ON ST. RATHO OR RASSO,
COUNT OF ANDECHS IN BAVARIA.
AROUND THE YEAR 953.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
On his life, cult, and the translation of his Relics.
Ratho, or Rasso Count of Andechs, at Werd in Bavaria (St.)
BY THE AUTHOR D. P.
Johann Aventinus, a man, as long as he lived, most studious of investigating and illustrating especially German and Bavarian matters, dying at Regensburg in the year 1533, A Duke famous in war he was; left seven books of Bavarian Annals, which, variously transcribed by various people, at last came into public light at Ingolstadt in the year 1554. He, at the beginning of the fifth book, treating of Henry Duke of Bavaria, full brother of Otto I, substituted in place of the deceased Berthold, around the year 948; "At the same time," he says, "Toxus King of the Hungarians, hearing of the death of Berthold Duke of the Bavarians, with two armies invades the borders of Bavaria, devastates the Austrian march and the Carinthian regions on the border of Italy. Henry the petty-King of the Bavarians, his forces being gathered, advances armed to meet the enemy: twice meeting the Hungarians in open battle, he was twice superior; and slew, routed, afflicted the Hungarians, very few escaping by flight: but what is said to be his statue at Maurkirchen nor did the nation, eager for slaughter, dare thenceforth to provoke the Bavarians to war. Henry and the commander of his forces Ratho sprung from Damasia, at that time Duke of Eastern Bavaria (that is, Austria), as a monument of so great a victory given from heaven, armed and sitting on horses, just as they took part in the battle, fashioned and expressed of plaster and hardened by fire, dedicated and placed in the temple of the Virgin Mother of God at Maurkirchen, a village of Noric Bavaria, in the year of the Christian era 948, are still seen, preserved, shown, where then a frequent people gathered for the sake of supplication, vows being undertaken."
[2] This narration our Matthäus Rader rightly calls into doubt, in Bavaria Sancta Tome 1, p. 90, treating of the same Count, as a saint; "whose Life," he says, "is circulated, published at Munich in the native tongue, but in it I recognized many things worthy of correction: that he took the cross with the Emperor for Jerusalem; it seems rather to be another's, to Rader; that with Henry, the brother of Otto the Great, on account of the victory won over the Huns, he was celebrated by an equestrian statue at Maurkirchen, and other things of this kind, which how far they are removed from true reasoning, the reckoning of times teaches. For those statues betray not Ratho, but Walter of Hoya and Henry the Fowler, from the devices of the images; contrary to what Aventinus, Hundius, and others have related. The Eagle is the Royal device of the Fowler, as of the King of the Romans: the black Cross on a white shield, of the Dynasts of Hoya. Henry the son of the Fowler never bore the eagle, since he was never King: nor did Ratho the black Cross on a white field. The Eagle with the lion threatening it is reported to be the heraldic image of the people of Andechs. Meanwhile we will not go so far as to deny that Ratho was a great both Duke and Soldier; since at that time the Pannonians vexed Austria, which Ratho the Governor ruled, with assiduous incursions. Add that Ratho was Prefect of equestrian games, and called King of the sportive contests."
[3] These things Rader, and presently he subjoins two equestrian images expressed in copper, such as are exhibited to be seen before this Life: I recognize that nothing is clear, so that one shows the Bavarian lozenges on his banner, the other on a similar banner a Cross, and likewise on his shield: which images he could with equal or rather better right have inscribed with the mark of falsity. For there each Horseman raises on the top of his helmet a Cross, rising amid five nails: which I believe came into no one's mind before Jerusalem was taken by Bouillon, if indeed even afterward any other ever went forth thus helmeted. Those armorial tokens, at the first beginnings of heraldry, were arbitrary and free to each, nor did they pass to descendants: but whatever Duke Henry and Count Ratho used, I think they are sought in vain in the statues at Maurkirchen. For although I have never beheld them, yet when I read that they are of plaster, I cannot doubt that they have been covered over with whitewash renewed rather often, as neither concerning the titles ascribed to him. and the tokens which we mentioned on the banners and shields reformed with the pigment of new colors, at the will of those reforming them. By me, therefore, the tradition of the people of Maurkirchen will stand, until a stronger reason persuade that by those statues others than those for whom they are believed set up are represented. But he was, by the testimony of Rader, a great man, Ratho, and of so tall a stature, that he exceeded the common measure of a man; as a stone made to the measure of his body shows: which, nine geometric feet high, five wide, we represent below, so that it appears that Ratho himself exceeds seven feet. The Epitaph written around it you will read thus in Latin: "Here lies buried the noble Hero and holy Count Rasso, who first founded this House of God in honor of our beloved Lord, and here awaits the last day, 954." These things, made and sculpted in the year 1468, you will read after the Life in no. 23; nor is it improbable that already then figures, and the vulgar tongue, were in use among the Bavarians, The truer praise is from his piety even for public monuments of this kind. He was also, according to the Chronicle of the Mount of Andechs, alleged by the same Rader, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Merania, Duke of Burgundy, Duke of Franconia, Duke of Swabia, Duke of Carinthia, and Count of Gorizia, Margrave of Istria, and Lord of the Castle of Andechs; which titles the author of the life teaches were extinguished with Ratho, nor did the Counts of Andechs thereafter prefix them to their letters. I would prefer that those belong to Ratho to be taught from his own letters, being little credulous in this Life of this sort.
[4] Meanwhile it is better, with the already often praised Rader, human and fleeting things being neglected, for which he is called a Saint: to admire the religion of so great a hero. He, by the testimony of Aventinus, as above, "with Judith, the wife of Duke Henry, set out for Jerusalem for the sake of supplication, and returning thence, built on the bank of the Amper, with the rites of St. Benedict, a temple, to which from his own name he gave a name: and there buried, he is still religiously venerated by the inhabitants." Hundius in the Metropolis tome 3, p. 223, testifies that the place is commonly called zu Sankt Graf-Rath, that is, "to the Holy Count Ratho"; and says that it was built in honor of the Savior of all, next to the Amper, at the foot of his castle Razzenberg, which St. Udalric Bishop of Augsburg also consecrated. Gewold, in his Additions to Hundius, asserts that the place was also dedicated to the holy Apostles Philip and James; where, thirteen Priests of the family of St. Benedict being placed, the Count Rasso himself, after he had, with many precious Relics of the Saints sought from everywhere, by the license of the supreme Pontiff and the patronage of the Emperor, enriched the same place; not long after, having left the world with great humility, professed the religion of St. Benedict, in the year of the Lord 954, on the 15th of the Kalends of June, departed to the Heavenly Ones; and he is venerated on the 19th of June. and buried in the same temple, was renowned for many miracles. The year and day Rader found noted in the Andechs records in these words: "And so in the year of grace nine hundred fifty-four, and Otto I reigning, on the 15th of the Kalends of July died Razzo, Count of Upper Bavaria." Mabillon as to the month follows the interpolator of Hundius: I as to the month would prefer to cling to Rader, as one who saw the Metropolis, and so judged that June crept in for July by error. Yet he is to be corrected, both himself and others following him, the Benedictines Menard and Bucelinus, and our Bruner in the Annals of Bavaria, as to the day of death. For as Simon Werlin, then Provost of Diessen, wrote to us in the year 1640, from the old Calendar of Diessen it is held certain that Ratho died on the 13th of the Kalends of July, and therefore he is publicly celebrated at Diessen on this day. The same was recently confirmed to us by Carolus Erath, to be praised more fully below; adding that that feast was anciently wont to be performed by the people of Diessen with the rite of a Double; which, having for some time ceased to be done, in the year 1687 the new Provost Renatus Sentag brought back into use.
[5] A greater difficulty appears in the year of death. For the aforesaid Gewold, from a most ancient Missal among the people of Andechs, [A writing about the destruction of the place as if done under Arnulf the Impious,] brings forward a writing; by which it is said that "Brother Eusebius, Brother Adalbert, and Brother Adelher, in the time of Arnulf the Impious, the devastator of the place at Berd (another, I believe, would have read Werd), fled to the mountain and castle of Andechs, with the Relics of blessed Rasso Count of Andechs: which they both gave to the aforesaid place. So Brother Chunrad, lay brother of the mount of St. Peter which is called Madron, and Professed of the Order of St. Benedict: who 'brought this very book,' he says, 'to the place and mount of Andechs, to God and St. Nicholas. Because my great-great-grandfather, who resided in the castle of Andechs, had it written and procured it for the remedy of his soul. When I entered the Order of St. Benedict and the place of St. Peter, I carried this book with me in the time of Rudolph Duke of Bavaria a strife began between him and the Count of Girbergh, by which the place of St. Peter was wholly destroyed in the time of Rudolph written by Brother Conrad and desolate, and the Brothers expelled with wailing, because their goods came into the hands of strangers, all consumed, and especially the Relics, which the Great Count of Andechs gave to St. Peter (because the great-great-grandfather of Carnidis) of Andechs founded the same church, and endowed it, together with Brother Medicinus, who is the first beginner of the aforesaid foundation: which aforesaid Brother was Professed in the place of Bessellbrunn) which Relics I Brother Chonrad took with me and this book, and destined them to the mount of Andechs and the place of St. Nicholas. Brother Medicinus; and two Brothers together with him took flight from the place of Besselsbrunn, in the time of Arnulf the Impious, when the place was destroyed and desolate.'"
[6] This Arnulf, contemporary with Regino, was the brother of the above-named Judith, does not seem to render the year of death doubtful; married to Henry Duke of Bavaria, and contemporary (as we saw) of Ratho, to whom Henry himself had committed the guardianship of the province, in the year 953, about to bring aid to his brother the Emperor besieging Mainz. But this cost him dear: for by the contrivance of this very Arnulf, he then lost Regensburg the Metropolis of the province: to recover which, with the rest of Bavaria, for his Brother, although the Emperor ran up, Mainz being left, and besieged Regensburg in the same year; yet with vain effort he departed into Saxony in the month of December, and not until the following February returned into Bavaria and again surrounded the city with a two-month siege, and at last, Arnulf who had sallied out being slain, obtained it. So Aventinus joined with Regino.
But since all these things were done within the summer of the year 953, and before May of the year 54, nor can the tyranny of the aforesaid Arnulf in Bavaria be extended further, granting that under it the place was destroyed and desolate (as Brother Chunrad says), the place at Berd or Werd; it would altogether follow that Count Ratho had already then died.
