Lanfranc

CONCERNING SAINT LANFRANC,

BISHOP OF PAVIA IN LOMBARDY.

IN THE YEAR 1194.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

On his cult, epitaph, tomb, and the writer of his Life.

Lanfranc, Bishop of Pavia in Italy (St.)

AUTHOR: D. P.

The royal city of the Lombards, Pavia, called by the ancients Ticinum, not only gave to the kingdom of England an Archbishop of Canterbury, St. Lanfranc, in the year 1089 (whose Life we gave on May 28, This Saint by some wrongly confused with Lanfranc of Canterbury, and I find it was requested from the sacred Congregation of Rites that his feast might be celebrated under a double rite, as of a native Saint); but also a hundred years after had a proper Bishop of that name; whose Life and miracles we are about to give here. Meanwhile, from the homonymy (as it happens), a confusion arose among many, so that even men not unskilled among the people of Pavia, such as we must believe to have been the Authors of the suppliant petition to be offered to the Congregation, did not sufficiently distinguish them, since they said the former, made Bishop from Abbot of Bec in Normandy, born of the Beccaria family, he is distinguished not only from the Epitaph, and his feast kept among them on June 23, both of which belong solely to the latter. This error their own historian Antonio Maria Spelta, published in the year 1597, had already before noted; and for fuller conviction of the aforenoted error he also brings forth his Epitaph, which I too saw passing through Pavia in the year 1622, on March 23, carved on a tomb of remarkable marble work, raised high upon six columns; yet I could not read it, because of the three Religious, whom the place, reduced to a Commendam, could then alone support, there was no one present to provide ladders: receive it therefore from Spelta, whom Ughelli also transcribed.

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[2] "Whoever you are who have come hither to pour out a prayer, this monument asks you not to be reluctant to learn much in few words. To the temple of the Holy Sepulchre, when first it was dedicated, was its name given: but the mighty force of times, that being obliterated, superinduced a new one, from him whose Relics rest here. He is the Divine Lanfranc, by the whole city of Pavia elected Bishop, at Rome consecrated by Alexander III: to whom, going most earnestly against the Chief Men striving to fortify the city with the revenues of the churches, when he was bent by nothing, they interdict water and fire. To him departing into the nearest cities the Clergy goes as companion; which is read on the chest into which the body was translated, then, ill-affected by insults, deserts him. Having set out a second time to Rome, by the consecrating Pope he is restored to his country. Where, when he was often sought by the same sacrilegious men, he flies to this monastery, in which most often he was wont to stay; and, having surpassed the deceased Bishops in alms, when he had foretold the day of his fate, and had taken care for this resting-place for himself in vain, most holily he sought heaven, in the year from the Incarnation of our Lord 1184, on the ninth of the Kalends of July. The care of the tomb, therefore, reserved by divine counsel until now, when he lay too sordidly buried, and yet excelled in wondrous signs, he, whom you will read on the back, most piously undertook."

[3] Who here would not have expected that Spelta would set forth the inscription of the back part likewise to be read, about to teach both the time and the Author of the translation? only in the preceding century, Meanwhile, with the style as index, I would easily divine that another century has not yet elapsed from it to the present; nor would the whole matter be of great authority, if the individual points of the eulogy were not confirmed from the Life which Bernard wrote, as he prefaces, "Christ's servant, but much more certainly from the Life, written by Bernard least of Prelates, and his successor, not by merit, but by place, with no intermediary, subrogated in the 1st year of Pope Innocent III, that is, of Christ 1198," as is clear from book 1 of his Letters, letter 326, by which he gives him, then Bishop of Faenza, the power on the 6th of the Ides of August to pass to the Church of Pavia, where he may be able to exercise the gift of knowledge and eloquence granted to him for the advancement of very many, and to put out at more fertile interest the talent entrusted to him. In which letter the Pope expressly says that he has received that, "L (Lanfranc), Bishop of Pavia of good memory, having entered the way of all flesh, the Chapter and Clergy of Pavia unanimously agreed upon him, asking that he be granted to them by the Apostolic See as Bishop."

[4] Hence Ughelli believed it followed that Lanfranc died in the same year 1198, [who was substituted for him in the year 1198, the See having been vacant 5 years,] and consequently that the author of the aforesaid Epitaph erred when he wrote the Saint to have died in the year 1194. But notwithstanding this, the former year is to be held: since Bernard the successor at number 21 expressly says that "Bishop Lanfranc migrated to the Lord on Thursday the ninth of the Kalends of July": which certainly falls in no other year than this 94th, to which the Dominical letter B ran, which again did not return until the year 1205. Nor will you marvel how the city of Pavia could have lacked a Bishop so long, if you understand how it always stood on the side of the Emperors; for the same cause in the year 1176 it deserved that its Bishop Peter should be deprived of the Pallium by Alexander III. But a little after the death of Lanfranc, it had happened that the Emperor Henry, V of this name, VI as King, on account of the seditions of that time. on account of the captured Richard, King of England, together with Leopold, Margrave of Austria, the author of the deed, was bound with the bond of anathema; in which he also died, prohibited therefore from sacred burial, in the year 1197, on September 28. In the fourth month after, on January 8, Pope Celestine also died, whose successor doubtless had to labor much, and other inconveniences, in settling the troubles born from the prior dissensions; who also in the aforesaid letter brings forth this among the other causes of granting the translation, lest, if the messengers from the Apostolic See, directed from Pavia to seek it, had returned empty, an inconvenience of dissension might perhaps befall the Church of Pavia; by this very thing sufficiently hinting that some dissensions had preceded, on account of which the Chapter could not agree upon one of its own body, and preferred to seek Bernard, although already indeed bound to another Church; yet formerly its own Provost, and, as they will have it, a disciple of Lanfranc.

[5] Furthermore this Bernard too is everywhere called Blessed by the people of Pavia, having died on September 18 in the year 1213, and in the same church of the Holy Sepulchre, now of St. Lanfranc, humbly (as he himself wished) buried, The writer of the Life, Bernard, held Blessed. nor ever raised, nor honored with any other cult of public veneration. And Lanfranc indeed, while still living, had ordered a tomb to be made for himself, as the Epitaph says and the Life has at number 19: but it remained unfinished, he not a little bearing it ill, when he understood it neglected; as if deferred to the time of making the translation.

[6] These things premised, I pass to the Life, gravely and prudently written and most worthy of all faith, With what faith the Life and miracles were written, as I received it in manuscript and found it in the Vallicellan Library at Rome, once communicated to Cesare Baronio by Constantino Caetani; nor do I know whether Ughelli had it from elsewhere, which he inserted in volume 1 of Italia Sacra, column 24. But the miracles, from publishing which he himself abstained, are therefore also to be valued the more, because Bernard himself, as Bishop and ordinary judge of such matters, with his Brothers the Canons of Pavia, repeatedly professes to have received the sworn testimonies of most of them. Would, furthermore, that others had pursued the same! for the Epitaph seems to testify that these were continued up to the time of the Translation made; nor can there be any doubt that many more followed the same afterward.

