Tuscana

ON ST. TUSCANA, WIDOW, OF THE ORDER OF ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM, AT VERONA IN ITALY.

ABOUT THE 14TH CENTURY.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

A cult in the Fasti rather recent, the age uncertain, the Acts written late, hymns and other proofs of veneration.

Tuscana, widow, of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, at Verona in Italy (S.)

BY THE AUTHOR J. B. S.

Concerning the holy religious offspring also of the most illustrious equestrian Order there has long since been treatment in this work, especially on the 28th of May, where, having praised not only the virtues, but also the military exploits of the men, Papebroch observes, Among the other female Saints of that Order, that from the weaker sex also there were some Nuns of the same profession, namely Hospitallers, illustrious in sanctity; of whom, he says, I find two in Italy honored absolutely as Saints, namely Ubaldesca and Tuscana, the latter a widow at Verona in Aemilia (if this extend so far), of whom there will be treatment on the 14th of July. Papebroch proceeds to investigate those things which pertain to St. Ubaldesca, from Silvanus Razzi, who, it is strange, neglected today's St. Tuscana, so near to him, and doubtless not altogether unknown. But whatever of this may be, another Saint of the same Order, likewise passed over by Razzi, Papebroch found in Gaul, Flora by name, and gave her on the 11th of June, whose Life Janning having afterward obtained, he inserted the same in the Supplement, or sixth volume, of June, from page 97, the image being there again related, from which, and from the double Ubaldeschan one, the habit of the said female Order can abundantly be gathered, so that concerning these and other matters relating to those Nuns, or their institution, nothing remains here to be explained. Let those more curious of matters of this kind consult the recent work of Hélyot on the religious Orders, volume 3, from page 121.

[2] She was long since honored at Verona. Now St. Tuscana, passed over by all the Martyrologies of any note, was first suggested to us by Philip Ferrari, in both his Catalogue and in his Topography, whom Arthur du Monstier amply followed in his Gynaeceum; but Castellanus, here more scrupulous than is just, judged that the Saint should be omitted. Ferrari, however, warns that he received her from the tables of the church of Verona, those, I suppose, which Augustine Valerio collected, to be praised below, who in the monuments of the Saints of Verona, page 34, has thus: The body of St. Tuscana, widow of Verona, rests in her own church, which is also called that of the Holy Sepulcher. In the same church, behind the altar of St. Tuscana, in her stone sepulcher are engraved these letters: Here lies the body of blessed Tuscana, of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. The same is had from the table of the Saints on the 14th of July, on which day her feast is celebrated under a Double Office by custom. Francis Corna testifies that in the church of the Holy Sepulcher, which is the same church, on the left side lie the bones of the glorious Tuscana. In the ancient parchment Martyrology of the monastery of St. Euphemia of Verona, on the 14th of July: At Verona, the deposition of St. Tuscana, widow, who was distinguished by the virtue of sanctity and the grace of miracles. He adds, that a part of her Life is had in the ancient lectionary of the Cathedral church, but that the whole was written by the Canon Celso Maffei, of whom we shall soon say more.

[3] Ferrari treats of him at greater length, and says, that Celso Maffei, Canon of Verona, wrote the said Life, Celso Maffei wrote the Life, which he affirms that he read in Raphael Bagatta's book on the Saints of the church of Verona. Rightly, for this is the sole and only source from which all who thereafter have mentioned St. Tuscana have drawn their material, Jerome della Corte in his Italian history of Verona, Abraham Bzovius in his ecclesiastical Annals, Jacob Bosio in the images of the Saints and Blessed of the aforesaid Order of St. John of Jerusalem, reprinted by Francis Truglio at Palermo in the year 1633, Aloysius Novarino, Clerk Regular, in the Italian Life, published at Verona in 1646 fuller in words rather than in matters, and any others who can be adduced by anyone to the same effect. The praised Raphael Bagatta, with other monuments of Verona, Augustine Valerio, bishop of the same city, well-deserving of the Saints of that his church, published in the year 1576 in a volume not large, in which, from folio 72, the whole already mentioned history of St. Tuscana is related, written, as Celso himself is witness, on the 10th of the Kalends of August in the year of the Lord 1474. This is the only monument concerning St. Tuscana which has come down to us, to be given below, and to be reduced somehow to our norm.

