Mary the Sorrowful

ON B. MARY THE SORROWFUL

IN THE TERRITORY OF BRABANT NEAR BRUSSELS.

ABOUT THE YEAR 1290.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

About her cult, age, and the authentic history of her Passion.

Mary the Sorrowful, in the Brussels territory in Brabant (B.)

John Molanus, in the Nativities

of the Saints of Belgium at this

June 18, about the Martyrdom of B.

Mary the Sorrowful wrote this

elogium. In a Brabantine village,

in the parish of S. Peter of Wolue, A sacred memory

the anniversary day of S. Mary the Virgin, who

was called the Sorrowful. She from the Lord obtained

and of martyrdom. For when, adorned with the vow of voluntary poverty

and of perpetual chastity,

through many years she laboriously ate her bread;

it happened that an unchaste man

fell in love with her: and when her chastity, which

to God and to B. Mary she had vowed, she would not let be defiled;

he the Virgin of the theft of a silver cup falsely

accused; and so much did he prevail with the bailiff, that

innocent she was buried in the earth, and transfixed with a stake

about the year one thousand two hundred

and ninety. her body under the altar. But of how great merit she is

with God, the miracles testify. For also

before her death, for those about to visit the memory of the Mother of God

the Virgin in the place of her rest, she interceded.

Whence also the accuser, after seven

years he had been demoniac, in that place

was restored, A confraternity. through the Mother of God the Virgin and her

handmaid B. Mary the Sorrowful. She rests

under the altar of Wolue, and the place by it commonly

is called Ter Allendiger Marie. And there is an old

confraternity of that place, which in an ancient writing

is called the Confraternity of our beloved

Lady in the chapel of B. Mary the Sorrowful.

[2] These things Molanus. There was in the said year 1290

as Duke of Brabant John, the first of that name,

who died in the year 1294. In the ancient Chronicles

of Brabant at the beginning treatment is made of the Saints of Brabant, The time of the Martyrdom

and in chapter 36 is set forth the Life of Mary the Sorrowful,

Martyr and Virgin, with an iconography of the martyrdom,

and in it she is said to have suffered in the time of John

the second Duke of Brabant, who his father John the First,

in the said year 1294, succeeded. We find

among our Sheets a charter of Indulgences

granted by twelve Bishops at Avignon in the year

1363, in Indiction I on the 28th day of the Month of

January, in the first year of Pope Urban V:

with this end, namely, Indulgences given in the year 1363 That the chapel of S. Mary, called

commonly "der Ellendiger Marie," in the parish

of Wolue of S. Lambert, of the Cambrai

diocese, might be frequented with fitting honors, and

by the faithful of Christ be continually venerated; which

Bull below we shall give, in the year immediately following by

the Vicar of the Bishop of Cambrai by ordinary authority

confirmed; but afterward from the original, still

surviving and shown to us, into another membrane of similar form

likewise exhibited to Us transcribed and renewed

by the authority of Matthias Hovius, Archbishop of Mechlin,

in the year 1611.

[3] We do not doubt, that in those times already

were written the Acts of the life and Martyrdom and miracles

of this most blessed Virgin Mary the Sorrowful, The Acts from 2 Manuscripts.

from the mouth both of her parents, and of the accuser

after seven years converted to penance. These we

give from a Manuscript codex of the monastery of Rouge-Cloître of the Canons

Regular, about one league from the Chapel

of the said Mary the Sorrowful situated, in whose second

part of the Brabantine Hagiology they are contained.

The same we have from a Manuscript codex of Corsendonk near

Turnhout also of the Canons Regular;

and this codex is inscribed "the second part of diverse

Legends." Which codices indeed to us were brought:

meanwhile a Transcript, from the former Manuscript

taken, was testified by Matthias Hovius, Archbishop

of Mechlin, to agree with the old register,

with his own name subscribed and Seal affixed,

on the 23rd day of July of the year 1611. Testimonial

letters of this kind about the fidelity of the copy or transcript,

signed by the proper hand of the said Archbishop,

again together with the Passion itself of Mary the Sorrowful

approved the Consuls and Senate of the city of Antwerp, their approvals.

on the 19th day of November of the said year 1611, and signed

George Kieffel the Secretary, with the seal

of the city of Antwerp appended. Which again confirmed

the Notaries of the said city, Vanden Hove, Fabri and

Kimpe. And the original with us we keep, so that

nothing more certain for establishing credence can be brought forth.

Hence furthermore the same Acts taken exist in the Legendary

of the Lives of the Saints, in the Belgic tongue by

our Rosweyde collected, and often struck and

re-struck; as also some compendium in the above

cited ancient Chronicles of Brabant. There mentions

the same Ferrarius in his general Catalog, but knew not

that the place is near Brussels; and wrongly

believed it to be Walevicum, between Breda and Bois-le-

Duc.

LIFE

By an almost contemporary Author.

From the Manuscripts of Rouge-Cloître and Corsendonk.

Mary the Sorrowful, in the Brussels territory in Brabant (B.)