[7] But Aventinus, among the sacred places destroyed by Bultzko King of the Hungarians, after the death of Duke Henry in the year 55 of that century, numbers the monastery of Ratho; inasmuch as it contradicts the Bavarian history and that the Relics were then first carried off, Rader thinks: which being granted, the year 54, assigned by the Annals, could stand; and the devastation of the place, with the carrying off of the Relics, would pertain to the year immediately following. Nor is the authority of that Missal, although ancient, altogether indubitable. Since no Rudolph Duke of Bavaria is found among the Historians, before the son of Louis II, born in the year 1274, and more notable by the title of Electoral Count Palatine, although otherwise by hereditary right he could be called Duke of Upper Bavaria; but this he seems to have ceded to his mother, and more than 3 centuries later. and through her to his brother Louis, afterward Emperor; but he died an exile in England in the year 1322. The book, therefore, which Brother Conrad says he brought, caused to be written by his great-great-grandfather, is not older than the 13th century; and so the testimony of Conrad himself inscribed in it, relying only on the memory of three centuries and a half, ought in no way to seem indubitable, since from elsewhere it is held that the aforesaid devastation happened, not before but after the death of Arnulf the Impious.
[8] But although, as is held from Conrad's Chirograph, the Relics of Blessed Rasso, that is, given by Blessed Rasso to the church of Werd, With the Relics the body of Ratho was not carried off. were, under its destruction, carried to Andechs, and placed with others, which the Great Count of Andechs had placed there; yet the body of Blessed Ratho remained unmoved, inasmuch as not yet recognized as a Saint, and either humbly buried in the common cemetery with the other Monks, or (if as Founder he obtained a special monument) yet enveloped in the ruins of the place: until this, equally as several other places devastated by the Hungarians, was somewhat repaired. Certainly in the year 1132 there was already in the place of Werd a Chapel, which Pope Innocent II in the 2nd year of his Pontificate decreed should thenceforth, with all right, be subject to the church of Blessed Stephen (to which from the place of St. George the Provost Hartwic with his Canons Regular had migrated). But of that Chapel, to be built above the tomb of Blessed Ratho, the occasion could be taken from the miracles begun to be wrought at his body: and over it stood, in the year 1132, a Chapel, which, illustrated by some divine prodigy, was then for the first time raised above the ground; the Counts of Andechs caring for the matter, whose castle, situated across the lake of the Amper, and turned into a monastery, is today called Mons-Sanctus Heiligenberg, under the invocation of St. Nicholas, as was said above. Furthermore the religion of the place received a greater increase and a new splendor between the years 1589 and 1611, when Balthasar Gunther was Provost of the monastery of Diessen. For he, by the testimony of Hundius Tome 2, p. 274, "built a new and ampler Church of St. Rasso." The memory of the Dedication is celebrated each year on the feast of St. Udalric, the 4th of July chosen for it, because the Blessed Count once had that very Saint as consecrator of the church founded by him there. renewed around the year 1600. But since among the days of Indulgences granted to that place is numbered the Sunday before the feast of St. Michael in September, we will likely think that the prior Dedication fell on such a Sunday. But the monument in which today the holy Count is honored, described above, could seem the work of that same Provost Balthasar; yet made to the measure of another older one, in which Ratho was likewise sculpted, but with lineaments, according to the usage of earlier centuries, far ruder. Finally the aforesaid church was most recently restored more splendidly, or rather renewed from the foundations, throughout the year 1690, by the care and expense of the aforepraised Lord Renatus.
[9] The older Life, sprinkled with fables, was not sent to us For the rest, it matters not whether one writes Ratho or Rasso or Razzo: the same reason of the name Rath or Rass remains, signifying in German "Swift," and it is likely it was said abbreviated for Ratholdus, which was his father's name; or Rathbodo, which was his grandfather's name. But besides the German life (which, sought from Munich, I have not yet received, perhaps neither would it have been worth while to receive it) Rader alleges Latin parchments, sent to him by the aforepraised Provost Simon, in which the deeds done by Blessed Ratho are read copiously described: but the shorter one written in the year 1512, but because "I detected some erroneous things in them," he says, "which do not agree with the faith of the other writers, I thought they should be passed over as uncertain, lest they should also shake the certain things." Namely Rader's purpose was nothing other than to give some summary notice of the Bavarian Saints. To us another plan is set, and examination being applied, the age of the author and other circumstances also being considered, we know how to separate the precious from the cheap. And so those very parchments we would have gladly accepted, if a copy of them had been made to us; and another fuller to use them so far as the reason of our work should bear. Meanwhile we have received another writing entitled "The Foundation of the church of St. Ratho at Werd, collected from most ancient parchments by the Reverend Lord Sebastian Makeloher Professor at Diessen, who lived and collected in 1512," by which is contained the very life of St. Ratho: but to an epitome of this we have judged to be preferred, and to be here published, that life which from the same manuscript monuments collected there at Diessen, under Provost Simon, the Dean Lord Innocentius Keferloher: because it insists more closely on those things which prove the ancient cult: but we have given, under the name of the same Dean, on the 17th of May also the life of St. Possidius; likewise perhaps about to give also the Life of St. Alypius on the 15th of August, and of Blessed Rathard on the 8th of the same.
[10] With the above-noted narration of Makeloher there is also described to us, from the most ancient Missals of the place, the form of the Mass of the Common of a Confessor not a Pontiff, "The mouth of the just," with the Mass and the Kernel of miracles, to be said on the feast of Blessed Ratho: in which the three proper Collects, namely the Prayer, the Secret, and the Postcommunion, prove the antiquity of the aforesaid cult more strongly: the Prayer is this: "O God, who didst adorn Blessed Rasso, thy Confessor, on earth with a praiseworthy life, and didst exalt him in heaven with eternal glory; grant propitiously, that all who implore his aid may obtain the effect of their petitions." That very many have obtained this, the miraculous Kernel will attest, excerpted from eight thousand two hundred ninety-eight miracles wrought through the intercession of St. Rasso or Ratho from the year 1444 to 1692 by the Reverend Lord Carolus Erath of Diessen: here to be given after the Life. of which miracles the greater part is contained in two volumes, begun to be written from the aforesaid year, which when Keferloher was writing had transcended the number of seven thousand, as he himself says in no. 8 of the Life. But that Kernel, as I trust, will be enough for the reader. For who would care to read so vast a hodgepodge, transcribed here word for word? One thing I add, that it was written to me elsewhere by the same, that on the feasts of SS. Peter and Paul the Apostles, and of St. Ratho himself, and of the Dedication, after the sermon, to which there is a concourse from everywhere especially on the 19th of June, it is customary to publish the miracles wrought in that year at the invocation of the Saint.
LIFE.
By the author Innocentius Keferloher, Dean of the monastery of Diessen, from his manuscript.
Ratho, or Rasso Count of Andechs, at Werd in Bavaria (St.)
BY KEFERLOHER
[1] Rasso today, once Ratho, to the Bavarians Graf-Rats, was sprung from the most noble stock of the Dynasts of Damasia in Bavaria. Ratho of the family of the Counts of Diessen Damasia is today a monastery of Canons Regular, dedicated to the name of St. Augustine, (to the Bavarians Diessen) once a castle and city. Thence was born Rasso, whose ancestors were of Andechs. Andechs was a castle opposite Damasia, today Mons-Sanctus, renowned in all Germany, on account of the ashes of the Saints there buried in greatest number. To Rasso, with his sister Hatta, mother of St. Conrad Bishop of Constance, the Father was Rathbotho: for he was a powerful man to him Ratholdus, head of the people of Andechs, whom they relate was born of the Emperor Arnulf. Rasso, Tetrarch of the Bavarians, cared for the border which pertains to the East, and is today Austria; a great man and of tall stature, so that he exceeded the common measure of a man, as the stone placed on his tomb, made to the measure of his body, shows.
[2] This man, greater in the glory of virtue, than without the splendor of birth or the bulk of body, since he strove wholly and continually to attend to one God, and pious and again and again to emulate the better charisms; in the manner of the resourceful bee, with the pious hand by which the Heavenly Ones are venerated, in honor of Christ and Christ's holy heralds throughout the world Philip and James, at Werd (which place is in Upper Bavaria, planted on the river Amper) at the foot of the mountain, called from his castle Ratsaubarg, he founds the monastery of Werd. built a church, which St. Udalric Bishop of Augsburg duly inaugurated, a Monastery being joined, which he furnished with copious revenues, that there might be that whereby those who were to serve at the altar there could live of the altar, without the dangerous care of seeking the necessities privately from elsewhere. He gave the monastery to be inhabited by twelve Monks, with a Provost-Abbot, under whose rule, according to the Rule of St. Benedict, they should serve God as soldiers.
[3] But the holy man, not content to have enriched the sacred place with temporal goods, busied himself to enrich it more with spiritual riches. and solicitous to adorn it with sacred Relics, And so desiring, both through himself, and through his men and others, to praise God in his Saints (he loved from his soul the beauty of the house of God), he resolved to illustrate his monastery of Werd, which he had lately erected, with the sacred pledges of the Saints: that the faithful, flowing more copiously by their allurement, might render their service to God the more carefully, the more frequently they ran together. And see, please, the truly pious counsel of the count, by which he attained his purpose. Rasso was a leader and soldier excellent among few, nor more renowned by the praise of Religion as a reward for the labor he gave in war than by the deeds of warfare brightly performed everywhere, then chiefly of the time, when the Pannonians vexed Austria, which Rasso the Governor ruled, with assiduous incursions; whom he always most happily repelled, it being uncertain whether with more good to his clients or harm to the enemies. By this name he so notably deserved well of the Emperor, as was fitting, that besides the customary stipends, he could demand extraordinary either rewards or honors, if he had preferred to obey another's, that is, a holy death. But he, to demand those gifts, which you may wonder were the more vehemently desired by a military man, the more you see the minds of soldiers more averse from this, he asks of the Emperor letters of recommendation, and rarer emulators of sanctity. He asked, as an addition to his stipend, and easily obtained, honorary letters to the supreme Roman Pontiff, and other Magnates of various Religions, with the Imperial legates. By which
certainly efficacious entreaties, wherever he had come, it was easy to receive anything in this kind, which he had loved.