[4] From the year of the writing a conjecture must be made concerning the worth of the whole work, from which neither the time of her life, by attending not carelessly, how many years from the Saint's death the writer collected the documents pertaining to her, which ought to be supported by no slight authority, on account of the wondrous and stupendous things which that Maffei so roundly commemorates concerning St. Tuscana. But here the water sticks not a little: Maffei confesses, that he restores, as it were a certain little gift, to his fellow-citizens the history of the holy Tuscana of Verona, which, not so much by the fraud as by the negligence of the elders, had been already abandoned and almost obliterated, so that it is plain that he himself is the first who thought of writing that Life, lost, as he says, and given over to oblivion. We ask therefore, at what time St. Tuscana lived, in what year she died? None of these things did Maffei dare to pronounce, so that I plainly do not understand with what confidence Bzovius so assertively handed down, at the year 1343, number 27; In this year Tuscana of Verona closed her last day, most illustrious for many miracles. More prudent is the note of Ferrari. Tuscana seems, he says, to have died about the year of the Lord 1343, in which year her body was translated from the public road into the church. For the Bishop of Verona did not long suffer it to rest there, on account of the frequency of miracles.

[5] nor the year of her death can be gathered; Thus he conjectures piously enough, although Maffei did not dare to assert even that, mentioning indeed frequent signs shown day and night, canticles too and lights both seen and heard, by which at last the Bishop, whom he abstains from naming, being moved, translated the most holy body from the public road, where she had wished to be buried, into the church of Jerusalem, but that this happened in that very year in which the Saint happily died, whence we are made more certain, I do not yet perceive. Bosio in the cited little book of images ingenuously admits, that concerning the time of St. Tuscana's death nothing can be certainly affirmed from the received histories. The same must all confess who have discussed the Life with me a little more accurately, since it is so written, that no traces of the time of her life or death anywhere occur, which the praised Maffei not obscurely insinuates that he could in no way discover. That the translation was made in the year already mentioned, 1343, I would indeed not deny, Valerio thus writing, page 76: The translation of St. Tuscana into the church of the Holy Sepulcher, who had been buried in the public road before the church of St. John of Jerusalem, where there was a hospital of the poor, and now is; was made in the year 1343 by the most Reverend Prelate and clergy of Verona, the people standing by with praises and hymns on account of the wonders which were seen and heard: she was buried in a stone mausoleum, and shines with miracles to the present day.

[6] nay, nor of the translation, which others refer to the year 1343: These things concerning the translation of St. Tuscana are on the faith of Augustine Valerio or Raphael Bagatta; why they were not as openly expressed by Celso Maffei himself, almost a whole century older, there will be those who justly demand: who so distinctly noted the day of the translation, the day before the Ides of July, would doubtless not have kept silent the year and the name of the Bishop of Verona, if he could have obtained a more distinct knowledge of all these things. Yet let us grant that this was afterward dug out from some monument unknown to Maffei; is it thence, I pray, rendered probable, that the Saint died in that very year in which the aforesaid translation is said to have been made? Quite otherwise felt the most recent writer, Aloysius Novarino, when he removes the death of St. Tuscana by many years from the translation, although in this too he is wiser than the rest; since he alone testifies that on that same day on which she was translated, she had before flown to the heavenly ones; so that the people of Verona cannot take it too ill, if we seem a little more difficult in embracing blindly all those things which they themselves, confusedly enough, have handed down to memory concerning their holy Tuscana, after so many centuries from her blessed departure. Let us hear Novarino, thus speaking on page 26 of his little book: The festivity of St. Tuscana is celebrated on the 14th of July, on which she herself passed to immortal life. Many years after, on that same day, was made the translation of her sacred body, as was said above.

