Gerard the Dyer

ON BLESSED GERARD THE DYER,

FOUNDER AND MASTER OF THE HOSPITAL OF MONZA IN LOMBARDY.

IN THE YEAR 1207.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

On the cult approved by St. Charles Borromeo, and the Acts produced before him.

Gerard the Dyer, at Monza among the Insubrians in Italy (St.)

BY D. P. THE AUTHOR

The royal city of the Lombards, commonly Monza, called Modoëtia while their kingdom stood; in which also, although their kingdom was overthrown by the Franks, it is the custom even today both to keep and to be taken by the Emperors the iron Crown, as they call it, of the Italian kingdom; Through a Process drawn up at Monza in the year 1582 it sent to heaven its fellow-citizen the foretitled Blessed Gerard, in the year 1207, to be crowned more augustly; and thenceforth it began to have him as Patron, not only for itself, but also for many surrounding towns in the diocese of Milan and Como. That the right and antiquity of such a cult might be legitimately established, St. Charles Borromeo brought it about; sending to Monza one who should draw up the Process, Charles a Basilica Petri, afterward General of the Congregation of St. Paul Beheaded, and at last Bishop of Novara. the Acts are had, This man did in the year 1582, in the month of August, what he was ordered, indeed diligently. And the Acts of the life and miracles, from the Monza history of Bonincontro Morigia in Ms. he brought, with other informations. These being received and sent to Rome, the holy Bishop with Gregory XIII the Roman Pontiff, through D. Caesar Spetianus, afterward Bishop of Cremona, his Agent in the Curia, not difficultly obtained, that to the people of Monza their ancient usage should be confirmed; as they themselves restored it with great solemnity and pomp in the next following year, on the day of his death the 6th of June. These things are established to us from the Italian Discourse, printed about the year 1604 at Pavia, which Joseph Ferrari wrote, after having, prefacing a few things to the reader, and the cult of the Blessed is restored, for the 6th of June. in passing rejected the error of those who had feigned Gerard from a layman to be a Priest, or Minister of the Hospital, bound by no religion of vow then, to be a professed member of the Order of St. Ambrose in the grove.

[2] Two years afterward at Milan, in Latin published the Life and Miracles of St. Gerard the Dyer, The same things here are given from Mss. Bartholomew Zucchi, and dedicated them to Cardinal Caesar Baronius, having used no other aids than the former, namely the aforesaid history of Bonincontro, carried from the year 1200 to 1340 in parchments; and first indeed in the archive of the Basilica of Monza, but now kept in the Ambrosian Library of Milan; whence the things which concern Gerard, excerpted together with the rest of the Process, from the edition of the year 1603, were sent to me by the Prefect of the said Library Andrew Pusterla. In these in num. 5 it is said, that the Saint rested in the Lord, in the year of the Lord 1207 on the sixth day of June: not the 13th of June. and yet Zucchi and, from him, Ferrari in each Catalogue, say, that the Ides of June were the last day of his mortality. Let the people of Monza see whence that diversity proceeded, and whether the Ides themselves crept in for the day of the 8th of the Ides to Zucchi.

[3] What kind are the printed Images? To Pusterla in the said Prefecture his predecessor, now Archpriest of Monza Peter Paul Bosca, added a triple summary of the Acts on one folio, with an image: but since this everywhere presented different lineaments of the face, and differed also from that which, carved on a wooden tablet, long before those were published, Joseph Ferrari had prefixed to his Discourse; I long hesitated in doubt whether I should order any of them to be given engraved: since even that of Ferrari, older than the rest, presented an evident token of novelty, in the string of prayer-beads, hung at the girdle, which Gerard could not have used while alive; since their instituter was St. Dominic, ten years after the death of Gerard. Asked therefore about these things, the same Bosca answered, that that of Ferrari differs from all that anywhere exist, painted long ago; but if there were any genuine likeness of the Saint, it seemed to be that which, above a pillar, on the right side of the high altar, in the basilica of St. John the Baptist, two hundred years ago Bernardino Luini painted, from another probably older one.

[4] In the Process there is more express and frequent mention of the Mantle, A testimony found in the chest, the keeper of the Pallium. wont to be carried to women in labor; which when about the year 1675 it was sought, in that Hospital where it was said to be kept; together with it was found a charter, rotten with damp, which appeared to have been printed not long after the Canonization of St. Charles Borromeo. The tenor of that charter is this. In the year 1207, on the 6th day of June died Blessed Gerard, and he was buried in the church of St. Ambrose, but now of St. Gerard; where now too his bones rest in a marble monument, the whole peoples of the undermentioned places concurring, both for the sake of vow and of devotion, with gifts and oblations, every year on certain days of the year, to visit the sepulcher of the same Saint, and to venerate his sacred Relics. The peoples are of the towns Olgiate, Garino, Trevino, and Asnago, situated in the diocese of Como: likewise the peoples of the towns Desio, Seveso, Segrate, Lentate, Barlassina, Varese, and Figino of the diocese of Milan.

[5] All which will appear more distinctly from the Acts below to be produced. The Monument erected in the year 1622 Here note that the Canonization of St. Charles was indeed celebrated in the year 1610; but the impression of the charter seems to have been more than twelve years later than that; if the marble Monument is the same as that which today is seen behind the high altar of this kind. Below is read this inscription written: To St. Gerard de Tinctoribus, of marvelous charity toward the poor, for whose cherishing he built a public infirmary and enriched it with estates, most renowned for the glory of miracles; to so great a Citizen, so well deserving, the Father of the country; this monument, much more illustrious than the former, Monza, mindful of his benefits, ordered to be placed in the year 1622. But such a conjecture falls, if the former monument, though less august, was also of marble.

[6] And let it be enough to have premised these things; for the completion of the preface, receive what concerning Monza itself the Archpriest of it aforepraised writes to me, on the sixth of the Ides of November 1685. The city of Monza is Imperial, since in its distinguished basilica of St. John the Baptist, A brief encomium of Monza. the Kings of Italy are crowned with the iron Crown: and that Crown is most diligently guarded in that temple. That church is served by the Archpriest, adorned with the Miter and Crozier by the Apostolic See, eighteen Canons, eight Chaplains created by the King of the Spains, forty likewise other Chaplains, and lastly four Coadjutors for the care of souls. Within the walls dwell ten thousand inhabitants: there are two infirmaries, one of St. Bernard, the other of St. Gerard: eight Houses of Religious men, namely of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus, the Barnabites, the Dominicans, the Augustinians, likewise of other discalced Augustinians, of the Minors of the Observance, the Conventuals, and the Capuchins. There are added, one Seminary of Clerics, two Orphanages, four convents of Nuns, one of Ursulines; but in the suburbs two Parishes, to which four thousand inhabitants are subject, besides six Sodalities of Confreres and very many Schools of Christian doctrine, of the most holy Rosary, and of the holy Cross: so that the chief cities may rightly envy this little city on account of the celebrity of its basilica, to which still, after so many disasters and vicissitudes of affairs, there survive gifts, with which the Kings of the Lombards enriched it, with the greatest abundance of gold and gems.

