John

CONCERNING BLESSED JOHN, BISHOP AND MARTYR, AT VICENZA IN CISALPINE GAUL.

YEAR 1181

John, Bishop of Cremona, then of Mantua, then Martyr of Vicenza (Blessed).

[1] When we were examining the sacred monuments of the city of Vicenza in the year 1660, among other ornaments of the Cathedral church, we were shown an elevated chest above an altar, in which the body of Blessed John, Bishop and Martyr, is reverently preserved and presented for the pious veneration of natives and visitors: Veneration at Vicenza, concerning whom, lest we should seem to need much inquiry, the diligence of Francesco Barbarano de Mironi was helpful, who is said to have most accurately collected everything that could be had, and to have distinguished it through several chapters, and to have inserted it into book 2 of his ecclesiastical history of Vicenza, composed by him in the Italian language and published recently, eight years before. However, since we ourselves seek the primary sources of whatever narratives and more gladly present them to our reader, we took some pains whence is the Life given here? to find the inquisitions which Ughelli cites, drawn up in the year 1223 by the mandate of Pope Honorius III, both at Vicenza and at Cremona: we then asked the Vicentines to be willing to send them to us: but frustrated in hope and expectation (since the pressing print could not tolerate longer delays), we were compelled to render Barbarano's text

into Latin from the Italian, and to bid the reader be content with this, unless someone should send that document in time, to be appended at least in an appendix.

[2] Year of ordination and death Meanwhile, the veneration of this Blessed one remains certain from what will be presented here in chapter 2, and from what we ourselves saw with our own eyes: and the same things are presented by Ferdinand Ughelli in volume 1 of Italia Sacra under the Bishops of Vicenza. We believe Barbarano that the year in which he entered the See of Vicenza was 1179, since he, against the different calculations of others who write the year as either 1174 or 1176, appeals to authentic and public documents of the Church of Vicenza, from which in book 4 of his History, variously recorded by various authors. not yet seen by us, he is going to demonstrate that Aribert, John's predecessor, lived until the year 1179. Indeed, we also believe the same author in referring the martyrdom of Blessed John to the year 1181 of the same century, as one who scrutinized everything more closely than the aforesaid Ughelli: who therefore, just as he is said to be convictable of error in assigning the beginning of the Episcopate, so he may be believed to have followed no more certain guide when he wrote the year 1185. However, this controversy, now only recently known to us, makes the aforesaid inquisitions all the more eagerly to be desired. For just as through them it is clearly seen with what piety and sanctity he lived, and that from eyewitnesses, so it is permissible to suspect that something more certain could be had from them concerning the beginning and end of the Episcopate administered by John.

[2] He does not seem to have succeeded Garsiodorus as Bishop of Mantua at his death, What may be even more suspected concerns the Bishopric of Mantua, which we also learn was held by this John from the Epitaph inscribed on the chest after the translation beneath the high altar, made perhaps at the time of that Honorius who ordered inquiry into his life and character; and therefore not long after the year 1223. For concerning the years of the Mantuan governance, authors vary considerably, and not all without chronographic errors. For Hippolytus Donesmundus writes that after Garsiodorus, Bishop of Mantua, long since excommunicated because he was a follower of the Emperor Frederick, but reconciled with the Church after peace was concluded at Venice, and finally dying around the year 1170, Guido succeeded him, and that seven years after Guido's death John was substituted: and that upon John's similarly dying (with no mention made of Vicenza or of Martyrdom) Sigisrid was appointed by Clement III; and therefore after the year 1187. But on the contrary, the Venetian pacification indisputably belongs to the year 1177, a full decade later than the date Donesmundus writes. And much more so because this Garsiodorus is said by Ughelli to have been numbered as a Catholic among the Fathers of the Lateran Council in the year 1179, and to be found subscribed after the Patriarch of Aquileia.

[4] And so Ughelli takes a different path when treating of our John, or was he substituted when the other was deposed? weaving his eulogy and chronology thus: "He was a distinguished preacher and a tireless champion of ecclesiastical liberty: for in that most foul schism, stirred up against Alexander III, having embraced the side of Alexander, he set himself like an impregnable wall against the schismatic Frederick and his supporters for the liberty of the Holy Roman Church... for which reason, by the same Pontiff, when Garsiodorus, Bishop of Mantua, a follower of the schismatic Octavian, was deposed, and Guido had died, he was appointed Bishop of Mantua, and governed that Church for several years: during which time, since he had brought the people of Vicenza to favor the side of Alexander, when the Bishop of Vicenza passed away, he was acclaimed Bishop of that city in the year 1176. Moreover, when peace was concluded between Pope Alexander and Emperor Frederick, and Garsiodorus, released from censures, had returned to his Mantuan see, in the year 1179, John remained Bishop of Vicenza. When he had governed that Church most holily, finally, for defending the liberty of the Church and the rights of his Bishopric... pierced with a sword, he flew to heaven as a Martyr, in the year 1185."

[5] We have nowhere seen the Acts of the Lateran Council and the subscriptions that Ughelli alleges, or rather did he govern the church of Mantua as Administrator? nor have any of those who have thus far compiled the corpus of Councils: nor the Letter of the Council of Pavia to the Emperor, to which the aforesaid Garsiodorus is said to have subscribed as Count of the Imperial Chamber in the year 1160. This much we see in the meantime: that it is no less certain that the Bishop of Mantua in that year, by whatever name he was called, was excommunicated for adhering to the schismatic Victor, than it is difficult to believe that Alexander ordained other Bishops in place of those he had excommunicated, unless this is proven by other more certain examples. Wherefore, if Garsiodorus survived until the time of the peace: it would seem most probable to us that both Guido (if indeed there was any Guido then at Mantua, concerning which no public documents have yet been produced) and John were given only as Administrators to the Bishopric of Mantua, desolated by Garsiodorus's excommunication, with Episcopal power and character: and that when this office was rightly performed, and peace was concluded between the parties, John merited to be inducted by the grateful Pontiff into the Bishopric of Vicenza, then perhaps first becoming vacant through the death of Aribert, as Barbarano promises to demonstrate.