[7] whence concerning the worth of the Life it is easily determined. It remains therefore hitherto doubtful, whether the Saint lived, and consequently died, in the 13th century or in the 14th, and thence consequently it must be weighed, with how great authority those things are supported, which, before lost and given over to oblivion (understand, not yet written), in the year 1474 that Celso Maffei at last revived, more elegantly, I suppose, than truly, which I could wish written much sooner, or at least confirmed from the ancient and approved monuments of the church of Verona, duly cited; which that this was not done by Maffei, anyone, though I be silent, sufficiently perceives. But lest anyone infer hence, that I either reject the Life itself, as it was written by Maffei, or plainly call it into doubt: by no means; I submit it, copied from Valerio, here reprinted, to the eyes of the readers, only observing, as is our office, that this too will be desired by the learned, which I here justly demand, namely that that stupendous punishment of the three young men by sudden death, then their prompt recall to life,

not to pursue the rest just now, be corroborated by sufficient historical faith, before they be so easily published abroad as indubitable; although, since they are found in Maffei writing toward the end of the 15th century, perhaps two hundred years after the Saint's death, I would not for that reason at once admit them; yet not unwillingly shall I allow it to be believed that they are held by the people of Verona as the most certain miracles of their Saint, of which it is strange that more have not been transmitted to posterity, which Maffei only in general and confusedly touched upon, having received them from the surviving fame alone, as happens, by the tradition of the credulous crowd accustomed to hyperboles.

[8] But whatever there be concerning the entire truth of the whole history, An old hymn in her praise; I do not see why Castellanus doubted concerning the cult: to her, and to the Saint's glory among the common people, pertain the hymns composed in her honor, of which the chief and oldest is that which the praised Valerio attributes to Jerome Avanzi, and which Bosio, Bzovius, and Ferrari have also carefully related, mutilated however in the last little prayer, here added from the edition of Valerio.

O day to be marked with a snow-white gem! Behold the glory of Verona, and the pride Of the castle of Jebetum, and a new Star of the shining heaven.

The heavenly realms resound with Tuscana, The temples celebrate Tuscana yearly, And we venerate Tuscana, to be worshipped With one voice.

As virgin, wife, and widow equally Their ages praised her: now they adore her blessed With praises, vows, prayers, and a pious Offering.

She, invoked, puts to flight all fevers, Takes anguish from souls, restores health To the sick, herself aids all Who duly pray.

Hear thy suppliants, venerable mother, Let diseases be far off, fierce fire, enemies: Let not the earth deny its fruits, and let peace Rule the whole world.

Give glory to the King, three and one, And let there be honor to Mary the Mother of God, Let us give thanks for each of the blessed Merits forever. Amen.

[9] Two other more recent hymns Novarino brought forward at the end of the Life published by him and cited above; likewise the inscription of a confraternity, one under the name of Leonard Tedeschi, Canon of Verona, on the Saint's birthday, the other of John Baptist Cisano on the translation of the relics; but both such, that they could plainly be sung of any Saint, male or female, with only the name changed, as well as of St. Tuscana, so that the Latin inscription prefixed to the little work is almost more pleasing, hinting at some confraternity or sodality established in the Saint's honor, either in the city of Verona itself, or at Jebetum in her own native soil, which runs thus:

TO ST. TUSCANA,

Her Society.

O Divine one, Look from heaven Upon those who look up to thee reigning in heaven. Scatter the rays of thy beneficence, Thou who art wholly light. Thy Society will duly worship thee, If through thee it have thy virtues as companions. Three dead men thou once didst call to life, Now call all to a truer life. He lives, who does not die amid perishing things, And is wholly borne into those things Which lead to him who is wholly life. In thy worship Whatsoever thou hast done we offer to him Who made thee: And we give thee to God, who gave thee to us. Under thy shadow, O Tuscana, May it be granted us to be thy shadow, And to reflect thee by our life, That after death we may be borne to thee.

