Leo Pope III

ON ST. LEO POPE III,

AT ROME IN THE VATICAN BASILICA.

A.D. 816.

HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.

Leo III, Roman Pope, in the Vatican Basilica (St.)

BY THE AUTHOR D. P.

§. I. Concerning his cult, his life before the Pontificate, and the acts of his first four years.

Since Leo Pope III deserved no less well of the Catholic Roman Church, nor sustained lighter labors for the cause of God, Lately inscribed in the Roman Martyrology, than the First, Second, and Fourth of that name, all inscribed in the sacred Calendar of the Roman Martyrology; it is indeed a wonder, that he lacked that honor, until the year 73 of the now-current century; when the sacred Congregation of Rites, at the prayers of the Chapter and Canons of the most sacred Vatican Basilica of St. Peter, the Most Eminent Lord Cardinal Bona reporting, judged that on the 17th day, in the Roman Martyrology there were to be appended, on the 12th day of June previously however related as a Saint by Ferrarius, certain words, as they stand diligently examined and approved, namely, At Rome in the Vatican Basilica, St. Leo Pope the Third, to whom God miraculously restored his eyes torn out by the impious and his tongue cut off. Philip Ferrarius seems to have gone before them in this, in both Catalogues on this very day of his Deposition. Much earlier too the Carthusians of Cologne seem to have done the same, the people of Cologne, in their enlarged Usuard, as we have it printed at Cologne and Lübeck in the year 1490; but, what you may wonder at, on the 13th of April, when St. Leo I is venerated, as if it had been the Birthday of the Third: which can be verified in no sense, whatever Birthday at last you take. and Peter de Natalibus: But even before them Peter de Natalibus, among the Lives of the Saints, makes mention of Leo III as a Saint; but with no day added, in book 6 chapter 19 of his Catalogue, finished in the year 1382.

[2] But such he was always held at Rome, Nor ought they to be deemed to have done anything by private authority, since in a Roman Canon, flourishing under Pope Eugenius III, in the description of the Vatican Basilica number 11, concerning the Oratory of St. Leo IV Pope, these words are read: Before the altar of St. Maurice, beside the approach which goes to St. Martin behind St. Peter, is the oratory of St. Leo Pope the Fourth: in which, as we have often received from our elders, namely from the Lord Presbyter Cencius the Prior and the Lord Christian, as well as three others, the Lord Paschal Pope the second of holy memory laid up the body of Blessed Leo Pope, the First, and Second, and Third, and Fourth: as also many of ours saw, namely after the beginning of the 12th century, about the middle of which that Canon wrote: when there was still read there, sculptured on a stone, this title: Under this altar are the bodies of SS. Leo I, II, III, and IV, Pontiffs and Confessors. From the book too of the memorabilia of the Vatican Basilica, from the year 1575, there is had the restoration of the altar or oratory of the Holy Leos, the First, Second, Third, and Fourth. Likewise the opening of the sepulchre and the inspection of their bodies on the 1st of August, in the year 1580, deposited and translated with a cult common with them Gregory XIII being supreme Pontiff … and in that opening of the sepulchre, the above-said Relics were received (which namely had before been said to be contained in a casket covered with red silk) to be perpetually presented to the sight of the faithful. But in the year 1607 on the 27th of May, the Sunday within the Octave of the Ascension, by a solemn procession the sacred bodies themselves were honorably placed in the altar of the Virgin Mother of God on the Column. So the Catalogue of the sacred Relics of the kindly Vatican Basilica, which was faithfully written in the year 1617 by the care of Paul Bizonus and Marcus Aurelius Maraldus, Dataries of our most holy Lord Pope Paul, the major Canons and Sacristans of that Basilica: of which more was treated by us on the 11th of April, where of St. Leo I: to whom and to the other two the Third was always held similar, as to the opinion of sanctity, as is clear from what has been said.

[3] Anastasius the Librarian wrote his Acts, about seventy years after his Leo, having pursued his work concerning the Lives of the Pontiffs; but he wrote most at length, because the prolix liberality of that man toward the Roman churches suggested very much material, the gifts proceeding from which he enumerates one by one; would that he had been equally solicitous to pursue his other more memorable deeds, regarding the public cause of the Church! Now besides those, sufficiently to be read in him, we have scarcely others, than those which are found written incidentally in Coeval Authors, who pursued the deeds of Charlemagne, common to this one and that. Meanwhile receive his beginnings from Anastasius thus. Leo the Third, by nation a Roman, of his father Azuppius, sat twenty years, five months, sixteen days: more, they read seven; but these the author himself corrects at the end. From a tender age nourished and brought up in the Wardrobe of the Patriarchium, and spiritually instructed in all ecclesiastical discipline, He asserts here that he was nourished from boyhood in sacred things, powerful both in the Psalter and in the sacred divine Scriptures, made Subdeacon, he was advanced to the honor of the Presbytery. For he was a man chaste, eloquent of speech, and constant of mind: but where he found some excellent Monk or servant of God, in divine conversations and prayer, he did not cease to be wholly free with him. Very and exceedingly cheerful he was in almsgiving, indeed also the greatest visitor of the sick, preaching to them from the Scriptures, that for the care of the poor, they should redeem their souls in almsgiving: who, many assenting to his preachings, and full of virtues, whatever he commended for Christ, they secretly day and night distributed to the poor, frequently offering the fruit of souls healthfully to God.

[4] While he thus shone, dwelling chiefly in the Wardrobe itself, elected and ordained with great consent: and the Keeper of the Wardrobe himself loved his most skillful care, he was most lovingly loved by all. Wherefore Hadrian I being dead on the 25th of December 795, by divine inspiration, with one concord and the same will, by all the Priests or Nobles and all the Clergy, and also the Magnates or the whole Roman People, by the nod of God, on the Birthday of the blessed first Martyr Stephen he was elected; and on the following day, on the Birthday of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, to the praise and glory of almighty God, he was ordained Pontiff in the Apostolic See. For he was a defender of Ecclesiastical things, and a most strong subduer of adversaries; and exceedingly most mild, and benevolent to the same church and a splendid lover; who soon, legates being sent to Charlemagne, slow to anger, and swift to pity; rendering to no one evil for evil, nor giving vengeance according to desert, but pious and merciful. At the time of his Ordination he was zealous to do justice. Leo thus created and ordained, the new year 796 soon beginning; through his Legates he sent the keys of the confession of St. Peter and the standard of the City of Rome, with other gifts to Charles King of the Franks and of the Lombards; and asked that he would send some one of his Magnates to Rome, who should confirm the Roman people by oaths to his fidelity and subjection, as to the Patrician of the City of Rome, created through Hadrian his predecessor, that is, as to a Defender; not however as to a Lord; because (as will be shown below) not even crowned and anointed Emperor, in turn receives a legate from him, or made lord of even one district by that title, was Charles, much less by the right of the Patriciate. But there was sent for this Engelbert Abbot of the monastery of St. Riquier: through whom too he then sent to St. Peter a great part of the treasure, which Eric Duke of Friuli, the royal seat of the Huns called Ringus being despoiled, had in the same year brought to the King from Pannonia. So Eginhard in the Annals, the Secretary of Charles himself.

[5] with a congratulatory letter, He sent also a letter, by which, having wished to Pope Leo the salvation of perpetual beatitude in Christ, Having read, he says, the letters of your Excellency and heard the decretal document, we have, as I confess, greatly rejoiced, both in the unanimity of the election, and in the obedience of your humility, and in the fidelity of your promise to us. In all which, from the inmost affection of the heart, we give manifold thanks to the divine goodness; because to us, after the lamentable wound of grief, which the death of our most beloved father and most faithful friend inflicted on our soul, it deigned to grant in you such a solace by the wonted providence of its clemency. Whence too to your Holiness, as by a vicarious gift of gladness, through the mercy of the same God and our Lord Jesus Christ, who provided for his holy Church in the exaltation of your Beatitude, we commend the prosperity of us and of all our faithful, and with gifts, destined for the deceased Hadrian; and also make known the peaceful unanimity of our whole kingdom in the will of God; that you may equally rejoice in the successes of our devotion, as we too rejoice in those of your Holiness… For the peaceful unity of mind of love, we have directed Angelbert, the agent of our familiarity, to your Holiness; whom first … to our most blessed Father,

to our most blessed Father, your predecessor, we took care to direct; but while all the gifts were prepared, by the mournful message of his fatherly death his journey was suddenly delayed. But now made more glad at the succession of your Holiness, what I had desired to do in that pious Father, we are zealous to accomplish in you: and we have enjoined upon him all things, which seemed either voluntary to us, or necessary to you: that by mutual conference you may confer, whatever you should understand to be necessary for the exaltation of the holy Church of God, or for the stability of your honor, or the firmness of our Patriciate. For just as with your most blessed predecessor of holy paternity I entered into a pact, so also with your Beatitude I desire to establish an inviolable covenant of the same faith and charity: for the renewal of the mutual covenant. that, by the divine grace granting it, the saints being invoked by the prayers of your Apostolic holiness, the Apostolic benediction may everywhere follow me; and the most holy See of the Roman Church, God granting, may always be defended by our devotion. It is ours, according to the help of the divine goodness, to defend the holy Church of Christ everywhere, from the incursion of the Pagans and from the devastation of the infidels, with arms outwardly, and within to fortify it by the acknowledgment of the Catholic faith. It is yours, most holy Father, with hands lifted to God like Moses, to aid our warfare: that, you interceding, God being leader and giver, the Christian people, over the enemies of his holy name, may everywhere always have victory, and the name of our Lord Jesus Christ be glorified throughout the whole world. But let the prudence of your authority everywhere follow the Canons; that the examples of all sanctity may evidently shine forth to all in your conversation, and the exhortation of holy admonition be heard from your mouth; that so your light may shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. May almighty God deign to preserve the beatitude of your Authority unharmed, for the exaltation of his holy Church, through many courses of years.

[6] Having begun with great liberality toward the Clergy The holy Pontiff performed excellently, what the pious King lovingly and reverently suggested to be done by him: but also, hoarding nothing avariciously of the treasures sent to him, he greatly enlarged the Roga (that is, the stipend) for his Clergy chiefly in the Presbytery. He made also in the Basilica of Blessed Peter the Apostle, his nourisher, a golden censer before the vestibule of the altar, weighing seventeen pounds… But the repairs of the roofs of the Basilica of Blessed Peter the Apostle, that is, the greater nave, but also another nave over the altar, with a quadriportico, together also a fountain of water before the silver doors. Indeed too the tower with its chambers, from the bottom to the top, all things in all he newly restored: especially he placed the image of the Savior, painted with the rest of wondrous beauty, for the adornment of the above-written church, on the gable under the greater arch… Likewise too he studiously renovated the title of St. Sabina… But he made also in the Basilica of the blessed Mother of God, which is called "at the Manger," a ciborium of purest silver, and the Roman churches; which weighs six hundred and eleven pounds, together also silver curtain-rods at the entrances of the presbytery, weighing eighty pounds… Meanwhile too in the Basilica of the blessed Martyr of Christ Lawrence, situated outside the walls, he made three silver images, of the Savior, of Blessed Peter the Apostle, and of St. Lawrence, weighing together fifty-four pounds and a half… And likewise he renovated the repairs of the roofs of Blessed Felix and Adauctus Martyrs, beside St. Paul the Apostle: but also the Basilica of St. Menna, and the title of Blessed Vitalis Martyr of Christ, and also the cemetery of Blessed Sixtus and Cornelius on the Appian Way; together also the cemetery of St. Zoticus on the Lavican Way: especially of SS. Peter and Paul, likewise too the Church of the holy Mother of God in Fonticana, which had decayed through olden times. But the same Prelate made, in the Basilica of the Doctor of the world, Blessed Paul the Apostle, a Confession together with curtain-rods of pure gold, having precious gems like that of Blessed Peter the Apostle, weighing a hundred and fifty-six pounds: but also the chamber of the same Basilica, after the manner of Blessed Peter the Apostle, he newly made…

[7] he founds anew the building of St. Susanna But the chief Pontiff himself, in the title of Blessed Susanna, where also he had been ordained Presbyter, when it had been for a short time destroyed, and now through olden times its very walls had decayed, on account of his exceeding love enlarged the building; and newly digging into the deep, laid a most firm foundation; and the level being dug out wondrously high, upon those foundations he built a church, with a most ample apse, and wondrous summits of mosaic, and a decorated chamber or Presbytery, and adorned the pavement with beautiful marbles: indeed too on the right and left he constructed its porticoes with marble columns. But also he established a baptistery there, where too he offered gifts, and adorns it with gifts, namely three golden bowls cast (that is, hanging lamps, round below, like dishes) weighing four pounds and a half, two golden Crosses with gems … one silver lamp … three silver images … He made too the confession of the same altar, of purest silver weighing a hundred and three pounds, and two ounces: eight silver columns and two gammadia, and two arches with five silver crosses, and fifteen bowls, weighing together a hundred and fifty pounds: and many other things in crowns, baskets, vestments, strainer-vessels; all and each of which, obscure now by many obsolete words, and above also marked with points, and to be read in Anastasius himself or in Baronius, I have passed over for the sake of brevity. Here I note, that in that church a title of this kind was deservedly placed, related thus in the book of Nicholas Alemannus concerning the Lateran walls: and with the body of St. Felicitas, Long ago this hall of blessed Susanna the Martyr, being in a narrow and gloomy place, had decayed: which the Lord Pope Leo III raising and founding from the foundations, comely building it, adorned with the body of blessed Felicitas the Martyr and dedicated it.

[8] And these things indeed then, but afterward several times he conferred other gifts on the same church, where afterward too he placed himself with Charlemagne in mosaic: commemorated here and there in Anastasius: and out of the same affection, when, by the help of Charlemagne (as will be said below) restored to his See, he had in turn adorned him with the Imperial crown, and wished illustrious monuments of his most intimate friendship toward him to exist; he caused even in the aforesaid church such a one to be set up, expressing himself as the founder of that church together with him there in tessellated work, in plainly that form, in which we shall see them expressed below in the Lateran triclinium; except that there they are figured kneeling, here standing; as the before-praised Alemannus testifies that they were still seen there at the end of the previous century, There, to the very day on which he wrote this, in the lofty and neighboring ceiling there were still read these words, The Most Holy Lord Leo Pope to the Lord Charles King. But he did this with the same mind, and perhaps by the example of several predecessors; by which afterward, Anastasius witnessing, by the command of Pope Leo IV, the persons of the most holy Prelate himself, and also of his special son the Lord Emperor Lothair, for future memory, persons dear to God and to be venerated through all ages, were painted. See here the very emblem of the Third.

* or to others?

§. II. Leo, mutilated in his eyes and tongue by the conspirators, is divinely healed.

[9] Thus far all things seemed to flow according to his wish for Leo, when an atrocious storm stirred up against him proved his virtue and sanctity no less than it exercised them. Let us hear Anastasius: This venerable and most holy Pontiff, Leo proceeding in the Greater Litany, while in the holy Catholic and Apostolic Roman Church he conducted himself by the ecclesiastical order, and held the rite of the orthodox faith, and on every side, both through the various churches and in the Patriarchium, building in ample edifices, comely adorned them; when on a certain day after the wonted manner, in the Litanies, which by all are called the Greater, he proceeded; where the people ought to proceed to meet him with sacred religion, that according to the yearly custom he might celebrate the Litanies and the solemnities of the Masses with the Priests, and pour forth prayers to the Omnipotent Lord for the safety of the Christian people; and according to the olden tradition the Litany itself had been proclaimed by the Notary of the Holy Roman Church, in the church of Blessed George Martyr of Christ, on his birthday; all, both men and women, with devout mind in throngs in the church of the blessed Martyr of Christ Lawrence, which is called of Lucina, where also the aforesaid collect was, ran to meet.

[10] Where, when the aforesaid venerable Pontiff had gone out of the Patriarchium, he is surrounded by the conspirators, that wicked and not to be named Paschal the Primicerius ran to meet him without his Planeta; and in hypocrisy asked pardon of him, saying; Because I am sick: and therefore I came without my Planeta. Then the most holy Prelate gave him pardon. Likewise also Campellus the Sacellarius, both in their deceitfulness going on in the Pontifical attendance, and speaking with him sweet words which they had not in their breast; malignant too and wicked and perverse and false Christians, utterly pagans, sons of the devil, gathering themselves into one satanically, full of wicked thought, on the very way, before the monastery of SS. Stephen and Silvester, which the Lord Pope Paul had founded, stood secretly armed: and suddenly leaping out from the place of ambush, to him (which is a crime to say) impiously to be slaughtered without any reverence they flowed together, Paschal standing at the head, and Campulus at the feet, according to their wicked counsel. Which being done, all the people who were about him, namely unarmed and prepared in the office of God, terrified by fear of arms, were turned to flight.

[11] But those ambushers and workers of evils, after the Jewish manner, he is foully thrown down without any regard of divine or human honor, seizing him in a beastly manner, threw him to the ground; and without any mercy, by cutting stripping him, cruelly tried to tear out his eyes, and to blind him utterly: for his tongue was cut off; and, as they then altogether thought, they left him blind and mute in the middle of the street. But those malignant ones Paschal and Campulus, as truly malignant, as true pagans and impious, dragging him to the church of that monastery before the confession, before the very venerable altar, again more tore out his eyes and tongue; and beating him with various blows and cudgels, they mangled him; and half-alive, rolled in his blood, before the very altar they left him; but afterward under guard in that monastery they left him. But terrified with fear, lest by Christian men he should be stolen thence; and is deprived of his eyes and tongue; then having taken malignant counsel (as the Hegumen himself of the monastery of St. Erasmus professed) they caused him to come to them secretly by night, both Paschal the malignant who was then Primicerius, and Campulus the Sacellarius, and Maurus of Nepi; and they sent him into the aforesaid monastery

of St. Silvester, with very many wicked accomplices, their fellow malefactors: and so by night drawing him thence, they led him into the monastery of St. Gerasimus, and shut him up in close custody.

[12] But God almighty, who by foreknowing their malice long patiently bore with it, himself wondrously destroyed their wicked attempts. these being divinely recovered, For it happened, God cooperating and Blessed Peter the Apostle suffraging, that the aforesaid Pope, when he was being sent by those very butchers into the monastery of St. Erasmus into custody, received his sight, and his tongue was restored to him for speaking. And that almighty God might show upon his servant his wonted mercy and a great miracle, by his divine nod, by faithful Christian men, namely by Albinus the Chamberlain, with other faithful ones fearing God, secretly bearing him out from that cloister, they led him into the basilica of Blessed Peter the Prince of the Apostles, where also his most sacred body rests. All of whom, hearing and seeing the marvels of God, who rescued the innocent and just Pontiff from the hands of his enemies, glorified the Lord God, saying; Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who alone does great wonders, and did not forsake those who hope in him: but in him fulfilled his mercy, that the glory of God and the marvels in him might be made manifest, just as he promised to those who hope in him, the Psalmist saying? Ps. 26 & 118 The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear: the Lord is the defender of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? and again; Your word, Lord, is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my paths. And truly the Lord rescuing him from the darkness, both restored his light, and restored his tongue for speaking, and made him whole in all his members, and wondrously leading him in all works strengthened him.

[13] As great a joy as the Christian and faithful men had, he is led to Spoleto with so great mourning and anguish those others, straitened, knew not what they should do; and esteeming themselves to be in peril, they sought to kill themselves; and while they found not what else they should do, they plundered and destroyed the house of Albinus, the faithful one of Blessed Peter the Apostle and of the same Pontiff. And the aforesaid Pontiff being come into the very hall of Blessed Peter the Apostle, straightway Winichis, the glorious Duke of Spoleto, with his army met him: and when he had beheld the supreme Pontiff speaking and seeing, receiving him venerably, and thence goes to Charles King of the Franks. he led him to Spoleto; glorifying and praising God, who through such marvels glorified him. Which heard, through the various cities of the Romans, the faithful ran to meet him; and likewise with some Bishops, Presbyters or Roman Clerics from those cities and the Primates of the cities, he set out to the most excellent Lord Charles, King of the Franks and of the Lombards and Patrician of the Romans. Thus far Anastasius.

[14] But before he reached the King, he came to Cologne, and at Cologne venerates the body of St. Severinus, as the Author of the Translation of St. Severinus relates in Surius on the 23rd day of October. For because in the very year of the Translation made there is narrated to have been such great fertility, that it itself testified from the mouth of all that its Patron had truly returned, and been restored to his own See; and this word, used by the inhabitants, was not hidden even from the distant and foreign; and it became as it were a proverb, "St. Severinus is at home"; the same, as they say, the venerable Pope Leo of blessed memory, impressed by his example as it were upon those who had forgotten that custom. For when, having set out from Rome, on account of the punishments unjustly inflicted on him, he was journeying to the Emperor Charles into France; (or rather, to him then only King, into Saxony) he came to the place where the venerable body of the man of God Severinus rests; and there, beyond the custom which he had kept on the way, he entered the church to pray. But his companions marveling, inquired the cause of this. To whom he, The defender of this place, he said, is at home; therefore I dared not pass him by unsaluted. And from this afterward it came into the mind of the people of Cologne, in their Martyrology of the enlarged Usuard, to note the Birthday of Leo III Pope and Confessor in the first place, with the commemoration of that very event and saying, but on another than the proper day, namely the Birthday of St. Leo I, the 3rd of the Ides of April.

[15] However Leo hastened meanwhile, yet there reached the ears of Charles, not only known by a nocturnal vision, Charles writes the Roman crime to Alcuin, as we shall see below from Alcuin, but ascertained by sure messengers, the fame of the tragedy really enacted at the city of Rome: of which he soon took care to make the aforesaid Alcuin Flaccus a participant. For he in Epistle 2 says, What was done in him, who had been Rector of the aforesaid Roman See, your venerable goodness took care to make known to me. And soon he subjoins (as namely he had learned from the letter of Charles) that those traitors, blinded in their hearts, blinded their own head. But Eginhard, Secretary of Charlemagne in his deeds: At Rome, he says, Pope Leo, when, about to go in procession with the Litany, he was proceeding by horse from the Lateran to the church of Blessed Lawrence, which is called "at the Gridiron"; fell into an ambush set by the Romans beside that church: where, thrown from his horse, and his eyes torn out (as it seemed to some) his tongue too cut off, naked and half-alive he was left in the street. Then by the command of those, who were the authors of this deed, sent into the monastery of St. Erasmus Martyr as if to be healed, by the care of a certain Albinus his chamberlain, lowered by night through the wall, he was received by Winigis Duke of Spoleto, who, having heard of this crime, had come to Rome in haste, and was led to Spoleto. When the King had received the message of this thing, he ordered him, as Vicar of St. Peter and supreme Pontiff, to be brought to him with the highest honor.

[16] With these agree the old Annals of the Franks, of Tillius and Loisel in du Chesne volume 2 of the Franks; as had been written to him by his legates; and the last ones even by naming the Envoys of Charles, then present in the city, who could have written to the King only what was most fully ascertained, thus speak. The Romans seized Pope Leo at the Greater Litany and blinded him, and cut off his tongue: who, sent into custody, by night escaped through the wall, and coming to the legates of the Lord King [who were then at the Basilica of St. Peter, namely Abbot Wirund and Winchis Duke of Spoleto], was led to Spoleto. Which you will easily reconcile with the relation of Eginhard, if Winigis, the matter having been done in the morning time, then Leo affirmed in person, with his army stationed in Tuscany not far from the Vatican, learned of it; and came thither before night, and joined himself to Wirund. But neither does Eginhard dissent from Anastasius, when, writing him blinded, he adds; as it seemed to some. For either by those words he appeals to the trustworthiness of eyewitnesses, in which sense the blinding is undoubtedly asserted; or he merely reports the opinion of those, who then falsely thought him utterly deprived of eyes; but he does not deny the repeated violence, the eyes not yet wholly extinguished at the first onset, inflicted in the church of St. Erasmus, of which Anastasius more expressly makes mention. Certainly not only in the beginning, at the credulity of the first message, was it believed in the Frankish court that the Pontiff was truly blinded; but also after he himself appeared there, and narrated in by no means ambiguous words the things which had been perpetrated against him.

[17] and the King himself had before seen in sleep, Among those who could have heard him himself, or at least have received through the mouth of Charles those things which Leo had narrated of himself, in the poem in which he described the meeting of the two at length, he is found to have spoken by no means ambiguously: the journey before the messenger from Italy was present; indeed, the same things having appeared to the King through a dream, he thus narrates.

The King sees a sad portent, and an unspeakable prodigy / In sleep; that the supreme Leo of the Roman / City the Pontiff stood by, and poured forth sorrowful weeping; / Squalid eyes, a face stained with blood, / A truncated tongue, and bearing many horrible / Wounds. A cold dread seizes the anxious limbs / Of the Emperor. He bids three swift Envoys go / To the Roman walls, to explore whether the rich Shepherd / Of the Flock were sound, what the sad dreams might signify.

These moreover, when they had drawn near to Rome, soon had those who met them narrating, how,

While Leo, the kindly Pope, was passing his wonted way, / The whole crowd of conspirators (for the throng of suppliants, much, was wholly free from such a crime), the whole, I say and his Envoys had heard on the way. / The crowd of tumult rushed upon the supreme Shepherd, / Blind, raging; suddenly stirred by dire storms, / It was twisting the sacred limbs of the Priest with scourges: / The butchers drew the twin windows from his brow, / And cut off the swift tongue from the mangled body,

[18] Finally the Saxon Poet in book 3 of the Annals, brought down to the death of Charles, the year 799 begun with a pathetic exaggeration of the crime, that new butchers from hell, The Saxon Poet writes the same, in modern times committed which, against the most holy Pope, who, the Litany being instituted at St. Lawrence's,

When he was hastening his way, surrounded by a wicked crowd, / And enduring cruel hands, had lost his very / Light, his eyes being dug out. The tormentor too / Cut off his tongue, and thence left him lying naked / And half-dead outside, defiled with much blood. / And into the monastery of Erasmus the Martyr afterward led / (for the authors of the deed so commanded) / Under the appearance of being healed, he had been kept in it.

Alcuin moreover proceeds; and concerning the wholly removed use both of seeing and of speaking, and the divinely restored, nothing doubting, he thus sings:

The People, lacking piety, and stained with black poisons, / Thought it had extinguished so great a Pontiff. / But the kindly hand of the Father offered medicines to the eyes taken away, / And repaired the face with new light. / The pale visages were astonished at the foreign sights, / And the truncated tongue unfolds swift speech.

Whence soon he adds:

The cohort of the Franks mingled with the Latins / Was astonished, rendering thanks and praises to the Lord, / Who restored new lights to the supreme Pontiff, / And set the despaired-of speech in his mouth.

Likewise he brings in the peoples met along the way, who

In the old head are astonished at the new sights of seeing, / And marvel that the removed tongue speaks.

And then the same things both the Envoy of Leo, and Leo himself to Charles, narrate in almost similar phrase.

[19] Not so absolutely the Saxon Poet. For when he had said, that the Pontiff,

A little time being past, / Recovered his lost sight and likewise his speech;

he seems to doubt somewhat of the miracle, thus pursuing what he had begun;

Whether because the tormentor, hastening and trembling, did not accomplish / His cruel deeds as much as he wished by his unspeakable… Some nevertheless doubt concerning the eyes, / Or (which is more to be believed) the Redeemer, / Renewing the ancient miracles through the merit of great Peter, / Had granted his successor to be healed.

So he, more inclined nevertheless to believe the miracle. On the contrary Theophanes, and after him Zonaras, narrate the matter thus. The Romans, kinsmen of the most blessed Pope Hadrian, stirring up the people, rose in sedition against Leo the Pope, and seizing him blinded him: yet they were not able utterly to extinguish his light,

those who blinded him acting more humanely and sparing him. It appears that a not very entire and very smoothed-over narration of the deed reached Constantinople, where Theophanes heard nothing of the mutilation of the tongue.

[20] Meanwhile Joachim Camerarius, in his Annotations on the Chronology of St. Nicephorus of Constantinople, after the genius of his sect more averse from believing anything which either surpasses the order of nature, or even deny that he was wholly blinded: or makes for the singular commendation of the Pontiff; They conspired, he says, against Leo certain men, and having seized him ordered his eyes to be torn out: those however to whom this business had been given, made the eyes indeed bloody by wounding, but spared the lights of the Pontiff, and so his sight was not taken from him: concerning which some afterward spread a fable, that sight was divinely restored to the Pontiff. But even among the Catholics there were found those, who refused to believe the matter, undoubted among the writers of his time, and those who could know better than Theophanes; to whom acceding in the Historical Dictionary, Louis Moréri; It is probable, he says, that the adversaries of Leo erred in the person, and treated another so badly for him, but spread the report that they had perpetrated those things upon him himself: who by the help of friends was withdrawn from peril, as the moderns think, not so easy to believe miracles. What shall I say to this? The Greeks, to whom it was now familiar to deprive of sight those whom they removed from the Empire, but why deprived of this rather than of the tongue either were ignorant of the mutilation of the tongue or did not believe it; the heretics dissembled it when read among the Latins; Moréri with his men saw well enough, that it could not, short of obstinacy, be denied, what was so constantly asserted: he saw also, that, the miracle concerning the restoration of speech being admitted, there was no cause why one should doubt concerning the sight. Therefore he supposed some other to have suffered the injury, lest it should be a miracle, that the Pontiff seeing and speaking came to Charles. But let him believe who can, either that he himself said he had suffered what he had not suffered; or that it was believed so lightly in a matter so evidently miraculous, at least on account of the swiftness of the cure; which could not but have exceeded the measure of nature, even if the Pontiff had been injured only about the eyes, and mutilated merely in the extreme little particle of the tongue.

§. III. The honorable reception of Leo at Paderborn, and certain of his acts in Saxony.

[21] Leo is received honorably Now Anastasius is to be heard by us, concerning the approach of Leo to Charles, describing it thus. The most Christian and orthodox and chief and most clement King himself, as soon as he heard it, sent to meet him Hildivald, Archbishop of Cologne and Chaplain, in others Hildebold; and Ascharius the Count (in Alcuin Germarius) and afterward his son Pippin, the most excellent King, with other Counts, to meet them again; and even to where the great King himself met him, and as the Vicar of Blessed Peter the Apostle, venerably and honorably, with hymns and spiritual songs, he received him: and embracing each other, with tears they kissed. And the aforesaid Pontiff beginning the Glory to God in the highest, and all the Clergy taking it up, a Prayer over all the people was given. Then the most benign Lord Charles, the great King, beholding the said Pontiff, gave thanks to God, who, having wrought such marvels upon his servant, through the suffrages of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, brought to nothing the aforesaid wicked men, that is, their wicked counsels.

[22] This meeting gave occasion, at that very time, of composing a notable poem, extended beyond five hundred verses, and first edited by Henry Canisius, afterward related among the Frankish writings of du Chesne, where in vain another work seems to be sought, of which that was a part. The Author for many causes is thought to be Alcuin, in Saxony near Paderborn, who survived yet five years, and seems to have been present at it: from which, that I may here touch the last part, many particular circumstances persuade, related in it. When therefore the Poet, whoever he was, had led the King with his army across the Rhine into Saxony, whither he had directed his journey, when he was sending the first Legates into Italy, who would lead the Pontiff; thus he begins from the description of the place:

There is a notable place, where the Pader and the Lippe flow, / High, and it lies in an open field, on every side clad with broad / Space: for from a lofty hill all the region can be seen, / And hence the whole army. / Hither Charles, the hero attended by many thousands, / Came, and at length it pleases here to enter under roofs. / The Envoy of the Apostolic one meanwhile bends his way to the Royal hall, / And makes plain that the supreme / Pontiff comes, Leo expelled from the Roman seat / By his own citizens, and recounts that he endured so many / Stripes, mentioning his face extinguished of light; / He narrates too the tongue cut off from the clear throat; / That now, God healing, he is cured of all / These evils. The whole army itself is astonished in mind / At what is heard; and Charles, recalling his dreams back, / Recognizing the traces of the past sight by the indication, / Doubts not but that this would be, that, pouring forth sad weeping, / He had long ago seen the same Pontiff in sleep.

[23] Hence he bids Pippin straightway run to meet the great / Shepherd, first through Pippin the son of the King, and bear peace and placid greeting. / Pippin prepares to go to meet him, fulfilling his Father's commands: / Glad he went with a hundred thousand… / And as the Apostolic Shepherd sees the lofty Pippin with a hundred thousand / Stretching toward him in the open field; / He extends his twin palms from heaven, / And pouring forth ample prayers from his breast for the people. / Before the supreme Priest the whole army thrice / Is prostrated, and the suppliant crowd thrice poured out adores. / Soon Pope Leo on the ground in benign manner / Receives Pippin; and surrounding his neck with sacred arms, / Clings, and long in the embrace sipping placid kisses… / The pious King meanwhile ascends his throne, and the whole / People he addresses… and bids the line be drawn up and proceed: then by the Clergy and the army, / Before, moreover, the chaste ranks of Priests, / Stand divided into three choirs: in long garments they raise / The sacred standards of the kindly Cross, and the whole / Clergy and the white-robed common folk await the Prelate's arrival. / Now father Charles in the field sees in open column, / Pippin and the supreme Shepherd stretching toward him. / He stands too, and bids the people await in the manner of a crown, / And hence divides the line in the fashion of a city.

[24] But the blessed one himself, to stand in the middle of the circle / Awaiting the Prelate's arrival, and by his whole head / Is taller than his companions; he overtops the whole people. / Now Pope Leo approaches, mingles himself with the rear column: / How various in garb, and finally by the King himself: and in tongue, so in vestments, in arms / He marvels at the nations, from the diverse parts of the world. / Straightway hastening Charles venerably adores, / Embracing the great Pontiff, and sips placid kisses: / And in turn they join right hands, and alike are borne / In their steps, and mingling words with much favor. / Before the supreme Priest the whole army thrice / Is prostrated, and the suppliant crowd thrice poured out adores. / And for the people the Prelate thrice pours forth prayers from his breast. / The father King of Europe, and the supreme Leo Shepherd in the world / Having met, are borne in turn in varied discourse.

[25] Charles inquires the events, and hears the diverse / Of his labors: he is astonished at the impious deeds of the people's crime. / He marvels at the twin windows now long ago who after the sacred rites performed / Extinguished of light, and now the face repaired with light; / And marvels that the tongue cut off with the shears speaks. / Each fixes his eyes on the other's face, / And with equal step they stretch toward the summits of the See. / Before the Priests the doors of the sacred temple stand, / With alternate voices regulating the songs of praises, / And to the Creator they ply thanks and praises, / Who restored new lights to the supreme Pontiff, / And set the despaired-of speech in his mouth. / A clamor arises, the lofty voice strikes Olympus. provides a banquet for him, / The Apostolic one enters, blessed Charles leading, / The temples of the Creator, in the wonted manner the solemnities / To concelebrate the sacred Masses with pious favor. / Thence the divine offices being duly performed… / King Charles together with the supreme Leo Prelate in the world / Feeds, and they drink foaming wines from cups. / After the glad feasts and the sweet cups of Bacchus, / The pious Charles gives many gifts to great Leo: / Hence glad seeking again the secret recesses of the hall the King returns, / And the Apostolic one also returns to the camp of his own.

[26] More briefly the Saxon Poet touches these things: and when he had narrated, how the King,

— the camp being pitched / At Paderborn with much soldiery, / Awaited for no small time the supreme / Prelate's arrival;

he makes no mention indeed of Pippin sent to meet him, who was then the second of the sons; while however he writes, that Charles the Younger was sent to the confines of Saxony, to settle affairs with the Wilzi and the Abodriti, he makes us understand, why both could not be sent to the meeting. But while Charles is still awaited;

He comes, he says, the Apostolic one, almost penetrating now the farthest / Borders of lands. To him so great a journey accomplished / Had seemed short, because he had compensated all the / Labors, which he bore before, by the sight of Charles… and bids him be led back into his See. / For when first he had known him drawing near, to him / He himself went to meet from the said place of the camp, / Attended by many thousands of peoples. / And the Pontiff in the place of Peter, to whom it is permitted to close heaven / And to reopen it by a word, and holding the See, / He received with magnificent honor reverently. / And when he spent some glad days there, the same / Prelate insinuating his several affairs to the King, / Knew his mind easy to all things, / By piously granting he wished whatever he should beg. / Thence to be led back worthily he commended him to the Chiefs / Of the Franks: who fulfilling the commands, / Having entered Rome together, restored / All things to the Pontiff again, that he might hold the rights of governing / The Apostolic See and its just honors.

[27] He himself consecrates the altar of the church of Paderborn, The book on the translation of St. Liborius from Le Mans to Paderborn, written by the command of Bishop Biso before the end of the 10th century, consigns the notable memory of Leo present there in these words, number 5 in our Bolland, in a particular little Work. The most holy and truly Apostolic man, Pope of the Roman See, Leo by name, having endured the unjust hatreds of the citizens, went there to him (Charles), to seek Imperial help for quieting the quarrels arisen against him. By whom (Charles) when, as was fitting, he was received with vast honor, he confirmed by Apostolic authority his religious and salutary zeal of spreading Christianity, nobly begun; and in the church, then newly constructed there, consecrating a certain altar, placed in it the adorable Relics of the holy Protomartyr Stephen, which he had brought with him from Rome; confidently promising this to the Prince, that that oratory, fortified by the patronage of so great a Martyr, would no longer suffer the injury, which, by his own report, he learned had before befallen it; namely that, on account of the perfidy of the inhabitants of the place and their hatred toward the Christian religion, it was several times given to the fire. and foretells that it will no more be burned And for this cause especially he laid up those same Relics there at the request of the Emperor, not without an effect agreeing with his confidence and promise, since it is most certain that nothing of the kind was afterward perpetrated there. The same things and in almost the same words are related in the Life of St. Meinwerk Bishop of Paderborn, on the 6th of June number 2: but the second part after * is omitted, "for the city and the whole monastery burned in the year of the Incarnation one thousand, as in the Life of the same St. Meinwerk

number 6, and again, by the apostate citizens: as Krantz relates in book 6, chapter 58, and Gobelinus, the city with the church burned, in the year 1131. But, if the words be rightly weighed, it is not simply promised that the place would never burn; but that it would not burn, on account of the perfidy of the inhabitants of the place and their hatred toward the Christian religion, just as Leo had heard had before befallen, by the report of Charles, to whom there, by an anticipation of one year, the title of Emperor is given.

[28] Ferdinand von Fürstenberg, a Bishop of most praised memory among all, in his Notes on the Monuments of Paderborn, page 129 indicates, that the altar of the Church of Tetemell or Detmold was likewise consecrated by this St. Leo; and that the stone of that altar, for the use of the crypt of the monastery of Abdinghof, likewise the altar of Tetemell, was translated by the aforesaid founder Meinwerk. He asserts too that the church at Sidinghausen, a village of the diocese of Paderborn in the dynasty of Büren, was likewise dedicated by the same. But especially worthy of mention here comes the church of Eresburg on the Diemel, of whose Dedication the same most Lofty Illustrator of the monuments of his country brings forth this Bull, page 115, from an older and more accurate copy than Baronius. Leo, servant of the servants of God, to Charles the Great, King of the Franks. Rejoicing in all things at your pious petition, we do not delay to grant what you bid. Therefore this mount Eresburg, and the chapel at Eresburg: which, having stormed it with all Saxony, you offered to God, and through us consecrated to Blessed Peter; we decree to be free from all human power, and to obey only the dominion of the Brothers there united for the service of Christ. And that they may suffer no impediment in this, nor that any confidence of rebelling be prepared for the invaders of your kingdom, we forbid under the anathema by the authority of Blessed Peter, that anyone should ever place warlike garrisons on that mount; or dare to plunder the estates conferred by you or the tithes around the mount, for the two Saxon "rastae," which you have assigned thither. To those preserving these things let there be peace from God the Father; to those infringing them, execration, and separation from the college of the Catholics for ever. Given at Eresburg, by the hand of John the Librarian and Chancellor of the Roman Church, the 9th of the Kalends of January in the fourth year of the Lord Leo the Third, in the seventh Indiction, on the day of the Dedication of the Chapel at Eresburg.

[29] of which thing Hadrian IV too makes mention, The truth of this Bull is confirmed from the Privilege of Pope Hadrian IV, issued in favor of the monastery of Corvey, under the date of the year 1154; where to several other things the Pontiff adds, that the monastery of Heresburg, with the tithes around the mount for two Saxon "rastae," as they are known to have been conferred by the Lord Pope Leo of blessed memory, at the petition of Charlemagne the Emperor, who had stormed the mount itself, … may never be alienated from the same monastery of Corvey. This notwithstanding, but the substance of the Eresburg Bull being safe, we hold, that not even in that older and more sincere copy which is alleged are all things held sufficiently sincere; nor do we doubt that the letter M, placed at the beginning for the title of "the Great" (Magnus), not only as to the form of the abbreviated writing, but also as to the substance of the title, was added by the transcribers; though perhaps even then Charles the great King was named by the Romans, as Anastasius always calls him, when he makes mention of him only as King. Others will perhaps note other things: but the observation of the Bishop Illustrator ought by no means to be passed over, though the Bull be not held entirely sincere. by which he warns, that for the 9th of the Kalends of January should be read the 9th of the Kalends of June. For from Anastasius we shall soon see, that Leo returning from Saxony, in the same year still in which he had departed from Rome, was received by the Romans on the Vigils of Blessed Andrew. But rightly for the Kalends of January are substituted the Kalends of June; and at the same time is understood the swiftness of the journey, by which the Pontiff, having suffered violence at Rome at the Greater Litanies or the feast of St. Mark, the 7th of the Kalends of May on the Thursday of the third week after the Easter octave, arrived at Paderborn in the month of May: a circumstance assuredly worthy of note, since from elsewhere nothing is clear to us concerning the time of that so solemn meeting. This correction is favored by the fact that no more frequent error occurs in transcribing the months, than that by which Jan. is put for Jun., and conversely.

* that is, to the soldiers.

§. IV. Leo's return to Rome. Charles's approach thither: and the acts of him and of that one when crowned Emperor.

[30] Leo, his enemies accusing him in vain, I return to the text of Anastasius, by which the new attempts of the impious, and Leo's return into the City, and his glorious and holy acts, are thus woven on: When the most serene King himself had held him for some time in great honor with himself; the aforesaid wicked ones and sons of the devil hearing these things, after the dire and wicked burnings, which they wrought in the possessions or things of Blessed Peter the Apostle; attempted, God being against them, to impose false crimes upon the most holy Pontiff, and to send after him to the aforesaid King things which they could in no way prove; because through their snares and iniquities they brought forth such things not to be spoken, wishing to humiliate the holy Church. But while the aforesaid Pontiff dwelt with the aforesaid most clement great King in great and befitting honor, on every side both Archbishops and Bishops and the rest of the Priests coming, together with the counsel of the same most pious great King, and all the eminent Franks, God going before, him returning to Rome, led to Rome honorably, into his Apostolic See honorably, with the very great honor, as was fitting, they sent him off. Who through every single city, as if receiving the Apostle himself, led him as far as Rome.

[31] he is received with great rejoicing; Then the Romans, from exceeding joy receiving their Shepherd, all generally on the vigil of Blessed Andrew the Apostle, both the chiefs of the Clergy with all the Clerics, and the Magnates and the Senate, and all the Soldiery and the whole Roman People, with the Nuns and Deaconesses, and the most noble Matrons and all the women, together also and all the Schools of the foreigners, namely of the Franks, Frisians, Saxons, and Lombards, all together joined, at the Milvian bridge, with standards and banners and spiritual songs, received him, and led him into the church of Blessed Peter the Apostle; where also he celebrated the solemnities of the Masses, and all in common faithfully partook of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. And on another day, according to the olden custom, celebrating the Birthday of Blessed Andrew the Apostle, entering Rome, with much joy and gladness, he entered into the Lateran Patriarchium. And after some days, the most faithful Envoys, who had come with him in the Pontifical attendance, namely Hildevald and Arno, the most reverend Archbishops; the accusers being summoned to judgment, and Cunibert, Bernard, Hatto, and Tesse, the most reverend and most holy Bishops; and also Flaccus, Bishop-elect; indeed too Helmgoth, Rothegar, and Germar, the glorious Counts, sitting in the triclinium of the same Lord Pope Leo, for one and more weeks, and inquiring of those most abominable malefactors, what malice they had had against their own Pontiff; are struck dumb: both Paschal and Campulus with their followers, had nothing against him which they might say. Then seizing them, the aforesaid Envoys of the great King sent them away into France.

[32] The King himself sets out for Rome: The following year the same King, the month of August beginning (as Eginhard's Annals narrate) coming to Mainz, held a general assembly there, and proclaimed a journey into Italy: and thence setting out with his army came to Ravenna; and there having stayed not more than seven days, ordered his son Pippin with the same army to go into the land of the Beneventans; and moving from Ravenna with his son, came as far as Ancona; whom having dismissed there, he sets out for Rome: to whom, the day before he came thither, Pope Leo met at Numentum; and received there with great veneration, after a supper, by which they were refreshed together, he remaining there, the Pontiff proceeded to the City: and the next day standing on the steps of Blessed Peter the Apostle with the Bishops and all the Clergy, the King arriving, and descending from his horse, by saying praises to God and giving thanks he received; Leo meets him at Numentum, and all chanting, into the church of the same most blessed Apostle, glorifying and magnifying God, he led him in. All the same things, in heroic verse and elegant for the time, the Saxon Poet rendered, and in these ends his third book. But Eginhard, when he had said, that these things were done on the 8th of the Kalends of December, thus pursues the narration begun:

[33] and before him purges himself of the things objected, But after seven days the King, an assembly being called, made plain to all, why he had come to Rome; and from then daily he bestowed his effort on the things which were to be done, for which he had come. Among which, as the greatest, so the most difficult was, what was first begun, namely concerning investigating the crimes which were objected to the Pontiff. Who nevertheless, after no one was willing to be a prover of those same crimes, before all the people, in the basilica of Blessed Peter the Apostle, bearing the Gospel, ascended the ambo; and the name of the Trinity being invoked, purged himself by oath of the crimes objected. These things he briefly: but more fully and more distinctly Anastasius. After a little time, that is only the first year turning from the return of Leo, the great King himself, when he had come together into the Basilica of Blessed Peter the Apostle, and had been received with great honor; caused to be gathered into the same church the Archbishops or Bishops, Abbots, and all the nobility of the Franks and Romans; in a Synod summoned for it, and sitting alike both the great King and the most blessed Pontiff, they caused to sit also the most holy Archbishops, Bishops, and Abbots, the rest of the Priests and Magnates of the Franks and Romans standing; that they might examine the crimes which had been spoken against the kindly Pontiff. All which Archbishops and Abbots, unanimously hearing, said: We dare not judge the Apostolic See, which is the head of all the Churches of God: for by it we all and its Vicar are judged; but it is judged by no one, just as also was the custom of old, but just as the supreme Pontiff himself shall judge, they canonically obeyed.

[34] But the venerable Prelate said: I follow the footsteps of my predecessors, and of such false crimes, which have wickedly blazed up against me, I am prepared to purify myself. an oath being given: But on another day, in the same church of Blessed Peter the Apostle, when all were generally present, the Archbishops or Bishops and Abbots, and all the Franks who were in the service of the same great King, and all the Romans, in their presence, the aforesaid venerable Pontiff embracing the holy four Gospels of Christ, before all ascended into the ambo, and under oath with a clear voice said: That of those false crimes, which the Romans, who have wickedly persecuted me, imposed upon me, I have no knowledge, nor do I know myself to have done such things. And this being done, all the Archbishops, Bishops, and Abbots, and all the Clerics, a litany being made, gave praises to God, and to the Mother of God and ever-virgin Mary our Lady, a litany follows the deed; and to Blessed Peter the Prince of the Apostles, and to all the Saints of God. But here, lest anyone think it written idly, "Litany," for

"Letania" or "Litania"; for they are (as Dominic Macer notes in the Hierolexicon) quite different. For this one, instituted popularly for Supplication, is primarily taken; but secondarily, for a certain formula of God and the Saints to be invoked in order, then wont to be employed; which, beginning by intoning Kyrie eleison, is said to "impose the Litany." But "Lætania" signifies a glad and festive day, as is clear from the Gregorian Register book 4 Epistle 54, where the Pope enumerates the solemn Lætaniae, that is, the solemnly festive days, on which it is permitted to the Archbishop to use the Pallium: but he never uses the Pallium outside the church; and outside it are held the Greater Litanies on the feast of St. Mark, and the Lesser before the Ascension.

[35] After these things, the Birthday of our Lord Jesus Christ coming, in the said Basilica of Blessed Peter the Apostle all assembled again: and then (when the King, as Eginhard says, had entered, and was standing before the altar, and the King on the Birthday of our Lord crowned Emperor, where he had bent himself to prayer) thinking nothing less, the venerable kindly Pontiff, with his own hands, crowned him with a most precious crown. Then all the faithful Romans, seeing such great defense and love, which he had toward the holy Roman Church and its Vicar, unanimously with high-sounding voice, by the nod of God and of Blessed Peter the Key-bearer of the kingdom of heaven, exclaimed: To Charles the most Pious, Augustus, crowned by God, the Great, the Peaceful Emperor, life and victory (the Annals of the Franks and Eginhard, the word "most Pious" omitted, to the word "Emperor" add "of the Romans"). And this before the sacred Confession of Blessed Peter the Apostle, invoking several Saints, was thrice said; and by all he was constituted Emperor of the Romans. And straightway the most holy Bishop and Pontiff anointed Charles with holy oil, and his most excellent son the King, on the very day of the Birthday of our Lord Jesus Christ. Eginhard adds: After which praises he was adored by the Pontiff after the manner of the ancient Princes: and then, the name of Patrician being omitted, he was called Emperor and Augustus. Hence Theophanes; From that time and thenceforth Rome was in the power of the Franks, not as of Lords, as under the Greeks, but as of Defenders, as will appear below: but Leo himself, repaying Charles in turn, crowned him King of the Romans in the church of St. Peter the Apostle, anointing him with oil from head to foot, and surrounding him with the Royal garment and crown, on the 25th day of December, in the ninth Indiction: where I render Βασιλέα (King) and Βασιλικην ἐσθῆτα (Royal garment) word for word, to show that those words were in use among the Greeks, where the Latins say Emperor and Imperial.

[36] After the celebration of the Masses, says Anastasius, the most serene Lord Emperor himself offered a silver table … But also in the Confession of that Apostle of God he offered, he offers many gifts to the Church; together with his most excellent son the King and his daughters (these in Alcuin in the poem before-cited are recounted in this order, Hrodrud, Berta, Gisala, Hrodhaid, Theodrada, Hildrud: but his fourth wife Luitgard is not here named, as having died at Tours on the day before the Nones of June, immediately before this Roman journey) with his son, and daughters, says Anastasius, he offered various vessels of purest gold for the service of that table … but also a golden crown with larger gems, which hangs over the altar, weighing fifty-five pounds: and a larger golden paten, with various gems, weighing thirty pounds: and a larger chalice with gems and two handles, weighing fifty-eight pounds … he offered too upon the most sacred altar of Blessed Peter the Apostle a smaller silver table, with its feet, weighing fifty-five pounds; with various silver vessels of wondrous size, which pertain to the use of that table. Likewise in the Basilica of the Savior our Lord Jesus Christ, which they call the Constantinian, he offered a Cross with hyacinth gems, which the kindly Pontiff appointed to precede in the Lætania, according to the petition of that most pious Emperor …

[37] and the offenders against the violated Pontiff brought into judgment, But afterward (or, as Eginhard, after a few days) when those most wicked malefactors had been led into judgment, who had deposed the same Pontiff the previous year; namely Paschal with Campulus and their followers, in the presence of the most pious Lord Emperor, the most noble Franks and Romans standing around, and all reproaching them concerning their evil counsels and operations, Campulus rebuked Paschal saying; In an evil hour I saw your face, in that you then sent me into this peril: and the rest likewise, one condemning another, made manifest their own guilt. he condemns to death: Whom when the most pious Emperor had recognized as so cruel and wicked [according to the law of the Romans, as guilty of the crime of treason, they were condemned to death. For whom however the Pope with pious affection interceded with the Emperor: for both life and integrity of limbs were granted to them. But for the greatness of their crime] the Emperor sent them into exile, in the parts of France. Thus far Anastasius, interpolated with the words [] of Eginhard, the former of whom has nothing further concerning Charles, but the latter proceeds thus: but Leo intercedes. The affairs then of the city of Rome and of the Pontiff and of all Italy being ordered, not only public, but also ecclesiastical and private (for the whole winter the Emperor did nothing else), and an expedition into the Beneventans being again sent with Pippin his son, after Easter, the 7th of the Kalends of May (and thus on the third Sunday and the feast of St. Mark and of the Greater Litanies, for Easter had been kept on the 4th of April) having set out from Rome, he came to Spoleto.

§. V. Concerning the Leonine Triclinium, and its mosaics, and the meaning of these.

[38] Before Leo sustained the persecution before narrated, The greater Lateran Triclinium, built before, he had made, Anastasius witnessing, in the Lateran Patriarchium a Triclinium, greater above all triclinia, adorned by the greatness of its name, placing in it most firm foundations; and around it he adorned it with marble plates, and paved it with marbles "inexempla" (that is, incomparable, or rather, as Alemannus, "exemplata," that is, figured or historiated); and decorated it with various columns, both porphyry and white and sculptured, with vases and lilies placed together. The chamber with the apse of mosaic, and two other apses, painting various histories, he likewise decorated with the incrustation of marbles round about. But after, restored to his See by the benefit of Charles, he had crowned the same Emperor, and after the solemn banquet provided for him in the Triclinium, he caused his own and that one's perpetual memory to exist there too, after the Emperor was crowned Leo adorns it with mosaics: by a double emblem on either side, concerning which we here take it upon us to treat. For that work, repeatedly restored, when at last it had so decayed, that, besides one of the three apses, and that deformed by the plaster being partly knocked off, nothing survived at the beginning of this century; Francis, Cardinal Deacon of St. Agatha, Barberini (as the inscription now to be read there has it) of the Triclinium constructed by Leo III Roman Pontiff, repaired by Leo IV the successor, sixty years after, restored in the year 1625, in our age at last almost demolished, this more illustrious part, in which both translations of the Roman Empire, and the public peace restored to the City, is contained, he propped up the walls here and there, restored the mosaic of the chamber, and the once-falling emblem of the right apse, received in colors by the diligence of the antiquaries, then wholly collapsed, restored to the ancient model, with the highest fidelity, from mosaic, in the year of Jubilee 1625. Of the rest of the fabric absolutely nothing survives: since those most firm foundations, drawn from the aforesaid apse to the Sancta Sanctorum, that is from south to north, the Lateran Penitentiaries wholly buried with seed-beds of vegetables and a garden: but those were laid under the level of the public road, as the lower part of the buildings shows; whose columns, buried under the rubble of the ruins, today are scarcely two cubits distant from the pavement.

[39] So Nicholas Alemannus: there exists the book of Nicholas Alemannus: who on the occasion of the aforesaid restoration made his notable erudition known to the City and the World, by editing a historical Dissertation concerning the Lateran Walls, in such a way, that concerning the building, where this public work exists, he promises to discourse to the Reader a few things and as the matter arose; then concerning the emblem of the mosaic and its history somewhat more; lastly to weigh more accurately the titles inscribed on the images, from which much may be elicited concerning the Patrician dignity of Charlemagne, much may be learned concerning the first origin of the Empire translated. That this may proceed more clearly for him, they are exhibited in three sculptured plates; I, the Ichnography of the whole work, but without any (which you may wonder at) trace of the columns before-mentioned, such as today no one is to be seen; II, the Orthography of the primary apse, as it appeared before the restoration with its roof fallen, with the first elevation of the left apse, which likewise today wholly fails; III, the same Apse restored. The last I think it enough to represent here, yet so that no one can greatly require the other two; since, above the empty wall now, a new one, by which now as by a partition the restored part is separated from the rest of the Leonine Triclinium extended toward the Sancta Sanctorum and the uncovered space, they are described; on the one side indeed the ichnography contracted into a short form, on the other the orthography of the ruinous work. But it is written to me, that to the height of the aforesaid wall an arch is drawn, which, covering the intermediate space, carries those who have advanced thither by lateral stairs up to a peribolus or parapet, distinguished by little columns, whence the whole form of the mosaics can most conveniently be beheld.

[40] Nothing here by chance, nothing done rashly, where in the first apse Christ with the Apostles: the diligence of the Levite Aediles persuades, praised by Alemannus in chapter 12, whose office it was to preside over the making of sacred buildings, and to take care that they were made with dignity and duly: for that such a College flourished long before and after, so that it stood also at this very time, the inscription proves, which before the Sixtine demolition of the Triclinium, behind it, was thus read; "By the care of N. Levite of Peter, in honor of the Archangels, Leo the Third Pope ordered it to be made." See therefore in the vault of the tribunal Christ standing in the act of blessing; and to preach the Evangelical peace, represented under his feet through the four quarters of the world, sending his twelve Apostles: who all seem, with hands reverently gathered under the planeta, to receive that command, "Going, teach"; but first of all Peter, unencumbered, runs before with the cross and keys, as having obtained from his Master the leadership of the whole Apostolic band. Whether, to denote the same preeminence of Peter, bidding them preach peace: the garment also unlike the rest may make, Alemannus does not explain; nor would I easily define: yet it is permitted to suspect something of the kind, while all those are wrapped in the sacrificial Planeta with the Presbyteral stole or orarium; but Peter seems to keep his hands unencumbered for the universal care. But what those, as it were cubit-long letters sewn to the same Planetas, and these (so far as I make out) Latin, signify, I would not presume even to divine: yet I believe that they too do not lack a mystery. But especially the Peace there noted is rightly taken, as assumed by Leo into a monument of that peace, which, the whirlwind being dispelled, Christ had restored to the City of Rome, without any blood of the guilty.

[41] For the rest; as the consideration of Alemannus, so ours, deserve especially the two pictures of the emblematic or mosaic work, concerning which he thus reasons in chapter 9: I know not what history of former times in this place Leo repeated, and composed with his own Pontificate; because both seemed to correspond to one another, a double emblem at the angles by a certain mutual likeness both of persons and of affairs; and accordingly he hoped that the images which referred to them, placed over against each other, could the more easily, from the agreement of the history, be compared, and the one be more clearly understood from the other. For three persons are in each plate; some lean on their knees, two sit on a tribunal, namely Christ on the right side, on the left the Prince of the Apostles Peter: to each his own, the Pontiff on this side, on that the Emperor, bends his knees; to Christ, Silvester and Constantine; to Peter, Leo and Charles. Of these each according to his condition takes from that one his insignia; the Emperors, a standard; of the Pontiffs the one, the keys in his bosom; the other receives the Pallium. Namely the author of the images wished it so to be understood, it is thought to designate the double translation of the Empire: that by each of those Emperors those Pontiffs were vindicated into dignity by the divine nod: that Leo IV was so restored to the whole by Charlemagne, just as Silvester was recalled by the right of postliminium by the Emperor Constantine: on the contrary, that the Emperors, by those same Pontiffs, obtained the Empire; Constantine indeed, after he was initiated by Silvester at the salutary font, confirmed in the Empire and divinely designated defender of the Christian Church; but Charles, after God, by Peter the greatest of the Apostles, that is the Roman Church, declared Caesar and chosen as vindicator.

[42] These things the history of those plates contains, says Alemannus, and that not Peter but Silvester is painted on the right; then still receiving, with the more common opinion, together with Cardinal Caesar Baronius, from the apocryphal acts of Silvester the Roman baptism of Constantine. But the same, which he judged of the History painted there, the restorer of the work Cardinal Barberini judged, when he said, that there is contained there both translation of the Roman Empire, namely from the Gentiles to the Christians, and from the Greeks to the Latins. But what Alemannus here laid down, he proceeds most learnedly to illustrate in the rest of his Dissertation: and first he lightly refutes him, who in the right plate (whose subscription, failing together with the name of the Pontiff, left a freer faculty to interpreters) believed he saw, in the image of the Pontiff, not Silvester, but Peter; and to him he opposes, that in the ancient icons of the Elders Peter is never to be found, clothed in that sacred mantle, which now they call Planeta, now Casula. Let not therefore Peter be there expressed: but whence will you set Silvester here for me, unless there be something else, which draws him back to that? It draws, you will say, "King Constantine." The name indeed of Constantine I read, but by how much more I value the Levite Aediles' skill in painting images duly, commended by Alemannus; by so much less, I believe, that he is signified here, where I see nothing less than Constantine, so long ago dead; but all the things of Charles, then living when the emblem was painted; as being composed against Constantine: which the stone or square plate behind the head manifestly shows; whereas for the deceased, worthy of special reverence, all the Roman mosaics are wont to place a circle of light behind the head, as for those who have attained eternal beatitude; concerning which matter I have treated elsewhere more diffusely, where of the images of St. Gregory, in whose Life John the Deacon book 4 chapter 84 expressly notes, that it is the badge of a living person; from which, he says, it is most manifestly declared, that Gregory while he still lived wished his likeness to be painted: but here it seems to be altogether the same Charles; but that square stone denotes, in the judgment of Alemannus himself, the perfection of the four moral virtues, to which every Christian ought to exact his life, or be squared, as Gregory himself in homily 21 on Ezekiel speaks. Alemannus indeed meets this objection; and believes it can be fitted even to the deceased Constantine; for before Leo there is found no example of one who attributed that sign to lay Princes: but let him find, who attributed it even to a dead man, before he restricts the opinion of John the Deacon: and we shall find those who gave the circle even to dead Gentiles. See therefore and consider here more expressly the right emblem, in which Constantine is presumed to be signified.

[43] If you have never seen the anciently sculptured and painted images of Constantine the Great (but who has not seen them?), consult his coins, proposed by me from Wiltheim on his feast day (for he too is venerated among the Saints, as I have shown), the day, I say, the 20th of May. You will find everywhere the beard, shaved after the manner of the Roman Caesars; the head either covered with a helmet, or girt with a gem-set diadem; the breast covered with a cuirass, the side militarily with a shield, or clad with the Consular trabea; in short you will see all things Roman, in the toga or in the soldier's cloak: but the letter R, which should name "King," nowhere at all. and all the things of Charles expressed at the left, But if you turn yourself here from the right emblem to the left, what else will you behold than the same as the Charles there, with a gently bearded face, in Frankish garb, with a standard likewise of his age, sprinkled on both sides with similar roses, of which the Constantinian ages savor nothing, the Caroline all things, and the only difference in the head-ornament, that on the right it seems Royal, on the left Imperial; both however of the same time. Wherefore I am vehemently deceived, if not after the same model, and with quite the same lineaments, each figure was composed: but that they now differ slightly, I judge to proceed only from the greater accuracy of those who, by the command of Barberini, carried nearer to the prototype of the left emblem, attempted to express it as like as they could in the copy; whereas the Antiquaries, whence too the delineation seems to have been received. from whose hands the Vatican copy of the right emblem is had, considering it from afar, as was permitted and as it had not yet wholly fallen away, were content with rude lineaments; which perhaps too for the greater part they supplied from the imitation of the left side, and also from their own fancy: for from this is altogether the linen band at the wrists and neck, with the form of the hair and the bristling moustache, things so alien from the Caroline age, much more the Constantinian, as they are near to the usage of our fathers. Nor does the title of Constantine move me much, headless as it appears; since the letter R, signifies nothing congruous to it: for headless the defect of the ✠ cross proves, before the names of Leo and Charles on the other side significantly expressed.

[44] Saving therefore the reverence, which I profess to be owed to the Most Eminent Restorer and most learned Commentator, even after the death of both; I will dare to think differently from them, who on the right was composed against the deceased Hadrian, as King, and to say that the same Charles is expressed on both sides, on the left indeed already Emperor, with Leo living; but on the right only King, with his most beloved, but now deceased, Pope Hadrian; to whom, supplicating before the feet of Christ, and tearfully setting forth the necessities of the Church pressed by the Lombards, the same Christ assigns Charles as defender, using the power which the Father gave him in heaven and on earth. The symbol of that power is the double key; but of the Defender, the standard held out to Charles the King, with the title of Patrician of the Romans, taken from the Greeks; and an exhortation expressed in these words, ✠ BE A TRUE Constantine: of which opinion however the first line has wholly fallen away, of the second only the R remains, like Constantine in protecting the Church, the space of both being empty. This or some other similar was the sense of those letters: nor would I disapprove if anyone should wish it rather to have been read thus: ✠ Charles King of the Franks the true Constantine; so that to him from the other side corresponded the name of the Pope; by these letters, SCS, or SCSSIMVS (most holy) Hadrian Pope. But another conjecture too occurs to my mind, from the names assumed more familiarly, which at that time friends, even Princes, used among themselves in letters and verses. So Alcuin repeatedly calls his Charles David; Charles, inscribing letters to Angelbert Abbot of Centule, dictates greeting to "Homer the chamberlain"; his own proper name being wholly suppressed. Why then could it not have come about, or even more familiarly so named: that Charles was privately named to Leo or Hadrian Constantine; of which usage the Pontiff wished the memory to exist here, confident that Charles could be sufficiently recognized, even under another name, from the very lineaments of the face, and from the true name to appear on the left. I would indeed dare to define nothing, but I judge that something altogether of the kind is to be thought, unless you should wish to think those letters to be a work much more recent than those figures; and to impute it to some bold interpolator, who rashly smeared his own conjecture, about Constantine painted there, on the wall with the plaster knocked off.

[45] While the choice of conjecture is made, I pass to the emblem of the left side, now to be considered with lighter labor; and with Alemannus I think, that Charles already crowned Emperor is here truly represented; nor, that I should dissent (as I have done elsewhere), does the title of King move me any more, there expressed from the usage and acclamations of the common people, to whom the title of Emperor was long unusual; but on the left, with Leo living, Emperor, since they themselves, who had received it derived from Augustus, the Seat being translated into Asia, were everywhere called Βασιλεῖς (Kings), more rarely Αὐτοκράτορες (Emperors / Self-rulers), and scarcely except in their own diplomas; whence the former title of Emperor … (containing more of humanity, less of dignity) was almost in contempt at that time; but Charles, by his usage, restored it to its former esteem; which was not so suddenly received everywhere, not even at Rome. But it moves me, so to think, not only the closed-over Crown (corona epanoclista), but much more the title D. N., that is "Domini nostri" (Our Lord), unusual to the Kings of the Franks, and first assumed with the Empire, as Alemannus learnedly proves. I would also gladly assent to him, that the Pallium is here imposed on St. Peter for this reason, that he may be understood to represent not so much his own person, as the fullness of Pontifical power, both in restoring Leo, and in committing to Charles the defense of the Church; with the title D. N., that is, of Our Lord, which the Orarium or, if you prefer, Pallium held out to Leo, and the keys placed in the bosom, denote; nor does the letter L, sewn to the lowest garment, seem to me to lack a mystery, but to designate the full Liberty of the Church established by that deed, the old yoke of the Greeks being wholly shaken off; nor another new one (as certain heretics contend) assumed.

§. VI. Whether at least the left emblem denotes the translation of the Empire, according to the mind of Leo: and in how diverse a sense Leo and Charles are written D. N.

[46] After Alemannus had explained the mosaic of the left part and its inscriptions, through four whole Chapters, Alemannus affirms, with all that erudition and accuracy which could be hoped for in such and so plausible an argument; but which we cannot transfer here, except by leading the discourse further from the affairs of Pope Leo; in the last two Chapters at length he takes it upon himself to inquire, Whether this plate contains the right and authority of translating the Empire, and whether the inscriptions of the same plate indicate the causes of its translation. That the translation was made the matter itself speaks; that it was made by legitimate authority and for most just

causes, let no one doubt unless he is impious; that Charles, who on the right under Hadrian is placed only as King of the Franks and Patrician of the Romans, on the left is exhibited as Emperor with the title of Our Lord and a crown, closed over after the institution of the Greek Emperors, is plain. But, since that whole matter proceeded by deed rather than by word, no decree being made against the Greeks; nor is Leo found to have marked them, however ill-deserving concerning the Apostolic See, but does not prove it: first foully despoiled, then cravenly deserted, with any ignominy; I cannot persuade myself to believe, that a man most holy and most modest wished to have in that plate of his a monument of Greece (so to speak) cashiered, or anything at all other than an argument of his due gratitude toward Charles.