[7] Here further you see the copy of the painting mentioned in num. 3, where is held in the left hand, the reason of which being asked to teach, the same Bosca answered, that the Tradition is that St. Gerard, when he frequently went to the Basilica of St. John the Baptist, once wished to pass the night there praying; and that the doorkeepers wishing to forbid this and ordering him to go out, he besought, wherefore with cherries that it be indulged him, promising to each of them a little basket of fresh cherries. The month then going out was December, by no means fruitful of fruits of that kind: and yet the next day he gave to each doorkeeper individual little baskets of cherries: to commemorate which miracle cherries are wont in such number to be hung from his staff. At his feet is painted a wooden bowl with a spoon, retaining the memory of those things which he used, and a bowl? when to the sick of his own hospital he himself put food into the mouth; presenting itself even a larger form of ancient time, than is seen to be held in the hand in the images of more recent age.

THE ACTS

Collected by command of St. Charles Borromeo.

From the Process in the Ambrosian Library.

Gerard the Dyer, at Monza among the Insubrians in Italy (St.)

FROM MSS.

CHAPTER I.

His Life, the foundation of the Hospital, miracles, the sanctity of the dead man made known at Olgiate.

[1] Blessed Gerard, a man of great abstinence, humility, and mercy, of the land of Monza, was of those of a the Dyers; who, his father being dead, while he was a boy (for he was ever intent on the zeal of hospitality) Devoted from boyhood to piety, gave himself to fasts, prayers, and alms b. Who after he was mature in age, founded the Hospital of Monza, beside the river Lambro, out of his paternal goods. Concerning the custody, governance, care; concerning the election of the Minister, the reception of the Converts, and the visitation of the sick, to be done after his death in his said Hospital, by a public instrument, as today appears, with the Archpriest, Canons, and Chapter of the Church of St. John, and with the Commune of Monza he ordained very well.

[2] Receive it here, as I have it transcribed from the original. the advocacy of the hospital founded by him In the year of the Lord's Incarnation one thousand one hundred seventy-four, the eleventh of the Kalends of March, in the seventh Indiction, in the presence of the Canons of St. John the Baptist of Monza, and of lay men of Monza as witnesses, it was settled and agreed between the Lord c Obert, by the grace of God Archpriest of Monza, by the counsel of his Brethren the Canons; and also Gerard the Dyer, Convert of the Hospital of the poor, founded by him in the abovewritten place of Monza, beyond the river Brethren; and Ardericus Fidelis and Arnald Lanterius, Consuls of Monza, on the part of the Commune of that place; that the advocacy of that Hospital the Commune of Monza itself should have, and the aforesaid church of St. John should have for an annual tribute from that Hospital two candles, each of one pound of wax, to be brought by the Converts themselves on the festivity of St. John to his altar: and the Master of St. John, and by the Consuls of the abovesaid place: and orders its governance; and by the Archpriest of the said church he should be invested: and the hand of obedience the Master himself should give to the same Archpriest, and his Brethren Converts to the same Master of theirs. But that those deputed to the service of the said Hospital should be the six Deans of the people of Monza, it was established, that they should have the care of the sick, who should be chosen by the Converts themselves, by the counsel of the said Archpriest. But the Master the Brethren themselves should choose, only by the counsel of the aforesaid Deans; whom if they should find bad, namely a thief, a tavern-haunter, or less useful; the Church should have the authority of repudiating: nor could a Convert of the said place put a Convert there: nor should the Church itself have f the liberty or power in any way of lodging there, or of taking away any possessions or things of that place, in the presence of witnesses, and a Notary: because thus it was agreed among them. Done within the Canonry itself, before many, Axander being Convert of that Hospital. There were present several of the Canons, namely Master Vuidottus, Ambrose Ciminus, Marchesius de Cellonia, Deacons; and Master Richard Ormenus, and Ambrose de Palatio, Subdeacons; and Master Matthew, and Martin de Pirovana, and Michael de Besozzo, and other Brethren and Clerics of the aforesaid Church; and also of the People of Monza several, John and Landus brothers who are called Bonvassalli, and Cazardus Pelluccus, and Arminus, and Germanus Patius, and Ambrose the Physician, and Donixolus de Curate, and many other witnesses. I Junius the Judge was present, and subscribed this charter to be held for memory g.

[3] The same Gerard was most devoted to St. John the Baptist. He had in himself such compassion, mercy, and humility, that in whatever part of the land of Monza, he is intent on the works of mercy: where he knew poor sick persons to be lying, he went; and in his own arms alone, and sometimes with a companion, carried them to his Hospital, and placed them upon clean beds; lepers he wiped with his own hand; all the sick whom he lodged, with the kiss of peace he received, and to them at every due hour he personally ministered, and did them every service of necessity without indignation. To the needy seeking alms, he never denied: and in that time when scarcity of food grievously h afflicted Lombardy, the man of God had distributed all the things of his Hospital to the various needy, in the time of public famine so that almost nothing remained in the cellar, except perhaps a little grain, and from i a cask a starium k of wine. Then many needy come to him, greatly demanding: but the man of the Lord, who had resolved to bestow all things on earth, that he might reserve all in heaven; this very little, which had remained in the Hospital, he commanded to be given to those asking. But the Convert, who was the Cellarer l, heard indeed the words of him commanding, but delayed to fulfill them; saying, when he had ordered all things to be distributed, rebuking with a troubled mind: In the cellar is there in the Hospital; how ought the Minister and Converts to live? In the same hour the man of God said: Brother, be not of little faith: the Gospel says, He who shall give one thing for the love of God, shall receive a hundredfold: Christ will not forsake him who does good, and has hope in him. Go therefore: by prayer he multiplies the grain and wine. minister all that thou canst to the poor of Christ. Then the man of Christ, as much for the perturbation of his Brother as for the compassion of the needy, gave himself with tears to prayer: and the Cellarer, for the sake of distributing what remained, went; and found the granary so full of corn m, that the door could not be opened; and the cask, which held four carra n full of good wine. Who immediately related this to his Minister with tears; asking pardon of him: who also admonished the other Converts, that they should tell the miracle to no one, nor fail in faith, but should always obtain mercy.