[10] and monuments of a more recent cult. I shall here at last append what the same Novarino adds concerning the more recent cult of St. Tuscana, from page 27: his Italian words I render into Latin and abridge. He narrates therefore that the celebrity of the Saint's cult was extended even to Jebetum, her native soil, a part of her sacred body being translated thither, received from the most illustrious Order of Malta in the year 1612, and that there, in the year next following, a translation was instituted with a wholly singular solemnity on the 23rd and 24th of June, columns being erected, triumphal arches, and many other signs of joy exhibited, a huge multitude of the inhabitants and neighbors flocking to the spectacle. But whether the sacred relics ought to have been wrapped in some cloud, given from heaven, while they were being transferred, I forbear to inquire. Novarino adds, that a chapel was at that time built at Jebetum, in almost the very place which the Saint was believed once to have inhabited, which in the writer's age was seen completed, not far from the parish church. But while that chapel was being built, they say that water failed, which could not be carried thither except from the river Adige with great labor: but that, to the singular admiration of all, a certain neighboring ditch was found to supply so much water, that without any expense the building was brought to its summit. The third and last is, that when the fields of Jebetum labored under a great drought, the relics being carried around in procession, the desired rain was obtained by the patronage of St. Tuscana. And these are the things which we thought must be explained beforehand: concerning the Life, which we have mentioned to have been composed by Celso Maffei, nothing remains to be said, have its genuine text copied from Valerio.

LIFE

By the Author Celso Maffei of Verona, canon regular of the Lateran Congregation.

From the edition of Augustine Valerio.

Tuscana, widow, of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, at Verona in Italy (S.)

BHL Number: 8348

By Celso Maffei, and FROM MANUSCRIPTS.

The history of the holy Tuscana of Verona, which, not so much by fraud as by the negligence of the elders, had been already abandoned and almost obliterated, The Author's little preface. I have judged should be restored anew to our citizens, as a certain little gift: for since there is nothing which can move us so much as the examples of the Saints, it was worth the labor to hand down to memory those things which could greatly profit both us and posterity. I have therefore collected those things which seemed to pertain both to our instruction, and most of all to the perpetual praise and glory of Tuscana. Wherefore, since both by the brevity of the writer, and by the length of time, we have not received even her whole history, if the reader shall find anything wanting which pertained either to her race and parents, or to her signs and virtues, he will accuse the negligence of the elders. But if he shall also censure our own work, as a rigid critic and keen appraiser of matters; let him learn that in the sacred writings not the pomps and trappings of words, but chiefly morals and virtues are to be gathered. For not so much the eloquence, as the excellent and best examples of this holy woman will profit the reader. And so I undertook whatever labor there is, not to exercise my genius, but to restore to our citizens, as I said, the history lost and given over to oblivion.

[2] Tuscana therefore, sprung from Jebetum, once a most ancient and most celebrated town, Tuscana, a lover of virginity, had parents noble and Christian. For Jebetum is placed at the seventh milestone from the city of Verona, from which our city has joined to itself no small store of men as citizens and patricians. She, from her tender nails (as they say), so loved chastity, that she would not even suffer herself to be given in marriage: for she had learned, that as virginity excels the other virtues, so virgins are to be endowed by God, the Best and Greatest, with a greater heap of graces and rewards. And so when she was already marriageable, her kinsfolk forcing too great a violence upon her, because she had escaped that with difficulty, and not without injury to them, she took a husband only under compulsion. He, moreover, sprung of the house and family of the Canoculi, which now flourishes at Verona, was called Albert; and was a townsman of hers, illustrious indeed in race, though of small fortune, but most illustrious in faith and goodness.

[3] Wherefore if ever Tuscana was compelled to render the debt, she admits her husband only under compulsion; she was joined to her husband not from lust, not from desire of pleasure, but only for the sake of procreating children, and not without shame and fear. For so the most chaste woman both satisfied the marriage, and was free from that crime by which other women, for the most part, are wont to be condemned. For she even then emulated Sarah, Anna, and Elizabeth, women surely eminent both in chastity and in sanctity, and strove according to her strength, that, as far as could be done, nothing might be wanting to her of those things which pertained both to their integrity and honesty, and to chastity and holiness, except children [*]. And so she neither ever bore a child (for she was barren), nor longer bore the burden of marriage, which she most greatly desired. For her husband being dead, she celebrated no further nuptials, but, all things being sold, and the price distributed among the poor, she gave herself to serve perpetually Christ her true spouse.

