Justina

ON BLESSED JUSTINA, RECLUSE AT AREZZO IN ETRURIA.

YEAR 1319.

Preliminary Commentary.

Justina, Recluse at Arezzo in Etruria (Blessed)

[1] It opportunely happens that after the Acts of St. Fina, produced from the Strozzi manuscripts and the praised humanity of the Most Illustrious Carlo Strozzi, Florentine Senator, Through whose effort, the Life of Blessed Justina of Arezzo should be presented, and the services of the Most Illustrious Francesco Redi, Patrician of Arezzo, toward us should be commemorated — so that the name of both may be joined on one day, whose one and the same zeal it was to promote the honor of the Saints by helping us. For not content with the favor he enjoyed with his Princes, which was supreme on account of his rare expertise not only in the medical art and natural philosophy but also in all the more refined disciplines and in the Latin and Greek languages (not to mention the Tuscan), and his by no means ordinary knowledge — not content, I say, with having spent that favor on our behalf in introducing us to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinand, and obtaining the most ample permission to use the manuscripts of the Laurentian Library — the Life was received, he also wished to have copied at his own expense, from his literary treasury, whatever pertained to the Saints of Arezzo; among which this Life of Blessed Justina, taken from a very old parchment codex marked 114, and at his direction collated with another more recent manuscript which is preserved together with the body of the Blessed one among the Benedictine nuns of the Holy Cross at Arezzo.

[2] The same man taught us everything else that pertained to properly illustrating the aforesaid Life and understanding the ecclesiastical honor legitimately bestowed upon the same Blessed one; and notice of the cult, and in the first place, from the public documents of the city of Arezzo, he pointed out the following instrument to be found in the manuscript book of the nuns of the Holy Cross, and of the feast established shortly after her death, in this tenor: In the name of God. Amen. In the year of the Lord's Nativity one thousand three hundred and sixty,

^i A town fifteen miles distant from Arezzo to the northeast, not far from the Tiber river.

^k That is, of obtaining freedom, in a phrase proper to Italians.

^l Understand as the little membranes growing over the pupils.

^m From the property of the Italian language, meaning "he caused to be carried."

^n Thus also the French say du soir, that is, in the evening.

^o Perhaps contracted from Gregorio? Among our Belgians it would be Georgius.

^p That is, the customary labor.

^q Mutola in Italian signifies a mute woman.

^r For Maffeo.

^s That is, Francisca: whose diminutive is Ceccolella: by which name we learn from her Life at March 9 that St. Frances of Rome was customarily addressed more familiarly by her kinswoman Vannuzzia.

^t That is, Ioannes, which the Italians write as Iovanne.

^u We saw

that relic displayed for viewing to the innumerable people from the ambo along with the other relics of the Vatican Basilica, on the Monday after Easter in the year 1661.

ON THE VENERABLE DENIS THE CARTHUSIAN, ECSTATIC DOCTOR, AT ROERMOND IN BELGIUM.

IN THE YEAR 1471

Preliminary Commentary.

The Venerable Denis the Carthusian, at Roermond in Belgium

[1] Returning from Italy to Belgium, we arrived by way of Savoy at the city of Grenoble, and from there we turned aside to the Carthusian archmonastery situated in the neighboring mountains: where among the sacred relics of various Saints exposed for the veneration of the household members upon the altar of the inner chapel, we found several bones of the Venerable Denis the Carthusian, At the Grande Chartreuse, the bones of Denis are venerated: which the Venerable Father Prior Joseph Raymundi had sent thither from Roermond as a token of gratitude, when he had received from the Most Reverend General of the Order and Prior of the Grande Chartreuse some part of the jawbone of St. Bruno, Founder of the Order. Roermond is an episcopal city of the Duchy of Guelders on the Meuse river, into which the smaller river Roer empties at that very place, from which, as it were the mouth of the Roer, the city takes its name. In the Carthusian monastery of this city the Venerable Denis lived until the very last period of his life, he lived at Roermond, and as Miraeus writes of him in the Supplement on Ecclesiastical Writers, chapter 479, he illuminated the books of all of Sacred Scripture, and left so many writings on various subjects for posterity to read, that he seems to have been able to read nothing by other authors amid so many daily and nightly monastic exercises, and yet to have previously read more than could allow him leisure for writing. an ecclesiastical writer, In the Carthusian house at Roermond there used to be preserved one hundred and fifty volumes of books composed by him and written out in his own hand: some of which have been conveyed to other monasteries out of honor and reverence. Most of them survive in printed and reprinted editions.

[2] He died in the year 1471. Denis served Christ in the Carthusian order for forty-eight years, and at last in the year 1471, on the feast of St. Gregory the Pope and Doctor of the Church, March 12, he passed to the blessed life, as Theodoric Loërius a Stratis, a monk and Vicar of the same sacred Order at Cologne, accurately records in his Life, first printed at Cologne in the year 1532: Writers of his Life. which we give here arranged in our customary manner and illuminated with annotations. Bartholomew Fisen of the Society of Jesus also published a Life of the same Denis, divided into thirteen chapters, in his Flowers of the Church of Liège, in whose diocese he is said below in no. 1 to have been born, and the city of Roermond, while he himself was alive, had not yet obtained its own bishops but was subject to the Bishops of Liège. Peter Sutor, Peter Dorlandus, and other writers on Carthusian affairs also treat of the same.

[3] Arnold Havensius, Prior of the Charterhouse of Ghent, in his Commentary on the Erection of the New Bishoprics in Belgium, book 3, chapter 10, describes the zeal of Henry Cuyckius, second Bishop of Roermond, in finding the relics or bones of the Venerable Denis, and relates the following: Furthermore, he undertook a work no less worthy of a Bishop, Henry Cuyckius, Bishop of Roermond, greatly esteems his sanctity: in a manner imitating St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, who, admonished by God through a vision, sought out, found, and raised with due honor the sacred bodies of SS. Gervasius and Protasius, and translated them to the basilica which they call the Ambrosian... Similarly, God put it into the mind of our Bishop of Roermond that he should seriously consider and devote every effort, applying himself to prayers and other pious works, so that God might deign by some sign to reveal the bones, which still lay hidden, of Denis Rickel of blessed memory, a man indeed most illustrious for the sanctity of his life and his learning, a Carthusian of Roermond, so that they might be elevated and canonization obtained from the Apostolic See. He desires to elevate the bones: For the most prudent Bishop judged his merits to be so great and so distinguished that such an honor was rightly owed to him, for the increase of the glory of God and for the honor of our Carthusian Order, of which he himself is most zealous; and therefore he sent letters to our Reverend Father, General Minister of the whole Order, urging him to undertake and perform all offices of piety throughout the entire Order: so that we might obtain from the Divine goodness this very thing which he himself intends and desires with the greatest vows: that is, that the bones of the holy man might be found as soon as possible by some divine sign...

[4] [He dedicates an altar in honor of St. Dionysius the Areopagite, and in his memory:] And so the Most Reverend Cuyckius, coming to our Carthusian monastery in the month of October, caused that altar, at which Denis of blessed memory had formerly been accustomed to celebrate the sacrifice, and which through the injury of time and the tumults of war had been neglected and destroyed, to be renewed and restored, and on the feast of St. Bruno, the first Founder of the Carthusian Order after Christ, with a new and whole stone placed upon it, he consecrated it anew with a solemn episcopal blessing, so that upon it the most sacred offering of the Body and Blood of Christ might be more frequently offered to God the Father, and the divine office might be performed in memory of St. Dionysius the Areopagite as well as of Denis Rickel, with that intention indeed, that his sacred bones might be found and elevated for the greater glory of God and the increase of the sacred Order. This the Bishop himself first did on the following day, and thereafter decreed to do more often, so that he might achieve his vow and desire, on account of the singular love and devotion with which he is affected toward so great and so distinguished and excellent a man, adorned with singular sanctity of life and exquisite learning. And indeed this was the beginning of the investigation of the sacred relics of the holy man, as he also sent letters to those whom he trusted to be given to piety and to be powerful with God through their prayers, that they might earnestly commend this pious undertaking of his to God in their petitions to Him.

[5] What has been related thus far occurred in the year of Christ 1607: but how the bones themselves were found and elevated the following year is read in chapter 11 of Havensius as follows: Moreover, how much progress the Most Reverend Lord Cuyckius made in investigating and finding the bones of our blessed Father Denis Rickel can become manifest from the following letter or copy thereof, he writes to the General of the Order: which he himself sent to our Reverend Father General, that is, the Prior of the Grande Chartreuse, in this year 1608, which reads as follows.

