ON B. GUIDO MARRAMALDO,
OF THE ORDER OF PREACHERS, AT NAPLES IN CAMPANIA.
From the sacred Dominican Diary of Dominicus Maria Marchesius.
ABOUT 1391.
CommentaryGuido Marramaldo, of the Order of Preachers, at Naples in Italy (B.)
THE AUTHOR BEING D. P.
The great merits of the above-titled writer, in collecting that Diary, and publishing it in six volumes about the year 1672, the King of the Spains, or rather so many Dominican Saints and Blessed, unearthed by him, Sure arguments of ancient cult, crowned after about twenty years with the Infula of the Church of Pozzuoli, granted for ornament rather than use; since not long after he departed life. He first here taught us that he reckons his fellow-citizen Guido among the Blessed of the Order of Preachers, by three arguments chiefly. I. That at the body of him, dead about the year 1391, there shone such signs of sure sanctity, that the chapel of S. Mary surnamed of the Rosary, in the chief church of S. Dominic, within which it was buried, soon, the name being changed, began to be called the Chapel of B. Guido, as is established from a public instrument there, by which Zizotta de Aceriis in the year 1428 bequeaths a certain estate to the Fathers on this condition, that for the salvation of the soul of the legatrix herself three sacrifices be made each week in the chapel of B. Guido. II. That there is publicly exposed an old effigy of him, with rays around the head and the title of Blessed; and likewise in the Chapel of S. Dominic; and also at Gubbio in Umbria in the cloister of S. Martin, Michaël Pius being witness in part 2, book 4, page 348, where he is simply called B. Guido of Naples. III. That in the Provincial Chapters of the Order, celebrated through the kingdom of Naples in the year 1612, it was committed to Seraphinus de Nocera, then Provincial, that he should give his effort that there be obtained from Rome the faculty of venerating him with Office and Mass.
[2] But for what day of the year? I should believe that the Fathers desired some one in general, to be defined by the judgment of the sacred Congregation of Rites; that Marchesius meanwhile chose this, on which no other Saint or Blessed of his Order occurred to him, as he himself wrote back to me by letter that he had sometimes done otherwise; although he dissimulated to confess this of Guido. Yet he asked on another occasion, A radiant effigy with the title of Blessed. that since concerning the ancient cult it is established enough, and therefore Guido deserves to be inserted in our Acts; we would not be reluctant to leave to this day his name, which he hoped would easily be approved by the sacred Congregation, since the cult had been proved to it. Meanwhile he sent the effigy of the Blessed one, this which thou seest, received from an old tablet, which is commonly believed to be the work of that celebrated Zincarus: who if he flourished toward the end of the fifteenth century, as is written to me; there is occasion of suspecting, that at the same time some translation of the body was made in the church of S. Dominic, or by another reason the cult of B. Guido was notably augmented, almost a hundred years now elapsed from his death: which cult persevered for another hundred years; the body with the treasures hidden in the year 1598 until, Naples being besieged in the year 1598 by the French, and suffering extreme famine, the body with the Life and a great treasure of ecclesiastical furniture and old writings was so hidden; that, a pestilence supervening after the siege was raised, and those being dead who had had knowledge of the secret place, they could not hitherto be found, however great diligence was applied. Yet the credulity handed down by hand persists, that all are then to be found, when by the necessity of extreme want the Convent shall be pressed by some: which although it has often been very great, yet it has not yet happened that it was so relieved.
[3] This is the sum of three letters, which on that matter Marchesius wrote: to which from the Neapolitan History of Summontius I would add, that the chief care of defending the city against the French and the custody of guarding the citadel for the Emperor was entrusted to Fabritius Marramaldus: Fabritius Marramaldus guarding the citadel, whom because the French held hateful, no vain fear could have come upon the Brothers, lest if the city were taken, the soldier, exasperated by grief at the disasters received from Fabritius, should avenge them upon the Blessed one of the same name and family; and therefore they believed it should rather be hidden, than so many other notable Relics of theirs, for which they believed there would be less peril. whether then too the Life disappeared? But from then the cult of the Blessed one ceased, and the chapel returned to its former name, until it shall please the divine providence to bring forth again into the light the treasure of the sacred bones (which even thence it is established was honorably raised from the earth, as of a Blessed one, not without the knowledge of the Ordinary), together with the Life, if any was anciently written. But whether there be any, I doubt not lightly; since no indication of it is found either in the manuscript Codices of Ambrosius Taëgius, most diligently collected down to the year 1513; nor in the Lives published either by Leander Alberti about the year 1517, or by Joannes Flaminius about the year 1529, or by Seraphinus Razzius about the year 1575; who all wrote before the times of Lautrec and the pretended loss of the Life.