[4] For furnished with these, having assumed (as is usual) the garb of a pilgrim, Blessed Rasso, with Judith, the wife of Henry Prince of the Bavarians and Saxons, with whom both at Jerusalem daughter of Arnulf or Arnold the Bad, first sought Jerusalem: where, when with a most ardent mind for venerating the holy places he had abundantly satisfied himself, he departed thence, enriched with a great treasure of holy Relics. Endowed among others with the body of St. Simeon the Prophet of Christ; which at Constantinople and Rome likewise with the body of St. Timothy the disciple of St. Paul. Departing thence he came to Constantinople, where as a most welcome gift he received the Sudarium of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, being set in agony on the mount of Olives, he used. From Constantinople returned to Rome, by Agapetus II the supreme Pontiff he was most honorably received: and the tombs of all the Apostles, whose pledges were preserved at Rome, being opened, b he received of the relics of the blessed Peter and Paul; Simon, Thaddaeus, Philip, James, and Bartholomew; he acquires and brings back several notable ones, and especially there were given the sacred head of St. Philip the Apostle, and his right Arm, and the chin of St. John the Baptist; likewise the arm of St. Bartholomew. Hence, thanksgivings being duly paid, and the Apostolic blessing received, he made for Milan; where he was given half the body of St. Barnabas c the Apostle, and his Venerable head with the ashes: all which and more relics of the saints than these he carried off to his monastery of Werd, the ornaments of the place and at once the allurements of the faithful and from both the future honors of the Saints. Certainly the holy Count on his return could not be satiated with giving thanks to God, who had always so prosperously directed his so long and dangerous ways.
[5] But indeed the holy Count, advancing again and again, and always more robust than himself, and he becomes a Monk, forgetting the things that are behind, and the good things he had done, and stretching himself to the things before, namely esteemed it little to have given an estate to the monastery, to have assigned a dowry, to have adorned it with the notable bodies of the Saints, to have given these things foreign and outside himself; unless he gave his own. Therefore he most liberally bestowed even himself, made there by solemn profession a Monk, and a lay (as we call it) brother, resolving to serve God in holiness and justice all the days of his life; and piously dead which, abundantly heaped with holy works, he concluded with a holy end on the 13th of the Kalends of July, as the older Calendar testifies, is renowned for miracles. which is kept at the monastery of Diessen. The body of the blessed Founder and their fellow-brother the Brothers entombed with fitting honor in their Church; which from then is venerated with the greatest concourse of people each year, and celebrated with countless vows, prodigies, and votive offerings.
[6] Furthermore not long after the holy man's death, the Hungarians devastating the province, the Monastery being destroyed his chapel the Monks deserted the place by flight, and withdrew to the mountain of Andechs with the Relics once brought by Blessed Rasso. Whence it came about that long after, by Pope Innocent II in the year 1132, the Chapel at Werd was incorporated into the monastery of Diessen, that very one which is now called the Church of St. Rasso, is incorporated into that of Andechs, our Founders the Counts of Andechs acting: which incorporation was very long after confirmed by various Pontiffs, by Sixtus IV around the year 1483, and by Alexander VI under the date of the year 1504.
[7] At the invocation of Blessed Rasso even today very many, and you would truly say daily, miracles of healings are done, especially in those with hernias and the stone: hence to his tomb there is a concourse far and wide for the sake of vow and religion, where today he is most celebrated for Miracles, both at other times, and especially on the feast of the holy Apostles Philip and James, the Patrons of the place; on the Rogation days, on the Birthday of Blessed Rasso; on the Anniversary of the Dedication, which is celebrated on the feast of St. Udalric Bishop of Augsburg, that is the 4th of July. Thus indeed the Lord God preserved the same grace, which Blessed Rasso had bestowed both on the living friends of God, and on their Relics when dead, also for the sacred bones of the dead Rasso, that they should be held worthy of equal honor with the Saints.
[8] In the year 1444 there were begun to be written in a commentary (which is still preserved and continued) the miracles wrought at the memory of Blessed Rasso in greatest number; of which above seven thousand are read noted, of which more than 7000 registered from the year 1444. besides those very many which were passed over through the carelessness of the writers. But it is solemn, that those who, a vow being made, have been aided and cured, take care to have the benefit announced from the pulpit, and add that for the most part to their vow that they will do so. In which kind it is noted in no. 2031. That a rustic girl with hemorrhage, when she had been cured by the patronage of Blessed Rasso, but had caused the cure neither to be published before the assembly nor inscribed, and having relapsed into the disease, did not recover, until she performed both. Similar to this is read in no. 2423.
[9] Memorable too is what is written in no. 4013, that a man esteemed among his own, an inhabitant of the village lying nearby Türkenfeld, involved in a not much dissimilar disease, the help of Blessed Rasso being implored, recovered, came to his memory, heard the sermon and the praises of the holy man. Which when they seemed to him excessive; and protesting he contended that he ought not to be called a Saint; he soon paid the penalty, the disease recurring. Vexation gave understanding. For the cause of the returning evil being noticed, openly professing that Rasso was indeed a Saint, he departed safe.
[10] And so already from some centuries of years so celebrated was and is the name of Blessed Rasso, The Church named from him, that the church founded by him was no longer called of St. Salvator, or of the holy Apostles Philip and James, but of Saint or Blessed Rasso the count; which custom too observes up to this day; and that not only among the people, but also at Rome and among the neighboring Bishops. There are at hand letters with 21 seals, appended by as many Cardinals, where Indulgences are granted to those benefiting the said Church, and frequenting the same. They run thus word for word.
[11] "Roderic of Porto, Oliver of Sabina, Mark of Praeneste, Julian of Ostia, and John of Albano, to which 21 Cardinals Bishops: John Michael of St. Marcellus, Dominic of St. Clement, Jerome of St. Chrysogonus, George of St. Mary across the Tiber, Paul of St. Sixtus, John of St. Vitalis, John James of St. Stephen on the Caelian Mount, Lawrence of St. Susanna, Ardicinus of SS. John and Paul, and Antoniottus of St. Anastasia, Presbyters: Francis of St. Eustachius, Peter of SS. Cosmas and Damian, Raphael of St. George ad Velum-aureum, John of St. Mary in Aquirium, and Baptist of St. Mary in Dominica, Deacons, by divine compassion Cardinals of the holy Roman Church; to all and singular faithful of Christ who shall inspect these present letters, everlasting salvation in the Lord. The glorious and exalted God, who illumines the world with his ineffable brightness; admonishes and excites all the faithful of Christ to do good; that on account of their good works, which they shall have done on earth, they may be able and deserve to carry back in heaven the rewards and gifts of the retribution of eternal blessedness. they grant Indulgences, Desiring therefore that the Church of Blessed Rasso, of the monastery of Canons Regular of the Order of St. Augustine of the Diocese of Augsburg, be frequented with fitting honors, and held by the faithful of Christ in due veneration, and fittingly supported with lights, books, chalices, and other ecclesiastical ornaments; and also be preserved and maintained in its structures and buildings, and that the faithful of Christ may the more gladly flow together for the sake of devotion to the same Church, and may the more promptly extend helping hands to the support, preservation, and maintenance of this kind, when there they shall have seen themselves more abundantly refreshed by the gift of heavenly grace, also inclined to the supplications upon this of our beloved in Christ Stephen Illmunstar Presbyter of the said Diocese of Augsburg; trusting in the mercy of almighty God and the authority of his Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, for certain feasts, and the alms made to the place to all and singular faithful of Christ of both sexes, truly penitent and confessed, who shall devoutly visit the said Church on the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, of SS. Philip and James the Apostles, of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of the Sunday immediately before the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel in the month of September, and also of the Dedication of the Church itself, on those Festivals, from first Vespers up to second Vespers inclusive, each year, and shall have extended helping hands to the support, preservation, and maintenance of this kind, as aforesaid; we the aforesaid Cardinals, and each of us by himself, on each of the aforesaid festivals and days, on which they shall have done this, mercifully in the Lord relax one hundred days of the penances enjoined upon them, each one hundred days. these things to endure for perpetual future times. In faith and testimony of all and singular the premises, we have caused these present letters to be made, and to be fortified by the appending of our seals. Given at Rome in our houses, in the year from the nativity of the Lord one thousand four hundred ninety, on the fourth day of the month of February, in the sixth year of the Pontificate of the most holy in Christ Father and our Lord Lord Innocent by divine providence Pope VIII. the year 1490"
[12] But this great renown of the Blessed one, the facts may rather amplify. For it is established that already from at least a hundred and fifty years, the sculptured image of the same Blessed Rasso, The Statue of the Blessed one among the statues of the Apostles in the middle between the images of the holy Philip and James the Apostles, stood on the chief altar, and was venerated by the devout pilgrims. To which old image, the old altar being removed and a new one erected, a new one like it succeeded in our memory; the aforesaid three old images being however retained at the same Church, for the sake of memory and veneration. But there accrue to the ample things ampler tokens of sanctity in the Blessed man. For devotion toward Blessed Rasso so boiled up, that in the Missals of the same Church from time immemorial there was inserted a proper Collect with Secret and Postcommunion concerning him. Whence it came about that the Priests, and the people of Augsburg themselves, both secular Clerics and Religious, coming with a Procession each year, read entire Masses Of Blessed Rasso, A proper Mass. even on the feasts themselves of the holy Apostles Philip and James, and of Udalric the Bishop. Which public cult is now solemn and ordinary to the Blessed one, with incredible consolation of the people. May the best God grant that, through the intercession of his great friend Rasso, we may venerate him in this life with equal zeal of piety, and in the eternal one enjoy a like fellowship of felicity. Amen.
NOTES BY D. P.
APPENDIX
On the profession of Blessed Ratho and the church, and some other things pertaining to it.
From the same Keferloher's German manuscripts, sent by Carolus Erath of Diessen.
Ratho, or Rasso Count of Andechs, at Werd in Bavaria (St.)
BY KEFERLOHER.
[13] Unwillingly do I treat questions of this kind: for, as my fellow-canon Thomas à Kempis teaches me, The Author approaching the question unwillingly, nothing but useless quarrels and contentions are wont to be born thence, whence pride, vainglory, envy, and discord are generated: nor do such things profit those desiring to know, but often even displease the Saints themselves. Lest however I seem to have wholly passed over the question, and also that the truth may shine forth, I will relate the opinions of others on the matter. premises that everyone has his free opinion about it. To confess the truth, it is uncertain whether St. Ratho was a pupil of this or of another Order; whence it is left to the judgment of any pious and devout Pilgrim, from the following reasons, to believe what it shall have pleased him to think according to his devotion: since neither for that reason has he detracted anything from the sanctity, nor from the pious morals of St. Ratho. This is certain, of whatever Order he was, that he was and even now is a great friend of God; by whose patronage He deigns to bestow such illustrious graces, and to work miracles.
[14] It does not seem incredible that at Werd, in the Monastery of St. Salvator and St. Ratho, And he asserts that in the monastery of St. Ratho at Werd there were Canons of this kind, who lived according to the Rule of the Canons of Aachen, then having followed the Order and institute of the Canons Regular of St. Augustine, emitting the vow of chastity and obedience, reserved to themselves the Dominion and possession of temporal goods; as is manifest from the Council of Aachen. Nor am I altogether wrong in that opinion, since not only in the time of St. Ratho several, but also six hundred years after, Canons lived by the Rule of the Synod of Aachen, that is in the year 1500, there were still found some monasteries, in which only the Aachen rule and norm of living and vowing was observed. Indeed there can still be named a certain monastery, whose Prelate showed to a certain Religious of another Order the schedule of Profession, by which that Professed attests that he is the first who by solemn vows made profession in that monastery around the year 1500.