LIFE

From the Italian of Francesco Barbarano de Mironi.

John, Bishop of Cremona, then of Mantua, then Martyr of Vicenza (Blessed).

BY FR. BARBARANO.

CHAPTER I

Blessed John, from Prior of Saint Victor, becomes Abbot of Saint Lawrence, and Driven into Exile, is Created First Bishop of Mantua, then of Vicenza.

[1] Blessed John, a native of Cremona, was assigned to the people of Piacenza by Giovanni Pietro Crescentini in book 15, chapter 5, of his work on the nobility of Italy; Born at Cremona of a noble family, perhaps deceived because another of the same name and family, also a Bishop of Vicenza, around the year 1386, was born at Piacenza. His father was Evangelista de Surdis, of a most noble family, and one of those which in the year 531 from the founding of the City were sent here as a colony by the Consuls Marcus Claudius Marcellus and Gaius Cornelius Scipio Calvus. His mother, from the illustrious family of the Persici, was named Berta or Alberta: who, after the birth of John, passing to second nuptials, was joined to Adam Cacciafronte, himself also a native nobleman of the same city: whence it happened that the infant stepson began to be called by the surname of his stepfather rather than his father.

[2] Instructed in piety and letters, His upbringing, befitting his birth, had much of piety, to which John seemed as if made by nature: so much so that, fleeing all the blandishments of boyhood, whatever free time he had from his studies he would spend in prayer either at home or in church. Moreover, marvelously devoted to exercising works of charity toward his neighbor, he dispensed with a generous hand whatever means he could to the needy: toward himself, however, already austere, he fasted three days of the week: and it was a great delight to his stepfather and mother to foresee his future sanctity from such beginnings. Then, when he had been sufficiently instructed in humane letters, wishing to transfer his mind, wholly withdrawn from the world, to the safe harbor of religious life, he becomes a monk at Saint Lawrence, he chose the Benedictine Order, and in the monastery of Saint Lawrence, built of old around the year 990 by Oldoric, a Frankish Bishop of Cremona, he received the sacred habit in the sixteenth year of his age, that is, the year of Christ 1141. There he progressed so greatly in religious virtues—namely, humility, patience, silence, and prayer—that in the year 1159, which was his twenty-fourth year of age, he was appointed Prior of the monastery of Saint Victor: which had been founded in the year 1024 by Laudulph, Bishop of Cremona, and then in the year 1085, through Hubert Zenobonus, Bishop of the same city, was annexed to the Abbey of Saint Lawrence. In this Priorate, then Prior at Saint Victor, which numbered only eight monks, he held the governance for three continuous years, shining before all in word and example toward true perfection; until, drawn from his Priorate by his own Laurentian monks, he was ordered to preside over the Abbey: a duty he refused to accept except by the proven virtue of his obedience, having to be compelled by the express mandate of the same.

[3] Consecrated Abbot, among other things he laudably ordained, he established regular alms to be distributed to the poor, and these many and great, which were testified to have remained in use up to the year 1223 by Odo de Comitibus of Cremona. His mother, moreover, emulating the virtues of her son, and at last elected Abbot by his own monks: devoted herself to the divine service in that same sacred house, in which she also ended this temporal life with a great reputation for virtue, about to begin the eternal one. Now as much as John gained in eminence of dignity, whom he governs with great example. so much did he add to the pursuit of consummate virtue, and a witness is Peter Arvituanus (who rendered personal service to John), questioned juridically twelve years after his death, that wearing a woolen undergarment next to his skin, he would not put it aside until it fell apart from wear; that he never used linen; and that beyond the ordinary foods of the other monks he was willing to admit none, intent day and night on prayer to be pondered both by voice and by mind, in which alone he placed all his delights.

[4] While John was occupied with these things and governing his monastery with great praise for his prudence and virtue, In the schism Frederick, the first of that name as Emperor, in the year 1164 caused a mandate to be published at Cremona, by which under threat of severe punishment all were compelled to recognize as Vicar of Christ the Antipope Victor, created by him against the right of Alexander III, legitimately elevated to the Apostolic See. This was for the blessed man both an immense matter for exercising zeal and for patience: for while he exhorted his monks and the people to render obedience to the one true Pope, Alexander, he acts boldly for Alexander, the true Pontiff, and strove to hold fast to the side of the faithful those failing through hope or fear to the Emperor's party, he endured with singular meekness the Imperial ministers who publicly contradicted him, as John Bonus, the Massarius of the Church of Cremona, testified he was present and heard: moreover, Raimund de Hortica says he was present when, to Anselm de Douaria reviling him to his face, he generously responded: "Say whatever you wish: I shall hear injuries with the meekness of a lamb, but from defending ecclesiastical liberty and justice I shall never desist."

[5] and therefore driven into exile The faithful Abbot's preaching and example prevailed so greatly among the citizens of Cremona that those who before had inclined considerably toward the Emperor's favor—not only the Clergy but also the entire common people—embraced the side of the true Pontiff quite openly. Wherefore the indignant Frederick ordered him expelled from all Cremonese territory. The blessed man yielded to the violent tyranny and chose a habitation in the territory of Mantua near the Oglio river, in a small hut adjoining a not-large church of the Blessed Virgin Mary: he withdraws to the territory of Mantua: and there he resided for some years in peace, awaiting the end of that storm: until the matter, brought to the attention of Pope Alexander, moved him to assign to him the monastery of Ulmineto, as we know from the testimony of Lanfranc, Abbot of Saint Peter de Montirone, formerly Prior in the monastery of Saint Lawrence.