[4] the river Lambro overflowing On a certain day, the man of God early in the morning, while he was returning from the oratory of his devoted blessed John, which is situated about two shots of a crossbow, the river Lambro intervening, far from his Hospital (to which for the sake of hearing the Matins prayers he went every day, into which oratory also by divine aid he often entered with the doors closed, as was evidently noted by the keepers of that oratory) the river Lambro by the rain, as it does today, suddenly had risen, and had ruined the bridge. But since his Hospital is situated, a narrow road intervening, on the bank of the said river; he feared lest that water should do harm to the house, and most of all by entering to the sick, a cloak being spread over he crosses, make it. Suddenly by divine inspiration, with no other thought, but with great fervor of freeing the sick from the peril of the water, he threw his cape into the water of that great and running river, and went over with his feet, always commending his sick to God and St. John, lest they should receive harm from the water. Thus he crossed the Lambro itself, which wetted neither himself nor his cape o; and in the name of Christ and of his devoted St. John, and defends the sick from the waters. he commanded the water not to enter the chambers of the sick: which for half a cubit beside those chambers stood higher, for several hours, than the thresholds of the doors of those chambers were high, and into those chambers it did not enter. O what fervent love and solicitous care this holy man had toward the poor of Christ! Just as blessed Peter the Apostle, with no other thought but with the fervor of being with Christ, walked upon the sea: so this venerable man, with no other thought, but with great fervor of being with the poor sick, who represent the person of Christ, that he might free them from the peril of the water, set himself upon p the cape in the river, and merited to cross the water miraculously q.

[5] This venerable man blessed Gerard, by his holy prayers, Renowned for miracles healed from many sicknesses many poor sick persons of good faith. For shunning temporal honor, he brought it about that by those by whom he had been seen in so great power, he should never in this life be regarded, to his vain praise. At length leading his life in good works, an old man full of days, passing from this light, he rested in Christ, in the year of the Lord 1207, on the sixth day of June. he died 1207: But in that same said year, in which he was to pass from this life, to certain good Converts, conversing with him, he foretold many things, and announced the day of his most holy death. But Christ willed to manifest after his death the good works of his servant, who had hidden those good works which he had done in his life, by despising the vanity of the world.

[6] on the 40th day after, the sick people of Olgiate are warned of his death, On the fortieth day after his death, in a certain village, which place is called Olgiate, far from Monza by twenty miles, situated in the principality of Como, of which place the inhabitants were many, males and females, all struck with one infirmity, which is called Syncope r, so that not one of that place could serve another. But warned by a certain holy Solitary s, an inhabitant of their village, who had from God by revelation, that a servant of God, by name Brother Gerard, forty days already elapsed had been buried in the earth, near the door of his church in Monza; his good works, which in his holy life secretly, shunning the vanity of the world, he had done, after his death they manifested; that his body might be held in reverence. they vow to visit the body every year, They vowed among themselves unanimously, and said, If this saint intercedes for us to our Lord Jesus Christ, and we are freed from this infirmity; we all, to visit his body, with reverence and a gift will go; moreover also perpetually every year, on that very day, by us, while we live, and by our descendants, namely by one for each family, by the promise of our vow, it shall be visited. Who when they had made this vow, suddenly all were freed, and fulfilled the vow. and suddenly all are healed; But they took up the holy body from the earth, where it was buried, full of all odor; and in a stone ark, in which it now is, with great reverence placed it in that their own t church: who up to the present day have not broken the vow.

[7] By the aforesaid Gerard, to those men and to others everywhere many surrounding them, and most of all to the people of Monza, great and infinite miracles were done, many miracles following thereafter. and are done daily for those who have hope in his merits; as we know either by eyewitness faith or by the relation of discreet persons: of which more, as time and order shall dictate, in the following parts of this our history are written by us. But the things which I set forth above concerning blessed Gerard and his miracles, for

the most part I heard from the elders of our land, namely of Monza, to whom Converts and other Religious of good repute and worthy of faith, most intimate friends and acquaintances of blessed Gerard himself, told those things which by eyewitness faith concerning blessed Gerard himself and his miracles they saw. But it is fitting now that we be silent about the former ancient things: to those things which in our times have been done, we must come u.

NOTES OF D. P.

b The same Zucchi exaggerates his purpose of keeping chastity, firm against kinsmen soliciting him to take a wife, and other virtues, namely fervent prayer, the use of frequent ejaculatory prayers, the spirit of discretion etc., to be thought indeed congruously of such a man, yet not to be thrust in here, since the ancients were silent about them.

him, and says he was made from Archpriest of Monza Archbishop of Milan; assuredly already great in age, since we taught that he died in the tenth month of his See, in the year 1196.

645: The Lambro, shining with the perpetual clearness of its waters, and abounding in a plenty of the best fish, flows from the Eupilis under the Comasque ridges, likewise from the Cerviano and Segreno lakes, which are joined by ditches and mouths to the Eupilis: and thus poured forth from the Eupilis, into which others flow together, at last discharges itself into the Po.

pleased all the Converts, after the Saint's death, and Bonincontro followed it.

After the authentication of the Process of which below, John Visconti, public Notary of Milan and of the town of Monza, attests that he has written concerning the defense of the Hospital of St. Gerard and of the Community of the third Order, as they are found in the volume of the Statutes of Monza, chapters of the following example, namely:

To this end that the poor of the Hospital of St. Gerard and the Community of the Brothers of the third Order, Statutes for the conservation of the Hospital. so far as concerns the deeds of the poor, be conserved from the persecution of the evil and proud men, let the Rector and the Curia be bound and ought to defend and maintain the said Hospital and Community in its state and right, as a special matter of the Commune of Monza; since the said Hospital and Community anciently conserved, is unharmed for the defense of the Commune of Monza. And by the Curia of the Commune of Monza let there be chosen four good and discreet men, who shall be Advocates of the Hospital; and with one of the Brothers of the third Order and of Penance let them gather in the said Hospital, to see the rights and accounts of the said Hospital, and to provide for the good state of the same: and that no one can be chosen as Master of the said Hospital without the license of the said Commune of Monza; and if the election be made otherwise, let it not be valid. Which Master and Cellarer of the said Hospital let them be bound and ought to render account each month to the said Advocates, of the income and expenses made from the goods of the said Hospital in that month. Those who shall have been Advocates one year, cannot resume the advocacy within three years, nor anyone of their family. Thus there, without expression of the year; since Gerard was already commonly named a Saint, and the Converts instituted by him had taken up the third Order, or the third Rule of Penance of St. Francis.

to send back his army from Italy, which he had occupied almost wholly, to its own places; and himself to return to the kingdom of the Teutons, not without great sadness.

p Capa, otherwise Mantellum (cloak).

q Joseph Ferrari also compares this deed with the miracle of the river Metaurus, divided for the crossing of St. Fantinus, whom he says is venerated on the 3rd of June; I would gladly know where: for at Syracuse he is venerated on the 24th of the same, others place him even later: concerning whom Octavius Caietanus is to be seen in the Annotations to his Life; and perhaps in Ferrari by the carelessness of the typesetter 3 crept in, for 23.

r Syncope, Joseph Ferrari interprets, a failure of the heart.

s Manfred Settala they name, the same Ferrari and Zucchi: and his feast, as of a Blessed, is said to be kept on the 27th of January, when it will be permitted to treat of him in the Supplement; provided meanwhile there be submitted to us, which hitherto we have received none, monuments of his life and miracles.

t Then called of St. Ambrose.

u Perhaps here the Author added some more recent things, which are not noted in the Process; and below, after chapter 2, at letter r one will be noted from Joseph Zucchi, performed in the 14th century; likewise a most recent one of the year 1692, after Chapter 3 at letter d.