[47] But neither does Alemannus himself bring forward anything, from which either of the two, which is sought in the title, may seem to be decided affirmatively in the body of the Dissertation; but he is wholly engaged in proving the articles, for the standard of either side is the same, and Frankish, which I think are to be held beyond controversy. Peter gives the standard into Charles's hand, but such as Christ before. Nor is that the Standard of the City or of the Empire, if I know anything: for nothing such will you find in Latin and Greek antiquity. The Romans had their Labara, square (as is known) in form, and this the whole Western Church, formed by the Roman rites, constantly preserves in its fanons. Flame-shaped ones, such as are seen here, the nation of the Franks seems always to have employed; whence their Oriflamme, which you may interpret as "primary standard" from the German idiom, once the native tongue of the Franks. Hence I should believe it came about, that Pope Stephen III, when he created Pippin and his sons Charles and Carloman, anointed Kings of the Franks by him, also Patricians of the Romans at St. Denis near Paris, marked that deed by the handing over of a standard of this kind: such as was assumed by the Patrician created by Stephen III at Paris, what he intended by which, he himself explains in the Epistle to the same, which is in the Codex Carolinus 6, and is alleged by the author of the Annals of the Franks on the year 754 number 57, in these words, To no one but only to your most loving Excellency, or to your most sweet sons and to the whole nation of the Franks, by the precept of God and of St. Peter, have we committed the holy Church of God and our people of the Republic of the Romans to be protected. Of the same form moreover Hadrian sent a standard to Charles, confirming to him the Roman Patriciate; and such as Hadrian and Leo afterward sent. of the same form Leo sent it, and therefore the Levite Aediles caused it to be expressed here too: but with some diversity of color, not observed by Alemannus. For our Francis Vannius, asked to explore each thing more closely, found that the standard of the left side is blue, which color is still Royal to that nation: but that which St. Peter holds out is of a red color; both because here he could admonish, that blood, if there were need, was to be shed for the Church; and because the Church has always had this color proper to itself, and even now has it in the labara and processional fanons, a symbol of martyrdom and charity; which, since below they are wont to be split into three lappets, to signify the mystery of the one and triune Deity; it appears why the Leonine Flame-standard too is split three ways; although that can also be referred to a more express likeness of a Flame, whence the name is taken.

[48] Sprinkled on them are six roses, Now if the Flame-standard or Standard, such as I have said, has nothing Roman in its origin; much less have it the six Roses in Alemannus, sprinkled equally on the standard of the right as of the left emblem. Meanwhile they effectively exclude the times of Silvester and Constantine, to which the curators of the work could only most inexpertly have referred them; sufficiently and more than enough indicating, by the very likeness of the standards, that they have one and the same cause of painting them on both sides. Ciacconius and his followers, an occasion being snatched from whatever source of attributing hereditary insignia to each Pontiff, do not at all hesitate to assert, that those Roses were armorial to that family from which Leo proceeded; doubtless about to name the family too, if they had found any among the Romans that used them. But far be it that we should think there were any armorial insignia before the eleventh century, in the manner in which they afterward prevailed. But if it is necessary to divine, what those Roses (if however they are Roses) in such a place and number, (which you may refer to the rite of the Rose to be blessed) there mean; there occurs to me the sermon of Pope Innocent III, held on the Sunday Lætare, about the year 1200, rendering the reason of the solemnity, which by the ancient custom of the Apostolic See is celebrated in the church of the holy Cross, called of Jerusalem, and why on that day the Roman Pontiff in that place presents a golden flower to the faithful peoples. You have this whole sermon edited in the year 1681 by Charles Cartari, after his treatise on the Golden Rose, in which, the various opinions of various men concerning the origin of that rite being related in chapter 1, he at length concludes, that the Roman Order, inserted in the year 1192 into the book of Censuses of the Roman Church, was compiled in the age of Charlemagne; whence we might infer, that that rite too, as it is there prescribed, is so ancient, that it is impossible to find the first origin. I said, "If however they are Roses": for (as the before-praised Vannius observed more closely) they are only little shields (scutula), surrounded with a triple circle, in this manner:

Where the middle orb, in the standard of the right side indeed, or rather six variegated little shields, which Christ holds out, as also the outermost circle, are painted with gold, but the second interposed between each with red; in the other however it is not sufficiently distinguished whether the color be golden: but red in the outermost, blue in the center manifestly appear. Let those seek mysteries in these, who will; let those find who can. I attend to the senary number of the little shields, and refer to my mind the custom of the German Churches, (observed even by Pope Alexander VII, in familiar conversation) of marking the years of preceding Prelates in the Episcopate by little rods, or smooth staves in the manner of candles, openly suspended in the church from the topmost ceiling. Hence it came into my mind to suspect, that in the labarum of the Patriarchal Lateran church a variegated little shield was wont to be painted each year, from the number of which the people might understand, how many years the Pontiff of that time counted in his Pontificate: by their number they seem to note the years of the Pontificate. and so there might be noted here, the sixth year of Leo, the same being of Christ 801, in which that Mosaic was made.

[49] [The triple key too in the bosom of Peter makes nothing for the translation of the Empire,] From the standard I pass to the three Keys, in which Alemannus places his chief force; to prove that the Church, represented by St. Peter, in the translation of the Empire from the Greeks to the Franks, used the fullness of Apostolic power, signified by those keys; for thus he says, chapter 14; The double Key, namely the authority of binding and loosing, is in the possession of the other Bishops of churches too; but the faculty of directing secular things by the rule of religion, and of tempering the state of public affairs, and of moderating kingdoms and empires by the censure of Christian piety, is plainly Apostolic and the highest ecclesiastical power: which, although it proceeds from the power of binding and loosing, yet belongs by right only to him, who alone is the father of all, the censor of religion, as having long before been wont to be painted: and the master of living well and blessedly. He therefore, since he is the Roman Pontiff, it was indeed his part, to govern the Empire, which had now strayed from religion, and had declared war on the Roman Pontiffs the teachers of piety, to designate a man, who would will all things for the sake of both religion and the Roman Church, the mistress of religion. As true as I think all these things to be, so little do I judge them to make for the ternary number of the keys; for although that power was always in the Church, yet it was of an indifferent custom, not only to the Latins, but also to the Greeks, to paint Peter with one, two, or three keys; and this Alemannus himself proves from a Greek Vatican Codex, written no more than painted in the year 699, producing an image of the holy Apostle of this kind. Nor is it difficult to produce more mysteries of the ternary number, to which the triple Key too may have looked.

[50] But perhaps the inscriptions attest the translation of the Empire being made, since Charles is entitled D. N. nor does the title D. N. either. No more assuredly, than when Leo is so entitled, would a change made in the Pontificate be signified; and unless we knew from elsewhere, that neither used that title before the beginning of the 9th century; from this picture indeed we should be ignorant, when such a title accrued either to them or to their predecessors. Of the Kings of the Franks it is clear, that their Chancellors, in subscribing diplomas, did not prefix even the title of "Lord" to their names. Of the Roman Pontiffs it is established, that they, equally as the other Bishops, were indeed wont to be entitled "Domni" (Lords), but without the addition of "Nostri" (Our). So the Brief of Leo himself concerning the Eresburg dedication is signed (as we have seen) "in the fourth year of the Lord Leo III"; and the same concerning all his predecessors the formula of the Epistles to be written to the Exarch of Italy and others, the Pontiff being dead, proves; the formula of which letters, after the chronology of Gregory II I have produced, thus conceived: "By these our humble syllables we make known to the excellency, preserved by God, of our Lord, though then first ascribed to Charles equally as to Leo. that there has been withdrawn from this light the Lord So-and-so, our most holy Pontiff." Since up to that time, in which Leo the Isaurian declared a nefarious war at once on the Roman Church and on the sacred images, the City of Rome, and whatever in Italy had not yet yielded to the barbarians, was in civil matters subject to the Greek Emperors, and their Exarchs and Patricians, whom by the title of "Our Lord," not only the rest of the Romans, but the Pontiffs themselves too always named. But after it was understood, that the Exarch Eutychius was present with Imperial mandates, to kill Gregory, and all anathematized the same Eutychius, The dominion of the City had indeed yielded to the Pontiffs under Gregory II, binding themselves great with small by an oath, never to permit the Pontiff, the zealot of the Christian faith and defender of the churches, to be harmed or removed, but that all were prepared to die for his safety, as Anastasius writes; the same seem to have subjected their city to the temporal Dominion of the Pontiffs, at least until the Images should be restored, and the patrimonies wickedly taken away should be given back. Yet because they held such dominion, rather by the right of sequestration than of perpetual possession, always prepared to receive the former Lords, returning to the faith, and repairing the damages inflicted, and rendering the due defense against the barbarians, into the possession withdrawn for so long; the Greeks being renounced, they never allowed them to be called "Our Lords," up to Leo. But he, seeing he could obtain nothing fair from Irene and Constantine her son, though orthodox; at length, what his five predecessors had now begun to do, betook himself wholly to the defense of the Franks; and perhaps had this very cause of his persecution, that he agitated counsels concerning the Greeks being wholly renounced.

[51] as the Emperor Louis testifies. Charles's son Louis in the Constitution concerning the Privilege

of St. Peter to Paschal: "I grant," he says, "the city of Rome with its Duchy, just as your predecessors held, possessed, and disposed of it in your power and dominion until now": by which words, signifying an older possession, he indicates at the very least that it had begun at least under Leo, Paschal's predecessor. Therefore I conceive that the matter between Leo and Charles was conducted thus in that year in which Charles remained at Rome, intent upon ordering the affairs both of the Church and of the City. Leo, considering the fickleness of the Roman people and the repeated machinations of the Greeks creeping in, and that this could not easily be repressed by his own sole authority, however much supported by the Frankish Patricians; unless the Greeks were entirely excluded from the West (for in the East he left all things to them intact, and Charles himself, yet Leo wished Charles to be called Our Lord, even when made Emperor, cultivated them as brothers), using his supreme right toward this end, and entirely of his own motion, he named, crowned, and anointed Charles Emperor, who least of all expected it. For as Eginhard writes in his Life, no. 33: "He at first so shunned the name of Emperor and Augustus that he affirmed that on that day, although it was a particular solemnity, he would not have entered the church, if he could have foreknown the Pontiff's plan. Yet he bore with great patience the odium of the name, since the Emperors of Constantinople were indignant over this, and he overcame their obstinacy by magnanimity … by sending frequent embassies to them, and by calling them brothers in his letters."

[52] and in turn he was thus ordered by this one to be so called, Hence it followed that he should thereafter be called by the Romans "Our Lord," and that they should thus cease thereafter to look to others. But that it might be established for them that Charles thought nothing else had been acquired for himself by that title over the Roman city and the patrimonies — partly already recovered from the Lombards, partly to be recovered from the Greeks — except the obligation of the Mundiburdis (as the Franks called it), that is, of guardianship and defense; I would believe that it was agreed between him and the Pontiff, that the same Romans should be compelled in all public acts to address the Pontiff with the title of "Our Lord," just as in the emblem of which we are speaking, and as was always afterward observed; although that People often attempted, that the Romans might know the dominion rested with this one, to recover the form of the old Republic before Augustus, having also shaken off the dominion of the Pontiffs. Therefore the Emperor and Augustus Charles acquired nothing more than the Patrician had had, except the title of greater dignity; and by this he became loftier among the other Princes throughout the Christian world insofar as he was more bound to the defense of the church by the Pontiff, who in turn was bound chiefly by spiritual arms to protect him, by whom he was especially to be protected with bodily arms. And this is what Charles, that the guardianship alone rested with him, inculcating in his testament to his heirs and three sons, says: "Above all, however, we command that these three brothers together undertake the care and defense of the holy Pope, just as it was once undertaken by our grandfather Charles, and by our father of blessed memory King Pippin, and afterward by us; that they strive to defend him with all help from his enemies; and cause him to have his justice, as far as pertains to them and reason demands."

[53] hence no mention of the City in the division The Emperor Caesar Charles, most invincible King of the Franks and Ruler of the Roman Empire, Pious, Happy and Triumphant, ever Augustus, drew up this testament in the year 806, establishing the division of his kingdom among his three sons up to the borders of St. Peter; excluding these altogether from the division, and much more the Roman City and its Duchy, of which he did not even make mention; inasmuch as by the title of Emperor — which nevertheless was most magnificent — he was made lord of not even a single district, as Charles le Cointe acknowledges in his Annals at the aforesaid year, no. 29. And yet all things, though confirmed by oath by each one in the assembly of the chief men and nobles, were sent through Eginhard to Pope Leo, that he might subscribe with his own hand: which the Pontiff, having read, both gave his assent and subscribed with his own hand. So Eginhard himself in his Annals. But why did he write no one as heir of the Imperial title? Doubtless because he knew that it could be conferred by no one except the Pontiff; and this was probably also contained in those very pacts which he had entered into with him at Rome.

[54] nor was the very title of Emperor given to any of the sons, Hence, when it is afterward read that in the year 813, in the month of September, he declared and crowned his son Louis a partner of the Empire; he is not to be believed to have done this by his own authority, but with the consent of Leo sought and obtained; perhaps on that very occasion on which he sent the testament to be subscribed: and not even then ought it to be believed that he conferred more on his son than the Imperial Septemvirs now confer on an elected King of the Romans: for Louis, although crowned at Aachen by his father, nevertheless gratefully received the Crown of the Empire from the hand of Pope Stephen IV in the church of Rheims, in the third year after his father's death; he himself having delayed thus far to go into Italy, where his presence was not necessary, except with the consent of the Pontiff, there reigning the son of his deceased brother, Bernard, who was nonetheless bound by the last will of his grandfather to the protection of the Church; and the same Emperor, designating portions of the kingdom to his sons, when he had preferred Lothair to them, and had made him a partner of his name (namely the Imperial name); "you commanded the deeds to be written," says Agobard of Lyons himself, writing, "and you sent it to Rome through the partner of your name, to be approved and confirmed by the supreme Pontiff." Finally, the son of that Lothair, Louis the Younger, crowned by Leo IV in the year 849, writing to Basil the Emperor of Constantinople, says: "The Princes of the Franks were first called Kings, then Emperors; only those, however, who were anointed for this with holy oil by the Roman Pontiff: among whom also Charles the Great our great-great-grandfather, anointed with such unction through the supreme Pontiff, the first of our race and genealogy, with piety abounding in him, was both called Emperor, and made the Anointed of the Lord."

§. VII. The remaining acts of Leo with Charles the Emperor.

[55] Leo visited Charles at Rheims in the year 804: In the year 804, when the Emperor Charles was staying at Aachen, in mid-November it was announced that Pope Leo wished to celebrate the Lord's Nativity with him, wherever this could happen. Charles immediately ordered him to be received honorably, having sent his son Charles to St. Maurice; he himself set out to the city of Rheims to meet him, and having received him there, led him first to the villa of Quierzy, where he celebrated the Lord's Nativity, then to Aachen: and having endowed him with great gifts, when he wished to go through Bavaria, he caused him to be escorted as far as Ravenna. The cause of his coming was this. It had been reported to the Emperor the previous summer that the blood of Christ had been found at Mantua: having gone to Mantua on the occasion of the Lord's blood, on account of this he sent to the Pope, asking that he inquire into the truth of this report. The Pope, seizing the occasion of going out, first set out into Lombardy as if for the aforesaid inquiry; and from there, having seized the journey, suddenly came all the way to the Emperor, and stayed with him eight days, and, as has been said, returned to Rome. How that same sacred blood was again found there at Mantua, next to the hospice of St. Andrew, in the year 1049, our Reader will find at the 15th day of March, where concerning St. Longinus, §§2 and 3, on the occasion of the body found likewise at that time.

[56] yet not with a great retinue, These things being omitted, it here suffices to have indicated that the foregoing was taken from the Annals of Eginhard; and that it is enough to convince of falsity the Epistles, under the name of St. Liudger, prematurely called Bishop of Münster (when that appellation was as yet unknown) and of Rixfrid Bishop of Utrecht, concerning the Canonization of St. Suitbert, stuffed with fables no less than the Life of this man published under the name of St. Marcellinus; as Bolland abundantly demonstrated on the 26th of March, before the life of the same St. Liudger, §§7 and 8; and he shows that it could not have happened that St. Leo, in the year 803, as is there said, coming to the Emperor Charles with great solemnity of his Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops, and Prelates, and Primates, consecrated many churches, altars, chapels, monasteries in this lower Germany on the Rhine and Meuse, granted Indulgences, canonized Suitbert, and indeed on the 4th day of September. Baronius saw this in his Annals, and therefore proposes for the reader to consider whether all these things should not be more conveniently referred to the first arrival of Leo in Germany! But neither could those things have been done then as they are narrated, nor ought they to be supposed done otherwise and with other circumstances, as he is feigned to have canonized St. Suitbert, when the more sincere writings are silent; in which, however, the brief delay of eight days with Charles, and the sudden journey with a small retinue, is so carefully noted. In vain therefore are those who think that the older usage of Indulgences and Canonizations can be established hence, against the torrent of more recent scholars, who constantly deny both: concerning which matters we too have disputed elsewhere, and we have had the most learned Mabillon agreeing with us in the Preface to the 5th century of Benedictine Saints, §. 6. Yet do not think that nothing at all of public matters was done by Leo in that eight days: for he himself, in his Epistle XI among the Councils of Labbe, refers Charles, for the memory of them, to his own Chancellor; "It is reserved," he says, "in your own Imperial documents, how in the palace at Aachen we provided with you concerning the Church of Aquileia, that it should hold its own See as one": and he adds: "For let your Clemency believe us, what did he do at Aachen? that whatever we, together with you, or your Orators with our Brothers and fellow-Bishops, handled there, is seen to be for the reward of your soul and of your sons." Why then should he not also have consecrated there at Aachen one or another altar, or even the Church of the Blessed Mary, at that time?

[57] In England he restored King Ardulf to his kingdom, In the year 806 the Emperor held an Assembly with the chief men and nobles of the Franks, concerning peace to be established and observed among his sons, and the division of the kingdom to be made into three parts, as was said above; concerning which, the testament having been made, the Pontiff both gave his assent and subscribed with his own hand, as the aforepraised Eginhard testifies, who carried the testament itself to Leo at Rome. In the year 808 the King of the Northumbrians from the island of Britain, named Ardulf, driven from his kingdom and country, came to the Emperor while he was staying at Nijmegen; and, having disclosed the business of his coming, set out for Rome; and returning from Rome, through the legates of the Roman Pontiff and the Lord Emperor, he strives to make peace between King Kenwulf and the Archbishop, he was restored to his kingdom. So the same Eginhard; moreover there is extant Leo's Epistle VII to Charles, by which he attests his affection to him, and gives thanks for the affection, and among other things also for that man received by him: "For," he says, "great joy and great gladness arose in our heart, because your piety sent your Envoys and brought him alive all the way to you. And I am greatly delighted at his life, because he both proved your faithful man, and directed his Envoys to us." he writes back to Charles concerning questions on Scripture:

Then, solicitous for arranging peace between Eanbald Archbishop of York and Cenwulf King of the Mercians, he confers his counsels on this matter with Charles, meanwhile praying his Serenity that, as he has begun, he would deign to labor unceasingly for that peace. Nor only concerning public affairs, which it would be long to touch upon individually; but also concerning sacred studies frequent communication occurred between Leo and Charles; whence there is extant Epistle IX of the former to the latter, concerning the understanding of three questions proposed from Matthew chapter I, Mark chapter II, and Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians chapter II.

[58] he declares his singular affection toward him, But it is useful to set forth for reading the beginning of the aforesaid Epistle VII, as a most affectionate one, which is of this kind. "I am not able to express in words, most clement Son, how greatly I am delighted by your work and your life. We therefore render great thanks to almighty God, because in the mouth of the heart, by experience, the savor of charity becomes sweet; since that is fulfilled which is written: 'As cold water to a thirsty soul, so good news from a far country.' Prov. 25. For your Serenity's letter, full of consolation, having been received, we at once, as was fitting, rendered thanksgiving to almighty God, who made your Imperial power to be the guardian of ecclesiastical peace … The love therefore and firm charity which we bear toward your Serenity, there is God in heaven who searches hearts and reins, who knows what kind of love and solicitude we have daily for your long-lasting prosperity. For after God and his Saints, we have no consoler, except your Imperial power alone, protected by God, whence we always expect defense and consolation." he gives thanks for the gifts, An affection no less mutual between the two is indicated by Epistle VIII with this opening: "By the great gift of God's mercy, the joys of the whole world have been multiplied, since, for the glorious zeal of your Clemency, which you bear toward the holy Church of God and our littleness, and for the most beautiful little gifts received of your bountiful munificence, and the writings of your Serenity having been read again, which tasted in our heart as if seasoned with honey, we rendered thanksgivings to God … But for such great immense benefits, with which you continually enrich us, we wish that from the Key-bearer himself of the kingdom of heaven, whose place by God's mercy we hold, you may receive a worthy reward, to whom you continually show such great honor. For we know, and we faithfully know, that in all things and in all matters pertaining to you, you will make our joy."

[59] Charles was nowhere lacking in the duty of a best son: but those whom he repeatedly directed into Italy as Envoys, that they ought to do justice for the Pontiff, sometimes did more harm than good: whence Leo had need, through an Epistle, he complains of the legates usurping the Pontifical rights, which is the twelfth among those published, and through the orators sent with it as delegates, namely John the most reverend Bishop and Basil the religious Hegumen, to complain submissively, that whatever he recovered through the Emperor's pious and lawful judgment — concerning, namely, the matter of the Palace of Ravenna (whence the Emperor had also ordered that no man whatsoever should henceforth presume to disturb it or bring it forward in judgment) — … "they took away all things, first Ravenna, with the cottages, vineyards, or cultivations and small possessions: and nothing," he says, "remained to us from it. Wherefore we beseech your Imperial clemency, that you would order to carry out concerning your donation received from God, which you offered to God's Apostle Peter, in such a way that it be diminished in no part; but especially through your laborious striving may it be able to persist firm and stable and unshaken for everlasting times; and we, though unequal, yet by God's mercy holding the place of the same Disciple, may safely and patiently be able to entreat the clemency of almighty God, that he stretch out your most strong arm mightily against the enemies of God's holy Church, and that you may crush all barbarous nations with the foot of strength."

[60] Something of this kind to the King, as he had been asked by Leo, then through the individual cities: Count Helmengaud had reported: whence in the Epistle that is seventh among those published (now the Epistles are collected in no order of time) he gratefully praises that service of his, made known to him from the Imperial documents: "But if all," he says, "which we daily suffer, he had intimated to you, both he himself and the rest of your Envoys who come to these parts, we believe they would make weariness for your ears. For we do not know whether it was your command, that your Envoys, who came to do justice, brought with them many men, and stationed them through the individual cities: because all things which the Duke, who had been appointed by us, used to take away through the settling of cases, and to grant to us yearly in the customary manner; those men of theirs carried off, and made a great collection from the people itself; whence the Dukes themselves can by no means present the support to us in full." And these things indeed Leo says, accusing no one by name by whom he had been injured, but concerning the Bishop of Amiens, employed more frequently than usual for Imperial legations, "for the great love," he says, "and great affection which we bear toward your Serenity, likewise concerning Jesse Bishop of Amiens, those things which we are able to recognize, we cannot keep silent. Jesse, your Bishop, can do you another service: for to carry a mission through the regions does not seem to us that he is suitable, nor to be summoned to secret counsel."

[61] While the Pontiff acts so confidently and candidly with the Emperor, that matter could not but sometimes sting some, who would have preferred Charles to be ignorant of what, and how, they had done in their Legations. Hence in turn they spread about him those complaints, of which, as written to him by the Emperor, And while they complained of his troublesomeness, Leo gives an indication in Epistle 3 in these words: "Our most faithful Envoys, returning to us, reported to us concerning your most benign goodness, which you bear toward the Blessed Apostle Peter and his Vicar from the inmost affection of your heart. Meanwhile they presented your honorable letters and the capitulary: which, unsealing after the re-reading of two letters … when we joined them in order to the sixth chapter, how much joy and gladness the aforesaid letters and the other chapters poured into us, with as much grief and sadness were we afterward filled. For there was contained in that aforesaid sixth chapter, that you are not able to find Envoys who please us: about which matter your Serenity is greatly saddened; and none of those who has already been directed to us will be sent any more by his own will, except that each one willingly desires to fulfill your will: and not only do your Envoys fear to carry your legation to our littleness, but also others now have not dared to seek help from you; because there is no one who has sought your Clemency, as they say, who could afterward come to our full favor."

[62] he renders an account of himself to Charles, But what did Leo say to these things? "We pour forth prayers to the Lord for those," he says, "who have lied such things to you. For let your Serenity believe us, that those things which we know to be for the salvation of your soul, we in no way keep silent; and if we kept silent before, now however we do not cease to intimate to your Power, whether of good things or of evil things … Therefore do not believe men too quickly before satisfaction. But nevertheless, if we received well and honored well for your love's sake, may God reward us with good things, and satisfy you, that you may contend the more in the causes of Blessed Peter: and if they did not report to you how honorably we received them, what else may we say, except that God may pardon them? Yet truly, if we had been near, with the help of almighty God's mercy, you would have had it to discern truth and falsehood: and he admonishes not to believe whisperers easily: because we believe such wisdom has been given you by God, that we would not have had such reproach and confusion in our face. We believe your Serenity remembers, that on several occasions you promised us, that you would permit no one to speak ill of us, nor would you grant him place. What therefore remains? except that, amid such great accusations, which have been told to you about us and our faithful ones, we with tears render thanks to almighty God. Charles commands not only the Pontiff, For from that love which we bear toward you, no one in this life can separate us, except death alone whenever it shall come upon us." That Charles was likewise affected is evident even from this Capitulary of his, in which it is said: "In memory of the Blessed Apostle Peter let us honor the Holy Roman and Apostolic See; that she who is the mother of our Priestly dignity ought to be the mistress of ecclesiastical order: wherefore humility is to be preserved with meekness, so that although a yoke scarcely bearable be imposed by that holy See, we may bear it and tolerate it with pious devotion." Nor will one wonder that this was so prescribed by him out of regard for the supreme Pontiff, who will attend to the precept, confirmed in the villa of Theotonis.

[63] "We will and command that all be obedient to their Priests, both of the greater order and of the lower, from the least to the greatest, as to the most high God, whose place they fill in the Church by their legation, but also to the least ministers of the Church. For by no means can we recognize how they can be faithful to us, or how they will be obedient to us and compliant to our ministers and legates, who do not comply with those in God's causes and the benefits of the Churches. Supported therefore by the divine oracles, we command that all be supremely obedient to them according to their powers, for carrying out the ministries, and for restraining wicked and sinful and negligent men. that they be obeyed in those things which concern themselves, But those who in these things, which God forbid, shall be found negligent and disobedient to them, let them know that they shall neither retain honors in our Empire, even if they be our sons; nor a place in the Palace, nor have any society or communion with us or with ours, but rather pay penalties under great strictness. For in these things we wish to recognize the faith and benevolence of all our faithful ones. For if they shall faithfully and usefully fulfill these things, then they will be faithful to God and to us: but if, which God forbid, they shall do otherwise; then not only as unfaithful, but also as infamous and reprobate shall they manifestly be marked, and their houses shall be confiscated, and they themselves shall be exiled."

[64] There were also those who carried tares before King Pippin, and he commands his son King Pippin to meet with Leo: whom his father Charles had set over Italy. "But almighty God," says Leo, "who is a just judge, before whose sight all hidden things are laid open, let him himself judge between us and them. For your heart can be satisfied, that we have no discord nor any iniquity concerning him; but we so love him, and so desire his advancement, as for a most dear son." These things he says in Epistle VIII, by which he replies to that which contained, he says, that Helmengaud and Humfrid the glorious Counts, sent by Charles to the Apostolic See, should first approach our son the Lord Pippin, and from your word should enjoin him, that, where it pleased both,

he should come to meet us; that what you wholly desire may, with God's help, come to perfection; that is, that peace and concord between us may be established firm and stable, God mediating. "And because the aforesaid Counts intimated to us," he says, "that our son the Lord Pippin the King desires to come to the thresholds of the Apostles, who replies that he is eagerly awaited by him: through your generosity, in mid-Lent, and to have a colloquy with us; our heart was lifted into great joy, which your most faithful Envoys can intimate to you with living voice; and at once we arranged all things with them, concerning the journey of our most beloved sweetest son; and we immediately directed our Envoy, who ought to make every preparation, so that he might join with gladness the thresholds of the Apostles and of our littleness … For let your Clemency believe us, that at whatever time he shall join us, with as much joy and as much gladness will we receive him, as befits the son of so great a defender of God's holy Church: for we know, with the Lord helping, that it will be for the advancement both of us and of him, if we join together."

[65] but in vain: This Epistle was written after the aforesaid Counts had indicated, concerning the coming of the Lord Pippin, that he would not be coming except after the holy day of Easter; which, if it was in the year 810, was celebrated on the 31st of March; after which day Pippin survived until the 8th of the Ides of July July 8, according to Eginhard's Annals, nor does he seem ever to have executed his father's command, the enemies of peace (as I think) alienating him from the Pontiff. Meanwhile Nicephorus ruled at Constantinople, and when he died in Moesia in the year 812, his son-in-law Michael, made Emperor, released the Legates of the Emperor Charles, who had been sent to Nicephorus, and he subscribes the peace made by Charles with the Greeks. with whom he also directed his own Legates, and through them confirmed the peace begun by Nicephorus. For at Aachen, where they came to the Emperor, receiving from him the written pact in a letter, after their custom, that is in the Greek language, they spoke praises to him, calling him Emperor and Basileus King: and returning thence to Rome, in the basilica of St. Peter, they received the same little book of the pact or treaty anew from Pope Leo, confirmed indeed by his assent and subscription. Thus Charles wished to have nothing ratified without the Pontiff that concerned the Church and the Roman city; and so neither in the following year, when he declared his son Louis a partner of the Empire, He dies in the year 814. is he to be believed to have done it otherwise than from the previously obtained consent of that one. But after this, in the year 814, while he was wintering at Aachen, at about the age of 71, in the 47th year of his reign, the 43rd of subdued Italy, and the 14th from when he was truly called Emperor and Augustus, on the 5th of the Kalends of February January 28 he departed from human affairs, according to Eginhard.

§. VIII. The acts of Leo with the Constantinopolitans. The Synodical letters of the Patriarch Nicephorus to him. A new conspiracy of the Romans quelled.

[66] Thus far we have considered Leo the Pope occupied in the West with his new Emperor; the East being disturbed by the adulterous marriage of the Emperor Constantine, of the affairs conducted with the Constantinopolitans and the rest of the East scarcely any traces remain to us. The East had begun to be violently shaken, a few months before Leo was ordained, when Irene the Emperor's mother was reduced to order, the Empress Maria thrust into a monastery, and in her place the chamberlain Theodota substituted. The adulterous nuptials, at which St. Tarasius the Patriarch had refused to assist, Joseph, the Steward of the great Church, celebrated: on account of which the Patriarch indeed removed that man from his rank and office, but did not maintain his firmness with the Emperor, that one being received to Communion, and the power having been granted of tonsuring the Empress and crowning the concubine, as Theophanes writes. St. Plato the Hegumen of the Saccudaeans, for this cause separated himself from communion with the Patriarch, and there is no doubt that he fled from prison to Leo the Pontiff by letters: for him reigning with his mother Irene alone, but that dissension had no progress, because the Emperor Constantine was deprived of his eyes and his kingdom by his mother in the year 797. Irene, however, now mistress of affairs, did not restore to the Apostolic See the patrimonies of Sicily and Calabria taken away by Leo the Isaurian: wherefore the crowned Emperor Charles (as Theophanes says) was planning to attack Sicily with a fleet: but he changed his plan, preferring to enter into peace and marriage with Irene: and in fact in the year 801 Envoys sent by Charles and by Pope Leo arrived at Constantinople, requesting that Irene be joined in marriage to Charles, Leo attempts to join her to Charles, and that thus the Empires of East and West be combined into one: to which she was about to assent, had not Aetius, administering all things after the Empress, and planning to transfer the Empire to his own brother, opposed himself to her counsels. Yet in the year 802 the Empress Irene sent a Legate from Constantinople, for the sake of confirming peace between the Franks and the Greeks; and he ratifies the peace. and the Emperor in turn sent Jesse Bishop of Amiens and Helingaud the Count to Constantinople, that they might establish peace with her.

[67] So then the business of demanding back the Patrimonies, or even the necessity, fell silent, She being deposed by the tyrant Nicephorus, the same having been restored by agreement: for Leo's letters to Charles given in the year 813 concerning Sicilian matters contain no complaints about the Greeks; but they indicate that Charles himself had a Legate there, and commerce of letters with Gregory the Patrician. As for the rest, whatever Irene's fault was concerning the Patrimonies, merciful God did not wish it to obstruct the reward to be given for orthodoxy restored: wherefore he gave her to adverse fortune to be purged, through which in the year 803 she was reduced to order, and from Nicephorus rising up against her, died holily in exile at Mitylene on the 9th of August. But that tyrant himself, seeing that he had enough enemies at home, joined his own men to the Imperial Legates returning to Constantinople, who came to the Emperor in Germany, he too confirms the peace with him: upon the river Saale; and they received in writing the condition of making peace; and dismissed thence, with the Emperor's letter, they returned to Rome, and thence reverted to Constantinople, as Eginhard testifies: so that it appears what part Pope Leo had in this peace. But that peace was not long-lasting: for in the year 806, a Fleet was sent by the Emperor Nicephorus, over which Nicetas the Patrician presided, to recover Dalmatia from the Franks; and the same man always seems to have been of a mind more estranged from Leo. who nevertheless forbids the Patriarch Nicephorus Inasmuch as in this very year St. Nicephorus the Patriarch, substituted in place of the deceased St. Tarasius, was prohibited by the same Emperor from sending Synodical letters to Rome after the custom: for thus he himself afterward excuses himself, having obtained free opportunity of fulfilling his office through the death of Nicephorus and the elevation of Michael to the Empire:

[68] "Let no one wonder that we come to this rather late, nor on that account bring our reputation into accusation: to send his Synodical letters to Leo, but rather let your Fraternity, beloved of God, hold it for certain that the Priestly custom has by no means become obsolete here, nor through contempt or sloth has anything of those things which befit ecclesiastical men been neglected: but the hard and implacable sentence of the overpowering one stood in the way, that we should not make use of the decrees. Let your blessed soul therefore pardon, if I have deserved any blame by my delay; and let it consider that it is by no means easy to oppose oneself to the powerful, lifted up by their own will, and busying themselves to fulfill whatever shall have pleased their mind. For indeed, thinking they had found a quite plausible cause, by which to hinder us, already then initiated into the Priesthood, from our office, they angrily objected to us, and everywhere divulged, that you were estranged from the Constantinopolitan Church, and had rashly torn yourselves from it. Since therefore this force or injury has pertained to you also, you will deem worthy of pardon those who, against their will, were constrained by an equal necessity."

[69] as not communicating with the Greeks, Although in the year 807, according to Eginhard, Nicetas the Patrician, who was keeping himself with the Constantinopolitan fleet in Venetia, peace having been made with King Pippin, and a truce having been established until the month of August, broke camp and returned to Constantinople; yet it was not easy for the most wicked Emperor to allow the Patriarch to communicate with the Pontiff; when he had compelled this man — a very good man indeed, but still unskilled in ecclesiastical matters, as one taken from the court to the Throne — in every way; to receive back into his former rank Joseph the Steward, absolved by a pseudo-synod of a few Bishops; and to allow Saints Theodore and Plato to be driven into exile, another robber-Synod having been convened. For there is extant St. Theodore's epistle concerning all these things to Leo the Pontiff, and it is read in Baronius at the year 809, no. 14; which having been received, that one returned Apostolic letters; which, although they are not extant, that they were full of fatherly love is indicated by other letters from the same Theodore, no. 18, on account of the impure Joseph received into communion. by which this man discloses the wicked heresy of those who, holding tenaciously to the error in receiving Joseph, defended the dispensation (as they said) lawfully made over the adultery; and Theodore disputes most strongly against it, and excuses himself to Leo, to whom he had been falsely reported to communicate with certain heretics, and he anathematizes them. It is also probable that Leo, informed by such letters how great a danger orthodoxy was again involved in at Constantinople, through that scandalous contention between the Monks and the Patriarch; did not stop within the bare duty of consolation; but also pronounced excommunication, or at least threatened it, against those who defended the most base deed of Joseph as if lawful.

[70] But that one being removed, and peace composed, Joseph being driven out, But the Emperor Nicephorus being removed from the living, Michael substituted, when in the year 811, he first strove to recall to concord the most holy Patriarch … and Theodore and Plato with the chief men of the monastery of the Studites. He also designated Legates to Charles King of the Franks, who might treat concerning peace and marriage to be entered into with his son Theophylact: but also Nicephorus the most holy Patriarch transmitted Synodical letters to Leo the most holy Pope at Rome, as Theophanes writes: but Michael the Studite, in the Life of St. Theodore himself, praising the new Emperor, because he soon most fittingly joined together the dissenting members, again connecting into one the beautiful body of the Church; and restored the former concord to Priests and Monks; Joseph namely, who had before been cast out from the Church, being now from the same more openly cut off as a useless member. Theophanes adds, that "This pleased above all the Roman Bishop, with the approval of Leo, who by his letters and Envoys confirmed the sentence: for the pious Emperor had employed that one as a mediator of peace and conciliator, to win over the minds of the Fathers." In the aforementioned Synodical letters Nicephorus the Patriarch first renders an account of his life from its beginning, and of his election, the Synodical letters were at last dispatched: then makes an accurate and distinct profession of the faith, condemns heresies, asks to be taught, and finally, having excused (as I said) the delay, promises a continual commerce of letters, and grieves that meanwhile there are some who count divine things as worthless, and for the sake of their own reputation contrive anything whatever, nor have any concern what manner of judgment from God hangs over them.

[71] in which prayers are asked for the pious Emperor Michael "But truly indeed," he says, "as is customary for those"

and pleasing to gape after present glory and splendor; so it is plainly fitting that we devote our efforts in every way to the divine glory and ecclesiastical comeliness and concord, and to the observance of the sacred Canons, and that we apply ourselves day and night to our duties, and that for our most pious and most powerful Emperor, now declared, a sincere and true son of the Church, and excellently adorned with morals pleasing to God and with the conduct of an honest life, we offer continual prayers and supplications to God, who crowns him and administers the kingdom with him, that he may bestow on him a peaceful life and an empire as long-lasting as possible, adorn him with barbarian triumphs, grant him the happy governance of the Christian world, incite him to zeal for the orthodox faith, and gifts are added. and at last so perfect him in the observance of the divine precepts, that he may leave to his own, with the long duration of his kingdom and power, no common honor and glory. Finally, having commended Michael Metropolitan of Philadelphia, the bearer of the letters, and having asked for prayers with St. Peter: "As a sign," he says, "of the charity which exists between us in the Lord, we have sent to your fraternal Beatitude a golden encolpion pectoral reliquary, one side of which is enclosed in crystal, the other fashioned by cast work. It has within it another encolpion, into which particles of the precious Wood of the Cross are inserted. To these has been added a white Sticharion, and a Phelonion woven of chestnut color, then also an epitrachelion and an encheirion, variegated and adorned with gold. These things, in place of a memorial, to be conveyed and submissively offered, God leading, to that merciful Apostolate, we have taken care to be wrapped in an elegant linen, and sealed with a leaden seal." But the peace of the Church was not long-lasting: for when Michael in the year 813, after one year and nine months of Empire, had yielded it to Leo the Armenian, preferring monastic quiet to a restless and unhappy kingdom; the new Emperor began in his second year to bring forth the hidden poison of the iconoclastic heresy, and to stir up those tragedies which you may see on the 12th and 13th of March in the Acts of St. Theophanes, often cited, and of St. Nicephorus the Patriarch, of whom, by this man, the latter was cast down from the Patriarchate, the former deported into exile, and each shone with a distinguished confession:

[72] A new conspiracy of the Romans against Leo, That this new tempest in the Eastern Empire, more atrocious than the former ones, brought a new heap of griefs and cares to Pope Leo, already much afflicted by the death of his defender Charles, surely cannot be doubted. But that he attended the less to applying a remedy, domestic disturbances again caused. For when in the year 815 the Emperor Louis was holding a general assembly at Paderborn, it was reported to him, says Eginhard, that certain of the chief men of the Romans had conspired to kill Pope Leo, in the very city of Rome: and then, when the indication of this matter had been brought to the Pontiff, all the authors of that faction had been put to death by his order. "Since he bore this with displeasure … he sends Bernard King of Italy his nephew … to investigate what was reported, to Rome. When he had come there, he lay down with sickness: the matters, however, which he had ascertained, he announced to the Emperor through Count Gerhold, quelled through Bernard King of Italy, once who had been given to him as legate for this. Him the Pontiff's Legates followed — John Bishop of Silva Candida, Theodore the Nomenclator, and Sergius the Duke — who satisfied the Emperor in all things concerning those things which were being charged against their Lord."

[73] and again. There is no one who explains these things more distinctly: but after a few things Eginhard adds something, that "when the Romans saw that Pope Leo had lain down with sickness, having gathered a band, they first plunder all the estates which they had newly built in the territories of the individual cities, then, fire having been set, burn them; then they decide to go to Rome, and violently to carry off what they complained had been snatched from them. When this was learned, King Bernard, having sent a band through Winigis Duke of Spoleto, both quelled that sedition, and made them desist from their undertaking, and announced to the Emperor through legates what had been done." Then indeed, The Rogations being appointed, if ever at any other time, that wholesome counsel could and ought to have been used; by which the Pontiff himself, protected by God and illustrious, instituted (the year is unknown) that for three days before the Lord's Ascension, the Litanies should be celebrated, namely on the second day of the week Monday the Pontiff going forth with all the Clergy and all the People, with hymns and spiritual canticles, from the church of the Mother of God at the Manger, proceeding to the church of the Savior, which is called the Constantinian; but on the third day of the week Tuesday, going out from the church of St. Sabina the Martyr, and proceeding to the Blessed Apostle Paul; on the fourth day of the week Wednesday, going out from the church of Jerusalem, and proceeding to the church of the Blessed Laurence the Martyr outside the walls, as Anastasius writes.

§. IX. Leo's magnificent liberality toward repairing and adorning churches, and his death.

[74] Having taught us to refer the origin of the Lesser Litanies as received to Pope Leo, Anastasius filled the remainder of his very long treatise about him with recounting Having adorned the Vatican triclinium before his exile, the illustrious works which he did within and outside the city after his return from exile; and also with enumerating the offerings, repeatedly bestowed through the churches; all of which it would be long and tedious to transcribe: I shall therefore select here some of the more outstanding, whence may be made a conjecture about the rest. When therefore Anastasius had signified, that the aforesaid most holy Pontiff, within the first four years of his See, after his return adorns the Presbytery: besides other things indicated in § I, near the church of the Blessed Apostle Peter, made in the greater triclinium an apse decorated with wondrous beauty, adorned with mosaic, and two apses on the right and left gleaming with marble and painting (almost as in the Lateran Patriarchate), and the pavement laid with marble patterns, with the rest of the spacious buildings, both in the ascent of the staircase and behind the triclinium itself; he adds that, after his return, and on account of his exceeding love, he made for this same nourisher of his, Peter, a Presbytery newly, entirely of marble, of great beauty, sculpted and elegantly erected …

[75] he restores some suburban churches, He newly renewed the roofs of the church of the Blessed Apostle Andrew, situated at the thirtieth milestone on the Appian Way on the Silex; together with the baptistery and portico: in which church he appointed a Presbyter, where he also offered gifts both in silver and in vestments and books. But in the ninth indiction, that is in the year 801, our sins impending, suddenly an earthquake occurred on the day before the Kalends of May April 30; and the church of the Blessed Apostle Paul, shaken by that very earthquake, all its roofs fell. and the basilica of St. Paul, When the great and illustrious Pontiff beheld this, coming into great tribulation, he began to lament both for the silver and for the other items, which were there demolished and broken. But, with the Lord assenting and the blessed Prince of the Apostles protecting, the aforesaid Pontiff, laying the foundation with all his efforts, as it anciently existed, with ample and very great strength, brought it into a better state; and adorned it with marbles in a better form, and overlaid with marble both the Presbytery and the whole church, and renewed its porticoes; and likewise in the nave which is over the altar, newly restored all the roofs, and there offered three golden images, namely of the Savior Our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the blessed Princes of the Apostles Peter and Paul. But another silver gilded image of the Savior he placed over the doorposts at the entrance, weighing sixty pounds. But also he newly restored all the silver there, which had been shattered; and likewise adorned the windows of that church, of wondrous beauty, with Cyprian metal …

[76] In the Basilica of the Blessed Pancratius the Martyr he made a ciborium of the purest silver weighing 367 pounds: and in the title of Calixtus, in honor of the holy Mother of God and ever-virgin Mary, he establishes silver ciboria at St. Pancratius's and St. Mary's, he made a ciborium of silver, weighing 504 and a half pounds … And likewise he made in the Lateran Patriarchate a triclinium of wondrous size, different from the other mentioned one, decorated with an apse of mosaic; but also other apses, ten on the right and left, painted with various histories, having the Apostles preaching to the nations, adjoining the Constantinian basilica; in which place he also set couches, and in the middle a porphyry basin pouring forth water, and also laid its pavement with various marbles … But the church of the Blessed Apostle Paul, which is called Conventus, and another triclinium at the Lateran; situated in the territory of Orvieto, within the borders of Sovana and Chiusi … which through exceeding age had already withered, and in it the flocks made refuge, and also from it Relics had been taken away … he ordered to be cleansed, and all its roofs in the porticoes newly restored; and in the altar … Relics to be deposited. In like manner also in the basilica of the Blessed Apostle Peter, he restores in Tuscany the church of St. Paul, situated at Albano, which through exceeding age was already about to fall, he newly restored all its roofs … The same all-nourishing Prelate, filled with divine inspiration, made in the basilica of the Blessed Apostle Paul a ciborium with columns, over the altar, of wondrous size and beauty, adorned with the purest silver, and at Ostia that of St. Aurea. weighing two thousand and 15 pounds … But the roofs of the church of the Blessed Aurea, situated at Ostia, he newly repaired all. But the church of the Blessed Marcellus, situated at the fourteenth, which had been burned by fire, he restored in all things …

[77] Beholding the baptistery at the Blessed Andrew's, because it was already nigh to ruin through exceeding age, and because the place was too narrow for the people who came to baptism; constructing the baptistery itself from the foundations in a round form with ample breadth, he establishes a baptistery at St. Andrew's: he raised it into a better state; and founded the sacred font in the middle in a more spacious area, and adorned it round about with porphyry columns; and in the middle of the font he placed a column, and over the column a lamb of the purest silver pouring forth water, weighing 18 pounds: and also he constructed the high altar under the apse, whose face and confession he overlaid, as it were with folds, for the adornment of that sacred altar, with the purest silver, weighing together 48 pounds … but the baptistery itself he adorned round about with various paintings. But the Oratory of the holy Cross, which through exceeding age was about to fall, he raised from the foundations together with an apse with a new building, and brought it to completion; and adorned that apse, decorated with various paintings of mosaic and with marbles, with wondrous splendor, he repairs the Oratory of the holy Cross, where he also offered a ciborium over the altar, with its columns, and overlaid the face of that altar with the purest silver, weighing 121 pounds … He made in the basilica of St. Peter a ciborium with four columns, of the purest gilded silver, with various histories, of wondrous size, wondrously decorated; which weighs two thousand seven hundred and four pounds: but the ciborium which he took away thence he placed over the high altar in the basilica of the blessed Mother of God, he establishes a larger Ciborium in St. Peter's which is called at the Manger … Constructing newly from the foundations the Hospice of the Blessed Apostle Peter, in the place which is called Naumachia, he decorated there various buildings of houses, and built a church anew in honor of the Blessed Peter;

in which also, bringing the bodies of the holy Martyrs of the Church of Christ, he deposited them, and constructed all things which were necessary in the aforesaid hospice, and a hospice; He also offered there urban and rustic estates, for the sustenance of the poor of Christ, or for strangers or pilgrims who come from far regions, for the exaltation of God's holy Church and the salvation of the Roman people …

[78] He made in the Lateran Patriarchate an oratory from the foundations in honor of the Blessed Archangel, likewise an Oratory of the Blessed Archangel at the Lateran constructing it most firmly with remarkable workmanship, which also he adorned everywhere with mosaic or various paintings and most beautiful marble metals of diverse colors, and offered there all the treasures, both golden and silver, and also various veils. But the Macrona of that Lateran Patriarchate, which extends from the field and beyond the images of the Apostles, which through exceeding age was about to fall, where also he restores the hall of the Councils, he newly restored from the foundations, together with the roofs, and also the solarium from the bottom up to the top, and laid it for the better with most firm marbles, and made the chamber of that Macrona anew, and adorned it wondrously with paintings of various histories … But the basilica of the Blessed Apollinaris the Martyr, which is founded near the city of Ravenna, and at Ravenna the church of St. Apollinaris: whose beams through exceeding age, from the courses of years and the times grown stale, had withered too much, was now almost about to fall at that time: and the venerable Father, divinely inspired, sent there, and through his most skillful and provident care, newly and firmly restored all the roofs of that church, together with its quadriporticoes … But the Episcopium Bishop's residence of Albano, together with the church, and the Episcopium of Albano. which is founded in the name of the Blessed Pancratius, and through a certain negligence or through diabolical instigations had been burned from the foundations up to the top roof: but the most clement and most skillful Pontiff, with God's inspiration, from the illumination of the Holy Spirit, laying a firm foundation, in a wondrous manner newly restored the aforesaid church, He does not seem to have begun the Leonine City, but rather Leo IV. and together with the roofs, with God's help, brought it to a better state.

[79] These things will have been enough to have touched on in passing, a few of many, but the more illustrious from Anastasius: who, since he nowhere makes mention of the founding of the Leonine City, embracing the whole Borgo of St. Peter with the Mole of Hadrian or castle of St. Angelo, I scarcely dare to believe the more recent writers Panciroli and others, that Leo the Third had any part in that work, and I would prefer to leave all that praise to the Fourth. Enough for his glory are nearly a hundred temples restored, and most of the churches of the City adorned and endowed with many ornaments of gold and silver, and precious vesture and various furnishings; Finally, he expends on fashioning sacred vessels, how munificently this most magnificent Pontiff liberally expended thereon the treasures conferred upon him by the Emperor Charles, and the proceeds of the patrimonies recovered through the same, you may gather even from this, that the weight of cast and beaten gold, reduced from Anastasius into one sum, rises above eight hundred pounds; 800 pounds of gold, 21,000 of silver. of silver, above twenty-one thousand pounds. Add to these the gems and other treasures, whose estimation Anastasius did not care to ascertain, as neither the wages of the artisans, although the work often surpassed the material. He dies on the 11th of June, 816: Anastasius finishes the Life of Leo, or more truly the book about his works, in his customary manner, with these words:

[80] This most blessed Pontiff, after he had ruled the Roman and Apostolic See for twenty years, five months, and sixteen days most gloriously (namely from the 27th day of December of the year 795, until the 11th of June of the year 816 inclusive), being withdrawn from this light, migrated to eternal rest. three Ordinations having been made in March, Now he made three Ordinations during the month of March, by the example of his three immediate predecessors, with the others preceding (so far as we can ascertain from Anastasius noting the month) when December had pleased for such a function; these probably having regard to the Lord's Nativity, those to the divine Incarnation. Now Leo ordained, in those three times taken together, thirty Cardinal Presbyters, eleven Cardinal Deacons, and Bishops through diverse places to the number of one hundred and twenty-six. he is buried on the 12th of the same, and Stephen IV succeeds. For Bishops were not yet reckoned among the Cardinals; and the seven Suburbicarians, who now for the first time form the order of the sacred College, did not then even have the right of suffrage in the election of the Pontiff; but were present at it only as arbiters, and as about to ordain the one elected. Leo was buried, the day after his death, in the basilica of the Blessed Apostle Peter, on the day before the Ides of June June 12, in the ninth Indiction: and the Episcopate ceased for ten days; after which Stephen IV was ordained, on the 22nd day of June, the second Sunday after Pentecost, named by Baronius as the Fifth, because he believed that one whom, since he was elected, ought not to be omitted in the number.

OF SAINT ODULPH,

PRIEST OF UTRECHT.

ABOUT 865.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

On his cult, relics, and life.

Odulph, Priest, of Utrecht in Belgium (St.)

BY THE AUTHOR G. H.

St. Odulph flourished in the ninth century of Christ, whose memory we have inscribed in the manuscript Martyrology of Utrecht of the Church of St. Mary, written nearly seven hundred years ago, in these words at this 12th of June: "At Utrecht, the birthday of Saint Odulph, Priest and Confessor." Where, His memory in ancient Martyrologies, for greater knowledge of the place, in the Martyrology printed at Cologne and Lübeck in the year 1490, is read: "In Lower Trajectum"; which is Utrecht, so called in respect of upper Trajectum Maastricht, situated on the Meuse. With the place of cult not indicated, he is referred to in the ancient manuscripts of the Cathedral Church of Arras, of the monastery of St. Laurence at Liège, of St. Martin at Trier, of St. Gudula at Brussels; also of Leiden, and some other Utrecht one, and in several manuscripts; likewise in the Martyrology, often published under the name of Bede, which is shown hence to be spurious. But a greater eulogy in the manuscript Usuard, augmented in Alsace, is referred to thus: "On the same day, at Lower Trajectum, the burial of St. Odolf, Canon of the monastery of the Holy Savior: who converted Frisia again with St. Frederick his Bishop: and because they did not benignly listen to him, he predicted that the Danes were going to come upon them, and that many Martyrs were going to be in Frisia: and so it was done. Finally, near the end of his life he built a monastery in Frisia, and predicted that the sea would be there. Finally he returned to Trajectum, and died in peace."

[2] Similar eulogies are in the manuscript Florarium, but not so ancient; also in monastic ones, in which he is said to have died in the year of salvation 865: and also in the Auctarium of Usuard, reprinted by Greven about the year 1521, in the Indiculus of Molanus and the Natales of the Saints of Belgium, in the Natales of the Canon Saints of Ghini, in the Benedictine Martyrology of Arnold Wion, whom Dorganius and Bucelinus followed, and the latter with a very long encomium: but Menard prudently omitted him. Miraeus excellently explains the state of his life in the Belgian Fasti: "Having set out for Utrecht," he says, "he joined himself to the Canons of the Holy Savior, commonly Oudtmunster, who were then still leading a common and as it were cenobitic life: and sent by Bishop Frederick into Frisia, he restored the College of Canons living likewise in common at Staveren, which Andreas of Cuyk, the 25th Bishop of Utrecht, afterward assigned to the Benedictines called from Oostbroek." These things Miraeus: to which Molanus has similar things, whence it is understood on what basis he was ascribed to the Benedictines. We also find that by the Windesheim Congregation of Canons Regular, in the Ordinary of the divine office printed in the year 1522, and in various Breviaries: his feast is venerated under the rite of nine Lessons, which is also celebrated by the Lateran Canons Regular under a double rite. But that his feast was celebrated throughout the whole province of Utrecht, very widely extended, with a solemn rite, is indicated by the ancient Missals and Breviaries which are very many with us, as also the manuscript Haarlem Breviary, and that they are still continued is indicated by the proper Offices of the province of Utrecht printed and reprinted in this century.

[3] Oultjens-plaat is a large village, like a town, in the island of Over-Flakkee, between Holland and Zeeland, called as it were the Syrtis Sandbank of St. Odulph, A church at Oultjens-plaat, and that there was there a Church dedicated to St. Odulph was indicated to me once by Jacobus de la Torre, Archbishop of Ephesus and Pontifical Vicar in the said Province of Utrecht, which we then noted down from his mouth. At Amsterdam by the New Bridge, at Amsterdam, commonly de Nieubrugge, that there was once a church sacred to St. Odulph, Adrian Cools of the Society of Jesus, then Superior of the Mission of Holland, wrote to us from Amsterdam in the year 1658. That a basilica of Canons is dedicated to the same, at Lossen, in the town of Lossen in the diocese of Liège, Miraeus and Molanus indicate: who adds that he was born at Oirschot in Brabant Campania, at Oirschot, where on his parents' estate there stands a church in his honor; which within a few years, on account of the multitude and scattered habitation of the inhabitants, was erected into a second parish church. These things Molanus. Staveren. But Staveren mentioned above, most celebrated for his veneration and miracles, was once the greatest, richest, and most splendid of all the cities of Frisia, indeed even believed to be a seat of Kings, with a harbor then exceedingly convenient; whence the accumulated wealth begot such luxury, insolence, and wantonness, that whoever bears himself too insolently among the Frisians is said, by a common proverb, to seem "a wanton youth of Staveren." But from the presage of St. Odulph it so happened with the said city, that it gradually lost its fortune; and so declined, that it scarcely retains the name of a town, and few inhabitants sustain life by the catching of fish and by navigation.

[4] his church at Utrecht, Beyond the rest of the places, moreover, his cult was prominent in the church of the Holy Savior at Utrecht, in whose cemetery his house used to be shown, inscribed with these little verses, related by Bouchel in his Notes on the Chronicle of John of Beka, in the chapter on Bishop Alfric: "Odulf, whom illustrious Brabant from Oirschot Sent to this temple, dwelt as a Priest in this house." After death, buried in the Church of the Holy Savior at Utrecht, he became renowned for very many miracles. So the proper Offices of the province of Utrecht reprinted in the year 1640. Baldric the 15th Bishop in the 10th century, discovered the bodies of St. Odolph and others through a mystical revelation: concerning which holy Patrons he more gloriously adorned the Church of Utrecht. So Beka and Heda. Yet that the Saint's prophecy might be fulfilled, the finding of the body through a revelation. below no. 10, it is necessary that his body was afterward translated to Staveren, but when we know not how to divine, or what finally was done with it there. There, too, the sacred Heads of SS. Frederick the Bishop and Odulph the Priest used once to be exposed for public veneration: concerning which there wrote to John Bolland in the year 1644 the Magnificent man Gisbert Lappius a Waveren, Patrician and Jurisconsult of Utrecht, of whom there is illustrious mention in the Appendix to the Chronicle of John of Beka, p. 122; and from the memoirs of the same Lappius there was published the Life of Wilhelm Heda, before the History of the Bishops of Utrecht written by him, and the Notes on the History of Lambert Hortensius, before which is the Poem of Theodore Dousa to

Lappius himself. He therefore writes these things:

[5] "The Magnificent Lord Nyhuysius refreshes for me, in more than one letter, the memory of you, and your immense zeal for the Lives of the Saints … To give auxiliary work to this work of yours, to the praise of God's Saints, delights me; and most of all concerning the Saints of our own fatherland, among whose worshippers I profess myself even the first. Have therefore from me this twin inscription, which I delineated with accuracy, when these Relics were in the custody of my kinsman Pompey a Montzima, Canon and Treasurer of the Church of the Holy Savior (Oude-Munster) at Utrecht, and afterward Provost, The skull preserved with great honor: great-grand-nephew through a sister of the great President Viglius: which are now preserved in the Chapter, having been brought back after the decease of my kinsman. The skull of St. Odulph, enclosed in a silver head, of just and human size, has an inscription in a Germanizing letter (such as in my Hortensius I expressed a certain inscription) so that you may see with the eye what I call a Germanizing letter.

'In the year of the Lord 1300. The Dean and Chapter of St. Savior of Utrecht caused me to be drawn out from the chapel and made.'

The part of the skull of St. Frederick the Martyr, likewise enclosed in a silver mitred head, has the following inscription in the letter already narrated above.

'In the year of the Lord 1362. The Dean and Chapter of St. Savior of Utrecht caused me to be drawn out from the tomb, then renewed, and made, by Elias Scerpswert the goldsmith.'

There is preserved a wooden cup of St. Odulph, surrounded with a silver gilded cup, from which by a little golden chain hangs a cross of the purest gold, with the image of Christ crucified; in which both feet, resting on a support, are seen pierced through by a twin nail; and today, on the feast of that Divine one, those drinking from it dip the cross into the cup (S. Odulffs nap). The Divine Odulph himself wore that Cross on his breast. I myself often drank from that cup; when it was in the custody of my aforesaid kinsman Pompey."

[6] Thus far Lappius. But Peter Kerchoven, Dean of the Cathedral Church of Roermond, under an authentic instrument signed in the year 1629, on the 26th day of April, testifies that to the Lord Everhard Botter, Master of Accounts of the Chamber, while he lived, and Councilor of the Royal Majesty in Gelderland, residing many years ago at Utrecht, many Relics were communicated from the treasury of the holy Relics of diverse churches and monasteries, and among the rest these of St. Odulph the Confessor, Canon of the Collegiate Church of the Holy Savior of Utrecht; of St. Gregory, Bishop of the same city: a great part of which was carried thence likewise particles of the bones of St. Chelindris Virgin and Martyr and of the Holy eleven thousand Virgins. And since the widow left by the said Lord Botter, the Damsel Ida van Mierlo, attests that the named Relics were received by her late husband from the very shrines of the Saints in the church of Utrecht and the monasteries; Hence it is that I attest that the same Relics of the aforenamed Saints, male and female, can be held as such; since the faith, life, and honesty of the aforesaid Damsel widow is so known to me, that in a matter of such great moment she would give no testimony other than agreeable to truth. Of this instrument, whose original is preserved in the College of the Society of Jesus at Halle, on the border of Hainaut and Brabant, three leagues distant from Brussels, to which, in the said year 1629 on the 18th day of April, the said Relics had been assigned as a gift by the aforementioned Widow Ida van Mierlo, with a letter of donation: which we also have, communicated to us.

[7] The same Relics were approved; and permitted to be exposed for public veneration by the most Illustrious Francis Vander Burcht, Archbishop of Cambrai, on the 8th day of June of the said year 1619; and in the proposition made to him, it is preserved at Halle: it is said to be a great part of the skull of the head of St. Odulph, Confessor, Canon of Utrecht. Now these Relics are kept with others in the domestic Chapel of the College of Halle, covered with silk vestment and gold, with others in a larger chest adorned with cloth of gold and silver; and they are exposed on the day before the feast, before first Vespers, on the altar of the greater choir; which finished, they are carried to the altar of the miraculous Virgin Mother of God, which is clothed with festive ornaments, because it is more frequented, and there continual sacred rites are performed from early morning until noon. The Office of the Saint is sung in the choir with the rite of a double feast, which the other Priests also follow. All these things were arranged by Jacob Wynsius, then Superior of the Residence of Halle, not yet a College of the Society of Jesus: and particles at Lier, who, afterward appointed Superior of the house of the third probation in the town of Lier, three leagues distant from Antwerp, brought with him among other Relics from Halle two bones of the said St. Odulph from his skull, one larger than the other; which, with the approval of John Malderus, Bishop of Antwerp, can be exposed for public veneration. So it was written for the memory of posterity, the said Jacob Wynsius attesting, in a letter given on the day before the Kalends of November in the year 1630, of all which we keep with us a faithful copy.

[8] We also received that some Relics of St. Odulph are kept in the church of Oirschot dedicated to him, Ancient Acts, in German manuscript. together with his Life, which they have there in a parchment codex in the Brabant idiom, and whence they submitted a copy taken in the year 1648, signed by John van Oudenhoven, Pastor in the Parish of St. Odulph; by Bartholomew vanden Vilken, of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine, Pastors of the collegiate and parochial Church of St. Peter in the municipality of Oirschot; and by Gadenho, public Notary; adding also this not without admiration in their testimony, that although mice had gnawed and thoroughly gnawed in many places the membranes in which the life is contained, both in the margins and within the lines, yet no letter was violated by their teeth, and so all things can be read entire. But we give that same Life, in its original Latin idiom, from various ancient manuscripts, namely the Utrecht one of the church of St. Salvator and of the Canons Regular of Rooklooster near Brussels, then from the manuscript notes of D. Lindanus, and the Legend printed at Cologne in the year 1483, It is given in Latin from manuscripts: and two years later at Louvain. Laurence Surius acknowledges that it was gravely written, but he premises that he changed the style for the most part, which we prefer to bring forth from the first sources. We find the Prologue only in the said manuscript of Rooklooster, perhaps composed by John Gillemans the collector: for it is extant there in the first part of the Hagiology of the Brabanters. Finally from Molanus we subjoin these: "Becanus the Dutch Chronographer relates, among the deeds of his own time, that the Hollanders, in the war against Eastern Frisia, suffered no misfortune, until they assailed the monastery of the Blessed Odulph the Confessor. But this having been assailed, not by the valor of the Frisians, but of God, there perished Count William, with many nobles and distinguished armed men."

LIFE

From various ancient manuscript codices and printed editions.

Odulph, Priest, of Utrecht in Belgium (St.)

BHL Number: 6318

FROM MANUSCRIPTS.

PROLOGUE.

[1] About to write, with God helping, the life and conduct of the Blessed Odulph, Confessor and Priest, in the first place I invoke his grace, by whose goodness this Saint deserved to be what he was in this exile; that is, that he might be found of such great vigor in himself and such great gentleness toward others: and so, by admonishing, rebuking, correcting, and chastising, by planting good virtues, and rooting out the roots of vices, by pouring wine with oil like a good Samaritan into the wounds of the wounded, he truly deserved to obtain the denarius promised to those laboring in the vineyard of God. Aided by his prayers, with my pen I will dare to hand over to the page some little thing of his innumerable virtues, useful for those present, and worthy for posterity; so that, the mirror of his conduct having been beheld, those reading these things set below may be able to wipe away all that appears deformed in the eyes of the supreme Inspector; that at last, the skin of the old man being changed, they may deserve to put on the new, and happily and salutarily to arrive at the dwelling of eternal brightness.

CHAPTER I.

Birth, studies, Priesthood, Acts at Utrecht and in Frisia.

[2] In the times of Louis the most pious Augustus there was a certain venerable man, of noble lineage, sprung from the Franks, by name Ludgis: of whom, God predestining, Born of noble lineage, was procreated a son by name Odulf: who, soon as he is reborn with the most sacred wave of Baptism, is divinely watered with celestial dew. But being weaned, he is at once added to the studies of sacred learning, and commended to holy men devoted to God, to be educated in canonical religion. To him God conferred such zeal for learning and such talent of cleverness, that he excelled in learning, in a wondrous manner, those older in age, and adorned his age, still immature in years, not sluggishly with divine teaching. he advances in studies and virtue: But he grew in age, wisdom, and holiness to such a degree that, to those who at that time strove to serve God religiously, a new Samuel seemed to arise. To him, indeed, in the presence of religious men, such great grace was granted from heaven, that he was unanimously loved by them all, and with the highest veneration cherished as a man of praiseworthy life: whom he too loved with worthy reciprocity and the love of pure affection. For now the venerable boy, even in those years of adolescence, prefigured that he wished continually to do what he busied himself to accomplish by works in the future: since even then he proposed to be not unmindful of the Lord's word, which the Lord, speaking to his disciples, says: "He who loves father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me"; and, "He who wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." Matt. 10, Luke 9 The praiseworthy boy, diligently pondering the words of this Gospel reading, and revolving them silently with himself day and night, devoted himself with pious morals and holy works to serve God unceasingly: and to cling inextricably to the spiritual Mother the holy Church of God, which was also done.