[6] where he becomes Bishop. Meanwhile it happened that the Church of Mantua, deprived of its

Pastor, sought another, and by common votes John was elected, in the year, as some hold, 1167, but according to Joseph of Brescia, 1169: which election was wonderfully pleasing to the Pontiff, and was therefore immediately confirmed by him, and John was ordered to accept the Episcopal dignity. In which he soon so shone with virtues that all congratulated themselves on such a Prelate, and Peter de Tinctis, formerly his close associate, said that he was accustomed to devote days and nights solely to prayer and the reading of Sacred Scripture, and to distribute all the annual revenues of his Bishopric to Christ's poor. Then, when Aribert, Bishop of Vicenza, died around the year 1179, the citizens of Vicenza (who, having long detested the tyranny of the Fredericians, had entered into a league at Verona with the Paduans, Trevisans, and Veronese for the vindication of the liberty of the Church in the year 1164, and had substituted Consuls to govern the people in place of the Imperial ministers by whom they were plundered in monstrous ways, and from there he is transferred to the See of Vicenza, and daring to take the field with them—with the Emperor retreating to Pavia—had also drawn several other cities of Italy, namely Brescia, Bergamo, Milan, Modena, Bologna, and Arezzo, into the League of Verona) the citizens of Vicenza, I say, requested John as Bishop from Alexander; and easily obtained him on account of his immense merits toward the Church, in the year we have stated, although Joseph of Brescia writes the year 1174—to be refuted from public documents which establish that Aribert presided from the year 1172 to 1179 of the same century: and by similar instruments the Mantuan historian Hippolytus Donesmundus is refuted, who seems to assert that John died at Mantua.

[7] Having entered the Bishopric of Vicenza, John maintained the same rigor of a stricter life that he had observed before, his private virtues in the Episcopate, always dressed in monastic garb under his Pontifical habit, with a cowl, without the use of linen; and he girded his woolen undergarment with a coarser cord, as Sir Henry de Creazzo (who lived in his household for a full four years and was accustomed to render daily service in dressing and undressing the blessed man) testified: adding moreover that he was accustomed on Good Friday to purchase whatever garments could be had for covering the poor, and to distribute them to the same with his own hands: to whom he also often washed their feet, summoning sometimes five or twelve, sometimes even twenty-five and more, upon whom he would pour out every kind of generosity, as much as he could have from the Episcopal revenues. A witness also is John de Malaterra de Mandalbertis, who lived in his house for five years, that he was accustomed to carry food prepared with his own hands to the sick and to women in childbirth, and that he omitted nothing of that solicitude by which he exercised paternal charity toward his flock: most gentle toward all except toward his own body, which he was not content to cover with cheap garments unless he also macerated it with a rough hair shirt next to his skin.

[8] Observing moreover that the religious devotion of the citizens of Vicenza toward the holy Martyrs Felix and Fortunatus had greatly declined, and zeal for the public good. whose temple and holy relics he himself, a frequent visitor, rejoiced to visit, and that this was because of the mud covering the street leading from the Gate of the Castle to the aforesaid temple; he had the same street cleaned and paved at his own expense, and reaped from that expenditure a great fruit of increased piety among the people. Also observing that there was a great deficiency of necessary learning among the Clergy, because of which the parish priests of his diocese were not sufficiently competent to govern souls, he likewise at his own expense engaged a Lecturer in Theology to teach the Clergy sacred letters. Finally, fulfilling every part and requirement of the most vigilant Pastor, he was giving the Church of Vicenza a new face, and in those most turbulent times, as if in the security of a quiet peace, he preserved and fostered his people as best he could.

CHAPTER II.

The Martyrdom of Blessed John for Ecclesiastical Liberty: His Burial and Translation.

[9] Peter, a scorner of ecclesiastical jurisdiction It was a frequent occurrence in past centuries, and can be proven by innumerable public documents, that Bishops, in order to support the weakness of spiritual jurisdiction against heretics, schismatics, and other rebels against the Church who would not suffer it to enjoy its rights and laws in peace, with men conspicuous in power and authority, would invest well-deserving or potentially well-deserving men with the beneficial ownership of ecclesiastical estates: who, having thereafter taken an oath into the hands of the Bishop, were called his liege men and feudatories, and forfeited the right granted to them if they were found to have failed in their sworn fidelity and obligation. By this arrangement, a certain Peter (some would have him a Bolognese) had obtained from John's predecessors, who were arming themselves against Frederick, various estates of the Castle of Malosco (which formerly belonging to the Episcopal possessions is now held by the city of Vicenza itself) under the bond and obligation of a fief: which he then began to administer as his own, and to refuse the fixed census of the Church which he had agreed to pay: indeed, he even began to make other feudatories in the same castle subject to himself, and to rule over them as lord.

[10] John deprives him of his fief and communion: The bitterness of complaints brought concerning this injustice stirred the zealous Pastor's spirit, and finding Peter hardened against all admonitions, he declared him deprived of his fief and separated from the communion of the faithful. He was so far from being bent to repentance by the magnitude of the penalty that, breathing nothing but vengeance against the most holy Bishop, he began to focus on every occasion for contriving his death. the other meditates revenge, Thus disposed, he gathered accomplices for the crime and placed himself in ambush, waiting for the Bishop to go out as was his custom to inspect a building which he was constructing for the purpose of teaching and learning Theology, in the place where the church of Saint Anthony now stands. As the Prelate went forth from the episcopal residence, the aforementioned Sir Eric de Creazzo went as his companion, and afterward recounted and on account of almsgiving that they had chanced to meet a poor man, half-naked, begging for something in the way of clothing as alms: to whom, although the Bishop ordered that provision be made immediately, Eric said he delayed, lest at such a time he should desert his Lord, for whom he feared violence not without reason. But when the Bishop said he would not leave that spot until Eric returned, Eric indeed went, and returning found the Bishop in the same place: and thus more confident, he went away again, on account of some duty, into the wine cellar.

[11] Thus unaccompanied, when the Bishop was remaining there, having no one with him except the aforementioned John de Malaterra, finding him unaccompanied. the assassins, thinking this their opportunity, leaped upon the unarmed man, and Peter drove his parricidal sword into his breast. The innocent victim of barbarous fury fell at once, and (as the servant who was present testifies under oath) forgave his enemies the deed, and having many times prayed God's blessing upon them, he rendered his soul to the Creator. In memory of this event, and so that posterity might know more certainly the place where the holy Prelate died, he kills him as he forgives his enemies. a column was placed there, which remains to this day in the area of the Cathedral church, opposite the church of Saint Anthony the Abbot. The report of the atrocious crime, quickly spreading, summoned the people to arms and vengeance, and when a rush was made to Peter's house, they found it firmly barred: wherefore, thinking it slow to force entry by digging through walls or breaking down doors, they set fire to the roof, and the entire house was consumed by flames—but without its master: who, having escaped by flight, it is uncertain what end he had to his wicked life, but he must be believed to have paid the fitting penalty, either in this world or the next.