[15] I am also confirmed from this, that it is credible that St. Ratho, as at Diessen there were in erecting and founding his Monastery, followed the footsteps of his holy nephew St. Rathard, who a little before at Diessen had also erected a Monastery to St. George the Martyr, with the cooperation of his full Brother the Bishop of Augsburg, and had furnished it with a similar form of living, at least after the monastery was restored, and hence it is persuaded, which he himself most holily governed. But that the Monastery of Werd was erected for the Canons Regular of St. Augustine, seems to be plain also from this foundation; that the Counts of Andechs, about to restore Diessen, devastated and extinguished by the Hungarians, and placing there Canons of St. Augustine, such as I have said, can be believed to have followed the example of their kinsman Ratho; that to such the monastery of Werd too passed. and so that the same were such, and not of another Order, as they themselves judged or knew to have existed at St. Salvator at Werd, that is, Augustinian Canons. Of this foundation and of my opinion this is the reason: That our Founder obtained the Monastery of Werd from the supreme Pontiff Innocent II, and incorporated it, by his license, into the Monastery of Diessen newly erected by him, as will presently be said more fully.
[16] For a long time indeed St. Ratho has been seen depicted in the habit of the Benedictines, St. Ratho is indeed painted in the Benedictine habit, but whence this license was given to the Painters, I do not know: perhaps from this, that the Religious of Werd in the time of the incursion of the Hungarians, fled to Andechs—which afterward obtained the name of Mons-Sanctus—together with the Relics; whence the people of Andechs afterward concluded that both were of the same Profession or Order, and so Benedictines, whose Institute now flourishes there. But that argument is weak, because the Monks of St. Ratho could have gone to Andechs, because there was the seat of their Founder, and a safe refuge for that time against hostile incursions. perhaps because the people of Werd fled to Andechs: Then it is certain that there were not then Benedictines at Andechs, but they were first introduced after five hundred years, in the year 1455, namely as is plain from the Chronicle of Andechs itself, both of the old edition of the year 1595 and 1625, and of the new of the year 1657. Moreover it is not lawful from the Rule and norm of living of the descendants to conclude universally about the Religion of the predecessors: since even today the most religious Order of St. Benedict by right possesses several Monasteries and places, but there then there were not yet Benedictines: which however the Religious of other Orders earlier inhabited.
[17] But in the more recent images only with a wholly black Scapular habit. From those therefore it is not concluded and their lay Brothers, as well as those of the Regulars, that he was a Benedictine: since even the lay Brothers of the Canons Regular (to say nothing of others) once bore not only a scapular, but also a hood of black color, as is manifest from the older statutes of the same, and from the practice now renewed. On the contrary the Benedictine lay Brothers were clothed equally with a white tunic, just as the lay Brothers of the Canons Regular. And thus from the above-said reasons concerning the Order of St. Ratho I have hitherto been able to define nothing certain, used a white tunic with a black Scapular. but I leave that question to the fair and impartial reader to resolve, whether St. Ratho was of this or of another Religion. These things being set forth without prejudice to anyone, it pleases to explain by what reasoning the church of St. Ratho was annexed and incorporated to the monastery of Diessen.
[18] After the holy Presbyter Rathard had erected the Monastery at Diessen, and dedicated it to the great Martyr of Christ St. George, The Diessen monastery founded by St. Rathard, and had introduced Canons Regular into it; he deigned to preside over the same by his presence and a similar form of living, by laudable example rather than by power (which is the best rule of governing); until at last, called from this temporal life into heaven, he obtained the rewards of his vast merits (which God willed to be signed by various miracles), to be commemorated on the 8th of August in the Calendar of the Saints. Afterward, by the fury of Duke Arnold, that Monastery was not only despoiled of all its goods, destroyed by Duke Arnold, but also utterly overthrown and deserted. And although the same was afterward erected anew by two religious and devout men, Udalric and Adalbert, Professed of that place; yet it did not seem to them suitable for preserving Monastic discipline: wherefore the said two Religious deliberated about transferring it to a more convenient place.
[19] That they might execute this pious purpose and will, almighty God at last singularly helped them, through the most devout Countess Kunissa or Cunigund. For she after the death of her husband Count Frederick II, the Countess Cunigund transfers it to another place; built at Diessen a church to the Protomartyr St. Stephen and some cells, and handed them over to the Canons Regular, formerly inhabiting the Monastery of St. George the Martyr, under the Provost Hartwig, a man no less wise than pious, as the great sanctity of St. Mechtild (to whom the Duke was a guide to the summit of perfection) can attest, by her Life copiously written and printed on the 31st of May in Henschen. Nor however did this second foundation lack its defects too. when Counts Berthold and Otto endow it, Wherefore by the benevolence of Berthold Count of Andechs and Diessen, and of Otto II Count of Wolfratshausen, progress was made to a third foundation: for which the said Count Otto offered several goods, but Count Berthold, besides goods, offered also his own castle of Diessen, and introduced it into the form of a Monastery, as is seen today.
[20] That it might be endowed with sufficient revenues, both Counts and others supplicated Innocent II the supreme Pontiff for the Church and Monastery of their kinsman St. Ratho, and they subject the church of Werd to it, in the year 1132. which now for two hundred years had been uninhabited and forsaken by all. The Pontiff assented to the petitions and decreed that the Monasteries of SS. George and Stephen the Martyrs, with all appurtenances, movable and immovable goods, be fully incorporated to this last foundation, bearing the title of St. Mary the Virgin, as also the same Pontiff handed over the Monastery and Church of St. Ratho with all appurtenances to the Monastery of Diessen, by express letters or a Bull, under the date 1132, as is more fully contained in the said Bull. And this incorporation afterward other Pontiffs, namely Sixtus IV in 1483, and Alexander VI in 1504, confirmed: and from that time the Monastery of Werd remained incorporated to that of Diessen, and remains up to the present day, no one resisting, now for five hundred years.
[21] This the Provost Hartwig restores; After the Monastery and Church of St. Salvator or of SS. Philip and James, now called of St. Ratho at Werd, or rather their ruins with the estates pertaining thither, had passed to the Monastery of Diessen of the Blessed Virgin Mary to be possessed; the most zealous and most pious Provost Hartwig thought nothing was to be done by him sooner than to build over the remains of St. Ratho a new church, as also he did. In this, when the sanctity of the same, and in the year 1593 another makes it ampler by frequent and great miracles shown to the sick, became more and more known; and on that account the concourse of devout Pilgrims daily increased, and therefore that Church seemed too narrow, the most reverend in Christ Father and Lord Balthasar Gunther Provost of Diessen (whose memory is even now among some old men) adjoined a little Monastery to the aforesaid Church, and wonderfully enlarged it, and adorned it with various paintings, around the year 1593.
[22] a new sacristy with a choir is added, It was also found that the old sacristy was too narrow, and the altar of the old Chapel inconvenient and broken, wherefore with the consent of the Ordinary of Augsburg, the altar being destroyed, an ampler sacristy, and a Choir above it, was built, for the greater quiet and convenience of the Religious; who for the greater festivities of that place migrate from Diessen to St. Ratho's, as may even now be judged with the eyes. There the statue of St. Ratho was seen in the middle between the holy Apostles Philip and James on the high altar, and the statues of the Saints are renewed. for two hundred years, and is venerated by the devout pilgrims. But when the old altar was removed and a new one substituted; other statues both of St. Ratho and of the said Apostles were fashioned, and as above placed on the altar; the old ones meanwhile, for the sake of memory and of greater devotion, being preserved in the said Church.
[23] The bones of St. Ratho are elevated in 1468 In the year 1468, on the 3rd of July, with the consent of Lord George, then Vicar General for the most reverend in Christ Father and Lord, Lord Peter Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church and Bishop of Augsburg, the sacred bones of St. Ratho, found in a deep well, were exhumed. But the body was of tall stature, of which a certain arm-bone is piously preserved in the Monastery of Diessen; Indulgences granted in the year 1490, one finger too was enclosed in a silver gilt shrine: the rest were buried in a marble tomb raised from the ground, the statue of the Saint being erected above, in which up to now
they rest, renowned (as is established) for countless miracles.
[24] After these things, in the year 1490 fifteen Bishops and twenty Cardinals, at various times (as their letters attest) bestowed various Indulgences on all and the keeping of the Blessed Sacrament. who shall have devoutly visited the Church of St. Ratho, on the chief festivities of the same, as will afterward be said more fully. In the year following the said letters of the Cardinals, 1491, the Vicar General of the most reverend in Christ Prince and Lord Frederick, Bishop of Augsburg, granted the faculty of keeping in the church the most holy Sacrament of the Altar.
[25] These are the things which the church of Werd has hitherto shown, to the memory and honor of St. Ratho: but the mount of Andechs, A Catalogue of the Relics once carried off thence. besides other notable Relics, on account of which it deserved to be called Mons-Sanctus, preserves several of the Relics deposited by the aforesaid Saint in his church, and, this being destroyed, translated to Andechs: as is to be read in the Chronicle of Andechs of Herger Berger, from which, printed around the year 1657, receive this Catalogue of them.
1. The bones of Simeon the Prophet and of Timothy disciple of St. Paul. 2. Half part of the Sudarium of our Lord Jesus Christ, with which in the garden of Gethsemane he wiped off the bloody sweat, handed over to him at Constantinople. 3. Of the most holy Cross of our Savior. 4. Of the holy Blood of Christ. 5. Of the Cloth of our Lord, on which with his Disciples he took the last supper. 6. Of the Cloth of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 7. The skull of St. George the Martyr. 8. Of the Skull of St. Mary Magdalene. 9. The head of St. Agatha the Virgin. 10. Of the Bones of the holy Apostles resting at Rome, of St. Peter. 11. Of St. Paul. 12. Of St. Simeon. 13. Of St. Jude Thaddaeus. 14. The head and right Arm of St. Philip. 15. The arm of St. Bartholomew. 16. Of the Cheek of St. John the Baptist. 17. At Milan he obtained half part of the Bones of St. Barnabas the Apostle, and the head and ashes.
THE PRODIGIOUS KERNEL.
By the Reverend Lord Carolus Erath, Canon Regular of Diessen. Excerpted from 8298 miracles described from the year 1444 to 1692.
Ratho, or Rasso Count of Andechs, at Werd in Bavaria (St.)