BHL Number: 5437

[1] Blessed be the Lord, who wills all

men to be saved, who also works

all things in all, The Author to the honor of God to will and to accomplish, what

good wills have desired to fulfill. And

therefore with reason his praise in all things which he has done

is to be sung, and also in the merits or virtues of his faithful ones

to be glorified, who of the small makes great,

nay from the dung lifts up the poor. And not only through men the way of justice

he has laid open to us, but also through women,

and through girls of youthful age, examples

of religion and chastity, and through all things

of good imitation, to all loving him he has shown.

For to our God there is always care about

all, and he wills none of these to perish, whom

he has redeemed by his own blood; For the Saints

he exhorts to remain in holiness, and sinners

to depart from evil works, and to good

acts to cling, that they may be able to the heavenly homeland

to come. Which a certain virgin understanding,

Mary by name, she undertakes to write of her death and miracles. by divine grace

inspiring her, from her childish years to the Lord disposed

to serve: that she might merit with the Elect and

prudent Virgins by her spouse in the heavenly

bridal-chamber to be received whose faith and love,

even unto blood resisting the enemy

of chastity, she did not cease to emulate. We therefore,

as the Lord shall minister, to narrate will not

be irksome how this Virgin through martyrdom

came to the triumph. Because while the Lord

his handmaid glorifies, us to her

example he invites: that of her works according to our

little measure we being made imitators, ourselves may merit

in the heavens to be associated. We will subjoin also diverse things,

which in the place of her rest, by her merits

interceding, it is established through the glorious

Mother of God to be miraculously enacted.

[2] There was lately in a Brabantine village and

parish of S. Peter of Wolue, a certain man, Leaving her parents she dwells near the church of S. Mary,

who with his wife in peace and charity living,

begot one daughter, by name Mary:

who worthy in merits and name, choosing a life

to keep Angelic, to the Lord vowed her virginity.

Indeed she considered the luxury of the world

about to perish to be vain: on account of which, that

more freely she might carry out her purpose, she deliberated

utterly to desert that world.

And when about this of her father and mother she sought

the consent; kindly assenting they exhorted

her, that constantly she should act, and to God and

his Mother the glorious Virgin Mary faithfully

in chastity might serve. Who at length

her parents licensing proceeded to the church

of B. Mary near her native village situated: she vows poverty

which place to her living afforded a dwelling,

and to her departing a sepulchre. When she had arrived there,

with faith fortified, with hope strengthened, with the charity of God

kindled, and by voluntary poverty inspired;

she fell down and adored the image of the glorious Virgin,

repeating the vows of her promise, namely that

renouncing the world, she at the same time all

temporal things abdicated, through voluntary poverty

assumed: and Virginity: proposing from door to door

to beg, and in that manner the necessities of daily food

to acquire for herself. Moreover she promised to the spotless

Mother dedicating her virginity,

and for no thing of the world that she would violate it

attesting, nay reckoning it better her bodily life

to lose, than her chastity to defile.

[3] When therefore with this double vow, of poverty

namely voluntary and of perpetual chastity

adorned, solicited by an unchaste man, through many years her bread

she laboriously begged; it happened that on one

day a certain man fixed unchaste

eyes on her, since she was most beautiful and well-mannered:

and he was kindled in love of her,

so much that to rest he was not able: but that his desire

to her he should lay open. He approached therefore

to her and the consent of her body sought.

She when she had heard, was disturbed at

his speech: and with execration she said, that she would

never do what he desired, for the reason

that perpetual to God and his Mother she had vowed

chastity. she nobly resists: Nevertheless that man

did not rest: for the devil, envying Mary's virtues,

him to illicit desires more

and more inflamed: in order that both this one

into the whirlpool of luxury he might cast down, and her from

the height of virtue he might be able to throw down.

[4] Finally so great is the demon's importunity,

that when he has perceived a malevolent man, he does not

rest, until instigating he helps him to fulfill

the evil, which he aims to do. Which

in this is clearly proved. by the same through calumny For when the man

aforesaid, by no means considered himself able

to attain to that which he desired; he thought

to use a certain cunning violence, and by fearful necessity

the Virgin to his pernicious pleasures

to incline. For cautiously he watched, where Mary,

accustomed to dine, had found a merciful householder

to herself: and entering there, he stole

placed it. Meanwhile it was discovered that this

cup was missing: which everywhere is sought. And the house

is swept, but it is not at all found. There approached

accordingly the man conscious of this crime

to Mary, and to her secretly imputing the theft,

he alleges that she otherwise cannot be concealed, unless his desire

carnal she fulfill.

[5] Which she when she heard, was consternated, and

constantly denied that she had perpetrated so great a crime:

on the contrary he affirmed it. to be accused of theft, Wherefore

he threatened her, that, if that which was asked

she denied, convicted and confessed to the legal

powers to be condemned he would hand her over. To whom

she: O friend, she said, this surely would be a wickedness

an innocent one by such a pact to hand over to the peril of death,

since utterly I am not conscious to myself

of this theft. Then he by the devil agitated took

the little bag; and the cup which he himself had put in,

drew out. Behold, saying, even

now, by ocular evidence apprehended and convicted,

yield, and to me quickly acquiesce: which done you from

this infamy I will support; and from the laws withdrawing you,

in all things I will excuse you. But she, with

excessive grief answered constantly and confidently:

never may it befall me to do, what

you suggest: she chooses rather to die. but rather in the perseverance of chastity

even unto the end I will stand firm, preferring on account of

it innocent my bodily life to lose,

than to your sacrilegious lust viciously

to be subject.