[7] Another Life, but much shorter, from a parchment Codex of his monastery of Vallombrosa, the Reverend Lord Germano Ruini sent us, where the Saint himself is ascribed to the Order of Vallombrosa, his cult in the Order of Vallombrosa, not because he ever professed it; but because, most devoted to it,

he strove much, living and dying, that, the burden and Episcopal title laid down, he might be received into its habit; nay, the Author asserts that the Abbot of the monastery conferred the same habit on him: which monastery the Author several times affirms to have been then already of the Order of Vallombrosa. If this is true (for I have nothing whereby to confirm it), the people of Vallombrosa deservedly ascribe Blessed Lanfranc to the Saints of their Order, at least as a Tertiary. and venerate him as such, at least in the grade of a Tertiary. That in their very Archmonastery an old statue of Blessed Lanfranc is found, formed and baked from clay down to the girdle, the above-praised Lord Germano signified to us according to this design. The characters entangled in abbreviations we seem to be able to extend and read thus: "Blessed Lanfranc, Bishop of Pavia, humble Pastor, Tertiary of this Vallombrosa." Something more his image, lately printed at Rome with a brief eulogy, seems to affirm, affirming that "at the end of his life, living under the institute of Vallombrosa, he happily died." But with how little accuracy the Author of the sculpture proceeded, the year of death ascribed, 1176, argues, which the Epitaph notes as 1194; nor that it can be noted much earlier the above-noted beginning of his successor proves.

LIFE

By the author Bernard, his immediate successor.

From the Manuscript and the edition of Ughelli.

Lanfranc, Bishop of Pavia in Italy (St.)

BHL Number: 4723, 4724

BY BERNARD HIS SUCCESSOR, FROM THE MANUSCRIPT.

CHAPTER I.

Lanfranc's studies, his Episcopal virtues, his exile and return.

[1] The height of heavenly counsel, exceeding human senses, therefore provides Spouses and Rectors for His church, The Prologue of the Author. that by their wholesome governance the ship of Peter may be ruled amid the waves and billows, and those who go down to the sea in ships, doing work in many waters, may see and do the works of the Lord; and these, who are carried in them, may be led to the harbor of salvation. For by such fishermen the Lord's net is drawn to the shore, and the chosen fish are put into vessels. By the vigilance of these Pastors the Lord's flock is fed and saved from wolves, and in the late hours is happily led to the fold. Among these men of remarkable holiness, Lanfranc, Bishop of Pavia, shone forth like the morning star; whose life, and, touching briefly upon a few of the many miracles which the Lord did through him, I, Bernard, Christ's servant, least of Prelates, and his successor, not by merit, but by place, with no intermediary, have described with concise brevity; that these things may both redound to the honor of God and the holy church, and profit the faithful of Christ for edification.

[2] In the Province of Lombardy, in the noble city of Pavia, there was a man of venerable life, The studies of the young man, Lanfranc by name, a Bishop by work and dignity. He, while he was a youth in body, surpassed his age by his character; and given to scholastic disciplines, he transcended his coevals in honesty, his fellow-students in the advancement of knowledge: finally, as a master he faithfully instructed his disciples in acts and morals. Moreover, keen as if for the light, salutary for study, he betook himself to Theology, the Lord disposing, emulating the better gifts. Already then divine clemency was working in him what afterward it would show forth for the salvation of the faithful. He drew waters with joy from the fountains of the Savior, and his spiritual advancement in them: which at a convenient time he would give to drink to the thirsty people. From the Lord's table he took the bread, which, broken, he would faithfully minister to the little ones asking. He advanced in age and wisdom: for the hand of the Lord was with him. At last, made a Doctor in the same Sacred Page, now teaching what he had heard, he prudently inculcated the doctrines of the divine word on attentive hearers; not puffed up by knowledge, but adorned by edifying wisdom. For he was catholic in faith, honest in life, eloquent in speech; assiduous in reading, illustrious in doctrine: and when he was a Deacon by Order, he served the Altars most intensely, ministered most devoutly to the Priests.

[3] Therefore, Peter of pious memory, the Bishop of the same See, having died, this venerable man, Ordained Bishop by Alexander III a son rising in place of a father, is elected by the Clergy, demanded by the people. He, recognizing himself necessary to the people of God, did not refuse the labor, but committing himself wholly to God, went to the city of Rome (as is the custom of the Church of Pavia) for his ordination and consecration. Ordained, therefore, and consecrated by Pope Alexander III of holy memory, he returned home with honor and joy; and there, honorably received by the Clergy and people, he dwelt in the help of the Most High; and offered himself to Him a living victim, holy, pleasing to God, presenting his members to serve justice unto sanctification. He had a solicitude for offices, a care for his subjects, a compassion for the poor, a vigilant guardianship of the Law, not the negligence of a hireling, but the most exact diligence of a pastor. Toward the incorrigible he used discipline, toward the corrigible mercy.

[4] He counsels his church well; Following his predecessors in honesty of life, he surpassed them in almsgiving. For whereas his predecessors daily refreshed twelve poor men, and distributed a mina of bread to others; he, keeping the same number of those to be refreshed, instituted that a whole sextarius be given daily to other poor men, which by the grace of God is even today kept in the same house. But how great a care he had for ecclesiastical affairs, the effect teaches, the outcome manifests. For he greatly enlarged the possessions and revenues; and those which his predecessors had dispersed, he recovered with what zeal he could. of the best example in all things, In himself he loved gravity, in the Clergy maturity, in the people fitting honesty. In the church of God he shone, clothed in the stole of innocence, and among his Fellow-Bishops, honored, he flourished like a palm: and like a branch from the vine, and in the vine, Christ, he multiplied. He was the protector of widows, the helper of orphans, the consoler of mourners, the benefactor of the needy, solicitously understanding concerning the needy and poor. For carnal kindred or parents there was in his heart less care, to whom, although he sometimes stretched out his hand, he ministered not for the increase of money, but for the relief of want; attending more in them to poverty than to nearness of blood; for he said that he was not the lord, but the keeper, of ecclesiastical things; not the possessor, but the dispenser.

[5] He was also a prudent asserter of the Catholic faith, a faithful defender, lovable to the good, terrible to the wicked, and a most strong assailant of heretics: for which cause very many imposed on him the mark of pride, some of cruelty and impiety. But he, reputing such things as gains for the sake of Christ, walked secure between infamy and good fame: for his preaching was, to Catholics, an odor of life unto life; of death unto death to heretics. Whence through him the Catholic faith was strengthened from day to day, and the garrulity of pseudo-preachers was lessened. With perfect hatred he persecuted the detractors of the faith, expelling them from his borders, prohibiting their conventicles, and destroying their houses. And conversely, and at times betaking himself to the quiet of the monastery. from those very heretics unjust persecutions, and from their abettors very many detractions, he most patiently endured; knowing that he cannot be Abel whom the malice of Cain does not exercise. At last, opportunity being given, from the labor of Martha he transferred himself to the quiet of Mary; and, the palace left for a time, to the venerable monastery, founded in honor of the Holy Sepulchre not far from the same city, he had recourse; visiting the religious Brothers of that place, comforting their minds with wholesome admonition, and existing among them as one of them; and there, a fitting delay made, the good pastor returned to the guardianship of the flock, and seeking not the things that are his own, but those of Jesus Christ, ruled the Church in peace.

[6] The devil, therefore, envying the ecclesiastical peace and the concord of the people, stirred up a scandal against him. The Consuls wishing to fortify the city from the goods of the church For behold, the Consuls and Councilors of the city, wishing under the appearance of piety to exercise impiety, proposed before him that for the fortification of the city they had resolved to exact a great sum of money from the churches, nor would they by any reason omit that, for such and so useful a work, the Clerks and Churches should copiously contribute of their faculties. But the man of God, perceiving this to be a matter of trampling on Ecclesiastical liberty, opposed himself as a wall for the house of God, and contradicted this pestiferous proposal with free voice. For to laymen, however religious, no faculty of disposing of ecclesiastical things, much less of seizing them, is ever read to have been attributed. But they, first by blandishments, afterward by threats and terrors, busied themselves to draw the holy man to consent to their iniquity; but the glorious Bishop could neither be shaken by terror, nor seduced by blandishment.