BY CAROLUS ERATH
TO THE READER
Do not wonder, friendly reader, that this Kernel takes its beginning only from the year 1444, although it is established that St. Rasso departed this life in the year 954, on the 19th of June. For as the bloody Glutton by his warlike tumults exhausted very many treasures, so also against our most beautiful documents, which existed from the most trustworthy reports of our predecessors, he cruelly raged: Many other monuments being lost, who however could not so rise up as not at least to be compelled to leave this antiquity, to our highest solace and the honor of the most holy Thaumaturge. Since therefore, at least from this remnant, the very Reverend Father Daniel Papebroch asked for some more select miracles, lest the work should grow too much, I gladly assented to him; that thence the benevolent reader, the Author rejoices that testimonies of miracles survive as it were from the claw the lion, may be able to deduce how great with God in merit and most pious in affection toward his clients St. Rasso was, and even now is. Where however I would have you advised, that in a certain old codex of ours the distinct number of years was not expressed, from the year 1444 up to the year 1559: first without the year, but from this up to the year 1594, each was specially designated; which same began to be continued from the year 1612 up to the year 1639 inclusive. But if you should desire miracles from the year 1594 up to 1639, know likewise that they were all lost in the Swedish tumult, and do not exist, then with it, from the year 1559. except two miracles, of which one happened in 1624, the other in 1636.
* In this place there had crept in at Diessen the number of the year 1612 manifestly contrary to the text, and detected only at the very moment of printing: hastily therefore the error was corrected by conjecture; whether it was a happy one I leave to the people of Diessen to judge: for it is not lawful for so slight a cause to halt the press.
[1] The private parts of a certain tailor of Mauern were so consumed by rottenness, that no hope of any remedy shone: Mockers of St. Rasso, by recovering, are punished, but again freed by the same. whence he vowed himself to St. Rasso, from whom he presently experienced the healing hand. About to show himself grateful for this grace, he devoutly visits the Church of the same Saint, and offers the greatest thanks he can. A servant of the said tailor sees this, and the monument of St. Rasso being seen, mockingly broke out in these words: "What can this man, who himself so miserably lurks in this marble tomb, provide for the salvation of others? Let him help himself, if he is so powerful." He said it, and behold the avenging hand of God. Scarcely does the tailor with this servant depart from the Church, when on the way the wretched servant is seized in the same part of the body with a far greater rottenness and more intense pains, so that he could scarcely move a foot. The wretch recognizes his error, grieves from his soul, and vows himself to St. Rasso, and contrite of heart returns to the Church, where he is presently restored to his former soundness.
[2] The hostess of Wielenbach denied all faith to the benefits of St. Rasso, whence suddenly driven into a frenzy she was deprived of speech, until she had made a vow to visit the tomb of St. Rasso shortly; where, compunctious of her unbelief, her tongue was loosed in the year 1551.
[3] After someone of Türkenfeld had recovered through the intercession of St. Rasso, and on that account had been present at the sermon and Divine offices in that Saint's Church; he heard from the pulpit his heavenly physician highly celebrated, and moreover the name of Saint imposed on him. This displeases the ungrateful hearer, and therefore he openly murmurs, judging him unworthy who should be honored with these encomiums, whom however the avenging right hand of God taught to be wise, when seized by his former disease, the goads of pains urging, he publicly professed that holy Rasso was most worthy of this name: which done, by the merits of holy Rasso he was again cured.
[4] William Mayr of Erling, for three continuous years nearly consumed by the pains of the stone, Those negligent in fulfilling vows are seized by the former evil; invokes our holy Thaumaturge, and is wholly freed: but because he neglected to note this miracle for future public announcement, on the way he nearly fails through returned pains of the stone. The sick man cries out to his former physician, who appearing by night admonished him to take care that the miracle done be inscribed and announced. The sick man obeys, and recovers.
[5] The same happened to a Weaver-woman of Landsberg, who refused to have the cleansing of her child's leprosy announced, whence the child is presently again seized with leprosy, nor is cleansed, except after a lawful announcement is made.
[6] The same penalty John Schneider of Alting underwent with his recovering infant.
[7] George Grengl the elder of Schwarz attests in writing, that for four whole years he was tormented by pains of the stone and kidneys, nor could obtain any remedy or relief; yet at last admonished by the noble Lord Vitus Penzl to vow himself with some gift to St. Rasso, not hesitating that the Thaumaturge's hand would suppress all the pains. The counsel pleases George, he promises one Our Father and Hail Mary on each day of his life with an annual pilgrimage, and a candle offered; which devotion accepted by St. Rasso with a kindly gaze the following soundness attested. Whence he presently went to the Church, and with a grateful mind paid his promises; this one thing being omitted, that he did not announce the miracle. Which when he had also a second time (fearing nothing the stimulating mind) kept silent, presently still in the inn he was so intensely tormented by his former pains that he scarcely judged them bearable. To which end he ordered the local vicar to be called: from whom when he had received the counsel to renew his vow anew, he again becomes a suppliant, and orders ink to be brought, by which all could be noted; which he performed with so great profit to himself, that before the work begun a stone of notable size, in the presence of the vicar and the sick man's wife, came forth; and freed George thereafter from all trouble, in the year 1608.
[8] In the year 1679 Paul Stokhl, a smith at Nozinque, experienced the healing hand of St. Rasso in a hidden affliction of the body: likewise others similarly guilty. which when he blushes to inscribe the things promised by vow for public announcement, he is afflicted with his former pains so long until he had indicated it.
[9] Caspar Greiff was compelled to undergo the repeated evil in the year 1688, on account of the negligence of his mother Barbara Greiff of Geretshofen; who, when she had borne Caspar afflicted with a hernia, promised to St. Rasso for obtaining soundness a waxen image, three kreuzer, and as many Rosaries, with the obligation, that if Caspar should reach his seventh year, he himself should fulfill this vow. The suppliant is heard: but because the vow is deferred, the son is subjected to his former affliction, nor is freed except after the vow is fulfilled.
[10] The very same negligence, in his father Adam Heile of Amberg in Swabia, the son Joseph had to expiate, freed by the intercession of St. Rasso from a rupture; on whom at a more advanced age, by his father's vow, an annual pilgrimage fell, which meanwhile the parent had promised to fulfill. He omits it once, and forthwith grieving sees his little son so afflicted with a repeated rupture, that stammering he asked his father to follow the footsteps of the begun devotion. The parent assents, and the son recovers, in the year 1688.
[11] With no different outcome was punished the wife of George Schuester of Steinbach, bent in hands and feet: who when, a vow being made, she had obtained health, and yet had deferred her promises, is taught to fulfill them by a repeated and greater evil: from which however she again experiences herself freed, when she satisfies her vow.
[12] The wife of John Lesche of Pressling detected a grave defect of the eyes in her child: wherefore she promises to offer waxen eyes in honor of St. Rasso: but because she defers the vow, the child is wholly blinded; nor is restored except the vow being fulfilled.
[13] The same happened to the daughter of Henry Mayr of Pachoven, who saw his daughter—afflicted with a grave infirmity and moreover with an unusual horror turning away from the Sacraments—Infirmity and horror of the Sacraments removed. safe, a vow being made, but on account of the negligence of fulfillment subject to her former misery so long, until he had stood by his promises.
[14] John Paumgertner of Freising the fatal enemy afflicted with such sadness, that on account of the threatened loss of life and goods he knew not a place of escape, and so nearly despaired: whom however St. Rasso, clothed in white garments, raised by a nocturnal apparition, fatherly intimating that, a vow being made, he should become a suppliant to him. The wretch obeys, and forthwith is inwardly pacified, and at the same time gladly experiences his enemy reconciled.
[15] Margaret Prunmayr of Dinzlbach, nearly swallowed up by most grave temptations, Temptations overcome: and reduced to madness, when she perceived herself unequal to the most hostile enemy, fled to our most glorious Hero: whose invincible right hand so broke the infernal lion, that with the royal Psalmist she could sing over herself: "The snare of temptations is broken, and I am freed."
[16] The same insulting beast a certain woman gloriously conquered by the help of St. Rasso, continually vexed by execrable temptations of blasphemy, in the year 1631.
[17] Sixtus Beer, a Butcher of Augsburg, for four weeks deprived of all his senses, those out of their mind are restored.
in the last fourteen days blazed up with such frenzy, that besides an iron chain scarcely five men held him. But after he had been commended to St. Rasso, all the frenzy had remitted.
[18] When George Hueber of Freising had, by a vow made to St. Rasso, exchanged his iron chain, by which for half a year on account of madness he was bound, into a waxen chain, to be offered to him shortly; he saw himself free and restored to an entire mind.
[19] This same benefit Wolfgang Hueber of Puelach experienced, whose son for two years out of his mind recovered his senses, when he had promised a waxen skull for him.
[20] In the year 1639 George Winckhler of Ramse freed his little son, bewitched from the cradle, and for a whole year oppressed with continual pains, from the spells by a vow of pilgrimage and the sacrifice of the Mass emitted. Spells, incantations, and bewitchments loosed.
[21] The same benefit by the same vow experienced John Deisl of Windach, still a little boy, in the year 1640.
[22] In the year 1690 two horses of Walburga Weiss of Ochinque were so infected with diabolical spells, that for fourteen days they could eat nothing. The wretched woman becomes a suppliant to St. Rasso, vows in his honor the Sacrifice of the Mass, a kreuzer, a Rosary, and a public announcement. And without delay, the vow being made, both horses ate most freely.
[23] In the year 1688 Barbara, the little daughter of Michael Mang of Munich, from the mother's womb up to her seventh year was many times most grievously vexed by the epileptic disease: Epilepsy cured, whom when her parent had vowed by a pilgrimage to St. Rasso, and the sacrifice of the Mass to the same Saint, presently, the vow being fulfilled, she was wholly freed.
[24] The same attests in the year 1691 Regina Lamer of Munich, concerning her son epileptic for a year and a half, and through the intercession of St. Rasso forthwith and wholly cured.
[25] The little daughter of Barbara Gerold of Blavenogg, very often like an epileptic, had fallen down by a sudden collapse: but as soon as she had been commended by her Mother to St. Rasso with certain prayers, nothing ever of such a kind had happened to her, in the year 1692.
[26] The wife of Conrad Jakhl of Mittelstetten, often touched by apoplexy, and apoplexy. St. Rasso admonished in her sleep to become devoted to him. The woman assents, and forthwith is healed.
[27] In the year 1692 Wolfgang Sundermayr reported that he had been so touched by apoplexy, that for six whole weeks he could neither move a hand, nor stand on his feet: who however, kindled with singular devotion toward St. Rasso, at the first moment of the vow was restored to health.
[28] To John Haberseyer of Lengenfeld in prison St. Rasso appears: whom when the captive had invoked, Captives freed. and emitted a vow to his Church, the chains were broken, and a free exit lay open.