[4] wholly in the exercise of virtues, But, that I may take my beginning hence, I shall first undertake a few things which she did with her husband within her domestic walls: then I shall briefly narrate those things which after her husband's death seem both worthier and more excellent, if I shall first have touched certain things concerning her morals and her virtues. Wherefore, that I may begin from her (for I can begin no better from elsewhere), she in the first place preserved a robust faith in God, a prompt obedience to her husband, and a most ardent charity toward her neighbor. She scorned riches, loved poverty, despised glory. She was distinguished by humility, whereby she overcame all vices. Idleness, than which nothing is more pernicious, she fled; by labor she subdued her body: finally, all that, beyond her husband's command, had been of her own right and choosing, she accommodated partly to work, partly to prayer and contemplation. But if you would know whether at last she profited only herself, or her neighbors also; whatever gain she had received from her daily labor and work, she at once divided into three parts, her husband consenting. And so to the churches and their ministers she bestowed one little portion: to pilgrims and the needy another: for herself, her husband, and the rest of the household, she reserved a third for daily sustenance.

[5] most of all of charity toward the poor and the sick. For which cause indeed, since in that town she had not so great a store of the needy as she desired, to whom she might minister according to her wish, mindful of the Patriarch Abraham, whom the Lord had commanded to go forth from his house and his kindred; at her persuasion, both spouses having gone forth together with their household, their house and country being left, coming to Verona, they chose a place within the city, on the brow of a hill near the church of St. Zeno, which was then called St. Mary of Bethlehem, for building themselves a house. In which place indeed, the walls being raised on high, Tuscana day and night was intent both on divine works and on divine praises. And so, that which seemed to pertain to charity alone, from a daily custom, at the third hour of the day she diligently descended from the hill to the hospice of the church of Jerusalem, that is, of the Sepulcher (for so it was called), to visit the poor and to wash their feet. There she cared for the sick, and from their wounds and ulcers drew forth the corruption and matter; she healed the various diseases of the others most diligently. Finally she was present to all, served all, ministered to all. Lastly, having given gifts in alms for their daily provision, and having saluted and exhorted the sick to endurance, joyful and glad she returned home.

[6] Free from her husband, she consecrates herself to God; Meanwhile, while day by day she diligently and studiously plied both these and other offices of piety and charity of this kind, her husband, the course of his life being consummated in good works, departed from human affairs: whom she wept, not as the little women of our time are wont, but, prostrate, like another Magdalene, at the feet of the Crucified, she is said to have made such a prayer to Christ: I give thee, O Christ, thanks

as great as possible, who hast freed both my husband from so many perils, hardships, and calamities of the world, and me from so great a burden of marriage, grave indeed and difficult. Now I devote myself wholly to thee, now I offer myself to thee as a handmaid and servant: I desire no other spouse and lover besides thee; I love no other than thee to celebrate for me a second marriage; receive me. I will take up whatever way is right in thy sight; in thee all my hope and faith is placed: mayest thou grant me strength, mayest thou grant me succor, that I may fight against the enemy, that I may overcome the most cunning foe: for thou knowest what a man can do without thee; and what the creature may attempt without the Creator. If therefore thou be present, I conquer; if thou bring aid, I bear off a glorious triumph and victory over the enemy.

[7] But not in vain, nor to no purpose, had Tuscana commended herself to God: assailed by many snares of the demon. for the enemy did not longer suffer so great a chastity and modesty of the woman. Straightway seizing against her the arms accustomed for destroying souls, since he could not overcome the woman alone by temptation, he seeks companions for his favor and aid, that he might conquer by the deed. How prudently indeed, and how salubriously, Peter the Apostle had warned that we must be watchful against the adversary, who like a roaring lion always goes about, seeking whom he may devour, she knew. For she knew the snares of the ancient enemy, and thought that he, who did not fear to engage even with the Son of God himself, would doubtless esteem men of less account. But upon Tuscana the demon could indeed rage, and cast darts and arrows: overcome her he could not.