MOST REVEREND FATHER PRIOR. The Carthusian Fathers and Brothers seem not to have prayed to God without fruit for the finding of the bones of D. Denis Rickel. The senior Priest who had survived until now in this Charterhouse of Roermond, Brother Henry Kerckenus, having passed his fiftieth year in the Order, used to indicate the place of rest of Rickel in a certain area, as he had received from his elders; but very recently, that is, on the twenty-second day of the month of March, in the year 1608, he fell asleep in the Lord. On the occasion of preparing a burial in the year 1608, Prudently seizing this opportunity, the Venerable Prior of this Carthusian family ordered the place indicated by Kerckenus as the burial site of Denis to be opened and investigated, so that he might inter Kerckenus (who had also inhabited Denis's very cell until death) in the same place which he had said was Denis's: and this was opposite that altar at which Denis in his lifetime had been accustomed to celebrate the sacrifice: since fifty-four years earlier, when nearly the entire city of Roermond together with the monastery and its church was consumed by fire, it had been cracked, broken, and profaned: until in the same place six years before, on the day of St. Dionysius the Areopagite and Martyr and in his memory, another altar was erected and consecrated by us. When therefore on the twenty-second day of March (which by the old style would have been the day of the death of both great Gregory and Rickel) Kerckenus had departed this life, the Prior fixed two poles or stakes in that place the body is found, where the bones of Denis were believed to rest: to which, after a very deep excavation (the rubble from the fire seems to have provided the occasion, so that the cemetery was now much higher and more elevated than it had been before) the skull and the soles of the feet of Denis corresponded directly below: the remaining bones also of the entire body, in order and in their natural position, after one hundred and thirty-seven years had passed, were still neatly arranged, and when all of these had been extracted, Brother Henry Kerckenus was buried in Denis's place. It is extracted, The calvaria of Denis and the remaining bones present the appearance of a tall and most robust man, and bear the mark of a man who stammered, on account of the protruding front teeth of the jaws: with which defect Denis is attested to have suffered by the author who wrote his Life, Theodore Loërius of Straten. These bones therefore are now reverently preserved in the Carthusian house at Roermond, reverently preserved. until the Divine goodness shall cause them to shine forth with more illustrious miracles: so that they may be more honorably elevated for the greater glory of God, with the intervening authority of the Apostolic See. For the rest, I pray the most merciful God to augment all the Charterhouses, spread throughout the entire Christian world, with His gifts, and to make me a sharer in all their merits. Roermond, April 10, in the year 1608.

[6] Thus far the letter of Henry Cuyckius, Bishop of Roermond: to which Havensius adds: Moreover, our Esteemed Master, Doctor Peter Pollino, Dean of the Cathedral Church of Roermond, related to our people that the head, to which a special honor has been reserved, the head emits a fragrance, most beautifully adorned, also gives off a notable fragrance of scent. And indeed it is wonderful that, when the body was unearthed after the rubble had first been removed with great labor, it was found intact, still cohering in its members for the greater part, after the one hundred and thirty-seven years during which the holy man had slept in the Lord, the thumb and index finger are especially intact: and especially the thumb and index finger, the two instruments most necessary for the writing of books, which he used for the benefit of the Church and the salvation of many, were found more intact. Thus far Havensius, whom having cited, Arnold Raissius in his Supplement to the Birthdays of the Saints of Belgium provides a summary of it on March 12 under this title: He is also called Blessed: Appendix on the Elevation of the Body of Blessed Denis Rickel the Carthusian: but him whom Raissius dignifies with the title of Blessed, Havensius had called only "of blessed memory" and "a holy man." He is also inscribed at March 12 in the Birthdays of the Saints of Belgium of John Molanus, in the Belgian Fasti of Aubert Miraeus, in the German Martyrology of Canisius, in the Marian Calendar of Balinghem, in the General Catalogue of Saints of Ferrari, inscribed in sacred fasti: in the Gallican Martyrology of Saussay and the Gallo-Belgian Martyrology of Willot, and other similar Fasti: and he is generally held to be of blessed memory, conspicuous in sanctity, or venerable,

with which title alone we honor him. Furthermore, the bones of the venerable relics are at this time preserved at Roermond behind the altar, placed in a decent casket and enclosed in a chest: the bones deposited behind the altar. various parts of them, however, have been distributed and shared with others.

[7] After these things had been written and prepared for the press, John Bollandus, the principal author of this vast work on the Acts of the Saints, was called, as we trust, to the most loving embrace of the Saints by the supreme Lord of life and death: who out of his affection and reverence for the Venerable Denis had piously and reverently preserved some of his relics for forty-six years. John Bollandus preserved some relics, He had taught the art of Rhetoric at Roermond, from which, when in the year 1619 he was being sent to Antwerp by Reverend Father Charles Scribani, then Provincial Superior of the Flandro-Belgian Province of the Society of Jesus, where for the following two years he taught the precepts of the same oratorical faculty; he received the said relics sent to him as a gift from the Carthusian house at Roermond to the College of the Society, together with an accompanying letter, which, having been found together with the said relics after his death, we add here. It is as follows.

[8] To the Venerable Master Bollandus, his most intimate and dearest friend. JESUS. In the same, Venerable Sir, I send to Your Lordship as a farewell gift and wish for a prosperous journey a memento of the relics of our Blessed Father Denis, with a letter from a Carthusian of Roermond. which will always be able and ought to testify to my love for Your Charity: for I would not give such a holy gift except to a singular friend. Behold, Your Lordship has my handwriting a second time; send also your own, impressed upon a card or image, as a keepsake, and may you fare most well in the Lord Jesus and live most happily, mindful of me. From the Charterhouse, etc.

Your Lordship's humble Brother and Friend, Fr. Servatius Mostet, Carthusian.

LIFE

By the author Theodoric Loërius a Stratis, Carthusian of Cologne.

The Venerable Denis the Carthusian, at Roermond in Belgium

BY THE AUTHOR LOËRIUS

CHAPTER I

Birth, Studies, Books Written. The Carthusian Life.

[1] Denis, a son of the Carthusian Order, a man illustrious for great sanctity, sublime in contemplation, copious in erudition, Denis born in Hesbaye: wonderful in talent, singular in memory, incomparable in piety, flourished around the year of the Lord 1450, as useful to the world as he was dear to God. His homeland was the village of Rickel in Hesbaye in the diocese of Liège, distant not less than twenty stadia from the town of Sint-Truiden. He had parents of the most honorable kind, of no mean fortune according to worldly standards, upon whom the ancestral family conferred the surname de Leuwis.

[2] By these parents, while still a boy, he was sent away from his homeland to be instructed in letters. There was in him an incredible desire for learning, so much so that even at night (as he confesses in the book On the Munificence of God) he would very often rise, roused by the light of the moon, diligent and successful in acquiring knowledge: intending to go out to school, and would have thought it was day, had he not found the doors of the house barred. He was also endowed with an admirable memory, by which he retained without great labor whatever he had once read. Whence it came about that by both the felicity of his talent and the assiduity of his study, in a short time, not without the admiration of many, he became so learned that he could be counted among accomplished philosophers.

[3] But because in this young man of the best character, not only knowledge but also piety had grown with age; what he had meditated upon from infancy, he resolved to submit the neck of his innocence to the yoke of the Lord. He burns with desire for the Carthusian Religious life, For he desired to leave the world before he might be ensnared in the world's traps. For this reason, burning with desire for the Carthusian solitude, he did not know what to do or how to obtain it: for he had not yet reached his twentieth year, which age that Order requires in admitting a novice. Moreover, to remain in the world and to swim safely through the shipwrecks of chastity seemed scarcely possible. And so, with his love for the Carthusian institute growing daily, it seemed fitting, although he was still too young, to try by pressing his suit at two Carthusian houses, to see whether he might merit being joined to their fellowship and institute. He therefore hastens to the Charterhouse of Mount St. John the Baptist at ^a Zeelem near Diest. From there he proceeds to Roermond, which is a town of Guelders; in both places offering his prayers, but in both he is rather deferred than refused by the Fathers of those houses, because his age did not otherwise permit. And so Denis, frustrated in his desire for the time being, did not on that account abandon what he had begun in his heart, but rather deferred it to a more opportune time.

[4] Nevertheless, while he began to consider what he should do in the meantime, and how he might safely impose upon the world and render himself more fit for Carthusian solitude, it came to his mind that after those exercises of the spirit affective toward God, which are practiced especially in that Order which he was about to enter, nothing would be sweeter to him, nothing more profitable, than the understanding of the Scriptures: therefore without delay, he betook himself straightway to Cologne, where he knew there was the most celebrated university in Germany, At Cologne he studies Theology: and there, applying himself to the study of Theology, he devoted all his effort to becoming most learned: how great he became there is testified by the book which he wrote On Being and Essence immediately after obtaining the insignia of the master's degree: his other books also testify to this, which he wrote subsequently in the Carthusian Order, always praised by the learned, especially on the pages of both Testaments, and other works various and almost innumerable: so much so that in the Church of God, one who labored as much in writing, who produced so many books filled alike with erudition and piety, has had no equal. Although the ^b Abbot of Sponheim places only Augustine above him, he wrote very many books, whom we too prefer, if the contest be about the erudition and piety of writers, it is nevertheless most certain that of those whom he himself reviews in his book On Ecclesiastical Writers, none wrote as much as this Denis the Carthusian. Whence I conjecture that the Abbot of Sponheim had not seen all of Denis's books: whose number is indeed so great that even if the world swore to it, I would not believe it possible that so many books had been produced by the same author, among which there are many large volumes, unless I had observed throughout the very same talent and style, hand and character, of the one Denis. For he himself wrote his books, reread them, corrected them, and illuminated them with rubrication. All of which his very well-known singular hand and character attest. And this indeed we leave as established. Whence I have heard no one who saw this man's labor without astonishment, who did not agree with me that without a great miracle it could not have been possible for one man to have written so many books, considering how little time he himself must be judged to have had — indeed (to speak more truly) considering how incredible it seems that even any other person, free from all duties, could even read them. although impeded by great occupations: For to say nothing of his other occupations by which he was delayed from writing, certainly in that Carthusian Order, from whose Divine Office, which is sufficiently lengthy, he was never absent, in which he discharged the offices of Procurator and Prior for some time, withdrawn from his monastery by the Lord Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa, Legate of the Supreme Pontiff, he served the affairs of the Church for a considerable time. Moreover, he was most devoted to contemplation and prayer in a singular manner. Furthermore, he was almost continually engaged in reading and study, as is most clearly evident in his books. In addition, from nearly all of Germany innumerable persons flocked to him for counsel, so that he was almost never free from giving advice and writing letters. Finally, there is the fact that in his monastery at that time he did not have the books he needed and used. Hence an immoderate occupation was created for him in procuring codices from elsewhere.

