposing, it was decreed that they were relevant and sufficient for inquiry in general, and that there was ground, if it should please His Holiness, for relaxing the Remissorial in specie, as, the relation being made to His Holiness, he approved the decree of the sacred Congregation. Whence, a general commission preceding, signed by the hand of the same His Holiness, and directed to the same sacred Congregation, the things to be observed being observed, the Remissorial in specie was relaxed on the 22nd of May 1625. This Remissorial was directed to the Apostolic Nuncio, residing in the city of Brussels, together with two others constituted in ecclesiastical dignity, to be deputed by the same Nuncio, with faculty of subrogating others also in their place. But since according to the norm of these letters Processes could not be instituted in the parts of the heretics, by another Remissorial the whole business was committed to the prudence of the Apostolic Nuncio. He indeed, according to the opportunity of place and time, proceeded to the special inquiry, examined witnesses, compelled writings, visited relics, as likewise in Holland, at Mechelen, Venlo, Ath, Tongeren, Antwerp, and Nivelles the subdelegates compiled various Processes. Which all a little after were directed to the sacred Congregation, and in the year 1636 opened, yet not, says the Position, discussed, on account of the supervening of the most recent decrees of Urban VIII.

[47] others likewise from the year 1646 to 1661; Hence, the business being retarded for a decade, at the instance of the General of the Order of Minors of St. Francis of the Observance, on the 6th day of February 1646 in the Congregation of sacred Rites the cause of the canonization or declaration of the martyrdom of the said Servants of God was resumed in the state and terms in which it was found. Then in the year 1648 the Congregation judged that it was established that a cult had been exhibited to the said Servants from time immemorial, and was at present exhibited, and was comprehended among the cases excepted from the decrees of Urban VIII, and therefore that these had by no means been contravened, either then or now; and therefore that it could proceed to further matters, to which decree His Holiness assented on the 13th of July of the following year 1649. Then on the 6th of February 1652 were decreed, and afterward on the 6th of April 1658 granted, Remissorial and Compulsorial letters for taking a special inquiry concerning the martyrdom, the cause of the martyrdom, the miracles, and the identity of the relics of the said Servants of God. The letters were dispatched on the 17th of May of the same year, and directed to the Bishop of Namur and his Vicar General, and also to the Archdeacon of Namur, and to another Archdeacon of Gallo-Brabant, and likewise the Official of Gallo-Brabant. And this last was the Process in the cause of the holy Martyrs, protracted almost for four years, which to relate here is superfluous.

[48] whose witnesses are enumerated: We pursue only the history of the deeds. In the Remissorial Process drawn up by Apostolic authority at Utrecht, Gorcum, Haarlem, and Leiden in the year 1628, were heard witnesses two above twenty; in another, drawn up at Amsterdam, Haarlem, and Delft in the year 1634, seven witnesses: but in the last, of Namur, from the 4th of July of the year 1658 to the 21st of October 1661, were examined nineteen witnesses, and so at last an end was put to the Processes in Belgium, after recourse had been had to various Bishops. The matter was happily brought thus far by the Reverend Father Friar Petrus de Hullegarde, in the cause Procurator specially constituted by the Reverend Father Friar Jacobus de Riddere, Commissary General of the Minors of the Observance of the German-Belgic nation, and also by the Reverend Father Friar Petrus Manerus, Minister General of the whole Order of Minors of St. Francis, up to the declaration of the martyrdom. To these at last were added the letters of various Orders and Princes, both Ecclesiastical and secular, given to His Holiness Lord Alexander VII, and enumerated in the now oft-cited Position from page 35, for obtaining the canonization or declaration of the martyrdom of the Gorcum Saints: among which I cull that letter which is reported in the first place, given by the three Orders of the duchy of Brabant on the 5th of the Kalends of February in the year 1664, in these words:

[49] Most Blessed Father. The cause of the nineteen Gorcum Martyrs of Christ, The letters of the Orders of Brabant most of whom the Christian world owes as accepted to the dominion of Brabant, we have with reverence learned to be brought to the tribunal of His Vicar, and already in mind we foresense the joy which the Belgian church expects from the decision of Your Holiness; for the same thing has seemed to us, that the business be recognized by the same [See], as that it be approved. The soul still shudders, when, to those turning the annals of the earlier age, there occurs the appearance of the widely ravaging heresy, which, that it might send a message to the true faith and to the authority of the Apostolic See, thought that even the rule of our Kings was to be shaken off; a signal proof of their piety, which not even by the loss of dominion could be brought to waver. But even the part now torn away, however much infected with the poisons of those raging on all sides, was not so sterile of virtues as not to have brought forth signal examples; many being kindled with zeal for God, who yielded neither to threats, nor to terrors, nor to punishments, nay amid these very things glorified the Lord. Of which thing we have Gorcum and Brill, towns of the Batavians, as most excellent theaters, in which our heroes contended with unbroken constancy. And first indeed, the sectaries pressing on, they went before all good men in word and example, confirmed the doubtful, as they could; but the wicked, as the acts of those times testify, by unwearied labors and vigils they tried to bring back to better fruit.

[50] Which also stirred up against them the greatest, nay the sole ill-will among the guilty of Divine and human majesty, to Pope Alexander VII but especially this; that the presence of Christ Himself in the Eucharist, and the vicarious authority of the Supreme Pontiffs, to which they showed themselves equally devoted, they defended by all means. Wherefore when, by the secret judgment of God, the evil had crept so far that there was now no place for remedies, and the heretics themselves possessed power; they poured out all their rage upon the same Martyrs, and, afflicting them with the most exquisite reproaches and torments, so far did not deter them that they even rejoiced, because they had been held worthy to suffer these things for His name; nay more, both amid repeated tortures and such barbarous butcheries, that many times they all but killed them, they uttered the profession of our faith, a clear testimony to them and to all the sectaries, even with failing spirit; until God perfected in them the good work which He had begun, and, brought to the consummation of the course through a cruel and extreme punishment, by which willing they sacrificed with their own blood, He called them into glory, that for the

mortal life, which they had consecrated, He might grant them, among the angels and the elect, an eternal and never-dying life.

[51] Which, believed at once in the very place of martyrdom with great assent of the Catholics, for which the canonization of the Saints became widespread throughout all Belgium, in whatever direction it lies open, and miracles soon published bore witness, which added to the orthodox, pressed under the yoke of the heretics, such constancy that they endured in the true religion, and even now endure; but the neighboring dominions they confirmed in a wonderful manner, especially with the constant and public voice and fame of their sanctity increasing day by day, together with the graces which God deigns to bestow on the faithful through them; which also provoked great devotion of the whole clergy and people, who long to recall their memory in benediction, and honor their relics, approved by the authority of our Prelates, with the highest honors, awaiting the last decree of Your Holiness, by which, enrolled by the same in the Catalogue of the Blessed and Saints, they may obtain public cult in the churches. Which desire of theirs, since we hold it altogether persuaded to look to the utility and support, nay the increase, of the Christian cause in these regions, we have thought fit to be set forth to Your Holiness itself, beseeching by all sacred things, that, since your labors sweat for none but Christ, whose place here on earth you fill, and for His spouse the Church, you may deign to put the last hand to the aforesaid cause of the Martyrs.

[52] through their deputy they humbly petition. Wherefore to the same Your Holiness we have sent the Reverend Father Petrus de Hullegarde, custodian of the Seraphic Order in this province, who, having undertaken the procuration of the whole business, also bears our wishes to your feet; and he is endowed with such acumen of judgment, such skill especially in sacred matters and those akin to them, and such diligence in observing all things, that we have judged our mandates to be chiefly committed to him; in explaining which, therefore, we trust that Your Holiness will kindly hear him, venerating God, that He may preserve you, for the good of the Christian commonwealth, as long as possible, and late call you from the governance of the Church militant to the triumphant. Of like argument are the following letters, of which the first had been given by the governor and deputies, both of the ecclesiastics and of the nobles of the city and province of Namur, on the 10th of January in the year 1663. In Spanish are written the letters of the deputies of the clergy and of the four members of the province and county of Flanders, given at Ghent on the 28th of February 1664 to the Most Eminent Cardinal Chigi, as also others to the same from the Orders of Brabant on the 28th of January of the same year.

[53] Others from the Emperor Leopold, Princes, and Bishops. There follow in order other letters to the Supreme Pontiff: and first from the imperial city of Regensburg, from the Most August Emperor Leopold, on the 28th of March 1664; then from the Most Serene Elector of Bavaria Ferdinand Maria, on the 15th of March 1664; from the Elector of Trier Charles Caspar, on the 30th of March 1664; from the Archbishop of Salzburg Guidobald, on the 10th of February 1664. The Marquis of Caracena writes to the Cardinal of Aragon in Spanish, on the 21st of January of the same year. Then again to the Supreme Pontiff, Andreas, Archbishop of Mechelen, on the 18th of December 1663; Ambrosius, Bishop of Antwerp, on the 31st of the same month and year; Joannes, Bishop of Namur, on the 11th of December 1662; Robertus, Bishop of Bruges, on the 14th of January 1664; Eugenius Albertus, Bishop of Roermond, on the 20th of December 1663. Finally are joined the supplicatory petitions of Stephanus de Gamarra y Contreras, of the Chapter of the Cathedral church of Namur, and of the general Chapter of the Premonstratensians. And by these the matter was so far advanced that on the 23rd of March 1666, in the general Congregation held before Alexander VII of happy memory, the martyrdom and the cause of the martyrdom of the aforesaid nineteen Servants of God being maturely discussed, His Holiness, the suffrages of all the Consultors and of the Most Eminent Lords Cardinals concurring, decreed to come to the discussion of the miracles. These are the words of the decree of the sacred Congregation published on the 6th of October in the year 1674, which explain the matter thus far done sufficiently, so that it is time to proceed to the Canonization itself.

§ VII. The Roman Beatification, solemnly celebrated there in 1675.

The martyrdom and miracles being proved at Rome The cause of Canonization being brought thus far under Alexander VII, as we set forth in the preceding paragraph, there was no such great labor needed that the miracles should be proved, wrought in so great number in various places, whose accurate list I wish it had been permitted to obtain: for those alone came to our knowledge which are enumerated in the first Dutch Process of the year 1619 recited above, to be produced at the close of the Estian history. I confess indeed that the Reverend Father Martinus Puteanus, most worthy Guardian of the convent of the Reverend Fathers Minor at Antwerp, delivered into my hands a mass of papers, in which were found several Processes and various formulas of Processes: but among so many papers I especially missed that which would have conduced to illustrating the glory of the holy Martyrs, as I have already indicated above more than once. Place must altogether be given to a just excuse, for since at Brussels most of the monuments pertaining to the Saints were preserved, but there in the mournful fire of the year 1695 many writings perished, this remained for us, that, gathering the ears of grain in a manner, we should compose those things which have hitherto been given, and further will be given, concerning the approbation of the miracles, the subsequent declaration of the martyrdom or beatification, and its solemnity at Rome and elsewhere.

[55] And so after the decree of the year 1666 just now cited, the death of Pope Alexander VII intervening, and the not long pontificate of Clement IX, the martyrdom and miracles, the matter devolved to Clement X, who at length assenting, the cause most desired to all Belgium obtained its most wished-for issue. This the above-mentioned decree teaches, issued in the year 1674 on the 6th of October, whose words I go on to describe: At length in a like Congregation, before our most holy Lord Clement, by divine providence Pope the tenth, out of very many signs, prodigies, and miracles, two, as the clearer and more evident arguments of the final perseverance of the same Martyrs, at the relation of the Most Eminent Lord Cardinal Azzolini, with the unanimous assent of all the Consultors and of the Most Eminent Lords Cardinals, His Holiness approved, namely, the fourth of Joannes Theodorus Dinchius from birth, and the fifth of Aegidius Tilmannus, Deacon, laboring for very many years with obstinate and deformed fractures of an intestinal hernia, who at once, a vow being made, were found whole and sound, as if they had never been seized by a like disease. Wherefore, all things being fulfilled which the most recent decrees of Urban VIII of happy memory enjoin, the sacred Congregation, the opinions of the Consultors and of the Most Eminent Lords Cardinals being again heard, with the suffraging consent of all, declared that the martyrdom and the cause of the martyrdom were established, and that it could safely, whenever, come to the solemn canonization of the aforesaid Martyrs.

[57] All these things are to be understood according to the rite of the holy Roman Church, and the disposition of the sacred Canons, they are declared Blessed, considering (says the other decree, issued in the same year on the 9th of October) that the matter concerns Martyrs, with the miracles maturely discussed and approved. But meanwhile, until it come to the act of solemn canonization, that they could be declared Blessed with the concession of a Mass and Office of the common of many Martyrs. His Holiness indeed, the gravity of the matter so demanding, decreed to explore the divine will by prayers and sacrifices on the aforesaid 25th of September 1674. Which being done, His Holiness commanded the aforesaid decree to be dispatched. And meanwhile, until it come to the act of solemn canonization, he kindly granted that the aforesaid Servants of God be adorned with the title and cult of the Blessed; namely that the day of their happy passing be yearly observed in all Holland, by both clergies, and elsewhere in the churches of all the Orders which they illustrated by their martyrdom, by the religious of both sexes, with the Office and Mass of the common of many Martyrs, according to the rubrics of the Roman missal and breviary, and concerning these he ordered letters to be dispatched in the form of a Brief; yet so that, according to the decree of Alexander VII of happy memory, the aforesaid letters be first exhibited in the Vatican basilica to the Congregation of sacred Rites, and be committed to due execution.

[57] This place would require that the aforesaid Brief, published on the 14th of November 1675, as the instrument teaches, be subjoined to the decrees already mentioned; but since that is not at hand, and from what has been said and is to be said the whole matter is sufficiently manifest, that loss is somehow repaired from the public instrument of the solemn beatification itself of the nineteen Gorcum Martyrs, issued at Rome in the year 1675, and afterward reprinted in Belgium, in which the whole series of the deed is thus described, that nothing greatly can seem to be desired. Some things could be contracted, or things already said be supposed, but it seemed better to exhibit a document of this kind entirely and faithfully whole. It begins: In the name of the Lord. Amen. By the present public instrument let it be evidently plain to all everywhere, and be it known, that in the year from the Nativity of the same our Lord Jesus Christ one thousand six hundred seventy-five, Indiction 13, but on the 24th day of the month of November, and in the sixth year of the pontificate of the most holy in Christ Father, and our Lord Clement, by divine providence Pope the tenth.

[58] issued at Rome in the year 1675, Since, the processes being diligently and maturely discussed and weighed by the sacred Congregation of the Most Eminent and Most Reverend Lords Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church set over the sacred Rites, by the authority of the Holy Apostolic See, and with its license validly and lawfully drawn up, concerning the martyrdom and the cause of the martyrdom of the nineteen Venerable Servants of God called of Gorcum, eleven indeed Friars Minor of St. Francis of the Observance, namely: Nicolaus Pichius of Gorcum, Guardian, Hieronymus of Weert, Vicar, Theodoricus of Emden of Amersfoort, Nicasius Joannes of Heeze, Willehadus the Dane, Godefridus of Mervel, Antonius of Weert, Antonius of Hoornaar, Franciscus Rodius of Brussels, priests, and Petrus Ascanus, and Cornelius Wicanus, laymen; and of eight others, namely Joannes, priest of the Order of Preachers, and Adrianus Becanus, and Jacobus Lacopius of Oudenaarde, both of the Premonstratensian Order, and Joannes of Oosterwijk, Canon Regular of the Order of St. Augustine, and also Leonardus of Vechel of 's-Hertogenbosch, Nicolaus Poppelius of Weld, Godefridus of Duynen of Gorcum, and Andreas Wouters, priests and secular Parish-priests; and also concerning the signs, prodigies, and miracles by which the divine clemency was piously believed to have approved their final perseverance: and, a declaration being issued and strengthened by two decrees, that out of very many signs and miracles of this kind, two, as the clearer and more evident arguments of the final and heavenly-approved Catholic constancy of the same Martyrs, at the relation of the Most Eminent and Most Reverend Lord Cardinal Azzolini, the unanimous suffrage of all the Consultors and of the Most Eminent Lords concurring thereto, should come to be approved, and were approved.

[59] And, there being made before our most holy Lord Clement Pope the tenth, in which, the things done before being related, a full and distinct relation of all the things which were done in a cause of this kind; and the suffrages of the same Most Illustrious Consultors being heard, the same sacred Congregation on the 25th day of the month of September of the year last past having judged that it could, whenever it should seem good to the same His Holiness, safely come to the solemn canonization of the same nineteen Servants of God, but meanwhile that it be granted that in the whole globe of the earth they be called Blessed: And the same His Holiness, at the pious, earnest, and humble supplications of His Caesarean Majesty Leopold, King of the Romans, elected Emperor, and of other most serene Princes, and of various Most Illustrious persons, especially the Prelates of Belgium, and also of the seculars and Regulars of the duchy of Brabant and of the county of Flanders, whom the same nineteen Servants of God adorned by their martyrdom,

of the respective Orders, by the counsel and unanimous assent of the said Most Eminent and Most Reverend Lords Cardinals set over the sacred Rites of this kind, by the same Apostolic authority granted, that the aforesaid nineteen Servants of God should henceforth be called by the name of the Blessed, and their bodies and relics be exposed to the veneration of the faithful; that their images also be adorned with rays or splendors, and that concerning them, yearly on the day of their happy passing, an Office be recited and Mass celebrated of the common of many Martyrs, according to the rubrics of the Roman breviary and missal: and he kindly granted the faculty of celebrating the solemnities of the Beatification of the same nineteen Servants of God, with Office and Mass under the rite double major, within certain times and in certain places, yet after in the basilica of the Prince of the Apostles of the City those same solemnities (assigned to this effect on the present 24th day of the month of November) shall have been celebrated, as more amply and diffusely in the Apostolic letters, given at Rome at St. Mary Major under the ring of the Fisherman on the 24th day of the current month, to which let due relation be had.

[60] And when all things which seemed necessary for the solemnities of the said Beatification in the aforesaid basilica had been prepared in readiness, the solemnity of the beatification is described by the diligent labor and solicitous care of the very Reverend Father Ignatius de Broeyer, professor of the mentioned Order of Friars Minor of St. Francis, and secretary general, and also agent general of the German-Belgic Nation in the Roman Curia, and procurator of the cause of the Beatification and Canonization of the said nineteen Servants of God, and namely there was set on the exterior face of the most ample and most august basilica, and resting there, a representative effigy of the martyrdom of the same nineteen Servants of God, expressing to the life the several acts of the most atrocious torments, girt on either side with the Pontifical and Catholic King's arms, but below with the insignia of the Seraphic Religion, with an accurate inscription also appended of the place, time, and cause of the martyrdom itself, conspicuous with a golden border. But the basilica itself, clothed with silken hangings of purple color, with golden fringes from the lowest to the highest vault of its immense construction, and adorned with most solemn apparatus, had on the altar dedicated to the Chair of St. Peter a tablet with the depicted effigies of the said nineteen Servants of God, that altar indeed illustrious with cross and golden candlesticks and other precious ornaments, most splendid with manifold light of tapers, but seats arranged on either side of the said altar, on the right namely for the Most Eminent and Most Reverend Lords Cardinals set over the Congregation of sacred Rites, and the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lords Prelates and Consultors of the same sacred Congregation; on the left for the Most Eminent and Most Reverend Lord Cardinal Archpriest, the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lords his vicar and canons of the said basilica, several other benches of lower stools, for the rest of the same basilica, and the clergy flowing together from all sides, and the noble men concurring, and the religious of the aforesaid Orders.

[61] held at St. Peter's in Rome: Besides, very many tapers, both in that altar under which the relics of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul are preserved, set upon silver and gilded candlesticks, and in each of the other altars of the said basilica, and four music-galleries erected for as many choirs of musicians with organs not far from the aforesaid seats, and also a cohort of Swiss soldiers summoned from the Pontifical guard, to restrain the impetus of the popular multitude, flowing together to these solemnities with unusual concourse, and with the greater fervor of devotion the more it recognized the treasures of heavenly graces to have been opened to it, through the concession, made by the same our most holy Lord, of a plenary Indulgence and general remission of sins—even notwithstanding the revocation and suspension of any Indulgences whatsoever for the whole year of the most holy Jubilee—to all Christ's faithful of both sexes, confessed and refreshed with holy communion, being present at the solemnities of the said Beatification, or devoutly visiting the aforesaid basilica on that day. Of which concession public edicts had been affixed in the accustomed places and crossroads, and even now stood forth: I, notary of the same sacred Congregation of Rites, chancellor, and archivist undersigned, called to note the solemnities of the same Beatification, all the aforesaid being observed, faithfully attended also to other things to be said below, namely, the tapers being lit and shining, disposed as aforesaid, and very many noble men, especially ultramontane, standing within the crown of the said soldiers, and a very great and unusual multitude of both sexes and of the people being outside the circuit of the same soldiers.

[62] where also is related There came first the Most Eminent and Most Reverend Lords Sforza, Albizzi, Altieri, of Carpineo, Azzolini, and other Cardinals set over the said sacred Congregation of Rites, and the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lords Prelates and Consultors of the same sacred Congregation; and, all these sitting in the seats respectively destined for them, from the Sacristy of the said basilica there proceeded in procession, the Cross preceding and the acolytes going before, the whole clergy of the same basilica, the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lords Canons, clothed with rochet and surplice, the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Suarez, formerly Bishop of Vaison, vicar of the Most Eminent and Most Reverend Lord Archpriest, and the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Franciscus Marinus, Archbishop of Amasia, clothed with a red cope, about to celebrate the solemnities with miter, between two other Canons of the same basilica with dalmatics, the Most Eminent and Most Reverend Lord Carlo Cardinal Barberini, Archpriest, following; and, adoration being made at the Papal altar of the Holy Apostles, they betook themselves before the said altar of the Chair of St. Peter, the place, as above, prepared and destined for the said solemnity; and, all the aforesaid holding their places, with one of the masters of ceremonies of the aforesaid basilica, the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Bernardinus Casalius, Secretary of the aforesaid sacred Congregation, moving from his place, approached the side of the said Most Eminent and Most Reverend Lord Cardinal Sforza, and at the same time, being constituted before his Eminence and the other Most Eminent and Most Reverend Lords Cardinals, and led by one of the same masters of ceremonies, the aforenamed very Reverend Father Ignatius de Broeyer, who, having before his hands the aforesaid Apostolic letters in the form of a Brief, dispatched as above, and presenting them to the said sacred Congregation with due reverence, and pleading, urged as follows.

[63] Most Eminent and Most Reverend Lord. Since this sacred Congregation of Rites has declared the petition of the Procurator in the cause, that the martyrdom and the cause of the martyrdom of the nineteen Gorcum Martyrs is established, namely of eleven of our Seraphic institute, to wit Nicolaus Pichius, Guardian, with ten of his of the province of Lower Germany, Joannes of the sacred Order of Preachers, Adrianus and Jacobus, both Canons Premonstratensian of the Order of St. Norbert, Joannes, canon regular of St. Augustine, and also Nicolaus Popelius, and three other parish-priests respectively secular: who all together, through the constant confession of the orthodox faith, and the assertion of the real presence of the Body of Christ in the most holy Eucharist, and of the primacy of the Roman Pontiff; after the most monstrous and most cruel kinds of torments, at Brill in Holland in the year 1572 gloriously triumphed over the enemies of the Catholic Church; and moreover has approved several miracles, by which God the best and greatest willed to attest the death, precious in His sight, of such unconquered champions, sufficient for bestowing on them a solemn cult, to be entered upon in the accustomed form of Beatification: our most holy Lord Clement Pope X, out of his innate clemency, and out of his vigilance in augmenting the glory of God and of His Saints, and his pastoral piety, has ordered this Brief to be dispatched, by which the day of the same solemn declaration and Beatification is assigned this 24th of November, as in the Brief itself of the 14th of the same current month more fully. Wherefore I, Friar Ignatius de Broeyer, as procurator of the cause of the said Martyrs, and agent general of the German-Belgic provinces, both of our Order and of the said provinces, and in my own name and of others whom it concerns, most humbly beseech Your Eminence and the other Most Eminent and Most Reverend Fathers my Lords, that they may deign to order the mentioned Brief to be published and committed to execution, according to the most pious mind of His Holiness; whereby the greater glory of God, the exaltation of the Holy See, the increase of the orthodox faith, and the greatest honor of our Religion and of the aforesaid Martyrs, and of the whole ecclesiastical Order, may be provided for; and the devotion of all the faithful, especially of those dwelling among the heterodox, may be looked to: and that they may have in these most valiant athletes of Christ the revived examples of inviolate faith and proven constancy of the ancient Martyrs; that they may not be loath to imitate (if it should be needful) those whom it will delight them greatly to celebrate.

[64] and the response. This oration and instance being fulfilled, the said Most Eminent Lords Cardinals of the aforesaid sacred Congregation, the aforesaid Apostolic letters being received for it through the said Most Eminent Lord Cardinal Sforza, and found by them unharmed and in no way suspect, admitted them, and ordered them to be published, and the said solemnities to be celebrated, and other things necessary and opportune thereupon to be done according to the form of the same letters; and, the said very Reverend Father Ignatius, having first rendered due thanks with the greatest veneration he could, thence withdrawing, and sitting among the Canons of the basilica itself; the aforesaid Most Eminent Lord Cardinal Sforza, the others assenting, consigned to the said Most Illustrious Lord Casalius, Secretary, the aforesaid Apostolic letters, to the effect of carrying them with a relation of the preceding instance of the said very Reverend Father Ignatius, and of all the mandates from his Eminence and the other Most Eminent Lords Cardinals of the said sacred Congregation, as above, to the aforesaid Most Eminent Lord Archpriest sitting opposite; as they were at once carried by the said Most Illustrious Lord Casalius, which the same Most Eminent Lord Archpriest, accepting with due reverence and gazing upon, consigned to one of the masters of ceremonies, and ordered to be read openly and publicly in a loud voice by the resident archivist of the same basilica, as the archivist himself, having received the same letters into his hands, a lawful and authentic printed transcript of them being handed to me, the notary there assisting, by the said very Reverend Father Ignatius, procurator of the aforesaid cause, likewise there present and assisting, and I holding it before my hands and listening; the same resident archivist, obeying the aforesaid mandates, and having mounted the pulpit prepared for this effect, read out word for word, in a loud and intelligible voice, and published, and, descending from the pulpit, keeping likewise with himself a similar transcript, restored [it], of the following tenor, namely: Clement Pope X, etc.

[65] The exposition of the images, Then, the reading being finished, the silken veils being removed, with which the aforesaid images of the said nineteen Servants of God, existing respectively as above, had been covered, in the inmost prospect of the aforesaid basilica indeed the triumph of heavenly glory, but in the exterior the signal spectacle of the martyrdom, were exposed to the panting desire and eyes of Christ's faithful. While meanwhile the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Marinus, the aforesaid Archbishop, celebrating, began the hymn Te Deum laudamus, which four choirs of musicians received with the most exquisite harmonies of voices and of instruments of every kind, and with manifold blare of trumpets and resounding of drums; the whole most august assembly of Cardinals, Prelates, Canons, and of the whole Clergy, and the train of the other noble men, and a most copious multitude of the people meanwhile being prostrate on their knees, and most devoutly venerating the new Martyrs of Christ carried up from Belgium to heaven. And, the sign accustomed in such solemnities being given by the incendiaries of the Pontifical guard of the warlike engines, they responded with equal crash, and tripled the noisy booms

at the beginning, middle, and end of the Mass, there being disposed, by the order and mandate of the said very Reverend Father Ignatius, procurator, very many bronze engines of this kind. And, the hymn being finished, and the versicle uttered by the deacon, Pray for us, blessed Martyrs, and the response of the choir being had, That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ, and also the proper oration concerning the said blessed Martyrs being recited by the Most Illustrious Lord celebrant, and incense being burned before their icons, the same Most Illustrious Lord celebrant, with the said assistants vested in pontificals for performing the divine office, solemnly celebrated the Mass of the Martyrs, intermixed with the concerts of organs and musicians.

[66] At which time the Reverend Fathers Franciscus Raguseus, custodian of the province of Ragusa, and their distribution, and Joannes Antonius Panormitanus, both general lectors of sacred Theology, the Reverend Father Josephus a Cirolo, also general lector of sacred theology, custodian of the province of the Marches, assisting—to whom the same very Reverend Father Procurator had consigned four very large chests filled with things necessary for this effect, and brought thither—and two other Fathers of the same seraphic institute accompanying, distributed from two silver salvers the images, some expressing the triumph in heaven, others the martyrdom on earth of the said blessed Martyrs, whose precious material (as being wholly wrought of gold, silver, and silk) and extraordinary amplitude rivaled a most artful ornament full of industry, to which were added transcripts of the said Apostolic letters, with a book of the compendium of the glorious passion of the said blessed Martyrs, which several things were dispensed not only to the Most Eminent and Most Reverend Lords Cardinals, and the Most Illustrious Prelates, Canons, Consultors, and the other persons of the clergy, to each according to his rank, but also to the assisting nobles, and to the innumerable multitude of Christ's faithful of both sexes, of all orders and conditions, flowing together to these solemnities with unusual concourse and singular piety, a liberal and profuse distribution of images, transcripts, and books of this kind corresponding everywhere, and so, with the booms of the engines and the blares of the trumpets being continually repeated, the solemnities of the Beatification of the said Servants of God in this basilica of the Prince of the Apostles were celebrated on the morning of the aforesaid day with all &c. Concerning which &c.

[67] Done in the basilica, in the presence, sight, and understanding of the Excellent Father Master Martinus Harney, Witnesses from various Orders. of the Order of Preachers, doctor of sacred theology of the University of Leuven, the very Reverend Lord Valerius Mundelaers, Canon of the Premonstratensian Order, of Blessed Mary of Tongerlo, president of the college of St. Norbert of the City, vice-procurator general of the same Order, the very Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Balduinus Luesmans, Apostolic Protonotary and Reviser of the Commissions of the Signature of justice, and the very Illustrious Lord Michael Caron, of the diocese of Boulogne, agent in the Roman Curia on the part of the Realm of the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lords Archbishops of Cambrai and of Mechelen, Witnesses called specially, held, and asked to all and each of the aforesaid. There follows the clause: I, Jacobus Safsus Sabinus, public notary by Apostolic authority, enrolled in the archive of the Roman Curia, and notary, chancellor, and archivist of the Congregation of sacred Rites, asked concerning the aforesaid solemnity, subscribed the present instrument, and published it, and signed it with my accustomed sign, &c.

§ VIII. The same solemnity celebrated elsewhere, the extension of the Office, and the history of the passion most faithfully written by Guilielmus Estius.

The solemnity at Rome among the Fathers Minor at Aracoeli; The solemnity of the Beatification performed in the Vatican basilica was followed by others, especially by those very religious families which the Saints themselves had adorned by their glorious martyrdom, as the Reverend Lord Henricus Brewerus, Canon Regular of St. Augustine, cursorily testifies in a brief little writing at Cologne, On the life, passion, miracles, elevation, and beatification of the holy Gorcum Martyrs, where on page 30 he thus has it: The solemnities of the beatification, among all, the Friars Minor conducted the most splendidly of all in the following year (1676), the general Chapter lasting in the world and in the City; the other Orders more modestly and more briefly for this occasion, deferring other things to the act of canonization. He then goes on to narrate that, letters being received from Italy, he had understood what the Lateran Canons did in the general Chapter at Bologna, where, about to attest some religious homage to their blessed confrere (Joannes of Oosterwijk), they exposed his sacred image—among two Premonstratensians, depicted under their proper habit, as assumed from the canonical Order, and companions of the contest—to the public cult and veneration of the Bolognese, and afterward celebrated their feast day, under the solemn rite of the first class with Octave and Office of many Martyrs, with a great concourse of peoples. These things he says of matters done far from him, recording scarcely anything of the men of Cologne.

[69] and power was made of celebrating it elsewhere; For those festive celebrations the oft-praised Clement Pope X had already made power, a new Brief being dispatched on the 24th of March 1676, the space of one year being first granted, which then, at the supplication of the Father Ignatius de Broeyer also mentioned above, agent and procurator in the cause, he extended to another half year; and, intent with pious charity on augmenting the religion of the faithful and the salvation of souls with the heavenly treasures of the Church, to all and each of Christ's faithful of both sexes, truly penitent and confessed, and refreshed with holy Communion, who shall have devoutly visited the aforesaid churches, on the day on which the solemnities of the Beatification of the mentioned Servants of God, called the Gorcum Martyrs, according to the prescription of the aforesaid and present letters, were respectively celebrated there, or on some other day within its Octave, and there shall have poured forth pious prayers to God for the concord of Christian Princes, the extirpation of heresies, and the exaltation of holy mother Church, a plenary indulgence and remission of all their sins, to be gained only once by each, which they may also apply by way of suffrage to the souls of Christ's faithful who, joined to God in charity, shall have departed from this light, he mercifully grants in the Lord.

[70] With how great joy and exultation all things resounded in Belgium, whence followed the Antwerp festivity. can more easily be conceived than explained by me in detail. The individual Orders were asked to not be reluctant to supply at least some narration of the celebrations instituted by them during that time, which when, with repeated attempts, I had long awaited in vain, I held nothing more pressing than to have recourse to the manuscript Antwerp Annals of our former master Papebroch, in which at the year 1676 I found these things noted by him in few words: On the 5th of July the canonization of the Martyrs commonly called of Gorcum was celebrated by the Fathers Minor, most of them of their Order, who, taken at Gorcum and led to Brill, were there put to death by hanging. There was among them also one of the Order of Preachers, on whose account this Order also held a feast here on the 9th of the same month. Likewise the two Premonstratensians Jacobus and Adrianus, whose relics, though confused with others, yet some from their bodies, long since disinterred by the Catholics and long reverently kept, our Michaelites having obtained, the abbey being vacant, deferred their elevation to the time of a new Prelate, who performed it most splendidly in the following year on the first Sunday of Lent. These things concerning the Antwerp triumphs, to which doubtless those did not yield which were celebrated throughout the rest of Belgium.

[71] To the cult of the holy Martyrs a heap was added two years after, namely on the 12th of March 1678, The concession of the Office and its extension. that the sacred Congregation of Rites kindly granted that concerning the blessed nineteen Gorcum Martyrs, yearly on the 9th of July, the day of their passing, the Office might be recited and Mass celebrated of the common of many Martyrs, according to the rubrics of the Roman breviary and missal, and according to the form of the Brief of the beatification of the aforesaid blessed Martyrs issued by Clement X of happy memory on the 24th of November 1675, even in all the secular churches of Belgium, both Cathedral and collegiate and parochial, by all those who are enrolled in the said churches, or reside under them and have their domicile. What was then done, understand from the following decree, given at Rome on the 3rd of February 1714: To the humble and suppliant prayers of the Bishop of Antwerp, earnestly beseeching the sacred Congregation of Rites, for the extension to the whole secular clergy of the city and of his whole diocese, of the proper oration and lessons of the Blessed nineteen Gorcum Martyrs, otherwise on the 12th of March 1678, by the sacred Congregation approved for the use only of the Friars and nuns of the Order of Minors of St. Francis, existing in whatever part of the world, and successively on the same day extended to all the churches of Belgium of seculars, both Cathedral [and] collegiate [and] parochial: the same sacred Congregation of Rites, the Most Eminent and Most Reverend Lord Cardinal de Abdua reporting, judged that the favor, as above petitioned, could be granted each year on the feast of the said Blessed Martyrs, with their Office and Mass, to the aforesaid clergy of the city and diocese of Antwerp, the rubrics however of the Roman breviary and missal being observed.

[72] Of the History of the Martyrdom If I perceive rightly enough the sense of each decree, not on the same 12th of March of the year 1678 were the proper oration and lessons extended to the whole Belgian secular clergy: for to it then only seems to have been granted the Office of the common of Martyrs, those proper orations and lessons being first granted to the Order of Minors and others, and thereupon to the Dutch church, which only in the year 1714 our Most Illustrious Petrus Josephus obtained for the men of Antwerp. For the rest, I have not judged the aforesaid lessons to be described, because they are a mere compendium of the Acts, so excellently composed by the praised Estius, concerning which alone it now remains for us to treat. They are, that I may say it most candidly, the consummate work of a Man immortally deserving of our holy Martyrs, inasmuch as it is most manifestly established from the Processes that it conduced very much to their canonization, in which, although various writers are cited in a long series, even acatholic ones (whom to relate would cause nausea), the chief account was had of the Excellent Estius, who is here to be cited in the stead of all, adorned with so many eulogies, that the Most Illustrious Gaspar Nemius, Archbishop of Cambrai, did not hesitate to testify concerning him, that this Estian history is to be held as indubitable, and to which faith ought to be given, such as is wont and ought to be applied to the most approved, most learned, and best writers of histories.

[73] Nor indeed did Estius himself dissemble from how certain monuments he gathered his history, faithfully written by Estius, explaining it in various places with such candor and sincerity that he compels anyone, even the least credulous, to the acknowledgment of the truth so nakedly set forth. There is no paint, no ornament at all; the narration is simple and accurate, to which would that so many Acts, illustrated by us in this work, could be compared! I confess myself so carried away by the reading of that work, that I seemed to touch with my hand, if it may so be said, the truth of the deeds done; which they will judge with me, whoever shall deign to peruse the same history with a Christian mind, whether they be Catholics or heterodox: and I would dare to hope that our straying brethren will carry off no small fruit from such reading. It was first published at Douai in the year 1603, afterward reprinted at Namur in 1655. Since I have not found the former, I have followed the other, of Namur, kindly delivered to me by the Reverend Father Puteanus, and have divided it according to our norm into its chapters, keeping however

in the margin the old division of the author himself. As to the orthography, since it in many things differed from our manner of writing, it had to be reduced to uniformity, the whole purity and truth of the narration being always unharmed.

[74] The title of the history itself, and what besides is prefixed to the work, I shall run through in few words, the title and dedication are prefixed: about to render account of each, and to describe those things which shall seem to make to the purpose. Behold the first entire face: Four books of the History of the Gorcum Martyrs, for the greater number Friars Minor, who were slain for the Catholic faith by traitors in the year of the Lord 1572, by the author Guilielmus Estius Hesselius, Doctor of Sacred Theology, and professor in the Academy of Douai. To which for a coping is subjoined, by the same author, an appendix on the martyrdom of Guilielmus Gaudanus, likewise a Minorite, which happened in the year 1573. You have also the martyrdoms of certain others, commemorated in opportune places: namely of Cornelius Musius of Delft, theologian and poet. At Namur, 1655. Thus far the title, which is followed by a polished dedicatory epistle inscribed to the Most Serene Archduke of Austria, Lord Albert, best and most clement Prince of the Belgians, given at Douai from the Seminary of good Pastors, in the year of the Lord 1603, on the 7th day of March, sacred to St. Thomas Aquinas. There follows the protestation of the Commissary General of the Order of St. Francis over the provinces of Germany, Belgium, etc., the Reverend Father Friar Jacobus de Riddere, by which he desires the decrees of Urban VIII to be observed, again afterward repeated in the Admonition to the reader.

[75] To Estius pertain especially the subjoined testimonies, likewise the eulogies of Estius produced also in the Processes, concerning the man's faith and integrity, from the first of which, given by the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Archbishop and Duke of Cambrai, Gaspar Nemius, we have already culled a little. The same the University of Douai confirms; then the most eminent and very Reverend Lords Provost, Dean, and Chapter of St. Peter; and likewise the Excellent Lord Bartholomaeus Petrus, who with Georgius Colvenerius approved the work: the eulogy of Valerius Andreas will suffice for us: Guilielmus Estius, born at Gorcum, a not unknown town of Holland, of his father Hesselius, a man exceedingly Catholic and most zealous of the orthodox religion, of the ancient stock of the toparchs of the once noble castle of Est, not far from Tiel among the Batavians, whence the surname and arms remained among his posterity. As a boy at Utrecht he was instructed in the more polite letters and languages under Georgius Macropedius. At Leuven happily trained in studies both philosophical and theological, he also taught those for a whole decade in the gymnasium of the Falcon; and at length created Doctor of Sacred Theology in the year 1580, soon he is summoned to Douai, and set over the royal Seminary there, and is hailed as Provost at St. Peter's, and on that account Chancellor of the University. A man truly to be looked up to on many titles of piety, learning, Christian modesty, and beneficence toward the poor. He died there on the 12th of the Kalends of October in the year of the Lord 1613, of his age 72.

[76] Now let us hear Estius himself speaking in his preface: and his own preface, Among the most grievous calamities of the Belgian church, says he, by which, by the just judgment of God, it is now for almost XL continuous years worn down, the divine goodness has shone forth to us not moderately, while by a certain perpetual law of His, using evils well, and wisely eliciting good things from evils, He not only willed to purge and prove His elect by afflictions, but also deigned to adorn some of them (which felicity granted to our age by God we congratulate) with the crowns of illustrious martyrdom. In which kind indeed, whether you regard constancy or number, by no means the last were those Martyrs, whom in our Holland, first detained at Gorcum in common captivity, and then carried away to Brill, at the mouth of the river Meuse, but in both places having suffered very much for the confession of the Catholic faith, the fury of those who were called Geusii afflicted in one night with the last punishment. Their passion therefore, when in that very year in which they died in the sacred contest I had written, cursorily and most briefly, to a certain friend staying at Cologne, it seemed good to him to publish that crude and extemporary writing of mine in print, without my knowledge.

[77] Which, since it not only by no means answered to the dignity and multitude of the deeds done, of the whole work but also had somewhat strayed in it from exact truth (namely the acts of the Martyrs not yet sufficiently explored); as also in certain other little books, which afterward came forth printed in various places: my beloved brother, of pious memory, Rutgerus Estius, incited by the religious zeal with which he pursued the Martyrs, took upon himself the business of searching out and collecting all their acts, which he could, from wherever. And with how great diligence and faith this was performed by him, we shall set forth in that part of the history which shall require special mention of this matter. He delivered to me the material collected by him, that, aptly digested by us, and formed in our speech and style, it might sometime be brought forth into public. I, although the matter was of much labor, and not of my profession, yet at the persuasion of the same charity which had impelled my brother, undertook the work. In which while I am engaged, I did not only that which I had been asked, but, applying a new and sharper examination and judgment, I rejected whatever was superfluous, cut off the uncertain, and interwove in their places many things also afterward received from trustworthy authors, or otherwise known to me. For in all these the first account was had by us of truth, nor less of public utility. For these are two most certain laws, which by no account is it right to transgress, not even in writing profane things, how much less in sacred, such as is this kind of history.

[78] rendering account. Moreover I long deferred the edition, not without a certain design; while meanwhile I am interrupted from all sides by frequent letters of friends, demanding that what they knew had been prepared by me for public use, I would at length suffer to become of public right, nor any longer suffer the holy Martyrs to be defrauded of the honor due to them on earth. Among these, in former years by the Reverend Father Servatius Myricanus, provincial minister of the Friars Minor of Lower Germany, in the common name of those who had then convened for the provincial assembly, I was most instantly asked to satisfy their long expectation. Which also his brother, the Reverend Father Martinus Myricanus, likewise provincial, had asked me long before. Unworthy indeed am I to be asked by such men, and the more, and the more justly, to be condemned of insolence, if I should not comply: to say now nothing of my beloved brother the Reverend Father Arnoldus Estius, who now presides as Minister over the same province: than whom certainly I have felt no other a more troublesome exactor. Judging therefore that I must yield to the authority of so many friends and excellent men, at length in the name of God I girded myself to the edition, and suffered to come forth what I saw so greatly desired. It will be of your candor, Christian and benevolent reader, to take this our labor in good part: of your piety, to ascribe the fruit, if you shall have perceived any from it, to God the author, who both in the Martyrs themselves crowned His own gifts. And if you shall also deign to remember us in your prayers to God, this will be to me a signal fruit of the work and labor. Let these things concerning the author of the history, his design and execution, be said enough.

[79] Lastly I advise, that it was greatly in my wishes, Why the effigies of the holy Martyrs were omitted. to represent to the eyes of the readers the effigies of our most glorious athletes, expressed to the life, here engraved in copper and collected into one plate, if I had been able to obtain the images of the whole cohort of Martyrs; of which since only fifteen had come to my hands—namely eleven of the Order of Minors, of the Pastors Vecchelius and Poppelius, of Duna and of Joannes of Oosterwijk—I requested the others from the most eminent Abbot at St. Michael's, and from the Reverend Fathers Dominican: but since they did not deign to contribute so little of their own, nor did it seem expedient to me to select only fifteen, the others being excluded, I thought I must forbear further attempts and excursions. The Estian delineations must suffice for all, which, if not by pencil or graver, yet certainly by pen seem so described to the life, that to contemplate them in that manner will not be unpleasant. Behold therefore the Acts themselves, here transcribed from the Namur edition with that faith, and illustrated with marginal additions, with which they were long since edited by the same Estius, so perspicuous with such clarity that to subjoin annotations to them I have judged by no means necessary.

THE HISTORY

OF THE MARTYRS

By the author Guilielmus Estius Hesselius, Doctor of Sacred Theology, and Professor in the Academy of Douai; published at Douai in the year 1603, and at Namur in 1655.

Nicolaus Pichius of Gorcum, Guardian, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Hieronymus of Weert, Vicar, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Theodoricus of Emden, of Amersfoort, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Nicasius Joannes of Heeze, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Willehadus the Dane, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Godefridus of Mervel, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Antonius of Weert, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Antonius of Hoornaar, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Franciscus Rodius of Brussels, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Petrus Ascanus, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Cornelius Wicanus, of the Order of St. Francis of the Observance: called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Joannes, of the Order of Preachers, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Adrianus Becanus, of the Premonstratensian Order, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Jacobus Lacopius, of the Premonstratensian Order, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Joannes of Oosterwijk, Canon Regular, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Leonardus Vecchelius, Parish-priest, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Nicolaus Poppelius, Parish-priest, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Godefridus Dunaeus, secular Priest, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Andreas Waltherus, Parish-priest, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

By Guilielmus Estius.

BOOK ONE.

CHAPTER I.

The state of Batavian affairs and of the town of Gorcum, the Geusii growing strong in the year 1572: the monastery of the Fathers Minor there; the unshaken fortitude of its Guardian and his care of the Brethren, with most of whom he retires to the castle.

In the year after Christ's birth seventy-two above one thousand five hundred, Philip the Second, Catholic King of the Spains, reigning, Since the fierce Geusii at that time threatened Gorcum, and in his name Ferdinand Alvarez, Duke of Alba, being governor of all Belgium; when through the places of Holland and Zeeland a faction of seditious men, opposing God and the King (who were commonly called Geusii), after those former iconomachic tumults stirred up in the year 1566, and, by the help of God and the prudence of Margaret, Duchess of Parma (who during that time held the helm of Belgium for the Catholic King), and of others, happily repressed, again abusing the occasion of a certain tribute to their wickedness,

gradually increased both in number and in strength; and had now reduced into its power Brill, Flushing, Enkhuizen, maritime towns very opportune to the attempts of the rebels, with some others, and among these Alkmaar, it happened that Dordrecht too, a notable city of Holland, was not long after occupied by that kind of men through the defection of the roused multitude. From that city about six hours' journey distant is Gorcum (Gorinchem is its original name), the chief town of the territory of Arkel, or, as some call it, of Hercules, not indeed a very ample one, but yet both frequented in number of citizens, and very opportune for trade, namely situated on the bank of the Meuse, in a most convenient place for navigation.

[2] great consternation of the Catholics there. When it was announced there that Dordrecht was held by the Geusii, that rumor struck not a little both all the pious and especially those whose ministry or profession in the Church was more sacred. Nor were they ignorant who and what kind of enemy threatened, as one whose disposition had already been sufficiently betrayed and declared by some signal examples of cruelty recently displayed. The Geusii mingled, by crafty and depraved counsel, the cause of religion with the business of political government; that to those whom they had persuaded that the servitude of the imposed tribute was not to be tolerated, they might at the same time seem to have drawn them into hatred of the Catholic religion, because the Spaniards, by whom they clamored that they were being pressed by burdens of that kind into extreme servitude, both cultivated that religion above the rest, and strove with all zeal to propagate it, and hated all heretics capitally. On which account certainly the Spanish nation was not undeservedly dear to all true and stouthearted Catholics, both lay and Ecclesiastical. Therefore among the Geusii the same thing was held, a Papist or Catholic, and a favorer of the Spanish government. Whence all the hatred conceived against the Spaniards fell back upon the whole race of Catholics; but most of all upon the Ecclesiastical order and the Monks, as the first and most select members of the Catholic Church. Whom therefore, gravely consternated by so prosperous a success of the Geusian affairs, great solicitude, great fear everywhere, not without reason, had pervaded, especially in those places which now seemed nearest to peril. And so the matter stood at Gorcum after the defection of the men of Dordrecht.

CHAPTER II.

[3] There was in that city a monastery of Brethren warring for Christ under the Rule of Blessed Francis, Of the Religious especially, against whom they raged the most. commendable not so much for the amplitude of the place, or the elegance of the structure, or the number of the Brethren, as for the observance of a stricter discipline. The Brethren of this place were in no small trepidation, the enemy being so near, as those who, conscious to themselves of human infirmity, held the cruelty and implacable hatred of the Geusii against them quite well known. There presided over them at that time as Guardian a man of blameless and holy life, Nicolaus Picus, born in the same city. Whose virtue, and especially his ardent zeal and studious devotion for the Catholic religion, shone forth singularly through this whole time of persecution, as almost the whole subsequent narration will declare. But that I may repeat something more deeply about this man: there came often to him, both at other times and especially about that time, the new tumults now arising and swelling, a certain nephew of his by his sister, R. E. [*] a pious and eminently Catholic young man (whom he too dearly loved, and by whom in turn he was dearly loved), so solicitous for his uncle's life and safety, as once that youth, whom Luke relates to have, with pious solicitude, forestalled the ambush laid by the conspirators against the Apostle Paul, whose sister's son he too was. This nephew recalled to his uncle the things which were everywhere reported, the recent deeds of the Geusii's unspeakable cruelty against the Catholics; of whom some, tortured with horrible punishments, they had killed, others, most grievously mulcted, they had dismissed, and had even defiled with sacrilegious and incestuous lust virgins consecrated to God.

[4] Among other things, of a certain man of Gorcum (who, St. Nicolaus Picus, Guardian of the Fathers Minor, because he had gravely offended against religion and the King, being compelled to go into exile, exercised piracy on the sea against the Catholics), how he, aided by the labor of his companions, hostilely invaded a certain fellow-citizen and neighbor of his, and once a schoolfellow in letters, by name Arnoldus Cnobbaut, a Catholic man, and for that especially cause vehemently hateful to him, then dwelling in the parts of Waterland, where he had a farm not far from the sea, and, his house being occupied by force, and all his goods despoiled, dragged him into a ship, and there, afflicted with many blows and reproaches and variously vexed, and amid these foully mutilated in nose and ears, hung him aloft from the yardarm, which was at the summit of the mast: and as he thus hung, both he himself and his companions, lighting bacon-fat, which cut into little pieces they had stuffed into their guns, vied in assailing him, until he at length breathed out his failing soul amid horrible torments. If they do these things, said the same young man, to a lay man, what do you think they will do to a priest? What to a monk? And what to a Friar Minor? For the better each is, and the more joined to God by the manner of his state or life, the more grievously does he incur hatred among the ministers of the devil. Nor indeed is any hatred more bitter than that which a false religion has kindled against the true worshipers of God.

[5] With discourses of this kind he exhorted Nicolaus to betake himself early to flight, more than once urged to flight by his nephew, and for the sake of persuading this, for about fourteen days before the city came into the hands of the enemy, he frequently approached him: and indeed the more frequently, the more he saw the attempts of the enemy proceed, beseeching and adjuring him to withdraw himself for a time from the certain peril. To which Nicolaus repeatedly answered with these and such-like words: Horrible are, I confess, the things which you narrate. For what human mind would not shudder at so great a cruelty of those men? And who, with such an enemy approaching, would not fear? And so that I fear, when I hear these things, I would not indeed deny. For it is human to dread death and torments. Nevertheless, even if I should see a thousand deaths threatened me, God being propitious, I will neither betray my faith, nor desert my brethren in peril. When he again, among other things, related that the Geusii said (thus instructed namely by their master Calvin) that they, if it were so dealt with them as with the Catholics, would deny the faith with their mouth, rather than be compelled to suffer such hard things: most aptly Nicolaus answered: If they say these things openly, while it still goes prosperously with them, what do you think they will say in adversity? But as for us, far be it that we should ever think our faith must be denied, being ready rather, with God's help, to suffer death and all extremes, than to admit so great a crime.

[6] When once he was more importunately urged by the same nephew to take flight, he bravely and constantly rejected all his counsels. he repressed him with such words as with some indignation: Ha, what do you think? That I, my brethren being abandoned, will provide for the safety of myself alone? That indeed I can by no means do, nor do I will it. Again, when he suggested that he should either lead away his brethren together with himself, or first dismiss them all from the monastery; that each, as it should seem opportune and convenient to each, might retire to some safe place; and admonishing that the same must be done concerning the sacred virgins, who in the same city under the rule of Blessed Francis served God in the monastery of St. Agnes (for the care of these likewise pertained to him as Guardian), he answered that neither did that counsel seem advisable to him in any way. For so it would come to pass that the Geusii, this flight or dispersion of theirs being known, thinking the Catholics now to distrust their affairs, and to have cast away all hope of defending religion, would raise their crests much more; but on the contrary those who were still Catholics among the common people, for the same cause, would lose heart, nor now, as they were wont to do, would they dare any longer to resist the attempts of the heretics, and so most certainly the city would soon be in the power of the Geusii. And the blame of this thing would rest with him and the men of his Order, as those who, by this their little manly trepidation and overhasty flight, the spirits of the good citizens being depressed, would seem to have betrayed the city to the enemy. With these words he then indeed somehow satisfied the pious and solicitous mind of his nephew; meanwhile negligent in no matter of his office, while by consoling, teaching, exhorting, now privately his brethren and other intimates, now publicly in a sermon the people, he confirms them in the Catholic faith, testifying that they must persist in it, whatever at last should happen; and that death must be met rather than the faith in any way either denied or deserted.

CHAPTER III.

[7] Further, when now, as I said at the beginning, Dordrecht, the city nearest to Gorcum, The Geusii prevailing, he provides for the sacred furniture, had gone over to the parts of the Geusii, and it seemed plainly about to come to pass, the spirits of men being everywhere so affected as they then were, that a like storm should involve all the neighboring places; Nicolaus, again admonished by his nephew to consult his own safety, did not yet indeed determine that he must flee, but yet, moved by the greatness and presence of the peril, delivered to him the golden and silver little vessels of his monastery, which pertained to the ministry of the sacred rites, to be hidden in the house of his nephew's father, and his own brother-in-law, whose name was Hesselius Estius. Which was then done by him. It was the 24th day of June, the natal [day] of the Baptist. But on the following day Nicolaus, again considering that the sacred vessels would by no means be safe in that place, because that man, both a chief among the Catholics, and singularly attached to the family of the Friars Minor, as he was, so was he held to be by all everywhere, and therefore the Geusii, if they should get power, would doubtless search his house: his counsel being changed, he ordered them to be fetched thence, and carried away into the castle. For this, adhering to the walls of the city, and placed on the bank of the passing river and well fortified, was then indeed judged by most Catholics a safe enough receptacle, both for things and for men, especially since many did not doubt that succor would arrive in time from elsewhere, because for this cause messengers with letters were said for certain to have already been sent to the royal Prefects of other places.

[8] But meanwhile, while this is either done or thought to be done, free power of fleeing being given to the Brethren. certain Geusii citizens, no less actively, and even not a little more cautiously and briskly than the Catholics, conducted their business. They ask that one and another cohort of soldiers be sent to them at once from Dordrecht, who might forestall the succors expected by the Catholics. Which thing was accomplished with the utmost speed. For thirteen ships sent from Dordrecht with about 150 soldiers, on the 25th day of June about the eighth hour before noon, sailing on the river, appeared over against the city and castle. Then therefore, the citizens within the walls being some perturbed, some tumultuating, the fear was increased not a little to those who by reason of order or profession are wont to sustain a graver ill-will among the heretics. Wherefore then too Nicolaus, lest he should seem either to tempt God, or to be wanting to his office, the Brethren being suddenly convoked, after a necessary exhortation for the time,

made for all free power of fleeing, whither each would, or where he most hoped he would be safe from the injuries of the enemy. But he himself, with some to whom the same counsel was pleasing, had determined to remain in the monastery. But to the sacred virgins also, whose care pertained to him, he permitted that, when present necessity so demanded, going out from the enclosures of the monastery, they should turn aside to their acquaintances and kinsfolk who were Catholics, that so both their safety and their chastity might be provided for. For those who thought it safer for them to go away into other Catholic cities he had already dismissed the day before.

CHAPTER IV.

[9] Meanwhile a most lying rumor is spread through the whole city, the Geusii being its authors, that at Dordrecht, Alkmaar, Rumors being scattered by the Geusii to deceive, and in the other towns which had yielded to the power of the Geusii, all things which pertained to the Catholic religion were left inviolate and safe, that none of the monks and Ecclesiastics was harmed, much less any other of the Catholic citizens, and finally that liberty of his own religion was permitted and granted to each with all security. And that they might the more powerfully draw the spirits of the common people—long since alienated from the royal governors on the occasion of a certain tribute, as we said, and not a little inclined toward themselves—into favor of their party, they asseverate that it would come to pass that the prices of provisions, as soon as the Geusii held the sum of affairs, would be reduced; as they boasted, with quite similar vanity, had already been done in the places subjected to their power. Although that fiction was not born from nothing. For the Geusii had by force taken away much grain from certain husbandmen of those places; and the same grain was afterward sold by them at a cheap price to the people, as things sought by theft or rapine are generally wont to be. From that deed was scattered the rumor of provisions relaxed. And that they might also hunt from it some opinion of sanctity, they distributed part of that grain to the needy; offering namely by this their largess such a sacrifice to God, as, according to the Wise Man, he who slays a son in the sight of his father.

[10] who were plainly refuted by their own cruel deeds, For the rest, the more stouthearted were moved as little as possible by rumors of this kind, not unaware that for no other reason than to deceive the poor common people were such things either done or devised by them. For both a truer and more certain report, much different from these, had already before announced otherwise; and a certain Franciscan, a fugitive from Alkmaar, had most recently come to Gorcum, an eyewitness of the things which were done there by the Geusii. He related, among other things, how the Geusii had invaded the monastery of the Friars Minor of that place, had seized the Brethren themselves, and led away the seized and bound and afflicted with innumerable injuries as traitors of the fatherland; from one of the Brethren, gravely lying sick from disease, they had withdrawn the little bed on which he lay, and had left him thrown on the ground like a dog. And he affirmed these things done not long since, but two days before, that is, on the eve of St. John the Baptist. That matter increased the fear (and not undeservedly) to the Brethren of Gorcum, among whom these things were related. Further, toward the evening of that day, Nicolaus, again interrupted by his nephew, that he should beware for himself, could be induced by no entreaties to pass that one night outside the monastery, affirming that he would never commit that he should desert his Brethren even in the least. On the following day, which was the 26th of June, the peril being increased, because the Geusii now from close at hand threatened the city with their ships, both the upper and the lower part of the river being namely occupied; again there is a running-together of the Brethren to the Guardian. For not yet, although the power of that thing had been made the day before, had they departed from the monastery. He, although pressed with great grief of soul, because he did not see by what means he might place his own outside peril, again consoles them in common, as much as he can, and bids them be of stout and confident mind, and again makes for all the power of departing, whither they would.

[11] St. Nicolaus, trusting in nothing, leads his own to the castle. Soon he orders the whole furniture of books, which was not small, and the sacred vestments, and the other ornaments of divine worship, to be carried into the castle as quickly as possible. For this the noble man Gaspar Turcus, who held it in the royal name, and was prefect of the whole territory of Gorcum (they commonly call [him] Drossard), had determined to defend against the violence of the enemy, until the hoped-for succors should arrive. For he affirmed that he expected his son Guilielmus Turcus with forces from the Count of Bossu, then royal governor of Utrecht on the Rhine, at any hour; and, the letters of the Count being shown, by which this was promised, with this hope he encouraged the Catholics who had fled to him into the castle. Further, when some of the Brethren (among whom the Vice-guardian), wishing to go out of the city, had found the gates closed, they could by no means obtain from those in whose keeping was the custody of the keys, that they should be let go. Wherefore both they and the other Brethren, seeing themselves called into manifest peril on account of the departure denied by the citizens, together with the Father Guardian betake themselves into the castle, only three being excepted, whose purpose was to remain in the monastery: with whom the Guardian himself would rather have remained, about to await the inclemency of the enemy, had he not thought it more of his office to adhere to the community of the Brethren, whom the greater number represented; especially since those three, to whom it had seemed good to remain, did it by no necessity, but could easily, if they had willed, have accompanied the rest of the Brethren into the castle.

* Rutgerus Estius, the author's brother.

CHAPTER II.

Two notable Parish-priests of Gorcum in vain exhort the citizens to defend religion and the faith owed to the King: Gorcum is surrendered to the Geusii, and after no long siege the castle too, the conditions covenanted being soon violated.

CHAPTER V.

There were in that city two Parish-priests, Leonardus Vechelius and Nicolaus Poppelius, both excellent men, as being eminently skilled in the sacred Letters, The vain attempts of the Pastors and conspicuous for integrity of life, and who most vigilantly presided over their flock, to be wholesomely fed. But Leonardus, besides that he had presided longer, being superior in age, learning, eloquence, had obtained greater authority among the people. These, as long as some hope of saving the city still seemed to remain, omitted nothing which they thought could be performed by them for rousing and confirming the spirits of the citizens for the defense of the city and of religion. First they go round the walls, and exhort the greater and lesser of the citizens, to whom the custody of the gates and the defense of the walls had been committed, to manly constancy. Thence, having advanced into the marketplace, whither the sworn musketeer citizens had convened for the sake of the commonwealth, they warn, beseech, adjure them with a grave oration, that in this crisis of affairs they prove themselves men, strenuously fight for the sacred religion, and free the faith solemnly and holily sworn to the King and the city. But although there were not wanting those in whose minds the admonition of the Pastors was efficacious; yet most, already long impeded by various affections, seemed to turn neither ears nor mind sufficiently to those things which were said by them: some even received their salutary warnings with laughter.

[13] After therefore the Parish-priests had tried all things in vain among the citizens, to confirm the citizens in the faith, and saw the multitude so animated that they by no means shrank from receiving into the city the Geusii, who promised, together with liberty of religion, all prosperous things; they return into the castle, whither they had before fled, and for some previous nights had stayed for the sake of their safety, greatly grieving that, the sound counsels of the Pastors being despised, the ill-sane sheep were willing to thrust themselves of their own accord to be torn by the teeth of the wolves. About the same time there betook themselves into the castle some of the more notable Catholic citizens, to whom it seemed less safe to await the coming of the impious enemies; among whom were the brother-in-law and the sister's nephew of Nicolaus Picus, of whom we made mention above. Certain other Catholics, while occupied in bringing certain necessary things into the castle, run to and fro, are shut out of the castle, because it was now established that the enemy had been received within the walls. Which that it might be done as quickly as possible, there were among the citizens those who studiously feigned that the Spanish soldier, who at that time was in garrison at Rotterdam, had burned that whole city. It was to be feared lest Gorcum should be similarly treated by them: therefore the gates must be opened to the Geusian soldier as soon as possible, who might prohibit the Spaniard, otherwise about to come upon them at once, from so atrocious a deed.

[14] who, seduced by false rumors They scattered also other rumors of this kind among the crowd, opportune for executing that which they wished. By these arts, when the zeal of the Geusian faction was more vehemently kindled, the matter at length proceeded so far that, the Catholics resisting in vain, about the second hour after noon of that day the gates of the city were unbarred to the Geusii, who outside were awaiting the outcome of the internal dissension; nor indeed that under any stated conditions, because the fury and violence of the seditious citizens did not permit that delay of covenanting. The Geusian soldier was led by Marinus Brantius, a Fleming, long a man of abject and lowest condition, namely one who had sustained life by digging for fortifying and repairing the dikes against inundations, and sometimes by exercising the nautical trade. But audacity and a certain readiness of wit had gained for him that among the traitors he was of some account. Although he had gotten a band worthy of himself, namely some rascals collected from the dregs of land and sea, unworthy to be reckoned by the name of soldiers. For most of them had been long exercised in piracy under Guilielmus Lumnius (as he was called), Count de la Marck, earning no other pay than free plunderings. Whence also they received the name among our people. With these therefore Marinus, having entered the city, soon occupies the marketplace: thither at once he convokes all the citizens by the beating of a bell. Then he proposes an oath to all in nearly these words: That they should swear to keep faith to the King, and to the royal prefect of the Belgian provinces, Guilielmus of Nassau, Prince of Orange. But to Duke Alba, as a tyrant, and to all who were of his party, they would with all their might make restitution: That they would likewise defend the most holy Gospel (for by this specious title they strove to commend to the common people their profane novelty), and would be enemies to its enemies. Those who approved these things are bidden, with caps raised on high by the hand, to signify assent.

[15] make a base surrender. Then therefore almost all who were present (and there were very many present) raised their caps on high, in that manner binding themselves, wretched, by a sacrilegious oath to traitors and heretics. Nor was that enough. They are bidden also to acclaim to their new masters: Long live the Geusii. And without delay, it was acclaimed with great voices. After these so wished-for beginnings, and the spirits of the citizens, as it seemed, sufficiently discerned from them, Marinus, the senate being assembled, takes counsel about storming the castle: into which, besides those whom I have before commemorated, there had betaken themselves also some other Ecclesiastical men, and not a few Catholic citizens with their wives and children, with this hope indeed, because they thought that the castle, firm and fortified, would by no means easily yield to the violence of the enemy; or, that though it should at last seem about to yield, succor from the son of the Prefect would be at hand in time, which might free them alike from the siege and from peril. Now all those were nearly of such a kind, to whom both the Catholic religion and due observance toward their legitimate Prince were at heart, so that certain wicked ones, after the Geusii were received into the city, wickedly insulting the peril of these, cast such things among themselves:

that no one could better select and segregate all the chief Papists than as they had now segregated themselves; and they signified that they greatly rejoiced in this thing, because it would be very easy to destroy them all, since alone and separated from the promiscuous multitude, they were now held shut up in one place.

CHAPTER VI.

[16] Further, those who were in the castle, when they perceived that the apparatus of things necessary for a serious defense of the castle was very slender, The Geusii demanding that the castle be surrendered to them, and that there was present neither smiths nor even any surgeon who could tend the wounded; nor ramparts thrown up against the assault of the enemy: most of them began then already to distrust their affairs and to lose heart, having all their remaining hope almost solely in the succor which was expected. Although meanwhile the pious Catholics congratulated themselves that they were not bound by that execrable oath; deeming it better to suffer death with men consecrated to God, priests, I mean, and monks, than to live bound to heretics by a nefarious league. The Prefect of the castle discharged a bronze engine into the marketplace, which was held by the Geusian soldier, once and again, wishing by that means to declare himself their enemy. They on the contrary demand that the castle be surrendered to them at once. Which being unhesitatingly refused, they set about preparing those things which were needed for the assault. Nevertheless Marinus, certain of the more stouthearted among the number of the citizens so advising, thought that the castle must not be attempted by force before, letters being sent to the Prefect of the castle, he should more certainly explore his mind, and also solicit him to make a surrender. Those letters they gave to be carried to a certain lay Franciscan, of those who had remained in the city, because it was thought both that he would more easily be believed by those who were in the castle, and that, approaching nearer to the castle, there would be less peril. When he had approached with the letters, and had called out to those who were in the castle both by whom and for what cause he had been sent; Turcus the Prefect ordered it to be announced back that he would receive no letters from those who bore arms against the royal Majesty through rebellion.