[8] Wherefore, that I may now undertake her excellent deeds, a not long time having elapsed after her husband's death, Of three lustful young men, three young men meanwhile, deceived both by the excessive beauty of Tuscana, and most of all by the wiles and deceits of the alluring demon, since the solitude of the place meanwhile afforded very much convenience for perpetrating the deed, ascend the hill, approach the house; having taken counsel that, through the window which seemed more convenient than the others, one after another by turns should enter, and wholly ignorant of their future lot, but about to die at once, they decide. Nor was there delay; the first, who was both bolder and readier than the rest, bursting wretchedly through the window (as we said) into the chamber, found Tuscana praying. And when he wished to approach nearer, wondrous things I relate, straightway seized by the demon he was suffocated: and of the two who were waiting before the doors, to whom all delay, even brief, had been most troublesome, the one, wondering at his companion since he did not come out, entered. He sees Tuscana praying, and the youth lifeless, and suspecting a crime, when suddenly fear had invaded him, O dreadful judgment of God! falling down he expired. The third at last, while he long and much awaits the return of his companions, and thinks them entangled in obscene wickednesses, when he had delayed no longer, the doors being broken, and having entered to the woman with great force and impetus, wonderful to say, was deprived of life. Thus the corpses of the three dead men lay prostrate within the chamber by divine dread and judgment.

[9] punishment by sudden death: What then should she do? Whither should the most chaste woman turn? To bury the dead was too horrible, to conceal them difficult, to drag them into public perilous enough. What meanwhile shouldst thou do, most blessed Tuscana? To whom shouldst thou flee? From whom shouldst thou hope for favor and aid? The parents will straightway be at the doors, will cry out, will send their voices to heaven, the corpses of the dead will become known to all. What at last shouldst thou devise, most holy Tuscana? From nowhere but from heaven must help be hoped by thee. Meanwhile, when the parents had long awaited their sons at home, fearing lest perchance some misfortune had befallen them, at last they go forth from home; having been informed by the neighbors whither their sons had gone, they straightway ascend the hill, run hither and thither, at last coming to Tuscana's dwelling, they inquire about their sons. Then she relates the matter as it had been, and leads the parents in to view the remains of their sons. And when she had come to the place, Know, O men, know, she says, and dread the horrible judgments of God. God is just, and hath loved justice. God suffers nothing to go unpunished, but renders to each according to his works; not otherwise than as they have done, are men to receive.

[10] whom the Saint, at the parents' request, And so your sons, as they attempted to perpetrate a crime and outrage upon me: so it was necessary for justice, that both punishment should answer the crime, and penalty the iniquity. Then at the first entrance of the chamber the parents rush upon the corpses of their sons: there arises a huge din of sobbing and weeping, the roof is filled with clamor: one cries himself wretched, another himself unhappy; another himself calamitous, and to be mourned by the eyes of all men. At last, when their groans and tears had profited them nothing, the parents, turned to the woman; If, they say, thou hast any faith in thy God, if any piety toward the dead and toward ourselves, that thou mayest raise the fallen by thy prayers, and restore the sons to their parents, we beseech thee. Let not the crimes of the sons provoke thee against the parents, since penalty and punishment torment them, and meanwhile a huge grief torments us. For if faith be given to Christ, evil must not be rendered by thee for evil: especially since he commanded that even enemies, and those who had done us any injury, should be loved.