[29] Nor did the wife of a certain citizen of Munich know how to rescue her husband, cast into prison in Italy, by better coin, except by a vow and prayers offered to St. Rasso, which she also obtained.
[30] Poison drunk is expelled. The wife of N. Schopper of Oberbrunn, poison being offered and drunk, near death fleeing to St. Rasso, forthwith experiences his expelling and saving power.
[31] Christina Mayr of Inning, poisoned by a spider; The infection of a spider's bite, and a serpent's bite cured. and the son of George Schneider of Westerdorf, infected by a serpent's bite, so swelled up, that the last hope of remedy was the prayers offered to St. Rasso, by which they expelled the so spreading evil.
[32] Against this plague Michael Wagner of Wengen experienced St. Rasso a most excellent physician, for a whole hour like one dead, in the year 1665. Frenzy suppressed. Likewise Laurence Tablander and Nicholas Reindl, with very many others, although sometimes they had been detained a long time. And at last most recently in the year 1691 the little daughter of Catharine Kamerlocher of Weixlbrunn.
[33] In the same year the same asserts Maria Barchtold of Diessen in Bavaria; whose little daughter Magdalena, long, all medicines being frustrated, frenzied, recovered, a Rosary and pilgrimage to St. Rasso being promised.
[34] In the year 1692 Anna Bokh of Aich restored her frenzied little daughter Catharine by the one and best medicine, that she vowed her to St. Rasso, a promise being made of certain prayers, and the offering of two kreuzer.
[35] The son of the Toll-collector of Brugg, submerged in the waters for half an hour, In sudden mishaps and those suffocated in water revive. by the help of St. Rasso emerges unharmed.
[36] A certain infant of Landstetten, drawn from a well, for three days half-dead, is restored by the same help to entire health.
[37] George Aeinmajir of Diessen opportunely saw a two-year-old infant immersed in a vessel full of water: he runs up astonished, draws it out, and about to bring out a sign of life shakes it gravely, but because no sign appeared, groaning he cries out for divine help, of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of St. Rasso: which done he shakes it again. And presently abundant water flows from its mouth, yet no sign of life being given. He repeats his sighs, and full of confidence in God and the Saints shakes it a third time, where not only an abundant outflow of water, but also a certain sign of life appears. At last a fourth time he vows the present little infant with three other little ones to St. Rasso, and shortly embraces it wholly unharmed.
[38] In the year 1650 Wolfgang Baur, a miller of Unterwindach, testifies that his little daughter Walburga floated in the waters the space of six paces, and at last clung in a thicket with her feet raised aloft; and drawn out thence lacked all sign of life so long, until a vow had been made to St. Rasso; which scarcely uttered, the girl moved herself, and ran whole to her father.
[39] George, the three-year-old little son of Bernard Schwarz of Janingen, immersed in water, is so caught by a fulling-wheel, that it stopped the wheel, and the wretched infant, bent under the wheel and the water, stuck. Loosed then and drawn out, he gave no sign of life, until after a quarter of an hour the life-giving right hand of St. Rasso was implored through the sacrifice of the Mass: when presently she saw him alive and successively wholly restored, in the year 1616.
[40] In the year 1684 Justina Schrait of Raisting, the little daughter of Melchior Schrait, suddenly fallen into a torrent, was carried two hundred paces through the waters: drawn out thence she too gave no sign of life at all. There stood by this mournful spectacle George Gigl, kinsman of Melchior, and commended the girl to St. Rasso; a vow being made, that he would take care that a Mass be read there; when behold! at once the girl speaks and is restored to the desired health.
[41] In the year 1675 Philip Unfridt of Kottalting gave his labor to the building of that same Church, where suddenly fallen from a height of 50 feet to the ground, he lacked all sign of life. The parent of Philip stands by, flees a vow being made to St. Rasso; the son moves himself, and in the space of six days wholly recovers.
[42] In the same year the healing hand likewise experienced Eva Dietrich of Breitbrunn, who on account of a dangerous fall leaned on two crutches for fifteen weeks, and on one for a whole year without any effect of medicines. Destitute therefore of earthly aid, she binds St. Rasso to herself by a promise of the sacrifice of the Mass, and is thereafter so dexterously restored to the desired soundness, that she could undertake any labors without any support.
[43] As an eyewitness I report, that in the year 1684 Nicholas Reinde of St. George of the Parish of Diessen, on account of the mass of a huge timber fallen upon him, was so deprived of all speech, that I myself for three weeks could receive his Confession only by signs. The parent of Nicholas promises two kreuzer and a public announcement: the son recovers and even now speaks most entirely.
[44] In the year 1643 George Thomas of Mörnweis reported that, a whole cart of dung being driven over, he so crushed his own seven-year-old child, those crushed by the passing of a loaded cart are rescued unharmed. that it wholly succumbed under the whole cart. The infant wails, the parent looks back, and running up remembers St. Rasso, and invokes him, and vows the sacrifice of the Mass, and that if he should rescue the child unharmed, he would take care that it be publicly announced. He at last moves the cart, carefully surveys the little body, and finds nothing but the ankle removed from its joint, which however was presently again put back.
[45] The same benefit experienced the noble Lord George Christopher de Arzet, town Judge of Diessen in the year 1646; who vowed his six-year-old son Maximilian in a like case to St. Rasso, when he beheld him seized by his right foot by a loaded cart, but yet by the prayers of St. Rasso wholly unharmed.
[46] The child of John Weber of Memmingen, suddenly fallen from a bench, St. Rasso heals various wounds. strikes so strongly against a spindle, that the spindle was broken in the middle in its eye: by which mishap, on account of the abundant flow of blood, and because some fragment of the broken spindle was for many days fixed in its eye, the wretched child was deprived of sight. But behold! while the parent vows the infant to St. Rasso, presently the fragment of the spindle without any medicine springs out of the eye, and frees the child from all danger.
[47] A physician rather of the soul than of the body St. Rasso experienced George Roming of Ruepach: for when on account of a wound inflicted on the head he could not speak a word, yet he obtained so much, that presently, a vow being made, he could confess, and use the benefit of speech for the three remaining days of his life.
[48] In the year 1666 the horse of Maria Freisinger of Traubing leaped so strongly against a stake, that thence a lethal wound grew; and because all hope of life had failed, she became a suppliant to St. Rasso: she promised two kreuzer with a public announcement, and it was gradually restored.
[49] A very wonderful right hand felt Sebastian Ranz of Holzhausen, whose little daughter after nine months from birth twice so grew a fistula, that not even a little drop could pass through. The parent orders the fistula to be cut the first time, but presently again the old growth. He orders it a second time, but adds a vow and invokes St. Rasso, which done the infant was wholly freed, in the year 1682.
[50] Leonard Penterieder of Mauz in the year 1680 was so dangerously crushed by an olive-mallet, that he was believed dead by all; from which however when he had somewhat revived, for some weeks he was tormented with such continual pains, that he feared they would last to the last breath of life; to which moreover there had been added so great an obstruction of the ears, that he heard nothing at all. Set in such miseries he invokes the helping hand of St. Rasso, vows a waxen head and a Rosary: and forthwith he is freed both from the defect of the ears and from all the other pains.
[51] When in the year 1611 from the community of Lemering wholly infected, Plague is removed. now some persons had been carried off by the pestilent plague, a vow was made to St. Rasso, that they would make a pilgrimage to the saint's Church: and behold! in the same hour the contagion is removed.
[52] In the year 1609 a certain plague among the horses, cows, and swine of the neighborhood of Walchstatt so raged, that within eight days some perished, and moreover fourteen were near to ruin. The neighbors terrified by this evil, fled to diabolical arts; and now had designated Martin Baader, who from a certain witch should seek a remedy: of which however being compunctious, they emit sighs and vows to St. Rasso, vow a pilgrimage, and the sacrifice of the Mass; and presently not only is the cattle already infected restored,
but moreover the whole plague is stilled.
[53] The son of John Loder of Lauterbach was so consumed by a contagious plague, that the issue of his life was expected at any moment: but because the father vowed to St. Rasso that very cloth in which the son after death was to be wrapped, he was restored to health.
[54] Anna Kirschner of Obermeitingen, only thirteen weeks from conception, fell into a disease so grave, The dead raised. that she brought forth an immature fetus of the length of one finger: which when the sick mother had seen destitute of signs of life, she vowed it, a candle being offered, to St. Rasso. And without delay, when forthwith the fetus moved itself, and gave most evident signs of life so long, until it had been baptized by the Parish-priest.
[55] A dead infant there brought forth Margaret Majir of Osmaring, for whom, that it might recover life, she invokes St. Rasso: which done, all seeing, the infant moves its tongue and is baptized.
[56] A noble matron, Agnes Eresinger of Türkenfeld, Pregnant women freed from difficulty of childbirth. by a three-day difficulty of childbirth reduced to extremes; when she could no longer speak, with an inner voice, and a candle offered, cries out to St. Rasso, and is freed from the pains.
[57] Likewise after fourteen days the wife of the Saddler of Pizling is made a joyful mother, when she had bound herself to St. Rasso with the gift of a candle.
[58] By the same help, Regina Hueber in the year 1636 is rescued from extreme danger of childbirth, when she had vowed a waxen image: by that very vow Maria Nosner of Adeltshosen repelled an eight-day difficulty, in the year 1687.
[59] Likewise was freed the wife of Francis Stadler of Unering in the year 1688. And at last in the year 1691 from the highest pains and the highest danger of life was redeemed Maria Wintergrien.
[60] In the year 1688, when Salome Mol of Elchingen had noticed herself pregnant, who before had already a second time brought forth a dead child; solicitous lest she succumb again to so great a misfortune, she fled to St. Rasso: who appearing to her by night, showed a living child, which exulting she brought forth.
[61] In the year 1685, Martin Spies of Puechla attests with other trustworthy persons, that he was infected through his whole body with so scabby a plague, A scabby plague like leprosy cured. that he certainly believed death near. Since therefore no other medicine sufficed to drive off the evil, he vows an annual pilgrimage with certain prayers, and an offering to the Church of St. Rasso, and recovers.
[62] John Penterieder of Mühlhausen reports that his three children were infected with so foul and grave a plague of the head, that he greatly feared lest they be overwhelmed with miserable leprosy: wherefore by three sacrifices of the Mass becoming a suppliant to St. Rasso, he too obtained the desired help and health.
[63] George Pfister of Unterschondorf, on account of the most intense pains of the head made deafish, Pains of the head mitigated. is freed from both evils by the merits of St. Rasso.
[64] A woman of Munich, on account of pains of the head, often fallen into a faint, invokes St. Rasso and is forthwith healed: which same John Mayr of Ebersberg experienced.