[5] But these things concern the multitude of his books, in which, if the reader be diligent, if not an envious observer, he will equally find cause for wonder: for they are so full of erudition, so copious in variety, so replete with piety, that nothing could surpass them. to be admired also in the quality of his books, You will plainly see how nothing that was clear to others escaped him: how many things moreover which you would not have sought, which you would not have hoped for, he provides for your delight and according to your desire. In his lucubrations, however, he everywhere concerns himself with the text of Scripture, nor does he admit any occasion for self-display by which he might digress from his subject. There is added moreover to the praise of Denis that in his books nothing is found that is contrived, nothing inflated, nothing alien to pious morals, but, as I said, learning as lucid as it is abundant: so that nothing remains for you to desire in his books, except perhaps elegance of words and a more graceful style. In which, however, he can be excused, since he wrote in his own age, for the people of his own time, and in that period when the Latin language, especially the more polished variety, was neither in use nor in esteem among the learned. For if he had fallen upon our times, if he had obtained literate teachers and Latin books, since he himself was most desirous of letters, we would believe that even in more polished matters he would hardly have been second to anyone. But I beseech those who will read these things, by Christ, not to think that I wish so to exalt Denis as to diminish others, or to prefer him to those above whom he should not be placed. Each retains his own preeminence, which is not surpassed by others. In like manner it must be granted to this Denis of ours that something singular preeminent in him should be recognized, which is wanting in others. This man, O reader, and his erudition, both the Carthusian Religion and the entire Catholic Church rightly ought to acknowledge as owed to the University of Cologne, in which, having begun his studies, he became so great that even in the Carthusian solitude he afterward became known to the world and was held in high regard by all, both learned and pious. praised by Pope Eugenius IV: For even the Supreme Pontiff ^c Eugenius is reported to have said of him, when he saw one of his books offered to him: Let the Mother Church rejoice, who has such a son.

[6] Therefore, that we may proceed to narrate the condition of his life, departing from Cologne, At Roermond he entered the Carthusian Order: he went to Roermond, there returning to the desired Charterhouse, and setting aside all else, he consecrated himself a monk to God. Where as soon as he took the sacred habit, he lived so religiously and so uprightly that he showed even to perfect men something worthy of imitation in himself: for he so withdrew himself from love of the world, so restrained himself from idle conversation, so abstained from immoderate use of creatures, so did not occupy himself with useless things, so completely offered to God a soul naked and free from vices, that, drunk with the sweetness of divine love, he frequently suffered transports of mind to God, and was continually illuminated by divine consolations. Indeed, in prayer he was very often rapt to God and stood motionless without sensation for three or more hours, the powers of his soul being abstracted into God. What more? He became so dear to God in solitude, he excels in every kind of virtue: that God deemed him worthy of heavenly revelations, and showed to the world as well how greatly his merits and prayers availed before Him. The desolate and sorrowful felt the power of his prayers, as did the powers of hell: but the former found cause for joy, the latter for envy.

Moreover, whether he spoke or wrote, although he was endowed with slender eloquence, he nevertheless excelled with a singular grace of erudition. To prayer he applied himself with such fervor that, besides the prayers which that Order has in abundance, he very often recited the entire Davidic Psalter on the same day.

[7] He was of a tall and robust body, most patient of labors and vigils. Whence, according to the ancient rigor of his Order, after singing Matins with the Brothers, whatever remained of the night he gave not to rest or sleep, but to studies and prayers. Sometimes he was even found to have kept vigil through entire nights in prayer. And when others marveled at this in him, he is reported to have replied: I have an iron head and a brazen stomach. It is indeed certain that he was endowed with excellent and robust natural powers, which out of humility and modesty he attributed to a difficult and singular manner of living. Nevertheless, the grace of devotion in him was far more powerful, especially in devotion, humility, and abstinence, which drove him with great fervor to these and many other things, perhaps not possible for others. He was also wonderfully humble, inasmuch as while all esteemed him highly, he despised himself. Nor was he content that he thought meanly of himself; he desired also to be held as vile in the eyes of others: therefore, accusing himself gravely for even the most trifling faults, he humbled himself both publicly and in secret. Nor did he bewail slight transgressions, in which most people are accustomed to glory, otherwise than others bewail great ones. The study of interior recollection was always his concern: therefore he strove, dwelling with himself, always to keep sabbath for the Lord. Whence it came about that the delight of the senses was almost dead in him: for even those things which others can scarcely look upon without nausea, he took as food. Butter putrefied with worms, cherries and other things of that sort tasted beforehand by slugs, he did not refuse to eat: saying that this kind of worm has nothing of lethal poison, and that there is nothing to fear in taking the same food with them. If herrings were ever too salty, he ordered them to be immersed in water and hung up in the air, and he did not eat them until they had filled his cell with their stench. When admonished not to eat them, he said: I prefer to eat putrid food rather than salty. For he had long since renounced all choice in food, and on account of the fervor of his spiritual exercises, he very often passed the day until midnight. For he was so assiduous in reading and writing books, so fervent in prayer, that on account of these things he would sometimes postpone his dinner, and very often made use of cold food. Always also, whether he was dressing or undressing, or doing any other task, he was nonetheless praying. His abstinence in food and drink was admirable, and not to be imitated by many.

^a The Charterhouse of Zeelem was founded in the year 1328 by Gerard, Lord of Diest, and Castellan of Antwerp, together with his wife Joanna, daughter of the Count of Loon.

^b Trithemius.

^c This is Eugenius IV, who reigned from the year 1431 to the year 1447.

CHAPTER II

A Jew Converted. Two Women Rescued from Devils.

[8] But what need is there to proclaim the man in our own words, when his illustrious writings commend him to us abundantly enough? The integrity of Denis is proclaimed far more clearly from his books than from our speeches. Whence it once seemed fitting to the Fathers of his house, on account of the man's skill, that he should be placed in charge of the office of Procurator. Although he was more suited to contemplation than to action, nevertheless, lest he seem more tenacious of his own will than of obedience, he undertook the province of this office. Made Procurator, he converts a Jew. But his concern for gathering souls was greater than for money. For with great zeal he then converted a Jew and brought him to the orthodox faith and sacred baptism. On this account the Jew, lest he seem ungrateful to the zeal and fatherly solicitude of Denis, had the name of his spiritual Father given to himself in baptism; for he was called Denis of Denis. This man is believed to have given both the name and posterity to the family of the Dionysii in Roermond, which is seen to have spread to this day.

[9] However, because his generous spirit could not bear the distractions of transitory and temporal affairs, he left the office and was restored to the most devout exercises of his cell, to the writing of books, and to his longed-for solitude. In which, however, he could not lie so hidden pleasing to all, that Popes and Princes, and others of lower rank, did not flock to him from everywhere, write to him, send messengers, and eagerly seek his counsel. For there was no one among them who, having once been in his presence, was ignorant of how great was the sincerity of Denis and how great his merit before God, he stays with the Cardinal de Cusa: no one who did not long to return to him. Whence it came about that the Most Reverend Lord Cardinal de ^a Cusa, exercising the legation of the Apostolic See in Germany, when he had discovered this man's erudition and sanctity, drew him out of his cloister and attached him to his own household for the benefit of the Church. But Denis, not idle, turned this opportunity given to him to the profit of souls. For established in the household of the Lord Legate, as he also writes of himself, he reforms monasteries: he visited many monasteries of both sexes for the purpose of reform, and at that time he also published a most useful book on the reform of nuns.