[11] prayers being poured forth, When Tuscana was greatly moved by these prayers, although they demanded of her a matter too arduous and difficult, and which had belonged only to the Apostles; yet, relying on her God, she prayed a while. O God, she says, let not, I pray, whatever of crime and outrage is in these dead, remove thee today from thy mercy, from thy clemency, from thy piety. I, so small a one, if yet I am worthy, come to ask thee: great indeed are the things which I seek, but nothing is to thee either arduous or difficult. For there is no other besides thee, who killest and makest alive; who leadest down to the lower regions, and bringest back: raise up, I pray, the fallen dead: but if the crimes of the sons forbid thee, have mercy on the parents. Thou didst once raise Lazarus of four days from the tomb; Thou the only son of the widow from the bier: Thou the girl, the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue, from the couch, as if sleeping. Now if thou hear my prayers, and the vows of the parents, and these (for I fear nothing) be roused at thy command, delay not, I pray: have mercy on their youth; grant pardon to the crime, let them have paid the penalties hitherto; restore to the parents their children, whom the enemy had borne off as prey to himself; for this will both turn to thy perpetual glory, and to their everlasting profit, if they return.

[12] A wondrous spectacle indeed! Scarcely had Tuscana finished these words, she recalls to life. when the dead had risen, and what they had seen, what they had heard, what meanwhile places of darkness, what kinds of punishments they had already experienced, they related with many tears, and frequent beatings of their breasts. These afterward, doing great and long penance for their offense, again departed from life. By this miracle one may observe how great was Tuscana's sanctity: since in one matter she did so excellent a deed, that she can be numbered not only among illustrious and holy men, but even equated with the Apostles themselves. Tuscana therefore after these things, that she might both spend the rest of her life more quietly and more safely, and take from others by their example all matter of scandals, began to devise a place for preserving the chastity which she had vowed after her husband's death.

[13] And so, as she had already conceived in mind, her dwelling in the mountains being left, Thence, all her goods being distributed among the poor, she sets out for the Sepulcher; the priest of the place being summoned, she narrates the whole history of her life; namely that she had had a husband long ago, that now she was of her own right and choosing, and bound by no bond of matrimony. And since she had refused a second marriage, her kinsfolk had again long and much contended with her about marriage: and for that reason, when she had now determined to have no familiarity with men, her goods being distributed among the poor of Christ, she had left her home, her kinsfolk, the world. And since nothing was left to her of all, she had given herself to God and to the church for obedience and ministry, as long as she should live.

[14] The priest first began to marvel at the wisdom of the woman, she enters the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, then, when he had learned her desire, If these things are so, he says, O daughter, and thou givest thyself to be instructed by our institutes, it will be necessary that, thy garments being laid aside, and the old man with his deeds put off, thou take up the new, and the habit of this sacred religion of Jerusalem. And when she answered that she would most gladly take up the garment which her spouse Christ had prepared for her; the priest led her into the church, and, the habit of religion being delivered, a tunic black after the manner of the knights of Rhodes, and a white cross above, and a little cell being assigned at the side of the church, he left Tuscana there, taught the sacred institutes and ceremonies. Here, if anyone desires, he may briefly and succinctly learn what her life was. She was a stranger to all assembly and society of men, except when she set out through the city to visit the churches, and besides she not only loved the poverty which before her conversion she so greatly cherished, but, which is of greater perfection, she practiced even mendicity itself, for she ate no bread but what she had received in alms.

[15] Finally she accommodated almost the whole time of day and night to vigils and prayers: and to fasting she gave such labor, and in that state she passes her life most holily. that it was both wonderful and difficult to imitate. For they say that she, from her very conversion to the last course of her life, fasted strenuously every single day, except Sundays and the most celebrated feasts. We read that she prepared for herself not various kinds of dishes to surfeit and drunkenness, as is the custom with most, but only bread and water, and that not to satiety. But if ever, which very rarely (as I said) and only on a Sunday and solemn feast happened, she had interrupted her fast, content with a few herbs, and a little oil from the flask, she desired nothing but bread and water.