[4] About the middle of this century Theodorus de Piperno published a historical Compendium of the illustrious men of the Neapolitan province: He is said to be nobly born from which, still unknown to us, Marchesius professes to have taken the Life of whatever sort here to be rendered into Latin. B. Brother Guido was born at Naples, of parents most noble there, of whom Guilielmus Marramaldi, pertaining to the Nidensian See or Court (among the ancient four, this was reckoned the second, after the Capuan the first), now extinct, had as brothers Landulfus, Archbishop of Bari, Apostolic Legate, and afterward Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, and Carolus, Major-domo of King Charles. From a boy he lived with all modesty, wonderfully diligent at studies. And since he was frequent in the Convent of S. Dominic, the habit being taken, he studied excellently, captivated by the pious and erudite conversation of the Brothers, he asked and obtained to be received among them. Received, and well instructed in Philosophy and Theology, he came forth not only an exceedingly devout religious, but also an excellent preacher of the divine Word. Which talent he exercised fruitfully in several places, but namely in the city of Ragusa; which it so pleased, that out of regard for him a Convent of the Order was founded there.
[5] Returned to his fatherland, he was instituted by the supreme Pontiff Inquisitor General through the whole Kingdom; and sustained many labors and persecutions, most freely exercising that office, full of trouble and envy. But
in the virtue of the Cross, and constituted Inquisitor, whose wooden figure also he always carried with him, he came forth unhurt from all perils. So when once a huge multitude of rioters had besieged the convent, he himself, having gone out onto the roof of the choir, brought forth his Cross against them, commanding that they should forthwith depart thence; and struck so great a terror into all, that more quickly than a moment they were dispersed. At another time, summoned by King Robert, soldiers being sent, as if about to lead him safely to his presence, but in truth about to thrust him into prison; he himself, divinely knowing their counsel, the Cross being raised, adjured them, that no one should lay violent hands on him: that he would go of his own accord, and treat with the King; always protecting himself by the virtue of the Cross. whom by his discourse he so placated, that he who before could not bear him, persuaded that his kingdom was disturbed by him, on account of the frequent tumults arising for the cause of the severity exercised against the heretics; not only dismissed him free from him, but also secure, that the King would no longer meddle in the causes of the sacred Inquisition.
[6] We have a little book, whose title is, The Guide of Strangers curiously walking through Naples, The body with the Treasure hidden still lies hidden. written in Italian by the Abbot Pompeius Sarnellus, and published in the year 1685; where in chapter 17 is described the Royal church of S. Dominic, into whose name it was restored and consecrated in the year 1255 by Pope Alexander IV, since before for 24 years it was still reckoned by the name of S. Michael, under which it had been granted to the Benedictines in the year 1116. Here within the greater gate of the church and the gate of the monastery, one may read an old inscription with this beginning: "Nimbifer ille" That cloud-bearing one, etc.: which inscription, because it had long stood at the mouth of a certain cistern, Fr. Cyprianus of Naples attempted to explain, in this sense, by which it would be signified, that in the bottom of that cistern lay hidden the body of B. Guido Marramaldo with the silver furniture of the church, there likewise hidden: and he published his lucubration on that opinion, under the title of "The Cistern Uncovered"; but I, says Sarnellus, opposed to it "The Thread of Ariadne"; and taught that that stone was nothing else than the monument of a certain shipwrecked man, taken from the pavement of the church, when the choir was being transposed, and applied to that cistern, with which otherwise it had nothing common. But it pleased to indicate this controversy here, that it may be indicated, that not so long ago search was still made for that treasure, and with how firm a persuasion the Neapolitans believe that it lies hidden among the Preachers.
ON THE VENERABLE BERTHA,
RECLUSE AT UTRECHT IN BELGIUM,
IN THE YEAR 1514.
Notice from the Necrology, preserved beside the body.