[10] On account of these and many other things by which Denis zealously promoted the glory of God and the salvation of souls, he provoked the devil to persecute him. For thence the enemy of all good plotted many things to render Denis hated and despised by the world: for the envious one perceived what great numbers of souls were being daily led away from his camp through Denis. I shall therefore relate something unheard of in previous ages, wonderful to posterity, and which today also no one would believe, unless he were convinced by the truth and the fact itself. A certain woman named Gebula (for that was her name), consenting to the devil, having made a pact, A woman bound to the devil by a pact, did homage to him, and so that she might be led further from the hope of recovering salvation, persuaded by the devil, she wrote a document in her own blood. And so this wicked woman, long allied to this most foul incubus, was led to the most remote parts of the world, and wherever in Asia or in Africa public games or spectacles were exhibited, there, with the devil as her guide, she was immediately present. She fought with a lance; indeed, engaging in whatever kind of arms or combat was demanded, she conquered. The tender woman unhorsed armed men, and secretly aided by her lover, she thus long deceived the world. But what is more profound than divine mercy? What is more inscrutable than His counsels over the children of men? She at last, having come to herself, by the advice of the man of God, when the Most Reverend Lord Cardinal de Cusa was present, whom (as I said above) Denis was already accompanying, fled to the remedies of penance. Indeed, strengthened by the admonitions and prayers of Denis, neither her own crimes, nor her sacrilegious promises, nor the written document, nor finally the threats of her lover now turned enemy, could deter her from hope in divine mercy. But after innumerable sins, after the most foul abominations, after the most sordid commerce with the devil, he converts her: breaking the sacrilegious pact, the weeping sinner ran to the bosom of divine clemency. O the zeal and wisdom of Denis! O the faith of the woman! O the infinite mercy of Christ! Who would believe that she, already swallowed by the jaws of the devil, could ever emerge? Who would hope that she, who had given herself to the devil, could return from his alluring debauchery, by which she had been defiled, to the adoption of the children of God? But what seems impossible to men is most easy for the most benign Creator. And so she, bathed in tears, was brought to the Cardinal. There, renouncing her lover the devil, she devoted herself again to Christ, and having made confession of her crimes to him, and being bound to no small labor of penance, she was absolved from all her sins and from the pacts with the devil. And although she was thus reconciled to Christ, she was not, however, entirely freed from the vexation of the most wicked incubus: by divine justice, I believe, permitting this, so that she who had once voluntarily consigned herself to him for sin might now through him, even unwillingly, be afflicted for punishment. And so that shameless one, frequently coming to her, either announced future events or in whatever way he could, impeded her from the pursuit of piety. Whence the Venerable Father Denis (because at that time he was staying outside his monastery with the Cardinal, and desired to serve Christ with the freedom he enjoyed), when he would visit his Brothers at Roermond, he is assailed by calumnies from the demon: also very often visited this penitent woman to comfort her. But the devil, holding Denis in hatred because he had been despoiled of this noble prey and of many others through him, when he perceived him approaching, running ahead to Gebula, said: Behold, der Taterbeck vnde wijnsuper comes to visit you. Which in Latin means: The man of impeded speech, and the wine-guzzler, approaches to visit you. He said these things, striving either to provoke Denis to indignation through insults, or to turn the woman from reverence for him: for in truth Denis had a less ready and less eloquent tongue. He was also then using wine for the refreshment of his body, weakened by the labor of his studies and other exercises: on which account the devil was striving to construct a calumny against him. But nonetheless the man of God feared the devil's calumnies little; indeed he strove all the more to do those very things which the devil would calumniate. Concerning this woman, Denis relates in the second book which he wrote on the Sentences that he himself saw the scar from which she had drawn blood when she was about to write her homage to the devil.

[11] The matter now requires that I relate another deed of his virtues similar to this one, though not performed at the same time. There is a castle of Horn, built not far from Roermond across the Meuse, over which ^b the noble Lord Godfrey of Vlodorp, both a friend and benefactor of the Charterhouse of Roermond, once presided. To this place Denis, while returning from 's-Hertogenbosch (where he had for some time presided over the Charterhouse that had begun to be built), turned aside out of friendship, as if on his journey. It happened then that the wife of the Prefect, Lady Catherine, seized by a grave illness concerning a dying woman: and soon about to die, was turning herself this way and that in her bed with horrible signs and movements, as if seeking some protection of flight or defense. For she was struck with excessive fear and almost overcome by desperation. He sees demons flying about: When Father Denis was brought in, as soon as he entered the chamber, seeing a multitude of dreadful spirits, no differently than a swarm of bees flying about and awaiting the soul about to depart, he cried out in a loud voice: Little children, what do I see? Without delay, I beg you all, hasten, make haste, and bend your knees in prayer; this place is as full of demons as are the rays of the sun with specks of dust. Saying this, when he wished to leave the chamber, the sick woman, with whatever strength she then possessed, seizing the garments of Denis, held him and he resists by prayers. cried out: Alas, Father, do not abandon me; by your faith save me today. Denis turned and stood, and armed with his accustomed faith against the demons, pouring forth the most ardent prayer he could to God, he fought with the force of devotion and charity. At his prayer the divine power immediately arriving routed that entire troop of unclean spirits: for the demons, no longer able to endure the violence of his prayers, cried out: Alas, alas, what violence we suffer from this cowled old man! his staff snatched from him, And snatching the staff on which he was leaning from

his hands, they hurled it far away. And while all the rest who were standing by (although none of them could see the demons) were awaiting the outcome of the matter, the infernal spirits gave the praying Denis a violent blow on the face, and having struck him a blow, he routs them: exceedingly severe, of whose marks and scar he seemed never to be free while he lived. Yet at this injury Denis was not at all moved, but persisted in prayer: and the evil spirits, terrified by his patience, fled, abandoning the woman. And so in the meantime she who a little before had been struck by desperation and expected nothing other than to be immediately swallowed up by the infernal pit, returned to hope of pardon and became more courageous. For she had been in life no less abounding in vices than in wealth: she had also served love of the world, and other vanities, and indeed the allurements of the flesh, too much occupied. Nevertheless, fortified by the prayers of Denis, as I said, with the ministers of darkness put to flight, he secures the salvation of the dying woman: she was restored to tranquility of mind and good confidence in God. Then Denis said to those standing by: Praise, dearest ones, and magnify the bowels of mercy of our God, who has granted salvation to this soul. The woman also, strengthened with great contrition and hope of pardon, soon rendered her spirit into the hands of her Creator. After this, Denis descending from the castle, met Lord Godfrey, the husband of the deceased, coming toward him. Gently seizing and pulling his ear, he advises the husband to depart: he said: What are you doing here, my son? It is not expedient for you to remain here longer. Hasten to depart hence, lest worse things overtake you. He obeyed the commands of the man of God and immediately changed his location.

[12] Let these few things be said from many, lest it seem strange why the devil persecuted the man of God Denis with hatred: for a continual struggle was waged between them, whose aims were contrary. For the devil was plotting to scatter souls, he is impeded by devils in the writing of books: Denis was striving to gather them: the one was wounding, the other was healing: the one was slaying, the other was raising the dead to life through the grace of God: and therefore the devil envied not only the holy prayers and exhortations of Denis, but was troublesome to all his pious endeavors. But he especially bore it ill that Denis constantly devoted himself to writing pious books and elucidating the Holy Scriptures: for from this he feared a greater loss of his spoils for himself. Wherefore sometimes by terror, sometimes by noise, at other times by knocking at the door of the little cell where he was writing, he strove to drive the man of God to impatience or weariness, or to make him cease from writing. But Denis, fortified by faith, always despised him. Once even, when the demon's impudence was pressing so hard and was more troublesome than Denis pleased, the man of God rose up and, confronting the devil, thrust himself forward, saying: What has possessed you, wicked one, to disturb with such presumption a servant of God and to impede him with your assaults and annoyances? You pretend to be bold, when you are a bubble and nothing: but to us God has given courage and power to despise your deceptions. Go hence quickly therefore, and henceforth, never to return, desist from this madness of yours. The devil obeyed, though unwillingly, and was no longer troublesome to Denis as he wrote.

^a Cusa is a town on the bank of the Moselle, whence Nicholas of Cusa was born, Nicholas of Cusa. created Cardinal by Nicholas V in the year 1449 from being Archdeacon of Liège, and Bishop of Brixen, sent as Apostolic Legate to the Emperor Frederick, he departed this life in 1464.

^b Hence he is next called Prefect, not Lord. Concerning the lineage of the Nobles and Counts of Horn, consult the Belgian Donations of Miraeus, book 1, chapter 128.

CHAPTER III

The Solitary Life Praised. A War Averted. The Death of a Bishop Who Spurned His Warnings.