[12] the Pontiff forbids the forfeited property to be restored to his heirs. Nevertheless, his kinsmen attempted to enter into the fief he had possessed: to prevent which, Pope Innocent III sent a reply, which is recorded in the sacred Canons in these words: "It has come to the ears of our Apostolate that when certain parishioners of yours, by diabolic audacity, wickedly slew John, Bishop of Vicenza of good memory, your predecessor, the fiefs and benefices which they held from the Church of Vicenza were taken from them by sentence with much deliberation. Since therefore they are to be punished with greater severity, we by Apostolic authority forbid both you and your successors to restore the aforesaid benefices to them or their heirs; or to confer any others upon them anew."

[13] The body of the Bishop, slain in the year 1181 This murder was committed in the year 1181, on the 17th day before the Kalends of April, when John had governed the Bishopric of Vicenza for about two years: not seven, as Joseph of Brescia writes, incorrectly placing the beginning of his Episcopate at the year 1174: nor does the aforementioned martyrdom fall on the 20th day of April, as Julius Carcanus permitted to be printed

in the table of Vicentine Patrons: which we prefer to attribute to a typographical error, unless perhaps the day of the translation to be mentioned below gave him occasion for the mistake. For that sacred body, immediately after death, was honorably entombed in the Cathedral church, and afterward, as miracles multiplied, was exhumed and placed in a marble chest, transferred to the principal altar and deposited in the place where the choir now stands, but which was then the principal altar: resting beneath which, who and what kind of man he had been in life was set before the reader for recognition with the following inscription:

Here lies the true Pastor, John Cacciafronte, Who in the schism once defended the honorable side Of Father Pope Alexander; when as a holier Abbot Cremona joyfully obtained the monastery of Saint Lawrence with an epitaph As his native house: soon Mantua, happy with so great a Prelate, Rejoices, as now Vicenza does. The orphan and the widow and the wretched, the despoiled, the destitute Are fed, clothed, and loved by the Bishop's hands. While he defends the rights of his Church, by the unjust Sword of a vassal, by the axe of a Cimbrian, he is slain. After death, miracles show by clear signs Him conspicuous in virtue and blessed in the merits of heaven. The parched and the blind, the deaf, fever and pain Depart, and he who had come sick goes away well. Here is the blessed John Cacciafronte, translated.

[14] then in the year 1441 to a chapel, Afterward, when the larger chapel of the Cathedral church, which is now seen and called the choir, was to be built in the year 1441, the treasure of the sacred body was transferred to the chapel of the Blessed Virgin, formerly called the Assumed, now the Crowned, where above an altar elevated by many steps it is seen and honored, entirely intact and free from corruption, with this inscription: "John Cacciafronte, full of piety, justice, and a wondrous zeal for God, first resisted at Cremona the Emperor Frederick when he attacked Apostolic liberty: then, as Bishop of this city, a champion of his Church, pierced with a sword, he purchased the triumph of martyrdom, the glory of immortality, the eternal rewards of his labors, by a happy labor. His pious bones were devoutly transferred here in the Year of the Lord 1441, the 12th day before the Kalends of May." Beneath this epitaph, carved from life in stone, is seen the likeness of this Blessed one, as well as iron fixtures set into the same stone, designed, as far as one may conjecture, for supporting candles which the faithful were accustomed to light there. and in the year 1482 it is shown to the people for 16 days. It is found moreover in a certain ancient manuscript, entitled "Chronicle for the Memory of Past and Future Times," that in the year 1482, on September 18 and for sixteen continuous days thereafter, the holy body was shown to the people, and on that occasion many miracles were performed, which will be reported presently. It should be noted moreover that the translation just mentioned was of the holy body alone, and that the marble chest, inscribed with the verses we produced above, was left in its place. At the beginning of this century, however, when a crypt was being constructed beneath the choir in the year 1606, the same chest, removed from the ground, distinctly exhibited the same epitaph, and is now found in the church of Saint Justin de Monticello near Lisiera.

[15] Summary of miracles from a tablet hung at the altar. At the aforesaid altar of the Blessed Virgin and the sacred mausoleum of the blessed Martyr, such a summary of miracles is read inscribed on a tablet. Ten persons, maimed or disabled in various limbs throughout their whole lives, were suddenly restored to health. Two deaf persons, upon making a vow to the Blessed one, were immediately granted the faculty of hearing. Two blind persons were given sight; one of whom is also said to have had a cloud removed which obstructed his eye. Two sufferers from arthritis, one of whom was also paralytic, were cured at the Blessed one's tomb. A certain man, pressed by a mortal illness, who had mocked and disdained the exercise of religious veneration toward the Blessed one, recovered his health at the same tomb. Two persons in peril from pestilence were saved by making a vow. Sixteen recovered their health, which had been despaired of on account of fevers or other lethal diseases, through the merits of the Blessed one. Five persons suffering from headache, or mortally wounded in the head, recovered through the intercession of the same blessed Bishop. Three were healed of the pain of abscesses and of the sides, after making a vow. A certain man, brought to the point of death by the torment of kidney stones, preserved his life by a similar vow. Two others likewise, whose festering and cancer-eaten wounds had taken away hope of a longer life. There was one who immediately upon making his vow felt himself freed from an oppression of the heart: another who was healed of sciatica in the loins; a third whose mind, which a phrensy combined with fever had unsettled, was restored to its proper state, and at the same time the use of his tongue, impeded by that illness, was restored to him.

CHAPTER III.

Miracles and Graces Received, from the Process Drawn Up in the Year 1223 by the Mandate of Pope Honorius III.