[3] The holy youth Odulf therefore, beloved of God, exceedingly acceptable to approved men, but solicitous to serve God alone only, ascended the steps of the holy virtues, until he should attain to a perfect man. For always, as is the custom of the Saints, he strove to raise his mind to celestial things, and triumphantly to escape the allurements of secular pomp, as it is written: "They shall go from virtue to virtue." Why should I delay in such great things? Psalm 83 Advancing in every virtue, he ascended through the grades of the ecclesiastical order: and according to divine predestination, as is to be believed, he came to the benediction of the Sacerdotal office; he is initiated into the Priesthood: and, the grace of the Holy Spirit cooperating, he was made a Priest of the most high King. Which duly performed, he immediately delegated to himself in his mind, that for the zeal of pious conduct he should hasten to make his way to a certain monastery of sacred religion. Whom his parents asked his parents asked, not to wish to act so; but that he would assent to their will, and govern the church which is called Oirschot with its people: for there he was born and nurtured. he governs the Church of Oirschot Overcome by their prayers, he obeyed their wishes for a time, even unwillingly.

[4] But not long after it seemed good to him to go to a place of the highest reverence, by name Trajectum Utrecht, that there, as long as he lived in this light, with other servants of God he migrates to Utrecht, living there under the camp of Christ, he might serve as a soldier for Christ the King. What more? The man full of God, according to

the truthful voice in the Gospel, saying: "He who does not renounce all that he possesses, cannot be my disciple"; setting after himself father, kinsmen, fields, household, and every possession, he strove to hasten where it seemed good to him, to proceed with Christ as leader, poor in goods, rich in merits. Luke 9 For he desired to have nothing in this world; that he might receive from the Lord, according to his promise, a hundredfold, and possess eternal life in the future. received by St. Frederick the Bishop: In which place at that time there was a certain Bishop of great holiness, by name Frederick; who received the holy man with great joy and worthy honor: and all the servants of God who were gathered there together with him unanimously congratulate the Lord that so holy and so religious a servant of God had come.

[5] But the holy man could not long conceal from human sagacity what, within, did not lie hidden from the supernal Majesty: but soon, when he had lived there a little while, he shone forth, burning, as a lamp of the divine light to all of them. For he was watchful in vigils, he excels in every kind of virtue. powerful in fastings, diligent in prayer, studious in sacred reading; bountiful in the largesse of alms, renowned in care of the poor, fervent in hospitality, prudent in distributing ecclesiastical goods; and those over whom he presided after the Bishop, he surpassed them all beyond human measure. For by all of them, and by the Prelate himself, since he was held worthy, he was called nothing else than the Father of the monastery. he is called Father of the monastery. At the command of his mouth all decided to take counsel: because he became all things to all, as the Apostle says, that he might gain all for Christ. 1 Cor. 9

[6] For it happened at the same time, that the Frisians, fierce men namely, came into such madness of error, that the aforesaid Bishop Frederick, neither through himself, nor through his Archdeacons, summoned into Frisia by St. Frederick, could recall them to the way of truth. Immediately he directed letters thence with a faithful legate to Utrecht, and willingly besought the holy Odulph the servant of God, that as quickly as he could, having crossed the bay of the sea which is called Alechmeer, he should come all the way to him. By this legation the man of God is rendered so glad, as if he were already invited to the celestial banquet; desiring, with his own Pastor under the same contest, if so the matter should be, to undergo the palm of martyrdom. And when the man full of God, the journey having been crossed, came to the Prelate, immediately, upon seeing him, he is filled beyond the usual with inestimable joy. Greeting one another in a holy kiss, and consoling one another with the solace of divine peace, as renowned heralds of the supreme King, manfully armed with the celestial sword, they began to make their way together through the churches, again and again to revisit the same, preaching to the people, and converting them to the way of truth by Gospel teaching, with him he converts the Frisians to better fruit: and to convert them by frequent admonitions, reproving and rebuking; until the men, who were before like fierce wolves, by the salutary doctrine were converted into gentle sheep.

[7] These things having been thus arranged in order, the same Pontiff, having taken counsel with the Clergy, and the Bishop urging, and no small multitude of the laity of that same country, had earnestly besought the holy man of God, that he should remain within the borders of that country itself; and might heal by teaching the people who had recently returned to themselves, and salutarily snatch them from the deadly maw of the ancient enemy. But the man of God, greatly resisting, asserted that he was advanced in age, and altogether feeble for that ministry. But the Bishop did not assent to him, although an old man, who tries to bend him with prayers. At last, however, Odulf, willing-unwilling, obeyed his Pastor, and gave his consent to the wishes of the people; on this condition, however, that, after some courses of years had at some time passed, it should be permitted him to revisit Utrecht, since there he had proposed to end his life in the service of God. What more? he vigorously cultivates Frisia: The man full of the Holy Spirit did not cease to preach to the people of God, and instantly to evangelize the kingdom of heaven. To all therefore, as a prudent steward, he provided the nourishments of the divine word; to the stronger indeed stronger things, to the weaker, according to the Apostle, he offered cups of milk: and so by the example of his holiness all were unanimously filled with joy. 1 Cor. 3

[8] This obedience therefore duly performed, he returned to his own place, returned to Utrecht praising God, that, aided by his help, he deserved to gain so many souls in this world. For although he had now been wearied by long old age; yet it did not weary him to exercise his mind, the conqueror of age, no less than usual in the service of God. For he persevered, as he was accustomed, as an old man he carries out his accustomed exercises. in assiduous fastings, in vigils pleasing to God, in sacred prayers; most generous in alms, sparing to himself, and generous to all for the name of Christ; and he cared to acquire nothing earthly in this light, so that after the debt of the flesh he might deserve to receive eternal rewards.

NOTES OF G. H.

CHAPTER II.

Various things foretold by the Prophetic spirit. A fire extinguished. Sickness, death, veneration.

[9] But among these things I do not think it should be passed over in silence, that the Blessed Odulf was so filled with the prophetic spirit, Endowed with the spirit of prophecy that he predicted things to come as if he already beheld them done. Of which very many, it has pleased us to insert a few into this reading; lest the faith of the hearers become slower to observe the same. When he was preparing to depart from the place which is called Staveren, before he had begun to set his journey thence, he predicts the defection of the Frisians, it happened that a very great multitude of Frisians had gathered there, that they might be fortified by his most salutary admonition. Commending them to the Lord, he blessed them: nay, he even charitably admonished them, never to desert the way of truth, which they would not be able again to recover without grave punishment. "For I know," he said, "that you will do [so]: wherefore I foretell that Pagans will come upon you: who devastating that country, and the incursion of the Pagans: will lead you and what is yours with them into captivity." That this so came to pass, as the holy man prophesied, the outcome of the matter afterward proved.

[10] But the holy man, who foresaw the future through the spirit of Prophecy, still standing by the same people of the Frisians, brought forth another presage of great wonder, saying thus: "Do you behold," he said, "this?" he gave another presage in a stone moved and removed: (he showed them a stone of no small size, which lay before the door of his house) "know that without human labor it will be rolled down into the river which is called Flye; and there it will lie under the waves, as long as you lack the protection of divine peace. But when you shall see the same, without human conveyance, go up to the shore of this coast; without doubt believe my body, though after the death of the flesh, to revisit this country, and to supply you with peace obtained: until with pride, perjury, homicide, adultery, and every kind of sin you offend God; so that he take away from you the gift of the granted peace." Of this astounding prophecy and wonderful sign, many men who testify that they saw this are still surviving. There is also there in the church the same stone remaining immovable, no less as a testimony to believers, than to the confusion of unbelievers.

[11] But afterward it happened that the Church of Utrecht was bereaved of its Pastor, that one namely migrating hence to the celestial fatherland. Without delay: the Clergy came together into one: that they might concur with the blessed man concerning the election of a Pontiff. For while they long disputed among themselves whom they would wish to promote to the care of governance. At last they chose the Provost of the Church, by name Craft. He indeed, wealthy in riches, he predicts the death of the arrogant Provost: puffed up with the pride of arrogance, replied: "I have what suffices in possessions: why do you burden me with the care of so great a load?" But the Blessed Odulf, taking that reply indignantly, said to him: "What do you say, most wretched one? You plainly spurn what you do not deserve to attain. Perhaps if you were unwilling to enter upon it, yet you ought to say that you would be unworthy to ascend the summit of so great an honor: but now because, on account of your innumerable possessions, you have spurned the dignity of the Apostolic Order, in the same member with which you have stubbornly uttered that wicked thing, even now in the near future you shall suffer the destruction of this life as a punishment." Which not long after followed.

[12] But the assembly of the Clergy still wavering, each one chose those who seemed to them the best. But the Priest of the Lord, looking not to the person, but rather to the merit, said that among them

[13] Nor is this to be passed over, that the man full of God, now of advanced age, on account of old age he is supported by a staff wearied by old age, was not able to go to the church unless he were supported by a staff, on whose top he had a little waxen tablet; on which, if it so happened, he would note down the names of the faithful, until at a suitable time he should write them in the book of life. But on a certain day the holy man, strong in spirit, unmindful of his weakness, who, while a fire was burning the cell, while he was hastening to the service of God, left behind him the staff in his cell. And no long interval having passed, that same cell, the devil lying in wait, was set on fire, with all his furniture and with the staff. While the holy man meanwhile was engaged in divine praises, and beheld it being inflamed by a strong fire, extinguished by his prayers, it remained untouched: he ran to his known defenses: he entreated God, that the fire might not invade the places of the Saints, caring little that the dwelling of his habitation should perish by fire. His prayer is heard, the fire immediately grows gentle, nor did it prevail further, except that it burned only the cell which it had invaded. The fire therefore extinguished, the staff is found so entirely unharmed, that, as if during the lasting of the fire, neither the wax nor the tiniest point was missing in it: so that it might clearly be made manifest to all, of how great merit, and of how great virtue before God the holy man was held. The same staff also, after his death, the Brothers placed fixed upon his sepulcher: which, in the same place where it had been fixed, had lasted until the times of Bishop Radbod of blessed memory.

[14] But when now the time was at hand, in which the holy man should go to the long-desired fatherland of the heavenly kingdom; seized by a slight fever, he understood his dissolution to be imminent. And having summoned the Brothers to him, he indicated to them both the day and the time of his reward. seized by a fever, And when he recognized himself to be near death, he again admonished the Brothers, that they should come together to him, and chant Psalms with him, in expectation of his departure. All the ministries of the obsequies therefore being duly performed according to his command, he bade farewell to the Brothers, the day of his death foretold, beseeching them to pour out prayers to the Lord for him, and promising that for them, and for the place, and also for the inhabitants of the place, he would pray to God at all times. Soon turned to the Lord, fearing death not at all, since for him to die was gain, with a cheerful mind he said: all things arranged, he dies, "Into thy hands, Lord, I commend my spirit." Amid these words his most holy soul went forth from the body. As it went forth, indeed, so great a fragrance of wondrous odor was sprinkled there, that all who were present were filled with inestimable sweetness; and he leaves a sweet odor. so that by this they openly recognized that the Angelic citizens had received the departing soul.

[15] But his solemnity is celebrated on the day before the Ides of June June 12. And there are wrought, not only at Trajectum Utrecht, but also at Staveren, by the intercession of his merits, innumerable miracles, through the glory and honor of our Lord Jesus Christ: who with the Father and the Holy Spirit, coeternal, lives and reigns God, through the infinite ages of ages. Amen.

NOTES OF G. H.

OF THE HOLY SCOTTISH HERMITS,

MARINUS AND ZIMIUS, PRIESTS; AND VIMIUS, A LAYMAN; BENEDICTINES.

AT GRIESTETTEN IN THE DIOCESE OF REGENSBURG IN BAVARIA.

11TH CENTURY.

HISTORICAL SYLLOGE.

On their arrival, cult, translation, miracles.

Marinus, Priest of the Order of St. Benedict, at Griestetten in Bavaria (St.) Zimius, Priest of the Order of St. Benedict, at Griestetten in Bavaria (St.) Vimius, layman of the Order of St. Benedict, at Griestetten in Bavaria (St.)

BY THE AUTHOR D. P.

[1] This trio of Pilgrim Saints in Bavaria was so obscure in the preceding century, that the distinguished and diligent illustrator of Bavarian piety, Matthew Rader, Bishop of Laodicea, Coadministrator of Regensburg. in undertaking those illustrious volumes, splendid with most elegant images, concerning the Saints and Blessed of the Bavarian Circle, found nowhere any trace of them. They would therefore lie hidden to us even now, placed far off in Belgium, had not the most Illustrious and most Reverend Albert Ernest, Bishop of Laodicea and Coadministrator of Regensburg, Count of Wattenberg, accustomed to have our Acts of the Saints continually by him, and to read them diligently, as he himself writes, deigned to make us more certain of their translation, celebrated by him in the year 1689 on the 12th day of June, having likewise sent the German synopsis of the life, which he had ordered to be printed with an image.

[2] That it be not necessary to render this into Latin, the Instrument of the aforesaid Translation accomplishes, whence that synopsis was taken word for word thus, described in this tenor. "In the year of the Lord one thousand six hundred eighty-nine, in 1689, on the 11th of June he sets out from the city with the Abbot on the eleventh day of June, the most Illustrious and most Reverend Lord Suffragan, having set out in the morning with the most ample Lord Placidus, Abbot of St. James of the Scots at Regensburg, turned aside for the midday meal at Hemmau, in the evening to Dietfurt; about to investigate the doubts concerning the place of burial of the holy and blessed Hermits and Confessors of the Scots, Marinus or Martinus, Zimius, and Vimius, resting there a stone's throw away in the church of the village of Griestetten, of the Deanery of Riedenburg, belonging to St. James of the Scots at Regensburg, about to seek the bodies of the Saints, there flashing with miracles, very many of which, written down in letters, are preserved. For it is received by a very ancient and constant tradition, that these Saints, six hundred and more years ago, as pilgrims and visiting holy places, which then was frequent, turned aside to the village of Griestett or Grienstett, as is found in ancient letters; admonished by night through a dream, that here they ought to lay down and pass their life. But rising in the morning, and beholding the place most fit for a solitary life, they understood that it belonged to the Scots of Regensburg, to whom they were going; and then, the leave of the Abbot of St. James having been obtained, they began to dwell in the grove nearby, whom Marinus, Prior of the same monastery, visiting by the Abbot's will; he too, by the good leave of his Prelate, also joined himself to them; where all three, renowned for miracles in life and after death, in the church of St. Martin built over them: rested in the Lord. Whose bodies the Abbot of St. James, Christian, venerably translated into a church, built in this village of Griestetten on his own ground, under the name of St. Martin, from the inconvenient place of the hermitage; where until now, cultivated with great fame of miracles by the people flocking thither, they remained buried in the earth.

[3] But by the injury of time their memory had so faded, that it was not known where, or whether they were even still buried in that place, where until now it had happened that their sepulchers were honored. Whence it came about, that the more constant ground of the ancient tradition was investigated; which having been sought, on June 12 he learns from tradition that they lie next to the altar, on the next day, to those approaching the said place, it was learned that formerly, in the farthest part of the choir, above the step toward the dome of the church, the names of these Saints had been inscribed on the wall: on the right, the Gospel side, that of St. Marinus; on the left, the Epistle side, those of the Saints Zimius and Vimius; whence occasion was taken by others, that in a more recent time, outside above the door of the church, the same Saints were so depicted, that Marinus occupied the first place, Zimius the second, Vimius the third; which had been obliterated by the whitewashing of the wall, or had fallen off; in which order also the same Saints, on a new altar in the choir, made at the expense of the sister of the most Serene Maximilian Emmanuel Elector of Bavaria, now Grand Duchess of Tuscany, divinely snatched from present danger of life and from disease, are seen so sculpted. To these, moreover, the present Lord Charles Widdman, in those places where the earth repeatedly subsided warden of the place commonly called Supra-murum Über-Mauer, Steward of the Lady Baroness de Muggenthall, in the presence also of the venerable Master John Dobbler the Parish-priest, and his predecessor John Bauwr now Parish-priest at Jachenhausen, and the Registrar of the city of Dietfurt John Fackler, and other honest men; under oath deposed that not only for fifty years that place at the step of the Choir, by the name of the burial of St. Marinus, is indicated at the Gospel horn, gravely bearing the form of the size of a true sepulcher, with its sides broken in of their own accord and to the standard was seen; to the measure of a sepulcher. but also from the other horn, the Epistle side, two great contiguous cavities, suggesting sepulchers, more than once (as the accounts of the church would testify), but also by himself, ordered to be leveled and by his zeal repaired; newly again to the former forms thus mentioned, inspected by us in person, of their own accord and spontaneously thus broken in at the sides, had subsided, and made the Choir dangerous for slipping to those approaching, in the throng of the people, and very inconvenient.

[4] A beginning therefore was given to the work from the right horn of the Gospel, Thus at the Gospel horn the body of St. Marinus is found, where that prominent form of a sepulcher stood out, fashioned of its own accord and contrary to nature, called by the name of St. Marinus. Nor was there much going into the earth and digging out, but that a sarcophagus was uncovered of thick boards with a finished lid, the other parts somehow standing out; and in it a body arranged in its order, mixed with earth, but in all things once venerably composed. (For both the habit of the Order

of St. Benedict was recognized, and a Rosary or decade of Granadilla passion-flower wood of wondrous and fresh fragrance; then a Priestly [Alb] of silk and the best linen was seen to exist: which, reverently taken up into the tomb, with letters as witnesses to whose it was, was laid apart, until the others too should be sought. The greater part of the tomb, on which the body had lain, was preserved for the piety of the people, eager outside, approaching the Saints, to draw something of holy virtue by its touch. It was judged thence, not without reason, that the others too were to be found in that region, since the first, so found, answered to the most ancient tradition. But although others alleged many things, nonetheless the other two cavities at the Epistle horn began to be dug out, at the Epistle horn the bodies of SS. Zimius and Vimius, and immediately sepulchers were discovered.

[5] Now the wall betrayed itself, which separated the two contiguous sepulchers, in which first St. Zimius, and as the inscription formerly on the wall above reported, a Presbyter, and likewise of the Order of St. Benedict, with his head toward the altar: but the other, St. Vimius, with his head toward the people, a layman, were found becomingly buried. Of these, however, besides the bones of the body and the heads, which, likewise raised, are placed behind the altar. nothing was found except a very small part of the Benedictine habit, and the leather of a pilgrim's little cloak. Both bodies therefore being taken up, in the same tomb with that of St. Marinus, each reverently laid apart with letters as witnesses, with great joy of the bystanders, they were placed behind the greater altar of the church, and enclosed in the wall; that they might worthily stand for the veneration of the faithful peoples, and also that every impediment and doubt of their presence, as well as the irreverence of those treading with their feet, and of those approaching the choir and the sacred Synaxis Eucharist, might be removed, the pavement being firmly leveled.

[6] All these things were done on the 12th day of June, on that year a Sunday, as the most Illustrious one answered, being questioned thereon by letters. But not long after there happened the following miracle, A man crippled and an epileptic is healed. plainly remarkable, as the aforesaid most Illustrious one calls it in his letter to us; and which, recorded in public letters, he transmitted in this tenor. "In the year of the Lord one thousand six hundred eighty-nine, there appeared Andreas Piller, before the Parish-priest at Eggersberg and the whole gathered Parish of men, while they were hastening to leave the church, from the Parish of Parsberg; protesting how for three years he had been crippled in all his limbs, and weakened by epilepsy: after he vowed himself to these three Saints, with the offering of some wax gift; he began daily to be better, and without any human help, in the same year was restored to entire health, and left there his crutches: which his Parishioners likewise testify, that he had been so disposed." The day of the attested miracle is not expressed, but it is probable that some months passed from the day of the vow made to full health, and hence to the aforenoted declaration. Meanwhile from the mouth of the most Illustrious one, recovering from a fatal disease, John Federer, Rector of our College of Regensburg, received it, and wrote in the year 1694 on the 10th day of March, that when the most Serene Violante, daughter-in-law of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Sister of the most Serene Elector of Bavaria Maximilian Emmanuel, was given up by the physicians for an incurable ulcer on the cheeks, a vow having been made by her most Serene mother Adelheid, she was healed without any other medicine: whence also a new altar was erected in the place, with the arms of the same Princess for perpetual memory.

[7] In the German, the Holy Pilgrims are said to have settled in a certain empty rustic estate near Altmühl. This is a river, flowing into the Danube at Kelheim, six hours' leagues above Regensburg; and the town of Dietfurt situated on it, Description of the place. is as far distant from the aforesaid confluence as from Regensburg itself; whence one goes thither by land through Hemmau, situated in the middle of the way, at an interval of four or five leagues on either side. A few leagues above Dietfurt, into the Altmühl is poured back the stream Saltz, augmented by the rivulet Griesa, whence Griesbach and Griestetten, places situated by it, have their name. The topographical maps name Griesbach, but are silent on Griestetten: but from what has been said it is easy to understand that this place is at most one league or one and a half from Dietfurt: but the very many miracles which happened there, and are preserved written in letters, as is said at the beginning of the Instrument already produced, these, when I shall have received them, I will faithfully give. Meanwhile receive the formula, approved by the aforesaid most Illustrious one and permitted to be printed in German, or even composed by him.

[8] Antiphon: "The Lord loved them and adorned them: ℞. He clothed them with the stole of glory, and crowned them at the gates of paradise." PRAYER. "Almighty eternal God, Prayer who so wondrously loved thy servants and Confessors of the Scots, Zimius and Vimius, and showed them the place in which they should henceforth serve thee; and associated with them in the same spirit Marinus their fellow-countryman; that in holy conduct and the zeal of solitude and austerity they might illuminate that hermitage; whose life well-pleasing to thee wins thy divine grace for all the faithful of Christ visiting them; we suppliantly beseech thee, with inmost grief for our sins, that thou wouldst be willing in this place to receive the intercession of these thy servants for us; and that to those who strive to honor thee in thy Saints, and who flee to their patronage, thou wouldst make the fountain of thy mercy flow abundantly; through which, strengthened in every adversity, we may be able to fulfill thy divine will, and after this life to be partakers of eternal joy and blessedness. Amen."

[9] At what time the Abbot Christian lived I have not yet ascertained; the age uncertain. nor do I sufficiently discern whether he, immediately after their death, carried the Saints, taken up from the place in which they had lived, to the church of St. Martin to be buried; or whether, after the spaces of some years, moved by the miracles done there, he ordered the bodies to be translated. But neither does any memory survive of the days on which they, their pilgrimage finished, arrived at the celestial fatherland: but that the concourse to them happens chiefly on the feast of St. Martin, is ascribed to no other cause, than that he is the Patron of the church in which they rest. Therefore we prefer this 12th day to the others, as memorable for the finding of the sacred bodies, with the judgment and assent of the most Illustrious one; until something else be determined.

OF SAINT ESKIL, BISHOP OF STRÄNGNÄS AND MARTYR.

IN SÖDERMANLAND, A PROVINCE OF SWEDEN.

11TH CENTURY.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

On his cult, life, and translations.

Eskil, Bishop of Strängnäs, Martyr, in Södermanland, a province of Sweden (St.) G. H.

Södermanland, a province of Sweden or Suecia properly taken, on the Baltic to the east, The Bishopric of Strängnäs. is situated between Uppland and Östergötland; whose cities are Nyköping, the Seat of the Dukes, and Strängnäs, where the first Bishop St. Eskil established his See, and this afterward remained there, while the orthodox faith flourished in that region. His deeds and martyrdom with miracles, The Acts written by St. Brynolf. St. Brynolf, also Bishop of Skara, is said to have written, whose Life we gave on the 6th day of February. John Vastovius in the Vitis Aquilonia, after the Life of St. Eskil, grieves that it was not permitted him to see the Life and miracles: but he published something from the ancient Lessons, but adorned by himself with a new style. We received that Life as first distributed into 12 Lessons, with the help of the Reverend Father Winimar Monheim of the Society of Jesus, in the year 1675; who says that he himself found it in the Charterhouse of Hildesheim transcribed in a very ancient style and character from nearly two hundred years ago, by the hand of a certain Karstian the Carthusian, a Priest consecrated in the Church of Strängnäs, Some things are given from a Swedish manuscript and Rector of the Schools in it, living in the house of Mary of Peace of the Carthusian Order, situated in the same diocese. Karstian asks the Prior of Hildesheim to deign to bind this history to boards, and to deign sometimes to read it in the refectory, for the edification of the conventual Fathers and the honor of the holy Martyr: at whose request also the Reverend Father Hedensen, a Religious there, transcribed it to be inserted into our work.

[2] The Mass formerly printed. We have a Votive Missal, as it is written, also treating singularly of the Saints of the kingdom of the Swedes, printed about two hundred years ago; in which concerning St. Eskil is prescribed the Introit of the Mass, "Gaudeamus," with this Prayer. "O God, for whose faith the glorious Pontiff Eskil, stoned by the hands of the impious, fell dead, illuminate our minds with the splendor of faith: that we may be able to recognize the way of truth, and to arrive at the life which he merited by a precious death." The Epistle is read from chapter 25 of the second book of Paralipomenon Chronicles, from verse 17, concerning Zacharias son of Jehoiada the Priest, killed with stones in the court of the Lord by the command of King Joash; to whom also in the Life he is likened. The Gospel is concerning the good Shepherd, from chapter 10 of St. John; before which is read the Sequence, here presently to be subjoined. The Secret is of this kind: "We beseech thee, Lord, that the Blessed Eskil, Martyr and Pontiff, may entreat the gift of the saving Victim to be consecrated to favor us unto salvation: that we may both experience the distinctions of his conduct, and receive the supports of his intercession." Finally this is the Postcommunion: "May the venerable intercession of thy Blessed Eskil, Martyr and Pontiff, who for the honor of thy name deserved to be crowned with glorious martyrdom, help us, we beseech, almighty God, through these Sacraments which we have received." Moreover in the Calendar, prefixed to this votive Missal, on the day before the Ides of June June 12 a double feast of Eskil the Martyr is indicated in red letters.

[3] Proper Offices. There are also extant proper Offices of the Saints of Poland and Sweden, often reprinted, in which on the 12th of June three proper Lessons, taken from the Swedish Annals, are proposed, and agree well enough with others to be given below: but the Hymns at Vespers, Matins, and Lauds are proper, together with the Prayer, which can be read there: but it is written Æschilus, as in Vastovius Æschillus: but in the ancient Life and the cited votive Missal, Eskil: and this on account of antiquity we preserve. His memory on June 9, October 6. His memory is celebrated on the 9th day of June in the manuscript Florarium of the Saints; but his Translation is so called in Greven in the Auctarium of Usuard, and in Canisius in the German Martyrology. By the same again he is referred to on the 6th of October, and with the proper Offices cited it is called Translation: nay, even on this 12th of June perhaps some Translation is celebrated, because in the Acts below he is said to have suffered in the spring season, and at the time of Christ's passion. Vastovius says, "on the very day on which the faithful weekly perform the memory of the Lord's bitter death." April 10: John Wilson refers his memory in the English Martyrology to the 10th day of April, and cites first the History of the Goths of John Magnus, book 18, chapter 19, where the martyrdom is described, without the month or day added. Secondly he alleges the Swedish Annals and Breviaries: but what these are, we do not know.

[4] The year of the Martyrdom uncertain What if it be said that he suffered martyrdom on the 10th day of April on Parasceve Good Friday or the sixth day before Easter? But then the year 1063 would not be assigned with Vastovius, but the year 1069, when, by the cycle of the Moon, of the Sun 14, with the Dominical letter D, Easter was celebrated on the 12th day of April. Yet Vastovius asserts that by others his Passion

is referred to the year 1026 or 1045: of which also neither combined either Parasceve Good Friday, or Sunday, or even simply Feria VI Friday with the 10th of April or the 12th of June. But as for what pertains to the Translation, the aforesaid Karstian indicates that in his Charterhouse of the Peace of St. Mary, it is celebrated annually in the Octaves of the Angels, The Translation in the Octaves of the Angels in August or on the day preceding the Octaves: and "we use," he says, "in the ecclesiastical office all things as in the feast of the Blessed Clement, Bishop and Martyr, on the 23rd of November": and the feast of the Angels in the aforepraised Missal is prescribed to be kept on the 26th of August. I conclude with the Sequence indicated above.

[5] On this day let us glory, and devoutly venerate the solemnities of Eskil. Who, stoned for the faith, now exalted by Christ, dwells in glory. The rigor of winter passes, a new spring flower blooms, unto the salvation of the nations. Error gives way, the faith of Christ is exalted, the number of the faithful is increased. While the Pagan people honors the gods, the Prelate prays that a sign be given from heaven. Soon snow and hail descending, overturning the gods and altars, The Sequence. utterly destroyed them. The strength of Samson lays low the enemies, the lamp of Gideon shines while the Prelate is slain. All the unbelievers believe, the sick cry out and approach, to whom health is restored. Heal us the sick by prayer, whom vain flesh assails, the world, and demons, O Father, guardian, leader of the Swedes, make us fellow-citizens of the Saints in the supernal court. Amen.

LIFE

From a Swedish manuscript.

Eskil, Bishop of Strängnäs, Martyr, in Södermanland, a province of Sweden (St.)

BHL Number: 2619

FROM MANUSCRIPT LESSONS.

[1] The vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the holy Church, which he brought out of Egypt, Sweden long without the faith and planted with his right hand. When this had extended its branches widely throughout the world, still Sweden, a northern region, cold and uncultivated with the torpor of perfidy, sprouted only thorns and briars. Acts 16:6 No wonder, just as the Apostles were once forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word of God in Asia; so divine providence removed the teacher from that land, until it should know some there were to be saved, lest the holy thing be given to dogs, and the despisers be more grievously punished. cultivated by St. Anskar in the 9th century, At last, when the time of mercy upon it came, about the year of the Lord eight hundred forty-five, by divine compassion St. Anskar, Bishop of Bremen, sent there by the Emperor Louis, like a good husbandman by sowing the word of God, made a vineyard out of the thornbush.

[2] but returned to Paganism, Then, the enemy oversowing tares, that vineyard, turned into bitterness, produced wild grapes instead of grapes; because, Bishop Simon, destined for them by the blessed Anskar, having been expelled, and his nephew slain, the people returned to the works of paganism. Again, when the ray of justice was wholly inclining toward the west, at about the eleventh hour, the head of the household, the Savior of the world, wishing to repair his vineyard now drying up, not having the moisture of saving doctrine, commanded his clouds, it received the Doctors SS. Sigfrid and Eskil. that is the preachers, that they should rain a shower upon it. Whence he himself, by his ineffable piety, sent them the Blessed Sigfrid, as it were translated from heaven, who, having left the loftiness of Archiepiscopal dignity, passed over as a pilgrim and poor man to the unbelievers, that he might preach to them the Gospel of Christ: and he gave him as the inseparable companion of his pilgrimage, that distinguished doctor, the Blessed Eskil, sprung from Britain, who had been his Chaplain and kinsman. These two winds, warm and rainy, divinely brought to the parts of Sweden, watered the dry hearts of the unbelievers with the streams of celestial intelligence, and there began again to sprout the revived shoots of the virtues.

[3] But of the happy deeds of the Blessed Eskil we have taken care to hand over some to the monuments of letters with a humble style. This Saint, after the rudiments of infancy, this man, instructed in the divine law, like a sprouting olive, and like a cypress raising itself on high, the allurements of the world being despised, poured himself wholly into the love of God. Instructed in the teachings of the divine law, he avidly drank of its honey-flowing streams, whence afterward he ministered the cup of salvation to many. When he had come to manly age, he was so inspired by God, that he was made equal to the merits of the Blessed Abraham, to whom it was said: "Go out from your land and from your kindred and come into the land which I shall show you, and I will make you grow into a great nation." Acts 7:3

[4] having set out from England into Sweden, He went out, his parents and the bonds of his fatherland being spurned, from Britain, where he was sprung; he proceeded to the kingdom of Sweden, certain that the further he withdrew from his own soil for God's sake, the more he would approach heaven. Grace and justice grew in him with age, and he did all things according to the exemplar which was shown to him on the mountain, namely St. Sigfrid, the mirror of virtues, an imitator of St. Sigfrid whose most holy life he strove to be an imitator of. And since he was the good odor of Christ, the fame of his holiness came to the ears of King Inge, who then held the royal scepter in the kingdom of Sweden.

[5] by him he is consecrated Bishop Indeed, when divine providence willed that a lamp so brightly kindled, set upon a celestial candlestick, should afford light to many, by the consent of all he is elected as Bishop of Sweden in the place which is called Nordhans Kogh; and is honorably consecrated by the Blessed Sigfrid. But after he had ascended the throne of Pontifical dignity, like a morning star in the midst of a cloud, he converts very many. he led back many wandering in trackless ways, having lost their footsteps, and not on the way of good example, by the ray of sacred doctrine to the way of the celestial fatherland. The people worshipped Christ in him, as the radiance of the sun gleaming on a mountain top; at whose distinguished preaching very many of the faithful, kindled with zeal of faith, began to build oratories of the Saints, to overthrow profane shrines, and to cut down groves; in which the unbelievers had long sweated over sacrilegious Sacrifices: whence deservedly may be said that of the Prophet: "That uncultivated land was made as a garden of delight, having now the temple of the living God instead of fanes and shrines." Ezek. 36:35

[6] Then by diabolical contrivance; But the ancient enemy seeing this, and envying that daily his cultivation decreased, and that, the faithful being multiplied, the church triumphed; was contriving to extinguish the life of the Shepherd, that the scattered sheep might lie open to the bites of the infernal wolves. Finally that same adversary, whose breath makes coals burn, inflamed with sharp malice certain perverse men, already wishing to go back behind Satan, the Catholic King Inge being put to flight, against King Inge the defender of the faith. These, seeing that under him unlawful things were not permitted to them, an army being gathered, conquered the King in war and put him to flight from the kingdom. After this, in the likeness of the Israelite people, who, lest they be under the lord Rehoboam, where there was the temple and worship of the true God, made for themselves King Jeroboam, by whose counsel, made idolaters, they adored calves: so these, the Christian Prince being cast off, and the impious Sven being taken up chose an idolater, setting over themselves as king a certain Sven, impious and unworthy of royal honor, called Blodswen, and deservedly so named; because he permitted them to drink the blood of animals offered to idols, and to feed on things sacrificed to idols.

[7] the profane sacred rites are resumed: These things therefore being done, as the Philistines, having captured Samson, entered the fane, and immolated victims to Dagon their god; in like manner, the champion of the faith, namely King Inge, being triumphed over, the multitude of the unbelievers together with their King assembled at Strängnäs in the place of the idols, that, oxen and sheep being immolated, they might pour out victims to their gods: and they made there a great banquet for reverence of the King and veneration of the gods, of whose victims they ate the fat, and drank the wine of the libations, acclaiming auspicious things to the new King.

[8] resisting them, St. Eskil At that time the Bishop St. Eskil, perhaps residing at the church, these rumors having been heard, a strong zealot, like another Elijah, who in his days did not fear the Prince; clothed in the breastplate of justice, protected by the shield of faith, and having received the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, with his clerics and a few others went forth intrepid to the idolaters; and so standing in the midst, by preaching he rebuked them, that, forgetting the Lord their Creator, they immolated to demons and not to God. But they like asps stopped their ears, lest they hear the law of God, barking at his words. The man of God seeing this, his eyes and hands raised to heaven, asked God to make some evidence of his offense, by which the stony hearts of the unbelievers might recognize that he alone is the true God.

[9] the same being obtained by hail he overthrows them, The prayer finished, soon the ancient sign, made at the prayers of Samuel against the Philistines, is renewed. For with a great crash the Lord thundered: hail, snow, and rain descending destroyed the altars of those immolating and the victims: but upon the Bishop not one drop of rain came. wherefore grievously wounded, When the sons of Belial saw this, filled with fury, they made an assault upon him; and one of them, a soothsayer, Spadbodde by name, struck his head with a stone: but another with an axe broke the shell of his head. Then, the sacred blood flowing from the wounds, the stone on which he stood was drenched; which, as is said, still appears in it as if indelible; just as the sin of Judah, written with an iron pen, is read on an adamantine point, in memory of the execrable deed.

[10] and by command stoned Meanwhile certain Nobles, seizing the holy Martyr falling half-alive on the ground, dragged him to the King: and that he might not say he suffered without cause, they said that he by magic arts, on account of the injury to the new King and the gods, had thus stirred up the air. Immediately therefore by the wicked King (as by Joash against the just Pontiff, namely Zachariah) the sentence of death being passed, he dies a Martyr: led into a mountain beside a valley, where now is situated the cloister of the Friars Preachers; and like Jeremiah and Stephen, for the Zeal of faith and the defense of truth overwhelmed with stones, he finished his temporal life, and began eternal felicity in the heavens. 2 Chron. 25:17 But just as, the jar of Gideon being broken, the enclosed lamp appeared: so, the alabaster of his most holy body being broken, the odor of the virtues was fragrant. For many vexed by various sicknesses were cured by his merits and prayers: as is proved in his holy miracles.

[11] the body growing renowned for miracles But just as in the time of Ahab, the Prophets of the Lord being slain, idolatry prevailing, God reserved seven thousand men, who did not bend their knees before Baal; so then many good faithful did not consent to the profane acts of the faithless ones, lest they stretch out their hands to iniquities. it cannot be carried elsewhere, being immovable These took the body of the Martyr; that they might bury it perhaps in a church. But as they came to the place which is called Eskilstuna, with such a density of fog the air was darkened, that they could not go further; and his body was made so heavy, that they could in no way move it. but is buried in a basilica built there. That same night

it was revealed to him who first cast a stone at him, that in that place, for reverence of the Martyr, a basilica should be built, which also was done.

[12] The body therefore being buried there, at the flashing of his miracles, there were made in the folds of the Lord's flock sheep out of wolves, protectors out of persecutors of the Church. This is our Samson, who killed more dying than living. Deservedly do we call this man a blessed Martyr, who deserved to share in the passions of Christ. For he suffered in the spring season, and at the time of Christ's passion, for the cause of divine justice: therefore worthily, like the flower of roses, in the days of spring, reddened with the blood of Martyrdom, he was translated into the celestial rose-garden: by whose merits and glorious prayers may Jesus Christ our Lord, who is blessed unto the ages of ages, give us grace in the present, and glory in the future. Amen.

NOTES. G. H.

p Eskilstuna, in the maps Skilstuna, with Strängnäs and Torshälla makes a triangle.

q In the margin Karstian adds: "There is now there a monastery of the Knights of St. John, and it is distant from our monastery (namely of Mary of Peace) seven miles: and there is still kept there, enclosed in gold and silver, the sacred treasure, namely the body of this most blessed Martyr."

r In the copy is added: "But thou, Lord": which if it had been appended at the end of each Lesson, we could have noted in the margin the old division of the Lessons themselves. Now, since we see the history distinguished into 27 paragraphs, we think no account of such a distinction is to be had: but for some likeness to the old division we have introduced the number twelve. There is also prescribed a Homily on the Gospel, "At that time Jesus said to his disciples, I am the good Shepherd": but it is not indicated whence the Homily is to be taken. Today's Roman Breviary on the 2nd Sunday after Easter takes it from St. Gregory the Pope, Homily 14 on the Gospels. Karstian adds in the margin: "This Gospel and its Homily the secular Priests read here in the kingdom on this feast, and it fits well enough"; whereby he seems to indicate that among the Carthusians another Gospel is read by the Carthusians, perhaps from the feast of St. Clement, "Watch, for you know not," with the Homily of St. Hilary, from his Commentary on Matthew, canon 26 at the end.

OF THE BLESSED GUIDO,

TERTIARY OF THE ORDER OF ST. FRANCIS, AT CORTONA IN TUSCANY.

ABOUT 1245.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Guido, Tertiary of the Order of St. Francis, at Cortona in Tuscany (Bl.) D. P.

[1] Cortona, an ancient city of Tuscany, honored with an Episcopal See by John XXII under the Archbishop of Florence, with whom it is in the dominion of the Grand Duke, on the border of the Pontifical State and the Perugian territory. Cult and proper Office. There four hundred years ago died the most holy penitent Margaret, whose life we gave, when her feast is kept, on the 22nd of February; but only forty and some years have passed since there died the Venerable Sister Magdalene Baldelli on the 22nd of November, some of whose quite pious visions I have in manuscript. But prior to these in time was the Blessed Guido, whose feast is celebrated on this 12th day of June with an Ecclesiastical Office, with three proper Lessons from the Life at the 2nd Nocturn, which are had printed by the types of the Apostolic Chamber in the year 1644, with this kind of license. "We William Sirleto, Cardinal Presbyter of the Holy Roman Church of the title of St. Laurence in Panisperna, give faith and attest, that Our Lord the Lord Gregory XIII, by an oracle of the living voice made to us, has granted and given license to the Bishop and Chapter of Cortona, of saying, in the Choir and outside, the above-written Office of St. Guido the Confessor, reduced and reformed to the form of the Roman Breviary, on the feast of the same Blessed Guido, both in the aforesaid church, and throughout the whole diocese of Cortona. Given at Rome, in the Apostolic Palace, in the place of our usual residence, the 4th of the Kalends of June May 29, 1583." Now the Blessed Guido is inscribed in the general Catalogue of Ferrarius; and, with an illustrious eulogy, in the same Catalogue of the Saints of Italy; likewise in the Franciscan Martyrology of Arthur, and in the Poetic Martyrology of Brautius Bishop of Sarsina.

[2] The Acts indicated by various authors, His deeds were narrated everywhere by the Writers of the Order of St. Francis, Marianus of Florence, Peter Rodulphius of Tossignano, Bartholomew of Pisa, Mark of Lisbon, Francis Harold; likewise Abraham Bzovius, in volume 13 of the Annals at the year 1233 no. 24; Antony Terrinca, in his Tuscan Minorite Theater not yet published, part 3 Title 1 series 4 no. 12. But all these, equally with Wadding, in volume I of the Annals of the Order at the year 1211 no. 8, and the year 1250 no. 4 and following, have for their foundation an Italian manuscript Life, ancient indeed, and perhaps originally composed in Latin, by a contemporary Author: for I scarcely find that, at the beginning of the Order, the Life of any Franciscan Saint or Blessed was written in the common idiom. But the original text could have perished in the devastation of the city, made by the Aretines in the year 1259, and there could have survived somewhere only the Italian version, and perhaps written by a contemporary, to which, by way of a second part, the Miracles were added, some following the finding of the Head, hidden in the aforesaid disaster, made some years after on the 1st of May; which day was thenceforth long most festive to the people of Cortona, otherwise inconsolable on account of the loss of the body: but if from the same Author are also the rest, nothing will compel us to believe him contemporary with the Saint. Both parts Rinaldo Baldelli, they are given from an Italian manuscript: the Antiquary of Cortona about the year 1590, related in his histories of Cortona, hitherto in manuscript, whence Francis Pæuli Baldelli, equally a lover of the antiquities of his fatherland, transcribed them, and sent them to me to be rendered into Latin with his Annotations: the same who also taught me many other things concerning the affairs of the people of Cortona.

[3] By his report also I learned, that among the Capuchin Fathers, in the place of the Cells, there is also another Italian manuscript Life: once inhabited by SS. Francis and Guido, there is extant another copy of the Life, which John Baptist Serninus gave them in the year 1598; and Brother Francis de Equis transcribed it more neatly and interpolated it with some additions in the year 1643; which it suffices to have indicated. Likewise, that in the year 1652 Brother Nicholas Barberius the Dominican composed and published another Italian Life of the same Saint, surnamed among the Topistic Academicians Fuggiascus, that is, the Fugitive. and most recently a third, published by Barberius. But he pursued such sublimity of style, that he seems to have wished to flee as far as possible all the bounds of the historical style, which is to be commended for the native expression of things; adding to the substance nothing that deserves to be noted, and wholly engaged in catching at and continuing metaphorical phrases.

[4] The age of Guido is gathered from this, that he who in the year 1211 was received to the Habit by St. Francis, The age of the Blessed. already then a youth renowned for piety and of his own right, and so of at least 24 years; is said to have died at sixty years old, accordingly I reckon him to have died about the year 1245, although Wadding says he flourished about 1250. The Head (for the body perished, as I said) enclosed in silver, is kept in the now Cathedral Church upon an altar contiguous to the sacristy: where also was painted upon its wall an image expressed to the life: which afterward Adrian Zabarelli, a painter of Cortona, The Head preserved: represented anew with fresh colors to the same likeness, when that wall was to be restored in the year 1657; after which the same painter made several copies at Cortona: but the first copy in the year 1690 was kept among the Heirs of Paul Tomasius, Dean of the church of Cortona.

[5] The old effigy, or at least taken from an older one, about 1524. But concerning it Baldelli does not dare to affirm that it was most ancient, because there is a constant tradition that all the paintings of that church were made or repaired by Luca Signorelli, on the occasion of the restoration made in the time of Sylvius Cardinal Passerini, who, having discharged a most ample legation throughout Tuscany, held the Bishopric of his fatherland from the year 1521 to 1529. But also that Luca can be believed to have had another older one before his eyes: and to one or the other I believe to have been made exact that one which various men variously published engraved on copper, with other images of the Franciscan Blessed; but separately a certain John James of Cortona, and very many copies of this are had among the Capuchins: who also turned into a chapel the old cell in

which the Blessed Guido died, a little altar placed within, and above it the effigies of St. Francis himself and the Blessed Guido sculpted, and these kneeling, to the height of one cubit and one palm, just as Antony Zabarelli, father of Adrian, formed them there: but in the habit of the Capuchins, otherwise, as to the face of Guido, more like him than that which we said Signorelli made. I, that I might be able to give here as similar an image as possible, asked the aforepraised Baldelli, from whom I received the Life, to take care that Zabarelli's copy be delineated for me with new diligence; which he did, as you see here below. He warned, however, that the defect of teeth, which is conspicuously marked here, is not verified in the head: which the sacristan, who saw it bare from many years back, before it was enclosed in silver, denied to lack any teeth. But what if those two teeth were longer than the others, and therefore alone were expressed by the painter, who does not seem to have been able to receive that notable deformity from anywhere but from the living man's own features, yet seems to have augmented it beyond the truth? For after I had taken care that the subjoined image be engraved on copper, the same Baldelli found another copy, by the hand of Baccio Bonetti, whose disciple Adrian had been; and in it those two teeth neither thus stand apart from each other, nor descend so deeply, nay, are scarcely observed under the lower lip.

LIFE

By an Anonymous Author, perhaps contemporary. From the Italian manuscript of Rinaldo Baldelli.

Guido, Tertiary of the Order of St. Francis, at Cortona in Tuscany (Bl.)

FROM AN ITALIAN MANUSCRIPT.

[1] St. Francis, having received the faculty of preaching Saint Francis, Prince and head of the Religion of the Friars Minor, divinely inspired to observe the holy and apostolic life, led his gathered poor Brothers into the parts of the city of Assisi: and that he might more firmly establish the Rule prescribed by him for them, he betook himself to Rome to the supreme Pontiff; before whom humbly sitting, he received not only the desired confirmation, but also full and ample power of preaching the word of God. Having returned therefore to Assisi, the holy Father began to run about the region preaching, accompanied by one companion; and he came to Cortona, to do the same before the gathered people. There was at that time at Cortona a certain devout youth, called Guido, and dwelling at the gate of Colonia. He, keeping himself a virgin from infancy, lived honestly from his own means; when he had done this at Cortona; but the rest of his patrimony, and what he could earn by the labor of his hands, he distributed wholly to the poor of Christ, and furthermore devoted himself to the exercises of penitence and prayer. When therefore St. Francis had finished his sermon to the people, Guido fell at his knees, earnestly entreating that he would be willing to turn aside into his house, for the sake of taking rest. Who, divinely illumined, and turned to his companion, said: "This youth, by God's grace, will be one of ours, and will be sanctified in this his own city."

[2] he is invited by Guido to table; Then, accepting the lodging offered him by Guido, he followed the same into his house with his companion: at whose knees, after the midday meal, Guido again falling, asked him that he would be willing to admit him too as a companion: which St. Francis gladly did; and since he was the sole heir of his parents, he commanded that he should sell all, and the three went together through the city distributing all to the poor. This done, the Saint led Guido into the church, and there before all the people clothed him with his Habit: and because he greatly loved solitude, all three betook themselves to a place called even today the Cells. There from alms they began to build a little monastery, and to receive Brothers, among whom was Brother Elias of the village of Ursaria, who afterward brought to Cortona the holy Relics, received from Frederick II the Emperor. [and, he and others being received to the habit, he founds the place of the Cells:] While in this place St. Francis stayed with his companions, daily advancing in devotion and in pious works of prayer and penitence, it happened to him through excess of abstinence to incur a quartan fever: whence, when he suffered vehement cold, a certain citizen of Cortona who had come to visit him gave him his cloak for the love of God, which he too received with similar love. But to a poor little woman coming with two grown-up sons, and asking something by way of alms, and the cloak given to him he gives to a poor woman: St. Francis gave that very cloak, because he had nothing else to give. Moreover, to the wondering Brothers he said: "That cloak was lent to me, until I should find another more in need of it than I": whence all remained excellently edified, and well founded in the love of holy poverty.

[3] So while St. Francis lived there in much prayer and abstinence; he permits Guido to build himself a solitary cell: Guido, that he might be able the better to devote himself to the contemplation of divine things, asked him for a cell of his own: which he gladly granted; and ordered a little wooden bridge to be made over the rivulet which flows past the side of the said place, and across it built him a little cell under a certain rock: where that one stayed until the time of reciting the Office, to which he came together with the others. Meanwhile the number of Brothers had increased; wherefore, about to depart elsewhere, St. Francis blessed them, encouraging all to perseverance in the well-begun things in the name of Jesus Christ, and most earnestly commending them to the blessed Guido: who with all humility and obedience dwelt among them. But because before his entrance into the Order he had learned to read and write well, the Guardian asked him, who is ordained a Priest: that he would be willing to receive the grade of the Priesthood: which he did; and thenceforth, daily confession having gone before, he went out to collect alms; and then laboring with his own hands, he took food with great frugality, and persevered day and night in prayer and sacred contemplations, which he interpolated with frequent flagellation of the body. Hence the fame of his holiness bursting forth in every direction made him venerable to all.

[4] and by St. Francis, who had his journey this way After some time then, St. Francis came again to Cortona, and was received with great charity by the citizens: which Guido hearing, immediately asked the Guardian for a companion, and went to him; and embracing each other with great mutual affection, they remained together that night in the city. The next day the Saint was most urgently asked that at least once he would be willing to preach to the people: which done, when he wished to go out of the city, he was prevented by the keepers of the gates, and compelled to remain there until the third day: when the Saint preached again, upon a rock placed in the parochial cemetery, and at the end of the sermon said: "Noble citizens, know that it is of the divine will, that I should close the last days of my life at St. Mary of the Angels at Assisi. Nevertheless in my place I leave you Brother Guido, he is left to the citizens in his place. to whom I most heartily commend you all: and I know that by God's grace and his merits the city of Cortona with its inhabitants will be freed from many dangers." So with the good grace of all he departed, and went to visit the Brothers in the place of the Cells with Guido: whom, having greeted, and fortified with his exhortation and blessing, with his companion he returned to Assisi.

[5] From then on the Blessed Guido came at set times to ask for alms with a companion to Cortona, He begins to preach to them: and preached so usefully, that he reputed himself blessed who could hear him, both for the holiness of life, and for the good testimony which St. Francis had given him, when he bade farewell to the people. But because excessive abstinence had vehemently prostrated his strength, he appeared for the most part infirm: and on a certain day, being at Cortona, a continual fever seized him, and compelled him to betake himself to the house of a certain devout citizen. he turns water into wine for a sick man, There, when it daily took increase, he was diligently visited by the citizens, and they sent him their physicians: who judging that he could be helped by no human art, nonetheless the bystanders made up courage and hope of longer life; and Guido answered, "Life and death are in the hand of the Lord." The febrile heat was most vehement, so that to all he seemed to have approached the point of death: and so the bystanders asked him whether perhaps he desired anything: but he, remembering the little fountain whence, when he came to Cortona, he was accustomed to drink, answered that a draught of it would be welcome to him. The water therefore being sought and brought, and renders its fountain salutary to others: the Blessed Guido raised himself; and his hands lifted to heaven, prayed and blessed in the name of the most holy Trinity. And behold, the water which had been brought, soon appeared turned into the best black wine of the best savor and odor: whence, when he had drunk a little, suddenly the fever so vanished as if he had suffered no evil: which miracle those seeing and hearing gave thanks with praises to God. Moreover, since the sick were frequent at Cortona (for it was the month of August), as many as drank of that same water, in the name of God and of the Blessed Guido, were healed of every infirmity by which they were held.

[6] After several days Guido wished to depart: which when the people had heard, on account of the miracles which the Blessed had done there, and on account of the devout confidence toward the little fountain whence he had drunk, which is on the way leading to the Cells, all accompanied him as far as the same; and when they had come to the said fountain, asked by the citizens, all together prayed that he would bless the fountain. And so, his knees bent to the ground, and a devout prayer made, before all the men and women likewise kneeling, three times he formed the sign of the holy Cross, praying God and the Blessed Virgin Mary, and all the Saints of paradise, that whoever drank of that water might obtain health of soul and body. And when all had added, "Amen," he indeed with his companion returned to the Cells, and narrated to the Brothers what had been done; but the people who had followed eagerly drank of the water thus blessed, praising God and the most blessed Virgin, with the Blessed Guido and all the Saints: and as many as had drunk immediately recovered from whatever disease they were vexed by.

[7] There was at that time at Cortona a Priest, to whom from a certain infirmity an arm with the right hand had remained withered, so that he could in no way use them, and so could not even celebrate Mass, whence he came into great calamity. He, having heard the praiseworthy fame of Guido, came to him, and began to pray for the love of God, that he would deign to obtain for him from God the grace of health. he heals a withered arm: Moved to compassion, Guido led him to the church: and there bending his knees made a prayer, and then signed the arm and hand with the Cross, saying: "May Jesus Christ heal you": and immediately health was restored to the sick man, as great as it had once been; whence with tears he gave thanks to God and to the Blessed Guido.

[8] In the same times a grave dearth of grain afflicted Tuscany: and when the Brothers had not what to eat, he gives a little flour to a poor woman, with the leave of the Guardian, a companion having been taken, he went out through the territory of Cortona

to collect alms. And when he had come to the village named Monticulus of the Cucciattori, he received in a little sack a little flour for baking the sacrificial hosts: but a poor little woman coming up with two little sons, and complaining that there was nothing at all for the food of herself and her own, the month of March now running, when she asked alms of him; moved by the consideration of such great poverty, Guido entered her house; and bowed to the ground, lifted his hands and eyes to heaven, and said: "Lord God, who satisfied five thousand men in the desert with five loaves, may thy most abundant mercy deign to feed this poor little woman with her sons with this little flour." Then risen to his feet and full of confidence, he asked of the woman whether she had a sack. But she answered that she had none indeed, but that, if he ordered, she would soon bring one from elsewhere: and this being done, she received on loan from one of the neighbors one holding a whole sextarius. Guido therefore took it: and blessing both sacks, he poured from his own into the other one of the woman and filled the whole, and makes it suffice her until the harvest: and yet retained himself as much as was enough for baking the hosts. Seeing which, the Brother companion and the woman gave thanks to God and to the Blessed Guido, who turning his speech to her said: "Trust, woman, in the Lord Jesus Christ, and feed on this flour with your sons." Then blessing her he departed: but to the woman making loaves from it, with God's blessing that flour sufficed abundantly until the new harvest.

[9] On another occasion, when the Blessed Guido was at Cortona, in the hall of the Lord John the Judge, it happened that a certain girl, playing with other girls beside a well, which stands at the side of the road leading toward the Colonna gate, fell into it and was suffocated; for the well then lacked rims, which were being made new. The father and mother run up, friends and neighbors run up, and they draw out the dead girl, a girl fallen into a well, and with great wailing and tears carry her home, and begin to prepare her for burial, many who had come there looking on. Then to certain women, devoutly affected toward St. Guido, it came into mind, that they should advise that he, who was at Cortona, be summoned; "For perhaps," they said, "through his prayers the Lord will grant us the desired grace." The girl's mother heard this; and immediately sent those who should summon Guido. He, when he had heard the case, and understood that he was suppliantly asked to come at least to see the dead girl and to console the parents; he keeps her unharmed. touched with mercy, followed those calling him: and having entered into the house and into the chamber where the dead girl lay, and where the greatest wailing was raised; "For the love of God," he said, "let it please all to go out for a while." They obeyed him, yet so as to remain within the house, Guido with his companion being left alone within the chamber. Who soon prostrated for prayer, said: "Lord Jesus Christ, consoler of the afflicted, show upon this dead girl thy infinite mercy, and as thou didst clemently raise the dead Lazarus, deign to give life also to this girl, and to render her raised to her mother." Then blessing the corpse, three times he formed over it the sign of the most invincible Cross: and immediately the girl arose, as if from a deep sleep, without any injury or blemish. But all who were present in the house running up, and seeing her raised whom they had left dead; rendered infinite thanks to God, and to the most glorious Virgin his mother and to St. Guido.

[10] Many other miracles of this kind, of great holiness and virtue, remain to be related, At sixty he learns the day and hour of his death from St. Francis: from which I withhold my pen for the sake of avoiding prolixity. But a little after St. Francis died, and was numbered among the Heavenly ones. But the holy Guido persevered in the place of the Cells with his Brothers, advancing in virtue, and flashing with miracles, until the sixtieth year of his age: which having entered, when on one of the nights he was taking sleep, after his devout contemplations, as he was accustomed, St. Francis appeared to him and said: "The time is at hand, my son, in which you must, with your Brothers, receive the reward of your labors: know therefore that on the third day from now, at the hour of None, I will come, that by God's grace and your merits intervening I may lead you into paradise:" and prepared for it, and this said, and a blessing given him, he disappeared. Then indeed immediately rising, Guido went to his Confessor; and whatever he had heard from St. Francis he narrated in order: then he shut himself into his cell, night and day intent on contemplation, with spiritual gladness alertly awaiting his holy Father Francis, who according to the agreement should take him to himself.

[11] But the third day dawning, he began somewhat to be infirm: wherefore he summoned the Guardian with the Brothers, and, the Saint appearing, he dies. and from each one asked pardon, if he had ever sinned against them in word or deed. And at his petition both the Guardian and the rest, one after another, laying a hand on his head, pronounced over him the formula of absolution. Then St. Guido, lifting his eyes and hands to heaven, began to recite the litanies, the Brothers responding to each one: and a blessed candle being set in his sight, when he was fortified with all the Sacraments and the Litanies finished, at the very hour of None on the 12th day of June, he began to exclaim with great affection: "Behold my St. Francis: rise up all, and let us go forth to meet him": and saying these things he fell asleep in the Lord, in that very place of the Cells.

[12] The death of St. Guido having been heard, the people of Cortona immediately convoked a public Council, and determined by unanimous sentence, The Body carried into the city that it ought by no means to be allowed by them, that the holy body should remain outside their city; but that care should be taken that, honorably brought, it be buried within their parish church. All the bells therefore being rung, the whole people, men and women, boys and girls, carrying in their hands palm branches, with sweet and spiritual song, proceeded as far as the place of the Cells; and there, the body having been received, they carried it to Cortona, and reverently placed it in their church. The Office finished, then, it was being consulted how the deceased should be consigned to burial; when a rustic plowman, entering unexpectedly, cried out and said: "O men of Cortona, come and see a miracle." Being asked what had happened to him; "Behold, while I cut the earth with the plow, my oxen, fallen on their knees, it is placed in a coffer, found by a miracle. by no means allow themselves to be raised." Many therefore ran out, to see what the matter was: and when they had dug somewhat in the place where the oxen were bending, they found a most beautiful marble sepulcher, and immediately the oxen raised themselves. Nor was there delay but that all came into this opinion, that God had so miraculously caused that sepulcher to be found for the burying of St. Guido: wherefore, placed on a cart, they caused it to be drawn by those same oxen to their Parish church. But this others raised with great gladness, and placed it upon the altar; laying within it the body of St. Guido, whose soul they did not at all doubt to triumph in the heavens together with the other Saints.

[13] James Laurus, in part 2 of the History of Cortona, The elegance of that coffer, commends the marble coffer, of which mention is made above, as miraculously found for laying away the body of the Blessed Guido, much for its elegance from the distinguished art of the sculptor: and says, that Donatus, the most celebrated sculptor of his age, captivated with such great admiration of it seen on a journey, when he did not cease to praise it to his fellow-Florentines; nonetheless the famous Filippo Brunelleschi could not contain himself but that he ran off to Cortona, to value with his own eyes the praised thing; and the truth of what was said having been ascertained, formed a delineation for himself, as George Vasari of Arezzo testifies in the Lives of the Painters. Would that such a delineation could have come to our hands! It pleases meanwhile to supply its defect, from that which we received, made by a less skilled but faithful hand, made at the instance of the often already mentioned Francis Baldelli.

Marble coffer for the burial of the Blessed Guido, miraculously found near Cortona in the year 1245

[14] The Romans, to whom the use of cremating and burying bodies was promiscuous, the form, for the latter made for themselves sarcophagi, for the former urns; and of both kinds they had earthen and marble vessels for sale, to be finished according to the buyer's choice, with either an Epitaph or the image of him whose bones or body was there to be laid added. Images especially are to be seen on sarcophagi, just as here is seen that of him for whom this coffer was indeed bought, but seems (God so disposing) to have remained empty, and by some chance abandoned in a field, where after so many ages, found, it should serve the honor of the Blessed Guido. Furthermore the sculptors adorned such prepared sarcophagi with sacred or profane histories, so that to Gentiles or Christians abundance and choice might be offered. the use. And so in the Subterranean Rome of Haringhi, you may see very many sacred ones; elsewhere, and namely at St. Agnes's, on a sarcophagus, prepared I know not for whom, all profane and almost Bacchic things.

[15] That this sculpture too, which we give, is such, the most Illustrious John Ciampini judges, in his letter to me thereon thus opining. "In explaining the history of the Cortona carving — whether I shall call it history or fable, whether I be an Oedipus — be your judgment: for me it will be enough to have complied with you, and to have attempted something for your studies. In the middle therefore of the round cover is seen a figure, supported by two Victories: in whose middle is seen a certain image, by which I conjecture that a vigorous man, and leader of war, The sculpture explained by Ciampini. and victor and triumpher over some subdued nation, is represented, both on account of the Victories themselves (which, as I said, support the image), and also on account of the captives themselves, and the insignia of triumphs standing nearby. But on the face of the sarcophagus is seen a chariot, which two Centaurs draw: in which stands a certain youth, at whose left is a winged woman, who as it were directs the Centaurs, and who (if I am not mistaken) represents victory. By the youth I think Bacchus is denoted, both from the vine nearest to him, from the dog and the skin with which he appears clothed, which perhaps is of a goat; then also from the small figure, which, if it be well observed, is seen expressed on the chariot itself, holding a cluster of grapes in its left hand; then finally from the Centaurs; all which indicate Bacchus himself. Of the vine, that it is sacred to Bacchus, I by no means delay in demonstrating this; of the dog, let Vossius On Idolatry, book 1 chapter 30, be seen. On the Centaurs, Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca book 14, verses 49 and 193, and 265, is to be seen. Nearest to the Centaurs is seen a battle-line expressed with shield-bearing men, holding daggers in their hands, and some prostrate on the ground and slain, and certain other horsemen. Wherefore perhaps it shows the Theban war, which Bacchus waged, as in the same Nonnus book 44, verse 20 and following. These are the things which I have set forth by divining; whether I have reached the goal, your erudition will judge."

NOTES.

By the Lord Francis, formerly Paul de Baldellis.

The Brothers held the place until the year 1250, when there entered certain Tertiaries, and then some Hermits; and in the habit of these St. Guido seems to be expressed, just as another expressed the same in the habit of the Capuchins, after these had obtained the place in the year 1537. But those Hermits can be reckoned to be those who called themselves Poor Hermits; who, confirmed by St. Peter Celestine, also began to be called Hermits of the Lord Celestine, and then Clareni, and in the year 1560 still persevered, distinguished in habit from the other Franciscans; which distinction it will perhaps be allowed to recognize from this, if our conjecture is true. Ashen certainly is the color of the cloak, and at the place of the clasp two little pieces of cloth sewn on, of black color.

p Barberius seems to place this famine immediately after the death of St. Francis in the year 1226: Mark of Lisbon, six years having elapsed from then, therefore 1232.

q Wadding calls it Montecchio (for so it is commonly pronounced) near Castiglione, and understands Castiglione Aretino; whence Montecchio itself is distant only three miles, but Cortona six.

r St. Francis was canonized two years after his death, in the year 1228 by Gregory IX.

s About the year, as I said, 1245.

MIRACLES

From the manuscripts of Rinaldo Baldelli of Cortona.

Guido, Tertiary of the Order of St. Francis, at Cortona in Tuscany (Bl.)

FROM AN ITALIAN MANUSCRIPT.

[13] Rinaldo, son of Nicholas, of the late Rinaldo de Baldellis, in a brief Relation of certain chief persons of the Baldelli family, printed not long ago at Perugia, is praised no less for his distinguished skill in ancient matters than in the laws flourishing in his time; and by our Oldoinus is named in the Tuscan Athenaeum, as one who collected certain historical memoirs concerning the affairs and families of Cortona, as I had begun to premise in no. 2. In these, when he had related the Life of the Blessed Guido rendered into Italian by himself, he thus begins the second part: "The first part of the most devout history of St. Guido of Cortona, of the Order of St. Francis, being finished; there follows the second, in which is read, how his most holy head was found on the first day of May. But for the explanation of this history, first the origin and beginning of this city of Cortona is to be set forth; secondly, in what manner St. Guido became a Brother of the Order of St. Francis; thirdly, how his body was carried to the parochial church; and finally some miracles are to be brought forward, for confirming the faith of his holiness." So he: but we, omitting all these, choose to pursue only the miracles, and to make them Latin as they follow.

[14] When the body of St. Guido lay thus honorably in the parochial church of Cortona; and was held in great veneration by the citizens, Cortona captured by the Aretines, on account of the frequent miracles; it happened at a certain time, for the punishment of sins and from the instigation of the devil, that the Aretines, provoked by no injury from the people of Cortona, with an armed band broke in by night; and when they ran about everywhere, plundering and shouting, "Long live, long live the Aretines"; the Keeper of the church, awakened at the hostile shout, and hearing that all was going to ruin, said within himself: "I see indeed that all things which are in the church will perish: I will therefore try whether at least I can hide the head of St. Guido, the head of the Saint is thrown into a well by the Sacristan: so that it cannot be found by the enemies." So solicitously seizing it, and writing on a little slip the name of whose it was, he wrapped it in a certain cloth; and with a stone tied to it, threw it into the bottom of the well, even now set in the church. Meanwhile the Aretines, having gained the city, set a lighted candle at the gate, ordering by a published edict, under penalty of death, that all the citizens should leave the city before that was consumed. The Sacristan therefore went out with the others, for fear of death, the Aretines collecting the booty at leisure: which having been carried off, they took counsel of burning the city, so that it could no longer be inhabited. Which when they had done on the third day after, all Cortona remained for a whole three years empty of inhabitants: and meanwhile that Sacristan died, who had thrown the head of St. Guido, no one knowing, into the well.

[15] But there lived the Lord Uguccio de Casali, a generous man and strong in arms, The City restored by the favor of the Sienese who before the aforesaid calamity of the city had been Captain; and exiled from his fatherland, now with one, now with another of the nobles of Tuscany honorably dwelt. When therefore war had broken out between the Florentines and the Sienese, the Sienese chose for themselves as Leader the aforesaid Lord Uguccio, and joined battle, which is today named that of Montaperti: in which, when the singular valor of Uguccio shone forth, and the victory was ascribed to him; the assembled Sienese gave him the choice of whatever reward he wished. But he: "Nothing for myself," he said, "do I ask, Magnificent Lords; only let it be permitted me to restore the ruins of my fatherland Cortona, and to dwell in it with my fellow-citizens." It was gone into council by the Sienese: and it was decreed that there be given him three hundred builders, hired at public expense for three years, who should be a help to him for the building; and so the dispersed people of Cortona began to return, and to resume the offices of divine worship.