[13] Perhaps someone will say that he was useful to the world while he stayed among men outside the monastery, either summoned by the authority of the Cardinal or appointed to offices by the Superiors of his Order: but not useful while he sat alone in his cell. By no means. Rather, he must be believed to have borne far more abundant fruit in solitude The solitary life is to be preferred, than if he had lived in the turmoil of the world: since then both his soul could be purer toward God and his prayer could be more fervent. For who does not know that wanderings, labors, cares, conversations, and finally all efforts in difficult matters were very often vain, until the fervent prayer of some man beloved by God, poured out to God even from afar, gave them strength and fruit. Let someone say, I ask, what the prayers of Moses, Elijah, Elisha, and Daniel (to review a few ancient examples from many) were worth to the world, that is, what they contributed to freeing the afflicted, what harm they did to overcoming adversaries, what benefits they obtained for the world, what evils they removed, how many times they reconciled the world to God: and he will find that external cares and labors, by which the mind is distracted, fall far behind prayer — that prayer, namely, which is poured forth with the fervor of devotion and purity of heart. This prayer indeed is aided and supported especially by solitude, silence, bodily chastity, continence of the senses, and the other institutions both of the desert and of monastic life. For this prayer, being pure and fervent, immediately penetrates the heavens, does violence to the Almighty: compels the Unconquerable: and the efficacy of prayer in it, and bends the unchangeable God from justice to mercy. And therefore, those who devote themselves to prayer and contemplation in this way are by no means idle in the Church of God, but most useful, even if they have been enclosed in the most hidden places. Let these things be said against those who, while they waste their days in trifles and gossip, or pursue human vainglory, dare, as if they themselves were occupied, to calumniate the holy leisure of contemplatives. And even if many without ill intent complain with Martha about these things, it is not fitting to be offended by their words, which Christ once refuting, preferred the part of Mary, that is, the office of contemplation and prayer, to action. For this reason our Denis loved his Rachel and preferred her to Leah: nor could he bear with equanimity if anyone seemed to think less worthily either of the monastic state he demonstrates against its despisers: or of the Religious life. Wherefore, writing to a certain Doctor who was hostile to the monastic Religious life, he charged him with rashness in these words: Grieve for such presumptuous and perilous judgments, nor be inclined to judge Religious. O how little you recognize what the Most High works in true solitaries; whom He hides in the secret of His face from the disturbance of men, and protects them from the contradiction of tongues; whom He leads into solitude, that He may speak to their heart; whose minds He illumines, and leads them to the joys of silence, to the day that is without tumult, to the region of immense light, to mystical visions, and the sincerity of contemplative theory, to rapture and ecstasy; so that, plunged into the abyss of the holy Deity, of eternal truth, they gaze upon the supernatural truths of faith and the order of things to be believed and of the ecclesiastical hierarchy, ineffably more clearly and more certainly than can be discerned from scholastic knowledge. Is not the light of grace stronger than that of nature? Illumination than exercise? Supernatural inspiration than scholastic disputation? Certainly, as it is stated in the statutes of our Carthusian Order, the baptisms of tears, the fervor of prayers, the ecstasies of contemplation, are aided by nothing more than solitude. Therefore do not despise the writings and admonitions of such men. Thus Denis. By which words he truly testified to nothing other than what he had experienced in himself: for even while enclosed in his cell, it was established that through his prayers he had protected people and various places unknown to him. Of which, lest I seem to pass over everything in silence, it will suffice to have recalled one or two instances.

[14] A certain most illustrious ^a Duke, whose name we suppress for the sake of discretion, sent a messenger to ask Denis to petition the Almighty for a revelation to be made to him, a war between father and son, and instruction concerning the end and outcome of the war which he was preparing against his rebellious son Adolph, and at the same time to pray that God might grant glory to the war through the father's victory: for it had already become public that Denis could accomplish much with God through his prayer, and was deemed worthy of revelations. And so, having received the messenger, the holy man replied that he would by no means do this, nor could he aid with his prayers this impiety between father and son of which the devil was the author. He prayed, however, through nearly the entire night, striving to avert this most unfortunate impending calamity and the miseries of war that would follow, the destruction of souls, and finally the miserable devastation of the homeland. For he judged that not what the Duke had asked should be prayed for, but what was worthy of God and salutary for the homeland. He prayed, therefore, that God would not allow such horrible evils, by prayer, slaughter of bodies, perdition of souls, nor so many injuries and affronts to His glorious name. He prayed that the father's hands would not be polluted with the blood of his son, or conversely that the son would not pollute himself with his father's blood. As he thus prayed and wept, behold, an Angel of the Lord appeared, who, if the Princes did not come to their senses for peace, by the instruction of an appearing Angel, and unless the common people together with the Clergy turned to the laments of penance and amendment of life, foretold to Denis in order all the future evils. He taught moreover how he should forewarn the Princes who were obstinate in their fury, and how the homeland itself might render God, long since offended by its crimes, propitious to it once more. a letter written, At this Denis, without delay, wrote a letter to the Dukes, not sufficiently polished, yet full of power and spirit. And he sent the same to both the father and the son. Meanwhile, he begged the Lord that their hearts might be softened. The Princes obeyed the monk, equally humble and holy, and received from him whatever he admonished, as the commands of God — as indeed they were. Certainly much and often had been previously attempted through Princes, through Nobles, through Doctors, and by all the means that could be devised by human effort, he successfully averts it: so that not only open persecution but also any ill feeling being extinguished, father and son might not violate the bonds of nature. But every counsel was excluded, and nothing remained except that they stain their impious hands with blood. But Denis — rather, the divine power in his servant Denis, whom He had determined to glorify before that nation — by praying and exhorting, restored an end to the war, friendship to the Princes, and peace to the homeland. All marveled and rejoiced with new gladness that the hostile preparations for war had by a happy omen been suddenly changed into peace. Nor could the author of the peace long remain hidden from the inhabitants of the country. Wherefore, turning to the veneration of the man of God, they called him in their rustic manner the man who speaks with an Angel.

[15] It should not be thought irrelevant, since we have made mention of Princes, if we also continue the narrative of history concerning the Bishop of Liège. This man of whom we wish to speak (for it is not fitting that he be named in reproach) was a man suited indeed to the world, but one who fulfilled less than was fitting in a Bishop. This man instituted spectacles, tournaments, A Bishop is warned not to exhibit spectacles at Roermond, and other military games of that kind in that pious Roermond. For so it pleases, and not without reason, to call that town pious, which has hitherto been celebrated as more suited to devotion than to vanity: nor do I think it is today so filled with arms as with learned and pious men. And so, while he himself was waiting in the town for the nobles summoned from every quarter to this Roermond, and was providing the necessities for

these theatrical games, this ecclesiastical man, it happened that in the meantime he went to the Charterhouse: where, after he had discussed various matters with Denis, whom the reputation of holiness had made great and celebrated to many, he was not ashamed to boast of the great expense he was lavishing on these military games, and of how he was devoting himself to receiving and magnificently entertaining the nobles. Denis, groaning, said: O Most Reverend Father, he admonishes him at length: although these things may be permitted for secular Princes, they are entirely unfitting for ecclesiastical men, and especially for Bishops. It is most unworthy and utterly unjust that you squander the patrimony of Christ on these theatrical uses. Spare, I beg, your reverence, Father — you are a Bishop; spare clerical propriety; spare at least your money, and entirely desist from this madness. To this the Bishop replied: I know myself to be a Bishop, to whom these profane spectacles have long since been forbidden by the sacred canons. But you must also admit that I am a Prince, a Duke, a Marquis, and a Count, whom arms adorn, and to whom temporal judgments and commands belong: their duty is what I must now discharge. To which Denis said: You were not made a Bishop for this purpose, Father, that you might play the Prince or Duke, but so that you might be held a more eminent and worthy Bishop, and so that you might be more formidable to the wicked and more powerful in defending the laws of Christ and the Church — for this purpose the Prince's sword and honor have been given to you by the Church. He inculcates the duty of a Bishop: Therefore your duty is to care for the Lord's flock, to rescue souls ensnared in the devil's traps, to feed the sheep committed to you with the Word of God, to lead back those that have strayed, to compel to the fold those unwilling to repent, to prove yourself the Vicar of Christ; not to act as a hireling, but as the Shepherd of souls; to show the sheep examples of holy conduct, as a path to follow; to go before them with the fragrance of good repute; and, to say many things at once, to lead the flock committed to you into heaven, not thrust it down to hell. Among all these things, moreover, when you have done all well, know that the Lord calls you an unprofitable servant. Whence you must be on your guard, and we must greatly marvel, since your solicitude will render account for each soul committed to you lest even one perish, how through your negligence you can, as if unconcerned, even dare to think about military games and spectacles. What, I ask, Father, will you answer to God for the souls that you yourself meanwhile scandalize by this diabolical business? With what face will you dare to appear before Christ the Judge, he sets forth eternal damnation: from whom you are leading away souls redeemed by His precious blood and delivering them to eternal death; from whose milk and wool you have taken what you need, while you live in delights? Why do you squander the goods of the Church, which you ought to dispense for the poor and for divine worship, on these theatrical spectacles, to the reproach of Christ, to the detriment of the Church, to the perdition of souls, for your luxury? But if you utterly refuse to do what is worthy of a Pontiff, at least spare the sheep: since with lesser expense and labor you alone can procure eternal torments for yourself.