Ven. Bertha, daughter of Jacobus, Recluse at Utrecht in Belgium.
THE AUTHOR BEING D. P.
In the year of the Lord 1456, in which David, son of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, by a transaction with Gisbertus Brederodius, In the year 1456 Bertha the Recluse; first indeed elected, but never confirmed, seemed to have entered upon the peaceful possession of the see of Utrecht, afterward to be disquieted in many ways and by factions for 11 years, the Venerable Bertha entered her Reclusorium, about to live outside all the cares of public revolutions for 57 years. So we read in a copy of the mortuary Charter, which, as a kind of compendium of her life, duly signed and sealed, was enclosed within a glass box and found in her sarcophagus. But that copy, from the memorials of Lappius, Bartholdus Nihusius submitted to Bolland in the year 1643; after he had made the same Charter, turned into Teutonic, public. There then flourished at Utrecht the Jurisconsult Gisbertus Lappius, illustrious for the fame of erudition: by whose care we have the History of Utrecht of Joannes a Beka, in part supplemented and published: but him whose memorials Nihusius alleges, I esteem it seems to have been found after 1561, to be the grandfather of that Synonym; who, Valerius Andreas being witness in the Belgic Library, having there fixed his seat, and a wife taken, practiced Medicine, about the middle of the 16th century, and died in the year 1574. Therefore in the intermediate time, and perhaps under Fredericus Schenckius, the first and last Archbishop of that place, instituted about the year 1561, and more studiously restoring the sacred things collapsed through the negligence of the Clergy, the monument of Bertha was opened, commonly held venerably; unless one prefer to opine that it was destroyed by the Calvinists, the body being buried elsewhere, whose notice, found in the sarcophagus, the elder Lappius took care to transcribe, for his own and posterity's memory, and the Younger sent to Bolland through Nihusius. It was thus read.
[2] In the year one thousand five hundred and fourteenth, as having died in 1514, on the very day of S. Lebuinus (namely the day of the Translation, for his Birthday is venerated on the 12th of November) after the Nativity of S. John the Baptist, the devout Virgin of Christ Bertha, daughter of Jacobus, between the seventh and eighth hours migrated from the world, full of good works, in the eighty-seventh year of her age, a professed sister according to the Rule of the Anchorites, through the Reverend Father in Christ, Lord Judocus, Bishop of Hierapolis, and Professor of sacred Theology, with the license and approbation of the most Reverend Father in Christ and Lord, Lord David of Burgundy, Bishop of Utrecht. Which devout Bertha performed strict penance, in a hairshirt and a simple tunic in summer and winter, without flesh and milk-foods; without fire, with bare feet and very many observances. and buried beside the place of her reclusion, And when in such rigid penance she had lived fifty-seven years and more, she rested in the Lord, in a place near the Civic church of Utrecht; and asked to be buried in the place where she fulfilled her penance. All which and each of the aforesaid things, We, Hermannus de Lockhorst, Dean of the church of S. Salvator of Utrecht, and Vicar of the most Reverend Father in Christ and our Lord, Lord Fridericus de Raden, Bishop of Utrecht; and We, Jacobus de Appelteren, Dean of the Greater church of Utrecht, and I Theodorus, Prior of the Regulars at Utrecht, certify and make known by these presents with our seals, in the year of the Lord as above.
[3] This formula is not (as it seemed to Nihusius in a letter written to Bolland) of the kind by which the death of some Brother or Sister was wont to be announced and even now is wont, through Colleges and Monasteries, for requesting the suffrages of prayers. said in the civic church, It savors of something more, and contains a public testimony of exceptional sanctity, durable to all posterity. Wherefore I have judged Bertha worthy to be reported here, after the other Saints and Blessed of the present day, with the title of Venerable, until from elsewhere some other light shine forth. From the printed Teutonic meanwhile I subjoin, that the devout sister Bertha wrote a little book of Prayers and Meditations on the life of Christ, published at Leiden in 1518. The Civic church, near which she lived, and in which she wished to be buried, commonly de Buerkerke, that is Parochial, in which to the neighbors, that is, to the citizens reckoned under the same Parish, the Sacraments are ministered, funerals are cared for, and other things are done, the greater Collegiate ones, commonly Dom-kerken, that is, of the Lords, where only the nobler offices are celebrated, being less convenient.