CHAPTER II.

Miracles performed in the 14th century, and written by Bonincontro Morigia, while they happened.

[8] The writer's father, And because, just as those are miraculously punished who act wickedly against the Saints; so they miraculously receive rewards and pardon who are zealous in the works of the Saints, and trust in their merits; therefore I think this also is not to be passed over in silence, which was done in the person of a most Christian and devout man, my begetter, miraculously by blessed Gerard, of whom in the first book of this history I made mention, I recall, as my begetter himself many times with great devotion related to me. In the first year in which he took my mother to wife, there was born to him under the vibrian a of his left arm an abscess, after the manner of a large egg. And when the physicians of Milan and Monza feared to lance the abscess in so dangerous a place b, and then both for the heat of fever and for the pain of its growth, he recognized himself in danger of death; he vowed to blessed Gerard, he is freed from a dangerous abscess, the Blessed appearing: that he would offer an image of his arm in wax to his church; and would visit the sick who were in his Hospital, with a certain alms; humbly and with great devotion always supplicating and praying blessed Gerard, that he would obtain pardon, and be freed from that infirmity. In that same hour, asleep, in a vision blessed Gerard appeared to him, who signed his arm, and said to him: A Christian is sometimes made whole by faith and by devotion, both from every infirmity of body and of soul, and afterward disappeared. Who when he was roused from sleep, without the pain of the abscess (because it was almost wholly declined as a c sickness) and without fever remained; and thus on the third day from the said infirmity he was freed. Which appeared a very great miracle to the said Physicians and others d.

[9] Recently too (namely in the year 1324) his church, soldiers about to strip the roof of his church as the good neighbors of that church testified, showed a certain memorable miracle. Since that church is situated outside the gate of the land of Monza, the shot of a bow, almost in the middle of the boroughs of the gate of Lecco and of the gate of St. Gerard, which gate received its name from blessed Gerard himself, buried in the said church; some of the abovementioned perfidious and wished to tear it apart, for the sake of burning the timbers, since that roof alone in the said boroughs had remained; because they had cut down the dwellings g of a hundred sixty families, which dwelt in the said borough. But one of them, when he was rebuked, by a miracle they are cast down from it. that he should wish to throw down the roof of the church of so great a Saint; cursed, speaking nefarious things to the rebuker, and saying: I do not believe that a Saint of this name is held in Paradise. Who immediately all fell from the roof: but he who had cursed, suddenly dies: but of the others their bones are broken, but they do not die. Thus from then no one dared to tear apart that church; although the other churches and all other dwellings and buildings which were outside the said land, were destroyed by the aforesaid worst peoples and burned.

[10] An Olgiate peasant, refusing to go on the votive pilgrimage, But what of blessed Gerard appeared at that time one sign of his sanctity, sufficiently marvelous, it pleases us briefly to insert this into this our History. Those of the place of Olgiate, who by vow, namely one of each family, are obliged every year to visit the body and church of blessed Gerard, as in the first book of this History we said; had stayed away by occasion of the war h for the aforesaid two years and five months, that they could not fulfill the vow. At length in the abovewritten year, called on the appointed day for the Commune of the place, who ought by debt after the Cross to come with their Parish-priest i, to visit there the holy body; one of them who was plowing in the field was called by the words of his sister; Come, come, brother, and therefore made blind, because thou art called and noted: the Cross is led out: the Priest and all of the place according to the vow go, to visit the body and church of our holy Gerard. Who when with angry mind, saying; I will not go, he had blasphemed blessed Gerard and his sister; immediately he lost the light of his eyes, and began to call his sister, and said to her: Lead me with thee: let us run after the Cross, because not only for the bad answer, but for the bad intention I am made blind. I ask that together with me thou shouldst supplicate with devotion blessed Gerard, that for me he should obtain pardon from Christ, that he restore to me the light of my eyes. Who when for almost twelve miles with his sister in penance he had bewailed his sins,

he drew near to his neighbors: to whom his Sister, See the Cross, said. then penitent, he is enlightened. Who when with great prayers humbly he had bent his knees, saw the Cross, and to all indicated concerning the light of his eyes restored to him; and to God and St. Gerard gave thanks with a great promise. But we here, content to have written briefly the things which were worthy to be written, let us return to the history. …

[11] But at that time k a certain Matron of honest life, of credit l and noble, of those of Lampugnano, a landholder m of Monza, on a certain day when she had seen two men, A barren woman, male and female, coming from the place of Olgiate to Monza with great devotion, to visit the body of blessed Gerard, according to their vow, and had understood concerning his miracles; immediately secretly entered her chamber, and with humble heart with great devotion supplicated, praying, saying; O blessed Gerard, hear the prayers of me thy devoted one, who, since I have stayed nine years with my husband, and have not had offspring, and am called barren; I humbly beseech thy piety, that from Christ for me thou shouldst obtain the grace, a vow being made, that I may conceive at least one son, to whom for love of thee I will cause the name Gerard to be set; and all the garments which he himself shall wear, until he comes to age, I will give to the poor sick who shall be in thy Hospital; and perpetually while I live, thy church and thy body every year with the best gift I will visit. Which vow when she had made with full faith, she bears a son. feeling herself in time pregnant, in the ninth month after the day of the vow, she bore a male child, who to age, as the vow, grew, nor ever had another son, and what she had vowed she fulfilled. I speak the truth in Christ.

[12] A certain Matron, by name Honoria, of the Cassine of n Boate, of the territory of Monza, had grown old, and had lost the light of her eyes both for old age and for infirmity. A blind old woman She had great devotion to blessed Gerard; and daily to her sons, grandsons, daughters-in-law, and daughters supplicating she said, Cause me to be conducted upon our cart to the church of blessed Gerard; to this end that I may visit that Saint's body, and touch my eyes with his mantle; for I do not doubt that, for the prayers and merits of my devoted one, the Lord will restore to me, as I desire, the faculty] of seeing blessed Gerard with my eyes. [at the ark of the Saint she recovers her sight. And when at her words they laughed, and for several months mocking her delayed the time, at last one day, when she did not cease to ask to be conducted, they wished to please her, and conducted her to the said church. Who when she had entered the church, and the ark and mantle of blessed Gerard himself with great devotion had kissed, and signed her eyes; returned home, immediately gave thanks to God and blessed Gerard; and to all of the house, that the light of her eyes had been restored to her, truly indicated. The truth in heaven I speak. A certain devout Priest and of credit, by name Priest Finetus, Chaplain of the church of St. John of Monza, to me the writer and several discreet men certifying related, that he had that woman, who had been blind for two years, at Confession, and saw her blind and seeing.