[16] ^b The Bishop, hearing these things, departed as full of indignation as he was obstinate in his purpose. To him, already withdrawing, Denis said: We have asked you, Father, since you have been placed as an example of religion, not to carry out these vain spectacles for the ruin of souls, but you despise listening. I will ask a more powerful Lord, to whom you too (whether you will or no) must be subject; he predicts that he will prevent it by prayer: He will hear me; He will prevent your senseless endeavors, even against your will. The Bishop rose and, muttering something to himself in anger, leaving Denis, was working to complete what he had begun. But Denis, on the contrary, hastened to forestall him. Indeed, turning to the Lord, he employed the same weapons both against the devil and against the Bishop, namely tears and prayer. Why delay? The inflated power profited the Bishop nothing, nor did his accelerating industry contribute to completing his plan: Denis prevailed more by prayer. For the Bishop, as soon as he had departed, before he could reach his house, was seized with the most violent pains of gout, and his feet hurt him so much gout inflicted upon him: that the games and tournaments which he had previously refused to interrupt when asked, he was now compelled not to carry out, even against his will. And so, after a useless expenditure of a great sum of money, after the mark of infamy, everything the Bishop had prepared, everything he had arranged, everything he had begun, was abandoned and ceased. He himself, however, after the pains had somewhat abated, as soon as he was able to recover the use of his feet, he is rebuked by the same man, full of wrath, approached the Charterhouse and, complaining that his undertakings had been frustrated by the prayers of Denis, and that he himself had been afflicted with pains and ignominy on that account, he chastised him with rather harsh words. But Denis bore these things with equanimity, even rejoicing that he was deemed worthy to suffer insults even from Bishops for the glory of Christ. Would that there were many such men as Denis today, as there are found Pontiffs too similar to this Bishop. But if they would attend to the miserable fate of this man after his death, and would not acquiesce in the flattery of courtiers, they would perhaps change themselves for the better as soon as possible. For this Bishop whom we have mentioned, after his death (when Denis was praying for him in his cell, keeping vigil after Matins on the feast of the blessed Virgin Catherine), after death he sees him appear, cruelly tormented. he saw brought before him by two most loathsome spirits of gigantic form, and surrounded by burning flames: who said: Behold, the one for whom you pray, your Lord. Denis, looking at him carefully, saw around his belly and genitals an immense host of serpents and toads, which were gnawing at the wretch. For in life, besides other vanities unworthy of a Bishop, he had been a violator of women and a defiler of virgins in his lusts. The holy man was vehemently terrified, admiring the equity of the judgments of God: and reflecting that the powerful will suffer powerful torments, he perceived that he was damned. For the wretch sought no intercession for himself, no prayer, and was suddenly snatched from the eyes of the beholder by those blackest Ethiopians.

^a This is Arnold, Duke of Guelders, who was captured by his son Adolph and held for some time in prison: whose deeds Bockenbergius describes at length in the Dynasties of the Egmonds. Dorlandus records the very letter of Denis to both in book 7, chapter 13, but without any date.

^b Bartholomew Fisen, himself also of Liège, acknowledges this story and ascribes it to John of Heinsberg, and no other Bishop died during the time when Denis the Carthusian was alive. Heinsberg was consecrated in the year 1420, three years before Denis became a monk, and when he resigned the bishopric in the year 1455, Louis of Bourbon succeeded him, who was killed in the year 1482, eleven years after the death of Denis. Meanwhile Heinsberg is praised by Suffridus Petri, Zantfliet, and others, as one who discharged the episcopal office successfully. But Cratepolius says he displayed his magnificence with two hundred white horses: which seems to agree with this admonition. Dorlandus in chapter 16 has the same story and attributes it to the said John of Heinsberg.

CHAPTER IV

Help Given to Souls Appearing to Him.

[17] Moreover, because we have here made mention of one deceased person, this must be held in general concerning the spirits of the dead: that they appeared to Denis very frequently, and also sought remedies for their punishments, He is often visited by souls seeking prayers, which that man, tireless in spirit and body, most generously bestowed. When once asked by Brother Charles, his attendant, very dear to him and devoted to God, whether the souls of the deceased had often appeared to him, he replied: Indeed: a hundred times and more. A certain novice, born not far from the town of Sint-Truiden, came to the point of death at Roermond in the Charterhouse from illness; to him Denis promised to read two Psalters after his death, which that novice, had he not been overtaken by death, would have been obliged to fulfill. He is rebuked for prayers promised but then delayed, But because at that time the doubts and scruples of conscience of many persons were continuously being brought to Denis from various places, to which he had to respond without delay, it happened that Denis, thus occupied, deferred what he had promised. The deceased novice, therefore, because he needed suffrages, returned to Denis: and reproaching him for his tardiness, rebuked him harshly. At this, when Denis thought he would produce a just excuse, he suddenly became so rigid at the rebuke of this novice that he dared not even open his mouth. And so understanding that the suffrages owed to the dead must on no account be deferred, he himself afterward took care against tardiness and warned others to do the same.

[18] A certain Brother of his house, of the profession of those whom they call Donati, long since buried, he found in his cell after Matins burning with flames. When he asked who he was and what he wanted, he heard: I am your Brother, lately departed from this life. He is warned to rebuke the monks about this: I complain that the Brothers deal with me more negligently than is right: for not only do they not come to my aid with overflowing charity, but also, with laziness prevailing, they do not pay what they owe me by obedience to the Order, deferring it instead. Wherefore, unless they correct themselves, they will pay their own penalties as well as mine. The Brothers, corrected by the exhortation of Denis, more quickly bestowed the suffrages upon the deceased.

[19] A certain spirit was troublesome to a venerable ^a Priest, then a novice in the Carthusian Order, in his cell: for by noise and knocking the spirit was disturbing the Brother from his rest and sleep. The complaint was brought to the man of God, Denis. Who, answering, said: Tell the novice to command the spirit in this manner: Go to Brother Denis. A wondrous thing! The novice obeyed Denis, and the spirit obeyed the novice. For leaving the novice, he came to Denis: he frees a soul: but Denis, sensing his presence, immediately scourged him with such fervor of prayers that the spirit no longer cared to trouble either the novice or Denis: but departing, freed from all his punishments, he flew away to God.

[20] Denis was once seized with a great desire to know how the soul of his father, long since deceased, fared. Therefore, strengthened by the confidence that a certain familiarity with God had produced in him, concerned about his father's salvation, after Vespers one day, prostrating himself in the oratory of his cell, he prayed to be informed where his father's soul was. But when he had persisted long in prayer with this desire, he heard a voice answering him: Why does the curiosity of knowing torment you so concerning your father's soul? Is it not pious to pray for the dead? Pray therefore for your father, who if he is in punishments and departed this life in the grace of God, will be refreshed by your prayer: if not, the prayer will return to your own bosom. Having received this response from heaven, Denis persevered, praying nonetheless for his father: not, however, as before, by investigating the secrets of God, but that rest might be granted to the deceased. Meanwhile, one night while he was held in light sleep, he saw his father held between two spirits blacker than Ethiopians, and crying out to him with a strong voice: Most loving son, have mercy on me, and help your father with your prayers. He saw him being tortured: This word as soon as he uttered it, he was snatched away by the demons and cast into a burning furnace, beaten and scourged with iron rods. Although Denis saw these things in sleep, to which kind of visions he never considered it safe to give credence, and he persists in praying for him, he nevertheless did not doubt the truth of this one. Wherefore he did not cease praying for his father, until the latter ceased to be wretched.

[21] Many other things he learned from the spirits appearing to him, and he also bestowed upon them many of his labors and prayers, which he made known to no one. For he was silent only about those things which necessity did not compel him to reveal. For it was often necessary that certain persons be informed why particular souls of the dead were being tormented, so that the living might both repent of their own negligence and bring aid to the dead. Wherefore it is worth relating further concerning Master ^b John of Louvain, whose misery after death Denis was not permitted to conceal from all. A very good man, This man was in his time venerable, a man of good and upright life, a guardian also of sobriety, propriety, and chastity, a lover of religion, steadfast in justice, and (what is most rare) one who greatly preferred the public good to his own. I review his praise here for this reason, that it may be learned by what merits he escaped the dangers of eternal damnation. For unless such distinguished virtues had been found in him, but holding many ecclesiastical benefices, unless he had also departed the world with such great contrition and penitence, he would not have escaped the eternal punishment — which many today do not dread — on account of the ecclesiastical benefices which he had possessed in great number. And although he had spent the money accumulated from his benefices on the most pious uses (for he built and endowed a ^c monastery of Canons Regular at Roermond, and colleges of St. Jerome at Cologne and Deventer), after death he was nevertheless long and severely tormented with the punishments of purgatory. For since he had been buried in the choir of the Carthusians at Roermond, an anniversary for the salvation of his soul is celebrated each year by the Fathers of that place. And so, while his first anniversary was being celebrated, and in the Office of the Dead they had come to the Canticle of Zechariah, Denis with waking eyes beheld above the sepulcher of the deceased flames of fire gathered together in the form of a bier, which were horrible to behold with the darkness of their smoke and the stench of sulfur. Denis, terrified, for two years at the anniversary he perceives him being tormented: pushing the Brother who stood next to him, understood it to be the mystery of a spiritual vision, and grieved vehemently, recalling the sobriety and integrity of the deceased. He wept especially because he did not know whether this vision signified the fires of purgatory or of hell. The anniversary day returned the following year, and just as in the previous one, Denis beheld the appearance of fire near the monument of the deceased, but the flame was more thin, brighter, and milder. Moreover, in the third year, Denis, rapt in ecstasy of mind, now not as before with bodily eyes, he recognizes he will be freed. nor by an imaginary vision, but by an intellectual (so to speak) vision, he learned of the future salvation of the deceased, seeing at the same time the wonderful, hidden, and inscrutable judgments of God, and certain other things which it was neither lawful nor possible to utter. Wherefore ^d he wrote to a certain person who should have attended to and executed the will of the deceased, admonishing him to hasten the suffrages for the deceased, all delay being set aside.