[17] This answer being received, the lay Brother, that he might in some way discharge his legation (which occurred to him as to be done for the time), irritated by the Prefect's answer, opened the letters which he held in his hand, being not sealed, and read them in a loud voice to those who stood in the castle nearest to the gate. The letters promised the Prefect his dignity and office safe, if he would receive into the castle the garrison of the Prince of Orange. Likewise to all the rest to a man who were in the castle, life unharmed, and all goods safe, and free departure from the castle, if they should give it to the Orangists. And that this thing might be transacted more certainly and securely, it was asked in the same letters that the Prefect should come down to the town-hall, where the senate with the leader of the Orange soldier awaited him, for a conference. To these it was answered in nearly this manner: That they should hope nothing about surrendering the castle; that for its defense neither spirit nor strength would fail him. But if they sought a conference with the Prefect, they should come to him in the castle. For that was much more just, because he bore the prefecture over them in the royal name. By that answer, whether because it was uttered more fiercely by the go-betweens, or because it was reported less conveniently by the simple little friar, those who had convened in the senate, being irritated, order to be prepared and made ready as diligently as possible on the spot whatever seemed opportune for storming the castle. Which being very quickly gotten ready, and the bronze engines being brought to those places whence an easier way for invading the castle could be made, evening now approaching, the assault was begun by the Geusii with great forces and spirits.

[18] they assault it with all their forces, Nor less bravely do the besieged resist, sending frequent and terrifying darts against the opposing enemy. But because they labored under fewness (for the Prefect had at that time no more than twenty stipendiary soldiers; and the hands of the rest were very little accustomed to handling arms), they could not prevent the enemy from penetrating up to the outermost gate of the castle, and setting it on fire with flames thrown in. Wherefore, compelled by necessity, leaving to the enemy that whole level ground which was enclosed by the outermost wall, and looked most nearly toward the city, and was divided from the rest of the castle by some interposed space, they went back into the second region of the castle. But when the enemy, elated by that success and aided by the convenience of the place, and moreover increased by the accession of many from the common people, to whom new things were at heart, now both more closely pressed and more sharply assaulted the besieged, and the subsidiary soldier long awaited nowhere appeared, that region too being abandoned before midnight, they were compelled to retire into the chief and firmest part of the whole castle, which had from the color of the stone the name of the blue tower.

[19] the Prefect resisting no less sharply, For such was the disposition of the whole place, that from the city into this tower one could not come unless three wide ditches full of water were first crossed, which, distant from one another by a just space, comprehended the two regions I have mentioned; this belonging to the tower, that to the city, but both joined to each other by a bridge, and each protected in front by gates and walls. The blue tower itself, moreover, of circular figure, embraced a just amplitude, and, built from the lowest part up to the summit of cut marble, afforded to beholders a beautiful and august spectacle. This the Prefect did not altogether despair of being able to defend and retain for so long, until his son should arrive with the expected succor. But he tarrying, and the enemy now from close at hand striving with the utmost force for the storming of the castle; the garrison soldiers, the hope of retaining the castle being cast aside, desert the Prefect, throw away their arms, openly confess that they will not fight; some of them also secretly betake themselves to the enemy. On the contrary the Prefect, such was his greatness of soul, affirmed that he would fight even alone, and resist the enemy up to the last breath of life, if he were deserted by all the rest; adding that nothing of faith or clemency was to be hoped from an enemy accustomed to rapines, slaughters, and sacrileges.

CHAPTER VII.

[20] But indeed on the other side the women, who had fled into the castle, with their loud and mournful cries, which fear expressed from the greatness of the peril, who at last, broken by the cries of his own, beat upon the Prefect not moderately. But also his wife and daughter, straining his neck with embraces, most earnestly adjured him to make a surrender, and not by obstinate animosity to bring his own and his people's safety into most certain peril. Whom he, angered, repelled from himself. But when certain of the chief men also, and those by no means cowardly, advised the Prefect (whom they had now perceived from certain of his words to despair of retaining the castle) to give the castle to the enemy on covenanted conditions; yet it by no means pleased the Guardian that it should be given to the faith of the heretics. Nor did he judge that faith was to be had in them, however much they swore; being certainly persuaded that those who had violated the faith given to God would not keep it inviolate to men either. Wherefore no less actively did he himself insist on the work of fortification and repair, and exhort his companions to the same work, and urged even then when the stipendiary soldier, broken in spirit, declined the office of defense. But when the enemy remitted nothing of the zeal of the assault, and therefore the peril to the besieged increased at almost every single moment, and when moreover the huge thunders and lightnings of the bombards, so frequent and continual that the castle itself seemed both to be shaken from its foundations, and, as if placed in the midst of flames, to burn all over, vehemently terrified the spirits of the inexperienced; the virtue of the few could not prevail to prevent the counsel of surrender from carrying, the continual cries namely of the other men and women of both sexes prevailing, demanding that in whatever way, by surrender, provision be made in common for the safety of all.

[21] Although the Prefect resisted these for a long time not without an appearance of obstinacy; he makes a pact with the treaty-breaking enemies. at last, however, he suffered his mind to be stormed. And so it pleased them that a conference with the enemy be sought. To whom first was offered the surrender of the castle, lives and goods safe. Which when the Geusii refused, demanding that both the life and the fortunes of all the besieged be left to their arbitrament; again the spirit of the besieged grew from the peril. Who, judging that it was at once safer and more honorable for them to fight hand to hand for their safety, soon set about discharging anew the bronze engines against the enemy. It happened therefore that the forehead of a certain decurion, a strenuous man, when he strove to invade the castle, was beaten through by the stroke of an iron ball. Which wound being received, he at once fell down dead. Therefore when the Geusii saw that, if indeed the castle were to be stormed by force, that victory would be by no means bloodless for them, and determined that the succor also, which was expected at any hour, must altogether be forestalled by them; using milder counsel, and freeing the besieged from peril of life, they made a pact with them for the surrender of the castle, Marinus their leader expressly and in set words swearing that to all who were in the castle, both Ecclesiastics and laymen (none at all excepted), life would be kept unharmed, and that he would dismiss them all free from the castle. But whatever goods should be found therein, it had already been agreed would fall as booty to the victor. The surrender of the castle therefore was made a little after the middle of that night which next followed the sixth day before the Kalends of July.

CHAPTER VIII.

[22] Further, the conference still lasting, when the Guardian of the Friars Minor saw that the castle would now at once be surrendered to the enemies, The Blessed Minorites, having resumed the garments which they had laid aside, he put on again the habit of his profession. The other Brethren did the same at his exhortation. Since most of them had laid aside the religious habit with this design, that they might not, by a notable garb, hateful and all but execrable among the heretics, seem to draw peril upon themselves of their own accord, but especially lest, while variously occupied in the defense of the castle, being spied by the enemies, they should of set purpose be aimed at before others by the strokes of the bombards, but might be engaged indiscriminately in equal peril with the other defenders. Nor indeed is it forbidden by any law or constitution to change one's garment, if ever a just necessity demand it. But neither were there wanting to them examples of their deed, not even domestic ones. For the five Franciscan Martyrs, whom in the year 1220, Blessed Francis still living, the Saracens slew, when they set out into their parts to preach the faith of Christ, that they might the more easily penetrate thither, having assumed secular garments, concealed their religious habit for a time. Of whom, their martyrdom being heard a little after, they relate that Blessed Francis said with joy: Now truly I can say that I have five Brethren. But for the rest, the enemy now about to enter the castle, to whom as the more powerful it would be easy to hold and distinguish each one, the religious men did not think that the habit of their religion should be dissembled any longer, since even for the Catholic religion itself they saw that they would soon have to fight.

[23] with spiritual arms they prepare themselves for the contest. Their own garments therefore being resumed, one to another they confess their sins in the Christian manner, placed in expectation of the enemies, that, reconciliation being received even over lighter faults, with purged and thereby more prepared minds, they might be able to sustain the savage assaults of the heretics. This was

piously imitated by certain of the seculars; whom also Nicolaus the parish-priest made partakers of the sacred communion of the Body of Christ, which he had with pious solicitude carried from the church of the city into the castle, lest through mockery by the heretics—which is their impious custom—it should be handled in unworthy ways. In sum, almost all, as many as were in the castle, because they held the faith of the enemies deservedly suspect, so prepared themselves as though about to die at once. Further, the Geusii now at once about to enter thither, again and again most sacredly promise that they will keep the sworn pacts. Their leader Marinus himself again, at the entrance of the gate, extending his right hand to one of those who stood within at the gate, Hesselius Estius, spoke these words: Do not fear; What I promised, I promise even now, and I bind my faith with an oath, that I will keep all the pacts to all who are in the castle, lesser and greater, and both Ecclesiastics and laymen. Only it is needful that you subsist there a little while yet.

[24] Which said, having entered with his men, he drives all, as many as were in the castle, into an upper court open to the sky. The Geusii rush especially upon them. That level place in the middle of the castle was a square open to the air. Then thither too the soldiers, having soon entered with an onset, like ravenous wild beasts, rush upon the captives, about to search the garments and purses of each, if perchance they had retained any money about them, that they might carry off the whole of it. Among these soldiers were not a few who long before, on account of injured divine and royal Majesty, had either been driven into exile or had of their own accord departed through fear. This most hostile kind the Ecclesiastical men felt from the very beginning of the captivity, but especially the Friars Minor, whom they, dragging and harassing very inclemently and unworthily, most curiously searched, seeking money among those who by their institute and profession are so destitute of money that they abstain even from the touch of it. But indeed they could by no force take from them what they did not have. But before the rest they harassed the Vice-Guardian, by name Hieronymus, a grave and honorable old man (perhaps for this, that they suspected him to be the Guardian), seizing his breast and handling and vexing the man with violence, that they might extort from him the coins which the poor man of Christ had none of. Not long after, the captives are all thrust back into the kitchen. Thence again some time after they are driven forward into a certain hall, ample and spacious.

[25] To Marinus entering here, and (that he might show himself victor and terrible to the captives) holding a drawn sword raised in his right hand, The great impiety of a citizen of Gorcum. a certain citizen of Gorcum, having entered the castle together with the soldiers, carried before [him] a lighted wax torch (since it was still night), using these words: In exactly the same manner as now before the lord Captain, I lately walked in a public procession with this very torch before the holy Sacrament. And indeed I was the fourth who just now dared to enter this castle. These things he boasted openly, with no less impiety than impudence, before his captive fellow-citizens, manifestly betraying either his detestable hypocrisy, or his signal levity of mind, who in a matter so grave and serious, within so brief a space of time as had flowed from the feast of Corpus Christi, had shown himself so unlike himself and contrary to himself. Although what he showed by words, that very many others through the same time declared by deeds and in fact, when with such facility, or rather levity, as no one could sufficiently marvel at, they either admitted a religion different from that which they had before cultivated, or even embraced it, as they say, with open arms.

CHAPTER III.

The Blessed Minorites, the garments of their Order being resumed, prepare themselves for the contest, with the other captives, whom, contrary to the sworn faith, the heretics treat most vilely, made scourges of God by reproaches and revilings, and especially hostile to the Religious.

CHAPTER IX.

In the aforesaid hall the names of all the captives are taken down with the pen, Two well-Catholic citizens, and the catalogue of those described is delivered into the hands of those who among the citizens were held chief, whether of depraved or of doubtful religion. Since into a neighboring chamber there had now convened from the city, with some others, two principal senators, not a little addicted both to the new religion and to the Geusian faction. Which thing, although it then indeed lay hidden from the captives, yet there was a vehement suspicion among them, that their names were demanded for this reason, that, since they were unknown to those new guests, the catalogue of the described names might be exhibited to the citizens, by whose indication they might be betrayed, if any of them had perchance at some time more grievously injured the men of that faction by word or deed. That suspicion the event itself confirmed. For soon from the flock of captives there is called out by name, together with his son, a certain eminently Catholic man, Theodorus Bommerus; to whom, because he had thoroughly known the dispositions of the heretics, and therefore deservedly held their faith suspect, it had by no means pleased that a surrender be made. But to this man before others the Geusian citizens were hostile; either because they had often experienced him opposing them and their attempts, or most of all because they knew him to be the one who, the day before, when the Geusii were proudly sailing on the river before the castle and the city, had with a loud voice called out those plunderers of churches and stealers of sacred chalices.

[27] contrary to the sworn faith they are driven to the gallows. And that indeed not undeservedly. For they declared themselves worthy of salutations of this kind by the very deed at that very moment of time, while, lifting the sacred chalices on high with impure hands, they openly showed them from the ships, and abused them—as once the Babylonians, under King Belshazzar, abused the vessels consecrated to the temple of God—for profane carousals by a detestable sacrilege in the eyes of all, and held the sacred banner, which is wont to be carried before in Ecclesiastical processions, set for mockery on the summit of the mast. Nevertheless, when they publicly kept doing such things, to hear this, which they were, and which by most evident deeds they showed themselves to be, they were unwilling: nay rather they took it most bitterly to be called by those true names. The aforesaid Catholic man therefore, consigned to a special prison, not long after, contrary to the faith given and sworn more than once to all the captives, they hanged in the middle of the marketplace of the city, another certain Catholic citizen being joined to him. Of whose unjust punishment we shall speak more fully below. Further, to the captives placed in the hall many heretical citizens, of the number of those who had long persecuted the Catholics with bitter hatreds, approach at intervals, petulantly and hostilely insulting the vanquished, and with upbraiding heaping on threats; some of whom, being abundantly refreshed by so beautiful a spectacle (as it seemed to them) and retiring, others likewise about to refresh themselves soon succeeded. But upon the men consecrated to God especially, that is, priests and monks, they spat out the venom of their evil-speaking.

[28] Meanwhile the Prefect of the castle, one of the captives, The generous answers and imprisonment of the Prefect of the castle. being asked by some why he had willed with such obstinacy of mind to defend and keep the castle; answered that he had done it for this, that he might keep inviolate the faith by which he was bound to the King with an oath. Again asked why he had received the flock of priests and monks to himself into the castle; he answered that they were good friends of his, and had fled to him for this, that they might have their life safe. That the gates ought by no means to be closed to good friends in peril. Thirdly asked why he had afflicted their brethren Joannes of Maaseik and Bernardus Sartor with the last punishment; he answered that it had been done by him through public justice, and that so, by reason of his office, he had been bound to do, inasmuch as he had been constituted administrator of justice in that place by the King. And there had been, against these two, because they had fostered heretical preachers in their houses, punishment by the sword according to the sentence of the royal senate. Him therefore the satellites at once, harshly bound and loaded with fetters, lead away into prison, not even to his wife being granted the power of approaching her husband, although now, from so many troubles, affected with inconvenient health, so that he greatly needed the solace and refreshment of his wife. But that man was in truth both especially observant of the Catholic religion, and a lover of Ecclesiastical men. To whom afterward the Prefect of the Geusii bore such testimony, that he said of him to a certain person, that he was so signally and intimately a Papist, that if his heart were cut open, nothing but sacrificers and monks would be found therein. Nor in this part did the wife yield to the husband, a woman exceedingly zealous of piety, and the mother of some daughters who were nuns.

CHAPTER X.

[29] Now indeed it cannot be told what darts of revilings, and how savage and atrocious threats those wicked men, void of all humanity, hurled emulously and heapedly against the wretched captives, The bitter revilings of the Geusii against the Catholics, who, trusting in their faith, had surrendered themselves, and especially against the priests and monks. If we, they said, were in your power; no kind of torment, in your opinion, would surely be bitter and cruel enough for torturing us and taking us out of the way. Certainly you would deliver us alive to be burned by fires. Wherefore consider in turn what punishments you are now about to pay. For now your turn is being acted. Behold, you see and experience the manifest vengeance of God against you, who, if He were not with us, and did not act for us, by what means could it come to pass that we, so few in number, should take a castle so fortified? Behold how one of us overcomes and puts to flight a thousand of yours? Namely because you have departed from the Lord God: therefore by Him you have been delivered into our hands. Do not eight or ten of us reduce whole cities into their power? Doubtless experience itself now sufficiently teaches you that the wrath of God is being fulfilled in you, and those grave threats foretold in the Scriptures; because you have been unwilling to walk in His law. Now therefore it is time that you pay the deserved penalties. Thus they barbarously and at once impiously insulted the wretched, not considering that they themselves, as scourges of God and rods of the Lord's fury, which He used for a time for chastising the sins of His people, were at last to be cast into the fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

[30] they show them to be scourges of God, Yet what else do they, by words of this kind, than show that the Catholics are the people of God, who, amended by His fatherly scourges, like the Israelites of old, at last receive the promised inheritance; but that they themselves pertain to the fellowship of those whom, as alien from the hope of the heavenly kingdom and destitute of the fatherly inheritance, either divine justice neglects in this world, that it may punish them more grievously in the future, or, oppressed by the evils of this life also but uncorrected, transmits to the punishment of Gehenna, never to be ended. Such of old were those through whom God willed His people to be afflicted from time to time, the Egyptians, Assyrians, Chaldeans: such was that Antiochus, to whom, after the temporary chastisement of the Jewish people, which through his monstrous savagery God mercifully and justly exercised, a severe and intolerable judgment of God would soon be at hand, the most valiant Martyrs, whom he tortured with exquisite modes of punishments, amid the very torments, moved by the divine spirit, did not keep silent. Such likewise were those who in later ages, after the first

persecutors of the Christian faith, laid waste the Church, God permitting: Goths, Huns, Vandals, Lombards. Such finally is the devil himself with his angels, who, after the completed work of the manifold temptation of God's elect, will be sent into the eternal fire prepared for him and his own.

[31] Although what they boasted about their admirable virtue and heavenly help is plainly ridiculous. who conquer not by their own virtue, but by the perfidy of others. For they did not storm cities by force, so that hence their fortitude might appear: but by the friends and favorers of their faction, heretics, I mean, and Geusii, of whom a huge abundance had everywhere sprung up, the gates being opened, no one resisting, they were called into the cities everywhere. If this is to storm cities and to act bravely, so indeed truly we shall place them in the class of brave men. But indeed while thus, as I said, certain of the Geusii mock the misery of the captives, others no less mild through hypocrisy asked those former ones not to be so hostile to the vanquished; for it would come to pass that they would go over to their opinion and party. Then again those mockers, with countenance composed to gentleness: Oh, if they do that, they say, we will adorn them all with honors. One in this city we will make public ecclesiastical minister: another and another in other places we will set over the same office, or certainly promote to other offices and dignities. Amid these mockeries of the heretics none of the captives uttered a word, but by the example of that immaculate Lamb, who, when He was led to the cross to be immolated, opened not His mouth, all kept silence, as though they themselves too were soon to be led away to the butchery. But there shone forth among them a crown of Friars Minor sitting together, before whom, placed like a hen protecting her chicks, their prefect Nicolaus Picus held the very foremost place; who also, first of all, entered upon the contest of the passion.

[32] There was among the sacred furniture which had been brought into the castle Their petulance against the holy old men. a little tablet by which the kiss of peace is wont to be offered. This a certain soldier, having snatched it, petulantly and with great force thrust and dashed against the face and mouth of the reverend Father. But he, nothing moved by this military insolence, kept his countenance serene, and more like one rejoicing than grieving, nor gave any indication at all of a prostrate mind, placed amid such grave threats, terrors, and contumelies of the barbarians. An equal tranquillity of mind Wilhadus and Nicasius the Minorites kept. Of whom Wilhadus, once driven from Denmark, which was his fatherland, by the heretics, had betaken himself into Belgium as to an asylum, and now was passing his extreme and nearly decrepit age. These two men, through all that time in which the disordered and terrible voices of the Geusii clamored against the captives, just as at a continual banquet or a sweet symphony, sat quiet and secure, only devoting themselves to reading the stated prayers and to pious meditation, which otherwise they were very often wont to do: so that in them there plainly appeared true that saying of Solomon: Whatever shall happen to him will not sadden the just man.

CHAPTER IV.

At the scattered rumor of impending death the holy Guardian and the two Parish-priests are in no way terrified. How harmful to the Catholic cause was political indifference in religion: too late the men of Gorcum recognize themselves deluded.

CHAPTER IX.

At that time certain Geusii, being humbly and modestly admonished by the captives of their oath, by which they had so sacredly covenanted life unharmed to them, At the scattered rumor of death the constancy of the Guardian, answered: If we covenanted life alone, therefore, stripped of their garments, and like Adam wholly naked, we will cast them out hence. Thus, some saying one thing, some another, while each of them spoke as though from authority, and the opinion of each seemed to have the weight of a vote; the affairs of the captives stood in doubt, and a very little of hope indeed shone forth, but very much of fear and terror was struck into the wretched. The fear was increased by a little rumor, though false, born from the mouth of a certain Geusius. For he secretly and seriously affirmed to one of the captives, who had somewhat separated himself from his companions, and had dissembled sadness in his countenance, as though he were not of the number of the captives, that it had now been decreed that all the monks and sacrificers should be killed as soon as possible. For a messenger had been sent in haste to Dordrecht for this reason, to fetch an executioner thence. That the rest were to be sent away to Brill to the Count, that he might determine about them according to his will. First this is announced to the Guardian, then to each Parish-priest, by him to whom it had been indicated. The Guardian, hearing these things and thinking them true, yet gave neither word nor sign of a man consternated; but keeping his accustomed constancy of countenance, only held his eyes fixed on the ground, namely averting his gaze from those who, placed around him, roaring and insulting, exhibited to the captives an unpleasant and grievous spectacle. In this tranquillity of countenance and mind he seemed only to contemplate heavenly things, to converse with God, to deliver himself and his own to His providence, and finally silently to meditate martyrdom.

[34] the manly spirit of Vecchelius the Pastor, Further, Leonardus the parish-priest, himself too with countenance as little changed as possible, bore before [him] the accustomed strength and fortitude of a manly spirit. But neither did he altogether despair that he would be freed, because he had often used much humanity toward the heretics, whom, first recalled from error to the Catholic faith, the pious Pastor had by his intervention freed from troubles and the punishment of death. Among whom a certain Anabaptist, when forty years before he had been dipped again in the profane laver of his sect, and for that cause held in bonds, at some time was in peril of his head, being namely about to be punished with that punishment which had been established by the edicts of the Catholic Princes for men of that sect; by the labor and pious solicitation of his excellent Pastor was taken from the peril of death, and, pardon of the crime being obtained, had been dismissed free. This man, like many others, having entered the castle after the surrender, ran to the captives, as to a public spectacle. When he saw Leonardus among the captives, he approached, as though pitying the man's fortune. Leonardus too, as far as the place and the matter allowed, conversing with the man, seemed to ask back a mutual turn of good office for escaping the present peril. Which surely ought not to be turned to his fault, since it is the part of a prudent man neither rashly to expose himself to perils, nor to neglect the human aids by which they may be avoided. Which is shown even by the single example of Paul the Doctor of the nations, who, that he might escape the violence of the enemies, and preserve himself for the Church, now, fleeing, is let down through the wall in a basket, now cries out that he is a Roman citizen, now professes himself a Pharisee, now appeals to Caesar. But for the rest that citizen whom I mentioned, whether because he had relapsed into his former error, as it is easy for that kind of men to return to the vomit, or because he had not been converted to the Catholic faith from the heart, but had only so feigned for the matter and the time, esteeming lightly the grace of the benefit received, profited nothing at all, nay did not even give effort that he might profit.

[35] But the other parish-priest, Nicolaus Poppelius, with pale and downcast countenance, and likewise of the other Pastor Poppelius. seemed to show a mind not moderately consternated. And this could be attributed to fear, of which he had cause before others, because he knew that many wicked men wished him ill, for the reason that in public sermons with great liberty and equal sharpness he was wont to chastise the vices of men, but especially to inveigh against sects and sectaries. Which although it be so, it by no means ought to be turned to his fault, since fear of that kind is so natural that to exclude it wholly from oneself is not placed in a man's power, even if he should as much as possible call the command of reason to his aid. For therefore also Christ, the head and Lord of all Martyrs, willing, assumed something of the kind, that He might console and confirm by His example those to whom those things happen unwilling. Although I rather judge concerning Poppelius that that happened to him which is wont to happen to brave men, who, the greatness of the peril being weighed with reason, enter the contest hesitatingly and tremblingly. But in the very encounter and battle they show themselves men; contrary to what the rash and foolishly bold are wont to do. And so that trepidation of Poppelius, indicated by the dejection of his countenance (as at least my opinion holds), was nothing other than a certain prudent meditation of the impending battle; by which namely, on the one side considering the weakness of his own strength, but on the other hoping for and invoking the aid of divine virtue, he cautiously and providently prepared himself for the contest of martyrdom. But how far cowardice and softness of mind were from this man, that first declared, that a little before, being asked by a certain person whether it were lawful to swear to Orange in the present business, he simply answered that it could not be done without the guilt of mortal sin. But much more afterward the strength of his mind betrayed itself in that most open confession of the Catholic faith before the roaring enemies threatening present death, of which we shall speak in the progress of the narrative.

CHAPTER XII.

[36] But it is no wonder if the captives, before whose eyes their peril was turned, seemed to fear and grow pale, Nothing harms religion more, since even of those who stood as spectators of their misery, some were to be seen with color and habit of countenance no more cheerful, namely bearing a manifest indication of a mind pressed with grief: whether because with a human affection of compassion they took grievously the present fall of their fellow-citizens, or because they feared for themselves too a like fortune with them from the perfidy of the enemies, and saw that it was certainly to be feared; or perhaps because they were tormented by the conscience of their deed, as those who, the barbarous soldier being so rashly admitted into the city, had brought so many innocent citizens, nay the best of men, into the extreme peril of life. Nor do I now mean those who out of zeal for faction and sect hated all Catholics. For these then, as they vehemently exulted in the success of their affairs, so (as I said before) most petulantly insulted the captives: but I speak of those who, whether rightly or otherwise they felt in mind about religion, yet so cultivated it that they had chiefly regard of their own state and private utility and advantages, meanwhile by external appearance showing great humanity toward all men. There was among these a certain old man (whose name I spare, lest I seem to persecute a person), a man of consular rank and honored, but whose levity of mind the changed face of religion, and immoderate zeal of pleasing all, had now more than once convicted.

[37] For in the first tumult of the Geusii, which fell in the year 1566, when on Wednesdays toward evening, as an ordinary auditor and among the first notable, he was present at the heretical sermons, how affected the hypocrisy of some, which were held in a certain house outside the walls of the city, tumultuarily constructed for that use by the authority of Orange after the manner of a barn (for within the city a place for those sermons could not then be obtained, although Orange gravely insisted for the Geusii; but the Catholic citizens with both Parish-priests manfully resisting)—the same man nevertheless, as though either between religions there were no difference, or he had suddenly been changed into another man, on the next day, that is, on every Thursday, at first dawn was seen in the church of the Catholics, among the first, an

a more honorable place of sitting being occupied; he was present at the sacrifice of the Mass, which is solemnly celebrated on that day for the veneration of the most holy Body of Christ according to the custom of the Church, with a certain singular appearance of devotion, the lights, which there are wont to be copiously lit according to custom, he himself with his own hands very officiously lit; in short, whatever a truly Catholic man would do, he did. But since he was held especially wealthy, and had oftentimes discharged the office of principal senator, whom they call Burgomaster (which two things had conciliated to him especial authority among the crowd), he easily turned the eyes and minds of all upon himself, whether he was present at the sacred mysteries in the Catholic church, or mingled himself with the profane sermons of the heretics.

[38] even in a matter so serious This seemed to some to pertain to the highest praise of prudence, if, dissensions swelling on account of religion, they so departed to neither part that they should resolve to devote themselves for that which they judged true, or to suffer anything at all of troubles; but according to the variety of times and men should from time to time turn themselves into one and another form, by feigning and dissembling, should cultivate friendship with all, or at least feign that they cultivated it, should show affability to all, in short should promise their favor and compliance to all; doubtless thinking by this means (as indeed they wished to seem) to consult most excellently for the public tranquillity, but in reality to guard and establish most prudently their private convenience and dignity of life, the favors of all being caught. Although it not rarely happens that men of this kind are frustrated in their opinion and hope: for while they do nothing sincerely, but compose all their actions to the applause and favor of the multitude, it often comes to pass that, the mask being drawn off, and that hypocrisy of manners being detected—which surely can neither long lie hidden, nor be approved by any stouthearted person—as crafty, deceitful, little trustworthy, mere feigners and dissemblers, they are commonly ill spoken of, and for that cause also are deservedly rendered hateful to all.

[39] Yet however sometimes a deceit is practiced upon men who look only at those things which appear outwardly; of those who adapt themselves to the time; to God certainly, who is the knower and discerner of the thoughts of the heart, this counterfeited prudence, or wisdom, which by a specious name some call political (which we, with the Apostle James, may more rightly call earthly, animal, diabolical), can by no means please: because, according to the Psalmist, God hath scattered the bones of those who please men: they are confounded, because God hath despised them. Since also the Apostle Paul, if he still pleased men, would not be the servant of Christ. And yet by the testimony likewise and example of the same Apostle that political kind of men does not fear to build up that wisdom of theirs, because he says that he became to the Jews a Jew, to the weak weak, in short all things to all, that he might make all safe: as though this deed of Paul pertained to the simulation of error, which is always detestable, and not rather to the condescension and commiseration of the erring and the weak, which in a master of piety is especially to be commended; while, the truth being safe, he omits none of those things by which either the error of his neighbors may be corrected, or their weakness relieved.

[40] Otherwise, how will he fulfill what he himself teaches elsewhere, who are deservedly refuted. that one must abstain from every appearance of evil? Or how will he agree with himself, who elsewhere neither suffers Titus to be circumcised on account of the Jews, nor endures Peter feigning anything in the business of religion, but with free voice reprehends [him]? That man therefore of whom I had begun to speak, as though conscious of the counsels which were being agitated about the captives, announces to them the capital sentence, and under the appearance of one condoling and consoling admonishes them to bear the present fall with equal and brave mind, since there was no hope that the sentence once decreed would be revoked. But whether in reality it had already then been decreed, or whether by some error he thought it had been so decreed, I hold uncertain. This is certain, that neither this man, although he was believed to prevail very much in authority, nor any of the other citizens, who came thither in frequent numbers, dared to utter even a word for the liberation of the captives; although some of them seemed heartily to desire that provision be made for the safety of the captives. Which surely happened to them beyond expectation, that those whose coming most had wished for with all their vows, they now experienced, received into the city, as such grievous guests, nay such hard masters, that they now did not dare even to open their mouths for those to whom they knew unharmedness was owed from pacts so sacredly sworn.

[41] And so it came to pass that, such portents being admitted, all form of the commonwealth was suddenly overthrown, The wretched citizens experience what the holy Pastor had foretold. and the authority of the citizens extinguished, not only of the Catholics, but even of those who had hoped for themselves all things different from them—liberty, peace, supreme authority. Although that these things would befall them, if they entrusted themselves to the faith of the Geusii, had been foretold more than enough in public sermons by Leonardus the parish-priest; in vain indeed, as making words before men long preoccupied by contrary affection and opinion. But the Catholic citizens, whose number seemed to be small (I speak of those who had not fled into the castle, but had remained in the city), most of them lay hidden through fear, of whom, although perchance one and another, relying on the familiarity of certain Geusii, had crept into the castle, and then into the hall of the captives, they stood trembling, not daring even by a word to aid the cause of the innocent: not indeed unlike Peter, who, having entered the hall of the Pontiff after Jesus, through fear dissembled that he knew his Lord and Master. Leonardus then, being admonished by a certain companion of captivity, how not truly he had once boasted that at Gorcum the Catholics so prevailed over the heretics in number that against single heretics he could oppose ten Catholics; Certainly, said he, they deceived me. And he said this truly. For the hypocrisy of many had deceived the good man.

CHAPTER V.

All the Ecclesiastics being segregated into a chamber, the Blessed Guardian refuses the liberty offered, having splendidly exhorted his own to constancy. The perfidy of the prefect Marinus being accused, who at last, new conditions being covenanted, dismisses the captive lay citizens.

CHAPTER XIII.

Meanwhile further, about the eighth hour, there are called out from the number of the captives two citizens with their wives, one Splinterus by name, The rest of the captives hoping for liberty, who was to the city an officer for legations and public affairs, whom they commonly call pensionary, the other his son Joannes, licentiate of both laws; for whose liberation Splinterus's daughter-in-law, married to another son of his (in whose house Marinus had been received in hospitality), while she supplicated him with great cries and womanly wailing, had obtained, or more truly extorted, the promise of their safety. These therefore departing, the other captives commend their cause, but in vain. For soon those same [two] were ordered to return to the captives, hindered or at least delayed by the counsel of certain persons, whom we have already before commemorated to have disputed among themselves apart in a chamber what should be done about the captives. Yet thereupon there began to shine forth to the captives some hope of safety, because they understood that by that example the mind of the prefect could be bent. Nor did they now think themselves detained for any other reason than that, if they had still kept any money remaining with them, they might be shaken out, before they were allowed to depart; or (as some said) that they might be compelled to pay some ransom, a valuation being first made.

[43] The Guardian and others are segregated: While in this manner the minds of the captives hang in suspense, the Guardian of the Friars Minor is called out with all his own, and besides a certain Canon Regular of St. Augustine, and the same the prefect of the monastery of the sacred virgins of the same Order. This thing seemed to some good news, thinking that for this the monks were first called out, and even dismissed free, because there was no suspicion that they had money with them any longer, and a price for the redemption of their heads could not be hoped from them, as those whom it was established to be poor even to mendicity. But that opinion deceived them far. For they were led away into a certain chamber, in which, separated from the others, they might be kept. Where when they entered, and saw ladders there perchance placed, they then indeed suspected nothing other than that they were to be hanged forthwith. Thus the hope rashly conceived by some this supervening fear suddenly routed from their minds. While they were guarded in that place, there approached the Guardian a certain citizen of Gorcum, joined to him by blood. He, as light in morals, so unstable in religion, had first at some time soldiered for the Catholic King, and in recovering the castle of Loevestein, near Gorcum, which the Geusii had before taken by guile, had performed manly and strenuous service; but afterward, having set out to Brill, when now that city was held by the Geusii, by I know not what counsel, came into suspicion, that he had given his name to the Geusii for military service.

[44] For which cause a little after, when he had perchance returned to Gorcum, he himself refuses the compliance offered for [his liberation;] he had been seized by the prefect and bound, and sent to Rotterdam to the Count of Bossu (who then held that city with a Spanish garrison in the name of the Catholic King), that he, by the royal authority which he discharged through Holland, might determine about him. And surely there was certain peril of his head, had not the Guardian—both incited by the prayers of his kinsmen, and most of all led by pious commiseration of the man, because he hoped that he would by this way be brought back to better fruit, vexation namely giving understanding—having set out to Rotterdam, obtained his liberation by his intercession with the Count. By which deed doubtless he left it proved with how great zeal he burned to succor those whom, pressed by adversity, he did not distrust could be aided by his help and labor. But for the rest, that man, freed from that peril, showed indeed no amendment of life, nor afterward seemed to follow the Catholic religion from the heart: nay rather, having a little after associated himself with the Geusian faction, as the more powerful party, he had now obtained some authority among them. But yet, not wholly forgetful of so signal a benefit received, he approached the Guardian, as I had begun to say, and, having kindly addressed him, offered his labor and all his compliance very officiously for procuring his liberation.

[45] But he, although concerning religion no temptation had yet been proposed, and the jests of one or another altogether refused to be freed, if not all his Brethren should be dismissed free together with him. But there were among the Brethren one and another, and those perhaps whose spirit for seizing the palm of martyrdom afterward failed through cowardice, who, when they saw that the Guardian, before himself and all the rest, could so easily, if he wished, be freed, said to him: Will you thus desert us, Father? And there was one who said: You led us in hither; and now, placed in peril, will you abandon us? Hard was this to him, and bitter to hear. Nor indeed had he led anyone by his order or persuasion into the castle, but, as has been commemorated by us at the beginning, the day before the enemy was received into the city, he had made for all the Brethren the power of departing whither they would, and where they hoped they would be safe. And when of their own accord and counsel the greater part of them betook themselves into the castle, and only three laymen in the monastery

should remain, with whom he himself also would rather have remained, as one who was not ignorant that arms of patience rather than of defense befitted his profession; yet he was unwilling to be absent from the assembly of the Brethren, who stood together in the greater and more considerable number: and that alone had been his reason for asking leave to go to the citadel.

[46] Again therefore he plainly promised to all his companions in these words: he repels them with a signal exhortation. Never think it will come to pass, Brethren, that I should desert you. Nor indeed will I ever suffer myself alone to be set free. Nay, by this pledge I bind myself to you: that I will remain with you in every trial even to the last breath of this life, nor will I admit any deliverance of my own self, until I see you all set free together with me. But if even one out of the number, and he the least, must be punished with death, I will join myself to him as companion in death. Only endure, my Brethren, and act manfully; let your heart be comforted, and hope in the Lord. With these and suchlike words the solicitous father consoled his Brethren, nay his sons, most kindly and piously, not then only, but afterward also at other times, often even to the end, and he exhorted them to bear the present affliction for Christ and His Church with a brave spirit. For the rest, that same Geusius, who had vainly offered his help toward freeing the Guardian, afterward set free from captivity a certain other Franciscan, likewise joined to himself by blood, who had presided over the kitchen affairs in the monastery (they call him the steward). But this man, whether compelled or of his own accord, remained among the Geusii in the citadel, and was set over the cooking of the food; unhappy man, who preferred the flesh-pots of the Egyptians to the reproach of the servants of Christ.

CHAPTER XIV.

[47] Not long after the monks who had been led out from the hall had gone away into a chamber, the commander, accused by one of the captives, there were summoned also the others, as many of the captives as remained in the hall, both laymen and clerics. Who, since they knew not whither they were being led, and still cherished in mind the conceived hope of deliverance, followed their leader not unwillingly. But having gone forward a little, they see themselves being led not to a free egress, as they had hoped, but into prison. They enter therefore whither they were bidden, and bear the present chance patiently. One only among them, a very rich and delicate man, while he sees himself being led to prison and pressed onward, there that wretched fellow, unaccustomed in mind to adverse things and quite unused to bearing the cross of Christ, betraying his softness and cowardice, struggles with hands and feet; but as he struggles the soldiers drag him, thrust him, beat him, until they force him into prison. But he was not of those by whose death God was to be glorified and the Church of Christ made illustrious. Then a certain other of the number of the captives, taking courage, approaching Marinus and addressing him with free voice, began to expostulate with him and to set forth that these things which were being done in no way answered to the covenants mutually confirmed. For safety and dismissal had been promised and sworn to all. But now they were thrust into prison not without manifest injury, and violation of the faith given and sworn. Such deeds by no means befitted a good and vigorous man.

[48] To whom when Marinus answered that he confessed it had been so promised, he does not sufficiently guard the pledge given, and that he would keep those same promises inviolate; And yet it is manifestly clear, said the other, that thou dost not stand by thy promises, who dost shut up in prison those whom thou didst lately confirm by oath that thou wouldst dismiss free. Then Marinus: I await, said he, a certain man from Dordrecht who will soon be here: according as he shall report, so it shall be dealt with you. Is it so indeed? said the other: What if that awaited messenger should report that we are all to be led to the cross? But a compact was entered into with thee. The citadel with its captives was surrendered to thy faith. Thou therefore oughtest to set free by thy pledge, which so often and so solemnly thou didst bind to us. Pressed by words of this kind, at last he thus answered: I know and confess that I gave my pledge. And if it were permitted me to conduct the matter according to my own mind, I would forthwith dismiss you all free. But because I cannot act as I wish, you must await whatever the affair shall bring. These things I have thought worth recording, that everyone may understand how cheap is the religion of faith and of an oath among this kind of men, who have once sent faith and piety toward God away by a messenger of dismissal.

CHAPTER XV.

[49] Meanwhile, while these things are being done, and the cause of the captives hangs in the balance, the women left in the hall, the wailing of the women fearing for their men being calmed, from whom either husbands or sons had been led away thence, when no good news concerning them was reported to them, suspecting that they had been dragged off to the gallows, filled the whole house with cries and lamentations and womanly wailing. One besought that she might be permitted to be present with her husband; another bewailed that by her own persuasion her son had come into the citadel; a certain one even, with throat bared and stretched forth, offered herself to death in place of her husband. Whom, although Marinus seriously affirmed that their men would be safe, yet they gave no credence to his words, nor abated anything of their lamentations and cries, until at last one of the captives (whom I just now mentioned), having entered the hall, when he had reported for certain that the men had been led not to the gallows but into prison, somewhat soothed their grief, and removed the dreadful suspicion of the gallows. He was the Guardian's nephew by his sister, the same of whom I made mention above.

[50] This man moreover, when he had obtained from Marinus at least that he should not be held shut up in prison with the rest, with a vow conceived, the Guardian's nephew wondrously escapes, but should meanwhile be bidden to remain in the former place as in a more honorable custody, strove by what means he could to withdraw himself from the citadel. Which also, with God's help, he a little afterward effected. For when frequent guards of soldiers beset the gates, having got two companions from among those whom curiosity to see had drawn thither after the citadel was occupied, with one of them going before and the other following after, through the midst of the armed guards, disposed here and there in a long line for the sake of exact watch, recognized by no one nor questioned, he slipped away by the straight road into the city, although there were among them those who both knew him and a little before had shown him annoyance, wishing to drive him into the common prison with the others. Now he had the day before made a vow to God, at that time when the assault on the citadel was most grievous, and the danger from the assault was nearest. This was the occasion of his vowing. He was reciting according to custom the canonical prayers: in which, when he had come to this antiphon: John and Paul said to Gallicanus; Make a vow to the God of heaven, and thou shalt be victor better than thou wast (for it was the birthday of the holy Martyrs John and Paul), thinking himself admonished by those words what he ought to do in that present necessity, he spoke within himself with God in this manner: If Thou shalt grant me to go forth hence unharmed without offense to Thee, I vow that, clad in linen, I will go before the sacred Eucharist in the solemn procession of that feast, as soon as it shall be publicly permitted to practice the Catholic religion in this city. To this vow he not rashly ascribed it that both before all the rest of his companions in captivity, and in a manner altogether unlooked-for, and, what is chief, with unhurt conscience, he escaped free, God (as it is fitting to believe) by such a reckoning approving his pious vow.

[51] at last all the seculars are dismissed free. Furthermore the remaining captives, only the priests and monks being excepted, and besides a certain citizen eminently Catholic, long assailed by the Geusii with many accusations, whose name was Gordian Vossius (although he too, after some days, by the diligent solicitation of his wife, having first given sureties for returning to prison whenever he should be bidden, was dismissed), when they had been kept in custody almost the whole day, doubtful between hope and fear, scarcely at length toward evening, a certain sum of money being agreed upon for their ransom, are dismissed free to their homes; though not entirely free, since they were not permitted to depart without the obligation of a certain oath. In which matter faith was twice violated by the enemy; because he dismissed neither without price nor without oath those whom, with only one exception interposed, of the goods that should be found in the citadel, he had absolutely and solemnly covenanted to dismiss free and inviolate. Although this perfidy, if it be compared with that which afterward they most wickedly displayed against the priests and monks (with whom indeed they had covenants common with the other captives), will seem even to merit the name of humanity and clemency. Which indeed will appear from the progress of the history.

[52] But it is not here to be passed over, that when the aforesaid citizens were dismissed, why Dunæus was thrust into prison. there was dismissed together with them a certain priest, Godfrey Dunæus by name, whose brain was somewhat injured from a cause which we shall relate in another place; a man otherwise, even by the testimony of adversaries, most upright. But he, while he is being led through the midst of the hall with the others, is alone detained by the soldiers, on this occasion. A certain citizen of Gorcum, a Geusius, who chanced to be there present, asks the soldiers why they thus dismissed that sacrificing priest. To whom, when they answered that he was foolish, he said: If he is wise enough to make God, he is wise enough also to deserve to be hanged. O the execrable blasphemy of the wicked rascal against the sacred mysteries! Which nevertheless, as it was very facetiously spoken, so it sounded pleasantly in the ears of the soldiers, that for its sake the priest of God was straightway led back into prison, about to have fellowship of passion and of glory together with those to whom he was returning. Thus indeed among those impious men one sufficiently fitting cause of capital punishment seemed to be, to be a priest and a minister of the divine mysteries.

CHAPTER VI.

The holy Martyrs reject the forbidden foods, bravely suffer various torments, as also the most grievous insults: the first fury against the secular priests, and the extortion of all things from them. The signal confession of Poppelius the Parish-priest.

CHAPTER XVI.

After the lay citizens were dismissed, the Guardian with all his own, led out from the chamber of which we spoke above, are thrust into a foul and fetid underground prison, the Martyrs held in prison refuse to eat flesh, into which already before two parish-priests with other priests had been cast. Now it was the sixth day of the week, on which by the most ancient law of Holy Mother Church it is forbidden and unlawful for Christians to eat flesh. When therefore the time of supping was at hand, and hunger pressed the captives, flesh is brought to them to be eaten. But of them all no one would taste it, one priest only excepted, who, forgetful both of ecclesiastical obedience and of Catholic profession, both himself ate of it, and exhorted the others to do the same, though in vain; although most of them by now almost fainted for want of food, because after the night's labors and afflictions, throughout all that day they had tasted nothing or very little food.

[54] They indeed were not ignorant, as there were among them men most skilled in the sacred Letters, that every creature of God is good, for various weighty causes: and to the clean all things are clean. They knew also that the ecclesiastical law does not prescribe for necessity. But

nevertheless for two reasons they seem to me to have deliberately rejected the flesh offered. First, because it had been offered by deserters of the Church, and in contempt of ecclesiastical custom (just as of old we read that swine's flesh was offered by the impious ministers of Antiochus to the pious zealots of the divine law), whereas otherwise there is wont to be had in that place fish and other eatables abundantly enough. Next, because they knew that among the common people (as of old among the Jews that most praiseworthy old man Eleazar) they would forthwith be traduced by calumny, as men who had already begun to make a defection from the Papistic religion, or at least, against their own doctrine and profession, had committed something induced by fear. Which matter could beget no slight stumbling-block among many who wavered in the business of religion, and others who were weaker. And so the Martyrs by this their constant refusal provided piously and prudently at once both for the honor of God and for the salvation of many. For the rest, that man whom we said to have eaten of the flesh, although afterward he suffered still many things in common with the holy Martyrs, yet did not carry the course of his passion through to the very goal of martyrdom.

[55] Now already the captives saw themselves placed in such a plight that scarcely anything was to be hoped concerning deliverance, and now indeed, though some in human fashion trembled, but on the contrary they understood that they must seriously bethink themselves of death and of enduring bitter torments. Although there were those who both vehemently dreaded death, and feared the torments of punishments no less than death itself. Which certainly ought to seem strange to no one; since it is implanted by nature in all to shun death and pains. But it is the part of the Christian soldier so to admit into himself natural passions of this kind, that he suffer not himself to be drawn by their impulse to unlawful things, and to be so tempted by the weakness of the flesh, that the spirit prompt in all things acquiesce in the divine will. In which contest how manfully and vigorously our Martyrs sweated, from the time when, the citizens whom I mentioned being freed, they alone were retained, the things which are henceforth to be recounted by us will clearly show; if only in some measure our discourse shall attain the greatness of the matter to be told. For assuredly it will by no means be easy for me to set forth in words how great evils, both elsewhere and especially in that Gorcum prison, the holy Men endured so many nights and days, while, exposed to the injuries of all, they continually either await or endure the savage assaults of every vilest rascal from the crowd of soldiers.

[56] the torments inflicted they bravely bore. For those creatures of darkness and ministers of Satan (I mean the Geusii soldiers, the garrison of the citadel), as often as they were goaded by the lust of acting wickedly and wantonly (which indeed was very frequent), so often, no one forbidding, they glutted it abundantly upon the captives. Now for the most part after supper, sated with food and drunk with wine, they refreshed themselves with sport of this kind. Having entered the prison, to receive the wretched men with blows, to batter them with fists, to attack them with kicks, to harry them by dragging, pushing, and in other ways, as it pleased each. And amid these things, hurling javelins of the tongue at them, to heap up in rivalry the foulest curses; finally to omit no kind of insult, whereby these most worthless men might either feed their own minds, or increase the unhappiness of the captives. There impelled them to do these things first the wickedness of their life, now by long custom turned into nature. For most of them were pirates, cut-throats, publicly infamous men: next, the most keen and most bitter hatred with which this kind of men blazes against all the ministers of God, but chiefly against the monks. For how could it come to pass that men of a most defiled and most abandoned life (if yet it is lawful to call them men) should not bear most hostile minds against those in whose life and conversation they recognized nothing at all of their own, but all things diametrically warring with their own deeds and manners?

[57] the cause of the Geusii's hatred against the Catholics. For even Cain, as that beloved disciple of Christ testifies, slew his brother for no other reason than because his own works were evil, but his brother's just. For as there is no greater contrariety than that of the goodness and malice which exist in the manners of men, and likewise of true religion and false; so surely there is no hatred among men more hostile and more keen than that which the evil exercise against the good on account of manners and religion. Moreover to these two, wickedness and hatred, as a heap and complement, a third had now been added: impunity to do against the captives whatsoever they wished. That indeed is that unbridled and unrestrained license, always too much longed for by evil and worthless men. Which therefore Christ the Lord, speaking to like ministers of impiety, calls both their hour, and the power of darkness. Which, as by the counsel of the divine dispensation it was for a time permitted to the Jews against the Son of God, so we do not doubt that it was permitted by God also to these against the Servants of God: to the end namely that these, conformed by passion to Christ their head as true members of His body, might merit also fellowship of future glory with Him, His Apostle attesting: If we suffer together, we shall also be glorified together.

CHAPTER XVII.

[58] But I return to the narrative I began, to set forth in particular, and a little more accurately, the most grievous insults against the Saints, the things which that first night those light-shunning and ministers of darkness perpetrated against the sons of light. For that onset was, as the first, so the most grievous; and the very time, being nocturnal, agreed exactly with the works of darkness. When therefore they had supped largely and sumptuously, their bellies distended with food and drink, they hasten to feed and satiate their own mind also with a pleasure worthy of it. They rise from supper, and with rapid course make for the prison, they rush upon the captives, they strike the wretched men with horrible voices and countenances, and among other things terribly cry out: Let us cut off from all these their privy parts, noses, ears; then let us fasten to the cross these idolaters and god-makers. By this name the impious men called the priests of Christ on account of the mystic consecration. Now they had brought in thither ladders, at the sight of which a vehement fear of hanging and death was struck into certain of the captives. Yet not with this design had they brought the ladders, that they should hang anyone, but that, having bound the Martyrs to them naked, they might beat them with rods, and mangle them in other ways as it pleased them. For they had rods already prepared for that use.

[59] Then a certain one among them, in boldness and crime easily first, by whom one only, the more cowardly, is terrified. surnamed Niger, a man of Gorcum, orders the ladders to be handed to him. Which when he had fittingly placed for the butchery, it came to pass by the divine will that someone ran up thither, announcing with a shout that William Turcus (he was the son of the commander of the citadel, awaited the day before in vain by his father) had arrived with forces, and was now invading the city. They, when they thought the matter was as it was announced, panic-stricken with fear, desist from the undertaking, and, leaving the prison, hasten at a run to the walls, to repel the enemy. The captives meanwhile, having got space to breathe, prepare themselves by confession of their sins, and by mutual exhortations, to undergo death and martyrdom bravely. But yet (which is not here to be passed over) one of them, a soldier of Christ too soft and delicate, could in no way let down into his soul the thought of death, but with hands clasped and wrung, filled the prison with womanly lamentation; in vain did Leonard the Parish-priest exhort him to trust in the Lord God, to take a manly spirit, to despise death for religion, to think on the eternal rewards.

[60] He was one who already before more than once, among brave men, had betrayed the cowardice and softness of his mind by words and deeds of this kind. the Geusii, having first attacked the secular priests, For the rest, when it was known that what had been announced was false, the soldiers soon return to the prison, about now with more secure minds to carry out the work of cruelty conceived and suspended by a little delay. First therefore of all, having occupied a certain corner of the prison, they bid the captives approach thither to them one by one. Who, suspecting that they were all there to be slaughtered one after another, since they knew not whom they wished first, remain in their places, nor does anyone hasten to approach. Then the soldiers: We want some of those black-robed ones, they say; designating the secular priests by that word from their dress: just as they were wont to call the Franciscans, in like contempt, gray-clad (commonly the grays). And they call those out first for this reason, because they hoped to find money among them. Which of these latter they could scarcely hope, whom they knew, by the institute of their Order, neither to handle nor at all to possess money. For the rest, at that word of the soldiers Leonard: I am at hand, said he. And soon advancing to them briskly and undauntedly, he himself bares his neck and breast, and, falling nobly, offers his neck to be struck.

[61] they try to wring everything from them. But they, checking their affection of cruelty a little through desire of gold, bid him bring forth all his money. Leonard, having straightway brought forth and handed over the money which he had by him, is dismissed. Then, assailing Godfrey Dunæus: It behooves, they say, that thou point out to us the treasure. Although this man too, not long vexed, they dismissed from them; because they knew that such secrets are not wont to be committed to half-witted men (such as they esteemed this one). After him therefore they bid come to them the prefect of the monastery of the Regular Virgins of St. Augustine, a man aged and notable for the probity of his life. They inquire about the treasure of the monastery. He, bringing forth what little money he had by him, kept saying that he was conscious of no other treasure. But those wicked men are not only not satisfied with the things received and taken away which they had found upon him; but moreover, kindled thence with greater desire, threats being held out, try to wring the confession of some greater treasure. And that they might thoroughly frighten the man with the fear of instant death, they bring up a firearm, as if about now to discharge it upon him, unless he betray hidden riches. But he could neither give what he had not, nor betray what he knew not; since there was nowhere at all anything that the poor prefect of a poor family could betray.

CHAPTER XVIII.

[62] Now the soldiers had been persuaded, by the report of certain malevolent citizens, more hostile against Poppelius the Parish-priest, that an immense quantity of money had been brought into the citadel by the Catholics. Imbued with this persuasion, they leave nothing untried whereby they might wring from the captives a sign of the hidden treasures. With a heavier onset therefore they attack Nicholas Poppelius, the younger parish-priest of the city: against whom they were of a mind the more hostile on this account, because in his sermons to the people he had been wont to inveigh more keenly against the heretics. First with threatening words they demand that the treasures of the Church be betrayed to them. But when the man's constancy was not moved by threats, they prepare to apply force. They set the man before them and hold him, lest he could easily move and turn himself to any side. Then they set against his mouth a firearm (commonly they call it a pistol), furnished with a ball and sulphurous powder, as if about forthwith to discharge it. Nor do they only demand treasure of gold or silver, but besides they strive to plunder the treasure of the orthodox and Catholic faith, which he bore more precious and more holy within his breast, satellites of the devil armed with a twin torch against the servant of God, with avarice, that they might snatch the gold, and with impiety, that they might carry off Christ; why do I not say Christ, since outside the Church and the Catholic faith Christ cannot be had?

[63] And so, with a certain bitter reproach

they bid him, they harry him in dreadful ways, that what he had often uttered in his public sermons, he should now, if he dare, profess; assailing him with words of this kind: Ho there, little sacrificer; where now is that mouth of thine and thy boasting? Thou who so often from the pulpit didst blustering prate that for thy faith thou wouldst gladly meet death. Come then, speak out and answer, whether thou art now ready to prove those magnificent sayings by deeds, and to seal thy doctrine by death. To this the holy man, in no way terrified by the present danger and in no way hesitating, answered with free voice: Yea, willingly will I meet death for the Catholic faith, and chiefly for this, whereby I believe that the very Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ are truly contained in the venerable Sacrament under the symbols of bread and wine. After this confession, pronounced in clear and distinct words, thinking that he would forthwith die and nothing else, with lifted voice, so that he was heard through almost the whole citadel, he cried out saying: Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.

[64] Further, the soldier did not dare to loosen the firearm, which he held set against his mouth continually; tortured almost to death. God namely restraining the barbarian's hand, that He might reserve the witness of His truth for richer matter of patience, and at once for an ampler reward of glory. But the soldiers, more vehemently provoked by this unconquered fortitude of the man, and now despairing of the treasure of moneys which they turned over in their avaricious mind, try another way of wringing his confession. Therefore, having drawn off the girding cord from one of the Minorites, with one part of it they bind Poppelius's neck, the other part they cast over the door of the prison, whereby drawing him upward with great force, and again letting him down, since they did this again and again, it lacked little but that, the cord being drawn tighter, they should have stopped his breath. In which nearness of death, as he now labored, they urge and press him, that he should betray the hidden treasures. But when not even thus did he depart from his purpose, at length after much vexation, failing in strength, and almost lifeless, and scarcely drawing his last breath, they loose him and thrust him from them. Who indeed little by little returned to himself, and recovered his breath. For the rest, the weal from the cord by which he had been so cruelly drawn, left in the circuit of his neck and easily visible to all, the noble confessor of Christ retained even unto death.

CHAPTER VII.

The Minorites are harassed to wring the treasures from them: the Guardian's mild answer and afterward his silence: he is cruelly tortured almost to death. The truth of this history, and the excellent speech of the Guardian, restored to himself, to his fellow-captives.

CHAPTER XIX.

Next they come to the Friars Minor, and treasures of money are demanded from the poor of Christ. the fury being turned against the Fathers Minorite, And although none of those soldiers was ignorant that these men, by reason of their institute, abstain from the use and even the touch of money; nevertheless hatred, kindled by the flames of avarice, drove them into a sinister suspicion, so that they judged that these were not in truth what they professed outwardly; but that under a false show of poverty they were deceiving men, and either possessed secretly some common riches, or each kept coins furtively set aside for private use. Certainly indeed none of these (thanks be to God) could be caught as such. For both the discipline in which they were most diligently kept by Father Guardian brought it about that they dared not think of secretly having money, and such care was employed both in providing necessaries, and such equality was preserved in distributing them, that they had no wish even to have any. But the soldiers, that they might the more quickly wring the confession of hidden things, resolve to begin the questioning from the younger ones, because they hoped these would, on account of their age, both answer the interrogatories more simply and openly, and more easily yield to the torments by which they should be forced to disclose what they knew. Assailing these therefore, they beat them with fists and cuffs so hard and unmercifully that from one of them a molar tooth was struck out, leaving a vacant place in the gums, which afterward, when he had escaped (for he was not in the number of the Martyrs), he showed to many who wished to inspect it.

[66] they first torture the younger, accusing them of treason. A certain other layman among them, not yet accustomed to such fists, began with lifted voice to wail with tears. Whom the Guardian and the other Brethren meanwhile exhorted to patience, with rebuke. But when the savagery of the soldiers pressed him none the less with hard blows, and with threats also more grievous, to point out the treasure and precious things of the Church, he answered with weeping that he was conscious of none of them all: that to the Guardian, as prefect, belonged the knowledge and care of such things. Then they: Which of you, they say, is the prefect of these traitors? They called them traitors for this reason, lest (which was thought contrary to the Evangelic doctrine) they should seem to afflict anyone with punishment or annoyance for the cause of religion. And so they continually cast the charge of treason and of injuring the commonwealth against all those whom, hated on the score of religion, they desired to have removed from the living. For they knew how hateful among all was the name of traitor. Wherefore, with crimes designedly feigned, they studiously labored at this, to persuade the common people everywhere that these captives were for the most part nothing else than traitors of their country, and conspirators, enemies of the public safety and liberty. Further, mention of the prefect being made, the younger ones being dismissed, they straightway seized Jerome the Vicar, thinking him to be the Guardian, and assail him with threats and terrors. They set a dagger to his breast, to drive it into his vitals, unless he betray what was demanded.

[67] The Vicar, though he could with a word turn the danger from himself, a fair contest of the Vicar and the Guardian, namely if he should deny that he was the one who was falsely thought to be so, himself chose rather to be in peril by keeping silence, than, by declaring what the fact was, to call the life of another into danger. This was in him a proof of great love toward his prefect. But no less praiseworthy was that which the Guardian in turn rendered to his Vicar; while, the other keeping silence and awaiting the violent hands of the soldiers, casting himself forward for his safety (for the best Shepherd and Father of his own could not bear that anyone else should, through mistake of person, be afflicted with torture or any annoyance in his stead), he professed with clear voice that he was their Guardian. Him therefore, recognized, the Vicar being dismissed, those rabid and monstrous ministers of the demons, assailing, handle the man not as a man, but as some noxious wild beast, nay more truly as the most wicked cut-throat of the whole world. For so he himself afterward related in secret to a certain man, from whom we have both this and certain other things. First they press upon him with horrible voices; soon they let down blows and redouble them so far that they bruised almost his whole body. There are added, to increase the terror, most grievous threats.

[68] To those striving by this way to wring the confession of treasure, Nicholas calmly answered with words of this kind: his peaceable answer, after which he keeps silence. That the sacred chalices and ornaments of our temple were brought into that citadel you are not ignorant. Where they too have been found by you I do not doubt. Other treasure moreover we have not; but since we are poor, we sustain our life from the alms which good men have up to the present bestowed upon us. And if aught of these still remains, where it may be, I know not. For you know well enough that the money contributed for our alms is handled and dispensed not by our hands, but by the hands of secular men. To this the soldiers: Thou liest, monk. But the holy man, after that first answer, as being true, complete, and full of reason, could henceforth be compelled by no threats, nor blows, nor any other maltreatment of his limbs, to speak a word besides. For once he had openly and simply answered that which was the fact. For indeed a treasure, whereby provision might be made for a long time to come for the necessities of the Brethren or of the monastery, he had neither at any time gathered, nor had he ever labored to gather. Which indeed was done by him wisely above all, and befittingly to his profession: and then also at that season it fell out very opportunely. For by such economy it was guarded and provided against, that their heretic enemies should not find a treasure which they might carry off and wickedly consume: and at the same time the occasion of sinister opinion was removed, which many might not without grave scandal have conceived, if among those who publicly professed Evangelic poverty in a singular manner, hidden treasures of money had been found.

CHAPTER XX.

[69] When therefore the soldiers could henceforth wring no word from him upon the interrogatories, they cruelly drag him forth to be hanged. Hence the cruelty of the rascals against him, Who, when amid these things he said: There is no need for me to be dragged in this manner; I myself will go forward willingly and of my own accord: they, acting no more mildly, cast even the cord, with which he was girded according to the manner of his institute, upon his neck, and then, thus bound, drag him fiercely to and fro in different directions, until they had reached the door of the prison, where they prepare, just as a little before Poppelius, to torture him by hanging. And so, the cord by which the Martyr's neck was bound being stretched over the door, first by a violent pull of it they lift him from the ground. But since they held the cord too long in their hands, seeking some fastening, whether a nail, or a post, to which they might tie the cord, meanwhile the body of the hanging man now sinks and inclines with the feet toward the earth; now, the cord being again drawn by those barbarians, is lifted up: and in this alternation the punishment is prolonged to the holy Martyr together with his life; and the death, which he vehemently desired to undergo for the Church of God, is deferred.

[70] and most bitter torments, Further, the soldiers, since they kept drawing back to themselves the cord slipping with the weight of the body, and found not where to tie it; at length they insert an oaken post into the door, to which they might fasten the cord. Now it happened that, by that frequent rubbing against the upper part of the door, the cord broke, and at the same time the body of the hanging man fell to the earth with a heavy fall. There lay therefore the holy man rolled on the ground, with head bent down, with no sign of life, and plainly like one dead. The soldiers approach, to explore whether he be truly dead; they raise the prostrate man a little, and set him in a sitting posture, his back applied to the wall. Then, whether in mockery, because they altogether believed him now dead, or for the sake of more certainly exploring his death, which they thought could most easily be done by tortures, applying burning candles, they burn his forehead, crown, mouth, cheeks, ears, chin, nose. Nay even (O the monstrousness!) a flame inserted into his nostrils they send down into his brain. Nor was that enough. They forcibly draw apart and open his mouth, and, a burning candle being put in, so scorch his tongue and all his palate that from that time, his taste being vehemently dulled and almost extinguished, he scarcely perceived any more any savor from food or drink.

[71] For also on the following day his tongue and whole palate, beset with frequent little blisters and foully affected, showed clearly enough to his companions who looked on how cruelly they had been handled by those bearded ones. Then too his whole face, much disfigured by the flames, and his forehead and cheeks bereft of eyebrows and eyelids (for even his eyes being closed they had brought the flames near from without) with which he is so foully disfigured, presented a sad spectacle to the beholders, and at the same time spoke of the savagery of those butchers. His neck also, from the cord by which it had long been bound,

swollen and livid, and in the part where it had been rubbed by the roughness of the cord, as by a red line drawn around, was seen bared of skin. Of which thing the holy man thereafter bore a manifest trace on his neck, together with the marks of the burning of those parts which we have mentioned, even unto death. But the soldiers, when after so many torments they still perceived no sign of life in him, then, having contemptuously spurned him with their feet and cast him on the ground, at last left him for dead, and went away saying: He is a monk; who will seek after him?

[72] Nor indeed did the other captives, in whose sight the whole affair was carried on, think anything else than that he had long since expired. so that he was left for dead. And assuredly the glorious Martyr of God would there have met a glorious death among the hands of those butchers (for now he had long, and beyond human wont, lain destitute of the use of his senses), had it not seemed good to God to preserve him somewhat longer in life for this end, that then, proved and made known both by public confession of the Catholic faith, and by endurance of yet graver torments and reproaches, he might shine forth in greater measure: and at the same time that his companions, of whom not all had equal alacrity and fortitude for undergoing martyrdom, might have a man by whose example and by continual exhortations even to the end, being stirred up and confirmed, they might not fail in the so grave contest undertaken. Furthermore, they who showed themselves the leaders of so great cruelty were three men of Gorcum, of whom one, Niger by surname, and certainly in manners most black, had once held a command in piracy among the Geusii; the other two were brothers, touching also by some nearness of kin him against whom they designed such things; for the rest, sons of a most wicked woman, who, while she exercised at Gorcum the office of midwifery, had put forth among the people certain little songs composed by herself, partly sprinkled with the leaven of heresy, partly amatory and lascivious.

[73] Her Leonard the Parish-priest, as a pest of piety and modesty, having once tried to cast out of the city, the heretics made fiercer by the indulgence of the commanders, first had the city magistrates resisting his purpose; then not even in the royal Governor did he find a support firm enough. Which sort of difficulty indeed the pious Pastor had often, not in this matter only, but in others too, experienced to the great grief of his mind. For the Governor, although a Catholic, yet at first pressed on more sluggishly than the greatness of the matter demanded, in restraining and punishing those who had sinned against religion. Whence afterward it came to pass that, reduced to straits by their increase, when he wished to restrain them, he could not; but was also deluded, spurned, and supplanted by certain men of this kind co-opted into the senate, whose election he himself had confirmed by his own vote, even to such a point that he feared from them for his very life. Which we know to have befallen certain other governors of commonwealths in this same season. For by the just judgment of God it comes to pass that those whom, sinning, we have neglected either to correct or to punish according to their deserts, we afterward feel to be, the same persons, strengthened now by that very impunity, and increased both in number and in strength, at length made more powerful than ourselves, most grievous avengers of our own sloth; God's justice so disposing that, as it is written, by the things whereby a man sins, by these also he is punished. But let there be another place for this complaint.

CHAPTER XXI.