[4] But there writes to Us concerning her a man most studious of the antiquities of his fatherland, Antonius Matthaeus, Antecessor of Law at Leiden, The anchoretic Rule under which Bertha lived known also by published books. Among which are three Volumes of the Analects of the Old Age, hitherto not yet seen, brought to us by his kindness; and besides one larger Volume, a Treatise on the right of the Sword, and on the Toparchs who exercise it in the Diocese of Utrecht. He writes, I say, to us concerning the civic Church, this most distinguished man, being asked thereon, in these words: It was Parochial. The people frequent in it. The mechanical guilds were wont to assemble in it; they made there their by-laws: they had there, and still have, their several sepulchres. The Bishop, when for the cause of inauguration he had come into the city, soon from his entrance went to it: in its sacristy he put off the secular habit, and put on the ecclesiastical: and so proceeding thence he was wont to be received by the Canons of S. Martin, meeting him at the next bridge, and led into the church. But in a former age, when at Utrecht religion had begun to be reformed, the choir of that church, that the road might be more convenient, was destroyed by command of the Magistrate: and it happened then that many ecclesiastical monuments perished, which are now buried. Nor do I yet know anything of its founder.
[5] Thus far the most distinguished Antonius Matthaeus, in his letters given to me on the 16th of February 1700. Of the Rule of the Anchorites, according to which Bertha is said to have professed, he could find no vestige in the whole History of Utrecht; nor could I find anything whence I might conjecture how much that Rule preceded the age of Bertha. For although with the aforesaid Necrology there was sent to us a Rule of the Canons Regular and Hermits of the Order of S. Adalbertus, Archdeacon of Utrecht and Hermit of Egmond, Apostle of Frisia, North Holland, and Kennemerland; this proves itself written more recently even by the sole title of North Holland, it is not that which is found in manuscript. first begun to be heard in the year 1580; since that domain was before reckoned by the name of Frisia, from which it was then torn away and joined to Holland. It shows itself also wholly new, twice making mention of the Capuchins, whom it is established were first begun to be named in Italy about the year 1530, as may be seen in the treatise of Fr. Joannes de Terra-nova then living, which I gave on the 18th of May after the Acts of B. Felix; but into Belgium they were not received before the year 1575. Because, however, it can be that its compiler had before his eyes another older one, and prior to the 14th century, it pleases to set down here a thing holy and by no means prolix, but not easily to be found elsewhere, that it may be the easier to judge of all. Thus, then, it has.
I. Whosoever have in their vows to enter this Rule and to take up its light burden, it behooves that before all things they have charity toward their neighbor, yet it is here proposed, to be judged by the reader, whose affection may especially shine forth toward their Colleagues; and, all pomp of vanities and the enticements of worldly affections being set apart, let them take S. Adalbertus as their patron, protector, and patron, and the conservator constituted by God of this so exemplary life.
II. To each one embracing this norm of living, a year of probation is given, The end and vows, which being completed, they offer these solemn vows to God: of Poverty, Chastity, Obedience, perpetual Enclosure, Silence, and perpetual Abstinence.
III. The zeal of this Rule is placed in the contemplative spirit and in meditations for acquiring perfection.
IV. They shall celebrate the praises of God by the solemn chant of the Roman Office, in days and hours distinguished. the form of the habit,
V. They shall commend all the necessities of the whole world, also by particular prayers.
VI. Let all the Colleagues of this Order use these garments. the form of the habit, One tunic or cassock, made of the cloth of the Capuchins, that is, corded, and they shall wear it reaching to the heels, and in the form of other Priests, except in color; wearing nothing beneath, except upper hose worked of sackcloth: but it is lawful to use no linens. Let them go with bare feet. Footwear is free to them in the form of the Capuchins: yet it is permitted that in winter, on account of the force of cold, when going out of the house, they use wooden shoes: nor yet let them use cloth socks, except for sickness, by permission of the Superiors. They shall wear a girdle of black leather, and a square and black cap, in the form of the secular Priests
they shall have; the Rule not forbidding, however, that they may have a nocturnal little hood, and a domestic cap.
VII. To the Superior Provost there is this sole difference in dress: he shall wear a little mantle reaching to the middle of the arms, with a small black hood; and when he goes out, a cloak is granted him, like the rest, black.