[16] The body of St. Guido was solicitously sought, but could nowhere be found, to the no mean grief of all. the body nowhere appears; At last, when it pleased the Lord to console the people of Cortona by the revelation of the precious head, he caused that Sacristan, who had newly succeeded the dead one, when on one of the nights he was about to give the signal for Matins, to see above the aforesaid well a great splendor: which, when it had happened a second and a third time, he narrated the sight to the Priests gathering for the nocturnal Office: who also all of them saw the same.

The well therefore being opened, so much light came forth from it, as if another sun had been there. Wherefore the following morning, the first day of May, sacred to the holy Apostles James and Philip, when they had again inspected the well, and saw the same splendor again; the bells being rung, they summoned the people: who, the miracle seen, instituted a procession, but the head is indicated by celestial splendor: beseeching that God would deign to signify what he portended by that sign. And when, returned to the well, all bent their knees and continued prayers, they began to draw water thence and to stir the well; but at the third lowering of the bucket there emerged to the surface of the water something wrapped: which was extracted by a Priest let down by a rope, the same miraculous splendor accompanying it, and soon disappearing.

[17] The people persevered kneeling in prayer, and waited to understand what was held there wrapped. and drawn out of the well, it is placed back in the coffer: The bundle therefore was untied by the Priests, who found a human head, with a slip, attesting that this was the head of St. Guido, and signifying by whom it had been thrown there: but all things were as dry, as if they had never been touched by water, but always kept within a well-secured case. Then indeed an incredible gladness pervaded all: who with great solemnity carried the venerable head to the sepulcher hitherto empty; at which soon a blind man is enlightened. and about to experience the virtue of that treasure which they had found, they had brought to themselves a boy blind for several years, for whom, when the father and mother had made a vow of making from wax an image of one head, if the boy should be enlightened. This being immediately done before all, the moved Community made a decree of annually celebrating more solemnly the first of May, in memory of so miraculous a finding.

[18] Furthermore God willed by several other miracles to show how acceptable to himself St. Guido was. A girl, fallen into a well and commended to the Saint, Among these a very memorable one happened to a certain young Cortona girl: who, when she played alone with a ball beside a well, and this had fallen into it, labored so much to recover it that she too slipped within; where for a whole three days she remained unnoticed. Her parents sought her everywhere, nor could perceive by any indication what had become of her: the mother, however, always invoked St. Guido, saying: "I commend to you my daughter." On the third day a certain woman came to the well to draw water, is on the third day drawn out safe. and looking within saw and recognized the girl, and what she saw she reported to the mother: who at once running up, drew her out of the well not at all injured. And when she had asked how she had been so preserved there, she answered: "I was at the bottom of the well: but because St. Guido was with me, the water could not touch me, nor did I ever feel hunger or thirst; but now he has lifted me to the surface of the water, and blessing me said: 'I am Brother Guido, buried in the parochial church': and so I remained sitting above the water, in nothing (as you see) wetted." Which heard, all gave thanks to God for so great a miracle.

[19] Moreover there was at Cortona a man honored with the title of Podestà, [Those wishing to turn the coffer to another use, the Head having been carried to the sacristy,] who, because he discharged his office to the satisfaction of all, was also loved by all. He, when meanwhile he had died, it was consulted about the manner in which he could be most honorably buried: but among others one judged that he should be placed in the sepulcher of St. Guido, the head of this one being carried for a while into the Sacristy, until a new monument should be built for him. The counsel pleased, but its author immediately lost his speech: and the weather, which had been clear, was suddenly turned into such a storm and whirlwind, that no one dared to go out of the Palace. Nor was there delay, all who had given consent recognized the fault committed by them, they are miraculously prevented. and vowed to visit the sepulcher processionally with candles: and immediately the clear weather returned: whence all recognized, that neither to God nor to St. Guido had such a deliberation been pleasing, and soon the vow being made they made satisfaction. But to him who had lost his speech, his friends and kinsmen enjoined, that for three days each year he should visit the sepulcher of St. Guido, and carry there a wax head: and on the first day of May he received the use of his tongue; whence all glorified God.

[20] But the feast of the finding of the Head is celebrated annually with great solemnity, not only with devout chants, but also with equestrian courses, A horseman, about to be cast into a well by his horse, just as is now done on the feast of St. Margaret, when the youth run through the marketplace from the church of St. Andrew to the Parochial cemetery. But it happened that one of them could not, on a certain occasion, restrain his horse from leaping over the well which was in the middle of the way; whence fearing that this leap would be fatal to him, he devoutly said: "St. Guido, help me": and soon the horse indeed with its head, the Saint being invoked, is freed. breast, and forefeet plunged into the well; but the rider wondered to be sitting unharmed above the rim of the well; nay, the horse too came out thence safe. Thanks therefore being given to St. Guido, again alertly and devoutly he mounted the horse, and went to visit the sepulcher. But that custom so pious gradually through negligence fell into disuse. Many other miracles besides, in various places, in life and after death, St. Guido wrought; which for brevity's sake are passed over: but let these be written to the praise of Jesus Christ, and of the most glorious virgin Mary and of St. Guido, to whom in every place be honor and everlasting glory. Amen.

NOTES

By the Lord Francis, formerly Paul de Baldellis.

OF ST. PLACID THE HERMIT, FOUNDER OF THE CISTERCIAN MONASTERY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

NEAR OCRE IN THE DIOCESE OF AQUILA IN ITALY.

A.D. 1248.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

On the place of the monastery, the year of death, and the Author of the life, and the cult of the Blessed.

Placid, Hermit near Ocre, in the diocese of Aquila in Abruzzo (St.) D. P.

Forcona, an ancient city among the Vestini, was distinguished by an Episcopal See from all memory back: but, the people and the Cathedral being translated to Aquila about the middle of the 13th century, In the diocese of Forcona, it so wholly perished, that concerning the site and name there are in doubt those who wrote books on the origin of the city of Aquila, endowed about the year 1250 with the right and title of a city, Bernardine Cyrillus, in the year 1570; and Salvator Massonus, in the year 1594. The latter of these, having more accurately scrutinized all things, on p. 95 produces an instrument, by which it is proved both that the name of Aquila is older than the founded city; and that Forcona was not destroyed by the Lombards, as some think; while in it is read: "In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that in the year from his incarnation one thousand and five, over which in the year 1195 Odorisius presided, Indiction 13, the church of the Blessed Mary of Aquila, by Odorisius the Venerable Bishop of Forcona, … with two altars, one lower and the other upper, was dedicated." But to the one describing that instrument the word "hundredth" seems to have fallen out, and the year 1195 is to be understood: for otherwise, only Indiction III would have to be counted. With such a correction also coincides the bronze coin alleged by the same Massonus, on whose front part is impressed a Papal mitre, with the circumscription, "Innocent III"; on the back, an Eagle with wings spread, with the circumscription, "Aquilan liberty." For that Pontiff first began in the year 1198. Whatever, however, be of the age of Odorisius, it is established from the Bulls produced by Ughelli, vol. 1 col. 428 and 429, under the year 1257, that to the Bishopric of Aquila, then first instituted, that of Forcona was united, and that for the rest the Prelate of the place be named, not Bishop of Forcona, but of Aquila.

[2] Berard was he of this name the second, whose predecessor T., elected in the year 1225, and the last Thomas, who is also Bishop of Aquila is thought to have succeeded Raynerius, renowned for miracles, concerning which Honorius III committed an inquiry to the Bishop of Penne, as Ughelli teaches from his Register, vol. 5. This I note for this reason, that if perhaps that matter had progress, and Raynerius obtained the cult of a Saint, I may rouse the diligence of the people of Aquila, to make known to us the day and manner of the cult. But that I have here mentioned also T. of Forcona, the aforetitled Blessed Placid caused, whom the instrument concerns, produced by the same Ughelli, vol. 6 col. 897, expressing the name of the Bishop thus entirely. "We Thomas, Bishop of Forcona, for the salvation of our soul in the year 1226 the monastery of the Holy Spirit is founded give and grant to Brother Placid and the Brothers, license of building a monastery, in honor of the Holy Spirit, in the territory of Ocre, in the place which is called Pretula, who ought to live according to the order and rule of the Cistercian Order, both in the offices and in other regular disciplines… Given at Forcona, the 6th day of December 1226." But they had handed over the place for this, into the hands of Placid de Vena of Ocre, "In the name of the eternal Lord, in the year of his Incarnation 1222, in the month of November, Indiction

10, in the place which Berard de Ocra had given to the Blessed Placid. in the same Pisan Style as above, Berard de Ocra, by the grace of God and of the Emperor Count of Alba, together with his Lady mother Roalda de Ocra, by an instrument, which may be read entire in the aforecited volume 6, col. 895 and following.

[3] There follows in the same place, col. 898, the Life of the Blessed Placid of Rodio, Monk of the Cistercian Order, His Life in Ughelli written by Roger, Monk of Casanova, his contemporary, and hitherto unpublished. The probability of a contemporary author is made by no. 4, where Simeon the Priest is so simply named, as if a person, then most well known to all, were being treated of. But whence Ughelli received the name of Roger, neither does he himself explain, nor is it found in the manuscript copy which he himself gave us, whose title is "The Life of the Blessed Placid of Rodio, Monk of the Cistercian Order, of Vena of Ocre, from the ancient Life of the Lord Paul of Celano, Monk of Casanova." But that this is not the original Life of this Paul either, the Fossa copy persuades, given to us by the same Ughelli with this title; from the older one of Paul of Celano, "The Life of the Blessed Placid of Rodio, Monk of the Cistercian Order, contracted into an epitome by the zeal of Antony Amicius, Doctor of Both Laws, from the ancient Life of Paul of Celano, Monk of Casanova, and dedicated to the Clergy of Fossa." Fossa is distant from Aquila, descending the Aterno second to it, only 6 or 8 miles; but from Ocre only 2; and the plain added to it, even now named the Plain of Forcona, proves that old Forcona was there. But just below Ocre, the Monastery is situated on a mountain, the above-said monastery of the Holy Spirit; concerning which, says Ughelli, "more would have to be said, which for brevity's sake we pass over: perhaps in another place the discourse will return." Whether it returned, I do not know; I certainly have not yet found the place in the remaining three volumes of Ughelli: more therefore, if it be worth the trouble to weave in here, I will await from Aquila or Fossa. But I suspect that the Fossa copy, or even the other aforenoted one, reduced into a compendium by Antony Amicius was submitted to Ughelli after the book was published, to correct the error committed in the name of the author. Meanwhile, that that Life which he gave us printed is not the original, is proved by this Epistle prefixed to the Fossa copy.

[4] Antony Amicius, to the Clergy of Fossa, greeting. Since among our ancestors the Relics of the Saints were always held in the highest honor and at great value, and dedicated to the Clergy of Fossa and St. Chrysostom deservedly exhorts all, that, for the obtaining of some blessing, we often with great faith touch them, imitate the Saints themselves, and adore their tombs; led by pious zeal, I contracted the Life of our Blessed Placid (whose venerable Relics are kept in the church of the Holy Spirit, where his feast is celebrated annually) into a compendium from a most ancient writing; and the more gladly took care that it, of whose scarcity we have long complained, be committed to the types, that both he and the temple itself may be of greater veneration to us, that we may please immortal God and Placid. For who would deny that the histories of the Saints, commemorated by pious men, beget very much piety and religion toward God and the Saints themselves? nay, that they kindle, instigate, urge them to walk along the narrow way of faith and good works, which leads to life? That therefore the piety of us all, with a testimony of the annual festivity. by which we embrace also this Saint, may be increased; let us read again and again such a Life, which I wish dedicated to you. For it can by no means happen, that rereading the deeds of the holy man, we should not more venerate his Relics, whence we may know that we too are aided by his patronage and intercessions with God. Receive therefore with cheerful brow whatever of labor I have undertaken for the honor of the most high God and the holy man, that I might restore to our fellow-countrymen the history given over to oblivion, which we by no means doubt will be most welcome to you. May each of you fare well in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. And soon, "Here happily begins the Life of the Blessed Placid," word for word the same as that which Ughelli published, with whose edition we collated the double copy.

[5] From the epistle we are made certain about the cult; and we know that this compendium, such as it is, was made after the typographical art was invented, and began to be used in Italy, two hundred years ago. To give the compendium itself to be reprinted here, is of no concern; since we have the same most ancient writing which Amicius had before his eyes; just as Brother Paul of Celano, Monk of Casanova, sent it to the Lord (or to Domninus, or Dominic, if it be a proper name, not the appellative "Lord"?) Archpriest of St. Martial of Rodio, the fatherland of the Blessed Placid himself, of the diocese of Forcona. In this dedicatory letter Paul congratulates himself, that out of all the Congregation of Casanova (into whose jurisdiction the Blessed had transferred his new monastery) assisting at his death, he was chosen, that the blessing of the dying man might come upon his head, as if foreknowing that his life was to be written by Paul; "just as I saw," he says, "or learned by the report of trustworthy men, and those things which I deserved to hear familiarly from his most holy mouth." The old manuscript, diligently sought, he found; and at the request of the Reverend Father John Francis Vannius, our Professor of the Hebrew language in the Roman College, in the year 1691 the most Illustrious Lord Joseph Caprini, Patrician of Aquila, transcribed it for us, under this title adapted by himself; "The Life of the Blessed Placid, Monk of the Order of St. Benedict, of the Cistercian Congregation, whose body rests in the Abbatial church of the Holy Spirit of Ocre near Fossa, of the diocese of Aquila." Now Celano, the fatherland of Paul, is situated on a mountain near the Fucine lake, to which it today communicates its name, distant from Ocre to the South 12 miles; nor far thence is Casanova, on the shore of that lake; so that I have no doubt that here was once the Abbey, to which Placid handed over himself and his own.

[6] But that Paul says, even as related in the Compendium, who writes that the Blessed died in 1248 on the 12th of June, that the Blessed died in the year 1248 within the Octaves of Pentecost on the 12th day of June: but since in no. 17 "the second day of the week Monday" is named, it is without doubt an error of the transcriber, reading second for sixth, or II for VI. There must have been some obscurity in the old writing, by which it happened that Amicius read Feria V Thursday. But how to the same one, for the day before the Ides of June, that is the 12th, "on the Ides," that is the 13th, crept in, it is not easy to divine. Nor can the Epitaph help here, anciently sculpted on a stone, inserted in the pavement of the church, before the foot of the altar, by which the year and day of death appears to have been expressed, from the traces of the remaining letters; but so worn away, by the testimony of Caprini, that the numbers cannot be fully discerned. Now as to what pertains to the time of the Life being written; since in the last place among the miracles are narrated seven possessed women freed from unclean spirits, on Sunday, the fifth of July; and since this concourse is held in the very year in which the Saint died; we shall not incongruously judge, that all things were written within the fourth week from the death of the Saint; nor shall we wonder that nothing is added about his feast, whose Anniversary had not yet come. Today, in the place now almost deserted, no longer is the entire body found, but only certain chief bones. So the aforepraised Lord Joseph Caprini to our Vannius.

LIFE

By the Author Paul of Celano, familiarly known to the Saint, published within the first month from his death.

Placid, Hermit near Ocre, in the diocese of Aquila in Abruzzo (St.)

BHL Number: 6865

BY PAUL OF CELANO.

PROLOGUE.

To the Reverend Father in Christ the Lord Archpriest of St. Martial of Rodio, of the diocese of Forcona, Brother Paul of Celano, least of the Monks of Casanova, grace in the present and glory in the future.

[1] The illustrious deeds of the Blessed Placid Even if I be somewhat idle, I should deservedly be reproved by the Father of the household, who led into his vineyard those standing idle the whole day: wherefore I am required by your Paternity to describe the Life of our St. Placid, if the weakness of my style does not blacken our talent. For it is worth the trouble to describe the illustrious deeds of the Saints, that the truth may more lie open as an example and a mirror of others, and may be as it were a certain seasoning, especially to those to write he presumes the author: who cannot draw honey from the rock and oil from the hardest stone. But what manner of man am I, that I should dare to write the life of the Blessed Placid? For if all the members of my body were turned into tongues, and all my limbs resounded with sonorous voice, they would not suffice to narrate his virtues. But since this work which I have undertaken is directed toward him, who among my most special and dear Saints was foremost; who, having enjoyed his final blessing, I presume to attempt to undertake this work, that all posterity may relate it again in blessing, and may bring the gift of reward to be taken in the future. So, placed at the end in Religion—nay, at the beginning, according to that, "I have consummated the work"—then I met him perhaps by divine arrangement, chosen, I believe, out of all the congregation of Casanova, that the blessing of the dying man might come upon me; and although he could by no means move his other members to give the blessing, yet he blessed me upon my head, and I carefully possess the marks of the blessing.

[2] I hand over to you therefore an efficacious work, that those things which I saw, or learned by the report of trustworthy men, and those things he trusts that his smallness will be divinely aided. which I deserved to hear familiarly from his most holy mouth; with a true and pure narration, in a simple style not falsely varied, I may make manifest to others, according indeed to my smallness; that from this matter a certain pottage may be made for the sons of the lands, in which, if I shall negligently mix gourds; [our] Elisha, as I trust, with a little flour will season the bitterness of my rude style, and the affection of my devotion will excuse the excess of my foolishness, and the kindness of the said Saint will pardon the defect; lest the sublimity of so great a work, brought down to an unskilled craftsman, be dashed as if shipwrecked on the rocks of my foolishness. May the clemency of Christ at last cherish my living tongue, and from the dry rock may grace arise for the thirsting people; that it may worthily hear those things which the Saint began in deed from the beginnings of boyhood; and in the midst of adolescence, and continued until the end in death, and after death the miracles which God worked through him, in testimony of his holiness.

CHAPTER I.

The advancement of the pious youth to every virtue: the beginnings of the solitary life, the place often changed.

[3] The boy Placid, beloved of God and men, was sprung from the parts of Amiternum, from a little town which is called Rodio, born as it were of a little Bethlehem: a leader indeed of Christ, who should afford leadership to the Christian people. Born of rustic but pious parents, His parents, according to the dignity of the world the lowest, altogether poor in the world, were rich in Christ. His father lived by his own resources, sought food by the hand and art of agriculture: but his mother, keeping the Apostolic rule, was subject to her husband, rearing the sons

in the fear of the Lord, and in the discipline of the Christian faith: in her simple hut simply confessing God and strongly believing, she kept his commandments without complaint, the boy with senile gravity, and, grace helping, panted greatly toward God, loved by a certain reasoning. Nor is it a wonder if the knowledge of God fell upon that simple woman; because the Philosopher says: "That God is eternal, is the common judgment of all living by reason." But Placid, third in the order of the sons, was from his very boyhood bearing a senile heart, gave his mind to no pleasure. He was ingenious and obtained a good soul; generous toward others not knowing letters, when he entered the powers of the Lord; and made later for the service of God, the boy bore and did many things, sweated, and was cold. For toward his companions he was kind, and humble and munificent; so that the bread, which his mother gave him while occupied in pasturing the flock, he distributed to the other shepherds; and returning fasting to his house, he carried back his fasting and weary limbs glad to his home.

[4] He was a most ardent lover of poverty; continually singing the Lord's prayer, he never mingled himself with games and vanities. For divine grace planted such great gravity in the boy, as nature did not place in a decrepit old man. No one saw him laughing and jesting, as is the custom: obedient to his parents, he showed humility to all: and when, some time having elapsed, advancing in age and grace with God and men, the boy Placid passed into adolescence; severe toward his own body, he girded the members of his body with iron belts, keeping the abstinence of the rule at all times, continually striving with all eagerness to keep fasting for thirty-seven years; always having in his mouth that Apostolic word, "The sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared to the future glory which shall be revealed in us." Upon his head a razor did not come: he always lay upon the bare ground, nay rather sat, so that to the very extremity of his life he stood leaning, for a little slumber; never washing the hidden sack with which he was once clothed; saying that it was superfluous to seek cleanliness in a rustic hair-shirt. Yet in him there was always cleanliness with sweet odor; and in a wondrous manner, neither pressed with squalor nor defiled with sweat, he appeared white and ruddy, chosen out of thousands.

[5] he excelled in charity, He was especially founded in charity, and strongly rooted; so that neither injury inflicted, nor infirmity of body, nor any temporal adversity drew him away from charity and from fraternal compassion, saying that Apostolic word: "Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is scandalized, and I am not scandalized?" Spiritual fortitude flourished so in him, in fortitude that to him could be applied that of Solomon: "The just man, confident as a lion, shall be without fear." 2 Cor. 11:23, Prov. 28:1 in humility, But humility, as the guardian of all virtues, had strongly bound his mind; so that, although he was greater in merits with God than his contemporaries, he esteemed himself the least of all. He was so endowed with justice, in justice, that he seemed to observe all the parts of justice, rendering to God fear and love; knowing that of the Prophet Malachi, "If I am the Lord, where is my fear? and if I am a father, where is my honor?" and to his parents obedience and reverence, in obedience, knowing that "a wise son makes a father glad, but a foolish son is the sadness of his mother." Mal. 2:6 To the poor he gave alms, with all alertness; to his companions service, with purity of heart; and so, made all things to all, he gained all for all. That of the Proverbs he demonstrated in word and deed; in courtesy. "The treasures of impiety shall not profit, but justice shall deliver from death." Frequently the mind of Placid was occupied about the churches; and returning from the field, in meditation. he learned a lesson from the Psalter from the little scholars; which afterward he meditated in the field, and pondered in the plains of the wood.

[6] At last, arranging an ascension in his heart, he began to premeditate flight: having gone on pilgrimage to Compostela, and going out with Abraham from his land and kindred, and from the house of his father, he set out to the ends of Spain, to behold the threshold of the Blessed James of Compostela. When he had kept watch a whole year among the Brothers of the said Blessed James; returning after a year, he fell into a very great infirmity: for a period of five years he was so burdened in bed with ill health, that he could neither rise from the bed, he is sick for five years, nor lift his head, without the support of others. Affliction was added to the afflicted for a crown: because "whom God loves he corrects, and is well pleased in him as in a son." And when he was placed in such great pains, he said it was well with him, since the wicked flesh was purged by various tribulations, which from his tender boyhood he had subjugated under the divine spirit, doing those things which are necessary for the flesh, and having from this a most strong argument; since, for so long a space of time burdened in infirmity, he neither received medicines, nor dipped himself in a bath; but that medicine, which descends in the haste of a cloud. then he goes to Rome and to St. Michael. Soon healed, he visited the threshold of the Apostles and of the Blessed Michael the Archangel; not permitting his horse to rest, because "it does nothing harmful to add the spur to a horse already sweating"; he was also a more frequent visitor of the Martyrs.

[7] Among these things the holy man, thinking and weighing, that it was by no means safe to stay in the wicked world, began to be anxious whither he should tend, that Poetic word—"Wherever the storm snatches my fortune, I am borne a guest." But divine piety was not lacking, nay was present, meeting the wavering one, and met more quickly what he sought. For there is a mountain, which is called Corno, beginning and raising itself to a point in the likeness of a horn, on every side preserving the greenness of grass and trees at all times: on whose side, thence to the monastery of St. Nicholas where there was a certain Hermit, in a most lofty place he placed himself; so that to that place could be applied that little verse: "Narrow within, it seeks the lofty thresholds, and steps too difficult through hard and rough things." From which Hermit he sought and received the monastic habit, and under his teaching stayed a whole year, devoting himself to fastings and prayers for God. But because, where there was the impetus of the spirit, thither he went; to the monastery of St. Nicholas, which was not far off, he transferred himself; that his simplicity might be made prudent by the converse of many wise men.

[8] And after a year he came to the church of the Savior; and to the church of the Holy Savior where, tried like gold in the furnace, he learned to fight against the hostile incursions of the world, the flesh, and the devil. For the sister of the Provost of that same church considered the youth comely in appearance; and like that shameless woman, who seizing Joseph's cloak said, "Sleep with me"; she, caught by the snare of the eyes, daily sought the youth for a wicked deed. But he, seeing that he could not overcome so savage a beast, took to flight, according to that of the Apostle, "Flee fornication": for it is safer to yield than to fight. 2 Cor. 6:18 And so he ascended into the mountain of Casentino, hiding under a certain rock for five months; and believed himself to be separated from his enemies. But the revived temptation of women was not lacking to him; for new songs of women from the said farmstead frequently resounded in the ears of the man of God: by which, as if despairing, the man of God knew not whither to flee from the face of the troubler; but taking wings like an eagle, and finally to Ocre he wished to set his nest in steep places; and exulting as a giant to run the way, in a narrow rock under the castle of Ocre, which is pathless, he hid himself, and in it for twelve years he lay hidden. But a lamp could not be hidden under a bushel. His miracles growing bright, many began to run to him; and to Pretula. but few, on account of the difficulty of access, could reach the rock. To which there came a certain Priest, named Simeon; but falling from the rock, he died. Which the holy man hearing, grieved so much, that he abandoned his own dwelling: and coming on a shady mountain above Pretula, there under a certain hut among the timbers of the woods he hid himself from the sight of men; living on the leaves of herbs and on roots.

NOTES OF D. P.

CHAPTER II.

The Saint's other exercises, the monastery built, the future predicted, his pious death.

[9] There the Lord deigned to appear to him by a fitting revelation, carrying in his hands a written paper, refreshed by a divine promise, and it was said by the bearer: "Read, Placid, servant of God." Who answered that he did not know how to read such letters. But the Lord, opening his understanding, showed him all the tears, prayers, alms, and other good things which he himself had done. Nor is it a wonder, because where the Holy Spirit is the teacher, what is taught is easily learned. And that he might be more certain of the vision of God, the Lord said to him: "Fear not, Placid, my servant: for as you asked me, so also I asked the Father, that your faith may not fail"; and so, comforted by so great a vision, he applied himself more and more to prayers and fastings; always having psalms in his mouth, and the psalter never fell from his hands; for he said the psalmody with such great jubilation, that with scarcely attenuated breath he could express the words, repeating one verse of the Psalm three and four times. he applies himself to continual Psalmody; But on a certain day, when he had continued prayer until evening, with hands raised and lowered, with genuflection, there appeared to him two doves, raising their wings and lowering them in the likeness of one pleading, so that the holy man could take them. And deservedly in the appearance of a dove the Holy Spirit appeared to him, who always kept simplicity and the dove's groaning: for birds join to those like themselves, and every animal,

as Solomon says, loves things like itself. Ecclus. 13:19,

[10] of rigid abstinence, At all times, except on Sundays, he fasted; he never used either seasoned blood or flesh; and besides his accustomed fasts, he made a hundred and fourteen Lents, in which he used neither what was roasted by fire nor cooked with water, but herbs and pulse; and others he made, in which, eating nothing, he drank only cups of water. See how great is he, who was the imitator of Moses and Elijah, nay of our Savior. Likewise for twelve years before his death, with frequent tears, on three days in the week, he ate no bread at all. The holy Father prayed without intermission, and expiated the sins of the people with many tears; knowing that prayer soothes the Lord, the tear compels [him]. He could say with the Prophet: "My tears have been bread to me day and night." A thousand times in the day and night he recited the Our Father and the Hail Mary. He bent his knees, and had all his heart fixed on God; in attentive prayer. thinking of nothing else than of God himself, having in mind that of Cyprian. "When we stand," he says, "at prayer… let there be no carnal and secular thought; when then the mind thinks only of that which it prays": and according to the Rule of the Blessed Benedict our Father, at all times the Monk guarded his life, especially in the days of Lent.

[11] Pestered by lice The Blessed man proposed to himself at the beginning of a certain Lent, to occupy the whole of it vigilant in the praises of God. But the enemy was not lacking, envying the desire of the man of God. He heaps so many lice in his garments and in his flesh, that he could scarcely think of anything else. And when through the whole Lent he endured an unheard-of war about the lice, grieving more for his disturbed mind than for his disturbed flesh; he is freed by a miracle: on the very holy day of Easter, dissolved in tears, he reckoned that he had lost those most holy days. As he thought these things, three doves suddenly ascended upon him, one within his right sleeve, another in the left, and the third in his mouth: and immediately the multitude of lice so vanished, that there seemed to remain neither signs nor traces. he lies hard, sleeps little, To wonderful things more wonderful succeed, to strong things stronger are added; nor is it a wonder, because God is wonderful in his Saints, and terrible in his works. For for thirty-seven years he never lay in a bed, never prostrate on the ground; but sitting or standing, he slumbered a little; so that he could say: "I sleep, and my heart watches." And when slumber had as it were stealthily come upon his eyelids, he raged in spirit and disturbed himself, remembering that of Solomon. Prov. 6:10 "When you sleep a little, you will slumber a little"; and that of Cato. "Watch always more, and be not given to sleep, For long-lasting rest ministers nourishment to vices."

[12] At last, his body being macerated and thoroughly dried up, the struggle against flesh and blood had failed; he wrestles against the demons, but it was not lacking against the princes and powers of these darknesses. For frequently he saw the mountain full of demons, who with great impetus rushed into his hut. But the Man of God said: "In the Lord I trust, why do you say to me, migrate into the mountain like a sparrow?" And so hedged about with the protection of prayers, he was in no way overcome by the adversaries. Ps. 10:3 The blessed man strove with all solicitude to call all of his kindred to the service of God: which he also did, sending some across the sea to visit the Lord's sepulcher; he gains many for God. keeping others with himself, to be instructed in the service of Christ; who after his death were coadjutors in carrying the Tabernacle of the Lord, as the outcome of the matter proved. For when, placed in prayer, he had seen above a great multitude of men, among whom stood many Princes and Magnates; there appeared to him a certain one in shining vesture, saying: "Man of God, bless those men who have come." he obtains Pretula And he signed them with the sign of the holy Cross, obeying with fear the one commanding. Then seeing below a certain rocky hill, which was called Pretula; a hill dry and arid, full only of stones and pebbles; and thinking that "from Nazareth there can be something good"; he obtained it from the Count of Ocre, named Berard. And the man going out to his work, and to his labor until evening, began to plant trees, to build little houses, and to derive waters from the brow of the mountain: and so setting dry land in the outlets of the waters, he placed there the hungry and thirsty, and builds a monastery in it; and they established a city of habitation; they sowed the fields, planted vineyards, and made the fruit of their birth: and the Lord our God blessed them, and the Brothers themselves were multiplied in merit and in number.

[13] and the soul of his nephew having died abroad being seen, The man of God stood among the Brothers, as one of them, laboring in digging from morning until evening, and in the late evening he ascended to his accustomed hut. Making the nocturnal prayers in the customary manner, he saw the God of gods in Zion, as in a morning watchtower of vision: in which he also saw the soul of his nephew, whom he had sent far to the Imperial Court for the affairs of the house, to have migrated from the body: and he announced to his Brothers with certainty the place, day, and hour of his death; of whom many remain until now, bearing testimony of the truth. Now seeing the time of his dissolution to be at hand, he thought to commit his flock to a Shepherd, lest the wolf, invading the wandering little sheep, deprived of the comfort of a shepherd, should snatch them. And hearing of the monastery of Casanova, a place renowned for its fame; he committed the Brothers to the same, he hands it over to the Cistercian Order: that they might be under the rule of the Blessed Benedict, and under the institute of the Cistercian Order. Which done, the devil, appearing to the man of God, returning to his hut, with great impetus tried to terrify him, saying: "You have done ill, Placid, you have done ill, because you have committed your house to others"; and almost cast him down headlong: but fortifying himself with the sign of the Cross, he immediately put the enemy to flight.

[14] Full of the prophetic spirit, The holy man was full of prophecy, and those things which he said of the future did not fall to the ground. For on a certain day Nicholas of Fossa, having two sons, one of them dead, hastened to the man of God in the wood with great griefs, wailing and protesting, that if the other survivor, John by name, should die before the father's death, he would throw himself headlong. Whom the Saint rebuking for the folly of his words, and that he was a rational and sensible man, yet uttered senseless words; could scarcely restrain him from words of this kind. And turning himself to prayer, he said to the man so crying out: "Go, Nicholas, and be secure, because you will die sooner than your son John, and your end will be near; but the boy John will grow, and before the great and powerful will be of much grace and worth." Clearer than light the truth followed: for the father not after many days paid the common debt; but the son, going to the Roman Curia, before the Lord Pope and the Curials obtained a good place and favor. a short life for the father, a long one for the son, The Blessed Placid also prophesied concerning that very place which is called Pretula; where the house and Church is translated, that the Lord would enlarge it in possessions and temporal things, and would convert the hearts of many to himself, and he predicts many great things for his monastery: saying to the few Brothers, who were with him as cooperators in grace; "This will not be impossible with God"; because of the impossibility and the height of the place it seemed to some Brothers to despair, on account of exceeding poverty: but today the prophecy is fulfilled by the evidence of the matter.

[15] he himself living most abstinently: Yet he was neither pressed by poverty, nor swelled with abundance, so that he could say: "Few things are enough for me, many things are little for me." O happy soul, which so despised the world, that it received nothing of the world's glory! He so afflicted his body with continual fastings and labors, that not even for an hour was he able to kick against the goad. He avoided wine as poison; and would not be sated even with water, which has little or no nourishment; knowing that drunkenness induces the exile of the mind, and provokes the appetite of lust. Not so do they who bind themselves as drinkers to equal draughts; who neither temper themselves with wine, nor observe the accustomed fasts; whom the Canonical sanction reproves, and who do not fast on the fourth and sixth day Wednesday and Friday, seem to crucify the Lord with those crucifying [him], and to betray the Savior with those betraying [him]. Happy indeed Placid, and with wondrous nobility in giving, had so made himself liberal, that, retaining for himself neither the necessary food, nor clothing, he distributed all to the poor, observing that: "It is, believe me, a royal thing to succor the needy." And that of the Blessed Bernard: "If the most prompt bestower of gifts find an empty hand, he will in judgment be an importunate exactor."

[16] At last the time came, in which this Saint should hasten to the palm, in his last sickness. in which the expectation of the just is gladness, and a terror to those who work evil. And behold, a great languor entered the little hut, and grievously tormented him. And when his bones and skin appeared, and upon them … continually … fever, he sought no medicines, nor delicate dishes. For the Lady Regalis of Ocre after many days, namely on the holy day of Easter, sent him a little flour with the juice of kid's flesh; which when he ate, and it was said to him by the bearer, in praise of the food sent him, that in it were kid's flesh, the Saint began to take it grievously, and that whole day was turned into weeping and into mourning. At last, the infirmity increasing, it was said by the Brothers, and by many others who had come to visit him, that he should descend to the church, which he himself was building below, he refuses the eating of flesh, from the hut. And the man of God acquiesced: and they began unanimously to carry him. And his eyes and hands raised to heaven, he began to sigh more deeply. And behold (all who were present seeing) an unheard-of miracle followed. For at the departure of the holy guest the timbers of the woods were moved; the trees bow themselves to him departing and what they could not by voice, naturally, nay supernaturally, they rendered obeisance to him departing, bowing themselves deeply. "Bend your branches, lofty tree, slacken your stretched fibers, and let that stiffness grow soft."

[17] At last, he being carried to the Church, there came up Robert, the venerable Abbot of Casanova; whose Confession having been heard, and Mass celebrated, and he himself expires before the Abbot. he fortified his departure by the reception of the Lord's Body and blood: and the colloquy finished, he handed over more fully to him the household of the house of the Holy Spirit with all its goods; and commended the Abbey to his guardianship, custody, and dominion, according to the rule of the Blessed Benedict

from the institute of the Cistercian Order. Which done, on the second day of the week Monday within the octave of Pentecost, intent on prayer at vespers, and as it were placed in ecstasy, he raised his hands to heaven, and in the hands of the Abbot, the Lord Paul, the Lord Dominic, and others who were present, amid the words of prayer, he rendered his precious soul to his Maker, who is blessed unto the ages of ages. Amen. After these things, all of us who were present attest, and our testimony is true; we saw a certain glory of resurrection in the body of the deceased. For his face was brighter than light, the whole body appeared purer than glass, and those hidden members showed the appearance of a seven-year-old boy. Mass therefore having been celebrated, and the office of the funeral now performed, suddenly so great a multitude of men assembled, that the whole mountain of Pretula was full. The Clergy came together with processions and the old with the younger: and coming from the near and adjacent parts, all with chants and Christian honors cried out together: "Father Placid, why do you desert us? why do you leave us orphaned?" And after four days and nights, carrying his body to the tomb with jubilation, invoking and magnifying the Lord, concerning the immense miracles which the Lord did through him, and in that four-day period, all openly said: "The Lord has visited his people." Therefore in the year of the Lord 1248, on the 12th day of the month of June, in the seventh Indiction, St. Placid, dear to God, paid death, and found life; in whose death the Lord deigned to work the miracles written below.

NOTES. D. P.

p Here again an error in the number: for the sixth Indiction was to be written, agreeing with the year 1248.

q The whole following chapter Amicius dispatches with this brief period: "But these miracles were performed by him after death. Eleven oppressed by a demon were freed. One lame man, and another who was lame and bent, was healed. A blind man received sight. A mute woman spoke. Two with contracted sides, one with a contracted and crooked hand, and a paralytic, were restored, to the praise and glory of almighty God, who lives and reigns, throughout all the ages of ages. Amen."

CHAPTER III.

The miracles done after the death of the Blessed Placid.

as the whole village and neighbors testified; was brought to the man thus deceased; and having touched him, immediately received the clearness of light. And this sign was done in the presence of Master Bernard of that Village, and of Master Nicholas, of Dominic the Saint, and others of the people, who were neighbors at the funeral; and all the people, when it saw, gave glory to God.

[19] Laudonia of Fossa, vexed by a demon for twenty years, a possessed woman is freed, was brought as if by violence to the bier of the man of God, because so unconquered a demon greatly tormented her: and immediately she was made whole, and with all the people praised the Lord, she who possessed had at first blasphemed. And this was done in the presence of Dominic Bernard, her husband; Nicholas Aegidius, and all the people of Ocre: who continually for the aforesaid space had seen her vexed, and freed by the Blessed Placid.

[20] Peter Gualderius of St. Eusanius, who had been lame for ten years and enfeebled, so that he could neither walk nor see the sky, a lame man is raised up, on that day was carried to so great a spectacle: as soon as his limbs touched the body of the Saint, his bases and soles were made firm, and he went out jubilant and praising the Lord, and Placid his servant. And this sign was done in the presence of Roger of St. Eusanius, Berard Simeon, Bernard Gratianus, and all the people of St. Eusanius, who had come there, and had seen him thus contracted for the aforesaid space of time, and by the merits of the Blessed Placid raised up, and healed on that day in the presence of the aforesaid.

[21] Maria of St. Eusanius, possessed and likewise vexed by a demon for a long time, a possessed woman is cured, was freed by the Blessed Placid; and at this liberation the people of the said land of Ocre were present, who had earlier seen her possessed, and at the memorial of St. Placid freed.

[22] Raynald of Lucolo, who had a foot twisted for very many years, a twisted foot, limping strongly; by the touch of the sepulcher of that Blessed, was restored to full health, in the presence of Nicholas of Lucolo, the Lord Benedict de Raynaldis, John Nicholas Gregory, who had seen him lame and healed.

[23] a possessed boy, Petruccia of Cascia, who from her infancy had a learned demon (who according to his confession was called Tribulus, and said that he had been in heaven with others, and seen the wisdom and height of God the Father; asked why he fell; answered, that "many of us fell with our master, who wished to set his seat in the North, and to be like the Most High." Asked if he wished to return to heaven, he said: "It is too late") was freed by the Lord by the merits of the said Saint, in the presence of the Lord Paul, who questioned her, Gregory Bernard, Azzo of Fossa, John Nicholas Bernard, who had seen her possessed, and by the merits of St. Placid freed.

[24] a paralytic, Paul, son of Bartholomew of Pretorio, having his left side withered for a long time, and coming on the first day of the death of the Man of God, carried back his side sound and whole, in the presence of Fortis-brachius of Fossa, the Lord Master Benedict, John Berard, the Lord Berard, John Aegidius, and John Bernard: who had seen him sick that day, and healed at the memorial of the man of God.

[25] a possessed man, And because in various signs the divine munificence exalted the fame of the just one with praises, so that distant peoples cried out from the ends of the earth, and proclaimed the divine praise of the just one. Cola of Mascio of Valle Siciliana, having a most grave and savage demon, immediately when he touched his bier, even against his will the demon was put to flight from him, in the presence of James Bernard and Azzo Tomasius of the same land, who had seen him possessed, and put to flight, so that the demon went out from him; and he vomited one red stone, and one leaf.

[26] a mute woman, Geburga of Corno, who for a long time had lost her tongue and speech, was brought to the body of the man of God, touched his garments, and immediately recovered speech, rightly blessing God and Placid his servant. This sign was done in the presence of the Lord Paul Dominic, and Brother Aegidius, and many other men.

[27] Raynald in Calza of Corno, having for nine years his left thigh numb and infirm, a paralytic, at the touch of the man of God was restored to former health, in the presence of Gemma, sister of the Lord Paul, and Bartholomew.

[28] Maria of Podio Picentino had lost her left side, a paralytic woman, so that for a year she had had no feeling: approaching the place of the man of God, she was restored to health, and entirely freed: in the presence of the Lord Raynald of Corno, the Lord Matthew Bonutius, the Lord Teodinus, who had seen her sick, and healed by the merits of that Saint.

[29] Just as the good demons good Angels draw their names from the works which they perform; a possessed woman, so the evil demons are named from the works which they wickedly perform. For a certain demon who was called Cambo, had for seven years vexed Palmeria, daughter of the Lord Tomasius of the castle of St. Peter; and was consuming her as if desolate: but immediately when she was carried to the memorial of the man of God, the demon was put to flight, and she was restored to former health, in the presence of Angelo Tubortini,

Peter his Brother, the Lord Teodinus of Sinitium, and others, who had seen her possessed, and healed through Placid the servant of God.

[30] Peter, son of the Lord John of Rocca of Corno, having his right hand contracted and crooked from his mother's womb, a contracted hand, by the merits of St. Placid stretched out his hand, and was wholly restored to health; in the presence of the Lord John his father, and Mabilia of Rocca of Corno, who had seen his right hand thus contracted and healed.

[31] Luke of Zoto, for two years having his left hand withered and contracted: a withered hand, was freed by the merits of St. Placid, in the presence of Peter of Rome, Tomasius of Ocre, and John of Carapelle. Gualderius son of John of Colvaria, whose right arm a kind of infirmity rendered so feeble and infirm, a useless arm, that it served no part of the body. Coming to the sepulcher of the man of God, he was forthwith healed of all infirmity, in the presence of the Lord Paul Niger father of Peter Angelus, and Brother Aegidius, who saw him thus infirm, freed through St. Placid, and healed.

[32] The demons feared the Blessed Placid himself, and his fierceness. For Bona of Bazzano the Tavern-keeper, for four years agitated by a demon, a possessed woman, seeing a certain man, who in devotion secretly carried in his purse something of the sack of the tunic of the man of God, entering, that he might eat as a guest, into her house; began to chatter and cry out, "Why has Placidellus entered my lodging?" And when she could not approach him, the man disclosed what he secretly carried; and advised that the wretched woman should hasten to the holy man of God. She was brought, and freed from the demon, in the presence of the Lord Dominic, and Brother Aegidius, and Brother Paul, who saw her possessed and freed by St. Placid.

[33] Maria of Saxa, wife of Master Dudo, had been possessed and vexed by a demon for thirty years, possessed for 30 years, yet she was not publicly published through the quarter; but she was made known through a certain other possessed woman, who said to her, as soon as she saw her: "Why have you come? You have come ill": and they began to chatter together. "Nevertheless," she said, "you will be freed at his cave, and likewise another, and I will be freed at the tomb"; which indeed so happened, in the presence of the Lord Angelo Tubortini, Blasius of Popleto, Gualdericius of Piscaria, Tomasius of the Lord John Petittus, who saw her possessed, and whole.

[34] Gemma daughter of James, for a long time bent to the ground like an animal; a bent woman was raised up by the prayers and merits of the said Saint, before Nicholas Blasius, Vanne Paul, John Clement, and Ventura, who had seen her sick and whole.

[35] Maria of Saxa was so bent, that, her head pressed between her knees, and another, destitute of all her members, she could neither walk nor sit. She was presented at the tomb of the man of God, and immediately restored to health, so that she returned home with a swift step. And this was done in the presence of John Barbo, Raynald her father, and Peter Gualderius: who saw her thus sick, and freed by the merits of the Blessed Placid.

[36] Thomasia of Caporciano, who had her left arm as if lost, a useless arm, once received it sound at the memorial of the said Saint, in the presence of the Lord Dominic, and John of Caporciano.

[37] Peter, a boy of Bazzano, who had lost the feeling of his right arm, and again received it sound at the memorial of the said Saint, in the presence of the Lord John Nicholas, and many others.

[38] Tadeus of Caporciano, who had lost the feeling and strength of his right arm, and a third time, received it sound and firm, at the memorial of the man of God, before N. Archpriest of St. Fabian, James of Pizzulo and Paul, Canons of the same church: who saw [him] thus sick, freed by the merits of the said Saint.

[39] Benedicta daughter of Robert, bent for many years, and thoroughly curved, a bent woman, carried to the place of the man of God, was raised up and healed, before Matthew son of Raynald, Nicholas Cantalupi, and Robert her father.

[40] James son of John Ginolfi of Planella, for ten years in his legs, a paralytic, and arms, and as it were the whole body curved, lay contracted in his house: and immediately when he was carried to the sepulcher of the man of God, he was swiftly stretched out, and healed; who without support returned to his own home, in the presence of the Lord William of Poldano, Goffred his son, Simon Matthew, Dominic Riccardus, who saw him thus sick and healed by the merits of this Saint.

[41] and another, Nicholas son of Tomasius of Ofaniano for three years lay in bed, in his hands and feet, and the whole body contracted, who could neither walk nor sit; immediately when he was brought to the memorial of the man of God, he was fully freed, in the presence of the Lord Julian of the same land, who had seen him thus sick and healed.

[42] seven possessed women. And because the same Saint was full of the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit, he freed seven possessed women on Sunday the fifth of July: and those who likewise came wandering by chance, freed with grace returned to their own homes: whose names, on account of the exceeding frequency of the miracles, all of which are not written down on this page, the writer could not commend to memory. This sign was done before Brother Aegidius, the Lord Dominic Tomasius, the Lord John Petittus, who saw them possessed, and whole.

Praise to God, and to the Blessed Placid.

NOTES OF D. P.

p The same year 1248 in which the Blessed Placid died, after the Bissextile of April ran under the Dominical letter D, and so had the next fifth of July after death a Sunday; nor did the same concourse return except in the year 1254 and 1265. To me it is probable, that all the miracles hitherto related happened within the first three weeks: nor did the diligence of the Writer cease here, but was continued for some years more by him or others; yet nothing of them now survives: because this Life was written in the same month of July; and its Compendiator Amicius had no care of relating the miracles more distinctly; perhaps neither did others survive than those which Paul had written.

APPENDIX.

On the present state of the body and the church.

Placid, Hermit near Ocre, in the diocese of Aquila in Abruzzo (St.)

BY THE AUTHOR D. P.

[43] The most Illustrious Lord Joseph Caprini, by whose kindness we have given this Life, in his letters to us, which he gave from Aquila on the 12th of May 1690, renders an account of his double excursion to the places here mentioned, undertaken for this end, that he might inform us as accurately as possible about all things. Thus then he begins. "The church of the Holy Spirit of Ocre stands on a rocky hill, whence the place is called Pretola, that is Petrula. Until now it is kept well preserved, although the convent is extinct, together with many others smaller than just, by the Decree of Innocent X. Under the high altar are preserved the Relics of St. Placid, with great honor and veneration, within an iron coffer, closed with four locks; in which is contained another, covered with Damascene silk. Among those also are reckoned the shoes of that Blessed one, into which water being infused, it is given to be drunk on those days on which the Relics themselves are shown; namely on the second day of the week Monday, both of Easter and of Pentecost. On these days also a solemn feast is kept, and to the people flowing from every side a sermon is held on the praises of the Saint. To one about to speak it, the Life which I sent is usually exhibited, which I afterward found also at Fossa, the nearest town to Ocre, not only in Latin, but also rendered into Italian, for the use and devotion of the unlearned, by him who in the year 1638 had been invited to speak; but both I found in manuscript."

[44] "Through the walls of the church, on either side of the high altar, is seen expressed in paintings the whole Legend of St. Placid, and arranged into fourteen panels: whose series and argument may be known from the Italian Epigraph of each, in this order which I render into Latin. I. The Blessed Placid, still a boy and pasturing the flock, gave his loaves to the shepherds. II. Desirous of learning letters, he is taught by the Scholars to recite the Psalter by heart. III. As an adolescent he goes on pilgrimage into Galicia to St. James. IV. Returned from the pilgrimage, with singular patience he endures five years of infirmity. V. In the wood of the Pretulae of Ocre the Lord appeared to him, handing him a certain paper, and opening its meaning. VI. When he is filled with lice two doves appear, and free him from them. VII. A chapel of the Holy Spirit is built for him in a place of the territory of Ocre, named Pretula. VIII. Returned from the journey to St. Michael, on Monte-cornu he takes the religious habit. IX. Tempted by a certain woman, he flees into a deserted cave above Casentino. X. Devoting himself to prayer, and wearied by the impure songs of the women of Casentino, he flees toward Ocre. XI. A certain Priest having slipped and died through those rough places, he betakes himself to the wood of the Pretulae of Ocre."

XII. Broken by old age and disease, he is carried into the woodland chapel, the trees bowing themselves at his passing. XIII. He renders his spirit in the arms of the Abbot of Casanova. XIV. The Religious showing the Relics, infirmities of every kind are healed.

[45] At the same wall, moreover, are seen expressed in colors the following miracles, subscribed in this manner. He frees one mutilated in his members. He frees a blind man. He frees one mutilated and distorted. He frees a possessed man. He frees a mutilated man. He makes a mute woman speak.

OF ST. JOHN OF SAHAGÚN, PRIEST OF THE ORDER OF THE HERMITS OF ST. AUGUSTINE,

AT SALAMANCA IN CASTILE.

1479.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

John of Sahagún, Priest of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine, at Salamanca in Castile (St.)

BY THE AUTHOR D. P.

§. I. On the age of the Saint, and John of Seville, the writer of the first Life.

[1] At Salamanca, the ancient city of Castile on the river Tormes (which the University of Studies, erected or restored at the beginning of the 15th century, rendered most celebrated in the whole world) there was, from the year 1202, a church dedicated to St. Peter. The Augustinian Convent at Salamanca, Into the possession of this, in the year 1377, the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine, having been introduced, joined to it a Convent, named from this holy Doctor. This, reduced to the norm of the old observance in the year 1453, abounded in so great an abundance of distinguished men, that Aegidius d'Avila, in his Ecclesiastical Theater of the year 1618, numbers as having come forth from it twelve Confessors, illustrious for sanctity; eight, shining with Archiepiscopal or Episcopal dignity; three, of the sacred Confessions of Kings and Emperors; parent of illustrious men, six, of the sermons of the same; twenty-five Provincials, two Reformers of Religious, seventeen Writers, and fourteen public Professors in the Academy of Salamanca. Among the twelve Confessors, to most of whom, without any public cult, only the private piety of the citizens and brothers ascribed the title of Blessedness; to a higher grade of ecclesiastical veneration than the rest had long since ascended, and of two Saints, John and Thomas: John of Sahagún, although, 32 years after himself, the younger St. Thomas of Villanova was solemnly inscribed in the Catalogue of the Saints; but he was received into the same Convent in the tenth year from the reformation undertaken, and died holily, 48 years before the aforesaid St. Thomas entered there.

[2] Of the ancient cult of this John, not only does the Life with miracles make us certain, written in Spanish about the year 1498, likewise of the Blessed John of Seville by a man of scarcely inferior holiness, and the same Vicar General, Brother John of Seville, with a view to soliciting canonization, through the mediation of the Great Captain of the Spanish soldiery (as they called him), Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba. To him namely that John wrote nine Epistles on that subject, which Thomas de Herrera inserted in the History of the aforesaid Convent, published in the year 1652, from p. 57 to p. 72, already before praised in this volume on p. 392 for another distinguished work, published eight years earlier, under the title of the Augustinian Alphabet. The Life of such great authority found in such a history, in the very year in which the Canonization was celebrated, Brother Antoninus de Witte, an inhabitant of the Convent of Brussels, turned into our Belgian tongue, which his version, when he had kindly caused us to have it, recently rendered from Spanish into German, from which we should form a Latin one; I excused myself, saying that it was not our custom to prepare versions from any other language than that in which a thing is written: since it is most true what is commonly said; "Waters are more purely drunk from the very source." and this to be given here from German into Latin.

[3] I return to the author of the Life, John of Seville, concerning whom from the old book of Professions Herrera thus writes: "He is the Vicar general, namely of those who are called Reformed, and who wrote the Life of St. John of Sahagún." Valaurius, to be praised below, adds to him the surname "de Orozco": and concerning the same his Belgian Interpreter thus speaks. When the Life written by him, with a view to the canonization of the Blessed John of Sahagún, was to be presented at Rome; there was likewise offered, for confirming the faith, the Life of John of Seville himself, not written in ancient times (for Herrera, having stayed for some while in that Convent of Salamanca, and intent on collecting material for his work, found no such Life) but recently compiled: which having been read, Pope Clement VIII said: "When for John of Sahagún such effort is made, why is not equal diligence labored for John of Seville?" That would indeed be done, if equal documents were extant for both. But the difference is immense: for of this latter John, if there was once any cult, it has wholly vanished; and that there was any is not presumed, except from a benign conjecture, and that an uncertain one.

[4] Of it thus is read in Herrera: "There lay in the chapel of St. Laurence, of the monastery of Salamanca, [whose, or another similar one's, bones were found in the year 1605 under the altar,] the bones of a certain pious man laid away: which in the year 1605, when I was living at Salamanca, and the altar was being reduced to a better form, saw the light: but the letters which were written within on a slip, the paper vanishing, vanished. Various and confused was the tradition of the elders… We placed the precious pledges between the chapels of the Mother of God and of Nicholas of Tolentino, and added this eulogy engraved on the stone in golden letters. 'The pious remains of the mortality of an unknown Augustinian Brother (whom the ancient Fathers in our age reckoned to be the Venerable Brother John of Seville, or the devout Brother Martin of Extarrono, each a man eminent in sanctity, were translated in 1637. and a Pupil and Prelate of this Salamanca monastery) are covered by this stone. They lay once under the altar itself of the altar sacred to St. Laurence, until the year 1605; in which, found, they gave great traces of the piety with which those ancient Fathers venerated the Relics of this most holy man; whose bones, and other smaller pledges, they placed under Christ hidden in the Eucharist, that even thus the Son-of-man might have where to sweetly recline his head, translated hither in the year 1637, await the future change.'"

§. II. At what age St. John came to Salamanca, and afterward to the habit.

[5] He who in the year 1463 received the habit In that Life, which I said was set forth by John of Seville in the form of letters, as it is indeed now had (for the original manuscripts are nowhere found any longer), in no. 10 it is expressly said, that the Saint was received to the habit in the year 1463, and in the following year to Profession: which is again asserted in no. 29, and it is added, that he lived in Religion to sixteen or seventeen years, until he departed life in the year 1479. and died in it in 1479 The span of his whole age is nowhere expressed: which great authority and not lighter reasons persuade [us] to make greater, than the authors of the more recent Epitaph wrote, asserting him to have died in the 49th year of his life; whence it would follow that he was born in the year 1430, which the Belgian interpreter noted from Castelbranco. But so small an age of the dying man cannot stand with that which the Saint must have had, when, thirteen years before he took the habit, he came to Salamanca in the year 1450, already a Priest and a celebrated preacher. This span of thirteen years, however, the more recent Spanish life expressly notes, which Brother Augustine Antolinius published, Provincial of the same Order, and in the University of Salamanca holder of the Chair for the prelections of sacred scripture, afterward Bishop of Ciudad Rodrigo, and finally Archbishop of Compostela: who dedicated that Life in the year 1605 to the Lord Francisco de Sandoval, Duke of Lerma. For indeed from it, chapter 11, it is gathered that the time during which the Saint lived in the College of St. Bartholomew was about four years; and that in these words. "The Saint entered the College in the year 1450, on the 16th of February: but after he went out thence, he stayed in the city of Salamanca about ten years, as the Cardinal Antonianus and the holy man John of Seville report: then he took the Augustinian habit in the year 1463, as is established from his profession."

[6] Thus far Antolinius, by whom the two writers alleged, more assert it) one a contemporary, the other writing in the year 1600, of whom below, if they only mentioned the Salamanca stay indefinitely, nor noted the year of his reception to the College of the Saint; the whole faith of those 13 or 14 years resolves into other monuments which Antolinius had and followed, and not he alone, but others too. For at the same time as he, and in the same city of Salamanca, Aegidius Gonsalvus d'Avila was writing and publishing his Salamanca history, into which from John of Seville and other notices of his time he wove the life of the Blessed John of Sahagún; ending indeed with the aforesaid Epitaph, but yet expressly affirming on p. 381, that, having gone out from the College, he dwelt ten years with a certain Canon Peter Sancius. At the same time also Julian de Armendaris wrote in Spanish verse: who although he too, deceived by the aforenoted Epitaph, said the Saint was born in the year 1430, yet defined the time of the Salamanca stay before his entrance the same as Antolinius: as also the same defines the Lord Francisco Ruiz de Vergara, in the Life of the Lord Diego de Anaya Archbishop of Seville, chapter 20, where are recounted the chief of those who flourished in the Bartholomew College founded by him, and on p. 106 is placed the eulogy of St. John.

[7] Meanwhile an age less than that which the consensus of so many writers requires in defining the Salamanca stay, is expressed even under the effigy, which, as genuine from the prototype, Peter a Mariz the Portuguese piously vowed, he is not rightly believed to have died at Lisbon on the 15th of March in the year 1609, and prefixed sculpted to his very long History of St. John of Sahagún, dedicated to the aforenamed Duke of Lerma. And he indeed, in the course of chapter 16, alleging from Antolinius the Chronicle of the College, where the year of reception is noted as 1450; saw well enough that it could not be, that the Saint then came to Salamanca, already before ordained Priest, unless against the Canons he was made Priest being only nineteen years old; yet he had not enough courage, that, moved by that argument, he should change anything, although in chapter 5 he had premised, that John lived altogether six years in the Bishopric of Burgos, before he allowed himself to be promoted thither. What then? He prefers to call Antolinius into suspicion of error, suspecting lest he read 1450 for 1460 or some intermediate year. But that Antolinius read nothing wrongly, Vergara, a most certain witness, and having before his eyes the very Chronicle of the Bartholomew College, irrefragably proves. He acted more prudently, in the 49th year of his age, born in 1429: and was altogether silent about the year of the Salamanca migration, who, from the Processes adduced for the Canonization, in this very year, collected and published the Life in Italian, James Antoninus Valauri, Doctor of Theology, and Priest at St. Jerome of Charity at Rome. But this knot being dissembled, the same Valaurius without scruple defined 49 years of age for John; concerning which, however, that a few years ago nothing was defined, Antolinius, a most faithful writer, sufficiently indicates by his silence; as one presuming to assert nothing which he did not find in ancient writings; but freely bringing into suspicion the things received only through tradition.

of fiction, as will appear below. He has in chapter 38 a Latin inscription, to be referred to below in no. 37 of the longer Acts; he does not have the Spanish one, placed together with that in the year 1570; doubtless being doubtful about the age, which is expressed in the Spanish, not in the Latin.

[8] As for the rest, those Authors, writing in the popular tongue, deservedly abstained from Chronological scruples, but it must be said that he was at least ten years older, to be proposed before the undiscerning common people; lest from one error, which perhaps crept in through the course of time, prejudice should be created for the rest of the history; and this very thing can avail to excuse the Belgian Interpreter. To us, intent on the satisfaction of the Learned and the illustration of history, it is not permitted to dissemble such things, however some might wish; nor is it usually grievous to lovers of truth. Certainly our Society (as I remember to have insinuated elsewhere) gratefully accepted that the error detected by Peter Possinus in the age of our St. Francis Xavier be corrected, and that he be demonstrated ten years younger than he had hitherto been believed. Why therefore should I fear, lest the Augustinian Order take it ill, if I strive to demonstrate the hitherto undiscussed age of their St. John to be at least ten years greater than the more recent writers have handed down, following older and more certain monuments? I say therefore, that in the year 1419, and so born about the year 1419, or even earlier, he was born, and instructed in his fatherland in the arts of Grammar and Dialectic, and came to Burgos about twenty years old; and admitted into the Episcopal household, spent there some years, say five or six, in the study of Decretals and Theological principles, before he was initiated into the Priesthood, being at least 25 years old. Then he began to make speeches to the people; and not until the fame of his distinguished talent in speaking was confirmed, did he pass to Salamanca, already in his thirties, and older than that, made a Priest about 1445. in the year 1450; and received among the Bartholomew Colleagues, having spent three years among them, took the grade of Bachelor, and furthermore spent a decade in giving sermons and promoting his Theological studies; and so came to the Order being at least 44 years old: which was a just age for discharging, soon from the very novitiate, the offices of Master of novices, and others, which will be treated of in the course of the history.

[9] that he migrated to Salamanca in the year 1450, So the Saint died about sixty years old; or even five years older; if you wish to suspect, that he was 49 years old when he came to the Order: but that it happened by error, that the years he numbered when he left the world, were thought to have been had long after, when he departed from this life; and perhaps entered the Order in the 49th year of his age. and then it could be reckoned, that he stayed about fifteen years at Burgos, before he came to Salamanca; the fitter now for managing great matters, the more advanced he was in age and experience.

§. III. On the cult of St. John, gradually promoted up to the Beatification; and the Lives then written, and finally the Canonization that followed.

[10] Begun to be marked out by a miracle in the year 1488: Of St. John of Sahagún (that I may take the surname from the usage of the common people) all things are more certain except the years of his age. For not only is it established, that soon after his death miracles began to be wrought, and his intercession invoked at the sepulcher by very many; but also nine years later, in the year of Christ 1487, they were described under Notarial attestation, just as the Writer John saw most of them with his own eyes. To this Herrera seems to look when he says: "Processes were formed of the life and miracles in the year 1488"; but I doubt whether in another manner than has already been said. This seems more certainly asserted of the years 1525 and 1542: would that those processes were still had, about to give us notice of more of the miracles done during that half-century. But these duly completed and signed, Processes begun in the year 1525 by the authority of the Ordinaries as it is fair to believe (and these were the Lord Francisco de Bobadilla, and Roderick de Mendoza), it was acted concerning his relation into the Catalogue of the Saints in the year 1545 and 1550, when St. Thomas of Villanova, a pupil of the same Convent of Salamanca, made Archbishop of Valencia, in sermon 2 on the Sacrament of the altar, speaking of our John; "who at this time," he says, "with the wondrous zeal and distinguished piety of the people of Salamanca, on account of the innumerable miracles which are continually wrought by him, is venerated." But it was acted under Paul III; and he dying, there was progress in the cause under the years 1574, 75 and 1600, and this at last was obtained from the Apostolic See, that John be inscribed in the number of the Blessed. resumed in 1545, It was also granted on the 19th of June in the year 1601, that on the 12th of June in the Salamanca monastery, by the Augustinian Brothers, together with the Collegians, Chaplains, and Persons of the great College of St. Bartholomew, the divine Office be performed annually concerning him. The favor was afterward extended to the province of Castile; then, and the Beatification made in 1551, at the prayers of Philip III King of the Spains, to the whole Augustinian Order, by letters given at Frascati, on the 15th of October, in the year 1603; and finally to the towns of Cea and Sahagún: all which were grants of Clement VIII.

[11] the life soon published by A. Antolinez At the same time, namely at the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th, Brother Augustine Antolinius praised above had extended the Life taken from John of Seville into the form of a just book; with some things added that were certainly ascertained by him, of deeds before death, and several of deeds after death. But that Life he did not publish until he was made Provincial in the year 1605. And ten years after, in the year of Christ 1615, Brother Paul Fraxinelli, an Augustinian and public Lector of sacred Theology in that Academy of Bologna, published it at Bologna, turned from Spanish into Italian; rendered into Italian by Fraxinelli, adding nothing from elsewhere, nay not even knowing perhaps, that Peter de Mariz, a Portuguese Priest, had extended the History of the same Blessed at Lisbon, through various pious and curious digressions, into quite a large volume, and had published it in the year 1609: whose authority to us, in those things which he adds of himself, is the less than that of Antolinius, the further he was from the genuine sources. And these indeed are the Authors of that time, whom we have seen. But Antolinius also cites Silvinus Cardinal Antonianus; who, Roman by fatherland, endowed with the Purple in the year 1592 by Clement VIII, died before Marizius brought to light the Life written by himself. Since therefore Antonianus is said to have written many things, both bound by feet in verse, and in loose oration in prose, and also to have published some orations, it is credible, that one of these, spoken and printed at the Beatification itself at Rome, Antolinius had, and cites in chapter 33 under the title of the Latin Life. This too it would be welcome to us to see; if perhaps he drew from the Processes hitherto produced, and not easily about to reach us, something passed over by Antolinius.

[12] in Latin by Cardinal Antonianus, and in Spanish Verse by Armendaris Marizius also repeatedly praises the Songs, by which Julian de Armendariz celebrated the same Blessed. This man, of Salamanca origin, we read in the Spanish Library of Nicholas Antonio, published in popular verse at Valladolid in the year 1603, "The Eulogies of St. John of Sahagún": but in vain does Nicholas doubt whether this is a work different from the Life, which he published in similar verse at Rome in the year 1611; for otherwise that Life would be later than the work of Marizius. We have that Life divided into ten Songs, and reprinted at Barcelona in the year 1622, which the Duke of Alcalá, the Royal Lieutenant, testifies was first printed at Salamanca; in a second edition perhaps; for the first seems altogether to have been taken care of at Valladolid (this was the Pincia of the ancients), for there it is read approved in the year 1602. In this the Author premises, that all things were composed by him after he had recovered from a certain venomous affliction, for which, endured through eighteen years, neither in Spain nor in Italy could a remedy be found among the physicians consulted about it; but that goads were added to him to pursue the work, because the city of Salamanca his fatherland had John as Patron; and this one he had chosen for himself in the year 1602, on the 8th of June. It was therefore not a work of long labor, and was given to light two years earlier, although composed at the same time at which Antolinius composed his.

[13] We have therefore, besides John of Seville, now three Authors, from whom, but chiefly from Antolinius, George Maigret, from whom, and from Marieta, Maigret wrote in French, Prior of the Augustinians of Tournai, and Doctor of Sacred Theology at Louvain, professes that he wrote the Life of the saint in French, which he published at Tournai ten years before the Italian edition of Fraxinelli. A fourth Author for Maigret cannot seem to be Jerome Roman, although Marizius too alleges him, as one who inserted the life of St. John into his Ecclesiastical History of Spain: for this and several others of his manuscripts never published, that one dying about the year 1597, Antolinius possessed, who could have lent the Life transcribed thence to Marizius. A fourth therefore for Maigret would be John Marieta the Dominican, who in Part 3 of his History of the Saints of Spain, p. 67, inserted a very brief Life of the Blessed John, and published it at Cuenca in the year 1595, rendered into Latin by Baxius: alleging in the margin a certain Zama, from whose book 14 chapter 26 he received it, but unknown to Antonio Nicholas the author of the Spanish Library; whom however I would think Marieta was not much older than. But the book of Maigret Nicasius Baxius, Vicar of the Augustinian monastery, made Latin and published with Antwerp types in the year 1625. the aforesaid also used by Vergara in 1661. Add to these the eulogy inserted in the Life of the Lord Diego de Anaya praised above in no. 6: but that book came forth at Madrid in the year 1661: whose Author, the Lord Francisco Ruiz de Vergara y Alava, is entitled Knight of the militia of St. James and of the Royal Majesty, to whom it is inscribed, councilor in the supreme Senate of Castile.