[7] When therefore they could not bend him to their will, nay, iniquity, by a public edict interposed, under penalty of loss, they forbade that anyone should attempt to bake bread for him, or sell him food; unwilling to acquiesce, and putting the citizens under an Interdict, and thus, withdrawing supports from him and his, by such craftiness they seemed to expel him. The counsel of the Brothers therefore being held, because he could not stay there, suffering persecution in his own city, according to the Gospel precept he fled to other cities, and, to the greater augmentation of his grief, the Clergy devoted to him, compelled by the same persecution, following the footsteps of their Father, was dispersed through neighboring cities and various places: for it is written: "I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered." Mark 14:27

[8] Then the aforesaid Consuls, the devil suggesting, seized the ecclesiastical goods, he is driven into exile with the Clergy adhering to him, and to the peril of their souls, completed the work which they had proposed, from the patrimony of Jesus Christ. Zech. 13:7 For they conceived sorrow and brought forth iniquity: and the people, imitating them, confirmed for themselves a wicked word, afflicting the Priests they found with insults, and wickedly provoking them with reproaches. Amid these things the Bishop, grieving both with the patient Clergy and the persecuting people, is troubled in heart, anxious in spirit; but unperturbed amid prosperity and adversity, as he had been humble in prosperity, so he became secure in adversity. Now bearing the Lord's cross in his mind, he showed himself as if a Martyr of Christ, possessing his soul in his patience; about to have that beatitude of which it is said: "Blessed are those who suffer persecution for justice." Matt. 5:10

[6] About the same time, while he had come to the holy church of Vercelli, nor is he persuaded to return before fitting satisfaction: certain of the Consuls and Chief Men of his city, coming there as if for the good of peace, began to insist that he should return to his own, and visit both the churches and the people. But he constantly answered that he would by no means do this, unless they made satisfaction for what was committed, reputing such a return unworthy, in which both the reverence of God would be put behind, and the Clerical honor diminished, and both the liberty and the ecclesiastical benefit grievously injured. Repulsed therefore from their request, the impious men made loss upon the just one; and afflicted him with very many insults; building upon his back, and prolonging their iniquity, busying themselves that he might also be driven from the borders of that city. But he, rejoicing, so repelled the darts of their words, God granting it, that their blows became the arrows of little ones, and their tongues were weakened against him: for the Lord gave the word to him preaching the Gospel in much power.

[10] But at a certain time, when the Clergy for the most part wished to return home; the Bishop had a conference with them at Morimondo; yet he permits this to the Clergy, where the Clergy strove to recall him to a less than honorable return, no satisfaction being premised for the damages inflicted. But when they could not draw him back; certain of them, making an attack upon him, provoked him with very many reproaches and insults, and afflicted him with many opprobriums and injuries: which indeed we have thought should be narrated, not so much for their confusion as for the commendation of the holy man, who with an even mind sustained this persecution too; since it is established that unexpected darts strike more, and graver are the wounds which are inflicted on a heavenly soldier from the right side. He nevertheless, compassionating the Clergy with paternal affection, gave them leave that, if they found an honorable manner of reforming peace, they might return home. Whence it came to pass that, a certain quiet being given as in a shadow between the Clergy and the people, the Clergy returned to the city, the Pastor remaining in exile. Not long after, the Clergy wished to go into exile with him: but he, fearing more for them than for himself, chose to sustain exile alone.

[11] And so, seeing himself destitute of almost all, he sat alone, he himself flees to Rome because he was filled with bitterness. At last the faithful God, who does not permit His own to be tempted above what they can bear, made for him with the temptation a way out; inspiring him that he should visit the Roman Church; that thence he might receive counsel, whence he had taken the office of the Prelacy. And the Lord gave him grace in the eyes of the supreme Pontiff and of his brothers: for he whom God had imbued with grace deservedly ought to find grace among men. And so the supreme Pontiff, ready to avenge all disobedience, subjected the authors and doers of so great malice to anathema, and he is restored, the citizens being brought to penance, still threatening graver things against that very city. The holy man, therefore, comforted by the paternal admonition, came to his parts, God leading. Meanwhile there arose in the aforesaid city a new Rector, a friend of God, an enemy of impiety: he admonished the citizens to penance, and making satisfaction for them and with them, recalled the holy servant of God: and thus by the grace of God, peace being restored to the Church, the man beloved of God governed the Clergy and people with pastoral diligence.

NOTES OF D. P.

CHAPTER II.

His retreat to the monastery of the Holy Sepulchre: the last illness and pious death of Lanfranc.

[12] Meanwhile, betaking himself to the often-mentioned monastery, Returned, he often withdraws to the monastery of the Holy Sepulchre he visited the religious Brothers with solicitous care, that by his abundant doctrine he might impart to them something of spiritual grace; and, gently consoling them, in worthy turn he might carry back from their presence a fitting consolation. Thither, ascending by Jacob's ladder, as an Angel through contemplation, by compassion for his subjects he descended in due alternation to the labor of the active life; and from the sight of Rachel he led himself back to the company of Leah; and if anything had been depraved by the malice of the ancient enemy, he recalled it to the norm of life and the way of rectitude. Doing good work, he did not fail; fighting the good fight, he completed the course of this life; having a crown of justice laid up, reserved for him at the time of retribution; that, the Prince of Pastors appearing, he might receive the crown of unfading glory.

[13] The holy man himself too, a lover of religion, ordered a certain house from his goods to be built near the aforesaid monastery for the use of the Brothers, and he builds a house for the Monks for recreation. and gave stipends that a certain space of land be enclosed there with a wall, in which, planted with trees, the Brothers might sometimes betake themselves, and recreate their minds from the weariness of the cloister. Which was done not for the sake of pleasure but of necessity; not of levity, but of utility; not for the vice of instability, but for the remedy of piety.

[14] But when it pleased Him who called him by His grace, Refusing the Consuls asking for another house which was the church's, that he should be in the labor of men, and be scourged with men; he began to be sick, that the virtue of the mind might be perfected in the infirmity of the body, and the defect of the flesh become, the Lord working, an advancement to the spirit. While he was sick, the Consuls of the city, coming to him together, instantly and unanimously asked of him a certain house, which was a stable of grain, where also certain utensils of the Church were stored, for constructing the common Palace of the city. But he, whom the zeal of the Lord consumed, reputing it unworthy that the patrimony of the Crucified and of Blessed Syrus, of whose, under the shadow of his name, he was the faithful dispenser and keeper, should be alienated from the Church; answered with constant voice that he would not admit their petition. But seeing that they could not incline his mind to their will, and establish the counsels they had thought with his conscience; by iniquitous presumption, secretly dragging here and there the ecclesiastical goods which were in the same house, who, secretly despoiling that house, they disposed to overturn it without consulting him.