[16] Nicholas de Piano-del-Lago was confined to bed for a full twelve years, A paralytic of 12 years is healed, deprived of all use and feeling of his limbs from the waist down, so that he could not move himself in the slightest except by grasping a rope hanging from the ceiling above his bed; and he was utterly unable to turn to the other side unless others came to his aid. Learning how many miracles God was working through Blessed John, he made a vow to visit the tomb and had himself conveyed there on a beast of burden by his two sons. After he had continued praying in the church for two nights, he received perfect health of his entire body and survived for a full two years: fit for all the work and labor of agriculture, as well as any other farmer, living with his wife Bertha and two sons. This event occurred on Good Friday.

[17] Corbellus of Barbarano, deaf for many years, after making a similar vow, while standing at the tomb, one deaf for many years, seemed to himself at twilight to be called by his name, as if pronounced by many voices at once: and when he answered, he was amazed that he could hear, and by his answer astonished the bystanders, who had heard no calling voice. A Vicentine physician, called Burgensis, a blind boy; had a son who was completely blind, and to his wife, who greatly lamented this calamity, he used to insist that our will must be conformed to God's will. But the woman, never fully placated, at last vowed to offer two eyes made of silver, and immediately beheld her son seeing.

[18] one mocking those praying at the Blessed one's body Albert, son of Bonacurtius, passing through the church, saw some women kneeling before the body of the Blessed one, and mocking them said they would accomplish just as much if they prayed before a piece of wood. God did not leave the blasphemy unpunished: for going to the market and buying fish there and returning home (for it was a Wednesday and also a Vigil), meanwhile, while his wife named Maria was preparing them, he went to the house of a certain neighbor of his: where he was suddenly oppressed by so dire a malady that, unable to move, he stood like a dead man until Friday, with no food meanwhile to sustain him. On the said day, divinely enlightened, he recognized his fault, and vowing a candle to the Blessed one the length of his body, he is punished and recognizing his fault is healed. he ordered himself carried by two friends of his on a chair to his tomb, where upon arrival he began to pour forth such copious sweat over his whole body as if he had been drawn from water. He remained there the whole night praying, and at dawn he felt himself restored to perfect health: and wishing to test it, he walked by himself to the church of the Holy Savior, to attend the sacrifice of the Mass, which is celebrated by the Friars Minor at first light in the morning; and wishing to be grateful to God for the benefit, with the good grace of his wife, he took the habit and rule of the same Friars Minor.

[19] likewise one miserably suffering from arthritis, Martin, a tailor of Vicenza, was afflicted with so cruel an arthritis that he had lost the use of all his limbs from the waist down; so that not even in bed could he move himself: and he remained in such a state for seven months. One night he seemed to himself to be in the greater church of Vicenza, and in the western part of it, around the tomb of the Blessed one, to see many lights and many Priests and Clerics vested in sacred garments, singing praises and hymns to God there. While he marveled and sought in his mind the cause of the unusual ceremony, someone stood by him saying that vigils were being celebrated in honor of Blessed John, formerly Bishop of Vicenza. And so great was the delight of this spectacle [and twice admonished in dreams to approach the Blessed one for the sake of health.] that Martin began to weep copiously for joy: and then he was told by the same one standing by him that it was best to shed tears for sins. Awakening then, he began to think that the said Bishop was a saint, and therefore through his merits to ask God to restore his health. Without delay he felt the efficacy of the intercession he had sought, and such strength was infused into his limbs in a moment

that he was able to turn from one side to the other, and gradually recovering, on the third day he rose from bed, and leaning on two supports he proceeded to the tomb of the Blessed one, carrying many candles as an offering: which he lit at the time when None was being chanted, at which time he had arrived, and he remained there in prayer until Vespers: because this was unusual among the common people, he was regarded by some as a fool; but returning home he found himself completely healed, nor did he ever again suffer such an illness as long as he lived.

[20] Health is restored to an infant immobile from birth, Tofania, the wife of John, a citizen of Vicenza, gave birth to a male child, whom on the ninth day after delivery such cold and with the cold such rigidity invaded through all his limbs that neither the mother nor the midwives were able to move any part of his body—not a hand, not a foot or finger: and to get any nourishment into him, his mouth had to be opened by force. Then he began to swell so in the chest and back that he seemed more like a monster than a human being, and remained in that state for twenty days. His mother, in the company of her husband and another woman, carried him with an offering of candles to the tomb of the blessed man, and having spent that night there in prayer, the boy received perfect health and opened his mouth as if to give thanks to his benefactor.

[21] Martin, surnamed Carpus, a Vicentine, was so afflicted with the double malady of arthritis and paralysis to an arthritic and paralytic, that he was contracted for two and a half years: so that he could neither raise himself up nor bring his hands to his head, with all his limbs meanwhile trembling with continuous motion. In that state he lived for some time at Vicenza and Padua on alms which certain pious persons contributed for his sustenance. But learning what great miracles God was working through His servant, on the Wednesday after Easter of the Resurrection he went to his sacred body, and there persevering in prayer until the time of Vespers, he felt himself weighed down by great pain in his whole body, and at the same time his bones and sinews being stretched: whence he immediately exclaimed with a joyful voice that he had been healed by the merits of Blessed John: nor did he profess to have suffered anything similar, testifying under oath as a witness of the same three years after the miracle was performed, together with many others attesting that they had seen the same.

[22] to a woman deprived of the use of her limbs, A certain woman, named Osanna, incurred such a debility that she could neither dress herself nor bring food to her mouth, and although the force of the illness would sometimes remit somewhat, she nonetheless remained useless for all functions of her limbs. To this infirmity another considerably graver one was added, five years before she heard anything about the miracles of the blessed man; by which infirmity all her limbs trembled in a horrible manner, not only during the day while she was awake but also at night while sleeping, so that her hands were continually striking against her breast. During all that time it was necessary to feed her like an infant. After she heard what was being reported about Blessed John, she visited his monument and persevered in prayer the whole night. Meanwhile an intense pain invaded her entire body, while her limbs and sinews and the joints of her fingers were stretched, with such a cracking noise that it could be heard even by those positioned at a distance. Thus from Friday after Easter until Saturday she remained in the church, and then returned home healthy, and when she was brought forward for examination three years later, she testified that she had never been ill from that time, but had been fit for all manner of women's labors in the fields.