[6] Seeing therefore the man of Belial, son of the devil,

that neither by blandishments nor by threats could he move her,

nor to his perverse will draw her;

he approached the Bailiff of that place,

and brought forth the silver cup, attesting

it by a certain beggar-woman, by name Mary, by theft

taken away, Accused before the Judge, and by himself in her little bag found.

He added moreover that she was a sorceress and soothsayer

and a deranger of men: asserting himself by her

so much to have been deluded, that neither to eat nor

to drink could he, nor in any way to rest

was he able on account of her nefarious sleights and temptations.

And when these things the Bailiff had heard, not

enough did he believe the man, the accuser of the Virgin, but rather

he seemed effectively to excuse her, for the reason

that never had been heard speech of this kind

about Mary. But he by the demonstration of the cup

strove the unwilling Judge to induce,

to pronounce against the innocent Virgin

to him not unpunished turned out, as the sequel will declare.

[7] Meanwhile Mary goes to her parents, and complaint

lays down of the injury and ignominy inflicted on her: comforted by her parents,

by whose admonition she was taught all

hope and trust in God to place, and in his

pious Mother, helper of the mourning and the wretched.

But she exceedingly anxious for her Virginity,

said she more feared, lest violently from her

it be snatched, than that her bodily life be taken.

And while thus they speak, there came the Bailiff, by

the wicked accuser incited, that he should seize her, and

to a most cruel death hand her over. And when the parents

their daughter excused, and by excusing from

the infamy to rescue her labored; the impious man resisting

they accomplished nothing but rather their own daughter

before their eyes bound and led away with excessive

grief they beheld. But Mary when she saw,

that with the demonstration of her innocence she could not

proceed, bound she is led away: nor by the intercession of her parents

prevail; with excessive anxiety she was filled:

and on account of this she is named Mary the Sorrowful.

But also all, who had known her before,

when they saw her thus violated, and by an iniquitous

judgment condemned; assuredly out of compassion

they did not contain themselves from tears.

[8] And so the Virgin was led into prison,

that there could be extorted from her a confession of theft: having confessed that another's theft was found with her, which

discovered, she ought in the secret silence of the night

by death to be consumed. And when again about the cup

found inquiry was made; she answered, that the cup

indeed from her little bag was drawn out, but

she herself not knowing by another put in. These things

hearing the accuser interpellated the Judge against

her, convicting her by her own mouth the crime to have confessed,

but the consciousness of the crime onto another

to have twisted. When therefore it had become late, she is adjudged to death. she was led out

secretly to the place where, sentence given,

to death she was adjudged: and meanwhile passing

before the place of her habitation, she asked instantly

of the bailiff, that to her before the image of the glorious Virgin

to pour out a prayer might be permitted, before

from this life she should emigrate.

[9] She prays for herself, for her killers, Which when at her nod she had obtained, she fell down

with sorrowing heart to her knees, supplicating

first of all, that to her with the refuge of all the mourning

and the desolate in so great

her anxiety and straits there might be provision.

Her second petition was for those, who

to her had been the cause, or instrument, or

occasion of so undue a death, that to them might be made

an indulgence. Her third petition was, and for others who would come there,

that whoever in whatever necessity placed,

in that same place a speedy of their

petition might feel the effect; whether it be about women

pregnant, or about houses set on fire, or

about regions of men ill-pacified. Her fourth

obsecration was for those serving in her

name the blessed Mother of God in that very

place, that by her intervention from all

griefs and plagues, confusions and damages,

or whatever incommodities they may merit to be rescued:

likewise that place with their devout

prayers and alms from far or from near

caring to visit may obtain the same grace:

peace also and concord

may find and bring back, in view of the excessive grief, and her own eternal salvation,

disturbance and anxiety, in which

then she was when these things she prayed; and from all

evils freed may depart. Her last and final

supplication, intimate, was for the salvation

of her soul: that after this transitory life,

she might merit by the Queen of Virgins to be introduced

to the eternal, to be laureled with a double crown,

namely of virginity and of martyrdom.

[10] But the prayer finished she rose and promptly

offered herself to the judge, who handed her over to the lictor,

that he with bound hands and feet and eyes

veiled might bury her in the earth. and she pardons the lictor, The lictor therefore took

the Virgin, and did as to him had been commanded.

And a pit made to the measure of her body,

he laid her within; asking and

saying to her: I beseech you, beloved of God,

Virgin Mary, intercede for me with your spouse.