[15] The holy man, therefore, from whom their malice was not hidden, seeing iniquity and contradiction in the city, desired to remove himself far off, and to pass to the cloister of Religion, that it might be for him a shade for the day from the heat, and for security and a hiding from the whirlwind and from the rain. For he called to himself certain of the elders of the people; and the ecclesiastical treasures being consigned, in the sight of certain of his Brothers, he diligently admonished them, and being vainly admonished, that they should draw back their hands from the iniquity which they had conceived to exercise; and so show themselves in all things, that, keeping all the rights of the Church unharmed in everything, they might be seen to seek not the things that are their own, but those of Jesus Christ. And when he had refreshed them with spiritual admonitions, having received the spirit of counsel, he disposed to leave the world with all its furniture.

[16] Taking, therefore, wings like a dove, he flew to the often-named monastery of the Holy Sepulchre; he resolves to betake himself to the cloistral life, that, placed in the cloistral paradise, and singularly constituted in the hope that does not confound, he might draw the water of salutary wisdom; and the hope of Christ, which is sweeter than honey and the honeycomb, whose temple he had already become, might become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life. For the next following day, while it pressed the stars, he ordered the Father of the monastery to be summoned to him; and earnestly obtained from him that a visitation be made to him, as to one of his sick Brothers. and carried sick into the said monastery, And when the Brothers, with the Cross and holy water, candles lit, performing all things according to custom, stood by him; as if making a passage from the seventh to the eighth, he addresses them with such a discourse: "With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I die." Which, among the other words of his speech, touched with grief of heart within, concerning those who had impunely stretched out their hands upon ecclesiastical things, he uttered, saying: "Strangers have risen up against me, and the strong have sought my soul, and have not set God before their sight."

[17] Nonetheless, also concerning the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of the Lord, how it is to some an odor of life unto life, He most piously takes the Viaticum: to others an odor of death unto death, things desirable above gold and much precious stone, and sweeter above honey and the honeycomb, he proposed words to the same Brothers, and received it without delay with the utmost veneration. Whence indeed it is given to understand that, if he, in whom was the testimony of a good conscience for glory, had not been purified from all defilement of the flesh, he would not have spoken so gloriously of so great a mystery, receiving it devoutly. For he walked in newness of life, and, pouring out his soul upon himself, he passed through the place of the wonderful tabernacle even to the house of God. For he desired to lay down the Pontifical fillet, and to subject himself to monastic obedience. But when he was asked by certain Brothers that, if it could be done, he should both take up the Monastic habit, and not lay down the Pontifical dignity; he said: "Permit, Brothers, permit: for, discharging the office of the Prelacy, I will not henceforth visit that city: for this house is my rest, here will I dwell, since I have chosen it." Such things he persisted in recalling, and remained fixed.

[18] But that the effect of the work might prove what he had conceived in mind; then, a monastic habit being prepared for him, he ordered the garments of the monastic habit to be made for himself; that, absolved from Pontifical solicitude, he might put them on, and subject himself to the sweet yoke of obedience. For, the elders of the Clergy and people being called to him, that they might receive the renunciation of the administration committed to him, he earnestly solicited them with prayers; and that they should choose for themselves such a successor as would know how to govern the Church of God in spiritual and temporal things, he diligently admonished them. But the holy man, to whom to live was Christ, he strives in vain to abdicate the Bishopric: could by no reason induce them to assent to his will and petition; setting against him the veil of an excuse, that without the knowledge and mandate of the Roman Pontiff he could in no way be absolved from the rule entrusted to him. O blessed man, who, that in the citadel of contemplation he might please Him to whom he had proved himself, preferred in the monastery, under the command of an Abbot, to serve the Lord of hosts as a soldier, rather, commanding others, to be occupied with earthly actions! Who, although he did not assume the habit of a Monk by changed garments, yet God, looking from on high upon his heart, conferred on him the merit of chosen Monks, and he did not lose the glory of a Bishop. For the height of heavenly counsel provided, lest either in him the name of Pastor should be diminished, or, while he lived, his Church should be widowed of its venerable Spouse.

[19] At last, when he now desired to be dissolved and to be with Christ, he indicated to the Abbot and Brothers that the dissolution of his body was imminent; he orders a tomb to be prepared for himself, and he more earnestly entreated the same Abbot that he would order a tomb to be made for him, in which his members should be placed. Which indeed the Abbot at first shuddering at, some days having elapsed, at his insistence at last ordered to be prepared. Nonetheless he took care to obtain from the same, that, when he entered into the joy of his Lord, whatever he could and was permitted of the monastic habit, he would confer in the deposition of his tabernacle.

[20] But on a certain day, when the languor grew heavier, and the time of his dissolution was at hand, and that he be carried to the infirmary: always mindful of his last things, when he was going from the house of guests to the house of the sick; and had come to that part of the cloister which looks toward the Church, where his tomb was being prepared; he stopped, and from the Brother who supported his feeble movements, anxiously asked whether his tomb had been finished: for he desired to see it, and to bless it completed. But when the same Brother asserted it unfinished, which long before the holy man himself had earnestly asked the Abbot and Brothers to be made, where, passing, he complains of the tomb not yet prepared, reproaching their negligence, and shuddering at the delay of the work, he roared in spirit, and said: "O slow ones and full of all sloth, why have you delayed to make a tomb for me? But now may God perfect my steps in His paths, and according to the great multitude of His sweetness may His mercy follow me His servant, that I may deserve to enter into His powers, and to give the voice of gladness and exultation in the tabernacles of the just."

[21] And entering the aforesaid house, about to receive the palm of his labors, and, vested in Pontifical robes, he is anointed, gradually his individual members began to be loosened: and the Brothers being called to him, he asked of them with all devotion the oil of extreme Unction. And when, according to custom, the Office was made for him; he himself diligently responded with the others. Then he ordered the Pontifical garments, which had been conferred on him solely in regard of his person, lest occasion should be given to anyone of taking them away as the church's own, to be brought, that, when he was received into the eternal tabernacles, his holy body might be clothed with them, and so honorably handed over to burial. and he piously dies At last, ordering the Cross to be brought to him, he kissed the feet of the image of the Savior earnestly with tears, saying: "Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit": and that his hope and confidence in Christ might be proved, amid the pains of death, he had not complaints, but Christ the King of glory in his mouth. But when the hour of his passing was imminent, he poured out a short prayer, saying: "Glorious Confessor, blessed Syrus, pray the Lord Jesus Christ June 23, to deign to receive my spirit." And not long after he migrated to the Lord, on Thursday the ninth of the Kalends of July in the year from the Nativity of the Lord one thousand one hundred and seventy-six, in the Pontificate of our Lord Alexander III.

NOTES OF D. P.

CHAPTER III.

Certain miracles of the Saint after death.

[22] But after blessed Lanfranc the Bishop, His body, as he had ordered, clothed in Monastic and Pontifical robes, the burden of the flesh laid down, entered into the joy of his Lord, and his place was made in peace, and he was associated with the Saints in heaven, by whose life he lived in the world; the Lord glorified His Saint, by his merits bestowing benefits on men to the present day: that he might be venerated by the faithful on earth, whom the piety of the Lord had honored in heaven. For in this glorious Confessor of Christ the merciful and compassionate Lord made a memorial of His wonders; which indeed, as much as the Lord shall supply, we have thought should be narrated with concise brevity; that the right hand of God, which works power, may be glorified in them. When therefore his holy body, at his own request, had been clothed in garments that were permitted, Monastic, and over them Pontifical, and was still kept in the church in a bier; a woman deprived of walking is healed: a certain woman deprived of the function of walking for two years, coming to the aforesaid monastery, had herself signed by the hand of the blessed Bishop: and immediately restored to entire health, returned home rejoicing on her own feet.