[22] I would wish here to narrate more things for the edification of readers, from those which were done through the man of God concerning the souls of the dead; except that I would fear the weariness of some on account of prolixity: although besides these there remain other things, almost innumerable, not only concerning the dead but also concerning the living, which God revealed to him, he remains humble in his visions. always concealed by him and entirely hidden from us. For he made known only those things about future or even present matters which he had received a command from the Lord to make known. In the revelation of which things, however, it is wonderful how humble he was, attributing nothing to himself except vileness: which he himself also dreaded, admiring the counsel of divine providence, which was pleased to use him, unworthy and ignorant of all things pertaining to worldly prudence, as a minister for the edification of the Church.

^a He is called Hermann of Lüne by Dorlandus, chapter 21.

^b Dorlandus, chapter 23, says he was Provost of Xanten.

^c From this monastery and its revenues the Episcopal See of Roermond was erected.

^d Dorlandus exhibits this letter in chapter 22.

CHAPTER V

Ecstasies: Groaning Over the Calamities of the Church.

[23] He was very often rapt in ecstasy of mind for many hours, which, as long as he could, he concealed. But when in the presence of some of his Brothers or a gathering he had been abstracted to God and had remained as if dead and motionless to human things, he grieved, and his embarrassment could not be hidden. What, however, he felt in the meantime, what he learned, what was revealed to him, he disclosed to no one, or to very few, and that most rarely. He is often in ecstatic rapture for many hours: Whatever things also were revealed to him, whatever was shown, were not conveyed through likenesses, not through images of things or sensible visions, but he was taught in a nobler manner, more sublime and more pure. For his intellect was illuminated by the divine light, and his mind, departing from itself and absorbed through love into God and united with God, learned whatever the ray of divinity wished to teach him. He was helped moreover — indeed (to speak more truly) even when resisting he was rapt — by whatever external occasion was furnished, from which his mind might be raised to the contemplation of heavenly things, or to the admiration of the inscrutable wisdom of God, or to the love of His goodness. Wherefore sometimes, when the Canticles of the Church were being begun, such as Veni Sancte Spiritus, or Suscepimus Deus misericordiam tuam, and other things of that kind; sometimes when he was in crowds and the company of men; at other times in castles before nobles (who were greatly delighted by his conversation, erudition, and counsels) — while speaking of God, he was himself rapt into the region of inaccessible and immense light, while the others who were present were meanwhile left here amid their human affairs. Sometimes also, like a second Elisha, while he heard the sweet melody of organs, with the spirit of God coming upon him, he aspired to the harmony of that celestial melody. Hence suddenly his mind, because it could not be contained within itself, departed to the taste of those things for which it burned with longing: and departed so completely that for several hours it remained fixed and did not return.

[24] 's-Hertogenbosch is a most noble town of Brabant, in which is found the church of the Blessed John, adorned in a wonderful manner. Indeed nothing in it is seen to be neglected; nothing is wanting that pertains to piety, devotion, and the furthering of recollection of spirit. Into this church Denis happened to enter, because the music was then being played on the organs for the divine service; at 's-Hertogenbosch having drunk in the sweet melody through his ears, immediately his heart began to melt, his countenance and mind to change, to depart from himself, and, gathering the powers of his soul, to go entirely into God. There was with him then the Abbot of St. Martin's in Cologne: who, understanding what was about to happen, drew him into a chapel that was nearby, where he remained rigid and motionless for nearly three hours. This, however, happened to him at the time rapt for three hours: when the Charterhouse had begun to be built outside that same town in honor of ^a St. Sophia: over which the same Denis, though now an old man, had been appointed initiator and Rector on account of his sanctity. It had been revealed to Denis long before that in the place where it is now seen to have been built, a Carthusian monastery was to be constructed, where souls would be sanctified for God and divine praises would be sung. Moreover, the sanctity of Denis, widely known, gave great occasion for the building of this monastery. For this reason, the founder of the monastery obtained him from the head of the Order as Rector for this new establishment. He began a Charterhouse: But as long as Denis stayed there, ^b Philip the Great, that Duke of Burgundy, held him in great veneration, and summoned him to his side and consulted him on great, difficult, and secret affairs. Pleasing to Philip the Good: However, because this new building distracted his mind, and being now old he was exhausted in strength, having obtained the consent of his superiors, he at last returned to the house of his profession.

[25] They report that at the time of his return, the choir of the church of the Charterhouse of Roermond was illuminated for several nights during Matins by a light poured down from heaven. The monks, not knowing what this portent was, stood astonished: some went outside and gazed at the sky: but seeing nothing to behold, he is adorned with heavenly light: they at last understood it to be the return of Denis (who was the light of the Order and of the world). Denis himself also often saw, after Matins, white spirits accompanying the monks as they returned to their cells, and entering their cells with them, whom he did not doubt were their guardian Angels.

[26] He sees guardian Angels: At that time, Mehmed, King of the Turks, ^c took Constantinople and all the territories of the Eastern Empire from the Christians. Whence the Christian faith almost completely collapsed in Greece, and a great fear and grief arose among all Christians, he mourns the capture of Constantinople: especially the man of God, Denis, who day and night, now an old man, wept that the worship of God was being abrogated and insult was being done to the Christian name. He saw moreover in the West the Church degenerating from those ancient holy ways, and the peril of the West: and growing tepid from the warmth of faith and charity. For this reason he feared the wrath of God coming also to those places that obey the Roman Empire. Against these evils his one remedy was prayer. With this he strove to avert wrath from the Church; with this, amid the calamities of the Church, he sought to console himself. ^d God had revealed to him that the sins of Christians, especially of Prelates and Clergy, could no longer be tolerated by His justice with impunity, on account of the morals of the Prelates and Clergy: but that one of two things must necessarily come about: either the Prelates and Clergy would correct themselves, or they would be ignominiously chastised by those who would show no reverence or deference to the Clergy. When Denis in their name promised amendment to God, and more vehemently in this way pleaded for mercy, he heard: According to the measure of your amendment, the censure of My justice shall be tempered. And the Lord added: Concerning the amendment which you promise in the name of the Prelates, hold this: Even if they swear in My name, "The Lord lives," by that very act they will swear falsely. In this revelation moreover, concerning future evils and the calamities of the Church, he tries to rouse them to amendment: he learned some secrets which it was not lawful to disclose. He sent, however, letters to Popes, to Princes, to Prelates of the Church: and whomever he could, he invited to a more correct life. Nor content with his own prayer alone, he exhorted all by whatever means he could to amendment of life, and to deprecate the wrath of God from themselves. There were then, though few, among the leaders who, believing his admonitions, betook themselves to a better life: the rest, although the revelations and counsels of Denis had been reported even to the Supreme Pontiff, heard them with deaf ears and a hard heart. Nor is this a wonder, since today also, although last year at Rome and in Germany for several years now the Clergy suffers not only calamity but even expects almost total destruction, few are corrected. For how many are there today in monasteries or colleges of Canons who, from the persecution of the Clergy and the other evils by which the world is afflicted, have become better? Evils multiply; profane power presses upon us; violence persecutes; and nevertheless our vices persist. But we leave these things to greater men to preach; we must return to our Denis. ^e

^a Because Constantinople and the principal church of St. Sophia in it had been occupied by the Turks, he wished the house and church to be called after St. Sophia. And it is the fifteenth monastery of Belgium or Lower Germany according to Miraeus in his

Carthusian Origins, where he reviews its principal founders. After the exercise of the Catholic religion was driven from the city and territory of 's-Hertogenbosch, the Carthusians migrated to Antwerp and there erected a new monastery.

^b Philip the Good departed this life in the year 1467. Charles the Bold succeeded him, who in the year 1471 approved the foundation.

^c Constantinople was captured in the year 1453.

^d These revelations are narrated at length in Dorlandus, chapter 8 and following: received on the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Mary, on Passion Sunday, and on the third Sunday after Easter.

^e The letter sent to the Prelates is found in the same work, chapter 11.

CHAPTER VI

Illness, Death. Illustrious Men of the Order.