[74] But before I return to the narrative I began, meanwhile thou must be warned by me, Christian reader (that thou mayest recognize the sincere truth of our history), that certain things either false or at least doubtful, concerning the truth of the whole narrative, were spread abroad among the people at that time by the report of certain persons concerning the affliction of our Martyrs, which we have by no means thought fit to insert into this our commentary. For the Martyrs of truth need not either false or doubtful praises, whose excellence of virtue was such that we do not feel ourselves fitted enough even to celebrate worthily those of their deeds which are true, certain, and ascertained. It was reported that on that first night, their clothes being stripped off, they were naked over the whole body cruelly and foully torn with the lictors' rods. Which indeed that it was not done is sufficiently established; although it is credible that the Geusii had resolved so to do, as men who had rods with the torturing ladder already prepared. For on the day before there had been seen men who brought bundles of rods into the citadel. Whence arose a suspicion, so that it was thought to have been so done.

[75] the sincere author renders the reason, But why it was not done, God knows, in whose hand are the wills of men. It was believed also by some that upon Nicholas Pick, among the other torments with which we have above related that he was variously vexed, the figure of a cross had been carved with a knife on his forehead for ignominy. But neither can we affirm this, thinking the cause of the error to be that his forehead, whether from the fall, when, the cord being broken, he fell to the earth, or wounded by the burning of the flame, and afterward veiled with a linen cloth, gave certain pious persons occasion of suspecting something of this kind. No more credit deserves the fact that a certain other, led I know not by what argument, transferred the character of the cross from the forehead to the neck. But our purpose is not to mix uncertain conjectures of any persons whatever into our history; but only those things which we have either ascertained or received from suitable witnesses, to report with entire fidelity. Since to wish to advance the cause of the Catholic Church, which is the firmament and pillar of truth, by feigned or uncertain narrations, I have always thought very wicked, and utterly foreign to the office of a Christian writer.

[76] rejecting those things which he knew to have been falsely spread abroad. Wherefore I cannot sufficiently marvel at the zeal (as it seems) not sincere, of a certain man, who many years ago, publishing a little history of our Martyrs (which I have understood to have been afterward reprinted at Naples in Italy, and offered to very great men as true and faithful, and which lately I myself saw again printed at Ingolstadt in Germany), among other things which I detected to be there narrated not according to the truth, transferred that noble confession of Nicholas Poppelius, above recounted by us, the name being changed, to another person, whom he wished. Which error there afterward followed he who published at Paris in the year 1582 the ecclesiastical history of the Martyrs of the Order of St. Francis. To me indeed, that no one may doubt of the credit of the thing done, it is most certainly established; not only from the most faithful narration of my own brother, who received this very thing from the mouth of Leonard the Parish-priest, at the time when he, as we shall afterward relate, being for a while dismissed from prison, had liberty of freely conversing with friends; but also from the concordant and constant report of certain others, who were then there present, and afterward escaped: of whom also one, Pontus Heuterus by name, a Canon of Gorcum, a learned man and afterward famed by published books, who not long ago departed this life, committed the thing done to writing in Belgic verses. But let the discourse return to its purpose.

CHAPTER XXII.

[77] After the Geusii soldiers, as we said, had left the prison, Nicholas Pick, whom now both his companions the excellent speech of the Guardian, restored to himself, to his companions. and the soldiers thought to have breathed forth his soul, at length returned to himself, not without great wonder of all his companions. By whom afterward, so far as place and time allowed, being revived, he recovered the use of speech. Then indeed he addressed Jerome the Vicar, and the other brethren and fellow-captives, in this manner: I, my brethren, was through swooning of the mind so utterly beside myself that of the things which were done to me and about me I felt nothing at all. And would that it had seemed good to the Lord God at once to loose this soul from the bonds of the body, and to receive it to Himself. But because it so pleased Him not, be done whatever He determines concerning me. Meanwhile this I affirm to you: that this punishment of hanging is neither grievous nor bitter to endure, even as I have now in very deed experienced. The torment itself is both moderate and momentary; which forthwith the failing of mind and senses follows. By which so brief and so easy an abridgment of passion we shall fly away to the eternal and blessed life, and to that unlosable crown laid up for us in heaven; so that surely it may be clear how the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the future glory which shall be revealed in us. With discourse of this kind the true confessor of Christ, nay now a Martyr, so far as in him lay, consoled his companions: but by the will of God preserved in life beyond hope, that he might continually confirm and animate his brethren to the very end of the contest, as much by his example of fortitude as by his word of exhortation.

[78] That tragic night being passed, in which the ministers of darkness perpetrated against the servants of God works so many, and worthy of themselves and of their prince, new terrors and taunts from the impious. again at the first dawn there come certain of them to the prison, bringing an axe with this design, that they might divide limb by limb the body of the Guardian, whom they had left for dead, and thought nothing else than dead, and might fasten the parts themselves aloft on the gates of the city. Which kind of public ignominy is wont to be inflicted after the last punishment upon traitors of cities and kingdoms, such as they wished this man with his companions to be held among all. But when they found him, otherwise than they supposed, still breathing and living, first they marveled, then again began in unworthy ways to vex the man still sick, to push him as he sat with his feet on the ground, to strike his belly and sides with kicks, and amid these things to say: Does the monk live? Does he still live? And with other things both said and done wantonly to insult over him; although they thought they must for that time abstain from inflicting death. These things therefore, which I have now recounted, were the acts of the first night.

CHAPTER VIII.

How atrocious the things were which on the following nights the holy Martyrs suffered. The dismissal of Leonard the Parish-priest from prison, that he might assist two Catholics being led to the cross: his religion vainly tempted. A surgeon granted, whose counsels the Guardian bravely rejects.

CHAPTER XXIII.

Further, on the second night, while again the drunken soldiers rush with a charge into the prison, the barbarous outrage of a certain Frisian, there was present a certain Frisian, a leader of a cohort, soaked with wine. He, after dreadful insults which together with his companions he vomited forth against the priests and monks, a barbarous man undertaking a barbarous deed, said: I will that you all in order blow out your cheeks at me. Then, a beginning being made with a certain Minorite, and thence proceeding to the others, he struck two or three cuffs upon each on both jaws with such force that from most of them blood burst forth from throat and teeth, from some from the nostrils, from a few even from the eyes, and flowed out; and at first light their cheeks appeared swollen, like those of men blowing trumpets. From this savagery scarcely one or two were exempt, who, that they might not be seen, had cast themselves into a certain gun-port which was in the wall, that by this means at least they might for a little while escape the violence of the most wicked soldiers. But a certain other, timid at every onset of affliction, and therefore also a stranger to the glory of martyrdom, while he calls that barbarian his kinsman, and at the same time offers him whatever money he had kept remaining by him, a kiss being impressed on his thumb, escaped a heavier vexation. All the rest were compelled to suffer the Scythian insolence of the man.

[80] which the other soldiers imitate, But that same man was so pleased with himself for that deed that on the next day, when he dined with the town's magistrate (commonly they call him the Schout), he boasted fiercely of that so signal exploit. And to this deed others like it were designed almost daily by the soldiers against the captives, chiefly toward night. For then, sated from supper, they delighted their minds with the afflicting of the wretched men, as with some most pleasant kind of exercise and sport. And it sometimes came to pass that when one crew of rascals, sated, or more truly wearied, with sport of this kind (for they never seemed able to be sated), had withdrawn, another succeeded to act likewise its parts in the tragedy. But also as often as new guests came into the citadel, the soldiers first, for honor's sake, furnished them this entertainment, to lead them in to the captives, giving them power to feast their eyes and mind as much as they wished on the misery, reproaches, and mockeries of the men, and, if in any way they should think themselves at any time injured by them, there to avenge themselves in words and deeds as it pleased them.

[81] It befell among others that a certain French soldier entered the prison to mock the captives. with various base words and mockeries. Whom, when a certain French Minorite (namely he who afterward shamefully lost the palm of martyrdom from his hands) knew to be a Frenchman, expecting good will from the man on account of common country or language: I am, said he in French, thy fellow-countryman. To whom the soldier: Is it so indeed? And at the same time, calling for a knife, he threatens that he will cut off his privy parts, adding these words: Because thou art my fellow-countryman, I will hang thee. And that he might not fail to perform something by deed, taking the knife he cut his face. Now there was exhibited also another spectacle no less impious than inhuman. For those fierce and barbarous men, approaching the monk-priests whom age showed more venerable than the rest, in mockery let themselves down before them on bended knee, as if, according to the custom of the Catholic Church, about to make confession of their sins; and at the same time whispered into their ears I know not what words. Which mockery, soon turned into open savagery, they began unmercifully to strike cuffs on the faces of those excellent old men, to batter their heads with blows, to have no regard for the venerable gray hairs, according to that which is written by the writer of the Lamentations: They respected not the faces of the priests, neither had they pity of the aged.

[82] One of the monks, Wilhad, now almost decrepit with age, Wilhad answering, "Thanks be to God," at each blow, answered at each stroke, Thanks be to God: reckoning namely thus with himself, the pious man, that no greater benefit could be rendered to him, for attaining the glory of eternal felicity, than that through those men God bestowed this, that for the Christian Catholic religion he should suffer insults and blows. This divine benefit the glorious martyr of Christ, Ignatius, had once recognized, when he said that the malice of the soldiers raging against him was his own instruction. It had recognized it also the most blessed Cyprian, when, sentence of death being pronounced against him, he pronounced once, in the same spirit, that same word which this new-martyr old man repeated as often as he was beaten. The same venerable Father, asked by another rascal, who poured that mimic confession into his bosom, what he answered to those things which the man himself had confessed: I, said he, will pray the Lord God for thee. A wholly holy and wise answer. For he knew that the disease from which that man labored, otherwise desperate, could be healed by no fitter remedy than by the assiduous prayer of a just man to God.

[83] But at that answer received, the Geusius, as if stung by a fury: Thou wilt pray for me? he is all but done to death with fists and cuffs. said he. And without delay the barbarous man began, after the manner of some savage beast, to assail the excellent old man in dreadful ways, to heap on him fists and cuffs, to batter his whole body with blows, and all but to do him to death. Namely the impious man execrated the holy man's prayer, and, like one frenzied, attacked the physician as an enemy; and interpreted as a great injury the remedy offered against the force of the disease. And yet meanwhile the tongue of the most pious old man at each blow resounded nothing else than, Thanks be to God. O truly blessed old man! a man ready for the scourges, and armed against so many injuries of the wicked with the shield of patience alone, who, a notable emulator of Evangelic perfection according to his profession, not only sought no vengeance, but even suppliantly begged grace, undue to enemies, and faithfully rendered the grace due to God. But of those nocturnal and first afflictions of the Martyrs let these things suffice.

CHAPTER XXIV.

[84] Now the order of the narrative demands that I relate concerning Leonard the elder parish-priest, Leonard the Pastor, that he may assist two Catholics to be hanged, in what manner and by what reasoning he was dismissed from prison, and by what fraud and perfidy of the malevolent he was afterward brought back thither. On the day before the Kalends of July, which was the third day after that first night, notable above the rest for the bitter vexation of the captives, there were being led to the gallows, newly erected in the middle of the city's market-place, two Catholic citizens, Theodore, surnamed Bommerus, and Arnold, commonly surnamed Rex: the former, because he had cried out upon the Geusii sailing past the citadel, as pilferers of the sacred chalices and sacrilegious men, as we said before; the latter, because in the King's name he had levied a soldier in certain neighboring places; each of them devoted from his heart to God and the King. Then a certain man asked Marinus, the commander of the citadel, that he would suffer Leonard to be away from prison for a while, until, having as their parish-priest attended the condemned to their last punishment, he might give saving admonitions to the departing. Which indeed was not so difficultly obtained, Marinus answering: Let the Papist accompany the Papists.

[85] dismissed from prison, he continues to exhort all his own, Leonard therefore, as he accompanied them to the place of punishment, was followed by many Catholic citizens from the guilds, of which there were two at Gorcum, of archers, of whom indeed not a few declared by their tears their pious affection toward their pastor. Whom he in turn, so far as the time allowed, consoled, and gave thanks for their mind toward him so kindly and so inclined; testifying that he counted that zeal of theirs alone in the place of a great benefit, even though it should not befall him to be freed, but he should have to die. Further, Marinus, whose study it was to please all, that by the favor of all he might be able to retain the command of the citadel, thus addresses the citizens, sad with longing for their pastor: Be of good cheer. The Pastor shall not die, for he will change his opinion, and follow hereafter another manner of preaching. Which Leonard hearing: Nay by no means, said he; never, God being propitious, shall it come to pass that I teach other than I have always hitherto taught, but the pure and sincere word of God, as hitherto, so hereafter, whether it be granted to live, or I must die, I will teach. And his discourse being turned to the citizens: Nay rather, said he, I earnestly pray and beseech you, best of citizens, that in those things which you have learned from me your pastor, you remain constant and unmoved to the very last breath of life, whatever at length must for that cause be borne either by me or by you.

[86] and excellently strengthens those two who were to be executed. Then too, those two who were being led to death, when he saw them somewhat shuddering (as the human mind bears) at the ignominy of that infamous and, among men, detestable punishment, being otherwise ready to undergo death for faith and justice (which readiness of mind indeed shone forth chiefly in Theodore's countenance and words), he thus by his own example at once consoled and exhorted: Be of brave spirit, now is your turn of suffering; tomorrow perhaps will be mine. The same punishment awaits me; the same ignominy, the same infamy of death is to be looked for. And when he ascended the ladder, he brought forward the likeness of that ladder which of old the patriarch Jacob, seeing it stretched out even to heaven, contemplated the Angels descending and ascending upon it. The same Angels, said he, now descend by it to you, spectators at once and helpers of your patience: with whom you yourselves a little after shall ascend into heaven, to receive there the crown of the same patience prepared for you. With these and suchlike words the good pastor did not cease to strengthen his sheep, led to the slaughter, until, having gone through that happy contest, in which, laboring for justice, they were punished against justice, they rendered up their souls to God.

[87] But why I ought to exclude this Theodore from the number of the holy Martyrs, the author reckons those two as Martyrs. I do not see, since he was slain by the hands of the impious, not as a malefactor, but as a Catholic; nor in truth as a reviler, but as a most free reprover of sacrilegious impiety. Which, since we read that certain most holy Martyrs did even against judges, as in the Acts of the Apostles Paul, as Andrew, Lawrence, Sebastian, Agatha, Faustinus and Jovita; what cause would there be why we should doubt whether it was rightly and Christianly done by this man against the traitorous and perfidious troop of pirates? But also that Arnold is to be enrolled in the same list, since for justice' cause he underwent punishment and death, I ought not to doubt. Together with these two there was being led to the gallows the son of Theodore (whom we related above to have been led away separately with his father into prison), about to suffer punishment with no less spirit than his father, to whom by his zeal for Catholicism he had rendered himself most like. For then too, when he was called out from the midst of the captives after his father, following his father gladly, he said with clear voice: Blessed be God. But when he was being led, by the intervention and entreaty of a certain Catholic virgin, who sought him in marriage, he was set free; nevertheless persisting thereafter in mind and profession, together with his wife, in that Catholic faith for which he had been in peril.

[88] These things done, the soldiers wished to bring Leonard back into the citadel. But the citizens crying out against it, that it should not be done, in vain is Leonard allured to the side of the Geusii, he was led into the town-hall; where it was commanded him by Marinus and the senate that he should preach the word of God rightly and sincerely. And this Leonard promised he would do. Then, forbidding him to say Mass thereafter, they permitted him power to dwell freely within the city; on this condition only, that it should not be lawful for him to depart from the city without a letter of dismissal (commonly they call it a passport). For which thing both guilds of arquebusiers pledged their faith. Further, those who were first in the senate, not content with this security, wished to bind Leonard himself by an oath, doing this indeed with malignant zeal, that the man, eminent in authority and a notable preacher, being bound by that religion of the sacrament, might not be able to escape but that he should at length go over into their own opinion and party, or at least in appearance and outward profession, compelled by fear.

[89] Which their cunning contrivance he perceiving, rendered the reason who tells the faithful man many things of the deeds done in prison, why he was unwilling to be bound by so tight a bond. So at last it was brought about that the senate accepted his bare promise, whereby he gave his faith that, unless dismissal were first obtained, he would nowhere go outside the city. They enjoined him besides that on the feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Mary (which day, one being interposed, next followed) he should publicly deliver a sermon, and they said: Thou knowest in what manner thou must henceforth preach. To whom he answered: Indeed I well know how I ought to preach,

and this I will show in very deed. Which said, dismissed from the senate, he went home. Where straightway the Guardian's nephew by his sister visited him, to whom, an oath being first exacted of keeping the secret for a time, he related certain chief things of those which had been done in prison; and by name that which I recounted above concerning Nicholas the parish-priest, and his most constant confession for the sacrosanct Sacrament of the Eucharist, adding these words: My Nicholas is a true martyr. For he was wont to call him his own Nicholas, because he had long had him in the pastoral office as a helper, and as it were a disciple, afterward as companion and colleague.

[90] what things were done for the deliverance of the captives. About the same time certain others also of the captives, after diligent solicitation of friends and kinsmen, were set free; those namely whom, as less hated than the rest, the Geusii suffered to be ransomed, though not save for a great sum of money, with a surety that they would not leave the city without leave. Nicholas Pick had also, besides his mother, three own brothers, two sisters, and moreover not a few kinsmen, who all almost immediately from the beginning of his captivity had diligently solicited for his deliverance. But when afterward they had learned that he would by no means suffer himself to be freed, unless the whole society of his brethren were freed and dismissed together, then they began to act for those also. Nevertheless nothing was effected, partly by the resistance of the Geusii, whose hatred against the monks was singular, partly because the wills and zeal of the solicitors did not sufficiently agree among themselves, and there were among the chief citizens some who, laboring with all effort for the exemption of certain others from captivity, neglected the cause of the monks as vile and despicable.

CHAPTER XXV.

[91] Now it happened that on that same day on which Leonard had been dismissed, a certain man is asked to summon a surgeon, a certain Catholic man, Clement Calvius, master of arts, joined by blood to Nicholas Pick, using the good will of Marinus the new commander, entered the citadel. Whom when Nicholas had descried from the prison through the bars, he cried out to him. Clement, hearing the voice from the prison, began to approach nearer. But Nicholas, forbidding him: Stand afar off, said he, lest thou too be in peril for our sake, if perchance someone catch thee conversing too secretly with us. Only effect this, if thou canst, that some surgeon be called who may apply treatment to us. He goes forthwith to the commander, and signifies the captives' petition. To whom the commander: To what end have they need of a surgeon? He answered: One of them is wounded. And again the commander: Whence wounded? Perhaps, said the other, a stone fell from the vault upon someone's head. At this word the commander raised a loud laugh, being namely well conscious of the things which had lately been done in the prison, and which were still daily being done.

[92] For the rest, this one thing he chiefly took care of, both he and those who were of the same faction, he is sent to the prison with the commander's consent, that among the citizens, especially the Catholics, so unworthy a treatment of the captives should not be published. Accordingly they everywhere boasted that all the captives were honorably kept in a fine chamber, and that food and wine were liberally ministered to them. Which rumor they studiously took care to disseminate even into the neighboring towns, which had not yet been reduced into their power; that by this show of illustrious humanity they might win good will to themselves also among strangers, and prepare an approach to seizing their minds. There chanced to be present that bloody butcher of the Martyrs, Niger by surname, above mentioned by us. He, having heard that which was reported of the captives, says to the commander: Do not, I pray, permit them a surgeon. Nay rather, let their wounds fester and inflame, that so all may be finished off by a slow death, and those monks and idolatrous little sacrificers perish miserably. But the commander, a man not altogether inhuman, heeding nothing the barbarous man's suggestion, consented about the surgeon, yet about to admit no other than whom he himself should designate.

[93] This was a certain Theodore Cortmann, joined to the Guardian by affinity (which was hidden from the commander). the Guardian's cousin persuades him to consult his own safety, For he had married his youngest sister, a most honorable woman indeed. While the surgeon is awaited, Clement takes care to have white bread with a pint of wine brought to the Guardian, whereby he might be somewhat refreshed. For his strength, gravely afflicted not only by that cruel handling of the soldiers, but also more vehemently attenuated by fasting, had now almost failed. But when he took food and drink, he affirmed that he perceived no more savor in them by taste than in wood. Which indeed whence it befell him, we have already said before. When the same cousin wished to console him as it were sad, and said: Thy two brothers have set out for Briel to the Count of the March, for the sake of freeing thee; which certainly they will most easily obtain; Nicholas answered with brisk and brave spirit in these words: In vain do my brothers take that labor, if they act for me alone. For even if perchance they obtain it, yet I will never permit that I suffer myself alone to be dismissed, and desert these my brethren in this necessity. Nay, this I affirm to thee: if even one of them all, and he the least, be retained for punishment, of him I will remain the companion both of prison and of torments and of death. And so I have promised them that I will do. To this the cousin: If thou canst free others together with thyself from bonds, well indeed: but if that cannot be obtained, I certainly, if it were my own affair, would rather consult my own single safety than give myself over to death together with others. For what advantage, I pray, will accrue to them from this, that thou shouldst die with them?

[94] By such discourse he strove indeed to recall Nicholas from his purpose; who nobly refuses to desert his companions, but he effected nothing. So confirmed in resolve, or more truly so most solidly founded in the love of Christ, did Nicholas bear his mind, ready namely and eager, after the example of Christ his Lord, for his brethren, if it were permitted, but if not, then together with his brethren, to lay down his soul and pour forth his blood. Nor did he suffer himself to be drawn away from this fellowship of passion by any persuasion of his kinsmen. Of which so constant purpose of his indeed he followed a most just, I will say a necessary, reason. For he considered, on the one hand the person which he bore among his own, lest perchance he should sin by a less right example; on the other the weakness of certain of his brethren, which, that daily exhortation being withdrawn, like a mother solicitously cherishing her own pledges, seemed altogether about to be in peril. Then too, among other things, he brought forth also that memorable word, most worthy of a noble soldier of Christ, saying: O cousin! it is no small matter to die for the Catholic faith. Which very thing Jerome the Vicar too, a man of most ardent faith, confirmed in as many words.

CHAPTER IX.

St. The Guardian, most disfigured by torments, showing himself brave for suffering other things, confirms the surgeon in religion. The threats and curses of the impious Omalius are despised; and it is shown that infamous apostates, abusing sacred things, were worse than Nero.

CHAPTER XXVI.

After these things the surgeon, having entered the prison, when he saw the Guardian so cruelly and foully handled (for his whole face, scorched by the flames, had contracted a blackness, the Guardian most foully disfigured, so that now neither beauty nor comeliness appeared in it any at all: his neck too, swollen and, the skin being rubbed off, still bloody and livid, wrought no small horror in the beholder), through grief of mind could not restrain his tears. To whom the Guardian, smiling: Why weepest thou? And the surgeon: How can I restrain my tears, who see thee so unworthily handled? On the contrary the Guardian: But I esteem it in truth a small thing, whatever I have hitherto suffered for the cause of my faith; since our Lord Jesus suffered so many things for us, that in no way can the things which we suffer be compared with them. Therefore both far heavier things than these, and the very punishment of death, God granting, for this my faith in Him I will willingly undergo. And when the surgeon continued to converse more familiarly with him, he asked among many things how he had been affected in mind, and what he had thought at the time when his neck was being bound with the cord. To which Nicholas answered that he had perceived in his soul a certain singular joy, in that he had been held worthy to meet death for the confession of the Catholic faith.

[96] Relating these things, and kindled with an immense desire of suffering for Christ, he desires eagerly to suffer whatever torments, he broke forth into this cry: How light and small is whatever I have hitherto suffered for the name of Jesus my most loving Lord, who suffered so great things for me a sinner. Would that it might befall me even to be cut asunder limb by limb and piecemeal for the Catholic faith. Which when he said, certain soldiers chancing to draw near the prison, the surgeon warned him to be silent, fearing lest words of this kind heard by them should increase his peril. But Nicholas refused to be silent. Nay rather, raising his voice yet more, that he might be heard by the soldiers, he said undaunted: Let them do to me whatever it shall please; let them flay me, roast me, I am ready to suffer all things. Words certainly not unlike the words of Ignatius the martyr, in which he, most desirous of suffering, when he wrote to the Romans, signifies that he desires that fire, cross, beasts, breaking of bones, division of limbs, and the crushing of the whole body, and all the torments of the devil, should come upon him; only that he might enjoy Christ.

[97] Now indeed when the surgeon also suggested to him hope of deliverance from the solicitation of friends, utterly refusing to hear counsels of deliverance. he subjoined such words as he had lately spoken to his cousin: Never, said he, God being propitious to me, shall it come to pass that I desert my brethren, and suffer myself alone to be dismissed. But even if only one of them, and he the last, be destined to punishment, may I not survive him, but I will urge on, of my own accord I will give myself a companion of his punishment and death, even as I long ago promised my brethren I would do. Now frequently the holy martyr of God repeated words of this kind with a certain vehement affection of mind; all which we afterward received from the faithful narration of the surgeon himself. Marvelous truly in His servant was the grace of God, that for His name he not only dreaded no adversities, shuddered at no torments, but moreover accounted death itself, deservedly to be feared by all, to all a thing of horror, as a great benefit, and so transferred his whole self, in body and soul, as great as he was, into God, and offered himself to God as a holocaust to be immolated. Nor indeed was this grace of God in him barren or idle, but propagated the excellent fruit of true piety to others also. Among whom I reckon chiefly this same surgeon. Who, whereas before that time he had somewhat wavered in opinion in the business of religion, was then so strengthened in the Catholic faith, both by discourse and by the example of that man's patience and constancy, that for the Martyrs' cause he did not hesitate to expose himself to the peril of his life.

[98] He visited them daily in the prison, and sometimes suffered himself to be shut up among them, how much through these things the surgeon advanced in faith. that he might converse with them more familiarly and freely. From time to time he brought clean shirts, that they might be clothed, and aromatics, that they might be refreshed,

and other things of the sort, which he could hide under his garments and carry secretly in to the captives. What more? From that time that man cherished and embraced the Catholic faith and its lovers with so ardent a zeal that among the Geusii he gave grave offense on this ground alone. For among other things by which he declared his signal zeal for the faith, religious persons of both sexes, driven and cast out from their own abodes, he frequently and gladly received into the hospitality of his house, in secret and openly; though he was not ignorant with how great peril to himself he did it. And so, on account of such offices of piety, being vehemently hated by the Geusii, and once cast into bonds, but thence a little after freed by the effort of his kinsmen, he was removed, not without great ignominy, from the catalogue of the citizens of the archer order. Harassed by these troubles, at length, the city left, he went of his own accord with his wife and children into exile: in which, with great example of Christian virtue, after the loss soon of his wife, being from time to time compelled to change his abode, even unto death (now he died at length in the twentieth year after the Martyrs' passion) he remained sincere, upright, and firm in the Catholic faith. But I return to the Martyrs.

CHAPTER XXVII.

[99] On the Kalends of July, which day immediately precedes the feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Mary, there came to Gorcum to visit the Martyrs (not indeed with that mind the impious apostate Omalius. with which the Christ-bearing Virgin visited the blessed Elizabeth, but with that with which the impious Herod wished to visit Christ now born and brought forth to the world) a certain one of the canons of the church of Liège, a deserter of the camp of the Catholic Church, and the same noble not so much by birth as by sacrileges and piracy, John Omalius, a man breathing threats and slaughter against priests and monks and other ministers of God: whom that most hostile enemy of the Catholics, William de la Marck of Lumey, had sent thither from Briel with commissions. For the rest, Omalius was maimed in one hand. For at the time when Lumey together with his own (among whom Omalius was first) was practicing piracy in the British sea, it once happened that there met them certain Spanish ships, in which was carried a huge quantity of those wares which Spain is wont to transmit to the French and the Belgians. It was the Lord's day of the Palms, when on the third day after Briel was intercepted by those same rascals.

[100] There the resistance was so bravely made by the Spanish merchants (whose spirit in perils is by no means wont easily to sink) for the defense of their goods and life, the holy Martyrs panting for death, that by the blows of their guns they slew several of Lumey's soldiers; took away Omalius's right hand; and at last forced the enemy to desist from the assault, and, sails given to the wind, to withdraw into the open sea. Omalius therefore, being brought into the prison to the captives, first looked round upon all with grim eyes and fierce countenance, as if about to devour them; then, darting his venomous tongue against them: Ho, said he, you god-eaters (by this name that blasphemer called the priests of God on account of the most sacred mysteries), I have been sent hither by my Lord the Count de la Marck for this purpose, that I may bid you all be hanged upon the gibbets. To whom straightway the Vicar, prefect of the Friars Minor, kindled with the spirit of martyrdom, answered in the name of all: So act as thou speakest. There is no delay in us. We are all ready, nor will even one resist. Which hearing, he immediately in mind to gnash, to bite his lip, to grind his teeth, to grow all inflamed with rage, to cast forth savage threats, and to break out into words of this kind: O bloody men, how many men, deserving no evil, have you cruelly and miserably butchered! How much innocent blood have you drunk up! O how excellently now you shall pay me the penalty, you god-makers!

[101] he assails them with threats and curses. Thus he transferred the death of those who had once been afflicted with the last punishment for heresy by public and civil justice, upon those who bore both hand and mind most alien from the shedding of blood, intent on this alone, to gain lost souls to Christ. Who therefore, not greatly moved by the threats and curses of the insane man, kept their patience with silence within a mind well conscious. Now there came into the prison on the same day the public lictor (by whom sent, I hold uncertain), who, showing the captives the ropes brought forth from his coffers, said: Behold what this is. But there answered with alacrity the Guardian and some of the brethren: Praise be to God, thanks to God, that we have come thus far. Soon therefore a good part of the monks, as if now to be led to punishment, are stripped and despoiled of their cowls. For the lictor, although the matter of punishment was but simulated, and composed for terror, carried off the clothes stripped from the captives, and claimed them for himself. But they from whom the clothes had been taken, head and neck bared, and then the rest of the body covered only by the innermost garment very thinly, were thus afterward left through the colds of the following nights even to the end of life.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

[102] While these things are being done, a certain Geusius stood by, in mockery chanting some verses of a certain ode or prose (as they call it), wont to be sung in many churches amid the solemnities of the Masses on the birthday (which had been two days before) of the chief Apostles Peter and Paul, the infamous deserters of the Church, the most illustrious martyrs of Christ. Now these were the latter verses, which he sounded forth more clearly than the rest. There the ferocity of Nero had condemned the chief Apostles, victors in very many battles, thee, Peter and Paul, to a diverse penalty of death. Thee the cross joins to Christ, but thee the bloody sword sends. In this manner that unhappy singer turned the triumph of the Apostles to the insulting of the Martyrs, not reflecting with himself that he and his own surpassed by more than one degree, by their cruelty, that Neronian ferocity which he sang. For neither had Nero ever given his name to Christ, nor is he read to have put forth against the Apostles before their last punishment, beyond the Roman custom, any graver example of cruelty. Besides, he exercised a lawful and divinely instituted power, although he used it not lawfully.

[103] But these men, Christians by profession, born of Christian parents, and from boyhood not only educated in the Church, are proved to have been worse than Nero. but moreover imbued with ecclesiastical institutions and manners, in short, not long ago members of our faith and partakers of the mysteries; as soon as, breathed upon by the contagion of the new factions, they broke the bond of Catholic unity, as if suddenly transformed into most hideous beasts, of their cruelty, with which they rage against their fellows and once their own brethren, power being usurped through the tumult, they set neither end nor measure: so that thou wouldst believe them to be fed by the afflictions of the pious as by delights. Furthermore, in inflicting punishments, keeping neither order of law, nor form of justice, nor any image of humanity, they follow this one thing, whatever a mind maddened by anger and hatred has suggested. And there were indeed among those of whom we now speak men who had not been of the common sort of Christians; but, excelling the rest either in ecclesiastical rank, or in the profession of monastic life, had basely cast away their dignity together with their religion. Of whose number I should believe this man too to have been, who could recite those Latin verses distinctly and by memory, according to the rule of ecclesiastical modulation, by singing. And of this kind are almost all who in these our times have vended themselves as ministers of the word of God among men desirous of new doctrine. Of whom in particular it may be lawful for us to say that which the Apostle John said of heretics in general: That they went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would surely have remained with us. For by this very thing, that they departed from the Church, they openly declare that they belonged not to the number of the elect, among whom in the Church of God, as aliens, they had for a time sojourned.

[104] But I return to the interrupted narrative. Placed in this crisis of affairs, the Martyrs, the captives prepare themselves for the contest by sacred confession. since they expected at each single moment nothing but the last punishment, with what devotion of mind they could, prepared themselves for death, before all things purging their consciences by humble confession of sins. Which same thing was also from time to time frequented by them. For as often as they suspected that they were to be hurried off to punishment (and this happened often), so often they repeated that sacred and saving confession, so trusting in the mercy of God as yet by no means to neglect the remedies of sins instituted by Him. For the rest, the soldiers, content to have brought terror on the captives, and to have despoiled certain of them of their clothes, as has been said, dared to admit nothing graver against them then.

CHAPTER X.

The religious are afflicted with other mockeries, thrust into a dark prison. The signal speech of the Pastor Leonard for the Mother of God on the feast of the Visitation of the B. V. M., and his exhortation to his own. The vain endeavors of the Catholics, and the furtive theft, by a juggler, of the ransom collected for Nicholas Poppelius.

CHAPTER XXIX.

But on the following night again certain of the soldiers, sated from supper and drunk, bursting into the prison with their wonted wickedness, the religious afflicted with more mockeries, exhibit a new sport of their wantonness of this kind. They bind the monks two by two, with linked arms, the right of one with the left of the other; then those same pairs, placed one after another in order, they lead out of the prison, as if about to go forth to a procession. Then they bid them sing, saying: Sing, monks. Now with this pomp you proceed to death. They, not unwillingly, carry out the good thing, singing (as it has been reported to us) that joyful and famous canticle of the Church, whose beginning is: We praise Thee, O God. There was there then among the soldiers a certain man who, in mockery, alone from beginning to end chanted that same canticle by memory with good lungs. From which it may be believed that this man too was once a member of our faith, and had penetrated nearer to the sacred ministries, who then, alas! showed himself an impious minister for vexing the innocence of the Martyrs. Further, the Martyrs are led with that pomp even to the bulwark of the citadel; where they find a table sumptuously furnished, with several Geusii sitting by, and merrily drinking together, and passing that festive and merry night.

[106] There fell indeed then upon some of the captives a suspicion they are a spectacle to the feasting Geusii, that they had been brought to that banquet by the soldiers for this reason, that, having been bidden to feast with the others, at last, distended with the feast and soaked with wine, they might forthwith afterward be slaughtered by them like brute cattle. But this fear was vain. For it does not appear that the soldiers wished anything else by that act than that amid the delights of the feast they might feed themselves also on this spectacle of the monks, as of monsters of a new world, and might have men upon whom, jeers and curses being cast in rivalry, they might in some measure satisfy the wicked lust of their mind. Now, that they might the more vehemently excite in them the horror of death, about to take some pleasure also from that part of their misery, dice being set forth and a gaming-basin placed: Play now, all of you, they say, and cast the dice into this basin, that on whomsoever the lot shall fall, he first of all may be hanged, the rest to follow in order.

[107] Answering to that terrible proposal,

Nicholas Pick said: There is no need of a cast of the die. by whose threats the Guardian is not terrified. I most gladly offer myself first of all to punishment. I know indeed what it is to suffer hanging, having namely just very lately experienced it. This he said with his wonted readiness of mind. But after satisfaction had been made to the pleasure of the banqueters and soldiers, the Martyrs are led back into the prison with the same pomp with which they had been led. Now they who were led and led back in this manner were the monks alone. For the day before the other captives, at the solicitation of friends, having been led out from that underground and dark prison, a more tolerable custody and treatment had been granted them in the upper part of the house: although not even that place vindicated them sufficiently from the molestation of wicked men. For there a certain citizen of Gorcum, a heretic, by name Lawrence Tilmann, grievously harassed Nicholas the parish-priest, insulting over him with words of this kind: Dost thou remember how once, walking through the streets with thy Mahomet (by which name our countrymen sometimes signify an idol, but that wicked man designated the thrice-holy Sacrament of the Eucharist), passing by my house and the houses of all of us, thou didst peer in, as if about to slay us by the gaze of thine eyes, and didst watch whether perchance anyone did not bend the knee, that thou mightest accuse him, and summon him to a trial for his life?

[108] Now you have fallen into the pit which you made. And you hoped nor by the injuries of the other, Pastor Nicholas. that you could here establish and by force retain your Papism. But I knew well that the matter stood otherwise; namely that this your idolatry would not last longer. Since all England and all Germany have long since driven it from their borders; come, how could it be that you should retain it here? To these words of the heretic man there was answered by Nicholas, to whom that time seemed one of keeping silence rather than of speaking, nothing, or little. Now they say that this man, with a certain other citizen, a soap-maker, labored much at this, that whatever there was of priests and monks at Gorcum should be led away and removed out of the midst. But of the things which then befell the captives, thus far.

CHAPTER XXX.

[109] On the next day, which was sacred to the Visitation of the Virgin Mother of God, and famous among the people, on the feast of the Visitation of the B. V. M., the Pastor Leonard, Leonard the parish-priest, according to agreement about to preach the word of God, in the parish church (commonly it was called the great church) ascended the pulpit; of which, amid his preaching, he was sometimes wont to say: While I stand on this wood, you shall hear from me nothing but the naked truth. The auditory was crowded, but in which whether there was a greater multitude of wolves and kids, or of sheep about to hear the discourse of their shepherd, I could not easily say. Very many had come together of the Geusian faction, chiefly for this reason, because they expected a pure and sincere (in their opinion) treatment of the word of God; as it had been persuaded that he had promised. But he, fearing nothing at the sight of so many adversaries, preached entirely and Catholically, as always before. He called the Blessed Virgin, again and again, the Mother of God and Queen of heaven: the one thing against the Anabaptists, who deny that the Son of God took flesh from Mary; the other against the sectaries in general, who everywhere yelp against the praises and invocation of the Virgin Mother of God.

[110] he excellently disputes concerning the prerogatives of the Mother of God, But also concerning her perpetual virginity, against the old heretics, he discoursed learnedly and clearly, admonishing and inviting (which also at other times he was often wont to do) that if any had been led into a contrary opinion by some sinister persuasion, whom those things which he had said in the sermon did not yet satisfy, nor had removed every scruple from their minds, they should come to him privately, to receive a fuller declaration of Catholic truth, to be established by the testimonies of Holy Scripture and by other suitable arguments. Altogether great and singular fortitude of mind, and, according to the etymon of his name, a lion's heart, did he show in that sermon against his adversaries. Nor indeed did the excellent pastor seem to show less charity toward his little sheep, while by a most vehement discourse he exhorted them to perseverance in the Catholic faith. And indeed he had shown a like affection toward his own, joined with equal freedom, not long before in that discourse which he delivered last before the city was surrendered to the enemy. In which, besides many other things by which he exhorted his hearers to retain and defend tenaciously the Catholic religion, and to render the faith sworn to the royal Majesty, many advantages and disadvantages being set forth on either side, he used also words of this kind:

[111] and undauntedly exhorts all his own to defend the Cath. faith: But if you now admit within your gates the soldier coming from the Geusii, promising you namely many splendid and specious things, you shall quickly experience in very deed how cheap among them is the faith of covenants and promises. Nor indeed even to those very men who, believing that his coming will be for their great good, aspire to it with the highest wishes, will all things proceed according to their mind, when they shall have received them into the city. Nay then at last, though later than is expedient for your affairs, you shall all understand what and what kind of men you have let in among you. Now he added to his words this final crown: If I did not love you, my little sheep, I would now assuredly be silent. Since on that very day and hour on which these things were said by him, a soldier was being enrolled under the auspices of the Geusii in the nearest suburbs, at that gate within which in the square under the open sky that sermon was being held; because the chapel, adjoining the walls and gate of the city, whose anniversary of dedication was being kept that day, could not hold the multitude of hearers. But the gate itself was kept shut on account of the enemy. By so small an interval of space was that man, at the time when he said such things in the sermon, divided from the enemy. Furthermore, in that discourse of which I began before to speak, which he delivered last to his own, when he had set forth the Catholic doctrine concerning the most blessed Virgin Mother of God, while there stood by and attentively listened not only the domestic Geusii, but also many of those who for the sake of overturning religion had lately come into the city with the soldier, with his last word he thus exhorted his own: Persist, I beseech you, brave and noble citizens, persist and remain constant in the Catholic faith.

[112] This last word above all the rest, wherefore he is sought for punishment. according to the rule of Catholic doctrine spoken by him, the heretics took most bitterly, perceiving how not according to their mind, nor as they had expected, he had concluded that whole discourse. Therefore thereafter they seek occasion whereby, having brought him back into prison, they might deliver him over to death together with the other captives. But they thought this not to be attempted at once without some other probable pretext, as fearing the common people, among whom there were still many, some Catholics, some wavering and doubtful indeed, but nevertheless well and kindly affected toward their pastor. For on the same account both in that first tempest of iconoclasm, which had overrun so many famous cities of Belgium in the year 1566, and thence even to that time, nay even for some while after, the Geusii at Gorcum did not dare, though now masters of affairs, to demolish the sacred images in the churches. For scarcely at length, armed soldiers being disposed through the streets and around the chief church of the city, lest namely any tumult should be raised by the people, did they execute this impious deed with impious hands.

CHAPTER XXXI.

[113] Leonard was now spending the third day free from bonds in the city, when for courtesy's sake he was visited at his home by many good people. the vain endeavors of the Guardian's mother and of other Catholics; At which time also there came to him the mother of the Guardian, Henrica by name, a most honorable woman, nearly seventy years old, most observant of the Catholic religion. Who, as was fitting, with maternal affection most vehemently solicitous for her son, thus addressed him: Where, I pray, does my son tarry with his fellow-brethren? Will not they too be coming? To whom Leonard: I should indeed wish, said he, O dear mother, even these my ears cut off, that I might have them here present with us, free from captivity. Namely by these words he wished to insinuate to the mother in what peril her son with his companions was placed. Although about the same time certain Catholic citizens were not negligently pleading the cause of the captives, but with almost no success, on account of the zeal of certain malignant men resisting them, whose one heart's desire it was that they should procure the captives to be removed by whatever means. Amid these things it is announced to Leonard that his colleague Nicholas Poppelius could be ransomed for a certain and fixed price; that there was only need that that money be counted out ready. He, without any interposed delay, takes care that the appointed sum be collected.

[114] a juggler carries off the ransom collected for Pastor Nicholas. But the collected money is, imprudently and too dangerously, entrusted to a certain itinerant empiric; who, because he gave attention to magic arts, and offered amulets enchanted by his tricks in place of medicine to those who came to him for a remedy, sometimes also drove out spells by his very own spells, had often, privately and publicly, been sharply admonished on that account by both Parish-priests, especially by the younger. Who, when he saw that he profited nothing by that rebuke, had more than once appealed to the magistrate, that he should not suffer the impious and pestilent man to abide within the city. But the connivance of certain of the magistrate rendered the pastor's pious endeavor void. That impostor therefore, as if he could avail very much in favor among the Geusii, the new guests, covenanted for a certain price to procure the deliverance of Nicholas the Parish-priest, provided the care of the whole business were committed to him. The man was trusted, and the money counted into his hands, as much as had been demanded. But the perfidious man, having got the booty, soon secretly betook himself with it out of the city; and at the same time excellently avenged himself, through that occasion, on the Parish-priest, whom he had felt to be troublesome to himself, by carrying off the ransom whereby he was thought to be able to be redeemed. And so by the fraud and crime of that juggler the most eager expectation of certain pious sheep was eluded, who strove with all zeal, at their own no small expense, to succor their imperiled pastor.

CHAPTER XI.

Leonard, having set out for 's-Hertogenbosch under public safe-conduct, is dragged back from his journey by rabid rascals, shamefully bruised with fists and kicks; who, ready to bear all things, is joined to his companions. The Guardian's constancy again vainly tempted.

CHAPTER XXXII.

I return to Leonard. His own sister on that day Leonard, furnished with a safe-conduct, on which he delivered his last discourse to the people, had come to Gorcum from 's-Hertogenbosch, which was the native place of both. She announces to her brother that their mother is gravely ill. In her name she asks that to visit her he hasten forth at once and quickly. Leonard does not refuse, provided he be dismissed with public permission. For neither was he unmindful of the faith by which he had long bound himself to his citizens. Therefore by the effort of his sister and of friends a letter of dismissal is obtained, subscribed by Marinus the commander; but in which Leonard, when he had read it through, missed something, whether designedly, as was the suspicion, or through imprudence omitted, yet necessary for his security. Which unless it be added, he refuses to set foot outside the gates of the city. What

more? Another letter is procured, such as Leonard had said he wished. He therefore, thinking himself well provided for by this public safe-conduct, girds himself for the journey, goes forth from the city, embarks in a skiff, accompanied by his sister. He is carried as far as Woudrichem, a little town near both in name and in place, situated on the opposite bank of the river to the left.

[116] Nor was that short crossing without peril, while he sets out for 's-Hertogenbosch to his sick mother, on account of the perfidy of a certain Geusius, whom Leonard's sister, having hired him for a great price, had brought with her from 's-Hertogenbosch, with this design, that in soliciting her brother's dismissal he might be a help to her among the Geusii; for which cause also she had already counted out to him the promised silver. Which he having received, holding nothing further of any weight, so that the matter should succeed for the man commended to him, but rather showing himself an adversary to him, on the way by which they were sailing together to Woudrichem, exposed him to the mockeries and insults of the rascals who were being carried in a larger ship, into which he himself at last had gone up from the skiff; so that now, on account of the peril which he feared for himself from them, he repented of the journey undertaken. Nevertheless by the will of God he came safe to Woudrichem. While these things are being done, at Gorcum the rumor of his departure grows, and is carried to the chief citizens of the city. Who, taking the matter ill, chiefly for this cause, that Leonard had contrived his departure without their being consulted and without their knowledge, straightway send to his house a public officer, to explore more certainly whether the matter were so. The Parish-priest not being found, and the matter reported to the first senators, and then more widely and more certainly spread among the people, no small commotion arose among the men of the Geusian faction, but chiefly among those who were of the guild of archers; most of them vociferating that the man was wicked and perfidious, that an unworthy thing had been perpetrated by him, who had secretly prepared and undertaken flight, so many of his sureties being abandoned in danger of their heads, who had bound their own faith for him.

[117] Thus indeed did they invidiously exaggerate their own peril, by the rabid and rioting citizens, which yet in truth was none, since dismissal had been obtained from Marinus the commander himself. Which therefore it was not expedient to bring to the knowledge of the multitude, because without doubt it would have been impeded by the malignant zeal of certain men. There comes to pass therefore straightway a rushing together to that place whence the little boats are wont to loose, whence also Leonard had loosed. There gathers to the bank a huge multitude of men. A great part, not otherwise than a she-bear whose cubs are taken, so, this prey being lost, roaring and raging, make a tumult. A certain one of the guild of archers, fiercer than the rest, cries out: Why do we not as quickly as we can pursue that fleeing traitor, and drag him back hither by the twisted neck? Verily he has gone off to this end, that whatever has here been done by us he may carry to the Spaniards, betray the city to them, snatch away his fellow-captives, bring utter destruction upon us all. Why do we delay, O citizens, to pursue that traitor? By these and other suchlike words the hostile minds of the people were still more and more vehemently inflamed against the Parish-priest. At the same time there had run up thither another chief senator: who, when he had learned that Leonard had gone farther on, straightway commands the boatmen: O men, be at hand, hasten, let there be no delay. Four sturdy rowers to each skiff. Your labor shall be liberally repaid. Said and done. The sailors, ready, leap into the skiffs, which they chance to find standing at the bank, six in number. There are added also some soldiers with a centurion, that the matter might be conducted both with greater force and with greater authority.

[118] There was rowing therefore by the sailors in rivalry and with utmost effort, he is shamefully dragged back from his journey, so that, having traversed the river with incredible speed, they put in at Woudrichem. There they find Leonard with his sister, while a wagon is being made ready in which he might be carried to 's-Hertogenbosch, waiting, and now secure and suspecting nothing sinister; they seize him, lead him, cast him into one of the skiffs, and carry him back with them to Gorcum. Meanwhile they most wantonly harry the excellent man with insulting names; but chiefly they cast at him again and again the name and charge of traitor. He, although set among the hands of the malevolent, yet did not omit to say those things by which he might prove his innocence; as one who had neither departed with the design of machinating treason, nor secretly undertaken flight, nor by departing exposed his sureties to danger; because he had received leave to depart from the chief commander, both of the citadel and of the city, Marinus Brant: Whose, said he, autograph I will show you. And at the same time he brought forth the letter of dismissal subscribed by the hand of Brant. But one of their number, who wished Leonard the worst, soon snatched it from him by force out of his hands, and put it into his own thigh-pocket; namely that the most upright man might have nothing left amid the calumnies, whereby he might either clear himself before the citizens, or, his autograph being shown, assert his departure before the commander. He, on the contrary, most solicitous to keep his reputation safe and sound among all, and chiefly among the good citizens, again and again demanded that the letter be restored to him. But from the wicked man, most hostile to him, he could receive nothing but revilings. And amid these things, the sailors and soldiers likewise shouting against him, he is carried to Gorcum, where very many men, having occupied the bank, most eagerly awaited him.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

[119] As soon therefore as Leonard set foot from the little boat on land, received at Gorcum most basely, as a traitor. there soon he began to be harried in unworthy ways by the multitude poured around. Most, with venomous tongues, attacked and pierced him in rivalry, cast insults and reproaches, not to be reported, against the holy man, omitted no kind of evil-speaking. Of whom one, Albert by name, seizing his tunic with great force about the breast: Ho traitor, said he, behold now the time when thou mayest excellently pay the penalties of the treason conceived against us. He was a sailor of Gorcum, corrupted with the leaven of heresy from boyhood, brother of him who afterward at Briel examined the holy Martyrs, as one much versed in the business of religion, as we shall say below. A certain other, who at last perished miserably in the impious war against the Catholic King, dragging Leonard, his arm seized, said nearly the same things as the sailor. But then it came even to graver injuries, while, not otherwise than a most noxious wild beast, the innocent man, by the way he was led, every vilest fellow fiercely attacked. One to push at his right side, another at his left foot; again another to strike with utmost force at his breast and belly; another to make an onset upon any other part of his body whatever, whether with foot or heel, whether with palms or fists. The rest of the multitude on every side to make a din with confused vociferations, most to shout again and again the most hateful name of traitor, and everywhere from the midst of the crowd was heard that cry: Let him be hanged, let him be hanged, let him be removed out of the midst.

[120] Leonard amid these things, desiring nothing so much as that his fame and reputation should be provided for: the vain calumnies of the impious are easily dissolved; O citizens, said he, nothing at all has been done by me for which I should be accused of treason. Nothing such will you ever find in me. And indeed I will easily give satisfaction for myself. Only let there be place for a just clearing. Such things he, very solicitously, but in vain, before a hostile and raging crowd. But besides this charge of treason, which was fastened on him by calumny, on the occasion of his departure, with certain other foul accusations certain most abandoned men tried to besmirch the honorable and venerable name of the man, charging him with a detestable outrage, that he had lain with his sister. A calumny certainly worthy of its authors; worthy that those sworn enemies of chastity should draw it forth from the most impure sink of their own breast.

[121] For as regards the holy Martyr, so far was he not only pure from every stain of unchastity, he himself ready for all torments, but moreover placed beyond all suspicion, namely through all that time in which the good pastor had presided over the people of Gorcum (now he presided about sixteen years), that I rather think there were lacking men to whom these things seemed either true or probable, than men by whom they were feigned. For his sister too, though a woman of secular habit, yet, even now more advanced in age, most holily kept a purpose of virginity. Leonard, led up even into the citadel, the commander bids strip off his clothes, being about to apply him to the questioning, as if to learn about his hidden machination. His sister was present, having followed her brother; whom therefore he admonishes to withdraw for a while, providing alike for his own and her modesty, the excellent master of chastity. She having departed, his clothes stripped off, he prepares himself for the torments. But his mind being suddenly changed, the commander forbids the questioning, perhaps fearing, his conscience crying out, to vex more bitterly the innocence of a man to whom he well remembered that he himself had granted leave of departing, and a letter of dismissal subscribed by his own hand. Although no hope of deliverance now appeared to Leonard, brought back into the citadel.

[122] To whom, when his sister returned, he thus addressed her: he is again joined to his fellow-Martyrs, from whom he asks pardon. Thou seest, my sister, in what state my affairs now are. But if it has so seemed good to God that here I must die, I beseech thee do not torment thyself, nor impute my death to any mortal, except to me and to my sins. O the singular modesty of the man, nay the profound humility of a Christian breast joined with signal meekness. His enemies blaze against him with most bitter hatreds, and rage to his slaying through mere calumnies. Nor yet does the most mild and most humble man suffer his death to be ascribed to their malignity, but only to his own offenses against God. After these things he is thrust into the same prison in which the monks were shut. Meanwhile, by the zeal of the Geusii, a rumor is spread through the whole city that the Parish-priest by his furtive departure had machinated treason against the city: and that by this his deed he had dragged all the other captives together with himself into the most certain peril of life. And that there might be the greater credit, the chief senators asserted this same thing. Leonard, though void of fault, yet because he saw that this handle was opportune to the malevolent for destroying all the captives, with that lowliness of mind which was his, often in the prison suppliantly begged pardon of his companions for his rashness and imprudence, whereby he had increased the peril for those from whom otherwise the hope of deliverance had not yet been taken away.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

[123] But since our discourse has by a certain circuit returned to the prison, let us here also relate somewhat of those things the surgeon curing the wounds of the wounded Martyrs which during those days were done and said in the prison. There, the prayers of the Martyrs to God, and their exhortations and consolations among themselves. Although some practiced these more fervently and more frequently than others. Thither Theodore the surgeon, of whom mention was lately made by us, was permitted to come daily at set hours, for the sake of treating those who were wounded. Who almost as often as he entered the prison found two most religious men, Wilhad and Nicasius, with knees fixed on the ground, piously praying to God. He treated at that time Leonard, ministering to him certain medicinal draughts for healing the interior of his body, which, gravely injured by that frequent and violent battering of his limbs which he had suffered, pained him vehemently. He treated also Nicholas, the other Parish-priest, whose neck, from that first

night, still needed fomentations and medicaments for the throat.

[124] he continually solicits the Guardian Now also was he still occupied in the treatment of the Guardian, over whom he had to linger longer, while he applies the necessary medication and surgery to his face, palate, neck, and his whole body trodden and bruised. And so, space being given of conversing more familiarly with him, from time to time he asked what mind he had; chiefly as often as, some new tragedy having arisen, whatever hope of deliverance there had been seemed to be taken away. But he answered that he was well affected in mind. Nay, that he rejoiced and reckoned himself happy, to whom it was granted from God to strive even unto death for the Catholic truth. Namely the holy Man experienced in himself that which the Psalmist once sang of himself: According to the multitude of the sorrows of his heart, his soul made glad by divine consolations. And what the Apostle says: As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so also through Christ does our consolation abound. And what was gravely said by a certain man: That heavenly consolation, though it never be lacking to the faithful servants of God, yet is then more copiously supplied, when the rage of the persecutors more amply blazes forth.

[125] that he suffer himself at least to be ransomed: But when the surgeon more often interpellated him with entreaty, that he suffer himself to be ransomed (for that matter was continually solicited by his kinsmen), he answered nearly with words of this kind: I am prefect and pastor: I have the sheep committed to my care, these my brethren: whom therefore, placed in so grave a necessity, that I should desert, the reckoning of my office by no means permits. Wherefore the resolve stands fixed, God bestowing on me His grace, both to live and to die together with them. For what if I, freed by the effort of kinsmen and friends, should escape? What then would become of those who have no kinsmen or friends? Are the brethren to be deserted by a brother, the sheep by a pastor? May God our Lord avert this sin from me: on whose help relying, I have now certainly resolved to remain with them, that I may lead them, animated and strengthened by my admonitions and exhortations such as they are, according to the necessity of the office imposed on me, to the happy issue and end of their contest. Again the surgeon: Will it not go well with them, if thou, dismissed from bonds, shalt afterward labor by common effort with the Catholic citizens for their deliverance? For it is certain that, for stimulating the minds of the good citizens, that they may give most serious effort to freeing thy brethren, thy presence would bring very much weight.

[126] Nicholas to this: Indeed, said he, I do not refuse to be dismissed from prison, who most constantly rejects all those counsels. that I may aid the cause of my brethren, if in any way I can. But meanwhile, while that matter is being carried on, I should have to hasten back hither daily, for the sake of the duty owed to my brethren, of exhortation and consolation, until either they themselves, being freed, should depart with me, or, if their deliverance should not succeed, I should meet death together with them. Not so indeed, said the surgeon, but thou shouldst have to remain in the city among friends. For if thou shouldst return hither, there is no doubt but that the Geusii would again make thee captive, and shut thee up with the others, nor afterward suffer thee to depart. Then he: Since the matter is so, said he, it is better that I now remain with my brethren. For from the office which I have named, so long as there shall be power, no thing, God being propitious, shall hinder me. These and many like things Nicholas said, showing indeed in very deed with how great affection of charity the pious father and pastor loved his brethren, and the same his sons and sheep entrusted to him; from whom neither by hope of life, nor by fear of death and torments, nor by any importunity at last of kinsmen and intimates, would he suffer himself to be separated and drawn away.

CHAPTER XII.

The repeated endeavors for the liberty of the captives are overturned by the frauds of the Geusii, whereby they at last effect this, that by night the Saints are led away from Gorcum to Briel to Lumey, laden with reproaches and blows.

CHAPTER XXXV.

After Leonard was brought back into custody, as a signal and noble prey recovered, the men of the Geusian faction think they must carefully take heed lest again they lose him from their hands: and for that reason they resolve to pursue the cause of all the captives in common, the rage of the Geusii against the Saints. namely that in this way they may drive him with the rest to destruction. Therefore most of them studiously go about all the streets of the city, stir up the common people, solicit the leaders, kindle among all the greatest hatred against the captives, atrociously exaggerate Leonard's deed, cast the charge of public treason upon all; in short leave nothing untried whereby they may increase the odium against the wretched men; and not only bar every way to their deliverance, but also to their ransom. So thoroughly hateful to those evil and depraved dispositions was the safety of innocent men, chiefly by the desert of Leonard, that upon him fitted that Davidic verse: My enemies have spoken evil things against me; When shall he die and his name perish? Furthermore certain Catholics not sluggishly bestowed their effort on the ransom of the captives, to be transacted by any means whatever: but every endeavor of theirs was subverted by the contrivance of the adverse faction.

[128] the most worthy opinion of a good man in the senate, There were in the magistracy men who, while they strive to win favor alike among Catholics and Geusii, were too little consistent with themselves in their opinions: and, as they were inclined in mind to the faction, seemed indeed openly to speak for the captives, but secretly resisted their deliverance by all means. But certain others pleaded the cause of the captives in such a way as to neglect the monks, as despised and hateful, thinking that solicitation must be made for freeing others from peril. Nor yet even in the senate itself were there lacking men who judged that equal zeal must be employed for freeing the monks as for the clergy, and who themselves diligently and seriously employed the same. Of whom one, an excellent man, intimately known and dear to us, and to be honored in the first place, when the matter of the captives was being treated, in a full senate delivered this opinion: That the cause of all the captives, whether they be monks, or be not monks, was and ought to be held equal and common. Since in the surrender of the citadel it had been so stipulated with Marinus, that all who were in the citadel, of whatever condition of men, no one at all excepted, he should dismiss free and inviolate. That this compact had been confirmed by Marinus, before he received the citadel into his power, by a solemn oath, a second and a third time. That he therefore must either be asked, or by whatever means urged, to free his pledge, and perform the most sacredly sworn agreements. But that they could not be performed, unless all the captives to a man were dismissed.

[129] whereby all the captives are judged to be freed: When these things were spoken by him no less gravely than freely, the first senator immediately assented to his speech, affirming that the matter had been done entirely as he said, and that therefore the demand would be most just. Soon the rest of the senate also assented. But because Marinus, already interpellated more than once before, had denied that this matter was within his power, by common opinion it was resolved that a man be sent to Orange with letters, to ask in the name of the senate that he here interpose his authority, command the agreements to be kept, and give orders to the commander of the citadel about dismissing all the captives to a man. For then among all those who sought new things there was the supreme authority of Orange, which he had won to himself under a certain show of singular love for his country, and by other arts of the sort, a man painted over and crafty and of a fox-like disposition. Now although the votes of all had agreed on that opinion which we have said; yet those among them who were more hostile to the monks and clergy strove by secret contrivance that the captives should first of all be slain, using for that matter the effort of certain abandoned men of their own faction, who did not scruple openly to labor for the destruction of the innocent. Namely this was their zeal, that by the acceleration of punishment they might forestall the mandate of Orange.

[130] For which cause also a journey had already before been undertaken by some of them to Briel to Count Lumey, but the Geusii overturn all endeavors. a fierce man, and insolent with recent successes of affairs, and most thirsty of the blood of those who were in a more sacred place in the Catholic Church; that they might bring back obtained from him that which they so greatly sought. Not yet had Orange come into Holland; and the power of Lumey had now grown so great that, if he commanded anything, it was dangerous not to obey. Now he had sent to Gorcum a few days before a certain Omalius, that one-handed man of whom I lately made mention; to whom also he had given in commission that as many priests and monks as were held there in bonds, he should bring as captives to himself. Who, when he had entered the prison at Gorcum, and surveyed with his eyes the crown of the captives, and had most bitterly hurled threats and reproaches (which I recounted in their place) against them, and at last the sacrilegious man had regaled himself in company with that spectacle of the wretched men; thence he makes for Bommel with a cohort of soldiers. Which town is of the Guelders domain, and is distant from Gorcum by nearly four miles. Thither he was secretly summoned by some citizens of that town, to whom new things were dear, being fully persuaded that he would find the gates open by the effort of those by whom he had been invited. But far did his expectation deceive him. For the greater and sounder part of the citizens, on learning of his approach, make ready and prepare against him the guns placed on the walls, if perchance he should attempt to approach nearer.

[131] Nor far thence had the Spanish soldier his station, who, being made more certain of the approaching enemy, Bommel attempted and afterward subdued. by craft circumvented him. For, simulating fear, he drew Omalius and those who had come with him, by fleeing, even to the walls of Bommel. Whither when they had come, first, beyond their hope, they are attacked by frequent blows of the guns from the walls: then also the Spaniards, who had feigned flight, suddenly turning their faces and arms against the enemy, made a heavy onset upon him; so that they say Omalius lost about sixty of his men in that defeat. And would that the men of Bommel had persevered in that faith and good will toward God and the King! For, what was to be lamented, not long after they suffered themselves, wretched men, to be drawn, by I know not what evil counsel, into the common, so to speak, madness with the Holland cities. Furthermore, while Omalius is away, the Catholics labored most studiously for freeing the captives. And indeed, other ways being tried in vain, since it remained, it was resolved that they be ransomed with money: and the matter was at last brought to this, that with the criminal commander of the soldiers, who, by the favor which he had with Marinus, seemed likely to procure their deliverance, agreement had now been made about the price. This was done somewhat after the compact concerning the ransoming of Poppelius, wickedly frustrated, as we have related. But when the collected and prepared money was now on the point of being counted out, there suddenly intervened that commotion which, on the occasion of Leonard's departure, we said had stirred up the Geusii anew. Whence it came to pass that the compact concerning delivering the captives for a price fell through into nothing.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

[132] It was the third day of the month of July, when, the matter

at Bommel having been badly conducted, vain attempts at ransom. John Omalius, wrathful and menacing, returned to Gorcum toward sunset, the day after Leonard had been dragged back into prison. He having returned, when the business of the captives' ransom was being pursued no less earnestly by the Catholics, they are then warned by certain fraudulent men under a show of good will, that they should not, if they were wise, say a word for the captives before Omalius; but should for a while desist from soliciting, until Omalius had gone away: otherwise there would be peril lest, mention of ransom being cast before him (since he was of a mind most hostile to the monks and clergy), he should be still more grievously provoked, and, for the sake of cutting off hope of this kind, should either slay the captives on the spot, or lead them away to Briel to punishment; so far was it that his hard mind could be overcome even by a price. Which certainly appeared false.

[133] For about the same time, a certain man eminent in dignity among the clergy, some days before, one is freed by gold, as was related above, dismissed from prison, and bidden to remain at home (whom, dragged again from home together with the other captives, he had resolved to carry off to Briel), being entreated by prayers upheld with gold, he made free: whereas the man, now despairing of safety, deprecating the gallows as an infamous punishment, had suppliantly demanded the sword. Nevertheless by that crafty suggestion it was effected upon good but too credulous men, that they should interrupt the begun work of soliciting while Omalius was present. Therefore Omalius, on the fifth day of the month of July toward evening, having received the covenanted money for the deliverance of that eminent man whom I have named, prepares to set out for Briel, about to carry off with him all the remaining captives. For it was not the plan to slay them openly at Gorcum, because they dreaded a popular tumult. Which also was the reason for Omalius of leading them away at dead of night. For so had certain of the Geusii among the citizens advised, fearing lest, if the matter were attempted by daylight, the Catholics should resist with all effort.

[134] the rest by night led away to Briel to Lumey. On that night therefore which immediately preceded the sixth day of July (it was the Lord's day), the ministers of darkness, about to lead away the holy Martyrs, despoil them of the tunics and cloaks (which they call mantles) with which up to that time they had remained: so that now, besides the inner garment, scarcely anything was left to the Franciscans wherewith to cover their bare bodies. From the other priests likewise they draw off their long robes; from some besides they strip off also other garments which seemed of any value. But if anyone chanced to ask in a word that a necessary garment be left or restored to him, straightway he received cuffs instead of a garment; as befell that man of honorable old age, Wilhad the Dane, who, seeing that only the inner garment was left to him, when he shuddered, almost bloodless over his whole body, at the colds of the nights, besought the soldiers to restore to him his cheap and worn mantle, wherewith he might ward off the cold from his aged body. But they, moved by no compassion for his age, with reproaches and curses, and moreover with blows, forthwith set upon covering the excellent old man: Ah, veteran traitor! saying; too much is granted to thee and to thy fellow-traitors and god-worshipers. Too well and too kindly are you all treated, whereas you have most ill deserved, worthy indeed to have, after you have been scourged to flaying, sacks sprinkled with salt put upon you. Recall now to memory, and reconsider, what and how great examples of cruelty you have put forth against our fellows and companions.

[135] Saying these and suchlike things, meanwhile they batter as hard as they can with fists and cuffs the mouth of the venerable old man, reproaches and blows against Wilhad and others. a man by far most innocent. Who to all reproaches and blows knew to resound nothing but his own "Thanks be to God," and to offer suppliant hands and prayers to God for his persecutors: so far was it that he ever, by word or deed, plotted against anyone's blood. But at last I know not who, taking pity on him, cast upon his body a certain cheap little cloak (whether his own or another's, I hold equally uncertain) wherewith he might be covered. And thus far indeed having faithfully carried through, with God's help, those things which we have learned to have been done at Gorcum concerning our Martyrs, we close the first book with this end; that those things which we have received to have been afterward done, even unto their blessed departure, we may arrange in another volume.

SECOND BOOK.

CHAPTER I.

The holy Martyrs, carried off from Gorcum by night, exposed at Dordrecht to the mockery of the insane populace, a scoffing little minister being confounded, are led to Briel.