[23] There happened also another thing by no means to be passed over in silence. A certain one of the Clerks, seeing the holy man's body clothed in Pontifical garments, as is the custom, thus to be handed over to burial; wishing to take off the Pontifical robes, foolish in his heart said: "To what purpose this loss? These garments could be converted to better uses for the living." Then, fulfilling what he thought, with rash daring he presumed against the laws to strip the blessed man's body, and to clothe it in cheaper garments. But God the Lord of vengeance, when He had awaited him for some time for penance, at last deprived both the hands that dared so great a crime, and the function of his whole side, with a worthy retribution. he is punished with paralysis. But he, as long as he lived, constituted in such misery, at last returning to his heart, often repeated: "Deservedly I suffer these things, because I sinned against my father." Hence grew fear and reverence toward the Saint of God, and it was in the mouth of the faithful: "Blessed be the name of the Lord."

[24] A certain little one, still suckling, weighed down by excessive infirmity, when for five continuous days he had tasted nothing at all; the mother now despairing of his life, A sick boy is cured, at last, remembering the man of God, implored his help for the boy. Whose faith the heavenly piety did not despise: for the boy immediately sought the breasts, and not long after was restored to entire health. When a film so occupied the eye of a certain other boy another, dim-sighted, that he had not the use of seeing; nor could be cured in any way by the arts of physicians; his mother, who had led him around to other Saints, at last came with him to the tomb of this Blessed one. Where, when she had pleaded for a while, she withdrew not secure of the deliverance of the bound eye. But when they had advanced a little; the boy said to his mother: "Loose, mother, the eye, for I am freed." Which when the woman, not believing, was unwilling to loose; the boy threw off the bandage. When therefore the mother saw him healed, she returned with him to the said tomb: and giving thanks long to God and blessed Lanfranc, they returned home with joy.

[25] A certain young man, worn down by long confinement in a public prison and by the bonds of fetters, earnestly asked the suffrages of the blessed Bishop Lanfranc; making a vow, if by his merits he were freed from such great tribulations. a captive is freed: Not long after he fell asleep: and the blessed man appeared to him in sleep, and roused him. At once the young man rose, and the fetters fell from his feet. Which when again many tried to put back on him, and, with us present, the same was attempted by very many; by no effort could they restore them: whence it is established that the iron obeyed the commands of the holy man, to whose tomb we led him hastily with hymns and praises. fevers are driven off. A certain Rodulf, seized with a grave fever, vowed to the blessed man to give a pound of oil in a lamp, burning at his tomb; and immediately the chill departed. Henry the painter, laboring with a continuous fever, vowed to the glorious Bishop Lanfranc to give a candle, to the measure of his body, if by the merits of the Saint he should receive health: and immediately freed, he paid the vow which he had promised.

[26] To a certain young man, Ubert by name, placed in the aforesaid public prison, and desiring to flee on account of the squalors of the prison; a certain other, who stayed with the guards, fixed a knife between his shoulder-blades up to the handle; and immediately, struck, he fell; and reputing himself as if dead, A captive wounded to death, he poured out blood from his mouth and the wound. A Priest was called, that he might confer on him, as on a dying man, the remedy of penance and the other Sacraments: then, set in the bottom of the prison among others, he now thought only of death. At last, returning to his mind, he asked the help of Blessed Lanfranc with tears; adding that if by his merits he received the benefit of health, he would faithfully serve him as long as he lived. But when he had slumbered a little, the Saint appearing, he is suddenly healed, the man of God appeared to him, saying: "Rise, your wound is healed." And so, roused, putting his hand to the place of the wound, he found it healed: and calling the keeper of the prison, related in order the miracle which had happened to him. Who, astonished that he found now whole the one whom a little before he had seen half-dead, reported these things to us and to the Magistrate of the city. The wounded man, therefore, the striker, and the guards being brought before us; and with ocular faith and oaths interposed; the truth known, leading him to the tomb of the glorious Confessor, the miracle being legally proved. in hymns and confessions we blessed God, who is near to all who invoke Him in truth.

[27] And when the fame of so great a Bishop was divulged far and wide, A man weak in his foot is cured, a Monk of the diocese of Asti, so afflicted with a disease of one foot that now for two months he had not the function of walking; vowed a vow to the Lord and Blessed Lanfranc, that if by his merits he were healed, he would come on his own feet to his tomb with a wax foot. Without delay: the skin being burst, pus flowed out, and after a few days, made whole, he gladly paid the vow which he had made. A certain little boy of Vastarino, who for three years, his parents being witnesses, had not seen the light, brought to the holy man's body, 2 blind men are enlightened, received sight, God willing. A certain poor man, Martin by name, who for a year and a half had been without sight, led on the Paschal night to his sacred tomb, was enlightened by the merits of the Bishop. A certain girl of Calignano had been so bent by infirmity that she could not walk, unless she used her hands for feet: a contracted woman is raised up, whose parents, when they had supplicated the blessed man for her, immediately, raised up, she rose, and walked in peace.

[28] A certain other boy, past the age of speaking, a mute is given speech: while, like a mute, he spoke nothing at all; his parents came to the intercession of the blessed Bishop. And the Lord, looking down from heaven upon the sons of men, by the merits of the holy man gave the boy speech. A certain girl, who for half a year had remained blind, at the sacred tomb of that Bishop gladly received sight. the use of one of the feet is restored, A certain Guido, a noble, citizen of Asti, whose legs had so withered for two years that he could not walk at all, unless he used his knees and hands with two little stools for feet; led to the tomb of the holy man, healed at his intercession, coming to us on his own feet, asserted it to be so by his own oath: and many others, who had been present at the sight of the miracle, attested the same in our presence. A certain noble man of Milan, Henry Sensatus by name, so weakened by a previous fracture of the right arm that he could not put his hand to his mouth; coming to the tomb of the blessed man with devotion, the use of one of the hands to another. so received health by the grace of God that, raising his hand over his head, making the sign of the Cross on his forehead, he perceived his hand with the arm restored to all use.

[29] An honorable man, Peter Niger the Jurist, citizen of Pavia, Brought to death by a continuous fever, laboring with a continuous fever, lay in bed half-alive. But his mother, standing at the bed of the one lying, incessantly besought the Lord and Blessed Lanfranc for him, saying: "Holy Lanfranc, give me back my son; who was devoted to you while you lived." The sick man too, as he could, most devoutly asked the suffrage of the same Saint. And there appeared to that man, waking, the image of the Lord Savior, and Blessed Lanfranc prostrate at the feet of the Savior, seemed to ask Christ for the health of that sick man. his mother praying for him, But the Lord Jesus turned away His face, and so the vision vanished from his eyes. But he, terrified, began utterly to despair of health: but his mother, insisting with prayers, often repeated: "Holy Lanfranc, give me back my son." But to the silent son the aforesaid vision was repeated; and the face of the Savior, as before, turned away. And when this second vision too had vanished, more terrified, more and more he was removed from the hope of health. But the mother, insisting with prayers with opportune importunity, did not cease to ask the suffrages of the blessed man. But the Lord, who heard the Canaanite woman praying for her daughter; a third time deigned to appear to the lying son, and at his feet Blessed Lanfranc. But Jesus regarded him with a straight and cheerful countenance, and giving His hand raised him up: and this third vision being taken away, the sick man fell asleep; and immediately freed from the fevers, he rendered manifold thanksgivings to God and the blessed Bishop.