[16] The hands of the robbers who had carried off her cloak are dried up. But, that I may finish the rest of her life in few words, I have judged that one thing worthy of memory, which they relate befell her on a certain day as she was setting out to the thresholds of the holy Apostles within our city, must be briefly narrated. They say that as she was walking, robbers drew her cloak from her shoulders. And when they were dividing it into parts with drawn swords, forthwith, their hands being dried up, they ran after her as she departed behind them, and, the cloak being restored, begged for safety and pardon. And she, having great compassion on them, a prayer being made, both obtained their safety, and most gladly forgave the injury. Now if I add a few things concerning her death and burial, the history will have its end.

[17] In her last sickness refreshed from heaven, She therefore, when God willed to recall her from earth to the heavenly ones, began to be gravely sick from the force of fevers. Meanwhile an angel sent down from heaven, and having addressed the handmaid of Christ: Be, he says, prepared at the command of thy spouse, O Tuscana, about shortly to pass from the perishing world to eternal glory. At this voice she, wholly poured out in praise of her spouse, after she had given many thanks to God for the angelic visitation and address, that she might not even once indulge herself, being about to die a little after, laid her little body upon the ground, scorched and consumed both by many fastings and by daily fevers. And when the Physicians wished to cure her with their medicines, and especially commended to her much wine, since especially, if she drank water, she might easily incur dropsy: she began to refuse and to detest it, saying that the counsel of the physicians was wholly ignominious and nefarious, if she who had not done so while whole, should now, about to die, take both wine and medicines.

[18] she wholly rejects wine, They relate also, that the priest of that church wished to deceive Tuscana. For when she had unwittingly taken from him wine mixed with another liquor, she at once perceived the snare, and returned the cup. Then the priest, overcome, blushed, and having gone out, that he might again prepare another cup to deceive her, at his first entrance, when it was asked of him by her why he had gone out; he answered, to his business. To whom she; Not so, she says, not so, my lord: but that I might again drink up the wine.

[19] and desires to be buried in the public road, Meanwhile when Tuscana, her body now growing cold, did not doubt that death was near, turned to the presbyter and to the others who stood by; As soon, she says, as I have sent forth my spirit; choose no other place for me, but bury the corpse itself before the hospice of Jerusalem in the very road, where both wagons and four-horse chariots pass. And when all had promised that they would do just as she had commanded; she, her eyes lifted upward, began to chant, as she could, saying; Lord, I have loved the beauty of thy house, and the place of the habitation of thy glory: and likewise, I have chosen to be an abject in the house of my God, rather than to dwell in the tabernacles of sinners. And when she repeated these verses more often, not without some admiration of the bystanders, because they knew that the sick woman had not uttered many words, being asked by them why she did not desist even a little; and she confessing that nothing at all was either troublesome or grievous to her, but all things tranquil: suddenly, a sound being made above, she heard a voice of this kind, Come, handmaid of Christ, Tuscana; receive the crown which the Lord hath prepared for thee unto eternity. At this voice she, her eyes closed, as if despising earthly things, her spirit sent forth, penetrated the heavens, to be crowned by God.

[20] A most happy death, burial, and translation. Then by those whom she herself had asked, her body was cared for, and given to burial, as she had commanded. There frequent signs were shown day and night: canticles too, and lights, both seen and heard very often. But the Bishop of Verona did not suffer even for long that burial, which seemed less fitting for holy relics. For he, informed of all things both by trustworthy persons and most of all by his own clerics, translated the most holy body from the public road into the church of Jerusalem: and placed it with his own hands in a monument there prepared, with a great throng of peoples, and a solemn office of clerics, on the day before the Ides of July. Which, five years before this, under Hermolaus of Venice, bishop of Verona, the sepulcher being opened, both was seen, and renewed its ancient miracles, those who were present have handed down.

[21] The pious wish of the writer. These are the things, most blessed Tuscana, which I have touched upon for the highest and chief glory and proclamation of thy signs and virtues. Wherefore, if any reward is to be hoped from thee for my labor, be present meanwhile to thy suppliant, and although it satisfy thy praises too little: preserve, I pray, thy little work: for I preferred to relate few and true things concerning thee rather than many and false; although from few, but great things, the reader may gather both many and wondrous things. On the tenth of the Kalends of August in the year of the Lord 1474.

* deesset