[23] and to another woman Gisla, surnamed Tonsa, from Alonte in the diocese of Vicenza, lay bedridden for two years, unable to move by herself or be fed: in the third year she lost the power of speech, so that most thought she would soon die: although she heard everything that was said, and demonstrated by signs and nods that she understood it, and indicated what she needed. Then, seeming to recover somewhat, she soon fell back into the former illness, and relapsed and lay bedridden for another four years. And again she was healed to the extent that she could rise from bed and sit in a chair, but not raise her body, and she was so hunchbacked and bent that she could barely spin thread without great difficulty, and could not dress herself unless helped by her daughter, nor raise her hand above her head. For five years she remained thus infirm: then around the feast of Easter she heard of the prodigies occurring at the tomb of Blessed John, infirm for very many years. wherefore, inflamed with a great desire to see his holy body, with many tears she besought God and His Saint to help her in whatever best way possible, since she could neither go there on account of her debility nor be carried on account of her poverty. Therefore, on the Wednesday following the Octave of the Resurrection, when she wished to rise from the bench on which she was sitting, she cried out with a deep groan: "O Blessed John, have mercy on me, destitute of all help: for I have neither bread nor any other necessary thing, and in this state I cannot even help myself." Having said these things, confidence came into her soul, vigor into her limbs; and suddenly she stood erect upon her feet with a straight body, and with hands and arms extended above her head she moved herself in every direction, and full of amazement, she called to a certain neighbor woman of hers, and bade her come and see how she moved about by herself as she pleased, and she declared she would go to the tomb of Blessed John. The report, spread through all the neighboring villages, drew many out to see the woman, formerly known to be sick, now perfectly healed: and she herself came to Vicenza on the following Friday to give thanks to the Saint: and lived many years afterward in good health.

[24] likewise to a man blinded by a blow, Albertinus Morcoffus of Vicenza, struck in his left eye by a certain enemy of his, felt a white spot forming on it and gradually lost all vision, not without notable disfigurement of his face. Then, fifteen years later, while traveling to Verona with some companions, he also lost the sight of his right eye: and so had to be led by hand to Verona and brought back to Vicenza: where he stayed in the hospital of Saint Nicholas from the feast of Saint Andrew until Palm Sunday. On the following Monday he was brought into the Cathedral church, called Santa Maria Maggiore, and there he persevered in prayer with many men and women before the tomb of Blessed John, until he fell asleep: but waking from sleep around midnight, he felt his eyelids opening, and looking toward the western windows of the church, he saw the moon shining: afterward he began to count the candles burning at the tomb and the windows of the church, and to tell those standing by that he had been given sight. They tested his claim by showing him garments, and when he perfectly distinguished the colors of each one, the report of so prodigious a cure was spread through the city, and a great crowd of people flocking to the spectacle praised God, glorious in His Saint, through whose merits light had been restored to eyes that had been deprived of it, one for four years and the other for fifteen.

[25] and to two contracted, bent boys, Palmeria, wife of Gerard of Fontaniva in Vicenza, had had her son Ugolino sick for six continuous months: who afterward remained hunched over and could not walk without a cane because of his horribly distorted legs and feet: until she, hearing of the miracles of Blessed John, devoutly visited the tomb of the Blessed one together with her son, and persevered beside it for nine days, during which time the boy, falling asleep, began to sweat vehemently, and uttering a cry in his sleep, showed himself perfectly healed, as he was. Beatrice, wife of Otto of Montecchio, bore a son who, when after a year he began to walk on his feet, became hunchbacked, so that he could neither raise himself up nor get out of bed by his own strength: and so he remained hunched for a year and a half, until carried by his mother to the tomb of the blessed man, he recovered his health there, with both parents praying together there through the merits of the Saint. A certain inhabitant of Montagnana, and finally to a man and a woman deprived of the ability to walk. unable to move without supports, having visited the same tomb and prayed at it for three days, obtained the ability to walk in the presence of many. Dina of Costoza lay sick for seventeen months, unable to move except by crawling on the ground with two stools because of the curvature of her body: but she was helped and raised up, persevering for several days before the tomb, to which she had been brought tied upon a beast of burden.

CHAPTER IV.

Other Miracles Taken from an Ancient Manuscript of the Cathedral Sacristy, and Recorded in Writing in the Year 1441 by the Priests Gasparo de Porta-San-Pietro, Germano de Cogolo, and Master Nicolaus Ciroicus, Stewards of the Confraternity of Saint Mary and Blessed John Cacciafronte in the Cathedral Church.

[26] Andreas Solizzus, a citizen of Vicenza, in the year 1439, stricken with a pestilent fever together with stomach pain, Blessed John, invoked, heals a pestilent fever, was turning black like an Ethiopian, and therefore his mother, believing him near death, vowed him to Blessed John, and for obtaining her son's health visited the tomb of the Blessed one, and furthermore promised to visit the same for fifteen days, with a certain daily offering of candles added, and the recitation of the Lord's Prayer to be repeated several times: and when these were completed, she had him healthy and well. A certain daughter of Thomas the Scrivener, a citizen of Vicenza, was brought to the final extremity by a most severe fever and diarrhea, fever and diarrhea, and was at the point of death: her father, going to the market to buy what was necessary for her funeral, passed through the Cathedral church, where, remembering the miracles of Blessed John, with a vow and tears he prayed him to preserve his daughter alive, and returning home with great confidence that his petition had been granted, found her out of danger.