[65] Elizabeth Schuester of Geisering, besides vertigo pressed moreover by very sharp pains of the head, St. Rasso being invoked recovers. By the same benefit the vertigo of her two-year-old little son was cured, attests Walburga Ostermayr of Immerin. In the year 1686.
[66] George Wolff of Peutgarten for five continuous weeks on account of pains of the head deprived of all senses; at last in his sleep sees St. Rasso, to whom vowing himself he presently recovers his senses.
[67] In the year 1686, the healing hand of St. Rasso likewise experienced the virtuous virgin Maria Barbara Horman of Diessen in Bavaria, when for a whole seven years she had labored with a discharge of the head, without any fruit of medicines. Where wonder, my reader, that the said Barbara had first chosen other pious places, and implored the help of the Saints, yet with no effect; until she had fled praying to this our Thaumaturge, a vow being emitted, that she would pray three Rosaries with an offering of six kreuzer, the reading of the holy Mass sacrifice, and a public announcement.
[68] Grateful too showed themselves to St. Rasso Catharine Holzer of Oching in the year 1690 and Andrew Volckh of Geltendorf in the year 1691: of whom the former for a whole year, the latter for three months was most grievously afflicted; but presently they had made a vow to St. Rasso. This same did in the year 1692 Maria Trielinger of Kottgeisering afflicted for five weeks.
[69] Anna Prandtl of Arassla, blind for a whole four years, recovers her sight, The blind enlightened. when, the sacrifice of the Mass being promised, she implores the help of St. Rasso.
[70] The same most provident Leader for the remedy of his wife sought Udalric Arasser of Germisch, whom, deprived of sight for over two years, joyful he received unharmed, while still on the way of fulfilling his vow.
[71] When Thomas Gropper of Diessen had heard that a blind infant was born to him; on that account he was nearly consumed with grave grief, ignorant what counsel or remedy to take: yet at last he fixes the edge of his mind on St. Rasso, and offers to him the lights of his blinded child to be enlightened, and brings it about that the one born blind after ten days perfectly saw.
[72] In the year 1687 Raymund Knoller, a miller of Oching, reports that his daughter Maria was enlightened through the intercession of St. Rasso, after she had lacked sight for six weeks.
[73] By the sudden and mournful mishap of her little daughter how greatly was afflicted Barbara Miller of Pfarrkirchen, when she beheld her, six years old, blinded on account of a needle fixed in her eye: whose grief and misery thence greatly grew, that in the interval of twenty weeks no hope of recovering sight shone. She is urged therefore, and instructed by her friends, to become a suppliant to St. Rasso for her: which done, the girl presently recovered.
[74] To her great good the same holy Patron Maria Schmauz of Traubing chose, by whose patronage she not only endured most grievous pains for half a year, but also happily wiped away the film drawn over, after she had supplicated the said Saint, a Rosary being promised, the offering of a kreuzer, and a public announcement to be cared for.
[75] The same wholly experienced Anna Schmalz of Pfaffenhofen in the year 1613: whose twenty-year-old daughter's film was removed from the eyes by no other medicine at all, than by the vow of one Sacrifice, the offering of one kreuzer, and a Rosary devoutly to be paid, made to St. Rasso.
[76] The little son too of Matthias Neymayr, an Innkeeper at Utting, felt a wonderful oculist, when after a vow made of one Sacrifice and fifteen kreuzer a little crust was removed from the eye without any remedy applied, in the year 1692.
[77] Udalric Mayr of Oberbrunn for four years suffered a defect of the tongue: Speech restored to the mute. which when at last he had loosed into sighs and vows toward St. Rasso, he experienced the bonds also of his bound tongue broken.
[78] Likewise by a vow of one kreuzer to be offered to the Saint a certain girl of Breitbrunn recovered her speech, lost for three years.
[79] In the year 1640 on the 1st of May Michael Wisdorffer of Glückhing showed himself grateful to his Patron St. Rasso, on account of the benefit of speech given anew to his five-year-old little son. For when that little boy, still very tender, had to the solace of his parents spoken dexterously, suddenly deprived of all articulate voice, for a whole three years he had become mute; so that the more grew the grief of the parents, the greater the gladness with which they had before heard him speaking. Whence the parent agitated into various counsels, at last remembers our Thaumaturge; promises the sacrifice of the Mass, and in a moment the son is restored.
[80] The same restorer anxiously sought, and a kreuzer and Rosary being promised presently also exulting found Catharine Berger of Tauffkirchen in the year 1689 for her son Matthias, who for a whole four years mute, after the vow emitted spoke articulately.
[81] The same attests Simon Hueber a cooper at Wolfratshausen, whose little daughter Anna in her seventh year could not speak a word: to whom however the tongue was presently loosed on account of a vow of a waxen head, a pilgrimage, two kreuzer made. In the year 1678.
[82] Among the several freed from pains of the teeth I especially set Elizabeth Bindter of Beuerberg, Pains of the teeth repressed. whose mind on account of the most intense pains of the teeth had so swelled, that she could not speak a word: from all which however on account of a vow made to St. Rasso she had been freed.
[83] Likewise attests Elizabeth Haid of Traubing in the year 1686, that for a year and nine months as if consumed by a vast pain of the teeth, she escaped unharmed, when she had vowed herself to St. Rasso.
[84] The same attests in the year 1692 Ursula Bichlmayr of Diessen, of a year-long pain of the teeth and head freed through the intercession of St. Rasso.
[85] Nor likewise in the same year could be freed of the same pain Sebastian Dalmayr of Utting, except by a vow made to St. Rasso.
[86] John Muller of Bogenhausen related that his child labored with so ulcerous a defect of the ears, A defect of the ears mended. that more than twenty worms came forth thence: to which evil when temporal medicines failed, our spiritual physician, invoked by prayers and vows, met it.
[87] The same wholly attests Daniel Kuen of Teldefing concerning his child, from whose ears every day worms gushed, until he had vowed it to St. Rasso: which done all the evil was wholly averted.
[88] The three-year-old little son of John Klokfenwurth of Planogg labored a long time with a bloody discharge of the ears, whom at last St. Rasso, devoutly invoked through the offering of the holy Mass sacrifice, restored.
[89] A certain woman of Brugg deaf for fourteen years, and Anna Kiltler of Amberg deaf for twenty years, are heard by St. Rasso, being made suppliants to him.
[90] In the year 1689 the same benefit experienced Thomas Wagner of Landstetten, whose ears were presently opened, after he had emitted a vow that he would recite a Rosary with the offering of two kreuzer.
[91] To his highest solace likewise Corbinian Glas of Wining saw his eight-year-old son Ambrose, deaf for a whole year, restored by the merits of St. Rasso, when he had resolved to pay a pilgrimage and certain prayers.
[92] Anna Ramsner of Kottgeisering knew not how to lull her cruel pains of the chest and stomach with a more efficacious medicine, Pains of the chest and stomach lulled. than by ardent invocation and prayers to St. Rasso; to whom therefore she had vowed herself with a waxen heart, a Rosary being added: which done she was gradually freed from the pains in the year 1678.
[93] Margaret Mayr of Selching was so nauseous from a malignant affliction of the stomach, that for nine years she was afflicted with continual vomiting: whose cure and restoration however she at last obtained from St. Rasso.
[94] Andrew Geyer of Walethausen could not be delivered from most grievous pains of the heart, until he had vowed himself to St. Rasso with a Rosary, three kreuzer, and a waxen image: which done he presently recovered in the year 1692.
[95] An ulcer and rottenness in the mouth wiped away. The daughter of Leonard Mayr of Gilking had groaning wept for her mouth and lips, rotted on account of a certain ulcer: whom however the best parent healed by a vow made to St. Rasso.
[96] A defect of the tongue and neck supplied. Melchior Kyrmayr of Grünewald, one sacrifice of the Mass being promised in honor of St. Rasso, is rescued from a grave defect both of the tongue and the neck and from pains.
[97] Those laboring in the back healed. Barbara Backhsperger knew not how to make whole again her broken spine of the back by a better medicine, than by a vow made to St. Rasso:
except by a vow made to St. Rasso: whence she binds herself to him by the holy Mass sacrifice and is healed.
[98] In the year 1685 with equal devotion Walburga Bolzmacher of Machtlfing mitigated the vast pains of the back, which for sixteen weeks her son had sustained, after she had promised to St. Rasso a Rosary and two kreuzer. The same obtained in this very year Balthasar Schmid by the offering of one kreuzer and the recitation of a Rosary. Nor did a different benefit obtain Eva Schmid of Beretzhofen in the year 1687, Lucia Lampl of Greifenberg in the year 1688, and in the year 1692 George Wakherl of Mörnweis.
[99] In the year 1685, at last her ten-year pain endured in the arm Anna Neder of Aschlding laid aside, Pains of the arm mitigated. after she had promised to St. Rasso a Mass sacrifice, the offering of a kreuzer, five Our Fathers and Hail Marys.
[100] Likewise the whole community of Inning attests, that the son of Maria Botst was so crippled in arms and feet for fourteen days, that he could not move himself a whit: but at last, all wondering, the joints were loosed. When the solicitous mother had made entreaty for him to St. Rasso, a vow being emitted of one Rosary, two kreuzer, and waxen arms and feet.
[101] Likewise afflicted with great pains of the arm for a year Elizabeth Zeilmayr of Bossenhofen seemed to herself in her sleep to have seen St. Rasso piously exhorting her to perform a certain devotion: which done she proposed to recite a Rosary with the offering of one kreuzer: and behold! she presently recovered in the year 1689.
[102] On account of year-long most grievous pains of the arms and feet Maria Flosman of Leitstetten was near a contracture in the year 1691: from which however, as also from the pains, she was preserved on account of a vow of one Rosary and three kreuzer made to St. Rasso.
[103] In the year 1692 to Michael Haderegger of Türkenfeld the pains of the arm so grew strong, that for four days he could neither take sleep, nor at last move that same arm: whence becoming a suppliant to St. Rasso, by the payment of one Sacrifice and six kreuzer he was healed.
[104] The same benefit conferred on her this year she reported with a grateful mind Maria Winterholer of Oching, when she too, long exhausted by sharp pains, had been deprived of the use of her arm.
[105] Wholly freed from the most grievous pains of pleurisy he confesses himself Andrew Sedimayr, when after fourteen days he had implored the healing hand of St. Rasso, Pleurisy. by the promise of one kreuzer and one Rosary, in the year 1686.
[106] As an eyewitness I report, that Ignatius Schwarz, a fisherman of Diessen, on account of the pains of pleurisy reduced to extremes, and provided by me with all the Sacraments, so that on account of the too greatly increasing evil no human hope at all shone: whom however his wife Maria saw restored to her unharmed, on account of a vow made to St. Rasso, of reciting three Rosaries and offering one kreuzer, in the year 1689.