[30] About the same time a certain Roman citizen, named Peter, Incredulous of these miracles while he was at Pavia, the miracles of the blessed man being heard, deriding and making little of all these things, constantly asserted that what he had heard was vain and false: but that curse did not come upon him uttered in vain. For on the same day the blessed man appeared to him, saying: "All praise is sung at the end." And immediately seized with most grave pain, he was so grievously tormented that he seemed to the bystanders to be expiring; and that could now be seen fulfilled in him: "He derides the deriders." And when now the things necessary for the funeral were being prepared; he is most grievously tormented; the women who were present began earnestly to cry out: "Holy Lanfranc, help him." And the Saint invoked, he is healed, And the holy man appeared to him, clothed in Pontifical garments; and touching his breast with the top of his pastoral staff, said: "Peace": and immediately the pain departed, and he vanished from his eyes.

[31] Then he, from a blasphemer made believing, began to render praises and thanks to God and the blessed Confessor. when he asked another sign to be made in himself, he is struck dumb, But on the following day, with honorable men, Priests and Clerks, he proceeded to the monastery where the body of the same holy man rests: and before he entered the church, he asked the bystanders to pour out prayers to God and blessed Peter, and holy Lanfranc, that in him some evident miracle might appear, for making greater faith in the things that had happened to him. Which done, he entered the church; and joyfully approaching the sacred tomb of the blessed man, gave thanks for the benefits received. Then entering the cloister, he faithfully narrated what had happened to him to the religious Abbot of the same place. and he appearing a third time, Afterward there appeared to him, as he himself related, the glorious Bishop, marked with Pontifical garments and ornaments, and he immediately lost speech: but he showed the same Saint to the Abbot and bystanders by nods and fingers; and wished to hold him up to the tomb, but could not. Then, brought back into the choir of the church, his speech not restored, again and again the Confessor of Christ appeared; and Peter himself, the power of speaking restored to him, others not perceiving, pointed out the same Saint with his fingers, saying: "See him, see": and following the same up to the tomb, showed him as he could. But the Saint again, with him seeing, he receives speech. entered into the tomb. Of all which, before us and our Brothers, faith being made by his oath and the assertion of many bystanders, we gave thanks to God, to whom nothing is impossible, and who works all things.

NOTES OF D. P.

CHAPTER IV.

The continuation of the same miracles.

[32] When a certain noble Knight of Pavia, named Gislezo Salimbene, was playing with another knight with drawn swords; A grave wound is suddenly made solid, his hand, running into the sword of the one playing, was gravely wounded. And when the physician, according to custom, wished to sew up the wound with needles, the wounded man refused; asserting that he had no other sewer of his wound but Blessed Lanfranc, to whom, while he lived, his father and he himself were greatly faithful. But on the same night the wound was so healed by the merits of the blessed man, that in the morning, when the physician had unbound the hand, scarcely a trace of a scar appeared: which miracle was public, and the hand shown to us made undoubted faith: and the Knight himself gave glory to God and blessed Lanfranc.

[33] a man with arthritis is healed, But another Knight of the same city, named Bernard Capitaneus, so labored with the disease of gout, that from the girdle down on one side he reputed himself lost. But when he was admonished by the women standing around to vow himself to Blessed Lanfranc; he, less believing, said: "The mutes at the gate of the palace do not yet speak." But the sickness growing worse, he vowed to God and the blessed Bishop that he would give him a wax thigh, leg, and foot, if by his merits he were healed. And since he could not walk, he had himself carried to his body and tomb: and passing the night there and insisting in prayers, he was restored to his former health. And in the morning, coming to us on his own feet, he asserted it to be so, and affirmed it by oath.

[34] Also a noble man, a Knight of Pavia, named Reinald Balbus, having a war-horse; which, when it ran, an unbridled horse is tamed, could be held by the control of no bridle; vowed to Blessed Lanfranc to give a wax horse, if he would bridle his war-horse from its unbridledness. But when, for the sake of fulfilling his vow, he had hastened to the monastery where the body of the blessed man rests, on the same horse; returning thence, about to try whether the horse was freed from that savageness, by running and re-running he found it utterly freed. But when, not ungrateful for this benefit, he had narrated this miracle to his neighbors; there was one of them, who, not yet believing the blessed man to be holy; like the Jews seeking signs, said to him: "If the Bishop Lanfranc frees you from the ganglion which you have on your hand, then I will believe him to be a Saint." a ganglion vanishes from the hand, But the same Reinald, presuming on the mercy of God and the merits and intercession of Blessed Lanfranc, not knowing prophesied, saying: "By the help of God and Blessed Lanfranc I shall without doubt be freed within three days"; and made a vow to God and the same religious Bishop. But blessed be God, who does not abandon those presuming on Him, fulfilled it for him hoping well, in the sight of the sons of men. For on that same night that protruding deformity was utterly dissolved, and the hand, like the other most whole, was restored to health. Which when the aforesaid incredulous man had beheld, both he and the whole neighborhood, with the same healed man, gave praise to God and Blessed Lanfranc. We too glorified God and the blessed man, who often saw the infirmity of the same hand, and now by the grace of God and the holy man perceive its health.

[35] A certain shoemaker, William Belegrossus by name, an eye pierced by an awl is made whole, while, intent on shoemaker's work, he plied it, by chance fixed the awl which he held in his hand into his eye: and feeling most grave pain, he cried out: "Help me, holy Lanfranc." But from the excessive pain the eye, swollen and protruding, seemed to have gone out of his head; so that the neighbors said that he would never see with that eye: yet all exhorted him to vow himself to Blessed Lanfranc. Which when he had done, immediately a little blood came out of the eye; and the same night utterly freed, in the morning he paid the vow which he had made: at last coming to us, he himself, and two of the neighbors, oaths being given, confirmed it to be so.

[36] robbed by thieves and bound, A certain young man of the Bishopric of Clermont, named John Brunellus, while he was at Pavia, was led astray by certain thieves, and led into a certain forest far from the city,

he was despoiled by those same betrayers; into his mouth too, lest he could cry out, binding back a wooden withe and a cord behind, and twisting it strongly, they went away; and exposing him to death, cruelly left him. Destitute, therefore, of all human help, he implored divine suffrage. And there appeared to him the holy Bishop Lanfranc, whose help he asked as he could: and immediately the bonds of his feet being broken, walking was restored to the one asking. But what should he do, he is loosed and taken out of danger. who knew not where he was, nor whither he ought to go, and lacking both garments and a guide for the journey? But God, making the journey foreseen for him, directed him to the village which is called St. Christina. But the men and women, seeing him naked, fled; reckoning him a monster rather than a man. But a certain Knight, coming up, had him loosed; and learning what had happened, gave praise to God and Blessed Lanfranc. He too, freed, coming to the tomb of the blessed man, rendered manifold thanks to his liberator: and coming to us, by his oath and the evident marks of the bonds, with manifest truth confirmed it.

[37] At the same time a certain John of Alba, so seized with gout, are healed, a man with arthritis, that he could not walk without two staves; the fame of the blessed man being heard, devoutly vowed himself to him; and within three days was so cured, the Lord working, that he came on his own feet to the tomb of the blessed Bishop with thanksgiving: then coming to us, he confirmed it to be so, an oath being given. Likewise from the place Novy, named Peter Straneus, when, from a certain wound, a man weak in arm and hand, he had utterly lost the use of his arm and hand; the fame of the glorious Confessor Lanfranc being heard, vowed himself to him with humble supplication; and the next day, rising from bed, he found the use of those same members fully restored to him. Hastily, therefore, he came to the tomb, giving thanks for the benefit received: and coming to us, he asserted the matter so done by his oath.