[13] Lest to the readers and hearers the miracles of the Saints come into doubt, For a wife yearly frenzied, the miracle which was done at this most certain time, confirms that the rest of the miracles of the Saints which we have written are to be believed. Of noble generation, a man of credit and rich, Guffredus the grace, which by a vow made by him to blessed Gerard he merited to have from Christ, concerning his wife; who unexpectedly was freed from a mortal infirmity, because while she lay for fifteen days in bed, with continuous fever and frenzied (which affliction once or twice a year for three continuous years she had endured, the husband making a vow and presently retracting it and her whole body was wasted) when on the feast day of blessed Gerard she lay thus with this affliction, and Guffredus himself stood at his meal; and she, as is the custom of the frenzied, doing and saying base things, naked, since she could not be held, from the bed wished to go out; he vowed within himself saying: O blessed Gerard, if by thy prayers and merits my wife from this affliction, which she suffers almost every year, be freed; perpetually every year while I live, two candles of one pound for each I will offer to thy church, and another thing to the poor who are in thy Hospital I will bestow. And when he had thus vowed, immediately without delay he repented of the vow, she being restored to herself ratifies it, and often said: I am foolish; she could in another way, as I have seen others, be freed, wherefore if the oblation, which I have promised, I should offer, for myself I should have been deluded? Who standing in this deliberation, his wife with a loud voice began to cry with unwonted words several times, Gerard, Gerard; and from this voice she did not cease, until Guffridus himself removed from himself the doubt, in which he had stood for almost an hour; and with firm heart, with firm faith and hope of observing, what he had vowed he confirmed.

[14] But in that same hour she ceased crying, and with good understanding and pious vow, and being saved he pays it. to the women who were at her service, Call my husband, she said, and to him said: Give me my beautiful garment, which you have shut in the p scrip: for I wish to go with those women to visit the church and sepulcher of blessed Gerard: because today so much was cried by me, that he heard; and from this infirmity, since I feel no disease, he has freed me. When they believed that she was raving q, nor that she could go so far because the church was half stay. Who said: Prove the merit of this Saint, and let me go. To whom her husband, who knew that she had vowed, acquiesced. Clothed, with the said women joined, she went to the said church, without any trouble, in that same hour: who returning immediately home, was freed; nor ever, since she lived afterward more than fifteen years, had that infirmity. Which Guffredus, in our presence, to the Master of the Hospital of blessed Gerard and to the Prior of the Friars Preachers of Monza, and to several of their Friars and the Convent, notified this miracle with an oath: also women of credit and honesty, who then were at the service of that sick woman, this in their soul, as I wrote above, testified r.

NOTES OF D. P.

Since concerning the two miracles of our Saints, St. John and blessed Gerard, it has been fittingly spoken, we must return to the history. Hence I understand that in the same history also certain miracles of St. John the Baptist are described, which I would wish to take for the 24th of June or the 29th of August. Thus at the end of the following miracle it is said: But another and beautiful miracle of St. John must be arranged in the history.

the rest only the folio is noted; although it is probable that the individual things pertain to various years, as it appears they were distinguished in the very context of the history, and interpolated with other narrations.

I believe, how the Teutons, sent by Louis of Bavaria the elected Emperor, in aid of Galeazzo against the Pope's party; held Monza, by the Papal party detained, besieged for almost the whole of that year; which at last, nearly wholly destroyed and desolate, toward the end of the year made surrender, as Corio narrates in the History of Milan part 3.

h Namely between Galeazzo Visconti of Milan, and Raymond Cardona leader of the Sicilian and Papal army in Italy: during which war Monza was held by the Papal party, as I said, occupied, the rest of Lombardy almost was on the side of Galeazzo and the Emperor.

p Our copy has scripto: badly, I think: therefore I substituted scrippo, which signifies a wallet or sack. See the authors in Cange's Glossary.

q Vanaciare, in Italian Vaneggiare, to be foolish, to rave.

r The same, after relating from Morigia the health restored to the Author's father, relate from the same (and indeed Zucchi cited in the Margin of the History of Monza book 2 chapter 30) that which follows, omitted in the Ambrosian copy. No less marvelous was the grace, A drunken man, crushed under the wheel of a passing cart. the same Saint mediating, obtained in the time of Matthew Visconti, Vicar general of Milan and Lombardy constituted by Henry VII the Emperor. He succeeded Otto the Archbishop his uncle, about the year 1295, ruled until the year 1320, in which he died. But Henry of Luxembourg, elected in the year 1308, and crowned at Milan in 1312, died 1313. But the miracle happened in a certain Nazarius, of Sesto of St. John, affirms that he was present, and that what he narrates he saw with his own eyes. Namely, that when he wished to turn aside a cart laden with lime,

which two most ferocious oxen were drawing, down the slope of the bridge of St. Gerard: where that man with others sat drinking, and perhaps somewhat drunk; while he rises up, the Saint being invoked by those running up, he slipped backward between the hinder feet of one of those animals and the first wheel: which passing over his throat, so crushed and broke him, that through his mouth and nostrils much blood continuously flowed. But while at the spectacle of his fall they stood astonished, others continuously cried out, May St. Gerard help thee, May St. Gerard help thee. Although for fear the man who was driving the oxen had fled, these yet of their own accord halted, when already the hinder wheel had reached the neck of the man lying there. But he immediately, drawn from the new peril, suddenly is restored to him sound. and half-dead carried to the hospital of the Saint, which was not far off, was lulled in sweet sleep: and after one hour awakened, without bruise and any blemish awoke sound and lively; and said, that while falling he had invoked St. Gerard, and through him had been freed. Thus far in Italian Joseph, whose words I preferred to render in Latin, rather than to use Zucchi's Latin, because this here adheres less closely to the context of his Author, while that man, the circumstances of time and of the Author being present added, seems to have related the matter more accurately.

CHAPTER III.

The Ms. of Bonincontro exhibited in the 16th century. The depositions of the elders of Monza, received by Charles a Basilica-Petri.

[15] There is found in the Acts, received by the late Joseph de Casata, formerly public Notary of Milan and Monza, among other things to be present a Process of one tenor undermentioned a.