[14] He, about to adorn at once the aforesaid eulogy and his book, an effigy added, not only, having prefixed St. Bartholomew at the front of the book, set here and there the Blessed John of Sahagún and Alfonso Tostatus, in the Collegial habit; but moreover took care to have him sculpted thus on a whole folio, with the title of true effigy. But I do not dare to receive and exhibit it with him, having seen there the effigy of Philip IV, so different from the lineaments of the royal face most well known to the common people, that one would wish to believe nothing of its sculptor concerning anyone's likeness. No more do I dare to trust the effigy which Antolinius prefixed to the Life published by himself; for one who expressed the Saint not in the old habit of the Order, but in a more recent one accommodated to his own age, ought not to be believed to have received it from an ancient prototype. Marizius took care to have another sculpted, most unlike in face and habit, but a more probable other one we here give: from a vow, as he says, with this epigraph: "The true effigy of St. John de Sahagún, or rather the Archetype." Of this therefore receive the copy, restricted to a smaller form. Allow also that in no. 6 of the longer Life, about to express the Saint in the old habit of the Bartholomew Collegians,

found in Vergara on p. 52, I bid the sculptor reproduce the same lineaments.

[15] Herrera ends his eulogy of the Blessed John thus: "May God grant, and finally in the year 1690, Valaurius from the Processes in Italian, that the Church may venerate a man, illustrious for such great merits and renowned for so many miracles, after so many years adorned with due honor, the Church which grows rich by the number of the Saints, is increased by their example, and exults in their glory." So he in his Augustinian Alphabet, which we have completed only in the sixth year after it had begun to be printed, in the year of Christ 1644. To accumulate more writers of the same and other Orders on this subject, there is no need: for of all these there is none who could teach us anything new; except the last, James Antony Valaurius, of whom I have spoken above, then writing, when Pope Alexander VIII heard the wish of Herrera, common to the whole Augustinian Order and the Spanish Monarchy, the Canonization of St. John being celebrated, in the year 1690 on the 16th of October. And nothing now remains, except that the Bull of Canonization be published, and the name inscribed in the Roman Martyrology. Meanwhile from the aforesaid Antolinius, Marizius, and Valaurius we shall gather fuller Acts, especially after death, to be subjoined to the ancient Life.

LIFE

By the Author Father John of Seville, described in Spanish and in the form of Letters.

John of Sahagún, Priest of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine, at Salamanca in Castile (St.)

BY JOHN OF SEVILLE.

PROLOGUE

Explaining the intention of the writer.

To the Duke Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, Great Captain of war etc., John of Seville.

Most illustrious Lord.

[1] Prompt to execute the command of your noble Clarity; moved also by the prayers of her Excellency, At the request of two daughters of King Ferdinand, the most exalted Lady Maria of Aragon, Prioress of the Royal monastery of Our Lady of Graces, of the Order of our great Father Augustine outside the walls of Madrigal, in the kingdom of Castile; stimulated moreover by the requests of the sister of the same Lady Prioress, the Damsel Maria of Aragon, both daughters of the most powerful Catholic King of Spain, Naples, and Sicily, Ferdinand; looking also to this, that your Clarity may persevere in her magnanimity, by a disposition always inclined to do every great thing; I have undertaken, though unworthy and unfit, with a view to promoting the Canonization, to write the life and wonderful works of our John of Sahagún, that your Clarity may deign to promote the canonization of the same, a Religious of the Order of the Hermits of our great Father Augustine, and by his Profession a legitimate son of the most celebrated and holy Convent, established in the noble city of Salamanca; that, just as the merciful God deigned, on account of his great merits, to crown him with eternal glory in the heavens; so he may cause [him] to be honored on earth; and there be brought back to the memory of men the innumerable great works, which his divine goodness willed wondrously to work through him, while he dwelt in this transitory life. The same writing will also make for this, that the servants of God may more be inflamed and incited to persevere in their piety; and that sinners, while they perceive how the most benign God glorifies his servants, both in this mortal life, and in the future eternal life; and the advancement of souls, the Author writes. may awaken and rise from the mire of their offenses; and, converted to God through true penitence, may obtain salvation. Finally this labor will serve, that all the living may commend themselves to our St. John, and take him to themselves as patron and protector, by whose intercession they may be aided with God.

NOTES OF D. P.

CHAPTER I.

The earlier life of St. John up to and including his Profession.

Most illustrious Lord.

[2] I John of Seville, a Religious Professed under the habit of our glorious Father Augustine, The Author, as Vicar general, and by such profession a legitimate son of the Convent of Salamanca, and Vicar of the same, and Director of the Convent of Our Lady of Graces outside the walls of the city of Madrigal; kissing humbly the hands of Your Excellency, with all due reverence, signify to the same, that seeing the miracles and wonderful works, which the infinite God showed and worked daily, through the blessed Father John of Sahagún, and moved by singular devotion toward the same; I wished to be informed about the life and birth of the same blessed Father, as Vicar General of our Order of the holy Father Augustine; and that from the power made for me by our most Reverend Father General throughout the Spains, Father Anselm the relating of the Lord Martin, who was St. John's brother, of pious memory. When therefore I was staying in the monastery of our holy Father Augustine of the noble city of Valladolid; and there also at that time lived the Lord Martin de Castrillo, Royal Lieutenant in the city of Sahagún, and full brother of our blessed Father John of Sahagún; with many prayers I compelled him; to hand over to me full notice, of the birth, life, and conduct of his brother Father John: which I soon consigned to writing with my own hand, with a view to canonization, that, if it please the merciful God that he be referred into the Catalogue of canonized Saints, the due notice may not be lacking of those ornaments, with which he adorned the boyhood, adolescence, and the rest of the age of him living in this mortal life, passed in the world and in religion. But that I received and heard as follows.

Most illustrious Lord.

[3] he writes of what parents John was born, According to the instruction given to me by the aforesaid full brother of the Blessed John of Sahagún, it is true; that the same John was the legitimate son of the Lord John Gonsalvo de Castrillo and the Lady Sancia Martini, both of whom, honest and upright Catholic Christians and servants of God, citizens of the town of Sahagún, when not without great grief they had long lived together barren, began to ask the grace of desired offspring from the divine clemency, through the intercession of their Saints; that thus better and with greater consolation of their soul, they might be able henceforth to serve him. To the most fervent prayers poured forth to this end, they joined frequent pilgrimages to all the more celebrated churches and chapels, and there for nine days frequented their supplications; but more often to a certain reclusory outside the walls of the town of Sahagún, on the way called the French way, named St. Mary at the bridge. There it pleased God and the Virgin Mother of God to hear their vows: the Mother of God being invoked, he is conceived: for there the Lady Sancia felt that she had conceived a fetus, whom at the customary time she bore a male; and because he was their firstborn, they wished him to be called by the father's name, John.

[4] from the same mother three brothers After this God granted them also three other sons, and as many daughters: whose names are these. The first after John came to light a daughter named Maria; whom, well educated and instructed, they betrothed as wife to a certain noble Ferdinand de la Liama. This was followed by a son Ferdinand de Castrillo, who, made a Religious in the Abbey of St. Benedict of Sahagún, then Prior in the monastery of Villanova de San Mancio, then Abbot at St. Andrew de Espinareda, finally died Bishop of Granada, in the time of the Saracens. Then there was born to them a second daughter, named Joanna, married to the noble man Lupo de Peñalosa, and at present living at Alcón. and as many sisters he had; Again, a son following, the name of Louis was given at the sacred font, who lived a little time: and to this succeeded the third of the daughters, whose name had slipped from my memory, when I wished to commit these things to writing. Finally they begot the above-named Lord Martin de Castrillo, from whose mouth I myself received what I write. He had indeed his residence in the town of Sahagún, but, bound to the Court of our most clement Kings Ferdinand and Isabella, was accustomed to accompany the same.

[5] A little after it seemed good to God to call to himself the mother, and to translate her to eternal glory: by which case the father John, constrained to a second marriage, two others from a Stepmother. joined to himself another wife, from whom he begot two daughters. The first's name was Agnes, and she came into the hands of the Lord Sancius de Castellanis, a citizen of Sahagún: the second, called Catharine, married the Lord Sancius Herresuelo, likewise a citizen of Sahagún, and then Prefect of Sarria. And let these suffice concerning the birth of the blessed Father John; that it may become known, by what means he was divinely granted to his parents, that he might holily serve God in the present, and in the future enjoy celestial glory.

Most illustrious Lord.

[6] The birth of our blessed John being explained, by which he was the first of his brothers and sisters, I ought to declare to Your Lordship the course of his life in the world, up to the religious state, educated in Latin letters, taken up in our sacred Order: which, from the relation made to me by the Lord Martin de Castrillo, proceeded thus. Since he was the firstborn to his parents, he was tenderly loved by the same: and therefore was handed over as quickly as possible to the schools, to be imbued with the first rudiments of reading and writing letters. Thence promoted to the studies of Latinity, he made great progress in the humaner sciences. But already then there shone in the boy a rare devotion, with a mind inclined to prayers and fastings: and he was in every action so composed, that it easily appeared, that God had destined him for himself as a special servant. Which his father also perceiving, was accustomed to say: "Whoever shall live, will see that this man will be holy." Among other indications of a more religious mind this also was, that he loved to preach to his peer boys from a higher place, that they might never sin, but faithfully serve God; and instructed by a Curate benefice for his sustenance, for which he proposed to them indeed efficacious reasons. But as much as he advanced in age, so much grew in him the fervor of piety toward God, and the splendor of holy conduct shone forth. And so his father loved him singularly, and promoted his studies by whatever means he could. He took care therefore that the Parochial title of a certain village, called Codernilios, be conferred on the boy; an Administrator being appointed who should take care of souls; while meanwhile he himself enjoyed the revenue of the benefice for the sustenance of his son.

[7] But John, having become more grown, and not yet initiated in any

sacred Orders, considered how great a matter of risk it was to have the care of souls. from scruple he resigns the same: He said therefore to his father: "Dearest father, it seems to be against conscience, that I should hold, and yet not bear, the care of souls. And so I beg through God, let us resign to another that benefice, who has more need of it, and can better than I render an account of it." To whom the father: "But to me, son," he says, "it seems more expedient that we retain it, for pursuing your studies, and for sustaining you thence; provided the Administrator be paid his wages." The son nonetheless, stronger in reasons, persisted, asking through the salvation of his soul, that he would not wish his conscience burdened. There was present at this contention the youth's uncle, John Alphonsi: who, hearing his nephew obstinate in the resignation of the benefice, and commended by his uncle to the Bishop of Burgos, moved with anger began to reproach him with levity, inconstancy, and changeableness, because he refused the revenues destined for him. To which John with great submission; "I beg," he says, "that you be not troublesome to me; I know what I do: I wish to admit nothing by which my conscience could be harmed." Then the uncle, turning to his kinsman: "Kinsman," he says, "he seems to me suitable for the Bishop of Burgos, who is pleased in such men." The counsel pleased the father, and both together set out to the aforenamed Bishop, Alphonsus de Cartagena: who, having understood the praiseworthy life of John, lovingly received him; and held him so dear, that he daily recited the canonical Hours with him.

Most illustrious Lord.

[8] renouncing also the benefices conferred on him by that Bishop, Our blessed John, established in the Court of the Bishop of Burgos, while he devoted himself wholly to divine worship, so pleased that Prelate, that he conferred on him various Prebends, considering him suitable for all things, and intending further to promote him and increase him with greater dignity. But, driven by the goads of conscience, John; and considering, how many impediments offered themselves in the Episcopal palace to one desiring to serve God, on account of the multitude of those flowing thither, and the perplexity of the causes to be treated, among which it was difficult to save the soul; and that he could not there obtain that quiet in the service of God which he longed for; asked of that most Reverend one the faculty of withdrawing to some solitude, where he might more conveniently serve God. The Bishop thought that such a petition proceeded from no other cause than that he had hitherto conferred on him less than his wishes. And so, "If for this reason," he said, "you ask leave to withdraw from me, because I have not sufficiently provided for you: I promise the first Canonry that shall fall vacant." To whom John: "Not by this," he says, "am I moved, nor do I intend that; but on the contrary I beseech your most Reverend Grace, that you would rather think to whom you may transfer, with the best conscience you can, the benefices conferred on me: for I am certain that I will not retain them."

[9] and devotes himself to giving sermons at St. Agatha's. The Bishop, recognizing that John acted seriously, and altogether aspired to a greater perfection of life, accepted the benefices resigned into his hands, and conferred them on others well deserving. But John, leave having been received, withdrew from the court, and betook himself to the parochial church of St. Agatha in the city of Burgos; content with a single, and that a very slight, chaplaincy there; according to whose obligation he daily offered the sacrifice of the Mass: and began to preach the word of God to the people, with a great concourse of the whole city. But after some stay in such exercise, having gone over to Salamanca, living most meagerly, he resolved to transfer himself to the Academy of Salamanca, and there to pursue the study of higher sciences. He was therefore received there as Chaplain of the noble, learned, and celebrated College of St. Bartholomew, near the Parochial church of St. Sebastian; in which he daily performed the Sacred rites, but through the various churches of the city frequently held a sermon. Then he took the customary Grades in that Academy: and in the cutting of a stone calculus having endured incredible tortures; and freed from them by a miracle, he becomes, from a vow, he vowed to take up as perfect a state of life as he could, in which he might spend the health divinely received in the service of God and the preaching of his word.

[10] an Augustinian in the year 1463; But all things having been weighed, he decided to ask for the habit of the Hermits of the holy and glorious Father Augustine, in the very Convent of the city of Salamanca: which his desire when he had set forth to the Reverend Father Prior, and this one had reported it to his Religious; with the supreme will and joy of all (for they had long known his merits) he was received to the habit, in the year 1463 on the 18th of June. But then he lived so, so modest, so humble, so dear to all, that, although still a Novice, they held him almost in the place of a Superior. So, the time of the novitiate being passed, received with the unanimous assent of the whole Community to Profession, he made the same on the feast of our holy Father Augustine, on the 28th of August, in the year 1464. From then he lived most holily, observing the Rule and Constitutions as accurately as possible; serving God day and night; and professed in 1464 and with fear and love fulfilling obedience until the end of his life: as may in due time be proved by lawful informations. he lives most holily. But these things narrated in few words will suffice, to excite the devotion of Your Lordship toward the Blessed Father John of Sahagún.

NOTES

p Antolinius, and others following him, say that the Saint underwent the cutting, by the counsel of two chief physicians, Doctor della Regna the elder, and Doctor Medina.

q The same recognize no miracle here, only wonder at the success of the cutting, and ascribe this to his prayers and vow.

CHAPTER II.

The religious virtues of John, and his confidence in preaching the truth.

Most illustrious Lord.

[11] John was, in his conduct, exemplary, After we have shown how the Blessed Father John of Sahagún advanced, until he bound himself by vow, to the observance of the three Evangelical counsels; it is fitting that, to excite the sincere devotion of Your Lordship, we declare how perfect he was in all his life, passed in Religion; and that as briefly as I shall be able, with the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit. May it please [you] therefore to understand, more in particular, what manner of life he held in the sacred Religion, as briefly as the Holy Spirit shall give me to write; and as I have understood from trustworthy and honored persons, accustomed to confess to him both within and outside the monastery. most tender in conscience. But in the first place we have already said, that the conduct of our Blessed John was such, that to all it was an exemplar and norm of living, especially to Religious. But as much as concerns himself, his conscience was so tender, that he was occupied daily at set times in the examination of himself, especially as often as, having gone out of the monastery, he had returned there, and before he betook himself to bed. Never also would he have offered to God the unbloody sacrifice of the Mass, unless his soul were duly expiated through Confession.

[12] most obedient to Superiors, Toward his superiors we find he was always most obedient, and esteemed this virtue most highly: nor was he ever seen to have failed against it even in the least. For the confirmation of which the Lord

Martin de Castrillo, his full brother, told me; that, when at some time, having set out to his homeland, the time granted him to stay there was shorter than the affairs required for which he had come; he sent to the Superior, who should grant the faculty of prolonging his stay. But when the messenger delayed to return, and the time meanwhile had expired, immediately John (as his brother asserted under oath) shut himself into a certain chamber; speaking to no one, nor taking anything of food or drink, until the requested faculty was brought to him; as it was brought, (as appeared by remarkable proofs) after two days and nights thus spent. Moreover the same brother of his affirmed, that at some time, coming to his homeland, for the sake of visiting his kinsmen and friends; and passing through Villanova de San Mancio, where a certain brother of his stayed, excommunicated for a certain fault, and making nothing of it; John, knowing this, sharply rebuked him, and exhorted him to obey Mother Church; that one nonetheless holding to his obstinacy, John endured neither to see nor to hear him. That brother therefore prepared to give himself unbidden to meet him somewhere: but John ordered it to be announced to him, that it would be in vain; for he was not to be thought worthy of his address: whence it is manifestly known, how firm he was in the fear of God; and observant of the precepts, both proceeding from Superiors and from the Church.

[13] With Religious he dealt humbly, reverent of all, and anticipating all in honor, most humble toward Religious, by which also he made himself dear to all. If he understood anyone to be moved on his account, immediately on bent knees he asked pardon; nor would he have risen, until he had obtained it, leaving all well edified and pacified. If anyone addressed him harshly, he was not at all moved by it; but took all things in good part, and patiently endured. No one ever saw him disturbed: on the contrary we know, that when at some time he was making a journey through the wood of Madrigal, accompanied by Father Brother Peter de Monroy; and there by robbers meeting them they were not only despoiled of all things, even their Breviaries, long-suffering toward those who injured him, but moreover loaded with insults; a few days after it happened that the leader of those came to Salamanca for the sake of Confession; and, not knowing that it was John to whom he confessed, set forth all his deeds, adding that he had been driven to it by extreme poverty. John, constant to himself, heard the man; and not manifesting that he himself was the one whom he had despoiled; but after salutary admonitions, that he should not henceforth perpetrate such things, given to him, having taken a companion he went about through the city, to seek alms; with which the robber being endowed, helped bodily and spiritually, he dismissed. But examples of this kind infinite could be commemorated, to declare his long-suffering.

[14] merciful toward the afflicted, If anyone ask me, how he bore himself toward the calamitous and afflicted, widows and oppressed orphans, or those needing another's help and the sick; I answer, that by a certain natural impulse he was accustomed to be carried to helping all, both with pious admonitions, and with alms sought for that end: and with the same affection on Sundays and feast days he visited the hospitals, and the poor families known to him. Likewise he strove to bring all to peace and concord, most zealous for peace, enmities and lawsuits being quieted: whereby it came about, that, staying at Salamanca, he prevented many killings between two most noble families there, the Monroys and the Manzanos; as several honored citizens of that city related to me. Nay even, when by civil discords the whole city was torn into parties, the nobility ready for arms and killings, to restrain which the Royal majesty had been in vain; referring all things to God; John being sent there, like an Angel of peace, restrained all, and stopped the formidable division. His profound humility is hence known, that when anyone wished to give him thanks, for a benefit divinely obtained through him; he admonished him, to render thanks to God: for that he was a wretched sinner, who could do nothing beyond what He bestowed on him.

[15] In administering the sacrament of Penance, how discreet he was, discreet toward penitents; and of how tender a conscience; testify all who heard those who were accustomed to confess to him; and these were innumerable, of whom even today several live. Never would he, except restitution being made, have absolved those obligated to make it, from the unjust detention of another's property, when it was possible for them; but if it were not, he interposed himself as a mediator with the injured, and besought them to remit the debts by way of alms. Likewise he denied absolution to women, who without just cause or necessity used white lead or rouge; nor did he dissemble with Ecclesiastics, until he had persuaded them to cut off their hair, and to use a habit befitting their state. The same was he toward matrons, by no means permitting them to make larger alms, but by no means indulgent; without the express consent of their husbands: nor would he have relaxed their sins for the Nobles, unless the pimps and evildoers whom they had in their house were driven from it. But all these things I have from the testimony of several honored men, and namely from the mouth of a certain Roderick Guaras, living at the time of the most famous strife growing between the Manzanos and Monroys, who dwelt at Salamanca near St. John of Alcázar.

[16] To his sermons there was a very great concourse of people, most gracious at preaching accustomed to be drawn by so powerful an allurement, that they said everywhere, "We are going to hear the gracious preacher." Meanwhile he was so undaunted in this office, that he never spared the truth, to be spoken however in its place and time; so that by no threats, not even by death itself proposed, yet most free would he allow silence to be imposed on himself. Of this matter several witnesses could be adduced, accustomed to hear his salutary admonitions, still surviving today. But namely in truth I declare, that it was affirmed to me by most grave men of the Equestrian order, who had heard the Blessed John preaching at Alba de Tormes, in rebuking vices: four leagues from Salamanca, before the Lord Garcia de Toledo Duke of Alba, that he with such great fervor chastised the sloth of the nobles in governing their household, and the unjust detainers of others' goods, and their helpers and the abettors of evildoers; then also the oppressors of their subjects, robbers, and leaders of factions; that no one doubted but that almighty God spoke through his mouth, for the correction of the chief Nobility present there.

[17] But when that freedom of speaking had so grievously moved the Duke of Alba, that, lifted up with anger, he immediately called him to himself; and in a certain large hall, under which the river Tormes ran, [him] brought before much Nobility, struck him with sharp and contumelious words, Hence the Duke of Alba being offended, as a man of foolish loquacity. But when those Knights who were present saw the Duke so seething, nay foaming at the lips; and feared lest he should order the man to be cast headlong from the window into the river; they heard him saying among other things: "Since, Father, you know how to put no bridle on your tongue, do not wonder if someone cast it on you as you return." Then the Saint, who hitherto had kept silence; "To what end, Lord," he said, "do I mount the pulpit? that I may announce the truth to the hearers, or rather that I may basely flatter them by adulation? he gravely upbraids him; It is fitting for your Lordship to know, that a preacher ought to be so disposed in mind, to speak the truth, both in declaring and chastising faults, and in praising virtue, that he should wish even to meet death for that cause": to which when he had added more to the same effect, he extricated himself from the Duke, as best he could, and gave himself to the way toward Salamanca, accompanied by a single companion Father Peter de Monroy.

[18] and sends two horsemen, They had now completed about half the journey, and had come to an open and deserted place; when they espy two horsemen running toward them, threatening with lances and swords: wherefore John said to his companion, "Do you see those two horsemen hastening? They think nothing good, but come to test our patience. Nevertheless, if God is for us, who can harm? To which the companion: "Indeed I do not know their intention; but before they become too near to us, I will try with God's help what they want"; and bending himself, he began to collect stones in his sleeve. But John seeing this; "Not yet, to cudgel him with his companion: O Father," he said, "are you perfectly religious, who wish to repay evil with evil: do you not know that we are admonished by the Lord, that tribulations and temptations are to be endured in this life? Unless you immediately unburden yourself, I will not advance even one foot further. Do not fear: God will fight for us." This said, he fixed his foot, nor moved himself, until that one had cast away the stones. Then as they pursued their journey, the horsemen overtaking them were no further off than a stone's throw; when their horses stood still immovable; and however much they were urged with spurs, they could not advance a step; but trembling began to foam and sweat: which they seeing, were themselves also terrified, and thought it better to acknowledge their fault, and suppliantly to ask help with pardon.

[19] these being divinely impeded, Then John asked, what they wanted: and they confessed, that they had been sent by the Duke, to seize and beat them with cudgels to death; but now their horses had stood immovable, which, that he would free from the invisible bond, and themselves from the fault, they humbly prayed. To whom John most lovingly answering, "Merciful," he said, "is God, friends, who preserved you from so great a sin, and freed us from your hands: may the same remit to you the crime designed; and, absolved from your sins, make you return home safe and sound. Beware lest you henceforth admit such things, and fear God, and go in peace, announcing to the Duke what happened to you on the way." Then they, the horses being at once mounted, returned as quickly as possible to Alba; and before they betook themselves to their homes, approached the Duke; whom they found wondrously afflicted and confounded, and as it were dying, no cause of so grave and sudden an evil appearing. the Duke himself is tormented to death; When therefore the horsemen, having entered, narrated the deeds, the Duke recognized whence and what he suffered. He ordered therefore some of his men to hasten at once back to Salamanca; and approaching the monastery, to which otherwise he was most well disposed, to beseech for the love of God, that, if the Fathers wished his life to be saved, placed at the extreme point, they should send back to him at once our blessed John, by whom alone he knew he could be helped.

[20] The Vicar of the monastery at that time was the Reverend Father John of Salamanca, and by [the Saint recalled to himself] who, the Blessed John being taken, without delay having set out for Alba, presented himself to the Duke. He indeed running to meet them, threw himself at John's knees, asked pardon, requested help: and accusing himself of the crime committed, admonished [him] confidently to return, to hold sermons there and correct his vices, and show the way of salvation. But John, with grave words, but seasoned with reverence toward the Duke, rebuked his life and morals; and from the salutarily compunct Duke, and from the Duchess his wife, he asks pardon: he asked and obtained pardon for returning; bringing back, besides other alms made for him by them, certain priestly vestments, and among them veils

for chalices and corporals very precious, which after the death of the Blessed John I long had with me. Nor was it by the Duke of Alba alone that he was thus endangered for the cause of truth: but by several persons both noble and plebeian, so that we do not at all doubt, nay are certain, finally the Saint himself dies by poison. that death was brought upon him by poison by a certain shameless woman. Which I so confidently affirm; because I have trustworthy witnesses, who heard that very woman, whose lasciviousness and shamelessness he had chastised, swearing, that she would put it into effect within a year: as in fact happened. For immediately he began to wither away, with such manifest indications of poison administered to him, that all thence affirmed him to be dying.

NOTES. D. P.

CHAPTER III.

The fervor of John sacrificing, and certain miracles while he was still living.

Most illustrious Lord.

[21] The birth of our Blessed John of Sahagún being set forth; and also the manner of his conduct, In the daily Mass very long, both in boyhood and adolescence, when he was still a Canon or Chaplain, and after he embraced the state of perfection in our most holy Order; the manner also of hearing Confessions, and of preaching the word of God; let us pass to the same, celebrating Masses; and let us see how he bore himself in them. May Your Clarity therefore know, that he was accustomed to sacrifice daily; nor ever omitted it, unless insuperably hindered. But he was in this most holy oblation so long, that he could find no one at last who was willing to assist him. And when he was therefore compelled to have recourse to the Superior, and to ask him, that by interposing his command he would compel even the unwilling to comply with him; and ordered to correct himself in it, he on the contrary began to accuse him himself, and finally expressly to command, that henceforth he should accommodate himself to the manner of the other Priests. This was deservedly most grievous to John; yet knowing the value of obedience, and that it is better than the Sacrifice, even such; for some days he humbly tried to fulfill the command: until with the lowliest prayers and bent knees he besought the Superior, to absolve him from such a command.

[22] Moved therefore by these things the Prior, and, on account of that sanctity of life by which he knew John excelled, not vainly conjecturing that he was impelled to it by great reasons, said to him: "For what cause does your Reverence so importunely urge this? Do you not see, with how great trouble you afflict the ministers? Why have you not conformed to the usage of the other Priests?" To whom John said that he was held by certain grave impediments, by which he was prevented from finishing Masses so quickly as the others did; nor could he do it without his great detriment. "Therefore," said the Prior, "tell the cause, which compels you to be so slow in that divine work, if you wish me to absolve you from that command." But he excused himself, saying that those causes were altogether secret, which he could disclose to no one. But the Prior pressed all the more, and finally compelled [him] by adding the precept of obedience. Since therefore John was accustomed to use the Prior himself as Confessor, he resolved to enclose all things under the seal of the Sacrament: which done, the Prior commanded his subjects, to comply with John in saying Mass, and by no means to disturb him; and he who before had held him for a Saint, then esteemed him even more.

[23] Meanwhile he was compelled to keep silent the matter, made known by an indication so unfit for him for any use, which yet he judged ought by all means not to be pressed by silence, but to be brought forth to the notice of many, lest the wonders of God be frustrated of their fruit, and that the wavering in faith might be corroborated, and that the servants of God might be animated to love him, and constantly serve him, but sinners be excited to penitence. then to the Prior again insisting he indicates it even otherwise; Led therefore by pious zeal the Prior, began to exhort John and as it were to compel him, to reveal the same to him outside Confession in such a way that knowledge itself could use it, in those circumstances of places, times, and persons in which he certainly knew spiritual good would come thence: for it was not fitting that a lamp be contained under a bushel. Overcome by these reasons our Blessed John, with profound humility, set forth to the Prior all his secrets, which he had revealed to him in Confession; giving him license to use that knowledge, as often as he should judge it expedient for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

[24] This license being received, the Prior, most attached and most familiar to me, this one indeed narrates to the writer, judged it fitting to communicate such secrets with me in these words: "Father John, since I certainly know, with how great solace it will be to you to know those things which concern our Father John of Sahagún; believe without doubt, that he, compelled by the precept of obedience in conscience, to reveal to me the cause of his slowness during the celebration, declared, that the divine benignity showed itself to him in this Sacrament, and gave to be known mysteries, such as a mortal man cannot naturally comprehend with his understanding. For Christ himself exhibited himself to him in that most divine mystery, visible to bodily eyes and to be addressed: accustomed to see Christ in the Host, and that he beheld the blessed wounds of his hands and feet and also of his most holy side, darting most shining rays toward himself, with a coruscation so gracious and effectual, that it alone would suffice to sustain a man without food or drink. He beheld the most holy body of Christ, like a most shining sun, and in it his full and infinite glory; so that he felt it most true, what the Apostle testifies, that he is the one on whom the Angels desire to gaze: and many ineffable mysteries, and because, wholly absorbed in such contemplation, he had the most illumined eyes of the understanding; he beheld also the thrice-holy Trinity; namely God himself, one in essence, and three in persons: so that the ineffable mystery of the most holy Triad was laid open to him; how the Father produced the Son, and both breathed forth the Holy Spirit. 1 Peter 1

[25] and to perceive several other graces, He signified moreover to me, how in the Sacrament of the body and blood of the Lord he beheld innumerable mysteries, and there was instructed concerning all the things which he was afterward to preach. There he espied the choirs of Angels, the most holy Mother of God, and other Saints, and celestial secrets, so many and so great, that the tongue of no man is fit to express them in words: so that the aforesaid Father Prior, Father Martin de Spinosa, in the year 1379 said to me these formal words: 'Father John, I declare to your Reverence, that he confessed to me, that he attained so many mysteries during the sacrifice, that for a certain sacred horror, as if rapt out of myself, I seemed to myself about to fall dead to the ground.' All which when I, a most unworthy sinner, had learned, weighing the infinite and greatest benefits, which mortals obtain by celebrating or hearing Masses; firmly and devoutly I proposed, never, unless some infirmity prevented, to omit saying or at least hearing the Sacred Mass: which I am also the author advising that all do, as many as are about to read or learn these things, to the greater glory of God, and the solace and advancement of souls."

PARERGON

Concerning similar favors, exhibited to another servant of God during Mass, at the beginning of this 17th century.

John Sebastian del Campo, S.J. The things hitherto related, in the following longer Life no. 23; about to confirm by the most trustworthy testimony of St. Thomas of Villanova, I wish to illustrate such unusual favors of God toward St. John, by a more recent example of this century, which our Matthias Tanner relates in his posthumous work, on the illustrious deeds and virtues of those who, of the Society of Jesus, in procuring the salvation of souls, sweated with special zeal in Europe. He treats, among many others, of Father John Sebastian del Campo the Sardinian, who died at Sassari in the year 1608, on the 6th of August, in the year 1608 died at Sassari in Sardinia, conspicuous for great benefits wrought to every kind of men, of whom Elias of St. Teresa in the Legation of the Church Triumphant, vol. 1 book 2 chapter 31 thus writes: "He died with a most certain reputation of holiness; and now God works so many miracles through him, that they must be described in a special book." This the author of the Life did, hitherto unknown to me, nor do I know whether published in type, but alleged by Tanner, and reduced into a Spanish compendium by John Eusebius Nieremberg, among the Lives of the illustrious Men of our Society; namely from the juridical Process, by which those things were examined and proved, by the authority of the Archbishop of Sassari Andreas Bacallar. But what makes for the present I find thus written on p. 378.

"The zeal of prayer was always in his chief care throughout the whole course of his life, to which, or to spiritual reading, he assigned

all the hours of day and night, free from Apostolic labors and the briefest sleep; during Mass accustomed to [see the Lord in the Host] wondrously heaped with celestial illuminations and favors in it … and his familiarity in dealing with God advanced so far, that very often the Lord offered himself to his eyes to be seen, and deigned to grant him most sweet colloquy: especially in Mass, in which during the Consecration he exhibited himself visible in diverse forms. Once, when he was saying Mass, a person devout to God assisting close to the altar, saw him, holding with his fingers the sacred Host, now to be consumed, kindled in his whole face and as it were rapt out of himself; to sob, to be flooded with tears, to handle [him present, in a visible appearance] and to tremble with his whole breast, for the space of nearly a quarter of an hour: and at last heard him saying: 'Lord, I cannot receive you, unless you return to the former appearance of the Eucharist': after which with great quiet he consumed the Host, and for another quarter of an hour remained wholly motionless. The Sacred Mass finished, the same person, the Father being called to the confessional, narrated what she had seen and heard: at which he, suffused with shame, and seeing himself betrayed by his own words, God so permitting, added; that God had appeared to him as an infant in a living form instead of the Eucharist in his hands, and had said, 'Why do you not receive me?' and therefore that he had answered, 'Lord, I would not dare to receive you, unless you return to the former form.'

Another time present to the same one sacrificing, she saw him after the Eucharist was consumed lifted from the ground, and from his mouth a ray of such great splendor shining forth, that, unable to bear its light, she was compelled to cover her eyes: and this in various ways, which when she afterward reported to the Father, he answered, that this ray did not proceed from his mouth, but from the divinity of Christ present, who is the splendor of the paternal glory. Again indeed, when he said the Sacred Mass publicly in a copious multitude of men; having said before the Communion itself, 'Lord, I am not worthy,' he remained for some time suspended: and then, with the great admiration of all, suddenly with a loud voice exclaimed, 'Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!'; and added a little after; 'Lord, I beseech, return to the former form; because I am not worthy, nor can I thus consume you.' And apparitions of this kind were very frequent, in which now in the form of one suffering, the Lord cut with wounds, exhibited himself to him in the sacred Host; now glorious; as was easily gathered from the words and affections meanwhile noted in him: and so great a force of light at some time burst from his mouth, while turned to the people he prayed, 'The Lord be with you,' that the chasuble, of green color, with which he was clothed, seemed plainly to have put on a white one.

and to suffer ecstasies often long-lasting. But at other times rapt into ecstasy during the Sacrifice, he remained in the same for several hours, so that he could in no way be recalled to his senses; and the penitents, awaiting him at the seat of the Confessional, had to return home empty. Indeed from the Father's death by a juridical Process, there were various sworn witnesses, of whom some, present ten and more times to the Father sacrificing, noted such prodigious events. But those of the Society who served the one celebrating at the altar, observed as it were ordinarily, that, when for the rest of the time of the Mass he scarcely sustained his aged limbs, yet from the Consecration of the most holy Sacrament until the Communion, he scarcely stood on tiptoe, and not rarely was lifted with his whole body from the ground."

CHAPTER IV.

The miracles of St. John living and dead.

Most illustrious Lord.

[26] Among the miracles of him living it is established The manner being explained, which the Blessed John of Sahagún used in the daily saying of Mass; it is fitting, that we briefly narrate some miracles, which through his intercession God deigned to work, for the manifesting of his eminent holiness, both in life and after death. To make their faith more certain, it will please Your Clarity to understand, that I was informed of them by the full brother of that Blessed one, the often-named Martin; who under oath and his own autograph asserted to me, that at the time of the pestilence raging in the town of Sahagún, there had died of the same a certain seven-year-old little daughter of his: for whom, still lying on the death-bed, when he himself and his wife were preparing all things for the burial, Father John came up with his companion Father Peter de Monroy: and proceeding straight to the chamber in which the corpse lay, and addressing no word to her mother or sisters, seized the hand of the dead girl, and with her descended to the place where they were lamenting. that he raised his niece from death; And he himself leading the girl by the hand, and with her as if sound conversing, said to those mourning; 'Why are you so greatly disturbed? Because the little one once suffers a swoon, you imagine to yourselves that she immediately died.' Then he said certain other things to them, and restored the little one sound to her mother. They were vehemently astounded, as those who neither had spoken before to the Blessed John, nor had at all seen him entering; but they certainly knew her to have died. They gave thanks therefore to God for so singular a benefit: because they did not at all doubt, but that at the entrance of the Blessed John the dead girl had received life. And she still lives even now, by name Isabella de Castrillo, married to the noble Don Peter Vaca; and stays in her paternal house, mother of one son and two daughters.

[27] and a little after, a brawl having arisen in the same house, The next day the Blessed John was to return to Salamanca; but meanwhile, while all run to see the girl raised, and without any harm being well, before him and her father Martin, they wonder; it happened that one of their nephews, whose name was Sancius de Herrezuelo, came to John, and asked him to deign to come also to his house, to visit his sick wife. To the same place also arrived a certain Martin Garcias de Guaza, and also his son John Garcias de Guaza, between whom and the aforesaid Sancius there was a great dissension, on account of certain words mutually had at the village of Vilelgua, where they had stayed together. These, thus by chance coming together, when they revived the past quarrel, their tempers so flared up, he healed a friend mortally wounded by his brother, that John Garcias de Guaza, drawing his sword, grievously wounded Sancius de Herrezuelo; and one of his shoulders being cut, almost severed the arm at the same time. At the crash the Lord Martin de Castrillo ran up, and wishing to succor the wounded Sancius, struck so strong a blow on the head of John Garcias, that he could scarcely with both hands draw the sword out from the wound, and in that effort threw the same John Garcias down under his feet. But so great was the tumult there, that the people ran up from every side and in throngs, to separate them from one another. Among the rest there was present also John of Sahagún, introducing a surgeon, who had been summoned to treat the wounded. He, inspecting the wound of John Garcias, judged it altogether mortal and incurable; wherefore, to the man destitute of his senses and breathing his last, he was content to bind the head about with a linen, saying: 'Nothing is to be done for this one: behold he dies: think only of his burial.'

[28] The people therefore having departed, or being occupied about Sancius, our Blessed John, left alone with the dying man, when he had cut the hairs around the wound, he himself treating the wound, and anointed it with oil, again firmly bound the head with a linen, and so left him; the wounded man never having spoken, until the next day, when the Blessed John returned to him, and began anew to treat the wound. Then Garcias said; 'O holy Mary! where have I been?' nor added a word more. The Blessed John persevered to treat the wound daily, as he had begun; and within eight days perfectly healed Garcias, who even now lives unharmed. The surgeon, who was a Jew, and judged the cure to have been altogether beyond nature, and to be uniquely ascribed to the merits of the servant of God John and to the divine power; resolved within himself to embrace the Catholic Roman Religion. But the Lord Martin, both miracles, as much in the raising of his little daughter, as in the cure of John Garcias, performed, as he saw with his own eyes, so confirmed under oath. Many other miracles also almighty God worked, at the intercession of the Blessed John, while still leading this mortal life; the same brother being witness of both miracles. which I omit to narrate to Your Clarity, lest I be too long in this succinct information. But I have firmly resolved to set forth all things more fully, in another ampler relation of the wonders of the same Blessed John of Sahagún.

Most illustrious Lord.

[29] The wonders being related which John living performed, I come to narrating to Your Clarity, what the merciful God willed to be done at his sepulcher. That therefore it may become known to all, how holily John lived in this world, and how much God loved him, and what the same can now do with the same [God]; then that we may deserve to be aided by his help, and to obtain divinely the things desired; John, sixteen years having been spent in Religion, finally that we may more effectually excite the faithful to the praise and service of God, and promote the devotion of Catholic Christians, and also of all those who through the grace of the Holy Spirit intend to obey holy Mother Church, by receiving the sacrament of baptism through faith, and so establishing for themselves a seat in the kingdom of heaven; here I declare, that our Blessed John of Sahagún entered the Order of the Hermits of our holy Father Augustine on the 27th of June, in the year 1463; and in it was professed on the 28th of August 1464, on the feast of the same most holy Father, he dies on the 11th of June 1479, when the Prior of the Convent of Salamanca was Father John of Salamanca, and the Master of Novices Father John of Arenas: who both received his Profession. But he lived in our Religion to sixteen or seventeen years; when, the Lord calling him, to receive the reward of his good works in celestial glory, he departed from life on the 11th of June, on the feast of St. Barnabas, in the year 1479. But it pleased God immediately to honor and make known his precious death by great wonders, done in regard of him.

[30] There soon followed the long-desired rain, For when at Salamanca and around it for a long time it had not rained, and therefore many pilgrimages and supplications had been publicly instituted; at the very moment in which the Blessed died, so copious a rain descended, that all the citizens cried out together; 'The Blessed John of Sahagún has obtained for us this rain from heaven.' But our Religious, firmly persuaded too that he had been a holy man, buried him before the major choir of their church: and immediately the inhabitants and neighbors began to run thither in their necessities, and the earth of the sepulcher cures diseases. bringing or leading their sick. Hence so much grew the popular devotion, that they began, in adorning that sepulcher, to bring linens, in which they carried off some of the earth taken from there, for the remedy of fevers and other diseases. Although they persevered in doing this for nine or ten years, and almighty God did not cease through the merits of his servant John to cure very many of their infirmities, especially those with hernias and fevers; yet we did not make much of it. Nay, when one of our Religious, John de Alcaraz by name, accustomed

to accompany him as he went out from the house, and, being piously affected toward him after his death, had begun to consign such events to writing, and to lend his effort to attaching the aforesaid lines to the tomb; we charged him with rashness.

[31] But since God did not wish the excellence of such great virtues to be hidden any longer, but had decreed to render it known and conspicuous to all; In the year 1488 the miracles begin to be recorded, it was brought about by His providence that, while I was holding the Priorate of the Convent of Salamanca, on a certain Saturday, on the Vigil of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, in the year 1488, while our Religious were singing Compline in the choir; at the beginning of the first Psalm, "When I called upon," there ran to me with weeping eyes one of our Brothers, Hernando of Salamanca, then Doorkeeper of the convent, and deceased therein between the years 1503 and 1504, and said: "Father, your Reverence is begged to come down at once; for the church is full of people, awaiting your address." I therefore came down, accompanied by some Religious: and having seen a crowd packed there, I found in the midst of all a girl named Beatrice, about twenty-three years old, daughter of Juan de Curva and Violante de Sese, citizens of Cuéllar; who had come from Alburquerque, having a hand loose and useless, when on the 27th of June the girl's hand was cured, in order that at the tomb of the blessed man she might obtain healing: and scarcely had she put her hand in there, when at once she felt herself cured. It happened, moreover, for the confirmation of so great a matter, that there were likewise found there three Apostolic Notaries, Gaspar Lopez de Gricio, afterward Secretary of our most clement King; Andrés Toro, Priest and Chaplain of the church of St. Pelagia; and Juan Diaz de Santillana: whom I required to be willing to be witnesses of the miracle wrought in the aforesaid girl: who at once arranged everything for drawing up a legitimate instrument thereupon.

[32] Adjured therefore to tell the truth, she deposed accordingly, that the cause of her coming to the tomb of Blessed John of St. Facundus was this; that, being in the castle of Alburquerque, with Ruiteria de la Cueva, she having been wretchedly contracted: on the 29th of October previous, daughter of Sancho Perez de la Cueva, governor of that place, on the 19th of October 1487; in her left hand she had felt a most grievous torment, with a contraction of the nerves, which had closed the hand into a fist and left it useless for everything; so that she could in no way open it, and the overgrowing nails penetrated the palm; whence that same hand within eight days appeared so black and deformed that from it, now putrefying, a grievous stench arose: but the surgeons, however much labor was applied, could provide her no remedy; and at last, the matter being despaired of, had said that no mortal, but God alone, could help her. She also deposed that in that castle many persons had been made ill, and among them the daughter of the Governor himself: about whose health the physicians, having been consulted, since they held her hopeless, after many had been healed at Alburquerque, the father ordered one of his servants to hasten to Salamanca, and from there to bring some of the sepulchral earth. Which servant I myself saw; and as he asked me to order some of the said earth to be given him, I sent him back, his wish fulfilled. And when he had quickly returned to Alburquerque, the earth was placed upon all the sick, and upon the Governor's daughter herself; and all soon received health.

[33] she having vowed to come to the tomb herself, Seeing this, the same deposing woman vowed devoutly to approach in person to the tomb of Blessed John of St. Facundus: and setting herself on the road, she came to Salamanca on the 28th of June, on the Vigil of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, as was said above: and soon, having entered our church, she let down her hand and whole arm into the tomb; and reciting in honor of our Lord the Savior three times the Our Father and Hail Mary, while praying she felt a great heat creeping through her hand and arm: which, drawn back to herself, she opened the hand, and found it altogether sound and clean and sweetly fragrant. Which hand both I and all those standing around saw, keeping in the palm the marks of the nails, formerly more deeply fixed in it. The witnesses of this infirmity and healing were, the Bachelor Alfonso de Algava, who had attempted to help the aforesaid girl by his surgical art; likewise the girl's own brother Juan Manuel, and had placed her contracted hand within, Guiomar de la Torre, and Inés de Olivares, who had come with her to the tomb. And when a solemn Act had been drawn up before the three aforenamed Notaries, all the bells being rung, the Te Deum laudamus was sung, in thanksgiving for so singular a benefit, bestowed by almighty God through the merits of Blessed John of St. Facundus.

[34] On the next day, namely the 29th of June, 1488, before the undersigned Notaries, Gaspar Lopez de Gricio, on the 29th of June a fractured leg is there restored, Juan Diaz de Santillana, and Don Antonio de Roxas, Chaplain of the King and Proctor of the most illustrious Lord Bishop of Salamanca, now Archbishop of Granada, gathered together with me in the major choir of our church, we saw carried in the wife of Gonzalo Molitor (the Miller), placed upon a bier; whence the bearers had set her down, with a fractured leg, and with such great pains that she could in no way move herself. She was questioned by us, and confessed that, before she was brought here, she had received the sacraments of Confession and Communion. Then, while we were present, having been let down into the tomb of Blessed John, she was drawn out from there entirely sound: and we saw her, as did the countless crowd that was present, walking and going about uprightly, without any limping whatever. Which thing, before the aforesaid Proctor or Administrator Don Antonio de Roxas, I ordered to be entered into the acts by the aforesaid Notaries, and confirmed in writing.

NOTES OF D. P.

CHAPTER V.

The remaining part of the ancient miracles.

Most Illustrious Lord.

[35] On the 15th of July speech and hearing are restored: Among several other wonderful things which happened at the tomb of our Blessed John of St. Facundus, is this, that on the 15th of July 1488 there came thither a certain Bernam Soger, twenty-five years old, deaf and mute; and causing himself to be let down into the tomb, he received perfect hearing and speech. The witnesses were Pedro de Canecia, Juan de Flores, and Miguel de Madrigal: and it was put into writing by Juan Diaz de Santillana, and Gil Fernández de Tapia, both Notaries and citizens of Salamanca: who consigned everything with their own hand.

[36] We likewise saw, most Illustrious Lord, a girl coming named Sancha, servant of Juan de Salamanca, born at Zamora, a girl lame from birth is raised up on the 8th of July, about twenty-two years old; who, questioned by us, deposed that, being lame and ill-formed from birth, so that with her loins dislocated she could not raise herself up, but was compelled to creep along the ground, with unspeakable torment; on Monday the 8th of July 1488, placed upon the tomb of our Blessed John, appeared before us perfectly healed; the witnesses being Antonio de Paredes, Alfonso de Dueñas, Bernardino de Paredes Canon, and Catalina de Carvajal dwelling at Zamora.

[37] On the 6th of August a man paralytic for five years, In like manner, most Illustrious Lord, on Wednesday the 6th of August, of the same year 1488, we beheld coming Juan de Mondragón; who, examined, swore that for whole five years, maimed in arms, hands, legs, and feet, he could nowhere advance, except very little, and that with the greatest torments: who likewise within the tomb of our Blessed John recovered the full health of all his members. Those who saw him before powerless, and afterward able without any defect, were Francisco de Vitoria and Pedro de Mondragón. To the faith of which miracle the Notary Don Diaz Santillana set his hand.

[38] and a girl of 30 years, Again, most Illustrious Lord, on that same day, Inés, daughter of Rodrigo Alfonso a citizen of Garrovillas, about thirty years old, lame from birth and paralytic, so that she could hardly move her hands or feet, or any other of her members; obtained complete health within the tomb of our Blessed John, before Alfonso de Villegas, Francisco de Vergara, Gonzalo and Antonio both sons of Diego Alfonso, a citizen and merchant of Salamanca. And when she had affirmed under oath that all things were so; the matter was described by Juan Diaz de Santillana, the oft-mentioned Notary: who, just as he himself had also seen it, so left it signed by his own hand.

[39] Moreover, most Illustrious Lord, on Wednesday the 13th of August 1488, and another on the 13th of August, brought to the same tomb was Helena, daughter of Miguel Vaquero, an inhabitant of Fuentelapeña, lately deceased; she attested that she obtained full

health of her whole body, which before she could not move except by creeping with hands and feet, because she had been born so weak, and had always had her very hands closed. Which thing, together with the girl herself, was attested by Alfonso Vaquero, Rodrigo Gaytero, and Juan Longo: and it was entered into the Acts before me by the same Notary Juan Diaz de Santillana, in the year, month, and day aforementioned.

[40] On the 25th of July a boy crushed by a bull is restored to life, In the same manner, on Friday the 25th of July 1488, we beheld coming, in the company of many men, Tomás, a tenant of Palencia de Negrilla, bearing to the tomb of our Blessed John his little son, Andrés Sico, as if dead and without any sign of life: concerning whom the father, adjured to tell the pure and plain truth, deposed how on the preceding Monday a certain Alfonso, son of Cristóbal Santos, driving a cart laden with grain, had run over the boy, trampled by the bulls, and had left him utterly crushed by the wheels; and seeing what had happened, he had fled to the church. This understood, Tomás had said to Alfonso's father that there was no reason for his son to seek asylum; for he forgave him the imprudence committed: and soon he commended the little one to St. Mary and Blessed John of St. Facundus; and at once the boy, breathing again, opened his eyes, yet could not speak. Then he and his wife brought the little one to the tomb of the Blessed: where, most perfectly restored to himself, he was seen by me and countless others walking through the cloister, speaking freely, and eating. The witnesses both of the death and of the aforesaid resurrection were the aforesaid Cristóbal Santos, Alfonso his son, and the boy's father Tomás; moreover the whole matter was confirmed by the autograph of the aforecited Notary, Juan Diaz de Santillana.

[41] and another, a paralytic, It also happened, most Illustrious Lord, with me standing near, that Juan Fernández, son of Pedro Fernández dwelling at Almeida, was seen fully healed: who had been born so weak that he was compelled to drag his feet behind him, and could in no way raise one of his arms. That this was so true was attested by Catalina Ruiz, mother of the aforesaid Juan Fernández, and a certain inhabitant of the village of Almeida, likewise named Juan Fernández: and this signal and altogether divine miracle was confirmed by the subscription of his own hand by the oft-mentioned Juan Diaz de Santillana, Notary.

[42] It also pleased almighty God, most Illustrious Lord, on the 22nd of July a leg withered for 20 years, through the intervention of Blessed John, to grant complete health, on the 22nd of the same month, to a certain Francisco Bollono, from Bustillo, a hamlet of the town of Toro: who, weak for twenty years in the left hip, also carried a whole withered leg. He, when he had received in our church the sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist, returned home sound, and had as witnesses of his health Don Pedro Sánchez Priest, and Pedro Rodríguez tenants of Bustillo, with countless persons who were present. And the public faith of all this was given to the Notaries by the oft-named Juan Diaz de Santillana.

[43] The Author an eyewitness, These and several other similar miracles, most Illustrious Lord, the divine clemency worked, on account of the merits of Blessed John of St. Facundus; besides countless others, which for lack of Notarial faith have not been certified; yet I myself saw them with my own eyes, and if required will be able to affirm them by oath. And many of them were exceedingly astonishing in the sight of men. Certainly I saw a man, about forty years old, who, having one of his eyes utterly extinct, a one-eyed man enlightened, when he had poured out his prayers to the Saint, and had smeared on his eye a little earth, taken from his tomb, soaked with holy water; could not bear the pain arising thence to him. So, having drawn a kerchief from his bag, he placed it on the eye thus moistened: to which, when that mud had adhered, he drew off along with it whatever flesh and hairs had grown over the eye, as if they had been glued to the cloth; and he marveled to see all things clearly with both eyes. Which, when I saw, I took a knife and cut off that part of the kerchief to which the diseased flesh with the hairs had adhered; and in memory of the deed I placed it with the other Relics of our Blessed John.

[44] I also saw, placed on a bier, brought to the tomb of the Blessed, a man about fifty years old; who for whole thirty years had been so weak in his hands, feet, and whole body, that he could not even move his head: so that we judged it necessary to open the whole tomb for him, and to let the man, placed on a plank, down into it by two ropes, altogether like a corpse, a paralytic of 30 years healed, inasmuch as he was all withered and yellow, only skin clothed over his bones. Then I said: "I wish to go away from here; for I do not deserve to behold so great a miracle"; and I withdrew outside the church. Scarcely had I entered the cloister, when I heard an enormous noise and outcry: when, running, those who had heard me speaking the aforesaid words reached me, and begged me to return into the church: for that wretched man was standing sound without any appearance of disease. Returning therefore, I found all the people fallen on their knees, with joined hands and weeping eyes; and seeing the man walking through the church, and with hands raised to heaven giving thanks to God; utterly stunned in mind, I knew not what else to do, than that I too should bend my knees, and with the rest give thanks to God. And this wonderful event not I alone, but countless men, saw with me, who in memory of the deed signed these things in writing.

[45] sight given to one born blind, I also saw brought to the same tomb, and granted full faculty of seeing, a twelve-year-old boy, who had been born blind. Likewise, before Don Gonzalo de Mercado, uncle of the Duke of Alburquerque, and much other Nobility, and to a one-eyed girl. I saw come to the same tomb, about the tenth hour of the evening, a girl about twenty years old, blind in one eye; and return seeing well with both: concerning which matter, when we had rigorously examined the girl, we found it to be as she said.

NOTES. D. P.

EPILOGUE.

[46] All which things, most Illustrious Lord, although by their prolixity likely to bring annoyance, The Author protests that these were written by him I wished to insert into this brief account; that to your Brightness might be made known the parents, the birth, the holy life, and the wonders of our Blessed John of St. Facundus, and what things God daily deigns to do through him, to demonstrate his extraordinary holiness, that his servants may be more kindled to his love, that readers may be edified and that the Catholic faith may be confirmed in the hearts of lukewarm and languid Christians; but above all, that above all things God may be praised, and served by all his creatures: also for some praise of our holy Religion of the Hermits of the great Father Augustine, from which such and many other holy men have proceeded. Finally, that with the wonderful works of these men made known, your Brightness may be willing to constitute yourself an effective mediator, and may commit themselves to the protection of the Blessed: to this end, that our Blessed John may, throughout the whole Christendom of the Church militant, be venerated as a Saint; and that it may have him as its intercessor for itself, together with the rest who will honor him and invoke him as Patron. So that, supported by such patronage in heaven, your Brightness may be prospered in every act, to the greater glory of the eternal majesty, the salvation of your soul, the defense of holy Mother Church, the honor of the Spains, and of the never-sufficiently-praised city of Córdoba, in which your Brightness was born.

[46] but Albanus may more effectively advance the business of Canonization Moreover, I have narrated all these things to the praise, honor, glory, and triumph of the most powerful and most clement King Ferdinand the Catholic, by whom your Brightness is sent to Rome to the Apostolic See, to solicit there and obtain the Beatification of our Father John of St. Facundus: which matter can bring to your Excellency nothing other than the renown of an eternal name, since you will have been set thus as an example to all the Nobility for the pursuit of such pious works; that those following your footsteps may deserve to be made partakers of the crown, may more effectively advance it, which the merciful God has prepared for your Brightness in eternal glory with himself, together with the endless goods which neither ear has heard nor eye has seen. The beginning of all which may the merciful God, through his infinite grace, deign to bestow upon your Excellency, even in the present life, mortal indeed, but long, sound, and holy; and the consummation, in the future age without end, and he asks that the rudeness of his style be excused. through eternal glory. May it please you therefore graciously to accept my affection, declared in this brief account; and not to despise the simple, unadorned, and overly verbose style; but to take it in good part, for the benevolence with which you pursue our Order and Blessed John; that through the rusticity and inelegance of my writing that which I intend may not be hindered; nor delay be cast in the way of his canonization, by which end chiefly I let myself be induced by the prayers of the two Religious women named at the beginning, to describe the life of this Blessed man.

OTHER ACTS

For the Supplement of the more ancient Life, collected from his later Writers.

John of St. Facundus, Priest of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine, at Salamanca in Castile (St.)

D. P.

Lest it be necessary repeatedly to interrupt the context of the aforetitled Collection, by citing for each point the Authors from whom we have collected this Supplement, I shall note them, named in the preliminary Commentary, in the margin in Roman * type, by the initial letters of their surnames. Thus Ant. will indicate Augustine Antolinez; Mar. Pedro Mariz; Val. Diego Valaurio (Valaurius), and my own name the customary letters D. P. It will be yours, reader, according to the degree of more certain knowledge with which I advised that each should be placed in the preliminary Commentary, to estimate the things related from them, when it concerns the Acts in the life; on the rest the several writers, inasmuch as they write of matters of their own time, deserve faith, and indeed the fullest. A single number will denote the Chapter; when a double one is set, the first will mark the part or book: for Mariz and Valaurio so divide.

CHAPTER I.

The earlier life of the Saint, up to his vow of entering the Religious life.

[1] The reason for the surname Sahagún, Where the rivulet Cea waters the plains of the diocese of León, there lies a town, having taken its name from the ancient monastery of St. Facundus, so that it is called Sahagún, as it were Sant-Hagun in the common dialect; while F is changed into H, C into G; as in Ahogar, "to suffocate." Here, in the year 1429, was born St. John, who, according to the custom then familiar among Ecclesiastics, laying aside his family surname of Castrillo, took also a surname from there along with the Clerical garb; and adorned it with the title of holiness, when he is called St. John of St. Facundus. There, under the care of the Benedictine Monks of that place, he learned Latin letters: there too he studied in the Arts, which we now embrace under the name of Philosophy. Then, having received the title of the Parish of Dornillas, which his own father had obtained for him, he passed into the household of Alfonso de Cartagena, Bishop of Burgos, through the intercession of a certain uncle of his, who was rendering most useful and most welcome service to the aforesaid Bishop in the office of steward, his age when he was ordained Priest: being recommended and taken into the household, now about twenty years old: and having reached an age suitable for sacred Orders, he was made Priest, in the sixth year after he had come to Burgos; with such great favor of his ordainer, that he wished both to be present and assist at the First Mass, and to have the newly-ordained priest as a guest at his table, on that nuptial day. Mariz, bk. 6. He then conferred on him a certain benefice in Tañebuis, and a Canonry in the Cathedral church itself. But this was of the lower order; for we have already learned from the writer of his Life that the one next to become vacant (namely from the greater ones) was offered to him, if he had been willing to remain in the Bishop's service. Mariz, ibid. The Abbot of St. Facundus also is said to have conferred on him a wealthy Rectorate, with two Chaplaincies then perhaps vacant, in the town of Sahagún, the conferring of which belonged to him, and the fruits of which John could receive, having substituted administrators for himself for the same.

[2] Exercises of piety at the Court. Sustaining with such supports the rank attributed to himself in the Episcopal Court; as much as his occupations permitted, he applied himself to exercises of piety, among which it was more frequent for him to visit the miraculous image of Christ crucified, which had its own altar in the church of the Augustinian Friars. Mariz, ibid. The history and miracles of that Crucifix one may read in Mariz, deduced at length from page 41 to 82. Here only this is relevant, that it once happened, while John was praying before that pious image, for the sake of obtaining health, by a nine days' devotion there, that a certain poor paralytic was cured: whose sincere faith John, estimating from the insistence of his praying, began also to join his own prayers more earnestly to that man's prayer for the same end; and he merited to be heard. For suddenly the sick man, feeling himself wholly healed, threw away the crutches on which he leaned, John being much gladdened at such a spectacle. And he in that very place asked to be received into the Order, that he might render perpetual servitude there to the beneficent Crucifix. Which thing added to John great stimuli toward applying himself to studies of piety: by which, the more he was affected, the less he began to value all worldly things, yet thereby in no way more remiss toward the service of his Prelate.

[3] Accustomed to prepare himself at length for the sacrifice of the Mass, and to apply himself to it with all the effort of his soul, he would withdraw from the altar to the choir and the customary Psalmody; during which he was a great edification to all. Thence, being most humble, he would more willingly betake himself to the services of the poor, whom he relieved liberally both from his own means, and his manner of life, full of edification. and from the revenues of his Lord. Valaurio, bk. 7. With like charity he consoled the sick; and in these he was such, that his own necessity brought him only late to a frugal refreshment of the body. This indeed he by no means treated gently; but subdued it with hairshirts, scourges, fastings, and vigils; wearied by which he would lie on the bare ground, placing some stone under his head. From his daily occupations he gladly withdrew some time for reading spiritual books: and returning in the evening from the bishop's residence, he would confer with the household about sacred and devout matters, then would give a good part of the night in his chamber to prayer, and to unrolling the sacred or moral Scriptures. Among which things he so pleased his Lord, that the latter, as if boasting about him, would often say: "I have in my service a most holy man; on whom I never fix my gaze, but I feel myself inwardly moved to his veneration." And truly, if it is honorable for a King to have Magnates in his service, how much happier than he is that Prelate, having in his ministry some great servant of God; since to serve God is to reign?

[4] There was in the service of the same Bishop, as I said, also his uncle, He refuses the inheritance offered by his uncle, or rather his stepmother's brother. Mariz, bk. 6. He, when he saw himself dying, wished to make his nephew heir of all his goods. But John without hesitation refused to admit the inheritance, and begged him to assign it to the dowering of his sisters, which was also done. Now the Bishop, who loved the deceased, wished to take upon himself all the expenses of caring for the funeral: and to leave the nephew no other burden than that at the obsequies he should deliver the funeral oration before the assembly. and at his funeral delivers an oration; And this succeeded for him so well, that how great a preacher of the divine word he would afterward become was sufficiently apparent: for to his natural eloquence there had by then been added no small amount of theological knowledge, acquired by frequent reading of good authors. This death was followed, after no long interval, by his father's death: on account of which, having set out for his homeland, he soon also buried his stepmother: and the due rites having been paid to each, he returned to Burgos, bereaved of father and stepmother, he abdicates his ecclesiastical benefices. resolved to free himself from the bonds of ecclesiastical benefices, by which he reckoned himself to be weighed down, not relieved, in his studies of virtue and sacred letters. He therefore took voluntary poverty as the foundation of the apostolic life which he was contemplating, beginning to preach at Burgos in the same church of St. Agatha, in which he had reserved for himself a slender little benefice.

[5] From Burgos he goes to Salamanca, How long he thus lived privately to himself is not easy to determine, since it is not precisely established in what year he came to Burgos, nor of what age he departed thence: yet that this was altogether mature, and certainly by no means youthful, I think already sufficiently proved, and the things he did at Salamanca will further prove; for thither a certain divine vocation brought him, troubled by civil dissensions, at that time when the whole city was burning with deadly dissensions, by reason of two noble brothers of the family of Monroy, slain in a certain quarrel by their closest friends of the family of Manzana, likewise two brothers. Mariz deduces the matter from the egg, from page 90 to 97; and imputes to the sluggishness of the Kings Henry III, John II, and Henry IV, that no remedy was applied to the ever more swelling bloody evil, for about sixty years. The other writers, that matter being passed over, unanimously judge it to have been done by altogether divine counsel, that John came to Salamanca at such a time, destined to be the city's Angel of peace. He had chosen for himself a lodging near the parish of St. Sebastian; Avila. He begins to preach at St. Sebastian's, where, when some had found him, who at Burgos had heard him preaching; they begged that he would be willing also there to preach on the feast of that patron Saint, the 24th of August. He obeyed those asking; and had present the Rector and Collegians of St. Bartholomew: to whom, when the apostolic zeal and most edifying sermon of the speaker had greatly pleased; he is admitted into the College of St. Bartholomew, they begged that he would be willing to be joined to their company, to enjoy the same conveniences as they for quietly pursuing his studies, and to be for them as a domestic Chaplain.

[6] That College had been founded, for fifteen Students and two Chaplains, in the year 1410 by Diego de Anaya, then still Bishop of Cuenca; and afterward, having become Archbishop of Seville, he had endowed it more richly, and had bound it by the best laws, In the year 1450 he is received there as Chaplain so that, with an abundance of temporal things, evangelical poverty seemed to be maintained, than which nothing is more conducive to the union of souls and the exercise of studies. Antolinez, 9. For its founder had established that no one was to be admitted there to whom a greater sum of annual income was available than twenty Aragonese florins; which sum, however, the changed value of the coinage, from the abundance of gold and silver, persuaded them at first to relax to a hundred, then even to two hundred Ducats, as Vergara testifies: who brings forward a notable monument of John's reception there, from the Chronicle of the College written in Spanish, whose words I render thus faithfully. "John of Sahagún, Canonist, was elected into this holy house in the year 1450, on the 25th day of January. He was an internal Chaplain: he is said to have worn its Beca (hood), and although the Chaplains, whether internal or external, are not wont to be noted in this Chronicle of the Collegians; yet it was fitting and reasonable, on account of the extraordinary holiness of this man of God, that he should be enrolled in the Catalogue of the same: because he is that true Israelite, in whom no guile was found; who on account of his goodness and the honesty of his life, and the integrity of his morals, was elected into the interior Chaplaincy." The same Vergara sets forth a representation of the old Collegiate habit, as belonging also to the Chaplains, and so worn also by the Saint; and he says it was and is of a reddish color; and the Beca, whose name he says is taken from the Italians (the Academicians of the Crusca teach that it signifies a band or fillet) — the Beca, I say, he so describes, that it not only flows from the shoulders to the chest, but almost like the Greek Episcopal Pallium, down the back to the heels; but of old it was rolled up above the head in the form of a crown, with flaps falling down to the temples. Now for that upper part a square clerical cap has been adopted, so that the aforesaid Beca now covers only the shoulders, forming a fold before the same chest, but flowing from the left shoulder to the ground: and so it represents John, not very happily according to the likeness promised, as I noted above, and rightly sets before the eyes only the modern habit of the Collegians.

[7] Besides the reception aforenoted, the old monuments of the College hand down nothing that can be written for certain. Yet it is commonly wont to be said, and that by a divinely-given light, he completed the Office, that when on a certain night he had laid himself down to bed, having not yet recited a certain part of the Hours; and recollecting it when the light was already extinguished, he could nowhere find it; for that cause God consoled him as he grieved, emitting a ray of light from a certain cypress standing in the middle of the courtyard, by the benefit of which he completed the remainder of that Office. But, as I said, this is by no means certain, since in no histories is mention of this matter found, and his statue is seen placed there above the door: nor in the old memorials of the College, in which far more minute things are reported; nor in the informations made for the Canonization, in which it would be a wonder that not even one of so many witnesses produced would have been present who (if he had known it to be true) would have been willing to affirm it. Thus Antolinez. The same I would say of that tradition, from which Vergara says it is held, that a certain olive tree, conspicuous to this day in the garden of the College, bowed itself to John as he passed by; on which account the Collegians passing there are wont, for the sake of honor, to bare their heads to it.