[27] Here, amid such studies, the discomforts of old age came upon him, which were thereafter increased by the frequent annoyances of infirmities. For he was tormented by continual pains from paralysis, stone, and the bladder. There were added moreover ulcers which had eaten away both legs. But amid these things the patience of Denis must not be passed over in silence, who although he was gravely and not seldom (as happens) hurt when the bandages were being either loosened or tightened by his attendant, nevertheless never uttered a word or groan: but as if insensible to pain, he continued praying or writing nonetheless. He was then in his forty-seventh year from the time he had been initiated into the Carthusian institute, Most patient amid various illnesses; and had not yet ceased to write, although his body was weak and nearly spent: for it had been consumed by vigils, abstinences, infirmities, and the continual exercises of the spirit: as the afflictions increased daily, he himself bore the hand of the Lord patiently. At these things also exulting, he gave thanks to the Lord, who, what He bestows upon all His friends, had not denied him: to be corrected and chastised, to do good and to suffer evil. And so in the last year of his life, he prepared himself so that at midnight he might go out to meet the coming Bridegroom and enter with Him to the wedding feast. And then he also ceased to write: for the last of his books was the one he entitled On Meditations: at the end of which, after innumerable other books already published, after immense labors, aspiring to rest, he closes with these words, saying: This little work of my meditations, which I have not so much as I ought rightly to have, receive gratefully, dearest Brothers, and pray unceasingly for me: he writes his last book in the year 1469. who for the rest intend to transfer myself to the port of secure silence, and to prepare for a secure departure (as the Lord shall grant) more than usual, especially because the powers of my body are greatly failing, and I finish this little work in the sixty-seventh year of my life, in the year of the Lord 1469.

[28] From that time forth Denis, because he knew death was near to him — which indeed he had always meditated upon as if it were present — like a swan singing, joyfully awaited it. Whence, knowing most certainly that he would die this year, amid the infirmities by which he was pressed, he frequented three Canticles, and now repeating one, now another, when sick he rouses himself with three Canticles: he consoled his spirit by singing. The first of these, which was habitual to him, was: Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. For he aspired above all to this lot, that he might enjoy the blessedness of eternal light. The second, by which he was stirred to devotion, was: Mary therefore anointed the feet of Jesus, and doubtless recalling the devotion of Mary toward Jesus and in turn the sweetness of the heart of Jesus toward His beloved, he contemplated thence their mutual love, by which they wounded each other. And he himself also intermingled the love of his own heart toward them, placing himself, as it were, as a third between the two. The third canticle which he was accustomed to sing was: The saints who hope in the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall take wings as eagles; they shall fly and shall not fail. By this he roused his spirit and nourished his confidence, having attained what he had desired for so many years, for which he had striven, labored, and expended all his strength.

[29] On March 7 he receives viaticum, And so, as the illness increased and he felt death was not far off, on the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas he was led to the chapel of St. Denis, where he had been accustomed to offer the Sacrifice of the Mass to God for a long time. There, with his accustomed most ardent devotion, having heard Mass and received the life-giving Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, as though already fortified with viaticum, he girded himself for the journey on which he was to see the salvation of God. Brought back to his chamber, he said to the Brothers standing by: The time has come, dearest Brothers, which I foretold, which I desired, which at last I awaited. If I live longer, it will be necessary for me to be led by the hands of others, and I will be a burden to the brothers. After this, rejecting all food, as the illness grew worse and his strength failed ever more, he came to the final extremity of life. Therefore, on the feast of the Blessed Gregory, Denis, full of virtues and merits, he dies on March 12 in the year 1471. around the twelfth hour, having overcome all the miseries of this life, rendered his holy soul to God, in the year of the Lord 1471, after he had served Christ in the Carthusian order for forty-eight years.

[30] These things concerning the life of the blessed Father Denis, a man most illustrious equally in knowledge and virtue. [The author reproaches the Carthusian Order for not publishing the books of this man.] Why his writings have hitherto lain hidden, I vehemently wonder: for he labored in writing almost more than all others in the Church of God; his books abound also with most copious erudition, and so lucid, that in his age he was held to be most learned and plainly admirable. Wherefore, as I said, I am amazed that they lie hidden; since meanwhile the works of other writers are offered to us from every quarter: whose talent and erudition, however, amount to nothing compared to this Denis. But this is due to your carelessness and negligence, O Carthusian Order, which has had innumerable men both most learned and most pious, and the Lives of others, of whom a good part shone with miracles both in life and after death, and the rest, excelling in learning, gave to posterity the immortality of their name — if it were permitted by you, that is, if you would bring their books into the open. And so you conceal these within your bosom, as if they had lived only for you or for one monastery alone, not also for posterity and for all mortals: or as if it were piety to hide what pertains to the honor and benefit of the universal Church. But why do I remonstrate here on behalf of Denis, when you have done the same even to your Founder, the Blessed Bruno, the first Carthusian, indeed even of St. Bruno the Founder: and to almost all the rest of your sons? For this Bruno, whom all of Calabria (for there, fleeing the court of Pope Urban, whose teacher he had formerly been, and at the same time the burden of the Pontificate, he met his final day) venerates — so much so that they circle on bended knees even that court which he had watered with the tears of penance and love, and kiss it — him you have hitherto kept so unknown that outside that country, who Bruno was, or who was the founder of your Order, the world has been almost ignorant. Whence it has come about that not a few, ignorant of the truth of history, have ^a falsely believed that the very Doctor who after death in Paris revealed himself as damned, held to be the damned Doctor, terrified by whose judgment Bruno together with six others ^b instituted this manner of living which is called Carthusian, was Bruno himself. He was so far from being esteemed a Saint on this account, that they even impiously said he was both damned and entirely estranged from God. Meanwhile you considered it sufficient that miracles proclaimed your Bruno to be alive, and you did not notice what the world was ignorant of. What? — that you would never have brought his most illustrious works into the light, especially on Paul, the Psalter, and some others, had not the sagacity of scholars imposed upon you and prudently enough snatched them from your hands.

[31] Add now those two most holy Bishops, the ^c Hugos, of whom the one, of Grenoble — unless Innocent of his own accord — and the other, of the holy Hugos of Grenoble and of Lincoln, unless at England's insistence, Honorius III, now Pope, moved by the eminence of their miracles, had declared Saints even while you were indifferent, whose examples of sanctity, I ask, would edify anyone today? I pass over now ^d Guigo, Basil, and the other Priors of your first Charterhouse, of Guigo, Basil, who hitherto governed you with a great reputation for sanctity, many of whom were as illustrious for miracles as they shone in learning? — whom, however, though innumerable, no one knows except you. I pass over Lord ^e Bernard, Prior of Portes, of Bernard, whom the dead returning to life proclaim while you are silent; and the other many miracles which the Lord worked through him praise his sanctity. To him St. Bernard of Clairvaux scarcely had anyone whom he loved so much as a ^f peer. For at his request he expounded the Song of Songs, and he earnestly urged the Roman Pontiff, as his letters also attest, that Bernard should be drawn from the monastery to the episcopate. I omit ^g Stephen, a Bishop of wondrous sanctity, of Die; ^h Anthelm also, Bishop of Belley, whose sanctity, besides other miracles, was attested by lights kindled from heaven at his funeral. of Stephen, Bp. of Die; Anthelm, Bp. of Belley: Time would fail me if I wished to review the several legions of other illustrious men, conspicuous for sanctity, preeminent in erudition: whom, while outsiders rather extol with praises, you have hitherto kept silent about your sons as though hidden in your bosom. But I know what you would answer: That for the sake of guarding humility, you wish your members to be displayed with no glory, exalted with no eminence. But what kind of humility is this, what kind of piety, to hide burning torches under a bushel, lest they give light to those who are in the house: to withdraw light from the eyes, lest either the beauty of the place be seen or one may walk without stumbling? Not unjustly a certain most erudite man (may I say it with your leave) might convict you on this point, that piety lies hidden in you; and lies so hidden that it can scarcely be discerned. You keep hidden away with you the books of the most holy and most learned men, treasures of souls, and do not bring them forth, so that many might rejoice from you, many might be refreshed. Wherefore (as the Wise Man admonishes) Let your fountains flow abroad, and distribute your waters in the streets.

[32] The author has narrated only certain things. But let me have said these things with your leave, and indeed more diffusely than I had intended. To be sure, I had undertaken to narrate the deeds of Denis alone. From which, however, I have gathered here only those things which I found to have been both done and written with the most certain truth. For certain other proofs of his sanctity are reported, no less distinguished than astounding: concerning the truth of which nothing at all is doubted; but because they were conveyed to us by narration alone, I decided they should by no means be inserted here ^i.

^a Concerning this story, which we ourselves learned in the Charterhouse is not approved, there will be need to treat it on October 6.

^b A verb is missing: "assumed," or something similar.

^c The one of Grenoble is venerated on April 1; the one of Lincoln on November 17.

^d Dorlandus treats of these in book 4, chapters 3 and 14.

^e Concerning Bernard and the monastery of Portes in the diocese of Lyon, the same Dorlandus treats in book 4, chapter 9.

^f The letters 11 and 153 of St. Bernard should be read.

^g St. Stephen is venerated on September 7. John Columbus examines the years of his See in his Bishops of Die, page 105; his deeds are in Dorlandus, book 4, chapters 10 and following.

^h The Life of St. Anthelm is to be given on June 26.

^i Revelations and a catalogue of books were appended: to have indicated this is sufficient.

March II: March 13

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