Now about to approach nearer to setting forth the last contest of the passion, and the precious death in the sight of the Lord of His holy Martyrs, not thus is the virtue of the Martyrs here praised; those things first which they suffered on the journey long enough, whereby they were carried from Gorcum to Briel, I count it worth the while to recount; since through these too there was declared not a little both the wickedness of the enemies, and the virtue and patience of the soldiers of Christ, and in the very men contending and conquering the glory of God. Although I so recount their brave deeds as also from time to time to set before the eyes of the readers their weak ones, following in that matter the authority of Sacred Scripture, which did not keep silence about the falls of holy men among their chief praises. And of such a kind indeed something here occurs straightway at the beginning. For when the captives were being led from the citadel to the river, to be carried off by ship to Briel (this was done at the first hour after midnight), one of them his own brother, who then chanced to have come thither, followed with last words as he departed. To whom sad and tearful Antony (for this was his name) said: My brother, if thou canst not now bring me help, I must needs die.

[137] But this his sign as it were of a dejected spirit I think he will not wonder at, who shall know so that not even the trepidation of some is excused. how arduous a thing it is to conquer the terror of death; and at the same time shall remember that neither is the alacrity of all the Martyrs for suffering equal: nor is there always present to them that inward consolation of the Holy Spirit which makes them rejoicing in sufferings. Although meanwhile there was not lacking that fortitude of mind whereby, when they are so pressed that either faith must be denied by them, or death met, they rather choose by confessing the faith to die, than by denying to live, and do that which the Lord says: He who shall lose his soul for me and the Gospel, shall save it. That this man did, who seemed to speak so abjectly, the event itself at last proved. There was to carry the captives a certain sailor of Gorcum, by name Rochus; into whose skiff when Leonard set his foot, recognizing the man and addressing him by name, as one whom the pastor together with the rest of his sheep had solicitously fed with saving pasture, he said: Ho Rochus, art thou to carry us to the gallows? Who answered: So must I now do. Indeed he did not understand how no necessity ought to compel a Christian man to compliance with crime. There further the good pastor began gravely to complain and expostulate, that thus by stealth, that at dead of night, he was being snatched from his sheep; that he had not been permitted at his last departure to confirm the wavering minds of his own, and to exhort them to constancy of faith; that finally he was forbidden to say the last farewell in the Lord to them.

[138] [the just complaint of the Parish-priest and the prophecy concerning the men of Gorcum.] Then not without a groan, his eyes turned toward the city, in a prophetic spirit (as it is fair to believe) he said: Gorcum, Gorcum, O how great evils hang over thee. However anyone may take this said by him, certainly it is established that immediately from that time, for many continuous years, that city was worn down, exhausted, afflicted in wretched ways by war, famine, pestilence: and, what is the gravest of evils, that detestable heresy, with the cessation of the sacred mysteries and rites, God, the most just avenger of crimes, so permitting, prevailed there above all the neighboring cities to such a degree that now for a full thirty years there has been no other in which less could be had of priests and of the Sacraments administered by the Catholic rite, and of the divine word. Furthermore the captives, when they were being carried off, were all nineteen in number; of whom sixteen were presbyters, the remaining three laymen of the family of the Friars Minor. Which number, in what manner, some failing, and again others succeeding into their place, by the marvelous providence of God it was preserved full and entire even to the end, we shall say in its place.

CHAPTER II.

[139] After they had, along with the current of the river Maas (which in that tract they call the Merwede), been carried forward some way, the captives led to Dordrecht amid the utmost straits, are bidden to pass from the skiff into a certain shell-boat, foully smelling from the shells which it carried. Into it, closed in the upper part, they are thrust and packed, not much otherwise than wares are wont to be crammed by merchants into casks. And truly, unless they had been brought out thence in good time, there was danger lest, in so great narrowness of place, and in so foul a smell, the power of breathing being almost taken away, they should be suffocated. Nicasius had by him some aromatics, which for cases of this kind had been given him at Gorcum in prison by the surgeon. Which, being shared by him with his companions, somewhat diminished the annoyance of the stench. For the rest, from that boat not long after being transferred into a certain freight-ship, they are carried even to Dordrecht. Now they arrived there about the ninth hour before noon on the Lord's day.

[140] There again from the venerable old man Wilhad his cloak is taken by the soldiers; and there exposed to the mockery of the populace, from Heuterus the Canon likewise his cloak; from Henry the Minorite the worn hood which alone was left to him, which they call a caperon; from Nicholas the Parish-priest his tunic. Who, when he somewhat resisted the wickedness of the soldier drawing off his garment, being admonished by Leonard his colleague, at once and gladly acquiesced. Nor was anything left remaining to him except a linen mantle of black color, which he had put on over his innermost shirt. Furthermore John Omalius, having entered the city with his chief companions, and indulging largely in caring for his body, left the holy Martyrs that day without a meal. Nor indeed was it permitted them to go ashore; but, left and detained in the ship, which was tied to the bank, they remained exposed to the mockery of all. For from the city gate, which was nearest, there ran up men in great numbers, to see the captive priests and monks, as a new and prodigious thing; truly so that even then that word of the Apostle Paul might be said of them: We are made a spectacle to the world and to Angels and to men. There reproaches, revilings, jeers were cast in rivalry at the Martyrs, all things resounded with laughter and confused clamors. Although there were present also certain Catholic inhabitants of that city, from their heart condoling with the affliction of the captives, and openly testifying their grief even with tears.

[141] Among whom were those who desired to ransom with money, instead of a meal they are sated with revilings and curses. if it had been permitted, Theodore of Emden and Peter of Assche, the Minorites. Of whom Assche, his friends having entered the ship itself, through affection of charity, not without weeping, embracing his neck, kissed him. But the promiscuous multitude no more gently mocked and insulted the captives, nor omitted any kind of evil-speaking. There was to be heard from the midst of the crowd these voices and the like: Ah seducers and impostors of men! How many ill-credulous folk have you drawn away into error by your Papistic fictions and old-wives' ravings! Ah,

how many thousands of souls have you by your depraved and pestiferous doctrines hurled headlong into hell! O how finely will you now adorn the gallows! And other taunts and revilings of the sort, as the lust of evil-speaking tickled each, were most abundantly heaped upon the holy men. For impunity and license publicly granted had removed all fear from their minds. But meanwhile let it be permitted me to address those same Martyrs of Christ, keeping their patience with silent heart and rightly self-conscious amid so great a rabidity of dogs barking round about, with the very words of my Lord and to say: Blessed are you, when men shall have reviled you, and persecuted you, and spoken all evil against you, lying, for Christ and His Catholic Church. Rejoice and exult, for your reward is copious in heaven. For truly and forever blessed are all who in that glorious confession, the Spirit of God strengthening you, endure constant and immovable even unto the end.

CHAPTER III.

[142] Furthermore the soldiers who had been added as guards to the captives, a nefarious profit from the sad spectacle: when they saw so great a multitude of men, poured out from the gates, running up in eagerness to see, stretch a sail before the boat in which the captives were detained and set it round about; and admit no one to see who had not first given a coin: as is the disposition of that kind of men, most intent on gain whenever occasion offers. So whoever counted out a small farthing, being admitted within the sail, by looking, mocking, reviling, and if anything else pleased them, glutted themselves abundantly. Now there entered thither among others a certain notable heretic of the first name, a Calvinist, and began to dispute much with the captives concerning the most holy Sacrament of the Eucharist. To whom Leonard and Nicholas the parish-priests most gravely resisted, and also Jerome the Vicar of the Friars Minor. Which indeed was performed by them with such keenness of disputation, and such zeal for defending the Catholic truth, that sweat flowed down from them abundantly amid the disputing, from Leonard especially; who, as he was prompt and powerful in discourse, and pre-eminent in erudition, deservedly sustained the chief part in that disputation.

[143] the heretic, confounded, is driven into rage. At last so learnedly, solidly, and clearly did the Martyrs of Christ render the reason of their faith that that heretic, overcome and suffused with shame, had nothing further to say. For the rest the Guardian, because that contest with the heretic seemed to him fruitless, would not exchange even a word in disputation with him, fearing that word of the Lord: Give not the holy thing to dogs, nor cast your pearls before swine. Accordingly he also admonished his companions to let go that, as he thought, useless altercation. He meanwhile, his head reclined upon the cable to which the anchor was tied, rested a little. But that heretic disputer, after he saw himself overcome in argument, soon, as if turned into rage, to grow inflamed in countenance, to grind his teeth, to tremble in his whole body, to attack the holy Martyrs with savage revilings; and now to fight not with arguments but with curses; finally to wish that all the captives should at once, if it were permitted, be cast headlong from the ship into the waters. And so in him was truly fulfilled that which the Guardian feared; namely that which, after the aforesaid words, the Lord subjoined by way of reason: Lest perchance they trample under their feet the pearls cast before them, and, turning again, rend you.

CHAPTER IV.

[144] Meanwhile the river, swelling with the tide of the sea, after noon gave opportunity of sailing. the holy Martyrs are carried off to Briel. And so from Dordrecht they are carried off to Briel. In which voyage, since they were still fasting, and partly by the keen disputation, partly by the manifold and continual vexation of wicked men vehemently wearied and exhausted of strength, they obtained at length a little food, the sailor their carrier furnishing it most sparingly; as one who said that he knew no mortal from whom he might hope that even a morsel of bread would be restored to him for that benefit. For the carnal man lifted not his mind to the heavenly recompense, nor remembered the promise of Christ: That He would not lose His reward, if anyone should reach out even to one of His least disciples a cup of cold water. Yet he did this, moved perhaps by a certain natural affection of compassion, and he alone did it. For from the soldiers, who showed themselves not so much guards of the Martyrs as enemies, not even a crumb could be looked for. By that day's voyage they came so far that they were distant only one mile from Briel; where, all night left in the ship, from cold and hunger, half-naked and ill-fed, they endured no little annoyance. On the next day in the morning they are carried to Briel: put in first at a mole set at some little distance from the town, in which is a station for ships, commonly called the head. There a delay of nearly one hour is drawn out, until, the gate of the city being opened, there might come forth to meet the captives Count Lumey, namely to receive in friendly and kindly wise the men most longed-for.

[145] Now Briel is a town on the outermost island of Holland, which is called Voorne, situated to the south, whose situation and state are described, a small one indeed, and in former time obscure and ignoble. For the rest, from the time when, intercepted by the ambush of the aforesaid Count (which thing had fallen upon the Kalends of April immediately preceding), it passed to the power and religion of the Geusii, it was made signally notorious by their cruelty, and by the slaughters and punishments of men consecrated to God, whom the plundering soldiers everywhere brought thither from whatever place. For which cause the Geusii called that place the Lord's orchard; ineptly indeed, if you regard their meaning. For it by no means fits that a place of punishment of malefactor men, as of the felling of evil trees, should be called the orchard of the Prince. But as of old Caiaphas, thinking of something else, prophesied, so these too uttered a thing true and full of mystery, but in a sense not true. For truly the orchard of Christ the Lord is that place, in which repose the best and fairest trees; which, because they bore fruits to that same their Lord manifold and most abundant through His grace in their season, furnish Him most weighty dainties concerning them at His heavenly and royal banquet. But I return to my purpose. While Lumey is awaited, the inhabitants of the city, inhuman and barbarous men, began, first of all, to act their parts there. To assail the captives with curses, and to harry them with reproachful names. But against religion and the sacrosanct mysteries to vomit forth horrible blasphemies: nor meanwhile to spare the royal name and majesty.

[146] And indeed for good men to be called traitors, as also the reproaches and vexations of the inhabitants against the Saints. who would not betray the faith due to God and the King, nor consent to his betrayers, was now trite and commonplace. Idolaters they cry out again and again, senseless and doting servants and worshipers of Baal; that they worshiped belly, lust, mammon for their gods, and that all together were nothing else than a herd of caparisoned hypocrites. Besides this, they cast up their bodily condition as an insult, reproaching some with fatness and paunchiness, but on the contrary others with leanness and thinness: and whatever else of the sort came to their mouth, rashly and wantonly blurting it out. I say nothing of the reproach of the gallows and hanging, repeated more than a hundred times. Which indeed could in as many words be said of Christ Himself. For the rest, the blasphemies which were cast by them against the most holy Sacrament of the body of Christ, dreadful even to the Angels themselves, so surpass all impurity and at once impiety, that it is a horror to relate them. Hereupon Lumey comes forth from the city, the gates being thrown open at his nod. For when the news of the captives' arrival had been brought to him while he still lay in bed, soon he, wondrously exulting for joy, leaped from his couch, a man otherwise wont, after his nocturnal feasts, to sleep far into the day. Thence, scarcely well clothed, he leaps upon his horse, and with swift course makes for the place where the captives were held, girt with an escort of some horsemen and armed footmen.

CHAPTER II.

The youth of the wicked Count Lumey is described, by whom the holy Martyrs, received at Briel, are first led about with mock supplications and other mockeries.

CHAPTER V.

Now since, friendly reader, that Lumey sent not these only, born of illustrious blood, whose acts we now write, but also not a few other men of the Church, through extreme punishments to the palm of martyrdom, who he was, and of what sort he had become known even before that time (for the things which he afterward did or suffered, elsewhere perhaps I shall touch upon), I have thought it worth the while here to set forth to thee a little more fully. His name was William, his surname de la Marck, which he received from the ancient family of Counts from which he was descended; so indeed that by nearness of blood he touched the illustrious man Erard de la Marck, Cardinal of the Roman Church and Bishop of Liège: so that it is truly a wonder that he degenerated so basely from the manners and piety of that most admirable man. For also his private house, which he had once at Liège near the church of St. Martin, this same man and his brother possessed by hereditary right. And he himself at last even died in it. Furthermore Lumey was so called from a certain township situated in that part of Brabant which touches the borders of the Liègeois; namely his birthplace: whose lordship also had come to him from his ancestors. In the castle of that same place, in which as a boy he stayed with his mother, he was instructed by a certain apostate Franciscan, whom his widowed mother, a pious woman indeed, and, as I have heard, most observant of the Catholic religion, but miserably deluded by the hypocrisy of that impostor, had taken to be a tutor to her son, and a former of his boyhood.

[147] He imbued the fresh vessel entrusted to him with the poison of the Calvinist heresy in infancy he is infected by an apostate with the poison of Calvin, with which he himself was infected and depraved. Which evil so deeply from that time settled in his mind that, although afterward sent to Louvain, the neighboring city (than which no other academy at that season the Christian world had, or even now has, as a surer mistress both of all the human disciplines and of the divine and Catholic doctrine), for the sake of liberal studies, and there delivered to a Catholic and most upright preceptor to be instructed, yet by no means could the stain of the opinion once instilled and conceived be washed out. Nay rather, after that city was left together with the studies of humanity, his nature, more and more depraved, began to open itself. For besides that poison of heretical doctrine, unhappily drunk in at the offering of a heretic master, a certain cruelty implanted in his mind put itself forth little by little. Although that vice he had betrayed by no light proofs long before, while still a boy. Since even then he so contended with his fellows both in stubbornness of striving, and in boldness of fighting, and in glory of revenging, that he far surpassed them all.

[149] He had a grim and Scythian gaze of the eyes, an index of a savage and bloody mind. In which kind what he once designed as a boy, as yet a boy, his inborn ferocity as I received it from a man most worthy of credit, whose native place is common with his, I will briefly narrate. There was between two villages neighboring to Lumey, Corsel and Helchteren, an old controversy, over a certain marsh situated on the confines of both, not unlike that which, arisen between brothers and

swelling, that famous Wonder-worker Gregory removed by the miracle of an induced dryness. Now so famous was that contention that the marsh itself was commonly called the contentious. Furthermore Corsel had the same lord as Lumey. This, after his father's death, was William de la Marck. Who, having scarcely passed his twelfth year of age, so boiled up in that controversy through zeal for his own party that, with an armed band of his subjects, himself the leader, he went to the contentious place, with this design, that if he should find there any men of the adverse party, he might either slay them, or lead them away captive.

[150] But, beyond expectation, no one at all being found, he shows by a horrible deed. lest he should return home unavenged and inglorious, he turned his fury for the occasion elsewhere: for on the return, chancing to find reapers of tamarisk (which grows frequently in those places), he ordered one and another to be seized, as though bound by some huge crime, because on public land subject, as he said, to his own dominion, they were making a harvest. Those seized he bound to his horse (O barbarous and stupendous and horrible deed in a boy!) and, like dogs, not only dragged them a long space over the ground, but even by force dragged them through a certain water-pond, neighboring to that place. In short, those wretched and innocent men, not even inhabitants of that village to which he was so hostilely hostile, he handled so atrociously that talk of this thing filled all the region round about; and as many as had learned, whether by sight or by hearing, of this tyrannical monstrousness in one of that age, astonished, said one to another: What, think you, will that boy be? namely presaging, with a conjecture by no means improbable, the things afterward perpetrated by him at a more advanced age, from such beginnings.

[151] There were observed also other things in him even then still a boy, his hatred against the Franciscan Fathers, which declared the depravity of his nature, and the hatred of the monastic Order deeply implanted in his mind. They say that from his earliest age, at which he could learn anything of religion, he was wont to look upon all monks, especially Franciscans, as often as they chanced to meet him, with grim countenance and sidelong eyes; so namely taught and instructed, as they think, by that worst former of his morals, and the same malignant reviler of the religion deserted by himself. For who is ignorant that it is a custom established among all apostate monks, that, to cover their own baseness and to spread a veil over their own perfidy, they continually tear with venomous detractions and slanders that society to which they had once bound themselves in perpetuity by the holy profession of a vow. Now as regards Lumey's more advanced age; a certain honored man related to me, having experienced the matter to his own hurt, that his household (after he himself had begun to govern his own house) was most corrupt in morals, and one in which there was no regard for the divine worship and the precepts of the Church, but utter neglect and contempt.

[152] although he sometimes received them into hospitality. It is not indeed hidden from me that he sometimes received under his roof religious men turning aside to him from their journey, and among these even Minorites, and, if you regard external offices, afforded them kindly hospitality. But those who knew the man easily understood that these things were done by him not from zeal of religion, but because he thought that suddenly to break off that custom of religious hospitality, received from his parents, was not sufficiently to his own advantage at that time still, for his reputation among good men. But indeed of such a kind of men we have learned by sure experience how they provoke to hilarity, by a certain show of humanity, the simpler brothers (as they call them) whom they have received at their feasts, but the merry ones they hang up by the nose, and make their laughing-stocks; then if anything perchance too silly has been said or done by any of them, they at once carry it abroad, and one man's however small fault, invidiously exaggerated, they soon spread by calumny over the whole family.

[153] the Liègeois himself of his own accord joins himself to the rebel Belgians. Furthermore, when in our Belgium several noble men and youths had in the year of the Lord 1566 made a conspiracy, whereby they wished to wring, a supplicating petition being offered, either the mitigation, or more truly the abolition, of the royal edicts against the heretics (that conspiracy namely it was which afterward brought upon all Belgium the whole deformation of religion and at once of the commonwealth that ensued), to the faction of these William Lumey, although he was reckoned outside the Belgian nobility, some time after joined himself as companion. For which cause, compelled to change his soil, he declared himself from that time a manifest enemy of the Catholic King: and, during the government of the Duke of Alba, he did many things hostilely against his country by land and sea, but chiefly by sea. For thence at last he attempted and took by ambush the island and city of Briel. There indeed, having gained as it were a kingdom and a stable seat of a kingdom, he straightway set about putting forth those examples of his cruelty on account of which he was held beyond measure formidable both to all Catholics, and chiefly to the men more closely joined to God by reason of their order and profession; as one who bore himself in deeds and words so that, after the manner of Saul, he seemed to breathe nothing but the slaughters and punishments of priests and monks.

CHAPTER VI.

[154] This Lumey therefore (that the discourse may return to its purpose), as soon as, carried on his horse, he arrived at that place in which the ships stood, he receives the holy Martyrs led to him with guffaws and grimaces, having for some while contemplated with very intent eyes all the captives presented to his sight, as they still were in the ship, as a most longed-for and most pleasant spectacle, at last broke into a guffaw so unrestrainedly that the man, scarcely master of himself, fell backward on his horse's back, fulfilling that which is written by the Wise Man: The fool exalts his voice in laughter. But O! a laugh truly sardonic, and plainly such as that of which Solomon says: As the crackling of thorns burning under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool. Now soon the rest, congruent to this as it were preamble, followed; mockeries, jeers, reproaches, curses, all full of bitterness and venom, and moreover worthy of that breast whence they were belched forth. But among other things he thus addressed the captives: What business have you here, I pray? What is the cause of your coming? Do you perchance wish to bring war upon us here, and to cast us hence out of our seats? Or have you come hither with this design, that you may machinate some treason against us? For what cause are we to think there is why you did not remain at home, being namely occupied more than enough with celebrating your Masses, after your wonted manner?

[155] After such first greetings, he bids all the captives be led from the ship to land, and bidden to kneel before him, then bound two by two, who, as soon as they touched the ground with their feet, are compelled, their knees bent, to let themselves down before the tyrant. Who, with feigned humanity, said to them in Latin: Rise, sirs. There are those who report that Leonard, a man known to many by the celebrity of his learning, whose fame of name had even then run before to Lumey, was addressed by him with these words: Little sacrificer, what dost thou here? Lo, now it behooves thee to be hanged. Certainly many other things of the sort were said by him against the holy men. Meanwhile do thou see for me, I pray, Christian reader, how fit a judge of the captives that man was to be, in whom, besides a mind most corrupt with passions, so many and such prejudices against them had already gone before. Furthermore the soldiers, ministers of his unjust and depraved will, dispose the captives two by two, bound together with joined arms, one after another in order; and thus disposed, a butcher going before, compel them once and again to go around a certain neighboring gibbet situated not far from the shore, whose figure represented an r, or a halved n. Ours call it a half-gibbet.

[156] There to Henry, the lay Franciscan, is delivered into his hands to carry a sacred banner, he compels them to go around the gibbet, a banner being carried before, taken by those sacrilegious men from some temple. And so he is bidden, in imitation of an ecclesiastical procession, to go before, as leader and standard-bearer, all his companions following in order. And for the sake of increasing the ignominy, once, again, and a third time he is compelled, his companions being bidden to follow, to pass under the gibbet; namely that in this manner they might pay the vows of their pilgrimage. For so spoke the impious satellites who compelled them to circuits of this kind. Meanwhile the spectators, no more honest, to insult over the wretched men, and to assail them with revilings, and, the gibbet being pointed out with their fingers, to say: Behold your cemetery; behold your church. In it now, as you are wont, exercise all that your idolatry. They were compelled besides, that nothing might be lacking to the mockery, to go around that same gibbet with a backward step: then they were bidden to sing with lifted voice a certain prose (as it is wont to be called) to the Virgin Mother of God; then, their knees fixed on the ground, to gird the gibbet in the fashion of a crown, and at the same time to chant that most famous canticle of the Church, Salve Regina.

[157] and, a butcher accompanying, to chant the praises of the B. V. M. They were bidden also at other times to sing sacred praises of this kind to the blessed Virgin. The butcher meanwhile, a ladder being set to the gibbet, so prepares himself as if he were about forthwith to hang all the captives, namely that by this as it were presented image of present death he might strike terror into the wretched men, and increase their affliction more vehemently. For they at that time expected nothing but hanging and death. After these things, the mole being mounted, they are led to the city two by two, as before, and in the same order. And that the pomp might be more conspicuous, to the two lay Franciscans spears are delivered into their hands, to the top of which the soldiers bound round burs and other herbs of the sort for ornament. Between these two so equipped, the companions following behind, the butcher walks in the midst, carrying the sacred banner in his hands, even to the point where they had come into the city. For there again it is delivered to Henry the layman to carry, a silk cap being moreover placed on his head in mockery.

CHAPTER III.

Amid blows and mockeries they are again bidden to sing sacred things and to go around the gibbet, after the manner of suppliants; in which the author shows that they sinned in nothing. No compassion of anyone, women also wantonly insulting.

CHAPTER VII.

The Martyrs, having entered the city with this pomp, were again bidden to sing certain sacred canticles, such as that most famous one to the most holy Trinity: again bidden to sing sacred things, they are cruelly beaten, We praise Thee, O God, etc. Then certain more common responsories, which indeed almost all of them, but chiefly the Minorites, since they held them well in memory, sang exactly enough and in orderly fashion. Furthermore two soldiers, riding on either side, again and again beat the captives with heavy and frequent blows, having for that purpose in their hands rods which they had stripped from the trees, with which they so cruelly lashed their faces and necks (for the Friars Minor, despoiled of their hoods and cowls, walked with neck bared to the breast) that those parts appeared to the beholders vehemently swollen and bloody, and brought it about that they were not sufficiently recognized even by their acquaintances and fellow-citizens. Now if any raised their voice less in singing, these were beaten more hardly and more frequently, and thus were goaded to sing more loudly. Nay the Count himself also, carried on his horse, driving the captives before him, from time to time beat them stoutly with a little rod which he held in his hand. And these things indeed they did.

[159] For what shall I say of the common people? nor indeed is it easy to say the populace also poured out into every wantonness how licentiously and wantonly it poured itself out into every kind of insult against the ministers of God; while each man, even of the lowest sort and condition, according to the hatred conceived against religion and religious men, strives to satisfy his mind by vexing and assailing them. Some cast jests and jeers thick upon them, others assail them with revilings and curses, others do not even keep their impious tongues from harrying the secret and sacrosanct mysteries; meanwhile they themselves too, whether by the example of the soldiers, or incited by their own malice, no one forbidding, beating with wicked daring the uncondemned, innocent captives. Moved by the indignity of the deed, Jerome the Vicar, a grave man, and learned by much experience of affairs, broke forth into words of this kind: What barbarism of manners is this? Or what nation, I pray, so alien from all sense of humanity, that it should so treat its captives? For my part I once fell into the hands of Turks, and of Greeks, and of Saracens. Yet never, though a captive, do I remember to have been touched by the injury of even one blow. This most religious man had once been engaged in the parts of those nations, a sacred pilgrimage being undertaken; and among them, as happens, was seized more than once, and cast into bonds.

[160] Now this too was greatly to be lamented, that in so great a crowd leaping about there appeared no one who, pitying the captives, either drew a sigh, or in any way signified by countenance or word that he was moved by their evils. and surpassing the barbarism of the Turks. When they had been led into the city in this manner, so great a multitude of men flowed together to this spectacle that no one at all of the inhabitants seemed to be absent. They stood, watching and about to watch, in a long line on either side in the streets, by which the Martyrs were to pass through, in as great a throng as is wont to run together to no other spectacle. But of mockeries and jeers and insults there was no measure. There were those who set before their doors, beside themselves, a vessel full of water, and, dipping brooms in the water, sprinkled the passing captives, singing with high voice in the ecclesiastical tone that: Thou shalt sprinkle me, O Lord, with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed, etc. Thus namely those ill-employed men publicly held up to laughter, by their mimic deed, the most ancient rite of the Catholic Church, whereby water consecrated by sacred prayers is wont to be sprinkled upon the people. When they had come into the market-place, soon to the gibbet, erected in the midst of it, in the same manner and order as outside the city, the captives are driven, as if now to be hanged.

[161] Again there, bidden thrice to go around the gibbet, and in the going to sing together the Litanies of the Saints a new procession around the gibbet and singing of the Litanies. and certain other sacred things; the circuit completed, under the gibbet to press the ground with their knees, and at the same time to sing certain praises to the Virgin Mother. In which, when they had come to the prayer whereby such canticles of praise are wont, according to the manner of the Church, to be concluded (they call it the collect), all were silent, for this reason I think, because no one, out of modesty of mind, wished to take upon himself a thing wont to be done by some worthier priest. But when they were menacingly urged by those who stood nearest, that they should also sing the collect, Godfrey Dunæus the presbyter, a humble man and full of zeal for God, not suffering this crown to be lacking to a most beautiful act, with lifted voice, clearly, perfectly, and without hesitation, as he was often wont to do in the church at evening Praises, recited this ecclesiastical prayer: Let us pray. May the most glorious Virgin Mary, Thy Mother, intercede for us, we beseech Thee, O Lord God, now and in the hour of our death, before Thy clemency, whose most sacred soul in the hour of Thy blessed passion and bitter death the sword of sorrow pierced through; who livest and reignest for ever and ever. And the other Martyrs answered, Amen. Now the signal of the eighth hour before noon had been heard. Meanwhile there stood round about a huge crowd of watching people, which, besides that it most eagerly gazed at that spectacle, also stoutly played its own parts by insulting the wretched men.

CHAPTER VIII.

[162] But as regards those things which I have now recounted, for my part I hope and trust in all these things, done under compulsion, that there will be no fair reader who thinks our Martyrs are to be called into blame for this, that they obeyed the will of the Count and the soldiers, namely wicked men, compelling them to the things we have said, whether to be done or to be sung. For what forbids that it be done piously and rightly by Catholics suffering violence, which is commanded by violent masters with an impious and perverse will; provided nevertheless that which is commanded be in the kind of those things which are not in themselves evil, nay rather are good? Wherefore the holy Martyrs thought that a command of this kind was not to be stubbornly resisted, but rather to be obeyed; chiefly for this reason, because it was evidently plain to all that they did such things not with a mind to mock, whereto the adversaries bade them, but by a necessity accommodated to piety.

[163] that the holy Martyrs did not sin, For although, questioned by those who had led them captive, and bidden to sing the words of songs and hymns of the canticles of Sion, they could have answered with the voice of the Psalmist: How shall we sing the song of the Lord in a strange land? And to say likewise this: How shall we sing the praises of the Mother of the Lord amid the mockeries of His enemies? yet we know that this too was written by the same Psalmist: Thy justifications were things to be sung by me in the place of my pilgrimage. And what makes more to the present matter, we read that Samson, approved by the testimony of faith, when, led from prison into the house of Dagon, he was bidden to make sport, a huge multitude of men of both sexes looking on, obeying the will of those who commanded, made sport, although now near to his own death. So much the less indeed are they to be reproved who, bidden and compelled among their enemies, played no sport, but chanted the divine praises. Which deed whoever cavils at, must needs say that Christ the Lord ought not to have held in His hand the reed offered by the impious and mocking soldier, but to have cast it away; not to have borne the cross laid on His shoulders, as a fork, but to have flung it off; not, finally, to have tasted the gall offered, nor drunk the vinegar. Which nevertheless we have learned that He did, Scripture witnessing; and we not only praise the deeds, but also venerate the mysteries of the deeds.

[164] But I should believe that the holy Martyrs by that deed of theirs wished also to testify this, the learned author rightly proves. that they counted it neither a disgrace nor a shame, even in the eyes of their most hostile enemies, to profess by deeds and voice those things which were most holily observed throughout the universal Church. Although this deed can also be defended by another reason. For unless they did the things commanded, they could indeed seem, under whatever show of disobedience, in a matter by no means in itself evil, to have of their own accord and rashly called down upon themselves blows and death. And to say it once for all, that which is in itself good and pious, where there is a just cause for doing it, though perhaps on account of the mockeries of the wicked it might even well and rightly be omitted, I judge ought not to be condemned, if it be done.

CHAPTER IX.

[165] But I return to the interrupted narrative. In which indeed many things must be passed over by us in silence; the venerable Saints exposed to every kind of insult many said briefly, nay of many things a few culled here and there, lest, while we linger in particulars, we make weariness for the reader. Whom nevertheless I pray, and in the bowels of Christ beseech, that upon this spectacle he fix for a little while the eyes of his mind, and consider these men, servants of Christ, monks, priests, so basely and unworthily despoiled of every honor and veneration which was due either to their profession or to their order, and exposed to every kind of insult. Let him also contemplate that venerable gray hair, everywhere among the nations held so despicably, which if it could not among those barbarians merit veneration, yet certainly ought to have wrung out some compassion, if there remained in them anything of a human heart. There was among the Franciscans one who had completed sixty years, and another who had completed seventy. There was also a third not much less than ninety. Whom nevertheless those most wicked men no more gently than every strongest man harried harshly and unmercifully with blows, pushings, draggings, and buffetings.

[166] Robbers, cut-throats, incendiaries, if ever they are led to punishment, they suffer as many lictors as they have spectators: are wont by no custom of the nations to suffer anything of the sort. Only the punishment decreed by the judge's sentence, to be inflicted by the hands of a single executioner, do they undergo, the spectators meanwhile testifying the compassion of their minds often by sighs, sometimes even by weeping. But these excellent and most blameless men, sentence not yet pronounced against them, without measure, without order, without law, are led and led back, dragged and driven, and, exposed to the injuries of all, suffer almost as many lictors as they have spectators. Those old men stood bared to the breast, with neck lean through leanness, then livid and bloody from blows and wounds. You might discern both the Nicholases, besides the things which they had common with the others, bearing the proper badge of their confession, a weal of a wan color drawn around the neck, which had been made in each in the prison of Gorcum by the vehement rubbing of the cord, and had been left even to this point. In short, the whole spectacle was such as could not but move the breast of a man not altogether alien from humanity. From which thing it is possible to perceive into what beasts heretical perfidy compels those to degenerate whose minds once that so hideous plague has affected.

[167] These indeed are of the number of those of whom the Apostle, the buffoons even interceding for them in mockery, writing to his most dear disciple, foretold that there would be in the last days men without natural affection, that is, void of all human affection. Which, as at other times, so then chiefly was declared, when for the sake of mockery the Martyrs were from time to time brought forth into public. For while some of the soldiers from time to time beat them with cudgels, others menacingly displayed and held out nooses and death, then those buffoons, setting themselves as it were intercessors for the captives, said with bitter mockery: We pray for them, we pray for them: spare, we beseech you: for they are good men. And soon after these words they insulted over them most wantonly with scourges and reproaches, the whole multitude standing round stoutly applauding, and from this so barbarous a spectacle taking the greatest pleasure in their mind. Nay even, as of old against our Savior the voices of the Jews sounded forth, demanding that He be taken out of the midst; and as against the blessed Polycarp the multitude, greedy of his death, made a din with great clamors in the amphitheater: so then the insane crowd cast insane and deadly voices against the athletes of Christ of this kind: Let them be taken out of the midst; let them be hanged on the gibbet, the monks, the little sacrificers, the Papists.

CHAPTER X.

[168] Now what you would wonder at still more, not even the womanly and weaker sex, and the women themselves most impudent against the holy Martyrs. to which nature has given more peculiarly the affection of compassion, and which is wont easily to be moved to tears even for those who are worthy of death, seemed to be at all affected by so cruel a vexation of the captives, so that in this part too the barbarity and ferocity of these men surpassed the mercilessness of the Jerusalem women

toward Christ. For we read that the Jerusalem women followed Christ with wailing and lamentation, when, bearing His cross, He was being led to the place of punishment. But here everywhere were seen women who, natural affection being cast off, applauded to the utmost of their power the cruelty of the men, and exulted in a wondrous manner over the evils of the wretched.

[169] the injuries of a woman of Gorcum against Nicholas the Parish-priest. Although they had shown this barbarism of their disposition even before, when most recently Lumey had gained possession of Briel. For when his soldiers had cruelly butchered a certain religious canon of the monastery of Rugge (which is near Briel), and had fastened the little ears cut off from his head, one to the gate of the city, the other to the doors of the temple, certain most wicked women invited others, their equals, that they might all together proceed to both places at once, as in a certain pomp, and might feast and delight their eyes and mind with so fine and sweet a spectacle. Here furthermore a certain woman of Gorcum, who chanced to be there present, was not afraid from the midst of the crowd to cry out upon Nicholas the Parish-priest by name with impudent tongue and to say: O master Nicholas (for so he was commonly saluted, as also the other, master Leonard), how finely wilt thou now adorn the gibbet. And again: Ah, with what a rush will that little servant now be swung, hanging, from the gibbet. For certain scoffers called him in contempt a little servant, on account of the assiduous and greatest labors of the pastoral office, chiefly those which, for administering the Sacraments to the people, like a bondman devoted to that work, he underwent most readily, without any sign either of weariness or of fatigue.

[170] For although Leonard and Nicholas administered the pastoral care in alternate weeks, the deserved praise of both Pastors. yet those things which demanded more labor and bodily trouble Nicholas gladly undertook even for Leonard, as the elder and more honored, a man equally ready night and day for labors of this kind. Thus that which pertained most of all to his praise, this made him contemptible among the wicked. There were present other men of both sexes of Gorcum, who assailed all the captives in common wantonly and in rivalry with insulting names, calling them again and again seducers of men and slayers of souls. That thing was most bitter to those holy men to hear, as being men always most loving of the sheep entrusted to them, who had never striven at anything else than that, confirmed in the truth of the Catholic faith and in the fear of God, they might lead them to the eternal pastures. Certainly Leonard bore this signal ingratitude of his own so grievously that a little after, addressing a certain acquaintance as it were in passing, he affirmed that those reproaches and curses of his own against him were harder to him than death itself. For though by the virtue of patience he had his breast sufficiently strengthened against all the onsets of injuries rushing in from every quarter, yet by that ingratitude of his sheep, of their own accord rushing to destruction, as by a savage wound, his mind was not a little wounded.

CHAPTER IV.

Thrust into a most fetid prison, they find other companions, with whom, led out to examination, most of them constantly profess the faith. Seven, called out to a new examination, most constantly refuse to fall away from the head of the Church.

CHAPTER XI.

Furthermore, when now the Martyrs, exposed long and sufficiently to the lust of the furious populace, had stood in the middle of the market-place under the gibbet, so that, wearied beyond measure, thrust into a fetid prison they streamed with sweat, at last they are led away into a most fetid prison, into which wicked men are wont to be cast. In which they found shut up two Parish-priests, not long before forcibly dragged from their places, where they presided over the sheep of Christ, and led to Briel; one Andrew of Heenvliet, the other Adrian of Maasdam (which name signifies the dam of the Maas), villages situated not far from Dordrecht. But a little after, about the space of a half-hour, there are thrust into the same prison two others also, lately brought thither by the Geusii from the place of their ministry. These were monks of the Premonstratensian Order; of whom one, Adrian likewise by name, acted as Parish-priest in that part of Holland which is on the right of the Maas as it runs out into the Ocean. The name of the place is Monster, which they commonly call Munster. The other, James, rendered him helping service in the pastoral care: each of them sent thither from the abbey which is at Middelburg of Zealand, most famous, in whose power was the authority of appointing a Parish-priest in that place.

[172] they find four companions of martyrdom. Now the captivity of these was thus. When the Geusii pirates, having gained Briel, ranged through all the neighboring places, intent on plunderings and the pillaging of temples and monasteries, but slew, or dragged away with them captive, priests and monks, if any they found; certain of them on that night which immediately preceded the arrival of the captives of Gorcum, the river being crossed, had come to Monster, where, having found the two religious priests whom I have named, in their regular habit, that is, clothed all in white, together with the father of James, an aged man, they carried off with them to Briel, taken and bound. Who, as soon as they were set before the Count, he showed great insolence in his whole body and intemperance of mind. Then, restraining himself a little, he stood quiet. Soon, like one wondering, as if he knew not that those were men, he asked his own men what those monsters were. Who said: These, most clement Lord, are priests and monks, our capital enemies. A most fitting epithet indeed, "most clement," if you interpret it by antiphrasis.

[173] the undaunted answer of James Lacopius to the Count. Afterward the Count, having inquired about the old man who had been led along with them, and about his native country, when he had heard that he was the parent of the younger monk, and by country a Fleming, and well skilled in the French tongue, his discourse turned to him: If thou canst, said he, persuade thy son to renounce his Papism, I will dismiss thee and him at once loosed and free. Which heard, James, who himself too was skilled in the French tongue, taking up the discourse for his father, answered that he would never redeem life on that condition. Therefore, says the Count, thou must die. To whom James: By no means, said he; for we shall not die, but shall live. And the Count again: Have I not power of slaying thee? Yes indeed, said James, of slaying the body; but not the soul, which shall live forever. Provoked by that freedom of his answer, Lumey, the old man being bidden to depart, because he was neither a priest nor a monk, ordered the two monks to be led away into prison. Led therefore into a prison common with the other confessors of the Catholic faith, they perceived themselves to be called also to the common dignity of contest and of glory.

CHAPTER XII.

[174] Now there were in one building three prisons, one constructed above another in order; description of the dark and unclean prison, of which that which the Martyrs occupied, as it was the lowest, so it was the most foul and most unclean. For from the upper ones into this one placed beneath, through the chinks of the flooring, there continually dripped down whatever of excrement had, nature urging, been voided by the captives placed above. For no other place had been granted for this necessity. The prison of the Martyrs was therefore, from the assiduous dripping-through of liquids of this kind, vehemently fetid, and at the same time damp and miry, so that into what part of it the captives should betake themselves, while they desire in any way to avoid those most impure dregs, they plainly knew not. For the darkness of the place too was so great that, except by the indication of the voice, one could not recognize another, even at very noon. Who at length, the ground being tried with their feet on every side, discovered that near the door the floor was higher and firmer, and less irrigated by those foul liquids. To that place of the prison therefore soon all betook themselves, so that they pressed close upon one another. For they were above twenty in number. Now they were all left to a man in that most foul stench, fasting, even to the third hour after noon. At which time again those same, food not yet tasted, are led from the prison into the town-hall.

[175] There, under a show of examination, inquiry was diligently made by certain crafty and cunning men one by one of all concerning religion, led out from which they are examined, Leonard answering freely, the Count himself also being present; lest that inquisition of the new masters should have too little authority and weight. There, when Leonard, after his manner freely, had said something before the Count, a satellite standing by struck his neck with the halberd which he held in his hand. To whom answering: Strike my flesh as you please, while it is permitted you; for this will not be long-lasting; as if he said with the Lord: This is your hour, and the power of darkness; soon another satellite drove a military hammer against his occiput, so that from the wound blood immediately flowed forth. For the rest, as was Leonard's, so was the most constant confession of almost all his companions, attesting that they believed that which the Catholic and orthodox faith shows must be believed; namely, Christ speaking in His witnesses, and supplying the spirit; so that in that which they had learned must be believed in the Catholic Church they persisted unmoved and unconquered, nor suffered themselves by any reasoning to be moved from the confession of that faith even a nail's breadth, as it is said.

[176] Of whom one, a lay Minorite of Woutdorp, questioned about his faith, and the others constantly professing the faith, answered in one word that he believed that which his Guardian believed. For he was not ignorant that his Guardian believed that which the Catholic Church believes. Thus indeed by no means stupidly did the simple little sheep, fleeing the perplexity of disputing, betake himself to the voice and faith of his pastor. I have said that the confession of almost all was constant and right. For some, who afterward betrayed themselves by a manifest defection, are said to have prevaricated in their answers to the interrogatories. That examination finished, the captives are brought back to prison, not that former one, into which that they should not be brought back was obtained by the prayers of certain acquaintances; but another situated in an upper place, and less dark and unclean. Where nevertheless Leonard, a man readiest of tongue of all who were present, scarcely at last obtained by prayers that some food be brought. For also on the way by which he was being brought back with his companions to prison, having caught sight of certain men of Gorcum, he said: Sons of Gorcum, is there here bread to be bought for a price? It will certainly be well paid for; namely, as he understood it, by God the rewarder of all good things.

[177] There was brought therefore into the prison a large vessel, besides three prevaricators, who are separated from the others. full of water. Bread also was brought; besides, nothing. Sumptuous fare indeed, wherewith at last, late, the captives might refresh their bodies exhausted by hunger, thirst, sweats, and so many vexations. A matter surely to be lamented, that earthly bread, the food of the body, the good pastors could so hardly obtain from their sheep, who had so kindly and abundantly supplied to them the heavenly bread, the word of God, wherewith to feed their mind. Now there were brought back into that place all those who had been produced for examination, three excepted, the Parish-priest of Maasdam, a certain Canon of Gorcum, and Henry the lay Minorite; who, because they are thought to have so answered in the examination from fear of death that they gave hope to the adversaries that they would go over into their opinion, being separated from the holy society of the Martyrs, obtained a more convenient and as it were more honorable place of custody, with hope of deliverance, in the house of the deputy

criminal-commander. What afterward befell them, we shall relate in its place. For these were not of the number of those whose persevering confession God willed to illustrate His Church.

CHAPTER XIII.

[178] Furthermore, on the next day, which was the eighth of July, seven of the captives led again to examination, an examination was instituted far keener, yet not of all, but only of those who seemed the chief; because it was thought that, these being overcome and led away from their opinion, the rest would easily go into the same opinion with them. These were Leonard and Nicholas the Parish-priests; then the Minorites, the Guardian, the Vicar, and Godfrey of Mervel: and besides these the two Premonstratensians. So these seven again in the afternoon (because after the merry dinner those to whom the office of examining had been enjoined were more animated to a contest of this kind), bound, are led from prison into the town-hall, and there are set for examination in the senatorial chamber. The examination is made by two (as they call them) Ministers; again the Count being present with certain nobles of his own order and faction. There was present also John Duvenvoorde, the town's magistrate and treasurer, a man by no means the worst, and of no dull wit. A scribe also was bidden to be present, to take down with swift pen all the answers and sayings of the captives.

[179] they are urged solely to renounce the head of the Church. There were present likewise the two own brothers of the Guardian, at whose solicitation this second examination had been instituted. For they hoped that in this way they would effect it, that they might receive their brother freed together with all his companions; as one whom they had now more than once learned by sure experience to be unwilling to be freed without them, though with confession of the Catholic faith preserved. Now the first and the same chief head of the inquisition was, what they felt concerning the Roman Pontiff, and whether they were prepared to renounce him. For him Lumey (as almost all heretics) most hostilely hated, and was affected nearly nothing more gently toward all those who venerated him as father and prince of the Church. In short, as was everywhere reported, he had it in mind, that as many as were of that opinion, whom he could, he would punish with death. The examiners had no zeal there to draw the captives to their own, that is, the Calvinist sect; but this only, to draw them away from the head. For this alone the devil their master knew well was enough for perdition, to whom it is not much care which sect or which religion each one chooses; provided he be not found in that society of men over which Christ set one Shepherd and head on earth, that under him and through him both the sincerity of faith and the charity of the believers, being more surely guarded, might exclude occasion as well of schism as of error. From which society whoever is found an alien, of whatever sort he be, whether in religion or in morals, him the devil most certainly claims for himself and for his power and kingdom.

[180] Now of those to whom the business of examining had been given, how inept the two examiners were, one was a sailor of Gorcum, Cornelius by name, an excellent drinker, besides the hatred with which, in common with all, he bore his mind kindled with capital hatred against the Parish-priests and monks of Gorcum. Whom, though plainly unskilled in the Latin tongue, boldness and readiness of tongue, joined with zeal of evil-speaking, had made fit enough to exercise the office of an ecclesiastic among the traitors to the Church of Christ. This man, when amid the examining he saw that he could not shake the constancy of the Martyrs, again and again repeated these words: Only hang them, only hang them: namely well following the example of those who, demanding to death the prince of Martyrs and the president of the contest, Christ, cried out: Crucify, crucify Him. The other, Andrew by name, seemed indeed a little more learned, but not much sounder. He had been Parish-priest of the church of St. Catherine of Briel. But the town being occupied by the Geusii, the most fickle man, lest he should be compelled to be in peril, soon changed both religion with the prince, and offered himself, compliant to the new guests, a preacher of the new sect. Wherefore both by his own example even then most recent, and by words, he solicits the captives to defection from the Roman Pontiff. He promises it will so come to pass that they escape the death otherwise most certainly impending.

[181] To promises of this kind, so alluring, before the Count and the whole assembly, to whom the excellent answer of the Guardian answering with great fortitude of mind, Nicholas the Guardian: Shall I, said he, deny my true and Catholic faith, and embrace yours, that false and heretical one, impelled by love of this life? For what more foolish? For otherwise, either a little time after, or even now forthwith, it can come to pass that death seize me. Certainly the remaining time of my life cannot be long. And though it be long, yet at some time I must die. Accordingly, that which by the necessity of nature must once be undergone, I will gladly then undergo for religion, and will now seal my sermons by death itself. These things he uttered with that spirit with which it befitted one soon to be a Martyr to speak. But how foolish and how dangerous it is, that thou shouldst prolong this wretched life a little, to commit that whereby thou dost provoke against thyself the wrath of the divine power, appeared not long after in those two apostates; who, when they had denied the Roman Catholic faith from fear of losing life, one of them at once, and in that very moment, but the other after a short space of a wicked life, redeemed by so great a crime, being afflicted with that same punishment which they had ill feared, by an utterly lamentable end, made their passage from this life (as is greatly to be feared) to eternal misery. But of these below in their place.

[182] Furthermore Leonard also, bidden to renounce the Roman Pontiff, and the speech of Leonard the Parish-priest. constantly refused to do it. And then he subjoined words of this kind: It is wont to be boasted among you that faith ought to be free, and that violence or annoyance ought not to be brought upon anyone for the cause of religion. By what reason therefore, against the tenets of your own sect, do you wish to compel me to desert, even with conscience crying out, the faith which I have hitherto held? For my part I am ready to undertake a disputation with you. But if you shall convince me of error, I will go over into your opinion; but if we shall obtain the cause, it will be fitting that you come over to our opinion. Which indeed I do not distrust will come to pass, provided a place and time opportune for that matter be given. For I see that here it is not opportune enough. Thus he.

CHAPTER V.

Not by one disputation are the little ministers confounded by the holy Martyrs, who are deputed to the gibbet. Lumey spurns the letters of Orange and of the senate of Gorcum. The Guardian denies that he will desert his own. Liberty is offered to all if they renounce the Pope.

CHAPTER XIV.

Now as soon as mention of a disputation was cast in, it pleased those who had sat down Leonard and the Guardian pressing the little minister in disputation, that a contest be instituted. Nor could the delegated examiners shun the condition; although they understood well enough that they were entering upon a matter full of danger, both conscious of their own ignorance, and not unaware with what men they had to contend. Two were opposed to two, Andrew and Cornelius the heretics to Leonard and the Guardian the Catholics; although Andrew, because he was both not ignorant of the Latin tongue, and was held better equipped for encounters of this kind, was compelled almost alone to sustain the weight of the disputation. The Catholics asked that Latin or Teutonic Bibles be brought into the midst. Yet they said they preferred Latin; for this reason, I think, because, poured over into the vernacular tongues, they scarcely retained their sincerity. What was asked was done. Then the Catholics ask the adversaries about what matter first of all it pleased them to confer; or what they wished to say at all. Andrew answered that he wished to set before them the pure unmixed word of God, adulterated by the Papists up to that time by falsity of doctrine and by depraved interpretations. Then Leonard: And what, said he, is the pure word of God? Andrew answered: The Old and New Testament. Leonard asks what he understands by the name of the Old and New Testament; the Scripture of the Old and New Testament? Andrew assented. Whom Leonard then began to press with these questions: By whom persuaded and taught did he receive the Scripture of both Testaments for the word of God? Whence had he received it? and what sure proof of that matter could he bring forth? And with not unlike interrogations the Guardian pressed the man, asking whether he received the Gospel? Whence had he received it; by what masters had he learned that this was written by Matthew, that by John, the Apostles.

[184] For the rest Andrew, to interrogations of this kind (because he was not so dull as not to perceive whither they tended), utterly refused to answer; [overwhelmed by this and others with the wonted darts of evil-speaking, they are cast out.] so that Duvenvoorde said: Ho Andrew, what is it that thou dost not answer to these things? Dost thou not know from whom thou hast received the Gospel of Christ handed down? Now speak. Then Andrew: Those seducers know nothing else to bring into disputation than their own sophisms, that they may spread mists after their manner. For who would doubt of the word of God? But it is another thing to which they tend. Namely they are laboring at this, to compel us to confess that their idol and Antichrist, the Roman Pontiff, handed down to us the word of God. Do you not perceive their frauds and slanders? Then the Catholics, their wonted modesty preserved: We cannot, they say, dispute from the Scriptures, as had pleased, and mutually confute one another from them, unless it first be established that those things which are contained in the books of the Old and New Instrument are truly divine Scriptures and the word of God. Amid these things others, who were present in the council, seeing their ecclesiastic manifestly in peril in the encounter, began to interrupt the discourse of the Catholics; and soon cast them, overwhelmed with those wonted darts of their evil-speaking, out of the council. That these things were done as we have related, a certain religious man of Briel afterward received by the report of Duvenvoorde himself; from whom furthermore we received the same.

CHAPTER XV.

[185] Now there was present in that same assembly a certain man of Bergen, from Bergen of Brabant situated on the river Zoom: the free profession of the Vicar, and of the Premonstratensians in which place Jerome the Vicar had once acted as Guardian among his own. When therefore Jerome was set before the council, to answer concerning his faith, that man of Bergen asked of him: Did I not once see thee at Bergen? Thou didst see me, said he, recognizing the man. Then the man of Bergen: Is thy name Jerome? It is, said he, and I am the very man about whom thou askest me. For the man of Bergen before this question had affirmed that he had been driven from his city by Jerome. Nor did Jerome wish to deny that matter, though he expected sure peril thence. But also with other words openly and freely he confessed both who he was, and the Catholic faith which he held in his heart, with his mouth, the scribe diligently taking down all that he said. There were produced also the two Premonstratensians, who, questioned about the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of the Lord, answered that which they had been taught in the Catholic Church. The heretics contending on the contrary that that which is taken in the Lord's Supper is nothing else than bare and common bread, they briefly and solidly confuted from the Pauline words: He who eats and drinks unworthily,

eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Body of the Lord.

[186] Then, after some altercation (in which chiefly Jacobus, the fortitude of those contending for the Eucharist. as being readier in speech, upheld the Catholic side), the adversaries, when they saw themselves overcome by reason, began to assail their conquerors with curses. Yet we have learned that Lumey also employed the blandishments of words, especially to recall Jacobus from his purpose, because his age, and the grace of his speech and countenance, were such as might, by a hidden force of nature, move even a tyrannical mind to compassion. But the fortitude of the Martyrs of Christ yielded neither to promises nor to terrors. At length, when all who had been produced to examination had been heard and had held fast the firm confession of the Catholic faith, and at last were bidden to withdraw, the assembly was dissolved. While it lasted, that Gorcum fellow, from a sailor turned pseudo-Evangelical preacher, and forsooth a distinguished examiner of such great men, since he had nothing solid to bring forward to the matter at hand, kept sounding scarcely anything but nooses, gibbets, and hangings. Which words were heard again and again from the mouth of the Count himself. And indeed they could (had he been willing in this respect to indulge the insatiable hatred with which they burned against the Martyrs) have taken them from life by a far more atrocious kind of death.

[187] But their design was to afflict them not so much with the most bitter as with the most shameful death; All are assigned to the gallows. just as of old with those slayers of the Son of God, whose word is in the Wise Man: Let us condemn him with a most shameful death. And as the Jews inflicted upon Christ the punishment of the cross for this reason, that in that time it was held the most infamous and reproachful of all, so these men found no death more infamous and reproachful with which to afflict the holy Martyrs, among those which are today in use, than if they should take them from the living by hanging them on the gibbet and choking them with the noose. But it was well said by St. Augustine, that Christ chose the utmost kind of death for this end, that his Martyrs might dread no kind of death whatsoever.

CHAP. XVI.

[188] Meanwhile, while these things were being done at Briel, some Catholic townsmen of Gorcum labored not slothfully for the liberation of the captives. Letters of Orange, of the senate and prefect of Gorcum We said above that letters had been given in the name of the Gorcum senate to Orange, whereby he was entreated to command that the ecclesiastical men who were held captive should be safe and free. Therefore on the seventh day of July there were brought to Gorcum letters from Orange, addressed to all the prefects of the cities and of whatsoever places, with the charge that no one should molest any ecclesiastical or religious man on account of his order and profession; but that these should enjoy, together with the rest of the people, an equal privilege of safety and the public warrant which the letters called a safeguard. These letters were delivered to Marinus, as prefect of the citadel of Gorcum. He, keeping the original for himself, gave a copy made from it, to be carried to Briel to Count Lumey; and that by a certain Catholic man, a jurisconsult, to whom the business of the liberation of the captives was much at heart. For he, having received the mandates from the senate, together with the copy of Orange's letters, the next day at earliest dawn embarked in a skiff, and with a strong and frequent rowing pressed on to Briel as swiftly as possible; and he came there toward evening, when already the second examination of the Martyrs had been held.

[189] He had in charge to intercede with the Count for the captives in the common name of the senate and people of Gorcum, they are brought to Lumey for the liberation of the captives, but especially for Leonardus, the chief parish priest of the city, whose sister, with incredible affection solicitous for her brother, was ready to bargain for his liberation with ten thousand gold pieces, prepared to procure that sum of money from wheresoever. The delegate, introduced to the Count, is first of all bidden to exhibit the written safe-conduct. He exhibits it, written by the clerk of his city, with this preamble: My lord Marinus Brant commands all the ministers of the commonwealth to let this man N. pass safely, etc. Now Marinus had subscribed it with his own hand. And the nobles who stood by the Count, hearing him named lord in the little document, and vehemently offended at the arrogance of so obscure a man, most of all because there was a suspicion that he wished to claim for himself the lordship or perpetual prefecture of that city, took the matter most indignantly: perhaps for this reason, that some of them had already, in mind and thought, presumed that prefecture for themselves. Whence it came about that the cause of the captives, which the delegate had come to commend also in the name of Marinus, received no little damage. He then brought forward letters from the senate, which testified that the captives who had been carried thither from Gorcum were all men of the utmost integrity, who had never plotted against the life or fortunes of any mortal, but on the contrary had deserved well of the commonwealth and of the citizens, both publicly and privately.

[190] He brought forth also the copy of Orange's letters to the prefects of the cities, who haughtily despises both the envoy and the letters, concerning the safety of the priests and monks. This too he pressed more closely, that in the surrender of the citadel of Gorcum it had been covenanted in express words and with an oath to all who were in the citadel, that their life should be safe, as well to ecclesiastics and religious as to seculars, with no exception whatsoever and no distinction. But to all these things, diligently set forth by the delegate, a learned and eloquent man, the Count, with a certain impulse of a savage mind, answered nearly in this manner: that he had long since sworn to the destruction of all priests and monks who should be brought to Briel; for that it was most certainly decreed by him to avenge in this way the death of the Counts of Egmont and Horn, and of others of the Belgic nobility, whom, as he said, the Duke of Alba had removed by monstrous tyranny. Further, that he set the command of Orange at naught, nor ought anything to be prescribed to him by that man: that he was no less a master and lord of the commonwealth: in brief, that he acknowledged neither Orange nor any other whomsoever as a superior, by whose commands he ought to be bound. This was nearly the sum of his answer: in which there was not even a word about keeping the pacts of surrender. Nor was it rashly believed by certain persons that nothing was so much a hindrance to the captives being released as the mandate of Orange. To wit, the proud and vainglorious man could not bear the mention of a superior. And well known is that saying of the Wise Man: Among the proud there are always quarrels.

[191] Now the pursuits of the nobles who were with Lumey were various and contrary. the zeal of the nobles and others meanwhile being drawn in various directions. A certain Trelong, roused by the prayers and promises of those who managed the cause of the Martyrs, applied himself most officiously and diligently to their liberation. On the contrary a certain Brederode could be bent by neither prayer nor price to a most just cause. The zeal of the Gorcum men who had come to Briel also strove against one another. For those who were Catholics, or kinsmen of the Martyrs (among whom above all I reckon the two brothers of the Guardian), left no stone unturned to snatch the captives from the peril of death. But those who were of the Gueux faction overturned every effort and progress of the Catholics by their adverse zeal and solicitations, striving for this one thing, that the captives should be slain as soon as possible. And for this cause alone those good and Evangelical men, having left their domestic and private affairs, had undertaken the journey all the way to Briel. To take pains here in setting down their names, though well known to me, I deem altogether unworthy.

CHAP. XVII.

[192] Now I shall set forth what constancy of soul Nicolaus Picus, prefect of the Friars Minor, Liberty being offered, the Guardian denies that he will ever desert his own. declared in tenaciously guarding and retaining that Faith by which he was bound first to God, and then to his religious brethren. Two brothers of his according to the flesh, of whom we have already often made mention, although not much solicitous about religion, yet by the natural affection of love with which they embraced him as their full brother, middle in age among them, spent all the effort they could upon his redemption, to be accomplished by whatsoever means. For this cause, when they had come to Briel and saw peril in delay, they had nothing prior than to plead their brother's business, by prayers, promises, price, to free him if by any means they could. Already the matter had been brought so far that they were permitted to lead their brother, but him alone, away with them wherever they wished, free, without the guilt of denying the faith. But he, as never before, so neither then acquiesced to be released alone, while his companions and brothers—nay, his sons—were now about to labor in the last struggle; which he well knew how hard and difficult impended over them. And this was the cause, most just indeed, why he would not be absent from his own, chiefly because of certain weaker ones, for whom, that they might happily complete that sacred contest, he saw there was need as much of the example as of the assiduous exhortation of those who prevailed above the rest in doctrine and authority: and especially of him upon whom, as the head of the family, the eyes and minds of all looked back. For which cause he repeated in the prison of Briel that promise by which he had bound himself to his companions at Gorcum, and renewed it, pledging his faith again that he would never at any time leave them, neither in soul nor in body, so far as it lay in his power.

[193] Liberty is promised to all, if only they renounce the Pope alone. Since therefore by this way the effort of his brothers did not proceed, another is tried. Hope is given them that the liberation of absolutely all the captives could be obtained on this condition, if all should renounce even the Roman Pope alone, all the rest of the articles of their faith remaining untouched and safe. Which indeed it is hoped can be persuaded to all the Franciscans (to whom Nicolaus continually alleged himself bound), if by any means the mind of Nicolaus himself, as the prefect of them all, could be moved to even the slightest assent to this thing. His brothers therefore, thinking it of no consequence by what means at last they might withdraw their brother from peril, prepare to attempt again that which had already twice been vainly tried in the court, meaning to apply every force of oratory whereby they thought the rigor of his mind could be bent to conceding, at least in word, that one thing alone which was then demanded. For the sake of this it was obtained that Nicolaus, released from prison for an hour or two, should come into conference alone with his brothers in the house which had been assigned as lodging to the criminal provost of the soldiery.

CHAPTER VI.

With how great contrivings the two full brothers assailed the Guardian, whose officious promises he most constantly rejected. By the drunken and raging Lumey all are ordered to be led to the gallows.

CHAP. XVIII.

Toward night, then, brought forth from prison into that house which I have mentioned, he is straightway set at table by his brothers. They, judging that the one thing for which they had assembled must be done by them speedily and with the utmost zeal, The huge efforts of the Guardian's two brothers to soften him; try to persuade their brother, with what prayers they can, with blandishments, entreaties, promises—I add also, with dialectical arguments—to renounce the Pope. Nay, among other things, as if the care of sustaining this life hereafter and of seeking a livelihood held the man of God anxious—because they knew that he would neither undertake the office of a preacher among the sectaries, nor ever take up any other function among them by which to nourish himself—that they might rid him of all solicitude about sustenance, they both liberally offer him their own house and table.

They add that they are ready to teach him the art of trading, whereby he might pass the remaining time of his life honorably and sumptuously, as they put it. To such discourses of his carnal brothers the Martyr of Christ answered with a Catholic heart: That he indeed was grateful to them, whose affection so inclined and brotherly toward him he experienced in soliciting his liberation; and who moreover offered of their own accord those things whereof he should henceforth have need for sustaining life. But for the rest, that he would rather straightway meet death (which he must anyhow undergo once by the necessity of nature) for the glory of God, than recede even in the least from the Catholic faith by word or deed.

[195] Then, as the brothers bent the sinews of their oratory to persuading yet more and more, he himself brave and constant, he says: What then, my brothers? Do you deem it fair, I beseech you, that for your sake (since you so greatly ask and urge me) I should depart from the Lord my God, and pass over to the parts of the devil? Nay, hold this most certain: that there is no one in the whole world, for whose sake I would take it into my mind to do that. So may God be gracious to me. They answered: By no means, brother; we do not ask this of you, that you renounce God, but the Pope only, who at any rate is not God, but a man. But again they say: Are you then so foolish as to take it into your mind to die for him who would not suffer himself to be bloodied even by a finger on your account? And what thanks will he render you, after you have met death for him? These things, and many like them, with what art and vehemence of words they could, flesh and blood suggested and pressed upon the man of God, not perceiving the things that are of the Spirit of God, but setting a scandal for their brother in the way of God. But Nicolaus, immovably founded upon the most solid rock, whose Vicar upon earth he honored, could be impelled by no blasts of fraternal—or more truly serpentine—suggestion, to be moved even in the least from the open and sincere confession of the Roman faith. Rather he answered the more to the contrary, and brought forth from the treasure of the knowledge given him by God such things as both refuted their subtleties and more powerfully confirmed the truth itself.

[196] he denies that he acknowledges any Church except the one Catholic. For neither could he be ignorant of what he himself had taught others: that it is not enough for salvation if a man confess that he believes the holy Church, which he also calls Catholic, unless he know and designate it as a certain and definite one, in which, as in the body of Christ, he may strive to be found a true and living member. Which indeed he knew could in reality be shown to be no other than that which, committed by the Lord to Peter and his successors to be fed, perseveres to this very day, stable and illustrious against the gates of hell. Whosoever therefore renounces the successor of Peter, that is, the Roman Pontiff, what else does he do but deny the true Church of Christ's faithful, of which he is the pastor, master, and head? And he who does this renounces no longer a man, but God, whom—Cyprian being witness—he cannot have for a father who will not have the Church for a mother. Nor indeed is it less necessary for him who would be reckoned by the Christian name to distinguish which Church he believes, than to designate whom he believes to be Christ. For as it is not enough to believe in Christ, unless you distinctly confess this man, that is Jesus, the son of Mary, crucified under Pontius Pilate, to be Christ, without whom there is no salvation: so think it not sufficient for you that you hold by faith some Church of Christ on earth, if you do not also conceive in your mind a certain and definite assembly of the faithful, which you confess and believe to be the very Church of Christ, outside which there is no salvation.

CHAP. XIX.

[197] Since therefore, by the things which we have recounted, the mind of Nicolaus was in no part moved, The same brothers assail him in vain by disputing and coaxing, the Sacred Bible, translated into the Belgic tongue, was brought to the disputation; and out of it some sentences were produced into the midst, by which those new disputants attempted to shake the firmness of his faith. But this too in vain, because their business was with a man most versed in the sacred letters, to whom it was very easy, from the mind of the Catholic Church, both to refute their objections and, by opposing other testimonies of Scripture, to stop the mouths of the gainsayers. Wherefore, when his brothers saw that they were losing all their labor in disputing, they attempt another way suited to the present occasion. For a supper being set out, which was the last for the holy Martyr, they strove to cheer him with food and drink, that thus at least they might soften the hardness of his mind, as they interpreted it. Nor indeed did he refuse food or drink, being now vehemently exhausted and weakened by long fasting and the trouble of prison. He ate therefore and drank with his brothers at that supper, as much as was enough. His countenance was by no means sad or clouded, but, as at table among friends, serene and composed to cheerfulness; so that a certain man who was then present, and by whose report we learned these very things, greatly marveled that in so likely an expectation of death there was joined in the man so great a security with a certain gladness of mind.

[198] But what wonder, since the Holy Spirit inhabiting his mind the holy Guardian with serene mind repelling all suggestions, set before him inwardly a far sweeter banquet than that which flesh and blood had set out for the refreshing of the outer man? And so there appeared in him then how truly it was said by the Wise Man: A secure mind is like a continual feast. Then therefore his brothers again assailed him with the flatteries of words, hoping that, refreshed with food and drink, he would be softer in mind and more flexible toward the assent to that thing which they wished; especially if they should continue to be importunate to him, so that what he was unwilling to do of his own accord, overcome with weariness, he might at last consent to do. They pray, they beseech, and by whatsoever modes of persuasion they most instantly contend, that he would but for a little and for a moment dissemble his faith, for the sake of preserving his life. Believe, they say, whatsoever shall please you, and keep that faith of yours shut up within in your mind. For it concerns us not what faith you choose and hold, provided only we can have you safe from this shameful death. Which know most certainly now hangs over you, unless for an hour you dissemble that Papist faith by denying it.