This is more certain; as also that of Alfonso Tostado, that the curators of the same College caused to be fashioned, above its door, on the right side, a statue of this their holy Chaplain, with this inscription: "Blessed Father John of Sahagún, fortunate offspring of the House of St. Bartholomew"; to which statue, on the left side, there corresponds opposite the effigy of Alfonso Tostado of Madrigal, Bishop of Ávila, who had likewise dwelt there, and died prematurely in the fourth year after John's entrance there; concerning whom that brief eulogy is current, on account of the multitude and variety of his writings:

"This man is the wonder of the world, who discusses all that is knowable."

[8] Moreover, although none of those who have written the history of Blessed John says precisely how long he lived in that College; yet from the tenor of the history it is gathered, After 4 years he left the College, that he lived there about four years: which elapsed, the holy man, seeing that on account of the occupations of the College he could not so freely have leisure to care for the salvation of his neighbors, gave up the place and dignity which he held there, and retained the habit of a simple Cleric, under which he was to be the Apostle of the people of Salamanca: yet it is not precisely known whether he undertook the office of preacher, with a stipend publicly assigned for it, before or after his departure from the College. Antolinez, 11. And having gone out from there, he betook himself to the house of a certain upright Canon, whose memory is to this day held in benediction, named Pedro Sancho, dwelling at the corner of the Torrecilla, next to the Bachelor Gil de Tapia: where (as Juan de Sevilla and Cardinal Antoniano write) he spent ten years, he stays ten years with Pedro Sancho, occupied all that time in the help of souls, by hearing confessions and preaching. To this time altogether belongs a certain memorandum, written in the margin of the Summa Bartolina, written on parchment at Pisa in the year 1383, and reverently kept to this day in the Convent of Salamanca, in these words: "I bought this book in the month of May, in the year 1456, from the Friars of the monastery of St. Paul of Burgos (studying, namely, at Salamanca). I gave the money to M. Pedro the bookseller. and in the year 1456 he buys the Summa Bartolina. It cost a thousand Moropetinos, which I gave him, in Royal florins and one denarius and … in his house within his tent." Thus Tamayo transcribes this memorandum in his Notes at the 11th of June. By Moropetinos I understand those which they now call Maravedís, a most minute kind of coin; but I would think it should not be read "in florins," but "12 florins."

[9] Every day he celebrated the sacrifice of the Mass, with many tears, he says Mass daily with tears, especially when he said it of the Lord's Passion, and at the very Communion; as the witnesses heard in the Processes, who knew him, report: and he was everywhere esteemed a holy man by the people, who had recourse to him in their necessities, that he might pray to the Lord for them. Antolinez, 12. Many also asked him to say Mass for them, thinking that his so devout celebration without doubt obtained from heaven the desired effect. He himself, he lives meagerly on the public stipend, who was wholly pious and full of compassion toward the wretched, gladly assented to their requests: yet he received no alms under the title of Masses, inasmuch as, besides a slender livelihood, which was supplied from elsewhere, he wanted nothing in this world but to serve God. For there had been assigned to him publicly three hundred thousand moropetinos yearly. A scanty sum; but sufficient then for a frugal and sparing man. He observed feast days with a peculiar reverence, not only interior, but also exterior: and to this end he then clothed himself in a more decent and better habit, of which he had two, one gray, the other blue.

[10] He had his hours divided between studies of letters and prayers: and for taking rest, some bundles of vine-twigs, with a stone for a pillow, arranged under the bedstead, he sleeps hard: which every night he put back, lest his servant (this was Juan de Santillana) should perceive it and reveal it. Some say that at the same time he publicly lectured on sacred Scripture in the University of Salamanca. But how would so great a lover of poverty have admitted the sustenance assigned to him by the city, if he enjoyed the revenues of such a Chair? Or how would so many witnesses produced, and asked whether they knew him living, have only answered, he does not seem to have held a Chair of Scripture in the University, that they knew him at Salamanca in the habit of a Cleric; nor have said that they knew him there as a Professor of sacred Scripture? Surely they specify many most minute things about him, by which they prove that John was well known to them. Thus far Antolinez; whom it is a wonder could have so forgotten himself, that what he here in chapter 12 so openly refutes, in chapter 21 he expressly affirms, on account of certain Annotations in the Bible, written by his hand. A trifling argument indeed: especially since he seems to have written them as a Religious, in which state no one says he was a Professor.

[11] This is certain, that the chief effort, in the last years before the change of his state, since he was wholly engaged in composing dissensions. was placed by John on quieting the dissensions which troubled the city. Mariz, bk. 17. To this his preachings mostly were directed: who, diligently exploring the places and times of the assembling factions, would betake himself there intrepidly: nor was he wearied, although the demon, contrary to his efforts, repeatedly stirred up the quenched fires, and many in the very heat of conceived fury showed themselves obdurate and inexorable. For he gradually softened all hearts, however stony, so that at last the city seemed to him quite another. Yet among these things it happened not rarely that there were found those who, ill-bearing the liberty of the admonisher, turned away from him as an enemy. deterred by no injuries of the obdurate. Thus (to spare more examples) it happened to him in a certain village of the district of Salamanca, where some nobles, relying on their wealth and possessions, exercised most grievous discords among themselves, and led a life unbecoming their birth. These expelled the preacher, troublesome to them, with ignominy and insults: yet he returned thither repeatedly, until, treating each one separately, he brought them all back to the duty of a Christian man. And although in those times there was hardly a noble family that did not aspire to be held the head of some faction, and so inflamed the fury of the people that no one could go through the streets without danger: yet to him alone was security granted, as the common pacifier of all.

CHAPTER II.

His vocation to the Order and his Profession therein. The offices he held, the peace of the city procured.

[12] Sound after the cutting of a stone, This labor, continued for several years, severely wore down the strength of his body: but especially the pains of the stone, growing so strong that a remedy had to be sought from surgery: which, when, by means of a vow to enter the Religious life, it had succeeded happily; he was established in his holy resolve, some days after the cure, as is gathered from the Processes. Antolinez, 13. For when he now seemed to himself well recovered, he met a certain poor man, so scantily covered with torn rags he gives the better of two garments to a poor man; that he might be called naked. This man begs him to bestow on him some clothing for the love of God, to cover his body: and there came to his mind the garment doubled for the worship of feast days, laid up at home; of which two, doubting which he should bestow, he judged that the better was owed to God, and gave the blue one to the needy man. But on the following night God heaped upon him such great graces, that another could relate of them only that God alone knows what he then experienced; and that he himself could express it in no words, except by saying that he had come to know what God can and will do, when he wishes some good deed to be rewarded. Antolinez, 14. That night surely was a day of his soul, such as he never beheld. This alone we know to have been heard from his own mouth, but what it was we cannot divine. and filled with inexplicable grace And so I do not say that in the person of that poor man Christ himself appeared, as to Saints Augustine and Gregory; or that he boasted of the garment received before the Angels, as is in the Acts of St. Martin; I only weigh this, that so great a concealer of the gifts divinely conferred on him could not restrain himself, he seeks the Augustinian habit; but once, exhorting the people to exercise liberality toward the poor, instead of other examples which he might have adduced, brought forward his own; but when about to narrate what God in return repaid him that night, he could explain himself no further, but added these words: "And at once I went to St. Augustine's, and received this habit."

[13] That monastery had, not so many years before, taken up the stricter observance of the Augustinian Rule, from the Convent of the Saints situated two leagues from Valladolid: where God had raised up certain of his servants, that in that solitude and poor little house they might lead a life intent solely on divine things, through reading, prayer, and meditation: among which they observed so rigid a silence, under a discipline then recently reformed that only on feast days did they converse among themselves, led by the Superior into the garden: but if anything had to be indicated to another during the week, it was done by signs. Antolinez, 15. For nightly rest there was given a handful of straw, on a cheap little bed with a coverlet. At night they rose for Matins. Their garment was of coarse, but black cloth, under which, in honor of the Mother of God, they wore a white scapular. The little that they had was common to all, except the habit; while in his cell no one was permitted to have books, not even a Diurnal, by which all were compelled to recite the Office in choir. and that most rigid. No one handled money except the one deputed for this; they used only a woolen shirt next to the flesh: but if necessity compelled the use of linen, the weave was only of hemp or tow. They fasted from the feast of All Saints until the Lord's Nativity; and from the second weekday (Monday) after Quinquagesima until Palm Sunday; and every fourth (Wednesday), sixth (Friday), and Saturday they ate only in Lenten fashion. On Fridays there was a common flagellation of the body, which in Lent and Advent was done also on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

[14] Received into the Convent of Salamanca in the year 1463, the 18th of June. The fame of such discipline being widely spread, soon gained for the Convent the name "of the Saints," and inspired in many the desire of emulating, and among the first the Convent of Salamanca, with such success that this came to be surnamed the Mother of the observance. Rarely then were Novices admitted: for from the year 1456 to 1461, only three are found received: Fr. Juan de Espinosa, Fr. Juan de Arenas, and Fr. Alfonso de Borja: after whom the first in the year 1463 was this Fr. Juan of Sahagún, whom soon followed Fr. Tomás Monroy and Fr. Pedro de Toro. He himself had received the habit from the hands of the venerable Father Fr. Juan de Salamanca: who committed his instruction to Fr. Juan de Arenas. The year and day John himself with his own hand wrote in Spanish in the aforesaid Summa Bartolina, the words rendered thus into Latin by Tamayo: "On the 18th day of June, in the year 1463, I received the habit in the monastery of St. Augustine of Salamanca, in which year the Dominical letter was B. On the Birthday of Saints Mark and Marcellinus, Martyrs, seven days before the feast of St.

John, seven days; and this was the sixth weekday (Friday), and the Bishop of Osma preached." That the same year and day is noted in the old book of Professions, Herrera asserts, to whom Tamayo adds as fellow-witnesses P. Fr. Antonio de Solís, and P. Fr. Pedro de Castro, in the Account of the Translation of St. John of Sahagún. And the same Tamayo says that from the said book, before the paraphrase of the Profession to be given below, these things are noted: "On Saturday, the 18th day of June, in the year 1463, Fr. Juan de Sahagún received the habit in this Convent. May the Lord give him grace and blessing, that he may persevere hereafter, to the good of his soul and the consolation of all." Hence not to be heeded are those who, from the Profession made on the 28th of August, the feast of St. Augustine, infer that the habit was received on its Vigil, as if Profession had to be made immediately after the elapsed year of probation.

[15] But although Novices are wont to be kept in great recollection: he is set to the care of the dining-hall, yet the fewness of persons and the straits of domestic affairs compelled them to commit also public ministries even to these, namely those of the infirmary and the refectory; useful also for this, that an experiment might be taken of each one's disposition and talent. Some days, therefore, after receiving the habit, the care of the dining-hall was entrusted to John; for which, although there was but a small little cask of wine, yet because he, as often as he drew from it, used on departing to sign it with the Cross, it happened that no diminution of the wine was noted in it, and he multiplies the wine. but it sufficed for the use of the whole Convent, until the new vintage filled the cellar, the wine abounding above the common measure throughout the whole region. Antolinez, 15. And this is the first miracle which we read the Lord wrought through the hands of his servant; whence grew the esteem of him as a Saint among the Religious.

[16] The year having passed, being admitted to religious Profession, he made it under this formula, which even now is found written in Latin in his own hand. Mariz, bk. 19. He makes Profession on the feast of St. Augustine "I, Friar Juan of St. Facundus, Bachelor in sacred Theology, witness and confess by this letter, that since the time of my probation in this sacred Religion and Society of the Order of the Hermit Friars of the most blessed Doctor our Father St. Augustine has elapsed; and my own deliberate will is, by God's grace to remain and persevere in the same observance of religion, to the praise and service of God, and in the same society to make express Profession; therefore I the aforesaid Friar Juan of St. Facundus, Bachelor, make express Profession, and promise obedience to almighty God, and to the blessed glorious and ever virgin Mary, and to the blessed and glorious Doctor of the Church, our Father Augustine; and to you Reverend Father Juan, Bachelor in Decretals, Prior of this our monastery or convent of St. Augustine of the city of Salamanca; to whom the Prior of the Convent subscribes, in the name and stead of our most Reverend Father Prior general of the whole Order of the Hermit Friars of St. Augustine and his successors; and to live without property and in chastity, in regular observance according to the Rule of our most blessed Father St. Augustine, all the days of my life until death. In testimony and faith of all which, I have here written with my own name. And I beg the Reverend Father Prior of this convent, that you receive this my Profession, and deign to corroborate it in your name and that of another Father present; and that all present pray for me, that eternal glory may be mine hereafter. Amen. Done on the twenty-eighth day of August, on the feast day of our Father Augustine. In the year 1464. Friar Juan, Prior; Friar Juan, Bachelor in Theology."

[17] Scarcely had he made his Profession, when it seemed good to the Superiors to entrust to him the care of the novices. Antolinez, 17. He is made Master of Novices, Certainly it is established that in the eighth month after it John was their Master, although it is not known whether he was so earlier. And he so performed that office, that although he was afterward made Definitor of the Province, he did not give it up, until they made him Prior of the whole convent. But released from this office, he returned to the mastership of the Novices, even while remaining Definitor, confirmed seven times in that rank (that is, in all the Chapters thereafter held as long as he lived); a rare thing indeed in this Order. Among his Novices was the Venerable Father Fr. Martín de Espinosa, afterward Definitor of the whole Congregation, a man of most holy conduct, and who afterward deserved to know those great favors which God showed to his servant during the sacrifice of the Mass. Definitor of the Province, Nothing is known of the method which he used in the instruction of those Novices, which, if it had been handed down to posterity for this age, would be a very great treasure. Thus far Antolinez. Whence then did Valaurio get those ten articles, which he so confidently sets down in book 1, chapter 17, as if he had found them written by the Saint's own hand? Valaurio, bk. 17. We will more safely believe him when he says, surely from the Capitular Acts, that John was elected Definitor in the year 1465, on the 6th of May; and Prior in the year 1471. John therefore was elected Definitor and 19, and finally Prior of the Convent of Salamanca. eight months and as many days after his Profession; and Prior, in the seventh year passed after it. Antolinez, 18. God had given him, for rightly discharging those offices, an extraordinary faculty of discerning spirits; and had added to him also the grace of knowing absent things, and of penetrating the secrets of souls. Hence, when he understood some were tempted, he blessed them, adding such admonitions, by which they understood that nothing of their thoughts was hidden from him. If he saw anyone fallen into sin, he mourned on his behalf and wept inconsolably. To these talents of his was added the fervor of prayer poured out for his subjects, and the rigor of penances for the same, which brought it about that all committed to him were not only true servants of Christ, but as it were living images of the same: as is attested by a man preeminent in learning and holiness, Master Villalobos, an Augustinian Friar and Professor of sacred Scripture in the University of Osma, in Treatise 2 on St. John the Baptist, declaring him with great fruit of his subjects: what it is to give testimony to Christ by works, and how everyone is obliged to be good; when he had said that any Christian ought to be a living Gospel; just as, setting on one side a Christian, on the other some Saint, nay Christ himself, they appear so similar to one another that you could not discern between them; "Thus," he says, "lived twelve of our Friars at Salamanca with Blessed John of St. Facundus."

[18] It had almost slipped out, that among the first cares of the Saint, after his Profession was made, Meanwhile, the care of extirpating factions resumed, was to abolish the factions which had sprouted again at Salamanca during the time when he, still a Novice, was kept from the pulpit. Mariz, bk. 19. For this matter he had set aside the fifth and sixth weekdays (Thursday and Friday), on which he obtained admirable effects in checking the rage of those savage men. Nor did the injuries and insults more often inflicted move him from his purpose: nay, even before the doors of those who were the leaders of the factions, he sometimes set up a pulpit for himself; fearing nothing, but openly declaring that by no danger, not even of death threatened, would he abandon his undertakings: and so, when he once preached at St. Martin's, "On a certain day," he says, "two men came to me threatening that they would take my life, if I went on preaching about these matters: but nevertheless it is necessary that I discharge my office. Hear me: for I shall be happy if I die for this; for I shall be slain because I have told the truth and rebuked sins." When it was reported to him that fuel was repeatedly supplied from without to the evil swelling in the city by the Royal Corregidor of Ledesma; he betook himself to him, intending to extinguish that fuel of the conflagration by prayers and tears. Valaurio, bk. 20. But by these the man was not bent: wherefore, having threatened with severe words the vengeance impending over him, he fears not death often threatened against him, he so failed to bend either him or his partisans, that some of these, as if to avenge Majesty injured in the Corregidor, decreed that he should be expelled from the town with infamy, and committed that sacrilegious decree to execution; but he, in no way moved by so atrocious an injury, said to his companion: "Let us return to Salamanca, to fulfill the office divinely enjoined on us: but if they expel me from here, let us observe the Gospel by which we are admonished: 'If they persecute you in one city, flee into another.'" And when he had returned, it happened that the ringing of two Parishes' bells was heard, called of Saints Benedict and Thomas, to which the chief factions used to gather, and thence to proceed as it were to war. Thither, therefore, he at once betook himself: but he was driven back by fists and kicks, and thrown backward into the mud: yet rising thence more courageous, the tumult being pacified and those who had run together withdrawing, he alone held the field.

[19] Nevertheless, the wretches returning again to madness, he began to thunder from the pulpit more vehemently. At which a certain Knight, as if he himself alone were being attacked, the arms of those who rushed at him being struck numb, flaring up, said: "Shall then so great a concourse of Nobles allow itself to be stirred, at the voice of one accursed hypocrite and infamous chatterer, so as to cease taking vengeance on its enemies, by an unseemly cowardice pardoning injuries? Come, servants, and beat that worst little Friar with cudgels." Now they, as ordered, rushed to the slaughter; but he, advancing to meet them, offered himself ready for the death which they were coming to inflict with great shouts and reproaches; and they would have inflicted it with drawn daggers, had not their arms divinely stiffened, with a trembling moreover spread through all their members so grievous, that they had nothing rather to do than to fall on their knees before the Saint, and to beg for safety and pardon: and when John had granted both, the spirits of all the rest died down. Another adds that the same happened on the feast and in the Parish of St. Thomas, and not only to the aforesaid servants of that Noble, but also to some of the opposite party, who, to prevent the crime, had in turn drawn their swords, in defense of their preacher. So indeed it is wont to happen in narrating matters, while each one in his own style and according to his own conception sets forth the matter, though received from one source: and hence it appears how much more conducive it is to our institute to have the Processes themselves about the Saints, and to report each thing in the unaltered words of the deponing witnesses, without any varnish of more polished discourse. But it is not easy to take care to write out examples of such, on account of prolixity, and still less excerpted in the way we would wish of the substance of the unaltered words. However it is, both Mariz and Valaurio say that, with those men thus first fixed in their tracks, then restored to themselves at the Saint's prayer, peace coalesced in that very place: in perpetual memory of which thing it was decreed, which is observed to this day, that in public processions the Crosses of both Parishes proceed together, alternating right and left each year.

[20] for this cause he also attends a wedding feast; Friendship was also confirmed by mutually contracting marriages: which, since the Saint did not disdain to grace with his presence, it happened that there was set before him a roasted bird

(whether a dove or a hen, the account varies), on account of which, when he was distressed, because he thought such a dish did not befit a poor Religious, whom it becomes to serve only necessity; suddenly the bird flew up out of the dish through the window, and left all full of admiration; and him indeed also with a wonderful consolation, that the pious Lord had thus provided for his desire to abstain, the good will of the hosts being preserved. Antolinez, 29; Valaurio, bk. 20. Yet again at another time it happened that in the month of November a feast was held at St. Lazarus's across the bridge, to which an enormous multitude of men had flocked; nor was the demon wanting to his own party, but sought his gain there, and stirred up sparks not wholly extinguished. The Saint also was present there, and he foretells that one who interrupts him will soon be slain. and, a platform being set up at the head of the bridge, he began to speak. But he was not heard, on account of the confused din of the crowd murmuring around. Wherefore, making some delay in speaking; then, as if rising up more menacingly, he said: "Hear the word of the Lord: for I tell you, that the first who shall stir up this crowd, and lay his hand to the hilt, will be slain in the sight of all. Stand here quiet; lest anyone wish to depart to sup among the dead." Notwithstanding this, some one man broke out, attacking the opposite party; and soon, in the sight of all, slain he fell dead. At which event the crowd being dismayed, John resumed his sermon, and said: "Did I not foretell that these men could not keep quiet? But let this be done: let it be done no more: take up this pulpit, and carry me elsewhere, and you with me." Thus he led the people over to the convent, not ceasing to kiss his hands and garments, and to commend themselves to him, as to an arbiter of divine justice: but he dismissed them, consoled, with his blessing, as a pledge of divine clemency.

CHAPTER III.

Certain virtues of John, the divine providence for his protection; he himself and others saved by him from the waters.

[21] The servant of God was of large body, of venerable person, The outward composition of his body of handsome, placid, and grave countenance: by whose aspect he allured the good to virtue, and struck shame into the wicked. Antolinez, 21. Mariz, at request, attempted to express him in true lineaments, as I gave them in the Preliminary Commentary, after no. 14. So great was his modesty, that although always of cheerful face, you would never have seen him laughing. Of easy and simple conversation, he delighted in the prudence and discourses of learned men. and pleasant conversation He detested duplicity and dissimulation in words: for he denied that the fraudulent have a good end. His speech was edifying, nor in his presence would anyone have dared to utter anything less religious. In every action shunning singularity and extremity, he walked as far as he could the middle way.

[22] The purity of his conscience Yet in seeking purity of conscience he acknowledged no moderation, since in the sight of God he understood nothing to be sufficiently pure. Hence he himself noted many things in himself, which to others would seem trifling or even ridiculous; he also guarded against many things out of tenderness of soul, of which others would take no account. Antolinez, 29. Thus he did not willingly eat country doves, because he said they had fed by theft from others' harvests. Thus he once took it for a great scruple, that he had tasted a cherry from another's tree: thus he refused to use a little ointment, which a servant of a certain friend had sent him without the master's knowledge, to cure the wound of his leg; until that man had asked leave of his master: and the utmost tenderness. thus he feared to kill even a flea troublesome to him, lest he displease God. So also he wished that his companion, to a place from which they were already one league away, should carry back a stone, which he had taken from a certain wall; declaring he would not go further, unless this were done either by himself or by him; and he added: "If you had placed it in such a spot to prevent some inconvenience, you would not be glad to have it taken from there: what therefore you would not wish to be done to you, do not do to another." From married women he would have accepted no alms, unless he had known they were given with the consent of their husbands, not even one egg, of which four at that time were scarcely worth one white coin. He once wished that a certain man should restore an egg taken by theft; and one woman three maravedís and a little silk.

[23] Most devoted to the study of prayer, he loved to spend a good part of the night on it: Prayer therefore, Matins being sung, he remained in the church, nor departed thence before he had finished the sacrifice of the Mass. Antolinez, 23. But what he here rather suffered than did, it pleases me to explain in the words of St. Thomas of Villanova, in sermon 2 on the Sacrament of the altar, speaking thus: "A certain man of our Augustinian family and religion, Friar John of St. Facundus, who at this time is venerated with wondrous zeal and excellent piety of the people of Salamanca, on account of the countless miracles continually wrought by him; when he performed the daily Sacrifice of the Mass a little too long, and lingered in it too spaciously; it happened that he was ordered by his Prelate, in virtue of obedience, to finish the Mass more quickly: concerning which he had more often, though more gently, been forewarned by the same on consultation. To whom the aforesaid Friar, because he could not pass over obedience, disclosed the whole secret, saying: 'Pardon me, I beseech, my Father: for I cannot indeed do otherwise: because daily I, a sinner, behold with these eyes our Lord Jesus Christ, shining in the Host.' At which words the Prelate, terrified, prostrate on the ground, asked pardon for the trouble caused: and gave him leave to linger as he wished." This I learned not from the same Prelate, but from a most grave man of our Religion, who had heard it from his mouth and reported it. Mariz, bk. 27. Thus far a Saint about a Saint; and thence it came about, that after his death either the painted effigies or the carved statues represent him with eyes fixed on the sacred Host, and such is seen to this day that alabaster one, which García Álvarez de Toledo, first Duke of Alba, had fashioned.

[24] by Alfonso de Orozco How laboriously John prepared himself for it, the disciple of the aforepraised St. Thomas of Villanova explains at greater length, himself also a man of great holiness, and an alumnus of the same Augustinian, not Franciscan (as Wadding wrongly among the Writers), Religion, Alfonso de Orozco, in that Life of St. John which Antolinez says was written by him, and so before the year 1591, in which he died on the 19th of September at Madrid, where the piety of Ferdinand, Infante of the Spains, moved by deeds done above the power of nature, raised his body from a humbler tomb to a loftier place. Thus Antonio Nicolás in his Library of writers of Spain, where you will find very many of his works enumerated, with a eulogy, that they all redolent of the Author's piety, the more to be accepted, because he had as the author of his writing Mary the Mother of God, at the time when he administered the House of the Augustinians at Seville, as he himself attests in his Confessions (for these too he wrote after the example of St. Augustine). Thus he: but although very many things are there magnificently and studiously enumerated, yet among them is not found the aforecited Life of John, of which as written by him Antolinez gives so certain a testimony, altogether worthy to see the light, for which cause too I have brought forward this matter about the Author.

[25] John used to say Mass in the chapel called of the Crucifix, from his image, set high there: of which no memory survives today, his preparation for it explained. although the Crucifix survives, raised above the altar, which is under a well-wrought vault, above the chapel of the most blessed Virgin, where the Relics of that Saint were long held in honor by the people. Antolinez, 27. He used to say Masses at the third hour of morning, because his spiritual hunger could not bear a longer delay. Thus when once he said it at St. Mary Royal near Madrigal, before the Nuns of that Convent, he stood not only rapt in ecstasy out of his senses, but even with his very body, Frequent raptures during it: raised into the air above the altar to half an ell. Valaurio, bk. 2, ch. 3. What he was then, in rendering thanks for so great a benefit, the Acts do not explain. In like manner it happened that the same man was found in his cell raised up one night by the Prior of the convent; who, going around the cells of his men at that time, when from John's cell he saw the brightness of reflected light, and suspected some misfortune; he roused several religious, as if to put out a fire; but having entered, he found a great light diffused throughout the whole cell, and in the midst of it the Saint praying in ecstasy; but of fire absolutely nothing.

[26] From such meetings with God, then, when he went out to preach, what wonder if he always did it with great fervor? Antolinez, 32, 36. But here he never appeared greater, than when chastity was to be praised, or the contrary vice to it reproved. From zeal for chastity he incurs the hatred of women, Once it happened that he so vehemently rebuked women who wore their breast bare in a too immodest way, that several of them ran together to stone him; and they would have done so, had not the rest of the assembly, understanding this, accompanied him all the way home. He himself, however, calmly said that it would be a great benefit of God, if it should befall him to die in such a cause. And when he preached at St. Lazarus's outside the gate of the city; he caused harlots to be brought there, yet he converts and helps many unchaste women, whose perdition he bore most sorrowfully: and God wrought many and wonderful conversions in them, through his inflamed words. And that the converted might not relapse once more into the same mire, he provided alms collected for their sustenance. He also labored much over others, whose dishonesty was less public, or even altogether secret, God revealing to him their state. Antolinez, 25. When this once happened to him in a sermon, he so turned his discourse, as if he had spoken only to a certain person there present: then, betaking himself to her house, he completed the conversion begun. At another time, as he was going through the city, a woman met him, penetrating the secrets of hearts: and asked for his hand to kiss; but he, knowing divinely the plan she had conceived of killing her daughter, found to be carrying a child in her womb; denied that he would give it to her, who bore a demon in her heart: wherefore she, troubled, and having followed John to his monastery, clearly understood from him the cause of the hand denied; and ordered to lay aside the detestable plan, when she understood that the author of the seduction would repair what he had committed, the girl being taken in marriage, who was to bear him both this one she carried in her womb and another son too, she allowed herself to be reconciled to her daughter.

[27] But as John was always solicitous for the divine honor, A nun reviling him, so God too guarded his fame; nor bore it with impunity, if anyone rashly loosed his tongue against him. This a certain Nun especially felt, named Catalina Romana, Prioress of the royal convent of Madrigal. She on a certain Friday in Chapter, when she had more sharply censured Mother Leonor de Betanzos, Prefect of the wardrobe, as prodigal of the monastery's goods, on account of too lavish affection toward the poor; added

also certain words deriding the life and admonitions of John, which perhaps brought forward on her behalf she tried to use to excuse that liberality of the other. But on the following Monday, while the monastery's bread was being baked, from the kindled oven the flame burst out three times; and the first time indeed, sharpened into a point, it rose up to the roof, and withdrew into the oven, no harm being done. The second time it leapt out more vehemently, all the way to the place where Mother Catalina stood, as if about to swallow her up; but it only struck terror into her, withdrawing without harm: yet soon bursting out again, she is chastised by the flame bursting from the oven. and leaving the oven empty of fire, it spread itself throughout the whole bakehouse, and wrapping all who were working in it like a cloud, seemed to threaten death. Then Catalina, understanding that this happened on account of the words cast two days before against the venerable John of St. Facundus; with all listening, with a clear voice promised that she would never again speak ill of John: and immediately all the fire withdrew into the oven, Catalina openly confessing that, rashly murmuring against the man of God, she had deserved to be so chastised.

[28] Nor with less care did the same God guard the body of his servant, and snatch it from dangers, as if lifted up by the hands of Angels. Antolinez, 34. He himself, having fallen into the river, Thus once, having fallen into the river Tormes, and carried off by the waters for a fairly long space, he came out thence with his clothes entirely dry. Thus briefly Antolinez. Mariz, having pursued the matter through all the circumstances, says that it happened to him while reciting the day Hours as he went, that, wholly intent on prayer, he so approached the edge of the bank, that at last, his step failing, he fell with his whole body into the whirlpool, commonly called Castellano: for the same river has several whirlpools of this kind. And he fell in that place where a rugged rock rose, and that so high that one placed on its summit could not recognize someone standing below. There, therefore, between the rock and the bank, no less steep, the constricted river was very deep; and the Saint, nowhere seen for a quarter of an hour, was rolled under the waters, through that space in which the water is hurled down with enormous crash through three successive cataracts. Then first emerging, he comes out thence dry, once he was seen to walk upon them; until, approaching the bridge of the city, he reached, opposite St. Vincent's, a bank lower and fit for ascent. Meanwhile his companion, running about, sought men who would at least take up the venerable body: and so, as he himself approached the bridge, he was amazed to see a packed crowd, and proclaiming a miracle. For John had come out, with his whole garment so dry, as if he had not touched water; nor injured in any part of himself: but he, fleeing human applause, hastened to hide himself in his convent.

[29] A similar thing happened to him as he was returning from Palencia, whither the obedience of his Prior, for a certain urgent business, had sent him. and again. For when he had come to the rivulet which has the name Corpus-hominis (Man's Body); and had found it, otherwise always fordable, so enormously swollen, that no one presumed to cross; he himself, relying on God, drove his mule into it; and at once both were believed to have perished, swallowed by the waters, or the mule at most to emerge alone: but both, and he indeed not a whit wetted, escaped to the other bank: all who were there being amazed, and vying to venerate the Saint; especially since the sun, until then covered with clouds, began to show a clear day at that very instant in which John was restored to the land from the waters.

[30] But let other specimens too of the divine power in the waters, exerting itself through John, be brought forward. Antolinez, 21. As he proceeded through the city of Salamanca, there fell at his feet the desolate mother of a certain boy, lately fallen into a well, and he saves various people fallen into the waters. imploring help. He orders himself to be led to the well, as if he hoped to find him still alive; and although he saw that the depth was great, yet he let down his belt, taken from his body, there, and drew the boy up, as if the boy had been lifted on high together with the water itself, and so had grasped the sacred strap. The people run together, proclaim a miracle, venerate the Saint: but he, having found by chance a bundle of the cheapest fish, placed it on his head, and, shouting with a loud voice "To the fool! To the fool!" hurried off at a run to his convent. Valaurio, bk. 2, ch. 12. At Gordaliza also a boy fallen into a well was, by the prayers of the Saint, drawn out thence alive. To the same man's feet Benito Ramos brought the corpse of a child suffocated in the river, over a space of three hundred paces, and received it restored to life.

[31] Let us add here also certain other things. Mariz, 30. From the Beadle of the University, He makes a book that had been carried off to be recovered: to whom the Library had been committed, a book had been taken, very valuable both for the dignity of its matter and the price of its silver ornaments. He, foreseeing the loss to be imputed to his negligence, and thence the danger of losing his office, ran to the man of God for a remedy. He promises that he will commend the matter to God during the sacrifice of the Mass: and behold, after the elevation of the Host, there was present a man unknown to him, visible to no one else, who placed the book on the altar; which John, the Sacrifice finished, handed to the minister, to be carried into the sacristy, where he returned it to his friend, marvelously exulting. Consolation too with the same man found a woman, exceedingly afflicted, because the man who had given her the pledge of marriage, he foretells punishment to the covenant-breaker, despising her, had taken another wife; for he foretold that it would come about that she should see her injury divinely punished. Antolinez, 25. And she saw it: because that covenant-breaker was quickly captured by the Moors; and, ransomed from servitude, died a sudden death. Nor did it pass with impunity for two women to have held the sermons of the Saint so contemptuously, that to hear them, as if certain absurdities, they scurrilously invited one another. For both met a most wretched death, as also two women contumelious against the Saint undergo, one slain by her husband, as an adulteress; the other beheaded by sentence of a judge, because she herself had cruelly killed her own husband: of both of whom thus punished the Master of the Order of Alcántara makes mention, in a certain Spanish verse composed in the Saint's honor, having been made more certain of the whole matter by a letter of the Guardian of the Franciscans of Salamanca.

CHAPTER IV.

The holy death and burial of John; the first and second translation of the body into its own shrine.

[32] John was now in his sixteenth year in the Religious life, He foretells that he will die within the year, when, disdaining earthly things and longing for heavenly, he sighed with Paul, repeatedly ruminating those words, "Who will free me from the body of this death?" Valaurio, bk. 3, ch. 1. But understanding divinely that his vows were heard, he could not contain himself, but uttered the joy conceived in his soul through his mouth in this way. John was preaching at St. Blaise's with his usual fervor; when in the middle of the sermon he stopped, and with eyes raised to heaven seemed for some time to speak I know not what within himself, moving only his lips: then to the assembly, held in suspense with expectation, he said: and that he will be glorified by miracles after 10 years. "There is here before you a man who will die before a year passes, and then you will say, 'O how well Father of St. Facundus preached!' I tell you, that after ten years I shall preach still better." And indeed in that very year he died: and in the tenth year after he began to preach more effectively through miracles. The cause of his death is said to have been this.

[33] There were in the city two noble persons, so joined in impure love, On account of an impure cohabitation broken up that they gave scandal to the whole people. When John had taken upon himself to separate these from one another, and had them present at his preaching, he began so vehemently to hurl the darts of his burning words; that the young man, moved in soul, breaking the bonds by which he was held, followed his liberator to the convent; nor would he go out thence, but took up the habit of the holy Religion. To recall him from his undertaking, the woman, persistent, agitated by the frenzy of insane love, left nothing undone; and when she had said many insults to the Saint's face, at last she added that the year would not pass before he should pay her ready penalties. So when, within two months of these threats, John began to wither and to fail, and at last the physicians detected various signs of poison; it was by no means doubted poison (as is believed) being administered, that it had been given him by some fraud by that unhappy woman, and so the venerable man Alfonso de Orozco rightly called him a Martyr. We, however, leave that to be determined by the judgment of the Church, and we note that the Saint, at last fixed to his bed, and duly fortified with the last sacraments, having asked pardon of his sins from the Friars gathered around, expired, he dies a holy death. at the ringing wont to be given for saluting the Mother of God; that noble Novice too being present, who that night had been admonished by an angelic vision, or a dream divinely sent, that his master would expire on that very day.

[34] To the rain soon sent down from heaven Julián de Armendáriz adds, in the Life written in verse, that that frenzied woman, who had been the cause of the Saint's death, was at once as if by a divine hand laid prostrate on her bed, and, dissolved in tears, seriously grieved over the crime committed, The face of the deceased shines with wondrous splendor. and at last by the intercession of John rested in a happy end. Mariz, bk. 32. This is more certain, that the face of the deceased, the pallor of death cast off, bloomed again and shone with marvelous beauty; whence the Friars, affected with wondrous consolation, could not mourn his departure from them, whom they already proved by so manifest a sign to have been received into heaven and to intercede as a patron for them. Valaurio, bk. 3, ch. 2. Many attested this under oath; and among others, beyond all exception, Juan Fernández, Canon of the Cathedral Church, a man of extraordinary probity and learning, returning from the sight of him, with tears of great tenderness, thus spoke jubilantly to all who met him: "I come from the sight of my great friend, the devout Friar John of St. Facundus: and I affirm to you for certain, that from his face there go forth certain splendid rays, bringing great solace to those who gaze on it."

[35] Exposed in the church, the venerable body stood for two days, The body reverently viewed for two days, offering a devout spectacle to the citizens and dwellers of Salamanca, running together from all sides, and eager to kiss his hands and feet and habit: but when gradually, as popular devotion advanced, some began not only to pluck little pieces from his garment, but even to snatch the hairs of the holy head; and one too was caught attempting to cut off a finger; the holy deposit was withdrawn to the major chapel; and gratings being drawn across, and guards set, he is honorably buried, all nearer access was forbidden, until the body was given to burial, in a conspicuous place at the head of the church, where to this day it is honored, says Antolinez; adding that when miracles began to multiply there, namely in the year 1488, Juan de Sevilla, then Prior of the Convent, ordered the body of the Saint, together with his other Relics, to be laid up within a stone basin, which should be placed in the tomb, hollowed out to that depth which could receive the sick who would enter. Antolinez, 37.

[36] As miracles multiplied in these matters, that burial-place began

to be frequented even more. Mariz, bk. 2, ch. 2. So that the Friars might comply with the devotion of the peoples, and it is honored by a shrine built above. they made a small shrine above it, with a little altar, for Mass to be said there, during which something of the Relics was given to be kissed. Meanwhile the body itself was so badly guarded, that there were not lacking those who feared lest, at the fame of the miracles celebrated throughout all Spain, some more powerful of the Magnates should be moved, to diminish it notably for his devotion, or even to carry off the whole by stealth. That this inconvenience might be met, the matter being maturely deliberated, on the 16th day of December of the year 1533 there assembled for this ten chosen Religious, In the year 1533 ten chosen Friars, namely Fr. Diego de Plasencia Subprior (for the Prior was abroad), Fr. Pedro de Castro, Fr. Pedro Aviles, Fr. Mateo de Carrates, Fr. Miguel Lezano, Fr. Francisco Mata, Priests; and two Clerics, Fr. Juan de San Vicente, and Fr. Francisco de Caneto; and Fr. Julián de Torres, Lay-brother, to complete the ten; as Fr. Jerónimo Román narrates, in part 2 of his Ecclesiastical History of the Spains, chapter 7, which is on the Life of St. John; saying that all were of the elders, men of great religion and most of them of extraordinary learning.

[37] Those ten, about the twelfth hour of the night, while the rest sang Matins in the choir, having dug up the body, separate it from the others buried there, assembling in the place where they believed the body to be; and having lifted out thence the bones of the other bodies, which they nonetheless thought to be those of their elders, more illustrious by the fame of virtue, and therefore set apart from the common burial; they took a well-basin, or stone trough (as the Chronicle calls it), serving for washing clothes; within which one of them, Fr. Mateo de Carrates, set apart and distinguished those things which seemed to all to be St. John's, according to tradition; and arranged and fitted them together, as well as he could. The same was then done with the bones of the others, according to their proportion among themselves. Nevertheless there remained in the minds of most a doubt, and they bury it more deeply in the stone basin: whether that which they had set apart as the body of St. John was in truth indeed his own: but P. Master Alfonso de Córdoba ordered all doubt to be laid aside, saying he was certain that it was the same. And asked the cause of his knowledge, he said that Fr. Juan de Sevilla, who had hidden it there, had revealed the whole matter to him under secrecy, on account of the close friendship he had with him. Thus made certain, they again arranged the holy body, as well as they could, and hid it in a well-deep place of the same chapel, so that thereafter it could not so easily be found. Yet, lest the place be given altogether to oblivion, they consigned its memory to the cartulary of the monastery, the signs by which it could be found being expressed, when some great cause should advise seeking it.

[38] Thenceforth the devotion of the Friars and people more remiss, As time proceeded thereafter, devotion toward the sacred deposit grew cold, nor was any longer any special care taken of the aforesaid chapel; wherefore popular devotion too ceased, and the miracles ceased; until God raised up the spirit of Fr. Diego de Valderas of Salamanca; who, mindful of his old devotion toward St. John when he was a novice, and having become Sacristan of the monastery, in the year 1566 began to adorn the aforesaid chapel, to arrange the lamps, to procure Masses to be said there, and to announce the holy man's passing to be celebrated annually. Hence devotion, now almost extinct in the people, began to be revived, miracles to be renewed, votive offerings to be hung up for benefits received; in the year 1566 it is revived, of all which, since the aforesaid Friar was held the author, great favor and authority accrued to him among the people; relying on which, he began to think of a more ample and more adorned chapel (for the old one seemed too cramped and mean). To his good will the illustrious Collegians of St. Bartholomew contributed, and a new shrine is begun to be built: bestowing a generous alms to that end. Thus a shrine of excellent work, and indeed perfect for the standard of that time, was begun; in the midst of which there should be raised a magnificent tabernacle, suitable for receiving the sacred deposit. Meanwhile the place was sought in which so great a treasure lay hidden; permission too was asked of Don Pedro González de Mendoza, Bishop of Salamanca, that it might be brought into the public light.

[39] meanwhile the sacred body lifted out thence He committed his office to Don Luis de Alcocer, Provisor of the Cathedral of Salamanca, and Governor of the Diocese: who on the 7th day of August 1569, when he had come to the place; P. Fr. Antonio de Velasco, Prior of the monastery, with the permission of the aforesaid Provisor and before all his Religious, opened the repository of the sacred Relics; and found them arranged as was said above, a most sweet odor breathing out from the stone containing them, as it was opened, as is held from the notarial act drawn up thereupon. Then all the bones, as they were arranged, he placed back in a walnut-wood chest, well wrought and most clean, and that locked with two keys: and covered with black velvety silk he placed it on the shoulders of his Religious, it is transferred into a new chest: and processionally carried it above the chapel of the Mother of God, to the altar of the Crucifix, with crosses and candles, with Psalms and the Canticle Te Deum laudamus. The keys were so distributed, that the one which was of the inner little chest should be handed to the aforesaid Provisor, present there and presiding; the other two of that larger walnut chest should be entrusted to the monastery: of which a public instrument was soon written, Pedro Carincus, royal Scribe, being called for it: to whom subscribed first the Provisor, then six Collegians of St. Bartholomew, Doctor Rota then Rector of the College, and the Licentiates Antonio de Lara, Juan Gómez Lezignana, Bernardo García, and Miñaya. There were present besides many grave and honored men, and among these Don Juan de Mendoza, brother of the Duke of Infantado, cousin of the Bishop of Salamanca, and afterward a Cardinal: who confessed himself especially bound to John, for his deliverance from a grave infirmity, with which, dwelling at Salamanca as a student, he had labored.

[40] There the holy Relics rested, until the fabric of the new chapel was completed, which is then brought into the finished work, and of the tabernacle designed for receiving them; on which this Epitaph was inscribed: "The Augustinians of Salamanca, from the offering which the people contributed, to John of Sahagún their brother, a man holy while he lived, set this up after his death." Avila seems to have described the matter more distinctly, when he says that in his time, that is at the end of that century, the holy Body rested in a well-wrought tabernacle, around which ran an inscription conceived in Spanish words for the common people's grasp, to be thus rendered into Latin: "The Augustinians of Salamanca, etc." as above. "In this tabernacle is buried the body of holy Fr. John of Sahagún. The Saint died on the day of St. Barnabas, in the forty-ninth year of his age" (so namely it had then begun to be believed, from I know not what badly drawn-up reckoning) "but under the tabernacle itself" (says Avila, continuing his narration) "is a devout altar, at which the Saint used to say Mass, girt with an iron grating, which, made from alms contributed by the devout people, has this Latin Inscription."

[41] Then in the year 1589 fire seized the monastery; and when even the roof of the church was now burning, and in the year 1589 withdrawn from the fire of the church, the first care of the Religious was to withdraw from the flames the most holy Eucharist and the body of Blessed John. Mariz, bk. 2, ch. 2. Them Don Pedro de Zúñiga, Knight of the Habit of St. James and Lord of the towns of Cisla and Flores-de-Ávila, received into his house; and leaving it empty for such worthy guests, he removed elsewhere: but the sacred deposits were carried for the time being to the Oratory of the College of St. Bartholomew, until a suitable receptacle with an altar should be prepared for them in one of the lower halls of the said house, it is for the time being kept in a suitable place, in which the Friars might perform their Offices by night and day, and at the altar there erected might say Masses before the body of Blessed John, placed above the altar itself, with much daily light of candles, and a concourse of citizens thither. The damages of the fire then being repaired — by which only the roof of the church had burned — the sacred objects were brought back into it with a solemn procession; and the Most Holy being laid up within its lofty tabernacle, at its feet above the altar and then it is put back in its former place. was placed the body of St. John. Which done, and the community of the Religious having gone off to supper, the vault of that very shrine collapsed, under which a little before all had proceeded, about to place the sacred body there where it is now honored: which vault, had it collapsed a little sooner, would both have crushed them with many others, and broken the chest which they were carrying.

CHAPTER V.

Various miracles of the Saint, especially in paralytics and the lame, from Antolinez.

[42] These things being deduced into one connected account from Mariz, I come to the miracles passed over by Juan de Sevilla, A blind man enlightened at the tomb, and to be read in Antolinez from chapter 46 onward: where, when he had said of the tomb of John, that which Damascene says of the tomb of the Mother of God, that it is the medicine of the sick and a living fountain of salvation. Antolinez, 46. For the confirmation of this saying, "no small part," he says, "is played by the blind man, who, as soon as he set foot there, again obtains blindness. recovered his sight: but enlightened also with an interior light, he first corrected his vow, and asked that it might again be taken from him, if it were not for the salvation of his soul. But God, assenting to his wiser petition, held grateful the sacrifice offered to him of the eyes received, A contracted girl once and gave him back blindness. By the same there entered a contracted girl; who, when in the sight of all she had recovered the free use of all her members; as she was unaccustomed to labor, she went on to the tomb of the Saint and to the door of the church, or even through the streets, to beg her food as she was wont. The Augustinians admonished her not to lead her life thus idly, and is cured again. but to hire herself out to some service; otherwise it was to be feared lest God should chastise her as ungrateful for the benefit received. It happened to her as they had foretold in vain; the infirmity by which she was formerly held returned; and then first seriously repenting, the poor little thing wished to be admitted again to the tomb; but she did not obtain it before she promised that she would use her health better, if it were given her again; as she also did, made partaker of her vow."

[43] Many other sick people, from various diseases, obtained health at the same tomb, before much people, who could scarcely be torn away from there on that account. But a singular thing happened to a certain young Knight, whose name was Martín Arias Maldonado, Disturbing one who mocks those crowding to enter, son of Rodrigo Arias Maldonado, of Salamanca: who, when he had come to the burial-place of John together with his parents, led by curiosity rather than religion; and the church being full of people, and two Friars at the door of the tomb, to prevent those wishing to enter from being too crowded together; that man, seeing so great a crowding, stretched out his right arm, and as if in jest said to the Friars: "Take this too, and put it in the tomb." Scarcely had he spoken those words, his arm withers, when he felt his arm stiffen; whereupon, his mind being moved

soon to penitence, and the whole people too, and especially each parent commiserating, and on repenting he is healed. all began to entreat the Saint, that, pardoning his youthful levity, they would restore the former use of his arm to the amended man; which they also obtained, when, let into the tomb with him, after prayers and vows poured out there.

[44] Moreover, that John might be shown like to the Apocalyptic Angel, who set one foot upon the sea, The Saint appearing in a tempest succors those invoking him: the other upon the land; his power appeared also in the sea, when, a tempest having arisen, a certain ship began to be in peril, laden with many travelers; to whom, invoking him with a concordant vow, he appeared, in a great light and in the Augustinian habit, and, as they looked on, directed the ship to the harbor of safety. Antolinez, 47. Equally miraculous was his intercession proved in the monastery of St. Ursula of Salamanca, where the Abbess held a certain innocent Nun bound in prison. She, remembering the miracles also to a Nun shut in prison, wrought in manifold ways by Blessed John of St. Facundus, invoked her helper, and was heard. For he was present one of the nights, and, knocking on her pillow, roused her from sleep, and promised that she would be led out thence on the next Friday; as, by the command of the Abbess, it actually happened.

[45] In the same Salamanca, a certain married woman was afflicted with a grave pain in the side; and in that affliction, invoking John, and to a woman with pleurisy, she was first divinely bathed in copious sweat; then, that she might know the author of the benefit, he himself deigned to appear to her, clad in the customary habit of the Order; and with a cheerful and splendid countenance, approached the bed; where, bending his knees before the little bed, he so persevered the whole night with her, who was so absorbed in flowing solace, (whose son too he heals of a hernia) that when in the early morning the household, approaching, offered her something to eat, she could indicate by a sign of her hand only, that they should not disturb her. And the Saint disappearing, she rose healed; and the little child, whom she had with a hernia, she carried to his burial-place, and carried so many times (for it does not always please God at once to hear those asking) until she obtained health for him, the sign of which was given by the bands falling off along the way, and to another woman sick from a miscarriage. with which she had bound the little one. Another woman of Salamanca too, from a miscarriage which she had suffered, was lying sick for the third month: who, when on the vigil of the Lord's Nativity, desiring to keep that day more festively, she had commended herself to God, as soon as she closed her eyes she saw his servant about midnight, who, stroking her feet and arms with his hand, sent her away healed.

[46] In the monastery of the Dominican nuns of Zamora, which they call of St. Mary of the Ladies, and which was of the stricter observance, At the same tomb are healed Lucrecia de Mello discharged the office of sacristan in the year 1488: who, while she was fixing the clock, having slipped, suffered a leg fractured above the ankle. Antolinez, 49. To this woman no cure, however diligent, applied had been of any benefit, but, like a paralytic, she could move only a single step with supports, and that very painfully; nor could she rise from the place where she had sat down, without the aid of one lifting her. But hearing the fame of John, working miracles at his tomb, she asked and obtained (for not even then was so rigid an enclosure yet kept) that she might be allowed to betake herself to Salamanca, A Nun paralytic from a fall, having taken, according to the Rule of St. Augustine, as companions, Juana Rodríguez de Ocampo Subprioress, and Francisca Guadalajara. There went with her likewise certain other persons, expressed in the Process; with whom on the 18th of July, on Friday, having entered the tomb, she returned healed, no longer needing any support; but leaving there both crutches, which she had been wont to use, in testimony of the miracle.

[47] another, with one leg shorter than the other, At Salamanca, in a monastery of the same Order and name, another Nun, named Teresa Rodríguez, sprung of humble birth, had had one leg much longer than the other from the beginning of her life, now prolonged to her fortieth year, whence her gait was rendered altogether awkward and shapeless. She on the 19th of July of the same year, toward evening, together with Isabel Garabita, one of the elders, came to the church of the Augustinians; having entered there three times, and having entered the tomb, on that Saturday indeed she did not receive health; but spending the whole night in prayer and making vows, she persevered in the church also through the Sunday following; and toward night, having entered again; again, walking no better, she came out. at last she comes out healed: Nor even so did she lay aside hope, but rather persisted in prayer until midnight. Then, having entered a third time, she covered her ill-formed foot with the very earth which she found there, and in that position began to recite the canticle of Zechariah, "Benedictus," as if sure of a divine visitation. But between the twelfth and first hour, as if having received a sign that she should bend her knees, she prostrated herself in them, wholly free from the inveterate evil of so many years.

[48] At Toro, in the family of Portocarrera, there was a maidservant, fixed to her bed for the third month, called Inés Larez; so wholly paralyzed as also a certain maidservant, that she could not be raised from her bed, except together with the blanket. Antolinez, 50. She, when she had drawn near in spirit, where she could not in body, and had made a vow of visiting the tomb; began to be so much better, that soon she could rise from the bed, and, aided by crutches under her armpits, though with difficulty, manage a step. Hoping therefore to obtain complete health, she urged the household to carry her to Salamanca as soon as possible. When she had come thither, sitting on a woman's saddle, and carried by a beast, in the company of two men; she entered the tomb with the same trouble indeed and the same crutches, and came out without them, though with a step not yet quite firm. These things were done on Monday, the 21st of July, 1488; and on Thursday the 24th of the same July, likewise a man, Antonio Martín of Ciudad Rodrigo, wholly paralytic for more than two years, brought forth from the same tomb the free use of all his members; as also a little boy of Salamanca, named Juanico, son of María Velázquez; who, maimed in the left leg from a paralysis of one year, a boy, dragged his foot along the ground, touching it with the toes only.

[49] As much happened on the same day to María González of Mallorca, who, taken in her feet and hands, could not move by herself; a woman, and on the 23rd of July, Wednesday, having been carried to Salamanca, was led into the tomb on Thursday. As much also experienced a certain Cleric, called Pedro Magister, Archpriest of Castro-nuevo, a Cleric, who from an infirmity had remained maimed for a whole year now; and with his body greatly swollen could walk only with difficulty and very little: but on Thursday the 17th of July, having come out of the tomb, he used a firm and strong step before all: which he also attested by his oath before the Notaries. Then on the following Saturday, the 19th of July, Fernando de Villar, of Toro, and two limping men: paralytic for a year in the middle of his body, and unable to move himself anywhere without supports, came out without these, yet still with some trouble. And on the 26th, Pedro Rodríguez of Bustillo, limping for twenty years on one foot, and touching the ground with its toes only, after Confession and Communion, walked thence upright. On the same day also Francisco de Robilio, for eight years carrying a withered leg, with much trouble; having set out with the said Pedro Rodríguez from the place of his dwelling to visit the tomb of the Saint, and likewise in the church of St. Augustine prepared by holy Confession and Communion, likewise came out healed, and firm equally on both feet.

[50] Catalina, a poor little married woman, at Toro had suffered a miscarriage in the month of January of the year 1488; At the touch of the sepulchral earth. and thenceforth from the waist down remained so paralytic, that she had to be moved from one side to the other by others' hands, until the day of St. Barnabas, when first she began somewhat, though with great difficulty, to walk upon crutches. Antolinez, 51. So on a certain day, as she went out of her house to the church, Luis de Deza, accompanying her, a paralytic woman is healed, asked whether she wished some of the sepulchral earth of Blessed John of Sahagún, advising her to take it devoutly, if she desired to be healed. She answered that she had long desired it, but had thus far not been able to obtain it. But having received it, she would not, out of reverence, apply it to herself; but asked a certain minister of her church of St. Salvador to perform that office for her. And behold, she received so much strength thence at once, that without difficulty she walked about a fairly long space, yet not without crutches. But thinking that the complete benefit was reserved to the tomb itself, she caused herself to be led to Salamanca; and arrived there on the 12th of July: and on the 13th entered the tomb greatly limping, and with legs and feet most cold: through which she felt a sudden heat diffused, and another, as soon as she touched that sacred earth: and having come out she walked through the whole church, yet with some trouble still. The same had happened to Mayor Ruiz, a married woman of Salamanca, and a little girl unable to walk. on the 30th of June: and on the 11th of July another miracle was wrought in the daughter of Juan de Morales, dwelling at Bonilla de la Sierra; who, paralytic in the left side from the ninth month of her age, until the fourth year of her life had been able to form no step; but then had begun to walk somewhat, leaning on the walls, with one foot and hand twisted: but she came out of the tomb healed, though limping a little, as if to the memory of the benefit received.

[51] Of Francisco de Luzena (Jerónimo Román calls him "de Ledesma"), a citizen of Segovia, The same earth applied removes a film from the eye, a film had grown over the left eye, so that he saw nothing more with it. He, full of confidence, entered the tomb on the 9th of July, Wednesday, 1488: yet he was not made partaker of his vow, although he persevered there praying long enough: nevertheless he returned one and another day up to the sixth, experiencing no help even then. Antolinez, 52. But carrying thence some of the earth he said: "Here I shall altogether find that which I seek": and approaching the nearby shrine of the Mother of God, he cast himself on his knees, and with his hand applied that earth to the film clouding his eye. And behold, as amber draws straw, so the earth drew the film to itself; which, falling to the ground, and seen to have the color of chalcedony, was soon dissolved into white foam: but the eye appeared all pure and clean. To the same burial-place came, lame for ten years more or less, Catalina Martínez of Zamora, Two lame people are healed. on the 15th of July of the same year, having first confessed her sins, and refreshed with the sacred body of Christ; and she carried away the desired grace. Nor had Juan de Bonilla, who suffered the same inconvenience at the same time, and walked only on crutches and that with difficulty, dwelling at Barco of Ávila, a less propitious Saint: who, when at Alba de Tormes he had heard the Salamanca miracles narrated, with no delay interposed set out on the way; nor had he yet reached the city, when he experienced that he had not undertaken a vain labor; since he began to walk much more easily; and the tomb with devotion

having entered on the 16th of July, came out thence sound and wholly firm.

CHAPTER VI.

The remaining miracles, from Antolinez.

[52] On the aforesaid 16th of July, to the tomb of the Blessed came Juan de Liévana of Zamora, who had his feet so hindered, now for three or four years (namely from that time when the Portuguese King had besieged Zamora) that, walking on crutches, with each step he scarcely advanced one palm, but afterward walked firmly, yet with a slight limp. Antolinez, 52. To the same had come, one day indeed earlier, María, daughter of Pedro Capillis, herself also of Zamora: who, paralytic from the preceding day of Pentecost, had been unable to move herself from her bed: which had happened to her from a certain pain in the right side, which had held her a whole year; but she was not cured until the 17th day, after she had entered the tomb four times. Yet she too afterward limped a very little, likewise one suffering in the stomach. so that a trace of the miracle wrought in her might be left, as the holy man Alfonso de Orozco says. And Juan Fernández of Ciudad Rodrigo, suffering for seven years from an infirmity of the stomach, with a tumor projecting like a fist, and gradually growing and open on one side; came on the 18th of July, and was freed from the former trouble; but returning the next day, also from the second.

[53] Helena de Benavides of Salamanca, most devout toward Blessed John, whom she had known from her infancy; Of matrons devout toward the Saint among the other afflictions of this life felt not the least, the infirmity of a certain most beloved little grandson of hers, laboring with grave fevers. Antolinez, 53. For him, intending to seek health, she brought him into the tomb of John: but it so far profited the boy nothing, that within a few days, brought to the last extremity, he lay now as dead in his cradle; the nurse sitting by it, and with loud cries summoning the grandmother. She ran up, and found him still breathing, but at the last; for at the third gasp he expired. So they took the dead child out of the cradle, and laid him out on a pillow, to be buried the next day; which done, and a candle lit for the funeral, they went away, to bewail the deceased. Then Helena lovingly remonstrated with her Saint, the dead little grandson is restored to life. and demanded back her grandson: "Whom," she said, "if you give back, I will have clothed for a whole year in the habit of your Order: but if, grown older, he wishes to enter it, in this too I will be a helper to him." Nor did her prayers go in vain. The boy whom they had left dead in the evening on the pillow, when morning came began to weep. The grandmother soon ran up to the voice known to her: whom, as soon as the infant saw, now sound and well, with a smiling face he called "Mama," for he had not yet learned to say more.

[54] Invalid and contracted for five years, Juan de Mondragón, an inhabitant of Mondragón, which is a little town of Biscay on the borders of Guipúzcoa, taken in his feet for about five years, could scarcely move himself a little and with difficulty; and could not use his contracted arms and hands, to clothe himself or to carry food to his mouth. He, when he had seen a certain letter, teaching how many miracles God wrought upon those who went into the tomb of Blessed John of Sahagún; saw that they sprinkled with earth taken thence a woman who had now suffered fevers for a whole month, and she was immediately healed. the sudden cure of a feverish woman being seen, Excited by such a spectacle to take confidence, he set himself on the way toward Salamanca: on which, although he was much wearied, yet he went on the more courageously, the more expressly he felt his strength increasing for him, in proportion as he approached the city; and having entered it on Monday the 4th of August, in the oft-mentioned year 1488, he came to the monastery of St. Augustine, he goes to the tomb and is healed: and Confession being made, he spent that wakeful night in the church; but at the next light he went into the tomb, and returned from it sound, moving his hands and feet wherever he wished.

[55] Almost the same happened to a certain young man Diego, born at Trujillo, The same happens to three other paralytics. who, having endured fevers for a whole year, had remained wholly paralytic, nor could he move himself in bed: and when he had remained in this state one month, he began to be better, yet one of his legs remaining hindered; and at last he returned to the former paralysis of his whole body, not without the greatest torments. He here asked his parents to take care to carry him to Salamanca; and being somewhat better on the way, he completely recovered in the tomb, into which he was let down on Tuesday the 29th of July 1488. From the same place likewise came out sound Juan de Párraga, of Ciudad Rodrigo, hindered in arms and legs for more than five years; who, if ever he was a little better, could walk only with crutches, and with another assisting him, a very little. But carried to the tomb, in it he began to be wholly bathed in sweat, which was the beginning of health, only his feet retaining some swelling. In like manner there was healed in the same place Sancha Ordóñez, from the monastery of the Ladies of Zamora; who had carried paralytic legs for nine years. Antolinez, 54. By these and other miracles the faith of many sick people, being animated, made them come more frequently.

[56] A woman is cured, carrying a hand pierced through and useless, A woman of Ciudad Rodrigo, who through imprudence had pierced her hand with an iron spit, thereafter kept it maimed and inflexible for sixteen years; but from the tomb carried it away sound. As also there came out thence sound a certain poor man of Salamanca, whom certain neighbors of his had carried in, placed on a chair; and whom they had brought, unable to move his feet at all, after two hours, returning, they found cheerfully leaping. Likewise another paralytic of Salamanca, wont to creep along the ground on his hands; intending to render thanks to his savior, asked and obtained to be received to the habit in the monastery of St. Augustine. Another too, brought on the day of St. Lawrence upon a beast, and four paralytics: recovered with a preceding sweat: and Master Francisco, an Apothecary of Sahagún, coming with his wife who was hindered in the arm, he himself having a leg useless from a similar paralysis; rejoicing that he and she carried away health from the tomb, gave occasion to García de Cadueldes of Moratilla, whose mouth and eyes had remained distorted from a certain shock; that he too should be willing to try the same remedy, and he tried it with fruit.

[57] Inés Núñez, a Nun of the convent of the Annunciation at Salamanca, which is commonly called St. Ursula's, had a cancer eating away her left breast: but when she had prayed half an hour within the tomb, she felt a vehement burning in her breast; the cancer of a Nun is healed, and the cloths placed on the wound to be loosened: which removed, she found her breast clean and sound. Antolinez, 55. With like success there entered there a certain woman of Córdoba, hindered in her arm and with her hand contracted into a fist: who, feeling a vehement heat in them, began to call out to her sister present there, to help her. But ordered to keep quiet, a little after she came out wholly sound. The Licentiate too, Pedro Manuel of Madrigal, Auditor of the Royal Chancery of Valladolid, given up by the physicians of Queen Isabella, on account of an abscess about the stomach, joined with a burning fever, wished to be carried to the tomb of the Saint at Salamanca: which, since on account of the extreme danger he could not obtain; he drew near in affection, and the abscess of a royal Auditor; where he could not in body; and vowed a novena, if he recovered, to be celebrated there. Scarcely had he uttered the vow, when he began to be better; and the danger being dispelled, not yet fully sound, he betook himself to Salamanca: where he had Mass said for himself at the altar nearest the tomb; then having entered it, he fell prone to the ground, and within a quarter of an hour felt his stomach by that touch wholly healed, as if he had never suffered any ill. Then five years afterward, he incurred an infirmity of the stomach different from the former; and remembering his benefactor, he returned to the same place, performed a novena, and came out from the tomb sound.

[58] A certain little girl was sick to death at Salamanca: and her mother brought her to the tomb, and took care to have Mass said there: and very many others, hindered or paralytic: after she came out thence, she went on her own feet to the chief altar. Antolinez, 56. But when on another day she brought the little daughter back to the same place, the girl, only a year and a half old, with no one lifting her, walked upright to the burial-place; and thenceforth had full health. This too received another girl, whose hindered leg made her gait so difficult, that the bone of that very leg resounded with a loud crack. Likewise a dweller of Salamanca, carried by cart from the field which he cultivated, wholly paralytic; likewise a woman of Ledesma paralytic, and another contracted down to the feet; another again lame in the right leg from a ten years' paralysis. One contracted in the right side, and another in the whole body, yet suffering more vehemently in the loins and left side. Likewise one for ten years unable to move either legs or arms; and another, having the same members loosened for five years; then a paralytic for four years. All which miracles if they do not suffice to obtain canonization, I know not what at last would be sufficient for it.

[59] I add nevertheless, that Francisco de la Peña of Alba, also by the touch of the sepulchral earth: loosened from the waist down, when after receiving the sacraments he rubbed his legs with the sepulchral earth, obtained health: as also Cristóbal de Oleso, sick in the eyes, nay blind in one, on account of a film drawn over it: who, rubbing his eyes with the same earth, brought them forth clear and sound from the tomb on the third day. Antolinez, 57. Two women too, paralytic, by only invoking the Saint, merited health; and one, such from head to foot, maimed besides in one hand. Likewise a paralytic in one of his legs, and blind in one eye. There was cured besides for one man a paralysis of twelve years, and for another a contraction from a grave infirmity, then a little girl paralytic in one side for four years; and another very sick at the prayers of her mother. or by the staff which the Saint used. Juan Pacheco of Ciudad Rodrigo, given up by the physicians from a continuous fever and an abscess with a carbuncle, recovered at the touch of the Relics of Blessed John: and Inés González of Salamanca, brought to the last extremity by a carbuncle grown on her head, her mistress praying for her: who also merited to be freed from a false charge of murder inflicted on a certain maidservant of hers, of which she was accused. Many others too recovered from various infirmities, others were freed from various dangers; and especially women in labor, having invoked the Saint, touching his staff, by which both at Salamanca and at Toledo many miracles were wrought.

[60] Thus far Antolinez from chapter 46 to 58. Following him, Mariz rendered the same things in the same order, Certain things excerpted from Mariz. but in more words, varying nothing in substance, into Portuguese; but he added in part 2, chapter 43 and following, from Alfonso de Orozco, in which part he in his Augustinian Chronicle treats of the Blessed of the Order, and deduces the Life of John, the following few things. And first indeed in Orozco's own words in this manner: "It is few years ago that we saw healed in the same burial-place a man, whose leg an arrow striking had contracted; but his nerves were there stretched out, and having come out he began to run through the church

." The same likewise narrates that a blind boy, brought there by his mother, cried out eagerly: "I see, mother, the Priest, who recites the Gospel over me": and indeed he now clearly saw all things. Likewise of a certain sick young man he says, that he had been reduced to such a state, that, his speech now lost for many days, he was believed soon to die: who nevertheless, carried to the burial-place, recited as devoutly as he could the Angelic salutation; and this finished, was free from all disease.

CHAPTER VII.

Miracles, collected from the most recent writer, Antonio Jacob Valaurio.