[38] When a certain Priest Martin of the village of St. Pancras was cutting wood, a chip of wood, springing back into the eye of the one cutting, an eye injured, so blackened that eye that he could see nothing thereby, and he, from excessive pain, reputed without doubt that he had utterly lost the light of that eye. Amid these anguishes he vowed himself to the blessed Bishop: and immediately falling asleep, after sleep he recognized himself utterly freed; so that not even any mark of the aforesaid blow remained in the eye. The vow, therefore, which he had made, he paid: and before us, in virtue of obedience, attested it to be so true.

[39] A certain Miller, of the diocese of Milan, named Peter de Martina, a man deprived of walking by true pain (pain of the loins). had a little son named Reciovarus, who had been so tortured by an infirmity of the kidneys that he could neither raise himself nor walk; but his mother vowed him to Blessed Lanfranc: and immediately the boy recovered somewhat. Which his father seeing, carried him to the tomb of the blessed man, for obtaining health more fully. But while he prayed, the boy, raised up, rose; and walking here and there without any impediment, was restored to most entire health. The father, therefore, fulfilled the vow which the mother had made, and in our presence gave an oath concerning the matter so done.

[40] In the same diocese a certain boy called Guido of Bagadium, deprived of the use of all his senses, while he lay on a certain bench, suddenly lost sight, speech, the working of his hands, and the walking of his feet; and so for five weeks he remained deprived of these functions; except that once, stammering, he said: "St. Lanfranc will heal." His mother, therefore, vowed him to the blessed man; and placed in a vehicle, while he was carried to the monastery where the holy man rests, on the very journey he received sight. But when he had been led to the tomb, and he and his men had begun to keep vigils according to custom, around the first vigil, feeling himself cured of all infirmity, he rose rejoicing, every use which he had lost restored to him by divine grace: and all the people who were present gave praise to God and Blessed Lanfranc. But his brother, named William, manifested before our presence by his oath that it was so.

[41] A certain Monk of St. Stephen of Vercelli, Hugh by name, since on account of a rupture of the groin and gravely afflicted with hernia. he wore iron bonds around that place; on the Vigil of the Assumption of Blessed Mary, tormented more gravely than usual by the torture of his bowels, vowed himself to Blessed Lanfranc: and immediately, loosing the iron bond with which he was girt, he found the fracture of the groin healed, and the pain of the bowels departed. And leave being received, he came to the tomb of the man of God, in a voice of exultation and confession carrying the aforesaid girdle in testimony of his deliverance. At last coming to us, he confirmed it to be so, an oath being given; ready also to make faith by the inspection of his body.

[42] A certain stone-mason, Albert of Novara, when, on account of his crimes, he had been condemned by the Consuls of Pavia to hanging on the gallows, He is condemned to the gallows, and invoking the Saint, and with a certain other wicked man was led to the gallows; that one implored the help of a certain knight, this one always the suffrage of Blessed Lanfranc. But when they had come to the place of the gibbet, that one, hanged, immediately died; this one, hanged, always had the name of the blessed Bishop in his mouth. The Consuls, marveling that, hanging a long time, he did not die, had him taken down; and bound more tightly in hands and feet, the noose more carefully prepared for his death, had him hanged again, expecting that he would quickly fail. But he, ceaselessly entreating the help of Blessed Lanfranc, cried out as he could: "Holy Lanfranc, help me a sinner." And while he hung a long time, he did not die; but the ropes with which he had been bound broke: and therefore, taken down again and bound more tightly, he is hanged a third time in vain; a third time he was hanged on the same gallows, the Consuls standing afar off, that they might see the end of the matter. But he repeated the name of Blessed Lanfranc as he could. The officials drew to the ground the ropes bound to his feet, that hanged he might more quickly die. But God, who does not will the death of a sinner, sent from heaven and freed him, for immediately there appeared to him the Saint whom he invoked, Lanfranc, saying: "Be constant, and you shall not die." And when, hanging a very long time, he did not at all die: the people who were present, understanding it to be the will of God that he be freed; took him down from the gallows: and loosing all his bonds, and at last he is dismissed free. led him to us with haste. But we, giving thanks to God and Blessed Lanfranc, sent him to the body of the blessed man, that he might render thanks for the benefits received. And all the people, seeing these things, gave praise to God, who is near to all who invoke Him in truth, a helper in opportunities, in tribulation.

NOTES OF G. H.

CHAPTER V.

The rest of the miracles of the same Saint.

[43] In the place Zezoma a certain girl named Galasia was accused before the Magistrate of the place that she had given poison to her brother, Suspected of fratricide and condemned to the flames, who had immediately died. But the Magistrate, unwilling that such grave crimes, namely of poisoning and fratricide, should pass unpunished: since she denied the deed, judged that a duel ought to be held. Why more? The day of the fight came, and the girl's side succumbed, overcome, and sentence was passed upon her, that she should be burned with avenging flames. While she was being led to the fire she earnestly cried out: "Holy Lanfranc, help me a sinner." But bound to the stake by her feet and her whole body, her hands too tied behind her back, and the flames kindled all around, in the midst of the flames she invoked the suffrages of the same Saint, and stood unharmed, like the three boys in the furnace. But when the Magistrate pressed on, and they threw burning thorns upon her, she comes out of them with even her garments unharmed. she ceaselessly cried out: "Holy Lanfranc, help me a sinner." She indeed hoped in the Lord, and He, having compassion, snatched her out: for immediately her bonds were loosed, and she came out unharmed through the midst of the flames: for the fire did not touch her at all, nor injured a hair or her garment in any way; and all the people, as they saw it, gave praise to God and Blessed Lanfranc. But although this miracle was public and notorious: yet both she and the Priest of the place confirmed it to be so, oaths being interposed before us. But she, coming with her mother and kindred to the tomb of the blessed man, rendered what thanksgivings she could; whose tunic too, in which she had been clothed in the fire, was hung up in the same basilica for the memory of so great a matter.

[44] In the city of Lodi there was a certain boy, named Bonetus, A boy is given back sight, hearing, speech, walking. who, seized with a certain grave infirmity, lost sight, hearing, speech, and walking; for which cause his mother had vowed him to many Saints, but was not heard by any: which we believe was done, that the glory of God and Blessed Lanfranc might be manifested in him. At last the mother, the fame of St. Lanfranc heard, vowed a vow, that if by his intercessions her son were freed: she would lead him on his own feet to his tomb, with thanksgiving. And so on the same day the boy recovered sight, hearing, speech, and walking: and not long after she came with the boy to the tomb of the blessed man to give thanks: and leading him to us, she and a certain woman, who stayed with her in the same house, oaths being given, made faith of so great a matter. And we saw the same boy seeing, hearing, speaking, and walking.