[27] Catherine, wife of Master Marco de Cogolo, a wool-worker, suffered an infirmity of the head, severe headache, by which she was tormented every week with such pain that the skin above her brain would rise up at least two fingers' breadth. Meanwhile, remembering the miracles of Blessed John, she began to feel most devoutly toward him, and merited to obtain health, having made a vow to arrange a solemn sacrifice at his tomb: which was immediately fulfilled. Dorothea de Bozo, tertian fever, struggling with a cold and hot tertian fever, vowed with great devotion to offer a wax statue at the altar of Blessed John, as large as the measure of her body: and immediately rose from bed in good health. Peter, son of Ascanius of Barbarano, a boy of ten years, pains from kidney stones,

was suffering from a kidney stone, and for a full ten days had been unable to pass urine; wherefore from his stomach to his hips he was entirely inflamed and shiny as a mirror, and was approaching death; not ceasing meanwhile to commend himself to Blessed John and repeatedly to say, "Blessed John, help me." His parents, however, observing their son's devotion toward the Blessed one, made a vow to offer a wax statue the size of the sick boy together with a small silver cross, and immediately the stone shattered into tiny pieces and came out in fragments together with the urine, and the parents fulfilled their vow with great joy.

[28] and of the brain, Elizabeth, wife of Bartholomew de Squarzis, a nobleman of Vicenza, was tormented by so vehement a headache that she thought her brain would burst out, and having made a similar vow to offer a wax statue of her own size, she felt herself free from all evil. an ulcerated breast Flora, a Tertiary of the Order of Saint Francis, wife of Master Martin the Furrier, bore a long-standing sore on her breast which often brought her fever and sometimes even the danger of death: and by a similar vow of a similar statue she recovered her health, and before night fell she marveled that the sore was completely healed. Zilia, wife of James de Carpi, a schoolmaster, continual fever in several persons, fell sick with a fever together with her son, and when it had continued for three whole days, she believed she would die: and so she too vowed such a statue, and immediately obtained perfect health for herself and her son. Alexander Pigafetta of Vicenza obtained the same benefit by the same means, being gravely ill with a fever.

[29] Marcus Coldognus, a nobleman of Vicenza, suffering from the same disease together with a severe headache, to such a degree that he could not stand on his feet, vowed to offer four gold coins at the tomb of the Blessed one as a remedy: and immediately had his vow fulfilled. Bartholomew Baldo, a Venetian, had a tertian fever which he had endured for an entire month changed into a continual one, and assuming various forms from time to time, it deprived the physicians of the ability to determine anything certain about the cause and remedy of the disease: with great effort therefore he approached the tomb of the Blessed one, and vowing a statue of one gold coin, he rejoiced to be free from all discomfort. Bartholomea, the three-year-old daughter of Marcus de Chianon, a citizen of Vicenza, was suffering from a violent fever: her mother vowed to Blessed John a Mass to be sung and a statue to be offered upon the altar for her daughter: through whose merit the girl immediately recovered, and went with her mother and other girls to the church to give thanks.

[30] Lucia, wife of Anzolino the Baker, residing in the hospital of Saint Peter, plague, was struck by the plague in her left hip in the year 1418, and with many tears and fervor of devotion she sought health from Blessed John, offering a silver statue valued at two gold coins, and immediately her vow was answered. Clement Garzadorus, a nobleman of Vicenza, lumbago, was held bedridden from a severe pain of the head and loins at the time when the translation of Blessed John took place. Hearing what was commonly told of his miracles and the integrity of his sacred body, and thereby raised to hope of recovering his health through his merits, with hands lifted to heaven and weeping eyes, he asked to be freed from that illness so that he too might be able to see and honor such venerable relics: and at that very moment he was well. On the day the body was shown to the people, a certain Cecilia, the ten-year-old daughter of Thomas de Oleo, a citizen of Vicenza, was likewise lying in bed with a fever, and was so shaken by the cold accompanying the fever that she could not stand on her feet unless helped by others: unusual trembling, who, upon similar report, conceiving a desire to see the Saint, burned so with that desire that she felt she would die unless she could see him immediately. Wherefore the mother, overcome by her daughter's importunate cries, brought her to the church, and when she kissed the cloth that had been placed over the body, her health was restored.

[31] infirmity of the arm, Crespina of Venice, a kinswoman of Baptista Leone, had lost the use of her right arm: but hearing of the miracles of Blessed John, she vowed an arm made of wax to him, and felt her arm as healthy as never before. fever, A certain son of Bartholomew de Scrofa, a nobleman of Vicenza, reduced to extremity by a burning fever, recovered his health through the vow of both parents to offer a wax statue the size of the sick boy. Antonia of Lonigo, immobile in bed from a severe oppression of the heart: oppression of the heart, she vowed to Blessed John a silver heart together with a wax torch of four pounds, and immediately recovered. Dominic de Pilla, a priest and Mansionary in the Cathedral church of Vicenza, having completely lost all use of his left arm, likewise of the arm vowed a wax arm of equal size, and recovered its use. Corona, wife of William de Mezza, and ailments of the loins, suffering from sciatica, was wailing and crying out day and night from the vehemence of the pains, and near death; she vowed a wax likeness of a leg, and was restored to health.

[32] Pascha of Zuannis Vertenae, residing in the house of Master Marius de Cogolo, abscess in the side, bore a hard abscess in her side like a stone: from which, because she suffered severe torments, under the condition of a certain offering she asked and obtained healing. Stephen of Verona, as soon as he vowed a wax head to Blessed John, was freed from the torment of one ear, which on that side had been preventing his hearing. Master Nicholas the Physician, son of Master George, was enduring such intense fevers and headaches arising from them lethal fever, that, considering death easier, he would have killed himself if he were not prevented by the fear of God: and in the very paroxysm of the fever he spoke deliriously, bereft of his senses. To him one night Blessed John appeared in a vision in splendid attire, with a crown on his head and many gems in his clothing: around whom in the Cathedral church he seemed to see such a press of people running together that he could scarcely force himself an opening; which at last having overcome, he seemed to hear from the Blessed one: "Nicholas, bring a wax head to my chest, and you shall be freed from this illness." Nicholas awoke at this voice and thought the dream was born of the feverish heat: but the following night the Blessed one again appeared to him in a similar guise and with a surrounding throng of people, and rebuking him said: "You neglected to do what I said, Nicholas: nevertheless, because you have been singularly devoted to me, come tomorrow and you shall have your wish." The sick man was amazed, observing that the Saint spoke to him alone in so great a multitude, and awakening said: "Certainly I heard his words directed to me: I will go and fulfill his commands": and while he did so, he was cured.