Who answered: Friend: I pray God that

he remit to you this which against me you are about to commit,

and all your sins: but also to all who me ever

by words or deed have offended, from my heart

I pardon; and with the merciful Lord

for them pardon to ask I intend, with those who mindful

of my grief this place devoutly shall have visited,

that without spiritual consolation they may not

depart. Meanwhile is prepared a four-cornered stake

and sharpened, that through the little body of the Virgin

it might be transfixed, as the custom required of that

time. Furthermore that iniquitous man, the accuser

of the innocent, always and everywhere stood by: who when

very many he saw weeping and grieving over the unjust

death of the Virgin, buried in the earth, with a stake she is transfixed. by no means his heart

could be softened to compassion, for the reason that

by the devil too much it was hardened, whose will

to do he busied himself; who him, as

below will appear, into his right actually possessing

reduced. Meanwhile the Virgin is buried in the earth

and the sharpened stake is placed over the mound, and

by three men into her little body is driven: and

at last by them with great mallets so strongly

it is struck, that for the space of half a mile

the sound could have been heard.

[11] The impostor possessed by a demon rages 7 years: Without delay: the most wicked accuser of the Innocent

was compelled in the instant to render

the requital of the committed crime, for before

from the place he departed, he was made the possession of a most savage

demon. For having returned home,

when on the following night he had given himself to sleep, he began

to rage and horribly to cry out; and those who

heard and approached into dread he stirred up.

Finally he was fettered and bound,

and scarcely by the strongest bonds could he be kept,

but that he broke them; until he was put into a cage,

where neither to eat would he nor to drink,

unless violently driven and compelled. In this

calamity therefore passed seven years, in which

that wretched man deprived of his senses endured, and after visiting other sacred places

whence much grieving his friends destined

him to diverse places, for acquiring

first to the place of rest of S. Dympna near

Geel, then to Wincsele, third to

Haspere, fourth to S. Mary of Hanswyck

near Mechlin; but nothing profited him,

but rather through each of the aforesaid places

the demon cried out, that by no means there, but

at S. Mary's, where Mary the Sorrowful rests,

he ought to be expelled.

[12] And so mutually taking counsel those who were with him,

placed him on a wagon, to Mary the Sorrowful by force broughtthat thither him

they might bring back. Which done, of so great weight was found

that demoniac, that with great peril

scarcely him to the aforenamed place could they bring.

But in the setting-down of him

from the wagon, and in the introduction into the chapel,

to which they had gone, so troublesome he was to those, who

with him had come, that by no art nor force him

could they carry in, until, the bell rung,

the neighbors they had convoked: he is freed, by whose help

he was let in and led before the altar

of the glorious Mother of God Mary. Where, interceding

for him all who were present, they saw

all the demon, who had possessed him,

through the window with excessive crash fly out:

and also the fetters and bonds from the hands

of him and feet to leap forth they beheld, as if

of glass they had been, and the man whole to rise up.

Who bending his knees, and he confesses his crime, gave magnificent thanks

to God, and to his glorious Mother, and

to Mary the Sorrowful, for his liberation; confessing

before all his sin, namely how

the innocent Virgin he had defamed,

as has been set forth, for the reason that the consent

of her body he required, but obtain it could not.

But these so many marvels heard and seen, and being made a venerator of Mary.

all who were present praised God, who

his faithful does not leave inglorious, nor

their adversaries unpunished, even in the present;

and that place in memory of Mary the Sorrowful

more confidently with prayers and gifts

they frequented. Furthermore the aforesaid man,

whole and unharmed returned into his house,

made thenceforth Mary's praiser and venerator,

who had been the procurer of her death.

[13] Her funeral rites seen to be performed by the Mother of God. Nor is it to be passed over at the end of this

narration, that there were seen from heaven to come

thirteen most beautiful girls, with immense

light; and each, clothed in white garments,

the foremost more excellent than the rest seemed, bearing

all processionally went around the sepulchre

of the Virgin three times, her funeral rites in this

manner in some way celebrating, and her of a triple

crown worthy declaring, for the threefold

beatitude, which by the Lord's testimony she obtained

even in the present; namely of voluntary

poverty, of chastity and of martyrdom. About the first

says the Lord: Blessed are the poor in spirit;

about the second, Blessed are they who have made themselves chaste for the sake of

the kingdom of God; about the third, Blessed are they who persecution

suffer for the sake of justice. But the threefold

circuit finished they nowhere appeared;

but from this the said Virgin and the place,

venerable they demonstrated.

ANNOTATIONS OF D. P.

d Winxele, a village

near Louvain toward Vilvoorde, where the Mother of God the Virgin to have been worshipped for many

centuries of years, teaches Augustinus Wichmans, in book 2

of Marian Brabant chapter 5.

MIRACLES

By the same author from the same Manuscripts.

Mary the Sorrowful, in the Brussels territory in Brabant (B.)

BHL Number: 5438

FROM THE MANUSCRIPT.

[14] But that it may become known, of how great merit

Mary the Sorrowful is with God, who,

while still on earth she lived, for those about to visit the place

of her rest interceded; A dying man is healed: a few of

many miracles to recount we take care, which by the prayers

of her interceding in that same place

the glorious Mother of God Mary deigned

to show. For first of all Lord John

of Meldelt, even unto death sick,

when it was announced to his mother that he was in the agony

of death; she when she heard, vowed herself with bare

feet and clothed in wool, yearly with

five gold pieces the blessed Mother of God at

Mary the Sorrowful's to visit, if through her

she might merit to be consoled over her son near

to death. Without delay: the vow uttered, the son recovered:

and he within three days made whole, his mother

what she had promised fulfilled.