[199] Nicolaus, nothing moved by words of this kind, nor unmindful of the words of the Apostle: With the heart indeed belief is made unto justice, nor does he deflect a nail's breadth from the purity of the faith. but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation—gravely repelled from himself that insidious and pernicious persuasion and suggestion of his brothers, openly showing that he so loved those who were joined to him by kinship of flesh, that nevertheless he hated the same, according to the Evangelical precept, when they set themselves against him in the way of God. And how little he reckoned some little prolonging of this mortal life, he declared in nearly these words: For what is more foolish than, for the sake of prolonging a little this mortal life, of which I have no certain space even of a single hour, to betray the faith, to offend God, and to become liable to eternal Gehenna; when even a little after it may befall that I die, or at least after six or seven years I must be summoned to death by the debt of nature? For the holy man did not promise himself more years of life remaining, though of age and constitution of body still entire. But neither, he said, ought death to seem dreadful to him, who had already tasted a certain foretaste of it in the prison of Gorcum.

[200] To wit, by such discourse he sufficiently showed (about to show the same more certainly by the deed a little after) how little he feared those an excellent despiser of threats and torments. who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; but how, on the contrary, with holy and chaste fear he revered Him who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. This constancy of the man his brothers, although they now distrusted that they could shake him, yet again and again pray, beseech, and adjure; that he would at least do what seemed permissible, and what had long been offered, that is, that he should suffer himself alone (since he could not bring help to his companions), his confession of faith being safe, to be freed from so infamous and so shameful a death. But Nicolaus, immovable to all the engines of persuasion; as if he stood a hard flint, or the Marpesian crag; with a soul altogether heroic, kept returning this for answer again and again: That he would never desert his brothers and dearest companions, to whom for most just causes he had bound his faith; but would be to them, as far as he could, a companion and sharer, whether of life or of death. Thus his sentence stood: from it, God being favorable, he would by no means be moved. For the rest, the things which thus far we have narrated as said and answered by the holy Martyr over the supper, all were received from two good and Catholic men who, having gone to Briel for the cause of the captives, chanced then to be present at this supper and conference, and have been faithfully written down by us.

[201] Hence the exasperated minds of the brothers against him. The supper being ended, when the brothers of Nicolaus, after so long a conference, hoped to accomplish nothing further, and now grieved that so great labor had turned out empty and fruitless for them, they departed, gravely moved against him; whose unconquerable constancy in the confession of the Catholic faith they interpreted as the stiff-necked stubbornness of a broken and obstinate mind fixed in its opinion. But Nicolaus himself, wearied out by those continual vexations by day and night, reclined upon a certain bench in the same place, and was soon seized by deepest sleep, secure of the peril that impended. Yet in truth, although for a little while released from prison and set at table he seemed to receive some solace, in reality at that time he sustained the harder part, assailed as he was by so many onslaughts of the ill-advised benevolence of his carnal brothers, than if for the same time he had endured all the discomforts of prison with his companions: albeit his brothers also (he himself, as I think, suggesting and requesting it) took care that the captives should be treated a little more comfortably; for some victuals, namely bread and cheese with beer, were, by their procuring, brought into the prison.

CHAP. XX.

[202] Further, while these things were being done about the captives, the night now far advanced, Lumey, soaked in wine, driven to rage, Count Lumey meanwhile was engaged in his wonted revelings, and at length after lavish feasting, soaked in wine (whereof indeed he had then poured into himself more than usual), whether rashly or by design, took into his hands the letters which contained the mandate of Orange mentioned above. And while, in reading, he noticed that it was not the letters of Orange themselves, but only a copy of them sent to him by Marinus; straightway from anger his countenance began to turn to pallor, his mind to fury. Soon there followed such a habit of the whole man as struck all who were present with terror. And he flung about words of this kind: What at last does that vainglorious busybody, this Marinus, arrogate to himself? What at last does he make himself, this twopenny fellow, this hawker of the streets, this pack-carrying porter

and burden-bearing beast, and grubber of turf? What, I say, does this most vile man arrogate to himself, that he should send me the copy while he keeps the original himself, as though he were now of some place or account? And what have I to do even with the Prince of Orange? Is he to command me? Or rather, is it not far more justly I to command him, being the first author of the restored cause? Wherefore I set his mandates at naught, and even much less this copy of his letters. In fine, now I will show in very deed that I am lord, and manage the matter at my own discretion, and acknowledge no mortal who ought to command me.

[203] Having said these things, straightway, his bile still boiling, he charges the chief criminal provost He orders the Martyrs to be hanged, to lead away, to be hanged out of hand, all to a man the priests and monks whom he held in bonds; nor to suffer any one of them all to be redeemed at any price whatsoever. He gives a separate mandate also to Omal, that he see his will altogether and most speedily fulfilled; nor suffer it to be frustrated either by anyone's fraud or connivance. And amid these things he kept repeating again and again that he was and would remain lord; that he acknowledged no power above himself to which he must obey, and this he would now show in very deed. In this manner, then, toward midnight, at the hour which we call the eleventh, at which time it is sanctioned by the laws that not even just sentences ought to be pronounced, there was pronounced by a man drunken and distended with crapulence, and made savage by the goads of wrath, the most unjust sentence of the utmost and shameful punishment upon the holy men, the priests and monks of God. Which, with an equal accord of iniquity, the ministers of darkness hasten to execute. Some of them, having understood the will of the Count, run in haste to those chambers in which Nicolaus Picus, reclining upon the bench, was taking peaceful sleep, with a secure mind and a serene conscience.

[204] Which same thing of old also procured sweet sleep for Peter, lying amid the watches of the soldiers, even the Guardian, who was peacefully sleeping. and the next day to be led to punishment; and in our age gave to John, Bishop of Rochester, a bodily tranquillity of mind, so that, as we have learned of him, he then still slept deeply, when after one or two hours he must die by the striking off of his head, the sentence of the judges having been decreed, as he had already surely known. Nicolaus therefore, pressed by close slumber, those soldiers cry out to, pluck at, rouse. And rousing him, and he in no wise delaying, they lead him away to his companions the Martyrs. They say that he, having heard the mandate of the Count through the lictors, said: What the Lord shall have given, I cannot refuse. If you want me, I will gladly accompany you. The soldiers therefore lead all the captives, when they had joined them two by two with their arms bound together, out beyond the gates of the city, about the first hour after midnight. Some of the soldiers on foot, some on horse, advance with great uproar, some others also of the common people running up to look on.

[205] To the number of the captives is again joined Henry the lay Minorite, Henry the lay Minorite is again joined to the captives. whom above we related to have been separated from the college of the Martyrs together with two others, not without suspicion of a renounced Catholicism. Wherefore he, led by repentance of the deed, and by necessity accommodated to virtue, discloses on the way to Antonius Werten (whom the Guardian had long before designated as his confessor) the wounds of his conscience which he had meanwhile received among the Gueux; that so, the grace of reconciliation received, he might proceed the readier to punishment. Nay, all the rest too, that they might approach that last struggle, and death itself, as well prepared as possible, take pains to wipe away by mutual confession the little stains of their conscience, if any they had chanced to contract amid so many vexations of the wicked, as human weakness is wont. Nor even then, when now they were going to the certain punishment of death, could the barbarous men refrain from injuring them, while some assailed them along the way with revilings and curses, others with evil deeds. Now all who were led were, with the two whom we have mentioned, the Guardian and that layman, added to the number, one and twenty.

CHAPTER VII.

The holy Martyrs are driven onto various beams, among whom the first is the Guardian. The new defection of Henry the novice, the more mournful apostasy of another, but the glorious confession of the rest unto the last breath.

CHAP. XXI.

After the captives had been led out beyond the city, a place fit for the execution is sought. At length they came to the monastery of Rugge, The place of execution: part of the overthrown monastery of Rugge. named by the name of St. Elizabeth; whose inhabitants had long been Regular Canons (as they call them) of the institute of St. Augustine; but which had lately been violated and overthrown by the recent fury of the Gueux. There remained standing in that monastery a certain house, ample like a barn, appointed for the storing of fuel-turf (whereof there is frequent use in those places). In it were two beams, one transverse and oblong, the other shorter, which seemed opportune to the soldiers for binding all the captives aloft. Who indeed, straightway led to that place, and now set in expectation of death to be borne for the Catholic faith, commended their supreme struggle to God, and by mutual prayers to God. There one exhorted another (as each trusted himself to be worth somewhat by God's gift in doctrine and grace of speech), by setting forth the hope of the heavenly kingdom, and of the eternal reward now to be obtained, to the constant endurance of punishment and death.

[207] The Guardian, to be first driven to the beam, excellently exhorts all his own; Soon all were stripped of their garments to the bare skin. First of all the venerable father the Guardian is hurried to the punishment. He, embracing and kissing all his brothers one by one, one after another, with his last words exhorts and prays them to contend bravely and constantly for the Catholic Faith unto the very last breath; that in the love of the brotherhood which they had cultivated while living, they may remain to death in one faith and one spirit: let not the last hour separate those whom until now mutual love had joined in one holy society. That it was now close at hand, that they should receive from the hand of the Lord the longed-for and much-desired rewards of their contest, the crowns of eternal felicity. These, now prepared and hanging over their heads, let them not lose through cowardice, but, death being despised, seize them manfully. In fine, whither they saw him going before, with the same alacrity of soul let them follow. Amid these and suchlike words, joyful and eager he ascends the ladder, not ceasing to exhort his companions, until, his throat being bound tight, the use of his voice was cut off.

[208] While he hung, Hieronymus the Vicar, and Nicasius Hezius, while others diligently protect their companions from the snares of the impious, and likewise Leonardus and Nicolaus the parish priests, diligently did their office in exhorting and confirming their companions and in fortifying their departure. For when certain heretics, and among these a Calvinist preacher, who had come to that same place with serpentine zeal to lie in wait for the heel of the pious, tried by various arts the faith and constancy of the younger monks and the laymen, holding out to them the hope even of preserving their life and of other advantages, if they would forsake the Papist religion: these whom we have just mentioned, being the more learned, and having by habit their senses exercised in the business of piety, set themselves against these for the more unskilled and feebler, repelling as with a shield the darts of deceitful flattery which were sent by the heretics, by prudent and learned answer, and by the very repulse breaking them in pieces. In which kind Nicasius rendered no mean service: who, being secure of himself, and enjoying a certain perpetual peace and tranquillity of mind, which his daily exercise of meditating upon the things of piety had bred in him, turned all his care to the defense and corroboration of the weaker brethren. Nor did we learn that this was done by him only then, when now they were being urged to punishment, but that he had solicitously practiced it at other times also.

[209] For when he had noticed that certain of his companions had neither the fortitude nor the knowledge especially St. Nicasius, answering for all. whereby they could match their step with those wolves and foxes, and sustain the contest without peril; he ordered that, content with silence, or (so far as need required) with a simple confession of faith, they should exchange no further word in dispute with the heretics. Nor did he suffer them to be, so to speak, in the rearmost line, where they could the more easily be ensnared by the discourses of the heretics standing nearest; but he gathered them inward into the middle of the throng, himself taking upon himself their whole cause, and answering for them. For as often as the heretics, tempting them, asked whether they would, if it were permitted to save their life, renounce the Roman Pope (for frequently this temptation was pressed upon the ruder sort), Nicasius, forestalling them with his own answer, would say: They will not, they will not do it. Never will they admit it. They have resolved with us to live and to die. These indeed, and suchlike, were then said and done by that man.

CHAP. XXII.

[210] Although, however, the utmost diligence was applied by Nicasius to that matter which I have mentioned, others whom I named above striving together with him, Henry's new defection vehemently afflicts the Vicar, yet they could not prevent Henry, a youth, the youngest of all in age, and not yet bound by the bond of profession, from doing, through fear of death, that which was bidden, if he would live. He, being asked his age, though he was eighteen years old, answered that he was sixteen, that he might stir up compassion for himself by regard of his age. And so soon he was loosed by those to whose suggestion the wretch had yielded, and taken out from the midst of the crowd of the bound. Which thing was most grievous to his companions the Martyrs, especially to Hieronymus the Vicar. For he was so gravely stirred against the heretic preacher, by whom the unhappy youth had been persuaded and had shamefully departed from his own, that when that same pseudo-preacher wished a little after to console Hieronymus at his punishment, and at the same time to exhort him, that, having bidden farewell to Papist superstition, he should embrace the pure and sincere doctrine of the Gospel which he himself preached; and among other things, to Hieronymus invoking the Saints reigning with Christ, said: Do not invoke St. Mary, or St. Peter, or the others, but God alone; he, on the contrary, as he stood higher on the ladder, planting one foot in the belly of the wicked persuader, repelled the man from himself with such force that he fell backward to the ground.

[211] who thrusts the little minister from himself, bravely enduring all cruelty. And he added words of this kind: Depart hence, most wicked of mortals, instrument of the devil. For you speak none of these things yourself; but whatever you speak, the devil speaks it through your mouth. Nor indeed, as you suppose, does it grieve me that I must now die: nor if it did grieve me, should I have need of you, such a consoler. But this it is that inwardly pains me: that a simple and unskilled youth, our novice, has been miserably beguiled by those flatteries of yours, and enticed and dragged into your detestable fellowship. Further, the Gueux took care that the youth, removed from the sight of the Martyrs, should keep himself the farther off; lest perchance, by the contemplation of their virtue and patience, he should be recalled to that from which he had fallen away. But the soldiers, irritated by that deed and those words of the Vicar, began to rage the more vehemently against him. For, as we have received by the report of certain persons, they cut his face with a knife and foully disfigured it. Then, as that apostate youth afterward related, the figures of the Jerusalem cross, which were to him, as a pilgrim of the Holy Land, on his breast and right

arm, so surely inscribed that they could not be effaced while the flesh was whole, the men, enemies of the cross of Christ, cruelly cut out from his flesh while he yet lived. But he himself, being of a brave and present mind, extended his discourse unto the last breath, full of piety toward God and of consolation toward his companions. The same also Nicasius the Minorite and Nicolaus the parish priest, as they were dying, performed. Now many things were said by them in Latin, which that lay novice, from whom we received a good part of these deeds, being little skilled in that tongue, could not afterward report to those who inquired.

CHAP. XXIII.

[212] But here another defection, far more mournful indeed than that former one, must of necessity be recorded by us. A most mournful apostasy of a Franciscan, A certain one of the Franciscans, William by name, French in speech, when he was now about to be hanged, addressing the soldiers (who were themselves also French) in French, said such things as should both signify his defection from the Catholic Faith according to their will, and obtain his deliverance from the impending punishment of death. For soon, as he uttered the ill-omened words, the soldiers cut the rope by which he was bound with his arms joined to some other, and straightway led him secretly out from the place of execution, covered with a cloak and hat lest he should be recognized, and with an axe laid upon his shoulders. And yet that wretched man, when he had severed himself from so holy a fellowship of his brothers, as though suddenly forsaken by divine protection, fell into a deep gulf of evils. For a little after, an utterly iniquitous exchange of society being made, he began to earn wages among the rebels together with the Gueux soldiers. And when he had thereafter perpetrated very many evils, befitting such a company, at length, having spent two and a half months in that soldiery, on the third of the Kalends of October, being convicted of theft, he paid the deserved penalty by hanging, God assuredly pursuing his impious defection from holy religion with a most just vengeance. Of which matter we shall treat more fully in its place.

[213] There were indeed also among the captives one and another the dread of some and their deprecation of death who, because they were younger in age and more vehemently affected by the natural horror of death, secretly asked the soldiers standing nearest them to cut the rope and, loosing them, lead them thence secretly. But this altogether without injury to the Catholic confession: whence neither was it granted. Nor indeed let anyone marvel that they are reckoned by us among the Martyrs, who, being now nearest to the punishment of death, were held still by a desire of living, and desired to be dismissed. For if the Prince of the Apostles, now old in age and full of days, was led whither he would not, as the Lord had foretold to him, saying: When you are old, you shall stretch out your hands, and another shall gird you and lead you whither you will not; who nevertheless by his death, signified by those very words, as the Evangelist testifies, glorified the Lord: what is there that we should marvel that these men, placed in a far lower degree of fortitude and merit, and still young in age, should dread death, love life, declare in suppliant words a natural desire without detriment to religion, whom nevertheless it must not be denied that, by the death inflicted a little after and patiently borne for the truth of the Catholic faith, they glorified God, and wiped away the former stain of too great fear, if any had been contracted?

[214] Although it must be confessed that the glory of God is more celebrated in those are excused by the author. who repressed that desire of temporal life clamoring within, by a greater desire of heavenly glory and of eternal life, lest it should break forth outwardly into words. To that same horror of death deeply implanted in our nature this too must be referred, that likewise one and another, in undergoing the punishment, showed not the same alacrity of spirit as the rest. For since Christ our Redeemer and our Head deigned to admit into himself, at his impending Passion, that he should be seized with dread and weariness, and that he should be sorrowful and mournful; that this should befall certain of his servants and members, even in the very last struggle of martyrdom, is nothing to be wondered at: since even for this Christ the Lord assumed those affections of soul by will, that he might recall his servants, who should suffer some such thing by a certain necessity of human weakness, from distrust, and console them by his own example.

CHAP. XXIV.

[215] But let us come to the rest. Godefridus Mervellanus, keeper of the sacred things among his brethren by office, [The magnanimity of Mervellanus, the commiseration of Leonardus toward his mother:] guarded the most sacred treasure of the Catholic Faith to the very end, with a care the greater, the more excellent it was. He, when he was being led up to be hanged, imitating the example of Christ the Savior, cried out, saying: Lord, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Leonardus, retaining his wonted greatness of soul in countenance and mind, after the exhortation of his companions, when now he was being brought to the punishment, is said among other things to have said; that it was in no wise grievous to him that he must meet death, a death to be desired with all vows. But because he still had a mother among the living (whom, being a good woman, her most excellent son, as was fitting, ardently loved), for her sake he was humanly moved: because he knew that she, having understood the death of her son, would grieve beyond measure through maternal affection. Words indeed not unlike those which are in the poet:

Would only that my death could deceive my mother. My mother stands in the way, and lessens the joys of death for me: although not my death by her, but her own life is to be bewailed.

And indeed I think it was brought about by the sure providence of God, that the death of the son was, by the zeal of his sisters, hidden from the mother so long as she remained in life; lest, the sword of grief passing through her very soul, the woman, now nearly worn out with old age, should be consumed with tears and mourning: but after her own death, which followed about a year later, she might sooner find her son in heaven, crowned with glory and honor, than know him dead upon earth. For it is not the lot of all mothers, even pious and God-fearing ones, to have that virtue of soul, that through the struggle of martyrdom they should desire to send their pledges before them to God, themselves about to follow with equal alacrity. Of which so great fortitude the Christian world admires the example in the most blessed women Salomone and Felicitas. But I return to the matter at hand.

[216] Dunæus excellently encourages him, When Leonardus, about to ascend the ladder, was somewhat delaying, Godefridus Dunæus, who was said above to have once suffered in the brain, thinking that his slowness proceeded from a languor of soul, is reported to have said to him: Why, master Leonardus, do you not press with swifter step to the banquet prepared for us? For today we shall feast with God and the Lamb in heaven. But when the same pious man, to be afflicted with the same punishment after all the others, was now cheerfully ascending the ladder, certain of the more humane soldiers, pitying him, said to one another: Ah! let not this man be hanged: for he is plainly innocent, and not of sound mind. But he, on the contrary, kindled with a mighty desire of martyrdom, and impatient of longer delay, says: Hasten, I pray, to unite me to my brothers. For I see the heavens opened. He is reported also to have said to the soldiers words of this kind: If I have offended in anything against anyone, I ask, for the love of God, that you pardon me. When therefore he had been strangled, the ministers of the execution seemed to be led by repentance of the deed. For they said: had they preserved him alive, it would doubtless have come about that, renouncing Papist superstition, he would have passed over to their opinion and party; for this reason, namely, that he had asked their pardon.

[217] he too, though injured in the brain, a most patient Martyr. And yet this asking of pardon did not pertain to an error of religion, in which that man, as he had been solidly instructed, so remained immovable unto the last breath; but to the daily lapses either of human actions or thoughts; for which he thought pardon should be asked, if perhaps less prudently, yet certainly humbly, from the enemies of piety and the ministers of impiety. For the redemption of this man a certain woman of Gorcum, devoted indeed to the new religion, but joined to him by blood, had offered no small sum of money; that she might, to wit, avert from her family the reproach of so dishonorable a death (as carnal men judge). But she was not able to obtain the thing. For not even to the heretics themselves, from the time they brought in the Gueux as their most friendly guests, did all things fall out according to their wishes, but many far otherwise than they had hoped. Which indeed that it would so turn out, they had been sufficiently and more than sufficiently forewarned by their own parish priests a little before they received them. It is worthy of mention, moreover, that this priest, although for many years subject to the disease of a disturbed brain, yet from the beginning of his captivity unto the end of his life suffered nothing of the kind, and committed nothing unworthy of a wise man: but bore himself sensibly, gravely, and patiently all that time; as his companions of captivity also testified concerning him.

CHAPTER VIII.

The detestable barbarity of the impious upon the bodies of the Martyrs, both still living and dead, whom they shamefully mutilate and tear to pieces: at length by the care of pious Catholics they are buried. Of the number of the Saints, compared with other ancient confessors.

CHAP. XXV.

Thus far concerning the punishment of the holy Martyrs. All of whom indeed were hanged from one oblong beam, four excepted. For from a certain other beam, Several of the Martyrs were found breathing for many hours. between the Guardian and the lay Brother named Cornelius, hung Godefridus Dunæus. But the fourth, Jacobus the Premonstratensian, was hanged from a certain ladder. For the rest, the extremes of the execution were very negligently carried out by the lictors, little solicitous that those who hung, being well strangled, should quickly die. For one held the rope in his mouth like a bit; another placed under his utmost chin; another had it brought to his throat indeed, but not sufficiently bound tight. Whence it came about that both their breath was more slowly cut off, and they were held longer in the last torment; so that certain of them, among whom the venerable Nicasius, having the rope thrust into his mouth, were found still breathing at broad day. An eyewitness of this matter was Henry the layman; whom, carrying a gun upon his shoulder in soldierly mockery, the soldiers led with them the next day to the place of execution; having returned thither for no other cause than that, by the inspection and mockery of the dead, whom living they had hated, they might feed their cruel eyes and minds, as we shall soon say. Further, they were occupied in carrying out the execution for the space of nearly two hours. For it was begun about the second hour after midnight, and finished about the fourth hour.

[219] At which same hour at Gorcum a certain marvelous and memorable vision, upon whom, while still alive, they exercised bloody barbarity in testimony of the sanctity and glory of the most recent Martyrs, was shown to a certain honest and pious man. But we shall relate it more opportunely in another place. In this manner, then, the holy men, having strenuously discharged the office of their confession and martyrdom, in the middle of the night between the eighth and ninth day of July, exchanging this momentary life for a glorious death, fell asleep in the Lord. But the soldiers—such was their most insolent barbarity—could not keep their wicked hands even from the dead, but foully and unworthily handled them. First, the garments stripped from the bodies down to the bare skin yielded to their greed. But not with this

content, they soon set about cutting off the ears, nostrils, and even the shameful parts of the body. Which was done upon almost all the bodies, one crying: I must have an ear from that little priest: and likewise another: and I a nose from that monk. And again another, calling the obscene parts by a still more obscene word. Thus each carried off for himself, at his own pleasure, something cut off from the lifeless bodies. Yet Henry the youth affirmed that outrages of this kind had been inflicted upon some while still living, as soon as they were stripped.

[220] the illustrious trumpeters of the new Gospel. They, moreover, that they might leave nothing wanting to the utmost insolence, fastened to their hats the members received from the bodies of the Saints; and adorned with these, as indeed they thought, most handsomely, returned into the city in triumphal pomp: and, as though they were the illustrious ensigns of their valor, openly and in the sight of all, upon the most eminent part of their own body, gloryingly carried them about here and there through all the streets of the city. Against whom let me be permitted to cry out in these words: O Evangelical deed! O fruits of the new plantation. Nay, more truly: O foul and monstrous barbarity, which under the pretext of the Gospel has brought forth for us such specious fruits from the nursery of the new doctrines! But what man, whose human mind has not yet degenerated into a swinish sense, could endure, without horror, either to behold with his eyes, or even to picture to himself in thought, a spectacle so foul, unspeakable, and inhuman? To wit, these and suchlike are the works by which those Evangelical men win credit for their new and prodigious doctrines, propagate their sect, and at last obtain the favors and zeal of all. So much the less excusable before the divine justice are as many as, having forsaken the Catholic Church of Christ, transfer themselves to this kind of men, with a certain blind and insane impulse, maddened by the vain show of liberty, and unwilling to observe that caution prescribed by the Lord: By their fruits you shall know them; whereas everywhere by their fruits (if only one direct his eyes) they are most manifestly betrayed.

CHAP. XXVI.

[221] Further, the ferocity of the soldiers against the dead did not even so rest, being kindled anew with fresh torches of avarice. The detestable savagery of the soldiers upon the bodies of the Saints, In the manner of butchers, therefore, they cut open the bodies of nearly all; open the bellies, search the inmost entrails, examine the abdomen, meaning to expose them for sale at a price, and to make a profit therefrom. For it is a persuasion that the fat of the human body excels the rest, and is chiefly of use for medicaments: and by name the body of Hieronymus the Vicar, thick and fat, they bind to ladders (as is the custom in Holland with slaughtered swine), and having opened the belly and breast, spread apart the ribs, that, the entrails being conveniently surveyed, they might gather all the fat and carry it off for themselves. Whence it came about that, while they searched every part, they left the body foully torn on all sides with knives. The abdomen collected, and the rest of the fat, they carry with them into the city, and everywhere show it to all. Which afterward certain vile, itinerant men, professing the unguent-maker's art, but in reality gulling the people with their most lying tricks, redeemed from them at a price. These not long after exposed those same wares for sale in the middle market of Gorcum: which, that they might make them the more saleable among the common folk, they boldly affirmed that this fat was of this monk, and that of that one, and another of some other, caring nothing, after their manner, whether they spoke true or false.

[222] But how unworthily, how shamelessly and shamefully those same soldiers afterward long handled the mutilated members of the Martyrs, shamefully mutilated and torn by them. especially those which are not named without shame—being far more detestable than he who made known his father's nakedness to his brothers; while even through other cities, to which the success of the new faction called them, they carry about the same things laid up in little boxes, and, wherever it seemed opportune to their wickedness, bring them forth and display them; and, what is horrible to say, most petulantly thrust them before the sight of holy virgins, and force them upon their faces: these things, I say, I deem it better to press with silence than to offend chaste ears by too curious a narration. But if we deservedly detest the ferocity of those who of old cast the corpses of the Martyrs to be torn and devoured by beasts; in what number at last shall we place this kind of men, who, having gone very far beyond all bounds of humanity and honesty, in so many and so abominable ways strove to prolong among mortals, after death, the injuries and outrages of the Saints and friends of God? For neither do we read that such things were done against Christians in former ages by any enemy of the Christians. But it plainly befitted that the new religion should render itself illustrious and celebrated among all, not only by new laws, but also by new and unheard-of modes of punishments and outrages devised against those who resisted, whereby all bygone antiquity might acknowledge itself surpassed.

CHAP. XXIX.

[223] Now, to return to the series of the history, that novice Minorite, whom above I mentioned to have been drawn away from the fellowship of the Martyrs by the flatteries of the Gueux, The most wretched condition of the novice Henry among the Gueux, although, living among the Gueux and in the household of the Count, he showed himself obedient to their commands and nods in all things: nevertheless, because he had been a monk, he suffered from the intimates of the Count mockeries, jeers, blows, and many other unworthy things at their pleasure. Upon him too, as he stood and served at table (for he had been added as a servant to the Count's harper), the Count, with a churlish jest, would say: This young monk ought still to be hanging. Further, the soldiers, with soldierly petulance, laying a little gun upon his shoulders, forced him to speak revilings against the Roman Pope, against the Duke of Alba, against all priests and monks. But on the contrary, to shout out favorable acclamations to the Count de la Marck and to the Gueux, by saying: Long live the Count; long live the Gueux. To all these things the wretch was driven by the fear of losing his life, which, all the time he was among the enemy, on account of their levity and perfidy, hung in great doubt.

[224] This youth, then, on the day which next followed the night of the passion of the holy Martyrs, as I mentioned before, who is forced to pierce with a ball the hanging body of his Guardian. being led to the place of the execution of the Martyrs, lest he should be only a spectator of what was done, was ordered to pierce with a ball the hanging body of Nicolaus, his father and prefect. Which that unhappy one did, compelled by the same fear as the rest. He afterward, having returned to the Catholics, affirmed that he had then seen with his own eyes both that which I have related above of Nicasius, and, upon inspection of his body, had learned that he had labored under a rupture. Which malady that man, while he lived (fearing, I believe, lest he should be burdensome to his brothers), had always concealed. To which disease they testified that Theodorus of Emden also was subject, who knew him more intimately. The bodies of the Martyrs, after the foul anatomy perpetrated upon them by the soldiers, were left all that day on the gibbets, and given over to the mockeries of all who came. Of whom so great was the number, that the guards of the city gates made a profit therefrom, not suffering the men eager to see this spectacle to go out unless a little coin were first received. It seemed indeed a fair and pleasant thing to behold with the eyes so many priests and monks hanged together in one place, and those naked, and so contumeliously handled: so that in their person there aptly agreed, not only of the living but even of the dead, that word of the Apostle: We are made a spectacle to the world.

CHAP. XXVIII.

[225] Toward the third hour after noon of that same day, a certain grave and Catholic man of Gorcum, [A pious Catholic takes care that the shamefully stripped bodies of the Martyrs be buried.] when he came with others to the place of execution, saw the hanging bodies of the Martyrs, as I have just said, wholly stripped and foully mutilated; especially the body of the venerable Hieronymus, which, with belly opened and ribs spread apart, he found set against the light of a certain window, where the Gueux had placed it, while they exquisitely searched the fat of his entrails. He found also boys, who had run thither in numbers for the sake of the spectacle, who, disporting themselves as in sport, and turning the ignominy of the holy Martyrs into laughter, showed themselves indeed not unlike those who, mocking the prophet Elisha by shouting "baldhead," straightway paid the penalty of their wantonness. Gravely moved by so great an indignity of the matter, this man straightway returned into the city; and with those who were set over affairs he pleaded with many prayers, that the bodies of the slain might be committed to the earth. Which at length was obtained, not without a price, some other Gorcum Catholics also joining in the same petition. And so on the next night what was sought was seen to and accomplished; the Gueux soldiers carrying out this matter also, by whom of old so many works of night and darkness had been perpetrated in the nocturnal hours. When therefore that same man, who had taken care that the bodies of the holy Martyrs be committed to the earth, had returned to that place at first light, he found them cast into two pits and heaped over. For those which had hung from the one oblong beam had been gathered under it into one pit, but the remaining four under the other beam had been thrown into another, smaller pit. And indeed unto this very day we believe that in that same place the bodies of the Saints rest amid the very enemies of the Church, until God, appeased by the merits and intercession of these his Martyrs, restore to this Belgic church the long-hoped-for peace, and inspire the will and grant the means to his devoted servants, to raise the sacred bones from the tombs and honor them with just honors.

CHAP. XXIX.

[226] Now it remains that we speak of the number of the Martyrs. Whom indeed we have certainly received to have been in all nineteen. How many of the captives defected, how many were substituted. For in this number they were first carried from the prison of Gorcum to Briel. But since three afterward departed from their fellowship by defection, as the foregoing narration shows, lest that most sacred college should be defrauded of its former number, it was brought about by an admirable counsel of divine Providence, that in the place of those who had defected three others succeeded. These were Andreas, parish priest of Heinort, and two who had professed the institute of the Premonstratensian Order; of whom one likewise was a parish priest, the other his assistant in the parish. These three from their several places, in which they spent care upon feeding the Lord's flock, had been dragged to Briel by the then recent hostility of the Gueux, so ordering it, to wit, He who disposes all things most fittingly, that, three being restored in the place of three, neither should anything be lost of the former number, nor should any of the crowns be empty of its possessor: but that those which had been prepared for the entire number should be rendered to the entire number; even as of old the fortieth crown, shamefully forsaken by one, was happily seized by another. Nay, this too is worthy of observation, that, although two monks had defected, yet the entire number of religious came to the crown, by the accession of two monks from the white Order of the Premonstratensians. Yet you may learn that this number was even increased in honor from this, that, whereas at first there were carried from Gorcum sixteen priests, yet seventeen were crowned; a priest, to wit, being substituted in the place of the apostate youth, who was a layman.

[227] But that you may recognize this same number as consecrated of old to the confession of the Catholic Faith, [The number of Martyrs is compared to another similar one of the ancient confessors.] Peter of Alexandria, successor of the great Athanasius in the episcopate, relates that by

the Arians the Catholics of the aforesaid number, partly priests, partly deacons, of whom some also had passed their eightieth year, were subjected to various torments, and at last, set upon a ship without necessary provisions, were carried off into exile to a certain barbarous city of Phoenicia, where they might waste away amid the perpetual vexation of the inhabitants, who could not even endure to hear the name of Christ. Which history, if you compare with this of ours, you will assuredly find a great likeness of the thing done. For first, in both cases, as I said, the number is the same. Then in both all are, by reason either of order or of institute, more closely joined to God; those indeed partly priests, partly deacons; but these partly priests, partly monks, nay, a great part venerable by both names. Moreover both suffered for the Catholic faith at the hands of heretics; those from the Arians, these from the Calvinians, who reproduce excellently the temper and manners of the Arians, if ever any others were heretics. Again both were first afflicted in various ways in the city of their dwelling, both were set upon ships without necessary provisions, both were carried off into a barbarous city. In both numbers were found old men who exceeded the eightieth year of their age. In fine, although we find nothing written of their death (because perhaps, when those things were written, they had not yet departed this life), yet I think it consonant that to such beginnings and progresses there answered also an end worthy of the athletes of Christ and witnesses of the Catholic faith, even as, by God's gift, it answered also in ours.

THE THIRD BOOK.

In which the several Martyrs and other captives are treated of separately.

The Author's Purpose.

CHAP. I.

After the narration of those things which concerning the glorious contest of our holy Martyrs I have been able to know and ascertain, I judged that I should do a work of no small worth if to the two foregoing books I add this third, in which I may briefly set down and commend to the memory of posterity some things which I have chanced to learn concerning each, pertaining to their life, manners, and the function which they exercised in the Church. For this will both illustrate the history of their passion very much, and will, I trust, be to readers—especially to those who rejoice to be stirred by the examples of the Saints to perfection of life—as not unpleasant, so not unprofitable. And before I undertake this, I will recount the names of all, not indeed in that order which their merits demand (of which God alone is the weigher), but in that which is suited to our narration. And they are these. I Nicolaus. II Hieronymus. III Theodoricus. IV Nicasius. V Wilhadus. VI Godefridus. VII Antonius. VIII Antonius the other. IX Franciscus. X Petrus. XI Cornelius. XII Leonardus. XIII Nicolaus the other. XIV Godefridus the other. XV Joannes. XVI Joannes the other. XVII Adrianus. XVIII Jacobus. XIX Andreas. Of which number the first eleven were Franciscans, or Friars Minor of the Regular Observance, as they are called, on account of their absolute and in no part restricted profession of the Rule handed down to them by St. Francis, and their observance following from that profession. The other eight were indeed all priests, yet did not follow one and the same manner of life; as the course of the narration will show of each in its place. And so now let us pursue what we have proposed.

CHAPTER I.

Of the origin, first studies, conversation, humility, stature, and habit of body, alacrity of soul, piety, and observance of Evangelical poverty of Bl. Nicolaus Picus.

CHAP. II.

Nicolaus Picus, born at Gorcum of his father Joannes Picus and his mother Henrica Calvia, most honorable spouses, and excellent cultivators of the ancestral, that is, orthodox and Catholic faith; Born of a most excellent Catholic father, the man especially, as one who had at times shown himself not only a citizen most observant of sincere religion, but also a most keen defender of it among the citizens. For (that I may mention this one thing of many concerning him) when at one time in that city a certain wolf, with foxlike cunning, had usurped the place of a shepherd, and had already begun to lay waste the Lord's flock with secret bites; Joannes Picus both sagaciously understood the matter, and, incited by zeal of religion, did not cease to pursue the hidden tracks of the wolf, until he, detected and known, was compelled to forsake both his office and the city. By the zeal of this parent Nicolaus, diligently instructed in piety from earliest childhood, so profited that by imitation, or more truly by emulation, of his father's virtue, while yet a boy he proved himself worthy of such a begetter.

[230] Who, since from his first years, hating the vanity and pomps of this world, admitted into the Franciscan Order at Bois-le-Duc, he turned over in his mind some more sacred and more perfect manner of life: as soon as his age permitted, he embraced and professed the holy institute of St. Francis in that city in which he had already before learned humane letters happily enough. It is Bois-le-Duc in Brabant, which had a school of letters frequented and celebrated, which even today, though its affairs are most afflicted, endures. Thence further Nicolaus, as a youth of the best hope among his equals, was sent by the command of his superiors to Louvain for the study of sacred Theology. There is in that city a convent of the Order of Friars Minor, in which monastic discipline, according to the rule of St. Francis, was cultivated with the utmost piety and observance, and the studies of the sacred Letters flourished exceedingly: so that not even to this day, amid the many calamities of the city and province which have meanwhile befallen, has that fervor of piety and of studies slackened. There had lived in that convent, not many years before that time, a man celebrated throughout Brabant for sanctity of life and the preaching of the word of God, Friar Theodoricus Munsterus; of whom many excellent things are recorded. And the Professors, or, as they are called, the Lectors of sacred Theology, that house always had most learned. Among whom were men celebrated likewise by the repute of sanctity, and having also, by the books transmitted to posterity, obtained a famous name, Franciscus Titelmanus and Adamus Sasboldus. Of whom the former had long before, for the zeal of a more austere life, departed from Louvain into Italy, and had there already passed from life.

[231] But Sasboldus produced from his school many men, he obtained distinguished masters and companions at Louvain. whose doctrine, joined with innocence of life, conferred much upon the Church of Christ; but two especially, Nicolaus Picus and Daniel of Arendonck; with whom, as with two gems, Christ had determined to adorn the family of Francis, nay, his own Church; both to be Martyrs, both leaders and chief of Martyrs, designating the one prefect of the Gorcum, the other of the Alkmaar convent, at the time, to wit, foreordained by himself. Nor must I be silent in this place of my own Martyr's nephew by his sister, but my own full brother, and also my most dear brother, and the continual exactor of this our writing, Arnoldus Estius, who, piously emulating his uncle, professed the rule of St. Francis in the same monastery in which he learned the sacred Letters; and afterward, being the successor of those most learned men whom I have mentioned, publicly taught sacred theology there for many years with praise and fruit, until in this very year, in which we commit these things to the press, he was created Minister of the province of that same place.

CHAP. III.

[232] Therefore, in that most holy fellowship of the brethren, after Nicolaus had given some years' labor to the sacred Letters, Free from pretense and self-love, he was thence sent into the Lord's field to divers places, to bear fruit by the scattered seed of the word of God, and to expend with equal diligence the talent gained with immense care and zeal. Which indeed as obediently he undertook to do at the hand of his superiors, so faithfully and happily, with God's help, he accomplished. Now his praiseworthy conversation of life among his own, whereby he prepared himself for the crown of martyrdom, if I should wish to pursue at greater length, I should do more than I have proposed. Although of many things I ought not to pass over the chief, such as this: that, whereas all the virtues had placed their dwelling in that man's most sacred breast, yet in him there singularly excelled that which is the guardian of all the virtues, a humility free from pretense and dissimulation, and a modesty of mind; so that whoever should look upon his life would recognize a true Friar Minor and a genuine disciple of Francis; in whose manners and speech nothing haughty, nothing insolent appeared, nothing, in fine, of that self-love with which nearly all of us labor could be noted.

[133] If ever he was admonished of a fault, even by one who was either younger in age or lower in place he dwelt peacefully among his own, (for this confidence of admonishing he easily afforded to his companions, by the notable and proven courtesy and modesty of the man), not only kindly and peacefully, but even gratefully did he admit the correction; as one who looked not so much at the person of the corrector, as set before his eyes the fruit of the correction for himself. When at some time in a public sermon he was begging alms for his monastery, he said that he begged it for the Saints who were at Gorcum in the convent of the Friars Minor. Afterward, being asked by a certain man who had heard him say this, whether he called himself a Saint, he answered: By no means; but my Brothers are saints, holy is our congregation of the poor. And that he might not seem to say this too arrogantly, he confirmed it by the testimony of the Apostle Paul, who called the poor Christians saints in more than one place. Nor yet was this so said by him that he did not also both recognize the vices of his own, and, where there was need, chastise them with the severity of discipline. If ever, by certain lapses of theirs, as happens, he saw others offended, he was wont to say, by way of excuse, that these too were men; hinting that it was no wonder if in men, though striving toward perfection, something of human vice and infirmity should be found.

[234] For the rest, how modestly he always thought of himself, endowed with a humility worthy of a Martyr. then began to appear the more, when the Gueux, certain towns of Holland being reduced under their power, and made more insolent, raging with unheard-of cruelty against the ministers of the Church and the servants of God, had already put some of them to death. For then, when friends whom he held more close, fearing for him, and among them Leonardus the parish priest, familiarly and as it were in jest said to him: Monk, the Gueux will hang you, he answered: This I have not yet deserved. When Leonardus replied: And yet in this season many are hanged undeserving: Nicolaus answered again: The grace of martyrdom is not wont to be given to the undeserving. For it is needful that one come to it at last through the holy actions of a preceding life. Thus that man, from the inmost humility of his soul, reckoned himself unworthy that God should advance him to so great a glory. But God, who, though he be exalted, regards the lowly, himself the bestower of humility, afterward declared with how great honor he had deemed the humble Nicolaus worthy.

CHAP. IV.

[235] Now, to touch briefly upon a few things concerning the rest of him: Nicolaus was of an honest and comely form; with countenance modestly composed to cheerfulness, of a middling stature and habit of the whole body. There was in his countenance a native fairness, amiable to the eyes of beholders, but which, besides the nocturnal vigils and fasts, the grave and continual cares which by reason of his office he sustained had somewhat changed to pallor. Yet his very countenance was always tranquil and serene, the herald of a pure and peaceful conscience. And what he professed by his speech—that God must be served with a cheerful spirit—he always showed by his life and manners, since in his countenance too cheerfulness shone forth, tempered with a gravity which

won for him among his own love together with reverence: for there is a certain cheerfulness deservedly to be praised, and befitting holy men, as the examples of the Saints show. Blessed Agatho, from a monk made Roman Pontiff, is recorded to have been so kind and gentle that he was approved by all as cheerful and pleasant; and of so great sanctity, that once he healed with a kiss a leper who met him. The holy men also, Romualdus, restorer of the eremitic discipline, and Dominic, founder of the Order of Preachers; and likewise William, bishop of Bourges, are described to us as almost always cheerful and pleasant, although in this last one that quality is said to have displeased certain austere and sour men.

[236] What? that Christ the Lord too was always cheerful, he relaxed nothing of the severity of discipline. and always pleasant, do not the interpreters of that passage pronounce, from that testimony of the Prophet: He shall not be sad, nor turbulent? I am not indeed ignorant that in this respect certain men, otherwise good and spiritual, sometimes offend, while they pour themselves out into cheerfulness beyond measure. Which in Isaac the monk, otherwise incomparably endowed with many virtues, and even gifted with the spirit of prophecy, blessed Pope Gregory noted. But this I shall not easily concede of Nicolaus, whom that cheerfulness of spirit so rendered amiable and pleasant, that nonetheless both the gravity of his manners and the severity of discipline showed him worthy of reverence. And this the more evidently declared how great was his piety toward God, that he applied a certain notable alacrity and readiness of soul to every service of God, whether sermons were to be delivered to the people, which he often delivered two or three in one day; or the confessions of penitents to be heard, or the nightly and daily prayers and psalmody to be attended to, or whatsoever other burdens to be undergone, by custom or beyond custom; so much so that by such holy labors he seemed not so much to be wasted as to be fed, a man otherwise not altogether strong in body, and by nature not much fit for bearing graver discomforts.

[237] Although he enjoyed delicate health: Of which you may take a conjecture even from this: that if ever, as happens, having incautiously used a knife, he had lightly wounded a finger, straightway, as though gravely struck by a dart, he suffered a fainting of the mind. So tender and susceptible was his constitution of body. The more to be admired by us and commended is the kindness of God toward his Martyr, who conferred upon him such strength that in a tender body he sustained the savage torments and the punishment of death not only patiently, but even with alacrity; as one who had himself also heard from the Lord: My grace is sufficient for you; for virtue is perfected in weakness. There was added to his other virtues a love and zeal for virginal purity, which through his whole life he most holily both held and cultivated. Concerning which I would say more, did I not fear lest a singular praise should be turned to the reproach of the multitude; since the best and constant report speaks of others also as having been chiefly zealous for chastity.

CHAP. V.

[238] But indeed how he always lived, as befitted a monk poor by profession, and a disciple of that holy little poor man, yet of austere abstinence, content with things present, which for the time were supplied for food, clothing, and other necessaries out of the ordinary and common alms, a certain letter of his given to me sufficiently declares. For when he was staying at Brussels, he had to preach, as often at other times, through all the continuous days of holy Lent. That he might not sink under so great a burden, he doubtless had need of some indulgence and relaxation of his harder abstinence. Which nevertheless he, most observant of the holy constitutions, scarcely admitted. In that letter, therefore, when he was giving thanks for the things liberally offered by his brother-in-law, my father, all things whereof he might chance to have need, to him then giving his labor to the sacred letters at Louvain through me, he added these words: Yet I hope that I shall not easily molest or burden any of mine. For it behooves me to learn with the Apostle, in whatsoever state I am, to be content therein; both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer want. It is best, says the same to his Hebrews, to establish the heart with grace; not with meats, which have not profited those that walk in them. From God therefore chiefly I always expect strength and fortitude to perform those things which shall have been imposed upon me. Thus he.

[239] Indeed I myself also ascertained that there was in him so great a zeal and study of Evangelical poverty, and most observant of poverty. that not only did he abstain from superfluous things, if ever such were offered by friends; but he seemed not even to take necessary things without a certain shamefacedness, scarcely satisfying well the rule of his profession in this one matter. If anything more precious or more ornate were offered, he refused it with courtesy, saying that St. Francis, if he saw it, would take it ill. His stock of books was so modest that, besides those things which he had with the utmost diligence copied out, excerpted, and noted for himself either by private study or from a lecturing master (all which nevertheless he willingly and obediently left to the will and disposal of his superior), there was scarcely anything that deserved the name of household stuff. There is with me among his books a New Testament of Jesus Christ, of a cheap binding indeed, befitting the humble profession of his Order, but in which I found most diligently noted in his hand in the margin, at most of the more obscure places, clearer versions and explanations. Although, as befits brothers living in common, he sought the aid of his studies rather from the common library than from books peculiarly granted to his own use. From this love of Evangelical poverty it proceeded that he vehemently hated the opposite vice of ownership, as the pest of monasteries. That the brothers over whom he presided might have no occasion of it from want, he took diligent care that whatever of clothing, books, and other things was necessary to them should be supplied to all from the common store.

CHAPTER II.

Many things bravely said and done by Bl. Nicolaus; his sermons; his unshaken constancy in the faith and his simplicity in professing it. His twofold martyrdom; his age, and the sincerity of this history.

CHAP. VI.

Many other things also were piously, prudently, and gravely said and done by him. As often as he said that he was about to do anything, Breathing the glory of God and charity, as to read, to write, to go abroad, or whatsoever like, he always added: To the honor of God; following that word of Paul: Do all things to the glory of God. His subject brothers, if any work were to be enjoined on them, he often asked, when he could have commanded. But whether he commanded or asked, he added: Out of charity; thinking, to wit, that word of the same Apostle: Let all your things be done in charity. The pouring out of the precious ointment upon the head of Jesus he interpreted of the pouring back of all our good works into Christ, as the head, author, and bestower: so that not even a little drop should remain to us, which we should not refer to him as received. In giving counsels he warned that before all things care must be taken lest God be offended. In doubtful and most difficult matters he was of keen judgment. When certain little women, in appearance exceedingly pious and religious, were said to receive certain marvelous revelations, and to suffer certain portentous and stupendous things, and the matter had come into dispute among the learned; Nicolaus first affirmed that they were diabolical illusions and deceptions. Which that it was so, was at last found out clearer than light. The kind of women who will not marry, nor yet leave the world, nor renounce their own will, nor live by a rule; because they are wont often to abuse their liberty of life, he did not greatly approve, quoting that saying of a certain one: A woman ought to have either a husband or a wall.

[241] With his two brothers according to the flesh, straying from the Catholic Faith, in reforming abuses he was always most brave. he dealt both by word in their presence, and by letters in absence, with all the care and diligence he could, to recall them from error. Which although he did not obtain (for who can correct him whom God has despised?), yet he did not lose before God the merit of his best will and zeal. When two certain heretics had been condemned to the punishment of death, he, a suppliant and cast upon the ground, begged the judge for them, if they should repent, that their life be granted them. With great and constant courage he acted and brought it about that the prefect of a certain monastery of virgins, who impurely abused the virgins consecrated to God, although relying on the number of his friends and gracious in the eyes of many, was deprived of his office and sent away. To the reforming also of his own monastery, of which he had been made Guardian, he was most zealously intent; suffering in that matter some of the brothers as adversaries: but of whom none was made a partaker of martyrdom with him. The little afternoon refreshments, or more truly little drinkings, which had at times crept into the monastery on occasion of secular men, he wholly abolished, though many resisted. So great was the constancy of Nicolaus in carrying out and perfecting the things which he had well resolved in his mind. And so Peter Montanus, a man conspicuous for doctrine and piety (under whom as Guardian he had lived in two or three places), having experienced the immovable firmness of his mind, especially in the business of reformation, said that he had always seemed to him most apt for bearing martyrdom. But let these few of many suffice, written to prove to posterity the holy and martyrdom-worthy conversation of life of that man.

CHAP. VII.

[242] Further, when the tempest of the last persecution was pressing on, His sermons on the truth of the Eucharist, he delivered two sermons to the people, as the last, so full of piety and doctrine: the one on the Sunday within the octave of Corpus Christi, in which, discoursing copiously, learnedly, and ardently on the truth of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist, he showed that the words of Christ, saying: This is my Body; This is my Blood, are to be taken not tropically, as the heretics will have it, but properly. In which same discourse he declared the incredible love of Christ toward us, whereby, to wit, he brought it about that, though he was to withdraw from us the visible form of his body, yet not only in soul and spirit, but also in body (which meanwhile should be veiled under the forms of other things in the Sacrament), he should remain among us unto the end of the world, and even be mingled with us. To wit, that this is an argument of the most ardent love, he beautifully showed by the words of John Chrysostom.

[243] But the other, the very last sermon, he delivered not long after, and on constantly guarding the Catholic faith. exhortatory to constancy in the Catholic faith and in its confession. In which he taught that by no reason, in no case, is it lawful for a Christian man to deny the Faith, not even when the most bitter torments are threatened, and the very punishment of death set before him. Nay, that it is necessary that each, being questioned about the Faith, all simulation and dissimulation removed, freely and plainly confess it, if he would not perish eternally, since the Lord says in the Gospel: Whosoever shall confess me before men, I also will confess him before my Father, who is in heaven. And: whosoever shall deny me before men, I also will deny him before my Father, who is in heaven. Such things then

he indeed fervently and solicitously taught the people, who were held in suspense by fear of the impending tumults. But a little after he confirmed that doctrine most efficaciously by the deed, as we have set forth at large in our history. For it (unless I am deceived) openly shows what was that man's fortitude of soul in enduring reproaches and punishments for the Catholic religion, how ardent his spirit toward martyrdom; in fine, with what faith, with what charity he followed his companions unto the very end of life.

CHAP. VIII.

[244] But (such is the worst custom of depraved men, that whatever excellent and praiseworthy thing they see in the good whom they hate, There are vindicated: his fortitude unshaken in faith, they twist to the worse part, and by the surname of some vice akin to that virtue defame it) there were not wanting those who, most wickedly carping both at this most brave Martyr's faith inviolably kept toward his companions, and at his unconquered endurance of so many troubles and of death, assailed them under inverted names: and interpreted the one as proud animosity, the other as the inflexible obstinacy of a stubborn mind. That animosity, because on account of the faith (as they said) imprudently and rashly given to his companions, he could by no means be induced to consult for himself and withdraw from peril without those whom he could not save. But that obstinacy, because the Papist religion (I report their words) had been so deeply implanted in his inmost bowels and marrow, that from thence it could be plucked by no force nor any art of persuasion. Thus, to wit, they called his most illustrious virtues into crime. Against whom sounds that prophetic threat: Woe to you who call evil good and good evil.

[245] There were others who reprehended his simplicity, not without derision; either because he was unwilling himself to dissemble his opinion of religion even a little for the sake of his companions, and his candor and simplicity in confessing it. nor to be the author to them of doing the same: or because he had at least, too foolishly, as they judged, rejected his own liberation so often offered, which could have befallen him with his confession safe, without his companions. But O holy and truly dovelike simplicity, which, according to the Lord's precept, by no means excluded from itself serpentine prudence! For this is true prudence, and set before us by Christ the Savior for imitation after the example of the serpent; that, as the serpent guards and preserves the safety of its head by the exposing of all the rest of the body: so we, for the sake of obtaining and preserving those things which are the chief, or rather the only goods, should not hesitate to lose, and even willingly to cast from us, whatever else is numbered among goods, when the matter so requires. But this Christian and holy and most orderly prudence according to God is unknown to the prudent of this world; nay, what is more to be grieved, it is derided, and rejected and hissed at as mere madness, they by no means understanding that, while they do this, and so perversely judge of things, they draw into the odium of the same crime not only so many myriads of holy Martyrs, but also Christ the Lord himself, the very Head of the Martyrs; and thereby despoil both Christ and all the Martyrs of the due praises of their passions and contests.

CHAP. IX.

[246] What then? Shall I not call Nicolaus Picus a Martyr? Nay rather, twice a Martyr. By a twofold martyrdom For if you attend to the penalty, twice bound with the noose he hung, twice sustained the pains of death, twice endured death itself, so far at least as in him lay. For the death which he tasted at Briel, he had already foretasted at Gorcum, being marvelously preserved by God's will for this one thing, that in the perilous contest he might confirm his companions, and double for himself the crown before God. But if you look at the cause of suffering, in this respect too you will not at all doubt to pronounce this man twice a Martyr. For the cause of the faith in God he had in common with the rest; but proper to himself the faith toward his Brothers, to whom, joined by an indivisible charity, he would by no means consent to commit, that those whom he had loved in life he should desert in death; imitating in this matter his Lord, who, when he had loved his own, loved them unto the end. For not only with his brothers, but also for his brothers, after the example of the same Savior, he laid down his life: whom for this reason he was unwilling to desert, lest, being destitute of a shepherd, and thereby exposed to the bites of wolves, they should perish. Therefore he had for the cause of dying both religion, lest, it being betrayed, he himself should perish; and charity, lest, while he as it were loves himself and consults for himself, those should perish whose salvation, committed to him by the Lord, he had received.

[247] his affection is shown; In fine, what need is there of our testimony, when even our enemies are witnesses and judges of this matter? For they themselves, as many as have received a sure knowledge of the thing done, confess with one voice that he was, as they indeed speak, a most stubborn defender of his opinion; but, as it befits us to speak, a most constant asserter of the true religion. For not to obstinacy, but to constancy, must be imputed a will persisting in a good thing unto the last breath. But it displeased those in this Martyr, which of old they charged universally upon Christian Martyrs, enemies of the Christian name, and judged worthy to be pursued with all punishments; namely, defaming their immovable constancy in the confession of the Faith with the odious names of stubbornness and inflexible obstinacy. But they object that he did not meet death for the assertion of the Faith or Religion; but only for this cause, that he had utterly refused to renounce the Pope. By which word indeed they make it testified and certain to all rightly wise men, that he in truth died in a glorious contest for the Catholic Faith, which acknowledges one supreme Vicar of Christ on earth, the Roman Pontiff. And so God turned their testimony upon their own head; so that whereby they think to extinguish the glory of the Martyr, thereby they most greatly promote and illustrate it.

CHAP. X.

[248] Now Nicolaus suffered martyrdom when he had not yet completed the thirty-eighth year of his age. For we have learned that he was born in the year 1534, Of the Saint's age, and the sincerity of the history. on the 29th day of August. His likeness, painted to the life—though I count this least among the monuments of so great a man—is preserved by us, with this epigram inscribed:

Whom the new image presents, if perchance you ask; this new-martyr is Nicolaus Picus. Gorcum begot him: the Rule of Francis brought the compendium of a more perfect life. To the brothers, whom as their head he ruled by that norm, he was likewise their exhorter and leader in martyrdom. The piety he held while living, he consecrated by death: and dedicated himself wholly a victim to God. The curses, threats, reproaches of the heretical crowd he conquered by bearing, instructed by his own name. Twice having suffered the noose, faithful to the Lord and to his companions, he triumphs with the palm, and with a twofold crown.

Indeed I seem to be able, not undeservedly, to glory in the kinship and at once the friendship of this most holy Martyr; as one who was my uncle according to the flesh, and joined to me according to God by a love more than brotherly, and who by his exhortations no little aided the care of my parents in promoting my studies. Of which thing his several letters to me are witnesses, which, as an incomparable treasure, I keep with what diligence and religion I can. Would that I could have repaid some office worthy of that man's merits toward me, in the writing of his martyrdom! But if that has been less granted, at least, having with entire fidelity and ready will discharged this office of writing, such as it is, I have been unwilling, so far as in me lay, to be wanting to posterity for the perpetual retaining of the knowledge of him.

CHAPTER III.

The elogia of the other holy Martyrs of the family of St. Francis: Hieronymus the Vicar, Theodoricus of Emden, Nicasius Hezius, Wilhadus the Dane, a nonagenarian; Godefridus Mervellanus, Antonius of Weerdt, Antonius of Gorcum, Franciscus of Roeux, Petrus of Assche, and Cornelius of Wijk.

CHAP. XI.

Hieronymus, born at Weerdt, which is a town of the county of Horn, among the Friars Minor next after the Guardian, whom they call the Vicar; The illustrious virtues of Bl. Hieronymus the Vicar once, incited by zeal of piety, went to and surveyed the Holy Land, trodden by the feet of Christ the Savior: and at Jerusalem in a monastery of his Order he stayed for some time. Hence he was called a pilgrim or a soldier of Jerusalem; as are wont to be called whosoever have visited those places for religion's sake. Further, he was most observant of monastic discipline, and most ready to undertake all things whatsoever his superior enjoined; most of all those which seemed in any way to promote the salvation of souls. Therefore in businesses of this kind he was engaged, with no less pious intention than untiring labor, prepared, so far as in him lay, to profit all unto eternal salvation. Which thing rendered him chiefly gracious in the sight of all. Whithersoever on earth he was sent through obedience, he reckoned that place his paradise, affirming that it seemed to him the most delightful of all. So thoroughly did he acquiesce in the will of his superiors.

[250] and his deeds most worthy of a religious For loosing magical incantations and destroying the works of the devil he was esteemed of so great virtue, that for that cause he was held terrible even to the demons themselves. With zeal of religion and justice he burned in a wondrous manner, so much so that he spared not even great men, wherever he saw offense committed against the commonwealth. Of which kind I will relate this one thing, which was done by him a little before the arising of the tempest of the last persecution, leaving the quality of the deed to the judgment of others. When he had observed that not only the political state of the country, but also religion, was being brought into grave and manifest danger on occasion of a new tribute, gravely and mournfully deploring the matter, among other things he once spoke thus in a sermon: There is now no care for guarding Religion. Nowhere are heretics sought out. There is no solicitude for them, lest they perish or lest they destroy. The laws lie idle, the inquisition sleeps. Heresies sprout and grow up, and everywhere, none forbidding, range abroad unpunished. Only the tenth penny is sought. To this now all zeal and thought are turned. And what need of many words? All seek the things that are their own, not the things that are Jesus Christ's. He could indeed have added that also, which I remember a certain man, equally learned and pious, was wont at that same time and on the same occasion to repeat again and again among his own from sacred history, where Samuel says to Saul: The Lord sent you, saying, Go and slay the sinners of Amalek, and you shall fight against them unto their utter destruction. Why therefore did you not hearken to the voice of the Lord? But you turned aside to the spoil, and did evil in the eyes of the Lord.

[251] are recorded in brief. And those things indeed were then said by Hieronymus, no less truly than freely. Although he was otherwise a man of singular meekness, and of an easiness of manners and candor of soul; which we, having sometimes familiarly used him, and taught by experience itself, can truly testify. And of his speech there was such grace, whether in private conversations or in public sermons, that minds agitated and made savage by various motions of desire he would soothe with his tongue, as with another cithara of David, and lead back to tranquillity and to the cultivation of a holier life. I will not here record with what fortitude of soul he received the onset of the persecution, with what constancy he bore it, with what liberty he professed the Catholic faith, with what vehemence of spirit, to the enemies of Religion,

he was opposed. For all these things are sufficiently manifest from the foregoing narration. This only I add, that through the whole time of his captivity, day and night, he did not cease from exhorting and encouraging his brothers, that they should carry the contest undertaken for the truth even to the goal. In which kind, as he prevailed most greatly, so most diligently the faithful Vicar rendered subsidiary aid to his Guardian. He was moreover of about fifty years, when he consummated the course of his mortal life by a noble martyrdom.

CHAP. XII.

[252] Theodoricus, or Theodorus, of Emden, a pious and erudite man, was born at Amersfoort (which is a not undistinguished town of the diocese of Utrecht) of an honest family zealous for the Catholic religion; The elogium of Bl. Theodoricus of Emden. and one indeed so numerous, that he himself was saluted as uncle by nearly a hundred persons of different age and sex. When his kinsmen (as is today the carnal affection of kinsmen) wished to procure for this youth some rich benefice, for passing the rest of his life comfortably; he bade them desist from care and thought of this kind. When afterward, in a certain abbey, if he would profess the monastic life there, much dignity and eminence was promised him; despising these, because he preferred to follow the naked Christ naked, and had learned that his servant Francis was the chief guide in showing that manner of life, he embraced his most holy institute. He was moreover a lover and follower of that first and more austere discipline of his Order; such as he said he had found himself, a youth, when first he entered that Religion. He was set as prefect over the sacred virgins of the monastery of St. Agnes at Gorcum, who professed the third rule of St. Francis. In which office, while he was diligently and holily engaged, now old or nigh to old age, called to the common palm of martyrdom with his brothers, he departed from this life.

CHAP. XIII.

[253] Nicasius, son of Joannes, son of Adrianus, was called Hezius from a certain village of our Campine, which received him at his birth. Of Bl. Nicasius Hezius, conspicuous for knowledge, By which surname, taken from the name of the fatherland, many other men of nearly the same family were called, celebrated for doctrine and piety; and chiefly Theodoricus Hezius, Nicasius's uncle, who had once been at Rome among the sacred ministers to Adrian VI, Supreme Pontiff; and afterward greatly excelled in authority among the people of Liège. Nicasius himself was a man conspicuous for piety and an excellent follower of Evangelical perfection, and likewise notably versed in that part of Theology which is intent upon contemplation, and searches out the mystical senses of sacred Scripture. Which was the cause that his sermons to the people were held to be more sublime and subtle than could be understood by the common folk. The matter is proved by the relics of his lucubrations, which are kept with me, written in his own hand. He, before taking up the habit of holy Religion, had spent not a few years in the academy of Louvain: where, after finishing the course of the liberal arts, he gave his labor to the sacred Letters in the college of Adrian VI (which they call the Pontifical), and won for his erudition the due title of bachelor: exceedingly dear at that time and thereafter to the distinguished theologian Martin Rythovius, who was afterward the first and most praised Bishop of Ypres among the Flemings.

[254] In the reading of sacred Scripture he was so exercised that he held a great part of it by memory. and most versed in the sacred Letters, The whole Psalter he knew to a nicety. All the books of the New Testament, but especially the Apostolic Epistles, he could recite from memory. Further, in giving counsel and consoling the wretched he prevailed most greatly. In which matter (a rare and admirable example) he attributed not even the least to his own advantage, altogether refusing to accept even the smallest little gifts: although he could sometimes have done so lawfully and without offense to anyone. But the holy man wished to declare in very deed that he was an imitator of him who, writing to his beloved sons in Christ, says: Behold, this third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not be burdensome to you. For I seek not the things that are yours, but you. Whenever he imparted counsel to those who asked it, he brought forth something from the sacred Letters or the writings of the Fathers, whereby to confirm his opinion. Often too he applied the examples of the Saints, whom either divine Scripture or the authority of the Church commended, to the matter at hand upon which he was consulted.

[255] great prudence in giving counsels: Meanwhile he kept such moderation, that if ever he was consulted by one of whose confessions he himself was not the hearer, he would rather and sooner remit him to his own confessor; to whom he doubted not that the whole state of his soul and inner man was more surely known and explored. Which thing indeed is chiefly necessary for consulting usefully about those things which regard eternal salvation. Now, that he might both dispose his hours excellently and profit many; he translated many little books, which he judged would most profit unto piety and the mortification of the affections, from Latin into the Belgic tongue; and, copied out in his own hand, distributed them liberally and freely everywhere to his disciples, persons of both sexes. And of this labor too of his some monuments survive with me. He had an aunt, Lucia by name, who, having in her first age been sound of body and entire of strength, afterward, the Lord visiting her, was made so bereft of all her limbs, that she could never thereafter move herself from her place; but had to be carried in a sedan chair, wherever there was need, by another's service. Her Nicasius, as a singular friend of God, visited once every year; that he might both render her the office of pious consolation, and exhort her to constancy in suffering.

CHAP. XIV.

[256] When, after the former tumults which the new faction of the Gueux had stirred up through Belgium, who also foretold some things. a great tranquillity had succeeded to the Belgic church; the Catholics with secure liberty exercising the things of their Religion, the faction of the adversaries wholly, as it seemed, suppressed: Nicasius foretold that again shortly so grave a storm of persecution would arise, that, to escape the bloody hands of the heretics, the Catholics would be compelled through fear to hide themselves in woods and caves; and would not know whither to turn. Which, although it then found no credit with those who heard him speak such things, and was received well-nigh with laughter; yet that it was most truly foretold, those same men learned not long after, the event proving it. When therefore, whether by the perversity of the people or by the negligence of those in charge, the intestine evil of heresy gradually crept on, and thence the afflictions and perils of the Catholics grew day by day; he never showed himself astonished or consternated in mind, as at a thing unexpected and new: as one who by the divine spirit (which it is fitting for us to believe) had long before foreseen that these things would come to pass: but consoled himself and his intimates with this word alone; because such was the will of God. Further, how great was in him security and serenity of mind through the whole time of captivity, how great likewise the assiduity of praying, how great, in fine, out of charity the solicitude for the weaker brothers, lest at last they should fail; I think is sufficiently clear from our foregoing history. He had moreover completed the fiftieth year of his age, or somewhat more, when through glorious martyrdom, stripped of his mortal body, he began to be with Christ.

CHAP. XV.