In the name of the Lord. Amen. In the year from the nativity of the same one thousand five hundred eighty-two, In the year 1582, by command of St. Charles Borromeo, on Monday, the twenty-seventh of the month of August, before the much Reverend Doctor of both laws, the Lord Charles a Basilica-Petri, regular Cleric of St. Paul beheaded, delegated by the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord, D. Charles Cardinal Borromeo of St. Praxedis, Archbishop of Milan, as is established by the instrument of his delegation, drawn up by the Reverend D. Julius de Norate, Notary of the aforesaid Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Cardinal, in the year etc. for which etc. this for taking informations, receiving testimonies and monuments, concerning the life, miracles, and cult, in former times shown to blessed Gerard of Monza. There being called the Reverend D. Priest Benedict de Brambella, son of the late D. John-Peter, resident Canon of St. John the Baptist of Monza, as Syndic and Procurator of the Reverend Lords the Archpriest, Canons, the citizens being cited to exhibit monuments concerning Gerard's sanctity, and Chapter of the said church of St. John the Baptist of Monza. The Magnificent D. John Mary de Hortensiis, son of the late Magnificent D. Gerard. John Angelus de Tricio, son of the late Magnificent D. Baptista. John Baptista Bonfantus, son of the late Magnificent D. John-Anthony, all Syndics and Procurators of the Magnificent Community of Monza, required to exhibit old monuments and testimonies, likewise witnesses concerning the life and miracles and cult of the aforesaid D. Gerard;

[16] they bring forth the Chronicle of Bonincontro Morigia, written 240 years ago, First they exhibited a certain Chronicle manuscript on parchment of D. Bonincontro Morigia, a leading man of the town of Monza, which begins, The History of Bonincontro Morigia etc. Which author, so far as is perceived from the reading of the book, was about two hundred forty years ago. In that Chronicle first there is had, on folio fifteen on the back, the undermentioned Chapter, placed by the author among the narrations of the year one thousand two hundred seventh. Blessed Gerard etc. num. 1. There was exhibited another Chapter of the same History, on folio thirty-one, of the following tenor. And because just as miraculously etc. num. 8. Likewise another Chapter, folio fifty, among the narrations of the year one thousand three hundred twenty-fourth of the following tenor. in which the aforenoted miracles. Recently too etc. num. 9. Likewise another Chapter, from folio fifty-six, of the following tenor. But because concerning blessed Gerard etc. num. 10. Likewise another Chapter, on folio sixty-eight, of the following tenor. But at that time etc. num. 11. Likewise another Chapter, folio seventy on the back. A certain Matron etc. num. 12. Likewise there was exhibited another Chapter folio seventy … of the following tenor namely. Lest to the readers etc. num. 13.

[17] On the abovewritten day there was called D. David Saldanus, son of the late D. John James, inhabitant of the said land of Monza eighty years of age who swore etc. and being interrogated answered b: I always heard from our elders, An eighty-year-old witness affirms the ancient cult, that this blessed Gerard was of the family of the Dyers, and of most holy life, who worked many miracles while still living; and among other things upon his mantle he crossed the Lambro, the necessity urging of succoring the poor, whom he had in the Hospital founded by him, which still subsists, and the goods are shown with which he endowed it; and so I saw and understood that he is held at Monza in much devotion and reverence: he was a man of Monza: and as far as I can remember, I always saw the feast of St. Gerard celebrated at Monza, which falls on the sixth day of June. And I know that on the vigil of that feast the Chapter of St. John the Baptist is wont to come to the church of St. Gerard outside the Gradensian gate c, to sing Vespers. And afterward they went to sing one Hymn and other Lauds within the oratory of the Hospital of St. Gerard; and the Matins of that feast being said, both of the feast, they went to the said church to sing Mass: and there and in the Hospital was made a great preparation with much expense. But in the same manner I saw the church of St. John adorned on such a day. I heard also said by several elders, that this had been the custom from long back: but for some years past only a few Priests come, to sing Mass on such a day, and to recite single Vespers, which I know not whether they be of St. Gerard: but the feast in that whole manner is always celebrated.

[18] I know also that a certain part of the garment of St. Gerard is and is reverently kept in the aforesaid Hospital; but when it is shown, as of the relics, lighted torches are had; otherwise it was carried to women in labor: and I heard narrated various miracles, done on such occasion. Specially I know that the said Relic was once carried to the wife of D. John-James Legnani, by the late Reverend Priest Baptista Brianza, Canon of St. John the Baptist, who for three days had remained in labor pains; but as soon as the mantle aforesaid was placed over her, she brought forth her child. Wherefore D. John-James himself, who as one of the Magistracy of Monza had forbidden the deputies of the aforesaid Hospital to use a certain channel, from which water derived from the Lambro irrigated their gardens; moved by such a miracle, salutary to women in labor, changed his mind, and restored the use of the aforesaid water to the Hospital, which thenceforth enjoyed it and enjoys it. But I myself in the company of that Priest Baptista carried the aforesaid garment or mantle to the house of D. John-James in the place of St. Donatus, outside Monza by one mile, certain servants of that Lord being present, carrying lighted torches: and this about forty years ago d.

[19] I know also, that the Community of Monza was wont on the feast of St. Gerard to go to his church, with an oblation of wax and money: and frequent pilgrimages to the body, but this some years ago was omitted: and yet I heard said, that the Community to such oblation and feast is obliged by vow. I know moreover, from when I can remember, that many lands have come every year processionally, with Crosses and their Priests, to visit the church of St. Gerard, and to sing Mass in it, and to offer candles and coins: and this also from the elders I understood, to be wont to be done every year of old, and indeed by vow, by which their ancestors bound their descendants, that by the intercession of that Saint from pestilence they might be freed. wont to be performed by common vow But by name this I know to be observed by the Community of Olgiate, distant about sixteen miles e from Monza in the diocese of Como, on the day of St. Mark: and I heard always from the Olgiate people themselves, that they are obliged annually from each family to send one: and that they celebrate the feast of that Saint in their own land. I recall also that there were wont always to come about a hundred and fifteen persons of both sexes. In the same manner also Garenum f is wont to come, a land near the city of Como, but distant farther than the aforesaid Olgiate; but it comes on the last Saturday of May, and recites the Office and makes an Oblation as above. Likewise the land of Desio g with the Provost, Canons, the Sodality of the disciplined, on appointed days. and a multitude of people is wont to come on the day after Pentecost: and also Lenta, Barlassina, Asnago, Figino, and several other lands, the names of all which I shall not easily express singly: because not all go to the Hospital, but some only go to the church of St. John outside the walls. But all the aforesaid I know, because from the year 1533 I have discharged the office of Chancellor of the Hospital, and the aforesaid oblations of the lands aforementioned I received, and entered in the books of accounts, just as I also did in the present year. Praise to God.