VIII. For the Novices there is no distinction in dress. The Priests shall wear the Crown tonsure on the head, but the ordinary one, and each according to the Order with which he is marked.
IX. Silence shall be perpetual for all, the rigor of the enclosure, unless otherwise granted by the Superior, to whose conscience we commit this matter.
X. No one shall ever be found to have gone out of the cloister, who does not, the bowels of a depraved mind being corrupted by plague, wish to cleave in his heart to apostasy, to the ruin of his soul.
XI. To the Superior alone is granted the liberty, with him whom he shall have chosen, for urgent necessity to go out of the hermitage; and this only by the consent of all the vows, and is committed to each one's conscience; that by the affection of no particular consideration can he directly or indirectly desire the going out, or in any way solicit the vows of his own.
XII. Each Canon shall live in a separate house throughout the cloister, the manner of food, taking refreshment only once in the day.
XIII. On three days in the week, it is lawful to eat flesh.
XIV. On three days in the week, Matins being finished, they shall apply discipline to the body.
XV. A hairshirt is presumed continual in the dress.
XVI. Each shall give himself to contemplation one hour, after he has risen; also one hour before the meal, and finally one hour after Compline.
XVII. When the ringing of the bell is given for the Hours, each shall hasten with due diligence, unless he be dispensed by the Superior on account of sickness.
XVIII. To private vocal prayer, half an hour in the morning, each shall devote himself: also before the meal and toward evening.
XIX. Twice in the day the Visitor, entering the cell of each, of the occupations, shall comfort the weaker spirits; and, if it be necessary, shall repel the impulses of the demon with salutary admonitions; nor yet this beyond the space of a quarter of an hour, unless a graver necessity of another should require.
XX. What shall be left of time, anyone may either spend in his own gardens by laboring, or by walking through the cloister: yet continual silence being observed.
XXI. They shall be able to have nothing of their own; but whatever shall be given, by command of the Superior shall be common.
XXII. They shall be able to receive or send letters from no one, of moderate relaxation, which the Superior shall not have read. To be visited by no one, except by the premeditated and received consent of the Superior.
XXIII. Every fortnight let all together eat in one refectory, silence however being observed at table, after which one hour is granted to recreation, and it is lawful for all to converse.
XXIV. Every month let one day be given to recreation, at which time the laws of silence are taken away, and walking in the great cloister or garden is permitted.
XXV. As the Superior shall command, each shall labor in the common garden.
XXVI. Each shall have in his cell a mattress filled with straw: nor let them take to themselves beds. Two coverings are granted for the rigor of cold, yet of the lowest price.
XXVII. To all seven hours of sleep are granted.
XXVIII. There shall be only two domestic Officials; one shall toil at distribution and economy, the other at the kitchen.
XXIX. The Steward shall distribute the portion to each one at the meal hour through the little cells: and each week salt, oil, and vinegar, the Official duties, as shall be judged necessary.
XXX. The Steward alone, as rarely as can be done, for the necessity of the house, with the consent of the Superior, shall go out.
XXXI. The Cook shall not be a Priest; but yet a Canon and Hermit, like the rest, fortified only with the tonsure.
XXXII. The Superior shall have his dwelling beside the temple, in which shall be the common kitchen: the dwelling, and there shall remain with him, if the number of the Religious requires, one with the title of Chaplain or Associate, with two Officials.
XXXIII. On the other side of the temple shall be joined the common refectory: to which is annexed the little cell of the Custodian of the temple.
XXXIV. All the Canons going to the temple shall take in their arms their skins furs as a sign of the Canonicate; and shall sing with the surplice, and shall follow the Roman Office.
XXXV. All offices shall be changeable, and none permanent. the changing,
XXXVI. The Superior shall be created by the votes of all every three years: it is permitted, however, to be continued, but once; and he shall be called Provost; his vicar, Dean; and he shall be constituted by the Provost, but shall be renewed every year.
XXXVII. The Custodian of the temple shall be changed every year by the Superior, and likewise the Steward.
XXXVIII. The Superior shall be able to take to himself another, an associated Chaplain.
XXXIX. The Cook alone shall remain for life, the heir of humility.
XL. It shall never be lawful for the Superior to go out except on foot. the rigor of fasting,
The instruction of the Novices: XLI. The Confessors shall never, except in the four seasons of the year, be able to give themselves publicly to receiving confessions, unless a special faculty of the Superior accede.