[15] A certain man thereafter of the same parish,

who proceeded to bathe near a certain

mill; a drowned man is resuscitated, there submerged, for the space of seven

hours, was carried dead to the aforesaid

place, and upon the altar of the Virgin is placed:

and interceding for him all

who were present, he revived and rose up whole. The like

happened about a certain girl of seven years,

who under the wheel of a mill had fallen, and one extinguished under a mill-wheel.

dead from the ninth hour until evening:

whom when to the aforesaid place they had brought,

and a vow made her as a perpetual pilgrim

to the blessed Virgin had deputed, she revived. A certain man

of Brussels, going to a fair, met on the way

his enemies who were prepared

for his slaying. He in so great a peril

placed, A certain one is freed from death: promised himself to visit the aforesaid

place if escape he could. And immediately the vow

uttered the enemies stood still, nor to him approach

could they; and the cause known the enemies

are pacified: and he what he promised devoutly

fulfilled.

[16] A certain sacrilegious thief had snatched something

from the aforesaid oratory of S. Mary the Virgin at

Mary the Sorrowful's: a thief cannot leave the oratory: who when he wished to go out through

the window, by which he had entered, neither to go out could he nor

to come in; but with the booty there by divine vengeance

he is held fast: until, the Custodian coming, and the prayers of that

blessed Virgin for him interceding, an infant who had died is found free

to depart he was permitted, and is made a pilgrim

of the same Virgin. A certain Knight's wife her offspring

had lost, who vowing herself with the same one

to visit the aforesaid place, was consoled;

and completing her vow, offered there

two wax images for both. A woman

another of Brussels, A drowning is avoided. persisting in a voyage,

was endangered: who when she had promised

an offering she would make in the aforesaid place, unharmed

escaped, and what she had promised paid.

[17] There are healed a despaired sick man, A certain man of Mechlin, with excessive

swelling weighed down; by the physicians is despaired of:

who a vow made, that if he recovered the said

place he would visit, in a short time healed, what he had promised

fulfilled. A certain woman in childbed in

Sterrenbeek, in great straits of birth

was placed; whence the other women, who

around her were, asked the blessed Virgin,

the illuminatress of this place, that through her

she might merit to be consoled and unburdened. Which in an instant

obtained, and a woman in childbed. they visited the aforesaid place

with offerings. Certain Brusselers

gold and silver losing, for by theft

they had been taken from them, A theft is recovered: the aforesaid place clothed in wool

to visit, and with bare feet a pilgrimage

to make promised, and not long after the thief was

apprehended.

[18] A certain Beguine of Louvain feverish,

an offering she would visit, was cured. a fever is healed, Who going

to her church within the city, offered there

those things which she had promised: and immediately again

the fever seized her. At length she did, as

she had vowed, and then she recovered. A certain

minister of Vossem, going from the city of Louvain,

came to three lime-trees, and there was loosened

below his foundation, and a flux of the belly: whence

very much he was made anxious. He vowed therefore to the blessed

Mary of the aforesaid place perpetually, and hereditarily

to delegate 36 solidi, and perfectly healed

he was. A certain carpenter of Brussels

going to work in the Ardennes fell into a great

river: which by its force carried him into

he could get out, of the aforesaid place a pilgrim he would be;

soon against the force of the water he swam out and

escaped.

[19] A certain servant of Lier, asked by

his kinsman went outside the city

with him: where his adversary being found, he is killed

by the kinsman, and this one is captured. When therefore

he had been in prison for many days, namely

22 weeks, an innocent man is freed from prison: he cried out to B. Mary

the Patroness of the aforesaid place, that by her

he might merit to be consoled. Without delay within three days

he is freed, and the very place to visit he delays not.

[20] In the village which is called Lewis, between

Halle and Brussels, a certain man bore in

his leg a fistula for three years. are cured, Who despaired of

by the physicians wholly betook himself to asking

our Lady, a fistula, promising himself the place

oft-said to visit. A vow therefore made

he recovered, and what he had promised fulfilled.

A certain man of Forest going to Rome,

when he was distant by a day's journey from the city, powerless

of all his members became: and a paralysis,

so that neither to proceed nor his companions

to follow could he. Who a vow uttered recovered:

and on the following day to proceed he began and as quickly

as the rest, he too returned home, and the place

aforesaid as a suppliant visited. A certain boy, a crumb

of bread having in his throat, bread sticking in the throat is vomited up: by no art to throw

it out could he or swallow. Whose parents

uttered a vow and the Patroness of the aforesaid

place invoked: and in an instant the boy

free and whole, the bread vomited up, they received.

[21] A certain woman at the village, which is called

Wemmel lying in childbed, was caught up

into a frenzy: so that it was necessary for her to be bound

with chains and fetters. But her mother, a frenzied woman is cured, a woman in childbed;

exceedingly desolate, vowed her offering to

the aforesaid place, and in the twinkling of an eye there leaped off

the fetters from her. And when therefore the mother had ordered

her more tightly to be bound; a certain

good man forbade who stood by. Who immediately

returned to herself and came to the aforesaid place

making her offering, and carrying

with her the fetters which miraculously had sprung off.