[20] He added, saying. In the year 1521, while at Rome I was, Images of the Saint at Rome in the year 1521 effective against the plague. with many other men of Monza, dealers in woolen cloths, having their workshops there, in the time of a great pestilence, under the Pontificate of Adrian the Pope, we all took care to have made for ourselves images of St. Gerard, which we should place above our workshops, imploring the intercession of the aforesaid Saint. Although so great a mortality raged, yet no one of us was extinguished. And when by Cardinal Farnese, who afterward was Pope Paul III, we were summoned to render an account of the images made; and he had understood from us the merits of that Blessed one; he permitted us to pursue our devotion.

[21] On the abovewritten day there was called Master Gerard de Beregho, son of the late Matthew-Stephen, dwelling at Monza [sixty-four years of age or thereabouts] he swore and being interrogated answered: Another aged 64 years confirms the aforesaid, I understood from our elders, that St. Gerard of Monza led a most holy life, and performed miracles: and that the Lambro on a certain occasion he crossed upon his mantle; and at another time when the necessity of succoring the poor urged, he commanded his minister to draw wine from a cask, which was empty, but miraculously was found full: and the same I heard narrated done concerning the granary, which similarly was found at some time full: and this specially I heard from the Canons, who also affirm, that the choir old of the church of St. John the Baptist was built by the said Saint. I recall moreover, that when I was a boy, and had a brother Sacristan of St. John, I often helped him in adorning the church, for the feast day of St. Gerard outside Monza, and then we entered the Hospital: and likewise it went thither to sing Mass on that feast day: which ceased to be done some years ago. I know also that on the day

of St. Gerard the feast is publicly celebrated at Monza, and was always celebrated from when I can remember: and the same from my father I understood, that the same feast even in more ancient times was in use. I know also that on the same day the Community made a public oblation, which likewise some years ago ceased to be offered.

[22] he deposes also concerning the pictures, expressing Gerard as a Saint. There are likewise old pictures of the said Saint with a diadem at his head, as the Saints are accustomed to be depicted: of which one is above the gate of the church of St. John, leading to the cemetery; another above the base at Pont-arena, where I was born; and this my father had caused to be painted before I was born, because he was very devout to the Saint. As far as my memory bears, I know that the mantle, or some other garment of the Saint, which is kept in the Hospital, was wont to be carried to women in childbirth in danger, not without miraculous effects. There are perhaps twenty-eight years since, when Helena my wife in labor toiled much, for one whole day and two nights, because the child came forth only with the middle of the head; I took care that the aforesaid mantle should be carried to her, by the late Reverend Priest John Peter de Arsago: and as soon as she was touched by it and wrapped, my wife, the child came forth whole. I know finally that many towns come processionally, with Crosses and their Priests, to honor St. Gerard every year: who say Mass and make an oblation: and thus also this year I saw coming Desio, Lenta, Olgiate, Asnago, Figino, Vare, Seveso, Barlassina, Crazino, and from other lands, which I do not recall.

NOTES OF D. P.

The Acts of St. Gerard of Monza, drawn up by command of Blessed Charles Cardinal Borromeo Archbishop of Milan. At Milan with the Heirs of the late Pacificus Pontius and Jo. Baptista Piccaleus, Archiepiscopal Printers, 1603 with the Consent of the Superiors. In the decree of the Canonization defined in the year 1610 no mention is made of a preceding Beatification, yet Charles is there sometimes called Blessed: and this title perhaps began to be commonly given him only in the year 1601 as soon as it was begun to treat of the Canonization, to which I should say Paul V immediately proceeded, until from elsewhere it be more certainly established concerning a special decree of Beatification.

toward the West, where by a certain Noble, says Joseph Ferrari, the tables I have not yet found, but they are expressed around the image of the Saint, above the figure of the city of Monza, gloriously among the Angels expressed: and at the sides on both hands hang together with Como, Mendrisio, Monza, Trevenum, Carima, in all fourteen towns, having professed a clientelar obligation to the Saint.

CHAPTER IV.

The continuation of the informations, taken concerning the continuance of the ancient cult.

[23] On the abovewritten day the aforesaid much Reverend D. Delegate came into the church of St. John the Baptist, Inspected by the Archiepiscopal Commissary for the sake of taking the said informations: and there was shown to him the image of the said St. Gerard, on the left side of the door of the Church toward the cemetery, which seems to be very old. Likewise in the sacristy of the said church there was exhibited to him a great silver Cross, on whose arms is inscribed the history of the life of the said Saint, and of his miraculous actions, distinctly and singly, as is had in the said Chronicle Ms.; which Cross the Canons relate was fabricated within fifty years, at the expense of the fabric of the said church. On the abovewritten day he came into the church of St. Gerard outside the gate of Gradi, the care or governance of which is had by the Disciplined, whose Society was erected about forty years ago, the aforesaid pictures, under the name and protection of the said St. Gerard; and there had been obtained for it a place from the ancient Magistrates of Monza, where is placed the body of St. Gerard in a stone ark, set under the high altar of the said church. In the chief chapel of which church are painted the pious and marvelous actions of the said blessed Gerard, as are contained in the said Chronicle: which painting is said to have been made forty years ago. Likewise is painted the history of the said Communities, which with a procession of people and clergy come to honor the said body, as above by the Witnesses was deposed: and there were shown to him in the same place old pictures of the same blessed Gerard, in the habit of one ministering to the poor.

[24] On the abovewritten day the aforesaid much Reverend D. Delegate came to the house of the Hospital of St. Gerard, the mantle of blessed Gerard, where he visited the oratory, dedicated to the name of the same blessed Gerard. Then there was shown to him a garment, or part of a garment, which was wont to be carried to women laboring in the pains of childbirth, as above was testified: which garment is kept in a casket, and is shown honorably and piously, and is of such color and material, the oblations made to him, that it shows the sanctity of that Blessed one in some manner. In the same place were exhibited some candles, which they said were offered to the said Hospital this year by the Community of Olgiate and Crazino aforesaid. Likewise they exhibited the book of accounts of the said Hospital, in which were described certain entries, concerning the receipt of the oblations of wax and money of the said Communities.

[25] 1582, on Thursday, the thirteenth of the month of September, A chalice offered by the people of Como. before the aforesaid much Reverend D. Delegate there appeared the Noble Lords, James de Vicomercato, son of the late D. Baptista, and Bernardinus de Moltano, son of the late Noble D. Gerard, both inhabitants of Monza, and both Deputies of the Hospital of St. Gerard of Monza; they exhibited a Chalice, which is used to perform the holy Sacrifices in the said church of St. Gerard: which Chalice the aforesaid Deputies said was given, already very many years ago, beyond the memory of those who live, to the aforesaid church by the Community of Como; from its devotion toward blessed Gerard, and on account of benefits obtained from God by his intercession: on the foot of which Chalice among other things is the device of a white Cross in a red field, with these letters expressed round about, The Community of Como. There is also the likeness of blessed Gerard himself, in the habit of a Saint and offering prayers to God.