[33] Matthew Paletronis of Lonigo, a tailor living in Vicenza, pains of the hip, enduring such torments in the hip that he was forced to cry out day and night, unable to move his body even in bed; since he could be helped by no remedies of physicians, he was helped by the vow by which he promised to offer to the Blessed one a wax image the size of himself. and of the side, The priest Zavinus de Gardelinis, suddenly oppressed by a pain in the side, could neither undress himself nor place himself in bed without the help of his two brothers who had quickly run to him: wherefore he commended himself to Blessed John and promised to offer the sacrifice of the Mass once upon his body and to give some alms in his honor: and when this vow was made, the pain ceased and he performed the votive sacrifice the next day, healthy and joyful. lethal fainting, Blancaflora, daughter of Matthew Zenari the physician, one evening suddenly seemed to be dying, as she no longer even recognized her parents: but her father, seeing the human remedies of his art availing nothing, hastened to the tomb of Blessed John and there vowed a statue of one gold coin, if upon returning to his daughter the next day he should find her with hope of life. He returned and found her healthy, and cheerfully fulfilled the vow he had made.

[34] Dominic, the four-year-old son of Benedict Triveri of the Porta-San-Pietro quarter, bruise of the head, having fallen upon a stone with a broken head, was thought to be about to die: but a vow made by his parents to offer a wax head rescued the boy from danger, and he also quickly recovered from the wound. Honesta, wife of the late Simon Casolini of Vicenza, cast down from the state of a sound mind, was placed upon the chest of the blessed body madness, when it was shown to the people on April 18, 1441; and she immediately recovered the use of reason, and offered a wax torch, and kissed the cloth which for more than two hundred years had covered the sacred body: and so she returned home with her daughter-in-law and daughter and other relatives, conversing with full judgment; and within a few days she felt all remnants of her former illness wiped away. Gualterus, the four-year-old son of Martin della Seda, epilepsy, from a severe illness developed epilepsy, so that he was frequently thrown to the ground during the day. His father vowed to have the image of the Blessed one painted in his chapel, and immediately tranquility returned to the boy and remained thereafter. Elizabeth della Soga, wife of Jerome Verlati, a nobleman of Vicenza, dire torments, was brought to such a state by great pains which forced her to wail day and night that the blessed candle was often lit for her as if she were about to die; when she vowed a large wax image worth forty soldi to be offered to Blessed John, the pains suddenly ceasing, she recovered. a mortal wound to the head,

[35] Mariottus of Tuscany, a servant of Dominic, a soldier of Pius of Novara, mortally wounded in the head by a certain peasant of Valdagno, from which wound the doctors had extracted five small bones, was preparing himself at their order for death by receiving the last sacraments: while this was being done, the priest who had heard his confession gave the advice of invoking Blessed John with a vow to offer a statue worth one ducat, and another ducat for the ornamentation of the altar, and never again to take up arms. The wounded man obeyed and fell asleep, and seemed to see in Pontifical garb a splendid Bishop: to whom, when he asked, "What are you doing here, Mariotto?" he answered: "I lie in bed on account of a wound inflicted on my head": and the Bishop replied: "You shall not be ill," and having said this, disappeared. But Mariotto, waking, put his hand to his head, felt all pain removed, and the wound was shortly healed: moreover, Master Venciguerra testifies that the wound was humanly incurable. A five-year-old boy, fever with flux, the son of Louis Luscus, a nobleman of Vicenza, suffering from fever and a violent flux, had swollen up like a drum, and whoever saw him thought he would die soon: his parents vowed to Blessed John a wax statue equal to the boy, and immediately, as the force of the disease remitted, he recovered full health within a few days.

[36] another with headache, Imperatrix, wife of Pius of Organo, a citizen of Vicenza, brought to extremity by fever and headache from which she had suffered for two months, was freed by a vow made to place a wax image at the Blessed one's tomb. Camillus de Clericatis, a nobleman of Vicenza, bitten by a small dog in Altavilla, was deprived of the ability to walk, gangrene from a dog bite, and gangrene attacking the wound defeated all the industry of the physicians, and was even opening sores elsewhere: in that state the sick man remained from

the feast of the Holy Cross in May until the middle of July, but upon making a vow to offer a wax leg, he immediately recovered. Francis, son of Bartholomew Balastrazzi, a citizen of Vicenza, afflicted with a flux of blood and a severe fever, flux of blood and brought to the point of death, was saved by his father's vow on his behalf to Blessed John of a wax statue his own size, freed from both maladies.

[37] Baptista of Saint Paul, a Vicentine priest, was suffering from a continual fever: a certain clerk of his, visiting him as he lay in bed, said: "Sir, remember the great miracles that Blessed John works, and commend yourself to him." and again continual fever in several persons. "You have rightly advised me," the Priest replied; "go to the tomb and pray there for me, that he may hear the vow I am about to make." While the Clerk prayed, the Priest vowed a fine wax statue, and was found healthy by the other when he returned. Venturinus, son of Octavian Garzadori, vowing a similar statue to the Blessed one, also recovered from a continual fever which had brought him into danger of imminent death. John, son of Hubertinus Barbarani, a nobleman of Vicenza, a young man of twenty years, from a fever first lost his sound mind, and then on the sixth day also his speech and movement, and was placed beyond hope of life by the physicians, and was watched for several days and nights by those who, with candles lit, were awaiting his death. But the father and mother of the dying man turned themselves to Blessed John, and vowed a large wax torch of ten pounds, if their son should be preserved alive for them: and soon speech and health returned to him. The young man testified moreover that he knew nothing of the remedies applied throughout the whole period of his illness: although his head had been shaved and live pigeons, split open, had been applied to it; and cupping glasses had been used, and they had blown through a tube into his nostrils many times; and indeed they had prepared him for death with Extreme Unction and the frequent commendation of his soul: so great was the vehemence of the disease.