In the Village of Scharenbeek, a certain woman labored

in childbirth for three days and three nights:

so that the child put forth one arm

over the space of one day and a half, and another endangered nor

otherwise came forth; so that by the women there

present it was declared to be dead, and

the pregnant woman half-dead. They invoked therefore all,

the oft-said place's Patroness and the woman brought forth

[22] A certain man from the parish of Crejinhem,

who all his members had lost, on a bed

lying for the space of nearly six months,

promised himself the aforesaid place he would visit

with as many men as he could to

this ask. a paralysis, Who a vow uttered immediately to rise

began: and after three days with a staff supporting

him to proceed began, and the aforesaid place as

he had promised visited with a solemn offering:

and his staff there he left.

In the city of Brussels, near Coudenberg

so that his face wholly burned appeared

and the little skin laid bare, but also the eyes burned out

nowhere appeared, so that his sight seemed

to the physicians and surgeons irreparable

or irrecoverable. And so his father and mother

exceedingly grieving, what they could undertake

they knew not. Meanwhile the Patroness of the aforesaid place

the blessed Virgin Mary appeared to the infant; a burned face with the eyes and that

the place of her patronage he should visit if his sight to recover

he wished, she admonished. The father therefore being summoned,

the boy what he had heard indicated to him.

Who made glad about the promise and certain

about the exhibition, took the boy in his arms, and

to the place to the infant designated came, and

before he departed from the place the boy to see began,

and within three days most completely healed

was, so that not even any sign of burning

in his face appeared.

[23] A certain woman in the city of Tienen

had a son of eighteen years, frenzied

become, a frenzy, so that he was bound by hands

and feet, lest against others he should rage. She

hearing related the miracles and prodigies, which were done

in the aforesaid place, promised herself the same

with a silver boy, that is a silver image

in the likeness of a boy, to visit: and immediately

the vow uttered there leaped off the bonds from the hands

and feet of her son: who made whole, came

with his mother, a rupture, and she fulfilled devoutly what

she had promised. In the Fair there was a certain youth,

who for nine years had been ruptured: to whom his Mother

compassionating, had promised herself to offer in the place

aforesaid to the blessed Mary as much of wheat

as the body of her son could outweigh:

and immediately the son whole and entire was found,

and she what she promised lawfully fulfilled.

[24] There was a certain Beguine of Louvain who letters

certain or little documents of great weight

had lost, lost letters are restored by a dog, whence very much she was sorrowful: on account of

which it was advised her by the other Beguines,

that she should promise the oft-said place

to visit. Without delay: on the following day, with the others

sitting together, there came a certain black dog spitting

and vomiting them out from his mouth. Terrified were

all at the sight of him, but after

they saw the letters restored, they glorified God,

and his mother at Mary the Sorrowful's

with assiduous devotion visited.

[25] A certain woman in Wesenbeek had

offspring, which by the loss of a side had been made

lame. there are healed a lame one, She to many saints and places

much promising, no remedy experienced.

On a certain day therefore from impatience, the boy left

in the hall alone, she went to milk

her cow: and while milking she remembered

at last the aforesaid place, where herself and her

offspring soon to come she vowed, if to her health

were granted. And immediately, after she had milked,

she returned home, and found the boy

standing at a certain table, asking

of her to eat. At which exceedingly rejoiced, she called

him to her, immediately without any impediment

he came. And soon the mother taking up

the boy, this which she had promised fulfilling, an offering

made. In the village which is called

Diegem, there was a woman having a boy: an arm sticking to gold: whose

arm to gold stuck, which not even to move

could she. She as much of grain

for the boy to the aforesaid place to offer

promising, of as great weight as could be estimated,

in an instant obtained his health: for the arm

from the ear soon is separated, and to whatever

is to be done promptly is moved.

[26] In the Fair a certain boy had fallen into a deep well

of water: fallen into a well: whose mother when to

the aforesaid place to come she had promised, received

him alive and whole. A certain boy

in Boitsfort had an eye, which for three days

blood flowed out: on account of which despaired of

was the sight of that eye in the future.

Who with devotion was devoted to that place

of B. Mary to be visited, a flux of blood from an eye; and immediately received

an eye beautiful, seeing and whole.

A certain matron going on pilgrimage,

with many others from the city of Brussels, to

S. Judocus over the sea, such misfortune

with her own incurred on the return. For by chance

it happened that a certain boy expired under a wagon,

in which he was carried, and cruelly was killed.

On account of which the judge of that village arrested

all, and imprisoned them. And when they perceived themselves

placed in peril, a captive woman is freed the aforesaid matron remembered

the aforesaid place and its Patroness; promising

herself to her a silver boy to offer,

and this miracle to be described to command,

if by the same she might merit to be consoled: and immediately

unexpectedly she was helped, the freed ones.