[257] Willehadus, or by a contracted name Wilhadus, a Dane, far surpassed all his companions of the passion in number of years; Bl. Wilhadus, a nonagenarian adorned with many virtues, being a nonagenarian, or at least nigh to that age. A man tall of stature, in face and whole body so lean that he seemed to consist of bones and skin alone. Him, born and educated in the kingdom of Denmark, and having professed the rule of St. Francis, the rage of persecution stirred against the Catholics, especially the monks, compelled to flee thence, and to withdraw into neighboring Holland: God so disposing, that by that flight the crown of martyrdom was only deferred to him, not taken away. The convent of the Friars Minor of Gorcum therefore received him as a fugitive Brother, and nourished him all the following time; where he also learned the Belgic tongue, of which at first he was wholly ignorant. There stood out in that man simplicity of manners, purity of life, sparingness of words. Which virtues commended him to God and to men. In hearing the confessions of sinners he was engaged with no less fruit than labor and diligence; many flocking to him for the sake of confession, on account of the man's proven integrity. To prayer, according to the Lord's and likewise the Apostolic precept, he was ever and without intermission given.

[258] And when, the tempest of the last persecution pressing upon the Church, most given to prayer. he was asked by certain persons to pray God for the tranquillity of the Church; he answered that he did this continually, day and night. Nor was it doubted by those who knew the man, that what he said was true. For neither could the troubles of prison afterward recall him from the assiduity of prayer. For, almost together with Nicasius, with knees fixed to the ground, he continually persisted in prayer. And both did this with such alacrity and security of mind, that they seemed not to be afflicted by the hardships of prison, but refreshed by a sumptuous banquet. In fine, only by death did the holy man end his zeal for praying, that he might come to that life in which he should both perceive the fruit of his prayer, and rejoice without end in the reward of his passion. Of his patience and singular meekness I will say nothing in this place, because enough has been said of these in the history.

CHAP. XVI.

[259] Godefridus Mervellanus, keeper of the sacred furniture, Brief encomia of Bl. Godefridus Mervellanus, whom they call the sacristan, was likewise appointed to hearing the confessions of penitents. Much of his pious occupation he laid in printing and painting images of Christ and of the Saints, which were then distributed among pious persons.

CHAP. XVII.

[369] Antonius, sprung from Weerdt, which he had as a fatherland in common with Hieronymus, Of Bl. Antonius of Weerdt, played the part of a sincere and faithful preacher of the word of God. He, often scattering the words of life from village to village among the country folk with untiring labor, at the same time stirred up their piety to the gratuitous sharing of temporal aid. By which solicitude of his he conferred no small help toward relieving the necessities of his brethren. He led a life hard enough; but one which he tempered with cheerfulness of mind. In that sermon which he delivered to the people as his last, he seriously exhorted his hearers to pray to God, in words of this kind: That now, if ever at other times, it was the time in which one must most instantly pray to God. For that the sword was now brought to the throat, the axe laid to the root of the tree; signifying, to wit, the persecution and devastation of the Church impending from close at hand, as though he had foresensed it by a divine warning.

CHAP. XVIII.

[261] Antonius, born at Hoornaar, a village of the jurisdiction of Gorcum, Of Bl. Antonius of Gorcum, of parents poor indeed and rustic, but most tenacious cultivators of justice no less than of ancestral religion, and truly not unworthy of a martyr for a son. To the delivering of sacred sermons to the people he gave the Church of God a service not unprofitable, the more so because his life in no wise disagreed from his doctrine.

CHAP. XIX.

[262] Franciscus of Roeux, of Brussels by fatherland, scarcely yet initiated into the sacred order of the priesthood,

in the flower of his age was summoned to the crown of martyrdom by Christ the giver of the prize. About two years before his death he had wholly given himself to the reading and study of sacred Scripture; and by that diligence he had already brought it about that he both happily discharged the office of preaching to the people, and gave hope of excellent progress hereafter, had not God, by a happier death forestalling him, suddenly joined him to the glory of his Saints.

CHAP. XX.

[263] Petrus of Assche, a not undistinguished village of Brabant, was a layman; Of Bl. Petrus of Assche, but nevertheless co-opted by the profession of the rule into the family of St. Francis, and wont, by the faithful and diligent procuration of temporal things, to render useful service to the brethren.

CHAP. XXI.

[264] Cornelius, born at Dorestad of the Batavodurum, a little town of the Utrecht territory, which today is called Wijk, Of Bl. Cornelius of Wijk. was likewise a layman, and to his brothers a manager of daily affairs, whom they call the Familiar. For the rest, a good and simple man, and most ready to obey. He, once when he was at Bois-le-Duc, being called by his Guardian, who said: Brother Cornelius, you must go to Utrecht: straightway answered that he was ready. And, having inquired nothing about the business for the sake of which he was sent, immediately set out on the journey. But when he came to Utrecht, being asked by the Guardian of that place why he had come; he reported the mandate of his Guardian, who had said: You must go to Utrecht: and nothing besides. That one, marveling at the brother's so simple obedience, bade him return to his own Guardian, and ask and report back what he wished. Thus far we have pursued the Franciscan Martyrs in order. Now let us speak of the others.

CHAPTER IV.

Bl. Leonardus, well instructed in the humane and sacred disciplines, sent to Gorcum, wins himself great authority by his virtues, doctrine, and reformation of abuses. His meekness under the injuries of the heretics.

CHAP. XXII.

Leonardus Vechelius, the elder parish priest, born at Bois-le-Duc, which others prefer to call by the more Latin word Silva-Ducis, a distinguished city of Brabant, Bl. Leonardus, most excellently instructed in human and divine letters, had truly excellent parents, whether you regard sincerity of Religion or integrity of life: from whom he in no wise degenerated. As soon as his age permitted, he was delivered to be imbued with Latin letters in his native city, where I remember to have said elsewhere that there was a school of letters by far the most celebrated. Thence sent to Louvain, he thoroughly learned the liberal arts, especially dialectic and physics, in the paedagogium which has the sign and name of the Falcon. And, the laurel of that study received, when now with his whole mind he aspired to the more sacred discipline, a little after he was received into the college of Adrian VI: where for nine years, more or less, continuously he gave his labor to sacred Theology. By which study indeed, since both his talent and memory and the care of his masters well answered to his diligence, he attained this, that, although he did not proceed beyond the degree of bachelor, yet he was numbered among the chief Theologians, and in the knowledge of divine things surpassed many of those who went before him in degree. Toward the end of that study, he was designated head, whom they call Prior, of the public disputations of the candidates of Theology, whereby they are exercised for the baccalaureate. Nor meanwhile was the exercise of sacred sermons neglected or omitted by him. In which kind how greatly he prevailed, even then began to become known.

[266] It happened at that time that a parish priest was wanted at Gorcum: is sent to Gorcum for the pastoral care, and it pleased them to seek one from nowhere but Louvain; because that school especially was wont to produce men notably and Catholicly learned. Further, none seemed apter for that province than Leonardus. Who, being asked, scarcely at last consented, his friends so advising, and chiefly at the instance of Ruard Tapper, at that time chief of the theologians of Louvain, and also Chancellor of the academy. In which matter indeed Ruard seemed to cooperate to the fulfilling of what he himself had once foretold would come to pass. For, as the most reverend Bishop Lindanus relates of him, likewise once his disciple, in a certain preface to the Emperor Rudolf II; in his public lectures he said more than once to his hearers, of whom one was Leonardus, words of this kind: There are among you those who for Christ and for the cause of the Catholic Faith shall be slaughtered. The truth of which saying Leonardus chiefly, sent by Ruard himself into Holland, proved by his own death. He therefore, lawfully called and sent to Gorcum to feed the Lord's flock, had nothing prior than to satisfy, to the best of his power, that so holy and so arduous a vocation of his. And this indeed, unless I am deceived, he excellently performed, by the working of his grace, who to his ministers planting and watering gives the increase according to the good pleasure of his will.

CHAP. XXIII.

[267] When first he was setting out for Gorcum, to administer the care to which he had devoted himself; where by vigilant care and excellent gifts, again and again reckoning with himself how great a burden he had suffered to be imposed upon himself to bear, he now and then broke forth, not without a groan, into these words: Alas, what have I done, wretch that I am, who suffered so hard and difficult a province to be laid upon my shoulders? Why did I assent to those who advised? Why did I acquiesce so easily? Yet, although the fear of troubles and difficulty deservedly deterred him, there invited and impelled him that charity which hopes all things and endures all things. Nay, the present necessity of the Church justly demanded for itself the labor of that man, as one who from the very beginning had destined all his studies to this mark. Thus therefore he, enriched by the Lord with five talents, that with his blessing he might gain other five talents besides, undertook the pastoral care of the people of Gorcum. Among whom it can scarcely be said how greatly his authority grew in a short time, not indeed procured by any affected zeal, but resting chiefly upon these three: integrity of life, knowledge of divine things, and singular eloquence, as well in sermons to the people as in daily conversations.

[268] he wins for himself the highest authority and esteem. Nor indeed was he held in esteem at Gorcum only, but the fame of his name had penetrated even to the neighboring cities. In which places, not only at Gorcum, many by his doctrine and exhortation were partly recalled from error into the way of truth, partly, being wavering and prone to error, confirmed in the Catholic truth. Further, how greatly he was esteemed by learned men, even this argues, that once at Louvain, in a public disputation of theologians, a certain matter under debate was asserted by his usage or practice, and, his name being alleged, it was said: In such a case the Pastor of Gorcum does thus. What need of many words? That man was, as in theological matters solidly learned, so in discourse powerful to teach, vehement to exhort, efficacious to persuade, wonderfully ready and expedite to dispute, and in that same kind keen and unconquered; so much so that none of the adversaries dared to engage with him. In fine, furnished with much experience of affairs (which must be placed as no small part of his praises), he so prudently ordered his actions, that he did not rashly lie open to the calumnies of the malevolent.

CHAP. XXIV.

[269] Now, besides the things I have mentioned, the notable modesty of the man rendered him dear to all, His largesse toward the poor, and the courtesy and easiness of his manners, but which he so tempered with gravity, that he consulted alike both for his authority and for his favor. Whence it came about, both that the liberality of the good citizens was the more inclined toward him, and that (because his ordinary stipend was very slender for a man such as he was, hospitable and beneficent toward the poor) there were decreed to him by the senate out of the public treasury, by way of increase, a hundred gold pieces each year; although of this decree of the senate he never received any fruit, the intemperateness of persecution rising a little after against himself and other ministers of God. Great and perpetual was his largesse toward the poor; but proved most of all at that time when a huge famine, arisen from scarcity of grain, was devouring almost all Belgium. For then he seemed to pour out upon the poor not only his substance, but also, so to speak, his very bowels, and upon those most of all whom he had learned to be pressed by graver necessity. Which while he did, the good pastor exercised a twofold office of a pastor in one and the same work; both feeding the needy with nourishment, and the rich with example.

[170] He was moreover wont to procure for himself in summer those things which, distributed to the poor in the following winter, might solace their indigence; his care of the sick, and the other virtues worthy of the holy Parish Priest. such as cheeses, fuel-turf, and other things of this kind. And this he had already begun to do also at the beginning of that summer in which he was afflicted with martyrdom: nor, as many are wont, did he seize from the iniquity of the times an occasion of lessening his liberality. As often as he administered the Sacraments to the poorer sick, not only did he abstain from the accustomed stipend due to him, but often laid out of his own much more even than he would have received by right of custom; driving away, to wit, as far as in him lay, both infirmities by a doubled office of piety. Chastity he preserved perpetually, not only unviolated, but also free from every sinister suspicion. Wherefore even the calumnies which had been devised against his purity by certain wicked men, when he was a captive at Gorcum, were such as rather bespattered their own authors than in any degree cleaved to him. And how severe and rigid he was against himself in chastising and subduing the flesh, may be conjectured even from this one thing, that so exactly he was wont, with his colleague Poppelius, to keep the Lenten fast of the Church, that evidently in the countenance of both there appeared the maceration of the flesh from abstinence; and on that account it was said by some of their intimates, that they truly paid, by that fast (whereby the Church consecrates as it were to God the tenth part of the whole year for abstinence), the tithes of their own flesh.

CHAP. XXV.

[271] But that we may say somewhat more of Leonardus's pastoral solicitude and vigilance: whereas in that office there are many things which torment and gravely disquiet the mind of a pastor (who wishes to discharge it not perfunctorily but seriously, as it were in the presence of God), Why he feared to lend his ears to confessions yet he reckoned nothing so grievous to himself as to attend to hearing the confessions of penitents: so that I once heard from his mouth, when he said that he would rather preach three times than lend his ears once to confessions; and that both for other reasons and for this, as he himself confessed, that whoever binds himself to an office of this kind is sometimes compelled, even against his will, to hear the sins of others, at times shameful and base, and, having heard them, to turn them over in his mind. How great a torment this brings to a truly chaste mind, he felt, and they feel who, warring for Christ in the camp of chastity, wage perpetual war with the flesh, a domestic enemy. And so the chair in which, sitting, he listened to confessions, he was wont to call his place of torture, by that Belgic word which sounds in Latin the "torturing bench."

[272] Repressing the prevailing abuses, Further, as often as the matter required, and the necessity of his office, nay, the charity of Christ urged him, he revered no man's countenance, so as to be the less free in both castigating vices and speaking the truth, whether publicly or privately,

when right reason showed that it ought so to be done. The most evil custom of certain persons, whereby, betrothal being made, the future spouses are straightway admitted to a common bed, before they have contracted Matrimony by the solemn rite according to the custom of the Church, he most keenly assailed, as a thing by no means to be borne among Christians. Nor did he constantly and openly assert that the betrothed only, who thus came together, but all whose work or assent had intervened to that matter, as to a fornicating concubinage, were held by mortal fault, though many raged against him. It happened once that certain Catholic and honest, but too simple, parents had summoned a heretic to be sponsor of their infant to be baptized. Which when Leonardus saw and knew, dissembling nothing, he openly and plainly denied that he would baptize the infant with that sponsor. That he could not be admitted to that office, whose faith was not right and entire. And if they wished the offspring to be baptized by him, they should employ a Catholic sponsor.

[273] he forbade foreign names to be imposed in Baptism. At length therefore, the heretic murmuring in vain, a certain Catholic, being called, came; by whom performing the office of sponsor the offspring was baptized. He did not suffer foreign or heathen names to be imposed on infants to be baptized, or such as had not before been consecrated by the appellation of some Saint; judging it unbecoming that Christians and the sons of Christians should bear names not Christian. Which nevertheless we see today so received into use among many, or rather introduced by a certain depraved affectation, that they esteem it fairer for themselves or theirs to bear the name of some hero of the poets' fables, than to assume from the sacred histories the name, written in heaven, of some Apostle or Martyr whom they might imitate. Among other precepts of the Christian life the man, most loving of peace, often admonished his own not easily to undertake lawsuits, and, once undertaken, to compose them as soon as possible. That much detriment came from them, not only of time, but also of charity and tranquillity of mind. He said he would rather compromise for the half, than by litigating obtain the whole, though most justly and most certainly due. He warned also that, for a money matter, they should not easily swear: that the loss of some temporal advantage should rather be borne, that the divine name might be spared.

CHAP. XXVI.

[274] Now, being of a gentle disposition, and endowed with a singular easiness of manners, Bearing the injuries of the heretics with the utmost patience, he showed himself such not only to Catholics and honest men, but even to the wicked and heretics; so long as there was hope of profiting anything by this way toward their correction. For that word of the Apostle, as though said to himself, he continually retained: The servant of the Lord must not wrangle, but be gentle toward all, teachable, patient, with modesty admonishing those who resist the truth; if perhaps God may give them repentance to know the truth, and they may recover themselves from the snares of the devil, by whom they are held captive at his will. Injured by word or deed, especially by those who strayed from the path of the right faith, he calmly tolerated, and even dissembled the injury. It happened not once that heretics broke the glass window of his house, which was toward the street, by casting stones into it. Which he straightway on the next day, a glazier being called, took care to have repaired, so that not even a vestige of that injury remained apparent to passers-by. By this notable meekness and patience he broke and conquered the minds of many heretics: who, following the voice of their pastor, rejecting their stubborn error, returned to the bosom of mother Church.

[275] Although some of them, after the manner of the seed which fell not into good ground but upon stony places, he brings back one of them, an Anabaptist, to good fruit; had no roots, but, persecution being stirred up on account of the word of God, having suffered scandal, straightway returned to their vomit, not without grave sorrow of the pastor, by whose labor they seemed corrected from error. One indeed, whom the madness of the Anabaptists had so long occupied that he was for certain persuaded that with them alone was the true and sincere understanding of the divine word, by the diligent care of Leonardus brought back into the fold of Christ, with as great and even greater devotion of soul afterward cultivated the Catholic Religion as he had before followed heresy. Nay, mindful perpetually of this incomparable benefit, he never ceased to give thanks to him under whose teaching, the darkness of his error dispelled, he had beheld the light of truth. And the same too, after the death of his pastor, and in that season in which the Catholics were gravely agitated, in the doctrine once received from him, firm and constant, as was reported to us, persevered by the grace of God. Which example, as most rare in Anabaptists, so is it worthy of admiration and memory, and for that reason has been particularly noted by us. A like care to recall others from error, even heretics of whatsoever kind, the good pastor applied. To whom if ever, being sick and bedridden, he had come according to the reason of his pastoral office, at the utmost peril he left nothing untried, to snatch them from the jaws of the devil.

[276] And so, not content with doctrine, sometimes a suppliant and on bended knees he besought them meanwhile neglecting none of his own. not to depart from life without penance and the viaticum of the Body of Christ: but so, that before all things he exacted faith in this mystery. For he strictly observed this discipline, that to no dying man, not even to one asking, would he give the viaticum of salvation, unless he had clearly and expressly professed that he believed concerning that Sacrament what the Catholic Church believes. Nor could he ever be induced by any prayers of the friends or kinsmen of the sick man to do otherwise. But if, as sometimes happens, being called too late to the sick man, he found him bereft of the powers of speech, and had not at all ascertained that the man was a Catholic, he inquired of the neighbors whether they had seen him frequenting the church, and receiving the Sacraments of the Church at the times prescribed by her. And if they denied it; he too, the viaticum being denied, departed: lest either he should cast a pearl before swine, or, being guilty of an unlawful dispensation, should communicate in another's sin. In fine, he was wholly bent on this, that those of his own whom he knew to be fluctuating in the faith, he might govern and confirm: but the straying, recall from error into the right way.

CHAPTER V.

The confusions of the heretics explained by a maiden: Bl. Leonardus's sermons against the same; his contempt of dangers, that he might guard his sheep; for which cause he neglects even the theological laurel: however learned and eloquent, always modest and humble.

CHAP. XXVII.

To that matter, among other things, he was wont to make mention of a certain maiden; The maiden of Wesel aptly explains to Bl. Leonardus who, when she dwelt at Wesel with her parents (that town is of Cleves, which for many years now a great confluence of heretics of every kind, enjoying the liberty allowed them, had inhabited), and had once come to Gorcum, entering the sacred building, approached Leonardus as parish priest, meaning to make confession of her sins after the Catholic manner. Leonardus inquiring of her (because he saw the maiden was a stranger) whence she had come, she answered that she was of Wesel, and had lately arrived from Wesel. Again the parish priest: What is the cause, said he, daughter, that you have taken it into your mind to confess your sins, which is a thing of the Papists: whereas among you it is by no means done, where there are so many, and so various, opinions of Religion, all different from the Papist? Then she: My lord, said she, you yourself have just now spoken the very cause; because, to wit, there the opinions of Religion are so various and confused and conflicting.

[278] the confused and conflicting opinions of the heretics. For, this thing being observed by my parents, though they were not seldom solicited to pass over to the new Religion; they thus resolved with themselves: That they must for so long remain in the ancient Religion, until all those whom they saw so various and so at variance among themselves should be reduced into the concord of some one faith. Which if they should learn to be better than ours, then at last would be the time to transfer themselves to it. By the recording of this example, the diligent pastor stirred up the minds of many to the consideration of truth; so that everywhere the most prudent answer of the maiden of Wesel was in all men's mouths. For who knows not that in that age, and in that sex, a wise saying, as it is rare, so is it chiefly gracious, and seems worthy of the applause of all? That answer certainly is very like the words of Bl. Augustine, which he set at the end of the fifth book of the Confessions, speaking thus of himself: I resolved therefore to be so long a catechumen in the Catholic Church, commended to me by my parents, until something certain should shine forth, whereby I might direct my course.

CHAP. XXVIII.

[279] At the time when the new faction of the Gueux first infested the Belgic Church, it happened He shrewdly confounds the new little ministers, that certain preachers of the Calvinian sect put in at Gorcum also; to whom nevertheless nothing else was then permitted, than that outside the walls of the city, in a certain barn tumultuously erected for that purpose, they should hold their assemblies. Leonardus then bade them be questioned, through the officers of the prefect of the citadel, from whom they had come, sent to preach. Who, when they answered that they were sent from the Most High, as of old the Apostles of Christ; he demanded that they exhibit the mandate of their embassy. Which indeed they could exhibit none; since it neither appeared that they were sent by a man having lawful power in the Church, nor could they make proved and attested the extraordinary mission from God which otherwise they were wont to boast, even by the slightest miracle.

[280] At the same time, the zeal of those who favored the new religion increasing, in the utmost peril in no wise trembling. it befell Leonardus to be set in straits. For on a certain Sunday, when he had to preach to the people, there had flowed together into the church a huge throng of heretical and seditious men, most of them armed under their garments, mingled with the hearers, meaning as it were by this fear to compel the parish priest to say in his sermon those things which they themselves would gladly hear. But he, the peril being noticed, first, prayers poured forth to God, confirmed his mind: then ascended the pulpit, and, straightway beginning his sermon, carried it through to the end with such constancy, that although he scarcely hoped, on account of the violence prepared by his enemies, to descend thence alive; yet he said nothing dissemblingly, nothing timidly, but openly and freely set forth the Catholic doctrine, and refuted and routed the adverse arguments of the heretics. God restraining the hands of the impious, lest they should do him any violence. At the same time very many pseudo-preachers had emerged; of whom many, having once been heralds of the Catholic Faith, using their belly as master, had transferred themselves to that doctrine from which for the time a fuller gain could be hoped, and less peril impended.

[281] These, that they might excuse before the common folk that apostatic levity of theirs, The foolish excuse of the apostates. did not fear to profess publicly in their sermons, that at the time when they taught the Papist doctrine, they had done it against conscience, not being ignorant that by it they were leading men into errors; but that now they brought forth from their soul the pure and uncorrupted word of God. Of this kind Leonardus was wont to say; that they would by no means a second time deceive a prudent man. For if once, conscience resisting, they had by their teaching gulled their hearers, and had openly confessed this; what sensible man would not deservedly beware of them for the future, lest a second and oftener time he be deceived by their oration, as not proceeding from the soul? For indeed

far other is the case of him who teaches false things which he thinks true. For this man follows his conscience, though erring, and therefore will merit belief, if, better instructed, the error acknowledged, he begins to teach the truth: such as of old was Paul the Apostle, such was Augustine, such likewise in this our age were Witzel, Staphylus, Orzechowski, Quadrantinus, and not a few others: who, when they simply erred, themselves both eagerly embraced the truth afterward shown them, and preached it to others with all sincerity. But he who, prudent and knowing, disseminates error, and imbues the people with lies; is assuredly worthy that no belief be ever given him, even when he speaks the truth.

CHAP. XXIX.

[282] When Leonardus foresaw the last tempest impending over the ministers of God, Warned by his sister of the rage of the Gueux, he admonished his colleague Poppelius; saying that the time was at hand in which men must be sifted. By that proverb they hinted that the minds of men were to be shaken by persecution as by a sieve, that it might become manifest whether they sincerely and from the soul cultivated the true Catholic Faith which they outwardly professed. Further, the faction of the Gueux swelling day by day among the people of Gorcum, and thereby the peril of the good pastors growing, there came to him from Bois-le-Duc his sister, vehemently and anxiously solicitous for her brother's safety, begging him with tears and adjuring him, that he would withdraw himself from the peril which was now at the doors. For horrible examples of the Gueux fury had already elsewhere preceded, not a few; which made a probable fear of things to come among the prudent. Of which she recounted how they had treated a certain monk of the Premonstratensian institute, from the abbey of Berne, and likewise parish priest of a certain village not far from Bois-le-Duc, who had chanced to fall into their hands.

[283] he shows that a Pastor cannot desert his sheep; For that they had first cut off his hands and feet, laid upon a block, with iron; then at last had also cut off his head. That she feared for her brother like things, or even graver, and not without cause: whom she knew to be exceedingly hateful to the heretics, whose attempts he had always most greatly opposed. He answered his sister, that these things which she related were grave indeed: but that there was nothing so grave, for fear of which; no mortal so friendly, for whose sake he would bring it about, that he should forsake with his help and ministry the flock committed to him, even if it were necessary to spend life and blood. And, having spoken not much more, he dismissed from himself his sister, sorrowful at such an answer. By whose prayers and tears, though she was his most beloved full sister and a most chaste virgin, he could not be bent to withdraw for a time his presence from the sheep committed to him, in so great a crisis of his life; not being ignorant of the words of his Lord: The good shepherd gives his life for his sheep. But the hireling sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and flees. When, before his entrance into the citadel, a certain Catholic asked him why he did not take flight in so manifest a peril, he answered: How shall I flee, who bear the office of a shepherd?

[284] which he replies again and again to other friends also. And when the man again said: But it is chiefly your affair that is now at stake: you especially, who govern the Church, this tempest assails. What hinders, then, that, with a safe conscience, you consult for yourselves by fleeing? Again Leonardus answered; that he was not ignorant that parish priests and other men of his order were chiefly sought out by the adversaries; and that this show of excuse, whether true or probable, he could pretend for flight. But that he feared lest by his departure he should cut off all the hope yet remaining of preserving the city; the good citizens, upon all of whom the eyes were fixed on him, being about, his flight known, straightway to despair in their minds, as of a thing given up for lost. And what need of many words? Though there was not wanting to him a pretext whereby to palliate flight (for at Louvain a day had been appointed to him for taking up the insignia of the theological degree), he preferred sincerely to play the shepherd, and to approve his conscience to God, than by any found color of excuse to keep his life and reputation merely, before men, whole and safe.

CHAP. XXX.

[285] But since mention of the scholastic degree has fallen to us, I will set forth how that matter too fell out to Leonardus, For the same cause he neglects the theological laurel: by the providence of God, unto the heap of true praise and honor. About two months had passed, when Leonardus, led by the exhortation and counsel of his friends (because that matter seemed likely to avail much to confirm his authority among the people), had sought the laurel of the Theological Licentiate (as they call it) in the academy of Louvain; certain companions being joined to him, likewise most learned men. The eighth day of July had been designated for that honor. But a good occasion of a better good scattered the good purpose. For when suddenly new tumults against Religion had meanwhile arisen; lest (as I have already said) he should seem to desert his own in peril, he preferred to neglect that fleeting honor, though now decreed and prepared for him, than by an untimely departure to give any show of a hireling fleeing at sight of the wolf afar. Which charity of a true shepherd toward his sheep God so rewarded, that whereas his companions to the aforesaid theological degree, on the eighth of July, he being awaited in vain, had received the insignia of temporal honor: he the following night was summoned to a laurel far fairer, and to abide forever. Of this man's excellent and admirable eloquence I have spoken elsewhere. This only I now add, that he always preached to a most crowded audience, not only Catholics, but even heretics in great number and with zeal flocking to his sermons: whether because the fame of his doctrine and eloquence drew all; or because they counted it a great thing to have caught something from the mouth of so great a man, at which they might carp.

[286] For even in the very disputation at Briel, however eloquent, always modest and humble. certain of the chief heretics, admiring him as he spoke, said: O what a loss, that such a tongue must perish! This, because they thought he would die a little after, as indeed the matter was. But although he was of so great name among all, yet such was the modesty of his mind, that he never suffered the pulpit from which he preached to be adorned with a tapestry hung around; so much so that when once one had been hung, he denied that he would ascend the pulpit unless it were first removed: saying that this kind of honor ought to be left proper to Doctors and Licentiates about to preach from the pulpit. I indeed, when at that time in which, according to solemn custom, he was setting out for Louvain to make suit for the degree of Licentiate, I was his companion on the journey; among his other virtues, in his manners and speech, admired chiefly his humility. For the rest, with what strength of soul he bore prison, blows, reproaches, death, the very series of his history sufficiently, as I think, shows. His body was strong, his breast ample, his shoulders broad, his stature middling, his countenance undaunted, his voice grave and vehement. His soul, in fine, answering to his body in all things, and plainly leonine; so that you may truly recognize this our Leonardus as bearing a name suited to the thing. He was about the forty-fifth year, when by a happy contest he merited the unfading crown of glory.

CHAPTER VI.

The labors and excellent deeds of Bl. Nicolaus Poppelius: he is solicited in vain by his parent to withdraw himself from perils. Supreme keeper of the Venerable Sacrament of the Eucharist, he dreads nothing to suffer for it. The virtues and merits of Bl. Godefridus Dunæus.

CHAP. XXXI.

Nicolaus, son of Joannes, surnamed Poppelius, sprung from Welde, a village of the Campine, Rendering subsidiary service to Bl. Leonardus, was the other of the parish priests of Gorcum. He, after the studies of Grammar, being sent to Louvain, received, as a poor man, his living and instruction in that college which has the name of the House of Standonck. There he diligently cultivated his mind, first with the studies of Philosophy, then of Theology. Thence called to Gorcum by Leonardus, at first he rendered him subsidiary service in the pastoral function. Afterward, when by a settled counsel the office of Pastor was divided, he thenceforth by alternate weeks and with equal right played the part of parish priest with Leonardus: although with him, as the elder and by other titles the more considerable, the greater authority always remained.

[288] But although Poppelius had not received from God, the most equitable distributor of good things, an equal grace of speech, and of familiar conversation accommodated to men's dispositions, with his colleague, by his labors he acquires the name of Little Servant, yet with great integrity and purity of soul he served God. Often too and most gladly he delivered sermons to the people, commendable not so much for elegance of speech as for doctrine and a certain ardor of the divine spirit. He was of a somewhat pale countenance, and almost always like one meditating and solicitous. For the rest, his body was well compacted, and apt for bearing labors; and this he so consecrated and expended upon God, that with the Psalmist he could truly say: My strength I will keep for you. For so assiduous and untiring did he show himself in undergoing and bearing labors, that he was commonly surnamed slaefken, that is, in Latin, "little servant." Which he so little took ill, that, willingly acknowledging that pious servitude of his, and congratulating himself upon it, he took from it a motto, comprised in seven Teutonic monosyllables; which thus sounds in Latin: He serves well, who serves in God. In humbler offices too, from which nevertheless some accession to piety could be hoped, he lent his service as promptly as willingly and from the soul, whether asked he rendered it, or unasked also offered it.

[289] solicitously instructing the little ones in Christian doctrine. Of which kind, among others, was this, that he taught boys and girls on feast days the rudiments of the Catholic Faith in the chapel of the Holy Spirit, and that with no stipend, yet with no small labor, while for the most part (lest the seed cast should be without fruit) he subjoined to that catechetical instruction a pious and salutary exhortation. A thing indeed chiefly to be imitated by all curators of souls. For I know not whether any other thing brings so great weight toward implanting and fixing in the minds of men the roots of true piety. He was born of parents poor indeed, but pious and God-fearing. His mother, long since departed this life, he so honored, that for her salvation he both continually prayed God himself, and asked the public prayers from the pulpit, following in that matter the example of Bl. Augustine, who, many years after his mother Bl. Monica had died, asks the reader of his Confessions to remember her at the altar of the Lord. But that he did not succor the indigence of the poor with equal liberality to Leonardus, was owing not to want of will, but to want of means. For the slender inheritance which had come to him from his mother's death, the pious son left wholly to his father, whose estate was scanty. Moreover, of his own daily gains he imparted to him liberally, using, to wit, that most orderly charity, which right reason no less than the divine law commands to be exercised first upon parents and kinsmen, then to be diffused also upon strangers.

CHAP. XXXII.

[290] At the time when he played the part of parish priest, having once meditated a more perfect manner of life, he had most certainly resolved Excellently discharging his office, to betake himself to the Religion of the Clerks of the Society of Jesus: whose institute he had learned, by the testimony of report, to be most useful to the Church of God. But since to the church of Gorcum there seemed very necessary the labor

of so good a Pastor, hence it came about that, by the counsel of Leonardus his colleague, and of Antonius, the younger Canon, a man of most approved conversation, whose virtues and merits cannot be explained in a few pages (but he had ceased to be among the living some while before the last troubles), he did not fulfill this pious purpose, as he had resolved. They judged that he would do a thing more useful to the Church of God, and therefore more pleasing to God, if in the pastoral office, which he had then discharged for seven continuous years, he should persevere with the faith, labor, and diligence with which he had begun; especially because they held it sufficiently ascertained that, if Nicolaus should depart, it would come about that in his place, by the zeal of certain persons, another man little fit for that function would be substituted, with no small peril to souls. To which counsel the man, zealous for the public good, thought he ought for the time, not without reason, to acquiesce.

[291] He, moreover, in giving counsel was simple and upright: he is solicited in vain by his father to snatch himself from peril. solicitous only not to please, but to profit. From the vice of flattery he was so alien, that to some he seemed even to offend in the contrary direction. Not long before his captivity and that of his companions, when the success of the rebels, and from their success their audacity, grew day by day through Holland: the peril also of the ministers of God growing thereby; his father, who had begotten him in the flesh, vehemently anxious for his most dear son, came to Gorcum, desiring to consult for his safety: and adjured him with many words to go away with him into their country, and for a time to shun the fury of the enemies. But no paternal prayers could storm the constancy of his soul; as one who well knew what, by the doctrine of Christ, a pastor owed to his sheep, nor was ignorant that it is written: He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. His sorrowful father, therefore, though grieving, he dismissed from himself; lest he should offend God the common Father of both, for whose sake he knew that he ought to hate not only father and mother, and all carnal kinship, but even his own soul.

CHAP. XXXIII.

[292] In the very last sermon, which he delivered to the people on the natal day of the Lord's Precursor, Supreme keeper of the Venerable Sacrament of the Eucharist, he very seriously and diligently admonished them of the faith which they owed both to the Catholic King and to their commonwealth: and at the same time exhorted them to shut out and keep from the walls the enemy alike of the King and of Religion. Which indeed he showed would by no means be difficult for them, if only mind and will were not lacking. The Venerable Sacrament of the Body of Christ he always guarded with a singular and devout solicitude, as often as there was peril from the heretics lest it should be contumeliously handled: such as it was both in those first tumults stirred up in 1566, and in the later ones of the year 1572. At both which times almost daily toward night he secretly carried it into the house of the Catholic and most excellent man Hessel Estius: who, having received such and so great a guest with the reverence that was fitting, marvelously congratulated himself, and his house and household, Poppelius saying to him: If the house of Obed-edom was increased with manifold blessing at the entrance of the Ark of the Old Testament; how much more copious a blessing from God will your house merit, on account of the presence of the most sacred Body of the Lord, in whom is established the New Testament? But as often as he carried the Lord's Body along the way, whether in a public procession or to the sick; if perchance, looking about, he saw anyone not adoring, straightway he openly rebuked him, bidding him render to his God the honor due. If he did not obey, he threatened the animadversion of the public power: fearing nothing the ill-will with which he well knew he would be burdened for such a deed among the wicked.

[293] he prepares himself with alacrity to suffer for it. I believe indeed that for this peculiar care and devotion of guarding, and vindicating from injury, the most divine Sacrament, this recompense was laid up for him by God; that by a peculiar confession also, before others, of that same Sacrament he should glorify God. Which we, as it was received from the mouth of Leonardus his colleague, and of others who were present at the deed, have with most certain fidelity set down in our history. On the morning of that day, on which he betook himself into the citadel of Gorcum, the peril pressing, he had performed the last sacrifice of the Mass in the chief church; in which he devoted and delivered himself wholly to the divine will, whether for living or for dying. Thence, when in more careful attire he was seeking the citadel, to one who said: You seem to me, my lord pastor, to be setting out to a wedding; he answered: Truly, I am no otherwise minded. And he added, would that it be granted to shed my blood for the Catholic Faith. Nor was success wanting to the pious desire. He who had given him to desire piously, gave him to fight bravely, gave him also to conquer happily; at the last gave him also to triumph gloriously. He discharged the office of sacred martyrdom about the fortieth year: when for fourteen continuous years in the church of Gorcum, another Jacob for the heavenly Rachel, he had served God a grievous servitude by nightly and daily labors.

[294] But I cannot forbear to add this last thing to the praises of both parish priests, How great the concord between pastors and religious. that there was always the greatest concord, not only between themselves, but also with the Friars Minor, and a holy conspiration of minds in the work of God; nor did questions ever arise among them concerning the administration of the Sacraments, burial, funerals, and other things of this kind; over which we sometimes see great tragedies stirred up, with great scandal of the people, between the men of both orders. But if anything chanced to be doubted, it was wont to be composed peaceably among them, as charity and the unction of the spirit dictated. Of which thing I deem it deservedly provided by God, that those who in life had mutually loved one another should not be separated in death; and that those who had borne the common yoke of the Evangelical ministry with joined minds, should together attain, by glorious martyrdom, to the receiving of the reward of their labor.

CHAP. XXXIV.

[295] Godefridus, surnamed Dunæus, of Gorcum by fatherland, had for his father Theodoricus, a good and pious man, who, though a plebeian and unlettered, Bl. Godefridus Dunæus, once rector of the University of Paris, partly by his own, partly by expenses gathered by his zeal and solicitation, had built at Gorcum, under the title of the Virgin Mother of God, a suburban chapel for the lepers. Godefridus, after the first rudiments of letters sent to Paris, gave his labor to the knowledge of the liberal arts and languages. But greater was his care to order his life as well as possible. For, having taken to himself some equals, with whom apart he might share both the studies of the humanities and the exercises of piety, he so lived, that you would call him an anchorite or a monk rather than a secular man. And he attained such an opinion of virtue and prudence, that he was once by public suffrages declared Rector of the University of Paris; and bore that magistracy with praise. In fine, when he had stayed many years in that city, scarcely at last, by the exhortation of a certain uncle of his, a priest, who was staying at Paris at the same time, was he induced (which otherwise, through modesty and humility of soul, he vehemently shrank from) to suffer himself to be initiated into the order of the priesthood.

[296] And so, ordained a priest of the church of Paris, afterward disturbed in the brain, after some time he is taken as parish priest of a certain town of the French parts, bordering on Belgium. But how it came about that, as we mentioned in the history, he had his brain ill affected, I will relate, as we received it from his kinsmen. When he had recently been initiated a priest, he assiduously turned over in his mind how great was both the dignity of that sacred office, and his own unworthiness, as he humbly thought of himself. Which when he did too intently and immoderately, it happened that, through the vehemence of meditation, his brain being somewhat injured and disturbed, the state of his mind also began to waver. But then indeed still so moderately, that it hindered him nothing, or as little as possible, from being afterward, as I said, set over the care of souls in a not undistinguished place. There was moreover about that time a war between Charles V Caesar and Francis, King of the Gauls. Which thing gave occasion to certain rivals to accuse the uncle of Godefridus, a foreign man, honored among them and enjoying kindly fortune (for a rich priesthood in a certain city of Gaul had fallen to him), that by letters sent into Belgium he was conferring secret counsels with the enemies of the Gauls. On which charge he was straightway apprehended, and long held in bonds.

[297] But that evil soon redounded upon Godefridus also, his nephew. he did not abstain from the offices of a good priest; For him too, equally a foreigner, and a man of the Belgic dominion, some of his parishioners so gravely harassed, that not even in his own house was he safe enough from peril. From which thing his brain began to be far worse affected. And his uncle indeed, after he had proved himself innocent, was at last released. But Godefridus, not long after, when, compelled by that necessity of the disease, he had abdicated the pastoral care, and returned into his country to his own, could never thereafter recover his former firmness of mind and brain. Although so great an infirmity did not remain, but that he could both lawfully discharge the daily task of the Canonical prayers, and salutarily hear the confessions of penitents, and duly perform the daily sacrifice of the Mass.

CHAP. XXXV.

[298] Now, what is first in this kind, he always led a life blameless and most upright. Sobriety he perpetually cultivated. an eminent cultivator of chastity, On Wednesdays and Fridays he had the custom of fasting; which he retained unto the very end of his life. Himself he kept chaste with all solicitude. Lest he should ever ease his bladder in the sight of men, as many do with little decency, he studiously took care, not so much for civility's sake, as lest he should offend the chaste eyes of anyone. The sight of women he solicitously avoided; both lest he himself should look upon them, and lest he should be looked upon by them. For which cause he wore a woolen neckband (commonly called a collar), and set it higher about his neck and head; lest, as he said, the nakedness of his neck, chanced to be seen by passing women, should afford occasion of ill desire. Which also was the cause that he admitted no ornament whatever in his dress. If ever at night, as he lay, the goad of the flesh disquieted him, straightway he leaped from his bed, and, with knees fixed to the ground, prayed God that he might not be led into temptation. Through the day he was almost always in the house of God, intent on prayers and other actions of piety. Content with a single and that slender ecclesiastical benefice, which being present he served, he sought nothing beyond. Once, when he saw the eyes of my brother Rutger, who was ministering to him at the sacrifice of the Mass, to be ill affected, he himself of his own accord wished to wash them with the water of ablution after the communion. He washed, and they were healed.

[299] he publicly opposes himself to the raving little heretic minister. It was most pleasant to him to see that parents took care to have their children instructed in piety, doctrine, and the ecclesiastical state; to whom he both willingly imparted his counsels to that end, and even offered them unasked. Which I remember was done by him concerning myself, when I was to be sent by my parents to my studies. Heresies, as a pestiferous and satanic thing, he execrated. When in the year 1566, the affairs of the Belgic church being troubled, a certain heretical preacher among the people of Gorcum

was delivering a sermon outside the gates of the city in the open air, upon these words of the Gospel: He that soweth went forth to sow his seed; and was rashly and unlearnedly prating many things foreign to and abhorrent from the orthodox faith concerning "the seed of the seed" and "the word of the word"; Godefridus, whom zeal of the Catholic faith had led thither, suddenly began to cry out to those who were present: That preacher deceives you: do not believe him, do not listen. But when the Gueux said that he was mad, and, as one mad, bade him be removed, he answered: In this indeed I am by no means mad: but this man, whom you hear, deceives you. For the devil, sitting upon his shoulders, suggests to him whatever he speaks. In fine, he never through disturbance of mind admitted anything whereby either the honesty of his life or Christian piety might be injured. For both in the last tumult, whether when the enemies first arrived, or during the captivity, he showed his notable zeal for the business of the Catholic Religion. Concerning which even Leonardus the parish priest certain persons heard affirming, at the last time of the captivity: That nothing at all, which was not of a sound man, was said or done by him in that prison so long and troublesome, amid so many injuries of the soldiers; but that in all things he showed a mind as entire and present, so also brave, and bore the outrages and blows inflicted by the wicked most patiently. He underwent martyrdom being about seventy years of age.

CHAPTER VII.

Of the life and virtues of Bl. Joannes of Oisterwijk, Bl. Joannes of the Order of Preachers, Bl. Adrianus of Beek, Bl. Jacobus Lacopius, Bl. Adrianus Walteri. The mystery of the number nineteen, and the glorious perseverance of all and each of the Martyrs.

CHAP. XXXVI.

Joannes of Oisterwijk, a village of Brabant, not far distant from Bois-le-Duc, was a monk of the monastery of Rugge. Which place was afterward ennobled by the execution of those holy Martyrs whom we celebrate in this writing. Now it was a monastery of the Order of St. Augustine, of those who are called Canons Regular. Bl. Joannes's fatherly care of the poor nuns, Thence further Joannes, by the command of his superiors sent to Gorcum, presided over a monastery of nuns of the same institute. Which indeed, from a freer domicile of Beguines (as they are called among our countrymen), long since converted into a monastic cloister, nevertheless retained the ancient name of the Beguinage. He found in that monastery of virgins the utmost poverty. For the sloth, or the luxury, of certain of the former prefects (they call them Fathers) had brought it about that, very many fields being sold off, it had gradually fallen from a most ample abundance of things to extreme indigence. Although that change, God so disposing, furnished to that family of virgins great matter of virtue.

[301] For from the time their affairs were reduced to straits, they began, by a certain spontaneous reformation, whereby he instructed them unto every virtue, to cultivate piety much more diligently, and to render themselves commendable to God and men by zeal both of sobriety and of chastity, and also by the work of their hands. The vigor of which discipline they retained chiefly under Joannes, of whom we now speak, as their prefect and monitor. There are with me his sermons delivered to the nuns, which he wrote in his own hand, composed indeed in a simple style, but filled with moral and Christian doctrine. He, moreover, by no means shrinking from the discomfort of poverty common with those virgins, and content with slender fare, bore that lot most patiently and calmly; although he was now old, and for the most part labored under a flux of the belly. At the time when the island of Briel had most recently been occupied by the Gueux, his monastery too was straightway disturbed and pillaged by them, and then also devastated. Then therefore, among other things, it was brought to this venerable man by sure report, that a certain one of his Brothers had there died by a notable martyrdom; when he could be compelled neither by threats nor by blows to shout favorable acclamations to the Gueux faction, by saying: Long live the Gueux. For those barbarians had cut off his nose and ears while he lived; which then, a pleasant spectacle for the mad populace, they had fastened to the gates of the city and the church; as we mentioned above in a certain place.

[302] panting with immense desire for martyrdom. But him, afflicted and consumed with other outrages and blows, at the last they had pierced with a gun. When the man devoted to God had heard these things, thence kindled with a great desire of martyrdom, again and again he broke forth into these words: O would that God might deem me worthy of this benefit, that he make me too meet such a death! Hearing these his words, an aged nun-virgin who ministered to him, Ursula by name, said: Father, be this far from you. Far be it that you should undergo so bitter and monstrous a punishment. Far be it that you should perish even by hanging. For although this punishment is lighter, yet it is most shameful. But he, dreading neither the bitterness of the punishment nor the infamy, persisted in the same ardor of holy desire, and again and oftener reiterated that: O if God deem me worthy of this grace! The holy desire of the man, therefore, was fulfilled by God; and the fellowship of the Martyrs, so often longed for, the excellent old man merited and found by his pious vows. And what is more, even in the very place where he had made the beginning and progress of a more perfect life, he attained in perfect charity his consummation.

CHAP. XXXVII.

[303] Fifteen Martyrs, of whom hitherto, were held captive at Gorcum from the beginning of the surrender of the citadel. Of Bl. Joannes, parish priest of Hoornaar, of the family of St. Dominic. But four others, led away from elsewhere, divine providence joined to those former ones, to be sharers of the same martyrdom and reward. Among these, first in order of accession was Joannes, parish priest of Hoornaar, a monk of the Dominican family, of the province of Cologne. To him it was turned as a fault by certain persons, that he lived outside the monastery in the habit of a secular priest; but, as I think, undeservedly. For he seemed to do this for no other cause than that with less peril he might exercise the pastoral office. Nor did he do it without the assent of his superiors, of which, by letters exhibited, he had given proof before those whose concern it was to take cognizance of such matters. This at least is certain, that he diligently and worthily discharged the office of a pastor, and vehemently detested the faction of the new men, the Gueux I mean. Which indeed he showed in very deed. For when the clergy of Gorcum was held captive in the citadel, he sometimes, running from his parish to Gorcum, lent his service to the Catholics in administering the Sacraments of the Church, and chiefly in baptizing their newly born infants. It happened therefore that he was suddenly called from Hoornaar to Gorcum, for the sake of baptizing a certain infant. And while, about to discharge the sacred ministry, he confidently hastens, on the very way he is seized by certain Gueux, who could not bear the man's so prompt and religious service, and, led into the citadel of Gorcum, is cast into that prison which held the other Martyrs shut up. And the Gueux indeed, after their manner, charged him with treason, thus, to wit, interpreting his frequent going and returning into the city, as though he were contriving something hostile. But in truth he had a cause common with the other captives; namely that he was a monk and a priest, that he was a Catholic, that he was an asserter and defender of the Roman, that is, the Apostolic Religion. Whence also he attained to the common crown of martyrdom by the same punishment of death, by the kindness of God.

CHAP. XXXVIII.

[304] Adrianus of Hilvarenbeek, which is a celebrated town of the Brabant Campine, as soon as his age permitted, devoted himself to the service of God according to the holy institute of the Premonstratensian Order, Bl. Adrianus the Premonstratensian, intent on the care of his flock, at Middelburg in Zealand; namely about the year of the Lord 1547. For, dying, he did not exceed the fortieth year of his age. He was moreover a man quiet, modest, peaceable, dear to all, and altogether of a most approved life. Who, when he had spent twenty-five continuous years in the monastery, at last in the year 1572, about the feast of Easter, is sent by his prelate to Monster (which is a village situated in the utmost bounds of Holland, where the Meuse flows into the Ocean, and commonly called Munster), to administer the parish of that place: because its rector, a monk of the same institute and convent (whose name also had been Adrianus), had a little before ceased to be among the living. But although both the place was infected with heresy, and therefore much more of labor and ill-will, than of honor and advantage, could be expected from that administration; yet, on the sole ground of obedience, in no wise shrinking, he most promptly undertook the enjoined province, and, delaying nothing, girded himself for the journey, so secure that he had not even taken with him those things which the necessity of the poor body requires, had he not been admonished by the Provost of the monastery, who under the Abbot, then Bishop of Middelburg, Nicolaus a Castro, solicitously bore the care of the brothers. When he was setting out by ship into Holland, a storm arising, he was not far from peril. But the Lord willed him preserved, whom he had chosen for this, that by his death a few months after he might glorify himself and his Church. The sheep committed to him, so long as he was permitted to be present to them, he most vigilantly cared for.

[305] Him, together with the subsidiary priest, his companion (of whom we shall soon speak), and his aged father, on one night (which, unless I am deceived, immediately preceded the seventh day of July), the Gueux pirates, having seized him at his house, carried off to Briel. captured by the Gueux, he is joined to the Martyrs of Gorcum. Now they led them through a certain village, Heide by name, subject to the parish of Monster. And because they scarcely hoped for any other profit from their captives, they offered them to the fishermen of that place for sale and redemption at one cask of beer; but neither any one of them, nor all together, would the harsh and ungrateful sheep pay so small a price for their pastors: a price, I say, of thirty stivers, more or less, at which a cask of beer could be valued. A matter truly to be deplored, in which this occurs not unworthy of consideration; that the Jews indeed bought Christ for thirty pieces of silver, to deliver him to death; but these three men (among whom two priests of Christ, and the same pastors of the sheep of Christ) their own sheep would not redeem for as many coins, to snatch them from death. Carried therefore to Briel, they underwent the common prison and passion with the Martyrs of Gorcum. But by name concerning Adrianus it has been reported to us by some, then companions of that prison and misery, that in his speech, countenance, and manners there shone forth a notable modesty joined with piety, and, in bearing injuries, a fortitude worthy of a Martyr: so much so that by his example he brought no small edification to the other captives; by whom in turn, as was fitting, he was held in great veneration for his virtues.

CHAP. XXXIX.

[306] Jacobus, surnamed Lacopius, born at Oudenaarde in Flanders of his father Antonius, Bl. Jacobus; of the same Order, for a while seduced; likewise a monk of the Premonstratensian institute at Middelburg, was of a ready and subtle talent; which he diligently cultivated both with the humane disciplines and with the study of languages. In the beginning he was dear to all, both for the easiness of his manners, whereby he showed himself pleasant to the Brothers, and for other not contemptible gifts of soul. Besides these, his age, form, and stature brought it about that he was called by his equals, by the more caressing word, "little Jacob." But in the year 1566, in which the tempest of the image-breaking overran some of the chief places of our Belgium, among many others elsewhere, Lacopius too,

God so permitting, who works together all things unto good for his elect, miserably seduced and ill persuaded by the heretics, first among the Brothers in the monastery loosed his tongue against the sacrosanct dogmas of the Catholic Church, youthfully and petulantly, not to say impiously: and soon, a deserter of the monastery, took up among the heretics the office of preaching; and wrote a heretical little book in a saucy style, with the title The Deflowering of the Golden Legend.

[307] the crime expiated by prompt penance, But in truth God, being merciful, did not suffer him to remain long in so great a blindness of soul, but quickly, the merciful shepherd, restored to the folds of his Church the straying little sheep, snatched from the jaws of Satan. For after a few months Jacobus, led by repentance of the deed, returned to his monastery; asked pardon for his error before the whole Convent of the Brothers; recalled, abjured, and execrated all his error and heresy. The little book too, which he had written, he cast with his own hands into the fire. After these things he both humbly underwent, and obediently fulfilled, the satisfaction enjoined upon him for his sin. Then, sent, for the sake of blotting out his reproach, to another monastery of the same Order, situated in the parts of Guelders, whose name is Mariënweerd, he lived there, as we have received from the Brothers of that place, honestly, religiously, and blamelessly. Nay, he even wrote some things in that monastery against the heretics; striving, to wit, in this way to repair the loss of souls, if he had before given any either by writing or by word.

[308] That desertion of the monastery, of which I have spoken, learned I know not whence, he too merited the palm of martyrdom. Count Lumey is reported to have cast in his teeth, when he was examined by his ministers; and Lacopius to have so answered Lumey, that he did not indeed deny the deed, but showed himself so corrected from his error, that from the truth now more surely acknowledged, God being favorable, he would suffer himself to be drawn away by no bitterness of punishments. Now Jacobus had a full brother, that same one who a little before had played the parish priest among the people of Monster, a man pious, prudent, and chiefly zealous for Catholic dogmas; who, having followed both his parents with due honor, had nourished them at home with himself. To him it pleased at length that Jacobus be joined as companion and auxiliary priest in the pastoral office; chiefly for this reason, that both in the things which are of piety, and in the Catholic faith, Jacobus, who had long before unhappily strayed, might be still more confirmed by domestic example and instruction; who, after his brother's death, being companion of pastoral cares to his successor, soon was made also a sharer of the blessed passion with him, being about thirty years of age. And so in this manner (to use the words of a certain pious monk, writing of them to a friend in a letter) these two men, both of the white Order, washed white their robes in the blood of the Lamb.

CHAP. XL.

[309] Andreas Walteri, parish priest of Heinort (which is a village of the territory of Dordrecht), Bl. Andreas Walteri came as the nineteenth to the crown. seized at his house by the Gueux robbers, who were overrunning those places, was thence carried off to Briel: where, joined to the holy Martyrs, he was made partaker of their passion and glory. In this man what else can I do but proclaim the admirable goodness of God? For when, as we have received, he had spent his life in the office of the pastorate little chastely, and not without public scandal; yet by the wondrous and singular condescension of God (to whom it is not difficult suddenly to enrich one poor in virtues with the gifts of his grace, and, drawn out and raised from the dung of carnal vices, to set him with the princes of his people) it was granted to him, by a way, so to speak, extraordinary, to attain the crown of martyrdom.

CHAP. XLI.

[310] Behold for you, Christian Reader, nineteen Martyrs, recounted by us in the history in an order not of their merit, In the number of the Martyrs which he alone knows how to discern who crowned them, but which another reasonable and just consideration suggested. In which number, foreordained by God to this lofty glory of martyrdom, there is this not absurd contemplation; that the number ten signifies the perfection of the fulfilled law, and the number nine the participation of the heavenly joys. For as the divine law is contained in ten precepts; so the multitude of the blessed spirits is distributed through nine choirs. Whence what else is to be understood, than that by the observance of the commandments of God our Martyrs prepared for themselves the way and access to the most blessed society of the holy Angels? For what if some of them preserved their innocence less in all their life: shall we therefore reckon them strangers to the fulfilling of the divine law? By no means indeed.

[311] what mystery the author finds, For since the excellent Doctor Augustine said most truly, that all the commandments of God are reckoned as done, when whatever is not done is forgiven; we ought assuredly not to doubt that God accounted a perfect obedience of the law in those who, the greatest work of charity being shown, received by their very death a perfect purgation of their offenses. For the rest, of their fortitude I add only this: that it was in all so great and such as both made them Martyrs, and presented them to almighty God to be crowned with the glory of martyrdom. For although one was braver, more alacritous, and readier than another to undergo martyrdom, and (what is not to be dissembled) that assembly of Martyrs had some also weaker and less stable, as being such as seemed to need to be animated and confirmed by the exhortations and examples of others, that they might persist unconquered (for in some larger number it can scarcely be otherwise); yet none of these forsook the confession of the Catholic faith, none showed a wavering mind at the last, none signified by word, nod, or countenance that he was prepared to deny the religion for the sake of which he suffered, if by that means he could redeem his life.

[312] asserting the glorious perseverance of all and each. This finally I truly affirm; that when we had inquired, with diligent and utmost zeal, of many, whosoever were thought to have any knowledge of this matter, concerning the constancy of faith of each, we understood nothing else at all, than that they, all to a man (I speak only of those whom we comprehend in the above-written number of nineteen), persevered in the confession of the Catholic faith, for which they suffered, unto the very last breath. In which matter indeed the account of a true martyrdom is fulfilled, there is no doubt. But since the foregoing history testifies that the three Martyrs, mentioned by us in the last place, bore the crowns of three apostates, whom, imprisoned with the rest at Gorcum and thence carried to Briel, we have shown to have suffered many things in common with them; perhaps now someone may expect that we relate what end those too at last attained. Which indeed we, not out of zeal for detraction (from which evil may God avert our tongue and pen), but, after the matter has become known to very many, only for this end, that in them we may either embrace the mercy of God, or dread his just judgments, will set forth in a brief compendium of narration.

CHAPTER VIII.

Of those who defected, namely Henry the novice, the parish priest of Maasdam, the Canon of Gorcum, and William of Liège, the Minorite priest.

CHAP. XLII.

Henry, the Minorite Novice, although loosed from his bonds, The defection and repentance of Henry the novice. and freed from the trouble of prison, while nevertheless he was compelled to live among the Gueux, and to discharge certain ministries among them, often afflicted with blows, treated with outrages, exposed to mockeries, and again and again forced to hear the reproach of his monkhood, and finally, amid the threats of the barbarians, nowhere secure from the peril of hanging, led within and without a wretched life. But at last the right hand of God laid hold of his fugitive servant, tarrying in the midst of Babylon, and drew him back to the bosom of the Church, and restored him to the holy fellowship of the Brothers. For after some space of time, having gone with his master, to whose service he was bound, to Dordrecht, he secretly withdrew himself; and, using the help of a certain Catholic and pious woman, lay hid, took to flight, and at last returned joyful to the Catholics; from whose communion he had never renounced from the soul. Received at Bois-le-Duc by the Brothers of his Order with brotherly charity, and bidden to undergo the humble discipline of satisfaction for his sin, he thenceforth served the Lord in fear and trembling, by whose goodness he had been awaited unto penance. At last, a few years after, seized by an epidemic disease, he departed this life.

CHAP. XLIII.

[314] Another, whose name I prudently withhold, was a Canon of the Church of Gorcum. The deplorable fall of the parish priest of Maasdam, Him, before the Martyrs were led to the last punishment, we showed in its place to have been separated from their holy fellowship, together with the parish priest of Maasdam, and that not without suspicion of a renounced Catholicism. Which two nevertheless were still held captive in the house of the Vice-provost of the criminal court, until the eighth day after the consummated passion of the holy Martyrs, their minds meanwhile anxiously fluctuating between hope and fear. On which day at last, after sunset, when they had already reclined at table for the sake of supping, and suspected nothing sinister at that hour, Omalius, riding up on horseback, commands them to be bound and led away. They are led therefore, Omalius following, both out beyond the city into the orchard of the monastery of Rugge, to be hanged from a tree. First the parish priest, a man of life, as it was reported, not dishonest, but the same plainly unlearned, is ordered to be hanged. Who, although through fear of death he abjured (as we have received) both his Religion and his priesthood at once, and professed himself prepared to do and believe all things according to the opinion and prescript of those in whose power he was, and even promised that he would never afterward return to Papism, because the wretch hoped that by promises of this kind he would escape the present peril; nevertheless, Omalius ordering it, whom those promises of his moved nothing, he was hanged and slain.

[315] Truly unhappy, who, having abjured all sacred things by the utmost wickedness, could not escape even temporal death, not even for an hour; and his most unhappy end. and, what is too horrible, in a moment cast himself headlong into eternal death; since the Lord says: He that shall deny me before men, I also will deny him before my Father, who is in heaven. For this too befell most justly, that, whereas the same Lord says: Fear not those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul: but rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna: this wretch, by fearing the unjust slayer of the body, and by not fearing the just condemner of the whole man, at one and the same point of time, was most certainly caught by both evils, as well by that which he feared, as by that which he did not fear, but ought to have feared. In which matter again it is permitted us to observe the depth of the divine counsel, whereby it came about that, of those two whom we mentioned above, brought captive from the field of Dordrecht into the prison of Briel, and joined to the Martyrs of Gorcum, the one was taken, the other was left. He who was judged of the worse life among men, by the grace of God was taken to the supplement of the first number: this one, whom a more blameless life seemed to commend, by the just judgment of God was left.

CHAP. XLIV.

[316] There stood, watching this fall of his companion, the Canon, his neck now bared, The Canon, somewhat more fortunate and his arms bound behind, next to the punishment. But he, since he both knew French, and was ready and eloquent of tongue

was, using many flattering words, and promising great things magnificently, he at last bent the minds of all to compassion for him: the criminal Vice-prefect himself also, and the heretical preacher, that minister of the devil, who had come to lie in wait for the heel of the prisoners, and others too interceding on his behalf. Omalius therefore at last suffered himself to be prevailed upon; and he said to the Canon: If thou givest thy word that thou wilt render me faithful service in all things which I shall command, tomorrow I will speak for thee to the Count. For it is not within my power to grant thee thy life; but that favor is to be hoped for from the Count, with whom I will gladly intercede on thy behalf. The Canon promising most faithful service in all that should be commanded, Omalius ordered him led back into his usual custody. Nor did the Canon himself unreasonably suspect that Omalius by this act had wished nothing other than to render him beholden to himself under the appearance of so great a benefit, so that he might possess him for the future as a faithful and obsequious servant and client. For since he was maimed in his right hand, he had special need of a servant and secretary of this kind at once.

[317] he escapes execution, Nor was any other man fitter for that purpose than this one, since he was skilled in speaking and writing three languages, and, having sometimes moved graciously among noble men, had acquired for himself great experience of affairs. Therefore on the fourteenth day after, a public testimonial concerning the quality of his life having in the meantime been sought from the senate of Gorcum, he is loosed from his bonds; and he is taken by Omalius into his household, the burden of secretary, chamberlain, steward, and of nearly all domestic offices being laid upon him: yet in such wise that he remained no less exposed to the reproaches of all at every occasion; and he was compelled daily to hear, Papist, mass-priest, and other things of this sort: sometimes indeed he was even harshly beaten by Omalius, as by a savage and drunken man. At length, since he foresaw that it was by no means safe for him to dwell longer among that kind of men, he began to consider by what means he might slip away and snatch himself from danger. And when for a long time this did not succeed, at last this occasion offered itself of its own accord. A certain Bernard had been appointed by Count Lumey to collect the revenues of the ecclesiastical goods of the territory of Gorcum: who, since he did not see in what way he might collect the revenues of the Canons of Gorcum, being as they were small and scattered, began to court this Canon of whom we are speaking for the sake of this business, and to demand him from Omalius as a partner; because he had been the last treasurer of his college, and on that account was rightly believed to have an accurate knowledge of its rents and of all its goods.

[318] Omalius, prevailed upon at last, permitted the Canon his secretary an absence of nearly two months; and he returns by right of postliminy into the bosom of the Church. which time seemed to him necessary for the business: but on this condition, that he should be most diligently watched by his guide, lest he should secretly withdraw himself anywhere. And although this was solicitously performed by that man, yet the industry of the man overcame the care of his watcher, being far more solicitous for his own life and liberty, and assiduously intent upon every occasion of escaping. For when he was sent into the country places to exact certain ecclesiastical rents, and in that matter had several times proved his service useful and, as was thought, faithful to his master; at last, having found the opportunity, having deserted that impious fellowship, in which he had not a little defiled his own conscience by saying and doing many things agreeable to the error and impiety of the heretics, he betook himself by flight to the party of the Catholics; among whom, reconciled to God and the Church, he persevered in the Catholic religion even unto death, by the great grace of God snatched from the jaws of hell and from the perils of eternal death. The same man also afterward wrote the history of the Martyrs of Gorcum in German verse; which we too have used in weaving together this writing.

CHAPTER XLV.

[319] The third of those who fell away from the most holy company of the Martyrs was a certain William; The dread judgment of God upon William, whom, from his native idiom, they surnamed the Frenchman, though he was by fatherland a man of Liège. But just as in the two former we rejoice at the mercy of God, by which He recalls the fallen to penitence and salvation; so in this last one we acknowledge and venerate the just judgments of God, forsaking the sinner in his impiety: that, singing mercy and judgment together to the Lord, we may learn to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. For this man, while he fled the precious death in the sight of the Lord, ended his inconstant and evil life not long after by a most wretched and detestable death. I say an evil and inconstant life; because after professing the rule of Blessed Francis, three and four times he deserted that holy family by apostasy: and last of all, having been led even to the gibbet with the holy Martyrs, and now next to execution, when by the constant endurance of death he might have washed clean every stain of his former life, he chose rather to increase it by a new crime; namely, when through cowardice and the fear of death he wickedly separated himself from the holy college of the Martyrs, the Catholic Faith being denied.

[320] who, three and four times an apostate from his Order, Concerning which matter, he himself afterward writing to the superior of the sacred Virgins of St. Agnes among the people of Gorcum, tried so to excuse himself as to say: What I spoke with my mouth, I thought not in my heart: as though that also were not most greatly to be feared by a Christian man which the Savior says: Whosoever shall deny me before men, I also will deny him before my Father who is in heaven. This man therefore, an apostate under a double title, first from St. Francis, then also from Christ the Lord, was indeed once restored to Francis, but from Christ, after the Catholic faith once denied, remained estranged even unto death; on which night he fell away from the holy confession, he was led into the house of Omalius, likewise an apostate man, and was held in custody with him until the eighth day. For then, because he seemed sufficiently from the heart to have put off at once the monk and the Papist, being loosed from his bonds and restored to liberty, and furnished with arms by Omalius himself, he is enrolled a soldier under the standard of Treslong, to defend the town and island of Brill. From these unlucky beginnings he slipped little by little into worse.

[321] and at last also from Religion, fell headlong into every crime: For he was wont to read heretical pamphlets, and to sing the execrable odes of the heretics, and to join a harlot to himself; so that in nothing might he be held inferior to the other soldiers. In the letters also which I said a little before he wrote to the superior of the Virgins of the monastery of St. Agnes, he added this; that he would very soon visit her, and take her to wife; namely, a monk a nun, a priest a religious woman. But howsoever the rest, as things to whose perpetration a certain necessity of soldiering and the fear of death had impelled him, might in some measure be excused: that certainly, that he should send letters so impure and irreligious, and so contrary to the profession of both, to a virgin consecrated to God, and to the very superior of the virgins, no necessity, no fear impelled him; and by this he sufficiently declared that he had cast from his soul, as far away as possible, all care both of chastity and of religion.

CHAPTER XLVI.