[61] Receive moreover also from Valaurio, who reports not a few of the foregoing, those things which, not hitherto set forth by others, The Saint's tunic is tried by women in childbirth; he himself dug out from the old and new processes. Valaurio, bk. 3, ch. 2. He, beginning from the garments of John, says that thence by a pious theft very many have attempted to snatch something, to be kept for Relics, not without the effect of many miracles obtained by their means; then he adds, that at Salamanca scarcely any woman is brought into the danger of childbirth, who does not endeavor to receive from the Augustinian Convent the Tunic which the Saint used while alive; and that these childbirths are everywhere happy ones. Hence indeed, he says, to that holy garment such veneration has accrued, that when it is carried processionally through the city, and the sack in which it was once wrapped profits many. all through whom it passes bend their knees to it, praising God wonderful in his Saint: nor is there anyone who does not count it a great honor and happiness, even for a little time to have in his house the instrument of so many wonders. The very sack too, in which it was once kept, has the same power. Hence Juan López de Salamanca, after he had exchanged the now worn blue one for a new one of red silk; deposes that by its means not only he himself recovered health, but very many others too were freed from most grievous infirmities. Thus Valaurio, chapter 2 of book 3. He then narrates several other things in the six following chapters, from which I excerpt these.

[62] A five-year-old girl, daughter of Alonso Lorenzo, while her father was busy at agriculture, and her mother among the neighbor-women spun thread; A five-year-old girl, plunged into an icy pond, in the company of some girls of her own age was running about playing through a spacious garden, around the edge of a lightly frozen pool; but her step failing, fallen into it, she left nothing of herself to be seen except her hair sticking out above. Valaurio, bk. 3, ch. 8. At the cry of her companions the mother was roused, who was more than a hundred and forty paces distant thence, and implored the help of Blessed John of Sahagún, and then of Catalina Palmera her companion, fearing lest her mind, overwhelmed by grief, should be insufficient to bring aid. and drawn out thence as dead, Yet she ran up as quickly as she could, and together with Palmera, seizing a pole, they drew her to the edge of the pool and brought her out, grasped by the hair, now almost frozen, and giving no sign of life; and they hung her up by the feet, to draw out the water that had got in; nor did they then do anything else, than that, some cloths being thrown over her, they covered her as if dead. Meanwhile the afflicted mother did not cease to invoke the Blessed, vowing a Mass to be cared for in his honor. at the vow of the parents she revives after an hour. Soon too the father, summoned, was present, and both together, weeping, returned to look upon their dead little daughter. She, after an hour, in which she had thus lain, being uncovered, moved herself, saying, "Father." At the unhoped-for resuscitation of the daughter the tears were renewed, not now of grief, but of jubilation. Asked then, whether she had seen anything under the water; prevented by girlish modesty, she was then silent; but afterward she said to her little friend Catalina, that she had seen a man clothed in black with a crown on his head. But again questioned by her father; "Do you then think," she said, "that, submerged under the pond, I saw nothing? I saw indeed, I saw."

[63] Another is taken unharmed from the fire, While Alonso de Almansa and Manuela Robles, a married couple, were supping together, at some distance from the hearth; they saw their daughter fall prone into it. Their feet could not be so quick to run up, as their tongue to invoke the help of the Blessed, which too they obtained more quickly: for when the brother of one or the other parent had drawn her out by the hair, they saw her in no way injured in the face. In the town of Santervás a certain boy had entered a cold oven, for the sake of taking sleep. So when he had gone out of sight, and had fallen asleep; and a boy from a burning oven. it happened that the oven was heated by the household, who did not know; when the boy, surrounded by flame and waking up, testified by his cry that he was there. To whom the mother had nothing rather to do than to call upon the Blessed; and seizing one of their firebrands, whose head was already burning, with it she drew the boy to herself, having suffered nothing of harm from the flames either in his clothes or in his hair, much less in his flesh.

[64] A captive is freed from prison, Juan de Almanza had gravely offended the Prefect of the place, and by him, to whom power was favorable for doing justice to himself, had been given into prison, nor did he fear a light punishment; while intercessors, however gracious (among whom too was Doña Tomasía Borja, Countess of Gregal), availed nothing to soften the mind, obstinate for vengeance. So one of the nights, divinely inspired, he invoked the Blessed; and toward dawn saw the doors opened, and through them his adversary, the same who was also his judge, coming to meet him: who, having embraced him, bade him be secure of his liberty, and, taking him in a friendly way, invited him to dinner.

[65] Juan Poza, a Deacon, of Seville by origin, intending to fit himself for further degrees in the literary republic, and a sick man from a dangerous fever. and to seek the Baccalaureate, had come to Salamanca: but the course of his studies being interrupted by a fever, as fixed in duration as varied in its symptoms, he had no remaining hope of escaping. Seeing therefore that the art of Doctor Ruiz, the royal physician, availed nothing for his health, he looked to divine aid; and having invoked Blessed John, he vowed that, provided the fever did not return as usual on the following day, he would visit his church, with two candles to be lit there, and would daily recite the third part of the Rosary: and at once he felt himself heard by him, of whom, most devout while he lived to the Mother of God, the vow joined with the mother's honor could not but be most pleasing to God: and so he was forthwith healed.

[66] Admirable too is the event by which the Process of Salamanca was concluded; when, by leave of that delegated tribunal, from a book once written by P. Master Fr. Diego Vélez de Guevara, Seeking oil from the lamp of St. Nicholas of Tolentino, there was transcribed at Seville what follows. In the church of the Order stood two altars erected, one of St. Nicholas of Tolentino, the other of St. John of Sahagún; and before each burned a hanging lamp. Here happily entered a man, ill from a chronic disease, intending, by the persuasion of a certain devout person, to anoint himself with the oil of the former Saint, and taking from the lamp of St. John, which many had tried as a present remedy in desperate diseases. But that good man, not distinguishing well among the images and lamps, with hand extended took from that which burned before the altar of the latter, and anointed himself thence. Having returned home without the benefit he had hoped, he is helped while he strives in vain to reach the former. he is asked by a friend, how and whence he had taken the oil; and so he answered, so that from the signs he gave the error appeared. He is sent back therefore to take of the oil of the Saint of Tolentino: but while he extends his hand to its lamp, it is raised by itself so high, that he could in no way reach it. Yet in that very act he obtained health, God willing that glory to be left to Blessed John of Sahagún, as all judged.

[67] A lethal wound is healed, Inés González, when she had inflicted a mortal blow on the head of a certain maidservant of hers; led by penitence had recourse to the Saint, who suddenly healed her. A herdsman, fallen from a cart into a precipice, having invoked the same, was saved. Isabel Gómez, fallen from stairs, after a few days detected on her left breast a livid spot, no larger than one pustule: an incurable cancer; which, gradually widening together with a sharp pain, grew, and hardened, at last showed itself to be a cancer, and indeed so malignant, that no art of the physicians could relieve it, and it was exasperated by the very remedies. Valaurio, bk. 3, ch. 9. And as from moment to moment it crept wider, the plague was soon believed to be about to reach the heart, and to take her life. To death therefore she prepared herself: yet she still conceived some hope of life, to be preserved at the tomb of John. Thither therefore she had herself led, and put her head through the little window, and asked for help: then with the holy habit she had the injured part touched. The sacraments too of Confession and Communion she received, and at last is seized by a very brief sleep; whence awaking, and as if brought back from death to life, she knew to say nothing else, than, "O my holy John of St. Facundus! Is it then true, O my holy one? am I now sound?" She thought, namely, that she was dreaming: and touching the place of the mortal wound now sound, she went on to exclaim, "O my holy one! O my holy one!" and having gone out into the marketplace she made the miracle public, of which she had as many witnesses as the city had physicians.

[68] A man paralytic in the arm, A malignant fluxion descending on Manuel Carranza into the place of the right pulse, made his whole arm paralytic: and the remedies exasperating the evil the more, there was no hope of health except from a miracle. So when on the feast of St. Augustine he had entered his church, intending to implore the help of the Father and Son; he began through acts of contrition to dispose himself to Communion, because he was deaf and his usual Confessor had departed: but he more often repeated these words: "Although I am a great sinner and the most wretched of all, so much the greater will the glory of God shine forth." Under these words he saw, or seemed to himself to see, rays going forth from the eyes of the Saint, so vivid and bright, that they drew tears from his own: with which, repeating the acts of penitence, and approaching the altar, he strove to be admitted to the touch of the sacred habit, from which the packed multitude hindered him. But at last reaching it, for a quarter of an hour he wished to keep it applied to his arm. Then feeling himself wholly sound, and stretching out his arm and moving it wherever he wished, he turned to the Religious who stood by and said: "Should I be healed by touching that holy habit? Behold me sound!": the Saint's tunic being applied to him, and to those standing around, many of whom had been conscious of his infirmity, like one raving he proclaimed the miracle; which had cost him no more than a single sigh and a sense of a certain burning fervor in his arm. All these things happened on a Sunday, and on the following Monday, returning to his accustomed labor of baking with his wife, he kneaded no less than three pecks of wheat flour with that hand, which before he could not even move to his mouth, and to his chest only with difficulty.

[69] A hunchbacked and weak man Manuel de Castrillo, son of Úrsula de Medina, fallen from a ladder to a height of twenty palms, so dislocated his loins, that there proceeded

from his backbone a certain hunchback, so enormous and troublesome, that he could form no step, except bent over and pressing his hands to his knees, with a staff besides applied. In curing him many surgeons, asked to spend their art on his cure, were unwilling to take the risk: yet at last one being found, he asked that the man be left to his discretion, as if already dead. But the mother refused, for the sake of so slight a hope, to commit her son to certain danger; and preferred to await help from the Saint. Whose tomb she promised to visit for nine days with her son. This was enough to obtain the grace; for scarcely had they entered the church, he receives the power to walk at the tomb: when the son, lifting his staff on high, began to run alone to the tomb, exclaiming: "Mother, Mother, now I feel no ill at all; now I am sound." The mother could scarcely believe her own eyes, astonished at the suddenness of so swift a grace: and she charged her son not to depart from that life-giving tomb before the novena had expired, to obtain full grace; for she would bring him food there, that he might be able to remain even when the church was closed. Scarcely had she departed thence about the fifth hour, when she saw her son coming behind her, at so hasty a run, as if he were fleeing a bull (the words of his deposition are these) praising in a loud voice the grace obtained.

[70] ordered by his mother to persevere at it, But because for the fullness of this it still remained for the hump to be made level, the mother wished the novena to be continued, and promised to pluck from her little poverty the alms necessary for caring for a Mass. The son therefore being brought back to the tomb, she asked that a Priest, according to the pious rite of that country, should recite over him the Gospel, "They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall be well." Afterward the boy, seen by many Religious there, was questioned about the faculty of moving himself restored to him, which was evident to the eye, and was sent back home. There, when his mother stripped him of his clothes, she found the hump no longer; he is freed even of the hump. and full of amazement, asking what had been done to him, or how the hump had been removed; she heard that, at the very moment of time in which the Gospel was being recited, he had felt as it were a chestnut burst; and at the same time the pain, which he was there suffering, removed; and only one bone left there, somewhat more raised than the others, as a trace of the past evil. Of which grace the mother and son moved the Bishop of Córdoba, Don Luis Fernández, as heralds, that, confirmed by many witnesses, he should authentically approve it.

[71] In the town of St. Facundus a Confraternity is established, The town of St. Facundus, which gave the Saint to the light, was unwilling to be last in honoring him: but under his invocation erected a numerous Confraternity in the church of the most holy Trinity: and because for celebrating the feast it was fitting to provide some quantity of wax for lighting the altar, the Prior of that Oratory, with Pedro de la Puente royal Scribe, and Luis Pasquera, went to the workshop of the wax-chandler to take sixteen candles, each of half a pound, in all eight pounds and four ounces, to the exactness of the balance, as is found noted in the book: and all were given whole to the pious confraternity-members. They burned the whole time of the sacred chant sung with music, he finds the wax spent on the feast in no way diminished, and of the other functions besides, until three quarters of each were consumed: but when there was returned to the seller what was left over, as is the custom; the candles being placed within the balance, that the loss might be estimated, there was found exactly the same weight, as before the candles had been placed on the altar. Yet the wax-chandler, wishing to test more certainly the case, which was esteemed miraculous; took another experiment, placing in the other scale the same number of whole half-pound candles; and the weight of these was seen not to exceed by even a single scruple the weight of those which seemed so notably diminished, the Saint willing to declare to the citizens, how pleasing to him were those first-fruits of devotion toward himself, and to compensate all the expense made on them. The case was signed by the hands of the royal Notaries, the wax-chandler asserting that it could not have happened without a miracle, that a candle, burning for however little a time, should not be diminished. The Confraternity, which on that happy day took its beginning under the small number of fourteen Members, has now reached seventy; who all attend the festivity, each carrying a torch of four pounds, and it itself is greatly multiplied. and placing on the altar a candle of one pound. It is notable too, that when the miracle was published, all ran to the wax-chandler, that they might obtain a little piece of that prodigious wax, to avail against tempests, or to be placed at the pillow in the hour of death.

[72] Under the ruin of a house When the house of Don Francisco de Prado-Saldaña collapsed in the middle of the night, when sleep holds all, there was rolled down from a great height among the rubble a poor little old woman, named Antonia de Vicente; and in her shift was found with difficulty under a little crypt, and burdened with a mass of stones, timbers, and mortar, as much as two thousand carts could scarcely carry off. There she remained for forty hours, without any breathing-hole of light or air; except that she found herself under a little crypt, an old woman deeply buried, not knowing how she was thus preserved there, since in every way she ought to have been suffocated there. The Magistrate of the place ran to help with many workmen: and after the labor of many hours, she who was thought not to be found except wholly crushed, came out having suffered no harm, except that she was marked here and there with a slight bruise. And she said that, at the very moment of the ruin, while the chamber was being shaken, is brought out unharmed after 40 hours. she had thought of nothing sooner than of invoking Blessed John; and when she had been rolled to the bottom, she had been impelled to betake herself to a certain vault: before reaching which, while freeing her arm from the ruins, she had vowed a Mass to be cared for, with an alms for feeding a lamp. Meanwhile the rest of the house threatened ruin, wherefore no one dared to approach nearer to bring the woman out; until the chief Prefect Diego de Robles, by prayers and promises, induced some workmen, to bring back to the light the good old woman devoted to the Saint from that as it were tomb.

[73] María Rodríguez Salano, the poor little widow of Manuel Caldera a barber, for eight months tormented by nephritic pains, had often run to the feet of her Confessor and Pastor, intending to prepare herself for death. But on a certain day, Tormented by an intolerable stone, afflicted with greater pains than ever, she leapt from her bed, and rushed out of her house. And as she ran about like one mad, it happened that she passed the natal house of the Saint, in the street called of the Arch: at the sight of which, remembering to implore so powerful a patronage, she felt herself urged as if to relieve nature. So when she had turned about, intending to return home, she is suddenly freed of it. at the first steps she took, shaken by a most vehement trembling, the stone was loosened and fell out, of the size of a goose egg: which removed, she straightway began to run about, and with mention of the grace done her to show it to all she met. Nor was it enough for her to insist with the Parish-priest and the Fathers of that place, that the case be entered into the public Acts; she always wished to keep the stone itself by her, which finally, when she died, came into the power of the aforesaid Fathers, witness of so singular a miracle.

CHAPTER VIII.

The Canonization earnestly sought: Beatification granted with Indulgences: an indult for the Office with Mass for the 12th of June.

[74] Devotion, excited by the fame of so great miracles, The tomb is visited by Queen Isabella, drew to visit the tomb not only men of common condition, but also persons of the first dignity and power, among whom was Queen Isabella, who for this cause with a notable retinue hastened from Zamora, where she was, to Salamanca. Mariz, bk. 2, ch. 6. The same did her grandson Charles V Emperor, and his son Philip II, first Monarch of all Spain, by Charles V, Philip II and III, and Queen Margaret. and left there monuments of his magnificence. Then Philip III, accompanied by his consort Margaret of Austria: who were received by the whole city with the most solemn possible array. And when they had visited the chapel of the Saint, the Fathers of that convent believed that they could not more worthily recognize so great an honor done them, than by giving them some little particle of the sacred body, who are given a particle of the sacred body. which they held most pleasing, as was fitting; and this they declared by promoting his Beatification, of which Antolinez begins to treat from Chapter 58; and to the very end of his book he thus pursues this argument.

[75] When the Augustinian Order had ordered information about the Life and Miracles of Blessed John of St. Facundus to be drawn up, For obtaining canonization by the effort of the holy man Juan de Sevilla, at the instance of the most Excellent Ladies, both Marías of Aragon, daughters of the Catholic King Ferdinand and Augustinian Nuns, the one Prioress, the other Subprioress, in the royal Convent of Madrigal; and when the Ordinary of the place had authentically declared several miracles, collected from the sworn depositions of about three hundred witnesses, the processes are formed, there was humbly supplicated to Alexander VI, the supreme Pontiff, for the Canonization. Antolinez, 58 etc. But the same Ferdinand, the Catholic King, seeing at the same time (as is in the Process) how notorious was the holiness of John, and manifest his miracles; added also his own supplication, and gave the same business to the Great Captain, exceedingly devout toward that Blessed man, and King Ferdinand insists, for whom too Juan de Sevilla had written that life, which is had digested in the form of letters. But however much he insisted, nothing could then be done according to their wish. Yet not therefore did the fervor of the Friars then languish, inflamed repeatedly by new miracles, but rather they had care that new informations be made before the Ordinary, about matters done after the first information.

[76] After these things nothing more was done, until again God inspired the General of the Order, that in his own name and that of the whole Religion, prostrate at the feet of Paul III, he should make before him a brief account of the life, death, and miracles. and again under Paul III, Charles V Then Cardinal Rudolph, Protector of the Order, and the Emperor Charles V, supplicated for the same matter. And the Pontiff, having heard such great wonders, assented to the just prayers, and decreed to proceed to canonization; and therefore ordered a Brief to be expedited, by which full power is committed to the Cardinal of Toledo and the Bishops of Salamanca and Bagnorea, both together and separately to each, in this manner: "To his beloved Son, John Priest Cardinal of St. John before the Latin Gate, called of Toledo, and to his venerable Brothers the Bishops of Salamanca and Bagnorea, and to any of them, Pope Paul III. Beloved Son and venerable Brothers, Greeting and Apostolic benediction. Since, as our beloved Brother Antonio, Deacon Cardinal of St. Mary in Via Lata, named Rudolph, Protector general of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine, At the instance of the Cardinal Protector and General, has intimated to us, in his own name, and in that of our beloved Sons the Prior general and the Friars of the said Order; John of St. Facundus, formerly a Professed Friar of the same Order, who came as a young man to Salamanca for the sake of studies; and profiting much, both in letters and in virtues and good morals, was received into the major College of St. Bartholomew, with great

solace and applause of all, into which none are admitted but learned men, of upright life and reputation, Old Christians, and clean of all suspicion of Jewish or Moorish contagion. Thence moreover, not aspiring to Episcopal or Archiepiscopal dignities, and the other royal offices to which the Collegians of the said College are wont to be promoted; but to the poverty and humility of the Religious life, in view of the signal merits of John, he took the habit of the Order of St. Augustine in his monastery at Salamanca: where, having professed, he lived with the best example, resplendent in holiness of life and in all virtues; and winning souls for God, walking outside the way of truth, by drawing them to him; and besides with many and most illustrious miracles in life and after death, as he shines forth to this day. Wherefore he is piously believed to be in heaven among the Saints, and that he ought to be entered in their Catalogue.

[77] Commissaries are named, Wherefore the same Cardinal Nicholas the Protector humbly asked, in his own name and that of the aforesaid, that lest the memory of the miracles perish in time, and the witnesses having knowledge of them die, before they have given testimony; and that John himself, his merits so requiring, may be inscribed in the Catalogue of Saints, and as such honored by the faithful, we should order Processes to be made concerning his life and miracles. Therefore, exceedingly desiring that the Lord be honored in his Saints, and believing it most difficult and as it were impossible, that the witnesses to be presented and received for the above-said should come personally to this Apostolic See; for drawing up the Processes wishing to provide for this as is fitting, and attentive to such humble prayers, we commit and command to you, in whose integrity, zeal of faith, and experience we much trust in the Lord, that you, or two, or one of you, by our authority, inquire and examine, with great diligence, the truth of the life, conduct, and reputation of the said John, and of all the miracles which shall seem to pertain to him; and that you receive the trustworthy informations which you shall find made upon these; and that you take up, for the verification of the aforesaid and of the informations, witnesses beyond all exception, as so grave a business requires; and before legal and faithful Notaries, chosen for this, examine carefully, faithfully, and diligently the informations and witnesses, writing their sayings by the same aforesaid Notaries, and to be transmitted to Rome, and send them sealed in public form to us or to the aforesaid See, under your letters signed with your seal, by a proper or other faithful courier. Notwithstanding any things to the contrary. Given at Rome at St. Mark's, under the Fisherman's Ring, on the 22nd day of August 1542, the eighth of our Pontificate. Blasius, Bishop of Foligno."

[78] This first step the Apostolic See made, toward the Canonization of Blessed John: from which the Bishop of Salamanca does it, and when that Brief had been delivered on the part of the Religion to the Bishop of Salamanca, he ordered by his Compulsories that the informations made before the Ordinary be produced: which, seen, examined, and approved, he inserted into a Process, made anew: and reducing it into a synopsis, he sent it closed and sealed to the Pontiff in proving form. And it indeed seemed to suffice, and therefore it was hoped that the Canonization would shortly follow: but on the contrary the matter was in no way advanced until the times of Pius V, with whom the Catholic King Philip II vehemently urged the conclusion of the cause. But that Pontiff dying about the year 1572, His Majesty interposed the same offices with his successor Gregory XIII; who, having seen the Account, declared the servant of God John Blessed; [and Gregory XIII declares him Blessed, indulgences being added for the 11th of June,] granting a plenary Indulgence for ten years, to all Christ's faithful, who should visit the altar and chapel of Blessed John on the 11th of June, the feast of St. Barnabas: nor did His Holiness proceed further, prevented by the intervention of death, in the year 1585.

[79] Not therefore did King Philip withdraw his hand from the business well begun: and so it went on being treated, but very slowly, on account of the languor of the Order in that part, appointing no one at Rome for it, and leaving all the care to the Castilian Province alone; but for this it was enough to entrust it to the Religious to be sent to Rome for the General Chapter; who, when it was finished, hastened to return to the province, leaving the work which they had not even begun. So all things stuck until the year 1597, which in the year 1597 Clement VIII, when King Philip, the same as above, made new instances with Clement VIII: who was content to have prolonged the former Indulgences for ten years, letters being expedited for the 30th of July in this form: "Pope Clement VIII, to all Christian faithful who shall see the present, greeting and Apostolic benediction. Desiring with pious love to increase the religion of the Faithful, and the salvation of souls, through the heavenly treasures of the Church; and hearing the humble supplications of our beloved son, Andrés of Córdoba our Chaplain and Auditor of the Apostolic Palace; to all the faithful of both sexes, truly penitent, confessed, and communicated, prolongs for ten years visiting the church of St. Augustine at Salamanca, and in it the altar of Blessed John of St. Facundus, any year on his feast from first Vespers until the setting of the sun of the following day, and praying there for the concord of Christian Princes, the extirpation of heresies, and the exaltation of holy Mother Church; we grant in the Lord an Indulgence and remission of all their sins; the present to last only ten years. We wish, however, that if from elsewhere we shall have established there any Indulgences, in perpetuity or only for a time, for the faithful visiting the said chapel on the same day, the said Indulgences be null. Done at Rome at St. Mark's, the 30th of July 1597, the fifth of our Pontificate. M. Vestrius Barbianus."

[80] then with instances renewed under Philip III, Then the Province of the Observants of Castile, considering how much the lack of a Procurator in the City had harmed the cause, sent thither with power Fr. Luis dos Rios, to treat it. But although even then for the same Philip III, with his grandmother the Empress, and the noble Church of Salamanca, and the University, and also the Colleges and Monasteries and the whole Augustinian Religion, insisted with Clement VIII; His Holiness nevertheless deferred to respond to the wishes of so great Kings and Princes, living and dead, and of other illustrious persons. But as they remitted nothing of their fervor in insisting, and the Procurator contributed no small diligence; the King ordered his Orator at Rome, the Duke of Sessa, he orders the former Process to be reviewed; to bring all his effort to the same. He, as heir of the estates of the Great Captain, so also of his zeal for the cause of John, vehemently urged His Holiness: nor did less Don Andrés de Córdoba, exceedingly devout to the Saint, from that time when he had been a Collegian at Salamanca in St. Bartholomew's, then Auditor of the Rota: who, having seen the Process, when he had found it standing as solidly as it had been for several years back produced at Rome in the cause of Saints to be canonized; did not cease to supplicate for this servant of God. By all these, or rather moved by the Holy Spirit, His Holiness sent back the said Process to Jerome Pamphilius and Juan García Millino, Auditors of the Rota, his Chaplains, that they might see whether all things were in proving form, and the witnesses legitimately and duly examined.

[81] And this was the second step of the Apostolic See toward the Canonization so long desired: at which, the Pontiff again halting, it pleased them to supplicate the same, and meanwhile to those supplicating that meanwhile he would grant the Religion the power of saying a solemn Mass of the Saint, on the day of his passing, and of reciting the divine Office, as of other Saints, in the monastery of St. Augustine at Salamanca, where his body lay. This supplication the Pontiff sent to be weighed by the Congregation of Rites, commanding the Cardinals Baronius and Antoniano the Congregation of Rites approves the Office and Mass to be granted: to make a report to the Congregation, the Process having been seen: which was as it were the third step. And they, after due diligence, added that such great and such certain wonders were proved of Blessed John of Sahagún, that His Holiness could securely proceed to his Canonization. And from that time Cardinal Antoniano remained most devout to the Saint, and wrote his Life in Latin in his most elegant style. Which report being seen and the Cardinals heard, the Congregation of Rites decreed that His Holiness could grant the grace requested, and declared this by a decree, issued on the 24th day of August 1600.

[82] Then again His Holiness commanded the aforesaid two Cardinals, Baronius and Antoniano, to review everything. Who, conformably to the former report, together with the Cardinal Dean of the Congregation, yet the Pope nonetheless delaying, reported that they persisted in the same opinion. This therefore was the fourth step, like the former not observed in the cause of St. Diego, canonized without such delay. Wherefore, since not even thus did the Pontiff seem to be moved, the Order offered a new petition: in which, the deeds done before this being related, it heaps up the reasons for which it would be fitting that meanwhile the Mass and Office be granted. First, because that grace redounds to the utility of the Church, that in it God may be more honored, through the memory of the virtues and merits of this his servant; for whom he works and has worked so many miracles, again the reasons are set forth for which this would be fitting, that their number cannot be reckoned: especially since that grace is sought for the city of Salamanca, which is the general seminary of the Spains, nay of all Christendom, that in it the talents of the studious may be excited by his example, to pursue virtue and letters. Secondly: because this holy See has often granted similar graces even to some whole Religion (as is established by many examples), but what is now sought is much less than that which His Holiness too has elsewhere granted: since it is sought for one single city, at least for the city of Salamanca, so greatly occupied in the service of Christendom; and for a single church, and that of the Friars of the Order of St. Augustine, so deserving of the Church and of the holy See itself. Thirdly: because the same holy See has elsewhere granted much greater graces, namely, that some Blessed should be inscribed in the Roman Martyrology, as too has been done very recently; whence now they are read throughout the whole Church among other canonized Saints. Fourthly, because since Gregory XIII of happy memory granted a plenary Indulgence to those visiting the chapel of the servant of God, and since His Holiness has confirmed it, it seems fitting that in his honor a Mass and Office too be said; especially since the city of Salamanca is so greatly affected toward this its Blessed; and runs in such number to his shrine, especially on the day of his happy passing. Finally, since now so often so great Kings, the Emperor and Empress, the City of Salamanca, the College of St. Bartholomew, and the Religion of St. Augustine have supplicated this holy See, it is fitting that His Holiness, using his accustomed kindness, should console them in this part.

[83] Moved by these, he issues a Decree, This fifth step, which likewise was not applied in the cause of the servant of God Giles (Aegidius), at last drew forth the decree of Beatification, of the following tenor: "Pope Clement VIII, for the perpetual memory of the matter. Whatever things pertain to the divine worship, and to the increase of the piety and devotion of pious Christians

toward blessed men; those we gladly grant, or otherwise provide, as we discern it expedient in the Lord. Now after the King Ferdinand the Catholic of bright memory had supplicated Pope Alexander VI of happy recollection; and, following the example of the same Ferdinand, Charles the Fifth of that name, Pope Paul III; and then Philip the Second, Catholic King of the Spains, Pius V, Gregory XIII, Sixtus V, Roman Pontiffs our Predecessors; and at last the same Philip the Second, Us, that Blessed John of St. Facundus, of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine, in which, the instances of the Kings of Spain for Canonization being related, illustrious in the kingdoms of Spain for zeal of faith, holiness of life, and miracles, be enrolled in the number of the Saints; our most dear son in Christ Philip the Third, Catholic King of the Spains, not only heir of the kingdoms, but especially of the paternal virtues and piety, desiring the business of this Canonization to be brought to the wished-for end, has often, through our beloved son, the noble man Antonio de Cardona and Córdoba, Duke of Sessa, his Orator with Us and the Apostolic See; and our beloved sons the Major College, and the Collegians and Chaplains and Persons, called of St. Bartholomew of the city of Salamanca; also of the College of St. Bartholomew from whose bosom, and from the number of which Collegians and Chaplains, the said Blessed John was while he lived; and also through our beloved son Master Andrés Fernández de Córdoba, our Chaplain and Auditor of causes of the sacred Apostolic Palace, and Colleague of that College; and also our beloved sons the Prior and Friars of the Province of Castile of the same Order, through our beloved son Fr. Luis de los Ríos, Professor of the same Order, and their Procurator existing in the Roman Curia; have very lately humbly asked of us, and of the Augustinian Order, that to this cause, now long begun under so many Roman Pontiffs our predecessors, we would at length at some time impose an end.

[84] And We, using in this most grave deliberation mature counsel (as is fitting), before we establish anything in the premises, ordered the Process upon the purity of life, the validity of the processes being then ascertained and the truth of the miracles of the same Blessed John, made from the year 1488 in the city of Salamanca; and also the witnesses upon his life and miracles, namely in the year 1525, and then in 1542 several received, first by our beloved sons the Masters Jerome Pamphilius and Juan García Millino, our Chaplains and Auditors of causes of our sacred Palace, to be diligently reviewed and examined; and having received from the same Jerome and Juan García their reports, that the said Process had been drawn up in proving form, and the witnesses duly and rightly examined, we have ascertained. By the vote and wisdom of our venerable Brothers the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, deputed over the sacred Rites, to whom we committed this whole business to be examined; we have judged that satisfaction should in some part be given to the pious prayers of the same King Philip, and to the devotion of the Major College of St. Bartholomew and of its Colleagues, Chaplains, and Persons; and also of the Prior and Friars of the aforesaid Convent of St. Augustine.

[85] Inclined therefore to the supplications offered in their name upon this, he grants for the churches of St. Augustine to the same Prior and Friars of the Convent of St. Augustine of Salamanca, and also to the Provincial and Friars of the same Order of the said city of Salamanca, in the church in which the said Major College, or the Collegians and Chaplains and Persons called of St. Bartholomew, every year on the day of the death of Blessed John, are wont to assemble together with the said Friars, and in which likewise the body of the said Blessed John rests, and is preserved with great veneration and devotion of the people, that the Office and Mass, from the Common of one Confessor not a Pontiff, of the said Blessed John, according to the Rubrics of the Roman Breviary and Missal, the Mass and Office to be celebrated the 12th of June in the year 1601. namely on the twelfth day of the month of June (to which day, although Blessed John himself fell asleep in the Lord on the eleventh day of the same month, on account of the feast of St. Barnabas the Apostle, which falls on the same eleventh day of June, we have judged this Office to be transferred) together with the said Collegians, Chaplains, and Persons of the said College, may be freely and lawfully celebrated; by Apostolic Authority, by the tenor of the present, we grant and indulge. Notwithstanding etc. Given at Rome at St. Peter's under the Fisherman's Ring, the 29th day of June, 1601, the tenth year of our Pontificate."

CHAPTER IX.

The University of Salamanca takes up a new feast; the City takes up John as Patron by a solemn vow.

[86] Great jubilation that grace brought to the whole Religion: and on the arrival of the Brief itself, The Augustinians of Salamanca about to keep the new feast more solemnly the monastery of St. Augustine, the matter being communicated with the City, the Church, the University, and the College of St. Bartholomew, decreed that the feast should be kept most solemnly the coming year. There was then visiting the University the Licentiate Juan Álvarez de Caldas, at present (says Antolinez) Bishop of Oviedo. Desiring therefore the Convent of St. Augustine to celebrate the aforesaid day as festively as possible, and to have the University concurring with them in it, whose son the Saint had once been; they dealt with the aforesaid Visitor, that he should persuade so singular a day to be received among the feasts of the University. To whom, since the proposal seemed just, he himself set it forth to the University, in full (as they say) cloister in this form: "The College of St. Augustine desires that the day of Blessed John of St. Facundus be a feast of the University, that it may be able to run to celebrate it. The cause is most just. Let the University hear the College of St. Augustine, They solicit the University to decree it a feast for themselves, and see what it judges." Then Master Fr. Augustín Antolinez, having entered, spoke thus, in the name of his College. "Your College of St. Augustine our Father, among the other graces which it daily receives from your hand, desires also this most singular one, which the Lord Reformer has proposed: for from a University so distinguished it is fitting to ask so distinguished a grace.

[87] But although that reason suffices to persuade your Lordships to command our desire to be carried into effect, which seems to be from God; since it intends the honor of his Saint; yet I will bring forward into the midst some others (for to produce all would be impossible), taking care not to be troublesome to you, whom for so many years I have intended to serve. But among these not the least is, that Our Most Holy Lord Clement VIII has indulged that the Mass of the Saint of Sahagún be celebrated in the College of St. Augustine, because the Saint was its son, at the instance of your Lordships; which standing, as it altogether stands, the same reason teaches, that the University celebrate his feast with full joy, and be wholly occupied in it, taking a holiday from the ordinary labors of studies. Especially because the Saint himself was a son of the University, and Graduated in it, and a Collegian in the College of St. Bartholomew, and Professor of the first chair in sacred Scripture, as Marieta the Dominican says, in the History of the Spanish Saints. For what mother does not wish well to her son, and not promote his honor? Why then should not the University, whom it numbers among its sons, celebrate a feast for him too, even with some expense of its own? What more? that such honor is to redound to the honor, and that no small honor, of the University itself, since the honor of sons redounds to fathers, and here that of the Poet has place: 'For the honor of one was a public cause.'

[88] But if the University keeps the feasts of many Saints, who, though great, yet are not its own; how much more just is it that it keep that of this man, and the first honored with that title. who is wholly its own? or for this reason at least, that he first from it merited this honor by the title of holiness: for what is rare, that too is wont to be dear: and he who first brings something good into a city, though small, is by right preferred to the rest in reward. I conclude therefore that it is fitting, that this University, which has only this one Saint, take up his feast, the University which ought to wish that it be done throughout all Spain, and to go before in this by its example; lest otherwise it be said of them, what we read was reproached to the Athenians: 'The people of Salamanca know what things are honorable, but they do them not.'" These things said, Antolinez, with the Masters of his Order, departed the cloister, as is the custom of those supplicating, and of those who have no vote in their own cause. And first Commissaries were appointed, Concerning which a decree was made the 24th of May 1602, who, the Brief seen and the causes weighed, should report their opinion to the University: which heard in full assembly on the 24th day of May 1602, it decreed that thereafter the feast of Blessed John of St. Facundus should be observed, as a feast of the School (as they call it).

[89] Then the zeal of the Augustinians, considering how devout to its Saint the city of Salamanca is, and how great benefits it had received through him living and dead; The same is asked of the City, the 29th of May: resolved to ask of it, that it too should order that same day to be a feast, by receiving the Saint as its Patron, and assisting at his chapel in a body. Antolinez, 60. A public consistory therefore being asked and obtained on Tuesday morning, which is counted the 29th of May 1602, Fr. Antolinez in the name of his Convent thus addressed the City. "After the kissing of hands, on the part of your House of St. Augustine, I come to communicate the desire of all your Chaplains in it, ever since Our Most Holy Lord Clement VIII permitted the Office and Mass to be celebrated of Blessed John of Sahagún; namely, that his feast become a feast of the City, and that he be received as Patron, and that the Magistracy come in a body to honor it. But although the reasons which can urge this be known to you, and each suffice for persuasion, yet I will set forth some.

[90] because on the day of his death he gave the City the longed-for rains. Rewards are appointed for virtue, lest it perish; punishments for vices, lest they grow. By these well-ordered Republics are governed, however barbarous; nor is anything more usual with them, than to erect statues to citizens of signal merit. What then will Salamanca do for that Saint, whom alone it has? and whose merits even the boys, nay the stones of the public ways, proclaim? Let there come to mind at least that last thing, which, departing this life, he conferred on the city, laboring under a scarcity of waters. Since therefore the day of his death was so happy for it, it is just that it pursue the same with singular worship yearly. living, he freed it from discord, The city of Toledo adopted St. Augustine our Father as its Patron, because he drove an infinite multitude of locusts from its borders: and shall not Salamanca do as much for the Saint of Sahagún, who extinguished discord more harmful than locusts, through which slaughters were perpetrated even in the very churches, Henry III in vain bringing his authority to restrain the flames of hatreds? On account of one man lame from birth, he illustrated it with miracles: whom Paul raised up at Lystra, the citizens prepared sacrifice and victims to him and Barnabas as to gods; and shall John not be venerated as Patron, where he raised up so many lame and contracted, gave speech to so many mute, sight to the blind, health to the sick, life to the dead? Let Toledo, Seville, and Granada have hitherto had their Saints; let not Salamanca have one,

Seville, and Granada, not without some disgrace; but now let it not fail to rejoice, when he has been raised up, when it hears read in the History of the Saints: 'At Salamanca in Spain, in the monastery of Divine Augustine, the Deposition of Blessed John of Sahagún'?"

[91] The City answered cheerfully to these things, that the petition seemed just. It being then brought into council on Wednesday, the 5th of June of the aforesaid year, and on the 5th of June a decree is established by the common consent of all it declared: That the obligations were so notorious by which it was bound to expend devout service and honor on the glorious Saint and Blessed Fr. John of Sahagún, on account of his great holiness, and the very many graces which God did and does daily in view of him; and also because in it he lived, dwelt, taught by example and word, performed many wonders, to the glory of God and the public utility, and left it the deposit of his body; concerning the Saint to be venerated as Patron; so that it was most just that all should be done which Master Antolinez had requested. It decreed therefore that the Blessed be taken up as Patron and special Advocate of the City; and that thenceforth he be held as such, and that the City bind itself by a public and perpetual vow, to celebrate his feast with the accustomed solemnity; so that from now on his feast be ordered to be kept by the people on a holiday, that they may be able more freely to attend the solemnity; commanding the Lords Pedro de Zúñiga and Gonzalo Yáñez de Ovalle, to go to the monastery of St. Augustine, and there to make the solemn vow, which the Lord Provisors should immediately confirm: for all which and the things thereafter to be done a commission in form was given them.

[92] And these, for the sake of the commission, went to Don Fernando de Fonseca and Toledo, Dean and Canon of the holy Cathedral church, and Provisor of the diocese for the Chapter during the vacancy of the See, and reported to him the council's decision, and he to the Chapter: which approving it, the aforesaid Knights came, on the 8th of June, with much nobility accompanying, and with the consent of the Chapter during the vacancy of the See, to the church of St. Augustine. There, Mass being sung in the chapel of the Saint, prostrate on their knees at the foot of the altar, and with their right hands placed upon the Missal, which Fr. Antonio Monte, Prior of the Convent, who had also celebrated the Mass, held, they swore in this manner: "Before Gregorio de la Puente, royal and public Scribe, of the number of the City, and the witnesses undersigned, and the rest of the crowd present; Gonzalo Yáñez de Ovalle de Herrera, Knight of the Habit of St. James of the swords, the two Rectors of the City, sworn in the common name, Lord of the town of Valverde; and Don Pedro de Zúñiga Cabeza-de-vaca, Knight of the same Habit, and Commander of Almendralejo, Lord of the towns of Flores and Cisla, Rectors of the city of Salamanca, in the name of its Chapter, Justice, and Government, by special commission for the undersigned matters, given them in the ordinary Consistory, on the 5th of the present June, of which we ask the faith of the present scribe, and having at once received it we say, they bind it to this, that because this City on the said day received as Patron, Protector, and special Advocate the blessed and glorious Saint, John of St. Facundus, formerly a Collegian of the distinguished Major College of St. Bartholomew of this city, and a Religious of the Augustinian Order; considering the many and great benefits, which this City received through his intercession in life and after death, and many other reasons, moving to this and expressed in the book of consultations of the said Consistory." Antolinez, 61.

[93] It decreed also that the day of his feast be held a holiday, the 12th of the month of June, and the feast to be held of precept by vow, by a vow to bind in perpetuity: and gave us power and commission in form to make the aforesaid solemn vow in this monastery of St. Augustine and this chapel, before the altar of that glorious Saint, where his body is; "accepting, as we accept, the said power and commission; and wishing to use it, by executing and fulfilling the thing committed; We promise and swear by God our Lord, and St. Mary his blessed Mother, and by the holy four Gospels and the Cross, which they publicly utter, on which we corporally place our right hands, that from this present day in the future, as long as the world shall stand, always and perpetually, we will hold and keep, and this city of Salamanca will hold and keep, the twelfth day of June as a feast and holiday, on which Our Most Holy Lord Pope Clement VIII, by his special Brief, ordered his feast to be celebrated in the said monastery; and we will observe it as the others which holy Mother Church orders to be observed; abstaining from all judicial acts, and the ordinary labors of working days. And under the said oath we promise, that we will be present, and they ask it to be confirmed by the Lord Provisor: and that the City, Justice, and Government will be present, in each year in which they shall live, always and perpetually in this monastery, at first Vespers, the High Mass, the Sermon, and the Procession of the said festivity. And we ask and beg the Lord Fernando de Fonseca and Toledo, Dean … here present, that he approve and confirm the said vow and oath by the interposition of his authority and judicial decree; and the persons present, that they be willing to be witnesses. Don Pedro de Zúñiga. Gonzalo Yáñez de Ovalle de Herrera. Done before me Gregorio de la Puente."

[94] Then the said Lord Fernando de Fonseca and Toledo, Dean and Canon of the said holy Church, Provisor in the said city and bishopric, for the Lords Dean and Chapter of the said Episcopal church, the See being vacant by the death of Don Pedro Junco de Posada of good memory, late Bishop of Salamanca, before me Luis Pérez de Ulloa, of the number of the seven Notaries of the said Cathedral church and Episcopal Audience of the said city, which he here does, and the undersigned witnesses, said, that by the way and form most likely to be valid he approved and approves, as Provisor and ordinary Judge of this City, the oath made by the aforesaid Lords … in the name of the said city; and he commanded and commands, that the said city observe and fulfill it, as is contained therein: and as far as by law he can, to all and singular he interposes his authority.

[95] And the said P. Fr. Antonio Monte, Prior of the said Monastery and Consultor of the Holy Office; and the Licentiate Don Jerónimo de Otálora, Rector of the said distinguished College of St. Bartholomew, asked testimony of the acts, which the said Lord Provisor ordered to be given them in authentic form, in the presence and testimony of, and gives testimony of the Acts, before many witnesses. besides the countless crowd assisting at the said vow, the Lords Gómez Suárez de Figueroa, elected Bishop of Cádiz; Diego de Olarte Maldonado, Archdeacon of Ledesma and Canon of the said Church of Salamanca; Doctor Roque de Vergas, Archdeacon of Monleón and Doctoral Canon in the said Church, and Professor of Canons in this University; Master Juan Alfonso Curiel, evening Professor of Theology and Canon of the said church; Pedro Rodríguez Nieto y Fonseca, Lord of Cubo; Juan Arias Maldonado, Lord of Materiales; Pedro de Zúñiga Palomeque; Fr. Plácido Pacheco, Abbot of St. Vincent's; Master Fr. Pedro de Ledesma, Prior of St. Stephen's and Professor of St. Thomas; Fr. Luis de Miranda, Guardian of St. Francis's, Consultor of the Holy Office; P. Alfonso Ferrario, Rector of the Society of Jesus; Doctor Diego Espinosa de Cáceres, Professor of the first chair of Canons; Doctor Juan de León, evening Professor of Laws; Doctor Gabriel Henríquez, Professor of the first chair of Laws; the Licentiate Mexía, Rector of the Major College of Cuenca; Master Aguayo, Professor of property of languages in this University, and Canon of the church of Ciudad Rodrigo, Collegian of the Major College of the Archbishop of Toledo in the said city. Don Fernando de Fonseca. Done before me Luis Pérez de Ulloa, in the presence of Gregorio de la Puente.

[96] The decree is published throughout the whole territory. With these things was finished one of the more solemn and more religious acts which Salamanca ever saw, adding to the devotion many tears of those standing around, overflowing with great joy, seeing how God honors his servants on earth. But that the vow made might come to the notice of all, it ordered the feast to be kept universally to be published by the herald's voice even throughout its whole territory; likewise, that on the Vigil of that feast each of the citizens should set lights at their windows, in sign of gladness, on account of the beatification of their holy John, and the license for the Office and Mass to be said; wherefore that night resounded with all festivity with bells, and shone with fires.

[97] While these things were being done, Ana de Barrientos, wife of Francisco de Contreras, had her face and hands defiled by a certain kind of cancer, Suffering cancer in hands and face, so that the flesh was cut away from them in parts, no remedy profiting through the three years in which she endured that fierce evil, but rather whatever was applied hindering, so that without great torment she could not spread out her hands, or use them in any way. Meanwhile the festive ringing is heard: she asks the cause; and raising her hands to heaven, she begins to implore the help of the Saint with tears. Her mother encouraged her to confidence, vowing herself some Masses to be cared for in the chapel of the Saint, if her daughter were healed, to which too she would bring two wax hands. These done, the sick woman began to be at rest, and slept that whole night until morning; which for a month had not happened to her, but that she interrupted her own and her mother's rest with wailings. Hence both being brought to new hope, the mother did not delay, but at the fifth hour of morning betook herself to the chapel, to ask help, on the very day of the new feast she is healed. on the title that her daughter was the granddaughter of the grandmother, once most devout to him. On the same day toward evening Ana closed her hands, now for three months rigid: and on the following Thursday, rising from her bed, with her own hands took food: and on Friday, she even put on her clothes herself, washed herself with soap, and sat down to do work. And although, having left Salamanca, she set out for the Indies; yet not even there forgetting her benefactor, she sent thence a silver lamp, to be hung in his chapel: but before she departed, she confirmed under oath the grace received, together with her husband, mother, maidservant, and Doctor Ruiz, Professor of medicine in the University of Salamanca: and she celebrated the feast day of the Saint with the greatest joy and devotion.

CHAPTER X.

The Relics translated to the town of St. Facundus: the feast taken up by vow as of a Patron.

[98] The City of Salamanca then wished to share its joys with the town and monastery of St. Facundus, to which it attributed this its happiness. Antolinez, 62. It therefore sent them a double copy of the Pontifical Brief, The Relics asked for by the people of Sahagún, and exhorted them, that by its example the people of Sahagún should choose the same Saint as Patron. More was not necessary for those, to whom the holiness of their son and alumnus, and the grace of miracles, had long been known. Therefore in thanksgiving a most solemn feast was proclaimed, and all the neighbors invited to it. But since, both the town

and the monastery believed themselves to have some right in the Relics of him who had been born, educated, and imbued with his first letters among them; the Abbot, who then was Fr. Mauro Otel, a religious and grave man, sent two of his Monks to the monastery of St. Augustine at Salamanca, and to the Provincial of the Order, to ask for some of the Relics. And when he did the same a second time, the Magistracy of the town added also its own orator, alleging its own rights too. But the Abbot, to the titles previously alleged, added, that the major chapel of his church was the repository of so many illustrious men, Infantes, Princes, and Queens, four of whom surrounded the tomb of King Alfonso, placed in the middle of that chapel.

[99] It seemed to all the Religious that what was requested was consonant with equity. they are brought to them by Agustín Antolinez the Provincial, And so, the feasts being finished in the month of October, Fr. Agustín Antolinez, writer of this History, for the time being Provincial of his Order, together with many of his Religious, whom he wished to have as witnesses, set himself on the way; and half a league from the town, in a certain Priory, he deposited the sacred pledge, above the tabernacle of the Venerable Eucharist, which the Saint himself had so often and so devoutly received; six Religious being left there for its guard. But on the next day, after a sermon delivered in the monastery of Sahagún to a most crowded assembly by P. Vanegas the Benedictine, the Provincial proceeded, with the Augustinians and some Benedictines, to the Priory, where he had deposited the Relics; carrying there with him the silver repository of the venerable Sacrament, in which to place them; and they are received by the Benedictines; for they could find nothing more worthy and more to the purpose; thinking it by no means unfitting, if in such an act the Lord should yield place to his servant, in what was dedicated to his own body. Moreover, the Relic brought to Sahagún they deposited in the major chapel of the monastery of St. Francis, above a silver bier, placed on an altar most beautifully adorned and illuminated; certain Religious of both Orders remaining there for guard.

[100] After the appointed hour of the procession to be set in motion was at hand, who with a solemn procession there were present also the crosses and banners of the whole town, and many precious Relics of the Saints, to meet their old guest. There went moreover three Benedictine Abbots, clad in Pontificals; and many Clerics, and more than two hundred and fifty Religious of various Orders: for to the feast there came also the Dominicans of Triana, and the Discalced Franciscans of Grajal, and a more numerous crowd of people than seemed could be gathered. Who, when they had come to the aforesaid monastery of St. Francis, and in the chapel where the Relics stood had sung some odes; the Relics were lifted onto the shoulders of all the Orders successively: for whose receiving along the way, at suitable intervals, beautiful altars were erected, while poems were sung, composed in the Saint's honor: which was done especially before the door of that house in which the Saint had been born; where a congratulatory poem on the present occasion was recited. And although night had come on, before the procession reached the monastery; bring them into the town, yet light was not lacking on the whole way, nay nor in the whole town; since everywhere candles shone at the windows, and festive fires through the streets and fireworks flying through all the air.

[101] to be kept in two churches. Then the Provincial Antolinez, the Relics being deposited upon an altar, which stood erected in the middle of the major chapel, before Pedro de la Puente the scribe and witnesses, consigned them to the Abbot to be placed in that church, which was reckoned the mother-church of the whole town, on this condition, that they could not be alienated either whole or in part. Then by the same rite he handed over to the town itself, and to Pedro de Saldaña, Prefect of the place, holding its place, another particle; to serve for the water to be blessed in the name of the Saint, for the solace of the sick, and to be deposited in the Parish of the Holy Trinity, in which they say he was baptized: whither it was soon carried processionally, and with great festivity. On the following day, the 14th of October, after a solemn Mass, and a sermon delivered by Fr. Juan Castro, Augustinian Prior of the monastery of Valladolid, the whole order Ecclesiastical and Secular proceeded, to utter a vow in the public name to its new Patron, in this form which follows.

[102] Before them the Rectors of the place, "We, the Licentiate Fernando Núñez, Provisor of the town of St. Facundus and its Abbey, and Rector of the Parish of St. Thyrsus; and the Licentiate Fernando de Escobar, Rector of the Parish of the Holy Trinity and Commissary of the Holy Office; and also the Licentiate Antonio de Saldaña, Rector of the Parish of St. Lawrence and Abbot of the Confraternities of Sahagún; likewise Lord Sancho de Tobar, Lord of Villamartín, Bocahorgan, Tierra-de-la-reina, and the towns of Caminay, Horcadas, Curandis, and Lianaxi: and Lord Pedro de Vozmediano, Lord of the towns of Calzadilla, vow the feast to be a holiday every year, Hermanillas, and Bostico, citizens and Rectors of the town of Sahagún; both in our own name and in that of the ecclesiastical and secular estate, by the power given us for the undersigned, and representing the whole Town, do vow, promise, and swear, by our God and St. Mary his blessed Mother, and by the words of the holy four Gospels, and the holy Cross, on which we corporally place our right hands; that henceforth in the future, until the end of the world, always and continually the said Clergy, Town, and Abbey will hold and keep, as a feast commonly to be kept holiday, every year the twelfth day of June, the day after St. Barnabas; which Our Most Holy Lord Pope Clement VIII, by his special Brief of Beatification, defined, by celebrating the feast of Blessed John of St. Facundus: and that feast will be observed after the manner of the other feasts defined by the Church, ceasing from all judicial acts, and the ordinary labors of the hands.

[103] Under the same vow and oath we also promise, to come in a body every year to the aforesaid monastery, fasting on its Vigil, for first Vespers, and on the 12th of June with a general Procession, and to assist at the High Mass and Sermon and Procession of the said festivity: and likewise to fast on the Pre-vigil of Blessed John of Sahagún, like the other Vigils prescribed by the Church, because on the day immediately preceding his feast is held the feast of St. Barnabas: but if that Pre-vigil should chance to fall in the Paschal time, only abstinence from meats will be kept. And from now we take up and swear to hold that Saint as Patron. as Patron, Refuge, Protector, and special Intercessor or Advocate, together with the holy Martyrs Facundus and Primitivus, whom for many years the Town and Abbey have held as such. And all three we humbly beg, that they be willing to intercede for this Town, before the divine Majesty of Our Lord Jesus Christ; and protect and defend us in our necessities. But for the perpetuity, observance, and firmness of the aforesaid vow of promise and oath, which we make in the name of the said Town, and of the ecclesiastical and secular estate, we ask the said Lord Abbot, present at all the foregoing, as Prelate of this Abbey, that he approve, ratify, and confirm the aforesaid, and interpose for them, for perpetual validity, his authority and judicial decree."

[104] The Abbot of St. Facundus ratifying all, And soon the said Father Abbot, the things related above being seen and heard, said, that in the best form and manner he could, he approved and approves, consented and consents, and held it as good, firm, sufficient, and valid, from now in perpetuity, the vow, promise, and oath, made in his presence, on the part of the ecclesiastical Estate of this Town and Abbey, and of the Council and Government of the said Town: and because it is so just and laudable, from now he ratifies and confirms it, that it be inviolably and in perpetuity observed all the days of the world, and fulfilled without alteration, change, or other sense than is understood today. And for the validation of all, and subscribing with them, insofar as is necessary, he interposed his authority and judicial decree; and signed with his own hand; and with him signed, the aforesaid Licentiates Fernando Núñez, Fernando de Escobar, and Antonio de Saldaña; likewise the Lords Sancho de Tobar and Pedro de Vozmediano; in the presence, as witnesses, of the Fathers Fr. Luperçio López, Abbot of St. Claudius of León; Fr. Alfonso de Barrantes, Abbot of St. William of Carrión; Master Fr. Diego Venegas, Preacher and formerly Abbot of León; Fr. Fernando de Saravia, and Fr. Bernardino de Navarra, Visitors of the Congregation of St. Benedict, and many other Religious of the same Order; and also Master Fr. Agustín Antolinez, Professor of Theology in the University of Salamanca, and Provincial of the Province of Castile of the Order of St. Augustine; Fr. Antonio Monte, Prior of St. Augustine of Salamanca; Fr. Juan de Castro, Prior of St. Augustine of Valladolid, before witnesses of the first rank, Religious, Fr. Pedro Ruiz, Rector of the College of St. Gabriel of Valladolid; Fr. Fernando de Rojas, Rector of the College of the Incarnation of Madrid; Fr. Luis Ortiz, Prior of St. Augustine of Madrigal; Fr. Diego Guevara, Prior of St. Augustine of Bilbao; Fr. Gaspar Melo, Prior of St. Augustine of Mansilla; and many other Religious of the Augustinian Order.

[105] Likewise Don Rodrigo de Mendoza, uncle of the Admiral of Castile, ecclesiastics, Archdeacon of Madrid in the church of Toledo; Don Diego de Vega and Lorenzana, Prior of St. Isidore of León; Master Luis Hernández Nieto, Lector of Theology in the College of Triana of the Order of St. Dominic; Fr. Fernando de Miranda, Master of Students of the said College; Fr. Tomás Fernández, Prior of the monastery of Villada, of the Order of St. Dominic; Fr. Antonio Aguado, Prior of the monastery of Cisneros of the said Order; Fr. Ambrosio Carrillo, Preacher of the monastery of Espina, of the Order of St. Bernard; Fr. Ángel Pastor, Prior of Sandoval of the same Order; Fr. Baltasar García, Preacher at St. Francis's of Sahagún; Fr. Benito de Nájera, and Fr. Francisco de Laeso, Discalced of St. Francis of Grajal; Fr. Jerónimo de Arciniega, of the Premonstratensian Order; the Licentiate Juan Pantoja, Rector of St. Martin's of Sahagún; Juan Fernández, Rector of St. James's there; Gregorio de Comillas, Rector of St. Peter's there; Pedro Ramírez, Rector of Codornillos; Marcos Cabeza, Rector of Palaciol; Santiago de Xuara, Rector of Villapeceñil; Diego Álvarez, Rector of Calzada; the Licentiate Pedro Fernández, Rector of Loma; Francisco Gutiérrez, Fernando de Escobar, Diego Alfonso, Clerics; Don Manuel Enrique de Cisneros, Lord of Muzuelas, Lieutenant of the chief Huntsman of His Majesty; Don Francisco de Prado, and laymen. Governor of Aranjuez for the King our Lord; Pedro Álvarez de Vega, son of Juan de Vega, Count of Grajal; Antonio Vaca de Otel, and the Licentiate Robles a Porta, natives of Cisneros, and very many others, and present at the Act in the said monastery. Of which we, present at all, make faith, the scribes … Jerónimo de Ceinos, and Pedro a Ponte.

[106] The festivity was begun that very evening, and for some days the Relic stood uncovered, conspicuous to all: The feast is continued through the octave. but the Octave being passed, they enclosed it in the silver chest of the most holy Sacrament, deposited for the time being in another chest; until the General of the Order came to visit the monastery: to whom, since it seemed that the Most Holy should be put back in its place, they put the Relic in another. And at that time, in which

the silver chest was opened, the heavenly fragrance proceeding thence was an admiration to all: who, if they had known how sweetly his Relics smell in their tomb, and the very earth adhering to them; Fallen from a ladder he is preserved unharmed, would not have held this for a new thing. And here Antolinez ends Chapter 62: to which it may be added from Valaurio, that when P. Bartolomé de Vera had climbed certain very high ladders, intending to hang up some cloth belonging to the rest of the apparatus, and through the carelessness of him who ought to have held them, had fallen headlong to the ground, where he lay without motion and breath like a dead man; with many Monks running together with their Abbot, he was suddenly found unharmed; and set back on his feet, and thence prostrated to venerate the Relics.

[107] Contradicting the establishment of the feast at Dorvilium, The place of Dorvilium too, whose Curate title the boy John had held, wished, in imitation of the people of Salamanca and Sahagún, by the same rite to establish the feast among them: but when this was being done, there was found a farmer, who either from defect of faith, or through excess of avarice, disturbed such a plan, crying out, "Why so many feasts? The whole year is consumed in them, is drowned in the river. when all our sweat does not suffice to earn our living." This said, he directed his cart into the field: but slipping into the river Cea, notably swollen, he was drowned with his oxen. He who affirmed this in the Process, suppressed the man's name, lest the divine vengeance, inflicted on one of his kindred, should be a shame to any of his relatives.

CHAPTER XI.

New supplications for the Canonization, and for the Office meanwhile to be extended to the whole Order and the kingdom of Castile.

[108] The Augustinian Religion, considering the enormous increase of public devotion through the Beatification of its John of St. Facundus, For the extension of the Office sent back to Rome Fr. Luis Ruiz, instructed with the power necessary for pursuing the Canonization; and with the commission, that meanwhile, while the cause is prolonged, he should obtain the extension of the Office and Mass for the whole Augustinian Order, and the whole bishopric of Salamanca, or at least the town of Sahagún. Antolinez, 63. When the Order had set forth this its desire to Philip III, King and our Lord, and to His Majesty Doña Margaret of Austria, the Queen, and to the whole Kingdom and Ecclesiastical Estate, and also to the City, Church, and University of Salamanca, they obtained from each commendatory letters. And of the royal letters indeed this is the tenor: "The King. Duke of Sessa and Baena, of my Council, in the year 1603 Philip III and his consort write to their Legate in the City and my Orator etc. You will still remember the solicitude with which I wrote to you elsewhere, to supplicate His Holiness for the Canonization of the blessed Friar John of St. Facundus. Now, because the very delay has made the desire grow, in me and in all these my kingdoms, of seeing so holy a work consummated, for the greater glory of God and the solace of the faithful, I enjoin you, to represent to His Beatitude the affection with which I await its conclusion; supplicating that he deign to pursue the business, and hasten it as much as possible: but meanwhile to permit, that in the city of Salamanca, the kingdom of Castile, and the whole Augustinian Order, his Office be recited, as it is permitted to be recited where his body is kept: since in the justification of the Process already made there is enough disposition, that His Holiness can do this, to the honor of the servant of God."

[109] The Queen wrote in this manner: "Duke of Sessa and Baena, Cousin, etc. Although I know for certain that the King my Lord writes to you, to procure the acceleration of the Canonization of the Blessed Fr. John of St. Facundus, of the Order of St. Augustine; and to that end you bring all necessary offices; yet, that I may satisfy my own devotion, and the desire by which I am held to see him quickly inscribed in the Catalogue of Saints, I have wished to charge you, that on my part too you represent that affection to His Holiness; asking, that at my instance, and out of singular grace toward me, he deign to abridge as much as possible the terms of the Canonization; and meanwhile honor him, by ordering that of him there be recited at Salamanca, throughout the kingdom of Castile, and through the whole Augustinian Order: for great will be the solace which the faithful of these parts will thence receive, and especially I, who will singularly esteem that grace of His Holiness. Valladolid, the 20th of March 1603. I the Queen. Don Pedro Franqueza."

[110] and the kingdom of Castile supplicates the Pontiff: The Kingdom of Castile supplicated thus: "Most Holy Father. From the time of the Catholic Kings Ferdinand and Isabella of glorious memory, the cause of the Canonization of blessed John of St. Facundus has hung suspended, sprung from this kingdom, and a Friar of the Augustinian Order: of whose holiness and approval of life it is most fully established to Your Holiness; since at that time, in which the kingdoms of Poland and Catalonia rose from the feet of Your Holiness, the Canonization of St. Hyacinth of the Order of Preachers being obtained, Your Holiness deigned to favor the Augustinian Order, by beatifying the aforesaid Saint, and designating a day on which the Mass and Office of him should be recited in the convent of St. Augustine at Salamanca. But that through this the fruit of so desired a success may be extended to the kingdom of Castile, this Kingdom humbly supplicates His Holiness, prostrated with due reverence at his feet, as a child of obedience, according to the zeal known to him of Philip III, its King and natural Lord; that he indulge it the favor it asks, by ordering the cause of the Canonization to be continued and finished. But while this grace is deferred, and the feast is not yet generally celebrated in all the external Catholic kingdoms; let this Kingdom and the whole Augustinian Order be able to celebrate it, by extending the grace already begun to be made, as the holy See is wont to do with other Saints, namely St. Julian Bishop of Cuenca, and St. Agnes of Montepulciano of the Order of St. Dominic: which was done also for St. Raymond, before he was canonized, and for very many others. But because it befits the clemency and supreme power of Your Holiness, to bring undertakings to their due and desired end, it is fitting also to promote the same. That as the Saint himself proceeded from virtue to virtue, so also with equal step the reward proceed in the Church Catholic militant, conferred on him from the hand of Your most blessed Holiness, from which this Kingdom most firmly trusts to obtain that grace, which with all heart and soul it prays God and our Lord, that he preserve Your Holiness, for the universal guardianship and utility of his Church. Valladolid, the 28th of October 1602. Most Holy Father. The humble and devout Kingdom of Castile, kissing your most holy Feet. On the part of the Kingdom of Castile, Don Juan de Inestrosa, Secretary."

[111] After these, the Congregation of all the Metropolitan and Cathedral Churches of the kingdoms of Castile and León, likewise the Ecclesiastical estate, assembled at Valladolid by the authority of the Apostolic See: "Most Holy Father. Among the causes of greater moment and weight, Most Holy Father, which it was fitting that this Ecclesiastical Congregation should treat of Your Holiness, was the Canonization of the blessed Father Fr. John of St. Facundus, a professed Religious of the Order of St. Augustine in the convent of Salamanca, so greatly desired by all Spain. And although the clemency of Your Holiness, after long courses of years, corresponding to the common devotion and zeal of these Kingdoms, beatified that glorious Father, and gave license that in the said monastery his feast be held every year, and a Mass be said of him (a grace surely singular and specially done to our Ecclesiastical Estate, since that blessed Father was once a Canon of the Church of Burgos), yet we cannot omit, but that we supplicate Your Holiness, fallen down at your feet; that (since indeed it has pleased God to adorn the Ecclesiastical Estate of these Kingdoms with the holiness of so great a Father, and has illustrated him in life and after death with the glory of many miracles; on account of which from many times back so many Princes have asked the same grace of the Apostolic See; namely the Catholic Kings Ferdinand and Isabella, the Emperor Charles V, Philip II, and now our King Philip III) it may please Your Holiness to assent to the so holy requests of such great Princes and of this your Ecclesiastical Estate, as a sharer of so divine a benefit in its own cause, and to impose a glorious end to that Canonization, to the honor of God and the edification of the Catholic Church, the confusion of heretics, and the holy and common exultation of this Province, so devoted to Your Holiness. Meanwhile, however, Most Holy Father, while Your Holiness completes the work, which it has so happily begun, we ask, that the feasts, which Your Holiness permitted to be kept of that blessed man in the Convent of Salamanca, may with your license be kept throughout the whole Kingdom in the monasteries of the Order of St. Augustine. May almighty God guard and increase Your Holiness, as the true Shepherd and solicitous Helmsman of the Church. Valladolid, in the monastery of St. Paul, of the Order of St. Dominic, designated for our assemblies, the 16th of November 1602. Your Holiness's humble Chaplains. The Abbot of Banca, Secretary."

[112] This was the Letter of the Duke of Lerma. "Most Holy Father. and the Duke of Lerma, The favors and graces with which Your Holiness enriches these Kingdoms are so continual and so great, that the more are received, the more they animate to ask new ones. Indeed for that which this Kingdom received, and I particularly, through the justification of the Process and Office of St. John of Sahagún of the Order of St. Augustine, made by Your Holiness, I a thousand times kiss your most holy Feet; because from the account, which the Duke of Sessa sent, I understood that that grace is imputed to me. But because the mother of this Saint was from a town of my dominion, in whose dominion the Saint's mother was born; his miracles so many and so great, the devotion of the people so wonderful, and I so devout to him; I am moved never to put out of sight the grace, which Your Holiness has begun to make us. I supplicate moreover Your Holiness humbly, that you deign to amplify and honor my family with so glorious a crown, that I may see in my days that Canonization perfected. Indeed I shall value that grace the more, that it shall have come from that most blessed hand, as I hope it will come: so that on account of it these Kingdoms may pray God, that he guard the most blessed person of Your Holiness, as the Church needs, for the greater increase of Christendom, and as I desire, your most humble son and servant. Valladolid, the 23rd of August, 1602. Most Holy Father, I kiss the feet of His Holiness, his humble son and servant, the Duke of Lerma."