[27] A certain woman in Sterrenbeek was endangered

in childbirth, who remembering the Patroness

of the oft-said place, asked her that the birth, together

with the mother to have mercy she would deign: promising

herself and her offspring through their whole life

to be future pilgrims, pregnant women are preserved and to her worthy gifts

to offer. Who immediately after the vow, in the moment

of breaking one egg, was unburdened. In like manner

it happened at Brussels for a pregnant woman to be endangered,

nor in any way to be able to be unburdened, until a vow

uttered this which she asked she obtained. A boy

whose grandmother most sad over this is made.

Who drawn out and to the aforesaid place

initiated and directed, fallen into a fish-pond, immediately alive and whole

appeared.

[28] A certain woman in the village of Semse, languishing

for three years, was admonished by her neighbors,

that the aforesaid place's Patroness she should invoke

for the recovery of health. languishing for three years. Which when she had done,

she recovered, and the place itself within nine

days with a numerous company visited.

It is to be noted moreover, that of the aforesaid place of B.

Mary at Mary the Sorrowful's the neighbors testified,

that they had seen 13 thieves, by the same

Mother of God freed, to have come there,

and the nooses on their necks suspended there to have left.

ANNOTATIONS OF D. P.

Brussels and Louvain at an interval, a palace of the Dukes of Brabant,

having its name from the little river rising there, only a single league from

Rouge-Cloître, beside which Upper Wolue, and then Wolue of S. Peter and farther on Wolue of S. Stephen, villages named in these Acts from the rivulet Wolue running past.

for these run through the Ardennes Forest, between the Rhine and the Sambre far

and wide extended. Certainly it does not seem possible to understand the Soignes forest around Brussels, which scarcely some thin and ignoble rivulets intersect, unless you judge this to be a part of its bank, as formerly indeed it was.

p Wesenbeek a village near Wolue itself, toward Louvain.

q Diegem is distant twice as far from the same, toward Mechlin.

r S. Judocus is venerated, commonly Saint-Josse, on December 13, in the church of his name, in Ponthieu near Montreuil commonly Monstroeul near the sea.

s "Matrix" here signifies the very mother giving birth.

t "Vivarium," a fish-pond, a pool, in which live fish are kept.

u Semse, otherwise Semps, between Vilvoorde and Mechlin.

OTHERS

From a Belgic Manuscript.

Mary the Sorrowful, in the Brussels territory in Brabant (B.)

FROM THE MANUSCRIPT.

Lacking from this Manuscript were the first nine miracles

and again after the nineteenth

another, the tenth: a transcript of the rest

sent to Brussels to our Father Otho

Zylius, and by him to Father

Bolland, we render thus into Latin,

adding, that the Manuscript itself was of Lord Advocate

de Buscher.

[29] There was a boy in the neighborhood, mute, for whom

when a vow had been made, on the third day

to speak he began: To a mute man speech is given: but he saw before himself a burning

wax-candle, for the time which is of one

Mass, and afterward it disappeared. While the chapel was being built,

one of the workmen for nine days

and nights continued his labor, with great

joy of his mind, nothing meanwhile eating: to an unfed workman strength is supplied for 9 days;

because it seemed to him in a bower of roses to stand

before God and the Mother of God. To the bailiff in

Oppeghem a thief had escaped from prison, on whose

account he feared himself to be called into question;

but a vow made of going to this place, he was judged

to have no fault. Among certain Mechliners and Brusselers

an irreconcilable dissension had blazed up; but the aid of the Mother of God at S. Mary the Sorrowful's having been implored, peace is reconciled:

with a vow of making an offering, peace coalesced.

It is to be known moreover, that two youths, one a Brusseler,

the other a Mechliner, when they had brought woolen

cloths for sale, a lawsuit is laid to rest, and themselves on their

account saw to be about to be called into question, vowed

to come hither; and consolation soon obtained,

they were permitted to expose their wares for sale.

[30] A certain woman laboring in childbirth,

the fetus dead, declared the midwife,

nor far from death the woman in labor herself to be distant.

Then all present invoked the Mother of God, a woman in childbed helped:

who at S. Mary the Sorrowful's is venerated;

and solace perceived, they came all together

with a double offering, for the mother and the fetus.

Another woman in Wolue of S. Stephen, an infant

had placed in the cradle whole: but returned home,

and into her bosom him placing, no

more sign of life could she in him detect.

Hence terrified when again in the cradle

the little body she had laid down, she went to her neighbors, a dead boy revived;

praying the Mother of God at Mary the Sorrowful's that some consolation

she might merit to perceive. Within herself

indeed thinking, that if she were frustrated in her hope,

the infant taken she would secretly depart; but again

to the cradle returned, she found him with arms spread out

playing. Then indeed, all the neighbors being convoked,

the case to them she related, and the boy to the Mother of God

the Virgin brought, many from the neighborhood accompanying,

and for his head a good alms

presented.

[31] In Semse a certain woman had languished

for 15 years; to whom at length her neighbors persuaded

the Mother of God at Mary the Sorrowful's to invoke: which

when she had done quickly she recovered, and a votive pilgrimage

discharged, a consumptive woman cured, on the third day after, bringing

as many companions as she could entreat. A certain

man through calumny had been placed on the wheel

alive; nor did he know, by whose accusation that punishment

he suffered: but by night appeared

the aforesaid Mother of God, and him from the wheel absolved

showing him the author of the slaying of which he had been

judged guilty: an innocent man absolved, who his own wheel bearing

on his shoulders, came to the place of S. Mary the Sorrowful,

and approached the man to him indicated; who

with the kinsmen of the slain to be reconciled obtained,

and the pilgrimage which he had vowed discharged also

himself. To a certain man so were sick the four

horses which he had, that nothing but the slaughterer he awaited,

who from them the hide should draw off; horses healed. meanwhile

he devoted them to B. Mary the Sorrowful; and all to

their former health returned.