[45] There was in the city of Piacenza a certain one, named Bonicius, Wood fixed in the eye is drawn out without harm: who, playing with his little sister, by chance fell straight onto a certain sharpened particle of wood: and that wood was so gravely fixed in his eye that it could not be drawn back without great effort. Which his mother, named Laudexena, seeing, wept bitterly. To whose weeping the neighbors running together and compassionating, tried to draw out the wood; but finding it less fixed, lest they should gravely injure the boy, they let it be. But the mother, by the counsel of a certain neighbor of hers, vowed the boy himself to Blessed Lanfranc: and immediately

one of the bystanders touched the wood with one finger, and the wood fell to the ground, and the boy escaped freed by the grace of God. The mother, therefore, hastening with the same boy to his holy tomb, gave thanks; and before our Brothers confirmed by oath that it was so.

[46] There was in the same city a man, called Stephen Galliardus, an incurable lumbago is healed, who from the loins downward had been so seized with an infirmity that he could neither walk nor even turn himself, inasmuch as he had lost all use of his lower parts. Having used many medicines, and vowing himself to very many saints, he profited nothing; five months also being completed in that infirmity, at last he vowed a vow to St. Lanfranc: and not long after, restored to full health, he came to his tomb with thanksgiving, and before our Brothers swore it to be so.

[47] In the diocese of Tortona, in the place Pozzolo, a certain woman permitted her little boy to wander in her courtyard: a drowned boy is raised up, who, when he had fallen into a pit of water; the mother, unaware, after some delay, seeking her son, went through the neighboring houses, the boy lying in the water. Meanwhile a certain young man, named Ugo de Ponzano, the boy found lifted out of the water, and carried under the porch of the mother, having neither voice nor sense; so that all who were present reputed him dead, treating already of his burial. But the aunt of the same boy vowed him to St. Lanfranc. And at once the boy opened his eyes, and vomiting out the water, was freed by divine grace. But the parents carried the same little one to the tomb of the holy Bishop, with a wax image and thanksgiving: and the aforesaid Ugo before our Brothers asserted by his oath that it was so.

[48] At the same time a certain one, called Gambacurta of Calnago, a certain one is freed from gout of the knee and from hernia: suffering gout in his knee, could not rise from bed: besides, for long times back his intestines descended to the privy parts through a rupture of the groin. For each sickness he vowed a vow to God and Blessed Lanfranc; and at once, freed from each, he came to the tomb of the blessed man to pay his vow: then before our Brothers confirmed by oath that the matter was so.

[49] In the city of Vercelli a certain noble Beatrice, Countess of Castello, and wife of the noble man Manfred Bicherius, having an only little son named John, deservedly loved him most tenderly. Whom, playing with a certain bird between the arms of his nurse, a boy choked by a sudden cough, a sudden cough invaded, and so long afflicted that he both lost speech and became as if dead; so that neither voice nor sense was felt in him. But the anxious mother, with weeping and sighs approaching nearer, touching his arm and putting her ear to his mouth, found in him neither pulse, nor breath, but only signs of death. and vainly devoted to Blessed James, But perceiving his limbs grow cold and his face grow pale, she wept bitterly. Meanwhile, remembering a vow which she had made for him at the time of his birth to Blessed James, namely that she would give a silver image, if he would keep that son for her, putting a strap on the boy's neck for devotion, she implored the suffrages of Blessed James with vows, voices, and weeping. But after long prayer and delay the boy did not recover, nor profited by any consolation, so that all said he was dead.

[50] Then indeed the mother and household and all who were present began to weep more bitterly; and now to be buried, and veiled his face as of one truly dead, preparing the things necessary for the funeral. But a certain Lady who was present, inspired (as we believe) from heaven, persuaded the mother that she should vow him to Blessed Lanfranc. She, believing that by his merits help could be had, most devoutly made a vow, that she would visit his tomb on her own feet with a wax image, if she should see her son restored to her. Without delay: the boy moved himself, and on the same day so recovered he revives. that he began to see and play in his accustomed manner. But the woman, seeing her mourning turned into the harp, and her sadness into joy; rendered thanksgivings to God and Blessed Lanfranc; and hastily visited the tomb of the blessed man, as she had vowed: and had the son himself carried there for devotion; at last in the presence of our Brothers swore by her hand that it was so.

[51] About the same time a certain Peter of Voltabium, who from his boyhood had been mute, A mute receives speech. nor remembered himself to have been other than mute, and to have spoken by signs; hearing the miracles which God worked through Blessed Lanfranc; when he had already visited through various provinces very many places of the Saints for recovering speech; made a vow to God and holy Lanfranc, that if by his merits he should recover speech, he would come to his tomb with a candle of his own length. When therefore, coming to that tomb with the same candle, he passed the night, and poured out prayer to God not with his mouth, but with his heart; at the ringing for Matins, it seemed to him that speech, like a certain stiffness, came up through the arteries and the organic instruments, and in a little while was restored to him by divine grace. He therefore, giving glory to God and Blessed Lanfranc, hastening to us, swore it to be so. Many Nobles too of our land, who had seen him mute, now seeing him speaking; marveled at the things that had happened to him, attesting it to be so, giving glory and honor to God and blessed Lanfranc.

[52] Let us report also another miracle to the glory of the same Saint. A man of great authority, Ido of Tortona, judge of the Imperial Court, who while Blessed Lanfranc lived had been familiar and devoted to him; held by a certain most grave infirmity, when he now seemed to labor at the last, and was not helped by the arts of physicians; The Imperial Judge sick unto death, amid anguishes and pains, began to recall to memory the miracles of the same Saint, and devoutly to commend himself to the suffrages of him whom, while living, he had reputed as father and lord. Divine clemency was present to him: and when on the following night he had given his limbs to rest, through a vision of the night it seemed to him that he was within the church of the Holy Sepulchre, where the limbs of St. Lanfranc rest. And while before his tomb he poured out devout prayers, through the same vision he beheld the blessed man, wreathed with Pontifical garments and insignia, sitting upon a throne. Whom, beholding reverently with raised eyes, after a vision of the Saint with devotion he said to him: "Would I dare, holy Father, to approach nearer, nay even to touch you a little?" To this the venerable Bishop said: "On account of your assiduous devotion toward me, both these and other things you are able to obtain." But he, confidence resumed, intently added: "Will God have mercy on me?" The Saint answered: "He will have mercy: nevertheless remember that you are a man." And he: "Lord, what will become of my sons?" He answered: "God will provide for them." The vision therefore having passed away, the aforesaid Ido, awakened, he is suddenly healed, was immediately restored to most entire safety; all marveling at so sudden a change made about him. But this change was of the right hand of the Most High: and not long after, hastening with devotion to the tomb of the blessed man, he rendered thanksgivings to God and Blessed Lanfranc. The undoubted truth of which matter we had, which he confirmed before us by a pledge of faith, and before the Brothers of the same monastery by a faithful asseveration.

[53] We believe another miracle too, in the diocese of Turin, in the place which is called Bra, should not be kept silent. There were in the same place two sisters, one sound and wise, named Imelia; the other insane and out of her mind, a foolish woman is given a sound mind. who was called Agnesia. The sound one indeed compassionated the insane one, and from her furious acts often sustained pain and shame, nor could the insanity be cured by the art of physicians. Human help failing, therefore, the sound sister had refuge to the divine. For, the fame of Blessed Lanfranc being heard, she vowed her sister to the same Saint with humble supplication; and not long after the foolish woman returned to a sound mind, and her sense was restored to her, and she blessed the Most High. Then both together came to the tomb of the blessed man by a long journey, praising and glorifying God: then coming to us, confirmed by the interposition of their faith that it had so happened.

NOTES OF G. H.

c But Piacenza, 28.