[113] The City of Salamanca The City of Salamanca supplicated in this manner: "The glorious saint Fr. John of St. Facundus, of the Order of the sacred Doctor St. Augustine, dwelt the greater part of his life in this city. Which, because it enjoyed the example of his life, the fruit of his doctrine, and the great miracles wrought in its sight, before and after his death; is most devoutly affected toward him; and therefore was singularly gladdened by that grace, which Your Holiness did us, by beatifying him, and permitting that of him there be recited on the day of his festivity. Whence soon this city chose him as its Patron, Protector, and special Advocate; and bound itself by a perpetual vow to observe his day, and to celebrate the feast.

But now we humbly pray Your Holiness, that you deign to order that the Canonization be brought to its end, and so that in the most happy time of your Pontificate, these Kingdoms and all Christendom may rejoice in the grace so greatly desired. Meanwhile may Your Holiness indulge us, that in the Cathedral church of this city, and the whole diocese and the Kingdoms of Castile and León, the same Office with Mass may be recited, on his feast day, just as it is recited in the convent of St. Augustine of this same city: which thing will bring the greatest solace to the whole region. And all of us will pray God, that he guard Your Holiness for very many years, with that happiness which we desire, to his glory, and the utility of the whole Christian commonwealth. At Salamanca, from our Consistory, the 19th of October 1602. On the part of the city of Salamanca, Gregorio a Ponte, Secretary."

[114] The University too asked as much through these letters. "The University of Salamanca (to which the Apostolic See, from its very beginning, and the University: until the times of Your Holiness, does a thousand graces) many things vehemently illustrate; but above all, that in its studies it educated the holy man John of St. Facundus: who from our major College of St. Bartholomew was received into the famous convent of St. Augustine, where he shone forth in holiness of life, and in the continuation of Evangelical preaching; so that he not only pacified this city, overflowing with the blood of the factions swelling in it; but also brought back all Spain to a better form of living. His body is in the church of that Convent with great veneration, illustrious through such great miracles, that the Catholic Kings Ferdinand and Isabella, and their successors, the Emperor Charles V, and King Philip II, with many prayers supplicated for his Canonization, and at last Philip III; by whose supplication moved, Your Holiness, Most Blessed Father, did these Kingdoms so great a grace, as is, to have beatified that holy man, by giving license that the Office and Mass be done of him on the 12th of June. This grace, singularly done to it, this University of Your Holiness reckons, and acknowledges as such, and in testimony of this thing with grateful mind decreed to celebrate his feast together with the city of Salamanca, which took him as Patron. And so, prostrate at the feet of Your Holiness, we humbly ask, that you be not willing our prayers to fall in vain, by honoring this University with that signal grace, by which the Canonization of this holy Man, now begun by Your Holiness, may be happily brought to its end; whence to God glory, to heresies confusion, to the Church advantage, and to the honor of this University there will accrue from Your Holiness, whom may God preserve for very many years for the good of his Church. At Salamanca, the 13th of April 1603. After the kiss given to the feet of Your Holiness, Don Juan de Salas y Gualdes, Rector; Fr. Francisco Zumel, Master of the School; Doctor Bartolomé, Secretary."

[115] The major College of St. Bartholomew added its vow thus: "Words are lacking, with the College of St. Bartholomew by which the joy and exultation of the sons of this College of St. Bartholomew can be explained to Your Holiness, on account of the signal grace, conferred on it by Your Holiness, in the Beatification of our brother, son of the same College, Blessed John of St. Facundus. For what greater gladness can befall us, than through the infallible definition of the Apostolic See to know for certain, that we have a brother Advocate in heaven, to intercede for us? Moreover, since Your Holiness is the Vicar of Christ in his Church, who perfects undertakings and brings them to their end; it will be of Your Holiness's affair, to impose the same end too on that Canonization, which the Lord began through Your Holiness. If, prostrate at the feet of Your Holiness, we obtain so great a good, with the famous pomp which the Church is wont to use, our Saint will be canonized: but if we cannot shortly obtain that, may Your Holiness grant your servants, that the Office and Mass of him be used, not only in the diocese of Salamanca, but throughout the whole kingdom of Castile. We hope that by the clemency of Your Holiness our humble supplications are to be heard. But what do I say, ours? since they are common to this City, University, and the whole Kingdom, prostrate before the feet of Your Holiness, and most earnestly requesting the same. May God preserve Your Holiness, for the good and peace of his Church. Done in the city of Salamanca and the Major College, the 21st of September 1602. Your Holiness's, with the kiss of the feet, humble servants, B. S. P. The Licentiate Don Jerónimo de Otálora and Gamboa, Rector."

[116] Finally from the monastery of St. Augustine these things were written. and the Convent of St. Augustine, "Most Blessed Father. More than a hundred years it is, that this monastery of St. Augustine of Salamanca and its sons have insisted with the Apostolic See, for the Canonization of blessed St. John of St. Facundus: nor do the voices of the people suffer them to depart from the doors of the Church, seeing his holiness confirmed by such illustrious and continual miracles. For it does not cease to persuade itself, that from our negligence alone and the lack of diligence of thy sons it proceeds, that he has not yet been entered in the Catalogue of the saints, a worthy reward of his heroic virtues, and so well seen by Your Holiness, by the splendor of those lights which it uses for such actions, the Holy Spirit approving them; to whom, ever assisting his Church, it has pleased, after so many years, in which that Saint flourished in it, to set him forth openly by the hands of Your Holiness, when it beatified him, and permitted that of him the Office and Mass be said in this monastery, heaped with so many graces from heaven, ever since that Saint took the habit in it, that, words failing by which to signify joy for so singular a benefit, in its mouth nothing sounds but the words of David, 'The just man flourished like a palm.' But although the favor, bestowed on this House by Your Holiness, be of that kind, which heaven knows how to esteem, because the earth is not capable of such great things; yet it humbly asks Your Holiness, that license be given it, after the kiss fixed on the most holy feet, of supplicating, that into the public light of the whole Church it may bring forth its saint, as it brought him forth to the church of St. Augustine of Salamanca.

[117] The same ask Your Holiness the Catholic Kings, Charles V, Philip II, he asking it, which the Pontiff himself so often asked and other holy Princes and Prelates, now deceased: whose humble prayers, as they live before God (for the desire of the just does not perish), so it is just that they live before the eyes of Your Holiness, his Vicar; since in the name of all Cardinal Aldobrandini (Your Holiness, I say, then Protector of our Order) so often asked of the Apostolic See the Canonization of our saint, which he could then have said, if he had seen that which is now done: 'What do you ask of me, which you yourself will be able to give?' Which since they are so, as they are; can it be, Most Holy Father, that such prayers should not find grace before the most clement eyes of Your Holiness? while he was still a Cardinal, May Your Holiness pardon, we beseech, us your humble servants; and permit us, seeing so many supplications for the canonization of our saint, and among these the prayers also of Your Holiness, before you were Pontiff, if we say, that which on another occasion St. Augustine our Father said: 'Lord, if you do not hear these prayers, which will you hear?' May our Lord preserve Your Holiness many years for the utility of his Church. At Salamanca, the 15th of September 1602. Most Holy Father, with the kiss of your holy feet, Fr. Agustín Antolinez, Prior Provincial."

[118] These letters, why made Latin from the Spanish? Other Princes too, Prelates, and Communities of these Kingdoms; likewise the Cathedral Churches, Colleges, Monasteries, by letters given individually, asked His Holiness, to complete the desired canonization: but meanwhile to extend the Brief of Beatification. Thus far all from Antolinez, and indeed from his Spanish version rendered again into Latin, as we think also most of the writings were which were to be offered to the Pontiff and the Congregation; although I would have preferred to give the original Latin words from the autographs; as in no. 78 I gave from Mariz the Brief of Beatification, A Poetic Contest proclaimed by the Convent. which alone is read in Spanish in Antolinez. But if it was not easy for that Portuguese, wishing to extend his work into a great volume, to obtain the rest in Latin; how should I hope, placed far from Spain in Belgium, to obtain all the original texts? The same Mariz, all things being related, the Letters which I profess to have related from Antolinez, interrupts the context with a most ample account of a certain Poetic Contest, to which the Convent of Salamanca, intent on the most festive possible preparation for celebrating the festivity of the hoped-for Canonization, challenged all the Italian talents, thirteen themes of poems to be composed being proposed, and prizes which the two first in each theme should carry off: then he reports the poems themselves, to which by the judgment of the Ten the first prizes were awarded: which the curious of such things will find in him, but for us it suffices to have indicated Chapters XI and XII of part II, where these things will be found. Now I proceed with Antolinez at Chapter LXIV.

CHAPTER XII.

The desired extension is obtained for the Order alone and the towns of St. Facundus and Cea.

[119] The Duke of Sessa, about to fulfill what the King his Lord had charged him by letter, supplicating the most holy Lord on the part of His Majesty, The Spanish Orator in the City, gathering the wishes of all, offered him this memorial, in the name of the Catholic King. Antolinez, 64. "More than a hundred and twenty years it is, that from this to a better life passed blessed Fr. John of St. Facundus, of the Order of St. Augustine of the Province of Castile. And because God manifested his holiness, living and dead, by many miracles, the Catholic King Ferdinand of glorious memory began to supplicate for his Canonization with the holy Apostolic See, he offers a memorial for urging the canonization of John, and by command of Paul III of happy recollection a Process was formed to give some beginning to the work: but the people persevered in his devotion, at Salamanca where he died, and his body rests. And the city itself and the surrounding places daily receive from the Lord enormous benefits through his intercessions. Then at the request of Philip II and III, Your Holiness in the year 1601 granted a Brief of Beatification, indulging that at Salamanca, in the convent of St. Augustine, where his body is buried, the Office with feast could be celebrated; whence great spiritual fruit arose: and the City, taking him as Patron, by public vow bound itself to observe the day of his feast: which same the town of St. Facundus, the Blessed man's homeland, vowed to observe, the fast of the Pre-vigil being premised. And when the Catholic King had visited his holy body, His Majesty, together with the Nobles and many Peoples, prostrate at the feet of Your Holiness, humbly supplicates for the Canonization of that Saint, that the devotion of the faithful may be continued and grow. But while this is being done, may Your Holiness deign to permit, and the extension of the Office: that of the same

Saint there be recited in the kingdom of Castile, and in the city of Salamanca, where his body is, and in the town of St. Facundus his homeland, and in the whole Order of St. Augustine, by extending the Brief itself, hitherto restricted to the place of burial: so that the Catholic King, and the Kingdom and the Order, prevented by so singular a grace of Your Holiness, may remain obligated to pray God (which they also now do) for the long life of Your Holiness, and the greater exaltation of the Faith and of the Apostolic See."

[120] The Memorial being read, the Pontiff sent it back to the Congregation of Rites: and it being referred to the Congregation of Rites and so, the business being referred to it, for justifying the memorial, he conceived a brief information and offered it to the Congregation in these words. "Most Illustrious and most Reverend Lords, two things the Catholic King asks in his Memorial, which the Duke of Sessa presented to His Holiness, and which he referred to Your Illustrious Lordships, seeking your judgment. First, that the Canonization of Blessed St. John of St. Facundus be treated, and proceeded with even to its conclusion. Secondly, that meanwhile, while this is being done, it may please Your Holiness, who in past years beatified the servant of God, so illustrious in holiness and miracles, to extend the Brief of Beatification, by permitting that the Mass be said throughout the whole Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine, he represents to it the equity of each request, of which he is a son; and the whole kingdom of Castile, whence he is sprung, and specially in the city of Salamanca, where he lived the greater part of his life and shone with miracles; and in the town of St. Facundus, his homeland. And both are plainly conformable to the sacred Canons and the custom of the Roman Catholic Church.

[121] The first is justified by the Process for the Canonization, legitimate and sufficient by the judgment of Your Illustrious Lordships and of this holy Congregation, the processes having been approved long ago, and of the Cardinals Baronius, Antoniano, and Bellarmine, to whom it was referred before His Holiness beatified the servant of God, and expedited his Brief; and likewise by the opinion of the two Auditors of the Rota, to whom His Holiness likewise referred the Process: which His Holiness held for sufficient; and the Beatification having been celebrated; since from it he proceeded to the Beatification, by declaring him holy, and worthy to be honored with public worship, through the recitation of the Office and Mass, in the convent of St. Augustine at Salamanca, where his body is held with great veneration. And it is established that, the proof of the holiness and miracles of some servant of God being had, one can proceed further in such a cause; especially the fame of holiness and miracles always continuing, as is established by the Memorial of the Catholic King, and by the letters of that Kingdom, and authentic testimonies.

[122] and various examples of similar grace previously granted. The second is thus proved by itself, so that it needs not to be confirmed by new reasons, since so many examples persuade it. Calixtus III granted a similar grace in honor of St. Albert, of the Order of the Carmelites; and Sixtus IV extended it. Paul III extended the Privilege, which was concerning the worship of St. Raymond, to all the monasteries of the Order of St. Dominic throughout the kingdom of Aragon. But what need to fetch testimonies from abroad to prove that truth, when Our Most Holy Lord Pope Clement VIII, of whom that grace is asked on the part of the Catholic King and his Kingdom, granted it in honor of blessed Lawrence Justinian, Patriarch of Venice, and expedited the privilege of extension: and the same grace His Holiness granted in honor of Blessed St. Agnes of Montepulciano of the Order of St. Dominic. Known too is the cause, for which that grace is granted: because by the first Beatification the devotion toward the Saint grew more in the city of Salamanca, so well deserving any grace from this holy See; and in the whole Order of St. Augustine.

[123] and the notorious increase of public devotion. And so it is most just, that His Holiness should correspond to the desire of the Catholic King and that Kingdom, and of so many Princes and Communities: especially since it can be hoped, as with the best reason it is hoped, that thus devotion toward the saint and the divine worship will grow more; because at the first Beatification, the city of Salamanca ordered the day of the happy passing of this saint to be held a feast, and received him as Patron, and made a vow and oath always to celebrate and to assist in a body at the solemnity of the same in the monastery of St. Augustine, where his body is held in such great veneration. The same did the town of St. Facundus, with a vow and oath of a perpetual fast on its Pre-vigil. Likewise the Congregation was informed, on the part of the Catholic King and his Orator the Duke of Sessa, by Don Francisco de la Peña, Auditor of the Rota, the extraordinary protector of that cause."

[124] Which seen (as is had in the Process of Canonization), the same sacred Congregation of Rites, by command and consent of Our Most Holy Lord the Pope, judged the said grace of reciting an Office not Double, Moved by these, the Congregation judges that what was asked should be granted, that the Sunday be not impeded, to be extended to the whole Religion of the Hermits of St. Augustine; that, just as the monastery of St. Augustine of Salamanca recites the Office and says the Mass of the said Blessed John, all the Religious of the said Religion throughout the whole world may recite and say it, from the Common of a Confessor not a Pontiff, according to the Rubrics of the Roman Missal and Breviary. Antolinez, 65. Thus the Congregation judged and declared the 6th of September 1603, for the whole Order, by command and consent and express will of Our Most Holy Lord the Pope, Alexander Cardinal of Florence. I. P. Mucantius. And conformably to the decree of the sacred Congregation, His Holiness granted the whole Augustinian Religion the grace asked, and expedited a Brief on the 15th of October, of this tenor:

[125] "Pope Clement VIII, for the perpetual memory of the matter. Great is the desire by which we are held, for which a Brief is expedited, of propagating on earth the memory of the Blessed, now reigning in heaven with Christ, to the glory of God and the edification of the faithful; especially when the Catholic Kings ask it, and pious and religious Princes, and the rest of the faithful, and so we know it to be expedient in the Lord. For we have already elsewhere given our letters of the following tenor, namely, for the perpetual memory of the matter. 'Whatever things pertain to the divine worship etc.' as above no. 78 and following. But because afterward the said Philip the Catholic King, all the cities and Metropolitan and Cathedral churches of the kingdom of Castile and León, and many Princes and Grandees of the same Kingdom, especially the noble man Francisco de Sandoval Duke of Lerma, also Prelates and other ecclesiastical and secular persons, Colleges, Religious Orders, and the University of the general study of Salamanca, in view of so many supplicants and especially the whole Order of the Friars Hermits of St. Augustine, by letters, supplications, and memorials, by their Orators and Procurators, especially by our beloved son the noble man Antonio Duke of Sessa, Orator of the said Catholic King in our Curia, and by Master Fr. Luis de los Ríos, Procurator of the Castilian Province of the said Order of St. Augustine, have humbly supplicated us, that we should proceed to the Canonization of the said Blessed John of St. Facundus; and meanwhile, for our accustomed Apostolic kindness, deign to extend and amplify the abovesaid letters.

[126] We, wishing to use our kindness, and to assent to their prayers, by the opinion of the Congregation of Rites by the opinion and judgment of our venerable Brothers the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, of the sacred Congregation of Rites, to whom we committed that business, that the matter being seen and examined they should make report to us, as our beloved son Master Francisco Peña, our Chaplain and Auditor of the Rota, informed them in particular, by command and in the name of the aforesaid Antonio, Duke and Orator of the aforesaid Philip the Catholic King; by the tenor of the present letters, we extend by Apostolic authority the aforesaid letters, to the whole Order of the Friars Hermits of St. Augustine throughout the whole world, and to all the Friars and Nuns of the said Order, extended to each House and person of both sexes and to each of them; that, as in virtue of the aforesaid letters the Friars of the monastery of St. Augustine of the city of Salamanca and of the Province of Castile can say the Mass and Office of the aforesaid Blessed John in their church of St. Augustine at Salamanca; so also henceforth they may, in any house or church of the said Order, wherever it shall be, say in the same manner the Mass and Office, reading or singing, from the Common of one Confessor not a Pontiff, conformably to the Rubrics of the Roman Missal and Breviary, provided it be not made Double (except where the Body or some notable and great Relic of the said Blessed John shall be), that the Sunday be not impeded. Notwithstanding any of those things, which in the aforesaid letters we were unwilling to be an obstacle, or anything else whatever contrary to the aforesaid. We wish also that to copies of the present letters, even printed, the same faith be given which would be given to the present, provided they be confirmed by a public Notary, and signed with the seal of some Person constituted in ecclesiastical dignity. in the year 1603, the 11th of October. Given at Frascati, under the Fisherman's Ring, the 11th day of October 1603, the twelfth of our Pontificate. Master Vestrius Barbianus."

[127] These things being thus obtained, the Augustinian Order could not at all acquiesce in the grace granted to itself alone: but went on to hope that it should be further extended, [and again according to the prayers of the Duke of Lerma and his wife the Countess of Lemos,] although then deprived of a powerful protector at Rome by the absence of the Duke of Sessa. But how it obtained this will appear from the following Brief, which again we take in its original Latin text from Mariz. "Pope Clement VIII, for the perpetual memory of the matter. Whereas We have lately granted, that in the whole Order of the Friars Hermits of St. Augustine, every year the Mass and Office of Blessed John of St. Facundus, a professor of the same Order, on the twelfth day of June, from the Common of a Confessor not a Pontiff, according to the Rubrics of the Roman Missal and Breviary, as we had before granted for some particular places, might be celebrated; as is more fully contained in our letters expedited thereupon in the form of a Brief. And whereas our beloved son the noble man Francisco de Sandoval, Duke of Lerma, and our beloved daughter in Christ, the noble woman Catalina de Zúñiga, Countess of Lemos; on account of their affection of devotion toward the said Blessed John; desire that such a Mass and Office of the said Blessed John, in the town of Sahagún, in which the same Blessed John was born; and in the town of Cea, the homeland of the mother of the same Blessed John (which two towns are in the dominion of the said Francisco Duke), and also in the city of Salamanca, in which the same Blessed John bore abundant fruits in the Lord; may be celebrated in the same manner as in the church of the Friars of the said Order: and whereas We were therefore, in the names of the same Francisco Duke and Catalina Countess, through our beloved son Alfonso Manríquez, humbly supplicated, that we deign opportunely to provide in the premises, of Apostolic kindness.

[128] We, desiring kindly to assent to their pious desire, for the towns of St. Facundus and Cea. and holding the tenor of our aforesaid letters as expressed in the present, inclined to such

supplications, that in any churches whatever, both of secular Clerics and of regulars of any Order of both sexes, of the said towns of Sahagún and Cea, the Mass and Office of Blessed John, on the abovesaid day, in the same manner and form in which they can be celebrated in the Churches of the said Order, by our Apostolic indult, according to the form of the same our letters, in all and through all may be celebrated; and that those celebrating such a Mass and Office in the aforesaid churches thereby satisfy, as if they celebrated the Mass and Office of the current in the same year, the 24th of November. feast, according to the rite of the Roman Missal and Breviary, on that day, by Apostolic authority by the tenor of the present we grant and indulge; notwithstanding the Apostolic Constitutions and Ordinances, and all others which in the said letters we were unwilling to be an obstacle, and all other things to the contrary whatsoever. Given at Rome at St. Peter's, under the Fisherman's Ring, the 24th day of November, 1603, the 12th year of our Pontificate. M. Vestrius Barbianus." This was the state, says Antolinez, ending his book, of the hoped-for Canonization, when the so near hope, which the Augustinian Order had placed in Clement VIII, was cut off in the year 1605 by his death. Yet such hope seemed to revive, by the election of Leo XI, who had been present at that Congregation, by which the Process about the Saint was declared sufficient, and the decree of Beatification approved: the death of the Pontiff following stays the progress of the cause. but he too quickly died. Nevertheless the election of Paul V which followed brings new hopes, says Antolinez: for I know not what good omen it suggests, that the cause which was first begun under the Third of the same name, ought to be terminated under the Fifth. May God grant, as he can, that this confidence too be not vain. Thus he, in somewhat more words for his affection.

CHAPTER XIII.

The Relics of the Saint translated into Portugal, magnificently received, and illustrated by many miracles.

[129] This is the sum of a lengthy book on the matter. Mariz, proceeding further, fills the remaining part of his vast work, by describing the feasts celebrated at Lisbon in the same year 1603, at the reception of the Relics of the same Saint, by describing minutely all the apparatus of the processions, theaters, spectacles, and poems; from which I abstain, lest I burden the reader, now sufficiently and more than enough wearied with so many lengthy documents nearly all concurring to the same effect: whose whole tenors, such as they are, it has pleased to give, that they may be a testimony, how much more gladly we would give more from the originals of the Canonization now at last completed, if the Order had caused us to have them. The matter most lengthily expanded by Mariz, Valaurio thus compressed into a few words, in book 3 chapter 11.

[130] The royal city of Lisbon, capital of Portugal, excited by the wonders of Blessed Father John of St. Facundus published throughout all the kingdoms of the Spains, in the year 1603 a legate sent from Lisbon to Salamanca, conceived an ardent desire of possessing also some Relic of him; trusting that it would be to that generous nation, so greatly contending against the infidels, a pledge of enormous victories. Valaurio, bk. 3, ch. 11. Therefore in the year 1603 there was sent by the Provincial, P. Antonio de Resurrección, with the title of Orator, P. Antonio de Azevedo, that in the name of the whole Province he might supplicate the Fathers of Salamanca. And he indeed set forth the matter with effective words: yet he found some obstacle, when there was consultation about it; some suggesting, of how great consequence it would be, to open the way to many, to whom it could no more be denied, who would ask a share of the treasure, to be guarded with the utmost care and so gradually dispersed. Others, however, went into the opinion of P. Antolinez, saying, that that royal city ought not to be brought into comparison with others, on account of various reasons; and so an authentic instrument was signed, by which one bone of the arm was handed over on the 21st of December, the feast of St. Thomas, protector of the Portuguese victories. And a thing worthy of note seemed, that the silver casket, brought from Lisbon for that end, not without fear lest it should be too small, the 21st of December he obtains a bone of the arm. was found so proportioned to that bone, as if it had been made to its measure. Nor was it held less ominous, that in a time most rainy, in which, the rivers and pools overflowing, the roads were broken and difficult to traverse, and unknown to the muleteers; so great a space of journey, as there is between Salamanca and Lisbon, was accomplished without inconvenience, and so the aforesaid Relic arrived on the first day of the year 1604.

[131] and brought to Lisbon the 1st of January Those good Religious received it on their knees let down to the ground and with hands raised on high, as if sent from heaven. Meanwhile the City together with the Archbishop Don Miguel de Castro, and the Viceroy the Lord Count Alfonso de Castel-blanco, not so much by urging edicts published, as stimulated by their own piety, prepared themselves for the day of the 21st of February to be celebrated with every demonstration of public gladness, with triumphal arches and chariots, with fountains of wine and fire, and other devices. The abundance of jewels exceeds estimation, which shone on the heads and garments of the persons, adorned for symbolic representations. But above all admirable was she who, carried on a generous horse representing Fame, it is carried about most festively the 21st of February. bore at the head of the procession a banner, marked with the Augustinian device, with the image of the Saint himself: for her adornment was estimated at more than a hundred thousand crowns. At the same time there offered a pleasant spectacle to eyes and minds, statues expressive of the Sciences, Virtues, Vices, and similar other ideal persons, arranged in just proportion. Games too, wrestlings, and innocent conflicts on land and river, showed the utmost of strength applied. Finally inimitable inventions, innumerable devices, inexplicable pomp, inestimable riches, appeared, so that the gold spent on them was of the cheapest. Which, lest they be believed exaggerated by hyperbole, let the reader know, that of those who studied to collect and describe all things minutely, this was the opinion, that they did not doubt to assert, that the treasures of the richest emporium in the whole world were spent, nay exhausted, on that matter.

[132] Sepulchral earth brought to the Poor Clares At this solemnity, and at the many graces by Divine John liberally poured out on that generous City, two Religious of the Augustinian Order were present, P. Manuel Capralis and P. Bartolomé de San Agustín, making a pilgrimage to St. James in Galicia. It happened to them on the way to visit the monastery of St. Clare in Villa-Comitis, where there were two own sisters, nuns and kinswomen of P. Capralis: who, when from the account of these Religious they had understood, what festivity had been held at Lisbon, what graces had been related of the Saint, desired to have something of his sepulchral earth; and she was made partaker of her wish, who insisted more fervently, Doña Filipa de Monte-oliveto: because she intended to apply it to the niece of a certain friend of hers, Catalina de Ángeles, who for a year and a half lay fixed to her bed, immobile in her whole body and paralytic in all her members. and applied to a paralytic woman, heals her, She, when she touched the holy earth, felt her whole heart bathed with gladness; notwithstanding a certain most sharp, but momentary torment, while her hands and limbs were loosened. But soon raised up upon the bed, and descending onto the pavement, with the astonishment of those present, she rendered thanks to God and the Saint, then, as if brought back to a new life, she wished her name to be changed, and instead of Filipa de Ángeles to be called Juana de San Facundo.

[133] Scarcely had the miracle been published, and authentically approved by the Vicar of that town, when a certain Antonio Fernández, formerly a sailor, who, fallen from the mast of a ship, dragged behind him a leg broken and badly cured, and one nearly dying from a broken leg. with continuous and extreme torment; betook himself to the Nuns of St. Clare, together with his most afflicted mother, not without tears asking a little of that miraculous earth: which, for the sake of greater veneration entrusted to the hands of the Chaplain, and brought into the sight of the sick man, so affected him, that, struck by a grave symptom, he soon seemed about to expire. But this was nothing else than a certain conflict of life and death, by no means bloodless. For the sick man vomited up much corrupt blood and pus, and the victory remained to life, complete health being restored. And this miracle too was examined by command of the Archbishop of Braga, and permitted to be made public; of which thing the aforesaid Religious carried off with them an authentic instrument. To this succinct synopsis of the greatest matters, it pleases to note from Mariz, On account of the presence of a fleet soon to sail, the feast is anticipated. that the cause of anticipating in the month of January the feast, which otherwise should have been celebrated in June, was the presence of very many ships standing in the port, and soon to be dispersed into every region, by which the fame of so great a matter, together with the devotion toward the Saint, could be spread throughout the whole world.

[134] The instrument too of the gift of the venerable bone, the same Mariz produces thus. Mariz, bk. 2, ch. 14. "In the city of Salamanca, From the instrument of the Relic given it is had, the 21st day of December 1603, when I was in the monastery of St. Augustine of this city; before me Diego Nieto Cañete, of the number of the public Scribes of this city, there appeared the Reverend Father Master Fr. Agustín Antolinez, of the Augustinian Order, Provincial of Castile; and said, that by missives of the Reverend Father Fr. Antonio de Resurrección, of the Order of St. Augustine, in the kingdom and province of Portugal, which P. Fr. Bartolomé de Azevedo brought and handed him, a Religious of the said Order and a Conventual and Preacher in the Convent of Our Lady of Graces, of the Order of St. Augustine in the city of Lisbon; he had been asked, that, since in the aforesaid church, at the expense of that convent, a sumptuous chapel is being erected dedicated to the glorious saint John of Sahagún, whose body rests in the church of St. Augustine of this city, [that it was done in view of the chapel which was being erected to the Saint at Lisbon;] in which too he died; he would be willing to give, for Relics for that house and chapel, one bone from the body of that glorious Saint. Which letter and petition being brought into deliberation, it was decreed, that what was asked should be granted: and that so holy a pledge might be held with that reverence which is fitting, and it might be established about its truth, as taken most certainly from the holy body itself, he asked that I should come with him to the tabernacle in which that glorious body is preserved.

[135] and the tomb being opened for this cause, And so on the present Sunday, the same 21st of December, the said Father Provincial, with the Reverend Fathers Fr. Antonio Múgica, Subprior; Fr. Francisco Domínguez, Lector of sacred Theology; Fr. Francisco de Vega, Sacristan; and the said Fr. Bartolomé de Azevedo, Conventual of Lisbon, entered the said tabernacle: and the tomb being taken from the sepulcher, which stood above it covered with a golden cloth, they opened a certain wooden valve fixed there, under which was a stone tomb, covered with a stone bound crosswise by three iron bands, and with as many little chains at the heads of the bands. Which being unlocked and the bands removed, and the stone itself, there was found a wooden box, on the outside clothed with red wax, and adorned with green and yellow borders, but with the joints and lock of a double bolt gilded: which being unlocked, was seen within to be lined with blue silk. And in the top of the

little chest there was placed a certain certification, written on parchment vellum, sealed with certain signs; by which it is said, that the body of the glorious Saint lies in the aforesaid box, and that it was translated into it and to the said tabernacle by a Brief of the most holy Lord Pope Leo X, on the sixth weekday (Friday), there was read the testimony of the translation made there in the year 1578. the 17th of January, 1588. Under this writing was a veil of red silk, surrounded with a golden border; and under this another of Holland linen cloth, with a border likewise golden; under which lay the bones of the glorious body of St. John of Sahagún: from which the said Father Provincial, before me and the aforesaid Religious, took one bone, which seemed to be the shaft of an arm from the upper part; which, measured, was found to fill the third part of an ell, and to have a thickness as great as the circumference of a coin of eight reals: and the sacred bones being inspected which bone indeed, placed on the veil of red silk, and in a little wooden box, the Provincial handed to P. Fr. Bartolomé de Azevedo.

[136] Which things being thus done, he again closed the said box, and the tabernacle as they had been before, and asked me to make him faith of the aforesaid. I attest therefore, that before me all the abovesaid were done: under Notarial faith: and that the aforesaid bone of the size already mentioned, handed to the aforesaid Religious, he took from the said tabernacle, to which the bones of St. John of Sahagún seem to have been translated: about which, that it may be established, at the petition of P.M. Fr. Agustín Antolinez, Provincial of Castile, I have given the present. At Salamanca, the 21st of November 1603, etc." This instrument being related, Mariz goes on to describe the preludes of the festivity, from the 15th of January onward, among which too was, on the 16th of the same, a Poetic contest proclaimed; which, like the rest of similar things, we pass over: it is enough to have noted, that the festivity lasted four days. But on the last day, which was sacred to St. Matthias the Apostle, a Confraternity was established, suitable for continuing the devotion toward the Saint, and not too sumptuous, that there might be a place in it even for citizens of moderate fortune; the feast being celebrated through January of the year 1604, contrary to what is observed in some others, and therefore having few enrolled. Mariz concludes the whole argument with an authentic account of the two aforementioned miracles; he prefaces, however, that there had come to his hands a manuscript collection of several other graces, attributed to the intercession of Blessed John; many graces are obtained. in commemorating which he says he forbears, until each shall have been duly examined, which he indicates has begun to be done. He adds finally a new Poetic contest, established in the year 1608, in an Appendix to a book then about to come from the press: in preference to which I would here rather, from Valaurio's book 2 chapter 3, report two apparitions of this time, taken from the Process. Valaurio, bk. 2, ch. 3.

[137] In the year 1607, there was given by P. Pedro Bernardino, an Augustinian of the convent of Béziers in the archbishopric of Narbonne, To a nobleman reading his Life at Brussels in the year 1608 to a certain noble Frenchman a compendium of the life of Blessed John, that he might at Brussels in Belgium hand it to P. Tomás Graciano the Prior, to be submitted there to the press, as had been agreed among them, at the first convenience that should offer itself. The good man kindly undertook the scroll committed to him: but wishing to satisfy his own curiosity first, before handing over the deposit, he drew out delays by no means small. At last on a certain evening, when at length he had finished the reading, he saw in his sleep the Saint appearing to him, the saint appears in a glorious throne; as in a great temple, placed on a beautiful and luminous throne, and clad in Pontificals: before whom, when the Nobleman had prostrated himself on his knees, he seemed to himself to receive from him with raised hand a blessing: and from that time he professed that he remained singularly devout to the Saint, and received many graces from him. The following year on the 11th of January in the same parts, namely the Belgic, a certain devout Religious of the same Order, never gave himself to sleep, but that first from the Life, likewise to another Belgic religious. in which he greatly delighted, he read something. But on a certain occasion, impelled by an affection of special devotion, he commended himself from his heart to the Saint. And behold, he appeared to him in his sleep, with radiant face; and with hands raised to heaven, as if praying God for his salvation. And he too, moved by such a vision, chose him as his spiritual guide; and confesses that he obtained many divine favors through the same.

CHAPTER XIV.

The worship of the Saint propagated even into the Indies and confirmed by miracles.

[138] Meanwhile the fame of the new Saint had flown across even to the new world, although the fame of St. Nicholas of Tolentino had already preceded it there; The Viceroy attests, whence the great General of arms and Viceroy in those parts, Don López de Almendárez, Marquis of Cadarcita, spoke jointly of both in this manner, deposing thus: "Two Saints of the Augustinian Order are reckoned to have specially claimed for themselves the faith and devotion of the Indies: in Mexico St. Nicholas of Tolentino; and in Peru St. John of Sahagún: so that no other heavenly beings seem to be known there. Valaurio, bk. 3, ch. 12. Nor is it a wonder, for so many and so illustrious are the miracles of both among the Spaniards and Indians, that in Peru John alone is venerated, that they do not seem able to remember other Saints. In Mexico the feasts of St. Nicholas of Tolentino last from September to the Lord's Nativity: and so many are devout to him there privately and in common, that they seem able to occupy the whole year: in Mexico Nicholas of Tolentino. but in Peru it is established to me that the same is done concerning St. John." Thus he. And to propagate the worship and devotion toward St. John among the Peruvians, there was sent from Europe Fr. Diego Salmerón, a man of great probity and learning, and altogether worthy to whom such an expedition should be committed. He carried with him there an image of the Saint: and when he had returned to Toledo, he said, Fr. Diego Salmerón sent thither, that in the long and perilous voyage, he did not seem to himself to have done anything else than to cross the river of Seville by boat; and that, overwhelmed by the abundance of miracles brought to him, since he was not sufficient for receiving them legitimately, he imposed that ministry on P. Fr. Antonio Calancha, born in those parts.

[139] And he said, that as soon as he had landed in the port of Lima in the year 1614, he lands in the year 1614, with the image of St. John, having entered the Convent, he took care of nothing sooner, than that with due pomp the image of the Saint should be exposed to public veneration. Special help thereto was brought by Doña Lucía and Doña Catalina Manríquez, who contributed to this a great abundance of most precious jewels: but a certain thief, gathering them, while all were held by sleep, took to flight with them. The theft being detected, but not the thieves, those good matrons ran to the feet of the Saint; and found him neither deaf to their prayers, nor mute against the thief. For he, in fleeing, heard one calling after him, to return the booty: to whose exposition jewels were lent, a certain thief having stolen them, and looking back saw an Augustinian Friar, as if flashing with menacing eyes. Not therefore did he desist from his purpose; but having continued his way, he betook himself to a certain inn: where he was so dismayed in his sleep, that he resolved to bring back all things whence he had taken them. But seduced by his evil genius, he did not seem able to find the way by which to retrace his steps; until, more gravely terrified, he cast himself at the feet of a Confessor; is compelled to bring them back, and unburdened of his fault, unburdened himself of the ill-gotten spoils: which was the first pledge of the many graces to be spread by the Saint through those regions.

[140] When Doña Casilda, daughter of Don Juan Fernández, laboring with fevers, lay given up by the physicians; so that for the expelling of her last breath, only the next paroxysm was awaited; the father had recourse to the image of the Saint; by the touch of a copy taken from it and since he could not have the original, he was content to take a copy; which placed upon the face of the dying woman, the fever vanished. And she, intending to render gratitude, to fulfill her father's vow, became an Augustinian religious in the monastery of the Incarnation. the dying woman recovers. But because there was running from all sides to ask or to acknowledge the grace of health, it was necessary to keep the church open by night and day. In the same year in those parts the evils of quinsy and erysipelas so swelled, that very many died of them: at Cuzco one such but it was for safety to have looked upon the image of the Saint, as upon the bronze serpent. Moreover when, on account of certain urgent affairs, P. Salmerón was compelled to set out for Cuzco, since he was not permitted to carry the holy image with him, he wished at least to carry forth a copy of it: which, wherever it passed, relieved the contagion.

[141] The first to use that benefit was Fr. Juan de Ribera, he heals many of quinsy, born at Arequipa. He at Cuzco, among the other sick of that convent, was so constrained, that for the tenth day now he could swallow nothing, not even liquid; and from the magnitude of the torment and the vehemence of the fever, he had so gone out of his right mind, that, creeping through the infirmary, he was the more worthy of compassion the less capable he was of the last Sacraments. The Prior Fr. Domingo de Setorros prayed for him, by visiting the holy image, which was kept in the Sacristy: and he brought it to the place where the sick man remained: nor did he do more, than to apply it to his side; when the fever withdrew; health returned; and to recover full strength the only work for the sick man was, to fix his eyes on the holy panel. Thence he betook himself to the church, to render due thanksgiving: whence when the people heard the bells rung, they ran up, as if it were the sign of a dead Father, dear there; but they found him alive, with astonishment and joy. This was nothing else than to summon there a multitude of the languishing, which all were healed at that very moment; and many of them cast out through mouth and nostrils a deadly humor: as happened to Isabel de Otálora, who at her last breath had come to the Confessor; and touched by the image, was at once freed from all ill.

[142] another carried 3 miles from there, P. Fr. Pedro de Arribite had gone away, three miles off, on account of the affairs of the Religion: where, wishing to celebrate Mass, he betook himself to the Parish church; and the image being exposed above the altar, he prepared himself for the sacrifice. To venerate it many Indians at once ran up: who, on a certain bier, made in the manner of a net, brought four of their sick women, and among them one contracted and immobile for ten years. But the alms being offered and the Mass said, he raises up a contracted woman they saw her run nimbly through the church to the feet of the Father, that, joining her own voice to his tears, she might help in rendering thanks. Meanwhile the Parish-priest, returning at the sound of the bells which the exulting Indians vied in ringing, and suspecting something of great novelty, and stops the plague of quinsy. heard what had been done from the natives, bursting forth in troops from the church, and everywhere proclaiming the miracle. But when the Father was about to depart, they would not permit him to carry the image back with him: but, however much he resisted,

and refused whatever gifts were in turn offered him, he was compelled to leave it to their devotion. But information being taken about this and other miracles, it is asserted and proved, that immediately from the arrival of the aforesaid image the contagion ceased: and the Curate and the other Priests, to whom before, from the administration of the Sacraments, no rest was given by day and night, marveled to be idle and at leisure, since all had gone out from their beds and houses.

[143] By the same disease the wife of Andrés Mussi had been brought to her last extremity; who, although a young woman, had nevertheless not been able to resist the violence of the evil. A woman healed by a flower applied to her. But her husband applied to her a flower, which had touched the image, and suddenly the swelling of her throat went down; and only on the surface remained a single pustule, which too disappeared within a few days. She wished to have the image, to carry it about continually; and making some long journey with her husband, she unfolded it at the first lodging they came to, the miracle wrought on her being narrated: and so at the sight of it there were healed as many sick as were in that place. In several places it stops the prevailing disease. And as much happened in all the rest at which they turned aside, over a space of a hundred and seventy leagues, the sick running together from all sides to look upon the health-bringing image; to the confusion of certain villages, which, neglecting so present a remedy, were exhausted by funerals. There was then at Cuzco Fr. José of the Order of St. Francis, born at St. Facundus: who, brought to death, invoked his fellow-citizen the saint, and was immediately healed.

[144] on account of which and many other things, To a certain poor Indian woman her little son had died. When she had laid him at the feet of the image, the boy rose again with a laugh, and cheerfully called upon his mother. And faith in the Saint grew so greatly throughout the province of Cuzco; that wherever his image could not be carried, cloths, bands, or flowers were sent thence, to be consecrated by its touch and imbued with health-bringing power, with the most certain effect of equal miracles. Finally that metropolis, bound to John by so many benefits, erected to him a sumptuous altar, before which great candles burned by day and night; in such a number and so continually flowing thither did the inhabitants and dwellers, the Saint is chosen Patron of Cuzco. asking and recounting health, that for the first forty days the doors could not be closed to the multitude. But afterward by common vow he was declared Guardian of the city, with the obligation of celebrating his feast every year.

[145] When P. Salmerón passed through Arequipa, he was asked at Arequipa, a paralytic of 12 years being healed to bring the holy image into a certain monastery of his Order; where Doña Marina Cegama, a Nun of the first nobility there, lay for the twelfth year immobile in her whole body; and having almost no other sense than that of pain. When she embraced it brought to her, for a few moments of time she remained as if in ecstasy; then, as if returning to herself, she exclaimed, "Jesus, Jesus," and was healed. So, casting away the crutches on which she stood leaning, she leapt up, and began to run through the chamber, with the astonishment of those standing by, on account of the evidence of so great a miracle. and a sick nobleman, With the same infirmity languished Don Juan Maita Inga, of the stock of the ancient Incas, Kings of Peru. He, at the exhortation of Don Lope de Carvajal, on the occasion of a certain feast which was celebrated at St. Augustine's, commended himself to John of St. Facundus; thinking himself unworthy to approach nearer to the very image of the Saint. He, however, held his faith pleasing, joined to such great humility, and in that very place granted him health.

[146] Doña Juana Coronada, a cancer was consuming from her breast to her shoulders: a cancer being cured, but the touch of the image suddenly healed her. Thence too sought and obtained a remedy, from a stone lodged crosswise in the ureters, Bernardino Valdemario, born at Ciudad Real among the Spaniards. For when he applied it to his side, the stone was broken through the middle; and with the urine, a stone being expelled, which for eight days he had passed none of, and cast out with much pus and stench, he also expelled certain little bits of flesh, which constricted the mouth of the bladder: nor afterward did he suffer any such thing. In the throat of Ana Durán a fish-bone clung, and a bone fixed in the throat and now took away her faculty of speaking: but the Saint being invoked she soon spat it out. These and other prodigies without number having happened at Arequipa, this city too wished to imitate that of Cuzco, and swore to have the Saint as Protector under the same form: the same is done. of which thing the authentic instruments are even now kept in the archive of the Religion.

[147] The people of Ica too are healed, one bedridden woman Meanwhile P. Salmerón departed for Ica: but scarcely had the wonder-working image arrived there, when a certain matron, named Apolonia, fixed to her bed for two years by the violence of disease, whence she could be moved no otherwise than lifted by others' arms; entreated her husband, to permit her to be carried to the church of St. Augustine: where when she had seen the image, she exclaimed, "O blessed Saint! shall I then not be able to rise to my feet?" And rising, she soon added, "And shall I not also bend my knees?" and she bent them, freed of every impediment. and another, Then she continued her prayers, asking also the grace of walking to the altar of the Crucifix: and she went there so swiftly, that at her husband's approach and the glad exclamations of the people, she dared to go and return often, to make the miracle more manifest. Returning afterward home, she met a certain friend of hers, laboring with the same evil: who, animated by such an example to implore the same aid, had scarcely conceived in her mind the resolution of going to the image of the Saint, when suddenly she felt an unusual heat, and soon herself relieved of the swelling and weight, with which she was occupied as far as her knees. And relying on this pledge of fuller grace, she prostrated herself before the Saint, and one suffering from strangury. and soon rose to her feet, her soles firmly strengthened, and returned home healed. There succeeded her Francisco López Gutiérrez, given up by the physicians for obstructed urine; and suddenly relieved, never afterward suffered any such thing.

[148] An adulteress, an adulterer being armed for the murder of her husband At Ica, which is one of the chief towns of that region, lived Juan Spino, very devout to the Saint, and wont to commit himself to his protection every morning: nor indeed without necessity: for his wife, having followed an adulterer, not content to have taken his honor from him, also plotted against his life through him. And this man, to make sure of the crime, having summoned a certain hired assassin friend of his, equipped with a gun loaded with two balls and several smaller pellets, took his stand where he knew he would pass. Spino was present at the hour at which he was expected, and the adulterer aimed the gun against him: but in whatever direction he prepared the shot, he always saw someone interposed. The companion, marveling and at the same time indignant at the delay or sluggishness, heard from the adulterer, is frustrated in his intent by the Saint interposing himself, that it could not be that he should strike the enemy, unless he first pierced an Augustinian Religious, interposed between him and himself. Nevertheless on two other occasions they attempted the same crime, which was always hindered in the same way. Then the assassin, impatient in mind, seized the gun; and discharging it, against the will of his mind, struck the adulterer himself in the arm; but so slightly, that the few pellets, which had penetrated the garment, stuck in the skin.

[149] and at her husband's vow comes to her senses. But because the wicked men were not ashamed to boast of the attempted murder, the good husband did not hesitate on his own part too to publish the deed, in testimony of the miraculous protection afforded him by the Saint: at whose feet prostrate, he offered him the holocaust of charity, laying aside the desire of vengeance, supplicating that he would obtain from God the amendment of his criminal wife, and the salvation of the soul, guilty alike of homicide and of adultery. No sooner said than done: at the same moment of time the woman felt such great penitence for what she had committed, that she became to others, to whom she had been a scandal, an example of rare virtue; and consecrated herself to the service of the Hospitals, liberally relieving the poor of her sex, and ministering to the sick. Moreover, in memory of so many benefits, both spouses by common consent erected a statue to the Saint, and endowed his altar with a perpetual chaplaincy, for celebrating the feast at it: but the penitent woman did not cease to name him, the Saint of her remedy, the Saint of her soul.

[150] In the city of Santa Fe and the Augustinian convent, a certain Religious, also at Santa Fe John becomes patron: brought by a contagious disease to the gates of death, when he had invoked the name of the Saint, deserved to see him in his sleep; who, offering him an apple, as the fruit of life, made him certain that he would not die. From the same likewise another Religious received health, lying sick in an adjoining cell, when he had only applied to himself a little statue of the Saint. The same happened to a certain Franciscan Religious: by whose effort, when the aforesaid little statue had been carried about processionally, and exposed for three days in the major church, and had there bestowed many graces on those invoking him; the City committed itself by public decree to the protection of that Saint, and under his invocation established a pious Confraternity. Sister María of the Holy Spirit, a Dominican, in the monastery of St. Catherine of Siena, for many years a paralytic, was brought to the door of the convent to venerate the holy image; as soon as she applied it to her face, two rays going forth from it, conspicuous to all standing by, brought her the desired health. Sister Agustina of St. Peter, of the Franciscan Order, two paralytic nuns are healed, likewise a paralytic, when P. Salmerón came to the monastery, came to the door: and while she applied the image to herself, she felt her eyes failing, and exclaimed: "Father, I no longer see you, now now I am dying." But the Father, not without a special impulse, reproving her, said: "Not so; hope well: for before twenty-four hours pass, something great will be seen in the Convent." It nearly happened that the prediction was received with laughter: but the event proved its truth, by which within the aforesaid term the sick woman recovered, freed of all ill.

[151] Not unlike was the issue of another prediction, by which the same P. Salmerón in the city of Piura and at Piura a girl from a cancer. foretold to a noble Damsel, Alfonsa Castrilla, that before he should go out of the church, she should be healed of a lethal cancer, eating away her breast. For at these words, she was alienated from her senses and as if plunged in a deep lethargy; but quickly waking, and applying her hand to her breast, and finding nothing of the old evil, she exclaimed: "Jesus! what is this? O my Saint!" The miracle, and an Indian woman from paralysis. which suddenly ran through the mouths of all, a poor Indian woman, long a paralytic, hearing, raised her mind and voice to the Saint: who, appearing to her, exhorted her to go to the church. "But how?" said she. "I cannot. Ah, how?" To whom the Saint, "Tomorrow," he said, "you will be able." And on the following day, brought there by certain devout persons, she was able to return thence healed on her own feet.

[152] The oft-mentioned P. Salmerón was wont, before he entered any place, to send before him his forerunners, whom they call Chiachos. The flames bursting from the ground are turned away from Pasto, When he had done this approaching the city of Pasto, he was asked by those forerunners, to delay a while, until the necessary preparation should be made, for receiving more honorably that holy

image. But he, moved by a certain interior instinct to hasten his step with the holy image, which by custom the Royal and Pontifical banners preceded, by which the city, saved, takes him as Patron. entered the city with a numerous and splendid company of horse and foot. But scarcely had he placed that image in the church of the Nuns, to be left there that night; when suddenly the city was turned upside down and everywhere hastened flight, on account of the earth gaping open unexpectedly, which, belching forth flames, threatened destruction to all. The image therefore was brought out into public, and placed in the middle of the marketplace, opposite that horrible conflagration: which being at once turned elsewhere, it appeared that the haste of bringing the image into the city had not proceeded from any obstinacy of the Father, but had been a divine impulse: that from the opportunity of prompt succor a remedy might be prepared for the impending evil. And the City, acknowledging this, the Council being convoked, chose him as Patron, and bound itself by a sworn vow to celebrate his feast.

CHAPTER XV.

The sweet fragrance of the sacred bones. The Canonization at last celebrated. The Relics in Belgium.

[153] A bone of the thigh translated to Burgos Several years after these things (as is in Valaurio, book 3 chapter 11), the city of Burgos, another nurse as it were of the Saint, aspired to obtain a share of that good, of which the city of Lisbon boasted: inasmuch as it had had the Saint as Beneficiary, Canon, Almoner, Father. Equipped with these titles, it did not labor much, to obtain a whole bone of the thigh, of the length of two palms and four inches, whence about the measure of the rest of the body an easy conjecture may be made. For this sacred Relic, given to the orator of Burgos, to be accompanied to that royal city, there offered themselves P. Aguilar, in the year 1648 it is festively received: Prior of the Convent and Professor of the University; and from the College of St. Bartholomew two noble alumni were deputed, Don Baltasar de la Cueva, son of the Duke of Alburquerque; and Don Alfonso Magnos de Ávila, Canon of Toledo. It was received with the glad acclamations of the people, and the festive noise of cannon and bells: then legitimately consigned, on the following Sunday, the 21st of June 1648, it was carried about processionally by the Prelate of the City, and the whole Clergy secular and regular, through the chief streets, adorned with most beautiful altars, and so hung on the walls of the houses, that the whole city presented the appearance of a single temple.

[154] but itself, as also others elsewhere, In completion of this narration it is added, that the Relics shared with Burgos breathed forth a most sweet odor of themselves, just as those which Lisbon possesses or the town of St. Facundus; and indeed much more the whole body. And this odor was so inseparable from the particle granted to the town of St. Facundus, that the Abbot of the place with full faith asserts in the Process, that, having attempted to discern the quality of that fragrance, he found it most different from any other wont to proceed from anywhere. And among his other witnesses there deserves especially to be named and the whole body, the once Duke, now Cardinal of Lerma, who for many years governed the Monarchy: and being asked what he thought of the Blessed, when in a certain Letter of his to the Pontiff he had styled him a Saint, and had pronounced him worthy of that title, which he again supplicated to be sanctioned by Apostolic authority; he added, that he remembered very well, that in the service of Philip III and Queen Margaret, present at Salamanca while the chest was being opened, that Blessed Body (his words are) breathed forth a supernatural and sweet odor: "which I," he says, "perceived most excellently; continues to breathe a sweet odor. and with wonder saw both the aforesaid Majesties, and the rest standing around, to be astonished, and thence to take new incentives of love and affection toward the Blessed, as a great servant and friend of God; to whom we all on his account rendered due thanksgiving."

[155] It remains that we weave to this Commentary the holiness of John, at last advanced to the highest summit of veneration by a solemn Canonization, and so place a crown on it. Pope Alexander VIII made it, on the 16th of October 1690, The Canonization made in the year 1690, the 16th of October. but in such a way that together with him he enrolled among the saints St. Lawrence Justinian, Proto-patriarch of Venice, whose Acts Henschen illustrated at the 8th of January, on which he died: whose feast Innocent XII then transferred to the day of his Episcopal Ordination, the 5th of September: St. John of Capistrano of the Order of Minors, who met death, and will come to be treated by us in this work (unless something be meanwhile changed) on the 23rd of October: St. John of God, common to him and 4 others, from whom took its beginning the Order of Hospitality in Spain, called of Charity in France, whose double Life I gave in Latin on the 8th of March: and St. Pascal Baylon, a Lay-brother of the Franciscan Observance in Spain, who died on the 17th of May, where likewise the reader will find a double Life rendered into Latin by us. The Canonization of these five, celebrated jointly at Rome, was in most Provinces solemnly kept the following year, when Pope Clement it was elsewhere celebrated the following year, had already died on the 1st of February; which was the cause that the Bulls are not yet published, perhaps not even yet composed: whence nevertheless it would be necessary for us to learn, in what order, after the Beatification of each, it was proceeded to the final act. Nor have we yet seen anything published in print, concerning the Saint of Sahagún, about that pomp, with which the Spaniards celebrated the new and enlarged feast of their Patron, especially at Salamanca; whence we will also gladly receive a bundle of new miracles, when it shall seem good to its Order to collect it and give it to the light.

[156] At Antwerp the 6th of May, At Antwerp in Belgium the feast of the same Canonization was celebrated on the 6th of May; and that the solemnity might be greater, the Fathers of this Convent had obtained a notable particle of his Rib, which had now been held at Brussels for about twenty years. The Registers of the Convent of Antwerp hand down the manner of the matter thus. "On the 5th of May, the Saturday before the third Sunday after Easter, a Mass of the Holy Spirit was sung, by the very Reverend and Excellent P. M. Lambert Ledrou, President of the Chapter: who is now Bishop of Porphyreon and Prefect of the Pontifical Sacristy. After the Mass all the Capitular Fathers with the Convent went processionally to the Cathedral church, to carry back to our most adorned temple the venerable statue with the Relics of the said Saint, previously exposed there in the major Choir. And with a great concourse of people the Relics were carried by the Most Ample Lord Dean, the rest of the Lords Canons accompanying. When they had come to our temple, solemn music was sung, and the benediction given with the Venerable by the Lord Dean. a Relic also translated thither: On Sunday, for the sake of greater solemnity, the High Mass, with the Lords Canons assisting, was celebrated by the Most Illustrious Lord Juan Fernando, Bishop of Antwerp. Vespers being sung after midday, P. Noster Jacobus Willemaert, Provincial elected the day before, delivered a panegyric sermon: which finished, a solemn procession was made through the City, accompanied by the very Reverend Lords Canons of the Cathedral Church, the Most Ample Magistracy of the city in a body, the Most Ample Lord Abbot of St. Michael's with his Lords, seven Religious Orders in a body, and our Confraternity of the Girdle, together with the students of our literary Gymnasium, the said Most Illustrious Lord Bishop bearing the most holy Sacrament of the Eucharist; but the sacred Relics of St. John, and his statue, the Religious of various Orders bearing on their shoulders by turns."

[157] How these were brought to Antwerp, the following instrument will teach, rendered into Latin from the Spanish: which the Prior of Salamanca in the year 1672, "In the very noble, faithful and ancient and distinguished city of Salamanca, the fourteenth day of the month of September, in the year from the nativity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ one thousand six hundred and seventy-two, in the convent of our glorious Father St. Augustine and the College of St. William, within the precincts of this city of Salamanca, between the tenth and eleventh hour of the night; before me, Diego Antonio Nieto Cañete, royal public and perpetual Scribe, of the number of the Notaries of the city, and the witnesses undersigned; the very Reverend Father Fr. Master Manuel Duque, Prior of the aforesaid Convent of St. Augustine (to whom I the Scribe give faith and acknowledge, that he is such a Prior, and as such exercises the office;) affirmed, that by special decree of the most Reverend Fathers the Provincial, requested by the Fathers of the Convent of Brussels, the Prior and Religious of the Convent of the Hermits of St. Augustine our Father of the city of Brussels in Flanders, it had been written by them to the most Reverend Father Master Fr. Nicolás Cortés, Provincial of the Order in this province of Old Castile, and also to the Lords of the Council of justice and government of this city, likewise to the Lords Rector and Collegians of the major College of St. Bartholomew in the University and this distinguished City, for the reason that the glorious saint John of Sahagún was a Religious of the said Order, and the aforesaid Convent of Brussels is most devoutly affected toward that glorious Saint; to hand to their delegate sent for this into Spain, that they would deign to assent and command, that one bone from his precious body, which is kept in the Convent of Salamanca, to be held as a Relic of that Saint, be handed to the very Reverend Father Fr. Antonino de Witte, a Religious of the aforesaid Order and Prior of the Convent of Herentals in Belgium and the said parts of Flanders, solely chosen and deputed by the said Monastery of Brussels, to carry the aforesaid letters and to transfer such a bone, such as should be given him, for the Relic of that Saint.

[158] And he, when he had handed over the aforesaid letters, and his petition was recognized to be just, the said Father Provincial granted to the aforesaid Father Prior license to hand over, in the presence of those deputed by the City and the College of St. Bartholomew, at his good pleasure, one of the bones of the aforesaid holy body. To which determination, when there had acceded the consent of the Consultor Fathers of that Convent, likewise of the Lords Counselors of justice and government of this city, and also of the Lords Rector and Collegians of the major and most ancient College of St. Bartholomew, of which the Saint himself too was a Collegian; there concurring finally to the same act the Lords, Don Francisco de Castello-Concha, Knight of the Order of St. James, and Corregidor of this city; Don Diego de Moreta Maldonado, Knight of the same Order, and senior Rector, and Commissary named on the part of the city; Don Melchor de Lezana, Knight of the Order of Calatrava, Rector of the said College of St. Bartholomew; Don Pedro Pacheco, Collegian of that College, as colleague of the Rector; for the execution of the aforesaid, all together betook themselves toward the tabernacle and tomb, in which the body of St. John of Sahagún is kept; whence was lifted the urn, standing above the said tomb and body; and under it was found a great wooden chest, closed under two keys.

[159] Then one of them the said Lord Don Miguel de Lezana the Rector brought forth, and the bolt of one lock was opened; the other the said Reverend Father Prior brought forth, and the bolt of the other lock was opened: and so the said wooden chest lay open, under which is a hollowed stone, whose hollow a board covers, having a border of about four fingers, the triple chest being unlocked, which two iron lines attach to the chest, by means of two hanging locks, which are unlocked with two other keys: and these too

the same Lords Rector and Prior brought forth, and so those two hanging locks too were opened. Then, the iron lines being removed and the board itself, there was found within a middling chest, on the outside clothed with Muscovite cowhide he takes one little rib, and studded with gold, with two locks; whose keys likewise being produced by the Lords Rector and Prior, the chest appeared within lined with blue silk; and there was found in it a written testimony, by which it is asserted that there are there the bones of the body of the glorious saint John of Sahagún, and under it was stretched a pall, covering the hollow of that chest, of red silk. Which pall when the Father Prior had lifted, there was found the skull with the bones of the holy body: whence the Prior, clad in sacred vestments, and having put his hands in there, brought forth one little rib of the holy body, and placed it within a walnut little box, lined within with red silk, and likewise without, and places it in a little box prepared for this. with golden borders, with which silk and borders is adorned also the lid of the aforesaid box of similar wood, which is bound with a white silken line. And the aforesaid little rib was wrapped in a silken cloth, a palm in length; but the box itself is long as the bone of the forearm to the wrist, and more than four fingers wide. This, closed, with the testimony of this act, the aforesaid Prior gave to the Reverend Father Fr. Antonino de Witte, who received it, to be carried to the Convent of Brussels.

[160] And of these things thus done, I the undersigned Scribe make faith, asked by both parties, the public faith of the deed being asked, on this present day, before the witnesses present at all the aforesaid, the Licentiate Don Pedro Casuso, Reviser of this city, and Lieutenant of the Corregidor; and Miguel de Canales, citizens of Salamanca … and it was subscribed, Diego Antonio Nieto de Cañate." And that this man is such as he says himself to be, five other Scribes of Salamanca affirm on the 15th of the month of September, Antonio Rodríguez de Zamora y Alba, Tomás Rodríguez de Zamora, Domingo Pérez Ruiz, Juan Forzen, and Ventura Fernando Chapero: to whom in turn faith of his legality is made by Pedro González Bretón, familiar and titular notary of the holy Office, under which the Archbishop of Mechlin approves the same in the year 1677. senior of the Notaries of Salamanca, one of the Twenty-four men of the royal Prison, chief Superintendent of the revenues of His royal Majesty, and of the Convent of the city. Which being exhibited to him, Alfonso de Berghes, by the grace of God and of the Apostolic See Archbishop of Mechlin, Primate of Belgium, Apostolic Delegate to the royal Armies throughout Belgium, of the Council of State to His royal Majesty; "To all," he says, "who shall see these … we make known and attest; that we have opened the little box, expressed in the Act written above and well sealed; and in it we have found the rib of Blessed John of St. Facundus: which we have marked with our lesser seal, after we had in the presence of pious men recognized it to be a true Relic of the said Blessed John of St. Facundus; and we have permitted it as such to be able to be exposed to the public veneration of Christ's faithful, and by our ordinary authority throughout our diocese by the present we permit it. Given at Mechlin the 7th day of the month of May 1677, etc."

[161] Of that Relic thus approved a part (as I said) the Convent of Antwerp obtained, under the faith of the following instrument. Thence the Convent of Antwerp receives a part "In the name of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Be it known to all, who shall see these present, that in the year one thousand six hundred and ninety-one, and indeed on the second day of the month of May, in the convent of St. Apollonia of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine our Father of the city of Brussels, in the cell of the Very Reverend Father Antonino de Witte, lately Prior of the same convent, and Ex-Definitor of the General Chapter, but at present Definitor of his Belgic Province, and also Confessor to His Excellency the Lord Francisco Antonio de Agurto, most worthy Governor of Belgium for the King; there being convoked, me Hendrik Matheys, public Notary admitted by the supreme Council of Brabant, residing at Brussels, and the Noble Men, the Very Reverend and Most Ample Lord Guillaume François le Febure, Canon of the distinguished Collegiate church of Anderlecht, and Protonotary of the Apostolic See; and also the Most Ample and Very Noble Lord Jean Baptiste le Febure, Master and Counselor for the settlement by the Lords of the Finances of the accounts of the Army of His Catholic Majesty; with the instrument of donation as witnesses specially required; the said Reverend Father Antonino de Witte, personally constituted, showed to us three aforenamed a reliquary, in which was a whole rib of Blessed John of St. Facundus (as appears from the authentic instrument here annexed) obtained by himself at Salamanca, and approved by the Most Illustrious of Mechlin; and from that rib he cut off a part in our presence; which he wrapped in light red silk and cotton; and placed in a silvered box, which he set in another larger box, likewise silvered; placing also cotton between both, and closing the larger chest with a silken band of red color also: made in the year 1691 which we fortified with our three seals. And he said that he had taken the aforesaid part of the Relics from the said Reliquary, and had placed it in the said boxes in the manner and form aforesaid, by license of the Very Reverend and Excellent P. M. Joannes Smidts, Provincial of the said sacred Order through Flanders-Belgium; that he might transfer it to the Convent of Antwerp; there in the temple, at the Canonization of the same Divine John of St. Facundus, on the Sunday within the Octave of the Provincial Chapter and thereafter, with the approbation of the most Reverend and most Illustrious of Antwerp, to be exposed to public veneration in perpetuity, to the greater glory and honor of God, and of the same Saint and of his Order, and to the solace of the faithful. Of all which the said Very Reverend Father, for the perpetual memory of the matter, desired this public instrument to be made by me and handed to him; on the day, month, and year abovesaid, the witnesses above named being present there, etc."

[162] and it being recognized by the Ordinary The license moreover of exposing the aforesaid Relic thus gave Juan Fernando, by the grace of God and of the Apostolic See Bishop of Antwerp … "Since the honors that are paid to the Saints redound to the glory of Almighty God and the utility of the whole Church; we rightly judge, that the things which conduce to the amplifying of their worship are to be promoted by us with singular zeal. We make known therefore and attest, that on the part of the Very Reverend Father Antonino de Witte, of the Order of the Friars Hermits of St. Augustine, at present Definitor of the Belgic Province, there was exhibited to us a silvered box, well closed, bound about with a red cord, and marked with the seal of the Very Reverend Lord Guillaume François le Febure, Canon of the distinguished Collegiate Church of Anderlecht and Protonotary of the Apostolic See; in which we found a part of the Relics of Blessed John of St. Facundus, taken namely from the greater part of the Rib of the same Blessed, it is permitted to be exposed. previously recognized and approved by the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Alfonso, Archbishop of Mechlin; as is established from the legitimate instrument, signed by the hand of a Notary; according to which we have judged the abovementioned part of the Relics to be recognized and approved as true and legal; as by the tenor of the present we recognize and approve; with the power of exposing the same throughout our Diocese, to the greater glory of God and of the same Saint and the solace of the faithful, to public veneration: in faith and strength of which, we have ordered that very part of the Relics to be fortified with our lesser seal impressed in Spanish wax, and the present, signed with our own hand, under our ordinary seal and the signature of our Secretary, to be expedited, at Antwerp in our Episcopal Palace. The 5th of May 1691."

[163] Thus far I had written, when there is brought to me a whole proper Office, in the Antiphons, Chapters, A new Office granted to the Order in the year 1693. Hymns, Responsories, and Lessons, even through the Octave, granted to the whole Augustinian Order under the rite of a Double of the 2nd Class, approved by the sacred Congregation of Rites on the 18th of April 1693, to which His Holiness assented on the 25th of the same, with this prayer for all the Hours and the Mass: "O God, author and lover of peace, who didst adorn Blessed John thy Confessor with a wonderful grace of composing those at variance; by his merits and intercession grant, that, established firm in divine charity, we may be torn away by no temptations from his integrity." The Gospel from Matthew 5, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you," with the Homily of St. Thomas of Villanova for the sixth weekday (Friday) after Ash Wednesday, divided through the whole Octave. For the 2nd Nocturn there is on the feast itself an elegant compendium of the Life, which, again more diffusely deduced, is recited and divided through the Octave; where I read, what I had not elsewhere found, that the Saint was born on the very day of the Lord's Precursor, on which account his name was imposed on him, not distinguishing the feasts of the Nativity and of the Beheading. This, however, I would rather believe, than what by the common opinion is written, that he died in the 49th year of his age, born in the 30th year of the same 15th century, since nevertheless the author, as if forgetful of himself, in Lesson V, orders to be read for the 25th of June, that the man, advanced in age, and marked with honorific titles in Theology, mourned among the novices with peculiar humility, modesty, and humility; whereas, by the birth-date now set down, he would have completed only the 32nd year of his age. Whether it would not be fitting that these be corrected, let it be the judgment of a higher judge, to whom we submit ourselves and all our opinions.