XLII. The Superior shall be bound to the same rigor, by which the least is bound by the laws; and shall be bound each day to name a new visitor of the cells; and each month to have one sermon concerning the zeal of religion and the merit of a stricter life, and this in the Chapter.
XLIII. He shall commend Advent with great rigor of fasting: on Sundays and Feast days he shall arrange a sermon, and through Advent and Lent in the temple. He shall order one to be said each week in the Chapter among the Brothers.
XLIV. The Novices shall not be able to wear in the temple the sign of the Canonicate, and this the sole difference between the others.
XLV. The Senior of the Hermitage shall have the care of the instruction of the Novices, and shall give them the form of contemplative study, and shall foster in their bowels the fire of the sevenfold Spirit; kindled with which, they may shine forth into a greater effect of charity.
XLVI. To no one by the laws, except the Superior and the Steward, is it granted to handle money.
XLVII. At the entrance of a Religious into the Order, the solemn clothing of the same. in the midst of the temple, in the crown of the Brothers he shall be prostrated; and an answer being given concerning the petition of bread, a blessing shall be applied to the garments; and while the Psalm "Miserere" is sung, he shall be clothed with the same; and after the mutual embrace of all, the Superior shall treat of charity toward the Brothers, and the merit of religion. After which shall be sung "Te Deum laudamus": there shall be given him by the Superior possession of a seat in the temple: he shall be ordered publicly to intone, "O God, attend unto my help," and nothing else: which finished he shall proceed to the foot of the altar, where he shall be present at the votive Sacrifice of the Holy Spirit.
XLVIII. On the day of one Canon and Hermit, recreation is permitted to the Colleagues, for the devotion of the parents.
XLIX. When the crown of labors, death, shall have come, each shall be buried in his dress; Poverty in common, of what kind. and shall be laid down in a public place, and a vault destined for all.
L. In case that, by the devotion of the faithful, the revenues of the Hermitage be augmented, they shall not be admitted above two hundred florins yearly per head: and this we declare sanctioned, and corroborated by the law of the vow of poverty.
LI. We hold that gifts to the temple, for the devotion of the faithful, are to be received; yet not to be applied to domestic uses.
LII. The Superior shall remain with the title of Provost, until he be honored by the Pontiff with the title of Abbot; then the Dean shall be honored with the title of Provost.
LIII. To the Canons of this Rule the chant of every kind of voice is permitted, if the voice is brought forth with full breast.
[5] This seems to be not so much a Rule, Thus far the manuscript Rule, according to the copy sent to us: and indeed according to the interlinear correction, made by the same hand but in a smaller character, the sense however nowhere varied. Let the Articles III, IV, and V be an example, which had been thus written by words of the infinitive mood: III. The zeal of this rule, in the contemplative spirit to toil in Meditations for acquiring perfection. IV. To celebrate the praises of God by the solemn chant of the Roman Office in days and hours distinguished. V. To commend all the necessities of the whole sacred world, that is, of the Church, and the profane, also by particular prayers, as by darts to the Holy Spirit, for a better issue, to the undivided and ineffable Trinity. Nor only is the phrase thus changed several times, than a certain idea of a rule to have been. but also Article X is found drawn through with little lines, as if the Author had doubted whether it should be retained or expunged; just as one indeed, after Art. XXX, is found expunged: "These two Officials (namely the cook and the steward) are bound to the chant of the Hours like the rest"; for to what end would the cook be bound to them; of whom it is soon subjoined, that he shall not be a Priest? These things being more attentively considered by me, I am plainly persuaded, that there is not here a Rule definitively written, much less approved by the Bishop, or at least offered to the Pontiff, and much less received in use; but the first and mere idea of a Rule, which the Author had committed to paper, never brought into effect. having zeal for restoring the Anchoretic Rule, which we have seen flourished under Bishop David, perhaps from the will or counsel of Fredericus Schenckius, the first and last Archbishop of Utrecht. But after his death in the year 1580, the state both civil and sacred being changed, it was so not permitted to think of founding a new or quasi-new Order, that the old ones too could not subsist in the Provinces, confederated against the Royal and Pontifical power.