INDULGENCES

Given by twelve Bishops of the Roman Curia.

Matthias, by the grace of God and of the Apostolic See

Archbishop of Mechlin, to all

and each about to see the present letters,

or to hear them read, greeting in the Lord. There were presented

to us Apostolic letters, In the year 1363, on

parchment written, given at Avignon under the day

28 of the month of January in the year 1363, in Indiction I,

of the Pontificate of the most holy in Christ

Father our Lord D. Pope Urban the fifth

year I, sound, whole, unharmed, and from all

suspicion removed; of which letters, through

our undersigned Secretary, the tenor

to be transcribed, and into the public form of a transcript

to be reduced we commanded; willing and decreeing,

that to our present public transcript credence be given,

and to it be given and applied such faith,

as much as to the original letters would be applied. And of this

kind of letters the tenor follows, and is

such.

To all the sons of holy mother church, to

whom the present letters shall have come, from XII Bishops, We by the mercy

divine Cosmas of Saren, Nicholas

of Laicisana, Archbishops; Albertinus of Surmena,

Raphael of Archada, Robert

of Danata, John of Aytona, Augustine

of Salubria, Bertold of Cisopolis, Peter

of Suacia, John of Armirota, Peter of Divonia,

Thomas of Silena, Bishops, greeting

in the Lord Everlasting.

The splendor of the divine glory, which its world

illuminates with ineffable brightness, the pious vows of the faithful,

of his clemency and majesty hoping, are given to those visiting the chapel

then with benign favor follows, when the devout

humility of them is by the merits and prayers of the Saints

helped. Desiring therefore, that the chapel

of S. Mary, called commonly der Ellendigher

Marien, in the parish of Voluwe of S. Lambert,

of the Cambrai diocese, with fitting honors

be frequented, and by the faithful of Christ continually be venerated;

to all truly penitent, contrite

and confessed, for various feasts who the said chapel on each of

B. Mary's festivities, and all

other things written below, of the Nativity of the Lord, of the Circumcision,

of the Epiphany, throughout all Lent,

of Good Friday, of Easter, of the Ascension, of Pentecost,

of Trinity and of Corpus Christi, of the Finding

and Exaltation of the holy Cross, of SS.

Peter and Paul the Apostles, and all the other

Apostles, of SS. John the Baptist and the Evangelist,

and all the Evangelists, and

the four Doctors of the holy Roman Church;

on the day of all Saints, and the Commemoration

of Souls, and the said chapel's Dedications;

and of Saints Stephen, George,

Lawrence, Martin, Nicholas, and of the holy women

Mary Magdalene, Martha, Anne, Margaret,

Ursula, Dorothy, Barbara, Elizabeth,

Catherine; and through the Octaves of all

the aforesaid festivities having Octaves,

and on each Sunday and festal day, and for other causes for the sake

of devotion, prayer, or pilgrimage

shall have come; or who at Masses, Vespers, Sermons

or other divine Offices there shall have been present,

or who to the fabric of the said chapel,

lights, ornaments, books, chalices, gold,

silver, both in their testaments

and outside, shall have given, bequeathed, or to be given,

to be bequeathed procured, or in any other

way to the said Chapel hands shall have extended helping;

or who for the salutary state of the Lord Bishop

the confirmer of these presents, and also for

the Lord Henry Wanss Priest of the Liège

diocese the impetrator, and for the souls of their parents,

friends and benefactors,

and other faithful of Christ existing in Purgatory

piously and devoutly shall have prayed; as often soever

or wheresoever the aforesaid, or any of the aforesaid

they shall have done, of the almighty God's mercy, from each one Indulgences of 40 days.

and of the blessed Peter and Paul the Apostles

his benignity confident, each one of us

forty days of Indulgences, of

the penances enjoined on them mercifully in the Lord

we relax, provided that the diocesan's will

to this shall have acceded and consented. In testimony of all

which our seals to the present

are appended, as still appears from the vestiges

of the little cords, through the membrane below folded

transmitted, but now with the seals themselves torn away.

Given at Avignon, in the year of the Lord one thousand

three hundred sixty-third, in the indiction

first, on the twenty-eighth day of the month of

January, of the Pontificate of the most holy in Christ

Father and our Lord Urban the Pope fifth

in the first year.

In faith of which our present letters with our seal

to be sealed, and by our undersigned Secretary

to be subsigned we caused; on the fifteenth

day of the month of April, in the year of the Lord one thousand

six hundred eleven. and they are confirmed in the year 1611.

Matthias Archbishop of Mechlin.

By mandate of the Most Reverend and Most Illustrious Lord Archbishop aforesaid.

Jac. van Saffegeghem Secretary.