[107] Serous humor and a whitlow; Jacob Reismayr of Diessen, to his great evil had so dangerously wounded his finger, that the serous humor flowing out threatened a near amputation; in which his misery he flees to St. Rasso, promises the recitation of a Rosary, a public announcement to be made, and presently is cured in the year 1687.
[108] The hand of Apollonia Möz of Ramsau a too-spreading whitlow for fourteen days had vehemently afflicted, which however she happily broke, when she had resolved to offer a Rosary and a waxen hand to St. Rasso.
[109] The son of George Schöttl of Mauern in the year 1690 so gravely scorched his feet, that the vast pains, A scorching of the feet cured, and all medicines frustrated, foreboded to the afflicted father nothing but perpetual disability: whence he sought a last remedy from our famous physician St. Rasso, by a vow of one Rosary and three kreuzer, and joyfully obtained it.
[110] Likewise his knee from grave pains by the same vow freed Martin Thomas of Steinbach in the year 1692. And in this very year recovered Eva Weiss of Söcching, whose knee greatly swelled, and caused very sharp pains, yet she is freed through the intercession of St. Rasso, no other means being applied.
[111] By a malignant rottenness the foot of Ferdinand Eichtmayr of Diessen was infected, for whose full cure when the parents had watched in vain for a year and a half, at last by the help of St. Rasso they obtained it, by a vow of one Rosary and two kreuzer, in the year 1685.
[112] By the help of the same Saint her feet, eaten away by rotten decay, after four years living and sound she received, Anna Blais of Buech, in the year 1686.
[113] Peter Schnotson of Gilking drew out again unharmed a nail fixed in his foot by prayers alone offered to St. Rasso.
[114] Conrad Hueber by the same prayers covered over with living flesh the holes by which his feet for a whole year had been pierced, a vow being made.
[115] When a very honorable and rich citizen of Strobing, afflicted in his whole body with a malignant rottenness, and long crippled in his feet, had implored the help of very many physicians in vain; at last St. Rasso appeared to him in his sleep, raised him from his bed, and at the same time admonished him to visit his tomb for recovering soundness; the man, so long desolate, awakes, and notices himself sound in his whole body: whence he presently flew to the Church of the Saint, and offered, besides ten waxen candles, a numerous sum of money, and in honor of his physician caused a solemn office to be chanted.
[116] The same in her sleep was admonished Anna Schuester of Stelwag on account of very sharp pains of the feet; the woman obeys, vows herself to her holy admonisher, and is healed.
[117] When Sabina Köndl of Menzing had borne a little boy, whose foot from the womb was broken in the middle; she binds and commends him to St. Rasso by a Mass sacrifice, and glad finds the foot whole. likewise arthritis
[118] In the year 1689 with arthritis painfully lay down for a whole seven weeks Maria Hager of Diessling, who however wholly recovered after a vow of one Sacrifice, and the offering of three kreuzer, and at last an announcement to be made.
[119] By this very evil for half a year was tormented Barbara Hartman of Buech, to whom her former health restored St. Rasso, devoutly invoked, a vow being made of reciting two Rosaries, offering two kreuzer, and making an announcement, in the year 1692.
[120] Convulsions stilled. In the year 1692 joyfully reported George Kendl of Munich, that for suppressing convulsions for a whole three years he had applied very many means, and moreover caused many Sacrifices to be read, all however without the desired effect, until at last he too had invoked our great Thaumaturge by a vow of a Mass sacrifice.
[121] The same disease by the prayers of St. Rasso drove off Justina Rieger of Dauzing, when by vast pains day and night for five days she had been agitated.
[122] A flow of blood is stayed. When Maria Tablander of Diessen for twenty-six weeks had labored with a flow of blood so much, that for fourteen days fixed to her bed she could move herself only by the help of others; at last by the merits of St. Rasso her husband stayed the flow, a vow being made, that he would recite a Rosary, and offer three kreuzer, in the year 1683.
[123] Gripings and pains of the womb quieted. Through the course of the year many times was infested with pains of the womb Barbara Unflat of Elchingen, to whom always a dangerous frenzy was added; whence that at last she might be freed from this grave evil, she fled to St. Rasso, vowed three Rosaries with the offering of two kreuzer, and found herself freed in the year 1692.
[124] Suddenly likewise was healed Elizabeth Biechler of Aubing, for three weeks gravely tormented by the same pains, when she had made a vow to St. Rasso of offering eight kreuzer and devoutly reciting a Rosary, in the year 1691.
[125] Likewise truly reports Maria Schmid of Kottgeisering, that for a whole year afflicted with most intense pains of the Womb, she was presently wholly freed, when she had commended herself to St. Rasso by the offering of three kreuzer, and the recitation of a Rosary, in the year 1688.
[126] That they were freed from the penalties of gripings by the merits of St. Rasso attest Sebastian Kloz of Bockhing, and Anna Bockh of Oching, after they had vowed themselves to the said Saint, in the years 1689 and 1690. Again the holy fire is extinguished.
[127] By the holy fire so vexed was Magdalena Dollinger of Oching, that for a whole week day and night she could in no way rest, or indulge in sleep, whence she supplicated St. Rasso by a vow of a waxen foot and one Rosary devoutly to be paid with the offering of one kreuzer, from whom she presently obtained the desired cure, the Lord Michael Faber the Parish-priest and others attesting, in the year 1690.
[128] In the feet of Barbara Hager of the Parish of Wolfratshausen, for three weeks this most burning fire so raged, that not only could she not stand for a moment, but also at last it broke out into an open wound with danger. In such misery, ignorant what counsel to take; she flees to St. Rasso, promises a waxen foot, the recitation of a Rosary, and the offering of one kreuzer; and presently finds the fire extinguished and the wound cured, in the year 1691.
[129] With pustules so dangerously had lain down Apollonia, a little girl in danger from smallpox is saved. daughter of Magdalena Ertl of Nassenhausen, that for eight days she saw nothing at all, with grave danger added of losing her sight: whence that both her eyes and the rest of her little body might be provided for, the afflicted mother commended her little daughter to St. Rasso, by the recitation of one Rosary and the offering of one kreuzer: which done that very day the infant saw and grew better, in the year 1688.
[130] In the year 1688 Michael Schmidt of Schliufeld showed himself grateful to St. Rasso, that by his merits after a vow made of reciting two Rosaries and offering one kreuzer, his little son Joseph in that very hour grew better, who however by the plague of pustules was even deprived of his senses.
[131] In the year 1692 his most wicked lodger, through the intercession of St. Rasso, expelled Melchior Kridl of Freyhaimb, A fever cured. after for thirty-two weeks he had been afflicted with a fever: and this to his so great good, that after the vow made of a pilgrimage to be performed and the offering of three kreuzer, it returned no more. By which evil, as also by a hot fever very many others long vexed, were freed by the merits of St. Rasso.
[132] Dysentery restrained. When Regina Stop of Oberaltingen in her vow made for her little son had seen herself heard; she implored the same benefactor again as a suppliant, that he would also help her lying down with dysentery now for twelve weeks; which she also obtained in the year 1690.
[133] The Reverend Lord Sebastian Graf at Oching, in this year 1692, gravely lay down: who however truly attests, that he presently grew better, after he had promised to St. Rasso one Mass with the offering of one pound of wax, and the prayer of three Rosaries.
[134] In the year 1678, Rosina Kilder of Kirchheim joyfully reported Difficulty of passing urine removed. that her little son Francis for seven days could not pass urine; which elapsed, it indeed flowed, yet not by the ordinary way, but by a new hole burst forth from the side: to which moreover in the private parts so great a tumor was added, that by the judgment of very many surgeons all should have rotted. When therefore she had seen herself destitute of human help,
she fled to the heavenly ones, and commended the misery of her little son to our prodigious physician by a pilgrimage, an offering, and a Mass sacrifice: and presently not only was the tumor suppressed, but also she experienced the ordinary way of urinating in her son; of which the whole neighborhood of Kirchheim offered itself as witness.
[135] Obstructed likewise for three whole weeks was Simon, the little son of Simon Thues of Glitt in Swabia, who however was relieved after a vow of one sacrifice of the Mass, in the year 1681.
[136] His son long laboring with a flow of blood, Flows of blood are cured. Anthony freed by the merits of St. Rasso, attests Anthony Kornmosser of Weil, in the year 1686: which same benefit happened to them, other men and women attest.
[137] The more miserable the wailing with which Matthias Vischer of Beisenberg had bewailed his three sons, because the first was afflicted with a hernia, the second with a continual flow of urine, the flow of urine, a rupture, and a scorching of the whole body. the third with a rupture; the more joyful the mind with which he showed himself grateful to St. Rasso, when after a vow made of a pilgrimage and a band full of grain, he found the three perfectly well, in the year 1678.
[138] The little son of a certain woman of Wilderott, standing at a burning furnace, was so scorched, that the shirt being burnt, and a part of the little body, the devouring flames penetrated even to the intestines: in which misery the grieving mother's last hope was St. Rasso; to whom therefore she vowed the child, and received it unharmed.
[139] To Conrad Rinchwurt, after a six-year disease the intestines too burst forth; who however he too from this lethal evil by a vow was freed.
[140] At last I end my kernel, and the account being compressed into a sum I set forth, among the prodigious cures, those of the stone and rupture, The Author concludes in which St. Rasso is so wonderful and beneficent, that in this running year 1692 up to the present thirtieth day of July, we count twenty-one persons, who at the invocation of this Saint without any other medicine at all were freed from ruptures: by a summary enumeration but in the prior years we gather so many, that I judged it would be worth while, to bring forward singly the miracles done in each year from the year 1639 in order, from the year 1609; which I would gladly have done for the other years too, if our predecessors in noting the miracles had distinguished the years. But since they omitted this and only marked the number of the miracles, a very great number, the benevolent reader will be content, when he has perceived that our holy Thaumaturge from the year 1544 up to the year 1639 by his healing hand cured of the stone 571, of the rupture 1202, of the stone and rupture together, of those cured of the stone and hernia. in sum 900.
Among all it pleased to assign what Sebastian Gross of Oggenthal in Swabia attests happened in the year 1691, whose little son was most grievously and most frequently tormented by the stone: whom a first and a second time, a vow being made of undertaking a pilgrimage, a Mass sacrifice, and the offering of one pound of wax, he vowed to St. Rasso: yet with no effect, so that he nearly failed in hope. Nonetheless inwardly confirmed, and again stirred up toward St. Rasso, a third time he vows, and from the marrow implores help: who at last experienced that, thrice repeated, it pleased our holy Thaumaturge, when he saw his little son restored to the desired soundness.