[322] For the rest, after he had once given himself over to the fellowship of the Beggar soldiers, whose reward for him was, he so profited in a short time in that kind of life that by the art and zeal of plundering he easily surpassed all his comrades; those men being astonished that a man lately a monk had so quickly learned thoroughly all the acts of the military life (I mean of that life which those impious brigands and pirates rather than soldiers both cultivated and professed), and exercised them so dexterously. Once he alone dared to attack on the public road a wagon laden with men, and, great terror being cast in, to plunder it. But he ennobled himself also among his fellows by many other examples of military audacity and savagery. But after through crimes of this sort he seemed abundantly to have proved his loyalty and his talent; then he obtained this from Omalius his fellow-countryman, that the wine to be drawn and carried for him from the Count's cellar was entrusted to him. But here also, though in a mean and trifling matter, the base apostate declared his bad faith; so that, according to the Lord's sentence, it was no wonder that he who is unjust in the least should be found unjust and unfaithful also in great matters.

[322] He counterfeited the key of the wine-cellar; that with his cronies and his companions in wickedness, as often as it was convenient, to end a base life by the noose, he might drink together. But those very drinking-companions betrayed the deed. Soon therefore the Frenchman, delivered again into custody, is accused of a double crime, of theft and of poisoning. For besides the fraud of the wine, secretly drained with his companions (in which matter he was truly culpable), he was burdened also with the suspicion of another far more atrocious crime; namely, that he had taken counsel about mixing poison, and had resolved to make away with the Count, feasting with his friends, by a draught of it. Of which matter he is believed to have been falsely accused. For the rest, put to the question, and having confessed the fraud which he had committed; in the third month after the slaughter of the Martyrs he is strangled by hanging; truly wretched and unhappy. For what is more unhappy than, the fellowship of the holy Brothers being forsaken, and the crown of martyrdom, which now hung over his head, being cast away, through crimes and outrages to make for himself a very brief addition to life; and then at last to lose that same life, on account of theft, an infamous crime, by an infamous punishment? Which same life, lest by a like punishment he should lose it for Christ and His holy Catholic Church, he had in the meantime both done and suffered so great evils.

[324] To say nothing now of how greatly it is to be feared, What may be judged concerning his salvation. lest after the death of the body eternal death and never-ending punishment received his unhappy soul; and lest all too truly it might be said of him what St. Basil wrote of a certain other man: that this deserter had both fallen from everlasting life, and not long enjoyed this temporal one. This man was one of the twelve Franciscan brothers whom the labor of the passion exercised. And the other eleven indeed followed Christ perseveringly to the end, like the eleven Apostles; but this man, the twelfth of the Brothers, by theft together with apostasy, expressed that reprobate twelfth of the Apostles, Judas. In those eleven the most clement Father willed to declare His goodness to the world, crowning them in mercy and in compassions; in this last one the most just judge willed to exhibit an example of His severity. Whose judgments, whether manifest or hidden, are indeed grievous to sinners; but unjust they cannot be.

BOOK FOUR.

CHAPTER I.

Of the visions and various benefits obtained through the intervention of the holy Martyrs.

CHAPTER I.

God, who said through the Prophet: Whosoever shall honor me, The author, about to relate a few of many miracles, I will glorify him; And again through His Son: If any man minister to me, my Father will honor him: not only renders the crown of eternal life to those who for His name have undergone temporal death, but in this world also often deigns in turn to show Himself a witness to His Martyrs; while, by certain divine testimonies among men making faith of their sanctity and glory, He honors them; so that those whom the world had despised while living, it may begin to venerate when dead; adorned with miracles, as with testimonies given from heaven. In which

matter, how much He who is admirable in His Saints, as the Church proclaims, deigned to confer upon our Martyrs, I shall embrace in a brief narration: not, however, about to bring forward all the things of this kind which happened (for I hear that the place of the Martyrs' burial is to this day, in the very midst of enemies, piously frequented by Catholic persons of both sexes, many seeking and obtaining from God through their merits the benefits of healings), but only about to commemorate those things of which a special and more certain knowledge came to me.

[326] he prefaces the vision of Matthias of Thoren, And indeed in the first place I think that must be set which God willed, in commending His Martyrs, in that very hour in which, the hands of the executioners still gripping their necks, they were scarcely yet wholly loosed from this bond of mortality. A certain man among the people of Gorcum, no less notable for integrity of life than for the Catholic faith, Matthias of Thoren (for this was his surname from his native place, a town of the Kempen), was accustomed every night to rise from his bed and to pray to God for the safety of the city. He, about the fourth hour after the middle of that night on which the Martyrs were slain, while he gave himself to his usual prayers and to piety, beheld in a vision all of them clad in white robes, and having golden crowns of wondrous brightness set upon their heads, whose hair, let down over their shoulders, divided and scattered in a fair order of ringlets, seemed becomingly to adorn their countenances, and to procure for them a certain majesty; whether one prefer to interpret this manner of bodily habit as signifying true Nazarites lately consecrated to the Lord by death, or their souls, brides to the eternal Bridegroom Christ, going forth to meet immortal life and the heavenly nuptials. Moreover, that this vision was by no means feigned (as otherwise some might have suspected) is sufficiently clear from this argument.

[327] which he shows to have been true. For as soon as day had dawned, that man, coming to his fellow Catholic citizens, who with all their prayers longed for the liberation of the captives, and by the letters of Orange (which we have mentioned elsewhere) promised it to themselves with sure hope, addressed them with words of this kind: There is no cause, my fellow-citizens, why you should any longer hope that they will return hither, for they are now dead by martyrdom; they have now received the crowns of martyrdom. And that you may not doubt, I myself, believe me, saw them crowned. And so it was known and believed at Gorcum that they had been put to death, long before any one returning from Brill could announce it. But also that at that very same hour in which that vision was shown to the servant of God the sufferings of the Martyrs were consummated, both they afterward testified who had been at Brill at that time, and the matter itself, at once divulged among all, did not permit it to be unknown. And although some of the Martyrs, breathing longer, hung for a while, yet the execution carried out by the soldiers received its end at that hour of which we have spoken. And, God revealing it, they could appear crowned together with the rest of the choir of their fellow Martyrs, who, although not yet dead, were nevertheless now on the point of receiving the crown of immortality.

CHAPTER II.

[328] Moreover, that a like vision, at the same hour, and in the same city, was offered to himself, another certain Matthias, surnamed Estius, related. He was my uncle, and, he relating it, my own brother heard it. [Another most illustrious vision at Gorcum, of Matthias Estius, the author's uncle.] Who, when he had spent a great part of that night with his wife (as many Catholics then did) in praying for the safety of the captives and of the city, and had at last composed himself to rest, saw those same Martyrs standing in order before his bed, suffused with vast splendor, grace, and joy: and the Franciscans indeed all in their accustomed habit, but two of the pastors clad in linen surplices (which we commonly call superpellicia): moreover the Guardian smiling upon him with singular sweetness, as he was wont in life. As these were departing in passage, he seemed to see Nicholas the parish priest blessing his wife lying beside him (whose confessor he had been in life) with the sign of the cross, his right hand stretched forth. These things he sincerely and constantly affirmed to have been seen by him not through a dream, nor in a phantasm, but with open and waking eyes, a man simple, upright, and fearing God. Upon whom accordingly no suspicion of so notable a deceit could fall, that he should seem to have fabricated a tale out of his own brain. Such we have known him to have been also to whom the former vision was shown. For to such the Most High is wont to reveal His secrets; since, according to the witness of the Psalmist: The secret of the Lord is for them that fear Him; and, according to the Wise Man: With the upright is His secret, or, as we read, with the simple is His converse; because, forsooth, as Gregory says, God illumines with the ray of His visitation, concerning the mysteries above, the minds of those whom no shadow of duplicity darkens.

CHAPTER III.

[329] Moreover, what benefit God afterward conferred upon one of these two through His Martyrs, I do not think should here be passed over. A new benefit conferred upon Matthias of Thoren, And it stands thus, as we received it from several trustworthy men who were then at Gorcum. Not long after the slaughter of the Martyrs it befell that the aforesaid man of Thoren, who for many years had been subject to a hernia, which is a disease of bursting intestines, was miserably tormented even to the peril of life. And now for four-and-twenty hours, more or less, the protruding intestines could not be put back, so that no hope of life seemed left to the wretched man. Whatever it had been the custom to apply for driving off so present a danger was applied. And when all these things availed nothing, nothing now but certain death was awaited. At last the sick man, human remedies being despaired of, taking confidence, implored divine help through the intercession and the merits of the Martyrs of Gorcum, who lately at Brill had met death for the Catholic faith. Nor was success wanting to his pious prayer. For soon, all who were present being astonished, freed from the present danger, he recovered health, and what remained of his life he thereafter passed accounted as owed to God and the holy Martyrs.

CHAPTER IV.

[330] We shall add another, which happened at Brill; and the pains of the gout taken away from another. as we learned it from the report of the Abbot of the monastery which is called the Isle of Mary. A certain Catholic man of Brill, when he was afflicted with the most grievous pains of the gout, having gone forth from the gates of the city, could scarcely creep to the place in which the bodies of the holy Martyrs lay buried. But there, prayers being humbly poured forth to Him who had crowned the Martyrs, he at once obtained a cure. For soon, freed from the gout, he returned home whole, giving thanks to God, who through the merits of His Saints deigns to show the miracles of His power.

CHAPTER V.

[331] To this let there be added that notable victory which, by the great and singular benefit of God, On the anniversary day of the holy Martyrs, the royal and Catholic soldiers won over the hostile and heretical enemy near Haarlem, a city of Holland, in the year next after the slaughter of the Martyrs; and that indeed on the very anniversary day of their passion, and at the very hour also at which they had departed from life. How this came to pass, I will relate. Haarlem was girt with a most close siege by the army of the Catholic king, to such a degree that, the provision being now almost wholly consumed, famine on every side miserably wasted the wretched city. Therefore the Beggars who were throughout Holland, vehemently desiring to free that city, thus laboring in extremity, from its peril by a supreme effort also, as many as followed that faction with more ardent zeal, of their own accord and at their own charges most of them undertook that expedition, an army being mustered out of themselves of about four thousand foot and five hundred horse.

[332] the people of Gorcum privately celebrating the feast, These wished to be called the Lovers, because (as they at least gave out) they undertook so great a matter led solely by love of country and of Religion; whereas in truth hatred of the Catholic King, together with the Catholic Religion, impelled them the more to the doing of it. During the same time many Catholics of Gorcum, who partly still dwelt in their own city, partly, fugitives thence, lived in foreign cities, the anniversary day of the passion of the holy Martyrs approaching, with religious piety sanctified the vigil of that day by voluntary fasting, and kept the very birthday as a festival and solemn day; and both days they passed in pious prayers, suppliantly beseeching God that He would deign to overthrow the wicked attempts of the heretics, to scatter their counsels, to dissolve their forces, to cast down their pride, and finally to restore to the whole country safety and the Catholic Religion. And all these things they did not hesitate to ask through the intercession and merits of the new Martyrs; being persuaded, namely, that they who for the confession of the Catholic faith had fallen by the hands of the heretics were both truly Martyrs of Christ, and could most rightly be invoked as friends of God and as intercessors for our salvation with God. But how far from vain this religious and pious zeal of the Catholics in praying was, the outcome taught.

[333] the notable victory at Haarlem The forces of the Beggars were now prepared, and about five hundred wagons prepared (which Laurentius Surius also commemorates in his commentary of the deeds done) laden with provision and arms and other things necessary for the defense of the city, which it had been decreed to bring into the town, the enemy's camp being penetrated and broken through by force. Therefore on the seventh of the Ides of July, about the rising of dawn, the Beggar army rushed unexpectedly into that part of the camp which the German soldiers held. But these, since they were scarcely six hundred in number, and so grave and unexpected an assault of the enemy had rendered them not a little dismayed, (wonderful) were so suddenly strengthened by heavenly aid that, arms being snatched up in confusion, first indeed they alone sustained the heavy assault, then, aided by others hastening up from every part of the camp, scattered that numerous and well-ordered host of the enemy, and laid low of it about two thousand foot and a hundred horse, the rest being driven to flight: and they took above three hundred wagons, all most fully laden with provision. After this disaster of their allies, the people of Haarlem, now in extreme famine, destitute of all hope of relief and of sustenance, at once of their own accord and as suppliants prepared to give themselves into the power of the Catholic King, bargained for their bare lives only; and were ordered to pay the estimated price of their movable goods, lest they should be given to the soldiers for plunder.

[334] And so on the fourth day after, that is, on the third of the Ides of July, it is obtained by the royal Catholics. the gates being opened, they received the royal soldiery within the walls. The Catholic faith being from that time restored to that city, for eight continuous years, more or less, amid so great a throng of heretics raging round about throughout all Holland, was preserved safe and sound, not without the singular help of the divine will; namely, up to the point when, by a certain ill-considered and inauspicious pacification of the dissenting parties (of which there is no need to treat here at greater length), the overthrown state of the commonwealth at last wrested from the people of Haarlem also the public exercise of the Catholic religion against their will: from whom, however, neither a sincerely Catholic spirit, nor the use of that Religion, at least privately exercised, could be wrested even to this day. Upon this victory an eye-witness, Augustinus Nezerus of Fürstenberg, poet and theologian, and at that time also a Catholic chaplain of the German soldiery, made two chronogram verses, which should embrace both the year and the month and the day of the deed. And they are these:

nonVs IVLI erat: en fVnestVs geVsICa CœtVs tVrba tIbI. VIVaX gerManVs VICtor aLaCrIs.

[335] The poem of the same author, which describes that battle and victory, and, as befits a pious poet, concerning which there is a poem. ascribes it to the singular help of God, I omit for the sake of brevity. Wherein he also commemorates the hour, which we said above, of the battle joined, and all the other things agreeable to our narration. But although here someone might shuffle, and think that what happened is rather to be ascribed either to chance, or to military valor, or to the cowardice of the enemy: I for my part do not hesitate to account so happy an outcome of the battle as owed to the holy Martyrs; especially since so many and such conjectures and arguments concur to that conclusion. Of which the first is the pious and diligent prayer of many Catholics, imploring divine help against their enemies through the merits of the holy Martyrs: the second, the anniversary day of their passion, and that too the first; the third, that the very time of the battle also agreed with the hour of the passion. A fourth I add, that the manner and greatness of the victory manifestly showed the present hand of God fighting for His Church. All which things considered together rightly persuade pious and Christian minds that for this reason such a victory was so wondrously granted by God on that day and hour, that by this, as by an evident testimony of the divine will, the anniversary day of the holy Martyrs might thenceforth be consecrated among posterity.

CHAPTER VI.

[336] I will relate another not unlike the former. Well known is the more than heroic virtue of Balthasar Gérard the Burgundian, by which he both bravely made away with the common enemy of his country and religion, publicly declared and proscribed; and in turn endured monstrous torments of the body with wondrous patience. What other victory is attributed by the author to the holy Martyrs. In which matter he exhibited in our times a second John of Nicomedia; who, because he had openly torn down and rent the impious edicts of the Princes against the Christians from the public place where they hung, endured every kind of torment applied to him on this account, a most noble man, with such cheerfulness of countenance and spirit that not even any sign of pain appeared in him. An emulator of this so great virtue, Balthasar was unwilling to undertake that distinguished deed, worthy of all memory, unless fortified beforehand with the shield of prayer to God. For on the anniversary birthday of the Martyrs of Gorcum, in the twelfth year after their passion, at Delft in Holland, whither he had come for the sake of accomplishing that thing, he entered a sacred building rather secretly, and there suppliantly (as those testified who chanced to be present, certain Catholics of Delft), his head bare, his knees fixed on the ground, and his hands joined and raised on high, with the utmost devotion of soul he prayed to God for one whole hour, or longer. And the event of the matter taught that he was heard; namely, that fortitude of soul being obtained which the next day also, which was the tenth of July, the tyrant being slain, and then on the four following days, when through exquisite torments and through the most bitter punishment of death he accomplished a glorious martyrdom, he showed almost incredible, and astounding even to the very enemies. Why then should we not think that, by the suffrages and merits of our Martyrs, on whose birthday he commended his own contest to God with so great instancy of prayer, a victory so illustrious and to be remembered through all ages was divinely granted to Balthasar?

CHAPTER II.

The benefits of the holy Martyrs upon Rutger Estius, the collector of this history. The insatiable cruelty of Lumey against four monks of Schoonhoven, and two Brothers of St. Jerome of Gouda.

CHAPTER VII.

I come now to him who in tracking out and collecting the Acts of the Martyrs bestowed the chief and by far the greatest labor; Rutger Estius, the most diligent collector of this history and who furnished me, about to write, with the material collected, and roughly digested. For in him too certain things happened which no pious man, I believe, will deny that God willed to exhibit for the commending of the merits of His Martyrs. He was my own brother Rutger Estius, a man (as many together with me have known) of exceptional piety toward God, and of lavish liberality toward the poor. Concerning whom truly I ought not to be silent: not only on account of that which is now in hand, but also, lest I should seem to have wished to defraud a most beloved brother of his own praise, or to have claimed for myself something more than was fitting in this present work; since even to that which was performed by me he, while he lived, was, absent by letters no less than present by words, an assiduous exhorter and impeller. And the cause of his beginning the business, which he often related to me, was this for him.

[338] He saw certain men rashly and without judgment receiving things heard from any quarter, he partly saw with his own eyes, bursting forth with excessive facility to write the history of the Martyrs. He saw others too indulging their affections overmuch, not without loss of truth; while privately they favor this or that person more than enough. Some indeed transferring certain brave deeds from one man to another. A certain one also, while he wishes to cover his own disgrace and cowardice (for he was one of the deserters), not only made a history maimed and imperfect; but also, in proclaiming the virtue of those who had stood firm, was far more remiss than was fitting. In all these things he grieved at the injury to the Martyrs, from whom both true and certain praises were withdrawn, and false or uncertain ones feigned. Desiring therefore to remedy so great an evil, lest anything be wanting either to the glory of the Martyrs or to the truth, incited by pious zeal he first himself undertook the matter; then he asked and impelled me to complete his beginnings, and give the material form, and finally bring the whole work to light. He himself indeed (to say something more of his diligence), being set in exile at Utrecht, throughout nearly the whole two years which next followed the slaughter of the Martyrs, when the knowledge of the deeds was most recent, those still living and not yet dispersed who had either to some extent been sharers of the captivity and even of the passion, or had been eye-witnesses, or had received their knowledge from witnesses of this kind—he bestowed all his zeal upon this, that he might thoroughly learn what had been done concerning the Martyrs at Gorcum, at Dordrecht, at Brill.

[339] And so from each one arriving from those parts, partly received from eye-witnesses; whom he judged to know something of those matters, provided he seemed trustworthy, he exactly and carefully inquired concerning the particulars; and what he heard he at once committed to paper. I say nothing of those things which he himself at Gorcum, having for a while shared the common lot with the Martyrs, had seen with his own eyes, so that for them he needed no witnesses. And so great was his care of the truth that he received nothing except what was ascertained or attested. But if anything doubtful or less certain was brought forward, according to the credit of the reporter, he either rejected it, or inserted it into his collectanea as uncertain, or merely as probable. Finally he gave nothing to anyone's favor, he yielded to no offense, so as to write anything otherwise than his conscience dictated. Which constancy of truth we too have followed with equal zeal and sincerity, both in arranging what he had given, and in adding those things of which we afterward received knowledge. For we were not ignorant how great a sin it is to obtrude upon readers false things for true, or doubtful for certain, in writing history, especially ecclesiastical and sacred. We knew also how absurd and perverse it is to adorn the Martyrs of Christ, and the most certain witnesses of truth itself, with false or uncertain praises: and how foolish and inept it is to wish to promote the honor of God through lies, since it is written: Doth God need your lie?

[340] first freed from dysentery by their merits, While therefore Rutger was engaged in this pious work, and had begun to collect the scattered things which he had noted down, he fell into a dysentery, which not only kept him from his undertaking, but also brought peril of life and despair; especially because, on account of the poverty of exile, he was destitute of the remedies necessary for the cure of the disease. For he was suffering voluntary exile with his aged father for the Catholic faith, all things being left behind. Then, fearing lest, he being dead, the scattered and neglected papers should perish, and through this the truth of the history of the Martyrs be obscured, he suppliantly prayed God this one thing only, that, the force of the disease being repressed, He would grant him time to finish what he had begun for His glory. God heard the pious supplication, nor delayed His help. For behold, at once, in that same hour, the flux, with which he labored almost continually, ceased, nor returned: and so much strength was then restored to him from the infirmity of his body, that, thanks being given to God, without trouble he pursued the work begun.

CHAPTER VIII.

[341] But there is also another thing by which the Lord of the Martyrs testified by no means obscurely that the diligent and pious labor of Rutger was pleasing to Him. and then also affected by this benefit, He celebrated every year with private devotion the birthdays of the new Martyrs, keeping the day as a feast: and adorning their images, which he had painted to the life, and before them sweetly singing elegant German odes, composed by himself in praise of the Martyrs: and exulting with that spiritual joy in the commemoration of the Saints. The twentieth year was now turning from their passion, when after the Lenten fast, passed on bread and water alone, he began to labor under a grave infirmity of the body, of which also he died. In that sickness, how often did he invoke Nicholas Pieck? saying: Holy Nicholas, pray for me. Holy Nicholas, help me. How often did he transmit his sighs and desires to the Martyrs to whose honor he had ministered? Nor that certainly in vain. For altogether he was heard; not indeed so that, being freed from the disease, he should recover temporal health as of old (for now a loftier reward was being prepared for his pious labors), but in another and singular way. For, the birthday of Nicholas and his fellow Martyrs recurring, on the very anniversary night of their passion, and in the same night-watch in which their execution had been begun, he is called out from this mortal life to the blessed fellowship of the very Martyrs: while at his holy passing there were present with me two priests, likewise professors of theology, John Decker of the Society of Jesus, and our brother Arnold Estius the Minorite.

[342] Who here would not marvel at the order of the divine disposition? so that on their very birthday, as a twentieth Martyr, he came to them. Nay, who would not acknowledge a divine testimony even in the death of that man? Who would think it done by chance, that thus in him things and times should agree? For the Martyrs he labors: to the Martyrs he yearly renews honors: the Martyrs he invokes on his bed of pain: to the Martyrs he is called out, and is presented with the reward of his pious labor: their anniversary day makes his end. Finally, the whole matter the hour of his passing confirms. But neither, I think, is the number of the intervening years without meaning. For perhaps for this reason he was preserved for twenty years, that he himself might be added a twentieth to the nineteen Martyrs, and become, as it were by right of postliminy, a sharer of their blessed passion, which so many years before, God willing, he had not so much fled as deferred, that he might first write the Acts of the Martyrs before he should enjoy the fellowship of their passion and reward. For if he who receives a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shall receive a Prophet's reward; why should he not receive a Martyr's reward, who honored the Martyrs in the name of Martyrs with so many services? Therefore I think it sufficiently

clear to all pious persons in what manner also in that man God willed to make illustrious the glory of His Martyrs.

CHAPTER IX.

[343] But let the narration pass from a venerator of the Martyrs to a persecutor, that in the death of this man also, Other examples of Lumey's ferocity Lumey I mean, we may acknowledge the divine testimony on behalf of His Saints. For if the sacred and ecclesiastical writers rightly and carefully described the foul, horrible, and unusual deaths of Antiochus, Herod, Maximian and Maximinus, and of many others who persecuted pious men, that thence the reader might understand how pleasing to God those men were whose unjust afflictions and deaths He thus avenged even in the present world: I judge that on this side also a testimony not slight is furnished for our Martyrs. Yet before I set forth the end of that man, I must relate certain other things impiously, cruelly, and barbarously perpetrated by him upon the servants of God after the destruction of our Martyrs. Which indeed will not be foreign to our design, not only because we are writing the history of Martyrs, but also for this reason, that these, of whom I am about to speak, as they were later than ours, so adorned their virtue and constancy, the rumor being straightway brought to their own ears, with their own illustrious and in a manner divine testimonies.

[344] When therefore the first beginnings of rebellion and cruelty succeeded for Lumey at Brill according to his wish, in four Religious of Schoonhoven he advanced little by little into inner Holland, everywhere showing himself such as he was, that is, a savage man, and thirsting for the blood of priests and monks. And so about the Kalends of October he besieged and took by surrender a little town situated on the bank of the Rhine, by name Schoonhoven (which Thomas à Kempis in his letters interprets in Latin as bella curia, "the fair court"); on covenanted and sworn conditions indeed, that both the use of the Catholic Religion, and the privileges as well of persons as of religious places, should remain safe to the besieged; but of which nothing was performed by the perfidious man. For not long after, through his soldiers, the ministers of his impious will, he profaned the churches of that place, overthrew the altars, broke the images of Christ and of His Saints, plundered the sacred furniture, trod the Sacraments under foot: so far was he from permitting the Catholics any exercise of their Religion, as he had covenanted. Nay rather, he soon turned himself with his men to the accustomed butchery of the ministers of God. There was outside the walls of the town a notable monastery of Canons Regular of Mount St. Michael, which they call the Hem. Its Religious, on account of the incursions of the enemy, had migrated into the town. But where they thought they would be safer, they were most wretchedly treated.

[345] being perfidiously slain at his command. One of them, Theodoric by name, of Gouda by fatherland, was pierced through and slain with many wounds by an impious soldier. Two others, Jacob likewise of Gouda and Subprior of the monastery, and Cornelius of Schoonhoven, were hanged and strangled from a walnut tree which stood over against the senate-house. To these three a fourth was joined for martyrdom; a fellow-inmate of the same monastery, Gaspar by name, whom those barbarians, tied to a horse's tail, dragged all the way to Gouda, many who watched the deed pitying him, a town distant nearly two leagues from Schoonhoven: which, by the fraud of certain abandoned men, four months before had been reduced into the power of the Beggars. There they bound Gaspar aloft to the yardarm of a ship, which was in the river IJssel outside the walls of the city, and over against the citadel, and, drawing and drawing him back up and down, at last wrung out his soul: then for a spectacle they left the body hanging for some days. These four suffered these things for no other cause than that they were Catholics, that they were monks, that they were priests.

CHAPTER X.

[346] And all these things were carried on chiefly under the auspices of Lumey. For he himself about the same time set out for Gouda, The Guardian and Vicar of Gouda for the sake of advancing his tyranny. But when he had come thither, he was quietly admonished by certain leading men of that place, Beggars indeed, but politiques, not to rush at once, as they had learned he had done elsewhere, to the slaughter of monks and priests. That it must be dissembled for a time, until his affairs throughout Holland were better established. That otherwise it was to be feared lest he should at first sight alienate the minds of many from himself. That admonition cast some fear into him. Whence when a little after two Minorites of that place, the Guardian and the Vicar (whom the Beggars had long held captive in the citadel, and afflicted in many ways, the Guardian especially), had been brought to him into the court-house, and compelled to cast themselves at his feet, by the supplication of certain citizens at least this was obtained, that (which was held in the place of a benefit) they should depart alive from his eyes: although not without terror and peril: for to the suppliants he answered with contempt and wrath, the words being thrice repeated: Mass-priests and monks; as it were signifying that this kind was hateful to him: and that therefore he spared them unwillingly, nor gladly heard if anyone interceded for them. For how burdensome and hateful prayers of this kind were to his disposition, this which I shall relate proves. When once a certain man known to me, a man of the Beggar faction, came to him about to ask something, he was received with this greeting: If I knew, said he, that thou wert come to intercede for the monks, I would hang thee.

[347] how they escaped the hand and fury of the tyrant. But at Gouda, his arrival being still recent, fear repressed him, conceived from that admonition of certain men which I have mentioned. Therefore the Franciscans, led from his sight to the house of a certain Catholic senator, as to a freer custody, and thence secretly withdrawn by the effort of friends; when after some days they were sought again by his satellites most diligently, to be produced before Lumey, they could not be found. And certainly, if they had been found, they would by no means have escaped the hands of that murderer. Wherefore a little after, by the zeal and industry of those same friends, it was procured that, their dress and the appearance of their countenance being changed, having gone out of the city through the midst of the soldiers keeping the gates, they should come safe to the party of the Catholics. For so it seemed good to God, to preserve them yet a while longer in life for the benefit of the Church. Of these, the one whom I called the Guardian was Anthony Nusculus, of Gorcum by fatherland, joined by the bond of friendship to Nicholas Pieck, a man small of body, but great in piety, learning, and eloquence, and accustomed to preach to a most crowded audience; so that he often had two, three, or four thousand hearers, or even more. After that time he acted as Guardian at Bois-le-Duc, then at Antwerp. Last of all, when for the sake of his health he had set out into France, at Paris he met the end of his life.

CHAPTER XI.

[348] Moreover Lumey, frustrated of this prey, turned his fury upon two others as occasion offered: concerning whom I shall commemorate the things What manner of men the Brothers of St. Jerome of Gouda were. which I received from trustworthy men. There was at Gouda a house of the brothers of St. Jerome, as they are called elsewhere: but there, from St. Paul, the patron of their church, they were named Paulites; though the common people used to call them the collation-brothers, the name being given from the collation, that is, from the brief and familiar sermon, which on Sundays and other feast-days in their oratory, after the vespers of the greater church were finished, they were accustomed to give to the people. That collation was mostly occupied with the histories and examples of the Saints, usefully set before the people for imitation. But although the revenues of the monastery were slender (for before the invention of the art of printing they procured for themselves the necessaries of life by writing and binding and selling books), yet toward the needy they exercised such benevolence as they could, mindful of that precept: If thou hast much, give abundantly: if little, take care to impart even this willingly.

[349] The head of the monastery, whom they call Father, Their head and steward. was John Rixtel of Brabant; a man in whose countenance and manners a wondrous piety shone, but of body such leanness that the bones scarcely clung to the skin. And he was (as I learned from the letter of a certain friend who sometimes had familiar converse with him) most greatly exercised not only in the humaner, but in the sacred Letters also, and in the writings of the ancient Fathers. He, after the persecution against the Catholics was stirred up by the Beggars, often said to a certain pious priest: O would that I might be made worthy of the crown of martyrdom! And when he had heard of the Martyrs of Gorcum, admiring their fortitude and constancy, and longing for a like end, with great desire of soul he said: Let my soul die the death of the just, and let my last end be like unto theirs. In manners the steward resembled the head, they call him the procurator, Adrian Textor, born at Gouda. For he too was exceedingly pious and humble, and likewise not unlearned. Who when once, the Beggar soldiers being quartered in the monastery, he was lighting a match-cord for a gun by way of service, as though presaging he said: Thus must the instruments be prepared for us by which we shall be slain.

[350] When therefore these two whom I have mentioned saw when they came as intercessors to Lumey, their monastery held by the impious soldiers in great number, and all its things, sacred and not sacred, confounded, snatched, dissipated and destroyed, no corner left to the brothers themselves to remain in, at last, counsel being taken, on the 25th of November before noon, clad after their custom in the habit of their profession, they go to Count Lumey, who was lodging in the citadel of the city, to entreat, with what humility they can, that he would restrain the intolerable insolence of his soldiers, or at least give power to the brothers to depart from the monastery with their goods safe. As they went, a certain man met them, of no small authority, though of doubtful Religion. He asks whither they are bound? When he hears that they are going to the Count, he dissuades them as much as he can, knowing at how great peril to themselves they did it. They, regarding rather the safety of the monastery than their own, with religious simplicity go on whither they had begun, not doubting that they would obtain what they asked: charity, forsooth, impelling them, which according to the Apostle believeth all things, and hopeth all things.

[351] they are butchered by him with unheard-of savagery; When Lumey and those who were with him saw them approaching, they began to cry out with laughter: Behold, behold, what is this? Now the sheep run of their own accord into the jaws of the wolves. O the force of truth, which burst forth from the mouth of the persecutors, both in that they designated them by the name of sheep, and themselves by the name of wolves: although that comparison fitted their prince Lumey far more aptly than the rest. For as a wolf, a sheep being seen (unless something frighten it off), cannot but pursue and spring upon it, following the instinct of nature; so that man seemed borne by a certain beast-like impulse to the slaughter of monks and priests, whom he had caught sight of. And so soon in very deed he showed himself a wolf to those harmless sheep of Christ: for, not waiting for the speech of the suppliants, he first orders them stripped of their garments, then exposes them naked to the hunting of his soldiers. The soldiers straightway with swords and other weapons drive them like wild beasts through the court and pleasure-garden of the citadel, pursue them, wound them, nay pierce them through with wounds on every side, so that at last, their spirit failing, they fell to the ground. Half-dead, their feet being seized, they drag and haul them through brambles and the sharpest thorns. Whom when they perceived still to breathe, that nothing might be wanting to their monstrousness, the belly being opened, they tore out the heart and intestines while they still throbbed. So at last the blessed

souls, their bodies left on the ground, flew away to the heavenly crowns.

[352] The Catholic people, when it understood the deed that had been done, buried by the care of a certain virgin in the church of the monastery. followed the so unworthy and cruel death of these best of men with many tears and mourning. But lest perchance any of the citizens, coming into the citadel, should behold the bodies so foully treated, the soldiers at once, a pit being made, buried them in the citadel itself. After eight days Mary Frans, a virgin dear to Christ and consecrated, went to Lumey, and asked for the bodies of the Martyrs, and obtained them. Therefore, they being dug up and washed, and breathing a sweet odor (so much so that all who came near marveled), she took care, some Catholic men helping, that they be brought into the church of the monastery in which those Saints had served God, and buried in it before the high altar. The age of each was about forty years. And it was not without cause attributed to the merits of these Martyrs, that that church, in which they lie buried, thereafter remained for a long time free from the profanation of the heretics.

CHAPTER III.

Cornelius Musius, a man most worthy of all praise, seeming to have had a presentiment of his martyrdom, intercepted by the arts of Lumey, is tortured in most cruel ways, and at last by the noose attains the crown of martyrdom.

CHAPTER XII.

I omit to relate the other things which were done by Lumey and his ministers barbarously and impiously at various places: Cornelius Musius, a man great in gifts, for I fear lest I should recede too far from my design. That one thing will be neither foreign, nor, as I think, burdensome to the pious reader, if I commemorate in what manner he, as it were for the completion of his crimes, put to death, after most grievous insults and torments inflicted, a man of most celebrated name, Cornelius Musius of Delft, learned in Greek as well as in Latin, a poet, an old man, the superior of the convent of the sacred virgins of St. Agatha at Delft. A poet I say, not one who cultivated the profane, lascivious, fabulous Muses, as we see certain Christian poets do in a manner little Christian; whose foolish, not to say impious, vanity he always abhorred: but one whom sacred and chaste poesy delighted, being as he was a theologian and a most chaste priest; so that between his manners and his Muses there was a most fair conspiracy of piety and holiness.

[354] And that this praise of Musius may not seem to anyone too recent, and in his own time adorned with many eulogies, I shall here insert an encomium of him, taken from a letter in which a certain learned and pious man dedicates to him the Paris edition of the Venerable Bede the priest, writing on the Proverbs and the Canticles of Solomon. These commentaries, he says, thy candid and chaste manners, and the purity of thy life, have compelled to come forth into public under thy name; which purity, from assiduous study and reading of the sacred Letters, and from diligent consideration of human affairs, through the Spirit, who in His own can do and work all things, thou hast now by long habit drunk in. Which study, it is wonderful with how great felicity thou hast pursued; so that, while thou cleavest to this wholly and untiringly, yet thou dost not neglect the humaner letters; which in spare hours, as though weighed down by the weight of a graver matter, thou so exercisest that they not only do not hinder sacred things, but rather nourish them. Meanwhile with equal facility of talent thou runnest out into verse, and, as they say, into the more pleasant Muses; not intent on singing the thefts and rapes of gods and goddesses, and their loves, in which some grow old, exhausted: nor mingling sacred with profane, which is now the common error of all who treat sacred things in verse: but rendering sacred things to the sacred, thou never turnest thine eyes from the sacred anchor. Of which thing thou hast furnished us no obscure specimen. Whence it has come to pass that in every kind of study thou dost savor of Christ, and bearest true and pious fruit. Which that He may increase for the better, I pray God, who alone gives increase to all.

[355] by his sweet verses Thus he at Paris in the year of the Lord 1536, when Musius had not yet completed half of his age: that thou mayest understand that purity of life and holiness came to him not only at last with old age, but that even as a young man he shone with those virtues by which he might play a prelude to the illustrious honor of martyrdom. There was added to these an ardent desire of martyrdom itself, answering to the merits of his former life. For what else do those verses mean, in which, breathed upon by the divine Spirit, now he wishes, now he prays, that he may lay down his life for Christ? For when in a certain poem he was suppliantly addressing Christ who suffered, he closes his speech with this tetrameter, full of holy desire:

O if but once Thou wilt have granted That I may burn with love of Thee, My life then gladly will I spend (For all I owe) on Thee.

But elsewhere he invokes the Saint of his own name in this poem:

Blessed Bishop of Christ, And glorious Martyr of Christ, This grace to thy Cornelius Benignly obtain, That, whom I express in name, Thee in charity, thee in faith, And in the boldness of asserting The truth, I may express.

[356] he seems not vainly to have had a presentiment of martyrdom. And these things indeed that sacred bard sang, as by a certain presage, before the Beggar persecution had arisen. But after the trumpet of persecution sounded, the thirst for martyrdom seemed to be kindled the more in him. Then he had much talk of martyrdom among his familiars. Then too he read more attentively the books written on the exhortation to martyrdom. At which time also he honored the Martyrs of Gorcum, slain at Brill, with notable testimony. For when the fame of them had flown to him, he so both congratulated their virtue, and thought humbly of himself, that often with tears he professed that he was unworthy of their glorious fellowship; nay, not even worthy to loose the latchets of their shoes. But this humility made him worthy of martyrdom. And at the same time he remembered, not without a groan, that Canon who through cowardice had separated himself from the holy fellowship of the Martyrs (for he had known him familiarly). Moreover he sought out with diligent zeal the names of the Martyrs themselves, that he might celebrate the day of their passion, in the recurring years (if life should suffice), with equal honor to that with which he was accustomed to keep the birthdays of John of Rochester and Thomas More (whose images painted to the life on panels he had by him) and of other Martyrs of our age. For all of whom also the pious poet meditated hymns and songs of triumph. These things, heard from the mouth of a certain honest priest, an eye-witness and of the household (for he had been Musius' last servant), my own brother both related to me, and left consigned to writing.

CHAPTER XIII.

[357] After that time there came into Holland Prince Orange, the head of the Beggar faction. Musius, perceiving the rights of hospitality violated against himself, Him, on his entering Delft, Musius received with his accustomed hospitality, not so much for the sake of friendship as of service, to which the wealthier religious houses, such as was the monastery of St. Agatha, are for the most part bound, for the receiving of magnates. When therefore on the very day of his arrival Musius was to sup with him, the servant whom I mentioned above warned him, as he was going to table, that, laying aside his priestly dress, namely the gown and cap, he should take a supper-garment, which they call a night-garment, with a traveling hat. For it was to be feared lest the companions of Orange, to whom priests were hateful, at the sight of the priestly habit, should be provoked to do harm. But Musius denied that he would do it. Shall I, said he, a man of seventy, dissemble for fear, whence the younger might take an example? Far be this from me. Nor is there cause why I, a man now old, should fear to die. And so, clad in his usual dress, he came to the banquet, fearing nothing the reproach of his priesthood, nor the imminent peril.

[358] But that happened which was feared; he exhorts his Agathenses and prepares himself for martyrdom. the right of hospitality being violated, the guest was mocked by the guests at the hospitable supper; and wantonly assailed by the banqueters with many jeers and revilings. Much different was this from that proclamation by which Orange had once pronounced among his own that Musius was a man worthy of a bishopric. Moreover, from these beginnings the conjecture was easy, what Musius must expect. His friends therefore advising and impelling him, at last with difficulty he prepares for flight. Meanwhile his little daughters, his religious women, I mean, entrusted to his care, the solicitous father calls together into a certain more secret chamber, and exhorts them to hold firmly to the Catholic faith, to mutual charity, to the perpetual observance of chastity and of their other solemn vows. Then, the sacrifice of the Mass being offered, and the life-giving bread distributed to each, he commends them all to God: and the remnants of the sacred table (lest the holy of the Lord be left to dogs) being consumed by himself, he says: This viaticum being taken (perhaps there will be need), I shall be armed for martyrdom; nor shall I fail, refreshed by so saving a Sacrament.

[359] Which things being done, he withdraws himself from his native city, recalled from The Hague by the command of Orange, and comes to The Hague, distant thence nearly two hours' journey. But betrayed by the information of a certain man of Delft and his own kinsman, the Beggar brigands pursue and take him. Orange, that matter being known, recalls him to Delft by public letters: whether because he was unwilling that his faction should be burdened by the slaughter of a most illustrious man and most gracious to all (which he feared for him, a captive, from the savage soldier): or because he hoped that by his information he could obtain the hidden riches of the monastery. That recall vexed Count Lumey, who had then come to those parts (that we may return at last, from a long digression, to him of whom the discourse had been begun), and inflamed him to harass and destroy Musius. Nor indeed ought so great a man to have perished otherwise than by the work of Lumey. He therefore, incited by three goads, by proud indignation against Orange (which we saw at Brill also), by hatred against the priest (which was perpetual for him), and by greed of gold (for he too panted after the treasure of the monastery), resolved altogether that this prey, departing, must be pursued by himself. There was a suspicion of certain persons that the matter was done by agreement between Orange and Lumey. Which to me seems agreeable neither to their pursuits nor to their deeds.

[360] Recalled by the mandate of Orange, Musius is carried back from The Hague to Delft in an ice-sledge, he is intercepted by Lumey, having with him as companions the noble and most chaste virgin Charlotte de Merve, and Cornelius van Meer, a youth of nearly twenty years, his kinsman, whom also he had received from the sacred font. But as he journeyed, and was secure of peril, from the midst of the road Lumey intercepts him, and casts away with laughter and contempt the safe-conduct of Prince Orange, which he continually produced for his protection. Soon by his ministers the excellent man, as a traitor to his country (this was the common calumny against Catholics), is bound most tightly with fetters, and with swift course over the smoothness of the ice is led away to Leiden: a town lying at some little distance to the right, which they now call Lugdunum Batavorum, a name repeated from antiquity.

[361] who drags him to Leiden to his tribunal. That day was the tenth of the month of December, sacred to the most holy virgin and martyr Eulalia. Musius, led to Leiden, on that same day toward evening, that some appearance of judicial order might appear, is presented as it were before a tribunal. Where, catching sight of a certain noble man, the son of an old friend, and one kindly treated by him and affected with benefits, Ghisbert by name, he asks in return the mutual office. But he, gazing at him with distorted eyes: Art thou, said he, the Father of the Agathenses? I thought some rank monk was sitting there. And with the word the ungrateful man rushes away thence. At once there is sent in

a heretical preacher, who, having raved much against the Roman Church and the Catholic faith, sets forth to the pious man certain heads of Calvinian doctrine to be persuaded to him. To which Musius: Dost thou, said he, think me so senseless and insipid, that after so great labor bestowed on the divine Letters through my whole age, after so many commentaries of the holy Fathers unrolled, I should so easily recede at a light breath from the faith once professed? There is no cause why thou shouldst weary either thyself or me. That faith I, an old man, will keep, which as a boy I learned.

CHAPTER XIV.

[362] While these things are being done, suddenly it is announced that Spaarndam, With ignominy he is led to two other Martyrs. which was the most fortified port of the people of Haarlem, has been stormed by the royal soldier, and the garrison which was there destroyed. At the news of this thing, the Beggars trembling, it seemed good, the cause unheard, to hasten the slaughter of the innocent man: but first, inquiry being made about the treasures and treasure of the monastery, which was held to be most opulent. He is therefore led forthwith by the lictors with public ignominy, and great bitterness of words, to the neighboring house of a certain Catholic exile, whose name was Cornelius Venius, seized by the rebels: in which he finds two other captives, Christopher Scagen and Adrian Assendelft, leading men of the senate of Haarlem. Whom, returning from an embassy which by decree of their city they had undertaken to the royalists, the Beggars had seized and brought to Leiden, soon to be Martyrs. For the one on the eve of the Lord's Nativity was hanged from a gibbet at Delft and slain; and even after death was treated with insult. For his head, cut off from his body, was set aloft upon a stake, as though of a traitor. But the other died in prison from a more intense torture. Both left an illustrious testimony of their confession.

[363] With these Musius converses concerning the common lot: then, that he might betray the sacred treasures, and gives and receives words of consolation. As they thirsted, there is brought by a household maidservant a pint of English beer. Scarcely a little refreshed by a draught of it, Musius is at once snatched by the lictors into the next dining-room, and is presented for questioning to the prefect of capital affairs, that noble man and perfidious friend, of whom I have made mention before, being present and acting as assessor. So then to a ladder, which was in the place of the rack, they stretch out the venerable old man, his hose and doublet drawn off, half-naked, and his hands drawn back behind his back above, and his feet below, with cords. Then, a linen cloth being spread over his mouth as he lay supine, they instill cold water, until his belly swelled abundantly. Whence were roused from his vitals horrible sobbings. There were heard also groaning voices, which the pain wrung out. But when by this way the lictors did not succeed in extorting the secrets which they wished, they attempt another kind of penalty. His head being turned downward, they suspend the mass of his body from the two foremost toes of his feet, which they had bound with thinner and those very strong little cords to the top of the ladder. Whence it came to pass that the body, torn by its own weight from the limbs by which it hung, fell heavily, dashing its hoary head against the ground.

[364] After these things, torches being applied, they so scorched the aged body, he is tortured with most cruel torments. that the place was filled with a heavy stench. Nor yet thus did savage cruelty succeed. For the holy man, and one learned in divine things, knew that all things must rather be borne by a Christian than that he should betray the sacred treasures to the impious. But all these things that most sorrowful kinsman of the same name and fellow-captive youth was compelled to behold; so that upon him too a part of the monstrousness might overflow. Now, from the greatness of the torments, sense had failed the old man, when those barbarians, to fulfill the lust of a cruel mind, rather than to increase the pain of the Martyr, cut off the remaining fingers of his feet and hands. One or another of which, neglected there on the spot, the next day a household girl took up with a forceps, and buried in the cemetery of St. Peter. But let us come to the last agony of the Martyr.

CHAPTER XV.

[365] When the wicked men saw the constancy of the man tried in vain by questionings, they thought it remained Driven at last to the gallows, he attains the crown of martyrdom, to make away with him as soon as possible. Therefore about the ninth hour after midday, deep in the night, through the streets covered with high snow, the old man, tortured with torments, almost naked, stiff with cold, panting, and heavily sighing not without tears, they drag to the market-place of the city, his maimed soles copiously trickling blood all the way over the tracks pressed in the snow. Dragged thither, they set him beneath the gibbet to be hanged. Musius, seeing that the time had come at which by an ignominious death he must depart from this life, with a brief but effectual prayer commends that last contest of his to God. The lictors approach, and because from failure of strength he could not climb the ladder, they bind him by the middle with a rope, and thus in a foul manner draw him up on high. Soon, a thicker noose being cast on, they gird his neck, not solicitous that, as is wont to be done for the sake of hastening death, the throat should be more tightly constricted. Whereby it came to pass that, the breath not being at once shut off, the punishment was prolonged for the dying man. This at last was the end of the best and most learned priest; infamous indeed to the world, but glorious before God; and by himself long before longed for. With this blessed end he concluded a most praiseworthy life, being now seventy-two years and six months old. For his birthday had fallen on the eleventh day of the month of June, sacred to St. Barnabas the Apostle.

[366] Orange and others weeping at the base execution. Musius' death being heard, all the pious grieved, those most of all who had known him more familiarly: and among these a man of singular learning, Peter Opmeer, who also a few months after wrote his martyrdom in an elegant style. From which we too have taken much. Nay, they say that Orange also, as soon as he received the news of the deed, wept. And that the tears were not feigned, as certain persons suspected, the example of Antiochus surnamed the Noble easily persuades me: who, although he was of a mind hostilely affected toward the true Religion and its worshipers, yet on account of the unjust slaying of Onias the pontiff, that best of men (as the sacred history relates), was saddened, and shed tears, remembering the sobriety and modesty of the deceased. So truly was there in Cornelius Musius such splendor of virtues, such benignity toward all, that even to adversaries, in whom there was some measure of humanity, his so unworthy death moved mourning. There shone in him modesty, meekness, gravity tempered with courtesy, sobriety, hospitality, and a bounty inclined toward the poor: but above all these, piety toward God. Finally, his genius was excellently cultivated in the human and divine disciplines: so that thou mightest not marvel if a priest adorned with so many gems, John Gropper, William Lindanus, and many others besides judged him worthy for them to join friendship with, and, once joined, to cultivate and preserve with every office.

[367] The more than beast-like ferocity upon the sacred body. The more to be marveled at is their more than beast-like ferocity, who, not having suffered such a man to live, made away with him so monstrously; since not even by death could their savagery be sated. For when he had hung upon the cross almost until the middle of the following day, the lifeless body is at last cast down, and, for the greater contempt, is given over to a certain dwarf a cubit and a half high, the sport of the soldiers, to be handled at pleasure. That shameless and barbarous fellow cuts off in the sight of all the genital member. That his nose too and ears were mutilated has been written by some. Then, the belly being dissected, a certain wandering quack pulls out and carries off the caul, meaning to make gain thereby. After all these things, at last it was scarcely granted to the prayers of a certain religious and most noble virgin, that the pitiable body might be committed to the earth. And so, hastily enclosed in a plebeian coffin, and carried by the corpse-bearers with deep silence to the church of St. Peter, it is buried in confusion in its vestibule, no care of a funeral being applied. Nor was any epitaph set for him. Therefore we shall add, in the place of an epitaph, a poem which Bartholomew Bodeghem, another poet of Delft, subscribed to the image of the Martyr, Theologian, Poet, engraved on copper by the hand of Stempel. And it is of this kind:

Whom Beggar madness slew in monstrous slaughter, Musius was this poet, dying with this mouth. Piously and without stain he cultivated the virgin Muses, Guardian and defense of the virgin choir. After many pious deeds to God, and poems written to the saints, On this condition did the bard earn to die.

These things concerning Musius, at more length perhaps than befits my design: but for the dignity of so great a Martyr, far more briefly and sparingly than was fitting. Now let us dispatch what remains concerning the persecutor.

CHAPTER IV.

The impious Lumey, snatched from the captivity of Orange, feigning himself a Catholic at Aachen and Liège, concludes his sacrilegious life by the bite of a dog, in a horrible kind of death.

CHAPTER XVI.

The things which everywhere were done by Lumey against ecclesiastical and Religious men were of such a kind Lumey, taken by Orange, escapes; that they brought the Beggar faction, as monstrous and bloodthirsty, into hatred among many: and alienated from it the minds also of many otherwise inclined toward it. When Orange the prince of the faction perceived this, he resolved that provision must be made in good time. The offense was increased by the fact that Lumey did all things by his own arbitrary will in such wise that he neither acknowledged Orange as his superior, nor deferred to any of his commands. That at last seemed intolerable, that so much authority a foreigner and a man of alien nobility should claim for himself. On account of these things, therefore, it seemed good to lay hands on Lumey, and to hold him captive in a certain citadel near Rotterdam, whose name was Honingen. But when for his liberation the people of Rotterdam, whose good will he had conciliated to himself, vehemently urged with Orange; and Orange lent no ears easy enough to a demand of this kind: they themselves at last, force being applied, snatched him from the citadel in which he was detained. Lumey, freed in this way, since he despaired of being thereafter in any position among the Beggars, so long as Orange held power; and moreover saw that it would not be safe for him to remain longer in Holland under the government of Orange, after he had so grievously offended him: judged it advisable for himself to withdraw to his own people of Liège.

[369] For nearly his whole domain, with his hereditary estates, and having tarried a while at Aachen, was situated in the territory of Liège. But because he saw that not even there could he live without peril, being conscious to himself of so many homicides and sacrileges; he made for Aachen, and there tarried a long time, as in a free city. Nay, in that place he began to exhibit a certain appearance of a Catholic man. For after the Catholic manner he from time to time went to church, and was present at divine services; and to such a degree he wished to seem a Catholic. Yet those who were truly Catholic shrank from his sight and company: both because it was by no means established that he, after so great evils committed against the Church and ecclesiastical men, and most notorious to the world, had either renounced his error, or been reconciled to the Catholic Church; and because the rest of the conduct of his life in no way answered to the Catholic profession. Assuredly all prudent men well enough understood that that outward face and mask of catholicism looked to nothing else than that he might in some way, the favor of the people of Liège being recovered, be able to be restored to his domain and his goods. Which afterward also was done. Therefore that enemy and persecutor of the Roman Church, after

so many priests and monks slain, temples plundered, monasteries overthrown, Sacraments profaned, the Catholic religion exterminated from so many places, lives and dwells free and secure, and treads the public ways, and frequents the palaces in that city which glories to be a daughter of the Roman Church.

[370] He is suffered to live freely at Liège in his own country. Nor was it a care to those to whom this duty belonged, to keep him from entering the churches for so long, until, heresy being openly abjured, and himself professing to be a Catholic, through some public act of penance (as in such a matter it altogether behoved to be done) he should have made satisfaction to the Church so gravely injured. But he himself was so far from that humility of penance that he did not even acknowledge his sins; but partly extenuated them, partly denied them; and cast them upon another: saying that many things had been done in Holland under the pretext of his name and command which had not proceeded from himself. But the excuse is vain. For what did he ever disapprove of that was done impiously and cruelly by his men? Did they not do such things for this reason, that they knew that by them they were rendering to their lord a pleasing service? But if, by the testimony of Solomon, a prince who willingly hears the words of lying has all his ministers impious; what of him who thirsts for the blood of the servants of God? For as another wise man says: As is the judge of the people, so also are his ministers. Whence rightly those things which the satellites and soldiers of Lumey did, even in his absence, are referred to him as their author. But grant that he did not approve all the deeds of his men; were not those things, I ask, which it is most certainly established were done by his command and will, sufficiently many and great to demand the remedy of public satisfaction?

CHAPTER XVII.

[371] Since therefore, for exacting the penalties of so many crimes, human discipline slept, Men conniving, God the avenger to such a degree indeed that not even from him who had sinned were shown any signs of a contrite and humbled soul; at last, God the just judge demanding vengeance, and willing to make it public also and notorious to the world, it came to pass that his own domestic dog bit him, and by the bite inflicted a wound. From the wound there followed burning fevers, and a most grievous disease; so that, vehemently burning and impatient of pain, he cried out: Is it possible that anyone in the world suffers so great a torment as I now suffer? At last he is said to have spoken these last words among his torments: God, take this soul from the body, for I can no longer endure. These voices seem to signify that Lumey at last, in his punishments, acknowledged the avenging hand of the supreme deity, as Antiochus and the rest acknowledged, whom I have mentioned above, the persecutors of the pious. I am not ignorant that many years after a rumor was spread abroad that Lumey had died a Catholic. That indeed were desirable, and, if it be so, is to be reckoned among the miracles of the power and grace of God. But I have learned that of spreading a rumor of this kind among the common people there were certain private causes, neither just nor to be here commemorated.

[372] For my part I have heard from trustworthy men that Lumey, admonished in his sickness by the bite of his domestic dog, the butcher of so many Martyrs, to confess his sins to a priest, refused, saying that he was unwilling that anyone, save himself and God, should be a partaker of the secrets of his conscience. I, lest I should slip into any error in noting down the catastrophe of his life, thought it best among others to consult John Frederick van der Lumnen, superior, while he lived, of the Beguinage of Antwerp (for he lately departed from the living), a man renowned for piety and learning, who had known the Count, the lord of his native place, from a boy; and who, not long after his death, the affairs of the people of Antwerp being troubled, withdrew an exile to Liège: where also, having tarried some years, he collected out of the books of the blessed Augustine and published The Treasure of the Christian Man, a most useful work. He answered me by letter, given nearly two years since, that concerning any public reconciliation of the Count, made or obtained either in his life or on his death-bed, he had nothing certain: and still less did he know whether he died a Catholic. For the rest, that he had heard a certain Canon of the church of St. Martin, by name Laurence Blocquerius, who dwelt in a house near Lumey's, and had seen him dead, relating that it had never befallen him to see the countenance of any dead man so terrible as was that man's countenance.

[373] But whether the dog which bit him was rabid, after huge torments, impenitent is uncertain. Although John Molanus, a theologian of Louvain and a diligent searcher of ecclesiastical matters, in a certain symbolic oration which he publicly recited at Louvain, when he was praising the Martyrs of Gorcum as occasion offered, subjoined this concerning Lumey: But he who persecuted them afterward, in the city of Liège, had, by the just judgment of God, no other butcher of his life than a rabid dog. For it was fitting that one drunk with the blood of so many Martyrs, whom he had pursued with great rabidity, should receive a lethal bite from a rabid dog. Whence, the solemn remedy at St. Hubert's being neglected and despised, in the year 1578, on the Kalends of May, he unhappily ended his life. Thus he. Certainly Pontus Heuterus also, in his history of our Martyrs, composed in Dutch verse, describing the fury of Lumey when he pronounced sentence of death upon the Martyrs, compared him to a rabid dog; by some presage perhaps of the thing to come. For he wrote long before Lumey's death.

[374] But there are others who deny that the dog was rabid. John Frederick also could not affirm this to me. took him from the living. And so we, leaving that matter in the middle, add only this: that if the dog was not rabid, the more and the more manifestly does the judgment of God appear against the slayer of His Martyrs: for a rabid dog is wont to attack with its bites its own as well as strangers. But if the same, gentle and stirred by no rabidity, assails its own master, it is rightly held unusual and like a prodigy: although even this very thing is in itself contemptible, and most fitting for the humbling of human pride, to have perished by a dog's bite in whatever way; even as that impious Lucian perished. Wherefore Lumey, the persecutor of the servants of God, seems to me to have suffered more grievously than once suffered Sennacherib king of the Assyrians, the very blasphemer of God. For he, an angel fighting against him, a fugitive from Judea, and returned home, was slain by his own sons: but this man, cast out of Holland by the Beggars, of whom he had wished to be prince, after he returned to his own people, unworthy to fall by a human hand, perished wounded by a dog's bite: so that now it cannot be doubtful that in the very persecutor of the Martyrs God showed how dear and honorable He holds those whose injury He willed to avenge by so mean and at once so horrible a kind of death.

CHAPTER V.

Health restored to the author of this history by the merits of the holy Martyrs, and his life prolonged for the writing of it.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Here I would have made an end of the history, had not a grateful and pleasant recollection of a certain great benefit, received through the merits of the holy Martyrs, forbidden me to lay down my wearied pen at this point. The author, afflicted by a long and perilous disease, For it is not lawful for me any longer to cover the matter in silence; but, mindful of the angelic admonition, with Tobias to bless the God of heaven, and before all living to confess to Him, because He hath shown His mercy to me. For as those former works of patience and unmoved faith, done in a mortal body, so also these benefits of virtues, exhibited after death (all which things God works either in His own or for His own witnesses, so that in all He himself may be glorified), I count it exceedingly honorable to reveal and confess and proclaim. Twenty-five years have slipped by, since I was seized by a slow and long disease. The kind of disease was perplexing, and not sufficiently discerned even by the physicians themselves. I was visiting the shrine (while still there was strength) of the blessed Virgin Mother of God first at Halle, then at Chièvres [*], both towns of Hainaut, small indeed and lowly, if thou regard the circuit of the walls and the number and fortunes of the citizens, but by the frequenting of pilgrims and by frequent miracles wrought at the invocation of the most holy Virgin most celebrated even to this present day.

[376] Nor yet did it seem good to the divine goodness, which according to the good pleasure of its secret counsel works human and divine remedies being applied in vain, when and where it will, then to bring a cure to our stubborn languor: whether my sins so demanding, or God, for the illustrating on this side also of the glory of His new Martyrs, opportunely deferring the longed-for remedy. Meanwhile the disease grew, despaired of in the judgment of the physicians. And now I had disposed of my household as one about to die. There was added to the difficulty of the disease the most unfavorable season of the year, and the malign constitution of the heavens: then the most acute pains of the vitals, by which, hindered from rest night and day, I was miserably tormented. At the utmost crisis at last, all the aids of human art having been vainly tried, my friends, whom I had most intimate, advised me to make a vow to God to the place of the passion of the new Martyrs, to be paid as soon as it should be safe to set out thither. They were my two most dear brothers, and most pious toward God, Rutger and Adrian: of whom the latter, a religious of the white Order and a priest, afterward most praiseworthily held the office of Prior in the abbey of St. Michael at Antwerp: who himself also has long since been called to a better life. To them this counsel concerning the vow pleased vehemently for this reason also, that they remembered that our mother, the sister of Nicholas the Martyr, when once she had been brought to the extreme peril of life by the force of a disease, by a vow made by our father to visit St. Adrian the Martyr in Flanders, had recovered entire health, and after that time survived ten years.

[377] To this suggestion of my brothers I resisted for a while, a vow being conceived to the holy Martyrs, because I feared lest, after imploring once and again the help of the Saints, I should deservedly become guilty of cowardly fear, and by too great desire of a longer life offend God the judge, before whose tribunal I thought myself now about to be set, if I should go on being importunate for bodily health. But nevertheless the instance of my dearest ones prevailed. What they willed was done. For my safety I vowed a vow to the Lord to the holy Martyrs, whom they did not doubt, together with me, to be friends of God, and now to reign with God. What need of many words? From that day the disease which had held me so grievously and long entangled, sleep and appetite for food being restored, began to be loosed and to decline: so that all marveled exceedingly whose either help or comfort I then used, and the physicians above all; who confessed to me that beyond the reason of their art, and not without an appearance of a miracle, that conversion of the disease had come about so suddenly, especially at that season of the year. For it was autumn, by its various and turbulent affection of the heavens vehemently hostile to the bodies of the sick. But this testimony of the physicians (of whom the one, and he the chief, was John Viringus, a most experienced doctor of medicine, now a priest of God, a Canon of the church of Arras) I judge to be reckoned of the more account, because commonly the run of physicians, that they may be held the more skilled, are wont willingly to ascribe to their own art the swift and happy

cure of diseases: but a slow or frustrated cure they cast upon other causes; for the most part upon the intemperance of the sick man, sometimes upon secret enchantments, and now and then even upon angry saints, perversely, forsooth, attributing to the powers above the maleficia, and to mortals the benefits, bestowed upon men.

[378] But whether beyond the order of nature, as happens in those things which we are wont to call properly miracles, he is restored to entire health. or God mercifully so directing the natural causes through their appointed ministries, the thing came to pass, as in most temporal benefits which are divinely granted to the supplications of the pious (for it is not so, that as often as we ask health for the sick from God, we ask that a miracle be done); for my part I did not doubt to ascribe so unhoped-for a driving-off of the disease to the merits of those to whose aid I had commended my health by the uttering of the vow. There was indeed left for a while in my body, from the four-months' disease, no small weakness; but such as is wont to be left in convalescents, after the force of a disease is routed, as it were a middle way from sickness to health. Wherefore, my health being at last restored, which unimpaired I enjoy even to this age, I acknowledged, and even now acknowledge, the divine benefit conferred upon me, as it is fitting to believe, by the intervention of the holy Martyrs. For therefore I think that my vows and those of my kin were not heard before recourse was had to the aid of these Martyrs; because, among the other testimonies of their sanctity which I have long since commemorated, God had decreed by this means also to honor the new citizens of His kingdom.

CHAPTER XIX.

[379] Nor indeed ought this to seem strange or wonderful to anyone, if sometimes either at the invocation of this Saint rather than that, Why the vows of the pious are heard from this Saint rather than from others. or in one place rather than in another, the faithful are heard offering to God their vows and prayers for their own or their friends' necessities: who, as blessed Augustine writes, commends the merits of His Martyrs, where He will, when He will, and how He will (since He knows this to be expedient for us for the building up of the faith of Christ, for whose confession they have suffered), with a wondrous and ineffable power and goodness. Whence also the same Doctor relates elsewhere that a certain Paul, with his sister, laboring under a horrible trembling of the limbs from their mother's imprecation, after, some holy memorials being visited, he had felt no help, at last, after three months, came to Hippo, the city over which Augustine himself presided as Bishop; and there, at the memorial of the most blessed Protomartyr, both alike received the wished-for health by a signal and evident miracle. Where, among other things, when he had commemorated out of Paul's own little book these words of his: But therefore I could not be cured elsewhere, because I was reserved for this place by divine predestination: Nay verily he could, says the excellent Doctor, but on our account that was not done which most easily could have been done, that he might be reserved for our eyes. Forsooth, He willed thus to honor on earth the memory of His Protomartyr, then renewed by the recent revelation of his body, who, for one contending for His glory, deigned to appear even from the heavens. This honor the Lord bestowed on so many other Martyrs; He willed to bestow it on ours also; namely, that by the exhibition of like works He might show both these and those to be heralds of the same truth, and witnesses of the same faith, and therefore also sharers of the same glory. And why do I speak of Martyrs; when God is read to have granted a like prerogative even to His excellent confessors? For concerning a certain clerk, vexed by a demon, and sent through many places of Martyrs in hope of liberation, and at last freed by the prayers of the most holy Abbot Benedict, blessed Gregory in his Dialogue writes these words: But the holy Martyrs were unwilling to bestow on him the gift of health, that they might show how great was the grace in Benedict.

CHAPTER XX.

[380] As for what pertains to me, why God willed to prolong for me the space of this so toilsome a life, I for my part know not: Why God prolonged the author's life. except that two causes meanwhile occur to me, for which I may rightly judge that it thus seemed good to God; either that, invited by this so great goodness of His to penitence, I might thereafter change my life for the better, and by pious actions wash away the faults of former time, and, reckoning this little that remains of my age as a gain to my soul, might spend it wholly in His service to the salvation of my neighbors, as one devoted and consecrated: or certainly for this, that for the writing of the illustrious contests of His Martyrs, and the further illustrating thereby of His own glory, He might use somewhat of my littleness. Which indeed, according to the mediocrity of my strength, which the same most benign Lord supplied to His servant, I have, He granting it, endeavored. But since it is meet and just that all good should return to its author, whence it proceeded; this whole, however little it is of my work and labor, I again humbly offer to Him who bestowed it, to be accepted: and I beg with the whole affection of my mind that He would suffer the mean little gift of a sinner to have even a scanty and lowest place among the offerings consecrated to His name, with which on every side His holy temple (which is the Church) is magnificently enriched by many and great gifts.

* commonly Chièvres.

AN APPENDIX TO THE FOREGOING HISTORY, CONCERNING THE MARTYRDOM OF WILLIAM OF GOUDA.

The author subjoins the notable martyrdom of this William, that he may complete the number of twelve of the holy Martyrs of Gorcum of the Order of St. Francis, inasmuch as one of them, of the same name, had lost the crown of martyrdom prepared for him through base apostasy.

Nicholas Pieck of Gorcum, Guardian, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Jerome of Weert, Vicar, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Theodoric of Emden of Amersfoort, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Nicasius of Heeze, son of John, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Willehad the Dane, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Godfrey of Mervel, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Antony of Weert, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Antony of Hoornaar, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Francis of Roye of Brussels, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Peter of Assche, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Cornelius of Wijk of the Order of St. Francis of the Observance: called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

John, of the Order of Preachers, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Adrian Beke, of the Premonstratensian Order, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

James Lacops, of the Premonstratensian Order, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

John of Oosterwijk, Canon Regular, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Leonard Vechel, Parish Priest, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Nicholas Poppel, Parish Priest, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Godfrey van Duynen, secular Priest, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Andrew Wouters, Parish Priest, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

BY WILLIAM ESTIUS.

CHAPTER I.