[26] Besides they exhibited four testimonies or attestations, made by the Reverend Provost of Seveso and the Parish-priests of Figino and Barlassina; of the following tenor, namely; On the 30th of August 1582 at Barlassina. I John Peter Pelogri, From public testimonies it is known Curate of the church of St. Julius of Barlassina, of the Parish a of Seveso, of the Diocese of Milan, by these presents make attestation, how the Land and Commune of Barlassina had in use every year, on the last day of the month of July, from each family one to send with their Curate, under the banner of the Cross, to visit the church of St. Gerard of Monza, and to make there a vigil that very night with a collection: the people of Seveso wont yearly to keep the votive vigils of the Saint: but the coins so collected to be changed into a candle, to be offered to the church of St. Gerard. b But on the following morning, Mass being celebrated by the Curate, and heard by the people, they returned to their dwellings. Some years ago that custom was abandoned, and that on account of disordered excesses, on whose account at Milan it was ordered and commanded, to take away abuses of this kind, that vigils should no more be made in any church. And because it is unknown whether this be done by vow or by mere devotion, since no writing concerning them is found, nor persons who can testify otherwise, than that this is done by the custom of ancestors; but now such customs are said not to be useful, as once they had been; therefore they are unwilling to go thither. But all this I understood from the older people of Barlassina now living: and in faith of the truth I have written and subscribed these presents with my own hand, at Barlassina on the day, month, and year above noted.

[27] 1582 on the 28th day of August, I Priest Demetius Caspanus, Vice-curate of the place of Figino, of the parish c of Galiano, make most ample and undoubted attestation, that the people of Galiano come to the same, how I took care to be informed by many honest men and elders of this place of Figino, that from all his own and his ancestors' memory, this people of Figino, by a vow anciently made, was wont every year on the 28th day of July to proceed to Monza, to visit the church of St. Gerard, with an oblation of ample alms according to each one's means: which vow was made on account of a certain very great influx of pestilence, which raged at Figino. by vow, freed from the plague, But this vow being made, the plague suddenly ceased, and from that hour until now it never touched the land of Figino. And therefore the aforesaid men every year go to visit the church of St. Gerard, acknowledging him an intercessor with the blessed God, who preserves them perpetually from plague and other malignant influxes. And because the truth is so, these presents I have written, and with my own hand subscribed them. I Priest Demetius Caspanus, of the Congregation of the Oblates of St. Ambrose, and Vice-curate of Figino, as above.

[28] On the 15th day of August 1582, I Francis Perlasca, Provost of Seveso, make attestation to whoever shall see these presents, how the Land and Commune of Seveso of the diocese of Milan, is bound by a perpetual vow every year from each family to send one, to visit the church of blessed Gerard of Monza and of St. d Roch, and there to offer a candle of seven pounds. likewise concerning the people of Seveso another testifies, But this vow was made by the said Commune

in the year 1524 when the aforesaid land of Seveso had been much infested and afflicted by the plague, both in past times and at the time the vow was made. But it was made solemnly with living voice before the door of the Provostal church, after Mass, in the presence of the Vice-provost, who then was the Reverend Priest Reverendus de Cirimitto, with almost the whole Community intervening. But that vow being thus made, immediately the plague began to remit, and those who then were stricken by it began to convalesce, and for the greater part were healed. All these things further I understood from the elders, now living at Seveso: and what is more, the Most Illustrious Lord Cardinal of St. Praxedis Archbishop of Milan, visiting Seveso personally in the year last past, ordained that such observance be continued; as appears from the Acts of the aforesaid Visitation. And in faith of these things these presents I have written, and subscribed them with my own hand, as above.

[29] I Claudius Mandellus, Curate of Lenta, of the parish of Seveso, make attestation, how the land of Lenta is bound by a perpetual vow to visit, by one chosen from each family, the church of blessed Gerard of Monza, on the first day of August; and there to offer a candle of 15 pounds. and another concerning the people of Lenta. But that vow was made by the Commune in the year 1522, because that land then was held by a grave pestilence, and it was made with living voice only in the parish church, before the Curate whose then name was Boviardi, with almost all the people of Lenta present. And from then the pestilence ceased, and many who were held by it convalesced. But when in process of time the observance of this kind was intermitted, again in the year 1576 the contagious evil prevailed; and therefore again all restored the aforesaid vow, promising never thereafter to fail in it; and again many were freed and healed. Accordingly they never failed, but in great number have fulfilled it every year. And in faith of the truth these presents I have written, and subscribed with my own hand, at Seveso the 15th of September 1582. The same Claudius Mandellus Curate.

[30] I John Baptista Agugiari, son of Marcus, inhabitant of the contrada of Caterra of Monza, The Notarial attestation of the aforesaid: public Notary of Milan by Apostolic and Imperial authorities, the abovewritten attestations and processes, taken by the abovewritten late Joseph de Casate, formerly inhabitant of Monza, from his acts copied and collated, and subscribed myself for faith.

[31] In the name of the Lord, in the year from the nativity of the same one thousand six hundred first, in the fourteenth Indiction, of the Pontificate of the most holy in Christ Father our Lord D. Clement, and the conclusion of the whole Process. by divine providence Pope the eighth the tenth, but on Wednesday, the fifth of the month of September, in the Episcopal palace of Novara, and there in the presence of me the public Notary and of the undermentioned witnesses, specially called and asked for the undermentioned, there appeared the much Illustrious and Most Reverend in Christ Father D. Charles a Basilica-Petri, by the grace of God and of the Apostolic See Bishop of Novara and Count of Riparia etc. who held in his hands the attestations aforesaid, subscribed by John Baptista Agugiari public Notary: and gave and exhibited the volume of them to me the Notary and undermentioned Chancellor; and said and protested, that he recognized them, and that they were those same things received by his Most Reverend Lordship, and before and in his presence, by commission of the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend of blessed memory Charles Borromeo Cardinal, Archbishop of Milan, for the verification of the holy Relics of the body of blessed Gerard, of the town of Monza: and for the faith of the said recognition he commanded me the Notary and undermentioned Chancellor a public document to be drawn up, the witnesses being present the much Reverend Doctor of both laws, the Lord Horace Jesmeus, Apostolic Protonotary, his Most Reverend Lordship's Vicar general; and Gabriel Beamius, his familiar, known, fit etc. I Michael Michaelius son of the late Jacobus, public Notary of Milan and Novara, and in the place of Suna Episcopal Chancellor, of Novara, asked concerning the premises, subscribed for faith.

NOTES OF D. P.

is taken more broadly than the name of Parish; namely for a Provostry or Deanery, having several Parishes under it; meanwhile, as I said, Seveso appears nowhere in the table, much less around Barlassina; but between it and Figino is found a town called Serenia.