I thought I should do a thing pleasing to the pious Reader William is here adjoined to fill the place of his apostate namesake. if to our foregoing history, which is of nineteen Martyrs, mostly Franciscans, I should annex this narration of most similar argument, by way of a coronis and a certain supplement: namely, in which I have briefly comprised the blessed end of that man who, taken from the same Order as one apostate long since commemorated by us, and called by the same name, may rightly be deemed to have repaired the ruin, taken the crown, and completed the number of twelve, which in those eleven brothers we grieved to be in a manner maimed and imperfect. I speak of William of Gouda the Minorite, who after the Martyrs of Gorcum, a space of little more than one year intervening, and in a place not much distant, by a punishment like theirs and by a like enemy, was slain for the same Catholic faith. Which martyrdom of his, as it, received from the mouth of many trustworthy men who were spectators and witnesses of the deed, came to our knowledge, stands thus.

CHAPTER II.

[382] William, born at Gouda, which is a notable and elegant town of Holland, Endowed with the gift of preaching, first at Dordrecht, was a man endowed with excellent eloquence and grace in preaching the word of God, and so engaged in that office for many years that both his doctrine adorned his life, and in turn from his manners it received commendation. In which twofold kind he had been most diligently trained at Louvain in the convent of the Friars Minor, most observant of regular discipline; where also he consecrated to God the first-fruits of his priesthood about the year 1565. Thence, set apart for the work of God, and sent into Holland, he preached the word of God to the people at Dordrecht for some years, not without fruit.

[383] then, fleeing thence, he preached at Breda. But in the year 1572, when that city, God permitting, had come into the power of the Beggars, the hope of making further fruit among them being taken away, and a persecution against priests and monks being stirred up, following the Gospel precept, he went away into another city, namely Breda, distant thence nearly five miles, which was then subject to the Catholic King. Whither certainly, both on account of the strict guards of the gates of Dordrecht, and because the roads everywhere were beset by the Beggars, he came not without singular divine help. In that place he spent an entire year, announcing the word of God and Catholic doctrine to the men of that place with his accustomed cheerfulness and grace. Thence it befell that he was called to Bois-le-Duc, for the sake of the same Gospel office. Which being understood, certain pious citizens of Geertruidenberg (that is a town on the border of Holland and Brabant, situated not far from Breda), who, because they had often gladly heard the sermons of this man, loved and cherished him exceedingly, sent to entreat him that he would turn aside from his road to them, and by some sermon, before he went further, as though on the way, would refresh their souls, being about to bid farewell.

[384] making a discourse in passing at Geertruidenberg, To their pious wishes, charity urging him, William not unwillingly complied, and instead of one gave two notable sermons in that city: in which, among other things, he exhorted the citizens to constancy of faith, and admonished them to grow wise by the example and peril of their neighbors (he meant the Hollanders and Zeelanders to be understood), and to reckon seriously with themselves into what and how great evils, as well of souls as of bodies, they had cast themselves headlong by their own rashness, when, the care of religion being set aside, they had admitted within their gates the enemies of God and of the Catholic King. He added that it had now come to this pass among them, that they lived like atheists, men without God. A most true word, which was afterward objected to him a captive by his enemies: But as though he had said that in Holland and Zeeland there was no God; twisting his word captiously and at once calumniously into an impious sense, as is the manner of heretics, when otherwise it is even commonly so

wont to be said; that God is not among those by whom He is either unknown, or not rightly worshiped: and the sacred Scriptures not rarely speak after that manner.

CHAPTER III.

[385] At the time when William was staying among the people of Geertruidenberg, it befell that that city was surprised by the ambush of the Beggar soldiers. This was done in the year 1573, on the day before the Kalends of September, the town being seized by the Beggars, a little before the rising of the sun. The Beggars, having gained the city, soon run through the whole of it, and diligently searching all the hiding-places, wherever they might be able to find priests or monks, or even royal soldiers, whom, once found, they might first plunder, then slay. The first that met them was a certain William Galenus, a priest, and a Canon of that place: with whom those furious men, making the beginning of cruelty and slaughter, straightway butchered him on the very spot. His body, foully treated, lay for almost two whole days naked and unburied in the public street. The like was done with the bodies of the royal soldiers, whom, almost all sought out and found, they slew. These at last, laid upon a sledge, they carried off to the walls of the city, and, cast into ditches, buried them just like the carcasses of cattle, the streets meanwhile everywhere sprinkled with the blood of so many slain. Nearly all the citizens, because they declared that they wished to persist both in the Catholic faith and in obedience to the Royal majesty, suffered the plundering of their goods, and besides were gravely mulcted and oppressed in other ways.

[386] For which cause the greatest part of them, the city being left, he himself with other priests being seized, departed of their own accord into exile. There were seized by the Beggars and cast into bonds all the priests who remained in the city, two only excepted, the one the Dean of the Canons of that place, the other a Canon. The Dean's name was Arnold Suanius of Gorlaeus, who afterward published the history of the martyrdom of which we are treating in German. He, fleeing to the walls, when he had leaped down from the wall into the adjacent moat, remained for fourteen continuous hours under the waters in such wise that with his head alone he emerged; although, the Beggars from time to time approaching, and discharging their arquebuses around him, he was often compelled even to plunge his head under the waters. His cough too, by which through the greatness of the cold he was much pressed, with difficulty indeed, yet he restrained as much as he could, otherwise about to be betrayed by a louder sound. But the other, Gaspar Jacobaeus, let down secretly from the walls by the help of friends, lay hidden a whole day in a certain marshy willow-bed, of which kind there are very many in those places. At last, by the benefit of the following night, both escaped to safety.

[387] Moreover among those who were seized the chief was William of Gouda; he finds a fellow-brother a captive, whom, his arms bound most tightly behind his back, as is wont to be done to malefactors, the soldiers soon led to their criminal prefect, demanding that the monk be forthwith raised to the gibbet. Hearing this, William spoke out intrepidly, saying that he was ready to die for the Catholic faith. Let them deal with him as they pleased. Irritated by that word of Christian fortitude, those barbarians began wantonly and insultingly to mock and to insult over him; and at last, having harassed him in various ways, led him into a certain chamber of the prefect's house, where iron fetters were straightway cast upon him. In the same chamber was held captive a Religious of the same institute, John, surnamed Vogelsang, a priest and Father confessor, as they call it, of the monastery of the sacred virgins of that place, very thinly clad, and gravely wounded in the head.

[388] with whom he disposes himself for martyrdom, Whom, this partner of his affliction, as soon as he beheld, exulting in spirit, he burst forth into words of prayer of this kind: I give thee thanks, Lord Jesus Christ, that in thy sight I am held worthy to suffer for the Catholic Religion this reproach of bonds and of prison. Thanks, that thou hast sent me hither to be made a sharer in the crowns of thy Saints. Give strength, I beseech thee, that I may persist brave in this confession, nor suffer myself by any arts of demons to be drawn away from thy word and the Apostolic faith. Then, the bonds of his hands being loosed, the captive is joined to Vogelsang. So these two most religious men, when they were alone, that they might descend into the contest with well-purged consciences, made to each other, after the Christian manner, an exomologesis of their sins. Likewise prayers were frequented by them, by which they most earnestly commended their contest to God, praying that He would supply patience and perseverance to those about to contend for the confession of His name and of the Catholic faith. To these things, by the examples of Christ the Lord and of the holy Martyrs, and by the hope of the blessed reward, they strengthened their souls, and mutually exhorted one another to bear bravely whatever the obstinate savagery of the enemy should determine against them.

CHAPTER IV.

[389] After three days there came to them a certain pseudo-evangelical minister, An apostate little minister, having dared to encounter him, Adrian Cocus by name, of the Order of Canons, as they are called, Regular of St. Augustine, an apostate from the monastery of Doncan, which is near Dordrecht; who said that he had been sent by Prince Orange. He at once on the threshold: Where, said he, is that impious monk the preacher? William, fearing nothing the man's ferocity, answered that he was the one whom he sought. But he again: I am sent hither for the sake of examining thee. Which William hearing, his eyes lifted to heaven, prayed in this manner: Lord Jesus Christ, who saidst to thy Apostles: When ye shall stand before kings and governors, think not how or what ye shall speak, for it shall be given you in that hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the spirit of your Father that speaketh in you. Now I pray thee: Give me a mouth and wisdom against thy adversaries, and suggest to me what I may answer them.

[390] but egregiously confounded, he bursts into revilings: This short prayer of His Martyr, but proceeding from the depth of his breast, the Lord soon showed in very deed that He had heard: for, a disputation being set up between them on the spur of the moment, many being present, William so repressed the arrogance of his examiner (as one who had gloriously promised himself a sure victory from this encounter) by his most learned replies, that he, manifestly overcome and convicted, had absolutely nothing to bring forward to refute his sayings. Stung by which shame, he turned to revilings and threats, namely the last resources of his art, as that kind of men is wont; and, closing the disputation with an epilogue worthy of himself and of his party, said: Impious and profane monk, prepare thyself: for tomorrow thou must die. This insulting and harsh sentence, receiving it from a minister of death and perdition, the man of God spoke nothing harsh against him, nor rendered curse for curse. But rather he congratulated himself on this account, that he understood himself to be divinely called to the participation of the afflictions of Christ. And so, with all serenity of mind and countenance looking to heaven, he poured forth a prayer of this kind:

[391] Lord Jesus Christ, if thou deemest me worthy of this so great grace, to which William opposes prayer alone, that I be called to undergo the punishment of death for thy name, one thing I pray thee, give strength and fortitude, that no terror, no temptation separate me from the orthodox Catholic faith; but that even to the last breath of life I may remain unmoved in the holy confession. Moreover the mockeries, revilings, and scurrile derisions with which meanwhile he was assailed by the wicked minister of Satan and by the soldiers, he easily not only bore patiently, but even with a great and lofty mind despised. This alone he could not despise, that he was compelled to hear the foul and horrible blasphemies flung against the most holy Eucharist, and the other most holy mysteries of religion. The minister at last having departed with his men from the chamber, he addressed his companion and fellow-captive thus.

[392] Come, I pray, my brother, let us persist in this confession of the Catholic faith; and having exhorted his companion to suffer bravely, and, what is above all necessary for us, let us suppliantly implore help and grace from God. And to God from time to time this with reiteration: Strengthen me, Lord, strengthen me. He commemorated likewise to his companion how to his mother (who, having left Holland for Religion's sake, had removed to dwell at Breda) he himself had often said: Would that it might befall thee, mother, to see one day that day on which thou shouldst have a son who meets death for the Catholic faith. I hope, said he, that that desire of mine, heard by God, is now on the point of being fulfilled. So indeed the most ardent Martyr of Christ, with Paul the Apostle reckoning death to himself for gain, now longed for nothing else with all his prayers than to be dissolved and to be with Christ.

[393] He wrote from his bonds a consolatory letter the same day to his mother, he consoles his mother by a letter. judging namely that she, the rumor of the peril in which her son was engaged having now been brought to her, was, as a mother's mind is wont, gravely and anxiously solicitous for him. The substance of the letter was this: That it went well with him, as one who suffered for justice' sake. That he was of a very peaceful and tranquil mind, and gladly acquiesced in the divine will. Nay, that he hoped, through the grace of God, that very soon that would be fulfilled toward him with the desire of which he had, as most eager as could be, several times declared to her that he was held. That certainly nothing more happy could befall him than that matter. Therefore that he prayed and exhorted her, not to bear grievously his captivity, affliction, and death, if it should happen; but to cast herself wholly, and her every thought and solicitude, upon God alone, who is the best consoler of sorrowing minds, and to commend to Him by her prayers her son's contest.

CHAPTER V.

[394] On the following day, on which it was now decreed that he should be visited with the punishment of death, long before light he rises from his bed, The news of death received, by continual prayers prostrates himself on the ground with all humility of mind and body, lifts his hands to heaven, pours forth most fervent prayers to God, implores His help against the imminent and that extreme and most grievous temptation, and again, to wipe away the dust of conscience, if any human affection had meanwhile besprinkled it, makes an exomologesis before the venerable Father his companion of the prison. About the eighth hour a certain centurion of the Beggar soldiers, surnamed Marliant, hastens thither with orders, and asks the keeper of the captives, saying: Where is that monk, the Papist preacher? The keeper, the chamber being opened, pointing with his finger to the future victim of Christ, says: Behold, that is he. Then the soldier to him: Prepare thyself, monk. Even now thou art to be hanged. Which sentence of death received, William, at once falling on his knees, and humbly acknowledging the divine condescension toward him, after the example of the most blessed Cyprian the Martyr, said: Thanks be to God. And then too he prayed to God with a clear voice thus: Lord Jesus Christ, who for me didst endure a bitter death, strengthen me now, I beseech thee, and give perseverance in the holy faith, that in turn I may die for thee, and spend myself for thee: and in this last crisis, I pray, help me.

[395] And from time to time with great affection he repeated that: Strengthen me, Lord, he commends his contest to God strengthen me. A little after, a satellite sent by the criminal prefect arrived, and accosting the Martyr said: Monk, stretch forth thy hands. Which he, quicker than the word, stretched out, and offered to be bound,

praying to God again with words of this kind together with the giving of thanks: Lord Jesus Christ, who for my sake didst suffer thyself to be bound to the column to be scourged, I give thee thanks that before thine eyes I have been held worthy to be bound with bonds for the confession of thy holy name: grant me, I beseech thee, the benefit of thy grace, whereby I may persist in the right faith, nor by any fear of death, nor by any fraud of the enemy be moved from it. But when the satellite bound his hands so vehemently that the blood burst forth, he said to him: Ha, do thus, bind as tightly as thou canst. I am ready to bear anything, prepared now to undergo even death itself for the name of Christ. Then, his knees fixed on the ground, again he prayed to God as a suppliant, that He would be present with him in this instant contest. When now he was being led, and was parting from his beloved brother Vogelsang, bidding him a last farewell, he earnestly begged that he would pray to God for him. Soon turning to his conductor, he said: Hasten, hasten: for Christ the bridegroom awaits me.

[396] Not from any other source assuredly did those voices proceed than from a vast and ardent desire of enjoying the presence of God and his Lord; and he egregiously strengthens a Catholic soldier about to be hanged. such as we read of also in the Apostle Paul, and in the Apostolic man Ignatius: so that now to him every delay to the punishment, by which the gate of so great felicity was to be opened to him, seemed burdensome. There was led with him a certain soldier of those remaining who had been for a garrison to the city. Who, when he was mounting the gibbet, the executioner going before, called upon the man of God William with a cry, saying: Sir, pray for me. Seeing him, and rejoicing that the soldier, from his heart eager and solicitous for his own salvation, wished to die a Catholic, he first did what he had been asked; then, the symbol of the faith being clearly recited, soon by a little exhortation, brief indeed for the time, but vehement and above all salutary, he so strengthened him, that for the most just cause of the King and of Religion he underwent the punishment of death with a calm and brave mind, by no means unworthy, in truth, that he himself also be enrolled a soldier in the candidate army of the holy Martyrs.

CHAPTER VI.

[397] That matter accomplished, the executioner came to William, and straightway casts the noose upon his neck, and draws him up to the gibbet. His last admonition to the citizens from the ladder. He, judging that provision must be made at the end, as far as he could, not only for his own salvation, but for that of many, when he now stood on the top of the ladder, straining his voice with all his strength like a trumpet, so that it might be heard by almost the whole city, which is not great, his discourse being turned to those whom he yet knew to be good, spoke briefly thus for the time: O best and dearest citizens, this one thing with my last words I pray and beseech you all. Remain stable and firm in the sincere Catholic faith, which by my frequent sermons I have taught you, and which by my death I am now prepared to confirm and to seal. There stood near the gibbet that heretical churchman who lay in wait for his heel: who, when he bore very ill so great a fortitude of the man, and so free and intrepid an exhortation to the people, and therefore, for his subversion, began to deal with him in more coaxing words and such as were composed for persuading, received this answer: Depart from me, minister of the devil. There is no cause why thou shouldst tempt my faith, for I am utterly unwilling to hear thee. But also many other things to the same purpose, and most of them in Latin, were said by him.

[398] At last the holy man, considering the blind ignorance of the adversaries at whose hands he suffered, Praying for his persecutors, he is strangled by the noose. after the example of Christ hanging on the cross, and interceding with the heavenly Father to obtain pardon for His crucifiers, a true disciple of so great a Master, prayed to God thus: Lord, forgive them: for they know not what they do. Thereupon certain ministers of his execution, mocking that pious and truly Christian prayer, and taking it up with an impious jeer, said: So we know not what we do? Behold, we are fastening the noose to thy neck. This assuredly we know well how to do. Moreover, when they perceived well enough his constancy and his will immovable from the Catholic faith, who had hoped that by fear of death he could at least in word be moved from his purpose; they began with shouts to demand that, being ordered to descend from the ladder on which he stood aloft, he should be visited with another and graver punishment: namely, that, bound to four horses straining in different directions, he should be torn into parts. But the prefect of the city and the centurion, by whose authority the matter was being carried on, lest perchance the soldiers should by license usurp anything to themselves by a bad example, a signal being given, ordered the executioner to finish his work. Therefore the most brave athlete, seeing the end of the contest at hand, in imitation of Christ cried out, and a second and a third time repeated that from the Psalm: Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.

[399] When, cast down from the ladder, he hung, the soldiers cried out to the executioner The citizens, strengthened by such an example, not to constrict his throat more tightly (which in this kind of punishment is wont to be done for hastening death), that so, expiring more slowly, he might be held longer in the extreme torment. Amid these shouts of the impious soldiers, the elect Martyr of Christ with the utmost tranquillity sent forth his spirit, and rendered it to God; a man yet young, as one who had not, as I think, exceeded the age of the suffering Christ. After he expired, the grace which had been in his countenance before remained in it, not without the admiration of the beholders. Certainly some of those who had lately been seduced by the heretics, moved both by this thing and by the former fortitude of his passion, and pricked in their souls, transferred themselves again without delay to the Catholic faith. And this his so illustrious martyrdom consecrated to him the 4th day of September, 1573, when now in other places the fury of the Beggars against the Catholics seemed to have somewhat cooled. The sacred body of the Martyr was cast into that same ditch, and covered with earth, into which we said above the corpses of the slain royal soldiers had been heaped.

[400] for his cause they suffer various things. The citizens of that place followed with pious tears, as was fitting, the death of a man well deserving of them, and therefore most dear to them. Some of whom also, when they heard his last voice crying from the gibbet, hurried away into their houses, and shut their doors: because, the bowels of Christian piety being moved within them, they could not endure either to hear the voice of him crying, or to look upon the end of him dying. Which being observed, the Beggars wished to drag some of them by force out of their houses to the place of execution, that at least they might be compelled, even against their will, to gaze upon the lifeless body of the man, still hanging on the gibbet. Nay rather, with other reproaches, insults, injuries, the worst of soldiers afflicted the Catholic citizens, because in the name of the just man they had received a just man, and had kindly kept a man of God among them, treasuring up for themselves indeed the vengeance of horrible and interminable punishment against the day of the just judgment of God, but ministering to those men in full measure the matter of exercising virtue and of meriting eternal felicity. For this too is just before God the judge, that they who for the kingdom of Christ have been made sharers of affliction with His holy Martyrs, should with the same be made sharers also of the blessed retribution in the kingdom of Christ.

MIRACLES

Taken from the Processes, often cited in the preceding Commentary, which we have said were sent to Rome on the 8th of February in the year 1620, with several others annexed, lawfully approved in Catholic Belgium.

Nicholas Pieck of Gorcum, Guardian, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Jerome of Weert, Vicar, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Theodoric of Emden of Amersfoort, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Nicasius of Heeze, son of John, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Willehad the Dane, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Godfrey of Mervel, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Antony of Weert, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Antony of Hoornaar, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Francis of Roye of Brussels, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Peter of Assche, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

John, of the Order of Preachers, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

John of Oosterwijk, Canon Regular, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Leonard Vechel, Parish Priest, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Nicholas Poppel, Parish Priest, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Godfrey van Duynen, secular Priest, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

Andrew Wouters, Parish Priest, called Martyr of Gorcum; but crowned at Brill in Holland (S.)

FROM MANUSCRIPTS.

Testimony concerning great pains healed. Being asked by the Most Ample deputies, Peter Gerard of Duren of Utrecht, aged more or less fifty years, whether he had knowledge of any miracles wrought at the invocation of the aforesaid Martyrs; he answered that he had often heard from the mouth of a certain daughter, called Gertrude Gerard, the maidservant of the sister of the aforesaid lord Cauchius, to whom (as related above) the said deponent had delivered the relics of the aforesaid Martyrs, that at the invocation of the holy Martyrs of Gorcum she had obtained entire soundness from an evil and extreme pain (with which she had been afflicted for many years), the said deponent adding that he had both known and seen her both so infirm and afflicted, and now also, after she obtained entire health.

[2] Being asked, the Reverend Lord John Cauchius, Vicar of the metropolitan church of St. Martin of the city of Utrecht, Another concerning a broken rib fully restored. whether he had knowledge of any miracles, asserted that the maidservant of his sister, called Gertrude Gerard of Vianen (who has now cohabited with him more or less seven years), had always been infirm, and afflicted with the greatest pains, from the fact that in the third year of her age (as he often heard her herself relating) by a certain misfortune a rib had been broken for her, whose wound could not be so cured but that she always thereafter felt an incredible pain and many discomforts. Physicians therefore being consulted, one of them, and he most experienced, a heretic however (wherefore his testimony was not required by us), declared that the kidneys were injured by the continual motion of the body on account of a certain point of the once-broken rib still projecting, whence he judged her incurable. But the other (because a Catholic) shall accordingly bear witness to the truth; nonetheless, notwithstanding the opinion and judgment of the said physicians, having used many other medicines and remedies, when she saw that she labored in vain and to no purpose, at last, a vow being made that she would fast in honor of the Martyrs of Gorcum on the vigil of the same Martyrs, and would celebrate the day itself according to her devotion, she came to the deponent himself, earnestly asking that he would deign to apply the relics of the said holy

Martyrs to her side, which he forthwith did with reverence, invoking the aid and patronage of the same Martyrs, and expressing the names of each; which being done, she at once felt an alleviation of the pain, and thereafter felt that she had obtained entire soundness, which even today she enjoys, for nearly two continuous years past. Whence the said appearer asserted that he had observed that she, as a token of a grateful mind, a whole year now having elapsed, had fasted three times each week in honor of the aforesaid Martyrs.

[3] And likewise the said deponent affirmed that on the 9th day of the month of July of this year 1619, Concerning a hand cured namely on the very day of the martyrdom of the aforesaid Martyrs, the lady Adriana vanden Heuvel, the widow left of the noble man Peter a Zanen the elder, dwelling at The Hague, aged about 65 years, came to his house, earnestly asking that he would deign to apply the relics of the aforesaid Martyrs to her hand; since by a certain misfortune toward the end of the month of December of the past year 1618, her hand (as the physicians judged) had been torn from the joint of the arm. Seeking a remedy for which evil, she had committed herself to be cured by master John Quartelaer, a famous surgeon of The Hague, whom when she perceived to labor in vain for some weeks with his medical art, the matter being despaired of, as is almost the custom in these parts, she used the service of the executioner of The Hague (most experienced in curing accidents of this kind); but altogether in vain; at last, about the beginning of July of the present year 1619, she came to Utrecht, and committed the cure of the same hand of hers (though in vain) to master Peter Schagen, a most experienced surgeon of this city. Nay rather, medicines and plasters being applied by him, she continually felt her pain increase more and more, until on the said day, by the said appearer, the plasters and bandages being taken off, she was signed with the sign of the cross with the relics of the aforesaid Martyrs on the place of the pain, the aid of the same Martyrs being invoked, from which time she felt an alleviation of the pain, nor did she afterward use any medicines or plasters, but felt herself entirely healed. Hence, returned home with joy, and four or five weeks afterward coming again to Utrecht for another cause, she rendered the greatest thanks to God and the holy Martyrs, and also to the said deponent, rejoicing for gladness with her healed hand.

[4] two testimonies. Lord Peter van Zanen, a nobleman dwelling at Utrecht, aged 29 years, affirmed that his mother the lady Adriana vanden Heuvel, widow of Lord Peter van Zanen his father, above named, existing in this city, had been lodged with him, while those things were being done which are related in the deposition of the Reverend Lord John Cauchius (which we read through ourselves), and therefore that he certainly knew that all things were true which in the said deposition are related concerning his aforesaid mother, and her hand, and the pains and the various surgeons and remedies vainly tried and applied, and finally concerning the cure by the application of the relics of the holy Martyrs of Gorcum. Adding, that his aforesaid mother from that accident had been so weak and powerless that she could neither dress nor undress herself, nay nor take food with that hand, and that, during the said accident, he himself with his wife for the most part attended upon her even until midnight, to beguile the continual pain, which was so intense that it hindered from her all rest by night as well as by day, and although she had employed the most experienced physicians she could find, yet the pain increased day by day, and the evil grew worse, so that the said master John Quartelaer, a most experienced surgeon, judged, and expressly said, that the nerves were plainly contracted, and that that evil, on account of her old age, was not curable, and that on that occasion, seeing all the surgeons losing oil and labor, in the presence of the said deponent, she approached the same Reverend Lord Cauchius, and, many others being present, asked that he would apply the aforesaid relics to her hand; that he himself too then cast away the plasters and bandages drawn off from that hand, and that he certainly knew that from that time she applied no plasters or medicines to her said hand. Finally that, both to himself and to many others, in his presence, she most often said that she ascribed the cure of her aforesaid hand to none but God and those holy Martyrs of Gorcum, and therefore gave thanks to them, and to no other.

[4] Being interrogated, Wesselius Brienen of Gorcum, dwelling at Utrecht, Two other benefits. aged more or less 64 years, concerning the miracles wrought at the invocation of the aforesaid Martyrs; he answered and asserted that he had heard from the mouth of a certain honest virgin of Gorcum, once a Beguine sister of this town of Utrecht (whose name was Mary Gerbrand, now deceased), that she had once labored under a hidden accident, and had set out to Brill to the place of the martyrdom and burial of the aforesaid Martyrs to obtain health, and there, their aid being invoked, had obtained entire health from the aforesaid accident. Which things being heard, the said deponent, already before feeling a pain, and judging from certain and various signs that he was laboring under a hernia, also set out to the same place, where he inquired of a certain old woman about the place of the martyrdom and burial of these Martyrs, who, pointing out the place to him, and saying: There is the place where the papes (designating priests by this heretical word) were slain and buried. He then went to the place, and, established in it, poured forth his prayers to God, entreating from Him through the intercession of these holy Martyrs the health which he asserted he had obtained, and affirmed that from that time he had felt no pain, nor labored under a hernia or rupture.

[6] Hildegund van Est, aged about 70 years, The fiery scab purged. being further asked concerning other miracles, answered that Mary Gysbert of Oort narrated to her the deponent that, by visiting the place in which the aforesaid Martyrs were slain and buried, and there invoking their patronage, she had been healed of a certain pestilential or fiery scab; which Mary Gysbert died only one year ago.

The noble Lord Paul vander Laen, aged 22 years, A woman in childbed freed from a double evil, being interrogated concerning miracles, affirmed that his wife, on the 14th day of October of the past year 1618, being in labor, was, together with her offspring, in danger of life. Whence by the midwife's counsel the deponent himself came to her, to console her, and that, seeing the peril in which she was, he consoled her, and in her presence vowed that he would go to the place of the burial of the Martyrs of Gorcum (for he was in his house at Oosterhout), and there for her visit the place of the burial of these Martyrs; which vow being thus made, in the twinkling of an eye his wife was quite changed, and better disposed, and without peril (which before was threatening, the midwife being witness) brought forth her offspring. And likewise, that from the same childbirth his same wife, through the carelessness (as it seemed) of the midwife, retained a certain evil accident, which affected her with so great pain that she could not be quieted, even medicines and remedies being applied, first by physicians, then by a certain woman experienced in curing accidents of this kind. Whence the aforesaid deponent, a vow being again made, visited the aforesaid place, and in it, invoking the aid of the aforesaid Martyrs, poured forth his prayers to God. Returned home therefore, he found that pain mitigated, and his wife, who before from her cries and wailings did not cease for pain, with the admiration of the bystanders, even of the aforesaid woman, notwithstanding that the accident or tumor was in the same state, adding that two or three days afterward that tumor burst and cast out much matter to the measure of a hat, and was suddenly healed.

[7] The demoiselle Isabella de Corg van Delwynen, wife of the same Lord Paul vander Laen, aged about 27 years, and likewise concerning another discomfort afterward. affirmed that those things which were related above by her husband (as to the two miracles wrought upon his own person at the invocation of the aforesaid Martyrs) had truly so happened, moreover adding that she in February of the year 1618 had labored under a certain accident, which had so affected her knee that she could scarcely bend it, or, while sitting, rise, and it afflicted her with great pain, whence, a vow being made concerning the visiting of the aforesaid place of burial, she at once felt an alleviation, which accident also thereafter was healed without any medicines or plasters.

[8] Authentic testimonies We the consuls and aldermen and councillors of the city of Brussels in the duchy of Brabant, make known and certify to all and singular who shall see these present letters, that on the eleventh day of the month of March in the year 1619, there personally appeared before us, Mary Laurentii, aged 19 years, together with Stephen Laurentii and Joanna Schoondonck, her parents, citizens of this city, who all, a solemn oath being first taken before us, affirmed and asserted, and deposed, as follows. First the said Mary Laurentii, that from some time before the procession of the most august miraculous Sacrament, wont to be held in this city about the middle of July, of the preceding year 1618, until about six weeks ago, or thereabouts, she was vexed with a wonderful, very miserable, and continual pain of the head, whence she had her face so inflamed, and like one laboring under dropsy, that she was not like herself, for which evil (as her same parents asserted) they applied many remedies by the counsel of the most experienced doctor of medicine of this city, called de Hertoge, now deceased, and of several other persons, but in vain and without any relief of the pain or of the inflammation, whence it came to pass that the said Joanna Schoondonck from her heart fled to God, and, seeing the very great devotion of the people about the sepulchre of the Martyrs of Gorcum in the church of the Friars Minor of the regular observance of this city (her aforesaid daughter being aware), vowed and promised to offer there a waxen crown (which also she did some days afterward). And it befell on the same day on which she had vowed it, at once after the vow was made, that her aforesaid daughter felt an alleviation of the aforesaid pain, and before evening was fully and entirely freed from the said excessive pain of the head, of which afterward she felt not even the least vestige.

[9] of the city of Brussels On the same day, appearing, Constance Martines, widow of the late John Beken, and Joanna Walravens, wife of James Hals, citizens of this city and dwelling near the house of the aforesaid first appearers, deposed and affirmed under a like solemn oath taken before us, that the aforesaid Mary Laurentii, and her parents, had often complained to them of the miseries and pains which the aforesaid daughter Mary suffered in her head (which these latter appearers sufficiently observed from her outward appearance and the disposition of her head), fearing lest either she should die of it, or incur some injury of the senses or of the brain; and that at last the said Mary, freed from those pains by the aforesaid vow, at once with the greatest joy made them certain thereof.

[10] On the same day of the same year, appearing

before us the above-written, Henry Theodori, also a citizen of this city, concerning various miracles deposed, and under a solemn oath taken before us, affirmed, that his little son John Theodori, six years old (whose mother is Anna Beeckman, the deponent's wife), had from earliest age labored under a hernia, or defect of rupture of the groin, with which both he and his wife always supposed him to have been born, although they observed such a defect in their said little son only about the sixth week after his birth; and although he had used many remedies against that evil, both by the counsel and prescription of a certain most experienced surgeon (who three years before or thereabouts had come to this city) and of a certain woman, who prepared bandages and ligaments against the aforesaid evil for the said boy, and of several others also; yet the said boy felt no relief, nor was freed from the aforesaid evil, nay rather remained in the same state, until it befell the deponent himself, frequenting the sermons which were wont to be given within the Octave of St. Francis in the church of the Friars Minor, to understand and hear from the mouth of a certain Father of the said Order, preaching through the aforesaid Octave in the past year 1618, the martyrdom and passion of certain Religious of the said Order, of the former convent of Gorcum, slain by the Beggars for the Catholic faith near Brill. Which things being heard, he was greatly moved, and from then felt kindled in himself a singular affection, love, and devotion toward the said Martyrs, and from that time began to invoke the intercession and patronage of the same Martyrs with God, for his said son and his liberation from the aforesaid defect, and asserted that his said little son, even on the Sunday after the aforesaid Octave, was so indisposed from the same defect, and so much distressed (since that rupture had grown to the size of a fist), that the deponent himself with his wife judged that the boy must now necessarily die. Thereafter, all humanly possible remedies being applied, so that they even held the boy for some time with his head toward the ground, at last the boy by the grace of God being seized with sleep, the hernia and the growing tumor returned to their former state, the father meanwhile continuing his prayers and devotion toward the aforesaid Martyrs. Whence on the following day he observed, at the solemn procession which was celebrated in this city the same year 1618 on the feast of St. Luke in honor of the aforesaid Martyrs, that his said little son was entirely healed and freed from the aforesaid hernia and rupture, and affirmed that he from that time until this hour had continued plainly whole, the bandages and ligaments being left off with which he was wont to be bound; so much so that neither the father himself, nor others visiting it, could find even a vestige or any appearance of the past rupture, namely Henry Remmens and Lucas Beeckmans, citizens of this city, who appearing before us the same day, under solemn oath, affirmed that on the aforesaid Sunday they had been present with the boy, and had seen him established in so miserable a state, when the rupture had grown so great, and also several times before, and afterward had visited him healed. What is more, at the instance of the Reverend Father Guardian of the said convent, master Lambert van Vlierden, a most experienced surgeon of this city, six several times at intervals of time visited the same boy, and inspected the place of the former rupture, but found no sign of the former rupture. And most recently master Laurence van Grootendael, likewise an experienced surgeon of this city, after diligent examination, could find no defect of rupture in that boy, nor even the least vestige of the aforesaid hernia, but affirmed under solemn oath, as before, that he was entirely healed, as though he had never labored under that defect; even as this same thing the aforesaid master Lambert van Vlierden also affirmed under oath.

[11] there On the same day and year, appeared Helen Goossens, wife of Danckard Gorius, a citizen of Brussels, who under a solemn oath taken before us deposed, testified, and affirmed, that for four years or thereabouts she had endured the greatest and excessive pains of the kidneys and loins, and had also borne a swollen and vehemently hardened womb, from which evils she was so affected that she often could neither stand nor walk, and when at some time in her own house she wished to go anywhere, she was compelled to lean on a staff, and although she had used the counsel and many remedies prescribed to her by some doctors of medicine of this city, yet she had lost oil and labor, nor at that time could she obtain any health or alleviation of her pains. Until by a certain Elizabeth Backx the history of the holy martyrs of Gorcum was recounted to her, as it was set forth to the people by the preacher among the Friars Minor within the Octave of St. Francis; whence she felt herself vehemently moved and kindled with devotion toward the aforesaid Martyrs, and at the same time held by a great desire of accompanying the solemn procession, instituted in this city in honor of God and of the aforesaid Martyrs, but by reason of her wretched indisposition, from the unspeakable pains, which were then very intense, she could not even go to the church to hear Mass, much less be present at the said procession. But on another day her son the Lord John Gorius, a priest, sometime vice-pastor of the parish church called the Chapel of Blessed Mary of this city, came after his custom to visit her, who, seeing her so afflicted, and greatly compassionating her, advised her to take her refuge toward God and His saints, and singularly toward the holy martyrs of Gorcum, both by whose intercessions many were said to be freed daily from their infirmities, and to trust firmly that the same would befall her. By which exhortation being again greatly moved, without further delay interposed, on the Saturday following the day of the said solemn procession, notwithstanding her aforesaid infirmity and pains, forcing herself, she made her way and came to the oft-mentioned church of the Friars Minor, where before the relics of the same Martyrs she poured forth her prayers, vowing that for three times eleven continuous days, that is 33 in all, she would come thither and would venerate and pray to God and His holy Martyrs; which also she did before all things, and then also two more times frequenting the holy Sacraments of Confession and the Eucharist; nor yet, in going to the church and returning home on all those days, did she feel any weakness, nor in the morning take any food, as before she had been compelled to do. And a few days after the said vow made, and the pilgrimage begun, she felt a great alteration through her whole body, and then an alleviation of the pain, and vomited up much phlegmatic matter, and thus by degrees she was wholly freed from her pains, and entirely healed of the tumor and hardening of her womb and of the pains proceeding therefrom, not without great admiration of herself and of her husband, and also of her son, who some days after the said vow made observed this alleviation of his mother both from her face and from her speech. The said appearer also affirmed that, from the time she was loosed from the said pains, she felt herself well enough disposed, and could walk and stand upright. And her husband above-mentioned, also appearing, under solemn oath taken before us, asserted and affirmed that the things which have been related concerning his wife are true, whom he asserted to have been sometimes so worn out with pains that she could scarcely lie down or bend herself or raise herself up.

[12] To these, appearing also before us the above-written, Elizabeth Backx aforesaid, John Meloen, at the invocation Cornelius de Riddere, Henry Raespot with Christiana Breeckpot his wife, citizens of Brussels, partly neighbors, partly from knowledge of the said first appearers, who all under oath, as before taken, deposed and affirmed, that they well knew that the aforesaid Helen Goossens had for various years been infirm and vexed with many pains, and had also borne a swollen womb, and thence had been so affected that she could scarcely lie down, sit, walk, or stand; whence also she sometimes suffered great weakness, nay a fainting of soul, as some of them affirmed they had beheld this same thing with their own eyes.

[13] On the eleventh and thirteenth of March respectively of the same year, of the holy Martyrs appeared Catharine Jacobi, widow of Thomas vanden Bossche, who under a solemn oath taken before us deposed, that for the space of more than eighteen years she had endured a vehement and pitiable pain in her right arm, which pain extended even to the shoulder-joint, but most of all in the last three years, so that she could scarcely use that arm. And when by various human remedies, by pilgrimages to various places, she had sought relief, she could obtain no alleviation of the pain. But it befell, she frequenting, during the Octave of St. Francis, the sermons in the church of the Friars Minor in the past year 1618, and hearing the history of the martyrdom of the holy martyrs of Gorcum set forth, that she felt herself inflamed with singular devotion toward the aforesaid Martyrs, whence she vowed that she would be present at the solemn procession to be celebrated in honor of God and of the aforesaid Martyrs on the very feast of St. Luke (as she did), except that, from the too great multitude of the people, fearing for her arm lest it should be crushed, she did not dare to enter the aforesaid church, but coming thither the following day, poured forth her prayers to God and the aforesaid Martyrs, and vowed to come thither for nine continuous days, to continue the same prayers, and each day to offer a lighted candle before their relics, and that (if she felt relief) she would hang up a silver arm in memory at the sepulchre of the said Martyrs. But she herself on the same day about evening fell into a great and perilous disease, subject to much sweating and vomiting, by which disease enduring until about the feast of All Saints, being hindered, she could not fulfill her vow; yet she felt that pain, under which she had labored for the course of so many years, wholly cease in her right arm, and herself fully freed therefrom; whence when she was now healed of the said disease, she completed in full her vow, made to the honor of God and of the holy Martyrs, as a token of a grateful mind for the aforesaid liberation, nor felt any pain in the said arm from that time, whereas before she was sometimes so afflicted from it that she thought she should die thereof, which same thing her aforesaid husband also declared before his death, who on that account had often been troubled, since his said wife could scarcely use that arm, nor help even herself in dressing, or otherwise, without the aid of another person.

[14] at different times There appeared also Anna Jacobi, wife of Paul Biers, sister of the aforesaid Catharine Jacobi, and John Kieckens, also citizens of this city, who under a like solemn oath, taken as above, affirmed that it was known to them that the said Catharine Jacobi had endured the aforesaid pain in her right arm for the space of 16 or 17

years, and that the said Anna Jacobi had often, while her mother of pious memory was yet living, had to be an aid to her same sister Catharine.

[15] wrought, On the eleventh and 25th of March respectively of the same year 1619, appeared the demoiselle Catharine de Vaddere, widow of the late Michael Bilt the younger, a citizen of this city, who under a like solemn oath, taken before us, asserted and declared, that four months ago Catharine Peermans, dwelling with her and the daughter of her the appearer's daughter, aged about 7 years, labored under a vehement and perilous fever, together with a great pain of the throat, caused by a tumor or aposteme about the said throat, which diseases themselves lasted from the Wednesday until the following Sunday, when before noon Brother Giles, uncle of the said sick girl, together with another Father of the Order of Friars Minor, came to visit her, whom he saw established in great straits and as it were in agony; and when he addressed her, she could scarcely from the pain of the throat utter a little word. Whence the said Brother Giles immediately after noon, with another Father of the same Order and of the convent of Brussels, who had brought with him a particle of the relics of the holy martyrs of Gorcum, returned thither. By whose Father's order, the said particle was hung on the girl's neck; whence it came to pass that, one hour being passed, the said girl, returned to herself, of her own accord raised herself up, and asked of the aforesaid appearer, her grandmother, certain childish toys, before offered and promised to her by way of recreation, which being given to her, she at once began to play with those things, and from that time the said girl being by degrees healed, remains safe even now. And the same things as above, both the mother of the said girl, who together with her mother, the girl's grandmother, had been present with the said sick girl, and Margaret Loockz, a virgin aged 22 years, dwelling in the same house, who the preceding night together with the said grandmother of the girl had watched by the bed of the sick girl, also appearing before us, under a like solemn oath, taken as above, affirmed to be true. There appeared also Catharine Timmerman, wife of Paul Berwants, who under a like oath declared that she had several times visited the aforesaid girl during the said infirmity, namely on the aforesaid Sunday, when she found her in great straits and as it were agonizing, and after dinner, when she saw the same clothed, sitting on her bed and playing; whence with others she greatly marveled how the aforesaid girl, whom before dinner she had seen from the aforesaid disease established in such straits, so suddenly and in so brief a time, after the hanging of the said relics on her neck, was so much relieved and healed.

[16] On the fifth day of April of the same year 1619 appeared Nicholas Bleri, and through various a citizen of Brussels, and Anna Walravens, married pair, with Barbara Hoorincks, the maidservant of the same married pair, who all under a solemn oath taken before us by each of them beforehand, declared, testified, and affirmed, that John Baptist Bleri, son of the aforesaid married pair, two years and four months old, likewise established before us, for the space of ten months continuously labored under a flux of the belly, by which evil he was so worn out that his very intestines often protruded to the length of one large walnut, together with an emission of blood, and there was to be seen in the said boy thus established great misery, which boy was thence so exhausted and wasted that he could scarcely walk, and for some days was compelled to lie in bed. Whence whoever saw the boy judged that he must necessarily die thereof. But the parents, having used many human remedies against the aforesaid evil, labored in vain, nor felt any comfort in the boy; which at last gave occasion to the father, as he asserted, to flee to God and His Saints, singularly the Martyrs of Gorcum, some of whose relics repose in the church of the Friars Minor of the regular observance of this city, being excited to this by those things which concerning the passion of the same Martyrs, within the Octave of St. Francis and in Lent, had been narrated by the same preacher; whence he often poured forth his prayers before the sepulchre of the aforesaid Martyrs. At last on the Wednesday of Holy Week of the present year he proposed on the following day, which was the Thursday of the Lord's Supper, to go with his same little son to the said church of the Friars Minor, and there before the sepulchre of the said Martyrs to pray for the health and safety of his said little son; which also he did from the eleventh hour until after the twelfth, and among other things read in honor of the said Martyrs eighteen Ave Marias, and to these, three Ave Marias in honor of the Reverend Father Guardian, whom he had heard to have shone singularly among the rest, and as many Ave Marias he made his said boy read. The boy himself, imitating his father, recited the same Ave Marias. Then in honor of the holy Trinity he there placed three lighted candles, that through the intercession of the aforesaid Martyrs the said boy might obtain health from God. And the father himself, a most firm hope of the health of his said little son being conceived, returned home from dinner, and asked again and again of his wife and maidservant whether the said boy still labored under the same flux of the belly, who each time answered that he did not. And on the next day, which was the Friday of the Preparation, when the same asking received the same answer, with admiration he exclaimed: Behold what are the miracles of God and of His saints! from this, that he saw his boy so suddenly healed: and what is more, from that time he observed a manifest change in the face of the said boy, which boy from then had a natural evacuation, and was made more and more whole, with the greatest admiration of all those who had seen this boy before, during the aforesaid infirmity. The father therefore, as a token of a grateful mind for so great a benefit received, offered at the sepulchre of the said Martyrs a waxen boy, and a silver token, affirming further that the said boy, thus freed from the aforesaid evil, thereafter remained whole and safe.

[17] witnesses deposing To these things the said Barbara Hoorinckx affirmed and declared, that during that time in which by the command of her master she read in honor of the said Martyrs the said 21 Ave Marias, the said boy, leaving her, of his own accord went to a column, on which a picture, containing the effigies of these Martyrs, was hung, embracing the said column with his hands and arms, going round it, and incessantly kissing it. Whence the said boy being asked by her what he did there, answered: I kiss my lords; which same thing the said maidservant related to her said master straightway, as they returned home, as he himself also asserted to be true. Further the said maidservant asserted it to be true, that from the time in which in the said place they prayed to God and the holy Martyrs, the aforesaid affliction and infirmity of the boy plainly ceased, and that he was no more vexed by them even in the least, and that at once he was made safe and whole and comely, as he still is now.

[18] being approved. Which aforesaid infirmity of the boy was also known to various persons, and among others to Catharine Joannis, and Catharine van Rassem, virgins, and to John de Greve, who for almost a whole year dwelt in the house of the parents of the said boy, and still dwells there now. Who all also together appeared before us, and under solemn oath affirmed that the miseries and calamities which the said boy had endured from the aforesaid flux of the belly were well known to them, and that they beheld this same thing with their own eyes, adding to these things both those Catharines, as a ground of the knowledge of the aforesaid, that before the feast of All Saints of the past year 1618, dwelling together in their house, they had the said boy, that he might be weaned, at which time he labored under the same flux of the belly, to which they also applied some remedy. And the said John de Greve to these things affirmed, that his mother, on the said Wednesday of Holy Week before dinner, being in the house of the aforesaid married pair the parents of the said boy, greatly marveled on account of the pitiable condition of the boy, saying that he rather decreased than increased, and that, being a boy of only half a year, he was stronger and more robust than he then was. And when John de Greve himself had then gone abroad with his said mother, returning home yesterday, he found the boy playing, speaking, whole and safe, not without admiration, since he on the Wednesday of Holy Week, as has already been said, had left him at home in so miserable a state. In faith and testimony of all which we the consuls, aldermen, and councillors of the aforesaid city of Brussels have ordered these present letters, signed by the hand of our secretary, to be fortified with the seal of this city, this fifth day of April of the year 1619, and it was signed J. Bossum, and the seal of the same city impressed at the side.

[19] We Francis vander Burch, by the grace of God and of the Apostolic see Archbishop and duke of Cambrai, etc., The hernia of Chaussée-Notre-Dame instantaneously cured. having seen and maturely examined the informations, and the testimonies of several trustworthy Catholics, confirmed by oath, concerning the cure of Giles Tilman, son of Louis and of Anthonia Couvreur, citizens of the town of Landrecies in Hainaut, of the diocese of Cambrai, aged about 12 years, have certainly and faithfully recognized, that the aforesaid youth from the fortieth day of his birth labored under a hernia very grievously, now fallen down almost to the middle of the thigh, many and various remedies having been tried, but in vain, and iron bandages having for the most part been applied, which yet did not at all hinder the descent. At last, in hope of curing it, being carried in a cart to Chaussée-Notre-Dame on the 21st of October in the year 1619 above a thousand six hundred, when he had been present at the translation of the relics of the blessed martyrs of Gorcum there, and the next day in the church of the Recollect Friars, sacramental confession being made, had poured forth his prayers in the sight of the holy relics with all affection, amid the very prayers he was suddenly cured in the church; so that on the following day, which was the 23rd of the same month and year, the bandages being dismissed and cast away, returning home on foot (which before he could not), he was thereafter wholly without all sense of it, and is even now. Which cure therefore, wholly miraculous and supernatural, proceeding from the hand of almighty God, by the merits and intercession of the aforesaid blessed Martyrs, by the judgment of the theologians, we judge and approve. Since so sudden and instantaneous a manner of liberation could proceed neither from art nor from nature. And below was signed thus: Francis vander Burch, Archbishop of Cambrai.

[20] We the consuls, aldermen, and councillors of the city of Ath make known and certify to all whom it concerns, Three depositions concerning the stone-disease cured. that there appeared before us on the 24th day of the month of January in the year 1620 the witnesses undersigned, who all, a solemn oath being first taken by each, deposed and testified, as follows. Mary Wilckin, widow of the late John Hayllet, aged

32 years, being specially interrogated, a solemn oath being premised, affirmed that she had a five-year-old boy, by name Adrian, laboring so from the stone, or a little pebble concreted from grains of gravel, that, being unable to pass urine, from the greatness of the pain he would embrace both the benches and whatever came in his way. The same mother, as she testified before us, compassionating her little son, consulted master John Courtin the surgeon, who professes the cutting-out of pebbles of this kind. He, the state of the boy being considered, testified that no remedy remained except the incision of the said little boy. The disconsolate mother, by the counsel of friends, had recourse to the relics of the holy Martyrs of Gorcum, five or six days before first brought and solemnly deposited in the nave of the church of the Friars Minor of the same city. On the following day, sacramental confession being premised and the Sacrament of the Eucharist received, a prayer of nine days (they commonly call it a Novena) being begun, and a candle being offered each day, on the first day after prayers, returning home, she laid the boy in his little bed, and thence went out abroad to the business that met her. The mother being absent, the little boy, passing a great quantity of urine, with a huge outcry joined thereto, brought it about that the neighbors ran up, who found the boy wet and sweating. The mother, returned, found both the little bed and the coverings drenched through. On the remaining days after, he passed urine without pain, casting out a great quantity of the gravel of the stone, thicker however and red like blood. Wherefore the mother, the nine days' prayer being accomplished, in thanksgiving offered in honor of the said holy Martyrs sufficient wax, so that for nine other following days there might be an approach, vowing the said boy to God, the holy Martyrs, and St. Francis, whose Order's habit he even now wears. To testify these things there appeared Nicholas Mostin, aged about 36 years, under a like oath affirming that he had often seen the said boy from the force of pain embracing benches, and the props that met him in the streets, and that he had himself sometimes risen at night to help him, moved by his cries. He affirmed moreover that, from the aid of the holy Martyrs obtained through the mother's prayers in the aforesaid manner, he had perceived nothing of the former disease in the boy, whereas he had dwelt in the same house for five years, and at present still dwells there. There appeared likewise, being required, Mary of Namur, a beata or devout woman, aged about 44 years, under a like oath deposing that she too had been present when the said boy, the neighbors being roused by a huge outcry, was found wet and in a sweat, as above narrated.

[21] More testimonies Isabella Charlet of Ath, aged about 42 years, wife of Bonaventure Thais, in the same year and month likewise appeared before us and, being juridically required, under a solemn oath testified that from the month of February of the year 1618, until the month of July of the same year, in which the relics of the holy Martyrs of Gorcum were first brought into the city of Ath, she was afflicted night and day with a sciatic pain, and from it had contracted so great a curvature of the body that, leaning on a staff, she could scarcely walk, and in the neighbors' judgment seemed never about to return to an upright bodily stature. She added that, to recover health, she had sent a certain man to certain churches famous for miracles and for the frequenting of pilgrims, as of Our Lady at Messines, of St. Vincent at Soignies, of St. Ignatius in the village of Rebay, of St. Hilary in the village of Templou of the diocese of Namur. But when these seemed to have profited her nothing, full of faith and hope she turned her mind to the relics of the holy Martyrs, which had lately been deposited in the church of St. Julian of the city of Ath, and for nine days devoutly visiting the same relics with bare feet, she was little by little brought back to perfect health, which she firmly believes and testifies she recovered by none but the aid of God and the holy Martyrs.

[22] There appeared on the same day and month Bonaventure Thais, concerning a bent woman made upright. husband of the aforesaid Isabella, aged 44 years, under a like oath affirming what was deposed by his wife. Likewise the same thing under a like oath confirming, Mary Thoret, aged 54 years, wife of John d'Antoy. Likewise John Maes, aged 50 years, asserting under oath that he had seen the said Isabella, during the disease, bent, walking with difficulty, leaning on the shoulders of several, and often in the streets compelled to halt her journey for the difficulty of proceeding, and had at last seen the same both upright and whole. The same thing is attested by Clement Willaine and James Marotquin, aldermen of the city, who were present at this juridical act.

[23] On the same day and year appeared Louis Buffart and Catharine Lausel, his wife, Likewise another concerning an infant healed; aged 31 years, and under oath deposed that their infant, eleven months old, in the year of the Lord 1618, on the 16th day of August, having received a plum from the maidservant, the plum's stone remaining in the orifice of the windpipe, suddenly fell into a fainting, in which, remaining without any sign of life for about two hours, he was judged not only like one dead, but truly dead. The mother, called from the market to the place where the infant was held by the neighbors, turned her hope to the holy Martyrs, two candles being sent to the church of the Friars Minor, an Antiphon being sung by the same Friars in honor of the holy Martyrs of Gorcum at the mother's request, the infant began to recover, and the following day, after the sacrifice of the Mass sung, the infant cast out the stone through the passages ordained by nature for the secretion of excrements. To testify these things Martin Ferre, aged 42 years, being called, under oath affirmed that he had long held the boy in his arms, and had delivered him as truly dead to a certain neighbor woman without any hope of ever seeing the boy alive thereafter. The same under a like oath is testified by the neighbors of the parents of the said little infant, Francis Pruneau, Maximilian le Clercq, Charles Chastelin, Jacobea Fottreau.

[24] On the same year and day Lord Philip de Ketulle, Lord of Hanery, and Lady Helen Benoict, then concerning a woman in childbed laboring under a grave disease. his wife, aged about 22 years, under oath testified that the aforesaid Lady Helen on the 25th day of July in the year 1618, a little while after her childbirth, fell into a grave sickness, joined to a most vehement pain of the head, and, the Reverend Lord Dean and Pastor being called to receive her confession, by his counsel offered three notable white candles in honor of the holy Martyrs, whose relics were still recently brought into the city and first carried to the parish church of the same Pastor, sacred to Blessed Julian the Martyr, and ordered a Mass to be celebrated to implore their aid. Which was done the following day: while meanwhile the sickness grew heavier and heavier, and the most present peril of death was before the sick woman, it came to such a pass that she disposed of her temporal affairs, then began to be deprived of the use of sense and reason, the pastor's vicar being summoned meanwhile by night, that the Sacrament of extreme unction might be administered to her, a vow being made to the holy Martyrs of offering in their honor a greater candle, and a solemn sacrifice of the Mass, the sickness abating quite evidently, when she had been awakened from the sweet sleep into which she had slipped, she said suddenly that by the merits of the holy Martyrs she had escaped the peril of death, and, the time of her childbed being finished, she paid the vows which she had promised to the holy Martyrs. There appeared and in like manner testified the Reverend Lord Philip le Grand, Dean of Chièvres and Pastor of Ath. Likewise Anna Oliar, aged 50 years, widow of Adrian du Quesne, wont to be present with women in childbed after delivery.

[25] The gait restored to an afflicted girl, In the year and on the day as above, the Reverend Lord Dean of Chièvres and Pastor of Ath declared that there had appeared before him in the year of the Lord 1618, on the 13th day of July, Mary Fonteyne, a marriageable girl of 20 years, from the village of Meslin, daughter of Henry Fonteyne and of Mary de Vilain, and in his hands, in the presence of Lord James le Clercq, Pastor of the said village, and of the mother of the aforesaid girl, and also of the Brothers John Bandanne and Martin a Rivo, priests and preachers, dwelling in the convent of Ath of the Friars Minor, under oath confirmed, that she in the aforesaid year 1618, about the 25th of January, had fallen into a most bitter disease joined with a fever, whose gravity, although it began to cease and diminish three weeks before Easter, nonetheless she remained so weakened in her whole body that she could not walk except leaning on props. When she had heard that the relics of the holy martyrs of Gorcum had been brought to the city of Mons, and shortly also were to be brought to Ath, she placed her hope of recovering health in their aid. These being brought, with much instance she obtained from her mother that she be conveyed thither in the same cart. When she approached the gate of the city, the props being demanded, she proposed to go to the relics of the holy Martyrs, now honorably raised up in the midst of the church of the Friars Minor, walking, as best she could. She went, and before the relics of the Martyrs in the nave of the church, prostrate with great faith and devotion, prayed at some length, and, confession being made and the Eucharist received, when meanwhile she had returned to the sacred bones, and, prostrate on the ground in a long prayer, had implored the aid of the Saints, rising and exulting with joy, she said to her mother standing by, that she was better, and could easily return home without props: which also she did, with the other companions of the way returned to the village and her father's house without the aid of props. Some days after, being restored to entire health, to the aforesaid church of the Friars Minor, in testimony of the benefit received from the holy Martyrs, she brought back her props.

[26] There testifies also Brother Nicholas a Ponilo, on the faith of a priest, that he had seen the said girl approaching the sacred relics, leaning on props, and that the candle which she with her mother offered had been handed to him through the hands of the people, and that afterward he had seen the same whole, many confirm it. often visiting the same holy relics. Lord Philip le Grand also testifies on the same faith; Dean of Chièvres and Pastor of Ath, that the said girl came to his house on the 13th of July, whom he saw whole with entire body without staves. In faith of all which we have ordered these present letters, signed by the hand of our secretary, to be fortified with the seal of this city of Ath, this 27th of January in the year 1620, and it was subscribed below, Eysembart. And at the side of the said signature the seal of the city of Ath superimposed.

[27] We the Pastor, Governor, Praetor, and Aldermen of the city of Braine-le-Comte, Concerning deafness healed, a town of Hainaut, of the diocese of Cambrai, make known to all whom it shall concern, that there appeared before us on the 24th of January 1620, sister Anna Vieusart, mother of the tertiary nuns of the Order of St. Francis of the same town, aged 35 years, and there in the vows of religion declared and affirmed, that for the space of two months she had been grievously afflicted with a certain impediment of the ears, and an obstacle of hearing, so that she could not hear her Religious. Various drugs and remedies being meanwhile tried; which availing nothing, as it seemed, it seemed good to have recourse to the merits of the Saints, as of St. Christopher in the same town, of St. Julian of Boussut; which done, since she did not yet experience health, at last she turned herself to the glorious Martyrs of Gorcum, and on the very day of the translation of the relics of the same into the same town, recovered full health

in the solemn procession, the humors which impeded her hearing flowing down and being dissolved, so that she perfectly heard the preaching and sermon delivered after the said procession. Wherefore, according to that of Tobias 12: To conceal the secret of a king is good; but to reveal the works of God is honorable: the aforesaid, desiring the honor of the Saints to be spread abroad, declared these things on the day and year above said. In witness of the truth of which matter, we have caused these to be signed by our scribe and fortified with our ordinary seal. Below was written thus. By the mandate of the Lords Governor, Praetor, and Aldermen. Which I attest, John Parmentier, scribe of the aforesaid town: and signed J. Parmentier. And at the side was signed thus: James le Visse, Pastor of Braine-le-Comte, 1620, and these same letters were fortified with the seal of the same city.

[28] We the Pastor, Governor, Praetor, and Aldermen of the city of Braine-le-Comte, a town of Hainaut, and pain of the eyes. of the diocese of Cambrai, make known to all whom it shall concern, that there appeared before us on the 24th of January 1620, John Papart, a joiner by craft, aged 34 or 35 years, residing at Braine-le-Comte, and there declared and affirmed by solemn oath, that on the first night before the day of the translation of the sacred relics of the Martyrs of Gorcum into the same town, he was grievously vexed and tormented with a vehement pain and inflammation of the eyes, so that he could take no rest, and in these straits was inspired to flee to the aid of the aforesaid Martyrs, for whose holy relics to be laid up he had made a case; and, an act of reverence and honor being exhibited, he recovered perfect health, the inflammation being extinguished, and the prickings and pains being wholly put to sleep. Which, desiring it to become known to all, for the propagating of the honor of the Saints, the aforesaid sincerely declared in the presence of the above-said. In witness of the truth of which matter we have caused these to be signed by our scribe and fortified with our ordinary seal. Below was written thus: By the mandate of the Lords Governor, Praetor, and Aldermen. Which I attest, John Parmentier, scribe of the aforesaid town: and signed J. Parmentier 1620. And at the side was signed thus: James le Visse, Pastor of Braine-le-Comte, 1620. And these letters too were fortified with the seal of the city of Braine-le-Comte.

[29] A badly afflicted girl is restored in her leg; We the Praetor, consuls, and aldermen of the city of Nivelles make known and testify by these presents to all whom it shall concern, that there appeared before us on the first day of July of the year 1619, Louis de Reux, a citizen of this city, aged 40 years, who, a solemn oath being first taken, declared and affirmed, that his daughter, aged 6 or 7 years, had suffered a certain infirmity in her right leg and for three or four whole days and nights had been worn out with such pains that she could not rest at all, nay could neither walk, nor stand upright on her feet, until, the matter being disclosed by a certain neighbor, by name John l'Amy, he was admonished to set his said daughter before the relics of the blessed Martyrs of Gorcum, reposing in the church of the Reverend Fathers Recollect of this city, because on that very day the aforesaid daughter was held by the most acute pains, so that she could not move herself at all, and much less permit or suffer herself to be touched in her right leg. The aforesaid Louis therefore carries and sets his above-mentioned daughter before the altar in which the sacred relics of the blessed Martyrs repose, and, the sacrifice of the Mass being there heard, and his devotions, invocations, and prayers being performed, carries and leads his aforesaid daughter back with him. And behold, toward evening of the same day, little by little she began to move her right leg, and in it and by it to walk. And when in the night immediately following she had easily obtained the wished-for rest, on the next day she was freed and healed of the said infirmity. Which when he had related, he ascribed the freedom and health to the goodness and clemency of God, through the intercessions of the said Martyrs. And that the aforesaid testimonies may obtain their due effect, we the Praetor and aldermen of the aforesaid city of Nivelles have caused these presents to be fortified with our ordinary seal with the signature of our sworn clerk. Given the first of July in the year 1619; and it was signed below J. D. Lannoy, and at the side of the said signature the seal of the said city of Nivelles superimposed.

[30] likewise another oppressed by an unknown disease. We the Praetor and aldermen of the city of Nivelles make known and testify by these presents to all whom it shall concern, that there appeared before us on this last of January of the year 1620, Catharine Colet, daughter of Philip, sprung in the lordship of Du, of the county of Namur, maidservant of Lord Adrian Sibille, sometime alderman and rent-master of this city, aged 39 or 40 years, who, to the honor of God and of the Virgin Mother of God and of the blessed Martyrs of Gorcum, for the benefits received through the intercession of the said Martyrs, deposed the undersigned matters in the tenor which follows, a solemn oath being taken before us. She affirms therefore, that on the very day of St. John the Evangelist (which was the 27th of December of the year 1619) she was suddenly so oppressed by a certain unexperienced disease, that she could neither eat nor drink, nor stand nor rest, and so could not discharge her due duty of service. Which when she had learned by the very sense and experience thereof, with a great increase of her infirmity, she consulted a physician, whether perchance any medicine and natural means might avail against the disease. And when she had used natural means in vain on the Monday and Tuesday immediately following, the disease at last growing heavier, she demands the merits and aid of the said blessed Martyrs, whose relics repose honorably in the church of the Reverend Fathers Recollect of this city. And, the holy sacrifice of the Mass being performed by her intention and command at the altar in which the Relics of the said Martyrs repose, on the 23rd of January of the year 1620, on that very same day she was fully and entirely freed from all the aforesaid infirmity, and became fit and ready for the due obedience of service, as before the disease. Which when the said Catharine had experienced, she most fully ascribed the aforesaid health to the merits of the said Martyrs. In faith of which we have caused these presents to be strengthened with the ordinary seal of this city, under the testimony and signature of our sworn clerk, on the day, month, and year aforesaid: and these letters were signed J. D. Lannoy.

[31] To all who shall see or hear these presents, greeting in the Lord. A notable miracle in a man with fever We the Praetor and aldermen of the city of Nivelles in Brabant make known and by these presents testify, that there appeared before us, on the last day of the month of January of the year 1620, Francis Des Fosses, son of William, a citizen of this city, aged 32 or 33 years, who, a solemn oath being first taken before us, deposed the following, to the honor of God and of the Virgin Mother of God and of the blessed Martyrs of Gorcum, for the benefits received through the intercessions of the said Martyrs, in the tenor which follows. He affirms therefore, that on the very Kalends of January of the present year, he was suddenly seized with a certain vehement and continual fever, hot and cold, and, the Spirit of God dictating, vowed one Novena in honor of the blessed Martyrs of Gorcum, which being begun the day immediately following, when on the third day after he was set before the relics of the said Martyrs reposing in the church of the Reverend Fathers Recollect, he is suddenly seized with a certain fainting and perturbation of soul, so that he would even then have fallen to the ground, had he not been supported by the help of the bystanders. And when in these extremities he lay, he fled to the aforesaid Martyrs of Gorcum; and behold in that same instant and moment he comes forth most fully and entirely whole, regains his house, no disease or pain afterward repeated or ensuing. Which health indeed the said Francis ascribes to the merits and intercessions of the aforesaid blessed Martyrs. In faith of which matter, and for a stronger testimony of the truth deposed before us, we have caused these presents to be strengthened with our ordinary seal, under the signature of our sworn clerk, on the day, month, and year mentioned. And below was signed J. D. Lannoy. And at the side of this charter, containing both these latter testimonies, the seal of the said city of Nivelles superimposed.

[32] and another in one laboring under pains of the kidneys. We the Pastor, Praetor, and aldermen of Basse-Ittre, a mature examination being premised, concerning Michael Quivat, upon his astonishing and miraculous health and his long and inveterate infirmity, make known and by these presents testify to all whom it shall concern; that the aforesaid Michael juridically declared and affirmed, that when for a long time he was held by a grave infirmity of the kidneys, from which he could be healed by no means, at last with great labor, leaning on a staff, he committed himself to the journey on the Wednesday after Pentecost of the year 1619, that he might set himself before the sacred relics of the blessed Martyrs of Gorcum, in the church of the Reverend Fathers Recollect of the town of Nivelles, firmly hoping and trusting that by the merits of the blessed Martyrs above mentioned he would be freed from the said infirmity. Whither when by the help and grace of God he had come, he experienced much relief and comfort from his infirmity. And when again now with great and arduous labors he was making his way to the same place, on the Sunday within the Octave of the venerable Sacrament of the same year, and before the sacred relics of the said Martyrs poured forth his prayers, that by their merits they might obtain for him from God entire health and liberation from the aforesaid infirmity, forthwith he experienced himself most fully whole and strong and fit for work, as if he had before suffered nothing of infirmity, which yet for many times past had been altogether impossible for him. Which indeed we willed the more gladly to testify, because for several years now we have had a certain and experimental knowledge both of the aforesaid Michael (who dwells in the same place with us) and of his said infirmity; and lest we should seem to detract from the glory and honor with which God crowns His blessed Martyrs, who for His glory strenuously contended even to the last breath, and bore back the trophy and crown of martyrdom. Given the 9th of June of the aforesaid year 1619. And it was signed below in this manner: So it is, D. Philip Daniel, Parish Priest of Basse-Ittre; and again: I, by the mandate of the Lords Provost or Praetor and aldermen of Basse-Ittre, have subscribed this as scribe of the same place, N. Le Clercq.

Appendix, July II

Lexicon of Saints

as USB stick or as DVD

Support for the Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints

Page optimized for printing

Our travel blog:

Journeys to the places where the

Saints lived and are venerated.

Send a recommendation to friends

Comment on an article / report an error

Questions? — our FAQs answer them!

Search in the Lexicon of Saints

Imprint — Privacy policy